RUTHERFORD MONTGOMERY would rather write than do anything else in the world. Most of his books are about animals and the wilderness he knows so well. As a boy, Mr. Montgomery would listen to the tales told by hunters, and his favorite sport then and now is going into the woodland and sitting quietly on a log, observing the children of the wild. He is a watcher, not a hunter.

Mr. Montgomery was born in North Dakota, and taught school for ten years in Wyoming and Colorado after graduating from Colorado Agricultural College. He saw service in the United States Flying Corps in World War I. Later, he was a county judge in Colorado and held state offices there. He now lives in Los Gatos, California.

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MIDNIGHT

RUTHERFORD MONTGOMERY

SBS SCHOLASTIC BOOK SERVICES
New York Toronto London Auckland Sydney

To Earl Hammock
who knows the value of
the lonesome places

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, or otherwise circulated in any binding or cover other than that in which it is published—unless prior written permission has been obtained from the publisher—and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Copyright 1940 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Illustrations copyright 1949 by Pocket Books, Inc. This edition is published by Scholastic Book Services, a division of Scholastic Magazines, Inc., by arrangement with Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.