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  CATTLE RANCH TO COLLEGE.

  A XXX BUNCH. (_Page 290._)]

  CATTLE-RANCH TO COLLEGE

  THE TRUE TALE OF A BOY'S ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST

  BY

  RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY

  "A GUNNER ABOARD THE YANKEE"

  NEW YORKDOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CoMDCCCXCIX

  COPYRIGHT, 1899, BYDOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO

  TO MY MOTHER,KINDLY CRITIC, COUNSELLOR, AND FRIEND,THIS BOOK ISAFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

  PREFACE.

  This is a true tale of a boy's life in the West twenty-five years ago.It is an account of his amusements, his trials, his work, his play. Theincidents described actually happened and are described substantially as"the boy" related them to the writer.

  The "wild and woolly" West is fast vanishing, and a great deal of theadventurous life is going with it. Buffalo hunts are things of the past;encounters with Indians that were experienced in the time of JohnWorth's boyhood are now happily very rare; railroads have penetrated thecattle country, and vast herds of cattle are no longer driven longdistances to the shipping point, so that the consequent danger,hardship, and excitement are largely done away with.

  In places the great prairies have been fenced, in others grain growswhere heretofore only buffalo, cattle, and horses ranged, and much ofthe free, wild life of the cowboy, the ranchman, and the miner is gonefor all time.

  It is hoped that this book will be of interest, not because of itsnovelty but of its truthfulness. The author feels that the story of aboy who has passed through the stern training of a frontier life to anhonorable place in an Eastern university will be acceptable to boysyoung and old.

  CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. AN INDIAN ATTACK 1

  II. THE YOUNG BRAVE'S DARING 20

  III. A NARROW ESCAPE 36

  IV. HITTING THE TRAIL 54

  V. IN A MINING CAMP 73

  VI. A SNOWSHOE RACE 91

  VII. A BUFFALO HUNT 106

  VIII. A CLOSE FINISH 122

  IX. A "BAD MAN'S" END 140

  X. BATTLE ROYAL 157

  XI. A TRYING JOURNEY 177

  XII. A CHANGE OF SCENE 195

  XIII. HERDING HORSES AND PANNING GOLD 214

  XIV. A MIGRATION 229

  XV. "RANGE-RIDING" 245

  XVI. A BRONCHO BUSTER 261

  XVII. A COW-PUNCHER IN EARNEST 273

  XVIII. A MIDNIGHT STAMPEDE 289

  XIX. AN AWAKENING 304

  XX. A TRANSFORMATION 317

  XXI. TWELVE HUNDRED MILES AWHEEL TO COLLEGE 331