Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 258: what you’re looking at

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

246 The Stampede. perfectly that even a suspicious ear might find trou- ble in discovering the cheat. This he did ere entering the corral, for he knew his appearance among the ponies, carrying the freshly-taken hide of the grizzly bear, carried for this very purpose, would send the animals, frenzied with fear, to the other end of the rocky stockade, where they must find the breach in the wall and go flying madly over the country beyond. Karl’s heart was almost in his throat as he heard the thrice-told hoot of the owl sound clearly upon the still night air. “Wonder if Polly’ll reply to that?” he questioned. “°*Tain’t likely, as Polly, tired out, will have fallen asleep.” In that case, as it occurred to Karl, the golden opportunity would be lost, unless one of the boys visited the hut and aroused Polly, for daylight would reveal to the denizens of the desert settlement what material damage had been done to their stockade, and their watchfulness would prevent a successful venture in a similar channel on the succeeding night. Crouching there, Karl kept his eyes glued upon the cabin in which he knew the girl belonged. : He never knew until then how long even seconds of time might be. “Polly,” he murmured. “Bless her sweet heart!’ Just as he had instructed her, the girl went to the bucket and with the dipper endeavored to secure a drink, as though seized with a thirst that would not be denied. Since there was not a drop in the pail to satisfy her demands, she took it up and made for the spring. Karl was trembling with excitement now—so much depended upon whether Polly were allowed to follow out her apparently natural and. innocent whim; but, so far as he could discover, no one else COMIC OoOkKS.EO