diff options
Diffstat (limited to '34254-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 34254-h/34254-h.htm | 1759 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34254-h/images/img-040.jpg | bin | 0 -> 53983 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34254-h/images/img-cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31883 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 34254-h/images/img-front.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48654 bytes |
4 files changed, 1759 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/34254-h/34254-h.htm b/34254-h/34254-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2fddaa --- /dev/null +++ b/34254-h/34254-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1759 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of A Chariot of Fire, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Chariot of Fire, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Chariot of Fire + +Author: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps + +Release Date: November 8, 2010 [EBook #34254] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHARIOT OF FIRE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="397" HEIGHT="633"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""I'VE GOT TO GET TO GLOUCESTER, SIR!"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="423" HEIGHT="683"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 423px"> +"I'VE GOT TO GET TO GLOUCESTER, SIR!" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +A CHARIOT OF FIRE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS +<BR> +NEW YORK AND LONDON +<BR> +MCMX +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1905, 1910, by HARPER & BROTHERS +<BR> +Published October, 1910. +<BR> +<I>Printed in the United States of America</I> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"I've Got to Get to Gloucester, Sir!" . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-040"> +The Flowers in the Front Yard were Knee-Deep in Snow +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>A CHARIOT OF FIRE</I> +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +When the White Mountain express to Boston stopped at Beverly, it slowed +op reluctantly, crashed off the baggage, and dashed on with the +nervousness of a train that is unmercifully and unpardonably late. +</P> + +<P> +It was a September night, and the channel of home-bound summer travel +was clogged and heaving. +</P> + +<P> +A middle-aged man—a plain fellow, who was one of the Beverly +passengers—stood for a moment staring at the tracks. The danger-light +from the rear of the onrushing train wavered before his eyes, and +looked like a splash of blood that was slowly wiped out by the night. +It was foggy, and the atmosphere clung like a sponge. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he muttered, "it's the other way. Batty's the other way." +</P> + +<P> +He turned, facing towards the branch road which carries the great +current of North Shore life. +</P> + +<P> +"How soon can I get to Gloucester?" he demanded of one who brushed +against him heavily. He who answered proved to be of the baggage +staff, and was at that moment skilfully combining a frown and a whistle +behind a towering truck; from this two trunks and a dress-suit case +threatened to tumble on a bull-terrier leashed to something invisible, +and yelping in the darkness behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord! This makes 'leven dogs, cats to burn, twenty-one +baby-carriages, and a guinea-pig travellin' over this blamed road since +yesterday—What's that? <I>Gloucester?</I>—6.45 to-morrow morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but look here!" cried the plain passenger, "that won't do. I have +got to get to Gloucester <I>to-night</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"So's this bull-terrier," groaned the baggage-handler. "He got +switched off without his folks—and I've got a pet lamb in the +baggage-room bleatin' at the corporation since dinner-time. Some +galoot forgot the crittur. There's a lost parrot settin' alongside +that swears in several foreign languages. I wish to Moses I could!" +</P> + +<P> +The passenger experienced the dull surprise of one in acute calamity +who wonders that another man can jest. He turned without remark, and +went to the waiting-room; he limped a little, for he was slightly lame. +The ticket-master was locking the door of the office, and looked sleepy +and fagged. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's the train to Gloucester?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't <I>gone</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone half an hour ago." +</P> + +<P> +The official pointed to the clock, on whose face an ominous expression +seemed to rest, and whose hands marked the hour of half-past twelve. +</P> + +<P> +"But I have got to get to Gloucester!" answered the White Mountain +passenger. "We had an accident. We're late. I ain't much used to +travellin'—I supposed they'd wait for us. I tell you I've got to get +there!" +</P> + +<P> +In his agitation he gripped the arm of the other, who threw the grasp +off instinctively. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have to walk, then. You can't get anything now till the +newspaper train." +</P> + +<P> +"God!" gasped the belated passenger. "I've got a little boy. He's +dying." +</P> + +<P> +"Sho!" said the ticket-master. "That's too bad. Can you afford a +team? You might try the stables. There's one or two around here." +</P> + +<P> +The ticket-master locked the doors of the station and walked away, but +did not go far. A humane uneasiness disturbed him, and he returned to +see if he could be of any use to the afflicted passenger. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll show you the way to the nearest," he began, kindly. +</P> + +<P> +But the man had gone. +</P> + +<P> +In the now dimly lighted town square he was, in fact, zigzagging about +alone, with the loping gait of a lame man in a feverish hurry. +</P> + +<P> +"There must be hosses," he muttered, "and places. Why, yes. Here's +one, first thing." +</P> + +<P> +Into the livery-stable he entered so heavily that he seemed to fall in. +His cheap straw hat was pushed back from his head; he was flushed, and +his eyes were too bright; his hair, which was red and coarse, lay +matted on his forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"I want a team," he began, on a high, sharp key. "I've got to get to +Gloucester. The train's gone." +</P> + +<P> +A sleepy groom, who scowled at him, turned on a suspicious heel. +"You're drunk. It's fourteen miles. It would cost you more'n you're +worth." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a little boy," repeated the lame man. "He's dying." +</P> + +<P> +The groom wheeled back. "That so? Why, that's a pity. I'd like to +'commodate you. See? I'm here alone—see? I darsen't go so far +without orders. Boss is home and abed." +</P> + +<P> +"He got hurt in an accident," pleaded the father. "I come from up to +Conway. I went to bury my uncle. They sent me a telegraph about my +little boy. I ain't drunk. They sent me the telegraph. I've got to +get home." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you sleep here along of me," suggested the groom, "but I +daresn't leave. I'm responsible to the boss. There's other places you +might get one. I'll show you. See? I'd try 'em all if I was you." +</P> + +<P> +But again the man was gone. +</P> + +<P> +By the time he had found another stable his manner had changed; he had +become deprecating, servile. He entreated, he trembled; he flung his +emergency at the feet of the watchman; he reiterated his phrase: +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a little boy, if you please. He's dying. I've got to get to +Gloucester—I live in Squam." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like to refuse you," protested the night-watchman, "but two of +my horses are lame, and one is plumb used up carrying summer folks. +I'm dreadful short. I haven't a team to my name I could put on the +road to Gloucester. It's—why, to Squam it's seventeen +miles—thirty-four the round trip. It would cost you—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll pay!" cried the lame man; "I'll pay. I ain't beggin'." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry I haven't got a horse," apologized the watchman. "It would +cost you ten dollars if I had. But I hain't." +</P> + +<P> +"Ten <I>doll</I>ars?" The traveller echoed the words stupidly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry; fact, I am," urged the watchman. "Won't you set 'n' rest a +spell?" +</P> + +<P> +But the visitor had vanished from the office. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Twenty minutes after, the door-bell of a home in the old residence +portion of the town rang violently and pealed through the sleeping +house. +</P> + +<P> +It was a comfortable, not a new-fashioned, house, sometimes leased to +summer citizens, and modernized in a measure for their convenience; one +of the few of its kind within reach of the station, and by no means +near. +</P> + +<P> +When the master of the family had turned on all the burglar electricity +and could get the screen up, he put his head out of the window, and so +perceived on his door-step a huddled figure with a white, uplifted face. +</P> + +<P> +A shaking voice came up: +</P> + +<P> +"Sir? Be you a gentleman?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," went down the quiet reply. "But I can't remember that I +was ever asked that question at this time of morning before." +</P> + +<P> +"Be you a Christian?" insisted the voice from below. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes—perhaps," went down the voice from above. +</P> + +<P> +The voice from below came up: "Sir! Sir! I'm in great trouble. For +the love of Christ, sir, come down, quick!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course," said the voice from above. +</P> + +<P> +The man stood quite still when the great bolts of the door shot through +their grooves. Against a background of electric brilliance he saw a +gentleman in pajamas and bathrobe, with slippers as soft as a lady's on +his white feet. The face of the gentleman was somewhat fixed and +guarded; his features were carefully cut, behind their heavy coat of +seaside tan. