The Peril Finders

As the two boys made their way amongst the scattered stones they caught sight of the doctor stepping out on to the terrace where Wilton stood, glass in hand, scanning the opposi...

"No luck yet, Griggs," said the doctor, riding up to the head of the little caravan one morning, after many, many days of travel since the party made its first plunge into the u...

The experiment was tried next day. A bucket, loaded with stones heavy enough to sink it, was lowered down the black-looking pit, and was drawn up again nearly full of water. Thi...

"Nay," said Griggs, shaking his head as his keen eyes wandered from place to place along the vast opening. "Indians who lived here must have had horses for going about, and ther...

It seemed to Chris as if any attempt at hiding would be folly, for if he could see the enemy where the light was not so clear he felt certain that the Indians must have seen him...

Not a word was said then for some minutes, during which the glass was passed from one to the other, and long, excited looks taken at the strong body of bronze, half-nude warrior...

It was late that same evening when the occupants of the shanty sat about the rough board table. The stranger had been laid in his last resting-place, Mr Bourne had read the serv...

"A narrow escape," said Bourne, and another arrow passed over without injury to any one present, for the simple reason that all had obeyed the warning and dropped behind the nea...

The morning broke fresh and cool, and after a good meal a start was made for the top stairway, Griggs being armed with two lanthorns, while Chris carried ropes, and an iron bar...

The start was made in the direction of the spot where the rest of the train was gathered together, and with all present feeling flushed with excitement and in dread of what migh...

Distance is illusive in the clear atmosphere of high mountain lands, and it took two days longer than had been calculated before a position well upon the slope of the giant peak...

"And you made it all out clear straight and took your bearings, doctor?" said Griggs the next morning, as the last pulls were given to the mule-ropes--the last diamond-hitches m...

"But I'm sure, father; won't that do?" cried the boy, in a tone of remonstrance. "Of course all that hurts me; you pulled and pinched me about so. I was as sore as sore all over...

The doctor carefully opened the roll of skin upon the table, while Chris turned the lamp up a little higher, keeping one eye upon his father's actions the while and then scannin...

There was a short, sharp council of ways and means held in the soft evening light which bathed the sterile rocky plain and the distant mountainous land with a weird beauty, that...

Chris Lee's bed that night was a contrivance of his own. It was between two long pieces of rock, a narrow passage which, after taking the axe to lop them off, he filled full of...

It had been decided that they should make for the farthest part known to them south and west, where the wildest country lay, and they had been twice before, Griggs having paid d...

"Why, in that big pool. You listen. You can hear me crackle with the salt and dust caked over me. I'm afraid to laugh, for fear I should crack my skin."

It was not until the doctor rapped sharply at the wooden partition that separated the boys' from the men's quarters at the shanty, that the murmuring buzz ceased. "Look here, yo...

It was all Chris could do in his excitement and alarm to keep from crying aloud to his pony to go faster and faster, though after a few strides it seemed as if the rider's fear...

"Isn't it grand!" cried Chris, as he tightened the girths of his saddle during the final preparations for the start, every one being well armed, and in face of the fact that the...

There was another puff of smoke, and another, followed by their cracks and echoes; a few moments' pause, and two more, with the result that every Indian on the ledge disappeared...

The little mule-train, very lightly laden, and with harness, pack-saddles, and loads looking ragged, patched, sun-bleached, and repaired in every conceivable way, moved slowly a...

The announcement was intended for those he had left at the camp, but the words seemed to be lost in the immensity of space. But he did not heed this, only pressed on, to halt at...

"Accident?" said the newcomer. "Wal, yes, that'll do. You might call him an accident, poor beggar, for he's about played down to the lowest level. Some'd call him a loafer, but...

It was a month later, during which time the journey had been made to the nearest town, the stores and other necessaries purchased, and after preparations which had lasted till m...

"Why, there you are! The doctor's gone the other way to see if he could find a gully by which he could climb up to try and find you. I came this way. Same purpose, and I've got...

"No! And I'm not asleep now," said Chris, with his eyelids squeezed very close together; "but I tell you what, if you don't be off and leave me alone I'll get up and punch your...

