Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 197: what you’re looking at

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

The Gray-Coated Pirate. 185 Cuthbert and Karl picked out a soft spot on which to throw their blankets. Long they lay there, chatting in low tones. It was a great treat to the boy who had been so long isolated from his friends, to be there at ease and exchange confidences with the lad who was dearer to him than a brother. The night wind stirred the leaves overhead, the camp fire burned low, here and there a cowboy lay in his blanket, breathing hard in slumber, and ever and anon came the regular noises of the night, the strident burr of the cricket, sharper notes of katy- dids, the croaking of frogs, with the more distant barking of prairie dogs, of coyotes and howling of wolves. Once Karl caught a sound that started him up to a sitting posture. “That was a panther?” said Cuthbert, in the form of an inquiry. “Yes, and a jim-dandy, too, I reckon.” The two boys looked at each other. Long before, Cuthbert had expressed a hope that fortune might be kind enough to permit him to se- cure a good panther skin to take East when he mi- grated. The same thought came to each mind—was this the golden opportunity ? would they dare venture to stalk the terror of the American forest in his hunting grounds? Youth is ever impetuous—reckless, if you will. These lads would have been much wiser, no doubt, had they let the gray beast alone, and, turning over upon their blankets, wooed the gentle goddess of slumber. But it seemed to their minds as though the re- peated scream of this old jay-hawker might be a challenge to come out and meet him. Both boys were uneasy. cComiclooks C©