CHAPTER

    I an exciting escape
   II Mr. Alden brings news
  III word from the west
   IV Gus Megget
    V the half-moon ranch
   VI in the saddle
  VII A race in the moonlight
 VIII Horace in danger
   IX the message from cross-eyed Pete
    X the return to the ranch
   XI preparations fob pursuit
  XII what Nails learned
 XIII out on the plains
  XIV another discovery
   XV the contested trail
  XVI what Jeffreys knew
 XVII lost! 
XVIII A mysterious call
  XIX A terrible plot
   XX the prairie fire
  XXI A ride for life
 XXII Lawrence’s plan
XXIII in the mountains
 XXIV capturing the cattle thieves
  XXV homeward

COMRADES OF THE SADDLE

CHAPTER I

AN EXCITING ESCAPE

Twilight was settling on the land.  The forms of trees and houses loomed big and black, their sharp outlines suggesting fanciful forms to the minds of two boys hurrying along the road which like a ribbon wound In and out among the low hills surrounding the town of Bramley, in south-western Ohio.

As the darkness increased lights began to twinkle from the windows of the distant farmhouses.

“We’re later than usual, Tom,” said the larger of the two boys.  “I hope we’ll get home before father does.”

“Then let’s hurry.  The last time we kept supper waiting he said we’d have to give up playing ball after school if we couldn’t get home before meal time.”

“And that means that we won’t make the team and will only get a chance to substitute,” returned the first speaker.

As though such a misfortune were too great to be borne, the two young ball players broke into a dog trot.

The boys were brothers, Tom and Larry Alden.  Larry, the larger, was sixteen and Tom was a year younger.  Both were healthy and strong and would have been thought older, so large were they.

The only children of Theodore Alden, a wealthy farmer who lived about three miles from Bramley, unlike many brothers, they were chums.  They were prime favorites, and their popularity, together with their natural ability and cool-headedness at critical moments, made them leaders in all sports.

As it grew darker and darker, the brothers quickened their pace.  Talking was out of the question, so fast were they going.  But as they rounded a turn in the road, which enabled them to see the lights in their home, a quarter of a mile away, Larry gasped: 

“There’s no light in the dining-room yet.  Father hasn’t gotten home!”

“Come on then for a final spurt,” returned Tom.

Willingly Larry responded, and the boys dashed forward as though they were just starting out instead of ending a two-mile run.