r. He
would add, too, that several of the incidents related therein, and those
in his opinion the most remarkable, are drawn from actual facts.

CONTENTS

I. BIG REUBEN'S RAID 11

II. CRAWFORD'S BASIN 27

III. YETMORE'S MISTAKE 42

IV. LOST IN THE CLOUDS 64

V. WHAT WE FOUND IN THE POOL 82

VI. LONG JOHN BUTTERFIELD 101

VII. THE HERMIT'S WARNING 119

VIII. THE WILD CAT'S TRAIL 134

IX. THE UNDERGROUND STREAM 150

X. HOW TOM CONNOR WENT BORING FOR OIL 169

XI. TOM'S SECOND WINDOW 190

XII. TOM CONNOR'S SCARE 210

XIII. THE ORE-THEFT 229

XIV. THE SNOW-SLIDE 250

XV. THE BIG REUBEN VEIN 271

XVI. THE WOLF WITH WET FEET 289

XVII. THE DRAINING OF THE "FORTY RODS" 313

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

"THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN
AT US" _Frontispiece_ 22

"AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?'" 78

"WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS
SIGHT" 155

"'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'" 213

"HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW" 281

The Boys of Crawford's Basin

CHAPTER I

BIG REUBEN'S RAID

"Wake up, boys! Wake up! Tumble out, there! Quick! Big Reuben's into the
pig-pen again!"

Our bedroom door was banged wide open, and my father stood before us--a
startling apparition--dressed only in his night-shirt and a pair of
boots, carrying a stable-lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other.

"What is it?" cried Joe, as he bounced out of bed; and, "Where is it?"
cried I, both of us half dazed by the sudden awakening.

"It's Big Reuben raiding the pig-pen again! Can't you hear 'em
squealing? Come on at once! Bring the eight-bore, Joe; and you, Phil,
get the torch and the revolver. Quick; or he'll kill every hog in the
pen!"

Big Reuben was not a two-legged thief, as one might suppose from his
name. He was a grizzly bear, a notorious old criminal, who, for the past
two or three years, had done much harm to the