PREFACE

Dear Boys:—

The time has at last arrived when we must say good-bye to our pioneer friends, the Armstrongs. You will remember how we have followed their adventurous careers down the Ohio, along the Mississippi, then up the great Missouri to the wonder country of the Yellowstone; and now, between the covers of the present volume, are narrated the concluding incidents in the story of “Westward Ho!”

Our country is deeply indebted to the class of pioneers typified by the Armstrong boys. Restless spirits many of them were, always yearning for richer lands where game would be more plentiful. It was undoubtedly this desire that led them further and further into the “Country of the Setting Sun,” constantly seeking that which many of them never found; until at length the Pacific barred their further progress.

Bob and Sandy Armstrong, together with their sturdy sons, Dick and Roger, are but types of the settlers who opened up the rich territory of the Mississippi Valley, as well as the Great West. Their kind is not so numerous now, at least in our own country, since the need for such adventurous souls has become less acute. In many places, however, like the Canadian Northwest, they can still be met with, forging the links that will bind the wilderness to civilization.

If you boys have found one half the enjoyment in reading of the exploits of our young pioneers that the task has afforded the author in writing of them, his aim, which has been to instruct as well as to entertain, will have been accomplished.

Harrison Adams.

May 1, 1916.

CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Preface v I The Lure of the Setting Sun 1 II Wrecked in the Rapids 11 III Wolves in the Timber 22 IV The Birch Bark Message 33 V What the Picture Writing Told 44 VI Stalking the Buffalo 55 VII Hunters, All 66 VIII Charged by a Bull 74 IX Planning a Surprise 82 X Springing the Trap 96 XI Banished from Camp 106 XII On Fishing Bent 117 XIII Glorious Sport with the Trout 128 XIV Prisoners of the Dacotahs 139 XV When Stout Hearts Were Necessary 149 XVI The Escape 159 XVII Shelter in a Hollow Tree 170 XVIII The Storm 180 XIX Under the Fallen Forest Monarch 190 XX The Return from Captivity 199 XXI At the Foot of the Rockies 211 XXII The Death of the Bull Moose 222 XXIII Hunting the Mountain Sheep 232 XXIV On the Burning Desert 243 XXV The Oasis 254 XXVI Among the Nez Perces 263 XXVII From Saddle to Canoe Again 276 XXVIII At the Falls of the Columbia 287 XXIX Nearing the Salty Sea 298 XXX A Moment of Peril 308 XXXI The End of the Long Trail 316 XXXII To the Rising Sun—Conclusion 329 Notes 337