diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36726.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36726.txt | 3205 |
1 files changed, 3205 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36726.txt b/36726.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b536595 --- /dev/null +++ b/36726.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3205 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of America First, by Frances Nimmo Greene + +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: America First + +Author: Frances Nimmo Greene + +Illustrator: T. de Thulstrup + +Release Date: July 14, 2011 [EBook #36726] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICA FIRST *** + + + + +Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Archives and Special +Collections, University Libraries, Ball State University +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + AMERICA FIRST + +[Illustration: "I wouldn't go when you dared me to," said the +tenderfoot, "but this is--different." And he added in his heart: "This +is for _my country_." [_Page 23._]] + + + + + AMERICA FIRST + + BY + FRANCES NIMMO GREENE + + ILLUSTRATED BY + T. DE THULSTRUP + + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON + + COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + TO MY MOTHER'S NAMESAKE + AND MY OWN + VIRGINIA OWEN GREENE AND + FRANCES NIMMO GREENE + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + CALLED TO THE COLORS 1 + + UNDER THE FLAG 53 + + AMERICA FIRST 89 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + "I wouldn't go when you dared me to," said the tenderfoot, + "but this is--different." And he added + in his heart: "This is for _my country_" _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + + A man was sitting over some sort of instrument 36 + + "You can't touch Rudolph!" she cried. "He's under + the flag!" 86 + + "Riego Yanez," he said, "I am proud to shake hands + with an American hero!" 120 + + + + +CALLED TO THE COLORS + + +This is the story of a "tenderfoot"--of a pink-cheeked, petted lad, +and of his first service as a Boy Scout. + +Danny Harding was what his mother's friends termed "wonderfully +fortunate," but Danny himself took quite another view of his life's +circumstances as he hurried home from school one afternoon, an hour +before the regular time for dismissal. + +The day was golden with sunshine, but the boy's spirit was dark. There +was singing in the air and singing in the tree tops, but in the heart +which pounded against his immaculate jacket were silent rage and +despair. + +The Whippoorwill Patrol had been called to the colors, and he the +untried, the untested tenderfoot would have to remain at home in +luxurious security, while the huskier, browner, less-sheltered lads +answered their country's call. It was beyond the power of a boy's +heart to endure--the mortification--the wild despair of it! They would +call him a slacker, a _coward_! But, worse still, his country needed +him, and he could not answer! + +Danny brushed away the tears which threatened to blind him, and +stumbled on. + +The call had come through a telegram from the Scout Master to the boys +while they were yet at school, and the teacher had promptly dismissed +them to service. The Whippoorwills were to leave immediately upon an +expedition to the mountains, but just what duty they were called to +perform was not stated in the brief message. All they knew was that +they were to leave at once for a certain distant mountain-top, there +pitch tents and await orders for serious service. + +On receipt of the news the other boys had rushed off noisily with +eager joy to don their khaki uniforms and make ready, but Danny had +slipped down a by-street--a wounded, a hurt thing, trying to hide his +anguish away from mortal sight. He would not be allowed to go--he +knew it--for he was the only son of a widowed mother who loved him all +too well. He was her all, her idol, and her days had been spent in +pampering and shielding him. + +Only a week before, the scouts had gone on a hike together and she had +refused absolutely to allow Danny to accompany them--the sun would be +too hot, he might get poisoned with wild ivy, he would be sure to +imbibe fever germs from the mountain spring! + +No, thought the miserable boy, she would be doubly fearful, doubly +unwilling, now that the Whippoorwills were to do serious scout duty on +Death Head Mountain. + +Danny's soul raged against his soft fate as he stumbled up the side +steps of his handsome home and entered his mother's presence. + +He did not fly to her arms as he was wont to do, but, instead, flung +himself into the first convenient chair with a frown. He could not +trust himself to speak. + +But even in that moment of stress Danny realized that his mother had +not hurried to him for the usual kiss. She was struggling with some +sort of bundle, and she only looked up with a quick smile. + +The next instant, however, the smile of welcome died out of her face, +and she stopped suddenly and regarded him with a startled question in +her eyes. + +Danny frowned more darkly, and moved uneasily under her searching +gaze. He looked away in a vain attempt to hide the tears which had +sprung to his eyes. + +And then came the unexpected: + +"Danny," said his mother, in a voice that sounded new to him, "I +received a long-distance phone message from the Scout Master, and--he +said he had wired to the school----" + +She paused a moment, and then asked: "Didn't you get the message?" + +"Yes," said the boy doggedly. + +There was a pause, and then his mother deliberately put down the +bundle she had been working with, and approached. She came and stood +before him, with her back to the table as if for support. Danny did +not look up into her face, though he saw her white, jewelled hands +grasping the edge of the table, and they were strained and tense. + +"My son," she said, "what is the matter with you?" + +He was too full to answer. + +"Danny," she began again presently and in that new voice, "you won't +_do_ this way--you _will not_!" And then suddenly a white, jewelled +hand was struck fiercely upon the table, and the new voice exclaimed +passionately: + +"Daniel Harding, if you sit around and cry like a baby when you are +called to the service of your country, I'll--I'll _disown_ you, sir!" + +"Mother!" And Danny sprang to her arms. + +There were a few moments of sobbing, laughing confession from Danny, +and then his mother explained to him her unexpected change of attitude +toward scouting. Danger?--yes, of course she knew that this might +involve danger to him, but this call was for no frolic--it was to the +service of his country! He _was_ her all, everything in the world to +her, but the one thing which she could not, would not bear would be to +see him turn "slacker" and coward when other mothers' boys--not ten +years older than Danny--were already on the firing-line in France! + +"Our part in this war is the old fight of '76, Danny"--she said to +him--"_nothing less than that_! The Colonists fought to win +independence for America. We are fighting now to save that +independence won. And if it takes every man in America--every boy in +America--if it takes _you_, Danny--there is just one answer for an +American to give." + +And then the two of them hurriedly finished tying up the bundle she +had put aside. It was his kit for the expedition! + +It was a newer, bigger ideal of patriotism which Danny Harding took +with him into his service on Death Head Mountain. His mother, who +loved him all too well, had yet sent him from her with nothing short +of her positive orders to do his duty like a man. + + * * * * * + +The Whippoorwill Patrol had answered the call to service, and the +growing dusk found its members arranging their camp for a night's +bivouac in a lonely stretch of woods "somewhere" on the crest of the +Blue Ridge Mountains. + +The Scout Master had not come, but his orders had, and the +Whippoorwills were busily engaged in executing them. + +"Camp in Mica Cove, conceal your fires, and wait for me," the Scout +Master had telegraphed. "You are called to service." + +So here they were in Mica Cove, hardily preparing for whatever service +to their country it might be theirs to perform, and excitedly guessing +at what ominous circumstance had necessitated their sudden calling out. + +Of course, everybody knew that old "Death Head" must have come into +some added evil repute, and would have to be taken in hand. And that +they would shortly be scouting over all its lonely trails nobody had +any doubt whatever. + +There were eight of them, for the whole patrol was present. Youngest +and happiest of them all was the pink-cheeked, petted tenderfoot, +Danny Harding. He was no "slacker," no "coward"! He was here with the +others to play a manly part in serving his country, and his mother had +sent him from her with a smile! + +Besides Danny, there were in the ranks L. C. Whitman, nicknamed "Elsie," +Ham and Roger Gayle, Alex Batre, Ed Rowell, and Biddie Burton--as husky +and jolly a bunch as could well be got together. All these were older +than Danny, and, as all were more or less seasoned to scouting, they +were quite disposed to have their fun out of the new recruit. + +Danny took their teasing in good spirit, however, for he felt that it +was part of his initiation into their envied circle. They were big +boys--brown like the woods of which they had become a part, +panther-footed, eagle-eyed, efficient. Danny felt that he would be +willing to suffer much to become as they. + +The tenderfoot watched them all to see just how a scout was supposed +to act, but it was to Willard McKenzie, the resourceful leader of the +patrol, that his eyes turned oftenest in frank admiration. + +McKenzie was the oldest of the bunch--quite seventeen--and five years +of scouting had stamped him a man as Nature meant him to be. He knew +and could answer every bird-call, could follow a wood-trail +unerringly, could find himself in any emergency by the chart of the +stars above him. He was the trusted friend of every wild thing about +him, and brother to every wind that blew. The tenderfoot watched the +graceful movements of the leader's Indianlike figure, studied his +genius for quiet command, and decided promptly to be, one day, a +second Willard McKenzie. + +In obedience to McKenzie's orders, the boys built their camp-fire +within the cove, where it would be hidden on three sides by peaks +which towered above, and on the fourth by a dense thicket. + +Mr. Gordon, the Scout Master, had not come, nor did they know when to +expect him. But they knew enough to obey their leader, and this they +were proceeding to do. + +It was a simple matter--getting the camp ready--and the boys +thoroughly enjoyed it. As they were to sleep on the ground, rolled in +their blankets, they had merely to clear the space about them of +underbrush and fallen timber, and build the fire for cooking. + +Of course they talked of war as they worked, for they were scouts in +khaki, preparing for action. + +Ed Rowell claimed for cousin one of the American engineers who fought +their way out of German captivity with their bare fists. Batre's older +brother was right then cleaving his winged way through clouds of +battle in the service of the La Fayette Escadrille. Whitman knew a man +who knew a man who was in the 167th Infantry Regiment when it made +with others that now historic march, knee-deep in French snows. + +Danny said nothing, for he was a quiet, thoughtful lad. But he had +vividly in mind a handsome fellow of only eighteen who, until +America's declaration of war, had Sunday after Sunday carried the +golden cross up the aisle of the little Church of the Holy Innocents +to "Onward, Christian Soldiers." Danny had heard his mother say that +it was that song which had sent the young crucifer bearing the Red +Cross of Mercy right up to the German guns. + +But their talk was not all serious. They were brimming over with life, +and they laughed and scrapped and worked together with a zest which +made even bramble-cutting enjoyable. + +It was when the big fire was glowing red and they set about preparing +their evening meal that the best part of the fun began. Whoever has +not broiled great slices of bacon or toasted cold biscuits on +sharpened sticks before a cheery camp-fire, who has not roasted sweet +potatoes and green corn in glowing ashes, who has not inhaled the +aroma from an old tin coffee-pot, spitting and sputtering on a hot +rock, should join the Boy Scouts and hike back to the heart of nature. + +Oh, but it was fun! All except the holding in check of savage +appetites till the mess should be cooked. Ed Rowell had been detailed +to toast the biscuits, and repeatedly threatened to "eat 'em alive" if +they didn't brown faster. + +Danny, who, with Alex Batre, had been directed to broil the bacon, +couldn't for the life of him keep from pinching off a crisp edge now +and then to nibble. And yet only yesterday Danny Harding would have +turned up his nose at bacon. The stimulating fresh air and the hard +work of camp life had begun to get in their good work on him. + +On the other side of the fire from Danny, Ham and Roger Gayle were +roasting corn and sweet potatoes in the ashes, and a little beyond, +Elsie Whitman was filling the water-cans from a trickling mountain +spring--while Biddie Burton was busily engaged in getting under +everybody else's feet and teasing whomever he could. + +McKenzie, their leader, was momentarily absent, having gone down to +the road below the cliff on which they were encamped to see if their +fire could be sighted from that point through the screening thicket. + +The boys had from the first been instructed by McKenzie to keep their +voices lowered. They were there for serious service, he had told them. +And the necessity for stealth and the promise of adventure had for a +time keyed them up to the highest pitch of excitement. + +But when the interest of cooking supper became uppermost--especially +when the scent of the bacon and coffee began to fill the air--thoughts +of adventure withdrew a little to a distance and whispered merriment +became the order of the hour. + +As was natural, they turned on the tenderfoot their battery of +teasing, and the tenderfoot bore it as best he could. + +"Its mother washes 'em," averred Biddie Burton, coming up behind Danny +and carefully examining his ears as he knelt at his work. + +"Sure she does," laughed