VANGUARDS OF THE PLAINS


I COULD NOT SPEAK THEN, FOR ONE SENTENCE WAS RINGING IN MY EARS--"I WAS ALWAYS THINKING OF YOU"

VANGUARDS OF THE PLAINS

A ROMANCE OF THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL

BY

MARGARET HILL McCARTER

AUTHOR OF The Price of the Prairie

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON

VANGUARDS OF THE PLAINS

1917, Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATION

This story of the old Santa Fé Trail would do honor to the memory of those stalwart men who defied the desert, who walked the prairies boldly, and who died bravely--vanguards in the building of a firm highway for the commerce of a westward-moving Empire.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

PART I
CLEARING THE TRAIL

I. THE BEGINNINGS OF A PLAINSMAN
II. A DAUGHTER OF CANAAN
III. THE WIDENING HORIZON
IV. THE MAN IN THE DARK
V. WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
VI. SPYING OUT THE LAND
VII. "SANCTUARY"
VIII. THE WILDERNESS CROSSROADS

PART II
BUILDING THE TRAIL

IX. IN THE MOON OF THE PEACH BLOSSOM
X. THE HANDS THAT CLING
XI. "OUR FRIENDS--THE ENEMY"
XII. THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE PLAINS
XIII. IN THE SHELTER OF SAN MIGUEL
XIV. OPENING THE RECORD
XV. THE SANCTUARY ROCKS OF SAN CHRISTOBAL
XVI. FINISHING TOUCHES
XVII. SWEET AND BITTER WATERS

PART III
DEFENDING THE TRAIL

XVIII. WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN
XIX. A MAN'S PART
XX. GONE OUT
XXI. IN THE SHADOW OF THE INFINITE

PART IV
REMEMBERING THE TRAIL

XXII. THE GOLDEN WEDDING

FOREWORD

Westward, along the level prairies of a kingdom yet to be, my memory runs, with a clear vision of the days when romance died not and strong hearts never failed. The glamour of the plains is before my eyes; the tingle of courage, danger-born, is in my pulse-beat; the soft hand of love is touching my hand. I live again the drama of life wherein there are no idle actors, no stale, unmeaning lines. And beyond the action, this way up the years, there runs also the forward-gazing vision toward a new Hesperides:

Through the veins
Of whose vast Empire flows, in strength'ning tides,
Trade, the calm health of nations.

* * * * *

And sometimes I would doubt
If statesmen, rocked and dandled into power,
Could leave such legacies to kings.

I

CLEARING THE TRAIL

VANGUARDS OF THE PLAINS

A ROMANCE OF THE SANTA FÉ TRAIL


I

THE BEGINNINGS OF A PLAINSMAN

There came a time in the law of life
When over the nursing sod
The shadows broke, and the soul awoke
In a strange, dim