Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

44 Wild Life on the Ranch. Karl tried to explain that they had been “sent there for safety.” Old Sile scarcely heard, or if he did he took no notice—only continued in the same certain tone: “Fellers passed here two hours ago. Humph! Indian pony ridden by a lida cae girl—by gum, a prisoner!’ This was spoken with utter confidence by the vet- eran and accepted as gospel by the men, which made Cuthbert stare in wonder. By what wizard legerdemain he discovered these facts Cuthbert could not even guess, but he knew something of the wonderful skill shown by such plainsmen in reading “sign;’ and the deductions aroused by a bent twig, a footprint in the prairie mold or shred of dress goods caught upon a cac- tus thorn would give points to even Conan Doyle’s famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps the Sioux had raided a freighter’s camp, or overwhelmed some daring pilgrim who had, with his family, set out unguarded to reach the new mines of the Black Hills. | Karl and Cuthbert were the only ones who took the least interest in the matter, for the others were figuring solely upon the chances of victory in case they fell in with the cattle thieves, and whether their thatch or scalp would, as a result, adorn the tepee of a Sioux brave. They must speedily know the worst, for they were rapidly rounding up to that portion of the range known to be used by the big bunch of cattle that Kelly had handed over to their attention. Karl, who knew something about such matters, attempted to coach his friend as they madly rode along side by side, but it was unusually hard work talking under such circumstances, and, after all, much must be left to the sagacity and intelligence Connicloooks CO