East away from the Sierras, south from Panamint and Amargosa, east and south many an uncounted mile, is the Country of Lost Borders. Ute, Paiute, Mojave, and Shoshone inhabit its frontiers, and as far into the heart of it as a man dare go. Not the law, but the land sets the limit. Desert is the name it wears upon the maps, but the Indian's is the better word. Desert is a loose term to indicate... more...

CHAPTER I THE HERO AND HIS ONLY RELATIVE Martin Rattler was a very bad boy. At least his aunt, Mrs. Dorothy Grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody should, for Martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it, "the bane of her existence,—the very torment of her life." No doubt of it whatever, according to Aunt Dorothy Grumbit's showing, Martin... more...

QUEEN BERNGERD Long ere the Sun the heaven arrayed,For her morning gift her Lord she prayed:“Give me Samsoe to have and to hold,And from every maiden a crown of gold.”   Woe befall her, Berngerd. The King he answered Berngerd thus:“Madam, crave something less of us,For many a maid lives ’neath our swayTo ’scape from death could the like not pay.”   Woe befall her, Berngerd. “My gentle... more...

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES The Hunters of the HillsThe Rulers of the LakesThe Lords of the WildThe Shadow of the NorthThe Masters of the PeaksThe Sun of Quebec THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES The Young TrailersThe Forest RunnersThe Keepers of the TrailThe Eyes of the WoodsThe Free RangersThe Riflemen of the OhioThe Scouts of the ValleyThe Border Watch THE TEXAN SERIES The Texan ScoutsThe Texan StarThe... more...

The great event of the week has been the action of the Senate in passing the Morgan Bill, recognizing the belligerency of Cuba. Belligerency, as you doubtless remember, means being engaged in legitimate warfare. The resolution was passed by a vote of 41 to 14. The Morgan Bill, which was a joint resolution of both houses, was also brought up in the House of Representatives, but nothing was done with it.... more...

Preface Forty years ago John Muir wrote to a friend; "I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer. . . . Civilization and fever, and all the morbidness that has been hooted at me, have not dimmed my glacial eyes, and I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness." How gloriously he fulfilled the promise of his early manhood! Fame, all unbidden, wore a path to his door,... more...

CHAPTER I Morning was breaking on the high road to San Jose. The long lines of dusty, level track were beginning to extend their vanishing point in the growing light; on either side the awakening fields of wheat and oats were stretching out and broadening to the sky. In the east and south the stars were receding before the coming day; in the west a few still glimmered, caught among the bosky hills of... more...

THE DOOR IN THE WALL I One confidential evening, not three months ago, Lionel Wallace told me this story of the Door in the Wall. And at the time I thought that so far as he was concerned it was a true story. He told it me with such a direct simplicity of conviction that I could not do otherwise than believe in him. But in the morning, in my own flat, I woke to a different atmosphere, and as I lay in... more...

THE CATACOMBS OF ROME. ————parti elette Di Roma, che son state cimitero Alla milizia che Pietro seguette. PARADISO, c. ix. "Roma Sotterranea,"—the underground Rome of the dead,—the buried city of graves. Sacred is the dust of its narrow streets. Blessed were those who, having died for their faith, were laid to rest in its chambers. In pace is the epitaph that marks the places where... more...

CHAPTER I. AN ONLY SON. Good Squire Tufton of Gablehurst lay dying. He had been ailing for many months, knowing his end to be near; and yet, as is so often the case in lingering declines, death was long in coming, so that those about him had grown used to the sight of the strong figure wasted to a shadow, and the face shadowed by the wings of the hovering messenger. Some members of the household,... more...