Chapter I: Front Matter

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Internet Archive. See
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A FORTUNE HUNTER;

OR,

THE OLD STONE CORRAL.

A Tale of the Santa Fe Trail.

by

JOHN DUNLOE CARTERET.

Cincinnati: Printed for the Author. 1888.

Copyrighted, 1886.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Nature's Blank Page--The Old Stone Corral--The Lost Treasure
of Monteluma--Camp-fires--The Warlow and Moreland Families--The
Camp on the Cottonwood--A Tale of the Camp-fire 7

CHAPTER II.

Colonel Warlow's Story--Bruce Walraven--The Heiress of
Monteluma--The Vale of Mexico--Bandits--The Rescue--The
Web of Destiny 19

CHAPTER III.

Breakfast on the Plains--Colonel Warlow's Story
Continued--Bruce Walraven's Creed--Blood-drenched Malvern
Hill--The Dim Crest of Orizaba--Roses and Thorns--The
Wealth of Monteluma--A Cask of Gold--The Casket of
Gems--The Overland Journey--A Dark Tragedy 29

CHAPTER IV.

Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--Los Angeles--A Friend
in Need--A Storm on the Pacific--Shipwreck--Under the
Waves 48

CHAPTER V.

Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--Alone--The Castaway--The
Golden Gate to Home Sweet Home--Acapulco--Roger--The
Isthmus of Panama 57

CHAPTER VI.

Colonel Warlow's Story Continued--The Tropical Groves
of Cuba--The Coffee Plantation--A Blooming Christmas--The
Tomb of Columbus--The Roses and Passion-flowers of
Cuba--The Warm Hearts of Home--Ah! Such a Day can never
come Again--Snow-drifts, Sleigh-bells, and
Sweethearts--Mary, etc. 71

CHAPTER VII.

Colonel Warlow's Story Concluded--The Wool-picking--The
Squire's Harrow--Wedding Bells--Profit and Loss--The
Spectre of the Stone Corral 79

CHAPTER VIII.

The Monotony of Frontier Life--New Homes--Voting
Bonds--The Grasshopper Raid--Back to the Land of the
Mother-in-law--Grim Famine's Shadow--The Flood--A
Strange Weird Sight 87

CHAPTER IX.

A Raging Torrent--The Crows' Nest--An Aerial
Family--"Kansis oR buST" 100

CHAPTER X.

The Picnic--A Biled Vest--A Dark-eyed Maid with her Sweet
Guitar--Mora Estill--Fishing, etc., but Principally the
Latter--"We have met before"--The Gray Spectre--The
Mystery-wrapped Grave of the Hill-top--Rough as a
Farmer--Transmigration of Souls 108

CHAPTER XI.

A Western Call--Mystery--The Call lengthens into a Western
Visit--Spring Chicken and Mystery 126

CHAPTER XII.

False Riches--A Young Fortune Hunter--The Santa Fe
Trail--Searching for the Gold of Monteluma--The Serpent's
Warning Rattle--The Stare of Death--The Gray Spectre 144

CHAPTER XIII.

A Western Wheat-field--A Visit to Estill's Ranch--A
Skeleton in the Estill Closet--An Art Critic who was "Beef
to the Heel"--Very Undairy-like--A Trace of Mystery 159

CHAPTER XIV.

Phantoms of the Past--That "Unspeakable" Rob Warlow--The
Running-gears, if you please--The Clouds thicken--A
Glimpse of the Past 179

CHAPTER XV.

The Mysterious Trail--The Secret Cell--A Voice from
the Past--The Journal of Ivarene 194

CHAPTER XVI.

The Web of Mystery--The Gems of Monteluma--A Scene of
Bewildering Beauty 203

CHAPTER XVII.

The Red Gold of Monteluma--My Father's Doubloons--The
Phantom--A Million of Treasure 211

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Course of True Love--The Cattle-king's
Daughter--Flirtation and Practicing--"Your Music makes me
Home-sick"--A Dubious Compliment--A Western View of Classic
Music--Schubert's Serenade, in which Rob has the "Cheek"
to assert that he can recognize the very Bar in that
Masterpiece, where the Old Man turns the Bull-dog loose--A
Couple of Idiots--Where Grace's Fingers itch to pull
Cliff's Ears--A Lover whose Lip hangs Very Low--That
Contemptible Thing, a Fortune Hunter 220

CHAPTER XIX.

A Strange Theory--Our Bodies may be tenanted by Souls
that have lived before--Farewell, my Native Land--A
Glimmering Circle of Phantom Warriors--A Haunted Spot--The
Crossing of the Santa Fe and Abilene Trails--The
Picnic--A Scene that was too Rich for my Blood 239

CHAPTER XX.

My Long-lost Gold--A Hero who dripped at the Nose like a
Hydrant--An Embarrassment of Riches--The Mirage--The Valley
of the Smoky Hill--The Iron Mound and Soldier's Cap--The
Mennonite Colony--A Gigantic Land-sale--Eagle Beak--The
Wailing Wolf of the Hill-top--A Strange Creed--A Stately
Mansion--The Grave-lights of Antelope Butte--A Comforting
and Seductive Theory--We may be re-born and live again to
enjoy the Happiness lost by Death 259

CHAPTER XXI.

The Skeletons on Antelope Butte--The Serene Wedding Morn
at the Stone Corral--We Live Again--Wedding
Festivities--The End 285

A FORTUNE HUNTER:

OR,

THE OLD STONE CORRAL.