Munsey's Magazine, February 1923

Wild Bird by Hulbert Footner opens a serialized tale set in the Canadian Northwest. The narrative follows a stagecoach journey where two contrasting female passengers—Nell, known as the "Queen of North Cariboo," and Ann, a young schoolteacher searching for her father—meet and develop an unexpected friendship. Nell is worldly, cynical, and financially independent, smoking cigarettes and dismissing the attentions of male passengers with casual disdain, while Ann is sheltered and naive, dressed plainly and unaccustomed to Nell's sophisticated manner. As the coach travels through spectacular terrain marked by gorges, burned forests, and mountain peaks, the male passengers exchange colorful stories about frontier characters like Pop Hopper and Wes Trickett. The excerpt concludes with armed figures suddenly ambushing the stage, suggesting adventure ahead. The story's incomplete final sentence cuts off mid-word.