excepting Jim Girty, one's as bad as another."

"Then it's a common occurrence, this abducting girls from the
settlements?"

"Yes, and the strange thing is that one never hears of such doings
until he gets out on the frontier."

"For that matter, you don't hear much of anything, except of the
wonderful richness and promise of the western country."

"You're right. Rumors of fat, fertile lands induce the colonist to
become a pioneer. He comes west with his family; two out of every
ten lose their scalps, and in some places the average is much
greater. The wives, daughters and children are carried off into
captivity. I have been on the border two years, and know that the
rescue of any captive, as Wetzel rescued your friend, is a
remarkable exception."

"If you have so little hope of recovering your sweetheart, what then
is your motive for accompanying this band of hunters?"

"Revenge!"

"And you are a preacher?" Jim's voice did not disguise his
astonishment.

"I was a preacher, and now I am thirsting for vengeance," answered
Christy, his face clouding darkly. "Wait until you learn what
frontier life means. You are young here yet; you are flushed with
the success of your teaching; you have lived a short time in this
quiet village, where, until the last few days, all has been serene.
You know nothing of the strife, of the necessity of fighting, of the
cruelty which makes up this border existence. Only two years have
hardened me so that I actually pant for the blood of the renegade
who has robbed me. A frontiersman must take his choice of succumbing
or cutting his way through flesh and bone. Blood will be spilled; if
not yours, then your foe's. The pioneers run from the plow to the
fight; they halt in the cutting of corn to defend themselves, and in
winter must battle against cold and hardship, which would be less
cruel if there was time in summer to prepare for winter, for the
savages leave them hardly an opportunity to plant crops. How many
pioneers have given up, and gone back east? Find me any who would
not return home to-morrow, if they could. All that brings them out
here is the chance for a home, and all that keeps them out here is
the poor hope of finally attaining their object. Always there is a
possibility of future prosperity. But this generation, if it
survives, will never see prosperity and happiness. What does this
border life engender in a pioneer who holds his own in it? Of all
things, not Christia