Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

12 The Tenderfoot. shadows marking the extreme limit of the firelight circle. Very hungry looking and cruel these eyes ap- peared, and obeying a sudden impulse, the beleag- uered boy snatched up a blazing stick and hurled it flaming and hissing in the quarter whence the alarm sprang. He had a fleeting glimpse of a dusky form slink- ing precipitately away, but his exultation was short, since other equally venomous orbs glared from new quarters. Evidently the wolves were closing in—inch by inch they shortened their circuit, gaining new courage constantly until at length, grown desperately bold, one would leap from cover, to be followed by the Teoh. The prospect was so appalling that even a full- fledged prairie hustler might have felt his nerves quiver with such a battle on his hands, and surely this Virginia lad, armed only with a stout heart, and a cudgel that must prove a mere mockery of defense, might easily be pardoned for experiencing deadly fear as he faced the situation. Help there was surely none, so that he need not waste his breath in vain shouts, save as they might serve to alarm the creeping beasts around his fire line. Indeed, if there existed human beings within five miles of his camp, the chances were about three to one they would turn out to be hostile Sioux Indians on the warpath, or worse still, some of the despera-. does who haunted the overland trail to the Black Hills, bent upon deeds of plunder in holding up stagecoaches or freighters’ caravans. Having about exhausted his slender resources in the matter of defense, the youngster firmly grasped his one weapon and with clenched teeth awaited the attack. Men of his house had met death bravely in comicloolks.con