Recently, thanks to James Keeline’s research, I have also learned that a complete manuscript of this story was written by Leslie McFarlane and submitted to the Stratemeyer Syndicate. I am currently trying to obtain a copy of the full manuscript from the NYPL, which has initiated a search for the document.

The story begins with Roy and Teddy Manley riding with singing ranch hand Ranny Brown. He tells the boys that he going to leave the X Bar X Ranch and join a circus owned by a man named Jim Rutter. After they have returned to the ranch, Mr. Manley informs his sons that he is interested in adding a small new herd to his cattle. A man named Elias Parker, whose ranch is in southern Alberta, is giving up ranching to pursue mining. He has been building up a special breed of cattle by crossing Australian and Scottish strains. The boys beg to join their father who decides to drive up to Alberta to inspect the herd. At the border they meet an Immigration Patrol Inspector named Peter Brown, called "Pike Pete," who hails from Colorado. He relates to the Manleys that there has been a high incidence of pelt smuggling across the border. At the ranch, Mr. Manley decides to purchase the herd. Arrangements are made to drive the cattle to the border, where the herd will be met by ranchers from the X Bar X. Returning home, they stop for customs inspection where a stowaway is detected. He is one of the ranch hands of Elias Parker’s ranch. He escapes into the night.

The Manleys return home and make plans to return to meet the Canadian herd at the border. Before leaving, the boys track investigate a campfire not far from the Ranch. Although it is deserted when they locate it, a pelt from a Canadian otter rests nearby. The boys take it back to the ranch, not knowing they are followed by two sinister figures. Shortly after arriving, Teddy is jumped, the pelt is taken, and the assailants makes good their escape. In daylight, the boys learn that the assailants’ trail leads to a cabin, then unoccupied. They find and keep a list of smuggled pelts sold, with prices received for them.

A day or two later, after a farewell party for Ranny, the boys accompany him to the train station in Eagles, where they see a "wanted poster" featuring the visage of one of the assailants. He is described as a horse and cattle thief. The boys inform the sheriff that he is probably a smuggler as well. After meeting Nell and Curley at the station, with some boys from New York, the Manley boys invite the Eastern boys to join them on a ride to assist a geologist, also from New York, look for specimens. On the ride, they catch a glimpse of the Canadian who had tried to stow away in their car.

The next morning they wire Pike Pete of their sighting of the stowaway. Pete wires Inspector Jack Hobson, another agent, who is not far from the X Bar X Ranch. Roy and Teddy take him out to the place where they had seen the Canadian. On the search, Jack locates a cave with pelts in it, but no men. After a few adventures, the men are captured, the pelts turned over to the government, the New Yorkers continue their explorations, and Roy and Teddy join the ranchers to head for the Canadian border to meet Elias Parker’s herd. On the trip, they read in the paper that the circus train, which Ranny had joined, had been wrecked and many wild animals had escaped. Several lions, tigers, and leopards are loose in the area not far from the border where the Parker herd is expected.

Although delayed by a rider named Will Watson, who had joined their bunch for a day or so, the X Bar X men arrive at the border and wait for the Parker herd. After it is long late, they call Parker, who expresses concern, since the herd had left his ranch on time. He informs the boys of the trail his cattle took, and they decide to start from both ends and meet in the middle, looking for the missing cattle. They meet the next day with no sign of the herd. Since the trail is frequently used, searching for footprints is not useful. Parker decides to contact the Canadian Border Police, and the Manley brothers decide that Watson is probably one of the rustler gang. They also suspect that the rustled herd is on the U. S. side of the border, since the stowaway was heading across the border.

After contacting the U. S. Border Patrol, the boys learn that that office is particularly overworked with three different rustling gangs, two agents out with wounds, and the escaped circus animals. The Manley are invited to help out, and accept the invitation. Circus owner Jim Rutter arrives and pleads that his animals be captured alive. The boys ask that Ranny be allowed to help them, and Rutter agrees. The boys and Ranny proceed to capture a lion, find the place where the rustled herd were turned off the main trail, and learn that the herd was taken to a railroad siding and shipped somewhere. Next they locate the cabin where the Parker ranch hands had been held captive and free them with the help of the R. C. M. P.

The railway company reports that there were no cattle cars on their train, so the boys conclude that the derailed circus cars had been commandeered by the rustlers, probably to take the cattle a short distance. A search finds cattle tracks five miles from the siding, and the boys and their companions follow them. However, a heavy rain obliterates the tracks. With effort the tracks are picked up and lost several times. After several adventures, the boys, with Ranny, spy, through binoculars, a group of hard-looking men, one of whom appeared in the wanted poster in Eagles. Overhearing that other smugglers plan to attack the boys’ friends at their camp, Ranny and the boys rush back in time to capture two ambushers. These confess that the smugglers and the rustlers had joined forces and were operating on both sides of the border.

Joined by two Mounties, two Border Patrolmen, and the animal-keeper from the circus, the group returns to the canyon where the rustlers’ camp was located. They are still looking for the missing herd. The Mounties turn back at the border, and on the U. S. side the rest of the patrol soon locates herd’s tracks. The Border Patrol reports that all escaped circus animals have been captured except a leopard who is tame. After several adventures, Roy and Teddy locate a camouflaged cabin in which the rest of gang is hidden, with the herd secreted nearby in a cave. The boys are captured and taken inside the cabin. Inspector Jack tracks the boys to the cabin, accompanied by several of the X Bar X ranchers. While the good guys ponder how to rescue the boys, the leopard appears. The animal handler rushes to the cabin, shouting that the leopard will not let any one out alive. The boys realize this is the tame beast and tell their captors that they would rather face the leopard than remain captive. They rush out to freedom. The X Bar X men then capture the rustlers, and the stolen herd is freed. All the other bad guys are captured, and the herd is taken to the X Bar X. Ranny decides to leave the circus and return to the Ranch.

Stratemeyer Syndicate Records

Manuscripts and Archives Division

The New York Public Library