The X Bar X boys in Thunder Canyon

“Steering clear of needles, Flash?” said his rider, laughing cheerfully. “Say, Roy,” he called to his companion, who sat astride a chestnut mustang, “is it true that porcupines...

His words were drowned by a _bo-o-o-m!_ that seemed to shake the mountain to its very base. Teddy wasted no more time in useless explanations. Wisely he gave Flash his head and...

While the boy is hurrying to meet the young puncher on the trail above him, a few moments will be taken to tell something of Roy and Teddy Manley of the X Bar X Ranch.

At the ranch that evening, there was much talk of the landslide and of how Nick came upon the two boys “wanderin’ around within five hundred yards of each other an’ each thinkin...

The bunk-house lamp illuminated the faces of five very much surprised cow-punchers. Teddy, who was holding the note, turned it over as though the explanation of its strange arri...

Teddy treated the riding of the wild bronco as an incident in the day’s work. It might well have turned out disastrously for him, but, now that it was over, the youth thought no...

“Not any, son. They vamoosed clean. But lemme tell you something funny. Two days ago they decided the jail was too crowded an’ they moved Froud over to the calaboose in Marxsted...

The incident of the escaped rustlers was forgotten for the time while Belle prepared for her visit to the 8 X 8. Mr. Manley discarded his gun the day she was to leave, whether b...

As the Manley boys and their sister sat in the car munching sandwiches, now and then Teddy would glance at his hand, which still showed the red scratch, and shake his head in wo...

At nine o’clock that evening the boys started for home. Roy had half-heartedly suggested leaving earlier, but he was overruled. So it was not until the moon was well above the h...

A few days after the boys had taken Belle to the 8 X 8, Nick Looker, seated on the side of his bunk, was showing the assemblage a new trick he had lately acquired from a book ca...

On Friday, the day that Teddy and Roy were to ride to the 8 X 8 for Belle and bring her home, a squadron of black, low-hung clouds marched over the mountains and began to discha...

Just outside the house a whistle sounded. Neither Roy nor Teddy heard it. They stood facing Mrs. Ball, their faces a sickly white beneath their tan. Slowly Teddy’s hands clenche...

Quite simply and unaffectedly, Mr. Ball kissed his wife on the forehead. He said not a word, but stood for a moment looking down at her. Then, motioning to Roy and Teddy, he mad...

The trail to Thunder Canyon lay through a region noted for its treacherous footings and short, stubby clumps of mesquit grass that might conceal a hole just deep enough to break...

“He never does show much of what’s going on inside him,” Roy answered slowly. “You notice he didn’t say hardly anything on the way over. Dad’s hard hit, I know that. And—and so...

The woman made no reply, but, instead, turned and gazed stolidly at the three girls who sat in the rear seat and who were listening to this conversation with wildly beating hear...

The small group of riders in that clearing in Thunder Canyon sat silent on ponies that pawed the ground restlessly. The old woman who stood before them, gun in hand, whistled sh...

The rocky walls of the gorge echoed to the sound of the slow, deliberate hoof-beats as four horses were urged over the trail on the edge of Thunder Canyon, the steeds carrying t...

Once within the cave, Belle took a deep breath. Nothing had happened yet. They were still alive, at all events. She led the way toward the light they had seen, and, to her amaze...

Dusk had settled over Thunder Canyon. A cool breeze blew down from the mountains, and the five horses sniffed it gratefully. They had carried their riders far that day, over a t...

Teddy’s eyes flashed and he drew his revolver. He made as if to urge Flash out into the trail to face the oncoming horseman, but Roy laid a restraining hand on his arm.

“Fainted,” Bug Eye remarked, and leaped from his horse. Pulling his canteen from his saddle, he doused the man’s face with the water in it, desisting at the first sign of return...

Long, grey shadows flattened themselves against the walls of the canyon—moving shadows—five of them. The moonlight, except where it was cut off by the figures on horseback, floo...

Teddy, turning on his pillow, observed his brother. The early afternoon sun was streaming through the windows of their bedroom at the ranch house of the X Bar X. From the yard c...