A Fortune Hunter; Or, The Old Stone Corral: A Tale of the Santa Fe Trail
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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.