Chapter I: Preface: Dear Boys

The time has at last arrived when we must say good-bye to our pioneer friends, the Armstrongs. You will remember how we have followed their adventurous careers down the Ohio, along the Mississippi, then up the great Missouri to the wonder country of the Yellowstone; and now, between the covers of the present volume, are narrated the concluding incidents in the story of "Westward Ho!"

Our country is deeply indebted to the class of pioneers typified by the Armstrong boys. Restless spirits many of them were, always yearning for richer lands where game would be more plentiful. It was undoubtedly this desire that led them further and further into the "Country of the Setting Sun," constantly seeking that which many of them never found; until at length the Pacific barred their further progress.

Bob and Sandy Armstrong, together with their sturdy sons, Dick and Roger, are but types of the settlers who opened up the rich territory of the Mississippi Valley, as well as the Great West. Their kind is not so numerous now, at least in our own country, since the need for such adventurous souls has become less acute. In many places, however, like the Canadian Northwest, they can still be met with, forging the links that will bind the wilderness to civilization.

If you boys have found one half the enjoyment in reading of the exploits of our young pioneers that the task has afforded the author in writing of them, his aim, which has been to instruct as well as to entertain, will have been accomplished.

HARRISON ADAMS.

May 1, 1916.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE v
I THE LURE OF THE SETTING SUN 1
II WRECKED IN THE RAPIDS 11
III WOLVES IN THE TIMBER 22
IV THE BIRCH BARK MESSAGE 33
V WHAT THE PICTURE WRITING TOLD 44
VI STALKING THE BUFFALO 55
VII HUNTERS, ALL 66
VIII CHARGED BY A BULL 74
IX PLANNING A SURPRISE 82
X SPRINGING THE TRAP 96
XI BANISHED FROM CAMP 106
XII ON FISHING BENT 117
XIII GLORIOUS SPORT WITH THE TROUT 128
XIV PRISONERS OF THE DACOTAHS 139
XV WHEN STOUT HEARTS WERE NECESSARY 149
XVI THE ESCAPE 159
XVII SHELTER IN A HOLLOW TREE 170
XVIII THE STORM 180
XIX UNDER THE FALLEN FOREST MONARCH 190
XX THE RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY 199
XXI AT THE FOOT OF THE ROCKIES 211
XXII THE DEATH OF THE BULL MOOSE 222
XXIII HUNTING THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP 232
XXIV ON THE BURNING DESERT 243
XXV THE OASIS 254
XXVI AMONG THE NEZ PERCES 263
XXVII FROM SADDLE TO CANOE AGAIN 276
XXVIII AT THE FALLS OF THE COLUMBIA 287
XXIX NEARING THE SALTY SEA 298
XXX A MOMENT OF PERIL 308
XXXI THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL 316
XXXII TO THE RISING SUN--CONCLUSION 329
NOTES 337

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
"THE TWO BOYS HAD TO . . . START UPON THE LONG
JOURNEY INTO THE NORTHWEST" (_see page 148_) _Frontispiece_
"'HE TRIES TO STRIKE THEM AS THEY JUMP AT HIM'" 32
"'RUN FOR THE TREES, ROGER!' SHOUTED DICK" 74
"THEY PUSHED FORWARD, AND WERE SOON AT THE
FALLEN TREE" 192
"'THERE! YOU CAN SEE HIM MOVE'" 235
"FULLY HALF OF THE FLAT HEAD INDIANS WENT WITH
THE LANDSLIDE" 317

The Pioneer Boys of the Columbia