Ham across the fire, "and they say that a sore +tooth in its little mouth aches everybody in the family connection." + +"Look out there, something's burning!" broke in Ed Rowell suddenly. +And the next moment Ham and Roger were busy rescuing from the fire the +scorching potatoes. + +"I declare," scolded Biddie, lounging up, "I could beat you fellows +cooking, with both hands tied behind me." + +"Why haven't you ever done it, then?" snapped the elder Gayle, sore +over his partial failure. + +"Why, nobody has ever tied my hands behind me," came in seemingly hurt +explanation from Biddie, and the crowd laughed. + +McKenzie had directed them not to wait for him, and they did not. +Another five minutes found them eating like young wolves around a +languishing fire. + +Later, when the fire winked lower, and the meal was finished--when the +screech-owls began to send their blood-chilling, shivering screams +through the forest--they drew closer together and began to talk of +weird and haunting things. + +"Over yonder, on the real 'Death Head,'" began Roger, bringing the +interest down to the spot, "is the haunted tree where----" + +"Look out," broke in young Rowell, "a little more of that and friend +Danny over here will cut for home and mother." + +"I'll do nothing of the kind; I'm not a baby!" exclaimed Danny +indignantly. But all the same, his heart was already in his mouth, for +Danny had never been distinguished for signal bravery. + +"No, you are not 'a baby,'" put in the unquenchable Biddie, "but +before we get out of these woods you are going to wish you _were_ a +baby, and a _girl_ baby at that!" + +Danny did not reply to this. He only sat very still, wishing that +Willard McKenzie would return from his prolonged trip, and thinking +of the mother who was looking to him to play the man. + +The scene lost its glow. The surrounding forest grew darker, taller, +and began stealing up closer about them. + +"If you cry like a baby--!" Danny's mother was whispering to his +sinking heart. + +The others had fallen into an argument about the exact location of the +haunted tree, but presently Ed Rowell asked impatiently: + +"Well, what is it about the place, anyway?" + +"Haunted!" exclaimed Ham. "A murderer, hunted with dogs through the +mountains, hanged himself on----" + +"And the old tree died in the night," assisted his brother. "And it +stands there now, naked and stark and dead. At night----" + +Danny's heart stood still to hear. + +"At night," broke in Whitman, "if you creep up close, you can see the +dead man swinging in the wind!" + +"_Listen!_" exclaimed Biddie under his breath. + +It will have to be recorded that they all jumped violently at the +exclamation. + +"What?" demanded L. C. + +"And hear old Danny being quiet!" finished the teasing scamp. + +"You bet you, and he'd better be quiet--" began Roger. + +But Whitman interrupted: + +"Danny's afraid of ghosts, anyway," he declared, "I tried to leave him +in the graveyard once, but he was home in his mama's lap before I +started running." + +"I'm not any more afraid of ghosts than you are," Danny protested hotly. + +"Oh, _aren't_ you?" + +"No, I'm not!" + +"All right, then," the big boy taunted; "I've been to the haunted tree +by myself at night--these fellows all know I have--now suppose _you_ go." + +"Sure, tenderfoot," put in young Rowell; "here's a perfectly good +chance to show your nerve." + +"He hasn't any," sneered Alex Batre. + +But Danny drew back, aghast at the proposition--go alone to a spot +like that, and at night! + +"Go to it, kid," was suddenly spoken quietly in his ear. + +Danny turned to see whose was the kindly voice that advised, and +looked into Biddie Burton's eyes. + +"Don't let 'em make you take a dare," came in another whisper. "_Go._" +Biddie was not smiling now, and there was a note of serious +friendliness in his voice. + +It suddenly came to Danny that he would give more to merit that new +confidence on Biddie's part than to break down the taunts of the others. +And yet he could not. He could no more command his shaking nerves to +carry him to that unhallowed, ghostly spot than he could command the +unwilling nerves of another. His will-power had deserted him. + +"I _dare_ you to go!" badgered L. C. + +Danny's spirit flamed for one brief moment. But in the very next his +head dropped, and he turned away. + +"This is going too far," the wretched little fellow heard Biddie +Burton exclaim sharply. + +"What is 'going too far'?" a new voice asked out of the darkness, and +Willard McKenzie advanced into the group. "What is 'going too far'?" he +repeated, glancing from one to another. No answer being volunteered, his +keen glance quickly singled out the shamed tenderfoot. + +"What have they been up to, Danny?" he asked. + +Danny turned and faced him. + +"Nothing that makes any difference," he said. + +It was generous in him not to "peach," and so Biddie Burton's friendly +glance assured him. + +The incident passed with that, for McKenzie was full of something +repressed, and, seeing it, the boys gathered close about him in eager +questioning--all except Danny. + +All except Danny! His brief career--his career that only an hour ago +had promised so much--had ended, and in disgrace. He had taken a +dare! Nothing would ever matter to him again--Danny told his aching +heart--the boys despised him, all except Biddie Burton, and, somehow, +Biddie's pity was harder to bear than despite. + +"I went to the gap and wired Mr. Gordon," McKenzie was saying now, +"and he told me I could put you to it at once. He's had an accident to +his car and may not get here for some time." + +"What's up?" It was Roger who asked the question. + +"Something serious," answered McKenzie, "but Mr. Gordon didn't say +what. Have you had supper?" + +They replied in concert, eager to receive orders. + +"Well," continued McKenzie, "we've got to cover the mountain here, for +signs of--anything unusual. You'll have to be careful not to run into +trouble yourselves, but you must know your ground. There'll be a good +moon if the clouds break." + +"Glory be!" Danny heard Elsie Whitman breathe in expectant ecstasy, +and he would have given the world to have felt with him that eager +joy. But Danny had taken a dare! + +The others were chattering now, as eager as Whitman to be off on the +trail of adventure. + +McKenzie was giving orders: + +"Whitman, you can take the north trail, and bear down over the +mountain. Ham will strike out down the creek to the left there, and +work around to your territory. There's an old cabin hidden by +scrub-oaks and rocks about a quarter below the bridge there, Ham. Know +it for what it is, but don't you run your long neck into danger." + +In spite of his hurt Danny was getting interested. He crept up on the +outer edge of the group and listened, wide-eyed, as the other boys +eagerly accepted their several commissions. + +"Roger and Ed," their leader was continuing, "bear south till you get +below the drop of the cliff, and then separate and work that +territory between you"--with a sweeping gesture. "Alex and Biddie--let +me see--you two go over the mountain to the right of Elsie--No, +there's the Death Head trail--" He paused a moment in thoughtful +survey of them, and the boys looked at each other apprehensively. Not +one of them was anxious to work the trail of evil name. Suddenly, +however, McKenzie's eyes lighted on Danny Harding, and an inspiration +seemed to come to him. + +"Say," he exclaimed, "I'll give the new recruit a chance at that. Come +here, scout." And he laid a kind hand on Danny's shoulder and drew him +into the circle. + +Somebody on the outskirts of the group laughed. + +"Now you are going to do your first service for your country," +McKenzie said to the tenderfoot; "but whatever you do, be wary, +because----" + +Somebody else laughed, and McKenzie looked about sharply. "What's the +joke?" he asked. + +"Danny's afraid," the mocker explained; "that's where the dead man +swings." + +Biddie strolled forward. "Alex will be enough to work Elsie's right," +he said to McKenzie. "Give me the Death Head trail. You'll need Dan +here about the camp." + +But Danny raised his head quickly. It is true that his face was +dead-white, but his head was up. + +"I'll go to the Death Head," he said to McKenzie. + +The crowd was dumb-struck. + +"But you got white-livered and backed down--" L. C. began, after the +first shock of his surprise. + +"I wouldn't go when you dared me to," said the tenderfoot, "but this +is--different." And he added in his heart: "This is for _my country_." + +"But he _is_ afraid," put in Roger. "Look at him!" + +McKenzie took a long, straight look into Danny's white face and +determined eyes, and then turned to Roger. + +"All the gamer of him," he said, "to go in spite of being +afraid--that's the stuff that Pershing is looking for. And Mr. Gordon +says that a boy who 'isn't afraid of anything' hasn't sense enough to +be trusted with a commission. "Kid," he continued, turning to Danny, +"you find out all that there is to be known about the Death Head +vicinity before you show up in camp again." + +"All right," said Danny. + +There was a gasp of surprise among them at the tenderfoot's final +acceptance of the commission, but not one of them--not even +Biddie--believed that he would be able to carry it through. And the +sensitive, high-strung Danny went out from among them burdened with +the feeling that they did not look for him to succeed. + +McKenzie walked a little way with him--big-brother fashion, with an +arm over his shoulder--and gave him careful directions as to how to +proceed. There would be a moon if the clouds broke, his leader warned +him, and he was to keep to the shadows. + +"I'll be leaving camp myself," said McKenzie, "and will not show up +again for a couple of hours. You will probably get back before the +rest of us, so just roll up in your blanket and lie close under that +ledge yonder--you will be perfectly safe there." A little farther up +the mountain trail and McKenzie paused. + +"Never mind about the dead man, scout," he admonished finally, "but +keep your eye peeled for the live one, and--'the best of luck!'" + +"'The best of luck!'" That was what the men at the front said to a +fellow when he was going over the top of the shielding trench into the +dangerous unknown. + +At the familiar phrase in parting, Danny drew a quick, deep breath. +Yes, he was going "over the top"--and he was going _alone_! + +Then McKenzie slipped quietly back, and Danny started forward up the +long, dark trail alone. The ghost of a moon showed dimly through the +black cloud-rack, now and again, and fitfully relieved the enveloping +darkness. + +Only once did Danny look back. That was when he came to the first turn +in the mountain trail which his leader had carefully explained to him. +Beyond that turn, and it would be good-by to the last cheering, +reassuring gleam of their camp-fire, to the last faint sound of +comforting voices. + +Danny paused and looked back. Only two remained in the bright circle +toward which his rapidly chilling spirit was reaching back. He +recognized at once the tall, slim form of McKenzie, but---- Yes, that +chunky one was Biddie Burton. The two of them were standing close +together, talking earnestly. And now Danny caught, by a sudden leap of +the firelight, the fact that they were looking toward him. Biddie was +nodding. + +It was so bright, so safe back there where they had laughed and +feasted and wrangled together. Then suddenly Danny thought of the +young crucifer in the little Church of the Holy Innocents. + +"Onward, Christian Soldiers!" + +The next moment Danny was groping, feeling his trembling way, but that +way was _onward_. The heart in his breast beat an alarm to every nerve +in his body, but he kept his face toward the dim, dark trail. A lump +rose in his throat and threatened to choke him. He gulped it down, and +crept forward. + +McKenzie had told him that a scout must keep his head. That was the +hardest part. A fellow could force himself to go blindly to a haunted +spot at night, but to think, to plan, to watch as he went----! + +But he was a scout, and a scout must "be prepared." Danny forced +himself to think as he went. He was not following that gruesome trail +in response to Whitman's dare--he was scouting old Death Head in the +service of his country. + +Danny found that he could follow McKenzie's directions better than he +had hoped. Now that his eyes were thoroughly accustomed to the dark, +he could descry the blacker landmarks for which his leader had +prepared him. After the turn in the mountain trail, an abrupt and +jagged cliff ahead beckoned the way. The shadow of the cliff won, +Danny waited for another appearance of the pale, cold moon by the help +of whose light he hoped to locate the three giant pines--his next +objective. From the pines, McKenzie had told him, old Death Head could +be sighted plainly enough, for from that point it was silhouetted, +black and unmistakable, against the sky, and its summit was marked by +the stark, white, blasted tree of evil fame. + +"That's where the dead man swings!" echoed in Danny's memory. And for +a moment it seemed that he _must_ give up and fly back to safety. But +something said: "I'll disown you, sir!" And Danny again turned his +face in the direction of his duty. + +The moon looked out of the drifting clouds. Danny located the three +giant pines in the distance, and for one blessed moment saw a +reasonably clear path, skirting along the mountainside. + +Darkness again! But Danny took the skirting path to the pine giants. + +Once he nearly lost his nerve altogether, for suddenly there was +behind him a sound as if some human foot had stumbled. The tenderfoot +dropped warily to the long grass at one side of the path, and +listened. A long, long time he listened, but not another sound did he +hear. At length he told himself that the step was that of some wild +creature which he had disturbed. + +Then forward again! Creeping, panther-footed. + +Danny reached the pines at last--and sure enough, old Death Head rose +all too plainly before him. He saw, or thought he saw, a tall white +something on its summit. + +In thinking it over afterward, Danny was never quite sure just what +happened between the pines and the haunted tree. He had a vague +recollection of imagining that step behind again, and he recalled at +one point the almost welcome pain of a stubbed toe. But for the rest, +he was too frightened to take it all in. + +By the time the tenderfoot reached the summit of old Death Head and +stood within fifty feet of the haunted tree, he was too frightened to +move, and he almost _expected_ to see the thing which he most feared. +The sky was overcast again, but a dim white something towered before +him--the haunted tree--and--and----! + +But just at that moment the clouds broke, and the full moon, now all +unveiled, flooded the scene with light. + +Naked, stark, ghostly, the blasted pine-tree rose before him. With a +sudden spasm at his heart Danny looked for the swinging dead man. But +if anything unearthly hung from those bare white branches, his mortal +eyes were spared the vision. And presently his awakening reason began +to urge: "There are no such things as 'ghosts.'" + +The next moment the young scout came fully to himself, and withdrew +quickly from the all-revealing flood of moonlight to the friendly +shadow of a low shrub. He began to peer sharply about. The growth +around was ragged, with great spaces between. If there was anything +here that a scout ought to note, the opportunity was ideal. + +He must perform the duty for which he was here! His leader had told +him to know the spot before he showed up in camp again. + +Danny began skirting about in the shadows, getting every angle he +could on the scene, and exploring adjacent wood lanes. It is true that +he kept well away from the haunted tree, but he came back to its +vicinity every now and then. And each time as he came he managed to +force himself to approach it closer. + +Nearer and nearer he got to it, and then, suddenly, he heard issue +from somewhere in its branches a low, sighing moan. Danny thought he +would drop in his tracks, but he did not. Instead, he stood as still +as death and listened. + +That moan again! Every time a gust of wind came, the dim, weird sound +trembled along the night. + +The moon was shining brilliantly now. Danny stood staring at the +haunted tree. + +All at once he crept forward, sharply intent on something. + +What was that straight black line against the sky? Where did it come +from?