Category: Historical Novels

Lightning Jo, the Terror of the Santa Fe Trail: A Tale of the Present Day

“For God’s sake send us help at once. We have been fighting the Comanches for two days; half our men are killed and wounded, and we can not hold out much longer. But we have women and children with us, and we shall fight to the last and die game. Send help without an hour’s de...

Chapters

25. CHAPTER XXV.

Lightning Jo paused in his creeping, stealthy movement, and stared at the savage, his own eyes gleaming with an exultation as ferocious as would have been that of the red-skin h...

21. CHAPTER XXI.

The twinkling light of a camp-fire at such a time as this, and in such a place, was enough to make any one cautious, and Egbert Rodman approached it as stealthily as a Comanche...

22. CHAPTER XXII.

At this startling announcement Egbert Rodman sprung to his feet, with a bound that carried him entirely over the fire, striking Lightning Jo with such sudden violence as to thro...

20. CHAPTER XX.

A dull, increasing roar, like the moaning of the Indian Sea, when the cyclone is being born, struck the ears of the whites, all of whom paused in their conversation and listened...

23. CHAPTER XXIII.

With the departure of Captain Shields and his party, Lightning Jo and Egbert Rodman set about the task of trailing the missing maiden, if such a proceeding lay within the range...

3. CHAPTER III.

That which arrested the attention of the company riding out of the stockade of Fort Adams, was the sight of another party of horsemen coming through a range of hills about half...

5. CHAPTER V.

It required sharp riding to reach Dead Man’s Gulch by nightfall; but all had strong hopes of doing so, as it was summertime, and a goodly number of hours yet remained at their c...

9. CHAPTER IX.

The second night the moon, that rode high on the sky, enabled the little party of white men in Dead Man’s Gulch to detect the Comanches as they prowled about, and our friends pr...

10. CHAPTER X.

All through this singular fight, Lightning Jo had kept within reach of his mustang, which occasionally put in a kick now and then, in the hope that he might be turned to account...

14. CHAPTER XIV.

“The whole horde of Indians are coming back!” he called out, as soon as he could frame the words. “They are but a short distance away and will be here in the next minute!”

2. CHAPTER II.

The powdered, begrimed face was seen to expand into something like a grin, and raising his hand, the courier literally scraped the dust from his cheeks and eyebrows, and then, a...

24. CHAPTER XXIV.

It was not the nature of Lightning Jo to remain idle when he had any work like the present on hand, and leaping upon the back of his mustang, he told Egbert to follow.

16. CHAPTER XVI.

There were too many horrors hanging around Dead Man’s Gulch for the whites to spend any more time there than was necessary. Several of the wagons were overturned upon each other...

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

The little party of horsemen had scarcely begun their passage through the hills, when it became evident that they were to encounter the storm of which Lightning Jo had spoken. T...

15. CHAPTER XV.

The next moment a strange, wild yell broke the stillness, or rather sounded above the thunder of the horses’ hoofs, and the two men, standing sullenly by the wagon in the center...

8. CHAPTER VIII.

In the mean time, the battle was raging with infernal hotness. All of Captain Shields’ party were unerring marksmen, and they were so accustomed to the most desperate contests w...

17. CHAPTER XVII.

The sentinels on duty at the grove detected more than once through the night the Comanches prowling around the encampment; but they evidently saw enough to convince them that it...

6. CHAPTER VI.

Yes; Lightning Jo found that the Comanches were coming, and at a rather rapid rate, too. There was no flinging himself over the side of his mustang and making him a shield again...

12. CHAPTER XII.

Captain Shields might well give utterance to this exclamation, for just then his eyes were greeted with the most singular sight he had ever seen in all his life. He rubbed his e...

11. CHAPTER XI.

The wagon containing the females and the children was that which carried the provisions--the others being piled up with the luggage belonging to the different members of the par...

1. CHAPTER I.

“For God’s sake send us help at once. We have been fighting the Comanches for two days; half our men are killed and wounded, and we can not hold out much longer. But we have wom...

13. CHAPTER XIII.

He was now certain that in both instances he had hit it fairly and plumbly in the very point aimed at, and it was equally certain that he had not harmed it in any way.

7. CHAPTER VII.

In the awful sufferings to which communities and companies are sometimes doomed, it is often found that the most delicate and refined females display the greatest fortitude and...

4. CHAPTER IV.

Leaving Lightning Jo and his party riding at a tremendous rate over the prairie to the rescue of the sorely beleaguered company in Dead Man’s Gulch, we must precede him for awhi...

19. CHAPTER XIX.

There was no need of Lightning Jo telling what it was that so startled him, for following the direction of his own gaze, every eye saw it on the instant.