HBHMKHHMHIMI THE CASTLE BUILDERS I'NCI.K ASA TOOK C1IARGK NOW. P(I(JC 70. THE CASTLE BUILDERS BY CHARLES CLARK MUNN ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK T. MERRILL NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Published, August, 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD Co* All rights reserved THE CASTLE BUILDERS PREFACE A few men awe us by their dauntless courage, far vision, primal force, and power of leadership. Men " who blaze their way where never highway ran." Many more charm us by wit, humor, and ability to discover and express the droll side of ordinary events; while still more interest us by simple kind- ness and everyday honesty. But among all the types I have met and studied, none appeals to me more forcibly than the genial optimist, the man with philosophy enough to see the silver lining back of all clouds, to point it out to us, and convince us that Rainbowville is still on the map of our lives. It is for this reason that I have selected " Uncle Asa " Webster as the leading character in this book, and used a pathetic experience in his life as the basis of the story. I have known him many years, and his unfailing ability to hear larks singing, even in over- cast skies, has made him well beloved by all who are favored with his acquaintance. And inasmuch as he has brought a ray of sunshine to me in many a pessimistic mood, so do I hope he may to my readers. CHARLES CLARK MUNN. 2137301 | THE CASTLE BUILDERS CHAPTER I FOR four hours Stacy Whipple had floundered and fought his way through the Mohawk- briared morass of Bear Hole Swamp, osten- sibly in pursuit of trout, in reality prospecting for a suitable site for a dam and reservoir to supply elec- tric power to Barre, a small coast city fourteen miles away beyond a low range of mountains. He had lost his package of lunch early that June day, ruined his supply of cigars and matches by a souse into the stream from a moss-coated log, and lost his tem- per many times over. And then with a vague idea that this swamp must be about all there was of Oakdale, he finally reached hard soil once more, and a faintly defined path downward and alongside a cascading stream overhung by pines. Here the path, velvety from many years' deposit of needles, soon soothed his ruffled temper. A quarter-mile of such consolation disclosed an opening just ahead between abutting hills, and here he halted; for up from this and mingling with the soft sighing of the I 2 THE CASTLE BUILDERS green canopy above him came the faint, metallic " plink plink " of some musical instrument. So weird and witching was it almost uncanny that he stood stock-still, even forgetting his half- starved condition for a moment. Then, as the mur- mur of the pines died away, the ghostly melody resolved itself into the old familiar plantation tune of " Don't You Hear Dem Bells A-Ringing? " For fully five minutes Stacy stood almost breath- less to catch this strangely sweet old-time melody, faint in the distance, then step by step crept onward. Ten, twenty, thirty rods, and he halted again, for just ahead in the open sat a girl, leaning against the trunk of a monster pine, and holding in her lap an auto-harp. A simply-made, well-fitting calico dress enclosed her daintily rounded form, two low tan shoes pointed their toes upward, a broad sun-hat lay be- side her; her face, sweet, sun-tanned, yet dreamy from soul-absorption in her music, was bent over her harp, while two small hands swept back and forth across its strings. So charming was this pic- ture that Stacy forgot the rudeness of his act and watched it for a long minute of almost trance. Then he strode forward out of the thicket with a " Beg pardon, don't be scared," to save her from fright. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 3 His effort failed, however, for with a scream that was almost of fear, she tossed the harp aside, sprang up, bounded a rod away, then turned and faced him. " Don't be frightened, please," he added assur- ingly, and bowing now, as he raised his cap. " I am only a harmless fisherman just escaped from the swamp back there, and nearly starved." Then glancing towards the roof of an old brown house barely visible below them, he continued, " Do you think I can buy something to eat at your home, as I suppose it is, down there ? " " I g-guess so," she stammered, still watching him with wide-open, fathomless eyes. And now as his mud-splashed, scratched, yet open and smil- ing face reassured her, a smile came to hers. " That is my home, sir," she continued with dig- nity now, " and I presume mother will find some- thing for you." And now, as man and maid stood watching one another, Stacy smiling genially as was his wont, she still curious, a smile spread over her round, pi- quant face. " But you did give me an awful fright," she said. " I know it," he returned humbly now, " but I didn't mean to. I had to come out of the woods, you see." And so these two, Miss Hazel Webster, a keen- 4 THE CASTLE BUILDERS witted, sweetly simple country girl aged twenty- one, and Stacy Whipple, a polished city-bred man of thirty, first met. And neither realized how the shuttle of fate and fortune was destined to weave into their lives the warp and woof of human happi- ness and human suffering. Just then, however, food was of more account than even the fairest of rustic maids to Stacy, so with another bow and tip of cap to this one, he turned and left her. A few rods down the open pasture and a tall, bent old man, wielding a hoe in a potato field beside it, caught his eye. To him, as the likeliest one to obtain food from, Stacy now went. " Good morning, sir," he said with his usual form of address, whatever the time of day. " I am a half-starved man just escaped from an all-day scramble through Bear Hole Swamp," he added, as the farmer looked up, " and will pay well for some- thing to eat. Can you do anything for me ? " " Wai, ye look it," answered Uncle Asa, smiling at him with keen, kindly blue eyes. " B'ar Hole's a tough un to tackle, speshly by a city feller, ez I see you be. I guess we kin fix ye up suthin'," he continued, now leading the way toward the house. " Come along, V I'll see what Martha kin do." " My name's Whipple, Stacy Whipple from Al- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 5 bion," Stacy continued, feeling that some introduc- tion of himself was next in order, as they started on. " I came up to spend a week brook-trout fish- ing, and the landlord of your hotel set me at it this morning and into the worst swamp that ever was." " 'N' mine's Webster, Asa Webster," he re- sponded, now chuckling, " 'n' that's Sam all over. He allus plays B'ar Hole off on every strange fisher- man that comes here, 'n' gits the laugh on 'em." Then Uncle Asa laughed himself. " Well, he caught me," rejoined Stacy ruefully. " I am it, I guess, for a tenderfoot." " Yaas, I guess ye kin figger it that way," drawled Uncle Asa, " 'n' Sam allus works it on newcomers arter trout. Tells 'em B'ar Hole brook's full on 'em, 'n' in they go. You ain't the fust un that's fetched out here perty much bushed. You kin bet Sam's ben laughin' all day thinkin' 'bout ye. Did ye ketch any, though ? " he queried as they neared the house. " I got quite a number in the morning," re- sponded Stacy, opening his basket eagerly, as all fishermen will. " Then after an hour the swamp got so bad I gave up fishing." " Wai, ye done well," asserted Uncle Asa with an accent of praise and peep into the basket. " Bet- ter'n most do. One o'. yours '11 weigh 'most a 6 THE CASTLE BUILDERS pound. Jist you keep still 'bout the swamp when you git back, 'n' you'll kinder spile Sam's laugh at ye. He's got it waitin' fer ye, sure's a gun." Then this lovable old Good Samaritan led the mud-soiled Stacy into a back kitchen, where there was a stone sink and faucet for running water, brought a cake of toilet soap and clean towel, and returned to the next or main kitchen of this antique abode. " Martha," he said pleasantly (and overheard by Stacy), " I've fetched a man in who's 'most starved. What kin ye do for him ? " " Why, I kin git him some bread 'n' butter, I s'pose," came the acidulated answer ; " thar ain't no cold meat in the house." " Ye might fry him a slice o' ham, Martha," re- turned Uncle Asa in soothing tone, " 'n' I'll dress him a few o' his trout; he's perty hungry." " Me fry trout this hot afternoon? Guess not ! " growled Martha. " But ye might," persisted Uncle Asa soothingly. " He seems a pleasant sort o' feller. A stranger who come here a fishin'. Don't be fretty, Martha. I'll start the fire. Whar's Hazel ? " " Whar she allus is when wanted," came the sharp rejoinder. " A-plinkin' on that new contrap- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 7 tion you bought her, in some shady spot, 'n' leavin' me to do the work." And that brief yet quite pertinent dialogue now disclosed the domestic status of this family to Stacy as fully as an hour's history of it could have done. He also soon caught sight of a fairly comely woman of middle age and red hair through an open window of the main kitchen as he emerged from the back one, saw the girl he had come upon so suddenly now enter the house, and then he retreated to the shade of a maple beneath which stood a grindstone, to be out of hearing of any further do- mestic exchanges. " Can't be she's her mother," he muttered, seat- ing himself here. " It doesn't seem possible." And then after half an hour and more of surmising upon the mutual relationship of these three people, he was invited into the living room of " Uncle Asa," so known all over the town of Oakdale. Here, also, another surprise awaited him in the per- son of the aforesaid Hazel, now dressed in white, who greeted him with quiet, smiling dignity, and served him a meal of ham and eggs, fried trout, and coffee, with a dish of field strawberries ; all of which proved a repast relished as never one before in his life ever had been. No awkward diffidence on her 8 THE CASTLE BUILDERS part, just an easy, pleasant urbanity and attention to his wants, a few polite inquiries as to his ex- periences that day in the swamp, and for the rest he was left to do most of the talking. He had ex- pected her to be a shy and quite rural and rustic maid, but she proved herself a young lady of speech, manners, and refinement quite above and beyond her surroundings. The quaint room with its worn rag-carpet, chintz-covered settle, and open fireplace added charm. He noticed the ancient brass fire dogs, and also a bunch of freshly picked lilacs in a pitcher minus the handle on the table set with very old blue china, while through the open win- dows came the sweet fragrance of apple blos- soms. All in all, a meal, a hostess, and a service quite charming and unexpected. And now a peculiar dilemma faced Stacy. To ask this dignified young lady how much he owed for the meal, he dare not, nor even to tender her any payment. To leave such under his plate or go out to the field and offer it to Uncle Asa seemed equally out of place, and how to square himself for his entertainment was a problem. In the end, and after profuse thanks to the girl, or rather young lady, whom he now addressed as Miss Webster, he bethought himself of the elder and sour-spoken Martha, stepped into her lair the kitchen and THE CASTLE BUILDERS 9 with a " Please accept this, madam, with many thanks for your kindness," handed her a dollar and made his exit. Outside, he glanced around the premises once more, saw how old and worn-out they were: house moss-coated from age, barn propped up by timbers, and in every respect a home more ancient than Uncle Asa himself, whom he now saw back in his field, and once more Stacy sought him before departing. " Wai, did ye make out to git enough to eat ? " asked Uncle Asa, smiling in a genial way. " I had the meal of my life," returned Stacy earnestly, " and one I'll never forget, thanks to you all." " Ye war middlin' hungry, I cal'late," answered Uncle Asa, " 'n' it's good appetite ez makes good vittles. Only ye don't want to let on to Sam 'bout the swamp," he added benignly. " Sam's a dabster fer riggin' a body if he gets the chance. Now thar's 'bout a dozen good trout left in your basket; I fixed 'em up with grass, 'n' you jist tell Sam B'ar Hole's all right, best trout brook ye ever saw, 'n' show them trout, 'n' you'll shet him up." "I will, and gladly," returned Stacy. "And now I've another favor to ask. I'm here for a few days' fishing. You must know all the good brooks hereabouts, and now can't I induce you to 12 THE CASTLE BUILDERS possibilities, never failed to be luxurious, charm- ing, grand, and beautiful in form, color, and con- struction. And best of all, the soul-life of the people who dwelt in them was as much so. A quite idyllic gathering of the best and noblest of men and women as companions for his future. In a way, his nature was a contradiction, and he might fairly be called a cynical optimist Only one minor love episode had ever ruffled the smooth current of his life, a rather hectic and lurid one with a fair Spanish lady of dreamy eyes who was two years his senior in age, and ten in love experience. This " fool illusion," as he afterwards called it, lasted just eight months; its awakening was to find " La Rosa Carmen " was not only lead- ing him a Cupid's dance, but at the same time in- fatuating a music teacher who spent most of his earnings on her and let his wife and two children go with little more than food and shelter. Stacy, more worldly-wise than most men, did not even hint a reproach just packed his grip and hied himself away to the West without even a farewell note to his charmer. Neither did it take him long to re- cover from this episode, for he was one to whom heart troubles so far had not been serious matters. He had come up to this sequestered byway town, located at the confluence of two streams, shut in be- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 13 tween ranges of mountains and four miles from the ocean or at the end of an inlet called Elbow Creek and ten miles from the nearest railroad station, as stated, to prospect for an available loca- tion for an electric light and power plant for the seaport of Barre. No hint of this must escape him until he had made due selection and report, also se- cured options ; else the price of swamp lands would soar in Oakdale. This was his real mission here, to fish was his excuse for it; and now, well away from Uncle Asa's home, with two hours more of daylight, he turned from the main road, crossed an upward slope of bush-grown pasture, and ascended to the top of a high hill to survey Oakdale. Back of this lay the pathless tangle of swamp he had crossed that day; at its foot and midway of a pocket between low hills, the ancient gambrel- roofed abode of Uncle Asa; to the westward, the widely scattered farmhouses of this hill-enclosed town, with a group of them and two churches mid- way of the valley, while far to southward lay the bordering ocean, white-capped and sparkling. The widely-apart houses were mostly brown and ancient like the one nearest him, patches of woods predomi- nated over open fields, and the entire impress of this hamlet was very rural, quite picturesque, and en- tirely peaceful. Life here was self-evidently akin 14 THE CASTLE BUILDERS to the landscape, simple, quiet, and without excite- ment or current. And just now, viewing this and realizing this, his mission here and its probable out- come recurred to him. Also how, by the magic of a power he was to evoke from one of these streams, factories would arise, new people workers in these crowd themselves into this quiet hamlet, a trolley line supplant the old-fashioned stage that brought him, and the great outside world come and take slow but sure possession. " It's a shame to spoil this sequestered nook," he said to himself as if prophesying, " but it can't be helped. It's the march of progress, the tide of change and innovation." Then glancing at the sun, now glowing blood-red through the green trees of a low mountain top, he made his way down into the valley. And just previous to this occurred another inci- dent of this narrative which concerns the relations of Miss Hazel Webster and her step-mother Martha who, as the townsfolk all said, were " allus at swords' points," as might be expected. Hazel had witnessed through the open kitchen door the tender of money by Stacy in payment for his meal, had seen her mother snatch it eagerly and thrust it into her apron pocket, and her less sordid soul re- volted at once. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 15 " Mother," she said, entering the kitchen, her face aflame, as soon as Stacy was well away, " you had no right to take a dollar from that man for his dinner and I am ashamed for you. He must think us very mean and grasping." " I'll take what's given me," returned her mother sharply, " 'n' I dunno's it's any o' your business, either." " It's mine as much as yours," answered Hazel with rising wrath, "and he will have good reason to think us mean, I say." " Wai, say it all you want to," snarled Martha, turning away, " 'n' if ye don't like my way o' doin things ye ain't 'bleeged to stay here, I s'pose ye know." And poor Hazel, to whom the coming of this woman to replace her own mother nine years be- fore had been gall and bitterness, took herself away for the girlish consolation of tears. Later, when he came for his two milk pails, she followed her father to where the cows awaited his attention. " Father," she said, coming to the point at once, with eyes still red, " I can't stand mother's ways any longer. Please, may I go away and teach school in Barre when September comes? There is a girl, Jennie Oaks you know her she was in i6 THE CASTLE BUILDERS school with me there, and she has promised to get me a place. May I go, father?" " Oh, don't ye mind Martha, little girl," he an- swered tenderly. " She's fretty, 'n' her ways ain't our ways. Kinder bossy, I know, but she means well, I cal'late. What's up now, girlie ? " And he smiled at Hazel in his usual benign way. And Hazel, with more spirit than he, yet as ten- der-hearted, told him all that had happened. " Wai, wal, don't ye mind, girlie, don't ye mind," he assured her soothingly. " We must put up with Martha's ways, you 'n' I. But I can't spare ye, no- how. I I meant well bringin' Martha here," he added after a pause, " better'n it's turned out, mebbe, but I can't let ye go. I'd gin the house up to her fust, 'n' go with ye som'ers. " Thar's 'nother thing I might ez well tell ye, Hazel," he continued more tenderly, " 'n' mebbe it'll sorter rekonsile ye to matters ez they be. I've fixed my will so- you'll git everything I kin give ye 'cordin' to law when I go, 'n' that mine stock's in your name. When I'm through, you'll come perty near bein' able to order her to git out if ye feel like it. 'N' wal, I hope ye will, girlie. Ef 'twa'n't fer the speech o' people, I'd do it myself now." Then, and as if this assurance never be- fore admitted by him must be oil upon the THE CASTLE BUILDERS 17 troubled waters of their home life, he turned away. And poor motherless Hazel, more heartbroken than ever, walked slowly up the hill, biting her lips to keep back the tears. Here she sat down beneath her old pine tree to watch the sunset with wet eyes. To her, just then, life seemed like that. CHAPTER II FOREWARNED now of what to expect from Sam Gates, the joke-loving landlord of the Oakdale House, Stacy halted outside " The Corners," as that village was called, to do what all trout fishermen ever will do put the big ones on top in his basket. To his surprise, also, he found more in it than he supposed in fact, four- teen, and three of them would weigh a pound each. He recalled catching one extra big one early that day, but here were three, and a total of more than he supposed he had caught, including the six small ones cooked for his dinner! It was a satisfying exhibit most certainly, if unaccountable, and the only solution, which soon came to Stacy, was that Uncle Asa must have added some to his catch. But how and when? " Bless his old heart," muttered Stacy, now spreading handfuls of fresh green grass between each layer of fish as he repacked them, big ones on top ; " but he is all wool and a yard wide ! " Then, and thus equipped to turn the tables on Sam, he strode onward, light-hearted. As he expected, he 18 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 19 found that genial Boniface with a retinue of four of the village "Old Guard" all tilted back in chairs on the hotel piazza, and evidently awaiting him as he drew near. On the face of each was an expectant grin. " Wai," drawled Sam as he came up, " what luck did ye hev? Ketch a basketful? " " I did," returned Stacy proudly, " and the best day's sport I ever had ! That Bear Swamp brook is a dandy! Why, I had my basket plumb full before I got half way through! A little brushy, of course, but I don't mind that when trout are plenty. I've had the day of my life and a nice mess cooked for my dinner at a farmhouse," he added, unslinging his basket and dropping it in front of the now dum founded group. Not a word did one of them utter as Sam spread the handsome trout side by side on the piazza while Stacy watched him smilingly, and enjoyed his dis- comfiture. " You said Bear Hole Brook was the best one for trout anywhere about here, Sam," he now drawled in imitation of that worthy, " and it is. I never saw its equal for big ones. How do ye like 'em, Sam?" Then Sam Gates, the inveterate joker who had sent many a city sportsman into this same Mohawk- 20 THE CASTLE BUILDERS briared morass to laugh at him afterwards, who had also that afternoon sent for his four cronies to come and enjoy this one's detailed experience, now stared first at the array of big trout, then glanced furtively at Stacy's smiling face and then at the grinning ones of the Old Guard and sank back into his chair crestfallen. " Wai, by hokey, it beats me," he gasped. " Knocks me clar inter the middle o' last week ! But you're the fust man who ever cum out o' B'ar Hole with a string like that, you be ! " And he looked helplessly around at his cronies. And then, as if by one accord, they burst into simultaneous laughter! " Guess it's on yew, Sam," drawled Bascom, the leader of the four, " V 'bout time to set 'em up 'fore we go hum to supper, ain't it, Sam? " And Sam Gates, conscious that the tables had been turned on him handsomely, ejaculated, " 'Tis, I guess; come on," and led the way into his bar- room. It was also many moons ere he heard the last of his futile and loudly proclaimed joke on this " city feller," and its outcome. That evening, also, when he and Stacy were alone on the piazza enjoying an after-supper cigar and cool air, there came from him, as might be ex- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 21 pected, a revelation anent Uncle Asa Webster and his family history, now especially interesting to Stacy. " Yaas, Uncle Asa's a nice man," he ejaculated in response to Stacy's description of how he had been cared for and fed; "one o' the salt of the airth, 'n' friend o' everybody. His gal, Hazel, too, is sweeter'n peaches 'n' cream, though she holds her- self kinder 'bove the Oakdale boys, howsomever. She teaches school over west side to kinder help out, 'n' sings in meetin', too. She don't hit it off with her stepmother, though, wuth a cuss. Allus naggin' one anuther, they say, 'n' nobody's s'prised fer this un she was the Widder Baker 'fore she ketched Uncle Asa allus was a Tartar. She's a schemer, too, this Martha Baker as was. Got Jake to deed over his place to her, take out some in- surance fust go-off, 'n' then druv him to drink with her tantrums, 'n' the jims finally, so he hung him- self in the barn. She had two boys, wuthless scamps, too. Uncle Asa says the only thing they'll do willingly is git 'round to meals on time. He's a nice man, ez I said, but he got roped in by the widder. " He got took in wuss'n that, too, 'n' 'bout the same time," added Sam after pausing to relight his cigar, " 'n' by a feller named Curtis North. Slick 22 THE CASTLE BUILDERS feller, too, who come up here fishin', 'n' sold him four thousand dollars wuth o' minin' stock not wuth a cuss. Skun Uncle Asa out o' all his savin's with his palaver. This feller, North, was the smartest talker I ever saw. Said he war a banker also, 'n' looked the part with his white side- whiskers 'n' jovial red face, city togs, 'n' watch fob big ez a hen's egg. He stayed 'round here two weeks to do the trick. Got Uncle Asa to take him fishin', went to prayer meetin' 'n' talked 'bout how he loved the Lord 'n' tried to do His biddin', 'n' all that rot. He ketched me, too, by hokey," Sam ad- mitted after another pause. " Ketched me fer five hundred o' his cussed stock in the Rawhide Gold Mining and Reduction Company ez the sartificate has printed on it in big gold letters. Likewise ten per cent, cumulative dividends payable in gold. They must 'a' ben cumulatin' ever sence, fer I hain't seen any. I've got that sartificate framed jist to prove to myself how many kinds o' damn fool a man kin be 'n' live." " Did you try Bear Hole Swamp on this sharper?" interrupted Stacy, laughing. "And if so, how did he take it ? " " I did, o' course," responded Sam with a droll look, " but it didn't ketch him ; he was too slick. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 23 Jist turned tail 'n' come back. Said he didn't feel much like fishin' that day. I'd give up 'nother hun- dred, though, jist to drop him plumb in the middle o' that tangle once fer luck, howsomever." " Where was this mine swindle located ? " queried Stacy, recalling the scores of them he had heard about. " Why, in Rawhide, Nevada, it sez in a little book this sharper give out 'round here, 'n' thar war a pictur o' the town in it, too, with lots o' big build- in's, two meetin' houses, 'n' shops with tall chim- neys 'n' smoke comin' out on 'em. Nice pictur, looked like everybody thar wuz gittin' rich hand over fist. One big buildin' had ' Bank ' over its door, 'n' this sharper said he was president on't. Oh, he did the trick up good 'n' slick! " The curis part," he added reflectively, after another pause, " is that Uncle Asa won't believe yit he hez ben swindled. Thinks that mine'll pan out all right some day 'n' make Hazel rich. He had the shares made out in her name, too. Why, he's the kind o' man as hears larks singin' all day in the sky, 'n' he'd squeeze sunshine out o' cucumbers, he would." Much more of the current gossip regarding Uncle Asa, his termagant wife, their home life, and 24 THE CASTLE BUILDERS especially Hazel and the many fellows who had sought to be her " beau " and failed, was now added by this talkative Boniface. Only two por- tions of it interested Stacy even casually: Hazel's evident superiority to her environment, her out-of- placeness here, and that about the comical side- whiskered sharper who was able to make a fool of a keen-witted Yankee landlord. That seemed very funny to Stacy. And for that reason this chap's distinctive face, white whiskers, watch fob and all a type quite familiar to Stacy pursued him even to his room and for a half -hour while he smoked, watched the now moonlit landscape, and vainly tried to locate a man he was positive of having seen, sometime somewhere. Up and down the land and back and forth across the con- tinent he traveled in thought and ever on the look- out for this exuberant yet elusive face, that like a will-o'-the-wisp, one among thousands, persisted in evading him. At last he came upon it in a little smoke-dimmed, lamp-lit back room of a mining camp saloon, and one of seven men gathered around a table playing poker. He recalled the group now distinctly, all red-shirted, with hats on and smoking, and all but this side-whiskered one belted with ominous " guns " with stocks protrud- ing from holsters. The one most pertinent inci- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 25 dent of this ordinary camp gambling scene was that Stacy noticed and noted how one of the belted poker players a slim, sinister-eyed Mexican and the white-whiskered one, were evidently pals and, sitting side by side, now and then passed one another cards. It wasn't Stacy's funeral, as he then thought it might have been had he made known the facts but he was too camp-wise to mix into what was not his business, so merely watched the cut-throat game curiously for an hour and then left the den. He now recalled seeing these two together the next day, and only the sharp contrast of their personal appearance he of the whiskers, well-clad, rotund, and clean; the Greaser, filthy and wearing leggins, a red tie, much soiled red shirt, and sombrero fixed them in his mind, and as a pair of unhanged rascals. That one had escaped well-merited justice and after hatching a swindling scheme had come to this peaceful hamlet to " do " these honest folk was evident. That good and trustful Uncle Asa would never receive one penny of his investment was also as self-evident, and the only return was the comical one expressed by Sam Gates of, " how many kinds of a damn fool a man could be and live." One more corroborative recollection also came to Stacy, which was that this mining camp a group 26 THE CASTLE BUILDERS of a dozen framed buildings and a hundred stone, sod, and brush-thatched hovels was called Raw- hide. Another and much pleasanter feature of his one day's sojourn here now superseded him of the whiskers, and somehow, just now, in the utter si- lence of his room and looking out upon the moonlit mountain, Stacy's thoughts recurred to Hazel once more. Her sweet face first seen bent over an auto- harp, her two dainty feet pointing upwards, and even the metallic tinkle of " Don't You Hear Dem Bells A-Ringing?" now came back to him. Then he saw her as the gracious little hostess, serving him a meal as rare as the day itself; neither shy nor forward, just charmingly polite, thoughtful, and dignified, with the poise that only contact with refined and cultured people could give. A little lady, in fact, sweet, piquant, and charming. " Where did she get it all? " Stacy thought, now preparing for slumber. " Certainly not in this tank town or that old rookery. Either she's been away and learned fast, or it's a case of to the manner born. I'd like to see more of her, anyhow." Little did he now realize how this simple country girl, with eyes like a peep into a well, was destined to upset all his placid cynicism and serene satisfac- tion with himself, and lead him a veritable devil's dance of despair. CHAPTER III "AL, did ye kinder turn the tables on Sam ? " queried Uncle Asa the next morning, after Stacy's arrival at his ancient abode, and the mutual greeting. " I did," the younger one responded, " thanks to you, sir, for two things; the tip, and the trout you added to my catch." " Wai, I'm glad on't," returned Uncle Asa, smil- ing benignly. " I owe Sam more'n I kin ever pay back in jokes, ye see. Ez fer the trout, I yanked a few outen a pen I keep a lot in, in the medder, jist to top off your string 'n' open Sam's eyes. I've got a couple o' boys Martha's " he ex- plained, glancing at the house, " who like fishin' bet- ter'n work, 'n' ter keep peace, 'n' them out o' mis- chief I gin 'em ten cents apiece fer all the live trout they fetch me. We'll take a look at 'em, 'n' then start. I've got the bait dug 'n' hoss hitched up." And this genial optimist led the way to the trout pen. It was a cunningly devised one, a trench four rods long and perhaps five feet wide and two feet 27 26 THE CASTLE BUILDERS of a dozen framed buildings and a hundred stone, sod, and brush-thatched hovels was called Raw- hide. Another and much pleasanter feature of his one day's sojourn here now superseded him of the whiskers, and somehow, just now, in the utter si- lence of his room and looking out upon the moonlit mountain, Stacy's thoughts recurred to Hazel once more. Her sweet face first seen bent over an auto- harp, her two dainty feet pointing upwards, and even the metallic tinkle of " Don't You Hear Dem Bells A-Ringing?" now came back to him. Then he saw her as the gracious little hostess, serving him a meal as rare as the day itself; neither shy nor forward, just charmingly polite, thoughtful, and dignified, with the poise that only contact with refined and cultured people could give. A little lady, in