"'You must choose between us. Is it Belle or Blazing Star?'"
PREFACE
Most of the characters in this tale are from life, and some of the main events are historical, although the actual scenes and names are not given. Many men now living will remember Fighting Bill Kenna and the Horse Preacher, as well as the Fort Ryan races. These horse races are especially well known and have been described in print many times. I did not witness any of them myself, but listened on numerous occasions when they were described to me by eye-witnesses. My first knowledge of the secret try-out in Yellowbank Canyon was given to me years ago by Homer Davenport, the cartoonist, with permission to use the same.
But all of these more or less historic events are secondary to the intent of illustrating the growth of a character, whose many rare gifts were mere destructive force until curbed and harmonized into the big, strong machine that did such noble work in the West during my early days on the Plains.
Ernest Thompson Seton.
CONTENTS
[BOOK ONE The Child of the Stable Yard]
[CHAPTER I. The Home Land of Little Jim Hartigan]
[CHAPTER II. The Strains That Were Mingled in Jim]
[CHAPTER III. How He Lost His Father]
[CHAPTER IV. The Atmosphere of His Early Days]
[CHAPTER V. Little Jim's Tutors]
[CHAPTER VI. Jim Loses Everythin]
[CHAPTER VII. He Gets a Much-needed Lesson]
[BOOK II The Conversion]
[CHAPTER VIII. The Conversion of Jim]
[CHAPTER IX. Jim Hartigan Goes to College]
[CHAPTER X. Escape to Cedar Mountain]
[CHAPTER XI. A New Force Enters His Life]
[CHAPTER XII. Belle Boyd]
[CHAPTER XIII. Preacher Jim's First Sermon]
[CHAPTER XIV. The Lure of the Saddle]
[CHAPTER XV. Pat Bylow's Spree]
[CHAPTER XVI. The New Insurance Agents]
[CHAPTER XVII. Belle Makes a Decision and Jim Evades One]
[CHAPTER XVIII. The Second Bylow Spree]
[CHAPTER XIX. The Day of Reckoning]
[CHAPTER XX. The Memorable Trip to Deadwood]
[CHAPTER XXI. The Ordeal]
[CHAPTER XXII. The Three Religions Confront Him]
[BOOK III The Horse Preacher]
[CHAPTER XXIII. Blazing Star]
[CHAPTER XXIV. Red Rover]
[CHAPTER XXV. The Secret of Yellowbank Canyon]
[CHAPTER XXVI. Preparing for the Day]
[CHAPTER XXVII. The Start]
[CHAPTER XXVIII. The Finish]
[CHAPTER XXIX. The Riders]
[CHAPTER XXX. The Fire]
[CHAPTER XXXI. Love in the Saddle]
[BOOK IV The Horse Preacher Afoot]
[CHAPTER XXXII. The Advent of Midnight]
[CHAPTER XXXIII. The Sociable]
[CHAPTER XXXIV. Springtime]
[CHAPTER XXXV. When the Greasewood is in Bloom]
[CHAPTER XXXVI. Shoeing the Buckskin]
[CHAPTER XXXVII. The Boom]
[CHAPTER XXXVIII. When the Craze Struck]
[CHAPTER XXXIX. Jim's Bet]
[CHAPTER XL. The Crow Band]
[CHAPTER XLI. The Pinto]
[CHAPTER XLII. The Aftertime]
[CHAPTER XLIII. Finding the Lost One]
[CHAPTER XLIV. A Fair Rider]
[CHAPTER XLV. The Life Game]
[CHAPTER XLVI. What Next?]
[CHAPTER XLVII. Back to Deadwood]
[CHAPTER XLVIII. The Fork in the Trail]
[CHAPTER XLIX. The Power of Personality]
[CHAPTER L. The Call to Chicago]
[CHAPTER LI. These Little Ones]
[CHAPTER LII. The Boss]
[CHAPTER LIII. The First Meeting]
[CHAPTER LIV. The Formation of the Club]
[BOOK V The Call of the Mountain]
[CHAPTER LV. In the Absence of Belle]
[CHAPTER LVI. The Defection of Squeaks]
[CHAPTER LVII. The Trial]
[CHAPTER LVIII. In the Death House]
[CHAPTER LIX. The Heart Hunger]
[CHAPTER LX. The Gateway and the Mountain]
[CHAPTER LXI. Clear Vision on the Mountain]
[CHAPTER LXII. When He Walked with the King]
[BOOKS BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON]
[BY MRS. ERNEST THOMPSON SETON]