Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE PLUNDERER [Illustration: He leaned over her saddle, to where, as before something sacred, he stood with parted lips, and upturned face, bareheaded, in adoration.--The Plunderer] THE PLUNDERER By ROY NORTON With Frontispiece in Colors By DOUGLAS DUER A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers--New York Copyright, 1912, by W. J. WATT & COMPANY TO REX BEACH WITH ALL THE AFFECTION THAT ONE GIVES TO A PARTNER WITH WHOM HE HAS TRAILED, AND MINED, AND ADVENTURED FOR MANY YEARS, AND NEVER FOUND WANTING WHEN BACKS WERE AGAINST THE WALL CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Bully Presby 9 II. The Croix d'Or 22 III. An Ugly Watchman 36 IV. The Black Death 51 V. The Aged Engineer 71 VI. My Lady of the Horse 97 VII. The Woman Unafraid 114 VIII. The Inconsistent Bully 129 IX. Where a Girl Advises 151 X. Trouble Stalks Abroad 167 XI. Bells' Valiant Fight 182 XII. A Disastrous Blow 195 XIII. The Dynamiter 208 XIV. "Though Love Say Nay" 225 XV. "Mr. Sloan Speaks" 240 XVI. Benefits Returned 258 XVII. When Reason Swings 271 XVIII. The Bully Meets His Master 288 XIX. The Quest Supreme 303 THE PLUNDERER CHAPTER I BULLY PRESBY Plainly the rambling log structure was a road house and the stopping place for a mountain stage. It had the watering trough in front, the bundle of iron pails cluttered around the rusted iron pump, and the trampled muddy hollow created by many tired hoofs striking vigorously to drive away the flies. It was in a tiny flat beside the road, and mountains were everywhere; hard-cut, relentless giants, whose stern faces portrayed a perpetual constancy. At the trough two burros, with their packs deftly lashed, thrust soft gray muzzles deep into the water, and held rigid their long gray ears, casting now and then a wise look at the young man in worn mining clothes who stood patiently beside them.