34 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
34 chapters
THE BLACK WOLF PACK
THE BLACK WOLF PACK
BY DAN BEARD NATIONAL SCOUT COMMISSIONER, B.S.A. ILLUSTRATED CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS NEW YORK It was a shadowy figure yet it moved It was a shadowy figure yet it moved [ Page 96 Copyright, 1922, by CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS Copyright, 1922, by BOYS’ LIFE Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons Logo: The Scribner Press DEDICATED TO BELMORE and FRED (BELMORE BROWNE) (FREDERICK K.
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
It was a terrible shock to me (said the Scoutmaster as he fingered a beaded buckskin bag). Old Blink Broosmore was responsible. It was a malicious thing for him to do. He meant it to be mean, too,—wanted to hurt me,—to wound my feelings and make me ashamed. And all because he nursed a grudge against dad—I mean Mr. Crawford. It started because of that defective spark-plug in the engine of the roadster. Strange what a tiny thing such as a crack in a porcelain jacket around an old spark-plug can do
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
The stage pulled up in front of a typical western saloon, post office and general store. There was the usual crowd of prospectors, gamblers, cow punchers and trappers assembled to meet the incoming stage. When I scrambled off the top of the old-fashioned coach, and before I had time to shake the alkali dust from my clothes, or moisten my dry and cracked lips, a typical western bully approached me roaring the verses of a song with which he evidently intended to terrify me, “He blowed into Lanigan
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
To say that the whole spectacle that I had just witnessed startled me would be stating it mildly indeed. The strange appearance of this big, powerful, smooth shaven man in a buckskin hunting costume with a retinue of black wolves and a trained eagle, the mysterious manner of his hunting and his coming and going, aroused in me great interest and curiosity and I could realize the effect it evidently had upon Big Pete’s superstitious mind in spite of the fact that the big fellow was accustomed to f
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Big Pete and I spent several weeks in our charming little camp at the lower end of the park, for my guide decided that despite the recent presence of the wild hunter, here would be a good place to get a shot at some black-tail deer. In fact we saw signs of those animals all about and my guide was only looking for fresh indication to start out on our last hunt before we made our way deeper into the wilderness. On the third day of our stay I was returning to camp with my shotgun over my shoulder a
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
“Moseyed, by gum! I’ll be tarnally tarnashuned if that terri-fa-ca-cious spook hain’t pulled out!” was the exclamation that awakened me the morning after our adventure with the bear. Lazily opening my eyes I gazed a moment at the sun just peeping over the mountain, then closed them again; but when I attempted to change my position a sharp pain in my ankle thoroughly awakened me. Still I lay quiet because it was some time before I could collect my scattered senses and separate in my mind the real
54 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
The loud-mouthed, self-asserting fly-catcher in the cottonwood tree learned to know my whistle, and whenever I attempted to mimic him he would send back a ringing answer. The charming little lazulii buntings were tamer than the irritating dirty English sparrows at home. It was interesting to notice how quickly all our little wild neighbors learned to know that the sound produced by banging on a tin plate meant dough-god and other good things at our camp, and as they came rustling among the grass
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
One day after we had selected our new camp, I took my rod along and wandered into the wonderful forest of ancient trees. There I seated myself on a log to think over my experience. Somehow my own trials and ambitions seemed small, trivial and not worth while when I looked upon those grand trees standing silently on guard as they were standing when Columbus was busy smashing a hard-boiled egg to make it stand on end. Yes, naturalists tell us some of these same trees were standing before the New T
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
Rising abruptly from the prairie was a frowning precipice a thousand or more feet high and above and beyond the top of this cliff, the mountains. When Big Pete told me that his park was “walled in” he told me the mildest sort of truth; the prairie is the bottom of a wide canyon, in fact everything seems to indicate that the whole park had settled, sunk—“taken a drop” of a thousand or more feet; forming what miners would call a fault. From the glaciers up among the clouds numerous streams of melt
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
It was always interesting to me when I could get Pete’s theories and his brand of philosophy on almost any subject and it was my intention that night at supper to lead up to the apparition I had seen on the cliffs that day. With a substantial supper tucked away I was in a better frame of mind to realize that the illusion I had seen was not uncommon in mountain districts. I recalled that I had read of, and seen pictures of, a particular illusion of this nature that is often present in the Hartz M
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
Big Pete was an expert backwoods tailor, shoemaker and shirtmaker, but these were but few of his accomplishments, not his trade; he was first, last and aways a hunter and scout. No matter what occupation seemed to engage his attention for the time it never interfered with his ability to hear, see or smell. It was while I was going around camp minus my lower garments that I saw Pete suddenly throw up his head and suspiciously sniff the air, at the same time sharply scanning the windward side of o
