{"product_id":"2940013289277","title":"COWMEN AND RUSTLERS","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I. A MERRY GROUP\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    II. A WARNING FROM THE WOODS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   III. THE FLIGHT OVER THE ICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IV. THE REPORT OF GUNS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     V. LOOKING SOUTHWARD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VI. COWMEN AND RUSTLERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   VII. THE WARNING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VIII. GOOD-BY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IX. A SUMMONS AND A REPLY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     X. A HOT PURSUIT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XI. A STRANGE DIVERSION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XII. THE BACK TRAIL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XIII. A CONSULTATION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XIV. UNWELCOME CALLERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XV. THE \"DOG INDIANS\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XVI. AN UNPLEASANT VISIT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XVII. A DELICATE SITUATION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XVIII. A MISCALCULATION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XIX. THE BURNED RANCH\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XX. THE TRUCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XXI. A MESSENGER IN HASTE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXII. IMPORTANT TIDINGS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XXIII. AT BAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXIV. THE PRIMITIVE FORT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XXV. THE FLAG or TRUCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXVI. THE UNDERGROUND MISSIVE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XXVII. ON PAROLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXXVIII. THE FINAL SUMMONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXIX. A STRANGE OCCURRENCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   XXX. THE MISSING ONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXXI. WHY IT WAS DONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XXXII. THE HOSTAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXXXIII. THE PRISONER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e XXXIV. OUT IN THE NIGHT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XXXV. CONCLUSION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA MERRY GROUP.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Whitney household, in the western part of Maine, was filled with\u003cbr\u003esunshine, merriment and delight, on a certain winter evening a few\u003cbr\u003eyears ago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was the quiet, thoughtful mother, now past her prime, but with\u003cbr\u003emany traces of the beauty and refinement that made her the belle\u003cbr\u003eof the little country town until Hugh Whitney, the strong-bearded\u003cbr\u003esoldier, who had entered the war as private and emerged therefrom\u003cbr\u003ewith several wounds and with the eagles of a colonel on his shoulder,\u003cbr\u003ecarried her away from all admirers and made her his bride.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHugh had been absent a couple of weeks in Montana and Wyoming, whither\u003cbr\u003ehe was drawn by a yearning of many years' standing to engage in the\u003cbr\u003ecattle business. He had received some tuition as a cowboy on the\u003cbr\u003eLlano Estacada, and the taste there acquired of the free, wild life,\u003cbr\u003esupplemented, doubtless, by his experience during the war, was held in\u003cbr\u003erestraint for a time only by his marriage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe absence of the father was the only element lacking to make the\u003cbr\u003ehousehold one of the happiest in that section of Maine; but the letter\u003cbr\u003ejust received from him was so cheerful and affectionate that it added\u003cbr\u003eto the enjoyment of the family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe two principal factors in this jollity were the twins and only\u003cbr\u003echildren, Fred and Jennie, seventeen on their last birthday, each\u003cbr\u003ethe picture of health, bounding spirits, love and devotion to\u003cbr\u003etheir parents and to one another. They had been the life of the\u003cbr\u003esleighing-parties and social gatherings, where the beauty of the\u003cbr\u003ebudding Jennie attracted as much admiration as did that of her mother\u003cbr\u003ea score of years before, but the girl was too young to care for any\u003cbr\u003eof the ardent swains who were ready to wrangle for the privilege of a\u003cbr\u003esmile or encouraging word. Like a good and true daughter she had no\u003cbr\u003esecrets from her mother, and when that excellent parent said, with a\u003cbr\u003emeaning smile, \"Wait a few years, Jennie,\" the girl willingly promised\u003cbr\u003eto do as she wished in that as in every other respect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFred was home for the Christmas holidays, and brought with him\u003cbr\u003eMonteith Sterry, one year his senior. Sterry lived in Boston, where he\u003cbr\u003eand Fred Whitney were classmates and warm friends. Young Whitney had\u003cbr\u003espent several Sundays with Sterry, and the latter finally accepted the\u003cbr\u003einvitation to visit him at his home down in Maine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese two young men, materially aided by Jennie, speedily turned the\u003cbr\u003ehouse topsy-turvy. There was no resisting their overrunning spirits,\u003cbr\u003ethough now and then the mother ventured on a mild protest, but the\u003cbr\u003esmile which always accompanied the gentle reproof betrayed the truth,\u003cbr\u003ethat she was as happy as they in their merriment, with which she would\u003cbr\u003enot have interfered for the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat night the full, round moon shone from an unclouded sky, and the\u003cbr\u003eair was crisp and clear. There was not much snow on the ground, and\u003cbr\u003ethe ice on the little river at the rear of the house was as smooth as\u003cbr\u003ea polished window-pane. For nearly two score miles this current,\u003cbr\u003ewhich eventually found its way into the Penobscot, wound through the\u003cbr\u003eleafless woods, past an occasional opening, where, perhaps, the humble\u003cbr\u003ecabin of some backwoodsman stood.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47171245375728,"sku":"2940013289277","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013289277_p0.jpg?v=1763579239","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013289277","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}