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                           THE YOUNG SURVEYOR;

                                   OR,

                          JACK ON THE PRAIRIES.

                           BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE

              AUTHOR OF "JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," ETC.

                          _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._


BOSTON:
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY,
LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.
1875.

Copyright, 1875.
BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.

UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO.,
CAMBRIDGE.




[Illustration: HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER.]




CONTENTS.


       I. "NOTHING BUT A BOY"

      II. OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER

     III. THE HOMEWARD TRACK

      IV. A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED

       V. THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER

      VI. "LORD BETTERSON'S"

     VII. JACK AT THE "CASTLE"

    VIII. HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY

      IX. VINNIE'S ADVENTURE

       X. JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO

      XI. JACK'S NEW HOME

     XII. VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME

    XIII. WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN

     XIV. SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER

      XV. GOING FOR A WITNESS

     XVI. PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD

    XVII. VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING

   XVIII. VINNIE'S NEW BROOM

     XIX. LINK'S WOOD-PILE

      XX. MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED

     XXI. PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND

    XXII. THE WOODLAND SPRING

   XXIII. JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING"

    XXIV. PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK

     XXV. THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE

    XXVI. VICTORY

   XXVII. VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN

  XXVIII. AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL

    XXIX. ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED

     XXX. JACK'S PRISONER

    XXXI. RADCLIFF

   XXXII. AN IMPORTANT EVENT

  XXXIII. MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK"

   XXXIV. THE STRANGE CLOUD

    XXXV. PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.--CECIE

   XXXVI. "ON THE WAR TRAIL"

  XXXVII. THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES

 XXXVIII. THE MORNING AFTER

   XXXIX. FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY

      XL. PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING

     XLI. CONCLUSION




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


SETTING THE STAKES

JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH

UP-HILL WORK

"LORD BETTERSON"

TOO OBLIGING BY HALF

LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED

SHOT ON THE WING

THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW

VINNIE'S STRATAGEM

LINK'S WOOD-PILE

HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER

TESTING THE LEVEL

OLD WIGGETT

"STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!"

RETURNING IN TRIUMPH

THE END OF THE CHASE

JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER

THE TORNADO COMING

PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS

FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES

THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED




THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.




CHAPTER I.

"NOTHING BUT A BOY."


[Illustration]

A young fellow in a light buggy, with a big black dog sitting composedly
beside him, enjoying the ride, drove up, one summer afternoon, to the
door of a log-house, in one of the early settlements of Northern
Illinois.

A woman with lank features, in a soiled gown trailing its rags about her
bare feet, came and stood in the doorway and stared at him.

"Does Mr. Wiggett live here?" he inquired.

"Wal, I reckon," said the woman, "'f he ain't dead or skedaddled of a
suddent."

"Is he at home?"

"Wal, I reckon."

"Can I see him?"

"I dunno noth'n' to hender. Yer, Sal! run up in the burnt lot and fetch
your pap. Tell him a stranger. You've druv a good piece," the woman
added, glancing at the buggy-wheels and the horse's white feet, stained
with black prairie soil.

"I've driven over from North Mills," replied the young fellow, regarding
her pleasantly, with bright, honest features, from under the shade of
his hat-brim.

"I 'lowed as much. Alight and come into the house. Old man'll be yer in
a minute."

He declined the invitation to enter; but, to rest his limbs, leaped down
from the buggy. Thereupon the dog rose from his seat on the
wagon-bottom, jumped down after him, and shook himself.

"All creation!" said the woman, "what a pup that ar is! Yer, you young
uns! Put back into the house, and hide under the bed, or he'll eat ye up
like ye was so much cl'ar soap-grease!"

At that moment the dog stretched his great mouth open, with a formidable
yawn. Panic seized the "young uns," and they scampered; their bare legs
and exceedingly scanty attire (only three shirts and a half to four
little barbarians) seeming to offer the dog unusual facilities, had he
chosen to regard them as soap-grease and to regale himself on that sort
of diet. But he was too well-bred and good-natured an animal to think of
snapping up a little Wiggett