Overlanders plan for their summer's vacation in the saddle.
Emma Dean "dotes on mysteries." Hippy Wingate gets a hard
blow. Stacy amazes his new friends by his dramatic entrance.
Shots and yells startle the Overland Riders.
CHAPTER II--AN INTERRUPTED SLEEP
The traveling salesman entertains his fellow passengers with
tales of wrecks and hold-ups. Chunky makes the passengers
laugh. Emma Dean has an attack of "nerves." Sheriff Ford is
suspicious. The "Red Limited" comes to a jolting stop.
"Robbers!" screams a woman.
CHAPTER III--THE HOLD-UP OF THE RED LIMITED
An ominous silence settles over the transcontinental express.
The sheriff calls for volunteers to drive off the train
bandits. Overland girls offer their services. The treasure car
cut off. Stacy, in his pajamas, joins the defenders.
CHAPTER IV--IN A LIVELY SKIRMISH
"Dynamite!" exclaims Sheriff Ford. Defenders give battle.
Stacy Brown shoots and talks. Hippy goes on a desperate
mission. Bandit guards are outwitted. Lieutenant Wingate
caught in a tight place. "I know you!" yells the Overland
Rider.
CHAPTER V--ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING
Sheriff Ford starts a search for Lieutenant Wingate. A clue at
last. "Captured by the bandits!" exclaims Tom Gray. Chunky
helps himself to a plum pudding. "Suffering cats! You're it!"
CHAPTER VI--CHUNKY MEETS THE BANDITS
The fat boy stampedes the outlaws' horses. "Oh, wow! I've lost
my biscuit." A pony that knew the way. "I suppose I emptied
twelve saddles," boasts Stacy. Shots arouse the sheriff's
camp. "Lie low, everybody!"
CHAPTER VII--BANDITS CATCH A TARTAR
Lieutenant Wingate, unconscious, is carried away on a pony's
back. A cruel blow. A pin-prick saves the day. The escape of
the Overland captive. "Cease firing! It's Hippy!" The
traveling salesman in a new rĂ´le.
CHAPTER VIII--HEADED FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY
Woo Smith joins the Overland outfit. Stacy declares that his
pony can climb a tree. "I want food!" is the fat boy's plaint.
The Overlanders are introduced to a "kyack." Packs are
"thrown" and the journey to the Sierras is begun.
CHAPTER IX--THEIR SLUMBERS DISTURBED
"All aboard for the High Sierras!" The Chinaman proves to be a
rare find. "You leave it to Smith," advises Hippy. Stories of
rattlesnakes in campers' blankets set the Overland girls'
nerves on edge. Woo savvies "transmigration."
CHAPTER X--"BOOTS AND SADDLES"
The Overland camp in an uproar. "Snakes! Oh, wow!" howls the
fat boy. "Me savvy somebody pull queue," wails Woo Smith. The
dark mystery is finally solved. Stacy Brown proves to be an
unwilling "wrangler."
CHAPTER XI--PONIES GET A BAD FRIGHT
Hippy uses a pea-shooter with disastrous results. The fat boy
awakens in a wild rose bush. Suspicion becomes a certainty.
Overlanders make a perilous descent. "The ponies are
stampeding!" shouts Lieutenant Wingate.
CHAPTER XII--AMID THE GIANT SEQUOIAS
"Look! Oh, look," cries Emma Dean. Lieutenant Wingate shoots a
cinnamon bear. "Uncle Hippy never misses what he hits."
Stopped by a rattler. Tom Gray lost in the great forest.
Watched over by trees centuries old.
CHAPTER XIII--THE CAMP AT THE "LAZY J"
A surprise in the High Sierras. Overland Riders entertained at
a mountain ranch. Stacy tries to shoe a horse. The white mare
gets into action. Warned against the High Country. "Keep away
from the 'Crazy Lake' section," advises the foreman.
CHAPTER XIV--WOO'S EYES ARE KEEN
The Chinaman sights a "buck in lelet." Hippy misses a "sure
shot." "Why don't you use a pea-shooter?" jeers Stacy. A rifle
that had been tampered with. "I--I just wanted to get even
with you." A shot that reached the mark.
CHAPTER XV--FOLLOWING THE AERIAL TRAIL
The Overland Riders enjoy a venison dinner. Elfreda Briggs is
reminded of Coney Island. Crossing a perilous mountain ridge.
Emma Dean is afraid and doesn't care who knows it. The white
mare meets with sudden disaster.
CHAPTER XVI--GOING TO BED IN THE CLOUDS
Kitty gives her masters a perilous job. Stacy offers to get a
derrick. A scene to be remembered. Getting up in the world.
Tom Gray makes up the Overlanders' beds with a pick. Stacy
objects to being buried so soon after supper.
