present. Then, too, our readers all recall Tad Butler's capture by
the Blackfeet Indians, and all that befell him ere he succeeded in
escaping to his friends.

The next stage of adventures took our lads somewhat further east, as
told in "_The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks_." It was a thrilling,
desperate time when the boys, with their ponies stolen, found themselves
facing actual starvation in the wilds. Tad Butler's perilous trip for
assistance is bound to bring throbs of recollection to every reader of
that volume. The imprisonment of the youngsters in a mine, following a
big explosion, formed another interesting scene in the narrative
brought forth in that fourth volume of the series. It was here that
Chunky, as our readers know, displayed the splendid stuff that lurked
under his odd exterior and behind his sometimes queer manners. How,
in escaping from the mine, the Pony Rider Boys penetrated a mystery
that had disquieted the dwellers near the Ozarks for a long time, was
one of the most interesting features of the tale.

But such strenuous life proves the mettle of the right kind of young
Americans. So, far from being discouraged, or sighing for the comforts
of home, we next find our lads in Nevada, as related in "_The Pony
Rider Boys on the Alkali_." Here they left grass behind for the
glaring discomforts of the baked desert lands, where severe thirst
was one of the least yet most constant perils. Roving from water hole
to water hole, finding them all gone dry, nearly drove the youngsters
mad. Then, too, the fight with the mad hermit, who seemed a part of
the life of that bleak desert, helped to accustom the boys to the
strenuous life of daily danger.

As our readers will recall, it was in the next volume, "_The Pony Rider