Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 113: what you’re looking at

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

Horse Thieves. 105 Just how unfortunate this publication of his finan- cial responsibility might be Cuthbert did not realize until the results made themselves evident. It was a moonlight night, a delightful evening, and duty became a pleasure when it kept one in the open. Never had the scene appeared more beautiful to Cuthbert, whose soul was deeply grieved to reflect that he would soon have to leave it for the busy haunts of men and his old hopeless task, the search that had baffled his mother and already exhausted a year of his young life. A heavy weight appeared to depress him. He thought it was wholly occasioned by these sad re- flections, not dreaming that coming events might cast their shadow before. Karl endeavored, after his fashion, to cheer his friend up, but the “blues” hung heavy about Cuth- bert all evening, despite his earnest effort to dissi- pate the cloud. The boys took turns at sentry duty. It was watch and watch—three hours on and three off with them. Karl woke his friend at midnight, and after an exchange of a few sentences dropped among the blankets just vacated, for, with the advance of the night, a chill had crept into the air which made a snug nest most acceptable. “The horses are strangely uneasy,” Cuthbert thought, as he made his first round. He wondered why. The heavens were quite destitute of clouds, so that it could not be a storm brewing—indeed, by this time he had learned to foretell the coming of such a visitor as well as the most accomplished cow puncher, to whom the weather means so much, and the clear atmosphere had not the faintest sign of trouble from this source. cComiclooks C©