A I HEE RSE SP Buco 18, 1912. a ) FRECKLES By Gene Stratton- Porter COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY DOUBLEDAY, PACE & CO. SYNOPSIS. Freckles, a homeless boy, is hired by Boss McLean to guard the tim- ber in the Limberlost from timber thieves. Freckles does his work faithfully, makes friends with the birds and yearns to know more about nature. He lives with Mr. and Mrs, Duncan. He resolves to get books and educate himself. He becomes interested in a huge pair of vultures and calls his bird friends his “chickens.” : Some of the trees he is guarding are worth $1,000 each. Freckles’ books arrive. He receives a call from Wessner. Wessner attempts to bribe Freckles to betray his’ trust, and Freckles whips him. McLean overhears them and witnesses the fight. Freckles’ honesty saves a precious tree. He finds the nest of the vultures and fis visited by a beautiful young girl. Bhe calls Freckles McLean's son. Freckles calls her “the angel” and helps the Bird Woman in taking photographs. McLean promises to adopt Freckles. Freckles and the angel become very friendly. Assisted by the Bird Woman, they drive Wessner and Black Jack, tim- ber thieves, from the Limberlost. McLean fears more trouble, but Freckles insists upon being the sole guard of the timber. Freckles calls upon the angel's The angel receives him as her equal, and her father is kind. Mrs. Duncan has ex- citing adventures in the Limberlost, The Bird Woman and the angel again visit Freckles, and Freckles falls in love with the angel. The angel kisses him. Freckles is bound and gagged by Black Jack's gang, and the timber thieves start felling a very valuable tree. Wessner is to kill Freckles after the tree is stolen. The angel makes a daring effort to save Freckles and the tree. McLean's men, notified by the angel, rush to save Freckles. All the timber thieves except Black Jack are captured. Freckles guards the angel against Black Jack's vengeance. He tells McLean of his hopeless love for the angel. Black Jack is killed by a rattlesnake. The Bird Woman gets a photograph of the baby vulture. Freckles and the ange! find a valuable tree. [Continued from last week.] CHAPTER XIX. FRECKLES OFFERS HIS LIFE. HE gang had been carefully sift- ed, and McLean now felt that there was not a man in it that was not trustworthy. They had all heard of the angel's plucky ride for Freckles’ relief, and several of them had been in the rescue party. When she was ensconced on the wagon load of tenting she sat on a roll of canvas like a queen on her throne. There was not a man of the gang that would not have fought for her. As they raced toward the wagon— “Let me tell about the tree, please.” she begged Freckles, “Why, sure,” said Freckles. He would probably have said the same if she had proposed to cut off his head. When McLean rode up he found her sitting on the wagon. flushed and glowing. “Everybody listen!” cried the angel. “I have something to say. Freckles has been guarding here over a year now, and he presents the Limberlost to you, with every tree in it saved. and for good measure he has just this morning located the rarest one of all— the one around in from the east line that Wessner spoke of that first day. nearest the one you took out at first. All together! Everybody! Hurrah for Freckles!" With flushing cheeks and gleaming eyes she led in three cheers and a tiger. Freckles slipped back into the swamp and held himself tight for fear he might burst wide open with pride and with his love for her. The angel subsided on the canvas and explained to McLean about the maple. The boss was mightily pleas- ed. He took Freckles and set out to relocate and examine the tree. The angel was interested in the making o the camp and preferred to remain with the men. With her sharp eyes she was watching every detail of con- struction. but when it came to the ‘stretching of the dining hall canvas she proceeded to take command. The men were driving the rope pins when the angel rose on the wagon and. leaning forward. spoke to Dun un who was directing the work. “1 believe if you would swing thn around a few fect farther you wouic find it better. Mr. Duncan,” she said “That way will let the hot sun in nt noon, and the sides will cut off the best breeze.” “That's a fact,” sald Duncan, study ing the condition. So by shifting the pins a little they obtained comfort, for which the: = She called to him that they ted to stay for dinner and that they had accepted the invitation, Ske was having the time of her life when McLean came back, jubilant | from his trip to the tree. How Jub | lant he only told the angel. for he hud | been obliged to lose faith in wom | trusted men of late and had learned discretion by what he suffercd. Be | planned to begin clearing out a road | to the tree that same afternoon and | to set two guards every night, for it promised to be a rare treasure. : | “I am coming to see it felled,” cried the angel. “Tell me, angel,” the boss said jest- ingly; “I think I have a right to know. i Who really did locate that tree?’ “Freckles,” she answered promptly | and emphatically, | | The boss smiled significantly at Freckles, who had just come up, for they had planned that they would in- struct the company to reserve enough of the veneer from that very tree to make the most beautiful dressing table they could design for the angel's share of the discovery. “What will you have for yours?" | asked McLean of Freckles. i “If it's all the same to you, I'll be | taking mine out in music lessons—beg- | ging your pardon—volice culture,” said Freckles with a grimace. The angel gave McLean the head of the table. She took the foot, with | Freckles on her right, and the lumber gang, washed, brushed and straight- ened until they felt unfamiliar with themselves and each other, filled the sides It was several days before they com- pleted a road to the noble, big tree and were ready to fell it. When the saw was well in Freckles began watching down the road where it met the trail leading from Little Chicken's tree. He had gone to the tree ahead of the gang and taken down the blue ribbon. Care fully folded, it now lay over his heart. He was promising himself a good deal of comfort with that ribbon when he should go to the city next month to begin his studies and dream the sum- mer over again. It would help to make things tangible. When he was dressed as other men and about his The angel broke from McLean. “Now. Freckles, you!" she cried. “It's your turn. Please get up! A pitiful! spasm swept Freckles’ face. The angel took hold of his hond. “Freckles, get up!” : Surely we can do something! We must! Let me see!” He tried to unfasten Freckles’ neck- band, but his fingers shook so clumsily that the angel pushed them away and herself laid Freckles’ chest bare. With just one hasty glance she gath- ered the clothing together and slip- ped her arm under his head. Freckles lifted eyes of agony to hers. “You see?’ he said. The angel nodded dumbly. Freckles turned to McLean. “Thank you for everything,” he panted. ‘‘Where are the boys?” “They are all here,” said the boss. “except a couple that have gone for doctors, Mrs. Duncan, and the Bird Woman.” “It's no use tryixg to do anything,” said Freckles. “You won't forget the muff and the Christmas box. The muff especial?’ There was a movement above them so pronounced that it attracted Freck- les’ attention, even in that extreme hour. He looked up, and ua pleased smile flickered into his drawn face. “Why. if it ain't me little chicken!” he cried hoarsely. “He must be mak- ing his very first trip from the log Now Duncan can have his big water ing trough.” “It was little chicken that made me late,” faltered the angel. “I was sc anxious to get here early I forgot to bring his breakfast from the carriage He must have been very hungry, for work he knew where he meant to | when I passed the log he started after . He was so wabbly. and so slow home that precious bit of blue. It | ™® should be his good luck token, and he | Setting from tree to tree and through would wear it always to keep bright | the bushes, I just had to wait on him. in memory the day on which the angel | had called him her knight. | How he would study, and, oh, how i he would sing! If he could fulfill Mc- | Lean's expectations, and make the | angel proud of him! If he could only be a real knight! He could not understand why the | angel had failed to come. She had | wanted to see their tree felled. She | would be too late if she did not ar | rive soon. The men were sending ringing blows into the felling side of the tree when the boss rode up. His first word was to inquire for | the angel. When Freckles said she had not yet come Mc Lean gave orders to stop work on the tree uutil she arrived. As the men stepped back a stiff morning breeze caught the top that towered high above its fellows. There was an ominous grinding at the base, a shiver of the mighty trunk, and directly in line of its fall the bushes swung apart and the laugh- | ing face of the angel looked in on | them. A groan of horror burst from the dry throats of the men, and, reading the agony in their faces, she stopped short. glanced up and understood. “South!” shouted Mec Lean. south!” The poor child was helpless. It was patent that she did not know which way south was. There was another slow shiver of the tree. The rest of the gang stood as if rooted, but Freck- les sprang past the trunk and went leaping in great bounds. He caught up the angel and dashed through the thicket for safety. The swaying trunk was half over when, just for an in- stant, a