CHAPTER XVII--IN THE LAND OF PINK SNOWS
Woo loses a "piecee kettle" over the brink. The campfire
disappears in the clouds. Camping in the valley of the blue
lupines. A trail that was difficult to find. Elfreda becomes
suddenly light-headed.
CHAPTER XVIII--AT THE "TOP OF THE WORLD"
The mystery of the "pink snows" is finally solved by Tom. A
snowball battle above the clouds. On the peak of the High
Sierras. The Overland Riders go to sleep in a snowbank.
"Girls, this is an ideal summer resort."
CHAPTER XIX--BOWLING IN NATURE'S ALLEY
Hippy Wingate gives his companions a delightful surprise. The
Overlanders withdraw their threat to throw him off the
mountain. A mysterious lake is discovered. Emma Dean scores a
hit. Bullets stop the highest bowling game on record.
CHAPTER XX--LEAD AND MYSTERY IN THE AIR
Overland Riders suddenly find themselves under fire. Stacy
"creeps" to safety. "Get up and walk, you tenderfoot!" The
Aerial Lake lives up to its reputation. Woo Smith savvies
trouble. "Discovered!" exclaims Hippy.
CHAPTER XXI--THE FACE IN THE WATERS
The guide informs the Overlanders that a woman has been spying
on the camp. Stacy feels like a snowbird. Prowlers leave a
trail. Lieutenant Wingate meets with an unpleasant surprise.
The pool of the mountain trout and what Grace Harlowe saw
there.
CHAPTER XXII--THE MYSTERY OF AERIAL LAKE
Grace Harlowe flees from a hideous face. The Overland girls
are eager to solve the mountain mystery. Stacy Brown discovers
an "ark" and goes out for a sail. The fat boy mysteriously
missing. Woo consults the skies. The lost boy returns with an
appetite.
CHAPTER XXIII--THE LAIR OF THE BAD MEN
Chunky laughs at his companions' distress. Lieutenant Wingate
invites his nephew out for a "paddle." Stacy makes an
important discovery. Plunder found in the bandits' cave. The
log that was chained down. Bullets drive the Overlanders from
their quest.
CHAPTER XXIV--MAKING A LAST STAND
The Overland Riders are fired on by the mountain ruffians.
Imprisoned by dynamite in the robbers' cave. A battle that
came to a sudden end. Sheriff Ford to the rescue. Mother
Jones' career is ended.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE HIGH SIERRAS
CHAPTER I
OLD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER
"Who is this Stacy Brown that you girls are speaking of?" questioned
Emma Dean as the Overland girls sat down to dinner in Grace Harlowe's
hospitable Haven Home.
"He is my Hippy's nephew," Nora Wingate informed her. "You will like
'Chunky,' as he is known to his friends, and I promise you that he will
keep this outfit from getting lonely," added Nora laughingly.
"He was one of the members of the Pony Rider Boys' outfit," volunteered
Grace. "You know we have heard of them several times on our journeyings.
They used to go out in search of adventure every summer, so Stacy is a
seasoned campaigner. We shall need him where we are going, too."
"By the way, where are we going, Grace?" spoke up Elfreda Briggs. "I
believe our destination is to be in the nature of a surprise--a mystery,
as it were."
"I just dote on mysteries," bubbled Emma. "Of course I could have
learned all about it had I not been too conscientious."
"That is characteristic of your sex," replied Hippy Wingate soberly.
"May I ask you how you could have found out?"
"I thank you for the compliment, and regret exceedingly that I cannot
return the compliment in kind. How could I have found out? Why, by the
transmigration of thought."
"The what?" cried Elfreda laughingly. "Is this some new freak, Emma
Dean?"
"It may be new with me, but the principle is as old as the ages. I
belong to the Society for the Promotion of Thought Transmigration. Our
great and Most Worthy Master lives in Benares, India, where numbers of
the faithful journey for instruction and inspiration once every two
years."
"Do you mean to say that you belong to that fool outfit?" wondered
Hippy.
"I am happy to say that I do. I joined last winter, and, novice that I
am, I have realized some remarkable results," replied Emma.
"Nora, we ought to take her to a specialist before we start on our
journey. It won't do to have a crazy person with us. She might get us
into no end of trouble," suggested Hippy.
"Humph! I'd much prefer to be crazy than to have a bungalow head,"
retorted Emma scornfully.
"A bungalow head?" exclaimed the girls.
"Yes. A bungalow has no upper story, you know."
"Ouch!" cried Hippy Wingate, clapping both hands to his head. "Now that
our Sage of India has spoken, suppose Grace and Tom enlighten us as to
where we are going this summer. In view of the fact that this is my
treat--that I have offered to pay the expenses of the Overland Riders on
this journey--it might not be inappropriate for me to inquire where we
are going. Elfreda's question in that direction is as yet unanswered."
