Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE CAPTAIN OF THE GRAY-HORSE TROOP By HAMLIN GARLAND SUNSET EDITION HARPER & BROTHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON COPYRIGHT, 1901. BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY COPYRIGHT 1902. BY HAMLIN GARLAND [Illustration] CONTENTS I. A CAMP IN THE SNOW II. THE STREETER GUN-RACK III. CURTIS ASSUMES CHARGE OF THE AGENT IV. THE BEAUTIFUL ELSIE BEE BEE V. CAGED EAGLES VI. CURTIS SEEKS A TRUCE VII. ELSIE RELENTS A LITTLE VIII. CURTIS WRITES A LONG LETTER IX. CALLED TO WASHINGTON X. CURTIS AT HEADQUARTERS XI. CURTIS GRAPPLES WITH BRISBANE XII. SPRING ON THE ELK XIII. ELSIE PROMISES TO RETURN XIV. ELSIE REVISITS CURTIS XV. ELSIE ENTERS HER STUDIO XVI. THE CAMP AMONG THE ROSES XVII. A FLUTE, A DRUM, AND A MESSAGE XVIII. ELSIE'S ANCIENT LOVE AFFAIR XIX. THE SHERIFF'S MOB XX. FEMININE STRATEGY XXI. IN STORMY COUNCILS XXII. A COUNCIL AT NIGHT XXIII. THE RETURN OF THE MOB XXIV. THE GRAY-HORSE TROOP XXV. AFTER THE STRUGGLE XXVI. THE WARRIOR PROCLAIMS HIMSELF XXVII. BRISBANE COMES FOR ELSIE XXVIII. A WALK IN THE STARLIGHT XXIX. ELSIE WARNS CURTIS XXX. THE CAPTURE OF THE MAN XXXI. OUTWITTING THE SHERIFF XXXII. AN EVENTFUL NIGHT XXXIII. ELSIE CONFESSES HER LOVE XXXIV. SEED-TIME XXXV. THE BATTLE WITH THE WEEDS XXXVI. THE HARVEST-HOME XXXVII. THE MINGLING OF THE OLD AND THE NEW THE CAPTAIN OF THE GRAY-HORSE TROOP I A CAMP IN THE SNOW Winter in the upper heights of the Bear Tooth Range is a glittering desolation of snow with a flaming blue sky above. Nothing moves, nothing utters a sound, save the cony at the mouth of the spiral shaft, which sinks to his deeply buried den in the rocks. The peaks are like marble domes, set high in the pathway of the sun by day and thrust amid the stars by night. The firs seem hopeless under their ever-increasing burdens. The streams are silenced--only the wind is abroad in the waste, the tireless, pitiless wind, fanged like ingratitude, insatiate as fire. But it is beautiful, nevertheless, especially of a clear dawn, when the shadows are vividly purple and each rime-wreathed summit is smit with ethereal fire, and each eastern slope is resplendent as a high-way of powdered diamonds--or at sunset, when the high crests of the range stand like flaming mile-stones leading to the Celestial City, and the lakes are like pools of pure gold caught in a robe of green velvet. Yet always this land demands youth and strength in its explorer. King Frost's dominion was already complete over all the crests, over timber-line, when young Captain Curtis set out to cross the divide which lay between Lake Congar and Fort Sherman--a trip to test the virtue of a Sibley tent and the staying qualities of a mountain horse.