nearby tree stayed its fall. They saw Freckles’ foot catch, and with the angel he plunged headlong. A cry broke from the men, and Mec- Lean covered his face. Instantly Freckles was up, with the angel in his arms plunging on again, The out- er limbs were on them when they saw Ireckles hurl the angel. face down, in the muck, as far from him as he could send her. Springing after in an attempt to cover her body with his own, he whirled to see if they were still in danger, and with outstretched arms braced himself for the shock. The branches shut them from sight. and the awful crash rocked the earth. McLean and Duncan ran with axes and saws. The rest of the gang fol. lowed, and they worked like madmen It seemed an age before they caught a glimpse of the angel's blue dress. and it renewed their vigor. Duncan fell on his knees beside her and tore the muck from underneath her with his hands. In a few seconds he drag- ged her out, choking and stunned. Freckles lay a little farther under the tree. a big limb pinning him down. Duncan began mining beneath him. but Freckles stopped him. “You can’t be moving me,” he said. “You must cut off the limb and lift it. I know.” Two men ran for the big saw. A number of them laid hold of the limb and bore up. In a little time it was off, and Freckles lay free. The men bent over him to lift him, but he motioned them away. “Don’t be touching me until T rest a bit,” he pleaded. Then he twisted his head until he saw the angel. who was digging muck from her eyes and wiping it off her face on the skirt of her dress. “Try to get up,” he begged. McLean helped the angel to her feet. “Do you think any bones are bro- ken?" gasped Freckles. “You see if you can find any, sir.” McLean “Run Freckles settled back with a smile of ineffable tenderness on his face. “Thank the Lord!" he hoarsely whispered. i for I couldn't drive him back.” A spasm of fierce pain shook Freckles, and a look of uncertainty crossed his face. “All summer I've been thanking God for the falling of the feather and all the delights it's brought me,” he mut- tered. “but this looks like"— He raised questioning eyes to Me. “I can’t help being Irish, but I can help being superstitious,” he sald. “I mustn’t be laying it to the Almighty. nor to me bird, must 1?” “No, dear lad,” said McLean, stroking | the brilliant hair. “The choice lay with you. You could have stood a rooted dolt like all the rest of us. It was through your great love and your high courage that you made the sacrifice.” “Don’t you be so naming it, sir" cried Freckles. “It's just the reverse If 1 could be giving me body the hun- dred times over to save hers from this. I'd be doing it and take joy with every pain.” He turned with a smile of adoring tenderness to the angel. She scarcely seemed to hear or nnderstand what was coming, but she bravely tried to answer that smile. “Is me forehead covered with dirt?" he asked. She shook her head. “You did once,” he gasped. Instantly she laid her lips on his forehead, then on each cheek, and then in a long kiss on his lips, “Freckles,” sald McLean brokenly, “you will never know how I love you. You won't go without saying good- by to me?” That word stung the angel to quick comprehension. She started as if rousing from sleep. “Goodby?” she cried sharply. “Good by! What do you mean? Who's say- ing goodby? Where could Freckles go when he is hurt like this, but to the hospital? You call up the men. We must start right away.” “It's no use, angel,” said Kreckles: “I'm thinking ivry bone in me breast is smashed. You'll have to be letting me go!” “I will not,” said the angel fiatly. “You are alive. You are breathing and no matter how badly your boues are broken. what are great surgeons for but to fix you up and make you well again?* “Oh, angel!” moaned Freckles, “i can't! You don't know how bad it is I'll die the minute you are for trying to lift me!” “Of course you will, if you make up your mind to do it.” sald the angel. “Really you have to do it. Freckles, no matter how it hurts you, for you did this for me, and now I must save you, so you might as well promise. You will promise, Freckles?” “Angel, darlin’ angel,” Freckles, “you ain't understanding, and I can't for the life of me be telling you, but. indade, it's best to be letting me go.” He appealed to McLean. “Dear boss, you know! You be tell- ing her that, for me, living is far worse pain than dying. Tell her you know death is the best thing could ever be happening to me!” CHAPTER XX. LOVE AS A REMEDY. HE caught Freckles’ hand to her breast, and, bending over him, looked deep into his stricken eyes. “‘Angel, 1 give you my word of honor that I will keep right on breath- ing.’ That's what you are going to promise me,” she said. “Do you say iT Freckles hesitated. “Freckles,” imploringly commanded the angel, “you do say it!” “Yis,” gasped Freckles, pleaded | The angel sprang to her feet. “Then that's all right,” she said, with a tinge of her old time brisk- ness. “You just keep sawing away like a steam engine and 1 will do all the rest,” The eager men gathered about her. “It's going to be a get Freckles out,” our only chance. the sleeping tent. Get the stoutest cot, a couple of comforts and a pil- | i to help carry the cot. We won't risk the jolt of driving with him. The rest of you clear a path out to the road, and, Mr. McLean, you take Nellie and ride to town. Tell my father how Freckles is hurt and that he risked it to save me. Tell him I'm going to take Freckles to Chicago on the noon train and ! want him to hold it if we are a little late. If he can’t then have a special ready at the station and another on the Pitts- burg at Fort Wayne, so we can go straight through. You needn't mind leaving us. The Bird Woman will be here soon. When they stood ready to lift Freckies the angel bent over him in a passion of tenderness. “Dear old Limberiost guard, we're going to lift you now,” she said. “1 suspect you will faint from the pain of it, but we will be just as easy as | dently prefers death to life. If he | were full of hope and ambition to live, | my work would be easy. If all of you | love him as you prove you do, and there is unlimited means to give him | anything he wants, why should he desire death?” “Is be dying?” demanded McLean. | “He is,” said the surgeon. “He will | not live this day out, unless some strong reaction sets in at once. He is : 80 low that, preferring death to life, If he is to live, he must be made to desire life.” “Then he must die,” sald McLean. | “Does that mean that you know | what he desires and cannot, or will i mot, supply it?” “It means.” said McLean desperately, “that I know what he wants, but it is as far removed from my power to give : it to him as it would be to give him a star. The thing for which he will dle | he can never have.” | “Then you must prepare for the end very shortly,” said the surgeon, turn- | ing abruptly away. McLean caught his arm roughly. “Look here!” he cried in desperation. | “You say that as if I could do some- | thing if 1 would. I tell you the boy | is dear to me past expression. I would | do anything—spend any sum. You have | noticed and repeatedly commented on | the young girl with me. It is that | child that he wants! He worships her | to adoration, and knowing he can never ever we can. and don't you dare forget your promise!” i A whimsical half smile touched Freckles’ quivering lips. “Angel, can a man be remembering a promise when he ain't knowing?" | he asked. i “You can.” said the angel Stoutly, “because n promise means so much more to you than it does to most men.” A look of strength flashed into | Freckles’ face at her words. “I am ready,” he said. With the first touch his eyes closed, | a mighty groan was wrenched from | him, and he lay senseless. The angel | gave Duncan ‘one panic stricken look. | Then she set her lips and gathered ber | forces again. | “I guess that's a good thing,” she said. “Maybe he won't feel how we are hurting him. Oh. boys, are you being quick and gentle?” She stepped to the side of the cot | and bathed Freckles’ face. Taking his | hand in hers, she gave the word to start. She told the men to ask every | ablebodied man they met to join them | 80 that they could change carriers | often and make good time. The Bird Woman insisted upon tak. | ing the angel! into the carriage and fo!- i lowing the cot, but the angel refused | to leave Freckles and suggested that | the Bird Woman drive ahead, pack | them some clothing, and be at the sta. | tion ready to nccompany them to Chi. | cago. All the way the angel walked beside the cot, shading Freckles’ face and holding his hand. At every pause to change carriers she moistened his face and lips and counted each breath with heartbreaking anxiety. She scarcely knew when her father joined them, and, taking the branch from her, slipped an arm about her | waist and almost carried her along. | To the city streets and the swarm of curious, staring faces she paid no more i attention than she had to the trees of | the Limberlost. When the train pull- | ed in and the gang placed Freckles | aboard, Duncan made a place for the | angel beside the cot. : and with the Bird Woman and Mec- Lean in attendance, the four hours run to Chicago begun. Not for an in- stant would the angel yield her place, or ailow any one else to do anything for him. The Bird Woman and Mc: Lean regarded her in amazement. | The only time she spoke was to ask McLean if he was sure the special would be ready on the Pittsburg line He replied that it was made up and waiting. At § o'clock Freckles lay stretched on the