Tom Gray nodded to his wife.
"I had intended to wait until Stacy Brown arrived, but as he is not a
member of our little organization, there is no reason why our business
matters should be discussed with him," said Grace. "Dear friends, we are
going to the High Sierras, the great snow-clad peaks of the far west.
Adventure, hardship and health are awaiting us there. It will be a long
journey before we reach the beginning of our real objective, but I
believe you folks will agree with me that the preliminary journey is
well worth while."
"You say that Hippy is paying the bills?" interjected Emma.
"He has so said. However, Tom will not have it that way, so we have
agreed that Tom and Hippy shall share equally in the expense of the
journey. Both feel quite rich now since they cleaned up on their big
lumber deal in the North Woods," replied Grace.
Elfreda said that such an arrangement would not please her at all,
declaring that she would pay her own expenses.
"You have nothing to say about it," laughed Tom. "The subject is closed.
So far as our having Stacy Brown as our guest, is concerned, you all
agreed to that when Grace wrote to you about his wish to join us on our
summer outing. Are you still of the same mind?"
"Yes," answered the girls in chorus.
"What about a guide? Is that arranged for?" asked Miss Briggs.
"Not yet," answered Grace. "We thought we would leave that until we
reached our destination. Oh, girls, I have some of the loveliest trips
in mind for several seasons ahead, but I'm not going to tell you a word
about them now. In the meantime, anyone that has a suggestion to offer
will please offer it."
"I have no suggestions to offer, but I should like to ask further light
on this new dope that Emma Dean has sprung on us. What is it, and how
does it work?" asked Hippy.
"If you won't make fun of me I'll tell you," replied Emma. "The
transmigration of thought is 'tuning-in' one's mind to receive messages
from the mind of another person, just as a wireless operator 'tunes-in'
his instrument to catch the message being sent by another operator far
away. In other words, persons so attuned to each other may converse,
read each other's thoughts and hold communion, even though separated by
thousands of miles of sea or land or both."
"Marvelous!" breathed Hippy. "For instance, please tune-in your mind and
tell me what I am thinking about. Let's see you do that, if you can," he
declared triumphantly.
"Our minds never could be in perfect accord, Theophilus Wingate. We are
as far apart as the poles, but our range being so short, I can easily
tell you what you are thinking about. Not being a deep thinker, you are
as transparent as a piece of clear crystal."
"Emma, don't you say that about my Hippy," protested Nora indignantly.
"My Hippy has a mind as big as his heart, and--"
"You are thinking," interjected Emma gravely, "what a shallow little
butterfly I am, but what you do not know is that that thought is merely
the reflection of your own mentality. You are, in other words, seeing
yourself as others see you, Hippy Wingate."
A peal of laughter from the Overland girls greeted Emma's retort. Hippy
flushed, then joined in the laughter.
"This is so sudden," he murmured. "I'll tell you what you do. Wait until
Stacy arrives, then you just practice your transmigration stuff on him.
Stacy will make a wonderful subject for you. He is so temperamental, so
spiritual, that I am positive you and he will get wonderful results."
Hippy winked at Nora as he said it.
None of the others had ever seen Stacy Brown, so they had not the least
idea what was in store for them from the comedian of the Pony Rider
Boys' outfit. Stacy was an old campaigner, however, and Hippy knew that
he would prove a valuable member of their party on the ride into the
High Sierras. Stacy knew the open, and with his companions had
experienced many exciting adventures in the wilder parts of the country.
The Overland Riders, too, had had their full share of thrilling
adventure, first as members of the Overton College Unit in France during
the great war, where Hippy Wingate had won honors as a fighting air
pilot, and Tom Gray at the front as a captain of engineers. However,
they had a new phase of excitement to experience in "Chunky" Brown, and
the first of those experiences was near at hand.
A shot suddenly broke the summer stillness of Haven Home, a shot that
brought the Overland Riders to their feet.
"_Bang, bang, bang!_"
"Merciful Heaven! Are we attacked?" cried Elfreda Briggs.
"Whoop! Yeo-o-o-o-o-w!"
Three more shots were fired, followed by a succession of startling
whoops and yells.
"What does it mean? I'm afraid!" cried Emma.
The Overlanders ran out of the dining room to the veranda, but no one
was in sight.
"Chunky has arrived. Don't be afraid, girls," laughed Hippy Wingate. "He
is on the other side of the house. There he comes!"
