Edward Sylvester Ellis
Cowmen and Rustlers
A Story of the Wyoming Cattle Ranges
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066213091
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II. — A WARNING FROM THE WOODS.
CHAPTER III. — THE FLIGHT OVER THE ICE.
CHAPTER IV. — THE REPORT OF GUNS.
CHAPTER V. — LOOKING SOUTHWARD.
CHAPTER VI. — COWMEN AND RUSTLERS.
CHAPTER IX. — A SUMMONS AND A REPLY.
CHAPTER XI. — A STRANGE DIVERSION.
CHAPTER XII. — THE BACK TRAIL.
CHAPTER XIII. — A CONSULTATION.
CHAPTER XIV. — UNWELCOME CALLERS.
CHAPTER XV. — THE "DOG INDIANS."
CHAPTER XVI. — AN UNPLEASANT VISIT.
CHAPTER XVII. — A DELICATE SITUATION.
CHAPTER XVIII. — A MISCALCULATION.
CHAPTER XIX. — THE BURNED RANCH.
CHAPTER XXI. — A MESSENGER IN HASTE.
CHAPTER XXII. — IMPORTANT TIDINGS.
CHAPTER XXIV. — THE PRIMITIVE FORT.
CHAPTER XXV. — THE FLAG OF TRUCE.
CHAPTER XXVI. — THE UNDERGROUND MISSIVE.
CHAPTER XXVIII. — THE FINAL SUMMONS.
CHAPTER XXIX. — A STRANGE OCCURRENCE.
CHAPTER XXX. — THE MISSING ONE.
CHAPTER XXXI. — WHY IT WAS DONE.
CHAPTER XXXIII. — THE PRISONER.
CHAPTER XXXIV. — OUT IN THE NIGHT.
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,