The Man who Hated Himself by Walt Coburn
In the winter of 1886–87, Circle C cowpuncher Buck Bell arrives in Malta broke, underclothed, and desperate for a winter job after losing his money in a poker game to Cotton Eye. The outfit has no position for him, and Buck joins the other hands in a night of drinking, gambling, music, and rowdy celebration before the hard winter begins. Lonely for Texas and made reckless by liquor, Buck sees a five-thousand-dollar mine payroll unloaded from a train. He strikes the dispatcher, steals the cash box, hides it at the stockyards, and later retrieves the money. The theft immediately becomes a burden. Horace, the Circle C wagon boss, offers Buck a loan because he considers him trustworthy; Sheriff Dick Powell later shares mittens, whisky, and his plan for catching the robber by tracing the numbered bills and watching the cowhands’ winter camps. Buck is wounded above all by the faith both men place in him. He heads toward the Missouri River badlands, intending eventually to go south, but stops at Rocky Point, where he finds Cotton Eye alone with a broken leg. Buck saves Cotton Eye from pain, fever, and likely death. He sets the leg, makes splints and a rawhide cast, feeds the cattle, gathers starving strays, hauls hay, opens water holes, cooks, cuts wood, and nurses his former poker opponent. Though he has stolen enough money to begin a cattle operation of his own, he hides it in the cow shed and becomes increasingly sickened by his crime. The worsening blizzards exhaust the hay and drive ever more starving cattle into the shelter of the breaks. Buck learns that Horace told the sheriff he would be stationed at Rocky Point, and he comes to suspect that Horace knows he committed the robbery. When Cotton Eye rides out to seek help from the ranch, Buck decides to send the stolen money and a confession to Horace. Digging it up, he discovers that the cash has been replaced by bundles of newspaper. He concludes that Cotton Eye has deceived him, stolen the money, and fled south. Though bitter at first, Buck feels an unexpected release from the money’s weight. With the hay gone and no aid arriving, Buck leaves Rocky Point with his team, crude snowplow, supplies, and the starving cattle that follow him. He forces a path south across the frozen river into the badlands, where softer snow covers grass. There he clears feeding grounds and saves hundreds of cattle from many outfits, working himself into a frostbitten, half-blind wreck. The thought of his crime fades beneath the labor of keeping the herd alive. At last the chinook comes, ending the terrible winter. Buck drives his surviving mixed herd back onto the prairie, singing “Sam Bass.” Horace and the Old Gent, owner of the Circle C, find him behind an astonishing number of living cattle. Buck is taken to the ranch, where Doc Steele treats his snow blindness and amputates three frozen toes. Horace’s note from Rocky Point reveals that Buck had confessed the robbery and promised to surrender. The Old Gent explains that Cotton Eye reached the ranch around New Year’s with the five thousand dollars, confessed to taking it from Buck, and admitted that Buck had talked in his sleep about the robbery. Cotton Eye returned the money because Buck had saved his life. The Old Gent has bought the mine whose payroll was stolen, chooses to let the matter rest, and honors Buck for preserving the cattle that survived the winter. Buck sleeps peacefully as the chinook promises renewal to the devastated cow country.
By Walt Coburn · First published 1928 · Genre: Western, Historical Fiction, Frontier Fiction · 9,681 words
First lines
A powerful story of the Montana cattletrails and the Great Blizzard of '86
Every stockman in the northwest recalls the hard winter of '86-'87. It broke most of them. One cattleman, spending his winter in the South, wrote back to his ranch to inquire how his stuff was wintering. His line rider took a pencil and drew the picture of a starving cow hung up in the drifts. Under it he wrote:
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Genres
- Western — The story is set in 1880s Montana cattle country and centers on cowpunchers, ranches, cattle drives, saloons, frontier law, harsh range life, and the culture of the American West.
- Historical Fiction — Its plot is rooted in the real Great Blizzard of 1886-1887, depicting the devastating effects of that winter on northwestern cattle operations and frontier communities.
- Frontier Fiction — The narrative emphasizes isolated line camps, sparse settlement, self-reliance, improvised medicine, wilderness travel, and survival beyond the reach of institutions.
- Adventure Fiction — Buck Bell's flight into the storm, rescue of Cotton Eye, struggle to preserve cattle, and ordeal across snowbound badlands create a sustained sequence of physical dangers and exploits.
Tags
Western fiction · Montana cattle country · Great Blizzard of 1886–87 · American frontier · cowboys · cattle ranching · winter survival · blizzards · badlands · Missouri River · Malta, Montana · 1880s
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The Man who Hated Himself is listed on Textopian as a novella by Walt Coburn, dated 1928 CE.
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- Work type: Novella
- Author: Walt Coburn
- Date: 1928 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Western, Historical Fiction, Frontier Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Survival Fiction
- Length: 9,681 words
- Structure: 1 section, 226 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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