fact, sweet, piquant, and charming. " Where did she get it all? " Stacy thought, now preparing for slumber. " Certainly not in this tank town or that old rookery. Either she's been away and learned fast, or it's a case of to the manner born. I'd like to see more of her, anyhow." Little did he now realize how this simple country girl, with eyes like a peep into a well, was destined to upset all his placid cynicism and serene satisfac- tion with himself, and lead him a veritable devil's dance of despair. CHAPTER III WAL, did ye kinder turn the tables on Sam?" queried Uncle Asa the next morning, after Stacy's arrival at his ancient abode, and the mutual greeting. " I did," the younger one responded, " thanks to you, sir, for two things; the tip, and the trout you added to my catch." " Wai, I'm glad on't," returned Uncle Asa, smil- ing benignly. " I owe Sam more'n I kin ever pay back in jokes, ye see. Ez fer the trout, I yanked a few outen a pen I keep a lot in, in the medder, jist to top off your string 'n' open Sam's eyes. I've got a couple o' boys Martha's " he ex- plained, glancing at the house, " who like fishin' bet- ter'n work, 'n' ter keep peace, 'n' them out o' mis- chief I gin 'em ten cents apiece fer all the live trout they fetch me. We'll take a look at 'em, 'n' then start. I've got the bait dug 'n' hoss hitched up." And this genial optimist led the way to the trout pen. It was a cunningly devised one, a trench four rods long and perhaps five feet wide and two feet 27 28 THE CASTLE BUILDERS deep, dug near the brook Stacy had followed through the swamp, and full to the brim from a screened inlet from that. Its bottom was of white sand and gravel, one end boarded over for cover, and in this pen were certainly a hundred handsome trout. " I like to feed 'em, 'n' sit 'n' watch 'em now W then," Uncle Asa admitted. " It's kinder like company; 'n' so does Hazel. Trout allus seem to me like they had minds o' their own," he added, looking fondly at them, " 'n' could figger out we was mortal enemies to 'em. Yer can't fool a trout no- how. Yer can't ketch him nappin', either. If he sees ye fust, ye don't see him in a brook. I guess we'd best be startin'," he continued, squinting at the rising sun. " We'd orter started two hours ago in the cool o' the mornin'." Stacy glanced searchingly all around the house, into the garden, and up towards the big pine, while Uncle Asa was backing the horse and ancient car- ryall out from the shed, but saw nothing of Hazel. And then they drove away. To Stacy, also, it seemed curious that this old man should so willingly leave his work for an entire day to take him fishing, without an hour's acquaintance, as he had. Yet it had so come about. He also thought of " his whiskers," as he already began to call this Curtis THE CASTLE BUILDERS 29 North in his mind, and wondered if he, too, had been so treated on sight. He also longed to ask Uncle Asa about him, but dared not as yet. In- stead, and to allay all suspicion of his own real er- rand here, he gave an explicit statement of how busy a man he was in the city, how he had been unable to find time for even a day's vacation for years until now, and that Oakdale (heard of through a friend) had seemed an ideal spot to pass a week in. " It is a perty quiet town," Uncle Asa admitted at this conclusion ; " nobody gits rich here, 'n' no- body gits poor. We jist raise 'nuff ter eat, buy a few clothes 'n' pay the parson fer savin' our souls, 'n' that's 'bout all we need, anyhow. I like livin' here," he added retrospectively, " 'n' I've ben away jist 'nuff ter knew how comfortin' 'tis. I've ben to Barre a few times, ben ter your city once, 'n' I wouldn't live in either place if I wuz paid fer't. Too much doin', 'n' too much noise. Then agin, salt water's only four mile away down the crick. I've got a boat, 'n' 'bout twice a week or so I go down it 'n' ketch some clams or fetch home some lobsters fer a change. I allus take Hazel 'long when school ain't keepin'," he admitted tenderly. " She likes the fun, 'n' smell o' salt air same ez I do. Thar's whar she teaches," he asserted proudly, 30 THE CASTLE BUILDERS and pointing to the brown roadside schoolhouse they were nearing. "It's jist a mile 'n' a half walk, 'n' a mile to The Corners whar she goes ter meetin' 'n' sings Sundays." It was self-evident that this Hazel was about all her father lived for. " This is Rocky Glen brook," he declared, now crossing one a mile up the narrow valley above the village. " It splits jist ahead, 'n' the main stream comes down out o' a gorge ter the left o' the stage road we're on. I'm goin' ter take ye 'round ter the head 'o that 'n' let ye fish down. Then I'll come back to the forks 'n' fish 'tother brook while I wait. Arter that, 'n' if ye hain't ketched nuff by then, we'll go up the stage road 'n' strike the small brook. You'll find Rocky Glen perty good fishin' though." And so it proved, for once on it Stacy found himself at the upper, end of a wide canyon in the mountains west of Oakdale, with a sizable brook and just pitch enough to make pools and cascades adown its laughing course. Trout were fairly plenty in these, no brush to interfere, and by noon when he reached the lower end of this vale his basket was full of speckled beauties. And now came another surprise, for here at the THE CASTLE BUILDERS 31 foot of this oval valley, rather than canyon, its enclosing hills narrowed to a gateway not fifty rods from the stage road. He had come to Oakdale to find a site for a dam and space for water storage upon some suit- able stream where land was of little value a rare combination in any settled country and here was an ideal location facing a fertile valley within five miles of tide water! It seemed prophetic! And now, from where he had climbed part way up one of these abutting hills, he could overlook the scattered farmhouses of Oakdale, The Corners or nucleus of dwellings, stores, and two churches that composed it, and away to the bordering line of ocean. Then, and given to air-castle building as he always was, he saw a group of factories just below this water gap, beyond and in place of The Corners a populous city, and further on where the blue rim of old ocean gleamed in the sunlight, an array of the masts of vessels at anchor in a harbor. He did not as yet know if one were there at the outlet of the stream; he did know that the mighty arm of Commerce would dig and construct one if needed. And so for a half-hour, this man of many plans and backed by money power sat building his 32 THE CASTLE BUILDERS air castle of a new city to arise from the magic power of a stream ten rods below him, whose un- used energy had been running to waste since the dawn of creation! " Who owns the land alongside the brook I've been fishing? " he asked nonchalantly of Uncle Asa later on after they met and compared notes on their catches of trout. " I notice the best of the timber has been cut away." " Wai, the lower part ye fished down belongs to Sam Gates," responded Uncle Asa, " 'n' the upper end to the Widder Lewis, Aunt Huldah, we call her. Thar was a second growth o' chestnut on Sam's part, 'n' he had 'em cut V sold ter the rail- road fer ties 'bout six years ago." " The land isn't worth much now, I take it ? " queried Stacy cautiously once more. " No, hardly wuth taxin'," answered Uncle Asa, unconscious of what was in his questioner's mind. " I believe it's put in fer a dollar an acre by Squire Phinney. He's fust seleckman, tax 'sessor, 'n' the whole thing here, ye know." And then came the secondary feature of the en- joyment of a day's outing, the midday lunch. " I've brung along a little snack," asserted Uncle Asa after this exchange and glancing up at the I guess it's 'bout time to injie it." THE CASTLE BUILDERS 33 And he led the way to where he had hitched his sedate nag by the roadside. " 'Tain't much, I don't s'pose," he added apolo- getically, and drawing a large wooden box from beneath the carryall seat. " I told Hazel to put up the best she could, howsomever." Then he seated himself on a shaded bit of greensward and opened the box. And now Stacy was impressed by the house- wifely abilities of Miss Hazel, for the first item taken out was a small strawberry shortcake, next came a plate of cold boiled ham wrapped in a nap- kin, then slices of buttered bread, boiled eggs, doughnuts, cheese, and some pickles wrapped in an- other napkin. Stacy in his hustling, bustling business and pros- pecting life and wanderings had eaten all kinds of meals, from the best a first-class hotel could furnish to a slice of jerked venison washed down with lukewarm water from a canteen on the plains, but never one that so woke the zest of good appetite as this. And best of all, the box it came from ex- haled the mingled odor of summer savory and sage, recalling his early boyhood and mother's pantry. He had occasion to recall it many times after- wards. 34 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " You told me on the way up here," asserted Uncle Asa after the " snack " had been duly dis- posed of and Stacy had lit his cigar, " that you'd ben west a few times kinder lookin' up mines fer your firm. Did ye ever in your goin's round hear o' the Rawhide Gold Minin' Company in Nevada some'rs ? " " No, I never did," answered Stacy, startled at the abruptness of the question. " Why do you ask?" " Wai, nothin' special, only I didn't know but ye might 'a' heerd on't if ye wuz in Nevada," and Uncle Asa looked at Stacy with his kindly, trustful eyes, then away, and back at Stacy again. " I dunno but I may ez well tell ye, Mr. Whipple," he continued after this pause. " Ye seem kinder square 'n' honest, 'n' I kinder took to ye on sight ez it war." Then and in his quaint drawl and dialect he told the story in full that Stacy had al- ready heard outlined, with many additions. First, how this Curtis North had come to his home of- fering ample pay to be taken out fishing, how he had repeated this method of getting acquainted two or three times with many assertions of his o\vn honesty, wealth, prosperity, and how rich a mine he in reality owned; and finally, how he (Uncle Asa) had been lured to invest all his savings in THE CASTLE BUILDERS 35 stock of this mine. It was an old story to Stacy. He had heard many similar experiences, and yet, from various conspiring reasons, this one woke his sympathy and interest as no other one ever had. And yet he dare not now disillusionize Uncle Asa. " I begin to worry consid'ble 'bout it," the old man admitted after the tale was told. " I put in every dollar I'd saved up for Hazel, she's perty clus to my heart, 'n' thar's the fix I'm in. It's ben six years now sence I put the money in, 'n' in all that time I hain't heerd a word from it. I wuz in hopes you, goin' round Nevada ez ye hev, might 'a' run onto this mine out thar." " No," answered Stacy, now feeling that he would give a hundred dollars to see this Curtis North dangling from a rope's end ; " I can't give you one iota of information about your invest- ment. I wish I could. I can, however, obtain all that is on record in Nevada regarding this corpora- tion, where located, how much capitalized for, and by whom. This I will surely do when I return to Albion and write you full particulars." And then a glad light came to the face of Uncle Asa. " That'll be a good deal," he said, " so I'll know suthin', anyhow. " I wa'n't the only dum fool, if dum fool I war," 36 THE CASTLE BUILDERS he added, smiling again, " for Sam Gates put in five hundred dollars, too, 'n' he's counted the sharp- est man in town. Funny, too, f er that was the very money he got fer his chestnut saplings cut from 'longside the brook you've ben fishin' on. You mustn't tell him, either," he continued after a pause. " He thinks, 'n' everybody thinks, I'm sure, it'll all pan out right in time. Hazel thinks I believe so, too, 'n' I wouldn't hev her know different fer the world. It 'ud break her heart ter know I wuz worryin' at my time o' life." " Oh, well, it may turn out right after all," re- turned Stacy assuringly. " Anyhow, it won't do any good to worry. Worry will kill a cat, they say, Uncle Asa, and my theory is that the only thing worth worrying about is our own health. As for this mine investment, try to forget it. I would if I were you." " I like your idee o' grit," answered Uncle Asa more buoyantly, " but I kin see ye hain't no idee I'll ever git a cent back outen that mine, now hev ye?" " I won't admit that, not yet," asserted Stacy with well-assumed confidence. " I shall probably go to Nevada this fall on business for my firm, and I'll look that mine up, I promise you, and report the facts to you." THE CASTLE BUILDERS 37 Then Uncle Asa sprang to his feet and extended his hand with eagerness. " Say, Mr. Whipple," he asserted after the mutual clasp, " you've lifted a big load off'n my heart, I tell ye. Now I want you to promise to make yourself to hum at my house while you're stayin' here. Come over any time you feel like it, 'n' any time you want ter go fishin', jist say the word 'n' I'll take ye. Mebbe, too, ye'd like ter go down the creek with me 'n' Hazel arter clams. We cud take 'long a couple o' her gal friends, too the boat's big 'nuff 'n' hev a clam boil thar. You bein' a young man 'ud enjoy that, sartin." And when they parted that afterjtioon in front of the Oakdale House, after Stacy had insisted he take home two-thirds of the trout so that his family could have an ample meal, Stacy's intended sojourn here promised to be a charming one to him. And that evening also brought another pleasant assurance from Landlord Sam. ; ' You've jist plumped right down inter good luck the fust ground hop," he asserted after Stacy had described his day's experience, luck, lunch, and all. " It 'pears you've got next to Uncle Asa's heart 'thout any effort, 'n' he's a winner fer enter- tainin' folks he likes. Then thar's Hazel, bright ez a button 'n' perty ez a pink, 'thout any beau ! Why, 38 THE CASTLE BUILDERS young man, you've got a picnic long's you stay here! I wish I was your age! What a heap o' fun I'd hev!" It looked that way to Stacy. CHAPTER IV THE next morning, returning from the hill back of Uncle Asa's visited for further inspection of Bear Hole swamp valley for possible reservoir use Stacy espied the polite hostess whose culinary abilities had been so con- soling. She was below him in a pasture, partially squatted on the ground, dressed in the same faded calico as when first seen by him, also calico sun- bonnet, and busy picking strawberries. And just then, conscious that he was unseen by her, Stacy halted to consider whether he should advance, accost her, and enjoy a chat, or keep on his way back to the hotel. And this for reasons that must be explained. To begin, he was, as stated, a confirmed cynic, and while not a woman hater, his one hectic love experience had convinced him that love is a most charming and delightful illusion in the beginning, but a bitter and painful one in the end. Also, that its natural sequence is marriage, and he was firmly and fully determined that he should never let any of the fair sex lure him to that outcome. 39 40 THE CASTLE BUILDERS He was also conscious of a more than passing in- terest already in this girl. Her sweet and piquant face and dainty form, and more especially her dig- nity and refinement, coupled with a certain sweet simplicity, had already been noticed and noted by him. He had also been informed that she had no recognized admirer, and held herself above the country swains of Oakdale, and was unhappy in her home relations with a stepmother. More than that, he had been accorded the open sesame to that home by her father, in fact, urged to accept it, and the gateway to an idyllic love romance thus opened wide for him to enter. But should he? It is said that the current of Chance sways and swings and impels us hither and yon as it wills, and the strongest are as thistle-down in its power. Whether that be true or not, Chance determined Stacy's action just then, for while he yet waited uri- decided, the girl arose, looked up and saw him watching her. There was but one courteous course *left him now to advance and greet her who had been his hostess as a gentleman should, and he did so. " Good morning, Miss Webster," he said, nearing her and raising his hat. " I saw you from up back here and waited for you to look up so you wouldn't THE CASTLE BUILDERS 41 think I meant to pounce upon you again. Are you making ready for another as delicious a shortcake as I shared with your father yesterday ? " " I am," she answered, smiling at the graceful compliment, " and if you go fishing with him again to-morrow, perhaps you will have some of it." " Or, better still, if I am invited to your house for supper to-night I'll get it then," he answered. "You most certainly will if invited," she re- turned with just a faint touch of irony. " But shall I get it? " he questioned. " Yes, and two pieces if you are there." " I mean the invitation," he explained. " Why, yes, if you see father before supper time," she responded naively. " He has taken quite a liking to you already." " I'm glad," he answered more soberly, " for I think your father is a very nice man, and so sun- shiny. The landlord of your hotel says he hears larks singing in the sky all day." " He isn't as much so as he once was," she re- plied soberly; "he he is older, you know." " No wonder," thought Stacy, " with that Tartar wife and money sunk in a mine swindle." Then aloud, " I admire a man who can retain cheerful- ness and hear even now and then a lark through old age. Few of us can ever hope for that. But 42 THE CASTLE BUILDERS how about the invitation to supper? Please may I come ? " " Now that you ask for one, you must have it, I presume," she responded smilingly, " and you are hereby and now properly invited to supper at my home, Maple Dell, this evening, six-thirty sharp ! " "And so it's Maple Dell you call it? Well many thanks. I'll be there on time. Evening dress or just ordinary?" " Oh, evening, by all means," she returned, smil- ing archly. " A gentleman looks so much more a gentleman in proper attire." Then, and as if she had granted him all the en- couragement he deserved, she turned to her berry- picking again. And Stacy, more than ever inter- ested in this rustic maid with the ease and speech of a city-bred belle, now plumped down on his knees beside her to assist. For a most charming half-hour he kept at it, chatting meanwhile, eating a few berries, following her about, and now and then peeping slyly at her piquant face smiling out of the depths of that coal- scoop bonnet. Once she caught him at it, flushed slightly, and after that he obtained no more peeps. A wee little chill, also, began to tinge the tone of her voice from that moment on, for Stacy was blessed (or impeded) by rather compelling black THE CASTLE BUILDERS 43 eyes that, as someone described such, " bored into you like gimlets." His speech was always softly modulated, unless in anger, and the one baleful factor in his make-up was his cynicism, that per- sisted in adding a lurking scorn to his glances. He was keen, also, in reading moods, and it soon dawned on him that this fair maid either felt afraid of him, distrusted him, or that he had offended her by word or glance. She had met his first advances and appeal for an invitation to supper in a pretty, half-coquettish way, and then, presto, had, as he would put it, " frozen up." " I hope you didn't feel that I was intruding when I coaxed you for an invitation to supper, Miss Webster," he said, rising when the pail was full. " I didn't mean to, certainly, and my excuse is a double one, I wanted to get better acquainted with you, and another taste of your shortcake. It is even better than my mother used to make." " That suggests country origin," she responded, ignoring his well-meant compliment, and rising ; " I thought you were a city-bred man." " I am and I am not. I was born in the country, but left it at sixteen, and since then, I must admit, I've been subject to the unholy influences of the city. You don't like city men, I infer, by your tone?" 44 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " I didn't mean you should infer anything," she answered coolly, and turning her expressive eyes full upon him. " I naturally distrust city men, but I do not speak in riddles." For one instant Stacy was tempted to ask the why and wherefore of this distrust, the next, his better sense prevailed. " I do not blame you for it," he said instead, " for to the best of my observation, few are worth even a man's confidence, much less a woman's." " Well, we agree on one thing," she answered, laughing lightly, and turning to go. " I hope we may find other points of agreement, also, in due time," he said, taking two steps her way. " And now, before you go, may I ask one more favor ? " " You can ask for a thousand," she returned pointedly. " I never promise favors to any one. What is it?" " Why, your auto-harp, this evening, after the shortcake, and the same tune I first thought was ghost music, the day I scared you so. It has been tinkling in my ears ever since." " I won't promise," she answered abruptly ; then, with a " Good-bye, Mr. Whipple," equally abrupt, she bowed and left him. And Stacy, conscious that he had made no prog- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 45 ress whatever in the good graces of this cool and piquant maid, raised his hat deferentially, said " Good-bye," in the same cool tone, and strode away in opposite direction. And recalling the various fair ones he had met so far, or more especially how acquaintance with them first began, it recurred to him that never one had so frozen him at the start. In a way, also, it was an abrupt change from her demeanor as host- ess, for then she was politely gracious, while now she was politely cool. Now, and as this compar- ative mood was on, his bete noire, the Spanish beauty, recurred, also, and how her subtle flatteries and delicately-veiled insinuations of love-interest first led him on. " Thank God, she isn't like her ! " he exclaimed aloud, at this juncture. " Rather ice or marble than that love trickster for me ! " He little realized just then that it is the maid of ice or marble nature that usually wakens the fiercest love in man. " There is something back of her chilliness," he continued musingly, and now more than ever pained by it. " When she served me that mid- afternoon meal, she was gracious sweetness person- ified, and quite charming; now, and after she has seen that her father accepts me as a good fellow, 46 THE CASTLE BUILDERS worth taking fishing a sure sign that a man likes another she suddenly freezes up and treats me as if I were a gentleman pickpocket ! And I never tried harder to be nice to a girl in my life ! I can't understand it ! " Then, and as is natural to a man who first begins to take notice of a maid, he began an analytical survey of this one. Her perfectly ladylike de- meanor and command of language, showing cul- ture and refinement; her poise and self-possession, so unusual in such a rustic maid; her quick per- ception of what was proper to say and do toward him, a stranger, and minor features of her conduct, all conspired to outline a most charming young lady. Her personal appearance came next in this survey. Her delicate features, flower-like face, red-ripe lips, and more especially her eyes like deep waters, each and all recurred to him, and details of her garb as well. He had noticed that she wore but one ring, a pearl solitaire, while the two dresses he had seen her in a faded calico and white pique while perfectly fitting, were severely plain and prob- ably homemade. All in all, it was evident that no money had ever been lavished on her. Her home, also, came in for review. Its old and worn- out condition was almost pitiful, and, while neat and well kept within, poverty was written all THE CASTLE BUILDERS 47 about, even to the homemade window screens of mosquito netting. He had been well, even cordially received there, in Good Samaritan manner. Uncle Asa good old soul ! had, metaphorically speaking, opened his arms to him on sight, given him some nice trout to discomfit Sam, taken him fishing, confided his troubles to him, and treated him with unexpected consideration, in sharp contrast to Miss Hazel's frosty manner. And the reason for it was an al- most exasperating riddle ! She was an unattended maid, according to all reports. Old enough and wise enough; also poor enough not to frown upon a fairly good-looking, intelligent, and prosperous youn'g man, who had tried his best to be nice to her, he thought ! It was certainly past understanding! Other vexatious and sharp contrasts soon came his way. The dinner at the hotel that day (corned beef and cabbage a combination that revolted his soul) was an abomination. The waiting maid, clad in greasy, almost filthy raiment, was chewing gum; the dishes, knives and forks smelled of stale ham fat, and each part of that meal was in objec- tionable contrast to the dainty one served him at Uncle Asa's by Hazel, with the perfume of lilac blossoms to add zest 4 8 That afternoon, also, seemed a long one to him. He had a lengthy letter to write to his partner, Colby, about the two available sites for dams, prox- imity of stone to build them, probable cost of land, etc; also asking an investigation of the Rawhide Gold Mining Company. Then, as the landlord was away in a field, mowing, and none of the Old Guard about, Stacy had naught else to do except sit on the deserted piazza, smoke, and watch for passing teams. And, to the best of his observation, the only living creature he saw in two hours of this, was one lone dog, that trotted by. By this time, he was almost lonesome enough to brave pro- priety by going into the kitchen and visiting with that slovenly serving-maid. And not a half-mile away was the most charm- ing of country lassies, bright enough to give him a Roland for every Oliver, and a lilac-shaded porch to do it on! Also possessed of an auto-harp and the ability to play it like an Houri ! The strawberry-shortcake supper, to which he had almost begged an invitation, would probably be served about six o'clock. At exactly four he retired to his room to get ready. As might be ex- pected just now when anxious to look his best he cut himself shaving, grew vexed, found but one new clean collar in his outfit, and got blood on THE CASTLE BUILDERS 49 that, grew more angry, and at five, precisely, started for Uncle Asa's. And soon, entering the maple-shaded lane lead- ing to it, its cool charm and the romantic name, Maple Dell, given by Hazel to the coign or pocket where the house stood, recurred to him. It was like a sight of her, an impression she created, and suggestive of her. The dooryard, next entered, was another, for its graveled walk was bordered by rows of nasturtiums, just beginning to bloom, not a weed was visible in or around the beds of phlox, peonies, sweet williams, and bachelor but- tons scattered over the yard, which, enclosed by a hedgerow of arbor vitae, was neatness personified. The house itself, half hidden by the two luxuriant clumps of lilac abutting upon the front corners, with big syringa bushes flanking its trellised porch, and moss-coated by age, was the one pitiful feature and suggestive of an ancient tombstone. A pleas- anter picture next appeared in Hazel, now respond- ing to his knock on the open door, who, with a slight smile and " Good evening, sir," invited him to enter. " I must be excused," she added, after taking his hat and ushering him into the parlor. " I am cook and waiting maid both, you see, and father will soon be in to entertain you." " So it's father whose guest I am," mused Stacy 50 THE CASTLE BUILDERS after she left the parlor, and then he looked curi- ously around this antique " keeping room." It was that most certainly, for its faded carpet, once an array of big red and yellow flowers and green leaves, its chairs of shiny haircloth, open fireplace, brass firedogs, and lithographs of Revolutionary scenes and family portraits on walls, all bespoke a past generation. The one half -modern feature was a square piano, on which lay the auto-harp he had seen Hazel playing, and a banjo. The two pertinent features suggestive of herself were a book-filled what-not beside the piano and a big cluster of freshly-picked lilacs, on a tiny center table. Stacy had scarcely completed this inventory when Uncle Asa, arrayed in ill-becoming " biled " shirt and pepper-and-salt suit, came in. " I'm glad to see ye, Mr. Whipple," he said, with hand-clasp as cordial as his tone ; " 'n' you mustn't feel yourself company jest 'cause I dressed up. I don't like store clothes," he added confidentially, now seating himself on a chair as if afraid he would slip off, " but Martha said I must put 'em on, 'n' it sorter keeps wimmin good-natered to do ez they say." Then he smiled in a knowing way, as if sure Stacy would understand him. " We don't hev much company," he continued, without waiting any answer, " only a couple o' gals THE CASTLE BUILDERS 51 here Hazel chums with, V one from Barre, who comes summers 'n' stays quite a spell. You see, Hazel was thar to school a couple o' years, 'n' stayed one winter, too, 'n' it's sorter spiled the i young fellers here fer her. Kinder gin her notions 'bout 'em." " That isn't surprising," responded Stacy, " and I presume a girl of her refinement may not enjoy farmers' sons, unless above the average." " Wai, that's the how on't, sartin," asserted Uncle Asa, as if all of Hazel's notions must be right ; " 'n' gals that's kinder got teched by city ways ain't goin' ter put up with fellers that ain't p'tic'lar how they look, 'n' come to see a gal with cowhides on. 'Tain't nat'ral. " We got a little trip fixed up fer to-morrow," he continued, after a pause ; " the one I spoke about to go down the crick with the tide, dig some clams, 'n' hev a boil. I kin pull my pots, too hain't done it fer three days, 'n' Hazel 'n' them two chums o' hers is goin', too. I'd like ye to jine us." " I shall be most happy to do so," returned Stacy, wondering if his going was suggested by Uncle Asa first or by Hazel, yet glad of the chance. " I imagine such an outing might be great fun. What time shall you start ? " " Oh, 'bout nine, when the ebb tide makes ; ye 52 THE CASTLE BUILDERS see, it's four miles down the crick, 'n' we allus go 'n' come with the tide. We'll take along a few fixin's 'n' things to cook with," he explained, " 'n' make a day on't. I'm sorry this friend o' Hazel's from Barre ain't here ter go," he added, after a pause, " fer she's chock full o' fun, while these two other gals is kinder bashful, 'n' mebbe'll be a little afeard o' you." Then Martha appeared, garbed in shiny black silk with jet trimmings, Stacy was duly introduced, she said, " Our tea is ready, sir," in ceremonious manner, and led the way into their living-room, where Hazel awaited them. Tea-table conversation with a stranger is almost invariably forced, stilted, and painful. On this oc- casion, and evidently a state affair in Martha's mind, her attempts at it were as graceful as a cow trying to waltz, for, evidently imbued with the citified importance of Stacy, or the magic of the dollar he had tendered her for a dinner, it appeared to him that her sole wish was to flatter him nauseat- ingly. And she succeeded to that extent in short order. In vain he evaded and disclaimed her at- tempts, and when he, as was obligatory, .praised the shortcake, with rich cream poured over it, he felt sure that she would answer, "If 'twas all cream, it wouldn't be any too good for you, sir." THE CASTLE BUILDERS 53 But he was spared that climax of absurd flattery, for Uncle Asa got ahead of her. " Shortcake's good vittles," he mumbled, his mouth full of it, " 'n' nothin' better, 'speshly if ye put plenty o' cream on't This wuz Hazel's, 'n' all right. She took arter her mother in knowin' how to make 'em. 'N' do ye know, Mr. Whipple," he added, as if to crush Martha, " I allus cal'late knowin' how to cook is sorter inherited. Now, thar wuz Hazel's mother; she made shortcake jist like this, no better, though, 'n' 'twas eatin' one on 'em fust set me to thinkin' I wanted to git her fer a wife if I could. 