Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 277: what you’re looking at

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

The Last Round-Up. 265 99 “old hen brooding over her chicks,” as he himself laughingly expressed it. They were doubly dear to him after having gone through such peril. By degrees, Karl learned from Mr. Kelly just how it came about that the cowboys were near the village at the time of the stampede, and guessed so well how affairs lay that they followed the fugi- tives in post haste. Old Sile had taken his party into the place by means of a roundabout way, so that when they finally came upon the outcasts’ settlement it was from the north, exactly opposite to that point where the boys’ advance was made. When the stampede occurred, Old Sile was in the village scouting about. He had seen Polly go to the spring, swinging her pail; had watched her van- ish beyond, and even detected the presence of some- one who met her. The old ranger was capable of grasping thsi that were in his line, and he started back to join his comrades with the information that some one, pre- sumably Karl, had been before them, and that the girl was already in full flight. Then came the wild stampede that caused Old Sile to chuckle. Well did he know what meaning could be attached to such a confused uproar. The Indian whoops puzzled him a little, but he never once lost faith in the notion that Karl was the leading spirit in the game. Although they had seen the three flying figures ahead, they had not been able to make sure of their identity, which was the chief reason why they main- tained silence up to the time our boys took to the stone fort. It had all ended well. Looking back and seeing how many chances there were for a slip in the programme, Karl was satisfied comiclooks C©