COWMEN AND RUSTLERS

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. A MERRY GROUP

II. A WARNING FROM THE WOODS

III. THE FLIGHT OVER THE ICE

IV. THE REPORT OF GUNS

V. LOOKING SOUTHWARD

VI. COWMEN AND RUSTLERS

VII. THE WARNING

VIII. GOOD-BY

IX. A SUMMONS AND A REPLY

X. A HOT PURSUIT

XI. A STRANGE DIVERSION

XII. THE BACK TRAIL

XIII. A CONSULTATION

XIV. UNWELCOME CALLERS

XV. THE "DOG INDIANS"

XVI. AN UNPLEASANT VISIT

XVII. A DELICATE SITUATION

XVIII. A MISCALCULATION

XIX. THE BURNED RANCH

XX. THE TRUCE

XXI. A MESSENGER IN HASTE

XXII. IMPORTANT TIDINGS

XXIII. AT BAY

XXIV. THE PRIMITIVE FORT

XXV. THE FLAG or TRUCE

XXVI. THE UNDERGROUND MISSIVE

XXVII. ON PAROLE

XXVIII. THE FINAL SUMMONS

XXIX. A STRANGE OCCURRENCE

XXX. THE MISSING ONE

XXXI. WHY IT WAS DONE

XXXII. THE HOSTAGE

XXXIII. THE PRISONER

XXXIV. OUT IN THE NIGHT

XXXV. CONCLUSION


CHAPTER I.

A MERRY GROUP.


The Whitney household, in the western part of Maine, was filled with
sunshine, merriment and delight, on a certain winter evening a few
years ago.

There was the quiet, thoughtful mother, now past her prime, but with
many traces of the beauty and refinement that made her the belle
of the little country town until Hugh Whitney, the strong-bearded
soldier, who had entered the war as private and emerged therefrom
with several wounds and with the eagles of a colonel on his shoulder,
carried her away from all admirers and made her his bride.

Hugh had been absent a couple of weeks in Montana and Wyoming, whither
he was drawn by a yearning of many years' standing to engage in the
cattle business. He had received some tuition as a cowboy on the
Llano Estacada, and the taste there acquired of the free, wild life,
supplemented, doubtless, by his experience during the war, was held in
restraint for a time only by his marriage.

The absence of the father was the only element lacking to make the
household one of the happiest in that section of Maine; but the letter
just received from him was so cheerful and affectionate that it added
to the enjoyment of the family.

The two principal factors in this jollity were the twins and only
children, Fred and Jennie, seventeen on their last birthday, each
the picture of health, bounding spirits, love and devotion to
their parents and to one another. They had been the life of the
sleighing-parties and social gatherings, where the beauty of the
budding Jennie attracted as much admiration as did that of her mother
a score of years before, but the girl was too young to care for any
of the ardent swains who were ready to wrangle for the privilege of a
smile or encouraging word. Like a good and true daughter she had no
secrets from her mother, and when that excellent parent said, with a
meaning smile, "Wait a few years, Jennie," the girl willingly promised
to do as she wished in that as in every other respect.

Fred was home for the Christmas holidays, and brought with him
Monteith Sterry, one year his senior. Sterry lived in Boston, where he
and Fred Whitney were classmates and warm friends. Young Whitney had
spent several Sundays with Sterry, and the latter finally accepted the
invitation to visit him at his home down in Maine.

These two young men, materially aided by Jennie, speedily turned the
house topsy-turvy. There was no resisting their overrunning spirits,
though now and then the mother ventured on a mild protest, but the
smile which always accompanied the gentle reproof betrayed the truth,
that she was as happy as they in their merriment, with which she would
not have interfered for the world.

That night the full, round moon shone from an unclouded sky, and the
air was crisp and clear. There was not much snow on the ground, and
the ice on the little river at the rear of the house was as smooth as
a polished window-pane. For nearly two score miles this current,
which eventually found its way into the Penobscot, wound through the
leafless woods, past an occasional opening, where, perhaps, the humble
cabin of some backwoodsman stood.