--that haunted tree? + +Another moment and Danny was at the foot of the ghostly pine-tree, +staring upward at the crisscross of its naked branches. + +There was no swinging dead man there, but there was _something_--at +the top! + +Danny dropped to the ground and retreated a little on all fours for a +better view-point. 'Way up, two parallel black bars rose against the sky. + +A scout must keep his head! + +Now, no boughs of a tree ever grew that straight! And what were those +orderly black lines which extended from one bar to the other? + +That moan again!--or--or was it the sound of a wire, played upon by +the wind? + +Danny shifted his position again. + +Yes, that black line across the sky connected directly with the queer +something in the tree top. + +"_Wireless!_" said the scout's head to him. + +Danny stood up. All childish fear of a swinging ghost had dropped away +from him. He had not the slightest inclination now to cry like a baby +about anything. + +He was a scout on duty! + +Another moment and he was creeping, velvet-footed, through the woods, +following that black line as it led away from the haunted tree. At the +other end of it must be a receiving-station! + +And it was no easy task which his duty set him. Over sharp rocks and +through tangled briers that black line led him on. Sometimes the moon +would desert him and he would lose the clue for a while. Sometimes he +would be forced to abandon his clue to skirt around an insuperable +barrier. But he always came back to it, always pressed on. + +On and on! And then, suddenly, the line disappeared. It ended, or +seemed to end in a large pile of boulders which clung to the +mountainside. The undergrowth was dense here. + +Danny circled about the spot. Yes, the wire stopped here. He began +creeping through the underbrush--feeling his way along the side of a +great boulder. + +Suddenly his hand touched--_nothing_! + +The scout stopped and thought. There was some sort of break in the +rock here. + +Danny had a flashlight in his pocket which he had been too cautious to +use. He thought of it now, and hesitated. Then he slipped it out and +pressed the spring. + +Before him was what seemed the door of a cave. He looked closer. Yes, +the wire led into the cave. Darkness, again, for he was afraid to use +his light any longer. + +Danny dropped to his all-fours and crept into the black hole. A floor +of soft sand helped him to advance noiselessly. After a few yards the +scout reached a turn in the rocky passageway, and---- + +His eye caught a big, black-hooded shadow humped over a point of light! + +Danny withdrew quickly behind the sheltering turn in the wall, and +crouched in the sand, dead-still. But his blood was up. He took a +second look. + +A man was sitting over some sort of instrument, and over his ears were +cups, something like Danny had seen worn by the girl at the telephone +central station. The one point of light in the big dark recess was +turned on a note-book under the man's hand. + +The young scout drew back, and crept silently out of the cavern. + +Out under the stars again, and this time with his blood on fire! A +spy, a German spy sat in that cave and sent messages----! + +Only yesterday a fleet of transports had slipped out of the harbor, +with thousands of American soldiers on board--submarines--sea-raiders! + +But a scout must keep his head. + +Help? Which way could help be found? The boys were scattered, McKenzie +would not be in camp. Nobody knew when to expect Mr. Gordon. + +Which way? Which way? Oh, yes, down over the drop of the cliff to the +south yonder was the mountain wagon road by which their scouting party +had ascended that afternoon. If he could get to the road he could find +somebody somewhere--surely, there were a few inhabitants hereabouts! + +That German was sending wireless messages right this minute---- Yes, +the shortest way to the road was the only way for a fellow to take +now! And Danny took it. + +When he reached the cliff, spent and sore, a new difficulty presented +itself. A sheer fifty-foot drop still separated him from the road. He +crept along the edge searching for a footing by which to descend, and +presently found one that looked possible. There were broken, shelving +places here, and tufts of growing things down the face of the dizzy wall. + +Danny began to climb down. But he found it harder than he had thought, +and at times he was a mere human fly clinging to a rock wall. + +[Illustration: A man was sitting over some sort of instrument.] + +Nearly down--only about fifteen feet more! But at that moment the +human fly's hold crumbled under his clinging fingers, and he dropped. +It ought not to have been a bad fall, but the trouble was a loosened +rock followed, and came down on one arm as its owner lay prostrate on +the ground. + +Danny lay very still for a few moments, looking at the stars and +thinking of--nothing! + +Then presently the sound of human voices came to him from somewhere +out of the night. With an effort he raised up a little to push off the +stone from his arm, but he dropped back again. + +The stars began to swim at that, and the voices to grow fantastic. + +But a scout--must--keep--his head! + +Those voices sounded familiar! Danny summoned all his strength, and +sent the wavering call of a wounded whippoorwill along the night. + +Silence, and then a whippoorwill answered sharply from out the forest. + +Danny called again. + +Shortly after that came low voices and the sound of hurrying feet. +Then Mr. Gordon, the Scout Master, McKenzie, their leader, and jolly +old Biddie Burton were hovering over him. + +"Are you hurt?" they asked in one breath. + +But Danny cried out feverishly: "There's a German spy sending wireless +messages from old Death Head, and our transports have put to sea!" And +he told them, brokenly, the story of his find. + +There was consternation among them for one brief moment, and then +everybody woke to action. + +They must get the man at once--but _which way_ to go? + +Mr. Gordon spoke quickly: + +"You stay with Danny, Burton; McKenzie and I will go back to the Death +Head and follow the clue from there." And even as he spoke he and +McKenzie were hurriedly, but tenderly, binding up the wounded arm, +while Biddie improvised a comforting sling for it. + +But Danny knew that the route by way of old Death Head was long and +circuitous. And he knew also that the shortest way is the only way to +take when one's duty to one's country calls. + +He got to his feet. + +"I'll show you the shortest way," he said. + + * * * * * + +How they found means of scaling the cliff, how they accomplished their +stealthy journey back to the hidden wireless station, piloted by the +wounded tenderfoot whom they supported at every step, is too long a +story to tell. + +But they reached the mouth of the dark cave. The two boys were left +outside, and very shortly thereafter Mr. Gordon and McKenzie brought +out between them a big shadowy figure with its hands bound together. + + * * * * * + +That night, the east-bound passenger was flagged at the little station +in the valley, and there boarded it a squad of boy scouts with their +leaders, who guarded between them a captured German spy. + +"Gordon, how did you manage it?" called a voice, from some distance +down the long coach as they entered. + +For answer, Mr. Gordon took hold of a little boy who wore his left arm +in a sling and, pushing him gently forward, said before that whole car +full of curious, excited people: + +"We had an American on guard to-night." + + * * * * * + +The Probate Judge's office in the old courthouse on the square was, +the next morning, the scene of a most unusual gathering. + +Danny and his mother had been asked by the Scout Master to meet him +there at ten o'clock. Mr. Gordon had sent his request in the form of a +brief note which explained that the Boy Scout Court of Honor was to be +in session that morning, and said that he wished his youngest scout to +be present. + +Danny's mother was strangely elated over the request, but Danny did +not know why. He was so young in the business of scouting that some +details of the system had not yet become definitely his. + +He ventured one surmise when the note was read--something in +connection with the taking of that German spy, of course. Maybe the +Whippoorwills were to be commended for delivering the goods. And +Danny's mind's eye recalled again the stirring scene--McKenzie and Mr. +Gordon marshalling to the station between them the big German whom +they had captured and bound, and he and the other scouts trudging +along in excited escort. It was a wonderful thing to be a man, Danny +thought wistfully--to be big and strong enough to lay a compelling +hand on the enemy in our midst and say: + +"I want you!" + +But it will have to be recorded that Danny's mother acted a little +queerly on receipt of the note. When Danny said that perhaps the +Whippoorwills were to be commended for "delivering the goods," his +mother looked up at him quickly, as if in surprise. Then she laughed a +little and cried a little, and then she dashed off for her hat and +wraps like a girl. + +At ten o'clock sharp, Danny and his mother presented themselves at +Judge Sledge's door. As they paused to knock, a voice came to them +through the closed door--a familiar voice, and it sounded very +earnest. Then the door was opened in response to their knock. + +They hesitated a moment while they took in the quiet, dignified scene +within. Portly old Judge Sledge was sitting well forward in his office +chair with his spectacles pushed back upon his bald head, while Doctor +Cranfield and several gentlemen whom Danny knew only by sight were +grouped about him. All were in the attitude of listening intently to a +man who stood before them--Mr. Gordon. + +Danny's quick glance took in all this, including the background of +khaki-clad Whippoorwills, plastered against the wall beyond. + +The gentlemen rose, on the entrance of Mrs. Harding, and the scouts +crowded forward to whisper excitedly to Danny. + +But Danny did not have time to listen to them, for Doctor +Cranfield--taking him by his good arm--turned him about, and said to +the company: + +"This is the boy." + +There was an agonizing moment to Danny in which he realized that +everybody in the room was looking at him. Then he had to be +introduced. It was very, very trying, for each man to whom Danny gave +his hand in greeting looked him over from head to foot, and made +embarrassingly personal, if kindly, remarks about him. + +"He was a small chap for the job." + +"He ought to be _red-headed_." + +"He was his mother's son." + +Danny looked across the group into his mother's eyes and caught there +an expression which he was never to forget. And she was smiling--in +spite of the tear-mist over her beautiful eyes--she was smiling. + +When they resumed their seats, there returned upon the group the touch +of ceremonial quiet and earnestness which the entrance of the +newcomers had for the moment dispelled. + +Mr. Gordon took a chair behind Mrs. Harding and explained to her and +Danny in a low tone that the session was nearly over. Judge Sledge had +been compelled to convene the court earlier than the appointed hour. + +The other men were talking apart. Presently, one of them turned to the +Scout Master and said: + +"Following what you have just related, Mr. Gordon--do you think that +it was quite wise in your patrol leader to send out a mere tenderfoot +on a really dangerous commission?" + +Mr. Gordon was about to reply, when McKenzie stepped forward and +saluted. "May I answer that?" he asked. + +The court assented, and all turned to hear. + +"Our private advices had been," began McKenzie, with his Indianlike +figure drawn up to its full height, "that it was Camelback Mountain +which was under suspicion. We located our camp on a parallel range, +and miles from the suspected vicinity. Mr. Gordon and I and several of +the older boys were later to take in hand the serious work of +Camelback, but we thought it well to give the others a little +experience. I had not intended to employ the tenderfoot till I +overheard the boys teasing him. I sent him to the Death Head to redeem +himself in his own eyes and in theirs." + +"Please, may I speak?" Biddie Burton had come forward eagerly. + +With the permission of the judge, Biddie hurried on: + +"Without