'N' I did. I miss her," he continued, after a pause and sigh. " Miss her more 'n' more ez the years go by, fer she wuz the best woman ever wuz fer me." That this tribute to Hazel's mother was not relishable to Martha was evident to Stacy. That it, also, pleased Hazel was evinced by a tender glance from her to her father, and then the subject was dropped. " Good livin' is 'bout all we git out o' life," asserted Uncle Asa, a moment later ; " that is, 'cordin' to my notion. Wimmin, as is nat'ral, think more o' fine clothes. They'd 'most starve, some on 'em, fer a new dress, 'n' when I go to meetin' 'n' 54 THE CASTLE BUILDERS see a string on 'em come struttin' in with new, shiny bunnits on, I allus think o' a flock o' peacocks on parade. 'N' the way they look sideways ez they go up the aisle, makes me feel they are thinkin', ' Look at me, now. Ain't my new bunnit too sweet f er anything ! ' But table conversation is too pointless to quote extendedly, and this one was no exception. Once started, Uncle Asa monopolized it, Stacy adroitly urging him on purposely to discomfit Martha and her absurd flatteries. And his droll and optimistic utterances were as new wine to Stacy, who began to admire him thoroughly. Hazel, however, who had undoubtedly supervised this most excellent meal, and was now content to see their guest well served, said but little. She was the real hostess, however; gracious, yet digni- fied, and the little she said, or its tone and her casual glances, convinced Stacy that what Landlord Sam had said was true, and that she almost hated her stepmother. Also, that he had so far failed to advance one iota in her confidence. CHAPTER V WHILE strawberry-shortcake was the os- tensible object of Stacy's begged-for invitation, his real one was further opportunity of conversation with the cool, keen- witted, fascinating Hazel. It was five-thirty when he arrived at the Webster home, and past nine be- fore Uncle Asa (who had led the way to the trel- lised porch, followed later by Hazel) yawned, said " I guess it's 'bout time to turn in ; be on hand in good time, to-morrow, Mr. Whipple," and bade him good-night. And then Stacy, seated on the upper porch step, his charmer in a low chair, as far from him as possible, was much to his satisfaction alone with her. To add romance, if any were needed, the moon was just peeping over the wooded hills, fireflies twinkled above the meadow below them and in the maples, and the only sound heard in this secluded dell was the near-by murmuring brook. " I little thought the other day, while fighting my way through that awful swamp," began Stacy, 55 56 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " that I should come upon you at its outlet, or find so delightful a man as your father, Miss Webster. It's been only about three days since I accosted him, and he already seems like a father to me, and one of the salt of the earth." " I am glad you like him," returned Hazel cour- teously. " He is all the world to me. He and my band of pupils," she added after a pause, " for they occupy most of my thought during school terms." " And so you are not lonesome here, in this quiet hamlet? " queried Stacy curiously. " I should think you might be ? " " No, never ; my school and helping mother, for we keep no girl, takes all my time, and when I want company I've two girl friends glad to see me. Then I love books, for they are even more enter- taining friends." " And your music," interrupted Stacy. " I see you have a piano and banjo, as well as auto-harp when do they come in ? " " Why, odd hours," she smiled, " or when I feel sentimental. Then I strum away on one or an- other of them, according to my mood." "And theirs, also, I assume, for each has a dif- ferent one, I've a theory ? " " Yes, that is so," she answered interestedly ; " and they are wide apart. A piano is of the city, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 57 and without soul or feeling, an auto-harp suggests the romantic ballads of the Irish nation or Scotch love songs, while a banjo bears me to the Sunny South and its plantation scenes and barn dances, or black Romeos canoeing with their dusky Juliets." "I see you have either traveled much or read widely," he interposed, " or you could not so locate the moods of your musical instruments: Which is it, if I may ask? " " Why, reading," she answered candidly. " The only large city I was ever in was yours, with father, for a four days' visit, and I was at school in Barre, which, I presume, you would call provincial." " Well, yes and no, Miss Webster," he returned as candidly. " Provincialism is not defined by the size of a town, but rather by the average culture of its inhabitants. I was never in Barre but once, and then on business. I should judge, as I now re- call its people and public buildings, churches and library, that it could not be classed as provincial." Then, and with the intention of drawing her out, he led the conversation into the book world, with results that astonished him. He was fairly well read himself for a busy man, both in current fiction and the classics; had traveled much and attained to the intellectual polish which contact with all classes and grades of humanity gives; was a 58 keen observer of human nature; and yet here, in this byway hamlet, and now seated near him, was a rustic maid (so believed by him) who had outread him two to one, and with a keen discernment and scope of analysis that astounded him. She had not traveled at all, yet the life in frontier towns of the West, their people, habits, manners, and cus- toms, with which he was familiar, were as much so to her. Through reading she had seen miners' cabins, gambling saloons, dance halls, their orgies, shootings, lynchings, and all that made up frontier life. She had thus seen cowboy roundups, their " chuck wagon," branding operations, and wild rides through towns, shooting at everybody and every- thing. She was as familiar as he with the grand canyons of the West, its wondrous Garden of the Gods, imposing mountains, vast plains and alkali deserts even more so, in a way. Purposely, too, perhaps, and to confound this city man, who she knew had traveled in this region, she, with fem- inine wit, not only asked him questions that he found hard to answer, but politely contradicted him now and then. Conversation has been aptly described as a game of circles, in which each participant tries to sur- round and outdo the other. In this case, Stacy, a trifle conceited, perhaps, not only found himself THE CASTLE BUILDERS 59 outdone gracefully, but often put on the defensive. " I confess you surprise me with your wide range of reading, Miss Webster," he admitted at last. " And your retentive memory. Once you read a book, its facts are at your tongue's end and in orderly array. I've met some so-called bookish ladies, but you surpass them all for a retentive memory and absorption of data." " I do not read so much to amuse myself as to improve myself," she returned in a gratified tone. "I have never traveled; I never expect to, but I wish to know how other people live, and all about their manners and customs." " But when and how do you find the time? " he queried in surprised tone. " You said your school and home duties absorbed it all? " " You have never lived in the country much, I guess," with a light laugh, " or you wouldn't ask that. Do you know what it is to have weeks, months, years of evenings, with nothing to do but read ? There are no social diversions in Oakdale," she continued regretfully, " no theaters, not even a town hall to tempt an Uncle Tom's Cabin band of barnstormers, no dances, not even the old vulgar ' kissing parties,' so all we can do is to eat, read and sleep." " And so you consider the old-fashioned kissing 60 THE CASTLE BUILDERS parties vulgar?" responded Stacy, smiling. "I thought them great larks in my country-town boy- hood." "I do," she returned spiritedly; "especially among grown people, as used to be the case here. They may be permissible among school children, though a silly diversion, but for a gathering of adults married and single to disport them- selves in that way is disgusting to me. There are some things that should always wear a halo." " I think you are right, Miss Webster," he ad- mitted slowly, after a pause, " quite right. But I was only thinking of them among children, and now, as it's nearly time for me to bid you good- night, please won't you bring out your auto-harp and play the tune I thought was ghost music the day I pounced out of the woods and scared you so? It's been haunting me ever since. Please favor me ? " " I do not play before strangers," she answered quite coolly. " I am not expert enough." " I hope some day you won't class me as a stranger," pointedly, " but I can't accept your ex- cuse. Please favor me just once? " " You won't demand an encore, I am positive," she responded, laughing lightly, and without fur- ther evasion rose and brought forth her auto-harp. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 61 More than that, and as if she wished to make amends for her own chilly demeanor, she not only played that plantation melody with exquisite grace and charm, but several other old-time ballads equally adapted to that instrument. And never before in Stacy's life were time, place and music so in accord with his own mood and feelings ! The gem of them all, and her concluding one, was, " The Last Rose of Summer," and then she laid aside her harp. It seemed a suggestive act and he promptly rose to go. " I thank you, Miss Webster," he said feelingly, " not only for your many favors but the delightful evening I've passed. May I ask the favor of an- other while I am here?" " Perhaps I shall see you," she returned evasively. " You are to be with us to-morrow I understand." Then, and much to his surprise, she held out her hand. And just then he felt like stooping to kiss it, in- stead of an instant's light meeting of their fingers. And that favor made the moonlight that now shone in fantastic patches through the maples adown the lane he followed, the fireflies in them, the low mel- ody of the brook beside it, the broad meadows be- yond bathed in silver light, the mountains further 62 THE CASTLE BUILDERS away and faintly outlined, each and all seem a new and wondrous fairyland. " In love ? " you ask. No, not yet; merely touched by that mystic, magic wand that ever has created and ever will create this world anew. Another vision inspired by this moonlit landscape mainly, yet partially also by the piquant Hazel, soon came to Stacy when he reached the top of a low hill half way back to Oakdale. From this vantage point the village beyond, white and spectral in the moon- light, rose before him. To the left, the vale, at the apex of which stood that hamlet, opened southward. Through this the four-mile spiral of Elbow Creek, now full to the brim, glistened in the night's silver light, with rim of ocean bordering it and reflecting Luna's smile. And now, halting here in contem- plative mood once more, Stacy saw the city his mission here was possibly to bring into existence; saw its fine buildings, its tall church spires, its busy streets, its crowding population, with the masts of commerce pointing skyward where ocean met the broad valley. Then back to Maple Dell his mind now turned, and to the pride and poverty located there. He thought of Uncle Asa, well on in years and robbed of all his earnings, of his household, barely existing in the worn-out, moss-coated house, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 63 and of Hazel, doubtless contributing most of her meager earnings to the family needs, wearing only the simplest raiment, and a recluse, while capable of being a social leader. And as each feature of this prospective city, each possibility of change and bet- terment to Uncle Asa and Hazel now going to waste through the gorge of Rocky Glen came to Stacy like an inspiration, a new ambition and new- born desire to become the master hand and bring this forth thrilled him. With it also, and perhaps inspired by the sequestered romance of Hazel's syringa-embowered and trellised porch, and auto- harp, with moonlight and firefly setting, came an- other and sweeter ambition with her as its queen. Only for the moment, however, did he feel sure, for recalling his one love experience and its humilia- tion, his ever-present distrust of all womankind, his love of freedom and latent skepticism, as he now did, that hope or outcome seemed but a passing mood. " It's moonlight, music, and soulful eyes com- bined, that's all," he said to himself, now striding onward towards the hotel, " and to-morrow it will all vanish like a cloud shadow. But I'd like to pull Uncle Asa out of his hole, and dress Hazel as she deserves, for all that." And that impulse and ambition has built more 64 THE CASTLE BUILDERS homes and consummated more marriages than all others combined. Hazel, however, felt quite otherwise just now, for unknown to her father she was perfectly conscious that he had been robbed by Curtis North and would never receive a penny from his investment. But tell him so, or even hint it? Never, not if she were forced to walk barefoot across coals of fire! " I can't understand why that man is so anxious to make up with father, or flatter me," she said to herself after Stacy had vanished down the lane. " He is nice-appearing, polite as ' by your leave/ but I am afraid of him. He talks too sweetly. There is something back of his excuse that he is here for a week's outing. City men don't come to Oakdale alone just for that ! I shall watch him ! Anyhow, he can't wheedle more money out of father, for he hasn't any more ! " CHAPTER VI ANOTHER breakfast upon the same soiled tablecloth at Landlord Gates's hostelry and another rare June day had come when Stacy walked out of " The Corners " following the now familiar road toward Uncle Asa's. A few farmers were mowing upon the upland meadows east of Oakdale, the whir and clatter of mowing machines mingled with the bobolinks' singing as they circled about and above the roadway; to the southward the valley opened its broadening vista of green salt marsh, and a dozen left-over stacks of salt hay rose in the distance just back from the bordering ocean. Uncle Asa's boathouse peeped above the green expanse a few hundred rods out from and opposite the lane leading up to his home, and here Stacy found the path, a single plank walk on stilts leading out to it. Here, also, he now found the three girls and Uncle Asa awaiting him. A pleasant greeting from the latter and Hazel, and an introduction to two plump country girls, Mollie Bascom and Bertha Phinney, who eyed him curiously, came next. Stacy assisted them into 66 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Uncle Asa's big dory, the mast and lug sail of which were now furled and projecting from the bow. Uncle Asa grasped the oars, and the start down the four-mile course of the winding creek was made. " It's perty easy goin' out with the current," ob- served Uncle Asa as the well-loaded craft swept onward with the outgoing tide, " but it's a long way back agin it. We allus start on top o' the tide," he added, glancing over his shoulder to swing around a bend, " 'n' come back with it." " I might save you watching your course by steer- ing with the spare oar," asserted Stacy, noticing the need of it; " that is if one of you two girls on the back seat will change places with me," he added, addressing them. Hazel, who was one of them, arose speedily, the exchange was made, and Stacy, piqued a trifle by her evident wish to let the other girl sit beside him, began steering. But the day, the anticipation, the exhilaration of the inblowing sea breeze, together with Uncle Asa's droll badinage and the bantering of Hazel's two friends, soon drove away Stacy's pique and began to merge him into the jollity of the outing, and a share in the chaffing. Hazel also thawed out a trifle, now and then he received a smile from her, and later, at THE CASTLE BUILDERS 67 the request of her father, she reached under a piece of old sail, covering a hamper, and sundry " fixin's " in the bow of the dory, and much to his surprise drew forth a banjo. She played and sang, too, off hand, without urg- ing, "Nancy Lee," "My Roving Sailor Boy," "Old Zip Coon," and similar ditties, the other girls joined in, Uncle Asa's face wore a contented smile, and so the outgoing trip was made. And a jolly, full-of-good-spirits one, it was also. At the mouth of the creek, Stacy, his mind re- curring to his vision of a populous city arising where The Corners now stood, noticed and noted a small harbor broadening out from it and shut in from the ocean by a ridge of sand. A narrow inlet gave egress at one end of this, into which the sea waves entered white-capped, and close to it stood a somewhat dilapidated spile wharf. " We'll tie up here," said Uncle Asa, pulling up to it, " V unload. Then I'll go out 'n' pull my pots, 'n' when the tide lowers 'nuff we'll dig some clams. Hazel'll show you whar we set table 'n' make a fire," he added, glancing at Stacy as he stepped out on the wharf, and soon the landing and unloading was accomplished. Stacy of course made himself useful as Hazel directed, the hamper, baskets, and a big iron pot were carried by him to 68 a tiny grove at one end of the sand ridge, and then he showed his tact and good sense. " You girls are not to do anything except to set the table by and by," he said, assuming leadership now. " Just go down the beach, gather shells or dig in the sand like children, if you wish, while I pick up some firewood. I am here to do the work, so let me, please." And nothing loth, off the three went. Later, and as he expected, he noticed them a quarter-mile away down the beach, minus shoes and stockings and skipping back and forth as the incoming waves washed up and met them on the sloping sands. And now, well versed in such out- ings, he first unpacked the hampers, spread the tablecloth on the table, set it with the dishes, piled the food upon it and then began gathering drift- wood for fuel. Then, and after lighting a cigar, he strolled over to where the sea waves rolled into the inlet. Here, also, and noticing Uncle Asa far to sea- ward pulling his pots, Stacy looked around, im- pressed by the utter solitude, yet sea-coast charm of his surroundings. Far up and down the in and out curving beach, the white-crested waves were curling and breaking, a flock of gulls kept circling above or lighting upon an outjutting sand bar, sedge-covered sand dunes arose back of the beach THE CASTLE BUILDERS 69 as far as he could see, and beyond them were low hills covered with bushes, while inside of the long sand ridge upon which he stood the twenty-acre bay was barely rippled by the breeze. Not a house or human being was now visible except the group of girls far away down on shore, and Uncle Asa a mile to seaward in his dory. Beyond him, how- ever, were many white-winged coasters, just now suggestive to Stacy of what the future of this protected bay might hold. For a long hour, and seated now in the shade of a sedge-topped sand dune, he mused upon his mis- sion here, Hazel's charm, Uncle Asa's plight, and the grandeur of a lonely wave-washed shore stretching miles away. He grew a little lonely, too, in his soli- tude, and when he saw the girls returning, hastened to meet them. He felt grateful, too, for their smiles, even the quiet little one from Hazel, and the " You have made yourself very useful," which she vouchsafed when noticing what he had done. Then Uncle Asa, with his lug sail set, rounded into the cove, Stacy hurried to meet him, saw that his pots had yielded a fine catch of lobsters, and now, the tide being out, the two, with basket and clam fork, set about securing the main item of the forthcoming feast. "How deep is the water in this back bay?" 70 THE CASTLE BUILDERS queried Stacy when with shoes and stockings off he was picking up the clams out-turned by Uncle Asa's fork. " Wai, it's 'bout three fathom in the channel, low tide," answered Uncle Asa, " 'n' mebbe one to two over most on't." " A fair-sized schooner could run in then," re- joined Stacy nonchalantly. " Wai, yes, at high water," returned Uncle Asa, unconscious of his companion's thought. " Thar is one fetches coal fer Squire Phinney every fall, a two-hundred-tonner owned in Barre. I've some- times thought," he added slowly, " that if the crick wuz dug out some, she could be towed up to whar my boathouse is, 'n' save haulin' coal over four mile o' sand. Nobody thinks on't, though, but me. In fact, nobody comes down here much but me, 'n' I pick up a good many dollars ketchin' 'n' sellin' lobsters, year through. I'd ruther do that than farm it. I like the smell o' the sea, too, 'n' it's bracin'." " Oakdale's asleep," thought Stacy, " but it will wake up a year from now." Then the clams were washed, Stacy put on his foot garb, and the two men returned to where the girls were. Uncle Asa took charge now, put sea water in the big iron pot he had brought, filled it with clams, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 71 started the fire, then went to his boat and returned with five lobsters split and ready for broiling. Meanwhile, Hazel and her two mates had reset the table, adding a few wild flowers they had brought, and in due time the party gathered around it and partook of a meal, the zest of which, aided by the crisp sea breeze, can never be equaled by any cafe or hotel the wide world over. The crowning fea- ture, also, was an ample supply of field strawberries, picked by Hazel that morning, with a jar of cream that came packed in ice, to add richness. And just now, as he compared this meal with the corned-bee f-and-cabbage one of the day previous, and Hazel with the gum-chewing maid who served it, Stacy felt that for once the gods had been good to him. After this, and since the girls insisted upon it, Stacy and Uncle Asa withdrew to a shady spot, leav- ing them to attend to matters for which they were better trained than men, and here Uncle Asa, satis- fied with what had come about so far, gave utter- ance to a few homely truths and confidences that may well be quoted. " Good vittles," he said in response to praise from Stacy of this unique meal, " is 'bout all the real comfort we git out o' livin', arter all. We build fine houses, put on show-off" clothes 'n' strut 72 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 'round some, but nothin', to my mind, is more con- solin' than suthin' that tastes jist right. We live quiet-like," he added as if that needed assert- ing, " Martha keeps the house clean, now 'n' then chases me with a mop or broom, Hazel goes to meetin' to sing twice a week, 'n' fetches 'nuff prayer home to keep us goin', 'n' so we live. Then thar's the two boys, Martha's ye know; wal, them boys, I cal'late, never inherited much o' the grace o' good- ness, or ketched it either. They keep me guessin' most o' the time to figger out what scrape they'll git into next. I can't coax 'em or scare 'em to work, they play hookey from school 'most every day I'm glad they don't go to Hazel's 'n' my idee is they'll fetch up in jail. Curis, too," he added meditatively, " how what's bred in the bone'll come out in the flesh. Now their father wal, he was counted no good, 'n' hung himself in a fit o' tremers, 'n' wal, I s'pose my takin' up Martha 'n' them boys was one o' the crosses the parson sez we've all got to shoulder to git into heaven. I think I'll arn a harp, too, if them boys keeps on the way they're goin'. " Thar's one thing allus comforts me," he con- tinued after a pause ; " we ain't to blame fer our relations, but I'm dern thankful we kin pick our friends. Now, I hain't many relations livin', but THE CASTLE BUILDERS 73 those I had allus borrowed money o' me 'n' never paid it back, 'n' one, a nevy, cost me over a thou- sand dollars gittin' him out o' scrapes, 'n' when I wouldn't any more, called me a cussed miser." "Ungrateful, eh?" interjected Stacy. "Wai, no, couldn't call it that," returned Uncle Asa; "jist the habit o' relations. I've heard it said, if ye want money go to strangers, if ye want advice go to friends, 'n' if ye want nothin', go to your relations, but mine allus turned this 'round 'n' kep' me poor." Then he paused, sighed, and looked away out over the broad ocean, as if a less selfish world might lie beyond it. " I hain't much longer to stay," he continued after this. " I've done the best I could for every- body, 'n' the one thing worryin' me is Hazel 'n' her futer. Martha's got 'nuff to live on in her own right, but all I got fer Hazel is the house that ain't wuth shinglin', some land, 'most worn out, B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' that Rawhide stock. 'N' when I git thinkin' on't 'n' the cuss that bamboozled me, my hide gits raw, too, dern him ! " Hazel is peculiar, too," he added after another pause ; " so fussy she won't look at Oakdale boys, 'count o' their manners 'n' ways. One on 'em tried to spark her, fact all on 'em hev one time or 'nother, but this un, wal, he come courtin' with cowhide 74 THE CASTLE BUILDERS boots 'n' dirty shirt on, 'n' Hazel shut the door in his face. I gin her two years o' schoolin' in Barre, let her stay thar one winter to ketch onto city ways, V it spiled her fer Oakdale fellers, I'm sartin." And just now, recalling her as she impressed him the evening previous, Stacy did not wonder at it. He also felt a little piqued at the way she had treated him so far this day. He had not expected any alone-with-her chats with these two mates of hers in the party, still she might have been more companionable, and at least invited him to gather shells or pick flowers with herself and her com- panions, in place of the long hour he was left to solitary meditation, he thought. And just now, with dishes washed and packed, instead of joining Uncle Asa and himself, they were again romping down the beach, throwing skip-stones or gathering shells. Beyond all question, he wasn't in the game, or so considered. But the rising tide and lowering sun soon said that it was time to return, at least Uncle Asa now asserted it, and led the way to reloading the boat, and the return was begun. Then, and for the first time during this day's outing, Miss Hazel disclosed a shade of coquetry, or disposition to be kind to Stacy. " I'm going to sit in the stern with you, Mr. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 75 Whipple," she said gaily, as she, first to enter the boat, did so. " I like to look ahead and watch the birds, and sometimes we see a muskrat plunge off the bank." "Will you play the banjo if I permit you? " he returned, in the same bantering tone. "If so, I shall esteem it an honor." " If you will sing, I'll play," she replied, smiling at him, for the fact was that this occult little lady felt that their guest deserved some consideration. And now, across the bay and into the narrowing creek; with their boat in the shadow of the tall marsh grass, she tuned up her banjo, and even Uncle Asa felt compelled to join in the chorus of " Dandy Jim of Caroline," " Kingdom Coming," " Old Nicodemus," " Suwanee River," and a dozen other plantation ballads suited to a banjo. Now and then she interjected a sentimental one, and when the mountain shadow had crossed the nar- rowing valley and they nearing home, she sang "Nellie Gray" and " Masaa's in the Cold, Cold Ground " with a caress of feeling, and marvelous soprano voice, that thrilled every fiber of Stacy's soul. " I don't like them," she said, in response to his words of praise, after she stopped. " Those songs are too melancholy. They seem appropriate, how- 76 THE CASTLE BUILDERS ever, just at sunset, after a pleasant day's outing," she added a moment later, " and a contrast from the foolish ones I've been inflicting upon you." Stacy, of course, as was his duty, helped Uncle Asa carry things up to the house, gave due thanks to both him and Hazel for the day's enjoyment, bade them adieu courteously, and then, carrying, in two packages, the two pairs of lobsters which Uncle Asa had insisted that Hazel's chums should take home, he departed villageward with them. And now he found they were much more gra- cious and chatty with him during the walk than Hazel had been. Later, and after Uncle Asa had finished his milk- ing, Hazel met him at the barn-yard gate. " Has Mr. Whipple said anything to you yet about investing in any mine stock, father?" she asked. " Why, no," he answered positively ; " what put that into your head, girlie ? " " You won't if he does, will you, father; promise me that?" " Sartin, sure I won't," watching her curiously. " I hain't no more money to put into anything." Then, and after another long stare at her, he added, " Put that notion right out o' your head, Hazel, 'n' 77 keep it out. That man ain't no mine sharper, he ain't, 'n' I like him." " So you did the other one, you said, father." " That's true," he answered, sighing ; " 'n' I wuz wrong. Mebbe I'm wrong now, mebbe I am." And that evening Stacy, who found Sam and his Old Guard almost stupid companions, had hard work not to do a foolish thing or what seemed so to him and hie himself away to Maple Dell. CHAPTER VII A RAINY day to a busy man in a city is but an incident scarce noticed, and evaded by an umbrella, while in transit from home to office or store, or returning; but to such a one, shut in a small country village hotel, with posters on its office walls, or one or two old weekly papers for sole reading matter, it is "pizen," as Uncle Asa would say. Such a day faced Stacy the morn succeeding his delightful shore outing. Sam was surly, the Old Guard missing, and after two hours of watching the highway, while not a soul passed, he grew desperate, donned his waterproof coat, and with rod and basket started for Rocky Glen brook. A fair catch of trout and a thorough soaking were his reward, and returning, a sudden and heavier downpour as he neared the byway schojplhouse of Hazel's occupancy, drove him into its porch. Curiously now, and for what reason he never knew, he tried its door and, much to his surprise, found it unlocked. To enter was no harm, he felt, and so he did. There was nothing in it of value, school 78 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 79 term having closed the week previous, a few ink- stands and useless pens scattered along the wall- shelf the old-time way around desks in such temples, the teacher's desk was locked, and back of it, above the small platform, was the customary blackboard. All these simple fittings were but re- minders of his own boyhood, for in such a building Stacy had first received tuition, and then as his eyes traversed the room, a curious chalk-made pic- ture on the blackboard caught them. It was meant to be that of a young lady, holding a rod in one hand, a book in the other, and beneath it the legend, " My teacher, I love her." And then, despite his rain-soaked condition and hunger it was past noon now Stacy laughed heartily at the schoolboy handiwork and inscription, both so grotesque and absurd. " Well, I don't blame you, whoever you are," he exclaimed after the laugh; "I guess I shall love her myself if I stay here a week." And then, seating himself while he waited for a lull in the downpour, both the comic and pathetic side of this incipient love disclosure came to him. " Love is both the biggest fool illusion and the nearest-to-heaven one that stirs human emotions," he commented aloud. " I know just how that boy felt. I had the same dose myself once, and how 80 THE CASTLE BUILDERS many miles I tramped to find and bring that blue- eyed schoolma'am bunches of arbutus and sweet flag buds to win a thank-you. I'm glad nobody but myself ever knew. And what double-distilled, dyed-in-the-wool fools that insanity will make of a man," he added, now thinking of La Rosa Carmen ; " for once the mania is on, they will not only sink into mumbling idiocy, but find forgiveness for a woman who not only betrays every trust, but scorns even decency! We prate about being strong, we men," he continued sneeringly, " but we are as limp rags wound round the finger of a pretty woman when in love with her, and willing, even thankful to be used to wipe her shoes with ! Bah, what fools we are, and can't help it either ! " Then glancing around the little bare, cheerless room, with its warped floor, open Franklin stove, smoke-browned rafters, and knife-hacked benches, the peculiar situation and pathos of Hazel's life came to him, and how, even on the worst of wintry days, she faced icy blasts