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THE TRAIL OF THE BADGER

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"DICK PUSHED HIS RIFLE-BARREL THROUGH A CREVICE IN THE ROCKS."

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The Trail of The Badger

A STORY OF THE COLORADO
BORDER THIRTY YEARS AGO

BY

SIDFORD F. HAMP

Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen,"
"The Boys of Crawford's Basin," etc.

ILLUSTRATED BY
CHASE EMERSON

W. A. WILDE COMPANY
BOSTON CHICAGO

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Copyrighted, 1908
By W. A. Wilde Company
All rights reserved

The Trail of The Badger

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PREFACE

In writing the adventures of the boys who followed "The Trail of theBadger" down into that part of Colorado where the fringes of twodiscordant civilizations overlapped each other—the strenuousAnglo-Saxon and the easygoing Mexican—the author has endeavored to showhow two healthy, enterprising young fellows were able to do their littlepart in that great work of Desert Reclamation whose importance is now aswell understood by the general public as it always has been by thosewhose lot has been cast to the west of meridian one hundred and five.

To some it may appear that the boys are ahead of their time, but to theauthor, whose introduction to "the arid region" dates back thirty yearsand more, remembering the conditions then prevailing, it seems no morethan natural that they should recognize the unusual opportunitypresented to them of making a career for themselves, and even that theyshould be dimly conscious of the fact that if they[Pg 6] "could make two earsof corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground whereonly one grew before" they would be deserving well of the infantcommunity of which they formed a part.

That in making this attempt they would meet with adventures—in fact,that they could hardly avoid them—the author, recalling his ownexperiences in that country at that time, feels well assured.

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CONTENTS