letting the other boys know, McKenzie told me to follow Danny +in case his courage should give out completely. But he gave me my +orders to keep well in the rear. He wanted Dan to go to the haunted +tree by himself, if he would--to win his spurs, you see." + +"Did you follow Harding all the way?" someone interrupted. + +"All the way to the haunted tree? Yes, sir, and he _did_ go! He went +right up to it and circled all about it. Then the earth seemed to open +and swallow him up. I looked and looked for him. Then I ran back for +help. I found McKenzie and Mr. Gordon, and we all three started out +after Dan. You have heard the rest." + +This seemed satisfactory, and the judge turned to Danny. + +"Come here, Daniel," he said, "and tell the court now how you captured +your wireless operator." + +Danny started. + +"I didn't do it, sir," he said in embarrassment. "Mr. Gordon and +Willard McKenzie captured the man. I only showed them where he was." + +The men exchanged glances. + +"Well," said the judge, again, "come here and tell us what you _did do_." + +Danny came forward. + +"Salute!" he heard Biddie whisper. + +Danny saluted. + +"Now," said the judge, "tell these gentlemen here what--what you told +_your mother_ when you got back from the mountains last night." + +Danny looked at his mother. Her eyes were misty again, but she was +nodding to him to do as the judge directed. + +The tenderfoot stood embarrassed before them and told the story +exactly as he had related it to his mother. He didn't like to do this, +for he was very much ashamed of having to tell how frightened he had +been, and how he had had to force himself to go forward. + +The men listened intently. Once in a while one would interrupt to ask +a question. + +When Danny got to the point in his story of his acceptance of +McKenzie's commission to cover old Death Head, a dark-eyed, quiet man +on the judge's right leaned forward. + +"One moment, Harding," he said. "McKenzie told us before you entered +that you were afraid to go when the boys dared you, but that when he +told you to go on the scouting trip, you said, 'this is different.' +What did you mean by its being 'different'?" + +Danny looked up from his nervous fingering of the judge's +paper-weight. + +"I meant that it was for my country," he answered simply. + +The dark-eyed man glanced at the others. + +"_Beat that_," he said in a low tone to them. + +Judge Sledge took down his spectacles from his bald head, adjusted +them on his nose, and looked hard at the boy. + +"Proceed," he commanded, after a moment. + +Danny proceeded. + +"Weren't you afraid to crawl into that cave?" one of them asked in the +course of the story. + +"Yes, sir," said Danny. + +Later, another interrupted with: + +"But if your arm was broken and paining you, why didn't you stay with +Burton, there, and let the others go by the way of Death Head, and +take up the clue you had followed?" + +"Why, you see," answered Danny, "we had to get to the man quickly to +stop his telegraphing. I knew a short route to him." + +"Exactly," said the judge, nodding, then he turned to the men about him. + +"All right, gentlemen?" he asked. + +There was a whispered conference of a few moments, and then, to +Danny's surprise, they all turned to him. + +"Daniel," said the judge, "do you know why this Court of Honor has +been called into session?" + +Danny's glance swept the khaki-clad figures against the wall--he +looked at Mr. Gordon. + +"I hope," he answered to the judge, "that you like what we did." + +"Yes," said the judge, smiling this time, "yes, the Whippoorwills are +quite in our good graces, and we commend the promptness and efficiency +of Mr. Gordon and your leader, McKenzie. However, this court has been +called together to sit in judgment on _your_ part in last night's +performance. Daniel, do you realize that you have done bravely and +well?" + +Danny stood for one moment, stunned by the dawning realization of +what this meant. Then he looked across at his mother. Life holds for a +boy no higher, happier moment than that in which he realizes he has +made his mother proud of him. + +Without waiting for him to reply, the judge was continuing: + +"This court finds, Danny, that in spite of very human, very natural +fears, and at the cost of suffering to yourself, you performed a +service to your country which may be more far-reaching than any of us +dream. And if there is anything braver than the conquering of fear, +anything more manly than the voluntary endurance of pain for a high +cause, or any earthly motive of action higher than one's duty to one's +country, we have never found it. + +"Now, Son, it is not within the power of this, our local court, to +confer upon you what we think you deserve. It is ours, however, to +recommend to the Boy Scout National Court of Honor that you be awarded +the Honor Medal. This we are going to do because we believe you have +saved more than life by your prompt action, and we know that you did it +at the cost of suffering to yourself and at the risk of your own life." + + * * * * * + +When, a few weeks later, the Honor Medal did arrive and was pinned +upon Danny's breast, the young scout found it necessary to take his +little mother in hand. + +"'If you cry like a baby,'" he whispered laughingly but with his arms +about her, "'I'll _disown_ you!'" + + + + +UNDER THE FLAG + + +"_Louise!_" + +The little girl came to a halt suddenly and nearly dropped her +book-satchel. Somebody had called her name--some startling, mysterious +voice had called her! + +She looked hurriedly about, but there was nobody in sight--nobody but +a saucy squirrel perched upon a park bench, and a redbird flitting +along the open between the enclosing hawthorns. + +Which one had called? + +"_Louise!_" + +The little girl started back, too frightened to scream--it was the +hawthorn! + +But the next moment a boyish bullet-head appeared between parted boughs. + +"Come here!" exclaimed its owner in suppressed excitement. "We've got +something to tell you!" + +Down went the book-satchel, but not in fear this time. Billy Hastings +had called--called excitedly--and Billy was known to furnish nearly +all the third-grade thrills there were. So the next moment Louise was +stooping her way under the hawthorn boughs in answer to her +playfellow's summons. + +Billy was not alone in the green grotto in which Louise presently +found herself, for nearly half the third-grade members were there. +There was wide-eyed Tinsie Willis, with her little frilly skirts +bristling with excitement, with Mamie Moore swallowing to keep back +hysterical tears, and Sadie and Lallie Raiford, with their backs to +each other for safe-keeping. And there were boys, a whole mob of boys! + +The children were huddled together in suppressed excitement, and were +whispering all at the same time. It was plain that something terrible, +something menacing, had happened. + +"You know that new boy that came to school this morning--?" began one. + +"That 'Rudolph Kreisler'?" put in another. + +"Sh-h-h!" interrupted a third wildly. + +But Billy Hastings thrust his red, round face close to Louise's and +announced in a blood-curdling whisper: + +"_Rudolph Kreisler is a German spy!_" + +Louise's legs crumpled under her, and she sat down in a heap. + +Again they were all talking at the same time, and this time at her. + +"He's got his trousers' pockets just _full_ of something!" exclaimed +Pete Laslie. + +"And he's watching, _watching_!" put in another. "Didn't you see him +sitting off there by himself looking at us while we played ball?" + +"Spying!" hissed Luke Musgrove over Billy Hastings's shoulder. + +The children started and looked about apprehensively. Luke's words +always carried weight by reason of the fact that he had been two years +in the third grade and ought to know what he was talking about if he +didn't. + +"Yes," chimed in Billy, coming close to Louise again and speaking in +his most dramatic tone. "Just you dare to draw a deep breath, and +he'll tell the Kaiser on you!" + +Louise gasped--a short, a curtailed little gasp. Never till the Great +War should be over would she breathe from her diaphragm again! + +"Oh-o-o-o, _Louise_!" from round-eyed Tinsie Willis. + +"_What?_" + +"You've left your book-satchel out there in the path! Just suppose he +were to come by and see it!" + +There was a moment of consternation, of wild chattering, in which +everybody poked his head out to see, but nobody would venture far +enough to get the incriminating satchel. + +Then Tommie Warren had an inspiration. Snatching a crooked-handle +umbrella from Ella Vaiden, he flung himself flat on the grass and +reached for the tell-tale satchel with the crook. + +"It's a good thing Ella brought that umbrella!" exclaimed Tinsie. And +all looked at Ella, who stood up very straight in spite of the +low-dipping boughs. The next moment Louise had her beloved +book-satchel hugged close to her pounding heart. + +"Sh-h-h!" suddenly came from a self-constituted sentinel. + +"_What?_" + +"_He's coming!_" + +The crowd in the bushes stood tiptoe and breathless as the German spy +came down the hawthorn path. + +He was a small lad--small for the third grade--with big blue eyes and +a shock of tawny hair. The Kaiser had not equipped him very well, for +there was a suggestion of poverty about his mended clothes. But, after +all, maybe those carefully darned places at his knees were only a part +of an adroit disguise. His pockets _were_ bulging, and with +knotty-looking somethings very suggestive of poorly concealed bombs. +He was not whistling, as a perfectly good American would have been, +but walked slowly and with his head down. It was very suspicious! + +He passed. + +"Let's get him now!" suggested Luke. + +"Good!" exclaimed Billy. "Get some rocks!" And instantly all was +excitement, the uncensored noise of which reached the little German +and caused him to take to his heels. + +In the confusion of the next few moments Louise scarcely realized what +they were about. But when they tore out of the bushes, snatching up +rocks as they went, and rushed after their flying prey, her heart +stood still. He was such a _little_ boy! + +With the back of her hand pressed tight against the sobs that would +not be stifled, and with tears raining down her cheeks, the little +girl followed in the wake of the howling mob. + +Then somebody rounded a hawthorn bush and came bang up against her. It +was Jimmie Fisher, a big, red-headed rock of strength, who could carry +lightly the heaviest book-satchels there were. + +"What are you crying about?" he asked, after his first quick survey of +her. + +"They--they are killing Rudolph Kreisler!" sobbed Louise. + +"No," assured Jimmie, "he'll get home free. He lives just across +there. Are these your books?" + + * * * * * + +The next day matters only grew worse. + +The whole atmosphere of the third grade had become electric with +suspicion of a certain little boy who, looking neither to right nor to +left, kept his wistful blue eyes bent on the task before him. When +Rudolph stood up at the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, Luke +growled out that he was "just pretending." And when, from his seat +near the door, the German lad answered the knock of a visitor, Ella +Vaiden whispered audibly: + +"See _that_? He wants to see _who's there_!" + +In recitation Rudolph answered the questions put to him with +despicable German efficiency, but Luke missed with conspicuous +patriotism and went noisily foot. + +But through it all Louise was doing her own thinking. She was a loyal +little citizen and loved her country with all her heart; but there +flowed through her veins the blood of a long line of Americans who +had been just and fair. The little girl was afraid of German +spies--afraid for her country--and Rudolph Kreisler's pockets did +bulge ominously. If Rudolph Kreisler _was_ a German spy, why he would +have to be dealt with, of course. + +But if he wasn't----? + +Louise wished with all her heart that Miss Barclay, the teacher, would +suspect this terrible smothered tragedy that was being enacted within +her class. Of course one's teacher, like one's mother, could solve +every problem; and Miss Barclay in particular could command the storms +of childhood to be still. If only Miss Barclay knew! + +But in third-grade ethics it was "dishonorable" to "tattle," so Louise +was compelled to hold her peace and think fast. There were recesses +ahead in which covertly cruel things might happen, and an after-school +walk through a lonely park from which a real _little_ boy might not +get home free. Something must be done. + +At first recess the boys and girls were, as usual, separated in their +play, but Louise--observing from afar--saw that the little German sat +by himself on the steps, and watched the spirited ball-play of the +others with keen alertness. Yes, it was very suspicious. + +Big recess brought with it an unusual privilege that day. The +third-grade boys and girls were to be allowed to mingle together and +on the front lawn, in order to keep them from under the feet of +certain workmen who were making excavations through the +school-grounds. + +This was all very thrilling, for it was from a tall staff on the front +lawn that their beautiful new flag was floating, and to-day they would +be able to see it close--to touch the pole with their very hands! +Then, too, it would be so remarkable to play with _boys_. + +Louise pondered it all as the third-grade girls filed down to their +lunch-room. Rudolph Kreisler was not there, of course, but Rudolph +would be with them among the other boys at play-time. She would then +be able to watch him narrowly--to keep an eye on those bulging pockets. + +All the other girls were chattering over their lunch, but Louise drank +her milk and ate her sandwich in thoughtful silence. + +Presently a hand was laid upon her heavy curls and she looked up with +a start. The principal was smiling down at her. + +"What are you thinking of, little tragedy queen?" he asked. + +Louise blushed and tried vainly to reply. + +The teacher serving the sandwiches answered the principal. + +"Of 'the impossibility of all things,'" she said with a curious +sidewise smile. + +The principal put his hand under Louise's chin and, tilting her head +back, looked deep into her eyes. + +"You must run and play a great deal," he said, and passed on. + +Then, when the last sandwich had gone the way of all good sandwiches, +they repaired to the front