• 9/)e Hj«1L0WELL 
 PARTNERSHIP 
 
 KATHARINE HOLLAND BROWN 
 
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 THE GIFT OF 
 
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 9734 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PS 3503.R88215H2 
 
 The Hallowell partnership. 
 
 3 1924 022 297 760 
 
The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022297760 
 
BOOKS BY KATHARINE HOLLAND BROWN 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 THE HALLOWEIL PARTNERSHIP. lamo . net, S1.00 
 
 THE MESSENGER. l6mo net, .50 
 
 PHn.IPPA AT HALCYON. Illustrated. i2mo . $1.50 
 
THE 
 HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
MARIAN COULD ONLY LIE BY THE FIRE AND TEASE EMPRESS 
 AND FRET THE ENDLESS HOURS AWAY. 
 
THE HALLOWELL 
 PARTNERSHIP 
 
 BY 
 
 KATHARINE HOLLAND BROWN 
 
 AUTHOR OP "PHILIPPA AT HALCYON," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1912 
 
COPVBIGHT, Igi2, BY 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published October, 1912 
 
THE HOUSE OF THE BROWN THRUSH 
 
The author wishes to acknowledge the cour- 
 tesy of The Youth's Companion, in permitting 
 this publication of " The Hallowell Partnership." 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Marian could only lie by the fire and tease Empress 
 and fret the endless hours away . . . Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 On the edge of the opposite bank stood the quaintest, 
 prettiest group that her eyes had ever beheld . 62 
 
 " Well, Captain Lathrop ! " Commodore McCloskey's 
 voice rang merciless and clear 138 
 
 Marian was on her knees by his chair, clasping his 
 cold hands in her own 234 
 
The Hallo well Partnership 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WHEN SLOW-COACH GOT HIS FIGHTING 
 CHANCE 
 
 "Rod!" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 "Rod, what did that messenger boy bring? A 
 special-delivery letter? Is it anything interest- 
 ing?" Marian HaUowell pushed Empress from 
 her knee and turned on her piUows to look at 
 Roderick, her brother, who sat absorbed and silent 
 at his desk. 
 
 Roderick did not move. Only Empress cocked 
 a topaz eye, and rubbed her orange-tawny head 
 against Marian's chair. 
 
 "Rod, why don't you answer me?" Marian's 
 thin hands twitched. A sharp, fretted hne deep- 
 ened across her pretty, girlish forehead. It was 
 not a pleasant line to see. And through her long, 
 slow convalescence it had grown deeper every day. 
 
2 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Roderick Hallowell!" 
 
 Roderick jumped. He turned his sober, kind 
 face to her, then bent eagerly to the closely writ- 
 ten letter in his hand. 
 
 "Just a minute, Sis." 
 
 " Oh, very well, Slow-Coach ! " Marian lay back, 
 with a resigned sniff. She pulled Empress up by 
 her silver coUar, and lay petting the big, satiny 
 Persian, who purred Uke a happy windmill against 
 her cheek. Her tired eyes wandered restlessly 
 about the dim, high-ceiled old room. Of all the 
 dreary lodgings on Beacon HUl, surely Roderick 
 had picked out the most forlorn! Still, the old 
 place was quiet and comfortable. And, as Roder- 
 ick had remarked, his rooms were amazingly in- 
 expensive. That had been an important point; 
 especially since Marian's long, costly illness at 
 college. That siege had been hard on Rod in many 
 ways, she thought, with a mild twinge of self- 
 reproach. In a way, those long weeks of suffering 
 had come through her own fault. The college 
 physician had warned her more than once that 
 she was working and playing beyond her strength. 
 Yet she felt extremely ill-used. 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 3 
 
 "It wasn't nearly so bad, while I stayed in the 
 infirmary at college. " She sighed as she thought 
 of her bright, diry room, the coming and going of 
 the girls with their gay petting and sympathy, 
 the roses and magazines and dainties. " But here, 
 in this tiresome, lonely place! How can I expect 
 to get well!" 
 
 Here she lay, shut up in Rod's rooms, alone day 
 after day, save for the vague, pottering kind- 
 nesses of Rod's vague old landlady. At night her 
 brother would come home from his long day's 
 work as cub draughtsman in the city engineer's 
 office, too tired to talk. And Marian, forbidden by 
 overstrained eyes to read, could only lie by the 
 fire, and tease Empress, and fret the endless hours 
 away. 
 
 At last, with a deep breath. Rod laid down the 
 letter. He pulled his chair beside her lounge. 
 
 "Tired, Sis?" 
 
 "Not very. What was your letter. Rod?" 
 
 "I'll teU you pretty soon. Anything doing 
 to-day?" 
 
 "Isabel and Dorothy came in from Wellesley 
 this morning, and brought me those lovely violets, 
 
4 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 and told me all about the Bam Swallows' masque 
 dance last night. And the doctor came this af- 
 ternoon. " 
 
 "H'm. What did he say?" 
 
 Marian gloomed. 
 
 "Just what he always says. 'No more study 
 this year. Out-door hfe. Bread and milk and 
 sleep.' Tiresome!" 
 
 Roderick nodded. 
 
 "Hard hnes, Sister. And yet " 
 
 He dropped his sentence, and sat staring at the 
 fire. 
 
 "Rod! Are you never going to tell me what is 
 in that letter?" 
 
 "That letter? Oh, yes. Sure it won't tire you 
 to talk business? " 
 
 "Of course not." 
 
 "Well, then — I have an offer of a new position. 
 A splendid big one at that." 
 
 "A new position? Truly?" Marian sat up, 
 with brightening eyes. 
 
 " Yes. But I'm not sure I can swing it. " Rod's 
 face clouded. "It demands a mighty competent 
 engineer. " 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 5 
 
 "Well! Aren't you a competent engineer?" 
 Marian gave his ear a mild tweak. "You're al- 
 ways underrating yourself, you old goose. Tell 
 me about this. Quick." 
 
 Rod's thoughtful face grew grave. 
 
 "It's such a gorgeous chance that I can't half 
 beUeve in it," he said, at length. "Through Pro- 
 fessor Young, I'm offered an engineer's billet with 
 the Breckenridge Engineering and Construction 
 Company, The Breckenridge Company is the 
 largest and the best-known firm of engineers in the 
 United States. Breckenridge himself is a wonder. 
 I'd rather work under him than under any man I 
 ever heard of. The work is a huge drainage con- 
 tract in western Illinois. One hundred doUars 
 a month and all my expenses. It's a two-year 
 job." 
 
 "A two-year position, out West!" Marian's 
 eyes shone. "The out- West part is dreadful, of 
 course. But think of a hundred-dollar salary, 
 after the sixty dollars that you have been drudging 
 to earn ever since you left Tech! Read Professor 
 Young's letter aloud; do." 
 Roderick squirmed. 
 
6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Oh, you don't want to hear it. It's nothing 
 much. " 
 
 " Yes I do, too. Read it, I say. Or — give it to 
 me. There!" 
 
 There was a short, lively scuffle. However, 
 Marian had captured the letter with the first deft 
 snatch; and Roderick could hardly take it from 
 her shaky, triumphant hands by main force. He 
 gave way, grumbUng. 
 
 "Professor Young always says a lot of things 
 he doesn't mean. He does it to brace a fellow up, 
 that's all." 
 
 "Very likely." Marian's eyes skimmed down 
 the first page. 
 
 " ' — And as the company has asked me to recom- 
 mend an engineer of whose work I can speak from 
 first-hand knowledge, I have taken pleasure in re- 
 ferring them to you. To be sure, you have had no 
 experience in drainage work. But from what I 
 recall of your record at Tech, your fundamental 
 training leaves nothing to be desired. When it 
 comes to handling the mass of rough-and-ready 
 labor that the contract employs, I am confident 
 that your father's son wiU show the needed judg- 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 7 
 
 ment and authority. It is a splendid undertak- 
 ing, this reclamation of waste land. It is heavy, 
 responsible work, but it is a man's work, straight 
 through; and there is enough of chance in it to 
 make it a man's game, as well. If you can make 
 good a:t this difl&cult opportunity, you will prove 
 that you can make good at any piece of drainage 
 engineering that comes your way. This is your 
 fighting chance at success. And I expect to see 
 you equal to its heaviest demands. Good luck 
 to you!' 
 
 "That sounds just Uke Professor Young. And 
 he means it. Every word." Marian folded the 
 letter carefully and gave it back to her brother. 
 "Honestly, Rod, it does sound too good to be true. 
 And think, what a frabjous time you can have 
 during your vacations! You can run over to the 
 Ozarks for your week-ends, and visit the Moores 
 on their big fruit ranch, and go mountain-climb- 
 ing " 
 
 Roderick chortled. 
 
 "The Ozarks would be a trifling week-end jaunt 
 of three hundred miles, old lady. Didn't they 
 teach you geography at Wellesley? As to moun- 
 
8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 tains, that country is mostly pee-rary and swamp. 
 That's why this contract will be a two-year job, 
 and a stiff job at that. " 
 
 "What does district drainage work mean, any- 
 way?" 
 
 "In district drainage, a lot of farmers and 
 land-owners unite to form what is called, in law, 
 a drainage district. A sort of mutual benefit 
 association, you might call it. Then they tax 
 themselves, and hire engineers and contractors to 
 dig a huge system of ditches, and to build levees 
 and dikes, to guard their fields against high 
 water. You see, an Illinois farmer may own a 
 thousand acres of the richest alluvial land. But 
 if half that land is swamp, and the other half hes 
 so low that the creeks near by may overflow and 
 ruin his crops any day, then his thousand mellow 
 acres aretft much more use than ten acres of hard- 
 scrabble here in New England. To be sure, he can 
 cut his own ditches, and build his own levee, with- 
 out consulting his neighbors. But the best way is 
 for the whole country-side to unite and do the 
 work on a royal scale. " 
 
 "How do they go about digging those ditches? 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 9 
 
 Where can they find laboring men to do the work, 
 away out in the country?" 
 
