The first edition of this book is dated 1871. The edition used is dated 1908. The publisher was George Routledge and Sons Ltd, London. The number of pages is 408.

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General information

This was quite a hard book to transcribe, and I hope there are not now too many errors remaining. For one thing several of the people of the book speak a very rough version of the language, so that there are many hundreds of “words” appearing in the book, that are not in the dictionary. And the “new” words are not always consistently spelt.

There are numerous Spanish or Mexican words used in the book, but I am no scholar in these tongues. I just did my best to get them right.

Another problem was that the type used to print the book had been damaged in many places, which meant that it was sometimes very hard to decipher. After much poring there remains only one damaged word in the book, of which I am not certain.

As if this were not enough I made the mistake of scanning the book too dark, which meant that in very many cases a full stop following the letters ‘t’ and sometimes ‘e’ had not come correctly through the OCR process; and also any stains on the pages obscured the letters under them. This greatly increased the amount of work needed to transcribe the book.

I suppose this is among the very first “cowboy and Indian” books. If you are interested in this genre, here is the book for you.

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Contents

Chapter I.
A Tale of the Staked Plain.

Chapter II.
A Friend in Need.

Chapter III.
The Colonel Commandant.

Chapter IV.
A Pronunciamento.

Chapter V.
“Why comes he not?“

Chapter VI.
Surrounded.

Chapter VII.
Fiery Messengers.

Chapter VIII.
Knife, Pistol, and Hatchet.

Chapter IX.
Quarrelling over Scalps.

Chapter X.
A Brave Steed Abandoned.

Chapter XI.
A Descent into Darkness.

Chapter XII.
A Storm of Stones.

Chapter XIII.
Buried Alive.

Chapter XIV.
A Savage Saturnal.

Chapter XV.
A Living Tomb.

Chapter XVI.
Off at Last!

Chapter XVII.
Into the Desert.

Chapter XVIII.
A Lilliputian Forest.

Chapter XIX.
The Departure of the Plunderers.

Chapter XX.
A Transformation.

Chapter XXI.
Struggling among the Sages.

Chapter XXII.
A Huntress.

Chapter XXIII.
“Down, Dogs!“

Chapter XXIV.
Foes or Friends?

Chapter XXV.
“Saved by an Angel!“

Chapter XXVI.
Fallen among Friends.

Chapter XXVII.
The Lone Ranche.

Chapter XXVIII.
A Sweet Awakening.

Chapter XXIX.
Don Valerian.

Chapter XXX.
The Raiders Returning.

Chapter XXXI.
Pursuers on the Path.

Chapter XXXII.
The Savages Surprised.

Chapter XXXIII.
A Forced Confession.

Chapter XXXIV.
A Proposal by Proxy.

Chapter XXXV.
A Dangerous Eavesdropper.

Chapter XXXVI.
A Tale of Peril.

Chapter XXXVII.
The Intercepted Letter.

Chapter XXXVIII.
The Land of the “Lex Talionis.“

Chapter XXXIX.
Prosperous, but not Happy.

Chapter XL.
A Confidence Well Rewarded.

Chapter XLI.
An Earthly Paradise.

Chapter XLII.
A Dangerous Design.

Chapter XLIII.
The Last Appeal.

Chapter XLIV.
A Mysterious Message.

Chapter XLV.
The Staked Plain.

Chapter XLVI.
A Brilliant Band.

Chapter XLVII.
A Coming Cloud.

Chapter XLVIII.
Dread Conjectures.

Chapter XLIX.
A Cautious Commander.

Chapter L.
Stalking the Stalker!

Chapter LI.
Approaching the Prey.

Chapter LII.
A Bloodless Capture.

Chapter LIII.
A Sleepless Night.

Chapter LIV.
A Man and a Mule.

Chapter LV.
A Lagger Lagged.

Chapter LVI.
“The Norte.“

Chapter LVII.
A Cumbersome Captive.

Chapter LVIII.
Old Acquaintances.

Chapter LIX.
Mutual Explanations.

Chapter LX.
Cross-Questioning.

Chapter LXI.
Into the Storm.

Chapter LXII.
A Short Shrift.

Chapter LXIII.
A Split Trail.

Chapter LXIV.
A Sylvan Scene.

Chapter LXV.
Two Scoundrels in Council.

Chapter LXVI.
A Brother Sorely Tempted.

Chapter LXVII.
A Sister Sorely Tried.

Chapter LXVIII.
A Terrible Intention.

Chapter LXIX.
An Intercepted Dispatch.

Chapter LXX.
A Scheme of Atrocity.

Chapter LXXI.
A Bootless Journey.

Chapter LXXII.
A Mock Court-Martial.

Chapter LXXIII.
The Hand of God.

Chapter LXXIV.
“Sauve Qui Peut.“

Chapter LXXV.
Divided by Duty.

Chapter LXXVI.
The Chase.

Chapter LXXVII.
The Camp Transformed.

Chapter LXXVIII.
A Living Scaffold.

Chapter LXXIX.
After the Execution.

Chapter LXXX.
Tranquil Scenes.

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