Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 221: what you’re looking at

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

Where Karl Went. 209 the saddle band at the time Cuthbert was taken prisoner were but two instances among quite a num- ber when he found himself forced to face danger at the hands of unscrupulous human beings. He believed it to be his duty to keep these riders in sight as long as possible, and make as broad a trail as he could for the cowboys to follow. True, the lawless spirits ahead might turn upon him, ready to visit summary punishment upon the daring lad who persisted in thus dogging their flight. All that he took into consideration, but it did not change his mind an iota. Of course, he did not expect to fight except if driven into the last ditch, but there were possibili- ties of effecting Polly’s escape that aroused great hope in his breast. The thing that worried him most of all was the ~ late hour. Night would soon fall upon the scene. True, there was a moon that might be of some assistance, but Karl, if given his choice, would have much preferred a day chase, after which those ahead might lie down, wearied with their long ride, and give him an opportunity to do a little strategy. They might escape him in the night. With dogged perseverance he meant to hang on as long as he could, risking even a bullet from some one among them who might be detailed to fall be- hind and make way with a pursuer who threatened to become troublesome. So the night fell. He had occasional glimpses of the band, and every time he counted them their number was intact. Whether they had discovered his pursuit or not he could not decide. There had been as yet no evi- dence of such a thing, and he used all possible pre- cautions to avoid it, sometimes hovering back of a rise until they had passed from sight in another de- cComiclbooks C©