On the Trail of Geronimo — page 77: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE TRAIL OF GERONIMO. 69 , CHAPTER IX. GERONIMO. THE torch thrown by the Apache, after striking the snout of the grizzly, dropped into the inclosure where Lieutenant Whitcomb was kneeling and on the very point of opening fire on the animal. Without stopping to think of the risk of the act, Dick seized the flaming brand and flung it after the retreating beast. The warriors could not fail to notice the strange occurrence, and must have sus- pected the cause, but for the moment they were so occupied with the huge game that they gave no attention to it. The torch, however, had hardly left the hand of the youth, when he realized the mistake he had made. Without hesitation he scrambled from the peculiar refuge and hastened from the spot. In the flurry of the moment, he did not forget that his true course was to pass by the camp fire, with a view of finding the way out of the gorge into which he had followed the ruined stage. COMnniclooo (CO)