The Pony Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers | Page 4

that
the young men took in the long cattle drive, with its stampedes, the
fording of swollen rivers, the games of the cowboys and the tricks of
the cattle thieves, is related in that second volume. How the boys
improved their shooting and mastered the details of that fascinating
sport of handling the lariat are all familiar to our readers.
In "The Pony Rider Boys in Montana" is told the story of the long and
exciting ride over the old Custer Trail, famous in the tragic annals of
our earlier days of Indian fighting. Here the boys found themselves
drawn into the life of the sheep men, on those great ranges where the
sheep men must still defend themselves from the prejudices, and
sometimes from the extreme violence, of the cattle men. It was in this
connection that Tad Butler and his friends discovered leading clues in
the great conspiracy of certain cattle men against the prosperity and
safety of the sheep men. This state of affairs led finally to an angry
battle, at which the boys were present. Then, too, our readers all recall
Tad Butler's capture by the Blackfeet Indians, and all that befell him
ere he succeeded in escaping to his friends.
The next stage of adventures took our lads somewhat further east, as
told in "The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks." It was a thrilling,
desperate time when the boys, with their ponies stolen, found
themselves facing actual starvation in the wilds. Tad Butler's perilous
trip for assistance is bound to bring throbs of recollection to every
reader of that volume. The imprisonment of the youngsters in a mine,
following a big explosion, formed another interesting scene in the
narrative brought forth in that fourth volume of the series. It was here
that Chunky, as our readers know, displayed the splendid stuff that

lurked under his odd exterior and behind his sometimes queer manners.
How, in escaping from the mine, the Pony Rider Boys penetrated a
mystery that had disquieted the dwellers near the Ozarks for a long
time, was one of the most interesting features of the tale.
But such strenuous life proves the mettle of the right kind of young
Americans. So, far from being discouraged, or sighing for the comforts
of home, we next find our lads in Nevada, as related in "The Pony
Rider Boys on the Alkali." Here they left grass behind for the glaring
discomforts of the baked desert lands, where severe thirst was one of
the least yet most constant perils. Roving from water hole to water hole,
finding them all gone dry, nearly drove the youngsters mad. Then, too,
the fight with the mad hermit, who seemed a part of the life of that
bleak desert, helped to accustom the boys to the strenuous life of daily
danger.
As our readers will recall, it was in the next volume, "The Pony Rider
Boys in New Mexico," that the author described the events surrounding
the first real acquaintance that our lads formed with the little that is left
of the savage Indian to-day. It was here, too, that they beheld the fire
dance of the Saboba Indians in all its ancient fury. The adventures of
the young horsemen at this point became fast and furious. Between
prairie fire and fight they had the most exciting time of their lives.
Later, after a rest at home, as described in "The Pony Rider Boys in the
Grand Canyon," the boys visited the wonderful region of the Colorado.
Here, as our readers will recollect, the lads were cut off from their trail
by the falling of great masses of rock during a fierce storm. Apparently
the boys were doomed to remain helpless on a narrow shelf of rock; our
readers recall how Tad Butler, at the risk of his life, spent hours in the
attempt to get them out of their dangerous situation. The mysterious
circumstances that followed the boys all the way along on their journey
through the great canyon form a most remarkable series of events.
Now, from Arizona, Tad and his friends had journeyed onward and into
the Lone Star State. Here they looked forward only to a long, healthful
ride, full of pleasures, yet devoid of anything like sensational
excitement. Yet one never knows what the day may bring forth, and

these young travelers of ours, though they did not suspect it, were on
the threshold of the most exciting experiences that had yet befallen
them. The blue mountain ridge in the near distance was teeming with
the story that was to unfold before them. So far the ride had been lonely.
Of late rarely had they come in sight of a building of any sort, for this
part of the state was but sparsely settled. To meet a