THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER [Illustration: "DICK PUSHED HIS RIFLE-BARREL THROUGH A CREVICE IN THE ROCKS."] The Trail of The Badger _A STORY OF THE COLORADO BORDER THIRTY YEARS AGO_ BY SIDFORD F. HAMP _Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen," "The Boys of Crawford's Basin," etc._ ILLUSTRATED BY CHASE EMERSON [Illustration: logo] W. A. WILDE COMPANY BOSTON CHICAGO _Copyrighted, 1908_ BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY _All rights reserved_ THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER PREFACE In writing the adventures of the boys who followed "The Trail of the Badger" down into that part of Colorado where the fringes of two discordant civilizations overlapped each other--the strenuous Anglo-Saxon and the easygoing Mexican--the author has endeavored to show how two healthy, enterprising young fellows were able to do their little part in that great work of Desert Reclamation whose importance is now as well understood by the general public as it always has been by those whose lot has been cast to the west of meridian one hundred and five. To some it may appear that the boys are ahead of their time, but to the author, whose introduction to "the arid region" dates back thirty years and more, remembering the conditions then prevailing, it seems no more than natural that they should recognize the unusual opportunity presented to them of making a career for themselves, and even that they should be dimly conscious of the fact that if they "could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before" they would be deserving well of the infant community of which they formed a part. That in making this attempt they would meet with adventures--in fact, that they could hardly avoid them--the author, recalling his own experiences in that country at that time, feels well assured. CONTENTS I. DICK STANLEY 11 II. SHEEP AND CINNAMON 32 III. THE MESCALERO VALLEY 51 IV. RACING THE STORM 68 V. HOW DICK BROUGHT THE NEWS 87 VI. THE PROFESSOR'S STORY 102 VII. DICK'S DIPLOMACY 116 VIII. THE START 129 IX. ANTONIO MARTINEZ 147 X. THE PADRON 165 XI. THE SPANISH TRAIL 179 XII. THE BADGER 191 XIII. THE KING PHILIP MINE 203 XIV. A CHANGE OF PLAN 221 XV. DICK'S SNAP SHOT 241 XVI. THE OLD PUEBLO HEAD-GATE 259 XVII. THE BRIDGE 276 XVIII. THE BIG FLUME 294 XIX. PEDRO'S BOLD STROKE 313 XX. THE MEMORABLE TWENTY-NINTH 333 ILLUSTRATIONS "Dick pushed his rifle-barrel through a crevice in the rocks" (_Frontispiece_) 42 "It was a splendid chance; nobody could ask for a better target" 57