lawn. + +It was all so wonderful--so green and cool and stately-looking. And +there, sure enough, was the great new flag, curling and uncurling in +the fitful wind--'way up against the sky! + +The boys were already out on the green when the little girls were +marched down the steps and disbanded among them to enjoy the most +unusual privilege of joining in their games. Then, all suddenly a +great awkwardness came down upon the girls. How was one to play with +boys at recess? Of course _after school_ it came natural enough to +mingle with them, but this was not "after school"! It was most +embarrassing. + +Louise found herself timid in the chaperoned recess-presence of Jimmie +and Billy and Luke, and began to back away toward the steps. + +"Look out!" shouted Billy suddenly. + +Louise jumped to "look out." Behind her, on the bottom step, sat the +German spy. She had nearly backed into him! + +In the face of danger, embarrassment dropped away. The next moment +Louise had fled back to her countrymen and was listening, excited, to +their eager whispers. + +"Rudolph Kreisler sits by himself--always by himself. Isn't that funny?" + +"Just look at him _now_!" + +"See him watching the flag?" + +"Get that gleam in his eye? Look, quick!" + +"Old rascal! He got home free yesterday--but just you wait!" + +And so they stood apart from him and whispered. + +The German spy dug his toes in the sand a little longer, then rose and +moved a few steps farther up. + +Then Ella Vaiden declared that they were wasting time, and proposed +that they begin a game. + +But nobody knew what to play. + +"I'll tell you!" exclaimed Louise. "Let's play 'Under the Flag.'" + +"What's that?" asked several. + +"Why--why--" began Louise, inventing the game as she proceeded, "it's +this way: you go stand under the flag and look up at it till the wind +blows it out straight--and--and then you make a wish. If the flag +floats wide till you have finished, your wish will come true." + +All were interested at once, and the game began. The fitful, +boisterous wind took an active part and the play became spirited. + +Tinsie Willis was the first to come "under the flag," but she was so +excited she forgot to wish till the broadly floating banner had +wrapped itself about its staff and her opportunity was gone. + +Then everybody began talking at once, and Mamie Moore piped up: "I'm +going to wish for a pair of shiny-bug slippers!" + +Louise was shocked, and quickly explained that when one wished under +the flag it must be for something serious and from the very depths of +one's heart. + +"Sure," supported Jimmie of the red head. "You can wish for shiny-bug +slippers under an umbrella!" + +But Mamie couldn't then think of anything more serious than the need +of gilt slippers, and was promptly ruled out till her imagination +should come to her assistance. + +Several boys took turns next, but they were so noisy and boisterous +that they came near spoiling everything. + +Then Flora Archer took her place. Flora was a thoughtful little girl +who carried around in her eyes a deep, deep something people never +understood. With her lips close to the flagpole, she whispered her +message to it, and all the while the beautiful banner streamed out to +its farthest length. + +Flora came back without speaking, and the children looked at her in +curious silence. But when the others were noisily choosing times +again, Flora slipped her hand into Louise's and whispered: + +"I wished for our soldiers to win in the war, but for them not to be +cruel when they do." + +"Yours, Louise!" exclaimed somebody. + +And before Louise had time to examine the depths of her heart to see +what it was she most desired, a half-dozen pair of friendly hands +pushed her forward. It was no time to hold back--to spoil the game. +Louise mounted the green knoll from which the great flagpole rose. + +But she did not at once look up. Her glance had accidentally lighted +on the lonely figure on the steps, and was resting there for a moment +in startled contemplation. + +He was such a _little_ boy, and he seemed so--apart! But one must make +no mistakes where one's country was involved. _Were_ his blue eyes +"gleaming" with vengeful purpose? Or were they only full--of shining +tears? + +"Look up! Look up!" the children called. + +Louise threw back her head--threw it back so far that the familiar +scene about her became lost to her view and she beheld nothing but the +vision above. Amid the battling tree tops and against a threatening +sky the flag of freedom streamed out in all its rippling glory--red +for the courage of American hearts, white for the purity of purpose +they should harbor, and blue for truth, like that higher, farther +heaven above the gathering clouds. Now rippling, now curling, +wreathing, snapping, and now--straight out, fronting the coming storm! + +"Quick! Quick!" the children shouted, as Old Glory floated free. + +Suddenly the child stretched up her hands. It was not a wish, but a +prayer, that her young heart sent up to her country's flag. + +"Help me to--play fair!" she whispered. + +Louise saw her comrades only mistily when she came down the green +knoll again toward them. + +Then all became babel again. + +"It's my time next!" exclaimed Luke Musgrove, shouldering forward. + +"Who said so?" demanded another. + +"_I_ said so," answered the big boy rudely, and he strode to his place +against the flagpole. "I wish," he began in a loud, strident voice, +and without waiting for the wind to come hurtling across the green, "I +wish _to wring the neck of that German spy_!" + +All eyes were quickly turned from the flag to where a little wide-eyed +boy shrank back in terror against the steps. + +"Glory be!" shouted Billy Hastings. "Teacher's gone in--let's drag +Rudolph under the flag!" + +Instantly the flame of persecution swept them, and they started after +the alien lad. + +But at the foot of the steps somebody blocked the way. Louise Carey +had flung herself between. + +"It's not fair, and you _shan't_!" she cried. + +The astonished mob wavered in indecision. + +"'Not _fair_?'" echoed Luke with a jeer. + +"No," stormed Louise. "We didn't _ask_ him to come under the flag, and +you shan't _make_ him do it!" + +"We'll see about that--" began Luke. + +"_That we will!_" put in Jimmie Fisher, but it was not to Louise that +he spoke. He was talking to Luke, and he planted himself protectingly +in front of Louise and the little German, and faced the third-grade +bully. Never before in her life had Louise realized how beautiful was +a shock of bristling red hair. + +The third-grade bully was growling now, but in a decidedly lower key. + +"Now, then"--Jimmie was speaking to Louise this time--"you are bossing +this game. Say what you want done with that--that--" and he looked at +the frightened Rudolph. + +Louise glanced up at the flag. It was floating now--broad and free +enough to cover all who might come. + +"I am going to _invite_ Rudolph to come under our flag," she said. + +The children gasped as Louise held out her hand to the little alien. + +"Won't you come and be American with us?" she asked kindly. + +The boy drew back a moment while his blue eyes searched her face for +whatever hidden cruelty might lurk beneath its seeming sweetness. Then +he smiled--a timid, but trusting smile--and rising, took her extended +hand. + +But Billy Hastings called jeeringly: "He's a sneak! He's just doing it +to pretend!" + +"He knows I'd drag him if he didn't come!" exclaimed another. + +"Coward! _Coward!_" yelled Luke. "You're afraid to refuse!" + +And then, all suddenly, something in the German lad flamed up. He +snatched his hand from Louise's. He stood to his full height with +blazing eyes, and cried: + +"It's a lie!" + +The sound of the school-bell broke the startled quiet which followed +the alien's spirited revolt. + +"_Please_," pleaded Louise, "don't mind them! You've time yet to come +under the flag." + +But Rudolph stood indignant, immovable. + +"Get to your lines, children," and the principal's call-bell was heard +tapping above on the porch. + +A group of boys came suddenly together into a tight bunch. + +"We'll fix him after school," Louise heard them threaten. And she knew +that Rudolph heard it, too--knew by the sudden whiteness which swept +over his face. + +The next minute the boys and girls were drawn up in parallel lines +ready to march into the schoolhouse. Louise was at the end of her +line and Rudolph Kreisler was the last on the boys' row. They were +opposite each other. + +"Eyes front--march!" came the command, and the lines moved forward +with one impulse. + +"Eyes front!" But to save her life Louise could not help stealing a +sidelong glance at Rudolph. + +To her horror she saw the little alien slip quietly behind a rose-bush +and drop out of sight into the bricked-up area which furnished +window-space for the basement. + +With a flash Louise remembered that those windows communicated +directly with the engine-room, and that the engine-room was directly +under the third grade. + +"Pay attention, Louise," came from the porch, and Louise's startled, +dark eyes were turned to the front again. + +When the children were seated in their room it developed that Miss +Barclay had been temporarily called away, and that a scared-looking +girl from the teacher training-class was in charge of the third grade. + +The new teacher did not miss Rudolph, but the children did, and there +was smothered excitement in consequence. + +Louise, who had not breathed a word of what she knew, sat grasping her +desk with both hands. Rudolph Kreisler had refused to come under the +flag! Of course they had taunted him, but the stark fact remained that +he _had_ refused. And then no human being had ever seen inside those +bulging pockets. Rudolph Kreisler, bulging pockets and all, was in the +engine-room, right under their feet! + +And then a new fear suddenly laid its grip upon her heart. Suppose +that German boy should do something to the flag! She tried to shift +her position so that she could see out of the window, but found it +impossible. + +"Oh-o-o, teacher!" Louise jumped at the sound of excitement in the voice +from behind her, but quieted somewhat when she realized that it was +Tinsie Willis who spoke. "Louise has left her hat on the front lawn!" + +"Louise, go and get your hat," said the substitute, looking all about +the room to see which one of the many little girls might be the one +reported. + +Louise rose from her seat with fear and trembling and left the room. + +But the first glimpse of the out-of-doors dispelled her great new +fear--her flag was still there! + +The stately lawn looked vast and awe-inspiring now that one had to +face its darkly waving greens all alone, but Duty called. She had left +her hat by the flagpole, and she now went timidly up to get it. She +mounted the green knoll. She looked up. + +To play fair--to play fair! And yet, one must be loyal. One couldn't +let German spies go around with their pockets--Rudolph Kreisler was in +the engine-room right now! + +Louise's grandfather and his father's father had died for their +country--would they know, 'way up yonder in heaven, if she of their +own blood were to turn coward at the test? + +It was too poignant a risk. Louise took hep young life in her hands. +Down the green knoll and around the rose-bush, and she dropped into +the brick area right by the window which opened from the engine-room. +It was raised. + +The little girl peeped in, with her heart swelling till she thought she +would smother. There was black dust on the floor and black soot on the +walls. And there in the centre rose the huge black demon engine. But no +crouching enemy was to be seen anywhere--he was hiding, of course! + +She slipped through the window, past the great silent engine, and came +face to face with Rudolph Kreisler. + +The die was cast now. + +"Tell me," demanded Louise, choking with excitement and fear, "are you +a--a _German spy_?" + +"No," said the astonished boy, "_no_!" + +"Well, what _are_ you, then?" There was no backing down now; she was +going to have it out with him. + +"I wanted to be--American," he said, his lips threatening to quiver. +"I--I thought I was." And he looked away. + +One must know the truth when one's country was at stake. Louise drew a +quick breath. + +"Well, what are you doing with your pockets full of bombs, then?" she +forced herself to bring out. + +The little boy turned toward her again, and began slowly to draw out +the contents of those suspicious pockets. A mitt, a top, two balls, a +kite-string, a chicken-foot, a gopher, nails of various lengths, some +tobacco tags, and a grimy stick of candy were laid one by one on the +janitor's tool-bench, and the German spy stood with his pockets turned +wrong side out. + +But one must have the _whole_ truth. + +"What are you doing with balls and mitts when you sit on the steps all +the time?" the little girl demanded, but with decidedly less asperity +this time. + +"I thought maybe they'd--let me play, sometime." Something rolled down +his cheek and splashed on the front of his jacket. + +"_Won't_ they let you play?" choked Louise, blinking hard to clear her +suddenly clouded vision. + +The boy shook his head. + +"Well, why doesn't your mamma come and scold the teacher about it?" +she demanded in indignant sympathy. + +"I haven't any mamma." + +"Oh-o-o! Well, you have a papa, haven't you? Why doesn't _he_ do +something?" + +"Father says those who are born here don't know how awful it is to +have to choose----" then he stopped. + +"Doesn't your father hate Germany?" the little girl asked. + +"Why, no," said the boy. + +"Does he love America?" + +"Yes," said the boy. + +"Well! Well!" exclaimed the little girl. Then--"Do you know, Rudolph, +I'm sorry for your papa!" + +But Rudolph did not answer this time. He merely turned aside till his +face was hidden. + +Suddenly a remembered something gripped Louise. + +"Rudolph," she said, "if you _are_ American, why did you refuse to +come under the flag?" + +"I--I was going to--but they called me a 'coward,' and said I was +afraid to refuse," he answered huskily. + +Louise found herself batting very heavy lashes again. + +"I am so glad I came to you," she said, "because I never would have +known that you are not a German spy if you hadn't told me!" + +"Lou-i-i-se!" + +The two started at the call--it was in Tinsie Willis's high-pitched +voice. Evidently she had been sent to find the truant. + +"Sh-h-h!" exclaimed