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The Pony Rider Boys in New England; or, An Exciting Quest in the Maine Wilderness
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CHAPTER I--A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT The original wonder of Chillicothe. Tad makes a sacrifice for his mother's sake. Plotters get their heads together. A Pony Rider Boy left behind. A dash to the open country.
CHAPTER II--CAMPING ON THE PISCATAQUI Words of wisdom from the guide. Chunky's proposal is voted down. Tad Butler surprises his fellows. An exhibition of horsemanship. "I never saw anything like that outside of a circus."
CHAPTER III--A JOYFUL REUNION A gentleman in the woodpile. A name with a handle at both ends. Tad voices his regrets. Indian Charlie John joins the outfit. Wild howls startle the Pony Rider camp.
CHAPTER IV--BAITING THE HONEY BEES The Indian's pack lands on Chunky. "I'm killed! I'm killed!" Cale Vaughn shows the boys how to lure the bees. Stacy gets a new idea. Tad learns to walk up a tree.
CHAPTER V--NEW TRICKS IN WOODCRAFT Camp making a science. How to make a browse-bed. How to cache food so animals cannot get it. Why the boy's fire always failed. Making a fire in the rain. The woodsman's trick.
CHAPTER VI--THE FAT BOY'S REVENGE In the heart of the big woods. Coons hold nightly conversations. Stacy loses himself six times in one morning. Oil of anise draws unwelcome visitors. Bees in force attack the Indian.
Chapter VII--STAMPEDED BY AN INTRUDER A bear come to camp on the anise trail. Charlie John up a tree. What happened when the bear kissed Chunky. "Fat boy him up a tree." Tad ropes Mr. Bruin; then the fun begins.
CHAPTER VIII--AN INTERRUPTED FORAGE The bear gets a section of Tad's trousers. Boys take to the trees and Bruin takes the camp. Cale shoots to kill. Stacy's practical joke is exposed. "The boss bee was scouting me."
CHAPTER IX--BEAR STEAK FOR BREAKFAST Bruin causes a change of camp. Chunky's heart is weak when there is work to do. Learning to make a "kitchi-plak-wagn" and a "kekauviscoe saster." "Oh help!" wails Chunky.
CHAPTER X--BLAZING A FOREST TRAIL "Every time you turn around the scenery has shifted." Learning to live in the woods. Birch bark lights the way. "Silver Face is calling me." A difficult job done well.
CHAPTER XI--FACING NEW OBSTACLES Camping in the rain in the dark of night. "Don't be scared, boys, I'm going to shoot!" Stacy decides that he has had enough. Tad Butler noses out the way.
CHAPTER XII--CHUNKY MEETS A BULL MOOSE "Indians have sharp eyes." Stacy beholds a terrifying sight. Charged by an angry moose. Too frightened to yell. The bull bumps his head against a tree.
CHAPTER XIII--AN EXCITING DAY IN CAMP The fat boy slays his helpless victim. "I did it with my knife." Chunky's boasts are loud and vigorous. Tad Butler makes a little investigation on his own hook. The guide holds opinions about Stacy's bravery.
CHAPTER XIV--LAID UP BY AN ACCIDENT Broken bones put the guide out of business. First aid to the injured. Chunky lets the cat out of the bag. The timber cruiser hears the story of the fat boy's prowess. "I guess I've got a right to talk about myself if I want to."
CHAPTER XV--A DISASTROUS JOURNEY Bears strip the camp food. Charlie John and Stacy set out for town. "I'd like to see the place where Chunky could not get into trouble." The Indian returns alone. "Chunky is in jail at Matungamook!"
CHAPTER XVI--BAD NEWS FROM THE FRONT Pony Rider Boys go to their chum's assistance. A grilling night journey. Charlie John leads the way. The arrival at the scene of trouble. Twittering birds the harbingers of an eventful day.
CHAPTER XVII--CHUNKY IN A PREDICAMENT A frying pan awakens the Indian. "Game warden git fat boy!" What came of Stacy's bragging. Called before the bar of justice. "Where is the prisoner?"
CHAPTER XVIII--THE VERDICT OF THE COURT "Stacy did not leave much to the imagination, did he?" The same old moose with new trimmings. "Stacy Brown, stand up!" The fat boy brags to the court. The Professor voices his indignation. "One hundred dollars and costs! Pay your fine or go to jail!"
CHAPTER XIX--PAYING THE FIDDLER "Can you cross my palm for $128.50?" Not money enough in the outfit to pay Chunky's fine. Stacy loses his pony. Looks like a week of fasting for the Pony Rider Boys. Dead broke in the Maine woods. The wolf at the door.
CHAPTER XX--"LOOK WHO'S HERE!" Tad and Ned get a job and earn fifty cents. His companions punish the fat boy. Cale Vaughn hears the news and hurried to town. The guide proves himself a friend in need.
CHAPTER XXI--YOUNG WOODSMEN ON THE TRAIL AGAIN "I don't want to be like other folks." Blaze marks lead the boys astray. Tad follows a year-old trail. On the verge of a panic. "We are lost!" declares Butler.
CHAPTER XXII--LOST IN THE BIG WOODS "When you are lost sit down and think it over." Tad and Stacy find themselves in a predicament. "There is nothing like being a cheerful idiot." "Get ready for Trouble!"
CHAPTER XXIII--AN EXCITING QUEST The ponies stampeded. A raging moose wrecks the camp. Chunky up a tree again. Tad shows his resourcefulness. Dishes are made from bark. Dining with nature.
CHAPTER XXIV--THE SIGNAL SMOKE Tad rounds up the live stock. "Chunky would hoodoo the best organized force in the world." Cale Vaughn on the trail of the lost. "Heap big smoke!" Charlie John makes a discovery. The end of the long trail.
"That depends upon whether you walk or ride," answered Tad Butler, walking slowly up to the barn of Banker Perkins where three brown-faced boys were sitting in the doorway, polishing bridles, mending saddles and limbering up their lassos.
"Of course you know what we mean," urged Ned Rector with a grin.
"Yes, I know what you mean."
"He isn't mean. You're the mean one," interjected Stacy Brown, otherwise known among his fellows as Chunky, the Fat Boy.
"Chunky, remember we are at home in Chillicothe now and are supposed to set examples to our less fortunate fellow citizens. Any fellow who can get into the village paper the way you have done ought to hold his head pretty high," chuckled Rector.
Stacy threw out his chest.
"You mean that lion-catching article?"
Ned nodded.
"Yes, that was a pretty swell article. They think I'm the original wonder here in Chillicothe."
"You are. There can be no doubt of that," laughed Tad.
"I'm glad you've come, Tad," continued Ned, turning to young Butler. "We are planning for the new trip to the Maine Woods. I shall be glad to get east. I've never been far east. Any of the rest of you been east?"
"Well, I have been out to Skinner's farm. That's east of the village," declared Stacy Brown.
"Please, please!" begged Ned, a pained expression appearing on his face. "Leave all that sort of nonsense to entertain us after we get into the woods. We don't mind so much your playing the fool when we are away from home, but here it is different. We don't want to be disgraced in this town where we are--"
"Some pumpkins," finished Chunky.
"Well, yes; that's it, I guess," agreed Ned.
"We were waiting for you to talk over what we should take along," declared Walter. "I have been studying and reading and talking with Abe Parkinson, who, you know, used to live up in Maine. He says we must travel very light; that going is hard up there in the woods. He says we don't want an ounce of excess baggage, or we'll never get anywhere. Do you know anything about it, Tad?"
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