The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico; Or, the End of the Silver Trail

It's 1909, and four boys have just arrived in Bluewater, New Mexico, with nothing but their horses, their nerve, and a hunger for adventure. Tad Butler, Stacy Brown, and their companions are the Pony Rider Boys, and the locals have already heard whispers about them: these aren't ordinary tenderfeet. When the boys overhear talk of hidden treasure along the Silver Trail, they set off across the New Mexico plains with their lazy but lovable guide Juan in tow, ready to face whatever dangers await. What follows is the kind of straight-shooting adventure that defined an era of American juvenile fiction: friends relying on each other, outwitting grown-ups who underestimate them, and racing toward mystery through cactus-stitched horizons. Patchin writes with a kinetic energy that makes even the journey across the desert feel like a gallop. This is boyhood as it was imagined a century ago, uncomplicated and bold, when the biggest question was whether you'd find the treasure before the trail ran out.