



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, David Edwards, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)







 [Illustration: From the mouth of the dark pit a fetid, foul-smelling
                          air rushed upward.]




                                  THE
                              BORDER BOYS
                             ON THE TRAIL


                                  BY

                          FREMONT B. DEERING




                               NEW YORK
                           HURST & COMPANY,
                              PUBLISHERS




                           Copyright, 1911,
                                  BY

                            HURST & COMPANY




                           MADE IN U. S. A.

       *       *       *       *       *




                               CONTENTS

              CHAPTER                            PAGE

  I.        ON THE BORDER                          5

  II.       THE BOYS FIND TROUBLE                 21

  III.      A RACE FOR LIFE                       35

  IV.       THROUGH THE GREAT DARKNESS            48

  V.        THE RUSTLERS AT WORK                  65

  VI.       TAKING UP THE TRAIL                   79

  VII.      IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY             94

  VIII.     BLACK RAMON'S MISSION                104

  IX.       A MOMENTOUS INTERVIEW                115

  X.        IN THE BELL TOWER                    125

  XI.       A DROP IN THE DARK                   138

  XII.      A RIDE FOR THE HILLS                 150

  XIII.     THE HERMIT OF THE CAÑON              160

  XIV.      TRAVELS WITH A MULE                  173

  XV.       A GATEWAY TO FREEDOM                 186

  XVI.      SHORT RATIONS                        200

  XVII