Louise to Rudolph. "They are after me for staying +out so long. I must go." + +"Those steps yonder lead to the front hall," said the boy. "Go up that +way." + +"But you must come, too!" Louise exclaimed. + +"I can't," replied the miserable child. "The boys are fixing to fight +me. When school is over I'll slip out and go home." + +"But why wait? Why don't you go now?" asked the little girl, a strange +uneasiness coming over her. + +"The police will get me if I go out on the street during school +hours," answered he. + +"Lou-i-i-se!" + +"I'm going," whispered Louise to Rudolph, "but _don't_ let the boys +catch you! Miss Barclay has gone--and--and--_don't_ let them catch +you, Rudolph!" + +The next moment she glided up the dark stairway and came out into the +big hall. + +Jimmie Fisher was emerging from the third-grade cloaking-room with his +hat and books. + +"Father's leaving for France with a hospital unit," he explained +hurriedly, "and mother sent for me to tell him good-by." Then he +darted away. + +Miss Barclay gone! And Jimmie gone! Had God himself deserted the third +grade? + + * * * * * + +When Louise crept back into the schoolroom--ahead of Tinsie Willis, +who was still searching for her--she found things very troublous +indeed. The children were naughty and restless, and the substitute +was--a substitute! The whole class had been told to stay in, and +Louise was promptly included in the sentence as soon as her tardy +little face appeared in the doorway. + +But she did not cry or fling herself about, for she knew she had +remained out of the room overtime. Of course it had been for a high +purpose, but that she could not explain, so she merely assented +courteously and slipped into her seat. Her grandfather and his +father's father had laid down their lives for the right--if she did +not succeed in living through that dreadful half-hour of punishment, +she would be but another of her race to die for a high cause. + +Matters grew worse, and now the wind and the sky took a hand. The +great trees outside began to battle fiercely together, and the sky +frowned, darker and darker. + +Suddenly Louise--looking out of the window--saw Perkins, the janitor, +hauling down the flag! Was the Houston Street School surrendering to +the Germans? + +For one unworthy moment Louise suspected Rudolph Kreisler again. But +she instantly afterward reminded herself that he had told her with his +own lips he wished to be American. + +Then the heavens opened and the floods came. It was a terrible, +terrible afternoon, but children and substitute managed somehow to +live through it, and after so long a time the gong sounded for the +dismissal of school. + +The children of the other grades marched out. Tramp--tramp--it sounded +terribly like a host in retreat! + +Then quiet!--with the third-graders sitting silent in their seats, +trying to calculate how many thousand years it would take for that +long clock-hand to move half-way round the dial again. + +Louise began wondering at just what point Rudolph Kreisler would steal +out of his hiding and break for home. The rain had stopped, and she +hoped and believed that the little German would make good his escape +before the third grade had finished serving sentence. + +Suddenly Luke, raising his hand, asked of the substitute: + +"May I speak to Billy Hastings on business?" + +The substitute was writing something and assented without looking up. +Louise could not help hearing the hoarsely whispered "business." + +"Connie Tipton," said Luke to Billy, "says that that German spy has +been hiding in the basement but has slipped up-stairs--" The hoarse +whisper dropped lower at this point and Louise could not catch the +words which followed. She guessed darkly, however, and clung to her +desk tighter and tighter. + +At that fateful moment the substitute looked up and said: + +"Children, the others have all gone, and it looks like rain again, so +I am going to dismiss you. File out quietly--I don't wish to have to +call you back." + +She did not rise from her seat to marshal them out, taking care that +the last one of them was out of sight of the schoolhouse before he +slackened his pace. She merely dropped her eyes to her writing again +and left them practically to their own devices. + +The boys marched through the cloaking-room first, and they were +ominously quiet about it. + +Then the little girls rose and filed out. Louise led the girls' line, +but though she followed swiftly in the wake of the boys, they had +disappeared off the face of the earth when she reached the +cloaking-room door which opened into the hall. + +They had slipped off to hunt for Rudolph Kreisler, and Louise knew it. +She hoped that Rudolph had left the building, but she was not sure. + +Something must be done--but _what_? + +Just then she caught from above the sound of tiptoeing and whispering. + +It was dishonorable to "tattle," but it wasn't dishonorable to fly +after a set of lawless boys and keep them from abusing an innocent +would-be American. Louise deserted the head of her line and darted up +the long stairs. + +It was like a frightful nightmare--the stealthy, breathless chase +which followed. She could not stop the boys in their mad search, could +not command their attention a moment to explain. In and out they +darted--fourth-grade, fifth-grade, sixth-grade, seventh! Every crack +and cranny, every cloaking-room and teacher's desk was made to prove +its innocence of sheltering the fugitive spy. The scampering boys were +just finishing their search of the seventh grade when Louise found +herself at the foot of the garret steps. + +She stopped and surveyed their boxed-up secretiveness. What if Rudolph +had gone up there? + +From the sounds of disappointment now issuing from the seventh grade +she knew that the last schoolroom to be searched had not yielded up +the quarry. Yes, Rudolph must be in the garret, and of course the boys +would pursue him there! + +Then a sudden idea came to her. If she could but reach Rudolph first +she might help him to climb out of the garret window. + +Up the dark steps she flew, but, alas! there were flying feet to +follow! The others had seen, and were coming after. + +They caught up with her before she reached the top, and she and they +burst into the long garret room together. + +It was big with mystery--that long garret place--and weirdly +frightening with its half-lights and whole shadows. For one moment the +children stood at pause before its awesome silence. + +No German spy was in sight. + +Then the boys began searching hurriedly, and after a quick glance +about the open and lighter space before them, went pushing their quest +farther and farther into the distant dark of the wings and gables. + +Louise stood where they had left her, with the feeling that _the end +of all things_ was at hand, and that there was no use to struggle +further. Presently her mist-dimmed eyes were attracted to a pile of +something over at a small window near where she stood. The janitor had +thrown their beautiful flag across an old couch without taking the +trouble to roll it properly. + +The indignant little girl started toward the couch to straighten out +and roll the flag when her ear caught a sound which caused her to +pause a moment in dim speculation. There was a step below, a firm, a +familiar step--but no, she must be mistaken! + +She slipped over to the couch, but the next moment drew back and +clapped her hand over her mouth to repress a startled scream. A little +yellow-haired boy lay asleep upon the couch, with the big flag nearly +covering him! + +Louise leaned over him. Two shining drops still lay on his cheek. He +had sobbed himself to sleep--he was such a _little_ boy! + +[Illustration: "You can't touch Rudolph!" she tried. "He's under the +flag!"] + +A drift of damp air floated in from the window, and the sleeper +shivered and moved as if to cuddle further under his shelter. Louise +very gently drew the bunting folds closer about his neck. Somehow she +_knew_ that this was not desecration. + +That steady step from below again and--nearer! + +But just at that moment the boys came noisily back from the distant +wings and gables. + +"Hello, Louise! What are you doing there?" Luke Musgrove called. + +Louise started up. She was between them and the sleeping boy, but she +could not screen him from their astonished eyes. + +"Gee, but there he is!" exclaimed Billy. "Let's----" + +But the spirit of a long line of just and fair Americans was facing +them. Louise Carey was descended from ancestors who had bought freedom +and fair play with their blood, so in that hour--when she faced the +unthinking lawless--there was a something in her eyes which brought +them to a stand before her. + +"You can't touch Rudolph!" she cried. "He's under the flag!" + +A quiet fell upon them. They looked first at the sacred, sheltering +flag of their country, and then at each other. And while they yet +paused in awe there came to them the sound of a steady, familiar step +on the garret stair. The next moment the door opened and there entered +Miss Barclay--the teacher who, by her wisdom and her justice, could +always command to stillness the tempests of their childish hearts. + + + + +AMERICA FIRST + + +Little Riego Yanez was a native of Mexico--of that unhappy part of +Mexico which is constantly plundered by revolutionary bands who spend +their time in fighting, and who win their supplies by robbing the more +stable people of the republic. + +Riego's father, Antonio Yanez, had suffered many times at the hands of +the revolutionists. He was a saddler by trade, and also a small +farmer, so the products of his industry were just what the warring +bandits needed. But the warring bandits did not pay for what they +needed. They merely took, and rode away! + +So Antonio decided on a desperate step--he would emigrate to America. + +But Riego's mother objected to removing to America. Mexico was rife +with hatred and distrust of the "gringos," and many and dark were the +stories told of the country north of the Great North River. Besides, +Riego's elder brother, Pascual, an unruly lad of fifteen, was very +bitterly opposed to the change. + +So it was at length decided that Antonio should dare alone the dangers +and hardships of America. If all was as the revolutionists said, he +could escape back to Chihuahua. If, by happy chance, he should prosper +in the new country, he would send for wife and children. + +A year passed. The father's letters--few and short, for he had had +little schooling--were chiefly concerned with begging them to come and +see for themselves. + +Then, one never-to-be-forgotten day, the mother and children packed +into a hired wagon the tragic little which the bandits had left them, +and set their faces toward the Rio Grande. They, too, were bound for +that distrusted country which lay north of the northern edge of their +world. The mother and the two girls were hopeful, but Pascual was +silent and Riego afraid. + +Not till the night came down did they reach the dark river which was +to flow forever between the old life and the new. To little +ten-year-old Riego this all-pervading darkness meant "America," for to +his drowsy brain and anxious heart the black clouds above and the +darkly rolling waters below seemed to typify the spirit of the land +into which he was crossing. + +Another moment, however, and he had given up the struggle to think it +all out and fallen asleep with his head on his mother's lap. + +The next morning Riego waked up in a better land. + +He sat up on his cot and blinked his black eyes and stared about him +at the cosey little room. A flood of light poured in at the one tiny +window--Then the sun _did_ shine in this land of the gringos! + +This was very interesting. Riego hurried into his clothes and started +out to see America. + +His route of exploration led through a cheery kitchen, where he found +his two sisters busy cooking breakfast, and smiling and chatting at +their work. But Riego had no time to stop and question, for the green +things in the little garden beyond were beckoning to him. + +In another minute he was out among them. It was very green--this +"America"--very green and very sunny, with rows upon rows of the most +wonderful vegetables running out to meet the morning sun! + +Soon Riego glimpsed his father and mother beyond a dividing fence at +the side, and he ran at once to his father's arms. After the first +long embrace Riego drew back, the better to see the father who had +dared America alone for his children's sake. + +Why--his brow was smoother than Riego remembered!--his eyes +clearer!--Did one grow younger, happier, in America? + +And now Riego's mother was calling his attention to the snow-white +chickens which fluttered about them. There was a cow, too, Riego +learned--a cow and a pony and pigs and pigeons--and _all theirs_! + +Riego shouted for joy. But the next moment the joy died upon his lips, +and he asked: + +"The revolutionists, father? How long will they let us have these?" + +"Riego," said his father, "there are no revolutionists in America. +Here, if a man works, he receives a just reward, and he is allowed to +keep in peace what he earns. Our only danger is from across the +border." + +Then Riego's mother told him that his father had a fine saddle-shop +which the Americans never raided. + +It was all very, very wonderful!--A man was paid well for working, and +could keep in peace what he earned!