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "that was a pretty solemn adjuration. What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to get a team," stammered the figure on the steps. Suddenly, +somehow, his courage had begun to falter. He felt the enormity of his +intrusion. He came up against the mystery of social distinctions; his +great human emergency seemed to be distanced by the little thing men +call difference of class. +</P> + +<P> +"You want—to get—a team?" repeated the gentleman; he spoke slowly, +without irritation. "You have made a mistake. This is not a +livery-stable." +</P> + +<P> +"Livery-stable!" cried the intruder, with a swift and painful passion. +"I've tried three! Fust one hadn't any boss. Next one hadn't any +hoss. It was ten dollars if he had. Last one wanted 'leven dollars, +pay in advance. I've got four dollars 'n' sixteen cents in my pocket. +I've been up to Conway to bury my uncle. My folks sent me a telegraph. +My little boy—he's had an accident. My train was late. I've got to +get to Gloucester, sir. So I thought," added the traveller, simply, +"I'd ask one of the neighbors. Neighbors is most gener'lly kind. Up +our way they be. Sir—could you let me have a team to see my little +boy before—in case—he dies?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come inside a minute," replied the gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +The words, which had began shortly, ended softly. "Perfectly sober," +he thought. His fingers stole to the button of a bell as the stranger +stepped into the hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—I'll send you over. What's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dryver, sir. Jacob Dryver." +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you live?" +</P> + +<P> +"Squam." +</P> + +<P> +"Annisquam? That is several miles beyond Gloucester. Your trouble is +too swift for horses. I have rung for my chauffeur. I'll send you in +the automobile. Be so good as to step around to the stables, Mr. +Dryver. I'll join you outside." +</P> + +<P> +Now the voice of a sleepy child could be heard overhead; it seemed to +be trying to say "Popper! Popper!" A woman's figure drifted to the +top of the padded stairs. The intruder caught a gleam of delicate +white drapery floating with laces, closely gathered at the throat, and +held with one ringed hand—as if it had been hastily thrown on. The +door shut, and the bolts shot again. Jacob Dryver felt that he was at +once trusted and distrusted; he could not have said why he did not go +to the stables, but sat down on the broad granite steps. His knees +hung apart; his elbows dropped to them; his face fell into his hands. +</P> + +<P> +The child above continued to call: "Popper! Popper!" Then the little +voice trailed away. +</P> + +<P> +"It's smaller 'n Batty," Jacob said. +</P> + +<P> +When he lifted his head from his hands, up the curving avenue an +automobile was sweeping upon him. Its acetylene lanterns blazed like +the eyes of some prehistoric thing; but this simple fellow knew nothing +about prehistoric things. The lanterns reminded him of the living +creatures that Ezekiel saw. Such imagination as he had was Biblically +trained, and leaped from Ezekiel to Elijah easily. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a chariot of fire," thought Jacob Dryver, "comin' for to carry me +home." +</P> + +<P> +As he gathered himself and went to meet the miracle, a dark figure, +encased in rubber armor from foot to head, brought the carriage to a +swift and artistic stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you the shove-her?" asked Jacob, timidly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not the shove-her," replied the figure at the brake, "and I hope +I sha'n't have to be. I am Mr. Chester. My chauffeur is not at home, +I find. I shall drive you to Annisquam myself." +</P> + +<P> +"You're takin' some trouble, sir," said Jacob, slowly. His head +reeled. He felt that he was growing stupid under the whirlwind of +events. He went down the long steps like a lame blind man. As he did +so the bolts of the door behind him leaped back again, and the lady ran +down and slid into the automobile. The fog glittered on the laces of +her white woollen garment. Her husband thought of it as a negligée, +but Jacob called it a wrapper. She was a dainty lady, and fair to look +upon; her hair lay in long, bright braids upon her shoulders; she had +caught up an automobile coat and cap, which she flung across her arm. +Dryver heard her say: "I shall be—a little anxious. After all, you +know nothing about him. Mayn't I go?" +</P> + +<P> +"And leave Bert? I don't think I would, Mary. I've told James to sit +up and watch. Draw the big bolt on top, and keep the lights all on. +If I have good luck I shall be back in less than two hours. Good-bye, +Mary—dear." +</P> + +<P> +The last word lingered with the caressing accent which only long-tried +marriage love ever puts into it. The lips of the two met silently, +and, drooping, the lady melted away. Jacob Dryver found himself in the +automobile, speeding down the avenue to the silent street. He looked +back once at the house. Every pane of glass was blazing as if the +building were on fire. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find it colder than you expect," observed Mr. Chester. "I +brought along Thomas's coat. Put it on—and hold on. Never in one of +these before, were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"N-no, sir," chattered Jacob Dryver. "Thank you, sir. I n-never was." +</P> + +<P> +He clung to the side of the seat desperately. In fact, he was very +much frightened. But he would have gone under the heavy wheels before +he would have owned it. Spinning through the deserted Beverly streets +the automobile took what seemed to him a startling pace. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going slowly till we get out of town," remarked Mr. Chester. +"Once on the Manchester road I'll let her out a bit." +</P> + +<P> +Jacob made no reply. What had seemed to be fog drenched and drowned +him now like driving rain. There had been no wind, but now the powers +and principalities of the air were let loose. He gasped for breath, +which was driven down his throat. That made him think of Batty, whom, +for the moment, he had actually forgotten. When people died—they +could not— Had Batty—by this time—it was so long—should he find +that Batty— +</P> + +<P> +"What ails your boy?" asked the half-invisible figure from the depths +of its rubber armor. +</P> + +<P> +"I had a telegraph," said Jacob, monotonously. "I never was away from +home so far—I ain't used to travellin'. I supposed the train would +wait for the accident. The telegraph said he was hurt bad. I got it +just as the fun'ril was leavin' the house. I had to quit it, corpse +'n' all—for Batty. I ran all the way to the depot. I just got +aboard, and here I be becalmed all night—and there is Batty.—His name +is Batwing," added the father. "He was named after the uncle I went to +bury. But we call him Batty." +</P> + +<P> +"Any more children?" inquired Mr. Chester, in the cultivated, +compassionate voice which at once attracted and estranged the breaking +heart of Jacob Dryver. +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't only Batty, sir," he choked. +</P> + +<P> +The hand on the lever tightened; the throttle opened; the dark figure +in the rubber coat bent, and its muscles turned to iron. The +automobile began to rock and fly. It was now whirling out upon the +silent, sleeping road that goes by the great houses of the North Shore. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let her out a little," said Mr. Chester, quietly. "Don't worry. +We'll get there before you know it." +</P> + +<P> +The car took on a considerable pace. Jacob's best straw hat flew off, +but he did not mention it. His red hair stood endwise, all ways, on +his head; his eyes started; his hands gripped—one at the rail, one at +the knee of his companion. The wind raised by the motion of the car +became a gale and forced itself into his lungs. Jacob gasped: +</P> + +<P> +"It's—on account—of Batty." +</P> + +<P> +"I have a little boy of my own," observed Mr. Chester. Plainly +thinking to divert the attention of the anguished father, he continued: +"<I>He</I> had an accident this summer—he was hurt by a scythe; he slipped +away from his nurse. He was pretty badly hurt. I was away—I hurried +from Bar Harbor to get to him. I think I know how you feel." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you have a telegraph, sir?" asked Dryver, rousing to the throb of +the common human poise. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, there was a telegram. But I was a good while getting it. I +understand your position." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he ever get over it—your little boy? Oh, I see; that was him I +heard. 'Popper,' he says—'Popper.'" +</P> + +<P> +Above the whir of the automobile, above the chatter of the exhaust, +above the voice of the wind, the sound of a man's muffled groan came +distinctly to the ear that was fine enough to hear it. +</P> + +<P> +"Trust me," said Chester, gently. "I'll get you there. I'll get you +to your boy." +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman's face was almost as white now as Jacob Dryver's. The +fog glistened upon his mustache and made him look a gray-haired man, as +he emerged from gulfs of darkness and shot by widely scattered dim +street lamps. Both men had acquired something of the same +expression—the rude face and the finished one; both wore the solemn, +elemental look of fatherhood. +</P> + +<P> +The heart of one repeated piteously: "It's Batty." +</P> + +<P> +But the other thought: "What if it were Bert?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let her out a little more," repeated Chester. The car throbbed +and rocked to the words. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like my machine?" he added, in a comfortable voice. He +felt that the mercury of emotion had mounted too far. "Mrs. Chester +has named her," he proceeded. "We call her Aurora." +</P> + +<P> +"Hey?" +</P> + +<P> +"We've named the machine Aurora, I said." +</P> + +<P> +"'Roarer,' sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, that will do—'Roarer,' if you like. That isn't bad. It's +an improvement, perhaps. By-the-way, how did you happen on my place +to-night? There are a good many nearer the station; you had quite a +walk." +</P> + +<P> +"I see a little pair o' reins an' bells in the grass alongside—such as +little boys play horse with. We had one once for Batty, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ah</I>! Was that it? What's your business, Dryver? You haven't told +me. Do you fish?" +</P> + +<P> +"Winters, I make paving-stones. Summers, I raise vegetables," replied +Jacob Dryver. "I'm a kind of a quarry-farmer. My woman she plants +flowers for the summer folks, and Batty bunches 'em up and delivers +'em. Batty—he—God! My God! Mebbe there <I>ain't any Batty</I>—" +</P> + +<P> +The sentence broke. In truth, it would have been hard to find its +remnants in the sudden onset of sound made by the motion of the machine. +</P> + +<P> +The car was freed now to the limit of her mighty strength. She took +great leaps like those of a living heart that is overexcited. +Powerfully, perfectly, without let or hindrance, without flaw or +accident, the chariot of fire bounded through the night. A trail of +smoke like the tail of a comet followed her. The dark scenery of the +guarded shore flew by; Montserrat was behind; Prides' was gone; the +Farms blew past. +</P> + +<P> +They were now well out upon the beautiful, silent Manchester road, +where the woods, solemn at noonday, are sinister at dead of night. The +automobile, flying through them, encountered no answering sign of life. +Both men had ceased to speak. Awe fell upon them, as if in the +presence of more than natural things. Once it seemed to Dryver as if +he saw a boy running beside the machine—a little fellow, white, like a +spirit, and, like a spirit, silent. Chester's hands had stiffened to +the throttle; his face had the stern rigidity of those on whom life or +human souls absolutely depend. Neither man spoke now aloud. +</P> + +<P> +To himself Jacob Dryver repeated: "It's Batty! It's my Batty!" +</P> + +<P> +And Hurlburt Chester thought: "What if it were Bert?" +</P> + +<P> +Now the great arms of the sea began to open visibly before them. The +fog on their lips grew salter, and they seemed to have entered the Cave +of the Winds. Slender beach and sturdy headland slid by. West +Manchester, Manchester, Magnolia rushed past. In the Magnolia woods +they lost the sea again; but the bell-buoy called from Norman's Woe, +and they could hear the moan of the whistling-buoy off Eastern Point. +In the Cape Ann Light the fog bell was tolling. +</P> + +<P> +At the pace which the car was taking there was an element of danger in +the situation which Jacob Dryver could not measure, since he feared +safety ignorantly and met peril with composure. Chester reduced the +speed a little, and yet a little more, but pushed on steadily. Once +Jacob spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet your shove-her couldn't drive like you do," he said, proudly. +</P> + +<P> +Fresh Water Cove slipped by; Old Stage Fort was behind; the Aurora +bumped over the pavement of the Cut, and reeled through the rough and +narrow streets of Gloucester. He of Beverly was familiar with the +route, and asked no questions. The car, now tangled among electric +tracks, swung around the angle from Main Street carefully, jarred +across the railroad, and took the winding, dim road to Annisquam. +</P> + +<P> +Bay View flew behind—the bridge—the village—the pretty arcade known +as Squam Willows. The automobile dashed into it and out of it as if it +were a tunnel. Then Dryver gripped the other's arm and, without a +word, pointed. +</P> + +<P> +The car followed the guidance of his shaking finger, and, like a +conscious creature, swung to a startling stop. +</P> + +<P> +There were lights in the quarryman's cottage, and shadows stirred +against drawn shades. Jacob Dryver tumbled out and ran. He did not +speak, nor by a gesture thank his Beverly "neighbor." Chester slowly +unbuttoned his rubber coat and got at his watch. The Aurora had +covered the distance—in dark and fog, over seventeen miles—in +fifty-six minutes. Now, Jacob, dashing in, had left the door open, and +Chester, as he put his watch back into its pocket, heard that which +sent the blood driving through his arteries as the power had driven the +pumps of the car. The sound that he heard was the fretful moan of a +hurt child. +</P> + +<P> +As he had admitted, he was a Christian—sometimes; and he said, "Oh, +thank God!" with all his generous heart. Indeed, as he did so, he took +off his heavy cap and bared his head. +</P> + +<P> +Then he heard the sobbing of a shaken man close beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sir! Oh, sir! The God of Everlastin' bless you, sir. Won't you come +and look at him?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Batty lay quietly; he had put his little fingers in his father's hand; +he did not notice the stranger. The boy's mother, painfully poised on +one elbow in the position that mothers take when they watch sick +children, lay upon the other side of the bed. She was a large woman, +with a plain, good face. She had on a polka-dotted, blue cotton +wrapper which nobody called a negligée. Her mute, maternal eyes went +to the face of the visitor and reverted to the child. +</P> + +<P> +There was a physician in the room—a very young, to the trained eye an +inexperienced, man; in fact, the medical situation was unpromising and +complicated. It took Chester but a few moments to gauge it, and to +perceive that his mission to this afflicted household had not ended +with a lost night's sleep and an automobile record. +</P> + +<P> +The local doctor, it seemed, was away from home when Batty's accident +befell; the Gloucester surgeon was ill; some one had proposed the +hospital, but the mother had the prejudices of her class. A neighbor +had suggested this young man—a new-comer to the town—one of the +flotsam practitioners who drift and disappear. Recommended upon the +ground that he had successfully prescribed headache pills to a Swedish +cook, this stranger had received into his unskilled hands the emergency +of a dangerously wounded lad. The accident, in fact, was more serious +than Chester had supposed. He had now been told that the child was +crushed by an automobile racing through Annisquam Willows the day +before. +</P> + +<P> +The boy, it was