Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 222: what you’re looking at

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

210 Where Karl Went. pression, the country being wonderfully well adapted for just such a system of tactics. There was the moon, beaming above, and the evening star shone softly in the west. Another phase of the chase was opened up. “Guess I’ve got to depend on my ears now,” he muttered; “moonshine is always a bit muddling, and even that won’t hold out long.” He felt reasonably sure the desperadoes would not make a halt for supper. They had but one de- sire at present, and this was to place just as much ground as possible between themselves and Sunset Ranch, knowing what a flurry the disappearance of little Polly would create, and how hot a pursuit must be instituted. All seemed to go well. The chase led almost in the teeth of a cool zephyr blowing out of the north, so that he was enabled to catch an occasional thump of horses’ hoofs when the cavalcade happened upon a patch of dry prairie harder than usual, while those he hunted being to windward had no such chance of detecting his near presence by sound. Buckskin was a gallant horse, as had been proven on numberless occasions, yet the pace began to tell | upon even him as the night drew on, with no let-up in the onward flight. He had already covered many miles the preced- ing day, and was hardly in a fit condition to hold his own with the fresh steeds ridden by Jasper and his allies. “Unless them fellers in front call a halt mighty soon,” said Karl, “I'll have to drop out of the race. Buckskin’s ’bout done up.” He had high hopes that they did not suspect his pursuit, strange as this might seem, for he felt sure they would have laid some sort of trap, by means of connicloockks.€©