Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 203: what you’re looking at

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

The Gray-Coated Pirate. 191 ently. Take the gun and look out. This fellow may have a mate near by,” Cuthbert said. But Karl was not worried over that chance; with) such a formidable weapon of defense it mattered little as to whether, there was one or half-a-dozen panthers in the timber. Finally Cuthbert felt himself again, and, as the beast had given his last kick, he went eagerly for- ward to survey his quarry. Any boy might well have been pardoned for feel- ing proud over such a trophy. Karl declared the panther to be the very largest he had ever seen, and even the oldest cowboy in the bunch confessed he had never, in a long experience, run across a mountain lion of such huge proportions. So that it was quite a feather in Cuthbert’s cap, of which he might well be proud. Then shouts were heard, to which they sent back answering whoops, and presently some of the cow- boys appeared on the scene, curious to know what measure of success fortune had meted out to the young hunters of big game. It was a proud moment for Cuthbert. But he would not soon forget the harrowing growls of the big cat, and the shock he received when the flying beast struck him a glancing clip. There was a black and blue spot on his left shoulder for some weeks afterward, as a reminder of the little adventure. That skin, together with the head, he hoped to take East with him later on as a memento of his life on the plains. Karl was up at daylight to skin the animal—Karl, who knew not what it was to spare himself when he could do something for others. If Standing Elk and his braves had come this far south in their search for the runaway, they did not discover themselves to the cowboy band from Connicloe® S C©)