Year: 1875

musn t get too far behind Grip. That


fellow too much for any one dog"
Biggest painter ever seen, Jackl''


gasped the party addressed, but it s
we'll enough for you to say, come on.


I've got fifty pounds O. fat more to


kerry than you hev. Hadn't we better


hold up and load before we go a-kitin
into that thar swamp


Time for that when Grip trees
him" sharply responded Jack. "And
I'll fight him bare handed before I'll
lose him. Bring your bacon along as
fast as you can


And so saying, the tall. 1.-THE, ath-
letic young hunter sprang forward,
and disappeared among the tangled
array of trees and thickets before
them.


Good footing enough, however,
swamp or pn@swamp; tor although
there was but little snow on the
ground, the frost had been quite Sc
we're for several days, and the Decem-
Der sun had by no means power
enough to soften its effect.


The loud baying of Grip came back


to the fat hunters ears in a way that


made his fingers tremble, as he rapid


ly recharged his double barrel, but
his perspiring red face and hard drawn


breath did not promise a very speedy
recovery of his wind, for Bill Wig
gins had been making wonderfully
good time for the past ten minutes.


The swamp" or bit of low and
marshy ground, in which the painter"
had taken refuge from his pursuers,
may have been half mile wide at
that point. On one side arose range
of wild and rugged hills, and on the
other stretched an expanse of broken
and rocky ground, still covered with
a heavy growth of timber, while just
at the edge of this latter wound the
narrow road which connected two of
the richest valleys in all the mountain
county of Pennsylvania.


Now it SO happened that, at this
very day and hour, the rough and SOL
itary road was made to look a trifle
less lonely than usual by the presence
of party OF very respectable-looking
travellers.


In front rode very we'll ll-dressed
and comfortable-looki young man,
on a we'll fed and comforta ble- looking
gray mare. A more well-to-do and
seli-satisfied pair had probably never
found their way over that swamp road;
and, if he did not absolutely own it
road, swamp, mountains and all-he
certainly looked as if he did.


Just far enough behind him to make
it evident that they were travelling in
company was another party" even
more satisfactory. in external appear
ance, at least, to the eyes of disin-
terested observer.


This latter consisted of long, low
built sleigh, whose5runners were now
cutting through the light snow to the
bare ground more than half the time,
drawn by stout, ..schuHky'' pair of
Canada ponies, and which contained
brace Of human beings, at least one of
whom was more pleasant to look upon
than was the well-fed young man on
the gray mare.


A young lady, say of twenty sum-
mcrs or winters, but whose rosy face
had decidedly summery expression,
not at all lessened by the brown curls
which escaped here and there from
under her warm cozy hood. Any one
with eyes In his head would have
looked at her first, and might have
wondered what her companion could
be saying to bring such swift process
sion of shadows across such a counte-
nance, not to speak Of an occasional
quiver Of the lips, that had quite as
much feminine willfulness in it as of
any kind of grief. The words that
were pouring into her ears were low
spoken and calmly uttered, but with
a hardness and almost harshness of
tone that seemed to belle the other
surface indication" of the speaker.


Not very tall man, certainly, was
the latter, though broad enough to
make the spreading brim of his Qua
ker hat seem perfectly in keeping.


Hester" he said, with an evident
effort to avoid being heard by the
young man on the mare, ''thee has
been rude to Absalom this morning,
and [ do not wonder he cares so little
for thy conversation. Does thee for
get what [ have said to thee about
His father was my friend,
and his inheritance is even better than
thine may be- Has there been any
quarrel between thee and Absalom
Peck ?''


Quarrel. father! Absalom Peek.
quarrel? Oh, don l wish he would
Why, he wouldn't quarrel with any
body. not even If lie were taking their
last cent from them. | only wish he
would let me quarrel with him p


''Thee is strange girl, Hester
replied the old man,
and thee takes great deal after thy
mother. Why should thee quarrel
with thy husband ?"


Husband Absalom Peck my hus-
band, father? If he were, | would
quarrel all the time. I'm glad thee
talks plainly this morning, father, so
[ can answer thee plainly. | don't
care if Absalom Peck's gray mare
carries him clean into the mountain
or over it. He will never have any
wife at all, if he waits for me-


There was world of spirit in the
blue eyes as they looked straight into
her father own, but the old man was
waxing grave and stern, and he an
swered almost hoarsely:


Hester Merriweather, | know thee;
thee has been talking again with that
lazy vagabond, Jack Maclay, of whom
bade thee beware. Has thee not?''


mo, [ haven't" sharply responded
Hester, for he hasn't been near the
house since you ordered him away.
Jack Maclay ism lazy and he isn't a
vagabond. How does thee dare say
such things of man whose farm is as
good as even Absalom Peck ?"


'Ahem. Yes! Land enough. and l
must say his last crop was good one,"
responded the now grim and angry
father; but when a man puts in his
time fishing, and hunting, and fellow
ing dogs through the woods, 1 call
him vagabond, farm or no farm.
Thee must Lever speak again to Jack
Maclay."


Just at this moment, the rounded
physique OF Absalom turned somewhat