 "Why, you can't dig a forty-foot district canal 
 by hand, Sis! That would be a thousand-year 
 job. First, the district calls in an experienced 
 engineer to look over the ground and make plans 
 and estimates. Next, it employs a drainage con- 
 tractor; say, the Breckenridge firm. This firm 
 puts in three or four huge steam dredge-boats, a 
 squad of dump-carts and scrapers, an army of la- 
 borers, and a staff of engineers — including your 
 eminent C. E. brother — to oversee the work. The 
 dredges begin by digging a series of canals; one 
 enormous one, called the main ditch, which runs 
 the length of the district and empties into some 
 large body of water; in this case, the Illinois 
 River. Radiating from this big ditch, they cut 
 a whole family of little ditches, called laterals. 
 The main ditch is to carry off the bulk of water in 
 case of freshets; while the laterals drain the in- 
 dividual farms. " 
 "It sounds like slow, costly work." 
 " It is. And you've heard only half pf it, so far. 
 Then, following the dredges, come the laborers. 
 
lo THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 with their teams and shovels and dump-carts. 
 Along the banks of the ditch they build low 
 brush-and-stone-work walls and fiU them in with 
 earth. These walls make a levee. So, even if the 
 floods come, and your ditch runs bank-fuU, the 
 levee will hold back the water and save the crops 
 from ruin. Do you see?" ' 
 
 "Ye-es. But it sounds rather tangled, Rod." 
 "It isn't tangled at all. Look." Rod's pencil 
 raced across the envelope. " Here's a rough outline 
 of this very contract. This squirmy Une is Willow 
 Creek. It is a broad, deep stream, and it runs for 
 thirty crooked miles through the district, with 
 swampy shores all the way. A dozen smaller 
 creeks feed into it. They're swampy, too. So 
 you can see how much good rich farm-land is being 
 kept idle. 
 
 T 
 
 "This straight Une is the main ditch, as planned. 
 It will cut straight through the creek course, as the 
 crow flies. Do you see, that means we'll make a 
 new channel for the whole stream? A straight, 
 deep channel, too, not more than ten miles long, 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE ii 
 
 instead of the thirty twisted, wasteM miles of the 
 old channel. The short lines at right angles to the 
 main ditch represent the little ditches, or laterals. 
 They'll carry off surplus water from the farm- 
 lands: even from those that Ke back from the 
 creek, weU out of harm's way. " 
 
 "What will your work be. Rod?" 
 
 "I'U probably be given a night shift to boss. 
 That is — ^if I take the job at all. The laborers are 
 divided into two shifts, eleven hours each. The 
 dredges have big search-hghts, and puff along by 
 night, regardless." 
 
 "How will you live?" 
 
 "We engineers will be allotted a house-boat to 
 ourselves, and we'll mess together. The laborers 
 live on a big boat called the quarter-boat. The 
 firm furnishes food and bunks, tools, stationery, 
 everything, even to overalls and quinine. " 
 
 "Quinine?" 
 
 "Yes. Those Illinois swamps are chock-full 
 of chills and fever. " 
 
 "Cheerful prospect! What if you get sick, 
 Rod?" 
 
 "Pooh. I never had a sick day in all my life. 
 
12 THE HALLO WELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 However, the farm-houses, up on higher ground, 
 are out of the malaria belt. If I get so Miss 
 Nancy-fied that I can't stay in the swamp, I can 
 sleep at a farm-house. They say there are lots 
 of pleasant people living down through that sec- 
 tion. It is a beautiful coimtry, too. I — I'd like 
 it immensely, I imagine. " 
 
 "Of course you will. But what makes you 
 speak so queerly. Rod? You're certainly going to 
 accept this splendid chance!" 
 
 Rod's dark, sober face settled into unflinching 
 Unes. 
 
 "We'U settle that later. What about you. 
 Sis? If I go West, where will you go? How will 
 you manage without me?" 
 
 " Oh, I'll go up to Ipswich for the summer. Just 
 as I always do. " 
 
 Rod considered. 
 
 "That won't answer, Marian. Now that the 
 Comstocks have moved away, there is nobody 
 there to look after you. And you'd be lonely, 
 too." 
 
 "Well, then, I can go to Dublin, Cousin 
 Evelyn wiU give me a corner in her cottage. " 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 13 
 
 " But Cousin Evelyn sails for Norway in June. " 
 
 "Dear me, I forgot! Then I'U visit some of the 
 girls. Isabel was teasing me this morning to come 
 to their place at Beverly Farms for August. 
 Though — I don't know " 
 
 Rod's serious young eyes met hers. A slow red 
 moimted to his thatched black hair. 
 
 "I don't beheve that would work, Sis. I hate 
 to spoil your fun. But — we can't afford that sort 
 of thing, dear. " 
 
 "I suppose not. To spend a month with Isabel 
 and her mother, in that Tudor palace of theirs, full 
 of man-servants, and maid-servants, and regiments 
 of guests, and flocks and herds of automobiles, 
 would cost me more, in new clothes alone, than 
 the whole summer at Ipswich. But, Rod, where 
 can I stay? I'd go cheerfully and camp on my 
 relatives, only we haven't a relative in the world, 
 except Cousin Evelyn. Besides, I — ^I don't see 
 how I can ever stand it, anyway!" Her fretted 
 voice broke, quivering. Mindful of Rod's bo3dsh 
 hatred of sentiment, she gulped back the sob in 
 her throat; but her weak hand clutched his sleeve. 
 "There are only the two of us. Rod, and we've 
 
14 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 never been separated in all our lives. Not even 
 for a single week. I— I can't let you go away out 
 there and leave me behind. " 
 
 Now, on nine occasions out of ten, Slow-Coach 
 was Rod's j&tting title. This was the tenth time. 
 He stooped over Marian, his black eyes flashing. 
 His big hand caught her trembling ;fingers tight. 
 
 "That will just do. Sis. Stop your forebodings, 
 you precious old 'fraid-cat. I'm going to pack you 
 up and take you right straight along. " 
 
 "Why, Roderick Thayer HaUowell!" 
 
 Marian gasped. She stared up at her brother, 
 wide-eyed. 
 
 "Why, I couldn't possibly go with you. It's 
 absurd. I daren't even think of it. " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Well, it's such a queer, wild place. And it is 
 so horribly far away. And I'm not strong enough 
 for roughing it." 
 
 "Nonsense. Illinois isn't a frontier. It's only 
 two days' travel from Boston. As for roughing 
 it, think of the Vermont farm-houses where we've 
 stayed on fishing trips. Remember the smothery 
 feather-beds, and the ice-cold pickled beets and pie 
 
fflS FIGHTING CHANCE 15 
 
 for breakfast? Darkest Illinois can't be worse 
 than that." 
 
 "N-no, I should hope not. But it will be so 
 tedious and dull!" 
 
 "Didn't the doctor order you to spend a dull 
 summer? Didn't he prescribe bread and milk 
 and sleep?" 
 
 "Rod, I won't go. I can't. I'd be perfectly 
 miserable. There, now!" 
 
 Roderick gave her a long, grave look. 
 
 "Then I may as well write and decline the 
 Breckenridge offer, Sis. For I'll take you with 
 me, or else stay here with you. That's all. " 
 
 "Rod, you're so contrary!" Marian's Hps 
 quivered. "You must go West. I won't have 
 you stay here and drudge forever at office work. 
 You must not throw away this splendid chance. 
 It isn't possible!" 
 
 "It isn't possible for me to do anything else. 
 Sis." Roderick's stohd face settled into granite 
 lines. Marian started at the new ring of author- 
 ity in his voice. "Haven't you just said that you 
 couldn't stand it to be left behind? Well, I — I'm 
 in the same boat. I can't go off and leave you. 
 
i6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Sis. I won't run the chances of your being sick, 
 or lonely, while I'm a thousand miles away. So 
 you'll have to decide for us both. Either you go 
 with me, or else I stay here and drudge forever, 
 as you call it. For I'd rather drudge forever than 
 face that separation. That's aU. Rxm along to 
 bed now, that's a good girl. You'U need plenty 
 of sleep if you are to start for Illinois with me next 
 week. Good-night. " 
 
 "WeU, but Rod " 
 
 "Run along, I say. Take Empress with you. 
 I want to answer this letter, and she keeps purr- 
 ing like a buzz-saw, and sharpening her claws on 
 my shoes, tiU I can't think straight. " 
 
 "But, Rod, you don't understand!" Marian 
 caught his arm. Her eyes brimmed with angry 
 tears. "I don't want to go West. I'll hate it. 
 I know I shall. I want to stay here, where I can 
 be with my friends, where I can have a little fun. 
 It's not fair to make me go with you!" 
 
 "Oh, I understand, all right." Roderick's eyes 
 darkened. "You will not like the West. You'll 
 not be contented. I know that. But, remember, 
 I'm taking this job for both of us. Sis. We're 
 
HIS FIGHTING CHANCE 17 
 
 partners, you know. I wish you could realize 
 that. " His voice grew a Httle wistful. " If you'd 
 be willing to play up " 
 
 "Oh, I'U play up, of course." Marian put her 
 hands on his shoulders and gave him a pettish 
 kiss. "And I'll go West with you. Though I'd 
 rather go to Moscow or the Sahara. Come, Em- 
 press! Good-night, Rod." 
 
 The door closed behind her quick, impatient 
 step. Roderick sat down at his desk and opened 
 his portfoho. He did not begin to write at once. 
 Instead, he sat staring at the letter in his hand. 
 He was a slow, plodding boy; he was not given 
 to dreaming; but to-night, as he sat there, his 
 sober young face hghted with eager fire. Certain 
 phrases of that magical letter seemed to float and 
 gleam before his eyes. 
 
 — "'A splendid undertaking . . . heavy, respon- 
 sible work, but a man's work, and a man's game. 
 . . . This is your fighting chance. If you can 
 make good. . . . And I expect to see you equal to 
 its heaviest demands. ' " 
 
 Rod's deep eyes kindled slowly. 
 