operating table of Lake View hospital, while three of the greatest surgeons in Chicago bent over him. At their command, McLean picked up the unwilling angel and carried her out to the nurses to be bathed, have her bruises attended to, and be put to bed. In a place where it is dificult to sur prise people, they were astonished women as they removed the angel's dainty stained and torn clothing. peeled off hose muck baked to her! limbs, soaked the dried loam from her silken hair and washed the beautiful. The angel fell fast asleep long béfore i they had finished, and lay deeply un- | conscious, while the fight for Freckles’ | life was being waged. | Three days later she was up early and hovering near Freckles’ door. | The surgeon was with him. The | angel had been told that the word | he brought that morning would be final, so she curled up in a window | seat, dropped the curtains behind her, | and, in dire anxiety, waited the open- : Ing of that closed door. | Just as it unclosed, McLean came | hurrying down the hall and up to the , surgeon. but with one glance at his face he stepped back in dismay, and ' the angel, who had risen, sank to the | seat again, too dazed to come forward. : The men faced each other. The ' angel, with parted lps and frightened ! eyes, bet “orward in tense ansiety. , “I—1 thought he was doing nicely?” ! faltered McLean. | “He bore the operation well,” re- | plied the surgeon, “and his wounds : are not necessarily fatal. I told you . that yesterday, but I did not tell you that else would probably kill bim, and it will. He need not die from the accident, but he will not live the day out because he so evi- | to life. be anything to her, he prefers death | In God's name, what can 1 do about it? “Barring that missing hand, 1 never | handled a finer man,” said the surgeon, i “and she seems perfectly devoted to him, why cannot he have her?" echoed McLean. Well, for a good many reasons. I told | ago 1 had never seen him. He joined one of my lumber gangs from the road. | He is a stray, left at one of your homes FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN DAILY THOUGHT. I will be lord over myself. No one who cannot master himself is worthy to rule, and only he can rule. —Goethe. Not only may the fastidious woman select a beautiful hat, but she can rejoice In the been one, for so vavied are the shapes smile out from its individual frame. le out ftom according to the New York Tribune. The hat to wear is the one first selected. the medium sizes prevail fe lorings co orings, the under brim lending a contrast to the crown; in hatter’s in beaver, in in curious velvet, moire, feathers and kid. Of course, the kid hat is a inspiration, but it boasted a chic li which was very captivating. A hat aroused enthusiastic admiration of the openings was in the ig iti : ; ; E 5 ie Sesniniiine i 8 F 7 . 2 g fs was narrow, right in the front peak well to the back fell two ostrich plumes in the same blue tone, but ing—oh, so delicately—to purple. me he htly curled. » are y The willow Sh having suffered from the numerous cheap imitations. In the beavers there are all manner of becomi Beaver in itself is al- ways A P Here again ostrich § : it is used, ribbon, and stick- and stick- outs of every description. very stun- ning hat in the new brown tone a most effective feather fantaisie in ex- | you he was my son. You probably knew | Qlsite shades of yellow, browns and that he was not. A little over a year © Hatter’s plush and velours share the popularity with beaver. Some of the velours hats are very severe, laying only a ribbon drape, or one of ina for the friendless here in Chicago. contrasting shade. Others are lightened When he grew up tne superintendent With feathery fantaisies in brilliant col- bound him out to a brutal man. He orings. Ostrich plumes are likewise ran away and landed in one of my 2dapted for velours hats, and even lace lumber camps. He has no name or! knowledge of legal birth. The angel— | we have talked of her. She has ances- | tors reaching back to Plymouth Rock | and across the sea for generations | back of that. She is an idolized, petted | only child, and there is great wealth. | He sees it more plainly than any one else could. There is nothing for the boy but death if it is the angel that is required to save him.” The angel stood between them. “Well, | guess not!" she cried. “If Freckles wants me «!l he has to do is to say so, and he can have me!” “That he will never say,” said Me- Lean at last, “und you don’t under- stand, angel. 