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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1912)
FRECKLES i COPYRIGHT. I9W. BY DOL'BLEDAY. PACE CO. 1 I PROLOGUE. This romance of Freckles and the Angel of the Limberlost is one of the most novel, entertain ing, wholesome and fascinating stories that have come from the Den of an American author in many years. The characters in this sylvan tale are-: Freckles, a plucky waif who faards the Limberlost timber leases and dreams of angels. The Swamp Angel, in whom Freckles' sweetest dream ma terializes. McLean, a member of a lumber company, who befriends Freckles. Mrs. Duncan, who gives moth r love and a home to Freckles. Duncan, head teamster of Mc Lean's timber gang. The Bird Woman, who is col lecting camera studies of birds for a book. Lord and Lady O'More, who come from It eland in quest of a lost relative. The Man of Affairs, brusque kf manner, but big of heart. Wessner, a timber thief who wants rascality made easy. Black Jack, a yillainjo whom thought of repentance comes too late. . CHAPTER XX. LOVE AS A REMEDT. IIIB caught Freckles' band tc her breast, and, bending ovei him, looked deep Into bit stricken eyes. " 'Angel. I give you my word ol bonor that I will keep right on breath ing.' That's what you are going tc promise me," she said. "Do you say It?" Freckles hesitated. "Freckles," imploringly commanded tbe angel, "you do say it!" "Yis," gasped Freckles. Tbe angel sprang to her feet. "Then that's all right." she said, with a tinge of ber old time brisk ness. "You Just keep sawing away like a steam engine and 1 will do all the rest," The eager men gathered about her. "It's going to be a tough pull to get Freckles out," sho said, "but It's our only chance. You four there get on those wagon horses and ride to the sleeping tent. Get the stoutest cot, a couple of comforts and a pil low. Ride back with them some way to save time. If you meet any other men of the gang send them on here to help carry the cot. We won't risk the Jolt of driving with him. The rest of you clear a path out to the road, and, Mr. McLean, you take Nellie and ride to town. Tell my father how Freckles Is hurt and that be risked it to save me. Tell hliu I'm "going to take Freckles to Chicago on the noon train and I want him to hold it if we are a little Inte. If be can't then have a speclnl ready at tbe stutlon and another on the I'ltts burg at Fort Wayne, so we can go straight through. You needn't mind leaving us. The Hlrd Woninn will be here soon. When they stood ready to lift Freckles the angel bent over him In a pusslou of tenderness. "Dour old Limberlost guard, we're goins to lift you now." she said "l suspect you will faint from the pain of it. but we will be Just ns easy as ever wo can. and don't you dare forget your promise!" A whimsical half smile touched Freckles' quivering lips. "Angel, can a man be remembering a promise when he ain't knowing?" he asked. "You can." snid the nngel stoutly, "becauso a promise means so much more to you than It does to most men." A look of strength flashed Into Freckles' face at her words. "I am ready." he said. With the first touch his eyes closed, a mighty groan wns wrenched from him, and he lay senseless. The angel gave Duncan one panic stricken look. Then sho set her lips and gathered her forces again. "I guvw that's n goc.1 thing." she said. "Maybe he won't feel how wo are hurting him. Oh. boys, are you being quick and gentle?" She stepped to tbe side of the cot and bathed Freckles face. Taking his hand In hers, she gave the word to start. She told the men to ask every ablebodled man they met to Join them so that they could change carriers often and make good time. The Bird Woman insisted upon tak ing the angel into the carriage and fol lowing the cot. but the angel refused to leave Freckles nnd suggested that the Bird Woman drive ahead, pack them some clothing, and be at the sta tion ready to accompany tbem to Chi cago. All the way the angel walked beside the cot. shading Freckles' face and holding his hand. At every pause to change carriers she moistened his face nnd Hps and counted each breath with heartbreaking anxiety. She scarcely knew when her father Joined them, and, taWng the branch from her, slipped an arm