CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE v I.--A PILGRIM IN THE FAR WEST 1 II.--BRIAN BORU 36 III.--JAKE STANWOOD'S GAL 60 IV.--AT THE KEITH RANCH 101 V.--THE RUMPETY CASE 123 VI.--THE LAME GULCH PROFESSOR 151 VII.--THE BOSS OF THE WHEEL 187 VIII.--MR. FETHERBEE'S ADVENTURE 217 IX.--AN AMATEUR GAMBLE 240 X.--A ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHIPWRECK 266 XI.--A STROKE IN THE GAME 301 XII.--THE BLIZZARD PICNIC 335 XIII.--A GOLDEN VISTA 369 Note.--Of the thirteen sketches included in this volume six have previously appeared in periodicals, as follows: _A Pilgrim in the Far West_ in _Harper's Weekly_; _Brian Boru_ in _Worthington's Magazine_; _Jake Stanwood's Gal_ and _At the Keith Ranch_ in _The Century Magazine_; _The Rumpety Case_ in _Lippincott's Magazine_; and _An Amateur Gamble_ in _Scribner's Magazine_. They were, however, all prepared with reference to their final use as a consecutive series. A. F. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE "The Peak was Superb that Morning, Big and Strong and Glittering with Snow" _Frontispiece_ "A Handful of Cottonwood Trees Clustered about the House" 24 "The Vast Sea of the Prairie" 46 "Between his Cabin Door and 'The Range' Stretched Twenty Miles of Arid Prairie" 60 The Keith Ranch 104 "A Half-Hearted Stream Known as 'The Creek'" 122 "The Great Dome of Snow Towered in All its Grandeur" 142 "A Town of Rude Frame Huts had Sprung up in the Hollow below" 156 "On the Edge of a Dead Forest" 212 "It's a Kind of Double Back-Action Slant we've Got to Tackle this Time" 228 Pine Bluff 258 "They Looked out at the Peak" 289 "The Brook, Which Came Dashing Down From The Canon, Still Rioting on Its Way" 324 "The Ranch Gate, Which Had Swung Half To On Its Hinges" 360 "The Wild and Beautiful Gorge" 378 A Golden Vista 388 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PEAK AND PRAIRIE I.