Category: Historical Novels

A Fortune Hunter; Or, The Old Stone Corral: A Tale of the Santa Fe Trail

Breakfast on the Plains--Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--Bruce Walraven's Creed--Blood-drenched Malvern Hill--The Dim Crest of Orizaba--Roses and Thorns--The Wealth of Monteluma--A Cask of Gold--The Casket of Gems--The Overland Journey--A Dark Tragedy 29

Chapters

41. Chapter XX.

"My boy, it is a sad day for us all when you leave the home nest. We shall miss you more than I can express," said the colonel at length. "Ah! I had hoped to see you settled nea...

40. Chapter XIX.

A pouring rain from a vapor-laden sky, dull and gray, saluted Clifford the next morning with a chill welcome; but still the general gloom that pervaded all nature was in such pe...

34. Chapter XIII.

"My boy, you are far from well, I fear! This first day of harvest will be quite hard on all of us; the day promises to be hot and sultry; so perhaps you had better rest in-doors...

24. Chapter III.

The morning of that Sabbath broke calm and serene. A warm haze brooded over the valley or danced in lines of quivering heat across the green prairies of the upland, and the dew...

39. Chapter XVIII.

In the cool of the following evening we find Clifford swinging dreamily in a hammock on the porch, while near by is ever-busy Maud, preparing a basket of martynias for the pickl...

31. Chapter X.

One delightful day in June the Warlow and Moreland families, or the younger members of those households, attended a picnic which was held in a grove on the river seven miles bel...

32. Chapter XI.

On a clear, serene Sabbath following the picnic, Miss Estill and Hugh rode up to Squire Moreland's, excusing the call on that holy day by saying that they were too busy to spare...

33. Chapter XII.

The week which followed brought sad tidings to the Warlow family. A black-bordered letter came, bearing the post-mark of San Francisco; but before it was opened the family knew...

35. Chapter XIV.

Early next morning Clifford rode away, on the pretext that he was going to buy cattle of a ranchman in the next county; but his absence was mainly owing to the fact that he susp...

26. Chapter V.

"Well, I certainly could not have suffered more in the same time if I had been," said he with a grim smile. "But just when I had given up all hope, and thought my lungs would bu...

29. Chapter VIII.

Those were busy days which followed--days all too short for the years of labor that loomed so drearily before the pioneers; but they set to work bravely, plowing, building, and...

22. Chapter I.

The sinking sun threw its amber beams over the wide valley, rolling hills, and the dim buttes, wreathed in the blue haze of distance and looming with vague outlines in the waver...

23. Chapter II.

"It was before Vera Cruz--when our ranks were swept by the iron hail, rained upon our storming columns by scores of cannon from San Juan de Ulloa--that I first saw Bruce Walrave...

25. Chapter IV.

"The blow was followed by unconsciousness, and when I awoke, as it were, from a long and fevered sleep, I was seated in an easy-chair on a shaded veranda, and before me stretche...

36. Chapter XV.

"Why should they have given 'her' the name which was on the locket? and who was the mysterious female that never had learned of the tragical circumstance?" said Maud, with a puz...

38. Chapter XVII.

Maud and Rob met Clifford at the gate, and as he passed under the latticed arch where the trumpet-vine clambered with succulent ambition, its sprays of flame-red bugles mottled...

27. Chapter VI.

"Our ship touched at Havana, and in company with several other passengers, who lived in the Mississippi Valley, I decided to stop here until a vessel sailed for New Orleans, whi...

30. Chapter IX.

But when they thought of the wide valley and the vast quantity of water necessary to raise one foot after the river left its banks, they dismissed the thought of danger, and ret...

37. Chapter XVI.

"Oh! they were murdered by the wild hunter,--and this is all that remains to tell the fate of our father's friends," cried Maud, tearfully. "But do you think, Clifford--" She pa...

28. Chapter VII.

An hour later the party sat under the drooping boughs of an elm, near thickets of snowy elder and blooming wild-roses, which filled all the air with their delicious fragrance; t...

42. Chapter XXI.

An hour later found the Warlow family at the foot of Antelope Butte, whither they had all driven to make a search for--what they shrank from saying. They had been there only a s...

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

The Course of True Love--The Cattle-king's Daughter--Flirtation and Practicing--"Your Music makes me Home-sick"--A Dubious Compliment--A Western View of Classic Music--Schubert'...

20. CHAPTER XX.

My Long-lost Gold--A Hero who dripped at the Nose like a Hydrant--An Embarrassment of Riches--The Mirage--The Valley of the Smoky Hill--The Iron Mound and Soldier's Cap--The Men...

19. CHAPTER XIX.

A Strange Theory--Our Bodies may be tenanted by Souls that have lived before--Farewell, my Native Land--A Glimmering Circle of Phantom Warriors--A Haunted Spot--The Crossing of...

6. CHAPTER VI.

Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--The Tropical Groves of Cuba--The Coffee Plantation--A Blooming Christmas--The Tomb of Columbus--The Roses and Passion-flowers of Cuba--The Warm...

10. CHAPTER X.

The Picnic--A Biled Vest--A Dark-eyed Maid with her Sweet Guitar--Mora Estill--Fishing, etc., but Principally the Latter--"We have met before"--The Gray Spectre--The Mystery-wra...

3. CHAPTER III.

Breakfast on the Plains--Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--Bruce Walraven's Creed--Blood-drenched Malvern Hill--The Dim Crest of Orizaba--Roses and Thorns--The Wealth of Montelu...

13. CHAPTER XIII.

21. CHAPTER XXI.

1. CHAPTER I.

8. CHAPTER VIII.

12. CHAPTER XII.

14. CHAPTER XIV.

7. CHAPTER VII.

2. CHAPTER II.

4. CHAPTER IV.

5. CHAPTER V.

11. CHAPTER XI.

15. CHAPTER XV.

16. CHAPTER XVI.

17. CHAPTER XVII.

9. CHAPTER IX.