and snowdrifts to earn a few dollars to help pay home bills ! And he had lavished over a thousand in eight months on La Rosa Carmen, with the net result of despising him- self in return! "I've got the experience, anyhow," he muttered grimly, now leaving the poor little hovel of leajrn- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 81 ing, " but guess I'd better cut stick from Oakdale before I get any more." When he reached the hotel this being Satur- day a letter awaited him from Bert Colby, his partner, that now forced the same conclusion. "If you are satisfied with your examinations of Oakdale streams and their availability for our pur- pose," it said, " you had better go to Barre at once and close contracts. Make dates for on-account payments as early as possible, also insert a for- feiture clause in contract, all properly witnessed. Shall expect you back by Wednesday. There is another deal on which may necessitate your going to Nevada this summer." " All right, my boy," exclaimed Stacy, after perusing this missive, and then Uncle Asa's plight and the Rawhide swindle recurred to him at once. " I'll look you up, Mr. Curtis North, you and your swindling act, when I go to Nevada," he added, " and see if there is any show to jail you." With dry clothing on, Stacy now betook himself to the piazza to watch the sun, just smiling out from above the western mountains, and wait for supper and a feast upon the trout he had brought in. And just then he spied Uncle Asa coming up the road with a basket in his hand. " I thought I'd fetch ye a little suthin' to tickle 82 THE CASTLE BUILDERS yer tongue with," he said cheerily, now mounting the piazza, where Stacy was alone. " I went down the crick to-day to bait my pots over, 'n' dug ye a mess o' them clams ye liked so well. Thar's four lobs, too," he added, handing the weed-topped basket to Stacy, " 'n' ye kin hev 'em briled or biled, ez ye like." Then, and after due and cordial thanks from Stacy, he seated himself near him. " Be ye goin' to stop here much o' next week? " he queried after a pause, and glancing curiously at Stacy. "If so, mebbe I kin take ye fishin' 'nother day, or we kin go to the beach agin, jist you 'n' I 'n' Hazel, or take her chums 'long, ez ye prefer. I s'pose ye hev other business here 'cept jest in- jyin' yerself, Mr. Whipple? " It was an adroit query for Uncle Asa, but Stacy, keener than he to read others' minds, saw that something lay beyond this. " I have and I haven't, Uncle Asa," he answered candidly. " That is, I came here for a double reason; the principal one to enjoy a few days' rest, the other to look this town over for a purpose I can't even hint to you. It isn't to sell mine stock or anything to anyone, however," he added, smiling. " Some day I will tell you first of all what the purpose is, but until then, may I ask you to promise THE CASTLE BUILDERS 83 positively not to repeat what I have said to anyone, not even to your daughter, Hazel ? " " I will, sartin," returned Uncle Asa, looking re- lieved ; " 'n' here's my hand on't," and he extended his to Stacy. " I hope ye'll 'scuse me for sorter pryin' into yer business," he continued ; " only knowin' the kind o' layout Sam sets up, I thought it must be some busi- ness that 'ud keep ye here long." " Not more than a month, anyhow," laughed Stacy, " unless you'd take me for a boarder, with fishing or on shore trips every day. However, I can't go again. I am to leave here Monday." " I'm sorry, Mr. Whipple, derned sorry," Uncle Asa ejaculated earnestly. " I've kinder took to ye ez it war, 'n' I'd like to see more o' ye. Can't ye come agin 'fore summer's gone? " " I may," returned Stacy, his heart warming, " and you may be sure I shall expect you to take me on all sorts of outings if I do." He came near add- ing Hazel's name to this cordial wish, but did not. ' There is another matter I can assure you on," he continued in lower tone and glance at the hotel door. " I shall go to Nevada this summer and will look up your mine investment and advise you if there is any show for you to get your money back. 84 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Also, and if possible, I'll set the minions of the law on this Curtis North if he can be found." " I thank ye, Mr. Whipple, I thank ye from way down," responded Uncle Asa earnestly, and rising, " I must be goin' back now, it's 'most chore time. I'm sorry it's Sunday to-morrow," he added, offer- ing his hand again. " I'd take ye out some'rs if 'twa'n't. You'll you'll drop down to see us in the evenin', won't ye ? " " I certainly shall," returned Stacy as earnestly, " and thank you for your kind assurances of good will." " Nice old man," he soliloquized after Uncle Asa was well away from the hotel steps ; " good as gold, and honest as the day is long. But how the devil came he to link that termagant widow to his for- tunes or poverty, with Hazel to keep house for him?" That evening with its late rising moon to once more outline the winding spiral of Elbow Creek with glints of silver sheen was a long one to Stacy. Sam and the Old Guard were in evidence as usual on Saturday evenings; they told stories galore some new to Stacy, some that were on crutches when he was a boy ; they discussed Oakdale gossip and Uncle Asa's affairs the latter with a freedom that now disgusted Stacy, until finally to escape this boredom THE CASTLE BUILDERS 85 he retreated to his room and solace of a lone cigar. Oakdale, while a charming rural hamlet, held only two people that now interested him. Sunday morning dawned bright and fair. Stacy dressed in his best, waited for first bell call and the arriving church attendants, then as soon as he saw Hazel come up the road, hastened to follow her into the larger of the two churches, and seated himself in a rear pew. The usual fair-sized congregation was there, or came in later. The regular order of prayer first, singing, scripture-reading, prayer again, then another hymn, came duly, but the only face that brought furtive glances from him was Hazel's piquant one, as it arose from the choir curtains over or back of the pulpit. The second hymn was sung by her alone and somehow Stacy, whose eyes never once left her face during it, now wondered how so marvelously sweet a voice could issue from such girlish lips and throat. And best of all, she sang as though interceding for the lives of her hearers, yet as much at ease as a bobolink perched on a tree- top. He wondered, too, if she saw him, hoped she wouldn't consider his coming as impertinent curi- osity, or his watching her rude conduct ; and as this was the first time in two years he had been to church, he dropped a two-dollar bill folded as small as possible on the contribution plate. He 86 THE CASTLE BUILDERS was stared at covertly from all sides and the moment the benediction was uttered, hastened out. He also watched for Hazel from his vantage point of the hotel piazza, saw her emerge from the sanc- tuary with one of her two girl chums after most had left it, then go away with her. Later, the two returned together, and after close of service Stacy received a smile and bow as she passed the hotel, homeward bound. And now recalling Uncle Asa's peculiar inquiry, its way and wording, his evident relief on being assured that he had nothing to sell Oakdale people, Stacy saw a light. " Hazel thinks I am another Curtis North," he said to himself, and then he laughed aloud for he had been seriously hurt by her almost painful coldness. Then and there, also he formed another resolu- tion, two resolutions in fact. First, that he would leave no stone unturned to find this mine swindler and make him disgorge, if possible; the other, that in no way or manner would he attempt to disabuse Miss Hazel until her own observation had enlight- ened her as to his kindly good-will toward her father. Pursuant of that intention, and from pique, also, he resolved that he would be as cool and indifferent towards her as she had been to him, at the call he was soon to make. And so it happened when he THE CASTLE BUILDERS 87 once more walked leisurely up to the syringa-flanked front porch and found Uncle Asa and Hazel occupy- ing it, his greeting to her was formally polite, but very cordial to her father. " I enjoyed those clams immensely, Uncle Asa," he said at once. " Albion is so far inland that we never get them there; in the West they are an un- known delicacy, and the banquet you served on the beach was one I shall recall many times espe- cially those lobsters you broiled so nicely." " Wai, I'm glad on't," asserted Uncle Asa bluntly, " 'n' bein' sorry ez I allus am fer folks ez has to live in the city wuz why I fetched ye 'nother mess. " I wouldn't live in the city if I wuz paid fer't," he continued, " street cars rattlin' all night, folks bumpin' 'gainst ye whichever way ye turn, 'n' skeered all the time least ye git yer pocket picked. The country's good 'miff fer me." " Yes, and for me, too," admitted Stacy, " for it makes me feel myself a boy again and takes me back to boyhood days once more. I went fishing in the rain yesterday, Miss Webster," he continued in for- mal tone, turning to her, " and on my way back took refuge in your schoolhouse to escape a shower and had a hearty laugh over what I saw inside it." " You did? " she queried curiously. " What was it?" 88 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " Why, one of your boy pupils, I presume, is so enamored of you that he has drawn your picture in chalk on the blackboard and written under it, ' My teacher, I love her.' The picture, however, does not do you justice." " I wish you had rubbed it out," she responded flushing. " I don't like to be so caricatured." " I don't believe the boy meant it in that way," returned Stacy, smiling. " He was merely suffer- ing the qualms of incipient love and took that way of telling you. I once went through the same agony myself. And by the way," he added to change the subject, " permit me to thank you for the rare treat of your solo singing in church this morning. I did not know which church you sang in, I dared not ask Sam for fear of making comment here, so watched for and followed you. You have an exquisite voice of rare sweetness." " Thank you," she answered simply. " How did you like the sermon ? " " Why I I don't believe it impressed me as it should, maybe," he answered hesitatingly ; " too much or too profuse explanation of old Biblical doc- trine and why we must be sure to save our souls anyhow. Too doctrinal, I should say. What I want from the pulpit is up-to-date sermons, how to live rightly to-day, and what our duties to one an- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 89 other are in this day and generation. Christianity and the church are doing a great and noble work and making humanity better, more charitable, more conscientious, and the world more fit to live in day by day. But the church needs broader and more forceful preachers. Men who can thrill a congrega- tion, inspire them to rise above personal selfishness week days, teach them that doing good to-day is to improve the to-morrow of our race, shame them out of their indifference, and that to live the Golden Rule to-day is far better than to worry whether their souls will be saved to-morrow. Then, to my mind, the long-drawn-out argument of personal sal- vation is solely an appeal to our selfish natures and of no benefit to us." " 'N' I agree with ye," interjected Uncle Asa promptly. " Grace o' God is skeerce in this world, 'n' doin' ez ye'd be done by skeercer still, 'n' 'tain't helpin' matters to spend time tellin' folks a front seat 'n' a harp is all they need to live fer. I've allus figgered a good deed is the best sort o' prayer, 'n' counts most. It may not 'feet the scoffers, they'll say ye hev an ax ter grind anyway, but it'll 'feet now 'n' then one, mebbe. Leastwise, I allus feel more contented arter I've done somebody a good turn, 'n' the birds' singin' allus sounds a leetle sweeter." 90 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " You ought to occupy our pulpit one Sunday, Mr. Whipple," interposed Hazel in tones that Stacy imagined held a note of sarcasm. " You certainly would enlist more attention than our minister." " Why, I gave him attention enough," rejoined Stacy curtly, " and if he failed to interest me it wasn't my fault, was it ? " " No," she answered as spiritedly, " but I as- sume that you listened solely to criticise, not to be improved. Anyone can criticise and sneer, it's the easiest thing to do, but to be charitable and read the good intention beyond words is quite another matter." And then Stacy felt as if he had disturbed a hor- net's nest. " I admit your assertion," he responded suavely. " It is far easier to criticise than originate, or even be charitable. But you asked my opinion of the ser- mon; I assumed you wished an honest one. Or is it as a noted cynic once asserted ' folly to tell ladies the truth, they prefer lies so long as they be sweets ' ? " There was a glint in Hazel's eyes at this which he failed to see, but her answer came sweet as the murmuring brook. " Oh, yes, we do prefer lies and always have preferred them from force of habit," she answered suavely, " since about all we ever hear THE CASTLE BUILDERS 91 from the lords of creation is some fairy tale. I, for one, expect nothing else, and quite enjoy the stories that men make up so long as I don't believe them." " You two'll git pullin' hair if ye keep on," inter- jected Uncle Asa, " 'n' 'tain't nat'ral. I never knew but one man who allus argered with a woman, 'n' he had to cook his own vittles finally, 'n' the only one who went with him when plantin' time come was the hearse driver, 'n' he wa'n't a mourner." Then Stacy laughed heartily and so the sharp- shooting ended. " I will admit that you have the better of the argument, Miss Webster," asserted Stacy after this, " but as music will soothe the savage breast, which means mine just now, won't you favor me with your auto-harp once more? As I leave in the morning and can't say when I'll visit Oakdale again, if ever, I'd like to carry away a pleasant memory." " And won't you without that ? " she inquired pleasantly. " I certainly didn't mean to hurt your feelings." " I am sure you didn't," he returned earnestly, " and I enjoy a verbal tilt always. But this porch, the surroundings and yourself here, seem so like a sequestered nook in a better world, I'd like to complete the illusion that way." 92 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " I thought you were to stay a week or more " inquiringly " it's only been four days? " " Five, to be exact, since I first heard your spirit music whispering through the pines." And just now, in spite of his intention of repay- ing Hazel in kind for her cool demeanor, Stacy wished Uncle Asa good soul would go to bed. But the evening was waning, and recognizing this, perhaps, as well as her callous mood, Hazel now brought out her auto-harp once more, and for a witching half -hour its tinkling melody vibrated through the moonlit maples, .then Stacy arose. " I thank you, Miss Webster, and you, Uncle Asa, for what has made my Oakdale visit a red-letter one in my calendar," he said earnestly, and offering his hand, first to Uncle Asa, then to Hazel, " and now good-bye." And recalling that evening almost hourly for many days afterwards, its piquant charm, Hazel's perfect poise and repartee, her exquisite voice in church, the brook-like tinkle of her auto-harp, and the witchery of Maple Dell, each and all many times, their charm kept growing upon him until they seemed a glimpse into another and better world. | " I'm going to call it Hazel Dell," he would say to himself when this mood was on, " for she is of it and akin to it in purity and sweetness." CHAPTER VIII STACY had expected that two days would suf- fice for his visit to Barre and the closing of contracts, but the preliminary haggling over terms, payments, etc., with the committee of five of the city's councilmen, consumed time, during which several things happened, and one disclosure came of peculiar interest which must be recorded. The first of these happenings was the introduction to him by the chairman of the committee in the hotel office the third evening of his stay in Barre of a dapper little person by the name of Leon Otero, who informed him that he had heard of the city's plans for obtaining power from Oakdale, that he was agent for the supplying of emigrant labor on such work as Stacy had in hand, and was here for that purpose. He gave Stacy his card bearing a New York address, and politely requested that he might supply whatever laborers Stacy might need. " We shall want a hundred or more of them," Stacy assured him in response, " and I will keep your card and correspond with you as soon as we are ready to go ahead." 93 94 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " You haf your site for ze dem selected and ze land secured, haf you not? "inquired Otero in for- eign accent. " There are two, ze committee tell me, can be used for ze dam? " " Why, yes, three in fact," returned Stacy, now on guard. " But you, sir, must have decided which one is ze best," persisted Otero. " If you haf not and you wish me, I would advise. Ef you hire of me ze men I must go before and haf house put up for zem to live in." " I shall make no decision without further con- sultation with my partner," responded Stacy firmly, " and after that you may hear from me," and so closed the interview. Later, and after writing full details of proceed- ings so far to Colby, he began to give this Otero and his proposals some thought. " Curious, and I can't quite line up that fellow and his intentions," he muttered to himself, loung- ing in one corner of the hotel office in an easy chair, and lighting a fresh cigar. " He seems anxious to find out what's none of his business, and where have I seen that face ? " And then backward through the pages of his memory Stacy started to find this Otero's peculiar face, sinister and shifty black eyes and little black- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 95 pointed mustache! Somewhere he was positive, but where? Then he drew forth his card inscribed "Leon Otero, Emigrant Agent, 441 West 23rd Street, New York," and read it again as if therein lay a clue. In vain, for this fellow's face, either Spanish or Mexican, he was positive, still eluded him. After a half-hour of this vexatious pursuit of a face, he telephoned Davis, chairman of the committee he was negotiating with, for informa- tion regarding this fellow. The answer was vague and also suspicious, inasmuch as it appeared that this Otero had presented himself to Barre's commit- tee a few days previous to Stacy's arrival, and pos- sessed the information that these negotiations were in progress and that Oakdale had been selected as site for the intended power supply. The source of this information was not forthcoming, however. " It must be in the air," Davis asserted to Stacy after this explanation. " He came to me with the assurance that he had been informed of our inten- tion and was anxious to secure the contract for laborers, which seemed plausible. I told him you were the one to apply to, and were expected here in a few days, and he has been waiting for you. There is another man with him, stranger here also, an older man red face, white side-whiskers. They are stopping at another hotel than yours, I believe." 96 THE CASTLE BUILDERS It wasn't much information, but some, and cer- tainly mysterious for the reason that this Otero had obtained facts which Stacy had hitherto supposed were known only to his firm and Barre's committee. " There is something queer about this," Stacy muttered, hanging up the receiver, and then this Otero's persistent anxiety to obtain 'the location of the intended reservoir struck him as peculiar and uncalled for. " He'll find out nothing ! " Stacy muttered again, and then began to wonder who this other stranger was, and what possible connection he had with Otero's mission here. The next morning, and while strolling along the limited water front of Barre, whom should he meet but this Otero again, and with him a rather flashily- attired gentleman with luxuriant white side-whisk- fers, whose flushed face and rotund stomach, across which lay a massive gold watch chain, betokened prosperity, at least. " This ees my friend, Mr. Curtis," Otero said, thus introducing him after formally greeting Stacy. " He ees here on pleasure himself, it ees." " Just looking this country over for a few days," explained Curtis airily, " and to keep an eye on my friend, Otero." " I shall hope you will haf your beesness con- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 97 eluded, Mr. Whipple," added Otero, " and I can ob- tain your order for ze men you will need before you leaf. Shall you go again to Oakdale before to Albion?" " I don't expect to," responded Stacy curtly. " I shall, however, write you in New York as soon as we decide when we shall begin operations." And then the two passed on. " It's he, by Jove, it's he ! " exclaimed Stacy five minutes later, after these two had passed beyond ear- shot, " and the identical man who swindled Uncle Asa!" Then back to a little smoke-dimmed gambling den in a Nevada mining camp he flew in thought, and to the two pals he had seen swapping cards there! But the name, Curtis, in place of North, the sharper who had invaded Oakdale, and the reason thereof combined to form a new mystery. Piqued by this even more than by the other one, he now turned upward from the water front and hastened to the only other reputable hotel in Barre to look on its register. That yielded a clue, for turning its pages a week back, there in bold flowing hand was the name " Pentecost Curtis " from New York, above that of Otero! Then Stacy gave vent to a low whistle. " ' Some snakes mit de grass,' as Old Rip said," 98 THE CASTLE BUILDERS he thought, turning away, and hurried back to his own hotel to await ten o'clock, when he was to meet with the committee again. Here, while he was cogitating upon these two peculiar and pertinent dis- closures : Otero, the ostensibly innocent contract labor agent and former pal of the sharper who swindled Uncle Asa, now seemingly anxious to find out where his firm were to build their dam; that same swindler, Curtis North, registered as Pente- cost Curtis, now with him well, to Stacy, a keen- witted business man well used to the pursuit of the elusive dollar, the two facts and their coincident application seemed positive proof of some sinister game afoot. Curtis, or North, as Stacy was posi- tive that he was, was undoubtedly well supplied with money. Otero was a pal of his, both were as un- scrupulous as two unhanged swindlers could be, and both here for some game far deeper and beyond the innocent one of Otero's securing a contract for fifty or one hundred Italians. But what was it? For a long half -hour Stacy thought and studied upon this occult mind-reading problem without suc- cess, and then a light came. " I see it, by Jove, I see it," he exclaimed, jump- ing up. " Curtis, or North, and maybe neither is his right name, is the backer with money. Otero is THE CASTLE BUILDERS 99 the tool and their game is to find where we are to locate our dam, then steal a march on us by buying up the land and making us settle ! " And then like a flash of white light came another inspiration and conclusion so comical that Stacy laughed outright! " I see your game, Mr. Pentecost Curtis," he said, shaking with suppressed laughter, " and I'll make you buy Bear Hole Swamp of Uncle Asa and pay well for it, too ! " This was so funny, and such a fine turning of the tables, that he shook again with the enjoyment of it. He quieted himself for his meeting with the com- mittee, for they were shrewd, sharp business men, bent on driving the best bargain possible. Stacy was not asleep, and after a two-hour session, he ob- tained all he hoped for in contracts duly witnessed, and all that remained was to secure Rocky Glen Brook valley of Sam Gates, then go ahead and build his dam, harness the giant now laughing there in innocent glee, and start the wheels that would turn the hamlet of Oakdale into a prosperous and busy city. But first to land this despicable Curtis North, and do it thoroughly. It was easy, too, in a way, the door wide open, ioo THE CASTLE BUILDERS the trap all set, and all that remained was to bait it. And now forewarned, forearmed, and " loaded for bear," as Uncle Asa would say, Stacy sought out Otero. " I have closed my contracts," he assured him with well-assumed satisfaction, now finding him alone in his hotel office, " and have a proposition to make to you. The site I have decided upon in Oak- dale is at present a two-mile long by half-mile wide swamp, which contains some available timber, hem- lock and hackmatack. That can be cut this com- ing summer, but as the swamp is a quagmire, it's impossible to haul it out till winter. We shall, in the meantime, obtain a portable saw-mill, set it up below where the dam is to be, and as soon as timber can be hauled out, begin sawing this for our own use. You can submit to me a proposition for fifty wood choppers to go to work by August first, and as many more men suitable for digging and quarry- ing operations, a month later, where the dam is to be built. This location, I may say, is now covered by a fine growth of pine that must be cut first. Make your specification complete as to nationality of men to be furnished any will do except Chi- nese, a foreman for each class of men must be included terms and time of payment as well also a bond for the good behavior of all men em- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 101 ployed. Whoever obtains this contract must be- come responsible for all acts of thieving by men employed we won't. This contract you can sub- mit to us within a month, and if acceptable, we in turn will give you a bond for our fulfillment of same." And having thus baited his long-range trap, Stacy handed Otero his business card and shook hands with him cordially. And that afternoon Stacy, well satisfied with what he had done, took the last train for Oakdale station, ten miles from that hamlet. CHAPTER IX IT was almost sunset when the old one-horse carryall, with Stacy as sole passenger, reached the hilltop overlooking Oakdale, and now its peculiar isolation, a village of perhaps fifty houses grouped around two churches with scattering ones adown the borders of the two enclosing ranges of mountains, appeared more sequestered than ever. From this viewpoint he now first noticed an oval hill back of the village with its serried rows of white and brown tombstones, the gorge to right of this out of which came Rocky Glen brook, the V-shaped vista of the valley beyond, with its winding creek and bordering ocean, while to left rose the bare- topped hill back of Uncle Asa's home, one of the two barricades beyond which lay Bear Hole Swamp. And just then, in spite of the charm of the peace- ful vale and visions of the city that was to arise there, even in spite of the piquant little school- ma'am, whose home-roof Stacy now saw peeping above its surrounding maples, it occurred to him that the seldom-speaking old stage driver beside him 1 02 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 103 could be made to assist in the game of retribution he was about to play. " You know that big swamp back of Uncle Asa's, don't you? " he said, now addressing him. " Well, there is a possibility you may sometime see that occupied by a big reservoir and below it a power house to produce electric light for Barre. If this comes about, and it may some day, there will be shops and factories built below that, alongside the valley, a trolley line to your railroad station, your village will have electric light, and then you won't have to drive this stage any more." " Yew don't say so ! " gasped the old man known as " Uncle Levi " who had been the connecting link between Oakdale village and station for twenty years. "Why, who's goin' to do it, 'n' when?" " I won't say who or when," returned Stacy mys- teriously, " only that it may come about in time that is all." " Wai, that openin' back o' Uncle Asa's strikes me ez a handy spot fer a dam," responded Uncle Levi, now recovering himself. "Wai, wal, 'n' so thar's one goin' up thar, eh? You s'prise me! Who's goin' to dew it? " " I didn't say anybody was not yet," asserted Stacy in a you-mustn't-tell tone. " I only hint this 104 THE CASTLE BUILDERS to you in confidence for I've well, the land hasn't been bought yet and you understand keep quiet about it." And he did, so quiet that not twenty- four hours elapsed before every man, woman, and child in Oak- dale knew all about it, as Stacy intended that they should. That evening also, or immediately after supper, he held another pertinent interview with Samuel Gates, Esq., landlord of the Oakdale House, that must be recorded. " Do you know, Sam," he said to him in the in- different way, typical of his business methods, when the chance came, "that I've well, I've half a mind to make you an offer for that Rocky Glen Gorge you own; just to have a trout brook I could call my own? I wouldn't pay much for it; it's only a whim of mine, you know." " Wai, ye kin fish it, I s'pose, any time ye want to," drawled Sam, glancing curiously at him. " The brook's thar, V you're welcome." " Yes, I know 'tis," responded Stacy in the same tone, " only if I owned it I could post it, and so keep away other fishermen. I am not particular. Would you be willing to lease it to me for that pur- pose for, say, ten years, and for how much ? " I'VE HALF A MIND TO MAKE YOU AN OFFER FOK THAT ROCKY GLEN GORGE.'' Page 104. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 105 " Why, I dunno," returned Sam slowly, " how much 'ud ye give ? " " Oh, maybe ten dollars a year," admitted Stacy indifferently, " just to make the matter binding. As you say, I know I am welcome to fish it or Bear Hole Swamp brook any time I come here," and he laughed. " That's so, sure," responded Sam, also joining in the laugh, " but wal, make me an offer on the gorge brook land, 'n' I'll think it over." " No, you set a price and I'll think it over. I am not anxious about buying it either. I just stopped off here for another day's fishing and shall leave to-morrow evening. I must get back to the city by the next day night." Then, and as if the matter were of small concern, he picked up a paper and began reading. Not so with Sam, however. He, while shrewdly desiring to drive good bargains, considered this brook gorge, now stripped of its timber, as abso- lutely worthless, and anything received from it as so much gained. " I dunno but I'd set a price on that 'ere brook gorge," he admitted finally after a long ten minutes of silence. " Thar's 'bout two hundred acres on't up to the top o' the pitch, 'n' a little scrub timber io6 THE CASTLE BUILDERS that's wuth suthin. How'd six hundred strike ye?" " Wai," drawled Stacy in exact imitation of Sam, " that's pretty stiff, all things considered. Does that include all the land down to the road ? " " Yas, 'n' some back on top o' the ridges, the hull piece is 'most a mile long." For fully five minutes Stacy sat in contemplative silence, not to seem anxious, then spoke. " I'll take it, Sam," he said finally, " and as I shall start fishing early in the morning, let us go over to your village Mogul, Squire Phinney, now, and have a deed filled out. If I sleep on it I shall most likely change my mind." And thus did Stacy Whipple obtain possession of a piece of land that eventually became worth a thou- sand dollars for each one paid for it ! " One thing I must insist on," Stacy said after the deed was duly signed and witnessed, and he had given Sam six crisp one-hundred dollar bills for it he had brought four times that sum with him " and that is, you must keep still about this transac- tion. There is a big deal on foot to buy Bear Hole Swamp for a reservoir and power house later on; I shall probably have charge of the work and may have to board with you for a year or two. You will hear about it in the near future, but keep still, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 107 or the deal may all fall through. This must abso- lutely be kept in strict confidence." And having thus secured what he needed, and at the same time baited a trap for Curtis North, alias Pentecost Curtis, Stacy retired to a well-earned sleep. He was up early next morning, and after a pre- viously-ordered breakfast, betook himself to the home of Uncle Asa. And now after a week's absence and many vivid recollections of her sweet face and dainty form, first seen under the big pine, her modest self- possession and perfect poise, her keen wit and ability to cope with him on any subject, and best of all her tender devotion to her father the nearer he came to her moss-coated old rookery of a home, the more he felt like a bashful schoolboy making first call on a sweetheart. He also realized how rare and charming a maid, fit to grace a palace, was hid in this byway nook " Hazel Dell," as he kept thinking of it. Its utter seclusion at the end of a grass-grown lane out of sight of the main highway seemed sug- gestive of her perfect purity; as the flower-filled dooryard and lilac and syringa-hidden house did of her sweetness as he drew near it; and despite his years of contact with the world, his heart thumped io8 THE CASTLE BUILDERS unduly when he lifted the iron knocker on the closed front door. Much to his disgust, Martha answered it, greeted him with clumsy obsequiousness and invited him in. " Uncle Asa's gone down the crick," she asserted in answer to his inquiry, " 'n' Hazel's over to Mollie Bascom's for the day. She's got a cousin visitin' from Barre, 'n' they've a sorter lawn party goin' on this arternoon. " I s'pose they'd be glad to hev you jine 'em," she added, " 'n' ez ye've met the Bascom gal, it's all right." " I should be more than glad to do so," returned Stacy, smiling at her idea of propriety, " but my errand here is to see Uncle Asa. Where can, or how can I find him ? I had planned to go away this afternoon." " Why, ye kin take his small boat 'n' go down the crick, if ye can't wait," she answered, eyeing him curiously. " No, I guess he took that," she added, " 'n' you'll hev to take the big dory." And Stacy, departing much chagrined at this ill luck, wondered if this Bascom girl's cousin from Barre were of the masculine persuasion, felt sure that it must be, and was vexed accordingly. He was nothing to Hazel so far, as he fully realized, yet she was enough to him already so that if this comer from Barre were THE CASTLE BUILDERS 109 a fellow, he wished that he would keep away from Oakdale. Oakdale swains were evidently not to be feared, but a young man from Barre, where Hazel had spent a winter in social gaiety, might prove a I dangerous rival. Uncle Asa's big dory was soon found to be out of water beside his small wharf. Stacy had a muddy experience in launching it under the hot sun, and by the time he started down stream on the last of the tide, his temper and raiment were both badly frayed. And meantime the imagined face of the fellow from Barre kept intruding ! He reached the open water of the cove after two hours of misery, pulled up to the little old wharf, and soon, to his joy, saw Uncle Asa doubled over and digging clams on the bare flats outside. " I'm glad to see ye, mighty glad," that worthy exclaimed, looking up as Stacy drew near and smiling benignly, " but what fetched ye back so soon, good news ? " " Yes, decidedly so for you if all goes as I plan," answered Stacy positively. " Come up to where the table is and I'll tell you the story." Once seated there in shade more than consoling to Stacy, with the cooling sea breeze blowing in, he began his story, fully resolved to keep nothing back no THE CASTLE BUILDERS from Uncle Asa, but to trust him fully, as he now did. He started at the beginning, too; telling of his mission to Oakdale, the reason for it, and what he had decided upon, next of his return to Barre with the outcome of the contract with that city's committee, and, most pertinent of all, of his meet- ing with Pentecost Curtis and the latter's tool, Otero, and of his almost certainty of the game they intended to play, with explanation of the trap set for them. And the face of Uncle Asa was a study while this recital was in progress, for his mouth was wide open, now and then he gasped for breath, and when Stacy paused, he jumped up, yelled " Hooray, Good Lord, hooray ! " in tones that echoed across the wide cove, then grabbed both of Stacy's hands in his, and nearly pulled Stacy's arms out of their sockets. " I'd kiss ye if ye wuz a woman, I swar I would ! " he next exclaimed, now dancing up and down. " But I can't believe all you're tellin' ! Good Lord, it's too good to be true! Ef it turns out so, it's Kingdom-Come fer me, sure's a gun! 'N' Hazel, say Hazel " And overcome by the ecstasy of his joy Uncle Asa choked, sat down and covered his face with muddy hands while he shook with sup- pressed emotion. And it was many moons ere Stacy forgot even THE CASTLE BUILDERS in one iota of that mingling of humor and pathos in Uncle Asa's words. " We must be slow and cautious in playing this game," Stacy now assured him in business tone. " We are up against two sharpers, keen as the devil, and as occult. This Otero, the tool, will come here in the near future Curtis North never will Otero will make a lot of sly inquiries, then call on you, make a few more, and maybe go away to consult with his backer and prime mover in this game. He will appear again and either make you a flat offer at a nominal figure for Bear Hole Swamp or try to secure an option on it. And here is where you come in! You must now assert that you already have an offer for the property by par- ties whose names, location, or intentions you have no knowledge of. Be as cocky and independent as a well-fed bulldog, and say positively you won't set any price on the swamp. Otero will then begin to bid up, and how high he will go all depends on your nerve, self-possession, and strength of assur- ance that you won't accept any offer. When he gets up to, say, six or seven thousand dollars, then begin to weaken in your refusals, and finally admit that for cash down not even a certified check you will accept an even ten thousand dollars for your property. He will then offer you a split price, ii2 THE CASTLE BUILDERS perhaps eight, perhaps nine thousand. You must next come the scornful act and say, ' Before I dis- cuss this matter further, show me the coin.' He may go away again, he may not, most likely he will have the cash with him, but get hold of the money before you give him even a scrap of paper, for you are dealing with a keen-witted thief. And once you get the money, hide it where no other human being can find it; then drive over to Barre don't go by rail and deposit your money in the best bank." " Why, this feller must be a reg'lar highway- man!" gasped Uncle Asa after this elaborate plan of action. " You figger he'd hold me up 'tween here 'n' Barre!" " He would, as sure's you're born, in disguise of course," responded Stacy, smiling at Uncle Asa's concern, and then he related what he had seen this Otero doing in the mining-camp gambling den. " Both of those fellows are despicable thieves," he added, " and would not hesitate at murder if need be. " I am going to Nevada in a week or two," he continued, " and shall look this Rawhide swindle up, and perhaps obtain some evidence to give these sharpers a good scare anyhow.' Enough to keep THE CASTLE BUILDERS 113 them away from this vicinity at least. They are too cunning to be caught red-handed and landed in jail, I'm sure." And now after this plan of action was mapped out, Uncle Asa began to ponder. " I wish you wuz goin' ter be here 'n' do this business," he ejaculated with a sigh after a long pause. " It's askin' a good deal, Mr. Whipple, you've already done more fer me 'n' any man ever did, but I don't feel I'm smart 'nuff to dicker with sich a dern scamp. 'N' it's Hazel's money, too, if I get it back out o' that wuthless swamp, 'n' Good Lord, the chance seems like the hull o' my life!" " I wish I could, Uncle Asa," Stacy returned earnestly, " and I assure you that I'd gladly do it if possible. I'd I'd go a long way to do you a good turn, and repeat the trip for Hazel. She is is the sweetest little lady I ever saw, bless her big eyes." Then Uncle Asa looked up at Stacy curiously. " Say, Mr. Whipple," he queried, " kin I tell Hazel now what you've done, 'n' are doin' ? " " No, positively no," vehemently, " until the af- fair is all over and this swindler landed or not! Then you may." 114 THE CASTLE BUILDERS And just now he wished more than for anything else in his life before, that if all worked out as he hoped, he might be an unobserved witness of Hazel's face, when her father informed her of the outcome. CHAPTER X MANY of us do kindly acts, a few do unselfish ones, but not one in a million ever does a heroic one without hope of reward. In Stacy's case, what he had so far done was solely from good will and wish to help a kindly old man who had, metaphorically speaking, opened his arms to him on sight. Just an ebullition of gen- erosity in the heart of a man grown cynical and hard by contact with a heartless and selfish world. His own father much the same kind of man, as Stacy recalled him also played a part in this generous impulse, and woven into it, also, was Hazel's face. Stacy desired no reward from her except the indirect one of repaying her coolness almost scorn by an act of unselfish interest in her father's welfare. He also had a lurking suspicion of the real cause of her chilly demeanor; that she distrusted him or imagined his real errand here was a sinister one, and his interest in her father similar to that of the swindler, North, and finally to in- veigle him into some financial scheme. There must n6 THE CASTLE BUILDERS be some reason for her apparent distrust; this seemed the most plausible one. And now after this heart-to-heart exchange with Uncle Asa, in the tiny grove overlooking that lone sea beach, it occurred to Stacy that time was flying, and if he caught the late afternoon train it was time to be starting. " I've got to catch the six-thirty train west," hp now said to Uncle Asa, consulting his watch, " and must be going. I've told you all I can regarding this plan of mine, and all I can add is, Keep quiet, don't confide a word of it not even to Hazel, and when this Otero shows up as I am sure he will drive a good bargain with him." " It's a case o' * Do unto the other feller ez he'd do unto you, only do it fust,' I cal'late," returned Uncle Asa, chuckling. " Only I wisht you was the one to do it. You've fergot more'n I ever knew 'bout handlin' sich swindlers. " We must hev suthin to eat 'fore we start back," he continued, glancing at the sun. " I've got a coffee pot 'n' briler in my boat, 'n' a little lunch. I'll jist make some coffee 'n' brile a couple o' lobs, 'n' then I'll pull ye up the crick in my small boat. I wish ye cud stop over 'nother night with us ? " he added pleadingly. " I'd be proud to hev ye 'n' Hazel say, Mr. Whipple, can't I jist gin her a THE CASTLE BUILDERS 117 hint o' what's in the wind so she kin 'predate ye ez she ought? That gal's clus-mouthed, 'n' got more sense in a minnit than I've got in a month, if she is my darter." " No, I thank you for the invitation, Uncle Asa," responded Stacy earnestly, " but you must not con- fide my real errand here to her. Positively, you must not now." Then he reading Uncle Asa's wish and thoughts as easily as a child's added another heart-confidence that made the old man gasp. " Uncle Asa," he said slowly and as uttering a prayer, " I have said to myself for many years I am thirty now that I would never marry, and yet during the ten days since I first saw your daugh- ter under the pine tree, and from my reading of her mind and character, if she were to give me the slightest encouragement now, I just couldn't help asking her to become my wife. She won't, how- ever. She either doesn't like me, or distrusts me, and that is my inmost reason for refusing to let you confide my errand here to her. It would make her feel obligated to me, and I wouldn't accept even a smile from her won that way. Now you have my measure ! " Then once more Uncle Asa extended his hand, swallowed a lump, and turned his face away. n8 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " Mr. Whipple," he answered with a tremor, " you've teched my heart ez nothin' ever teched it since my wife died. Ef I kin bring things 'bout ez I wish 'em, it'll all come out right in the end. Hazel jist can't help trustin' ye, 'n' a good deal more when she knows what I know 'bout ye. Leave it to me, leave it to me, 'n' take keer o' yer- self while ye're away." And Stacy felt as if he had already offered his hand and heart to this rare maiden and was await- ing her answer. But he would not have told her of what he hoped to do now, even if that withholding were to part them forever, for that was his pride and way. It must be himself she wanted, for himself alone, and not as compensation for any favor shown her father. " We must hurry about this dinner matter," he now said, again consulting his watch. " It's half- past twelve; it will take us over an hour to pull up the creek even with the tide, the stage leaves at four- thirty, and there you are ! " " I kin pull up in less'n 'n hour," asserted Uncle Asa confidently. " I will, anyhow, 'n' then I'll hitch up 'n' take ye to the depot myself. My hoss kin go faster'n Uncle Levi's old crowbait." The broiled lobsters and coffee were speedily THE CASTLE BUILDERS 119 made ready by Uncle Asa. He cooked three of those delicious crustaceans lest his honored guest would not find one enough, melted butter in a tin cup, and served Stacy as if he were a titled person- age. Once started, Uncle Asa swung the oars with long, vigorous strokes while Stacy steered, the sea breeze followed them cool, crisp, and refreshing, scores of bobolinks rose from the marsh on either hand, caroling their wondrously sweet song, and somehow, just now, it seemed to find an echo in Stacy's heart. When the boathouse was reached Stacy suggested that he walk on to the hotel, pay his bill, and await Uncle Asa there, and did so. And now arriving at the village, he was the ob- server of a scene that effectually ended the bobo- link-song mood within him, and thrust a tiny dagger into his heart. He knew that Hazel was spending the day with one of her girl chums. He had no expectation of seeing her, no intention, certainly, of spying upon her; yet now, passing close to a big brown shrubbery-surrounded house near the village, there in a shaded hammock sat Miss Hazel picking at her banjo, and in the opposite end a sprucely dressed young man ! One instant's flash of her big brown eyes came to Stacy with a cool little nod. He bowed, raised 120 THE CASTLE BUILDERS his hat courteously, glanced just once at the half- dozen other young folk grouped about and strode on feeling as if all the world were awry. And that was the last time that he saw Miss Hazel for many months. The Old Guard, with two additions, were lined up in the hotel piazza, chairs when Stacy reached it, Sam in their midst, and from their curious glances and animated faces it was evident that some un- usual happening had disturbed their minds. Sam greeted Stacy with unusual deference; Stacy ex- plained to him later in the office that Uncle Asa had been unable to take him fishing as he had hoped, paid his bill, and to protect himself from a quizzing from Sam, remained in his room until he saw Uncle Asa nearing the hotel, then descended, shook hands with Sam and rode away with Uncle Asa. And never before since that Old Guard made Sam's piazza their summer rendezvous or gathered around his open Franklin stove in winter, had a visitor come and gone who had excited them as much as Stacy had, or whom they so longed to question ! " Thar's the devil 'n' Tom Walker to pay," as- serted Sam the moment Stacy rode away, " 'n' Uncle Asa's in the game, I cal'late. Fust, that feller comes here 'n' ketches on with him, they go fishin', THE CASTLE BUILDERS 121 go down the crick with Hazel 'n' a couple o' other gals fer a clam-boil, he calls thar a few times, goes off, comes back, tells Uncle Levi, Bear Hole Swamp's goin' to be turned into a big reservoir some day, shops put up, 'n' doin's o' all sorts. Then he comes back like he dropped outen the clouds, tells me he wants Rocky Glen brook fer a trout brook o' his own, pays me six hundred cold plunks fer it like they war waste paper, 'n' goes off mum ez a clam. Either thar's a nigger in the woodpile, or that chap's crazy ez a loon." For two hours, also, or until supper time, this epitome of Stacy's actions formed the Old Guard's sole topic of converse, with varying opinions as to whether he were a sane millionaire, or a lunatic with money to burn the latter predominating. Arriving at Oakdale depot an isolated spot with woods all about and the only house in sight that of the station agent Stacy, to enjoy his cigar and privacy with Uncle Asa, asked that they await the train in their carryall near the station ; and here he once more went over the manner and method by which Uncle Asa was to do his part in forcing restitution of his money by sale of a worthless swamp to Otero, pal and tool of Curtis North. " You must be sly, * devilish sly,' Uncle Asa," Stacy cautioned him, " for you will be dealing with 122 THE CASTLE BUILDERS a fellow that I've no doubt has committed every crime in the calendar and escaped the law so far. The one point most effective will be your convincing him it's your sense of honor that keeps you from ac- cepting any offer as he has no honor, he will not easily believe you have and convincing him of this will be the turning point in making him believe that he is safe in buying this property. He will hear that I have bought the Rocky Glen gorge I dare not leave that uncovered only and I have paved the way for it he will hear all about the big deal on hand to buy Bear Hole Swamp before he calls on you, and your positive refusal to sell until after a long parley, and big price offered, will be the convincing proof that he is buying what we want for a reservoir." " It's a cut-throat game, V I ain't used to 'em," declared Uncle Asa, "but I'll do the best I kin. I dunno's it's quite right to take more'n the four thousand this North skinned me outen, though. It don't seem so." " But you've actually got to sell Bear Hole Swamp," returned Stacy positively. " It will be worth double ten thousand dollars as soon as our power starts its wheels, and then you deserve some return for the distress of mind you have suffered. Don't have any compunctions of conscience, Uncle THE CASTLE BUILDERS 123 Asa. The money this swindler will put in was practically stolen by him, some of it actually, no doubt, so rest easy in your mind." When the train was heard coming, Uncle Asa jumped out hurriedly, hitched his horse, grasped Stacy's suit-case and led the way to the station platform. " Good-bye, 'n' God bless ye, Mr. Whipple, God bless ye," he said, when the final moment of parting came ; " 'n' say, I'd give five years o' my life, 'n' I hain't many left, to tell Hazel now so she she could be thinkin' ez I do 'bout ye. Mebbe ye' 11 write me from the West, 'n' I kin hev Hazel answer. My writin's a good deal like crow-tracks in the mud." And once away, it dawned on Stacy that this last proposal was an occult one to make Hazel realize that he was the honorable man Uncle Asa believed him to be also a possible hope of something be- yond of mutual benefit. Another conclusion also came to him as the train sped on, which was that if his trap caught this swindler and he found what he felt sure of finding in Rawhide, he would set another, either to land him in jail, or make him give up the deed of Uncle Asa's swamp; all of which must be accepted as further proof of Stacy's penchant for air castles. W CHAPTER XI ^ "^ T'ELL, old man, what success ? " ques- tioned Bert Colby, Stacy's genial, hustling partner, when he entered their office thirty-six hours later and after the usual handshake. " Did you land Barre all right ? " " Yes, got contracts all signed and witnessed and went back to Oakdale and bought the best dam site there for six hundred," returned Stacy tersely, " and had a heap of fun besides. Say, my boy," he added smiling, " Oakdale's a dream of a spot for trout fishing, but the hotel would give you dyspepsia, with a table maid that chews gum while serving." " How about your Uncle Reuben, the nice old farmer who took you fishing, and his peach of a girl ? " smiled Bert. " I guess she's the one who added charm to the brooks. Did she ? " " No, she doesn't chew gum," interrupted Stacy. " She's the finest and keenest country girl I ever saw." " Stung, my boy, stung, good and plenty," laughed Bert, " and by the way, here's the layout of 124 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 125 the gold brick your Uncle Rube bought," and he handed Stacy a long official envelope. Stacy glanced at its corner caption, " Carson City Bureau of Mining Statistics," then drew forth its missive. Briefly stated, it gave the information that the Rawhide Gold Mining and Reduction Company had been duly organized under the laws of Nevada; capital two hundred thousand dollars, divided into twenty thousand shares, par value ten dollars ; Presi- dent Curtis North, Secretary and Treasurer Leon Otero, both of Rawhide; directors, these two with three other names given, from Deadwood, Colorado. A footnote added was to the effect that owing to failure to give annual report and non-payment of State tax, the said charter had been adjudged as forfeited. For fully five minutes Stacy studied this plain statement of facts, stroking his brown, well-kept mustache meanwhile an unusual act for him then ejaculated, " No chance to catch him in Nevada, anyhow." " Catch whom ? " queried his partner curiously. " Have you added the sleuthing business to ours? " " No," replied Stacy, " but I've set out to catch one slick swindler to help Uncle Asa out of a hole." 126 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Then Colby for they were in the seclusion of their private office exploded in a burst of laughter ! " Well, you are worse than stung," he 'exclaimed, subsiding, " you are bit, scooped, done for, landed, and all within ten days! You called the turn! Uncle Rube's daughter must be a winner! But what the devil do you want to chase a bunco man out to Nevada for? Does she make that a pro- vision? " " No, she hasn't even grown to believe I am honest yet," returned Stacy soberly. " Thinks I came to Oakdale to sell her father more mine stock, or on some swindling game. There is a more dan- gerous snake in the grass in this case, than the one that charmed Mother Eve." Then Stacy gave his partner, who was like a brother to him, a full and explicit account of his visit to Oakdale and Barre, his meeting with Curtis North and Otero, with an exposure of their sup- posed plot, and a description of the trap he had set for them. Hazel, of course, came in as a side light in this drama for she was too much in Stacy's mind to be omitted and her charm, keen wit, and filial devotion were touched upon by him. " It's to save her poor little heritage and comfort her father THE CASTLE BUILDERS 127 one of Nature's noblemen that I've taken a hand in this game," Stacy then explained. " She is a rare girl, and while I'm not in love with her yet, the only way I'll escape that malady is to keep away from Oakdale. A month there and I'd be a goner ! " " Well then, hike to Oakdale at once, for you might easily do a bigger fool thing," asserted Colby in response for he had a charming wife, home, and two children. " In fact, as there are scores of La Rosa Carmens abroad in the land, if this country lass is half what you describe, I'll blow a cool five hundred on a wedding present for you two, and call it money well spent." " Thanks, old man," returned Stacy soberly, " you may have the chance if I am obliged to super- intend our work in Oakdale. And now how about my trip West you wrote me about? What's to be done?" " Why, first, you must see two parties in New York, buying agents who want some of our Number One Compressed Air Drillers, about a hundred I expect, then you will have to go to Nevada and on to Seattle to see mine owners and take measure- ments. It's going to delay our Oakdale work some, but can't help it. This Drill order has too much pie 128 THE CASTLE BUILDERS in it to put off, and I can't leave here, anyhow." And so Stacy once more found himself in business harness after the charm of Oakdale. That evening also, in the cozy seclusion of his own house and sitting-room, and just for fun, he gave his aunt a " big, big jolly," as he would put it. " Aunt Carrie," he said soberly, when the chance came, " you have for many years advised that the proper thing for me to do was to get married and give you a companion to help watch and take care of your pets, also me. Well, I found the perfect one ten days ago, a country lass who wears a calico sunbonnet, can milk the cows, I imagine, and makes the most delightful shortcake that ever melted in a man's mouth. She also plays the banjo and sings coon songs like an artist. How would it strike you if I brought her here in September? " " Mercy ! " gasped his aunt as visions of a farmer's freckled daughter who said " haow " and " Yew don't tell ! " flashed into her mind. " Do you mean it, Stacy, do you? Why I I never sup- posed such a girl would suit you ? " Then Stacy laughed heartily. " I didn't say she suited me exactly," he returned, still chuckling, " but you can dress her up so the 'tater bugs won't chase her any more, I think she can get her feet into number seven shoes eights, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 129 anyhow you can check her propensity to chew gum during divine service and exclaim * Land's sake ! ' and ' Laws-a-massy ! ' too often in company, and so get along with her. I am doing this to please you, Aunt Carrie." Then his aunt eyed him curiously, for she was not as credulous as may be imagined. " I know you are joking," she said, smiling benignly (like Uncle Asa, as Stacy thought), " but I hope you will marry, and I know a country girl will make you a good wife. They are always good and sensible. You know what I think of city girls vain and frivolous, if not fast." Then, and to ease the mind of this most excellent woman country born who had been practically a mother to him for eighteen years, Stacy j;ave her a truthful description of Hazel and her charms. And it is needless to add that his aunt exclaimed over this possible outcome as all country mothers would. Another development, more pertinent to this nar- rative than its love interest came to Stacy during the week that now elapsed before he left Albion again, that must be related. There was in his office a young man about his age, a boyhood schoolmate in the way-back town Stacy came from, and a sensible, keen-witted fellow, whom he had taken in I 3 o THE CASTLE BUILDERS hand years before, by the name of Isaac Williams. He had been observant, anxious to learn, was a good penman, and was now head bookkeeper for the firm ; also devoted to Stacy personally as was natural. " I overheard something last night in a cafe, Mr. Whipple," he said to him early one morning (the fourth since his return from Oakdale) " that I think you ought to know." As Colby had not ar- rived and this might be confidential, Stacy at once invited " Ike," as he was called, into the private office, and told him to go ahead. " I was at the show last night Park Square Theater," continued Ike, " with a girl I take out occasionally, and afterwards took her to the Jap Garden's cafe for lunch. It's a nice, cozy one, with music, and little stalls with paper partitions and bamboo curtains you know the place and it's all right. Well, as we were going in I noticed a couple in the stall next to the one we took, and the fellow, a slick little Spanish-looking sort of a chap, was just giving his order to the waiter, so the cur- tain was up, and the lady with him was that Miss Carmen I know you used to take to theaters occa- sionally. Well, we hadn't been seated five minutes I'd just given my order when I overheard your name mentioned by this Miss Carmen, and I began to listen, She was talking low and mysterious. I THE CASTLE BUILDERS 131 couldn't catch all that was said, but the point of it was this chap had just come from Barre where he had gone to work some scheme or upset your plans and was sure of doing it. She admitted, too, that she was next to one of the committee there also, or he had been here to see her and told her what was afoot. I judged by one admission of hers that she was pretty intimate with this Barre chap or had some hold on him. I also heard her say to this fellow, ' Now remember, I am to have a mate to the diamond bracelet from you when the trick is done no go-back, or I'll peach,' and he said, ' My dear, it ees promised, I haf kept my vord and I vill.' I heard some love talk mixed in later, and kissing with it. He is to take her to the Park Square to-night also. The game they had or were putting up is one you best know, I thought." " Most certainly," returned Stacy, " and I thank you for your fidelity. ,Now I want you to go with me to the Park Square to-night. We will keep apart and watch out. I think I know who the fellow is, but it's best that we are not seen together." Then the bookkeeper returned to his duties, and Stacy to a mental kicking of himself for sundry and divers reasons. ' Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' " he muttered, pulling at his mustache again, " and she 132 THE CASTLE BUILDERS has got it in for me ! And to think I once thought her so glorious, and was on the point of proposing! I ought to have her picture framed as Sam did the certificate, to prove how many kinds of damn fool I was ! And she nothing but a despicable adventur- ess, and worse ! " Then he arose and began to pace the office while he digested this new complication and how to use it. He had at first only meant to rescue Uncle Asa's money with good interest now he was so angry that he determined to jail both these swindlers, cost what it might. " I wonder if I couldn't get you sent up for a year or two, Miss La Rosa Carmen, just for luck," he now soliloquized, " if I put a detective on your trail ? " Then better sense came to him. " No, you idiot," he asserted, thinking of himself, " better by far go hug a busy buzz saw than to try games on a woman like her ! " He kept both his own cogitations and the book- keeper's disclosure from his partner, who came in later, for obvious reasons, and that evening he and Ike met early and stationed themselves for a sly observance of the theater's arriving patrons from outside its entrance. Stacy was in due time re- warded, for just before curtain time a carriage halted in front of the theater, Jehu opened its door obsequiously, out stepped Otero in evening dress, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 133 top coat, crush hat, and holding a big bouquet, and after him " La Rosa Carmen," resplendent with many diamonds and the very latest in modish rai- ment. Stacy had not seen her for four years or cared to for six ; did not even know whether she had been in the city all that time or not she was merely an episode in his past life that he wished to forget yet now as she swept by within ten feet of where he stood in shadow, she was an undeniably hand- some woman, not looking a year older since seen by him, in fact bewitchingly beautiful. " She's a Juno in form and face, a Circe at heart, with soul of a she-devil," he said to himself now, " yet scores of men will pursue and pay any price for her Judas kisses damn her ! " which profane sneer can easily be excused, or should be. " I should think she'd feel ashamed to be seen with that insignificant little pup," he added, now turning to find Ike, " but what do they care so long as the price is paid? Another diamond bracelet to do me, eh ? Well, we will see ! ' Whoever laughs last, laughs longest,' Bert says." He had seen all he wanted and obtained all he wanted, namely, confirmation of who was with her in the cafe, and not wishing to be seen by this woman, when Ike was found the two hurried away. 134 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " Come, Ike, my boy," Stacy now said in com- radeship tone, and grasping his arm, " let's you and I have a drink in memory of boyhood days, then I'll tell you something, for I'm sure I can trust you. Just a long claret lemonade up in one corner of the Alhambra roof garden." And here and thus ensconced in cool seclusion Stacy did tell him something, which was the history of his heart affair with La Rosa Carmen and its denouement in her obtaining inside information of Barre's intentions, then selling it to this probable paramour, Otero, for one diamond bracelet, with some of the spoils probably, and the mate to that for later pay. He also told of the trap he had set. " Colby knows about Carmen," he admitted in conclusion, " but he doesn't know what I've told you, that she never was anything to me especially, for I believed her a good girl, while she well, she really meant to marry me, so set out to play the in- nocent game of course. I just had to tell someone the facts to take the taste of her out of my mouth. Colby doesn't, or I don't want him to know of the game she has set up he has worries enough so you mustn't tell him. Keep still about all I've said. I may want to send you to Oakdale or to New York later on to play spy on this Curtis North. I intend to land him in jail if I can." Then, after another THE CASTLE BUILDERS 135 of the cooling mixtures absorbed through straws, the two shook hands, and Stacy went home. Next day, or the one before he was to leave Albion, a better mood came, for Hazel's face was in it, and in his heart as well. He also wondered what gift or token of it he could now send her the usual way of a man in love. This, however, he had hard work to determine. Books and flowers were the only things admissible according to his calendar, the latter of course out of the question, so he be- took himself to a bookstore. Six de luxe copies of the best poets with as many more of current fic- tion were here selected, then Stacy thought of her auto-harp and banjo and hastened away to a music dealer's, with the result that enough music for those two instruments to last her two years, together with the books, was soon on its way to Miss Hazel Webster, Oakdale. Stacy didn't even enclose his card just sent the things and let her guess from whom they came. And now having done so much to assuage his wee little heart hunger for this " rare and radiant maiden named " Hazel, the six weeks' jaunt and twice across this continent now seemed an interminably long time to be away. CHAPTER XII WITH the feeling that he must keep his coat buttoned tightly to protect his watch and pocketbook, and a firm hold of his suit-case an impression that always came the moment he set foot in New York Stacy pushed and elbowed his way through the Grand Central Depot, took a carriage to the Holland House, secured a room, and proceeded at once to Number 441 West Twenty-third Street. He found it a brownstone front and dingy brick lodging house in the Tenderloin borders with " Rooms to let " card in one window. " Is Mr. Leon Otero in? " he asked of the mulatto maid who answered his ring. " No, sah," she returned, eyeing him sharply. " Can you tell me where I can find him ? " Stacy next inquired suavely. " It's a matter of important business." " No, sah ; Ah dunno, sah," came from her of brick-color face. " He done been gone away mos' free weeks now, sah." "Is Mr. Curtis rooming here?" Stacy next 136 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 137 hazarded. Then the maid flashed him another snaky look from her black eyes. " He don't lib here," she admitted hesitatingly, "you kin find him at his office, Ah 'spect." " Well, I wish to find either Mr. Otero or him," asserted Stacy anxiously, " on a matter of urgent business. Where is the office of Mr. Curtis? " " In de Mills Building on Wall Street," she hesi- tated. " Ah doan 'member de number, sah. What am youah name, sah ? " " My name's Williams," returned Stacy briskly, " and I wanted to see Mr. Otero about hiring some men of him. I will try to see Mr. Curtis. Good morning." And having obtained more information than he expected, he bowed politely and turned away. " Office on Wall Street, eh, you whiskered scoundrel ! " he muttered when well away from this house. " So it's big game you are still after ! Wonder if the office of the Rawhide Mine is there?" He hurried up the street, almost ran up the nearest elevated railway stairs, caught a down-town train, and was soon at the Mills sky-scraper, Number 35 Wall Street. Here and glancing over its office list, " Room 210, Floor 22, Curtis & Company," soon rewarded him. 138 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Then he hesitated, for he had no wish to meet this arch-villain now, in fact that was the very thing he did not want to do yet. It was possible to do a little more sleuthing, however, so he caught an ex- press elevator car and was shot up to Floor Twenty- two in a jiffy. Here, with hands in pockets like a farmer, he strolled leisurely down the corridor. Room 210 was easily found, Stacy glanced up and down the corridor, saw no one was observing him, then sidled up to the door upon the ground glass panel of which was lettered, "" Curtis & Company. Mining Stocks and Investment Securities," and listened. No sound came from within, so he next turned the door knob cautiously and found the door locked. " So the bird's away," he muttered, now strolling on, " and all the better." He kept on, also, around three divisions of this corridor until he saw a brass- buttoned young Irishman with appearance of jani- torship, and him he accosted. " Do you know a man named Curtis big fel- low, red face, white side-whiskers, dealer in mine stocks, on this floor ? " he queried. " Yis, sor; Room Two-ten, jist around two cor- ners, sor," came the direct answer from Pat. " I tried that door," returned Stacy, " but nobody in. How long since you have seen Mr. Curtis?" THE CASTLE BVILDERo 139 "I can't say, sor; a wake or two I'm thinkin'. He don't be here much, sor." And having thus lo- cated those two slick schemers, Stacy left the build- ing. His business in the city consumed three days, each evening of which was passed at some theater, and somehow every moment of those many hours of hurrying hither and yon Stacy's eyes were con- tinually on watch for the conspicuous face of Cur- tis. He looked carefully around or over theater audiences for this peculiar face; also, and mean- time, in spite of important business matters to be discussed and keen men to be bargained with, he kept wondering whether or not, just now, this fel- low, Otero, was playing gallant to the Carmen siren or had gone to Oakdale. He was glad when the time came for leaving New York also; that city always oppressed him with a vague sense of un- easiness ; and when once on board a through West- ern train of all Pullmans it seemed as if he were escaping from an enemy's country. And now with three days and nights of luxurious ease ahead, two late novels in his suit-case, two boxes of his favorite cigars, also, and time to think; he began a more coherent plan or outline of how to circumvent these two conspirators. It would de- pend a good deal upon what he learned in Rawhide, however, for it was evident Curtis North had ob- 140 THE CASTLE BUILDERS literated himself as much as possible and was now the well-to-do semi-retired business man, Pentecost Curtis, fat and prosperous, with a Wall Street office scarcely used except for an address. He didn't live on Twenty-third Street, not he! That was good enough for Otero, his pal, or maybe as a spare bur- row wherein to hide in case of necessity. Stacy's reception by the mulatto maid of Number 441 now also seemed in line with his surmises, and her curi- ous reticence and brusque demand for his name to be evidence that she had been duly cautioned. It was probable, also, that Curtis North had severed all connection with his Rawhide mine, would act vir- tuously indignant if even called its former president, and as Pentecost Curtis would disclaim all knowl- edge of that swindle. And now with so much of this web of trickery and assumed name thought out, it occurred to Stacy the skeptic, air-castle builder, and shrewd business man combined that in this obliteration of a scamp from his former rascalities was an opening to give that arch-villain at least a severe scare. Then, and following this conclusion, came the possibility of another bold stroke. In case Uncle Asa sold Bear Hole Swamp to Otero, con- federate of Curtis North, alias P. Curtis, of forcing this swindler to give up the deed or face legal con- sequences. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 141 " By Jove, I'll do it if I can," Stacy exclaimed, now springing to his feet in his private compart- ment of the on-rushing train; and then as the comical side of his plot and plan occurred to him, he laughed long and heartily. " I wonder what Uncle Asa will say if I do," he added, subsiding, " and Hazel ! Also Sam, who thought he had so good a joke on me? If I do, I'll buy that certificate of him as a souvenir ! " Then this builder of air-castles leaped back to Maple Dell in thought and to the cool yet sweet and bewitching maid who dwelt there. He also wondered what she would say or think of his gift of books and music, and how it was that she was so distrustful of him on sight? He was now satisfied that her coolness was all due to her imagining him there to inveigle her confiding father, and this, per- haps, more than all else, now inspired him to, as he would say, " do that shrewd, slick swindler, Curtis." " I'll drop one tiny hot coal on her pretty head," he again muttered with a smile, and then, as if smiles are never long with us, his thoughts reverted to the last time he saw Miss Hazel in the hammock with a citified gallant no doubt saying all sort of sweet things to her; whereat, it is needless to say, his smile vanished. Three days is a long time to a busy man who i 4 2 THE CASTLE BUILDERS has only his always active mind with books and cigars for company ; and to Stacy, with many things to vex him besides, these three seemed interminable, and the two thorns in the flesh were Hazel's cool indifference, and the fear that Uncle Asa would fail to land this Otero as Stacy had instructed him, and so nullify all chance of obtaining justice. " Uncle Asa's too honest to cope with such vil- lains," Stacy said to himself, recalling his benign face with its enclosing fringe of white beard like a halo. " He judges all mankind by himself, and will get left in this diamond-cut-diamond game." It was four A. M. when Stacy's train halted at a small station where a branch line ran up to Raw- hide, and the only other victim of an unseemly time- table was a middle-aged man of vigorous build, short-cropped black beard, and wearing a broad, light-gray slouched hat, who alighted from another car. Of course the two bowed and smiled at one another as perforce they must, and Stacy, noticing that the other wore a Mystic Shrine pin, was first to speak. " I see you have ," he said, quoting the usual hailing words of that Order, and extending his hand. " I have ," returned the other cordially, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 143 also offering his, and so mutual good fellowship was established on the instant. And never before was Stacy more glad that he belonged to that Order than now. " My name's Harkins, Jim Harkins," this man next added, " and bound for Rawhide. I live there." " And mine's Whipple from down east," Stacy returned. " I, too, am going up to Rawhide," and then he looked around. The station, a long one- story building labeled " Rawhide Junction," and divided into Wells-Fargo Express Office, baggage and waiting-room, with barn and one dwelling back of it, he recalled from his visit over six years previ- ous; two other abodes and a small store had been added since, and beside the old stage road up into the mountains lay a narrow-gauge railroad. The sun was just reddening the mountains that seemed to rise one above another bare-topped, two of the most distant were snow-capped, and so clear the air and so silent this long narrow valley that the rumble of the departing train now miles away returned distinctly, even to the hiss of escaping steam. " We've got over two hours to wait for the east- bound train and ours up to Rawhide," Harkins next asserted after Stacy had obtained his bearings. 144 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " I've a couple of sandwiches and flask in my grip, will you join me in a bite and sup? It's no break- fast till we get to Rawhide about nine, if we have good luck." And so this keen-eyed, shrewd-spoken man made friends, and at once won the good will and confi- dence of the equally keen-witted Stacy. The latter was, however, disposed to be cautious regarding the nature of his errand here. " I was up at this Rawhide camp about seven years ago," he admitted casually after the one-sand- wich lunch in the empty waiting-room. " It has grown some since then, I presume." " You will hardly know it," returned Harkins di- rectly. " Then it was one of the roughest of min- ing camps without law or order, now we have good public buildings, a bank, hotels, and electric lights a remarkable growth in that time." " You are a resident there, or in business, I as- sume ? " came next from Stacy, who always sought facts by circuitous routes. " I was super of a mine when you were there, I am marshal now," answered Harkins modestly. And then a sudden thrill of satisfaction came to Stacy, for this was indeed good luck. " And did you happen to hear of or come in con- tact with a chap by the name of Curtis North about THE CASTLE BUILDERS 145 the time you were mine super ? " queried Stacy cau- tiously. " Oh, yes, I knew all about him," responded Har- kins, flashing a sharp glance at Stacy. " A big, red- faced, white-whiskered, pompous cuss, and bad lot combined. He started a fake mine scheme there but got into some trouble and left 'tween two days. He and a pal of his, a low-down Greaser they used to call Skim; Otero was his name. They and a pair of women from 'Frisco done up a couple of miners from Humpback Camp further up, and lit out that night with the loot or what the women didn't share. One of these miners was found dead in the shack the women had occupied, but they vanished before the murder was discovered." " But why weren't this North and his pal pur- sued, captured, and strung up?" inquired Stacy. " Was no evidence of the crime obtainable? " " Oh, plenty, but there wasn't much law in Raw- hide just then and nobody took the matter up. These two miners were doped, it was believed, by the women ; one got a cracked skull in the round-up, the other came to the next afternoon and told the story. There was a watch fob belonging to this whiskered chap found in the hut, also, a buffalo head of solid gold ; I've got it at home." For fully five minutes Stacy pondered over this 146 THE CASTLE BUILDERS brief yet pertinent bit of mining-camp history ordinary items in such a gathering of lawless hu- manity, yet the very facts he wanted or had hoped to find before he decided what to say or ask for next. This fellow, Harkins, while a brother Mason and likely to be all right and on the square, was yet a stranger. He might be discreet, and he might not. Good fellowship and " on-the-squareness " didn't always carry discretion as Stacy well knew, and he had come a thousand miles out of his way to obtain facts and set a trap for one of the shrewdest swindlers! Caution was almost obligatory now, and he had it in ample degree. " You spoke of a fake mining scheme started by this whiskered chap," he said finally ; " what was it?" " Oh, just the ordinary kind," laughed Harkins, as if such things were a joke, " and to skin the new- comers, the tenderfoots. This fellow North and his pal, the Greaser, got hold of an abandoned mine up the gulch, just a hole in the bank some fool had dug that is they obtained the government patent on the claim bought a few secondhand tools and set a couple of men to blasting, and the next I heard had organized the Rawhide Gold Mining and Re- duction Company, capital two hundred thousand dollars. They didn't even try to sell stock in Raw- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 147 hide the boys were onto the game there only this North took trips away, gone a month or so, then back again, while Skim sorter waited 'round and bossed the two men blasting. When his pard, as I always counted this North, returned, they were in some one of the poker games on every night and usually all night. It might have been six months, might be a year we don't keep tabs on time over- much in a mining camp after the two men were set at work blasting in what we all knew was a no- good mine, when this North gazoo brought these two women to Rawhide, and a tough pair they were, too ! One was known, I heard later, as * Bricktop Molly ' and well, you know the game such fairies play, and a lawless mining camp is just their sort of pasture. Anyhow these two kicked up quite a rumpus in Rawhide, then skinned out in the nick o' time to save themselves a coat of tar and new feathers." "Could this 'Bricktop Molly' be found now?" interposed Stacy. " I guess so," laughed Harkins, eyeing him curi- ously, " such a red head as hers couldn't be hid in Nevada." " I might need her for a witness," Stacy returned slowly, " or a make-believe one." Then he arose and extended his hand to Harkins. 148 THE CASTLE BUILDERS And then came a meeting of those two extended hands that inch by inch resolved itself into a clasp, the sacredness and obligation of which needs no words among true Masons the world over. A clasp or grip, by the way, that once exchanged be- tween such binds each to the other in loyal aid and assistance as naught else can. " And now, Brother Harkins," continued Stacy, after the two sat down again, " I'm going to tell you who I am, and what I'm after here." And tell he did, or at least all that would now interest Harkins, or pertained to the trap to catch Pentecost Curtis and pal, Otero, and bring them to justice. " I don't really want the bother of a court trial to jail them," admitted Stacy after this disclosure. " I do mean to obtain such evidence as will make North or Curtis give up the deed of this Bear Hole Swamp I assume he has now obtained or soon will obtain from this Uncle Asa and gladly, too, to escape the law. t Also, give him such a scare that he will give Oakdale and Barre both a wide berth forever after." " I guess we can," asserted Harkins, while a meaning smile spread over his face. " I'll do what I can to help you, and that is some. The boys at Rawhide will back me in anything, even a lynching THE CASTLE BUILDERS 149 now, for since I took the marshalship I've driven out a good many bad characters we hadn't room for." " I'm willing to pay all expenses," admitted Stacy in response, " and liberally. I may also want you to come East and serve a warrant on Curtis North, alias Pentecost Curtis; possibly bring this miner who lived to tell the tale of that night's orgie, rob- bery and murder of his companion, and with that full hand of scare cards we might add an affidavit from this ' Bricktop Molly,' if she can be found and frightened into giving one." " I don't believe you will need all that hand," responded Harkins. " North will know me the moment he sets eyes on me, a warrant and my badge will do the trick in short order; if not, the buffalo head watch fob flashed at the right moment will add an ace that will convince him I hold the winning cards." And then once more these two men, brothers now in the cause of justice, shook hands. Another hour was passed in social chat with more cigars to add fraternalism, then the station agent made his appearance, said " Hullo Jim " to Har- kins, the east-bound train came along and dropped a half-dozen passengers, the narrow-gauge train backed up, its conductor said " All aboard for Raw- 150 THE CASTLE BUILDERS hide," and then for another hour Stacy watched out the car window and chatted with Harkins, while their train crawled up the narrow mountain gorge to that once lawless camp and hatchery of a swindle, and now prosperous mining town of Raw- hide. CHAPTER XIII HAZEL'S home life, or relation with her stepmother, was even more unpleasant than Stacy imagined, and all that made her endure it was love for her father, and loyalty to him. To begin with, the Widow Baker, as Sam had informed Stacy, was a Tartar and miser com- bined, and to obtain and hoard money her sole am- bition in life. She had, when Hazel was twelve years old, and two years after her mother's death, begun a deliberate assault upon Uncle Asa's feel- ings and sympathy with all the arts of a designing woman, and more from a false belief that Hazel needed a mother's care than from any feeling for her he had capitulated, so to speak, and installed her as mistress of his ancient and lonesome abode. It was an unwise step, as he soon discovered, but the deed was done, the knot tied, and as he once admitted to himself, " arter the hook's in, it's in, 'n' derned hard work to git it out agin." He saw no way to do so in this case, and, as was his nature, set about making the best of it philosophically. " We got to grin 'n' bear some things in this world, 152 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Hazel," he said to her soon after her return from school in Barre, " V carry a cross, ez the parson sez. Mebbe Martha 'n' them two boys o' hern is my cross now. All I kin hope fer is you will help me bear it till ye git married, if ye do, 'n' then wal then I'm goin' to build me a shack down by the shore 'n' live thar 'n' drop the cross. Martha kin hev the house all to herself then." So unfit for one another were they that within two years after the fatal step Uncle Asa began oc- cupying a separate sleeping-room, and after that avoided Martha as much as possible. Hazel could neither do or say anything to mend matters, in fact, had no wish to do so. From the very outset, she despised, almost hated her stepmother, and in order not to be obligated in any way to her, as soon as she obtained a chance to teach, she insisted upon paying Martha for her board. This was the family status that June day when Stacy burst out of the woods upon her so suddenly, and one cause for her first apparent dislike of him arose from the fact that Martha speedily assured her that he must be an eligible catch for a husband and, " if she knew her business she'd set her cap for him forthwith." To " set her cap " for anybody was not Hazel's way, and to be urged to do so by a stepmother she hated, was even worse. " I'm not running after THE CASTLE BUILDERS 153 any man as I've known some shameless women to do," she sarcastically assured Martha, " and I don't need your advice. I just despise any woman who will do such a thing." Then, having discharged this Parthian arrow, she left her. Another and more serious cause for distrust of Stacy came intuitively to her the first day when Uncle Asa took him fishing, and was due to her suspicion that he was another Curtis North, and there to inveigle some one in some swindling scheme. His unexpected return five days after his departure for she heard of it the night he ar- rived also made her more distrustful, and then, to cap the climax, came an assertion from this cousin of Molly Bascom, soon after Stacy saw these two in the hammock. "Who is his job lots?" this Arthur Penrose questioned rather flippantly after Stacy had raised his hat and passed on. "Oh, it's a Mr. Whipple from Albion," re- sponded Hazel, indifferently. " He was here last week trout fishing, and father took him out. I don't know anything more about him, or care." " I saw him hanging around the Barre House the past four days," Master Arthur rejoined, " and once also in close discussion with another stranger two, in fact down by the docks. One was a big, 154 THE CASTLE BUILDERS pompous fellow with white side-whiskers. His name, I found out, was a queer one Pentecost Curtis and he'd been loafing around Barre a week." Then, and straightway, Hazel did sit up and take notice ! " Did he have a red face a big fat man " she queried anxiously, " and wear a heavy gold chain and big watch charm ? " " Yes, that's him," returned Arthur cheerfully. " A regular old man dude with stunning togs. That's what made me look him up. He was a whooper, and the chap with him, he was a little monkey, with snaky eyes Mexican, I should say. I can't imagine what they were in Barre for. Put- ting up some scheme with this chap who bowed to you, I guess. They looked the part." The fat was in the fire now and blazing merrily at least in Hazel's mind, and she at once began to ply her Barre friend with all manner of ques- tions anent these two and their possible errand in Barre, but without eliciting any more facts than had been vouchsafed her. With unusual feminine discretion, also, she kept her suspicions of who this Pentecost Curtis actually was to herself, and Mr. Arthur Penrose, while willing enough to carry gos- sip to Oakdale, and insinuate all manner of evil things against a man who even bowed to Hazel THE CASTLE BUILDERS 155 whom, by the way, he admired intensely was de- prived of any chance to carry news to Barre. Neither would she or did she ask any questions about Stacy now. Not from any sentimental in- terest in him, for none had come to her so far, yet she was lofty in her ideas of honor, and, therefore, Stacy, having once broken bread in her tent, so to speak, was, or must be considered, a friend until actually proven otherwise. The lawn party, or, what it actually was, a dozen of Oakdale's young folk gathered to help entertain Miss Molly Bascom's cousin, soon lost its attrac- tion for Hazel. She was too anxious to see her father and question him to enjoy anything here, so she excused herself, and made ready to depart. " I'm coming over this evening, may I ? " Arthur whispered at the gate, and a smile from Hazel at his way of asking and cool " Yes, if you won't stay late," were his reward, for the plain fact was, that Mr. Arthur Penrose, while from one of the best Barre families, bored Hazel excessively. She had met him during her one winter's experience of social life in Barre, had danced with him, been escorted to theaters, he had visited Oakdale twice before once remaining two weeks, while a common friend, Miss Jennie Oaks, was sojourning with Hazel and all to pay court to Hazel. It had availed him 156 THE CASTLE BUILDERS but little, for while considered " a nice young man," he was shallow and foppish, smoked cigarettes, which Hazel abominated, and she therefore barely tolerated him. And now, in spite of her distrust of Stacy, even in spite of this new revelation of his probable duplicity, she was forced to contrast the two men, and Stacy lost nothing by it. Once away from the lawn party this peculiar contradiction found expression quite characteristic of her. " Oh, why will nice manly men stoop to ways that are dark and tricks that are vain? " she said to her- self homeward bound. " He certainly is a manly fellow, his eyes haunt me, he is swayed by music, and so has some fine sentiment, and he is so fear- less ! Oh, I wish I didn't have to distrust him ! " Who " he" was, it is needless to assert. But she was full to the brim with suspicion now. That this white-whiskered man whom she recalled so vividly and his nefarious visit to Oakdale, had now been seen in consultation with Stacy, was proof positive of the latter's being another such swindler, and his visit to the village inevitably must be for a sinister purpose. And early that evening, or when first she could speak to her father alone, she pounced upon him like a young hawk. " Father," she said in triumphant tone, " you know what my suspicions of that Mr. Whipple THE CASTLE BUILDERS 157 were, or what I said of him well, he went to Barre from here, met and had a consultation with that Curtis North (now calling himself Pentecost Curtis), who sold you that mine stock, and came back to see you again, I know, for Martha says he was here this morning. You took him to the train I am sure, and and, father, there is some game afoot you won't tell me about. Did you know he went to Barre to meet that man I'm sure is a swindler? " Then Uncle Asa's face took on one of his benign smiles and his eyes twinkled. " Girlie," he said tenderly, yet chuckling, " you've found a whangdoodle's nest, sure's a gun, 'n' the old bird's on! I own up. I'm caught. I hain't 'zackly bought some mine stock, I've done wuss, I've swapped the hull farm, the house, 'n' B'ar Hole Swamp for the mine itself ! " Then he chuckled again. " Come, girlie," he added a moment later, and en- closing her face in his two hands a way with him " can't ye trust yer old dad no more ? Do ye honestly think I'd git bit by the same snake twice agoin'? That is 'lowin' I was bit by that mine stock, which ain't sartin yet ? Do ye honestly think I need a keeper over me, girlie ? " " Oh, no, no, father, I don't," came from 158 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Hazel speedily. " Only what does all this mean, and did you know that North man was in Barre to meet Mr. Whipple? Oh, tell me, please, father." " I'll tell ye suthin 'most gals ez sweet ez you 'ud like better to know," he responded. " That is if you'll keep mum. Swar to goodness, ye will?" " Yes, yes, father," again in anxious tone, " what is it?" " Wai, girlie " (more tenderly and now enclosing her lithe waist with one arm), " thar's a nice young feller come here 'bout ten days ago, saw ye fust go off up under the big pine tree, seen ye a good deal sense 'n' he's wal, he's fallen plumb, plunk in love with ye, all over, hook, line, bob, 'n' sinker ! Thar now, what'd ye think o' that? " Then Hazel grew rose red. " Did he say so ? " she queried, quivering. " Say so ! " ejaculated Uncle Asa with a snort. " Say, girlie, do ye s'pose that Whipple feller is a plumb gone jibberin' idjit 'n' rapscallion biled into one? He hain't said nothin' 'cept you was a gal whose smile he'd consider ez the key to Heaven, or suthin o' that sort. Oh, you've found out a lot, but thar's more comin' mebbe you can't even guess now, 'n' I won't tell ye." Then and much to Hazel's surprise, he stooped suddenly and kissed her. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 159 And that night in the seclusion of her room and when ready for Slumberland, Hazel held com- munion with herself. Also, and at the same time, surveyed herself in her small gilt- framed mirror too small to do justice to the reflected picture that now smiled out from it. And her rose-tinted face, tender eyes, and luxuriant black hair like a flowing mane half enclosing her daintily rounded shoulders, white-draped, made a picture that would have set Stacy's heart a-tingle could he but peeped in just then. A strangely sweet and quite new mysticism also added a thrill to her own pulses, half vexing, half enchanting, scarce explainable. And was this man, this bold fellow she had so doubted and dis- trusted, yet admired, the coming Prince Perfect ready to lay his heart at her dainty feet for her to say " yes " to, and let him dominate her life or else reject, as she now felt that she would if the chance came? And what was the meaning of her father's hilarious action? In all the years of their life since her mother's death she had never seen him in such a mood, so like a big boy ready to shout and turn handsprings from insane joy. And what could have happened so to upset him ? What magic spell had this new admirer of her own sweet self woven over her calm, philosophic father? And 160 THE CASTLE BUILDERS right in the face of a discovery of her own that she felt was prima facie evidence of this young man's guilt? It was past understanding! And the more she conned the situation over, Stacy Whipple's visit here, his open admiration of herself pleasing and quite natural, his going away, mysterious and sudden return, pursuit of her father, and now this gay turn of her benign parent all combined the more mysterious it all seemed. And why should this young man first disclose his love for herself to her father? It wasn't the usual way, according to her own intuitions and the story books. No harm, of course, and quite honorable, yet unusual. But there was something beyond this, some other development more astounding than the simple one of an admission of love for herself, she was sure. She had never been one to question her father's moods to any extent. She had un- limited faith in his good sense and love for her- self, and also knew that her stepmother had proved herself a thorn in his side, and that any inquiries as to the cause of his moods, had better be avoided. She believed as well that his own honesty and confidence in others had been taken advantage of by this swindler, North, and why might it not be another swindling game now being worked by THE CASTLE BUILDERS 161 Stacy, with an assertion of love for herself as a clinching argument? During the call of Mr. Penrose that evening, he had repeated his description of this Pentecost Cur- tis and Otero with rather vapid assertions about their mission to Barre, but this had no weight with Hazel now beyond the fact of identity. The one crucial mystery, the one past all understanding, was why her father, knowing her suspicions of Stacy, should yet ignore them now in the face of being assured that Curtis North, masked as Pentecost Curtis, had been seen in consultation with him. It is needless to say that she found Slumberland far distant that night, and so worried was she over this problem, that she tossed and turned on her pillow for hours, unconscious of the murmur of the near-by brook or the sweet fragrance of the bloom- ing lilacs that entered her open windows. While she might have enjoyed the first sweet illusion of love, or its coming to tinge her dreams, instead, it was the ogre of duplicity and danger to her father that haunted her. Three days after, and duly delivered to her by the stage driver, Uncle Levi, came the package of books and music from Stacy. " It's from Albion," Uncle Levi asserted, watch- 162 THE CASTLE BUILDERS ing her curiously. " Wa'n't that whar that young feller, Whipple, cum from? " " I am sure I don't know," declared Hazel inno- cently. " I never asked Mr. Whipple where he came from." " I s'pose ye know, or ye've heard," he added, " somebody's goin' to buy B'ar Hole Swamp 'n' dam it, hain't ye? He told me so, anyhow." " Oh, yes, I heard that three days ago," returned Hazel indifferently, " but I don't believe it." Then she hurried to her room to open the package as speedily as possible ; also with trembling ringers and flushed face as well, for she knew on the instant who had sent it. And one day later, on the arrival of the last train from Barre, there alighted from it a dapper little chap with shifty black eyes, mustache waxed to two sharp points, garbed in light-grey summer suit, tan shoes, gray spats, and carrying a cane and suit-case. " It ees to Oakdale town I vish to go," he said to Uncle Levi. And long before he arrived there he became fully informed by that worthy talebearer of several pertinent facts and the intentions of some mysterious persons, as Stacy had intended that he should be. The trap was now well baited and wide open. CHAPTER XIV SIX years of the inrush of gold seekers to a mining camp is like a generation of time towards its growth. In a night, almost, it springs up like Jonah's gourd or a mushroom ; and from the cluster of the crudest sod hovels and board shacks Stacy first saw Rawhide to be now as he looked upon it from the piazza of the " Hotel Raw- hide " that morning of his arrival, he beheld a mar- vel of growth and change. From this vantage point at the upper end of its main street he saw handsome gray stone buildings with big plate glass windows, and architectural in design. A bank with pillars and bastions of gray marble occupied one street cor- ner, a ten-story iron and concrete building faced it, the spires of three churches one upbearing a big gilt cross, evidently Catholic arose from the med- ley of structures, the white globes of arc lights were in ample evidence adown the vista, and trolley cars could be seen coming or going upon the main thor- oughfare. Beyond and across the canyon, tiers of dwellings arose along the base of the mountain slope, an iron bridge crossed the brawling stream, 163 164 THE CASTLE BUILDERS shop chimneys peeped up from its bank, and a busy, crowding throng of humanity, including well- dressed women, were everywhere visible. For an hour Stacy surveyed this panorama of amazing growth while he smoked and cogitated upon the phenomenon, then Harkins came up to the hotel. " I'll show you around now, Mr. Whipple," he as- sured Stacy, and nothing loth the latter joined him in a tour of inspection. " I can't locate a single landmark," Stacy ad- mitted after a half-hour of this, " not even the spot where the one-story saloon stood and where I saw this Curtis North and his pal, ' Skim/ as you called him, swapping cards." " There's where it stood," replied Harkins, point- ing to a six-story building with a dry-goods store occupying an entire lower floor, " and Tom Mc- Cue, the jolly Irishman who ran it, owns that block and is worth a round million and so fat he can't run or fight. All he does is collect his rents and tell stories of the ' ould days ' in Rawhide. He is a character here, with a memory like a mirror and the deeds, doings, and history of the old camp crowd at his tongue's end. We will drop into Tim Riley's saloon, his loafing place, and I'll introduce you as a tourist visiting here. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 165 " There's where the cabin stood where that iminer was found dead," Harkins said five minutes later, on a side street and pointing to a pretentious con- crete building labeled " Odeon Theater, Vaudeville." " And here is the watch charm your man North wore that fatal night," he added, now drawing it from his pocket. " I found it under the dead man that afternoon. It was this clue and the fact both North and Skim had hired horses at two o'clock that morning and rode to the station, leaving on the same train you came on, that satisfied me they were par- ties to the murder. The two women took the stage leaving here then at about seven in the morning, and the killing was not heard of until that afternoon, or when this other miner came to and crawled out of the cabin." Stacy took the massive gold buffalo-head fob now destined to play so important a part in his plans, and eyed it curiously. It was crudely made, evidently filed or carved from a lump of virgin gold, and as conspicuous and vulgar a part of man's adornment as Curtis North himself was of the race of men. Doubtless, also, as now recurred to Stacy in an in- stant, there must be scores of men in Rawhide who would swear to having seen it worn by Curtis -North, if that was necessary, thus adding one more valua- ble fact or bit of evidence. 1 66 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " Don't lose it, Mr. Harkins," he cautioned him, now handing it back. " It may be worth ten times its weight to me later on." " I've kept it safe for almost six years," Harkins returned smiling, " so guess I can keep it a few months more. " Here's where McCue loafs," he added, now leading the way through a luxuriously furnished bar-room into its back room, and here were two men tilted back in their chairs and smoking black clay pipes. One, Stacy recognized on the instant as the redoubtable McCue; rotund and red-faced. A " Hullo, Jim," from him to Harkins, as he arose and the two shook hands, and a " My friend, Mr. Whipple, Mr. McCue and Mr. Casey," com- prised the off-hand greetings, and then the incomers sat down. " Mr. Whipple is a friend of mine paying Raw- hide a flying visit, Tom," Harkins next explained, " and I brought him here to call on you." " Ony frind o' yours is me frind, too," McCue responded, now rapping on a small round table. " Sarve the jintl'min," he added with a grandilo- quent handwave to the barkeeper who came at his summons, " an' the bist ye hov." " An' so ye do be visitin' the town, is it ? " he THE CASTLE BUILDERS 167 next queried, after the libation and relighting his pipe. " Well, it's a foine city, so it be, but dom dull now. Not loike the ould times at all, at all." " I was here about six years ago for a few days," Stacy asserted in response, " and visited your place a few times." " An' did ye ? " smiled McCue", much pleased. " Shure that was foine. Och, be jabers, but we had g-r-reat fun those days, shure we did," he continued. " Not a week but someone was shot or sthrung up by the b'ys for devilmint. Ah, but those toimes war g-r-reat for sport. Shure I had two kilt in me place one month, so' I did, but it's all over now. Nothin' doin' at all, sor, but ate an' slape an' pull at me pipe all the day long." Then he sighed and puffed hard at his pipe to get it well going again. " Do ye raycollect the little Chink, Jim, we sthrung up one mornin'? " he again continued after the pause, " the little monkey, so he war, who put a ball into Andy O'Houlihan jist bekase he took hi washin' widout payin'? An' how we forgot to tie his hands an' the cuss got holt o' the rope an' climbed up an' the b'ys shot him? Ah, but thar war lively toimes thin, an' money so plinty, too. Many a night I tuk in two hundred dollars in me place jist for i68 THE CASTLE BUILDERS dhrinks, an' as much more in the two kitties. But the ould toimes is gone for good, an' dom dull now, dom dull." " Do you remember a fellow by name of North, Curtis North?" Stacy now inquired, smiling at the Irishman who so enjoyed shootings and lynch- ings. " A chap with big white side-whiskers? " " An' shure I .do," smiled McCue, cheering up again, " an' a broth ov a b'y he war, too, to spind money, jist loike it war brown laves an' he owned the world. But he wint sour over a couple o' wim- men, so he did, an' lift bechune two days. Kilt a man for 'em, didn't he, Jim? A Swede be the name o' Johnson, an' 'most kilt another, Olaf Tyg- son, wa'n't it, Jim? " " I think that was the name," responded Har- kins, also smiling. " Some sort of a -son. They both were like all Swedes. Do you know what has become of him? " " Oh, he's livin', so he is," answered McCue. " I saw him in town a month ago. He's up to Hump- ' back now, so he be." " Do you have any idea where the women are ? " Stacy next queried, cautiously. " That is, if anyone wanted to find them? " " Shure I don't," came from McCue, now eyeing Stacy sharply, " an' an' axin' yer pardon, sor, ONE, STACY RECOGNIZED ON THE INSTANT. Page 166. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 169 but take me advice an' don't be chasin' 'em, sor, widout ye want to lose money an' lots of it, sor. Them sort of wimmen do be the divil's own, so they be. Lave 'em alone, Mister Whipple, lave 'em alone." Much more of this loquacious Irishman's dia- logue was listened to by Stacy with interest; then, after treating in turn, he and Harkins made another tour of the town and returned to the hotel. " It looks as if you had all the evidence you need," Harkins now asserted. " This Swede, Tyg- son, can be found if you care to go to the expense, and we can take him east to confront your man, North, if you wish. My idea, however, is it won't be necessary to do that. It all depends upon what you want to do, Mr. Whipple. Is it law and justice you want meted out to him, or just force him to give up the deed you explained about? Take your choice ; you can have either one, but not both." " I know that," admitted Stacy, stroking his mus- tache. " But but I want to think it over be- fore deciding. There are wheels within wheels in this affair, and mixed up in the game is a handsome adventuress I once admired, now intimate with your Greaser, ' Skim,' or Otero ; also with Curtis North and a member of the Barre town committee, who are obligated to pay us a lot of money in the near 1 70 THE CASTLE BUILDERS future. Oh, it's a merry mix-up, I assure you. The one thing I am positive about is that I don't want to make a personal enemy now, or any more so than she is, of this handsome adventuress I told you about. She has no hold on me, yet you know a woman like that can make things mighty unpleas- ant for any man if she sets about it." " Right you are," laughed Harkins, who had traveled, and observed many things. " The joker in this pack is the woman Carmen, I think you said her name was or rather her beauty and its pull on men is the joker. No, Brother Whipple," he added after a long pause, " don't play any game for high stakes with a joker in the pack. It isn't safe. And even less so when the said joker is a handsome woman without a scrap of honor." And just then Stacy thought of the diamond bracelet this harpy had obtained with mate to it promised, for her aid to " do " him, and grinned ruefully. Also kicked himself, metaphorically, to think how he once had been made so many kinds of a fool of by his admiration of " La Rosa." Hazel's face came to mind at this juncture as well, and the fine scorn that would spread over it were she but informed how he had once pursued the Carmen. Innocently, too, as a matter of fact, and yet Hazel would never believe it of him no THE CASTLE BUILDERS 171 woman will as he knew full well ; and then an- other rueful grin came to his lips, for none of us enjoys the predicament of being wrongfully be- lieved guilty, yet unable to prove it. " I think, Brother Harkins," he said finally, " we will go a leetle slow in this matter, as Uncle Asa would say. I'd like to see justice meted out to this swindler and murderer combined. I almost feel that I'd enjoy what your friend McCue admits he so often did a lynching bee with Curtis North as its star feature. If he could be lured to this town and a picked committee of ' the b'ys ' given a tip to do their duty it would, as Col. Sellers said, ' meet with my entire approbation.' But I don't see how it can be done. If my trap scores, and you and I can make North give up the deed I suppose he has now obtained, I'll spend a thousand dollars to aid you in luring ' his whiskers ' to Rawhide and you can attend to the rest. But from my viewpoint now I don't want to be mixed up in it. " I've got to go on to Seattle," he added after a moment's pause, " and must use a month to finish my business in the West. In the meantime I wish you'd hunt up this Olaf Tygson, obtain any sort of affidavit you think best from him, also any other corroborative evidence you can find, and when I return to Rawhide, as I shall before going East, we 172 THE CASTLE BUILDERS will decide how to act. It may be best for you to go on with me and land this villain before he skips the country." Then, being a considerate business man, he wrote a check for two hundred dollars and handed it to Harkins, " for contingent expenses," as he assured him. " Your town, Mr. Harkins, with its marvelous growth appeals to me especially," Stacy continued, changing the subject, after this adjustment of their mutual plans, " for I am by nature an air-castle builder myself, and here is a pertinent example of what we in the East would call an impossibility. Also proof positive that law, order, and prosperity go hand in hand. Six years ago Rawhide, as you assert, was practically a canker spot on the map with a few hundred greedy gold-seekers for its main population and workers, with perhaps one quarter as many thieves, swindlers, and harpies who came to prey upon them. That condition, or what your friend McCue called ' great doin's wid lynchin's an' shootin's ivery wake or two,' lasted but a short while, then, presto! law steps in, away go the evil spirits, the law-breakers, and a well-ordered and well-behaved town springs up in place of the pest house of vice it once was. You, also, with your THE CASTLE BUILDERS 173 Vigilance Committee backing, are entitled to much of the credit as well." " Yes, a little, maybe," responded Harkins mod- estly, " and the same law and order will in due time clean out and purify all mining camps, I've noticed. All it needs is to have the organization of public sentiment, string up a few, and the rest fall over themselves to get away, as they did from here." " How would it work if this Curtis North was to set foot in Rawhide now ? " interrupted Stacy, castle building again. " Would you and your back- ers decide a lynching bee about the right welcome for him?" " Oh, I could fix it, maybe," smiled Harkins, " but it wouldn't be necessary. We have a law court now." " Yes, and lawyers to quibble and fight prosecu- tion and defeat justice just as long as a criminal's money lasts," responded Stacy, who had had experi- ence with the clan. " That is true," admitted Harkins, smiling again, " but I suppose lawyers are a mixed evil from a percentage basis. That is, allowing that one in five is strictly honest and would not knowingly defend an actual criminal no matter how fat the fee." " Put it one in ten and I'll accept the amend- 174 THE CASTLE BUILDERS ment," interjected Stacy, who was more of a cynic. " And now and then an innocent man needs de- fense," continued Harkins, " so we do need lawyers after all." " Yes, perhaps in a few cases," asserted Stacy, " but what we need more is a higher standard of professional honor among them those who would refuse to defend anyone they had reason to believe was guilty. As it is, not one in ten but that will lock his conscience in the safe and fight justice tooth and nail so long as a criminal's money lasts." When Stacy left Rawhide the next day he car- ried away two distinct impressions: First, of its marvelous growth and purification from a rude mining camp where vice and crime of every grade ruled supreme, to a prosperous, well-behaved, and properly-governed town with churches, a library, and law and order; the other, its picturesque loca- tion at the apex of a triangular valley surrounded by sharply-defined mountains, between two of which opened a winding gorge, and adown which leaped and cascaded a sizable stream called The Hump- back. Timber fir, spruce, and larch of primal growth covered all foothills ; the stream was lim- itless for the production of power; gold-bearing quartz was the basic feature of the mountain, and so herein and hereabout lay all the rudiments needed THE CASTLE BUILDERS 175 for a prosperous mining town such as had already started. And now as all this crystallized in his mind and became a fixed picture, back to Oakdale he leaped in thought and to the city soon to spring up at the bidding of another stream the Rocky Glen brook, with a snug harbor and the white wings of commerce to add impetus. Here was no lawless camp to overcome and purify. Instead, here lay a fertile valley, already tilled, and a community of simple-minded, God-respecting farmers of pure blood and honest minds, to start his city aright. And here, also, dwelt a keen-witted, sweet-faced little maid, whose mind was beyond her years and who had sprung out of the shadow of obscurity like a bewitching fairy to touch his heart with the magic wand of love, and perhaps become the queen of his future life. And now, once more on board a main line Pull- man train and speeding further westward, somehow he began to feel himself in the lilac and syringa- shaded porch in Hazel Dell once more, to smell the mingled fragrance of that sequestered spot, and to hear the murmuring brook and Hazel's auto-harp again. " In love ? " you ask once more. Yes, very much so now. In fact so much so that no peace and no rest for his air-castle-building spirit 176 THE CASTLE BUILDERS was possible unless this occult little fairy queen shared it. In the meantime, Curtis North, alias Pentecost Curtis, and Otero must be reckoned with. CHAPTER XV AS Sam Walter Foss has so impressively said, " There are pioneer souls that blaze their path where never highway ran." And Stacy Whipple's was such a one. There are, also, other pioneer souls not as sensible and idyllic as his who blaze their way, not as he did in the skies, but underground. And Curtis North was possessed of one. From the very outset of his life as a well- educated son of a Puritan father, he had found liv- ing by his wits and imposing upon the credulity of others an easy matter. Beginning as a peddler of quack nostrums, he had taken to being advance agent for a circus, then to running a side show as part of that, together with the usual gambling de- vices used to fleece the unsophisticated. Next, he became manager of a branch bucket shop in a small city, with a poker club as an adjunct, and finally, with ample means gathered in these various indus- tries, he had drifted westward to Rawhide, met and attached to himself one Leon Otero, as unscrupulous and keen-witted a gambler as he, and organized The Rawhide Gold Mining and Reduction Company 177 178 THE CASTLE BUILDERS in legal manner and of alluring prospectus, and thus armed and equipped had returned East to a more civilized country to sell stock and devour the un- wary. But, like many another bumptious and successful gambler, he sighed for new people to conquer, greater schemes to manipulate, and a wider scope for swindling. To this end and purpose he came to New York, and to that Mecca of all greatest gamblers, Wall Street. Here, with an office in the name of " Curtis & Company " in a building devoted to such, he had just established himself when along came a " tip," as he would call it, that led him to Barre. He did not go to Oakdale, for obvious rea- sons., however. He had been there once as Curtis North and carried away a mere trifle of about five thousand dollars as reward for a month's pleasure sojourn. Anyhow, that was not necessary. He now had a side-partner of as keen wits, if less money, who could do as well even better since to facilitate such swindling he was now posing as the ostensible agent for a steamship company whose business was the importation of emigrants from various European countries. And be it said, criminals of all classes and both sexes were just as welcome to them as honest people, so long as the price was forthcoming. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 179 Not for long did Curtis North now and for five years masked as Pentecost Curtis, the given name of which had been his father's remain in Barre. It was neither prudent nor necessary, and so having hatched the plot that was adroitly and also legally to make the firm of Bemis, Colby & Com- pany pay well for a reservoir site they needed, he left the details to be worked out by his tool, Otero, and hied himself away to New York. Here, in line with his new vocation and ambition, he began to lay plans for another swindling scheme, which was the broad and comprehensive one of organizing a stock company to buy up and reclaim a few thousand acres of worthless marsh land on the Passaic river above Newark. To this end he first set about obtaining a charter under the com- plaisant laws of New Jersey. He secured next a suitable chart or map of the lands in question, with a prospectus in connection therewith, setting forth in glowing terms the ostensible object of the com- pany and plans and dividends sure to be paid. This, also, he knew, was the trump card sure to take the trick of the gullible public's money. It had worked successfully in the Rawhide swindle, and while not all of that capital stock had been sold before its master spirit grew wary, changed his name, and abandoned it, enough had been converted into cash i8o THE CASTLE BUILDERS to give him means to carry out a fourfold greater one. But the carrying out of this new, larger, and more plausible scheme must take more time. Surveys and maps must be made and men hired to make them. A few business men of minor prominence and some reputation for honesty must be cajoled and persuaded to allow the use of their names given stock, of course, as payment. Printers' ink and lithographers' aid were to be called in, and many lesser details attended to. The plan and proposition must also wear the guise of legality, and once hatched and under way, some land must actually be bought, more secured for possible need by the attainment of options, and everything apparently done from honest intent and purpose. The firm of Curtis & Company, Mills Building, Wall Street, were, of course, reputable business men! Pentecost Curtis, a well-to-do financier whose experience and money was back of and in this philanthropic scheme to furnish low-cost building lots and home sites for the working class of an overcrowded city! Why, to be sure, they were, as everything in the prospectus must assert; and beyond that, no loophole must be left whereby if the plan failed any disgruntled investor could take legal action against the immaculate and honor- THE CASTLE BUILDERS 181 able firm of Curtis & Company! Not for one mo- ment! That would be preposterous! And so Pentecost Curtis, fat, sleek, suave, smooth- spoken, always well-garbed, and living luxuriously at a prominent hotel, stroked his flowing side- whiskers, smoked choice cigars, took an occasional flyer in the stock market to keep in touch with men whose names he might need later, and assured every one he became at all intimate with that stock speculation was after all too risky for him to follow, and that the more stable one of investment in and improvement of suburban property promised safer and more certain returns. And it did to him. He did not fear ever meeting one of those he had swindled as Curtis North, or any outcome from the debauch that had cost a poor miner his life. That, after all, was only an episode common enough in the lawless camp where it happened, where a gambler shot over a card table, or a red-handed desperado strung up on the nearest tree was an incident forgot- ten in a week. If ever accused of connection with this orgie of drink and robbery he could brazenly deny his identity, he was sure, and force its belief. Only two factors or connecting links ever troubled him. The first, his whiskers so noticeable, also so consoling to his vanity; he had even thought best 182 THE CASTLE BUILDERS at the time he changed his name to shave them off, but so satisfying were they to his own self-approval that he could not do so. The other and less dan- gerous link was the lost watch fob he had not missed that fatal night until too late to return and look for it. That it had been taken possession of by one of the women he was positive they were the sort who kept all they got, no matter how ob- tained and he was almost certain that this valua- ble lump of gold had long ago vanished in some melting crucible. So far as his connection with The Rawhide Gold Mining Company was con- cerned, and the many he had induced to buy stock, it never troubled him one iota. There were so many others like it, organized wherever gold was mined or oil found, that were as specious, that one more, or his own, only proved him to be in the wide-spread game of swindling gullible investors who deserved no pity since they only bought from the belief that they were to receive fabulous returns. He was not afraid to go to Oakdale, either, or to meet Uncle Asa. He would have assured that con- fiding " Rube," as he thought him to be, that Raw- hide stock was all right, the mine being developed slowly but surely, and that it sooner or later would pay big dividends. He would, so conscienceless was he, and possessed of so much brazen impudence, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 183 have set out to sell even Uncle Asa more stock, also others, only for one fact ; that for certain unfortunate reasons he had decided to leave Rawhide in haste and change his name. There was, also, one other fla\v besides whiskers in his defensive armor and that the hastily adopted first name, Curtis, as the last one of his alias. While keen and quick enough when it came to swindling others, in this case his occultism slipped a cog, so to speak, and left a dan- gerous similarity of name to anyone who had both seen him and heard his original one often enough to fix it in mind. He fancied himself secure, how- ever, had ample means to live well, also carry out any new scheme requiring some investment, and as the prosperous capitalist he now practically pro- claimed himself to be, was armed and equipped to resent any insinuation to the contrary. " Money will buy all things lawyers, juries, judges, the whole shooting match," he would say to himself reassuringly when a little lurking fear of retribution crept into his feelings, as it now and then did. " Business is only a game of robbery, high or low, and all around, from peanut stands to the Standard Oil Trust. I've got the price of self- defense any time, there is no proof of anything against me not even that I was in the cabin the night that stupid Swede fell downstairs and 184 THE CASTLE BUILDERS cracked his own skull so the public, the whole push, can go chase themselves for all I care." He little thought Nemesis in the guise of his own unscrupulous scheming was even now pursuing him, with Stacy Whipple adding inspiration. CHAPTER XVI THE one ruling ambition of Landlord Sam Gates's life outside of providing for his limited number of guests was to play prac- tical jokes, and his keen Yankee shrewdness, knowl- edge of human nature, and plausible speech served him well at this rather invidious game. Of course he had exhausted his possibilities of deceiving any of Oakdale's residents long before Stacy was so adroitly steered into Bear Hole Swamp, so new- comers were all that Sam could vent his peculiar talent upon. And so it came to pass that when Uncle Levi drove up to Sam's hostelry one after- noon just after supper time, and a dapper little dude with much-waxed mustache, with cane and small suit-case, alighted, Sam eyed him with much the same feelings that a hawk would eye a brood of young chickens. Business, however, came first with Sam, so he at once proceeded to take care of so well-dressed an arrival in his most urbane man- ner, assigned and showed him to the best front room, asked what he'd like cooked for supper, invited him to take a nip while waiting for it, and as soon as Mr, i86 THE CASTLE BUILDERS Leon Otero had been relegated to the care of the high priestess of the dining-room, Sam returned to the piazza and the Old Guard there gathered to con- sider matters generally. " Who is he ? " queried Bascom, usually the spokesman of their retinue. " A drummer? " " No-o," drawled Sam, " too slick-lookin', 'n' too fussy. Wanted the shutters shut fust thing in his room, 'n' a key for the door. Said he didn't like to leave his things 'thout bein' locked up. He ain't no drummer. They don't wax their mustaches 'n' look like they come out o' a bandbox." "Fisherman?" hazarded Lazy Luke, who in- variably guessed wrong. " You'll start him into B'ar Hole if he is, I s'pose? " " Mebbe," returned Sam with a half-smothered chuckle at the thought of so alluring a prospect. " That is if he's goin' to stay long 'nuff, 'n' kin be persuaded." And so it came to pass when the new arrival re- turned to the piazza, sat down and lighted a ciga- rette, there were five there, each ready to cooperate to make his visit to Oakdale as pleasant as possible for themselves. " Is this your first visit here, Mr. Otero ? " in- quired Sam politely by way of a beginning. " It ees," answered Otero, looking around the THE CASTLE BUILDERS 187 scattered village, " and a so much smaller town than I haf heard." " Sellin' goods, I s'pose," was the next remark of the adroit Sam. " No, I haf come on ze business of my company, not to sell something," returned Otero evasively. " Buyin' land mebbe," persisted Sam unabashed. " I heerd some company was plannin' to put up a big dam here, 'n' build a shop." Then Mr. Leon Otero turned his snaky eyes on Sam and smiled wisely. " I am not to tell what my company haf planned," he answered suavely, " I am to look around." " O' course ; sartin', sartin'," replied Sam sooth- ingly, " only I heerd your company was goin' to buy B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' figgered you was here to do it." " Ees this swamp you call ze bear's hole ze right spot for a dam ? " inquired Otero with a satisfied smile. " None better," asserted Sam, unconsciously play- ing Stacy's game. " In fact Natur just riz hills all 'round it ez ef on purpose fer a dam. That's what the other feller who looked it over said, anyhow. I s'pose he war from your company, too, eh ? His name was Whipple. You know about him, I s'pose ? " i88 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " I know him, yes," admitted Otero, smiling again, " and I shall look ze swamp over myself. Who is it owns ze land ? " " Oh, it's Uncle Asa's, Asa Webster's, 'n' he lives jist below it on the brook," vouchsafed Sam speed- ily, " 'n' I cal'late he'd sell it cheap. 