 "I'll make good, all right," he muttered. His 
 
i8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 strong hand clinched on the folded sheet. "It's 
 my fighting chance. And if I can't win out, with 
 such an opportunity as this one — then I'll take my 
 name off the Engineering Record roster and buy me 
 a pick and a shovel!" 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 TRAVELLERS THREE 
 
 " Ready, Marian? The Limited starts in thirty 
 minutes. We haven't a minute to spare. " 
 
 "Y-yes." Marian caught up her handbag and 
 hurried into the cab. "Only my trun]£ keys — 
 I'm not sure " 
 
 "Your trunk keys! You haven't lost them, of 
 all things!" 
 
 "No. Here they are, safe in my bag. But 
 Empress has been so frenzied I haven't known 
 which way to turn." 
 
 Poor insulted Empress, squirming madly in a 
 wicker basket, glared at Rod, and lifted a wild, 
 despairing yowl. 
 
 "You don't propose to leave Mount Vernon 
 Street for the wilds of lUinois without a struggle, 
 do you, Empress?" chuckled Rod. "Never you 
 mind. You'll forget your blue silk cushion and 
 your minced steak and cream, and you'll be chas- 
 ing plebeian chipmunks in a week. Look at the 
 
 19 
 
20 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 river, Marian. You won't see it again in a long 
 while." 
 
 Marian followed his glance. It was a silver hoar- 
 frost morning. The sky shone a cloudless blue, 
 the cold, deUcious air sparkled, diamond-clear. 
 Straight down Moimt Vernon Street the exquisite 
 little panel of the frozen Charles gleamed hke a 
 vista of fairyland. Marian stared at it a little 
 wistfuUy. 
 
 "It wiU all be very different out West, I sup- 
 pose. I wonder if any Western river can be half 
 as lovely, " she pondered. 
 
 Roderick did not answer. A sudden worried 
 question stirred in his thought. Yes, the West 
 would be "different." Very different. 
 
 "Maybe I've done the worst possible thing in 
 dragging Marian along," he thought. "But it's 
 too late to turn back now. I can only hope that 
 she can stand the change, and that she'll try to be 
 patient and contented. " 
 
 Marian, on her part, was in high spirits. She 
 had been shut up for so long that to find herself 
 free, and starting on this trip to a new country, de- 
 lighted her beyond bounds. At South Station, a 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 21 
 
 crowd of her Wellesley chums stormed down upon 
 her, in what Rod described later as a mass-play, 
 laden with roses and chocolates and gay, loving 
 farewells. Marian tore herself from their hands, 
 half-laughing, half-crying with happy excitement. 
 
 "Oh, Rod, I know we're going to have the 
 grandest trip, and the most beautiful good fort- 
 unes that ever were!" she cried, as he put her 
 carefully aboard the train. "But you aren't one 
 bit enthusiastic. You stodgy tortoise, why can't 
 you be pleased, too?" 
 
 "I'm only "^ too glad if you like the prospect, 
 Sis, " he answered soberly. 
 
 Marian's spirits soared even higher as the hours 
 passed. Roderick grew as rapt as she when the 
 train whirled through the winter glory of the 
 Berkshires. Every slope rose folded in dazzKng 
 snow. Every tree, through mile on mile of forest, 
 blazed in rainbow coats of icy mail. The wide 
 rolling New York country was scarcely less beauti- 
 ful. 
 
 At Buffalo, the next morning, a special pleasure 
 awaited them. A party of friends met them with 
 a huge touring car, and carried them on a fly- 
 
22 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 ing trip to the ice-bridge at Niagara Falls. To 
 Marian, every minute spelled enchantment. She 
 forgot her dizzy head and her aching bones, and 
 fairly exulted in the wild splendor of the blue ice- 
 walled cataract. Roderick, on his part, was so 
 absorbed by the marvellous engineering system 
 of the great power-plant that for once he had no 
 eyes nor thought for his sister, nor for any other 
 matter. 
 
 Their wonderful day closed with an elaborate 
 dinner-party, given in their honor. Neither 
 Marian nor Rod had ever been guests at so grand 
 an affair. As they dashed to their train in their 
 host's beautiful Umousine, Marian looked up from 
 her bouquet of violets and orchids with laughing 
 eyes. 
 
 "If this is the West, Rod, I really think it will 
 suit me very well!" 
 
 Rod's mouth twisted into a rueful grin. 
 
 "Glad you enjoy it, Sis. Gloat over your lux- 
 ury while you may. You'll find yourself swept 
 out of the limousine zone all too soon. By this 
 time next week you'll be thankful for a spring 
 wagon. " 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 23 
 
 By the next morning, Marian's spirits began to 
 flag. All day they travelled in fog and rain, down 
 through a flat, dun country. Not a gleam of snow 
 lightened those desolate, muddy plains. There 
 seemed no end to that sodden prairie, that gray 
 mist-blotted sky, Marian grew more lonely and 
 imhappy with every hour. She struggled to be 
 good-humored for Roderick's sake. But she grew 
 terribly tired; and it was a very white-faced 
 girl who clung to Roderick's arm as their train 
 rolled into the great, clanging terminal at Saint 
 Louis. 
 
 Roderick hurried her to a hotel. It seemed to 
 her that she had scarcely dropped asleep before 
 Rod's voice soimded at the door. 
 
 " Sorry, Sis, but we'll have to start right away. 
 It's nearly eight o'clock. " 
 
 "Oh, Rod, I'm so tired! Please let's take a 
 later train." 
 
 "There isn't any later train, dear. There isn't 
 any train at all. We're going up-river on a Uttle 
 steamer that is towing a barge-load of coal to our 
 camp. That's the only way to reach the place. 
 There is no railroad anywhere near. There won't 
 
24 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 be another steamer going up for days. It's a 
 shame to haul you out, but it can't be helped. " 
 
 An hour later, they picked their way down the 
 wet, slippery stones of the levee to where the 
 Lucy Lee, a tiny flat-bottomed "stem-wheeler," 
 puffed and snorted, awaiting them. As they 
 crossed the gang-plank, the pilot rang the big 
 warning beU. Immediately their little craft nosed 
 its way shivering along the ranks of moored 
 packets, and rocked out into mid-channel. 
 
 Marian peered back, but she could see nothing 
 of the city. A thick icy fog hung ever)nvhere, 
 shrouding even the tall warehouses at the river's 
 edge, and drifting in great, gray clouds over the 
 bridges. 
 
 "The river is still thick with floating ice," said 
 the captain, at her elbow. "The Lucy is the first 
 steam-boat to dare her luck, trying to go up-stream, 
 since the up-river ice gorge let go. But we'll 
 make it all right. It's a pretty chancy trip, yet 
 it's not as dangerous as you'd think." 
 
 Marian twinkled. "It looks chancy enough to 
 me," she confessed. She looked out at the broad, 
 turbid stream. Here and there a black patch 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 25 
 
 marked a drifting ice cake, covered with brush, 
 swept down from some flooded woodland. Through 
 the mist she caught glimpses of high, muddy banks, 
 a group of sooty factories, a gray, murky sky. 
 
 "I don't see much charm to the Mississippi, 
 Rod. Is this all there is to it? Just yellow, tum- 
 bhng water, and mud, and fog?" 
 
 "It isn't a beautiful stream, that's a fact," 
 admitted Rod. Yet his eyes sparkled. He was 
 growing more flushed and alert with every turn of 
 the wheels that brought him nearer to his coveted 
 work, his man's game. "This is too raw and cold 
 for you, Marian. Come into the cabin, and I'll 
 fix you all snug by the fire. " 
 
 "The cabin is so stuffy and horrid," fretted 
 Marian. Yet she added, "But it's the cunningest 
 place I ever dreamed of. It's hke a miniature 
 museum. " 
 
 "A museum? A jimk-shop, I'd call it," Rod 
 chuckled, as he settled her into the big red- 
 cushioned rocker, before the roaring cannon stove. 
 
 The tight little room was crowded with solemn 
 black-walnut cabinets, full of shells and arrow- 
 heads, and hung thick with quaint, high-colored 
 
26 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 old pictures. Languishing ladies in chignons and 
 crinoline gazed upon lordly gentlemen in tall 
 stocks and gorgeous waistcoats; "Summer Pros- 
 pects," in vivid chromos fronted "Snow Scenes," 
 made realistic with much powdered isinglass. 
 Crowning all, rose a tall, cupid-wreathed gilt mir- 
 ror, surmounted by a stem stufifed eagle, who 
 glared down fiercely from two yeUow glass eyes. 
 His mighty wings spread above the mirror, a bit 
 moth-eaten, but still terrifying. 
 
 "Look, Empress. Don't you want to catch 
 that nice birdie?" 
 
 Poor bewildered Empress glared at the big bird, 
 and sidled, back erect, wrathfully sissing, under a 
 chair. Travel had no charms for Empress. 
 
 "WiU you look at that old yellowed pilot's 
 map and certificate in the acorn frame? '1857!'" 
 chuckled Rod. "And the red-and-blue worsted 
 motto hung above it: 'Home, Sweet Home!' 
 I'U wager Grandma Noah did that worsted- work." 
 
 "Not Grandma Noah, but Grandma McClos- 
 key," laughed the captain. "She was the nicest 
 old lady you ever laid eyes on. She used to live 
 on the boat and cook for us, till the rheumatism 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 27 
 
 forced her to live ashore. Her husband is old 
 Commodore McCloskey; so everybody calls him. 
 He has been a pilot on the Mississippi ever since 
 the day he got that certificate, yonder. He's a 
 character, mind that. He shot that eagle in '58, 
 and he has carried it aroimd with him ever since, 
 to every steamer that he has piloted. You must 
 go up to the pilot-house after a bit and make him 
 a visit. He's worth knowing. " 
 
 "I think I'd hke to go up to the pilot-house 
 right away. Rod. It is so close and hot down 
 here." 
 
 Obediently Rod gathered up her rugs and cush- 
 ions. Carefully he and the captain helped her up 
 the swaying corkscrew stairs, across the dizzy, 
 rain-swept hurricane deck, then up the still nar- 
 rower, more twisty flight that ended at the door of 
 the high glass-walled box, perched like a bird- 
 cage, away forward. 
 
 Inside that box stood a large wooden wheel, and 
 a small, twinkling, white-bearded old gentleman, 
 who looked for all the world like a Santa Claus 
 masquerading in yellow oilskins. 
 
 "Ask him real pretty," cautioned the captain. 
 
28 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "He thinks he runs this boat, and everybody 
 aboard her. He does, too, for a fact. " 
 
 With much ceremony Roderick rapped at the 
 glass door, and asked permission for his sister to 
 enter. With grand aplomb the little old gentle- 
 man rose from his wheel and ushered her up the 
 steps. 
 
 " 'Tis for fifty-four years that I and me pilot- 
 house have been honored by the ladies' visits," 
 quoth he, with a stately bow. "Ye'll sit here, 
 behind the wheel, and watch me swing herself up 
 the river? Sure, 'tis a tickUsh voyage, wid the 
 river so full of floatin' ice. I shall be glad of yer 
 gracious presence, ma'am. It will bring me good 
 luck in me steerin'. " 
 
 Marian's eyes danced. She fitted herself neatly 
 into the cushioned bench against the wall. The 
 pilot-house was a bird-cage, indeed, hardly eight 
 feet square. The great wheel, swinging in its 
 high frame, took up a third of the space; a huge 
 cast-iron stove fiUed one comer. For the rest, 
 Marian felt as if she had stepped inside one of the 
 curio-cabinets in the cabin below; for every 
 inch of wall space in the bird-cage was festooned 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 29 
 
 with mementoes of every sort. A string of 
 beautiful wampum, all polished elks' teeth'and un- 
 cut green turquoise; shell baskets, and strings of 
 buckeyes; a four-foot diamond-back rattlesnake's 
 skin, beautiful and uncanny, the bunch of five 
 rattles tied to the tail. Close beside the gUtter- 
 ing skin hung even an odder treasure-trove: a 
 small white kid glove, quaintly embroidered in 
 faded pink-and-blue forget-me-nots. 
 
 " Great- Aimt Emily had some embroidered 
 gloves like that in her trousseau, " thought Marian. 
 "I do wonder " 
 
 "Ye're lookin' at me keepsakes?" The pilot 
 sighted up-stream, then turned, beaming. "May- 
 be it will pass the time like for me to tell ye of 
 them. There is not one but stands for an advent- 
 ure. That wampum was given to me by Chief 
 Ogalalla; a famous Sioux warrior, he was. 'Twas 
 back in sixty-wan, and the string was the worth of 
 two ponies in thim days. Three of me mates an' 
 meself was prospectin' down in western Nebraska. 
 There came a great bhzzard, and Chief Ogalalla 
 and three of his men rode up to our camp, and we 
 took them in for the night. " 
 
30 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 " And he gave you the wampum in pay- 
 ment?" 
 
 "Payment? Never! A man never paid for 
 food nor shelter on the plains. No more than for 
 the air he breathed. 'Twas gratitude. For Chief 
 Ogalalla had a ragin' toothache, and I cured it for 
 him. Made him a poultice of red pepper. " 
 
 " Mercy ! I should think, that would hurt worse 
 than any toothache!" 
 
 "Maybe it did, ma'am. But at least it dis- 
 thracted his attention from the tooth itself. That 
 rattlesnake, I kilt in a swamp near Vicksburg. 
 Me and me wife was young then, and we'd bor- 
 rowed a skiff, an' rowed out to hunt pond-lilies. 
 Mary would go in the bog, walkin' on the big tufts 
 of rushes. Her Uttle feet were that light she 
 didn't sink at all. But the first thing I heard she 
 gave a little squeal, an' there she stood, perched 
 on a tuft, and not three feet away, curled up on a 
 log, was that great shinin' serpent. Just rockin' 
 himself easy, he was, makin' ready to strike. An' 
 strike he would. Only" — the small twinkling face 
 grew grim — "only I struck first." 
 
 Marian shivered. 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 31 
 
 "And the little white glove?" 
 
 The old pilot beamed. 
 
 "Sure, I hoped ye'd notice that, miss. That 
 glove points to the proud day f'r me! It was the 
 summer of '60. I was pilotin' the Annie Kilburn, 
 a grand large packet, down to Saint Louis. We 
 had a wonderful party aboard her. 'Twas just 
 the beginnin' of war times, an' 'twould be like 
 readin' a history book aloud to tell ye their names. 
 Did ever ye hear of the Little Giant?" 
 
 "Of Stephen A. Douglas, the famous orator? 
 Why, yes, to be sure. Was he aboard? " 
 
 ' ' Yes. A fine, pleasant-spoke gentleman he was, 
 too. But 'tis not the Little Giant that this story 
 is about. 'Twas his wife. Ye've heard of her, 
 sure? Ah, but I wish you could have seen her 
 when she came trippin' up the steps of me pilot- 
 house and passed the time of day with me, so 
 sweet and friendly. Afterward they told me 
 what a great lady she was. Though I could see 
 that for meself , she was that gentle, and her voice 
 so quiet and low, and her look so sweet and kind. 
 I was showin' her about, an' feelin' terrible proud, 
 an' fussy, an' excited. I was a young felly then. 
 
32 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 and it took no more than her word an' her smile 
 to turn me foolish head. An' I was showin' her 
 how to handle the wheel, and by some mischance, 
 didn't I catch me blunderin' hand in the frame, an' 
 give it a wrench that near broke every bone! I 
 couldn't leave the wheel till the first mate should 
 come to take me place. And Madame Douglas 
 was that distressed, you'd think it was her own 
 hand that she was grievin' over. She would tear 
 her lace handkerchief into strips, and bind up the 
 cut, and then what does she do but take her white 
 glove, an' twist it round the fingers, so's to keep 
 them from the air, till I could find time to bandage 
 them. I said not a word. But the minute her 
 silks an' laces went traiUn' down the hurricane 
 ladder, I jerked off that glove an' folded it in my 
 wallet. An' there it stayed tiU I could have that 
 frame made for it. And in that frame I've car- 
 ried it ever since, all these long years. 
 
 "Those were the grand days, sure," he added, 
 wistfully. "Before the war, we pilots were the 
 lords of the river. I had me a pair of varnished 
 boots, an' tight striped trousers, an' a grand shiny 
 stove-pipe hat, an' I wouldn't have called the 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 33 
 
 king me uncle. It's sad times for the river, now- 
 adays." He looked away up the broad, tum- 
 bling yellow stream. "Look at her, will ye! No 
 river at all, she is, wid her roily yellow water, an' 
 her poor miry banks, an' her bluflfs, all washed 
 away to shiftin' sand. But wasn't she the grand 
 stream entirely, before the war!" 
 
 Marian looked at the framed river-chart above 
 the wheel. She tried to read its puzzle of tangled 
 lines. The old man sni£fed. 
 
 "Don't waste yer time wid that gimcrack, miss. 
 Steer by it? Never ! " He shrugged his shoulders 
 loftily. "It hangs there by government request, 
 so I tolerate it to please the Department. I know 
 this river by heart, every inch. I could steer this 
 boat from Natchez to Saint Paul wid me eyes 
 shut, the blackest night that ever blew!" 
 
 Marian dimpled at his majestic tone. 
 
 "Will you show me how to steer? I've always 
 been curious as to how it is done." 
 
 "Certain I will." 
 
 Keenly interested, Marian gripped the hand- 
 holds, and turned the heavy wheel back and forth 
 as he directed. Suddenly her grasp loosened. 
 
34 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Down the stream, straight toward the boat, 
 drifted a rolling black mass. 
 
 "Mercy, what is that? It looks like a whole 
 forest of logs. It's rolling right toward us!" 
 
 "Ye're right. 'Tis a raft that's broke adrift. 
 But we have time to dodge, be sure. Watch 
 now. " 
 
 His right hand grasped the wheel. His left 
 seized the beU-cord. Three sharp toots signalled 
 the engine-room for full head of steam. In- 
 stantly the Lucy jarred imder Marian's feet with 
 the sudden heavy force of doubled power. Slowly 
 the steam-boat swung out of her course, in a long 
 westward curve. Past her, the nearest logs not 
 fifty feet away, the great, grinding mass of tree- 
 trunks rolled and tumbled by, sweeping on toward 
 the Gulf. 
 
 "'Tis handy that we met those gintlemen by 
 daylight," remarked the pilot, cheerfully. "For 
 one log alone would foul our paddle-wheels and 
 give us a bad shaking up. And should all that 
 Donnybrook Fair come stormin' into us by night, 
 we'd go to the bottom before ye could say Jack 
 Robinson. " 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 35 
 
 Marian's eyes narrowed. She stared at the dusk 
 stormy yellow river, the blank inhospitable shores. 
 She was not by any means a coward. But she 
 could not resist asking one question. 
 
 "Do we go on up-river after nightfall? Or do 
 we stop at some landing?" 
 
 "There's no landing Jpetween here and Grafton, 
 at the mouth of the Illinois River. We'U have to 
 tie up along shore, I'm thinkin'." The old man 
 spoke grudgingly. "If I was runnin' her meseH, 
 'tis little we'd stop for the night. But the cap- 
 tain thinks diflEerent. He's yoimg and notional. 
 Tie up over night we must, says he. But 'tis 
 all nonsense. Chicken-hearted, I'd call it, that's 
 all." 
 
 Marian laughed to herself. Inwardly she was 
 grateful for the captain's chicken-heartedness. 
 
 A loud gong sounded from below. The pilot 
 nodded. 
 
 "Yon's your supper-bell, miss. I thank ye 
 kindly for the pleasure of yer company. I shall 
 be honored if ye choose to come again. And 
 soon. " 
 
 Marian made her way down to the cabin 
 
36 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 through the stormy dusk. The Uttle room was 
 warm and brightly lighted; the captain's negro 
 boy was just placing huge smoking-hot platters of 
 perfectly cooked fish and steak upon the clean 
 oil-cloth table. They gathered around it, an odd 
 company. Marian and Roderick, the captain, 
 the Lucy's engineer, a pleasant, bo3dsh fellow, 
 painfuUy embarrassed and redolent of hot oil and 
 machinery; and two young dredge-runners, on 
 their way, like Rod, to the Breckenridge contract. 
 Save the captain and Rod, they gobbled bashfully, 
 and fled at the earliest possible moment. Rod 
 and the captain were talking of the contract and 
 of its prospects. Marian trifled with her massive 
 hot biscuit, and listened indifferently. 
 
 "I hope your coming on the work may change 
 its luck, Mr. Hallowell," observed the captain. 
 "For that contract has struggled with mighty 
 serious difi&culties, so far. Breckenridge himself is 
 a superb engineer; but of course he cannot stay on 
 the ground. He has a dozen equally important 
 contracts to oversee. His engineers are all well 
 enough, but somehow they don't seem to make 
 things go. Carlisle is the chief. He is a good 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 37 
 
 engineer and a good fellow, but he is so nearly- 
 dead with malaria that he can't do two hours' work 
 in a week. Burford, his aid, is a young Southerner, 
 a fine chap, but — ^well, a bit hot-headed. You 
 know our Northern labor won't stand for much of 
 that. Then there is Marvin, who is third in 
 charge. But as for Marvin" — ^he stopped, with 
 a queer short laugh — "as for Marvin, the least 
 said the soonest mended. He's a cub engineer, 
 they call him; a grizzly cub at that. He may 
 come out all right, with time. You can see for 
 yourself that you haven't any soft job. With a 
 force of two hundred laborers, marooned in a 
 swamp seven miles from nowhere, not even a rail- 
 road in the coimty; with half the land-owners 
 protesting against their assessments, and refusing 
 to pay up; with your head engineer sick, and 
 your coal shipments held up by high water — 
 no, you won't find your place an easy one, mind 
 that." 
 
 " I'm not doing any worrying. " Rod's jaw set. 
 His dark face glowed. Marian looked at him, a 
 httle jealously. His whole heart and thought 
 were swinging away to this work, now opening 
 
38 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 before him. This was his man's share in labor, 
 and he was eager to cope with its sternest de- 
 mands. 
 
 "Well, it's a good thing you have the pluck to 
 face it. You wiU need aU the pluck you've got, 
 and then some." The captain paced restlessly 
 up and down the narrow room. " Wonder why we 
 don't slow down. We must be running a full 
 twelve miles an hour. Altogether too fast, when 
 we're towing a barge. And it is pitch dark. " 
 
 He stooped to the engine-room speaking-tube. 
 "Hi, Smith! Why are you carrying so much 
 steam? I want to put her inshore. " 
 
 A muffled voice rose from the engine-room. 
 
 "AU right, sir. But McCloskey, he just rung 
 for fuU speed ahead." 
 
 "He did? That's McCloskey, all over. The 
 old rascal! He has set his heart on making Graf- 
 ton Landing to-night, instead of t3dng up along- 
 shore. Hear that? He's making that old wheel 
 jiunp. To be sure, he knows the river channel 
 like a book. But, even with double search-lights, 
 no man living can see ice-cakes and brush far 
 enough ahead to dodge them. " 
 
TRAVELLERS THREE 39 
 
 "Let's take a look on deck," suggested Rod. 
 
 Once outside the warm, cheerful cabin, the night 
 wind swept down on them, a driving, freezing 
 blast. The little steamer fairiy raced through the 
 water. Her deck boards quivered; the boom of 
 the heavy engine throbbed under their feet. 
 
 "Thickest night I've seen in a year," growled 
 the captain. "I say, McCloskey! Slow down, 
 and let's put her inshore. This is too dangerous 
 to suit me. " 
 
 No reply. The boat fled pitching on. 
 
 "McCloskey!" 
 
 At last there came a faint hail. 
 
 "Yes, captain! What's yer pleasure, sir?" 
 
 ' ' The old rascal ! He's trying to show off. He's 
 put his deaf ear to the tube, I'll be bound. Best 
 go inside. Miss HaUowell, this wind is full of 
 sleet. McCloskey! Head her inshore, I say." 
 
 On rushed the Lucy. Her course did not change 
 a hair's breadth. 
 
 "No wonder they call him Commodore Mc- 
 Closkey!" Rod whispered wickedly. "Even the 
 captain has to yield to him. " 
 
 "McCloskey!" The captain's voice was gruff 
 
40 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 with anger. " Head her inshore t Unless you're 
 trying to kill the boat " 
 
 Crash! 
 
 The captain's sentence was never finished. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 
 
 With that crash the floor shot from under their 
 feet. Stumbhng and clutching, the three, Marian, 
 Rod, and the captain, pitched across the deck and 
 landed in a heap against the rail. The lighted 
 cabin seemed to rear straight up from the deck 
 and limge toward them. There was an uproar of 
 shouts, a hideous pounding of machinery. Marian 
 shut her eyes. 
 
 Then, with a second deafening crash, the 
 steamer righted herself; and, thrown Uke three 
 helpless ninepins, Marian, Rod, and the captain 
 reeled back from the rail and found themselves, 
 bumped and dizzy, tangled in a heap of freight 
 and canvas. Rod was the first on his feet. He 
 snatched Marian up, with a groan. 
 
 "Sister! Are you hurt? Tell me, quick." 
 
 "Nonsense, no. " Marian struggled up, bruised 
 
 and trembling. "I whacked my head on the rail, 
 
 that's all. What has happened?" 
 
 41 
 
42 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "We've struck another bunch of runaway logs. 
 They've fouled our wheel," shouted the captain. 
 "Put this life-preserver on your sister. Swing out 
 the yawl, boys!" For the deck crew was already 
 scrambling up the stairs. " Here, where's Smith? " 
 
 "He's below, sir, stayin' by the boiler. The 
 logs struck us for'ard the gangway. She's got a 
 hole stove in her that you could drive an ice-wagon 
 through, " answered a fireman. " Smith says, head 
 her inshore. Maybe you can beach her before she 
 goes clean imder." 
 
 The captain groaned. 
 
 " Her first trip for the year ! The smartest little 
 boat on the river! McCloskey!" he shouted 
 angrily up the tube. "Head her inshore, before 
 she's swamped. You hear that, I reckon?" 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir. " It was a very meek voice down 
 the tube. 
 
 Very slowly the Lucy swung about. Creaking 
 and groaning, she headed through the darkness 
 for the darker line of wiUows that masked the 
 Illinois shore. 
 
 For a minute, Roderick and Marian stood to- 
 gether under the swaying lantern, too dazed by 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 43 
 
 excitement to move. On Marian's forehead a 
 cheerful blue bump had begun to rise; while 
 Rod's cheek-bone displayed an ugly bruise. Sud- 
 denly Marian spoke. 
 
 "Rod! Where is Empress! She will be fright- 
 ened to death. We must take her into the yawl 
 with us. " 
 
 The young fireman turned. 
 
 "That grand big cat of yours, ma'am? You'll 
 never coax a cat into an open boat. They'll die 
 first. But have no fear. We are not a hundred 
 yards from shore, and in shallow water at that. 
 'Tis a pity the Lticy is hurt, but it's fortunate for 
 us that she can limp ashore." 
 
 Marian felt a little foolish. She pidled off the 
 cork jacket which Rod had tied over her shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 "We aren't shipwrecked after all, Rod. We're 
 worse frightened than hurt. " 
 
 "I'm not so sure of that. Keep that Hfe-pre- 
 server on. Sis." 
 
 The Lucy was blundering pluckily toward shore. 
 But the deck jarred with the thud and rattle of 
 thrashing machinery, and at every forward plunge 
 
44 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 the boat pitched until it seemed as if the next fling 
 would surely capsize her. 
 
 Rod peered into the darkness. 
 
 "We'U make the shore, I do believe. Shall I 
 leave you long enough to get our bags and Em- 
 press?" 
 
 "Oh, I'll go too. You'U need me to pacify 
 Empress. She wiU be panic-stricken. " 
 
 Poor Empress was panic-stricken, indeed. The 
 little cabin was a chaos. The shock of the colli- 
 sion had overturned every piece of furniture. 
 Even the wall cabinets were upset, and their shells 
 and arrowheads were scattered far and wide. The 
 beautiful old-time crystal chandeUers were in 
 spUnters. Worst, the big gilt mirror lay on the 
 floor, smashed to atoms. Only one object in all 
 that cabin held its place: the stuffed eagle. And 
 high on the eagle's outspread wing, crouched like 
 ^ panther, snarUng and spitting, her every silky 
 hair furiously on end, climg poor, terrified Em- 
 press. Rod exploded. 
 
 "You made friends with the nice bird, after 
 all, didn't you, Empress! Come on down, kitty. 
 Let me put a life-preserver on you too. " 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 45 
 
 No life-preservers for Empress! Marian coaxed 
 and called in vain. She merely dug her claws 
 into the eagle's back and growled indignant 
 refusal. 
 
 "Let's go back on deck, Sis. She'll cahn down 
 presently. " 
 
 The Lucy was now working inshore with in- 
 creasing speed. But, as they stepped on deck, 
 the boat careened suddenly, then stopped, with 
 a sickening jolt. 
 
 "Never mind, miss," the young fireman 
 quickly assured her. " She has struck a sand-bar, 
 and there she'll stick, I fear. But we are safe 
 enough, for the water is barely six feet deep. 
 We'll have to anchor here for the night, but don't 
 be nervous. She can't sink very far in six feet of 
 water. " 
 
 "I suppose not." Yet Marian's teeth chat- 
 tered. Inwardly she sympathized with Empress. 
 What a comfort it would be to climb the stuffed 
 eagle and perch there, well out of reach of even 
 six feet of black icy water! 
 
 The captain was still more reassuring. 
 
 "Well, we're lucky that we've brought her this 
 
46 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 near shore. " He wiped his forehead with a rather 
 unsteady hand. "Ten minutes ago my heart was 
 in my mouth. I thought sure she'd sink in mid- 
 stream. You're perfectly safe now, Miss Hallo- 
 well. Better go to your state-room and get some 
 sleep. " 
 
 "Yes, the Lucy will rest stUl as a church now, " 
 said the yoimg fireman, with a heartening chuckle. 
 "She's hard aground. Though that's no thanks 
 to our pilot. I say, McCloskey ! Where were you 
 trying to steer us? Into a lumber-yard?" 
 
 Down the hurricane deck came Mr. McCloskey, 
 white beard waving, eyes twinkling, jaunty and 
 serene as a May morning. 
 
 "This Uttle incident is no fault of me steerin'," 
 said he, with delightful unconcern. "'Twas the 
 carelessness of thim raftsmen, letting their logs* 
 get away, no less. Sure, captain dear, I'd sue 
 them for damages." 
 
 "I'll be more'likely to sue you for miming full 
 speed after dark, against orders," muttered the 
 captain. Then he laughed. "I ought to put you 
 in irons. But the man doesn't live that can hold 
 a grudge against you, McCloskey. Take hold 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 47 
 
 now, boys. Bank yoxir fires, then we'll patch her 
 up as best we can for the night. " 
 
 Marian went to her stateroom, but not to sleep. 
 There was little sleep that night for anybody. In 
 spite of protecting sand-bar and anchor, the boat 
 careened wretchedly. Strange groans and shrieks 
 rose from the engine-room; hurrying footsteps 
 came and went through the narrow gangway. 
 And the rush of the swift current, the bump of 
 ice-cakes, and the sweep of floating brush past her 
 window kept her aroused and trembling. It 
 seemed years before the tiny window grew gray 
 with dawn. 
 
 The captain's voice reached her ears. 
 
 "No, the Z,Mcy isn't damaged as badly as we 
 thought. But it, will take us two days of bulk- 
 heading before we dare go on. You'd best take 
 your sister up to the camp in my launch. It is 
 at your service." 
 
 "That's good news!" sighed Marian. "Any- 
 thing to escape from this sinking ship. I don't 
 like pla3dng Casabianca one bit. " 
 
 She swallowed the hot coffee and com bread 
 which the captain's boy brought to her door, and 
 
48 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 hurried on deck. Their embarking was highly 
 exciting; for poor Empress, having been coaxed 
 with difficulty from the eagle's roost, where she 
 had spent the night, promptly lost her head at 
 sight of the water and fled shrieking to the pilot- 
 house. Rod, the pilot, the engineer, and the 
 young fireman together hunted her from her fast- 
 ness, and, after a wild chase, returned scratched 
 but victorious, with Empress raging in a gunny- 
 sack. 
 
 "Best keep her there till you're ashore, miss," 
 laughed the young fireman. And Marian took 
 the precaution to tie the mouth of the sack with 
 double knots. 
 
 Up-stream puffed the launch, past Grafton 
 Landing into the narrower but clearer current of 
 the Illinois River. Now the black mud banks 
 rose into bluffs and wooded hills. Here and there 
 a marshy backwater showed a faint tinge of early 
 green. But there was not a village in sight; not 
 even a soUtary farm-house. Hour after hour they 
 steamed slowly up the dull river, beneath the gray 
 mist-hooded sky. Marian looked resentfully at 
 her brother. He had unrolled a, portfolio of blue- 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 49 
 
 prints, and sat over them, as absorbed and as in- 
 different to the cold and discomfort as if he were 
 sitting at his own desk at home. 
 
 "He's so rapt over his miserable old contract 
 that he is not giving me one thought," Marian 
 sulked to herself. " I just wish that I had put my 
 foot down, and had refused, flatly, to come with 
 him. If I had dreamed the West would be like 
 this!" 
 
 Presently the launch whistled. An answering 
 whistle came from up-stream. Rod dropped his 
 blue-prints with a shout. 
 
 "Look, Marian. There is the contract camp, 
 the whole plant! See, straight ahead!" 
 
 Marian stared. There was not a house to be 
 seen; but high on the right bank stood an army 
 of tents; and below, moored close to shore, lay 
 a whole village of boats, strung in long double file. 
 Midway stood a gigantic steam-dredge. Its vivid 
 red-painted machinery reared high on its black, 
 oU-soaked platform, its strange sprawling crane 
 spread its iron wings, like the pinions of some vast 
 ungainly bird of prey. Around it were ranked 
 several flat-boats, a trim steam-launch, a whole 
 
so THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 regiment of house-boats. Rod's eyes sparkled. 
 He drew a sharp breath. 
 
 "This is my job, all right. Isn't it sumptuous, 
 Marian! WiU you look at that dredge! Isn't 
 she magnificent? So is the whole outfit, barges 
 and aU. That's worth walking from Boston to 
 see!" 
 
 "Is it?" Marian choked back the vicious little 
 retort. "Well, I'd be willing to walk back to 
 Boston — to get away!" 
 
 "Ahoy the launch! This is Mr. Hallowell?" 
 A tall, haggard man in oilskins and hip boots came 
 striding across the dredge. " Glad to see you, sir. 
 We hoped that you would arrive to-day. I am 
 CarUsle, the engineer in charge. " He leaned over 
 the rail to give Rod's hand a friendly grip. He 
 spoke with a dry, formal manner, yet his lean yel- 
 low face was full of kindly interest. "And this is 
 your sister, Miss HaUoweU? You have come to a 
 rather forlorn summer resort. Miss HaUowell, but 
 we will do our best to make it endurable for 
 you. " 
 
 Roderick, red with pleasure, stood up to greet 
 his new chief. Behind Mr. CarUsle towered a 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 51 
 
 broad-shouldered, heavily built young man, in 
 very muddy khaki and leggings, his blond wind- 
 burnt face shining with a hospitable grin. 
 
 "This is our Mr. Burford, Mr. HaUowell. At 
 present, you and he will superintend the night 
 shifts." 
 
 Mr. Burford gave Roderick a hearty handshake, 
 and beamed upon Marian. 
 
 "Mr. Burford will be particularly glad to wel- 
 come you. Miss Hallowell, on Mrs. Burford's ac- 
 count. She has been Hving here on the work for 
 several months, the only lady who has graced our 
 camp until to-day. I know that she will be eager 
 for your companionship. " 
 
 Mr. Burford grew fairly radiant. 
 
 " Sally Lou will be wild when she learns that you 
 are really here," he declared eagerly, in his deep 
 southern drawl. " She has talked of your coming 
 every minute since the news came that we might 
 hope to have you with us. You will find us a 
 mighty primitive set, but you and SaUy Lou can 
 have plenty of fun together, I know. I'd hke to 
 bring her and the kiddies to see you as soon as you 
 feel equal to receiving us. " 
 
52 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Thank you very much." Marian tried her 
 best to be gracious and friendly. But she was so 
 tired that young Buriord's broad s mili ng face 
 seemed to blur and waver through a thickening 
 mist. "I'm sure I shall be charmed " 
 
 "Hi, there!" An angry shout broke upon her 
 words. "Mr. CarUsle, will you look here! That 
 foreman of yours has gone off with my skiff again. 
 If I'm obUged to share my boat with your impu- 
 dent riffraff " 
 
 "Mr. Marvin, will you kindly come here a 
 moment?" The chief's voice did not lose its even 
 tone; but his heavy brows narrowed. "I wish 
 you to meet Mr. Hallowell, who is your and Mr. 
 Burford's new associate. Miss Hallowell, may I 
 present Mr. Marvin?" 
 
 Marian bowed and looked curiously at the tdU, 
 dark-featured young man who shuffled forward. 
 She remembered the captain's terse description — 
 "a cub engineer, and a grizzly cub at that. " Mr. 
 Marvin certainly acted the part. He barely 
 nodded to her and to Roderick, then clamored on 
 with his grievance. 
 
 "You know I've told the men time and again 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 53 
 
 to leave my boat alone. But your foreman bor- 
 rows my launch whenever he takes the notion, 
 and leaves her half-swamped, or high and dry, as 
 he chooses. If you won't jack him up for it, I 
 will. I'U not tolerate " 
 
 "I'll take that matter up later, Mr. Marvin." 
 Marvin's sullen face reddened at the tone in his 
 chief's voice. "Mr. HalloweU, I have found 
 lodgings for your sister three miles up the canal, 
 at the Gates farm. Mr. Burford will take you to 
 Gates's Landing, thence you will drive to the farm- 
 house. Your own quarters will be on the engi- 
 neers' house-boat, and we shall hope to see you 
 here for dinner to-night. Good-by, Miss Hallo- 
 well. I hope that Mrs. Gates will do everything 
 to make you comfortable." 
 
 The launch puflfed away up the narrow muddy 
 canal. It was a straight, deep stream of brown 
 water, barely forty feet wide. Its banks were a 
 high-piled mass of mire and clay, for the levee- 
 builders had not yet begun work. Beyond rose 
 clumps of leafless trees. Then, far as eye could 
 see, muddy fields and gray swampy meadows. 
 Rod gazed, radiant. 
 
54 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Isn't it splendid, Marian! The finest equip- 
 ment I ever dreamed of. Look at those barges!" 
 
 "Those horrid flat-boats heaped with coal?" 
 
 "Yes. Think of the yardage record we're mak- 
 ing. Five thousand yards a day!" 
 
 Marian rubbed her aching eyes. 
 
 "I don't know a yardage record from a bushel 
 basket," she sighed. "What is that queer box- 
 shaped red boat, set on a floating platform?" 
 
 "That is the engineers' house-boat, where your 
 brother is to Uve. Mayn't we take you aboard to 
 see?" urged Burford. 
 
 Marian stepped on the narrow platform and 
 peered into the cubby-hole state-rooms and the 
 clean, scoured mess-room. She was too tired to 
 be really interested. 
 
 "And that fxmny, grass-green cabin, set on 
 wooden stilts, up that little hill — that play- 
 house?" 
 
 Burford laughed. 
 
 "That's my play-house. Sally Lou insists on 
 living right here, so that she and the babies and 
 Mammy Easter can keep a watchful eye on me. 
 You and Sally Lou will be regxilar chums, I know. 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 55 
 
 She is not more than a year or so older than you 
 are, and it has been pretty rough on her to leave 
 her home and come down here. But she says she 
 doesn't care; that she'd rather rough it down here 
 with me than mope around home, back in Nor- 
 folk, without me. It surely is a splendid scheme 
 for me to have her here." He laughed again, 
 with shy, boyish pride. "Sally Lou is a pretty 
 plucky sort. And, if I may say it, so are you. " 
 
 Marian managed to smile her thanks. In- 
 wardly she was hoping that the marvellous Sally 
 Lou would stay away and leave her in peace. She 
 was trembUng with fatigue. Through the rest of 
 the trip she hardly spoke. 
 
 At Gates's Landing they were met by a solemn, 
 bashful youth and a buckboard drawn by two 
 raw, excited horses. They whirled and bumped 
 through a rutted woods road and stopped at last 
 before a low white farm-house. Marian realized 
 dimly that Rod was carrying her upstairs and into 
 a small tidy room. She was so utterly tired that 
 she dropped on the bed and slept straight through 
 the day. 
 
 She did not waken until her landlady's tap called 
 
56 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 her to supper. Mr. and Mrs. Gates, two quiet, 
 elderly people, greeted her kindly, and set a 
 Homeric feast before her: shortbread and honey, 
 broiled squirrels and pigeon stew, persimmon jam 
 and hot mince pie. She ate dutifully, then crept 
 back to her Httle room, with its mournful hair 
 wreaths and its yellowed engravings of "Night 
 and Morning" and "The Death-bed of Wash- 
 ington," and feU asleep again. 
 
 The three days that followed were like a queer, 
 tired dream. It rained night and day. The 
 roads were mired hub deep. Roderick could not 
 drive over to see her, but he telephoned to her 
 daily. But his hasty messages were Httle satis- 
 faction. The heavy rains had overflowed the big 
 ditch, he told her. That meant extra work for 
 everybody on the plant. Carlisle was wretchedly 
 sick, so Rod and Burford were sharing their chief's 
 watch in addition to their own duties. Worst, 
 Marvin had quarrelled with the head runner of the 
 big dredge, and "We're having to spend half our 
 time in coddling them both for fear they'll walk 
 off and leave us, " as Rod put it. In short, Roder- 
 ick had neither time nor thought for his sister. 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 57 
 
 Marian realized that her brother was not incon- 
 siderate. He was absorbed in his work and in 
 its risks. Yet she keenly resented her lonehness. 
 
 * ' It isn't Rod's fault. But if I had dreamed that 
 the West would be like this!" 
 
 But on the fourth day, while she sat at her win- 
 dow looking out at the endless rain, there came 
 a surprising diversion. 
 
 "A gentleman to see you. Miss Hallowell. 
 Win you come downstairs? " 
 
 ' ' Why, Commodore McCloskey ! ' ' Marian hur- 
 ried down, dehghted. "How good of you to 
 come!" 
 
 Commodore McCloskey, dripping from his 
 sou'wester to his mired boots, beamed hke a 
 drenched but cheery Santa Claus. 
 
 "I've taken the Uberty to bring a friend to call," 
 he chuckled. "He's young an' green, an' 'tis 
 few manners he owns, but he's good stock, an' — 
 Here, ye rascal! Shame on ye, startin' a fight 
 the minute ye enter the house!" 
 
 Marian gasped. Past her, with a""wild miauw, 
 shot a yeUow streak. That streak was Empress. 
 Straight after the streak flew a fat, brown, curly 
 
S8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 object, yapping at the top of its powerful lungs. 
 Up the window-curtain scrambled Empress. 
 With a frantic leap she landed on the frame of 
 Grandpa Gates's large crayon portrait. Beneath 
 the portrait her curly pursuer yelped and whined. 
 
 ' ' Why, he's a coUie puppy. Oh, what a beauty ! 
 What is his name?" 
 
 "Beauty he is. And his name is Finnegan, 
 after the poem, 'Oflf again, on again, gone again, 
 Finnegan.' Do ye remember? 'Tis him to the 
 life. He is a prisint to ye from Missis McCloskey 
 and meseH. An' our compUments an' good wishes 
 go wid him!" 
 
 "How more than kind of you!" Marian, de- 
 Hghted, stooped to pat her new treasure. Finne- 
 gan promptly leaped on her and spattered her 
 fresh dress with eager, muddy paws. He then 
 caught the table-cover in his teeth. With one 
 frisky bovmce he brought a shower of books and 
 magazines to the floor. Mr. McCloskey clutched 
 for his collar. The puppy gayly eluded him and 
 made a dash for the pantry. Marian caught him 
 just as he was diving headlong into the open 
 flour-barrel. 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 59 
 
 "I do thank you so much! He'll be such a 
 pleasure; and such a protection," gasped Marian, 
 snatching Mrs. Gates's knitting work from the 
 puppy's inquiring paws. 
 
 '"Tis hardly a protector I'd call him," Mr. Mc- 
 Closkey returned. "But he'll sure keep your mind 
 employed some. Good-day to ye, ma'am. And 
 good luck with Finnegan. " 
 
 Poor Empress! In her deUght with this new 
 plaything, Marian quite forgot her elder compan- 
 ion. Moreover, as Mr. McCloskey had said, 
 Finnegan could and did keep her mind employed, 
 and her hands as well. 
 
 "That pup is energetic enough, but he don't 
 appear to have much judgment, " said Mrs. Gates, 
 mildly. In two hours Finnegan had carried off 
 the family supply of rubbers and hid them in the 
 corn-crib; he had torn up one of Rod's blue-prints; 
 he had terrorized the hen-yard; he had chased 
 Empress from turret to foimdation-stone. At 
 length Empress had turned on him and cuffed 
 him till he yelped and fled to the kitchen, where he 
 upset a pan of bread sponge. 
 
 "Suppose you take him for a walk, down to 
 
6o THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 the big ditch. Maybe the fresh air will calm 
 him down." 
 
 Marian made a leash of clothes-line and marched 
 Finnegan down the sodden woods toward the 
 ditch. . She was so busy laughing at his droll per- 
 formances that she quite forgot the duU fields, the 
 wet, gray prospect. Crimson-cheeked and breath- 
 less, she finally dragged him from the third al- 
 luring rabbit-hole, despite his pleading whines, 
 and started back up the canal. As she pushed 
 through a hedge of willows a sweet, high, laughing 
 voice accosted her. 
 
 " Good-morning, my haughty lady ! Won't you 
 stop and talk with us a while?" 
 
 Startled, Marian turned toward the caU. Across 
 the ditch, high on the opposite bank, stood the 
 quaintest, prettiest group that her eyes had ever 
 beheld. A tall, fair-haired girl of her own age, 
 dressed in a bewitching short-waisted gown of 
 scarlet and a friUy scarlet bonnet, stood in the 
 leafless willows, a tiny white-clad child in her arms. 
 Behind her a stout beaming negress in bandanna 
 turban and gay plaid calico was lifting another 
 baby high on her ample shoulder. 
 
ENTER MR. FINNEGAN 6i 
 
 Marian stared, astonished. The whole group 
 might well have stepped straight out of some 
 captivating old engraving of the days before the 
 war. 
 
 "Haven't you time to pass the time o' day?" 
 the sweet, mischievous voice entreated. "You 
 are Miss Hallowell, I know. I'm Sarah Louisiana 
 Burford, and I am just perishin' to meet you. 
 There is a board bridge just a rod or so up the 
 canal. We'll meet you there. Do please come, 
 and bring your dehghtful dog. March right along 
 now!" 
 
 And Marian, laughing with amusement and de- 
 light, marched obediently along. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 
 
 Marian picked her way up the shore to the 
 board bridge, with Finnegan prancing behind her. 
 She felt a Uttle abashed as she remembered her 
 rather tart indi£ference to young Burford's cordial 
 invitation of the week before. But aU her em- 
 barrassment melted away as she crossed the little 
 bridge and met SaUy Lou's welcoming face, her 
 warm clasping hands. 
 
 "You don't know how hungry I have been to 
 see you," vowed Sally Lou, her brown eyes kin- 
 dling under the scarlet bonnet. 
 
 "We've been counting the hours till we should 
 dare to go to call on Miss Northerner, haven't we, 
 kiddies? This is my son, Edward Fairfax Bur- 
 ford, Jiuiior, Miss HaUoweU. Three years old, 
 three feet square, and weighs forty-one pounds. 
 Isn't he rather gorgeous — ^if he does belong to me! 
 
 And this is Thomas Tucker Burford. Eighteen 
 
 62 
 

 ON THE EDGE OF THE OPPOSITE BANK STOOD THE QUAINTEST, 
 PRETTIEST GROUP THAT HER EYES HAD EVER BEHELD. 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 63 
 
 months old, twenty-six pounds, and the disposi- 
 tion of an angel, as long as he gets his own way. 
 And this is Mammy Easter, who came aU the way 
 from Norfolk with me, to take care of the babies, 
 so that I coidd live here on the contract with Ned. 
 Wasn't she brave to come out to this cold, lone- 
 some country aU for me? And this martin-box 
 is my house, and it is anxious to meet you, too, so 
 come right in!" 
 
 Marian climbed the high, narrow outside steps 
 that led to the tiny play-house on stilts, and 
 entered the low, red doorway, feeling as if she had 
 cUmbed Jack's bean-stalk into fairyland. Inside, 
 the martin-box was even more fascinating. It 
 boasted just three rooms. The largest room, gay 
 with Mother Goose wall-paper and rosy chintz, 
 was obviously the realm of Edward, Junior, and 
 Thomas Tucker. The next room, with its cun- 
 ning miniature fireplace, its shelves of books, its 
 pictures and photographs, and its broad high- 
 piled desk, was their parents' abode; while the 
 third room boasted fascinating white-painted cup- 
 boards and sink, a tiny alcohol stove, and a wee 
 table daintily set. 
 
