THE PIONEER [Illustration: JUNE] THE PIONEER A TALE OF TWO STATES _By_ GERALDINE BONNER Author of Tomorrow’s Tangle WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON FISHER INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1905 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY March PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. CONTENTS BOOK I THE COUNTRY CHAPTER PAGE I THE SQUATTER 3 II THE GRACEY BOYS 12 III THE NAME OF ALLEN 27 IV O, MINE ENEMY! 44 V THE SUMMONS 54 VI THE OLD LOVE 65 VII UNCLE JIM 85 VIII PRIZES OF ACCIDENT 99 BOOK II THE TOWN I DOWN IN THE CITY 109 II FEMININE LOGIC 126 III ONE OF EVE’S FAMILY 140 IV DANGER SIGNALS 153 V THE GREAT GOD PAN 166 VI READJUSTMENT 183 VII BUSINESS AND SENTIMENT 192 VIII NEW PLANETS 201 IX THE CHOICE OF MAIDS 214 X THE QUICKENING CURRENT 225 XI LUPÉ’S CHAINS ARE BROKEN 230 XII A MAN AND HIS PRICE 241 XIII THE BREAKING POINT 252 XIV BED-ROCK 265 BOOK III THE DESERT I NEVADA 281 II OLD FRIENDS WITH NEW FACES 286 III SMOLDERING EMBERS 304 IV A WOMAN’S “NO” 316 V “HER FEET GO DOWN TO DEATH” 329 VI THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE 341 VII THE COLONEL COMES BACK 352 VIII THE AROUSED LION 368 IX HOME 381 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE JUNE _Frontispiece_ SHE SMILED FAINTLY AT HIM 40 “HERE IT IS! DO YOU WONDER NO ONE EVER FOUND IT?” 88 WITH THE TIP OF THE LONG SPEAR OF GRASS, HE TOUCHED HER LIGHTLY ON THE CHEEK 176 MERCEDES 244 ROSAMUND 306 THE PIONEER BOOK I THE COUNTRY THE PIONEER CHAPTER I THE SQUATTER It had been five o’clock in the clear, still freshness of a May morning when the Colonel had started from Sacramento. Now, drawing rein where the shadow of a live-oak lay like a black pool across the road, he looked at his watch--almost five. The sun had nearly wheeled from horizon to horizon.