Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 118: what you’re looking at

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

110 Horse Thieves. head again and surveyed the peaceful scene on the other side of the miniature divide. How long would this quiet of the night, this peacefulness remain unbroken—at any minute, the hideous yells of the savage horse raiders might break forth upon the air, stampeding the already alarmed horses and playing all manner of mischief with their charges. Nothing now must stand in the way of his arous- ing Karl, and seeking his advice—even the thought of his cheery presence gave the other new confi- dence in the outcome. Together, side by side, and mounted on their good steeds, they might be able to circumvent the auda- cious rascals who sought to secure what was so valu- able in the eyes of an Indian—ponies. One last look toward the distant objects that had so excited his alarm, as if to assure himself against any possible mistake, and he would be off for the camp. | Again he strained his vision to make positive, all unconscious of the fact that even while on his knees upon this swell he rendered his figure a conspicuous object to several pairs of keen eyes close by. A form, dark and lithe, with movements as sinewy as those of a panther, arose silently out of the grass to one side of Cuthbert and only a short rope’s throw away. At the same time other heads appeared in various quarters, showing that the knoll had been peopled at the time of his advent on the scene, so that it was a mere matter of luck that Cuthbert had failed to stumble upon one of the flattened-out figures. That might have hastened events somewhat, but could hardly have made any appreciable difference in the ultimate outcome. The first Indian stood erect—he seemed to whirl Connicloooks.€©