"Stop, Griggs!" cried Chris in a hoarse whisper, for he dared not shout; but it seemed as if their brave companion had not heard. One minute he was talking with them, the next h...

The poor mule had done its best and kept on till it could do no more. Just then it made an effort to go on again, looking wistfully at Ned, in whose acts it evidently read an or...

Griggs uttered one low whistle as he slipped his arm through the rein so as to leave his hands at liberty, one to press back his cowboy's hat, the other to sweep the gathering d...

Every eye kept a sharp lookout as soon as the journey was recommenced, and a strong effort was made to place a few miles between the party and a spot evidently infested with the...

Daybreak came all too soon for Chris, who sprang up rubbing his eyes and yawning, in response to a summons from Griggs, who stood over the boy like a black figure cut out of car...

But this soon subsided, and they stepped inside again, to find that a portion of the heap of remains had glided through an opening at the back, evidently the way into another ce...

The evening drew near at last, with everything made ready that was possible. The water and provisions near at hand; saddles and bridles examined; and according to his custom, Ch...

"Hallo! What's that?" said Chris softly, as he lay on his left side gazing at an elevation about a couple of feet from his nose; and it was some time before he could make out th...

Ned was ready to laugh at his scare when riding forward in the sunshine of a brilliant morning. He had been awakened by Griggs with a cheery hail, to find the cool damp air of m...

The task of getting the mules together was simple enough, the irritable beasts making their usual objections, but following their old leader Skeeter quietly enough in spite of t...

"Oh, I say, Griggs, isn't this a lovely place!" said Ned that evening just before sundown, as they sat beside a glowing wood fire, waiting for the sufficient cooking of the brea...

The days glided by, with the stiffness in Chris Lee's limbs growing less painful, and the pony recovering fast, for the clear mountain air seemed to act like a cure for wounds....

A short halt of a day or two only was made by the lake at first, and then an excursion which had been made successfully in search of game having resulted in the discovery of a m...

Ned had much the same account to give as Chris of his sensations about the waking up on hearing a loud snorting and splashing, accompanied by the squealing of the mule and the r...

Chris's heart beat fast, and as he glanced at Ned he could see that there was a peculiar look in his eyes and strain in his countenance which suggested discomfort, if not fear.

"I wonder you are both alive," said the doctor gravely, as he began to make a careful examination of the mustang. "The height of those cliffs is far greater than I expected."

The speaker, a sturdy-looking, sun-tanned man, seated upon a home-made stool at a rough home-made table in a home-made house of rugged, coarsely-sawn boards, with an open roof c...

Chris's lips parted for a cry to escape, but his teeth remained fast set, and there was not a sound for the moment. He was conscious of dropping rapidly down without the slighte...

"You think there's no risk, eh? Well, perhaps it's not quite so bad as that, but we don't want to wake up and find that the mules and horses have been swept off in the night. Th...

Every one made a dash to avert the disaster on hearing their leader's words, but the stampede had already begun. Disaster of a serious kind was about to fall upon the little exp...

They too were all the better for the rest, but the result of the examination was a discussion between the doctor and Griggs over the injuries the animals had received.

"Go on! Gently!" cried Griggs, and the rope was once more allowed to glide steadily down; the rasping of boots on the blocks of stone below continued, and at the end of another...

Chris was, as they say, "fast as a top," but he was the first to awaken in the morning, according to his regular custom, just when the orange sun was beginning to tinge the east...

The pair rode off back along the track littered with their impedimenta, while the doctor and the others began to try and reduce the loads of the mules in difficulty to something...

Whether the Indians followed up their trail the peril finders never knew, for they saw no more of that tribe, and wandered on for days in safety, passing into a new tract of cou...

The gentlemen named strode into the roughly-furnished kitchen-like room, looking as unlike a clergyman and a lawyer as could be imagined, for both were dressed in well-worn garm...

Chris Lee had the impression next morning that he had lain for hours listening to the strange cries of wild creatures which had once more made the plantations their home, and he...

It had been a day of severe exertion mentally and bodily, during which the boy's nature had done its best; but the time came at last when it could do no more, and he rode on at...