Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

Chased by a Prairie Fire. 21 the “bad men” of the border, who bow to no law save force. These things Karl kept in the background, believ- ing the other would in due time have experiences of his own that would introduce him to such scenes. Long they sat there. How changed everything seemed, now that he had a stanch and true comrade at his side! The blackness of the night was less fearsome, the soli- tude had no terrors, and he could even listen to the distant, long-drawn, melancholy howl of the fierce prairie wolf without a single quiver. At last Karl’s eyes began to close in spite of him- — self. “Guess I must be done up,” he said with a laugh. “It’s good to have somebody like you to talk to, but I’ve been riding since dawn and I reckon I’d go to sleep in the middle of my story if I started to tell you another.” “They'll keep, Karl,’ said Cuthbert. “I could listen to you all night, but I know you're pretty tired.” “That’s what Iam,” responded Karl. “Let’s turn in, then. Buckskin can bear us both in the morning; and trust him to run us up against the freighters’. 93 caravan on the But Karl’s tired eyelids slumbering fell, and stretching himself out at full length, he slept the sleep of the just. There seemed no reason why Cuthbert should not drop into sleep as easily as his wearied companion, but somehow time drifted on, and while his eyes were shut his brain was busy with a thousand thoughts. It was not the past so much as the future that en- gaged his mind, though there were a few things in his career that came up now and again to cause more or less anxiety. CoOmicdoo ‘S CO