Carlota of the rancho

Whereupon Carlota, not to be outdone in anything, promptly rolled her plump little person over the sward until its length lay along a lime-line running due east and west across...

Before they had ridden far, Carlos, whom Marta had laughingly compelled to take the place behind his sister, reached over her shoulder and laid his hand upon the bridle rein, sa...

Guadalupo, who seemed as native to the soil as the cacti at its gates, affirmed that it did not “grow any older.” He had been born there and he had found it “just so.” It had ne...

Miguel was the trusted and capable manager of Refugio Rancho, and, also, he knew something of its owner’s private affairs. What he did not know he surmised and not always correc...

“_Basta_, enough! If some go supperless to bed this night it shall not be the little ones! _Vamos_, Amador!” cried Anita, as she struggled to keep both her difficult seat and th...

Turning, the child looked back. The trees and shrubbery about the venerable home they loved quite hid it from sight and the fact made her suddenly sad, so that she cried:

Mr. George Disbrow hated anything which interfered with his personal comfort. Also, he had “nerves” that, first and last, gave himself and his neighbors a deal of trouble. Like...

The little girl struggled to raise herself. She was strangely cramped and numb but there was a warm breath upon her face and, putting out her hand, she touched a velvety nostril.

It was due to its steep slope that Benoni had penetrated so far into the cave. To escape from the ‘norther,’ he had fled down it, stumbling and forced to go forward, till he rea...

The searching parties from Refugio and the neighboring ranchos had all gone east, west, or south. To the north lay an unbroken mesa, or plateau, having no shelter within a known...

Thus refreshed, they all--even Benoni--dropped upon the grass which bordered the stream and again fell asleep; and it was the horse which first awoke. The neighing of one of his...

Carlos and Carlota also rose. They did not know what these new friends, who had met and fed them, would do, but they felt that they were not yet to part company. The Captain set...

Toward sunset of that same day the little squad of cavalry was slowly crossing the plain. It would not reach camp that night and was watchful, though not expectant, of assault.

“Och! is it so?” gasped the man, much relieved. “But it’s wearin’ their clo’es ye are. Did they catch ye and rig yez like that? And did thim soldiers catch ye back out of ’em?”

As the trackmen and their charges stepped into the little circle of light made by one kerosene lamp nobody spoke. The Indian-like attire of the young Manuels deceived the Burnha...

When Carlos awoke he saw Jack standing in the middle of the small room where they had slept, trying to put on his own kid jacket and this absurd attempt of an overgrown youth to...

“I want to explain to you, Carlos and Carlota, why I had you make this change of clothing. One reason is, you will feel better for putting on fresh, even if plainer garments. I...

“Letitia, that woman we owe was on the train that stopped here last night. She was one of those who spoke to these Manuel children and the sight of her clinched my anxiety to ge...

Presentation civilities were cut short. Dennis wheeled round, then became motionless. For a moment he had left his new horse to its own self, carelessly dropping the bridle, as...

Even the possession of his broncho could not long fill the mind of Dennis to the exclusion of his “little lady.” Having missed her from the party in advance of the wagon he halt...

They had stopped to eat their luncheon of bread and milk, intending or, at least, hoping to reach in time for supper some spot where there would be water when Mrs. Burnham would...

Although, as far as the eye could reach, the plateau appeared one unbroken level it was crossed, midway, by an unwooded valley; and, as he gained upon it, the herd of mustangs w...

The Indians, into whose hands he had fallen, were of the most peaceable tribe left in the wide west--Zunis, of the Pueblos; and it was toward one of their villages, or pueblos--...

When they left Tuttle for the mountains, the young Manuels had obtained permission to resume their own costumes. They had found the skirts and fitted bodice for Carlota, and the...

Carlota leaped to her feet and Dennis tried to rise, but a heavy foot was on his breast and a stern face bent over him, while an uplifted forefinger pointed dismay into his inmo...

He tried to rise but failed. Then he looked about him and realized that he was lying on a straw pallet, upon one of those curious roofs he had seen rising before him, when he en...

The word was magic. The angry woman who had laid hand upon Carlota’s shoulder started at the sound and intently regarded the unhappy child. Then she stooped and again touched he...

Carlota was awakened by the sun shining upon her face and Connemara nibbling at her curls. She sprang up, confused by her new surroundings, then laughed aloud at the beauty of t...

Never came mortal back to life so suddenly as Dennis! He was the first on his feet. His yells were keyed to a pitch and volume that would have terrified any lion which ever roam...

“Yes, go, my dear, I don’t want you to sit here alone, so constantly, or so continually to toil for somebody. Oh! you precious comfort! I should have died here, in the wildernes...

In a private room of a New York hospital, a pale, pain-worn man lay resting upon his pillows. The surgeons said that he was almost fit for discharge, and there was the gleam of...

For a moment or more there was no response to the summons. Then the irate owner of the cane bounced out of her chair and rushed about the room, in a half-frantic manner. She pic...

Mr. Rupert Disbrow so excitedly sprang from his chair and threw down the evening paper that his father, calmly reading his own _Gazette_ at the other side of the library table,...