Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 180: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XIII. BRAVO! BUCKSKIN. Cuthbert could not refrain from turning in his seat and taking one backward look. The sight that met his eyes was stirring enough in all conscience; there were the Indians strung out in a series of little knots, each brave occupying a position in accordance with the ability of his cayuse, and belaboring the ponies with heels and fists in the endeavor to force them to greater exertions. Of course, the fleeing lad did not believe his life was in peril, since these warriors, knowing the value put upon him by the big chief would deem it their duty to carry him in triumph back to the village. All the same, the situation was exciting, and aroused anew in Cuthbert’s heart that desire for free- dom he had nourished secretly from the day he found himself a prisoner. He had great hopes in Buckskin; the faithful nag had never yet failed Karl, and there was good reason to believe he would exert himself quite as heartily in the favor of his master’s mate. To be sure, he was weary from an all-night gallop, _ but, while the Indian ponies were fresh, they carried loads of meat that, in addition to their riders, served to counteract this apparent advantage. The question, then, was an open one. When Cuthbert found he was holding his own fairly well, his spirits became more buoyant. There was, after all, a wild exhilaration in this mad ride, a something that made his whole frame tingle as if in contact with a galvanic battery—the cool morning air, the scented breeze blowing to his nos- trils, the well-remembered odors of his beloved CoOnniclooOokks.€©