A short, fat young fellow, riding a gray bronco and perched high on his
saddle, at this juncture dashed around the end of the house, firing two
shots into the air as he passed the amazed group. Just as he swept past,
his sombrero fell off, but Chunky did not stop. In a minute or two he
was back, and, making a graceful dip from the saddle, reached down for
the hat. As he did so, the pony swerved and Stacy Brown landed on the
grass of Haven Home, flopped over on his back, and after a few dazed
seconds got up and shook himself.
Stacy made a low bow to the spectators gathered on the veranda.
"Oh, my dear, my dear! Are you hurt?" begged Nora, running to him.
"Hurt? Of course not. I always fall off before dinner. It puts a keen
edge on my appetite. Hulloa, folks! Glad to meet ye. Hey, Bismarck! Come
here," he ordered.
His dusty gray pony trotted to him and nosed Stacy's cheek
affectionately.
"Got anything loose around the house? I'm half starved," urged Chunky.
"Uncle Hip, introduce me to these beautiful young ladies. I've heard of
you folks, and so has Bismarck. You'll find him right friendly,
especially the front end of him, but I shouldn't advise you to get too
close to the tail end. He is very light there. Let him browse in the
yard while I feed the inner man."
"Indeed not," objected Grace. "I am not going to have my flowers
trampled down after all my hard work on them this spring. Tom, please
lead Stacy's pony around to the stables. I will put something on the
table for you at once, Stacy. Come right in. We were just finishing
dinner when you arrived so violently. Oh! Pardon me. You haven't yet
been introduced to the girls."
"Thanks!" bowed Stacy. "Thanks for the invitation, but come to think of
it don't introduce me until after dinner. I never like to meet strangers
on an empty stomach."
"This is Miss Elfreda Briggs, a rising young lawyeress, and here is the
life of our Overland party, Miss Emma Dean. We address each other by our
first names, so you may call her Emma. Come now, Stacy."
"You're a funny fellow, aren't you?" said Emma, surveying the newcomer
curiously as they walked towards the house.
"Then we are a pair of 'em, eh?" chuckled the fat boy.
"I am not a boy, thank my lucky stars and all the saints," objected
Emma. "I'll have you understand that, sir."
"Let the dove of peace rest over your touchy spirit, Emma," laughed
Grace chidingly.
"It isn't a dove. It's a crow," corrected Chunky. "A thousand pardons,
Emma dear. I--"
"I'm not your dear," answered Emma with considerable heat.
"Yes, you are, but you don't know it. To realize it you will have to
emerge from the unconscious state in which you now so sweetly repose,"
teased Stacy, amid the laughter of the others.
"I should prefer to be unconscious all the time," flung back Emma.
"Ah! The food does smell good. Food always has a strange effect on me,
and really, I haven't smelled any in almost a thousand years--not since
breakfast this morning. By the way, where do we go and when do we
start?"
"To the Sierras," answered Tom Gray. "How are you, Chunky?" he added,
extending a hand.
"Starved. How's yourself?"
"I think after we go back to the dining room and after I have my dessert
that I shall feel fit as a fiddle," replied Tom. "To answer the rest of
your question, we expect to start tomorrow forenoon. The ponies will be
shipped in a car that is now on the siding at Oakdale."
"Girls, what do you think of my nephew?" cried Hippy jovially, as they
again seated themselves at the table.
"So far as I am concerned, I think that he is another of those bungalow
fellows just like yourself, Hippy," answered Emma. "Mr. Brown, may I ask
if you ever have had any experience with mental transmigration?" she
asked, turning to Chunky.
Chunky, his mouth full of food, surveyed her solemnly.
"Uh-huh!" he replied thickly. "I met one of those animals once in the
Rocky Mountains. You see it was this way. We had been riding far into
the night to find a suitable camping place, when we were suddenly halted
by a savage growl just ahead of us. I went on ahead, with my trusty
rifle ready, to slay the beast whatever it might be. Suddenly I saw him.
He was the most terrible looking object that I've ever come up with in
all my mountain experience. I threw up my rifle and shot the beast dead
in his tracks."
"Wonderful!" breathed Emma. "But what has that to do with mental
transmigration?"
"I'm coming to that. It is wonderful--I mean it was. Will you believe
it, that terrible beast came to life. Yes, sir, he rose right up and
made for us. My pony bolted, and I fell off--just as I ordinarily do
before meal time. My feet at the moment chanced to be out of the
stirrups and I fell off. Well, I might have been killed--I surely would
have been killed, but I wasn't, just because of that stunt that you
mentioned. I transmigrated myself out of that vicinity with a speed that
left that terrible object so far behind that he just lay down and died
again," finished Stacy Brown solemnly, amid shouts of laughter, in which
all but Emma Dean joined.
Stacy gave her a quick sidelong glance, and Hippy Wingate, observing the
look, knew that war had been declared between Stacy Brown and Emma Dean.