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
We made our start at daylight, loaded with all the necessities for a climb over the mountains. The rest of our supplies and equipment we cached, and Big Pete turned our horses loose assuring me that in the spring he would come back and rope them. The lower trail of the pass was quite well defined and we made famous progress, but the higher we climbed the more difficult the going became and more than once we were forced to pause on a ledge to rest and regain our breath. On one ledge I got my firs
52 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
Turning his great blue eyes full upon me, he suddenly shot this inquiry, “Be he bar, ecutock or werwolf?” “He is the finest adjusted, easiest running, most exquisitely balanced, highest geared bit of human machinery I ever saw,” I answered enthusiastically. “Wall, maybe ye are right, Le-loo, an’ maybe ye hain’t; which is catamount to saying, maybe it is a man and maybe it tain’t.” “Steady, Pete, old fellow, let us go slow; now tell me at what you’re driving?” I pleaded. “It looks to me this hea’
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
Apparently there was no possible way by which we might hope to cross the canyon, and I threw myself prone upon the top of the stony brink of the chasm and peered down the awful abyss at the silver thread, shining in the gloom of the shadows, which marked the course of a stream, and wondered what the Boy Scouts of Troop 6 of Marlborough would do under the circumstances. I studied the face of the opposite cliff in a vain search for some hint to the solution of the problem before us, looking up and
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Only those persons who have made solitary trips over snow-capped mountain ridges can appreciate the overwhelming feeling of solitude that I felt on looking about me. To whatever point of view I turned my eyes were greeted with a tumbled sea composed of stupendous petrified billows. The occasional fields of snow were the white froth of the stony waves and the turquoise colored glacial lakes between the crags rather added to the effect of an angry ocean than detracted from it. On a closer examinat
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
Clothes and stage trappings can neither add nor detract from our respect for death. He is the same grim old gentleman, be his mouldy bones naked, or clothed in robes of the most gaudy or brilliant hues. A blue death, a red death or a yellow death is just as grizzly and awe-inspiring as one of any shade of gray. Even a black death excites no emotions not touched by the first name, for it is the dread messenger himself whom we respect and not his fanciful robes of office. As far as I am personally
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
With an imperceptible movement, as steady and almost as slow as that of a glacier, my guide twisted his neck until his face was turned from the puma and the side of the mouth pressed against the flat surface of his rock. I was crowded up against Big Pete, who occupied a position but slightly in advance and a little above me. My agony of fear having somewhat subsided I ventured to steal a momentary glance at my comrade’s face. To my unutterable surprise I discovered a whimsical twinkling at the c
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
We were standing on the surface of a flat table-rock, which jutted out from the face of the towering cliff and overhung the valley that was spread out like a map beneath us. About twenty feet back from the edge of the rock was a pile of debris heaped up against the face of the cliff; but the remaining surface of the stone was clean bare and weather-beaten. The talus against the cliff was composed of loose fragments of stone and other products of wash and erosion. This was overgrown with a thicke
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
It was a strange place, indeed, in which I found myself. Our eyes were unbandaged after we entered the portal of the ranch house, and when Big Pete and I turned toward our guide, we were facing in a direction that gave us a sweeping view of the entire ranch. And what we saw made us marvel. This farm, between the towering, almost insurmountable mountains, had evidently been wrenched from what two decades before had been as much of a wilderness as the Darlinkel Park across the divide. Timber cloth
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
What a dining room that was! All of logs, high ceilinged, with smoked rafters stained like an old meerschaum pipe. It reminded me of a wealthy man’s hunting lodge in Maine, perhaps, rather than the abode of a wild man. There was a huge yawning fireplace at one end, above which was the finest specimen of an elk’s head I have ever seen. There were other heads, too, prong-horned antelope, beautiful bison heads, remarkable specimens of bighorn sheep and mountain goats, there were buffalo robes and w
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
Moose Ear, the silent, wrinkled old Indian, with lighted candles made of buffalo tallow, guided Big Pete and me up the broad skilfully built puncheon stairway to the upper story of the surprisingly large ranch house, where he showed us to our rooms, rooms which were a joy to look upon. Each was furnished with a heavy, hand-made four-posted bedstead, which in spite of the massiveness was beautifully made, and I wondered at the patience of the Wild Hunter in teaching the Indians their craftmanship
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE FIELD AND FOREST HANDY BOOK. Or, New Ideas for Out of Doors
THE FIELD AND FOREST HANDY BOOK. Or, New Ideas for Out of Doors
“Instructions as to ways to build boats and fire-engines, make aquariums, rafts, and sleds, to camp in a back-yard, etc. No better book of the kind exists.”— Chicago Record-Herald....
