The Project Gutenberg eBook, Buffalo Roost, by F. H. Cheley

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Title: Buffalo Roost

Author: F. H. Cheley

Release Date: November 27, 2004 [eBook #14175]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO ROOST***

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BUFFALO ROOST

A Story of a Young Men's Christian Association Boys' Department

by

F. H. CHELEY

Boys' Work Director, Young Men's Christian Association, South Bend, Ind.

1913

TO Every Good Fellow WHO CUT A LOG OR TURNED A STONE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE OLD CABIN IN BUFFALO PARK, AND TO

My Father WHO BUILT ITS HEART AND INSPIRATION, THE FIREPLACE, THIS STORY
IS DEDICATED

CONTENTS

I. WILLIS THORNTON DISPLAYS HIS PLUCK
II. A STORY IS TOLD AND A PROMISE MADE
III. IN WHICH WILLIS IS HONORED
IV. WILLIS BECOMES INTERESTED IN GOLD MINES
V. A PLAN IS EVOLVED
VI. A STAGE ROAD JOURNEY
VII. A WILDERNESS CAMP
VIII. THE SECOND DAY OUT
IX. THE THIRD DAY OUT
X. A GLIMPSE OF BUFFALO ROOST
XI. A STRANGE TURN OF FATE
XII. THE DISCOVERY OF THE MINE
XIII. SLEEPY SMITH HAS AN EXPERIENCE
XIV. THE OPENED DOOR
XV. IN WHICH FATE TAKES A HAND

CHAPTER I

Willis Thornton Displays His Pluck

Train No. 6 on the D. & P.W., two hours late at Limon, was rushing and
jolting along over its rickety roadbed. The rain fell in torrents, the
heavy peals of thunder seemed about to tear the car to pieces, the black
and threatening clouds blotted out the landscape, and the passengers
could hear nothing but the roar of the thunder and the rattle of the
train. The brakeman, shaking the water from his hat as he passed through
the aisle, dropped something about it being a "mighty tough day for
railroadin'."

Suddenly there was a creaking, a cracking, and then a series of awful
jolts. Window glass broke and flew in every direction. Like a mighty
monster that had suddenly been frightened by an unseen foe, the train
lurched forw