about ber waist nnd almost carried her along. To the city street and the swarm of curious, staring faces she paid no more attention than she had to the trees of the Limberlost. When the train pull ed in and the gang placed Freckles aboard, Duncan made a place for the angel beside the cot. With the best physician to be found, and with the Bird Woman and .Mc Lean in attendance, the four hours' run to Chicago began. Not for an In stant would the angel yield ber place, or allow any one else to do anything for him. The Bird Woman and Mc Lean regarded ber in amazement. The only time she spoke was to ask McLean if he was sure the special would be ready on the Pittsburg line. He replied that it was made up and waiting. At 5 o'clock Freckles lay stretched on the operating table of Lake View hospital, while three of the greatest surgeons in Chicago bent over him. At their command. McLean picked up the unwilling angel and carried her out to the nurses to be bathed, have ber. bruises attended to. and be put to bed. In a place where It Is difficult to sur prise people, they were nstoninhed women as they .removed the angel's dainty stained nnd torn clothing, peeled off hose muck baned to tier limbs, soaked tbe dried loam from her silken hair and washed the teauttrul. scratched, bruised, dirt covered body. I I x t f y The angel fell fast asleep long before they had finished, and lay deeply un conscious, while the fight for Freckles' life was being waged. Three days later she was up early and hovering neur Freckles' door. The surgeon was with him. The angel hud been told that tbe word be brought that morning would be final, so she curled up in a window seat, dropped the curtains behind her. j and. in dire anxiety, waited the open ing of that closed door. Just as it unclosed, McLean came hurrying down tbe hall and np to the surgeon, but with one glance at his face be stepped back in dismay, and the angel, who had risen, sank to the Beat again, loo dazed to come forward. The men faced each other. The angel, with parted lips and frightened eyes, brut forward lu tense anxiety. "I I thought he was doing nicely?" faltered McLean. "He bore the operation well," re plied the surgeon, "and his wounds are not necessarily fatal. I told you that yesterday, but I did not tell yon that something else would probably kill him. and it will. He need not die from the accident, but he will not live the day out because be so evi dently prefers death to life. If ho were full of hope and ambition to live, my work would be easy. If all of you love him as you prove you do, and there Is uullmited means to give him anything he wants, why should he desiro death?" "Is he dying?" demanded McLean. "He is." said the surgeon, "lie will not live this day out. unless some strong reaction sets In at once. He is so low that, preferring death to life, nature cannot overcome his Inertia. If be Is to live, he must be made to desiro life." "Then he must die," said McLean. "Does that mean that you know what he desires and cannot, or will not. supply It?" "It means." said McLean desperately, "that I know what lie wants, but it Is as far removed from my power to glvo it to him as It would be to glvo him n star. The thing for which he will dlo ho can never have." "Then you must prepare for the end very shortly." said the surgeon, turn ing abruptly away. McLean caught his arm roughly. "Look here!" ho cried In desperation. "lou say that ns If I could do some thing If I would. I tell you the boy is dear to me past expression. I would donuy.tbin-sii'n(J.anj; gum.Von have noticed and repeatedly commented n .i. . ..... i & i ue joiiiik gin wiiii me ii is i in i child that lie wants: He worships her I to adoration, and knowing he can never j J be anything to her. ho prefers death , y to life. In God's name, what can I ! do about It?" It i "Barring that missing nana. I uever handled n liner man." said the surgeon. "and she seems perfectly devoted to him, why cannot he have her?" "Why?" echoed McLean. "Why? Well, for a good many reasons. I told you ho was my sou. You probably knew that he was not. A little over a year ago 1 had never seen him. He joined one of my lumber gangs from the road. He is u stray, left at one of your homes for the friendless here lu