The X Bar X Boys at Nugget Camp

The X Bar X Boys at Nugget Camp

Roy and Teddy Manley, the X Bar X boys, visit the neighboring 8 X 8 ranch with their sister Belle Ada and the eastern girls Nell Willis and Ethel “Curly” Carew. When Nell is thrown from her runaway pony, Roy pursues it over dangerous rocks beside Rocky Run River. He ropes the pony, but Teddy’s shout startles it; Roy and his horse Star fall into the river. Teddy rescues Roy, and the brothers agree not to tell the girls how narrowly Roy escaped or how Teddy saved him. On their way back, they hear a cry and a gunshot in a clump of trees. They find an elderly miner, Jerry Decker, wounded in the neck after two riders have robbed him and taken his horse. Roy stops the bleeding while Teddy brings help from the 8 X 8. Doctor Ring treats Decker, aided by Belle. Decker reveals that the robbers stole his gold nuggets, worth about twenty thousand dollars, which he had found at Nugget Camp. Mr. Ball and the boys search for clues and find a German Mauser pistol, though they cannot trace the criminals. The news of Decker’s strike starts a gold rush. X Bar X hands, including Jim Casey, Nat Raymond, and Gus Tripp, leave for Nugget Camp, making ranch work difficult. Pop Burns learns that Decker is his cousin and confirms that Nugget Camp may truly be rich. Roy becomes eager to prospect, and after the cattle shipment is completed, Bardwell Manley gives Teddy and Roy leave to go. They are joined by Nick Looker and Hap “Silent” Neville, an unfriendly but capable new hand. Silent later fights Teddy after using a weighted, metal-tipped whip on a cow, but Teddy saves him from being trampled; they become friends. Jack Conroy explains that Silent’s father and brother were murdered by robbers who stole gold, leaving Silent determined to find the killers. Teddy, Roy, Nick, and Silent travel with mules and mining supplies toward Nugget Camp. During a violent storm they see two riders, one wounded, racing through the woods. Silent recognizes them as the men who killed his family, but they vanish before he can act. At Nugget Camp, the party stakes four adjoining claims, including One Hundred and Eleven Above Discovery, near Gus Tripp’s claim. Roy is nearly buried in a cave-in while digging their shaft, but the others rescue him. In the dirt that covered him, Roy finds a gold nugget worth about two hundred dollars. Bug Eye arrives in his damaged flivver and reports that Decker is recovering. A stranger called Jimmie Allen buys Bug Eye’s broken car for seven hundred dollars, claiming he needs it to carry a rich strike away. He persuades Nick to help move bags supposedly full of gold, then falsely accuses Nick of replacing the gold with ordinary rocks and tries to extort ten thousand dollars from the Manley boys or have Nick hanged as a thief. Bug Eye interrupts the scheme. Silent recognizes Allen’s unusual gun as a German Mauser and connects him with Greyhound, leader of the robbers. Allen escapes by driving off Bug Eye’s and Nick’s horses. Roy, Teddy, Nick, and Silent abandon their immediate mining plans and ride into the mountains to find Greyhound. A threatening note, marked with a drawing of a greyhound, is thrown into their camp, and Silent follows its messenger on foot to Greyhound’s hidden camp. At dawn the four surround the outlaws’ tent. Greyhound shoots Silent’s hat away, but Silent refuses to kill the man who murdered his father and brother. The gang surrenders instead. Allen is found hiding in the tent and admits that stolen gold, including Decker’s nuggets, is concealed there. The prisoners are brought to Nugget Camp, where a deputy sheriff takes charge before angry miners can lynch them. The recovered gold restores much of Decker’s stolen fortune and helps his recovery. The X Bar X party continues working One Hundred and Eleven, but after hard labor and little return, Teddy decides to quit. As they prepare to leave, Maryland, the drunken gunman Roy had disarmed on their first night in camp, arrives with news: his slanting tunnel has entered their claim and uncovered a rich pocket of gold. The find proves immense, with nearly forty thousand dollars already visible and promise of more. They stake neighboring claims for friends and family, including Bardwell Manley, Pop Burns, and Jack Conroy. Back at the X Bar X, Roy gives his father a certified check for twenty-five thousand dollars. Jerry Decker gives Belle Ada a diamond bracelet in thanks for nursing him and sends Pop a watch and chain. A newspaper later reports that Greyhound and most of his gang have been convicted, while Allen receives twenty years. With their gold strike secured and the criminals punished, Roy and Teddy return gladly to riding together on the ranch.

By James Cody Ferris · First published 1928 · Genre: Western Adventure, Children's Adventure Fiction, Juvenile Fiction · 25 chapters · 56,213 words

First lines

By the time Roy Manley shortened the stirrup that had loosened and slipped down two holes, his brother Teddy was nearly out of sight behind the hunch-backed rise of ground. Roy heard a faint yell as pony and boy disappeared completely.

"Got lightning grease on his heels," he grumbled, struggling with the stirrup. "Belle, why don't you take Nell in out of this sun? You and Curly get one on each side of her, and cart her along."

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The X Bar X Boys at Nugget Camp is listed on Textopian as a novel by James Cody Ferris, dated 1928 CE.

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Western adventure · boys' adventure fiction · juvenile series fiction · American West · early 20th century · cattle ranches · cowboys · brotherhood · ranch life · horseback riding · runaway horse · river rescue

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