THE YOUNG RANCHERS

CONTENTS.


I. DANGER AHEAD

II. THE VOICELESS FRIEND

III. COMPANIONS IN PERIL

IV. TIM BROPHY'S DISCOVERY

V. LEAVING THE RANCH

VI. "TIMOTHY BROPHY, ESQ., AT YOUR SERVICE"

VII. STIRRING TIMES

VIII. STARCUS

IX. ON THE BANK OF A STREAM

X. BENT ARM AND HIS BAND

XI. AT BAY

XII. FACING WESTWARD

XIII. IN THE FRINGE OF THE WOODS

XIV. TURNED BACK

XV. MISSING

XVI. A THIEF OF THE NIGHT

XVII. THROUGH THE WOOD

XVIII. NIGHT AND MORNING

XIX. A STARTLING SURPRISE

XX. A RUN FOR LIFE

XXI. AWAY WE GO!

XXII. ON FOOT

XXIII. DOWN!

XXIV. THE FRIEND IN NEED

XXV. THE PRAIRIE DUEL

XXVI. ON THE GROUND

XXVII. A GOOD SAMARITAN

XXVIII. THE LONE HORSEMAN

XXIX. A BREAK FOR FREEDOM

XXX. COMRADES AGAIN

XXXI. THE LAST HOPE

XXXII. AWAY! AWAY!

XXXIII. BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS



CHAPTER I.

DANGER AHEAD.


There was snow in the air. Warren Starr had felt it ever since meridian,
though not a flake had fallen, and the storm might be delayed for hours
yet to come. There was no mistaking the dull leaden sky, the chill in
the atmosphere, and that dark, increasing gloom which overspreads the
heavens at such times.

Young Warren was a fine specimen of the young hunter, though he had not
yet passed his nineteenth year. His home was in South Dakota, and he was
now on his return from Fort Meade, at the eastern foot of the Black
Hills, and had fully twenty miles to travel, though the sun was low in
the horizon, as he well knew, even if it was veiled by the snow vapor.

His father's ranch lay to the north of the Big Cheyenne, and the son was
familiar with every foot of the ground, having traversed it many a time,
not only on his visits to the fort, but in the numerous hunting
excursions of which he was so fond. He could have made the journey by
night, when no moon was in the sky, had there been need of doing so, but
he decided that it was better to give his pony the rest he required, and
to push on at an early hour the next morning. He had eaten nothing since
the noon halt, and his youth and vigor gave him a powerful appetite, but
he had learned long before that one of the first requisites of the
hunter is to learn to endure cold, heat, hunger, and hardship
unmurmuringly.