Chicago. When he grew up the superintendent bound him out to a brutal man. He ran away and landed In one of my lumber camps He has no name or knowledge of legal birth. The nngel we have talked of her. She has ances tors reaching back to Tlymouth Rock and across the sea for generations back of that She Is an Idolized, petted only child, and there Is great wealth. He sees It more plainly than nny one else could. There Is nothing for the boy but death if it is the angel that is required to save him." The angel stood between them. "Well. 1 guess not!" she cried. "If Freckles wants me fall he has to do is to sny so. nnd he can have me!" "That he will never say." said Mc Lean at last, "and you don't under stand, angel. I don't know how yon came here. I wouldn't have bud you bear thut for the world, but since you have, dear, you must be told that It Isn't your friendship or kindness Freckles wnnts; It Is your love." "Well, I do love him." she said sim ply. McLean's arms dropped helplessly. "You don't understand." he reiterat ed patiently, "it Isn't tbe love of a friend, or n comrade, or a sister, that Freckles wants from you; it Is the love of n sweetheart And if to save the life he bus offered for you you are thinking of being generous and lm- j pulsive enough to sacrifice your future I in the absence of your father it will become my plain duty, ns the pro tector in whose hands ho hns placed you, to prevent such rashness. The very words you speak and the manner in which you say them proves thnt you ore a mere child and have not dreamed what love is." "I have never had to dream of love." she said proudly. "1 have never known anything else in all my Ufa but to love every one nnd to have every one love me. And there has never been any one so dear ns Freckles. If you will remember, we have been through a good deal to gether 1 do love Freckles. Just as 1 say I do I don't know anything, about the love of sweethearts, but 1 love him with all the love In my heart, and I think that will satisfy Llm." r , "Surely It ought!" muttered the man of knives nnd lancets "As for my father." continued the nngel. "he ut owe told iu what tie learned frotji you ubmjr Freckles. I've known nil you know for sovnl weeks That knowledge didn't change your love for lilm a particle. I think the U'rd Woman loved tilm more. Why should you two have all tbe i Barga SB! mos on lose hngifms! c Owing to the fact that we are crowded to the limit for room and have no space to properly display our gas oline engines, we are are going to close them out at the extraordinary low prices listed below: One iy3 h. p. Chopie Engine $170.00 One 4 h. p. Fairbanks-Morse Engines 150.00 One 2 h. p. Waterloo Boy Engines 57.00 One 2Yi h. p. Hired Hand Engine ! 40.00 Two Vi Waterloo Boy Engines 37.50 One 1 h. p. Aremoter Engine 27.00 PLATTSMOUTH NEBRASKA t ? V t V t V Y V t ? ? t t X X ? NOBODY SPARED "I LOVE TOC IIKTTKB THAN ANT FI1WE LES. o:jf. TlUf perceptions there are? My father Is never unreasonable. He won't 'V peel me tint to love Freckles, or not to tell lilm so, it the telling will sine Mm." She darted past McLean Into Freckles' room, closed the donr nnd lured the key. rYeckie lay raised on a Hat pil low, his Dody Immovable In a plaster cast, his maimed arm. ns alwnys, Hid den. The nngel's heart ached at tbe change In bis appearance. He seem ed so weak, bo utterly hopeless nnd so alone. She could see thnt tbe night bad been one long terror. For tbe first time she tried putting herself In Freckles' place. What would it mean to have no pnrents, no borne, no name? No name! That was the worst of all. That was to be lost Indeed-utterly and hopelessly lost. The angel lifted her bands to her dazed bend and reeled as she tried to face that proposition. She dropped on her knees by tbe bed, slipped her arm un der tbe pillow, and. leaning over Freckles, Bet ber lips on bis forehead. He smiled faintly. "Dear Freckles." she said, "there Is a story In your eyes this morning, tell mer Freckles drew a long, wavering breath. "Angel," be begged, "be generous! Be thinking of me a little. I'm bo homesick and worn out. dear angel, be giving' me back me premise. Let me go?" "Why, Freckles!" faltered tbe angel. "You don't know what you are asking. 