The Preacher of Cedar Mountain: A Tale of the Open Country Read online

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  THE PREACHER OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN

  A TALE OF THE OPEN COUNTRY

  BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

  FRONTISPIECE BY CLARENCE ROWE

  Garden City New YorkDOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY1917

  _Copyright, 1917, by_Ernest Thompson Seton

  _All rights reserved, including that oftranslation into foreign languages,including the Scandinavian_

  "'You must choose between us. Is it Belle or BlazingStar?'"]

  PREFACE

  Most of the characters in this tale are from life, and some of the mainevents are historical, although the actual scenes and names are notgiven. Many men now living will remember Fighting Bill Kenna and theHorse Preacher, as well as the Fort Ryan races. These horse races areespecially well known and have been described in print many times. I didnot witness any of them myself, but listened on numerous occasions whenthey were described to me by eye-witnesses. My first knowledge of thesecret try-out in Yellowbank Canyon was given to me years ago by HomerDavenport, the cartoonist, with permission to use the same.

  But all of these more or less historic events are secondary to theintent of illustrating the growth of a character, whose many rare giftswere mere destructive force until curbed and harmonized into the big,strong machine that did such noble work in the West during my early dayson the Plains.

  ERNEST THOMPSON SETON.

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  BOOK I THE CHILD OF THE STABLE YARD

  I. The Home Land of Little Jim Hartigan

  II. The Strains That Were Mingled in Jim

  III. How He Lost His Father

  IV. The Atmosphere of His Early Days

  V. Little Jim's Tutors

  VI. Jim Loses Everything

  VII. He Gets a Much-needed Lesson

  BOOK II THE CONVERSION

  VIII. The Conversion of Jim

  IX. Jim Hartigan Goes to College

  X. Escape to Cedar Mountain

  XI. A New Force Enters His Life

  XII. Belle Boyd

  XIII. Preacher Jim's First Sermon

  XIV. The Lure of the Saddle

  XV. Pat Bylow's Spree

  XVI. The New Insurance Agents

  XVII. Belle Makes a Decision and Jim Evades One

  XVIII. The Second Bylow Spree

  XIX. The Day of Reckoning

  XX. The Memorable Trip to Deadwood

  XXI. The Ordeal

  XXII. The Three Religions Confront Him

  BOOK III THE HORSE PREACHER

  XXIII. Blazing Star

  XXIV. Red Rover

  XXV. The Secret of Yellowbank Canyon

  XXVI. Preparing for the Day

  XXVII. The Start

  XXVIII. The Finish

  XXIX. The Riders

  XXX. The Fire

  XXXI. Love in the Saddle

  BOOK IV THE HORSE PREACHER AFOOT

  XXXII. The Advent of Midnight

  XXXIII. The Sociable

  XXXIV. Springtime

  XXXV. When the Greasewood is in Bloom

  XXXVI. Shoeing the Buckskin

  XXXVII. The Boom

  XXXVIII. When the Craze Struck

  XXXIX. Jim's Bet

  XL. The Crow Band

  XLI. The Pinto

  XLII. The Aftertime

  XLIII. Finding the Lost One

  XLIV. A Fair Rider

  XLV. The Life Game

  XLVI. What Next?

  XLVII. Back to Deadwood

  XLVIII. The Fork in the Trail

  XLIX. The Power of Personality

  L. The Call to Chicago

  LI. These Little Ones

  LII. The Boss

  LIII. The First Meeting

  LIV. The Formation of the Club

  BOOK V THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN

  LV. In the Absence of Belle

  LVI. The Defection of Squeaks

  LVII. The Trial

  LVIII. In the Death House

  LIX. The Heart Hunger

  LX. The Gateway and the Mountain

  LXI. Clear Vision on the Mountain

  LXII. When He Walked with the King

  BOOK ONE

  THE CHILD OF THE STABLE YARD