OVER THE PASS BY FREDERICK PALMER AUTHOR OF THE VAGABOND, DANBURY RODD, ETC. 1912 CONTENTS PART I--AN EASY TRAVELLER CHAPTER I YOUTH IN SPURS II DINOSAUR OR DESPERADO III JACK RIDES IN COMPANY IV HE CARRIES THE MAIL V A SMILE AND A SQUARE CHIN VI OBLIVION IS NOT EASY VII WHAT HAPPENED AT LANG'S VIII ACCORDING TO CODE IX THE DEVIL IS OUT X MARY EXPLAINS XI SEÑOR DON'T CARE RECEIVES XII MARY BRINGS TRIBUTE XIII A JOURNEY ON CRUTCHES XIV "HOW FAST YOU SEW!" XV WHEN THE DESERT BLOOMS XVI A CHANGE OF MIND XVII THE DOGE SNAPS A RUBBER BAND XVIII ANOTHER STRANGER ARRIVES XIX LOOKING OVER PRECIPICES XX A PUZZLED AMBASSADOR XXI "GOOD-BY, LITTLE RIVERS!" XXII "LUCK, JACK, LUCK!" PART II--HE FINDS HIMSELF XXIII LABELLED AND SHIPPED XXIV IN THE CITADEL OF THE MILLIONS XXV "BUT WITH YOU, YES, SIR!" XXVII BY RIGHT OF ANCESTRY XXVIII JACK GETS A RAISE XXIX A MEETING ON THE AVENUE TRAIL XXX WITH THE PHANTOMS XXXI PRATHER WOULD NOT WAIT XXXII A CRISIS IN THE WINGFIELD LIBRARY XXXIII PRATHER SEES THE PORTRAIT XXXIV "JOHN WINGFIELD, YOU--" PART III--HE FINDS HIS PLACE IN LIFE XXXV BACK TO LITTLE RIVERS XXXVI AROUND THE WATER-HOLE XXXVII THE END OF THE WEAVING XXXVIII THEIR SIDE OF THE PASS PART I AN EASY TRAVELLER I YOUTH IN SPURS Here time was as nothing; here sunset and sunrise were as incidents of an uncalendared, everlasting day; here chaotic grandeur was that of the earth's crust when it cooled after the last convulsive movement of genesis. In all the region about the Galeria Pass the silence of the dry Arizona air seemed luminous and eternal. Whoever climbed to the crotch of that V, cut jagged against the sky for distances yet unreckoned by tourist folders, might have the reward of pitching the tents of his imagination at the gateway of the clouds. Early on a certain afternoon he would have noted to the eastward a speck far out on a vast basin of sand which was enclosed by a rim of tumbling mountains. Continued observation at long range would have shown the speck to be moving almost imperceptibly, with what seemed the impertinence of infinitesimal life in that dead world; and, eventually, it would have taken the form of a man astride a pony.