Across Texas

Across Texas tells the story of Herbert Watrous, a young man threatened by consumption, and Nick Ribsam, his strong and resourceful companion, as they embark on a health-restoring journey through the southwestern United States. Starting in Pennsylvania, they travel by train through Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, meeting cowboys Arden Strubell and Baker Lattin who join them on a horseback ride toward New Mexico. Their journey reveals the harshness and wildness of the American Southwest, with natural dangers like tarantulas and stampedes, and social dangers including horse thieves.

One night, Nick captures a horse thief named Bell Rickard, who surprisingly is treated with a degree of hospitality by the Texans despite being an enemy. The complex relationships between outlaws and lawmen blur traditional lines of friendship and enmity. As the group travels, they face uncertainty and suspense, including mysterious smoke signals and a fork in the trail that forces Nick and Herbert to split up.

Separated, Herbert endures harsh weather and navigates difficult terrain, surviving a cold norther wind by sheltering in a cavern. Meanwhile, Nick is captured by Rickard and his gang and taken toward New Mexico. Herbert, aided by Strubell, Lattin, and a white trapper named Eph Bozeman, pursues Nick across Western Texas and into New Mexico. The pursuit is grueling, crossing streams and enduring cold rain, but Herbert's health improves through the outdoor exertion.

The captors hold Nick at an abandoned adobe ranch near the Pecos River, planning to ransom him. Negotiations are tense, complicated by the presence of Apaches nearby. Nick ingeniously escapes captivity by hiding in a secret room within the mission building. Eph Bozeman rescues Herbert during an Apache attack, and the group reunites inside the mission. Despite the dangers, the group bonds through shared adversity, with even the horse thief Rickard showing moments of honesty and generosity.

The story concludes with Nick and Herbert deciding to return home rather than continue westward, their friendship strengthened by the trials they endured. Nick rejoins his family in Pennsylvania, while Herbert returns to New York City, both changed by their experiences in the Southwest.