



Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Rick Morris
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net









                             THE BOY SCOUTS
                             IN THE SADDLE


                                   BY
                             ROBERT SHALER

        AUTHOR OF “BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “BOY SCOUTS
        OF PIONEER CAMP,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,”
           “BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” “BOY SCOUTS
               ON PICKET DUTY,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FLYING
                  SQUADRON,” “BOY SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE
                   PENNANT,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE NAVAL
                     RESERVE,” “BOY SCOUTS FOR CITY
                             IMPROVEMENT.”

                                NEW YORK
                            HURST & COMPANY
                               PUBLISHERS




                                Sterling
                            Boy Scout Books


                    _Bound in cloth_    _Ten titles_

  1 Boy Scouts of the Signal Corps.
  2 Boy Scouts of Pioneer Camp.
  3 Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey.
  4 Boy Scouts of the Life Saving Crew.
  5 Boy Scouts on Picket Duty.
  6 Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron.
  7 Boy Scouts and the Prize Pennant.
  8 Boy Scouts of the Naval Reserve.
  9 Boy Scouts in the Saddle.
  10 Boy Scouts for City Improvement.

_You can purchase any of the above books at the price you paid for this
one, or the publishers will send any book, postpaid, upon receipt of
25c._

                        HURST & CO., Publishers
                      432 Fourth Avenue, New York

                  Copyright, 1914, by Hurst & Company.




                                CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
  I. The Superior Boy                                                  5
  II. Left on the Ledge                                               17
  III. Surrounded by Perils                                           30
  IV. Scouts to the Rescue                                            43
  V. Seeing Things in a New Light                                     56
  VI. Tracking from the Saddle                                        69
  VII. The Sunken Road                                                82
  VIII. At Raccoon Island Camp                                        95
  IX. Over the Ridge                                                 108
  X. Lying in Ambush                                                 121
  XI. When the Rat Scratched                                         137
  XII. What the Scouts Did                                           148




                     The Boy Scouts in the Saddle.




                               CHAPTER I.
                           THE SUPERIOR BOY.


“Hello! there, landlord, just put five gallons of gasoline in my tank,
and charge it to dad, will you? I forgot to fill up before leaving our
garage in town. I reckon there’d be a lot of trouble in the big granite
quarry we own if Gusty Merrivale failed to show up to-day.”

The speaker was a young fellow nattily attired, of about eighteen years
of age. As he nimbly jumped out of the dusty runabout car, it could be
seen that he was inclined to be rather arrogant in his manner. Indeed,
one glance at his dark, handsome face betrayed the fact that he was more
or less proud, and domineering.

Gustavus Merrivale was comparatively a newcomer in the pleasant town
around which many of the adventures contained in this Scout Series
happened. Somehow Gusty had not seemed to care to mix with the general
run of boys, picking up only a few choice companions from among the
“upper crust.” His father was said to be a very wealthy man, and among
other properties, he owned a logging camp far up among the hills
together with a valuable granite quarry where fully five score of
toilers were employed throughout the entire summer.

The landlord of the village tavern apparently knew his customer. Several
times before young Merrivale had motored through the village, and always
just two weeks apart. By putting two and two together, the tavern keeper
could easily surmise the nature of the errand that took Gus Merrivale up
into that wild country so often. Had he been in doubt before, these last
words of the boy must have enlightened him fully.

“Pay day in the quarry, hey?” he went on to say, as he unlocked the
reservoir that doubtless contained the supply of gasoline which he sold
to passing tourists and others. “Your pa’s got quite a plenty of men
employed up there, I understand, Mr. Merrivale; and just as you say,
they’d kick up high jinks if their pay didn’t show up on Monday twice a
month.”

“Why, hello! Where did that bunch of motorcycles come from, Mr. Tubbs?”
demanded the rich man’s son, pointing, as he spoke, to three up-to-date
twin-cylinder machines standing in a cluster in a safe corner of the inn
yard.

“Three young chaps from your town are sitting yonder on the porch
awatchin’ of us right now,” returned the landlord, softly. “Mebbe you
happen to know them, seeing as how they’re Boy Scouts, and that Hugh
Hardin has made somethin’ of a name around this section, I’m told.”

“Hugh Hardin, eh?” exclaimed young Merrivale with a swift glance toward
the side piazza of the tavern, where he now discovered several sprawling
figures occupying as many chairs, and evidently resting up while waiting
for dinner to be announced. “Yes, and his shadow, that Worth fellow, is
along with him, and also the chap they call Monkey Stallings, who came
to town just a month after I did. He fell in with that common herd right
away, and joined the troop, but none of that silly scout business for
me! I can see myself taking orders from a patrol leader, nit. What are
they doing away up here; and where did they get those expensive
machines, I’d like to know?”

“It happens that I’m able to supply the information, Mr. Merrivale,”
remarked the landlord quickly. Like most of his class, he enjoyed a
chance to gossip and disseminate news which he had picked up.

“Then I wish you’d be so kind and condescending as to inform me right
away, sir. I was just speaking about getting a motorcycle myself; and
even now I’m expecting a bunch of catalogues from which to select a
machine. Those things cost all of two hundred apiece, and I fancy few
boys have got as indulgent a father as I happen to own. So please go on
and give me the facts, Mr. Tubbs.”

“Why, you see, the Stallings boy has money of his own, and the others
have been laying aside dollars right along, most of them earned by
finding wild ginseng and golden rod roots in the woods. Besides, they
say that Hardin boy did something not long ago that brought him in quite
a fat reward, which he insisted on sharing with the chums who happened
to be with him at the time. I kinder guess that Worth boy was along, and
that helped _him_ out. Anyhow, they’re taking their first long run, and
have come something like seventy miles since breakfast at home. I’m
getting a dinner for them, you know. Perhaps you’d like to stay over a
bit and see what kind of a cook my wife is?”

“What, me take pot luck with that crowd?” exclaimed Gus Merrivale with a
curl of his upper lip. “Well, I hardly know them enough to speak to at
home, and it isn’t likely that I’ll put myself out to improve the slight
acquaintance. This scout business makes me sick. I don’t understand what
the fellows see in it to strut around in their old khaki suits, and
salute