[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.] THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI [Illustration] OR: IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES BY HARRISON ADAMS ILLUSTRATED [Illustration] THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO, Or: Clearing the Wilderness $1.25 THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES, Or: On the Trail of the Iroquois 1.25 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Or: The Homestead in the Wilderness 1.25 THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI, Or: In the Country of the Sioux 1.25 _Other Volumes in Preparation_ [Illustration] THE PAGE COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. [Illustration: "A SQUAW DARTED FORWARD, . . . AND, SEIZING HOLD OF ROGER, LOOKED EAGERLY IN HIS FACE." _See page 335._] The Young Pioneer Series THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI OR: IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX By HARRISON ADAMS Author of "The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio," "The Pioneer Boys on the Great Lakes," "The Pioneer Boys of the Mississippi," etc. [Illustration] Illustrated by WALTER S. ROGERS THE PAGE COMPANY BOSTON [Illustration] MDCCCCXIV [Illustration] _Copyright, 1914, by_ THE PAGE COMPANY _All rights reserved_ First Impression, April, 1914 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO. BOSTON, U. S. A. PREFACE MY DEAR BOYS:--It is with great pleasure that I have responded to my publisher's appeal for a new volume in connection with boy pioneer life during those early days in the history of our country when brave men, and women also, kept pushing the frontier line constantly westward, toward the setting sun. Since Bob and Sandy Armstrong came to the end of their migrations when they settled on the land purchased by old David, near the junction of the Missouri River with the mighty Mississippi, it is obvious that little that is new could be written concerning those old friends of ours. But as it happened that they founded families of their own, and each had a son who was said to be a "chip of the old block," the story of young pioneer achievements can best be continued by transferring our allegiance to these two sturdy lads, Dick and Roger, whom, I feel sure, you will like fully as well as you did their fathers. Just at the time when they had become strapping lads, ready to place full confidence in their ability to take care of themselves, it chanced that a wonderful opportunity came to them, whereby they were enabled to traverse the course of the great Missouri River from its mouth to its far-away source among the Rocky Mountains.