Julian Mortimer

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Castlemon Harry. Julian Mortimer

CHAPTER I. THE WAGON TRAIN

CHAPTER II. JULIAN HEARS SOMETHING

CHAPTER III. A RIDE IN THE DARK

CHAPTER IV. JULIAN FINDS A RELATIVE

CHAPTER V. JULIAN’S HOME

CHAPTER VI. JULIAN MEETS A STRANGER

CHAPTER VII. THE FLIGHT

CHAPTER VIII. CHASED BY A BLOOD-HOUND

CHAPTER IX. GOOD FOR EVIL

CHAPTER X. JULIAN HAS A VISITOR

CHAPTER XI. JACK’S PLANS

CHAPTER XII. ON BOARD THE FLATBOAT

CHAPTER XIII. IN THE SMOKE-HOUSE

CHAPTER XIV. SANDERS TELLS HIS STORY

CHAPTER XV. THE JOURNEY COMMENCED

CHAPTER XVII. ACROSS THE PLAINS

CHAPTER XVIII. THE EMIGRANT AGAIN

CHAPTER XIX. UNCLE REGINALD EXPLAINS

CHAPTER XX. JULIAN GETS INTO BUSINESS

CHAPTER XXI. WHITE-HORSE FRED

CHAPTER XXII. THE SPECTERS OF THE CAVE

CHAPTER XXIII. JULIAN MAKES A DISCOVERY

CHAPTER XXIV. PEDRO MAKES ANOTHER

CHAPTER XXV. HOW IT RESULTED

CHAPTER XXVI. FRED’S STORY

CHAPTER XXVII. FRED’S STORY, CONCLUDED

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ATTACK ON THE RANCHO

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IN HALF an hour the preparations for the night were all completed, and Julian surveyed the camp with a smile of satisfaction. There were twenty wagons in the train, and of these two barricades had been made, one at the upper and the other at the lower end of the cliffs, as the guide had directed. The vehicles had been drawn close together, and were fastened to one another by chains so that they could not be easily moved from their places. The space between the wheels was blocked up with plows, harrows, stoves, bedsteads and chairs, thus rendering it a matter of some difficulty for any one to effect an entrance into the camp.

While this work was being performed the shadows of twilight had deepened into the gloom of night, and now all objects outside the circle of light made by the camp-fires were concealed by Egyptian darkness. Inside the barricades a scene was presented that was a cheering one to men wearied with their day’s journey. A dozen fires blazed along the base of the cliff, and beside them stalwart pioneers reposed on their blankets, smoking their pipes and watching with hungry eyes the preparations for supper that were going on around them. Venison steaks were broiling on the coals, potatoes roasting in the ashes, and coffee-pots simmered and sputtered, filling the camp with the odor of their aromatic contents. Cattle and horses cropped the herbage that grew along the edge of the gully, and noisy children, all unconscious of the danger that threatened them, rolled about on the grass, or relieved their cramped limbs by running races along the road. But, although the camp wore an air of domesticity and security, preparations for battle were everywhere visible. The saddles and bridles had not been removed from the horses as usual, the emigrants wore their revolvers about their waists, and kept their rifles within easy reach. There were pale faces in that camp, and men who had all their lives been familiar with danger started and trembled at the rustle of every leaf.

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The trapper shouldered his rifle, and with a step that would not have awakened a cricket, stole along the barricade, carefully examining it at every point, and mentally calculating the chances for making a successful attack upon it. When he had passed out of sight in the darkness, Julian drew a long breath, and settled back in his place of concealment to think over what he had heard.

When Julian saw these warriors he thought of the emigrants, and knew that the fight the guide had predicted was not far distant. It was begun that very hour, and the signal for the attack was a single, long-drawn war-whoop, which echoed and re-echoed among the cliffs until it seemed to Julian as if the mountains were literally filled with yelling savages. No sooner had it died away than a chorus of frightful whoops arose from the direction of the camp, accompanied by the rapid discharge of fire-arms and the defiant shouts of the emigrants, which came to Julian’s ears with terrible distinctness. Although he knew that he was at a safe distance from the scene of the conflict, and in the power of men who would protect him from the savages, he could not have been more terrified if he had been standing side by side with the pioneers battling for his life.

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