Introduction. xxv

Chapter I. Arrival — Little Missouri — A game country — Joe Ferris — The trail to Chimney Butte — The three Canadians — The buckskin mare. 3

Chapter II. Gregor Lang — The Vine family — The buffalo hunt — The argonauts — Politics — The passing of the buffalo — Pursuit — The charge of the buffalo — Broken slumbers — Failure — "It's dogged that does it" — Roosevelt makes a decision — He acquires two partners — He kills his buffalo. 18

Chapter III. Jake Maunders — The "bad men" — Archie the precocious — County organization — The graces of the wicked. 47

Chapter IV. Marquis de Mores — Founding of Medora — The machinations of Maunders result in bloodshed — The boom begins — The Marquis in business — Roosevelt returns East — The Marquis's idea — Packard — Frank Vine's little joke — Medora blossoms forth — The Marquis has a new dream — Joe Ferris acquires a store — Roosevelt meets disaster — Invasion — Roosevelt turns West. 58

Chapter V. "I will not be dictated to!" — George Myers — Mrs. Maddox — The Maltese Cross — On the round-up — "Hasten forward quickly there!" — Trying out the tenderfoot — A letter to "Bamie" — The emerald biscuits. 89

Chapter VI. The neighbors — Mrs. Roberts — Hell-Roaring Bill Jones — A good man for "sassing" — The master of Medora — The Marquis's stage-line — The road to Deadwood — The Marquis finds a manager. 108 Chapter VII. The gayety of Medora — Holocaust — Influence of the cowboy — Moulding public opinion — The "Bastile" — The mass meeting — The thieves — The underground railway — Helplessness of the righteous — Granville Stuart — The three argonauts. 123

Chapter VIII. The new ranch — The bully at Mingusville — The end of the bully — Dakota discovers Roosevelt — Stuart's vigilantes — Sewall and Dow — Mrs. Lang — Sewall speaks his mind — Enter the Marquis. 148

Chapter IX. "Dutch Wannigan" — Political sirens — "Able to face anything". 167

Chapter X. The start for the Big Horns — Roosevelt writes home — A letter to Lodge — Indians — Camp in the mountains — Roosevelt gets his bear. 175

Chapter XI. Rumblings from the Marquis — The "stranglers" — The band of "Flopping Bill" — Fifteen marked men — Maunders the discreet — Sewall receives callers. 189

Chapter XII. "Medicine Buttes" — Roosevelt returns to Elkhorn — Maunders threatens Roosevelt — Packard's stage-line — The dress rehearsal — Another bubble bursts. 202

Chapter XIII. Bleak camping — Roosevelt "starts a reform" — The deputy marshal — Winter activities — Breaking broncos — A tenderfoot holds his own — Wild country — Mountain sheep — The stockmen's association. 215

Chapter XIV. Winter misery — Return to Medora — Illness and recovery — Mingusville — "He's drunk and on the shoot" — The seizure of Bill. 235

Chapter XV. The spring of 1885 — Swimming the Little Missouri — Ranching companions — Golden expectations — The boss of the Maltese Cross — The buttermilk — Hospitality at Yule — Lang's love of debate — Nitch comes to dine. 248

Chapter XVI. Cattle torture — Trailing cattle — Roosevelt's horsemanship — Gentling the Devil — The spring round-up — The first encampment — The day's work — Diversions — Profanity — "Fight or be friends". 266

Chapter XVII. The "mean" horse — Ben Butler — Dr. Stickney — Dinner with Mrs. Cummins — The stampede — Roping an earl's son — A letter to Lodge — Sylvane's adventure — Law. 286

Chapter XVIII. Sewall's skepticism — Interview at St. Paul — The womenfolks — The Elkhorn "Outfit" — The Wadsworths' dog. 305

Chapter XIX. Medora — "Styles in the Bad Lands" — The coming of law — The preachers — Packard's parson — Johnny O'Hara. 318

Chapter XX. De Mores the undaunted — Genealogy of the Marquis — Roosevelt and the Marquis — Hostility — The first clash — Indictment of the Marquis — The Marquis's trial — The Marquis sees red — Peace. 331

Chapter XXI. Red man and white — Roosevelt's adventure — Good Indian, dead Indian — Prairie fires — Sewall delivers a lecture — The testing of Mrs. Joe — Mrs. Joe takes hold. 350

Chapter XXII. The theft of the boat — Redhead Finnegan — Preparations for pursuit — Departure — "Hands up!" — Capture of the thieves — Marooned — Cross country to jail — Arrival in Dickinson — "The only damn fool". 365 Chapter XXIII. Medora's first election — The celebration — Miles City meeting — Roosevelt's cattle prospects — "His upper lip is stiff" — Completing "Benton" — The summer of 1886 — Influence over cowboys — "A Big Day" — Oratory — Roosevelt on Americanism — "You will be President". 387

Chapter XXIV. A troop of Rough Riders — Premonitions of trouble — The hold-up — The Coeur d'AlÊnes — Hunting white goats — John Willis — Elkhorn breaks up — Facing east. 412

Chapter XXV. The bad winter — The first blizzard — Destruction of the cattle — The spring flood — The boneyard. 429

Chapter XXVI. Roosevelt's losses — Morrill vs. Myers — Roosevelt takes a hand — A country of ruins — New schemes of the Marquis — The fading of Medora. 440

Chapter XXVII. Bill Jones — Old friends — Seth Bullock — Death of the Marquis — Roosevelt's progress — Return as Governor — Medora celebrates — The "cowboy bunch" — Return as President — Death of Bill Jones — The Bad Lands to-day. 453

Appendix. 479

Index. 484