plain, was sorely hurt, and ignorant suffering lay at +the mercy of ignorant treatment, in the hopeless and helpless +subjection to medical etiquette which costs so many lives. +</P> + +<P> +"Dryver," said Chester, quietly, "you need a surgeon here at once. +Your physician is quite willing to consult with any one you may call." +He shot one stern glance at the young doctor, who quavered a frightened +assent. "I know a distinguished surgeon—he is a friend of mine; it +was he who saved my boy in that accident I told you of, this summer. +He is not far away; he is at a hotel on Eastern Point. I can have him +here in twenty—well, say twenty-five minutes. Of course, we must wait +for him to dress." +</P> + +<P> +The woman raised her head and stared upon the gentleman. One swift, +brilliant gleam shot from her heavy eyes. She had read of angels in +the Bible. She had noticed, indeed, that they were men angels. But +she had never heard of one in a rubber touring-coat, drenched from head +to foot with fog, spattered from foot to head with mud, and with a +wedding-ring upon his fine hand. +</P> + +<P> +Jacob Dryver began: "Sir! The God of Everlastin'—" but he sobbed so +that he could not finish what he would have said. So Chester went out +and oiled the Aurora, opened the throttle, and started off again, and +dashed through the rude streets of Gloucester to her summer shore. +</P> + +<P> +Dawn was rose-gray over Eastern Point, and the tide had turned upon the +harbor, when the "Roarer" curved up quietly to the piazza of the hotel. +</P> + +<P> +It was rose-gray upon Annisquam, and the tide was rising up the river, +when the great surgeon went into the little place where the lad lay +fighting for his mangled life. There had been some delay in rousing +the sleeper—it was a trip of six rough miles twice taken—and it was +thirty-five minutes before his "merciless merciful" hands went to work +upon the mortal need of the boy. +</P> + +<P> +The child had been crushed across the hips and body, and only an +experienced or only an eminent skill could have saved the little fellow. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the blossoming day Jacob Dryver limped out and stood in the front +yard among his wife's flowers that Batty "bunched up" and sold to +summer people. He could not perceive the scent of the flowers—only +that of the ether. His big boot caught in a sweet-pea vine and tore +it. One of the famous carmine dahlias of Cape Ann seemed to turn its +large face and gaze at him. +</P> + +<P> +An old neighbor—a cross-eyed lobsterer, going to his traps—came by, +cast a shrewd look, and asked how the boy was. Jacob did not reply to +the lobsterer; he lifted his wet eyes to the sky, then they fell to a +bed of blazing nasturtiums, which seemed to smoke before them. His +lips tried to form the words which close like a strangling hand upon +the throat of the poor in all the emergencies of life. Till he has +answered this question a poor man may not love a woman or rear a child; +he may not bury his dead or save his living. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What will it cost?</I>" asked Jacob Dryver. He looked piteously at the +great surgeon, whose lips parted to speak. But Hurlburt Chester raised +an imperious hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That," he said, "is my affair." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was broad, bright day when the Aurora came whirring home. Chester +nodded to his wife at the window, but went directly to the stables. It +was a little longer than she expected before he returned. She waited +at the head of the stairs, then hurried half-way down to meet him. Her +white robe was ungirdled and flowing; it fell apart—the laces above +from the laces below—and the tired man's kiss fell upon her soft +throat. +</P> + +<P> +She was naturally a worrier in a sweet-natured way, but he had always +been patient with her little weakness; some men are, with anxious women. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he smiled, but rather feebly; "you've missed it again. The boy +is saved. St. Clair's got hold of him. I'll talk presently, Mary—not +just now." +</P> + +<P> +In fact, he would say no more till he had bathed and taken food. He +looked so exhausted that she brought his breakfast to his bed, serving +it with her own hands, and asking no questions at all; for, although +she worried, she was wise. She sent for the baby, too—a big baby, +three years old—and Chester enfolded the chin of the child in his +slender brown hand silently. +</P> + +<P> +Then he said: "Lock the door, Mary. I've something to tell you." +</P> + +<P> +When she had drawn the brass bolt and returned, somewhat pale herself +with wonder and alarm, to the side of the bed, her husband spoke +abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"Mary, you've got to know it—may as well have it over. I found this +pinned on the stable wall. It was the Aurora that ran over +the—that—that poor little fellow." +</P> + +<P> +His hand shook as he laid the piece of paper in her own. And while she +read it he covered his face; for he was greatly over-worn, and the +strain which he had undergone seemed now to have leaped again with the +spring of a creature that one supposes one has left lifeless behind. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Chester read the writing and laid it down. It ran like this: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MR. CHESTER: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter" STYLE="text-indent: 4%"> +Sir,—Ime goin away while I can. It was me run over that boy while you +was in town. I took Her out for a spin. I let Her out some racin with +another one in the Willows an he got under Her someways. I see it in +the papers so I was afraid of manslorter. Ime awful cut up about it so +Ime goin to lite out while I can. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Your obedient servant,<BR> + THOMAS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The eyes of the husband and wife met silently. She was the first to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Do they know?" +</P> + +<P> +Chester shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll tell them, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't made up my mind." +</P> + +<P> +The baby was jabbering loudly on the bed—he was very noisy; it was not +easy for her to hear what was said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure you ought to tell them!" she cried, passionately. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so. But I'd like to think it over." +</P> + +<P> +A subtle terror slid over her face. "What can they do to you? I don't +know about such things. Is there any—law?" +</P> + +<P> +"Laws enough—laws in plenty. But I'm not answerable for the crimes of +my chauffeur. It's only a question of damages." +</P> + +<P> +The wife of the rich man drew a long breath. "Oh, if it's nothing but +<I>money</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that it would make any difference if they <I>could</I> touch me," he +continued, with a proud motion of his tired head. "It's purely a +question of feeling—it's a question of right within a right, Mary. +It's to do what is really kind by these people— Why, Mary, if you +could have seen it! From beginning to end it was the most beautiful, +the most wonderful thing. Nothing of the kind ever happened to me +before. Mary, if an angel from the throne of God had done it—they +couldn't have felt—they couldn't have treated me—it was enough to +make a fellow a better man the rest of his days. Why, it was worth +<I>living</I> for, I tell you! ... And now to let them know..." +</P> + +<P> +Hurlburt Chester was very tired, as we say. He choked, and hid his +pale face in his pillow. And his wife laid hers beside it and +cried—as women do—without pretending that she didn't. But the baby +laughed aloud. And then there drove through the father's mind the +repeated phrase which followed the race of the "Roarer" all the way +from Beverly to Annisquam: +</P> + +<P> +"What if it were Bert?" +</P> + +<P> +Chester's head whirled yet from the fatigue and jar of the trip, and +the words seemed to take leaps through his brain as the car leaped when +she was at the top of her great speed. So he kissed the child, and +dashed a drop from his cheek quite openly—since only Mary saw. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A constraint unusual to their candid relations breathed like a fog +between the husband and the wife; indeed, it did not lift altogether as +the autumn opened and closed. +</P> + +<P> +Chester's visits to Annisquam (in which she once or twice accompanied +him) were many and merciful; and the distinguished surgeon took the +responsibility of the case till the boy was quite convalescent. The +lad recovered slowly, but St. Clair promised that the cure would be +complete. +</P> + +<P> +The touching gratitude of Jacob Dryver amounted to an idealization such +as the comfortable, undramatic life of Chester had never experienced. +He seemed to swim in it as an imaginative person dreams of swimming in +the air, tree-high above the heads of the crowd on the earth. The +situation had become to him a fine intoxicant—but it had its +reactions, as intoxicants must. +</P> + +<P> +September and October burned to ashes upon the North Shore. Fire of +maple, flash of sumac, torch of elder, flare of ivy, faded into brown +November, and the breakers off the Beverly coast took on the greens and +blues of north-wind weather below the line of silver surf. +</P> + +<P> +The Chesters closed "their own hired house" and moved to town. The +Aurora remained in her stable, nor had she left it since the morning +when she came wearily back from Annisquam. +</P> + +<P> +His wife had noticed, but had not seemed to notice, that Chester rode +no more that fall. She noted too, but did not seem to note, that he +continued his visits to the injured lad after they had returned to the +city. +</P> + +<P> +On all the great holidays he made a point of going down—Thanksgiving, +Christmas, and New-Year's Day. Mrs. Chester had wished to duplicate +for the quarryman's boy the Christmas gifts of her own child (such had +been her pretty fancy), but Batty was quite a lad—ten years old; and +Bert, like a spoiled collie, was yet a baby, and likely to remain so +for some time to come. So the mother contented herself, perforce, with +less intimate remembrances. Once, when she had packed a box of +miracles—toys and books, clothes and candy—she thrust it from her +with a cry: "They would never touch these—if they knew! Hurlburt! +Hurlburt! don't you think they ought to know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do what you think best, Mary," he said, wearily. "I have never been +able to decide that question. But you are free to do so if you