--Was this what was meant by +"_America_"? + +Riego's father's saddle-shop was the front room of their little +dwelling, and opened immediately upon a small street in the Mexican +quarter of the village. It was a very interesting place, indeed, for +the wide door and the hospitable bench just inside invited in many an +entertaining visitor, besides the men who came to buy saddles or to +have their harness repaired. + +One of these visitors, Alonzo Lorente, was particularly interesting +to Riego and his brother, though their father always became moodily +quiet when the man came. Lorente was a big, dashing fellow, full of +strange oaths and of dark insinuations. And somehow, whenever he +entered, the air of the shop became electric with an indefinable +excitement. + +It did not take Riego long to see that, at such times, his father +managed to keep him and Pascual so busy that they missed most of their +hero's inspiriting talk. Riego was particularly unfortunate in this +respect. He spent little of his time in the shop where his father and +Pascual plied the saddler's trade, for it was his duty to help in the +market-garden. + +This deprivation of Lorente's society, however, had its compensations. +It was Riego's especial work to peddle their vegetables at the khaki +tents of the gringo soldiers a few miles away, and this was very +entertaining and exciting in itself, for the soldiers were jolly and +kind and said nice things to one. + +And then, one rainy Saturday afternoon, when the peddling was all +done, Riego sat in his father's shop and listened to Alonzo Lorente. +And Alonzo Lorente startled him awake with the news that all was not +well with the land of America. He spoke darkly of "gringos" and of +"vengeance." + +Pascual, Riego noticed, crept closer and closer to the big man, till +his fingers forgot the leather they should have been stretching. + +It was then that the unexpected happened. The father, usually so quiet +and so busy, suddenly rose from his work-bench and came forward. + +"Lorente," he said, and Pascual and Riego started at the iron in his +tone, "Lorente, it is not the busy men who have quarrel with America. +It is those who have time to do--much talking!" + +There was a pause and dead silence, and then Lorente the magnificent +turned on his heel with a growl and left the shop. + +Then Antonio returned to his work-bench, with Riego following, but +Pascual stole to the door and gazed at the receding Lorente till his +father called him sharply to his duties. + +One day the father did not open his shop at all. It was closed in +honor of the great American festival, Riego heard him explain grimly +to a follower of Lorente, who questioned. And Riego heard the follower +of Lorente laugh scornfully as he strode away. + +There being no work that day, Pascual and Riego set out together to +explore the yet farther reaches of America. + +But they had not gone far past the square where loomed the several +American stores when they sighted a crowd in a grove of big trees, and +heard voices shouting and hands clapping as if in great joy. A number +of gringo soldiers were roving about. Two were coming leisurely toward +them across the green. + +Riego wanted to press forward to see and hear, but his brother jerked +him by the sleeve, exclaiming: + +"It is the Americans' great feast-day, the Fourth of July. Come away!" + +"But father says _we_ are Americans now. Why can't we go and hear what +they are saying?" Riego's voice had risen in his eagerness. + +The approaching soldiers stopped and looked at him, and Riego's heart +stopped, too. + +But the taller of the soldiers saluted him in fine fashion, and +addressed to him words of courteous welcome: + +"Don Pedro de Alvarado-Rain-in-the-Face-Sitting-Bull, for such as thou +art is the picnic! Welcome to our city!" + +Riego understood the gesture of invitation. He thanked the courtly +soldier, and walked proudly forward, followed by his brother. + +It was a gay scene, but quiet now, for someone was speaking. The +starry banner of America fluttered everywhere, and smiling, +white-faced senoritas and brown-clad soldiers were gathered here and +there in listening groups. Under a tree, near the platform, sat +musicians with shining silver horns and a big drum. A number of +children were seated on the grass in front of the stand. Among them, +Riego noticed, were many dark faces like his own. + +Suddenly Riego's courage gave way and he started to retreat. But a +sweet-faced senora took him by the hand and led him and Pascual to a +place where they could see everything, whispering as they went: + +"It is our day of freedom." + +At first the boy was dazed by the strangeness of the scene, and his +interest shifted. But the sound of a sweet, ringing voice soon +compelled his attention and he turned quickly toward the platform. + +Riego caught his breath. Who was it? _What_ was it that was speaking +to him? + +In the centre of the platform stood a clear-eyed, white-faced goddess, +with the flag of the new country draped around her slender form, and +the sunlight of this day of freedom beating down upon her shining +head. She was speaking, but in the difficult new tongue. + +Riego could not take his eyes away, but he reached out his hand +quickly to touch Pascual. + +The sweet-faced senora leaned over him. + +"America," she whispered in explanation. + +_America!_ Beautiful America! Riego crept forward, unconscious now of +the crowd around. Oh, to _understand_ America! + +Then a strange thing happened. The beautiful goddess suddenly ceased +speaking, and her face became clouded with thought. Her eyes were +focussed on the eager boy who had crept forward and was standing +spellbound before her--the most conspicuous of the group of +dark-faced, bewildered children. + +Riego did not know that everybody in that audience had suddenly leaned +forward in dead silence. + +After one tense moment the Beautiful One advanced to the edge of the +platform and descended the steps till she stood almost among them. + +And now this strange, new, better country was speaking to Riego _in +his own tongue_! + +"You didn't _understand_ me, did you?" she asked in Spanish. + +"Not _then_, my lady!--but _now_!" It was Riego who answered her, but +the other dark faces were alight like his own now. The crowd was +leaning forward again. + +"Ah, that is all the trouble!" said the Beautiful One. "Our new people +simply do not understand America! Do you wish me to tell you the story +in Spanish?" + +There were many who answered this time. + +Then she told them in their own tongue of the great struggle for a new +freedom and a new peace which had been waged upon this soil over a +hundred years before. And the breathless children heard how this new +ideal of freedom had passed all bounds of the country in which it was +born, and thrilled all lands. They heard how the noble La Fayette of +France, Steuben of Prussia, and Kosciuszko of Poland each had offered +his all that America might be forever a refuge for the oppressed. They +learned how the German De Kalb had laid down his life at Camden for +the new faith, and how Count Pulaski had poured out the last drop of +his Polish blood to make the world's great dream of freedom "come true." + +Then the Beautiful One told the children how, throughout the more than +one hundred years since the fight was won, the footsore and oppressed +of many lands have found in America work and a just reward for +working, the freedom to do anything which does not harm another, and +the great gift of peace! + +"And now," exclaimed the speaker, "which of you will promise with me +to be loyal to America? Stand up!" + +And they stood up--the dark children, the white-faced senoritas, the +gringo soldiers, and all!--and repeated after the Beautiful One: + + "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it + stands, + One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." + +When Riego turned from the inspiring scene it was to see his brother +Pascual walking away, and in close conversation with Alonzo Lorente. + + * * * * * + +The days passed, but Riego still treasured in his heart his first +vision of America. He knew now that the Beautiful One was only a +charming senorita and daughter of the big captain who commanded at the +American camp. But he liked to think of her as "America"--the +beneficent goddess who had smoothed the furrows from his father's brow +and crowned his faithful labors with reward. + +And then, one momentous day, the Beautiful One stood in the shop-door, +asking in Spanish if she might be allowed to enter. She was all in +white this time--snow-white. To Riego's fond imagination she was still +a shining goddess. + +Riego's father welcomed the senorita and dusted the bench that she +might sit and rest, for Riego had told him of the great American +festival, and Antonio had learned much besides. + +The senorita had come to speak to the father about his sons--and her +smiling glance included both the sullen Pascual and Riego, who stood +worshipfully by. + +It seemed that the senorita--Miss Flora Arden was her name--was to +teach a class of "newly made Americans," and again her glance +included the boys. She wanted to teach them to speak the English +language and to help them to a better understanding of America. The +senorita believed that most of the trouble which the newly made +Americans encountered was due to the fact that they did not know how +to find and use the good gifts which their new country had to offer. +And she was certain that most of the trouble they _gave_ was because +they brought old prejudices with them, and so did not open their +hearts to America. + +Riego understood the spirit of her proposal better than he did the +words of her correct Spanish. His father listened throughout with +thoughtful, grave attention. + +There were no charges to be made for this teaching? Then what was the +senorita to gain for so much effort? + +"I?" said the senorita--she was standing now, ready to depart--"I gain +a better country! My father is a soldier and serves his country by +helping to keep the peace along this troubled border. If I had been a +son I might have done as much. But I am only a daughter, Antonio! And +yet"--and she put her arm over Riego's shoulders as she spoke--"if I +help to make loyal even _one_ of America's adopted sons, am not I, +too, serving my country?" + +The father's rare smile assented to her offer, even before his lips +made the promise. + +Riego followed the Beautiful One to the door. + +Outside, Alonzo Lorente slouched against a lamp-post. The senorita +looked into Lorente's face and recoiled slightly. Riego saw the +recoil, and an unnamed fear suddenly laid its hand upon his heart. + + * * * * * + +Pascual and Riego went to Miss Arden's class--Pascual sullen and +uninterested, Riego breathlessly eager. But they had not attended many +times--indeed, had just begun to glimpse something of the bigness and +goodness of their new country--when the stroke fell that was to change +their little world. The good father dropped at his work-bench, +speechless and bewildered. The American doctor said he would be able +to work again, but that his mind would never be quite the same. + +Their wise father thus reduced to childishness, and their mother +ignorant of the new conditions and the new tongue, the boys were left +to plan for themselves. + +Pascual left Miss Arden's class. He explained that he would now have +to take charge of his father's shop; but he found time to make many +trips across the dark Rio Grande and to talk much with Lorente, who +now resumed his old practice of dropping in at the shop to chat. His +younger brother, however, continued under the senorita's instruction. + +Riego learned at Miss Arden's class that "freedom" gives one the right +to do as he wishes only in so far as he does not wish to interfere +with the rights of another. + +"There is no 'freedom' except in loyal obedience to law," she told him +one day. "America is a 'free' country because--though here are +gathered people from all lands--they join together in making laws +which are kind and impartial to all, and they stand together in +support of the laws they make." + +"But, senorita, Alonzo Lorente says--" began the boy, and stopped short. + +"What does Alonzo Lorente say?" the senorita asked quickly. + +"I--I promised not to tell," stammered the child. + +There was the blue truth of heaven in the senorita's eyes as she looked +into his own, and answered: "Riego, it is more than dishonest in Lorente +to accept the blessings which America affords him and not be true to +her. It is worse than traitorous in him to help spoil the peace of the +country which is his refuge from oppression. If Alonzo Lorente likes the +old way better than the new, he should go back to the old country. If he +honestly wishes to change what he finds here, and thinks he can better +things, he has one man's just share in deciding, for he is a naturalized +citizen and can vote on any question. But Alonzo Lorente _should speak +out openly or else keep silent_!" + +Before Riego left that afternoon Miss Arden had him repeat with her: + + "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it + stands, + One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." + +But little Riego did not dream in how short a time would his loyalty +to his new country be tested. One afternoon--his father was still +lying unconscious--Riego was tending the shop alone, for Pascual had +crossed the Rio Grande in the early morning and had not yet returned. + +It was a dull, dull afternoon, for no patrons came, and the visitors +merely glanced in and passed on. It was hot and still, so the sleepy +Riego decided to rest. He found a cool spot behind a pile of boxes, +and lay down and closed his eyes. + + * * * * * + +When Riego opened his eyes again it was with a start. There were +voices--smothered voices--some men were in the shop! Riego lay still +and listened. + +"We will attack the gringo camp to-night--just before dawn," a +smothered voice was saying. "Alva has three hundred men and more. They +can easily surprise and destroy these eighty Americans, and so can +seize their horses and ammunition." + +"But the patrol?" It was Pascual's voice that whispered the question. +Riego's heart turned sick. He recognized the voice of Lorente in the +terrifying reply: + +"Pacheco and a picked few will knife the patrol at the ford, then +Alva's men will cross, and approach the camp up the ravine." + +"To-morrow morning?" Pascual's voice asked. + +"Yes, just before dawn." + +There were approaching steps on the street. + +A customer entered. Riego heard Lorente departing--heard the customer +inquire the price of a saddle, and go out. + +It must be done _now_--now while Pascual was alone, and he could +speak to him! The next moment Riego stood before his brother. + +"I heard you!" he cried. "Pascual, they _must not_!" + +But Pascual laid a fierce hand upon his breast and pinned him to the +wall. + +It was a terrible scene--that which followed--terrible in the tense +quiet of its enactment--terrible in its outcome! + +With Riego pinned against the wall where he needs must listen, Pascual +poured forth such a torrent of abuse, of falsehood, against the +"gringos" that at length the old hate blood leapt in the younger boy's +veins and went beating through his brain. + +The gringos were their enemies--_enemies_! The men who were coming +down upon them with the dawn were of their own blood, of their