'Tain't wuth much fer anything but a pond. You want to look it over, f oiler the brook down through," he added eagerly, " 'n' mebbe ketch a mess o' trout to-morrer, eh ? I kin rig ye up 'n' take ye to the head on't in the mornin' if ye like." And having thus paved the way for his own pet practical joke and almost pushed Otero into the trap set for him by Stacy, Sam smiled with serene satis- faction. To add more bait for his own trap also, he now began to extol the merits of Bear Hole Brook as a trout stream, and to tell what big ones were often caught in it, and how Mr. Otero would probably enjoy a day of rare sport on the morrow. " I haf not fished for ze trout for many years," the victim declared next morning, when duly fitted out with a pair of Sam's boots too big for him, and a pair of Sam's trousers large enough to turn around in, he was conveyed by that worthy to where Bear Hole Brook crossed the highway above the swamp. He still wore his own silk outing shirt, jaunty tie, high collar and straw hat, however, and THE CASTLE BUILDERS 189 with creel and rod of Sam's lending, it is needless to say he presented a ludicrous appearance. " You've got the greatest day's sport you ever had ahead o' ye," Sam now asserted, turning his horse around, " 'n' 'bout four miles on't. You'll find a leetle brush o' course, but don't mind that. Thar's whar ye'll find the biggest trout, too. I cal'late you'll fill yer basket by noon 'n' then you want ter keep right on. Foller the brook 'n' it'll fetch ye; right out by Uncle Asa's, 'n' then ye kin dicker with him 'bout buyin' the swamp fer a pond, if that's yer errand here. I s'pose the other feller's kinder paved the way fer the deal, mebbe? Uncle Asa's got a darter, too, perty gal, she is, ez anywhere about, 'n' ef ye make good time 'long the brook she'll cook ye a mess o' trout fer dinner if ye're kinder slick at coaxin'. She's sweeter'n peaches 'n* cream, too, she is, 'n' ain't got no beau." And having thus baited and opened his own trap most effectually, Sam drove away leaving Otero to his fate. Once well away and out of sight around a bend in the road, however, Sam exploded in a burst of laughter. " Got him hooked good 'n' fast, I cal'late," he ex- claimed, shaking with its continuation, " 'n' when he gits down whar them Mohawk briars is thickest 190 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 'n' black flies busy wal, if he's got any cuss words, thar'll be suthin said." Then, and still chuckling with suppressed laugh- ter, he drove on. i It was seven A. M. of that hot July first morning, when Mr. Leon Otero, half of him looking the im- maculate dude with legs in two bags, jointed his rod, baited his hook, lit a cigarette, and plunged into this almost impassable swamp. It was five P. M. when that same occult schemer and wily villain emerged from this morass, both boots left buried in some slough hole, his bag-like pants torn and black with mud, his silk shirt in shreds, collar, tie, and hat missing, and creel and rod left somewhere in the swamp. One eye was closed from the sting of a hornet, his face, neck, and hands black from swamp mire, or streaked with bloody scratches, also swollen from thousands of vicious black-fly bites, and he was barely able to crawl. He had lost all points of the compass after following the winding stream a half-mile and not daring to leave it, con- scious of being turned around, had kept on, sure that the only way of escaping the swamp alive was to stick to the stream. ' " I vas 'most dead, my God, sir ! " he exclaimed, finally emerging from the pine thicket and finding Uncle Asa raking hay on a hillside meadow. " Oh, THE CASTLE BUILDERS 191 I haf had ze one hell time to git out ze swamp, sir," he moaned, now sinking to earth, exhausted, " ze awful time as never vas." " Wai, ye look the part," ejaculated Uncle Asa, eyeing him keenly and instantly conscious that this' dapper, woe-begone specimen of humanity was the man he had been anxiously awaiting now for five days. " Been through B'ar Hole Swamp, I car- late," he added. " Who might ye be? " " My name is Otero," Sam's victim responded weakly, " and you vas ze man ze landlord call Uncle Asa, vas you ? " " Yaas, that's me," drawled Uncle Asa, now on guard and beginning to rake hay again as if the arrival of this fellow was of no interest. He kept on raking, too, a few rods, and then Otero called to him again. " I am so tired I cannot walk back to ze hotel," he said meekly, " and I vill pay you if you vill take me back. Vill you ? " Then Uncle Asa halted his raking and looked back at Otero hesitatingly. He knew his errand here, knew also that Sam had sent him into Bear Hole Swamp his inevitable joke on all strangers but now, nervous as he was over what this fel- low's errand meant to him, the joke lost its point. " I dunno but I might," he admitted finally, now 192 THE CASTLE BUILDERS returning, to where Otero sat. " It's hayin' time, 'n' I'm perty busy, though." " I vill pay you, sir," Otero responded still more meekly, " pay you veil, only I can't valk no longer now." Then Uncle Asa, Good Samaritan still, in spite of his abhorrence of this trickster, as he knew him to be, invited him down to the house and gave him opportunity to wash his mud-blackened face and hands, harnessed his horse, and conveyed him back to the village. " How much I do owe you ? " Otero queried when they drew up at the hotel. " Not a cent," Uncle Asa responded. " I jest fetched ye back out o' pity fer a feller ez badly busted ez you war." " I am to come and see you to-morrow," Otero responded, after thanking Uncle Asa. " It ees to talk business." "What business?" demanded Uncle Asa. "I am too busy hayin' to talk much with anybody." " Why, I vish to buy some land of you," returned Otero meekly still. " Perhaps I buy ze tam swamp that so near killed me to-day." " Wai, ye needn't come on that 'count," returned Uncle Asa brusquely. " 'Taint fer sale or rather thar's 'nother feller ez hez got a call on't." Then ZE AWFUL TIME AS NEVKK VAS.*' Page 191. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 193 having thus taken trick number one in the game of diamond-cut-diamond, he halted his nag with an out-turned wheel and awaited his passenger's alighting. " But I vill come to see you," reiterated Otero after stepping out. And then, without a word of response, Uncle Asa drove away fully conscious he had his enemy at bay, at least. " I'll give Sam a slap on the back fer playin' B'ar Hole on that little cuss," he ejaculated when well away from the hotel. " It sarved him right, the hyena." " Wai, whar's my basket V boots V fish pole? " demanded Sam with well-simulated severity a mo- ment later as Otero limped up the piazza.. " Ye look's though ye'd bin run through a threshin' ma- chine 'n' chucked in a mud hole arter that. Did did ye ketch any trout ? " Then Leon Otero, the foppish little Mexican, conscious of his own ridiculous appearance, and seeing from the broad grins now spreading over Sam's and the Old Guard's faces that he had been made the target of a practical joke, grew pale with suppressed anger, while his snaky eyes glittered. " Sacre, what you t'ink, I one tarn fool to be sport for you ? I I could kill you ! " he snarled. Then vanished inside and up to his room. 194 THE CASTLE BUILDERS He appeared a half hour later (most of which had been spent by Sam in suppressing his laughter), looking more presentable, also in better temper. And then Sam, having enjoyed his joke thoroughly, set about mollifying his guest. " I was afeared you mightn't bring back much of a string," he said soothingly and suppressing his inward laughter, " so I sent one o' the boys out to ketch some, J n' I've got a nice mess cooked fer ye. A joke's a joke, so come into the barroom 'n' hev a drink on me, 'n' call it square. I won't charge ye nothin' fer the boots 'n' fishin' tackle ye left in the swamp. How'd ye come to lose 'em?" Then, and unable to restrain his merriment longer, he burst into laughter again. " B'ar Hole is a perty tuff spot," he added a mo- ment later, setting an array of bottles out upon the bar counter, " 'n' we allus interduce it ez one o' the pints o' int'rest here to newcomers. I did to your partner I s'pose the other feller who come to look things over, 'n' he come out head up; worrit some but smilin'." Then, having thus established peace and ushered his guest into the dining-room, he returned to the piazza. " That little cuss takes a joke 'bout ez a boy does pepper tea," he now asserted to the Old Guard awaiting him, and laughing again. " I'm out a pair THE CASTLE BUILDERS 195 o' boots 'n' fishin' tackle, but 'twas wuth it, by gosh," and he shook with another spasm of laugh- ter. " I'd a gin a fiver on top o' the boots to 'a* seen him 'bout the time he got out," he added, " 'n' to 'a' heard him cuss. I cal'late them little Spanish fellers kin cuss some when they git started, too." Mr. Leon Otero did not favor Sam and the Old Guard with much of his company that evening, however, for though mollified by the drink, and excellent supper of fried trout and strawberries, his pride had received a painful wound and he nursed it in his room with continuous cigarettes. He was, however, sure that this hill-bordered swamp he had floundered through was the dam site Bemis, Colby & Company wanted, that a minimum offer for it had been made to the farmer who owned it, and that he was in ample time to obtain possession, and make them pay smartly later on. The one fortuitous feature of this game was that the stage driver, accepting Stacy's hints as facts, had talked of nothing else except the plan to buy Bear Hole Swamp by someone; Sam, anxious to play his joke, had forgotten to mention Rocky Glen brook, so Otero had no knowledge of its existence. The next morning, well-garbed and serene once more, he started for Uncle Asa's. CHAPTER XVII WHILE Uncle Asa had feared himself un- able to cope with this emissary of that arch-swindler, Curtis North, his first meeting with him, so mud-splashed and woe-begone from an all-day contest with Bear Hole Swamp, had assured him he was only an ordinary mortal, an unscrupulous thief no doubt, yet not one to be feared in the open, or in a contest of bargain- making. Uncle Asa's over-night preparation also stood him in hand, so he resolved and felt that he could be, as he would put it, " independent as a pig on ice." He trusted Stacy, too, especially after what had passed between them, trusted his good sense and judgment also, and felt that his measure of this Curtis North and what his tool, Otero, would say and do, also pay for Bear Hole Swamp, was an accurate one. And so it came to pass that July morning when he, swinging his scythe in a meadow below the house and alongside the lane, saw Otero turn into it, leap the fence and advance to him, 196 THE CASTLE BUILDERS 197 Uncle Asa was well prepared for the bargain- driving contest now at hand. He halted his scythe-swinging as Otero neared him, looked up, nodded, said " Good mornin' " in chilly tone, and awaited developments. "I haf come to see you as I said I vould, Mr. Vebster," Otero asserted after his return " Good morning " and obsequious bow, " and to make vith you a price on zat swamp you call ze bear's hole if you vill sell it." " Want to live thar, do ye? " returned Uncle Asa, grinning, as he thrust the end of the snath into the soil and leaned upon his scythe. " I should a thought ye'd got 'nuff o' that tangle-hole yisterday ; ye looked like it anyhow." " Oh, I did, it ees a tarn hole," asserted Otero with a shrug. " An' ze flies, ze brambles, an' ze mud eat me up-." " 'N' ye want to buy it, eh ? " grunted Uncle Asa half scornfully. " Yew can't be right in your attic, yew want a keeper put over ye, yew do! " " But I vill buy it if you make ze price low, it iees of no value I vas sure, a tam mud hole." "Wuss'n that," grinned Uncle Asa. " Thar's snakes in it, too, red adders 'n' rattlers, hundreds on 'em. I can't see how ye missed gittin' bit, must 198 THE CASTLE BUILDERS be they didn't like the looks o' ye ; snakes air kinder p'ticular, though, sometimes." " An' you t'ink zey no bite me for zat reason? " responded Otero, trying to smile while his eyes snapped. "I- didn't say so," drawled Uncle Asa, "only snakes is perty cunnin' critters, 'n' I never knowed o' their bitin' one 'nother." For a long moment the glint in Otero's eyes de- noted anger at this sarcasm, then he conquered it. "Vill you set a price on ze swamp an' woods be- low ? " he asked almost haughtily. " I haf come here to buy it." " Wai, then ye kin hike right away on the next train," returned Uncle Asa sharply, " fer 'tain't fer sale, not a foot on't, not even a snake." " But you vill sell it at some price, von't you ? " queried Otero, anxiously. "Wai, yaas, I'll take a million dollars fer't," drawled Uncle Asa, grasping his scythe again. " Fetch me that in real money, 'n' I'll talk with ye. I hain't time now.'* Then Otero experienced a sense of being thrown against a brick wall, for he had not planned on any such reception. He was also smarting from Uncle Asa's sarcastic shots about snakes, and, all in all, was decidedly nonplussed and rapidly getting angry. THE CASTLE BUILDERS 199 And when a bargain-driving man so loses himself, he is gone. " I haf come to buy zat swamp at a fair price," this one now reiterated crustily, " an' I vill gif you five t'ousand dollars for it all, an' ze wood land below, all of it." " 'N' I'll take forty thousand, 'n' throw in the snakes," returned Uncle Asa as sharply, " so put that in yer pipe 'n' smoke it. I hain't time to swap guff with ye. I've got mowin' ter do," and Uncle Asa began to swing his scythe again. Then Otero, exasperated by this farmer's sar- casms and discomfited by his blunt refusals to con- sider what he thought an exorbitant price for the swamp, began to take counsel with himself, sure also that a much higher bid than his had been made by the other parties, or else the swamp actually bought by them. But he had come with positive orders from his backer to buy, had brought ten thousand dollars in large bills with him, and the " Old Rube," as he thought Uncle Asa to be, who held the key to this game of extortion, was now two rods away, and swinging his scythe as if his customer were of no more account than a snake in this horrible swamp. And the more Otero, the vain fop and sharper combined, dwelt on Uncle Asa's insolent references to snakes, the more angry 200 THE CASTLE BUILDERS he grew. But he was wise enough to conceal it now. " I vill make you one more offer," he said, now following after Uncle Asa, " I gif you six t'ou- sand for ze swamp." " Nary six fer me, nothin' doin'," returned Uncle Asa exasperatingly, as he kept on mowing. " I vill make it seven then? " " Nix," with a shake of the head. "I vill say eight then. Vill you take that?" " No, I won't," snapped Uncle Asa, now halting and facing around, sure he had the game won. "Vill you name a price you vill take?" came from Otero, almost desperate now. " Some price in reason ? " Then Uncle Asa glanced up and down the five- foot or a trifle more of snake-eyed, wax-mustached fop before him contemptuously. " Ef you'll promise never to set foot in this 'ere town agin," he drawled slowly, " I'll set a price fer the swamp 'n' wood lot below it, cash down, real money, no checks, 'n' ef ye don't take it right off the spot, I'll run ye off my land 'fore ye kin say boo! I won't dicker with ye a minute ! " "Veil, vat is it?" came from Otero, while his eyes glittered at the insult. " It's nine thousand five hundred, and not a dern THE CASTLE BUILDERS 201 cent less," came from Uncle Asa, " 'n' say yes now or git!" " I vill gif it when you hand me ze deed re- corded," snarled Otero. " I'll meet ye at Squire Phinney's in jist two hours all ready," admitted Uncle Asa, then turned and swung his scythe again as if this bargain was no more to him than the sale of a load of hay. And Otero, the dapper little dude and snake in the grass, turned and left him, feeling himself to be about what he was, though angry all over. Through all his various and very crooked career so far, he had never been so humiliated or insulted as now, and the very recent trick of Sam's was a part of the combined outrage. When once well out of sight, Uncle Asa, who had covertly watched Otero depart, now threw his scythe aside, and made a bee-line for the house. Someone else, no less a person than Hazel, had also been watching this interview from an ambush, and met him as he leaped over the lane fence. " What is that little puppy back here again for? " she demanded anxiously, " for I know it's the same chap you took up to the village yesterday. Oh, father, there is some trick being played on you I am sure ! " Then Uncle Asa gave the much-worried Hazel 202 THE CASTLE BUILDERS another exhibition of emotional insanity, for he grasped her and threw her up on his shoulders, gave a hop, skip, and jump, then lowered the struggling form, kissed her face hit or miss four times, and set her down. " Kingdom's 'most come," he almost shouted. " Don't say a word to Martha. Keep mum. I'm goin' to the village, 'n' want ye to meet me half way thar jist two hours from now on the sly, 'n' keep whist all the time." Then he hurried into the house, up to his room, unlocked an ancient oak chest, found the original deed of the Bear Hole Swamp land, put on a clean shirt, and hastened away to the village. He set the squire at work filling out a deed to Mr. Leon Otero, residence blank, summoned Sam for witness to his own sig- nature (forgetting that his wife must also sign with him), made both Sam and Squire Phinney swear to inviolate secrecy regarding this important act, and by the time Otero appeared a half-hour later, the deed that was to play so peculiar and far-reaching a part in Oakdale's history, also of the heart annals of Miss Hazel Webster, was ready for him. And so anxious was he, apparently, to get the business consummated and depart, the wily Otero never no- ticed that Mrs. Asa Webster's signature was missing. The money, all in fifty and one hundred dollar THE CASTLE BUILDERS 203 bills, was counted both by the Squire and Uncle Asa; as a matter of ordinary politeness they all shook hands with Otero, and he hastened across the street to the hotel. And this brief but exciting visit to Oakdale was the first and last one ever made by him! " He's got Uncle Levi to take him up to the noon train west," Sam stated after Otero had left the Squire's office. " The little cuss don't jist like our sort o' folks, I cal'late." " Nor B'ar Hole Swamp either I guess," added Uncle Asa. " He war the wust busted pup I ever seen when he fetched out on't yesterday, thanks to you, Sam." " Wai, the feller was puttin' on too many airs, V lookin' too slick to suit me," returned Sam, " so I jist thought I'd gin him the Entered Apprentice degree, 'n' take him down a trifful. But what the devil does he want o' B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' how'd ye make him pay sich an ungodly price, Uncle Asa ? 'Twas 'most highway robbery ! " Then Uncle Asa looked at Sam while a broad grin spread over his face. " Thar's a woodchuck in the haymow, Sam," he said slowly, " 'n' I've got holt o' his hind leg. Thar's suthin else I got holt on, Sam," he continued, smiling even more, " jist you go over 'n' fetch me 204 THE CASTLE BUILDERS that sartificate o' mining stock you've got framed 'n' I'll gin ye zackly five hundred for't now." " No, I won't, Uncle Asa," Sam answered bluntly, " fer it looks like the mine's struck it rich 'n' I'll keep the stock." " All off, nothin' doin' then," returned Uncle Asa, laughing heartily. " Offer's only good this minute, not to-morrer." Much more of this cheerful badinage was ex- changed between these three old cronies, then after waiting until he saw Otero depart so that he couldn't be waylaid by him when homeward bound, Uncle Asa left the village. Half way home, and as he ex- pected, he found Hazel awaiting him beneath a roadside apple tree. " Hooray, girlie, hooray, hooray ! " he shouted, now running up and enclosing her in his arms. " Kingdom's come, 'n' I've got the money ! It's yours, every cent on't, nine thousand dollars, 'n' it's goin' into the Barre bank to-morrow, hooray! Come kiss your old fool dad jist once now ! " Then and after this unique exhibition of feeling, he drew the roll of bills from beneath his shirt, handed it to Hazel, choked, bit his lips, turned away, and two tears stole down his wrinkled face. "I'm a derned old fool, ain't I, Hazel?" he added, now laughing again. " But I was 'nuff fer THE CASTLE BUILDERS 205 that little weasel that tackled me this mornin', 'n' 'n' the man that sent you the books 'n' you've been skeered on all 'long put up the job to save your money by sellin' B'ar Hole Swamp to that little rat you watched with me. Thar now, will ye b'lieve he's wuth trustin', or won't ye? " " I'll believe anything to see you so happy, father," came from Hazel, embracing and kissing him again. Then she, too, began to laugh with wet eyes. And now the feminine sex asserted itself. " Is is that Mr. Whipple coming to Oakdale soon, do you know, father? " " I dunno's he'll ever come agin," answered her father vaguely. "If I'd ben treated by a gal ez you did him I wouldn't chase her 'nother rod. I don't much think you'll ever set eyes on him agin." " Then what you said about his admiring me must be all nonsense," the keen-witted girl returned, " or else he will come again. Any man worth thinking twice about can't be choked off by one rebuff. And I didn't repulse him; was just cool, that's all." " Wuss'n that, jist turned your back on him that day down to the shore 'n' let him whistle fer com- pany while ye gals cut sticks," asserted her father, smiling at his well beloved and only child. " I watched ye from out pullin' pots. But I ain't wor- 206 THE CASTLE BUILDERS ryin' 'bout him a minute," he added after a pause. " That feller don't need no keeper over him ez you thought I did. His head's level, you kin bet, 'n' he ain't a mite skeered o' little gal like yew, he ain't. 'N' now, Hazel, let's set down 'n' count that roll o' money, you 'n' I. I want the comfort of fmgerin' Kingdom Come jist once more, slow 'n' easy." Then down under the apple tree he squatted with Hazel beside him to enjoy what he never had before in his life, and never expected to enjoy again the counting of so much money all by himself, slowly, and to enjoy the sensation. " I think I did a perty slick trick to make that snaky little Mexican gin up so much," he asserted after the counting, " 'n' I tucked on five hundred jist to square Sam for his mine stock. Also as pay for sendin' this chap into the swamp ez Sam did. It tuckered the cuss out, 'n' gin me the nicest sort o' chance to sass him, 'n' I did, too ! Hain't had so much fun since I had the measles." And Uncle Asa laughed again in boyish enjoyment of his meet- ing with and getting the better of Otero. " Mr. Whipple put the job up," he continued after this. " War doin' it the day that popinjay friend o' yours from Barre saw him, when he come here agin, and chased me down to the shore, 'n* THE CASTLE BUILDERS 207 'splained jist how this Otero ud show up, 'n' how to tackle him. " 'N' now," he added, watching Hazel's face sharply, " Mr. Whipple's gone out West whar In- juns is thicker'n flies in B'ar Hole Swamp, 'n' most likely he'll get scalped. I don't s'pose you care though." Then Hazel glanced at her father's impassive face while a new sensation tingled in her feelings, for she read his thoughts like an open book. " I am sorry I mistrusted him," she answered de- murely. " I will tell him so, too, when he comes again, and and I understand you hope he will ask me to marry him, father ? " " Not less you like him 'nuff to go barefoot if he asks ye to, girlie," returned her father soberly. " Gittin' married is the whole o' your life, Hazel, 'n' till one or t'other is laid away, 'n' ye must go keerful, mighty keerful, I tell ye. I like Mr. Whipple. I did the fust go off, 'n' he's proved him- self square's a brick. It's up to you, though, whether you like him or not. All I kin tell ye is he said he'd walk a good many miles jist to win one o' your smiles, 'n' said it outen his heart, too." Then Hazel grew rose-red again for somehow this man's eyes had haunted her for many days. 208 THE CASTLE BUILDERS " I ain't goin' to worry a mite 'bout you two," Uncle Asa continued, smiling at the telltale color on Hazel's face. " Only jist 'bout this money now. It'll stay next to my skin till I git to Barre to- morrow, 'n' then it goes into the bank in your name. I'd go to-night, only the bank's closed when I git than I don't think I'll sleep a wink till it's in the bank, though. Now, let's go home." Once there, and acting nervously, as he now did,, it was not long ere Martha's suspicions were aroused by both his and Hazel's peculiar conduct and she began to question first Hazel, then Hazel's father. From the former she obtained no satisfaction, how- ever, as might be expected, and not until evening was any obtained from Uncle Asa. " You are keeping something from me, Asa," she demanded of him rather tartly when the chance came and Hazel away, " and now I mean to know what it is! What was that little man here for this morning, and why did you change your shirt 'n' hurry up to the village right after him, I want to know? And Hazel, too, after you, 'n' gone 'most three hours! What have you been doing? I've a right to know, 'n' I want to know now ! " Then Uncle Asa looked at his much-disliked bet- ter half, calmly and serenely. " I had business with that man," he explained THE CASTLE BUILDERS 209 slowly, " 'n' went up town to git paid some money he owed me, that's all." "How much?" demanded Martha in rasping voice. " Oh, a few thousand dollars," answered Uncle Asa, a queer suspicion flashing into his mind. " Why do ye want to know, Martha ? " " And you've got it with ye? " " Sartin, 'n' mean to keep it with me, too, till I go to Barre to-morrow." " No, you won't, Asa Webster," replied his spouse viciously, " nothing of the sort ! Some- body '11 break into the house 'n' rob you to-night if you do ! " "What'll I do with it then?" returned Uncle Asa, calmly scanning her face. " Why, hide it, of course, where I hide money when we leave the house under that loose brick in the front-room fireplace," almost commanded Martha, " then it'll be safe." And then the sinister suspicion in Uncle Asa's mind became almost a certainty. " I'll do it, Martha," he answered meekly, " do it jist to please ye, the last thing 'fore I go to bed. It'll be safe 'miff on me till then, I cal'late." And that evening, sitting along on the embowered front porch and smoking his cob pipe, as was his 210 THE CASTLE BUILDERS custom summer evenings, back to him came the evil look that he had detected in Martha's eyes when admitting he had so large a sum of money. He also recalled her miserly ways during the few years of their life together, her reputation previously, how every dollar given her by him or taken in from sale of eggs, poultry, or anything, vanished like water in sand and nothing to show for it; how their table was scrimped to the most meager of food, Hazel's board payments also disappearing the same way, and many other suspicious occurrences. " I don't like that sharky look," he muttered softly to himself now. " Thar's suthin brewin', that's sartin ! You're cal'latin' to git holt o' that money, Martha Baker!" So disturbing was this suspicion, he arose suddenly and started down the lane. At its foot and out of sight from his house, he halted and glanced up at the starlit sky. " Curis, curis," he said to himself again, " how the love o' money'll make thieves 'n' lunatics, 'most, out o' folks. I hate to b'lieve it o' you, Martha, but you're plannin' to steal, my God, you be, 'n' it's the end o' you 'n' I! The end, the end! Mebbe it's better so, too, fer Hazel ! It's been hell for her all 'long, 'n' I sha'n't miss ye, not a minute ! " Then, overwrought with the shameful horror of what he now believed, a cold sweat moistened his THE CASTLE BUILDERS 211 face and hands; he started rapidly across the meadow to his boathouse, lit a small lamp he kept there, cut a few dozen strips of brown paper the size of bills, rolled them up, put a ten-dollar one on the outside, tied the roll with a bit of fish line, and re- turned to the lane. At its foot, and much to his joy, he met Hazel. " Thank God ye come out, girlie," he whispered with trembling voice and grasping her arm. " I war so wantin' to see ye 'lone." " Why, what is it, father ? " she asked in quiv- ering tones. " What has happened ? " " Suthin horrible," he whispered back, " but I've got to b'lieve it, 'n' prove it too ! Martha wants me to hide that money in the front-room fireplace 'n' to-night sometime she's goin' to steal it. Now don't say a word ! I've got a roll o' paper 'n' bill outside fixed up; I'm goin' to hide it under the loose brick she wants me to. Jist you come to my room in your stockin's arter she's gone to bed, 'n' wait 'n' listen with me. When she thinks I'm asleep, she'll go down the back stairs, I figger they're furtherest away from my room 'n' then you 'n' I'll come to the top o' the front ones 'n' listen. All I want is proof she's become a thief, 'n' that's the end o' her 'n' I." Then, without a word of reply to this shame- 212 THE CASTLE BUILDERS ful but probable supposition, Hazel wound her arms around her father's neck and kissed him. They were as one now in wish, spirit, and mutual humilia- tion. She kept hold of his hand, too, as they walked up the lane and found Martha on the porch await- ing them. " Whar you ben ? " she almost demanded as Uncle Asa came first up the steps. " I've ben worryin' 'bout what you said 'bout that money," he answered calmly, " 'n' took a walk to look 'round. I guess I'd best do ez you say, 'n' hide it in the fireplace. It's gittin' 'most bedtime, 'n' I'll do it now." And without more words he went in- side. Martha also followed him in, watched him put the bogus roll of money under the loose brick, re- turn the firedogs into place again, and pile the white birch wood upon them as before. And so another trap was set this time to catch one whose detection was to cost more in shame and humiliation than all the money meant to Uncle Asa. He locked the door as Hazel came in, drew a heavy settle in front of it, saw that the windows were fastened, went out and locked the two kitchen doors, then the three ascended the front stairs in THE CASTLE BUILDERS 213 Indian file and separated with the usual " Good- nights." An hour later, in loose wrapper and stockinged feet, Hazel tiptoed softly into her father's room, closed the door to a quarter-inch crack, and sat down beside it listening. This expected denouement or exposure meant more to her than to her father ! One hour, two hours, seemingly, passed to that listening, also keenly humiliated father and daughter, then Hazel's acute young ears caught the faint creak of an opened door, one, two, three les- ser ones from the back stairs, and then only the slow solemn " tick, tock " of the tall clock in the parlor below. And never afterwards in her life did she listen to that slow-beating monitor of time in the stilly night without recalling this crucial moment! Five minutes, each a seeming hour long, passed, then up from the parlor came a faint pat as the sticks of wood in the fireplace were taken out and laid down. Then Hazel arose and beckoned to her father, barely visible by the window. He shook his head, however, then motioned her to go out alone. Very gently now Hazel drew the door open, 214 THE CASTLE BUILDERS like a cat she crept to the carpeted front stairs, down them to the open parlor door, and there, barely outlined by the star light, she saw Martha kneeling in front of the fireplace! She next saw her lift the loose brick, seize the roll of money-covered paper, and begin the re- turning of the white birch sticks to place on the firedogs. Then Hazel, thus convinced that her hated step- mother was a thief, with every nerve in her body quivering from the horror of it and all it meant, crept back to her father's room, whispered, " I saw her take it," kissed him, and then, overcome by the strain of this tragedy, she sank to the floor at his feet sobbing. Up from the hall below and now sounding to Uncle Asa like " Nevermore nevermore never- more," came the slow, solemn clock beats. And so it was to his life with the now despicable Martha, for he never saw her again. SHE SAW MAKTHA KNEELING IN FRONT OF THE FIREPLACE. P