1! don’t know how yon came here. 1 wouldn't have bad you hear that for the world, but since you have, dear. you must be told that it! isn’t your friendship or kindness Freckles wants; it is your love.” “Well, I do love him.” she said sim- ply. McLean's arms dropped helplessly. “You don't understand,” he reiterat- ed patiently. “It isn’t the love of a friend, or a comrade, or a sister. that | Freckles wants from you; it is the love | of a sweetheart. And if to save the life he bas offered for you you are thinking of being generous and im- pulsive enough to sacrifice your future | —in the absence of your father it will become my plain duty. as the pro- | you, to prevent such rashness. The | very words you speak and the manner | in which you say them proves that you are a mere child and have not dreamed what love is.” “I have never had to dream of love,” she said proudly. “1 have never known anything else in all my life but to love every one and to have every one love me. And there has never been any one so dear as Freckles. If you will remember, we have been through a good deal to- gether. I do love Freckles, just as I say | do. I don’t know anything about the love of sweethegrts, but | love him with all the love in my heart, and I think tha: will satisfy him.” “Surely it ought!" muttered the man of knives and lancets. “As for my father.” continued the angel, “he at once told me what he learned from you about Freckles. I've known all you know for several weeks, That knowledge didn’t change your love for him a particle. [ think the Bird Woman loved him more. Why should you two have all the fine perceptions there are? My father is never unreasonable. He won't ex: pect me not to love Freckles, or not to te:l him so, if the telling will save him." She darted past McLean into Freckles’ room, closed the door and turned the key. Freckles lay raised on a dat pil- fow. his body immovable in a plaster cast. his maimed arm, as always, hid- den. The angel's heart ached at the change in his appearance. He seem- ed so weak, so utterly hopeless and so alone. She could see that the night had been one long terror. For the first time she tried putting herself in Freckles’ place. What would it mean to have no parents, no home, no name? No name! That was the worst of all. That was to be lost, indeed—utterly and hopelessly lost. The angel lifted her hands to her dazed head and reeled as she tried to face that proposition. She dropped on her knees by the bed. slipped her arm un- der the pillow, and. leaning over Freckles, set her iips on his forehead. ile smiled faintly. i [Continued next week. } -—~Don’t read an out-of-date paper. Get all the news in the WATCHMAN. | mot| | the least of their imposed upon is not thought too dainty. ‘There is a certain air which hatter’s plush produces that makes it dressy, and yet at the same time it is aprropriate for the tailored hat. Take, for instance, a hat of white hatters’ plush faced with Hogk The SIoWh Shows she, rounded erby shape, wi narrow brim, some- Whit Jag iy ake, Dlling. te sprays bunc adorn one side of one of these hats, on another a small pair of mercury wings had been perched on the right side and | caught with a black moire bow. The plush hats, while not as silky and smooth as those developed in hatters’ plush, are very smart. One in white plush was dis- tinguished by its simplicity. It had the rounded crown, with rolling brim—a gen- erous roll—and a little to the right of the front a bow of black velvet ribbon—not a big bow at that—was tilted right on the top of the brim. It was saucy, it was piquant and it was certainly smart, The curious little closely fitted hats and | caps of brocades and fancy velvets are very appealing, with satin flowers or chiffon blossoms, ostrich plumes, feather fantasies and other unusual adornments. On certain types of people they are : charming, but, like the picturesque hats, they must complement the wearer. The Supreme Sorrow. All the bodily pangs and labors which motherhood and -care have cost age after age, is ving. All the patient toiling which millions of mothers have lves when they alone have reared and fed their children, | all the watchful nights, all the tired With the best physician to be found, | tector In whose hands be has placed | igh steps —all that mothers have denied throws her heart at her son's feet, who, as he y stumbles over it, hears the heart wh , ‘Did you Burt yourself, my child?’ "—Ellen Key in the Atlantic. The thing that strikes one most forci- 217.45 2 SRrvey of the naw 5 Rela 5 per. ps of the 80! woolens wherever models of wool are in view. They are wonderfully light in weight, these new wool stuffs, very beautiful, but they are not easy to han- agneau, which have the peau d’ag- 29% showing a &rifle sore SE Wage in than does the peau ; cut velours, is a wood if iH i i i E i i 3 gid i £52 a gifs 1 Hil hi il ? ies oi i isp 13% i848 i gE § I : i & g Bed i] g i; ; ; | ie i 5 3 g E ——For high class Job Work come the WATCHMAN Office, g av
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers