The Road to Bear Creek

WHEN Pap gets rheumatism, he gets remorseful. I remember one time particular. He says to me-him laying on his ba'r-skin with a jug of corn licker at his elbow-he says: 'Breckinridge, the sins of my youth is ridin' my conscience heavy. When I was a young man I was free and keerless in my habits, as numerous tombstones on the boundless prairies testifies. I sometimes wonders if I warn't a trifle hasty in shootin' some of the men which disagreed with my principles. Maybe I should of controlled my temper and just chawed their ears off. 'Take Uncle Esau Grimes, for instance.' And then pap hove a sigh like a bull, and took a drink, and said: 'I ain't seen Uncle Esau for years. Me and him parted with harsh words and gun-smoke. I've often wondered if he still holds a grudge against me for plantin' that charge of buckshot in his hind laig.'  

Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 - June 11, 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.