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THE PREACHER OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN
A TALE OF THE OPEN COUNTRY
BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
FRONTISPIECE BY CLARENCE ROWE
Garden City New YorkDOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY1917
_Copyright, 1917, by_Ernest Thompson Seton
_All rights reserved, including that oftranslation into foreign languages,including the Scandinavian_
"'You must choose between us. Is it Belle or BlazingStar?'"]
PREFACE
Most of the characters in this tale are from life, and some of the mainevents are historical, although the actual scenes and names are notgiven. Many men now living will remember Fighting Bill Kenna and theHorse Preacher, as well as the Fort Ryan races. These horse races areespecially well known and have been described in print many times. I didnot witness any of them myself, but listened on numerous occasions whenthey were described to me by eye-witnesses. My first knowledge of thesecret try-out in Yellowbank Canyon was given to me years ago by HomerDavenport, the cartoonist, with permission to use the same.
But all of these more or less historic events are secondary to theintent of illustrating the growth of a character, whose many rare giftswere mere destructive force until curbed and harmonized into the big,strong machine that did such noble work in the West during my early dayson the Plains.
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON.
CONTENTS
Preface
BOOK I THE CHILD OF THE STABLE YARD
I. The Home Land of Little Jim Hartigan
II. The Strains That Were Mingled in Jim
III. How He Lost His Father
IV. The Atmosphere of His Early Days
V. Little Jim's Tutors
VII. He Gets a Much-needed Lesson
BOOK II THE CONVERSION
VIII. The Conversion of Jim
IX. Jim Hartigan Goes to College
X. Escape to Cedar Mountain
XI. A New Force Enters His Life
XII. Belle Boyd
XIII. Preacher Jim's First Sermon
XIV. The Lure of the Saddle
XV. Pat Bylow's Spree
XVI. The New Insurance Agents
XVII. Belle Makes a Decision and Jim Evades One
XVIII. The Second Bylow Spree
XIX. The Day of Reckoning
XX. The Memorable Trip to Deadwood
XXI. The Ordeal
XXII. The Three Religions Confront Him
BOOK III THE HORSE PREACHER
XXIII. Blazing Star
XXIV. Red Rover
XXV. The Secret of Yellowbank Canyon
XXVI. Preparing for the Day
XXVII. The Start
XXVIII. The Finish
XXIX. The Riders
XXX. The Fire
XXXI. Love in the Saddle
BOOK IV THE HORSE PREACHER AFOOT
XXXII. The Advent of Midnight
XXXIII. The Sociable
XXXIV. Springtime
XXXV. When the Greasewood is in Bloom
XXXVI. Shoeing the Buckskin
XXXVII. The Boom
XXXVIII. When the Craze Struck
XXXIX. Jim's Bet
XL. The Crow Band
XLI. The Pinto
XLII. The Aftertime
XLIII. Finding the Lost One
XLIV. A Fair Rider
XLV. The Life Game
XLVII. Back to Deadwood
XLVIII. The Fork in the Trail
XLIX. The Power of Personality
L. The Call to Chicago
LI. These Little Ones
LII. The Boss
LIII. The First Meeting
LIV. The Formation of the Club
BOOK V THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN
LV. In the Absence of Belle
LVI. The Defection of Squeaks
LVII. The Trial
LVIII. In the Death House
LIX. The Heart Hunger
LX. The Gateway and the Mountain
LXI. Clear Vision on the Mountain
LXII. When He Walked with the King
BOOK ONE
THE CHILD OF THE STABLE YARD