THE RIVAL TRAPPERS;
OR,
OLD PEGS, THE MOUNTAINEER.
BY LEWIS W. CARSON.
NEW YORK:
BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS,
98 WILLIAM STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
FRANK STARR & CO.,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
CONTENTS
[I Old Pegs] 9 [II Old Pegs’ Treasure] 15 [III Dave Farrell. Bruin Scouting] 23 [IV Whirlwind] 31 [V A Coward’s Deed] 38 [VI A Great Surprise] 46 [VII Catching a Tartar] 53 [VIII A Border Battle] 60 [IX Unbidden Guests] 67 [X On the Trail. A Treacherous Act] 72 [XI The Heroine a Captive] 82 [XII Dropping the Mask] 88 [XIII A Dreadful Ordeal—Finis] 94
THE RIVAL TRAPPERS;
OR,
OLD PEGS, THE MOUNTAINEER.
CHAPTER I.
OLD PEGS.
Hush! Is that a footstep coming up the canon? It came nearer and nearer, and a man of strange appearance suddenly stepped into view, rounding a bend in the canon. At the first glance it seemed that he was a dwarf in stature, but as he advanced, it was plainly to be seen that this was a mistake, for those broad shoulders and herculean arms never belonged to a dwarf. In hight he would scarcely have reached five feet, but his girth of shoulder and hip was something wonderful. In short, he had the body of a giant, set upon a pair of legs so crooked and misshapen that it seemed as if he had borrowed those limbs from some one else.
He came on with a peculiar, sidelong, hitching gait, swinging out his left leg and throwing forward the shoulder upon that side in an irresistibly ludicrous way, but getting over the ground at a very fair pace.