The Young Surveyor; or Jack on the Prairies   By: John T. Trowbridge (1827-1916)

OR,

JACK ON THE PRAIRIES.

BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE

AUTHOR OF "JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

BOSTON: JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. 1875.

Copyright, 1875. BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.

UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO., CAMBRIDGE.

[Illustration: HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER.]

CONTENTS.

I. "NOTHING BUT A BOY"

II. OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER

III. THE HOMEWARD TRACK

IV. A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED

V. THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER

VI. "LORD BETTERSON'S"

VII. JACK AT THE "CASTLE"

VIII. HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY

IX. VINNIE'S ADVENTURE

X. JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO

XI. JACK'S NEW HOME

XII. VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME

XIII. WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN

XIV. SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER

XV. GOING FOR A WITNESS

XVI. PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD

XVII. VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING

XVIII. VINNIE'S NEW BROOM

XIX. LINK'S WOOD PILE

XX. MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED

XXI. PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND

XXII. THE WOODLAND SPRING

XXIII. JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING"

XXIV. PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK

XXV. THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE

XXVI. VICTORY

XXVII. VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN

XXVIII. AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL

XXIX. ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED

XXX. JACK'S PRISONER

XXXI. RADCLIFF

XXXII. AN IMPORTANT EVENT

XXXIII. MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON MARK"

XXXIV. THE STRANGE CLOUD

XXXV. PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE. CECIE

XXXVI. "ON THE WAR TRAIL"

XXXVII. THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES

XXXVIII. THE MORNING AFTER

XXXIX. FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY

XL. PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE RAISING

XLI. CONCLUSION

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

SETTING THE STAKES

JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH

UP HILL WORK

"LORD BETTERSON"

TOO OBLIGING BY HALF

LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED

SHOT ON THE WING

THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW

VINNIE'S STRATAGEM

LINK'S WOOD PILE

HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER

TESTING THE LEVEL

OLD WIGGETT

"STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!"

RETURNING IN TRIUMPH

THE END OF THE CHASE

JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER

THE TORNADO COMING

PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS

FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES

THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED

THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.

CHAPTER I.

"NOTHING BUT A BOY."

[Illustration]

A young fellow in a light buggy, with a big black dog sitting composedly beside him, enjoying the ride, drove up, one summer afternoon, to the door of a log house, in one of the early settlements of Northern Illinois.

A woman with lank features, in a soiled gown trailing its rags about her bare feet, came and stood in the doorway and stared at him.

"Does Mr. Wiggett live here?" he inquired.

"Wal, I reckon," said the woman, "'f he ain't dead or skedaddled of a suddent."

"Is he at home?"

"Wal, I reckon."

"Can I see him?"

"I dunno noth'n' to hender. Yer, Sal! run up in the burnt lot and fetch your pap. Tell him a stranger. You've druv a good piece," the woman added, glancing at the buggy wheels and the horse's white feet, stained with black prairie soil.

"I've driven over from North Mills," replied the young fellow, regarding her pleasantly, with bright, honest features, from under the shade of his hat brim.

"I 'lowed as much. Alight and come into the house. Old man'll be yer in a minute."

He declined the invitation to enter; but, to rest his limbs, leaped down from the buggy. Thereupon the dog rose from his seat on the wagon bottom, jumped down after him, and shook himself.

"All creation!" said the woman, "what a pup that ar is! Yer, you young uns! Put back into the house, and hide under the bed, or he'll eat ye up like ye was so much cl'ar soap grease!"