Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 235: what you’re looking at

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

The Raid on the Bad Lands. 223 gold to them if they kept her a prisoner. Some careless boast on the part of the kidnapper must have given them a clew which led to this result. At any rate, it was a keen disappointment to our Karl, who, when he found there might be only old Jasper to deal with had indulged in high hopes of coping with the emergency, and now saw these am- bitions telescoped. This was his first trip to the Bad Lands. As a usual thing honest men avoided this noted section of the country. | It held forth little inducements for a visit, and there must always be a certain amount of danger connected with such a journey, since it afforded a secure asylum for the desperate characters who had been driven out of the border settlements and min- ing camps, not to say occasional Indians away from their reservations and looking for trouble. Little Buckshot had been here when upon some of the forays in which he had indulged previous to his change of heart toward the palefaces, brought about by his rescue in the blizzard by the two white boys. He knew the wild country well. Even Old Sile could hardly have given him points in this connection. The day was almost spent. They were making slow progress, for several good reasons. In the first place, their ponies had covered many miles since early dawn, and really needed a chance to recuperate; then, again, according to the Indian, they had now drawn near their journey’s end and would have to exercise considerable caution lest their presence become known in the stronghold of the outcasts, a calamity that could not but work to their disadvantage. “Watch trail,” said Little Buckshot, suddenly. Karl peered down at the tracks. “Nothing new here,” he said. “No mean that. Keep tally. Un’stand?” Comicloe® ‘cS C©