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 Boys in New Mexico,” that the author described the events surrounding the first real acquaintance that our lads formed with the little that is left of the savage Indian to-day.  It was here, too, that they beheld the fire dance of the Saboba Indians in all its ancient fury.  The adventures of the young horsemen at this point became fast and furious.  Between prairie fire and fight they had the most exciting time of their lives.

Later, after a rest at home, as described in “The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon,” the boys visited the wonderful region of the Colorado.  Here, as our readers will recollect, the lads were cut off from their trail by the falling of great masses of rock during a fierce storm.  Apparently the boys were doomed to remain helpless on a narrow shelf of rock; our readers recall how Tad Butler, at the risk of his life, spent hours in the attempt to get them out of their dangerous situation.  The mysterious circumstances that followed the boys all the way along on their journey through the great canyon form a most remarkable series of events.

Now, from Arizona, Tad and his friends had journeyed onward and into the Lone Star State.  Here they looked forward only to a long, healthful ride, full of pleasures, yet devoid of anything like sensational excitement.  Yet one never knows what the day may bring forth, and these young travelers of ours, though they did not suspect it, were on the threshold of the most exciting experiences that had yet befallen them.  The blue mountain ridge in the near distance was teeming with the story that was to unfold before them.  So far the ride had been lonely.  Of late rarely had they come in sight of a building of any sort, for this part of the state was but sparsely settled.  To meet a horseman was an event.  In fact they had not met one since the early morning.  The Pony Riders had no guide with them on this journey, believing that one would not be needed.  Nor did they carry a pack train.  One additional pony bore all their extra baggage, each mount being loaded with all that he could carry in addition to its rider.  For tents they had brought one large enough to accommodate the entire party.  This was in sections, carried on the different ponies.