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SHELTERS, SHACKS, AND SHANTIES
SHELTERS, SHACKS, AND SHANTIES
Easily workable directions, accompanied by very full illustration, for over fifty shelters, shacks, and shanties....
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING. A Handy Book for Beginners
BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING. A Handy Book for Beginners
All that Dan Beard knows and has written about the building of every simple kind of boat, from a raft to a cheap motor-boat, is brought together in this book....
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE JACK OF ALL TRADES. Or, New Ideas for American Boys
THE JACK OF ALL TRADES. Or, New Ideas for American Boys
“This book is a capital one to give any boy for a present at Christmas, on a birthday, or indeed at any time.”— The Outlook....
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BOY PIONEERS. Sons of Daniel Boone
THE BOY PIONEERS. Sons of Daniel Boone
“How to become a member of the ‘Sons of Daniel Boone’ and take part in all the old pioneer games, and many other things in which boys are interested.”— Philadelphia Press....
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BLACK WOLF-PACK
THE BLACK WOLF-PACK
“A genuine thriller of mystery and red-blooded conflicts, well calculated to hold the mind and the heart of its boy and, for that matter, its adult reader.”— Philadelphia North American. By Lina Beard and Adelia B. Beard With nearly 500 illustrations “It is a treasure which, once possessed, no practical girl would willingly part with.”— Grace Greenwood. With some 600 drawings by the authors that show exactly how they should be done “The book will tell you how to do nearly anything that any live
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THINGS WORTH DOING AND HOW TO DO THEM
THINGS WORTH DOING AND HOW TO DO THEM
“The book will tell you how to do nearly anything that any live girl really wants to do.”— The World To-day....
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HANDICRAFT AND RECREATION FOR GIRLS
HANDICRAFT AND RECREATION FOR GIRLS
With over 700 illustrations by the authors “It teaches how to make serviceable and useful things of all kinds out of every kind of material. It also tells how to play and how to make things to play with.”— Chicago Evening Post....
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHAT A GIRL CAN MAKE AND DO. New Ideas for Work and Play
WHAT A GIRL CAN MAKE AND DO. New Ideas for Work and Play
With more than 300 illustrations by the authors “It would be a dull girl who could not make herself busy and happy following its precepts.... A most inspiring book for an active-minded girl.”— Chicago Record-Herald....
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ON THE TRAIL
ON THE TRAIL
Illustrated by the authors This volume tells how a girl can live outdoors, camping in the woods, and learning to know its wild inhabitants....
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
MOTHER NATURE’S TOY SHOP
MOTHER NATURE’S TOY SHOP
Profusely illustrated by the authors How children can make toys easily and economically from wild flowers, grasses, green leaves, seed-vessels, fruits, etc....
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LITTLE FOLKS’ HANDY BOOK
LITTLE FOLKS’ HANDY BOOK
With many illustrations Contains a wealth of devices for entertaining children by means of paper building-cards, wooden berry-baskets, straw and paper furniture, paper jewelry, etc. CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, NEW YORK...
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter