The Young Ranchers

The death of the faithful messenger.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Danger Ahead
CHAPTER II. The Voiceless Friend
CHAPTER III. Companions in Peril
CHAPTER IV. Tim Brophy's Discovery
CHAPTER V. Leaving the Ranch
CHAPTER VI. "Timothy Brophy, Esq., at your Service"
CHAPTER VII. Stirring Times
CHAPTER VIII. Starcus
CHAPTER IX. On the Bank of a Stream
CHAPTER X. Bent Arm and His Band
CHAPTER XI. At Bay
CHAPTER XII. Facing Westward
CHAPTER XIII. In the Fringe of the Woods
CHAPTER XIV. Turned Back
CHAPTER XV. Missing
CHAPTER XVI. A Thief of the Night
CHAPTER XVII. Through the Wood
CHAPTER XVIII. Night and Morning
CHAPTER XIX. A Startling Surprise
CHAPTER XX. A Run for Life
CHAPTER XXI. Away We Go!
CHAPTER XXII. On Foot
CHAPTER XXIII. Down!
CHAPTER XXIV. The Friend in Need
CHAPTER XXV. The Prairie Duel
CHAPTER XXVI. On the Ground
CHAPTER XXVII. A Good Samaritan
CHAPTER XXVIII. The Lone Horseman
CHAPTER XXIX. A Break for Freedom
CHAPTER XXX. Comrades Again
CHAPTER XXXI. The Last Hope
CHAPTER XXXII. Away! Away!
CHAPTER XXXIII. Bread Cast upon the Waters

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The death of the faithful messenger.

A hot pursuit.

Tim's fortunate shot.

The death of the Indian.

OR,

FIGHTING THE SIOUX.

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.