_The_ BLACK PANTHER OF THE NAVAHO [Illustration: “HI! HI!--BACK!--HALT!” [Page 224]] _The_ BLACK PANTHER OF THE NAVAHO BY WARREN H. MILLER AUTHOR OF “THE RING-NECKED GRIZZLY,” “THE BOYS’ BOOK OF HUNTING AND FISHING,” ETC. [Illustration] D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK :: 1921 :: LONDON COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Copyright, 1921, by The Curtis Publishing Company PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE WONDERLAND OF THE SOUTHWEST 1 II. ACROSS THE PAINTED DESERT 25 III. THE VALLEY OF THE CLIFF DWELLERS 44 IV. LOST CANYON 68 V. THE CLAWS OF THE BLACK PANTHER 89 VI. RULER TAKES A HAND 114 VII. THE FIRE DANCE OF THE NAVAHO 136 VIII. SILENT PINES AND YELLOW CRAGS 162 IX. KAIBAB GRIZZLY 183 X. THE DESERT’S FROWN 206 XI. WHITE MESA 221 XII. THE LAST STAND OF THE BLACK PANTHER 236 THE BLACK PANTHER OF THE NAVAHO CHAPTER I THE WONDERLAND OF THE SOUTHWEST Colonel Colvin sat in a great roomy armchair in the Colvin Trophy Den, puffing reminiscently at a short black pipe and gazing abstractedly into the flickering flames of glowing logs in the rugged stone fireplace that was the heart of the Den. Sid, his son, and Sid’s chum, Scotty, were patching their cruiser moccasins with hand sewing-awls, the former now and then glancing over at his father anxiously. The Colonel looked peaked and worn,--a thin, gray ghost of his former robust self,--for his duty during the War had been onerous in the extreme, as head of the Army Detail Office at Washington. Sid feared a total collapse of the old Indian fighter, for nothing is harder on the system of a man raised to years of violent outdoor life than a long period of desk work. Sid knew the only road back to health. His father knew it too, but, so far, he had not made the first move toward hitting the trail again. However, a certain expectant look in the Colonel’s eyes, certain mysterious telegrams which the boy had been detailed to send, addressed to an old Army friend out in Arkansas, had distilled the air of big events to come which hovered persistently in the atmosphere of the Den.