'Let you go!' I cannot 1 love you better than any one, Freckles. 1 think yon are the very finest person I ever knew. 1 have our lives all planned. 1 want you to go to be educated and learn all there Is to know about sing ing Just ns soon as you are well enough. By the tlmo you bave com pleted your education I shall have finished college, and then I want." she choked on It a second. "I wont you to be my real knight, Freckles, and come to me and iVIl me that you like me a little. I bave been counting on you for my sweetheart from tho very first Freckles. I can't give you up unless you don't like me. Dut you do like me Just a little don't you, Freckles?" Freckles lay whiter than tbe cover let bis eyes on tbe celling and bis breath wheezing. The angel awaited bis answer a second, nnd wben none came, she dropped ber crimsoning face beside .hlin ou the pillow sad whis "Freckles. I -I'm trying to make love to you. t'un't you help me Just a utile bit? It's nwtiil hard all aioue; i dn'i know how. when I really iiimiii It. but Freckles. I low you. 1 unixi have you. nnd now I gnesn I gu maybe I'd better kiss you next." She bravely laid tier feverish, qulv erltig lips mi bis. Her lin-iitli, iik clover bloom, wns In his nostrils, mih) ber bnlr touched bis fine. "Freckles." she panted, "Freckle 1 didn't think It was lu you to i meau!" "Mean, angel : Mean to you?" gasp ed Freckles. "Ves." snid the angel, "downniMii mean. When oue kisses you. it u bad any mercy at all you'd kiss hack. Just a little bit Mow. I'm going in try It over, and I want you to help me a little. You aren't too sick to ueip me Just a little. Freckles?" (To He Continued.) Kidney Troubles Attack Platts mouth Men and Women, Old and Young. Kidney ills seize y,oung ami old. Often come with little warning. Children sutler in (heir early years Can't control tho kidney seere- iions. (iirls are languid, nervous, suf fer pain. Women worry, can't do daily work. Men have lame and aching backs. If you have any form of kidney ills You must reach the cause the kidneys. Duan s Kidney Pills are for weak kidneys The following testimony proves their worth: William flilmour, farmer, four miles south of IMaltsmouth, Neb says: "Doan's Kidney Pills have been used with the best of results in my lamily. The patient had been suffering intensely from lameness in the hack and could get no lasting relief until she bo gan using Doan's Kidney Pills They did more to check these troubles than anything else that had previously been taken." I or sale by all dealers. Price f0 cents. Foster-Milburn Co New York, sole agents for the I'nited States. Itemeinber the name Doan's and lake no other. White Plymouth Rock Eggs. White Plymouth IlocK eggs for sale at $3.00 per hundred. Mrs (loo. A. Kaffenlier'ger, H. F. D. No 2. Plattstnouth. J. II. MeMnken yesterday inovei in the big boiler at the water plant, which has been wailing for the new foundation to settle. Meet With Mrs. White. From Wednesday's Dally. . The St. Mary's (iuild of St. Aiko's church were entertained in a most enjoyable manner by Mrs. White ut her rooms at the Ililey lotel yesterday afternoon. Tho adies held their regular business. session at the usual tune, and during this session made final ar. angemertts for the carnation sale. which they will hold on next Sat urday afternoon. After the busi ness session the ladies indulged in plying the busy needle, con versation and other amusement. Delicious refreshments were served by the hostess. 4 Mrs. Mary Armstrong of Bur inglon, Iowa, who has been a guest of her nephew, Sheriff Quin- ton, for a few days, departed this afternoon for Council Hluffs, Iowa, where she will visit relatives for a time. CASTOR I A For Infanta and Children. Tha Kind You Hara Abtaj Erl Bear tha Signature of it FOREST ROSE wahoo.ncb. Tho Best Flour in tho Market. Sold by all Leading Dealers 8 8 Overland N s - s 8 j:M I S $900 for this elegant 30-horsc power car. $1,200 for the same, only larger and 35 horse power. $1,500 for the 45-horsc power, still larger. The above models arc made in two-passenger, four-passcngcr and fivc-passcngcr cars just to suit size of family. !?7"Phone or write us if interested. Cars in stock here for immediate deliverv. 8 Onion Overland ornnanv. u Agents Eastern Cass County, Union, Nebraska