prefer." +</P> + +<P> +He regarded her with an expression that went to her heart. She flung +herself into his arms and tried to kiss it away. +</P> + +<P> +Now, Mary Chester, as we have said, was a worrier, and the worrier +never lets a subject go. As the winter set in, her mind closed about +the matter which had troubled her, and it began to become unbearable, +like a foreign substance in the flesh. +</P> + +<P> +On a January afternoon—it was one of those dark days when souls cloud +over—she flung on her furs, and leaving a pencilled line to her +husband saying what she had done, she took the train to Gloucester, and +a dreary electric-car to Annisquam. +</P> + +<P> +The flowers in the front yard were knee-deep in snow, and Batty sat in +the window busy with a Sorrento wood-saw of her providing. He laughed +outright when he saw her, and his mother flung open the door as if she +had flung open her heart. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-040"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-040.jpg" ALT="THE FLOWERS IN THE FRONT YARD WERE KNEE-DEEP IN SNOW" BORDER="2" WIDTH="417" HEIGHT="679"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 417px"> +THE FLOWERS IN THE FRONT YARD WERE KNEE-DEEP IN SNOW +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Land!" she cried. "In all this snow!" +</P> + +<P> +She finished tying a fresh white apron over her polka-dotted blue +wrapper, and joyously led the lady in. +</P> + +<P> +Batty was a freckled little fellow, with red hair like his father's; he +had the pretty imperiousness of a sick and only child who has by all +the sorceries contrived to escape petulance. When he had greeted the +visitor, he ran back to his jig-saw. He was carving camwood, which +stained his fingers crimson. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to see you—alone," began Mrs. Chester, nervously. It had been +one of Chester's pleasures to warm the entire house for the +convalescent lad, and big coal fires were purring in Batty's bedroom +and in the ten-foot "parlor," whither his mother conducted her guest. +The doors were left open. The scent of the camwood came across, +pungent and sickening. The fret of the jig-saw went on steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"He's makin' a paper-cutter—for Mr. Chester," observed Batty's mother. +"He made a watch-case last week—for Mr. Chester." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Chester paled, and she plunged at once: +</P> + +<P> +"There's something I've come to tell—I've <I>got</I> to tell you. We can't +keep it to ourselves any longer. I have come to tell you how it +happened—that Batty— We thought you'd rather not know—" +</P> + +<P> +"Lord! my dear," said the quarryman's wife, "we've known it all the +while." +</P> + +<P> +The visitor's head swam. She laid it down upon her gloved hands on +Mrs. Dryver's centre-table. This had a marble top, and felt as the +quarries look in winter on Cape Ann. What were tears that they should +warm it? The sound of the jig-saw grew uneven and stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said the boy's mother. "<I>Batty</I> don't know; he's the only one +that don't." +</P> + +<P> +She tiptoed and shut the doors. +</P> + +<P> +"You never seen Peter Trawl, did you? He's a +neighbor—cross-eyed—sells lobsters—well, it was him picked Batty up +to the Willows that day. So he seen the number runnin' away, an' so he +told. We've known it from fust to last, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +"And never spoke!" said Mary Chester. "And never spoke!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's the use of jabberin'?" asked Batty's mother. "We thought Mr. +Chester 'd feel so bad," she added. "We thought he didn't know." +</P> + +<P> +The worrier began to laugh, then cry—first this, then that; for her +nerves gave way beneath her. She sat humbly in her rich furs before +the quarryman's wife. She felt that these plain people had outdone her +in nobility, as they had rivalled her in delicacy—her, and Hurlburt, +too. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come and see my baby!" she cried. It was the only thing that +occurred to her to say. +</P> + +<P> +Now at that moment Batty gave a little yelp of ecstasy, threw down his +jig-saw, and got to the front door. His father was there, stamping off +the snow, and the lad's idol, his ideal, his man angel, stood upon the +threshold—nervous, for an angel, and with an anxious look. +</P> + +<P> +But when the two men saw the women crying together upon the quarry-cold +centre-table, they clasped hands and said nothing at all. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Chariot of Fire, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHARIOT OF FIRE *** + +***** This file should be named 34254-h.htm or 34254-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/5/34254/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + diff --git a/34254-h/images/img-040.jpg b/34254-h/images/img-040.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e97ae44 --- /dev/null +++ b/34254-h/images/img-040.jpg diff --git a/34254-h/images/img-cover.jpg b/34254-h/images/img-cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..023af76 --- /dev/null +++ b/34254-h/images/img-cover.jpg diff --git a/34254-h/images/img-front.jpg b/34254-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae0dc1f --- /dev/null +++ b/34254-h/images/img-front.jpg |
