Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

14 The Tenderfoot. identical beast that suddenly leaped from his covert and made a desperate dash for the lad. Perhaps young Lee had played the national game of baseball at college, but certainly he never swung a bat with truer aim than when his cudgel whistled through space, to meet the springing brute in mid-. air. | It was a center-shot, deserving of a “home-run”—' the momentum acquired by the gray poacher in his forward leap was entirely overcome, and more than that his body received such an impetus that he was sent whirling into the fire, from which he immedi- ately sprang, amid a shower of sparks, a_badly- singed but possibly wiser wolf. So far as it went this was good enough; and had he been given a fair chance the youngster felt he could hold his own against the gray hosts, treating each in turn to the same dose of medicine. It chanced unfortunately, that his assailants had views of their own in the matter, which conflicted sadly with his own. Encouraged by the attack of their savage leader, and evidently in no wise deterred by his dolorous fate, the rest of the bunch made a concerted rush toward the object of their hate. It was the crisis. : The lad saw numerous gray bodies rising into view. He could detect glowing orbs and even the gaping red jaws which held two rows each of cruel, white teeth already whetted for their feast. : Hardly was he given time to recover and assume a position of defense when the hungry beasts were upon him. He struck out manfully, with a _ desperation nerved by despair, and sent a couple of his four-footed ene- mies tumbling over each other, yelping and snarling as they tossed about; but a third pounced upon his comiclooolks.com