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THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER
"DICK PUSHED HIS RIFLE-BARREL THROUGH A CREVICE IN THEROCKS."]
The Trail of The Badger
_A STORY OF THE COLORADO BORDER THIRTY YEARS AGO_
BYSIDFORD F. HAMP
_Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen,""The Boys of Crawford's Basin," etc._
ILLUSTRATED BYCHASE EMERSON
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W. A. WILDE COMPANYBOSTON CHICAGO
_Copyrighted, 1908_ BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY _All rights reserved_
THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER
PREFACE
In writing the adventures of the boys who followed "The Trail of theBadger" down into that part of Colorado where the fringes of twodiscordant civilizations overlapped each other--the strenuousAnglo-Saxon and the easygoing Mexican--the author has endeavored to showhow two healthy, enterprising young fellows were able to do their littlepart in that great work of Desert Reclamation whose importance is now aswell understood by the general public as it always has been by thosewhose lot has been cast to the west of meridian one hundred and five.
To some it may appear that the boys are ahead of their time, but to theauthor, whose introduction to "the arid region" dates back thirty yearsand more, remembering the conditions then prevailing, it seems no morethan natural that they should recognize the unusual opportunitypresented to them of making a career for themselves, and even that theyshould be dimly conscious of the fact that if they "could make two earsof corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground whereonly one grew before" they would be deserving well of the infantcommunity of which they formed a part.
That in making this attempt they would meet with adventures--in fact,that they could hardly avoid them--the author, recalling his ownexperiences in that country at that time, feels well assured.
CONTENTS
I. DICK STANLEY 11
II. SHEEP AND CINNAMON 32
III. THE MESCALERO VALLEY 51
IV. RACING THE STORM 68
V. HOW DICK BROUGHT THE NEWS 87
VI. THE PROFESSOR'S STORY 102
VII. DICK'S DIPLOMACY 116
VIII. THE START 129
IX. ANTONIO MARTINEZ 147
X. THE PADRON 165
XI. THE SPANISH TRAIL 179
XII. THE BADGER 191
XIII. THE KING PHILIP MINE 203
XIV. A CHANGE OF PLAN 221
XV. DICK'S SNAP SHOT 241
XVI. THE OLD PUEBLO HEAD-GATE 259
XVII. THE BRIDGE 276
XVIII. THE BIG FLUME 294
XIX. PEDRO'S BOLD STROKE 313
XX. THE MEMORABLE TWENTY-NINTH 333
ILLUSTRATIONS
"Dick pushed his rifle-barrel through a crevice inthe rocks" (_Frontispiece_) 42
"It was a splendid chance; nobody could ask for abetter target" 57
"Passing on our way through the town of Mosby" 137
"Behind him, stood the squat figure of Pedro Sanchez" 213