native +country! What if the invaders _were_ "revolutionists"? Were they not +_Mexican_? Talk of "loyalty"--one must be loyal to _one's own_! + +When Pascual loosed his grip upon the slight form it was after he had +stirred to the very dregs all that was passionate, all that was +ignorant and prejudiced and violent, in the boy's nature. + +That afternoon Riego did not report at Miss Arden's class, but long +after class hour he was obliged to pass her house on the mission to +deliver a mended harness to a farmer living near the American camp. + +Miss Arden and her mother, Riego knew, were the only members of the +big captain's family. They lived in a large house in the woods, +half-way between the town and the camp. He knew also that the big +captain stayed in camp. + +As Riego emerged from the long stretch of lonely woods which separated +Miss Arden's house from the town, and as he faced the other long +stretch of woods which lay between him and the camp, the boy was +struck by the isolation of the senorita's home. + +He reflected, however, that Alva's men were to attack the gringo +soldiers by way of the ford, and that the ford lay to the right +yonder, far out of connection with the captain's house. He was +glad--glad that Alva's men would not come that way! + +Suddenly he spied the senorita herself. She was standing on the steps +of her father's home. Riego's heart bounded within him at sight of +her. He pulled down his hat and hoped to pass unrecognized, but the +sweet, familiar voice called: + +"Riego!" + +He did not answer. + +Then she ran down the steps to him, and put her gentle hands upon him, +turning him to her against his will. + +"What is the matter, Riego?" she asked. + +No answer. + +"You didn't come to class this afternoon." + +No answer. + +"I'm sorry," she said, after a moment of silence in which she looked +searchingly into his face, "because we had an interesting lesson +to-day. It was all about what one ought to do in case one should be +forced to _choose between_ the old land and the new." + +The boy gave a swift, upward glance at her, then dropped his eyes to the +ground again. Miss Arden continued, and her voice was very serious now: + +"And we decided, Riego, that one ought to think out carefully which +country was really the better, and be true to that, because there is a +higher duty than that to party or country, and that is--to the +principles of justice and freedom." + +Riego's head sank lower. The Beautiful One took one of his brown hands +into her own. + +"And we said"--was she looking into the dark heart of him?--"that +whichever way one chose, one should choose _openly_. Now this little +brown hand could never----" + +But the little brown hand was snatched away, and with a great sob the +child fled into the woods. + +When at last that night Riego did fall asleep he dreamed that his +beautiful America came to him with her white arms held out in appeal, +and that he slipped a dagger out of his bosom and stabbed her to the +heart. + +He started, awake, and sat up. It was black dark. + +_Had Alva struck already? Or was there yet time?_ + +Ten feet away was Pascual's cot--he must not wake Pascual! As still as +death he slipped out of his bed, pulled on his overalls that he had +hung near, and crept out into the moonless night. + +Riego could not think--it was all so desperate! He could only respond +to the heart that was in him, and creep forward through the dark. But +his feet knew the road that he took, though his brain was reeling. He +was going straight to the one who had wakened the new loyalty in +him--his beautiful America! + +"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it +stands," went surging through him as he struggled on. + +Riego was not grandly heroic; he was only a frightened little boy, but +determined now to do his loyal best for the country that had sheltered +him from oppression. And so, though the treacherous sands might seek +to drag him down, though the dark chaparral yonder might hide--any +fearsome thing!--Riego went forward. + +And now the house of the big captain loomed black before him. Riego +stole up the front steps. He knew behind which of the long, closed +windows the senorita slept, and he approached and tapped fearfully +upon it. + +It was a frightened voice that called: "Who is _that_?" + +Riego was not conscious how he answered, but he knew that a wave of +relief flowed over him when the blind of the long window opened and he +was drawn into the dark room by a pair of familiar hands. + +The blind was closed after him and a light was struck. + +The senorita's eyes were disclosed big and startled; her face was as +white as the long robe she wore. + +"What _is_ it, Riego?" she gasped. + +"They are coming!" he whispered. + +"Who?" she exclaimed, catching him by the shoulders, "_Who?_" + +"Alva," the boy answered, "and three hundred with him. They are going +to surprise--our soldiers--and kill them while they sleep!" + +The senorita sprang to the telephone. She pulled down the lever many, +many times, then she staggered back against the wall. + +"They have cut the wires!" she cried. "Riego, you and I must take the +warning!" + +"To the camp?" the boy cried in dismay. + +"Yes, there's no one within a mile of here that could take it but us!" + +"But the Mexicans have spies over there," the boy moaned. "They will +find us in the dark with their knives!" + +She had flung on a long cloak, and was hurriedly fastening her shoes. + +"Then you stay here and I'll go," she said. + +"_You?_" cried the startled child--then--"It is dark out there, my +lady; I'll go with you." + +They extinguished the light and stole out together to the stable, but +the horses were gone! + +Desperate now, they started out afoot. + +The treacherous sand again and the black dark! But they crept along +together. Then suddenly the boy's courage gave way and he clung to the +cloaked figure, sobbing: + +"Senorita! Senorita! I am _afraid_!" + +The senorita was trembling, too, and her voice broke as she whispered: + +"You and I don't make very good heroes, do we?" + +They had come to a standstill and were clinging together in the dark. +Suddenly there was a sound of something approaching---the velvet tread +of an unshod pony in the sand! + +The rider passed. + +When they breathed again the senorita took him strongly by the +shoulders. + +"Riego," she whispered--and there was no break in her voice now--"we +must separate. One of us must go straight to the ford and warn the +patrol, the other to camp." + +"But it is near the ford that Pacheco is hiding," the boy replied. + +"I'll go to the ford," she said simply. + +"No, my lady, _I_ go--you take the news to camp." And before she could +detain him the boy turned at a sharp angle and plunged into the deeper +blackness of the chaparral. + + * * * * * + +A long nightmare intervened between their parting and the time when the +half-dead boy clung to the saddle of the patrol and whispered to him: + +"Keep to the open, senor; there are men with knives in the chaparral! +Help is coming!" + +Then, somehow, everything was blotted out for Riego. + +When consciousness came again to the boy, the cool air of the dawn was +choked with dust clouds till he could not see ten feet before him and +his ears were nearly bursting with the thunder-beat of frantic hoofs. +Dim horses were rearing and plunging against the reddening dawn. +There were shouts and cries and firing! Firing! + +Who was losing? Who was _winning_? + +Dear God, Alva's men were sweeping back across the Rio Grande! + +One little frightened boy had saved the day for the country that had +given him refuge from oppression. + +But what was that? A call for help? _Whose voice was that?_ + +Riego plunged into the thick of the dust cloud toward the cry, and +dropped by Pascual's side. How could he have known that his brother +would ride that night with the invaders! + +But Pascual was striving to speak. Riego leaned over him and caught +the whisper: + +"Lorente shot me down to get my horse and escape!" + +And now the gringos were circling round the wounded one--they would +beat out his brains with their guns! But--but--why, they were lifting +him up, and _tenderly_! The Americans were lifting up his wounded +brother! + + * * * * * + +Many and bewildering were the things which happened to Riego in the +next few hours. First, he and the all-but-dead Pascual were carried by +the soldiers to the American camp. Then his brother was taken away +from him and borne into a closed tent. + +The soldiers gathered around Riego and patted him on the shoulder. +They gave him many things--things to eat and coins and pocket-knives +and tobacco-tags, all the while challenging him to smile--he whose +captured brother was yonder! + +Later the big captain sent for him and took him by the hand. + +"Riego Yanez," he said, "I am proud to shake hands with an American +hero!" + +At length a tall soldier came to Riego and led him to the closed tent. +But the tall soldier did not enter; he merely pushed the boy inside +the tent and dropped the khaki flap. + +Riego blinked his eyes. Somebody was lying stretched out on a cot, and +somebody was fanning him--the Beautiful One and his brother! Riego +crept toward her suddenly outstretched hands. + +Then he leaned over Pascual. But Pascual's eyes were closed and on his +face was a yellow pallor. + +"The surgeon has taken out the ball," whispered the Beautiful One. "He +will live, with good nursing, and I am on the job." She paused a +moment, then asked, as she looked into his face with concern: "Aren't +you happy, you tragic little soldier? Why don't you smile at the good +news?" + +"How--" began the child--and a strange, sick feeling swept over +him--"how long before he will be well enough to be stood against a +wall--and----" + +"Why, you poor child!"--and the big tears sprang to the senorita's +eyes--"your brother will not be stood against a wall and shot for +treason--never--_never_! And he's not going to be shut up in prison, +either!" + +[Illustration: "Riego Yanez," he said. "I am proud to shake hands with +an American hero!"] + +"But why, senorita? Why? The big captain knows that he was with Alva's +men." + +"He is young--just a boy," and the senorita laid a tender hand upon +the head of the wounded lad. "He is the son of good parents and +brother to---- Oh, you tragic little soldier, can't you guess who it +is has saved your brother?" + +"_You_, senorita?" + +"_Yourself_, Riego. Because you have been heroically loyal they are to +give your brother another chance. We Americans, Riego"--and her white +hand closed upon his own to include him with her--"we Americans are +going to nurse Pascual back to a better life and teach him how to be +free!" + +The sick lad stirred on his cot. + +When the Beautiful One leaned over him in quick solicitude, he +smiled. + + + + +The Scribner Series of School Reading + + + A Uniform Series for Supplementary Reading in Schools. Each, 12mo, + _net_, *$0.50. + + Hero Tales Told in School. By JAMES BALDWIN. Illustrated. + + Herakles, the Hero of Thebes, and Other Heroes of the Myth. By + MARY E. BURT and ZENAIDE RAGEZIN. Illustrated. + + Odysseus: The Hero of Ithaca. By MARY E. BURT. Illustrated. + + The Boy General. By Mrs. GEORGE A. CUSTER and MARY E. BURT. + Illustrated. + + Don Quixote De La Mancha. By MIGUEL DE CERVANTES. From the + translations of Duffield and Shelton. By MARY E. BURT and LUCY + LEFFINGWELL CABLE. + + The Cable Story Book. Selections for School Reading. By GEORGE W. + CABLE. Edited by MARY E. BURT and LUCY L. CABLE. Illustrated. + + The Hoosier School Boy. By EDWARD EGGLESTON. Illustrated. + + The Eugene Field Book. Verses, Stories, and Letters for School + Reading. By EUGENE FIELD. Edited by MARY E. BURT and MARY L. + CABLE. With an Introduction by GEORGE W. CABLE. Illustrated. + + The Howells Story Book. By WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. Selected and + arranged by MARY E. BURT. Illustrated by MISS HOWELLS. + + The Lanier Book. Selections for School Reading. By SIDNEY LANIER. + Edited and arranged By MARY E. BURT, in co-operation with Mrs. + LANIER. Illustrated. + + The Page Story Book. Selections for School Reading by THOMAS + NELSON PAGE. Edited by FRANK E. SPALDING and CATHERINE T. BRYCE. + + Poems of American Patriotism. Chosen by BRANDER MATTHEWS. + + Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. By HOWARD PYLE. Illustrated + by the Author. + + The Roosevelt Book. Selections from the writings of Theodore + Roosevelt, with an introduction by ROBERT BRIDGES. Illustrated. + + A Child's Garden of Verses. By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. Illustrated. + + Krag and Johnny Bear. Being the Personal Histories of Krag, Randy, + Johnny Bear, and Chink. By ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. Illustrated. + + Lobo, Rag, and Vixen. Selections from "Wild Animals I Have Known." + By ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. With 4 full-page and many other + illustrations from drawings by the Author. + + Twelve Naval Captains. With portraits. By MOLLY ELLIOTT SEAWELL. + + Fanciful Tales. By FRANK R. STOCKTON. Edited by JULIA E. + LANGWORTHY. Illustrated. + + Around the World in the Sloop Spray. By Captain JOSHUA SLOCUM. + Illustrated. + + The van Dyke Book. Selections for School Reading. By HENRY VAN + DYKE. Edited and arranged by Professor EDWIN MIMS, with + Biographical Sketch by MISS VAN DYKE. Illustrated. + + Children's Stories of American Literature, 1660-1860. By HENRIETTA + CHRISTIAN WRIGHT. + + Children's Stories of American Literature, 1860-1896. By HENRIETTA + CHRISTIAN WRIGHT. + + Children's Stories in American History. By HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN + WRIGHT. + + Children's Stories in American Progress. By HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN + WRIGHT. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + + * Punctuation errors have been corrected. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of America First, by Frances Nimmo Greene + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICA FIRST *** + +***** This file should be named 36726.txt or 36726.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/2/36726/ + +Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Archives and Special +Collections, University Libraries, Ball State University +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +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. |