Purchase one of 1st World Librarys Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - "Your father is a little late to-night, isnt he Jack?" "Yes, Mrs. Watson, he should have been here a half-hour ago, and he would, too, if he had ridden Sunger instead of his own horse." "You think a lot of that pony of yours, dont you, Jack?" and a motherly-looking woman came to the doorway of a small cottage and peered up the mountain trail, which ran in front of the building. Out on the trail itself stood a tall,...

Bob! Bob! called a woman in loud tones, as she came to the kitchen door, her arms, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, covered with flour. "Bob, I want you to go to the store for me. I need some more lard for this pie-crust." There was no answer, and the woman looked across the big yard at one side of the cottage. "Where can that boy be?" Mrs. Henderson murmured. "I saw him here a little while ago. He's never around when I want him. I shouldn't be surprised but what he was planning some joke. Oh, dear! I wish he was more steady, and wasn't always up to some mischief. Still, he's a good...

Hi! Yi! Yip! "Woo-o-o-o! Wah! Zut!" "Here we come!" What was coming seemed to be a thunderous cloud of dust, from the midst of which came strange, shrill sounds, punc-tuated with sharp cries, that did not appear to be altogether human. The dust-cloud grew thicker, the thunder sounded louder, and the yells were shriller. From one of a group of dull, red buildings a sun-bronzed man stepped forth. He shaded his eyes with a brown, powerful hand, gazed for an instant toward the approaching cloud of animated and vociferous dust and, turning to a smiling Chinese who stood near, with a pot in his...

Get out of my way, Dick Morrison! The boy who had been trudging along the narrow road looked up in surprise at hearing himself spoken to so suddenly, though he recognized the domineering voice even before catching sight of the speaker. "You already have half of the road, Ferd Graylock; to give you more I'd have to back down in the ditch, and I don't care to do that," he replied, standing perfectly still and watching with some amusement the zigzag movements of the other, now close upon him. Ferd was mounted on a new motor-cycle, purchased with savings out of his pocket money, and with which...

Where did you get that stickpin, Frank? "Bought it at Mace's jewelry store." "You are getting extravagant." "I hardly think so, aunt, and I don't believe you would think so, either, if you knew all the circumstances." "Circumstances do not alter cases when a boy is a spendthrift." "I won't argue with you, aunt. You have your ideas and I have mine. Of course, I bought the stickpin, but it was with money I had earned." The aunt sniffed in a vague way. The boy left the house, looking irritated and unhappy. Frank Jordan lived in the little town of Tipton with his aunt, Miss Tabitha Brown. His...

Fire! Fire! Turn out, everybody! Fire! Fire! This cry, coming like a clarion call, at midnight, awoke the inhabitants of the peaceful little New England village of Lakeville. "Fire! Fire!" Heads were thrust out of hastily-raised windows. Men and women looked up and down the street, and then glanced around to detect the reddening in the sky that would indicate where the blaze was. Timid women began sniffing suspicio-usly, to learn if it was their own homes which, unsuspectingly, had become ignited. "Fire! Fire! Stimson's barn is burning! Fire! Fire!" A man ran down the principal village...

Hey, boy! Whats your name? "Bob Chester." "Where are you going with that basket of groceries?" "To deliver an order to one of my guardians customers." "Are you honest?" "I hope so, sir," replied Bob, his face expressing surprise that his probity should be questioned. The man who had hailed Bob Chester appeared to be about twenty-five years old, and his clothes were well-fitting, giving him the air of a man of means. With him were two other men; one of whom, several years older, was also well dressed. The third member of the group was entirely different from the others....