They of the High Trails Read online

  THEY OF THE HIGH TRAILS

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  BOOKS BY HAMLIN GARLAND

  THEY OF THE HIGH TRAILS. Illustrated. Post 8vo THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER. Illustrated. Post 8vo VICTOR OLLNEE'S DISCIPLINE. Post 8vo CAVANAGH--FOREST RANGER. Post 8vo MAIN-TRAVELLED ROADS. Post 8vo OTHER MAIN-TRAVELLED ROADS. Post 8vo ROSE OF DUTCHER'S COOLLY. Post 8vo THE CAPTAIN OF THE GRAY-HORSE TROOP. Post 8vo PRAIRIE FOLKS. Post 8vo THE TRAIL OF THE GOLD-SEEKERS. Post 8vo BOY LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE. Illustrated. Post 8vo HESPER. Post 8vo THE LIGHT OF THE STAR. Illustrated. Post 8vo MONEY MAGIC. Illustrated. Post 8vo THE LONG TRAIL. Illustrated. Post 8vo THE MOCCASIN RANCH. Illustrated. Post 8vo THE TYRANNY OF THE DARK. Illustrated. Post 8vo THE SHADOW WORLD. Post 8vo

  HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK ESTABLISHED 1817

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  [See page 220]"TAKE ME BACK--INSIDE," ALICE SAID. "I FEEL COLD HERE."]

  THEY OF THE HIGH TRAILS

  by

  HAMLIN GARLAND

  Illustrated

  Harper & Brothers PublishersNew York and London

  THEY OF THE HIGH TRAILS

  Copyright, 1902, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915, by Hamlin GarlandCopyright, 1916, by Harper & BrothersPrinted in the United States of AmericaPublished April, 1916

  CONTENTS

  PAGE

  FOREWORD ix

  I. THE GRUB-STAKER 3

  II. THE COW-BOSS 31

  III. THE REMITTANCE MAN 57

  IV. THE LONESOME MAN 81

  V. THE TRAIL TRAMP 95

  VI. THE PROSPECTOR 155

  VII. THE OUTLAW 181

  VIII. THE LEASER 237

  IX. THE FOREST RANGER 253

  AFTERWORD 381

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  "TAKE ME BACK--INSIDE," ALICE SAID. "I FEEL COLD HERE" _Frontispiece_

  "YOU'RE PRETTY SWIFT, AREN'T YOU?" SHE SAID, CUTTINGLY _Facing p._ 38

  THE WOMAN CARRIED HERSELF SO UNGRACEFULLY AND DRESSED SO PLAINLY THAT EVEN THE SALOON-DOOR LOAFERS CAST CONTEMPTUOUS GLANCES UPON HER _Facing p._ 254

  THE AUTHOR AND A FOREST RANGER _Facing p._ 278

  _THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD_

  _Many changes have swept over the mountain West since twenty years ago,but romance still clings to the high country. The Grub-Staker, hammer inhand, still pecking at the float, wanders the hills with hopefulpatience, walking the perilous ledges of the cliffs in endless search ofgold._

  _The Cow-Boss, reckless rear-guard of his kind, still urges hiswatch-eyed bronco across the roaring streams, or holds his milling herdin the high parks, but the Remittance Man, wayward son from across theseas, is gone. Roused to manhood by his country's call, he has joinedthe ranks of those who fight to save the shores of his ancestral isle._

  _The Prospector still pushes his small pack-mule through the snow ofglacial passes, seeking the unexplored, and therefore more alluring,mountain ranges._

  _The Lonesome Man still seeks forgetfulness of crime in the solitude,building his cabin in the shadow of great peaks._

  _The Trail-Tramp, mounted wanderer, horseman of the restless heart,still rides from place to place, contemptuous of gold, carrying in hisfolded blanket all the vanishing traditions of the wild._

  _The Fugitive still seeks sanctuary in the green timber--finding thestorms of the granite peaks less to be feared than the fury of thelaw._

  _The Leaser--the tenderfoot hay-roller from the prairies--still trieshis luck in some abandoned tunnel, sternly toiling for his faithfulsweetheart in the low country; and_

  _The Forest Ranger, hardy son of the pioneers, representing the finersocial order of the future, rides his lonely woodland trail, guardingwith single-hearted devotion our splendid communal heritage of mine andstream._

  _On the High Trail_, SPRING, 1916.

  THE GRUB-STAKER

  _--hammer in hand, still pecking at the float, wanders the Rockies with hopeful patience, walking the perilous ledges of the cliffs in endless search of gold._

  THEY OF THE HIGH TRAILS