Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations by Charles M. Russell. See 14334-h.htm or 14334-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/3/14334/14334-h/14334-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/3/14334/14334-h.zip) THE RANGE DWELLERS by B. M. BOWER (B. M. SINCLAIR) Author of _Chip of the Flying U_, _The Lonesome Trail_, _Her Prairie Knight_, _The Lure of the Dim Trails_, _The Happy Family_, _The Long Shadow_, etc. Illustrated By Charles M. Russell New York; Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers 1906 [Illustration: "She turned her back on me, and went imperturbably on with her sketching." (Frontispiece)] CONTENTS CHAPTER I. The Reward of Folly II. The White Divide III. The Quarrel Renewed IV. Through King's Highway V. Into the Lion's Mouth VI. I ask Beryl King to Dance VII. One Day Too Late VIII. A Fight and a Race for Life IX. The Old Life--and the New X. I Shake Hands with Old Man King XI. A Cable Snaps XII. I Begin to Realize XIII. We Meet Once More XIV. Frosty Disappears XV. The Broken Motor-car XVI. One More Race XVII. The Final Reckoning CHAPTER I. The Reward of Folly. I'm something like the old maid you read about--the one who always knows all about babies and just how to bring them up to righteous maturity; I've got a mighty strong conviction that I know heaps that my dad never thought of about the proper training for a healthy male human. I don't suppose I'll ever have a chance to demonstrate my wisdom, but, if I do, there are a few things that won't happen to my boy. If I've got a comfortable wad of my own, the boy shall have his fun without any nagging, so long as he keeps clean and honest. He shall go to any college he may choose--and right here is where my wisdom will sit up and get busy. If I'm fool enough to let that kid have more money than is healthy for him, and if I go to sleep while he's wising up to the art of making it fade away without leaving anything behind to tell the tale, and learning a lot of habits that aren't doing him any good, I won't come down on him with both feet and tell him all the different brands of fool he's been, and mourn because the Lord in His mercy laid upon me this burden of an unregenerate son. I shall try and remember that he's the son of his father, and not expect too much of him. It's long odds I shall find points of resemblance a-plenty between us--and the more cussedness he develops, the more I shall see myself in him reflected.