{"product_id":"2940013599314","title":"The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali OR Finding a Key to the Desert Maze","description":"CHAPTER.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I.  THE DESERT'S MYSTIC SPELL\u003cbr\u003e    II.  THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP\u003cbr\u003e   III.  TWISTED BY A TWISTER\u003cbr\u003e    IV.  THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE\u003cbr\u003e     V.  STALKING BIG GAME BY MOONLIGHT\u003cbr\u003e    VI.  BAGGED BY LUCKY SHOTS\u003cbr\u003e   VII.  CHUNKY COMES TO GRIEF\u003cbr\u003e  VIII.  NEARLY DROWNED IN AN ALKALI SINK\u003cbr\u003e    IX.  THE BOYS DISCOVER A RIVER\u003cbr\u003e     X.  A COWBOY TAKES A HEADER\u003cbr\u003e    XI.  A PIECE OF HUMAN SANDPAPER\u003cbr\u003e   XII.  RUNNING DOWN THE TRAIL\u003cbr\u003e  XIII.  COYOTES JOIN IN THE CHORUS\u003cbr\u003e   XIV.  FUN IN THE FOOTHILLS\u003cbr\u003e    XV.  BUD PROMISES SOME EXCITEMENT\u003cbr\u003e   XVI.  THE BATTLE OF THE STALLIONS\u003cbr\u003e  XVII.  ON A WILD-HORSE HUNT\u003cbr\u003e XVIII.  ROPED BY ROUGH RIDERS\u003cbr\u003e   XIX.  WINNING THEIR REWARD\u003cbr\u003e    XX.  VISITED BY A HALO\u003cbr\u003e   XXI.  OFF ON A DRY TRAIL\u003cbr\u003e  XXII.  IN THE HERMIT'S CAVE\u003cbr\u003e XXIII.  LOST IN THE DESERT MAZE\u003cbr\u003e  XXIV.  CONCLUSION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DESERT'S MYSTIC SPELL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If this is the desert, then I think I prefer mountains,\" decided Stacy\u003cbr\u003eBrown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is not the desert.  We have not reached it yet.  This is the\u003cbr\u003eDiamond Range,\" replied Tom Parry, who was to guide the Pony Rider Boys\u003cbr\u003eacross the great Nevada Desert.  \"We shall soon be there, however.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You'll know the place when you see it, Chunky,\" said Ned Rector.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And feel it, too, I guess,\" added Tad Butler under his breath.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We have the desert on each side of us now,\" continued the guide.\u003cbr\u003e\"Were you to fire a rifle to the right or left, your bullet would fall\u003cbr\u003eon the baking alkali of the desert.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Then, if we're so near, why not get out in the open, instead of\u003cbr\u003efloundering through these hills?\" questioned Stacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm thinking you'll wish you were back in the hills before many days,\"\u003cbr\u003elaughed the guide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mr. Parry has his own reasons for following this trail, Master Stacy,\"\u003cbr\u003einterposed Professor Zepplin.  \"We are entirely in his hands and it is\u003cbr\u003enot for us to question the wisdom of his decision.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe guide nodded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParry was a splendid type of the plainsman of the great West.  Tall,\u003cbr\u003estraight, clear-eyed, his bronzed cheeks fairly glistening in the\u003cbr\u003esunlight, he would have attracted attention anywhere.  At present, he\u003cbr\u003esat on his pony motionless, the broad sombrero tilted upward above his\u003cbr\u003eforehead as he peered into the amber haze that hung over the western\u003cbr\u003ehorizon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, we shall reach the desert soon enough.  We are heading for the\u003cbr\u003eNewark Valley now, and should be there in time to make camp this\u003cbr\u003eafternoon, providing the weather is satisfactory,\" announced Parry,\u003cbr\u003emore to himself than to the others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Weather--weather?\" stammered Professor Zepplin.  \"What's the matter\u003cbr\u003ewith the weather?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"One hundred in the shade.  Isn't that matter enough?\" grunted Stacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How do you know, Chunky?  You haven't seen any shade to-day,\" demanded\u003cbr\u003eNed Rector.  \"There isn't a patch of shade as large as a man's hand in\u003cbr\u003ethis whole country, so far as I have been able to observe.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And still less in the country we are about to enter,\" added the guide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTad Butler, however, had been observing the guide keenly.  Though the\u003cbr\u003elad had asked no questions, he had caught a note of anxiety in the\u003cbr\u003etone, as well as in the apprehensive glances that Parry kept\u003cbr\u003econtinually casting to the westward.  The guide, catching Tad's\u003cbr\u003einquiring look, smiled and nodded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You should always keep your eyes on the weather in this country,\u003cbr\u003eespecially when on the alkali,\" he told the boy after the party had\u003cbr\u003estarted on again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Why more there than elsewhere, Mr. Parry?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Because storms here are frequently attended with no little peril.\u003cbr\u003eYou'll see some of them, no doubt, before we reach the end of our\u003cbr\u003ejourney, and you will wish you hadn't.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But there's no sign of storm now,\" protested Tad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps not to you, young man.  Do you see that haze settling down\u003cbr\u003elike a fog on the western horizon?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, I've been looking at it--a golden fog.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe guide smiled grimly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wouldn't call it exactly golden.  I should call it fiery,\" said the\u003cbr\u003eguide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Has it any particular meaning?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"May mean most anything.  Means storm of some kind--perhaps rain, and\u003cbr\u003emaybe wind.  If it passes, we'll drop out of here and make camp on the\u003cbr\u003edesert to-night.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That will be fine,\" said Tad.  \"We are all crazy for the desert.\u003cbr\u003eSince we started out on our trips, last spring, we have experienced\u003cbr\u003ealmost everything that could happen to us on mountain and plain----\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But not including the desert?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You'll find it different; very different.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145756262640,"sku":"2940013599314","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013599314_p0.jpg?v=1763582857","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013599314","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}