Hiking Westward Being the Story of Two Boys Whose Ambition Led Them to Face Privations and Hardships in Their Quest of a Home in the Great West

“You might have known what their answers would be, Momsy, without asking,” exclaimed Sallie, with disgust. “Ever since Phil was elected captain of his school nine all he can thi...

Sallie’s remark about her brother’s absorption in his nine might have been applied with equal truth to every boy in the Parker School. When any of them met, the playing of the t...

It was an excited crowd of boys and girls that gathered about the steps of Parker School the next morning, for the news that Phil was going to leave before the end of the term h...

Every member of Parker School seemed to be there, and when the boys and girls beheld their two popular schoolmates, they rushed for them in a body, surrounding and cheering them...

“Now please don’t refuse, Mrs. Porter,” exclaimed the kindly physician. “I wish to keep your mind from the boys’ departure as much as possible. Just remember that it will be onl...

“I suppose I can, though I had not thought of it. Yes, we’ll go. A couple of hours more or less will not make much difference now that I have held the boat so long.”

The members of the crew who had inspected Ted and Phil interestedly, because they had been brought to the boat by one of the owners, were even more impressed at the skipper’s wo...

“Then go to the bridge and tell Mr. Adams, the first mate, to slow down until he barely has steerage way, then to turn the wheel over to the wheelsman and join me here. Understa...

“Then you are due for a surprise,” exclaimed a hearty voice, and, turning, the boys beheld the captain. At the thought that their uncomplimentary remarks had been overheard, the...

“Wake up if you want any breakfast,” exclaimed the steward’s assistant, called the “cookee” in sailors’ parlance, as he shook Ted none too gently by the shoulder, adding, as the...

As the Admiral passed from Lake St. Clair through the St. Clair flats, the boys beheld with interest and wonder the colony of cottages and hotels built on the very water’s edge...

For a long time the boys remained on the bridge, fascinated by the scene presented by the illumination of the American and Canadian cities and the vari-coloured lights on the bo...

“I wonder if we have time to shoot the rapids again,” exclaimed Ted, his blood a-tingle from the thrill of the dash through the swirling foam, as the three of them walked up to...

Reaching quickly above his head, Phil switched on the electric lights in the cabin, and the boys stared at one another as a still different-toned whistle joined in the pandemonium.

“How much danger was there, Captain Perkins, of our sinking if we had collided with the Prescott?” inquired Phil, when they met at dinner, all hands, save the watch on duty, hav...

“It’s only six o’clock. Go back to sleep, you’ll wake everybody in the car,” exclaimed Phil, aroused from his slumbers by his brother’s contortions as he dressed in their crampe...

“Good for you. Then you won’t lose a cent. Just have a little delay, that’s all. I’ll have the conductor notify your bank. In the meantime, if you need any ready money, I shall...

“It is the fact that Mr. Hopkins is the biggest wheat-raiser on the Pacific side of the Rockies that impressed Jerry, and not that he is a millionaire,” retorted Ted.

Sorry, indeed, were the young homesteaders to see their new-found friend depart, for before he was out of sight, the storekeeper opened a bombardment of questions, some of them...

“Sartain, but without the heart. Steve has the heart, his muscles are steel, and every lumberjack west of the Rockies knows it. There ain’t a foreman from British Columby to ole...

“Then, if I were you, I’d tackle something else. It’s no easy job clearing land, and when you’ve got it cleared, like as not the soil will be so dry you’ll have to irrigate it....

The sending of the money and the horses by the wealthy wheat-raiser indicated to the lumbermen that they would do themselves no harm by rendering every assistance in their power...

Dinner finished—and it tasted all the better because the boys cooked it themselves, upon what was to be their new home—they washed the dishes, wet down the fire, and were pickin...

“Andy! Andy! Come quick!” shouted Phil, as he leaped across the campfire and ran to his brother. “Ted! Ted! Are you hurt? Speak to me!” he implored, dropping to his knees beside...

But the elder boy gave no heed to his brother’s request. Indeed, it had been with many misgivings as to what the big, powerful black horses might do that he had picked up the re...

Though he little relished the errand, the old man yielded to his daughter’s pleading, and they were quickly galloping toward Petersen’s “quarter,” Phil riding beside the girl an...

The discovery that the Porters and Jays were really old friends opened a floodgate of questions and answers, and the boys were telling of their hopes and ambitions, when there s...

“Oh, Andy knows that without our telling him,” declared Ted. “What I want to know is whether he thinks we should go over to Waterville and file our claims or wait awhile.”

Pausing in his tracks, the aged farmer stared from the lather-dripping, barebacked pony to the seemingly lifeless boy whose head his daughter was bathing and caressing. Unable t...

By tacit and mutual consent, when the young homesteaders arrived at their section, they made no mention of their terrible experience, and setting out some of Joy’s food, ate rav...

Vaulting easily into their saddles, the boys lost no time in starting homeward, but so hard had they ridden to reach Waterville to file their claim that they were compelled to s...

“Nobody answers, eh? That’s funny. Give me Burke, then, please, central. Oh, I say. You don’t know where Larry is, do you? Petersen is on his route and—What? Yes, please. If you...

Early the next morning the boys, who had slept in Steve’s cabin while their mother and sisters had used Jennie’s room, were awakened by Andy, who was talking earnestly to Steve.

“Joy is _right_, Sis. The men out here may not be quite so—er—polished as those back East, but their hearts are in the right place and you are perfectly safe with them—and you w...

While the girls were washing the dishes, Phil told his mother about Mr. Jay’s acquaintance with their father, and the little woman then and there took Joy to her heart.

When the boys called their sisters the next morning, they were answered by groans and the information that the girls were too sore and stiff from their unusual work of the day b...

“Oh, I understand,” grinned the boy. “Come on, Phil, we’ll leave the _men_ with the young ladies.” But as Ted looked toward his brother, he saw him walking away with Joy, and, w...

“If we don’t start to work again, the cabin won’t be finished today,” declared Chester, after the men, dividing into groups, had discussed the downfall of the land agent for som...

The ease with which Margie and Sallie adapted themselves to the hard and often rough tasks of homestead life surprised their neighbours who had beheld their stylish clothes and...