Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 40: what you’re looking at

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

34 Wild Life on the Ranch. It was a clear night, and a young moon hung in the western sky, giving a tender light, just enough to see some little distance. The previous night it had rained and Cuthbert was soaked through when he came into camp, so that he felt in a mood to fully enjoy the delights of this occasion. It was about this time he began to discover that the sheep showed signs of restlessness—the ewes with their young lambs crowded to leeward while the old rams sniffed the air, and pawed the soil in a defiant manner. “There isn’t the faintest sign of a coming storm, and I bet the danger lies in some four-footed beast, hungry for spring lamb,” he concluded. He kept as cool as was possible under the con- ditions, though conscious of the fact that his heart was beating like a trip-hammer; and remembering the explicit instructions given by Karl, began to creep to windward, as it was evident the alarm came from that quarter. Eagerly he strained his eyes to detect any moving creature, and his Winchester was held in readiness for instant use. There had been some pretty wild talk among the riders of the X bar X outfit, belonging to Kelly’s ranch, of Indians away from their reservations and driving off herds from the most isolated grazing quarters, which news was circulated through herders and cowboys belonging to other camps. Hence, under such circumstances it was not singular that the tenderfoot, as yet unable to dis-. tinguish the difference in signs of danger, should let imagination run riot in his brain, and picture a gang of thieving Sioux creping up to stampede his flock. This bare possibility was not a pleasant out- look, but the greenhorn was game all the way through, and did not flinch from the task set before — him. comicloolks.c©