Contents
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| [I.] | THE CALL | 1 |
| [II.] | A FOREST ENVOY | 17 |
| [III.] | AN INVISIBLE CHASE | 39 |
| [IV.] | TAKING A "GALLEON" | 54 |
| [V.] | ON THE GREAT RIVER | 74 |
| [VI.] | BATTLE AND STORM | 96 |
| [VII.] | THE LONE VOYAGER | 115 |
| [VIII.] | THE CHATEAU OF BEAULIEU | 133 |
| [IX.] | PAUL AND THE SPANIARD | 153 |
| [X.] | A BARBARIC ORDEAL | 171 |
| [XI.] | THE SPANIARD'S OFFER | 181 |
| [XII.] | THE SHADOW IN THE FOREST | 196 |
| [XIII.] | THE WHITE STALLION | 214 |
| [XIV.] | NEW ORLEANS | 230 |
| [XV.] | BEFORE BERNARDO GALVEZ | 251 |
| [XVI.] | IN PRISON | 271 |
| [XVII.] | THE FLAW IN THE ARMOR | 285 |
| [XVIII.] | NORTHWARD WITH THE FLEET | 302 |
| [XIX.] | THE BATTLE OF THE BANK | 322 |
| [XX.] | THE BATTLE OF THE BAYOU | 334 |
| [XXI.] | THE DEFENSE OF THE FIVE | 349 |
| [XXII.] | THE CHOSEN TASK | 361 |
THE FREE RANGERS
CHAPTER I
THE CALL
The wilderness rolled away to north and to south, and also it rolled away to east and to west, an unbroken sweep of dark, glossy green. Straight up stood the mighty trunks, but the leaves rippled and sang low when a gentle south wind breathed upon them. It was the forest as God made it, the magnificent valley of North America, upon whose edges the white man had just begun to nibble.
A young man, stepping lightly, came into a little glade. He was white, but he brought with him no alien air. He was in full harmony with the primeval woods, a part of them, one in whose ears the soft song of the leaves was a familiar and loved tune. He was lean, but tall, and he walked with a wonderful swinging gait that betokened a frame wrought to the strength of steel by exercise, wind, weather, and life always in the open. Though his face was browned by sun and storm his hair was yellow and his eyes blue. He was dressed wholly in deerskin and he carried over his shoulder the long slender rifle of the border. At his belt swung hatchet and knife.