Produced by Mark C Orton, Carol Ann Brown, Linda McKeown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net CHIQUITA [Illustration: CHIQUITA] CHIQUITA AN AMERICAN NOVEL The Romance of a Ute Chief's Daughter BY MERRILL TILESTON PUBLISHED BY THE MERRILL COMPANY CHICAGO, U. S. A. MCMII. Copyright 1902 by H. M. Tileston Chicago, U. S. A. All rights reserved CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER I. A Bozrah Bornin', 7 CHAPTER II. On the Firing Line of Civilization, 33 CHAPTER III. Cats, Traps and Indians, 50 CHAPTER IV. Old Joe Riggs, 71 CHAPTER V. The Camp in the Willows, 82 CHAPTER VI. The Ranch on the Troublesome, 110 CHAPTER VII. Chiquita Wooed by Antelope, 124 CHAPTER VIII. A Glimpse of Home, 134 CHAPTER IX. Ute Big Warrior--No Plow, 143 CHAPTER X. The Blazing Eye Mine, 171 CHAPTER XI. College Vacations, 180 CHAPTER XII. Jack Wedded, 192 CHAPTER XIII. Estes Park, 212 CHAPTER XIV. Chiquita Graduates, 256 CHAPTER XV. A Hospital and A Boarding House, 263 CHAPTER XVI. Galling Yokes of Civilization, 274 CHAPTER XVII. Whence Come My People? 293 ILLUSTRATIONS. FRONTISPIECE, "Chiquita" YAMANATZ, 52 THE CAMP IN THE WILLOWS, 103 ANTELOPE--THE WARRIOR, 1877, 132 ANTELOPE--THE CIVILIAN, 1902, 168 THE "KEYHOLE"--LONG'S PEAK, 212 "SHE LAY TO REST" ON HER BOULDER BED, 232 THE TEPEE ON THE GRAND RIVER, 303 CHIQUITA. CHAPTER I. A BOZRAH BORNIN'. A tallow candle shed its sickly and flickering light in the front room of an ancient farm house, as Jack Sheppard announced his arrival on earth at four o'clock on a Friday morning. He arrived in a snowstorm, and it was a very select gathering of some of old Bozrah's prominent citizens who greeted his entry into the world. There was old Doctor Pettingill, with square-rimmed, blue-glass spectacles; Grandma Paisley, who didn't care for avoirdupois, just so it was a boy; Aunt Diantha, with portentous air and red mittens, while in the kitchen, dozing by the big fireplace, was Uncle Zebedee, who had driven over from Pudden Hollow the evening before to learn the news and "set up" all night in order to be of assistance in case of necessity.