64 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Aren't you shocked at folks that eat in their 
 kitchen?" drawled Sally Lou, observing Marian 
 with dancing eyes. " But all our baking and heavy 
 cooking is done for us, over on the quarter-boat. 
 I brought the stove to heat the babies' milk; and, 
 too, I Hke to fuss up goodies for Ned when he is 
 tired or worried. Poor boys! They're having 
 such an exasperating time with the contract this 
 week! Everything seems possessed to go awry. 
 We'll have to see to it that they get a lot of cod- 
 dling so's to keep them cheered up, won't we?" 
 
 "Why, I — I suppose so. But how did you dare 
 to bring your little children down here? They say 
 that this is the most malarial district in the State. " 
 
 "I know. But they can't catch malaria until 
 May, when the mosquitoes come. Then I shall 
 send them to a farm, back in the higher land. 
 Mammy will take care of them; and I'll stay down 
 here with Ned during the day and go to the ba- 
 bies at night. They're pretty sturdy Uttle tads. 
 They are not likely to catch anything imless 
 their mother is careless with them. And she isn't 
 careless, really. Is she, Tom Tucker?" She 
 snatched up her youngest son, with a hug that 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 65 
 
 made his fat ribs creak. "Come, now! Let's 
 brew some stylish afternoon tea for the lady. 
 Get down the caravan tea that father sent us, 
 Mammy, and the preserved ginger, and my 
 Georgian spoons. And fix some chicken bones 
 on the stoop for Miss Northerner's puppy. This 
 is going to be a banquet, and a right frabjous 
 one, too!" 
 
 It was a banquet, and a frabjous one, Marian 
 agreed. Sally Lou's tea and Mammy's nut-cakes 
 were delicious beyond words. The bright Httle 
 house, the dainty service, Sally Lou's charming 
 gay talk, the babies, clinging wide-eyed and 
 adorable to her knee, aU warmed and heartened 
 Marian's listless soul. She was ravished with 
 everything. She looked in wonder and deKght 
 at the high sleeping-porch, with its double mos- 
 quito bars and its duck screening and its cosey 
 hammock-beds. ("Ned sleeps so much better 
 here, where it is quiet, than on that noisy boat, " 
 Sally Lou explained.) She gazed with deep re- 
 spect at the tiny pantry, built of soap-boxes, lined 
 with snowy oil-cloth. She marvelled at the ex- 
 quisite old silver, the fine embroidered table- 
 
66 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 linen, the delicate china. And she caught her 
 breath when her eyes lighted upon the beautiful 
 painting in oils that hung above young Burford's 
 desk. It was a magical bit of color: a dreamy 
 Italian garden, walled in ancient carved and mel- 
 lowed stone, its slopes and borders a glory of 
 roses, flaunting in splendid bloom; and past its 
 flowery gates, a glimpse of blue, calm sea. She 
 could hardly turn her eyes away from the lovely 
 vista. It was as restful as an April breeze. And 
 across the lower comer she read the clear trac- 
 ing of the signature, a world-famous name. 
 
 Sally Lou followed her glance. 
 
 "You surely think I'm a goose, don't you, to 
 bring my gold teaspoons, and my wedding linen, 
 and my finest tea-set down to a wilderness Uke 
 this? Well, perhaps I am. And yet the very best 
 treasures that we own are none too good for our 
 home, you know. And this is home. Any place 
 is home when Ned and the babies and I are to- 
 gether. Besides, the very fact that this place is 
 so queer and ugly and dismal is the best of reasons 
 why we need all our prettiest things, and need to 
 use them every day, don't you see? So I picked 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 67 
 
 out my sacredest treasures to bring along. And 
 that painting — ^yes, it was running a risk to 
 bring so valuable a canvas down here. But 
 doesn't it just rest your heart to look at it? That 
 is why I wanted it with us every minute. You 
 can look at that blue sleepy sky, and those roses 
 chmbing the garden wall, and the sea below, and 
 forget aU about the noisy, grimy boats, and the 
 mud, and sleet, and malaria, and the cross laborers, 
 and the broken machinery, and everything else; 
 and just look, and look, and dream. That is why 
 I carted it along. Especially on Ned's account, 
 don't you see?" 
 
 "Y-yes." At last Marian took her wistful 
 eyes from the picture. " I wish that I had thought 
 to bring some good photographs to hang in Rod's 
 state-room. I never thought. But there is no 
 room to pin up even a picture post-card in his 
 cubby-hole on the boat. I must go on now. I 
 have had a beautiful time." 
 
 "There goes your brother this minute! In that 
 little red launch, see? He is going up the ditch. 
 Ring the dinner-beU, Mammy, that will stop him. 
 He can take you and your dog up to Gates's 
 
68 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Landing and save you half an hour's muddy 
 walk." 
 
 Mammy's dinner-bell pealed loud alarm. Rod- 
 erick heard and swung the boat right-about. His 
 sober, anxious face lighted as Marian and SaUy 
 Lou gayly hailed him. 
 
 "I'm glad that you've met Mrs. Burford," he 
 said, as he helped Marian aboard and hoisted 
 Finnegan astern with some difficulty and many 
 yelps; for Finnegan left his chicken-bones only 
 under forcible urging. "She is just about the 
 best ever, and I hope you two will be regular 
 chums." 
 
 " I love her this minute, " declared Marian, with 
 enthusiasm. "Where are you bound. Rod? 
 Mayn't Finnegan and I tag along?" 
 
 Rod's face grew worried. 
 
 "I'm bound upon a mighty ticklish cruise, Sis. 
 It is a ridiculous cruise, too. Do you remember 
 what I told you last week about the law that 
 governs the taxing of the land-owners for the mak- 
 ing of these ditches?" 
 
 "Yes. You said that when the majority of the 
 land-owners had agreed on doing the drainage 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 69 
 
 work, then the law made every owner pay his tax, 
 in proportion to the acreage of his land which 
 would be drained by the ditches, whether he 
 himself wanted the drainage done or not. And 
 you said that some of the farmers did not want the 
 ditches dug, and that they were holding back their 
 pa)mients and making trouble for the contractors; 
 while others were making still more trouble by 
 blocking the right of way and refusing to let the 
 dredges cut through their land. But how can they 
 hold you back, Rod? The law says that all the 
 district people must share in the drainage ex- 
 penses, whether they like to or not, because the 
 majority of their neighbors have agreed upon it. " 
 "The law says exactly that. Yes. But there 
 are a lot of kinks to drainage law, and the farmers 
 know it. Burford says that two or three of them 
 have been making things Uvely for the company 
 from the start. But just now we have only one 
 troublesome customer to deal with. And she is a 
 woman, that is the worst of it. She is a well-to- 
 do, eccentric old lady, who owns a splendid farm, 
 just beyond the Gateses. She paid her drainage 
 assessment willingly enough. But now she says 
 
70 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 that, last fall, the boys who made the survey 
 tramped through her watermelon-field and broke 
 some vines and sneaked off with three melons. 
 At least, so she indignantly states. Maybe it is 
 so; although the boys swear it was a pumpkin- 
 field, and that they didn't steal so much as a jack- 
 o'-lantem. Furthermore, she has put up barb wire 
 and trespass notices straight across the contract 
 right of way; and she has sent us notice that she 
 is guarding that right of way with a gun, and 
 that the first engineer who pokes his nose across 
 her boimdary line is due to receive a full charge 
 of buckshot. Sort of a shot-gun quarantine, see? 
 Now we must start dredging the lateral that 
 crosses her land next Monday, at the latest. It 
 must be done at the present stage of high water, 
 else we'll have to delay dredging it imtil faU. Car- 
 lisle planned to call on her to-day, and to mollify 
 her if possible, but he's too sick. So I must elbow 
 in myself, and see what my shirt-sleeve diplomacy 
 can do. I'm glad that I can take you along. Per- 
 haps you can help to thaw her out. " 
 
 "Of all the weird calls to make! What is the 
 old lady like. Rod?" 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 71 
 
 " Burford says that she is a droll character. She 
 has managed her own farm for forty years, and 
 has made a fine success of it. Her name is Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry. She is not educated, but she is 
 very capable, and very kind-hearted when you 
 once get on the right side of her. Yonder is her 
 landing. Don't look so scared, Sis. She won't 
 eat you. " 
 
 Marian's fear dissolved in giggles as they tee- 
 tered up the narrow board walk to the low brick 
 farm-house. They could not find a door-bell; 
 they rapped and pounded until their knuckles 
 ached. Finnegan yapped helpfully and chewed 
 the husk door-mat. At last, a forbidding voice 
 sounded from the rear of the house. 
 
 "You needn't bang my door down. Come 
 round to the drjdn' yard, unless you're agents. 
 If you're agents, you needn't come at all. I'm 
 busy. " 
 
 Meekly Rod and Marian followed this hospi- 
 table summons. 
 
 Across the muddy drying yard stretched rows 
 of clothes-line, fluttering white. Beside a heaped 
 basket of wet, snowy linen stood a very short, 
 
72 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 very stout Kttle old lady, her thick woollen skirts 
 tucked up under a spotless white apron, her small 
 nut-cracker face glowering from imder a sun-- 
 bonnet almost as large as herself. She took three 
 clothes-pins from her mouth and scowled at Rod. 
 
 " Well ! " said she. "Name your business. But 
 I don't want no graphophones, nor patent chick- 
 feed, nor golden-oak dinin'-room sets, nor Gems of 
 Poesy with gilt edges. Mind that. " 
 
 Marian choked. Rod knew that choke. Tears 
 of strangling laughter stood in his eyes as he hum- 
 bly stuttered his errand. 
 
 "W-we engineers of the Breckenridge Company 
 wish to offer our sincere apologies for any annoy- 
 ance that OMX surveyors may have caused you. 
 We are anxious to make any reparation that we 
 can. And — er — We find ourselves obliged, on 
 accoimt of the high water, to cut our east laterals 
 at once. We will be very grateful to you if you 
 will be so kind as to overlook our trespasses of last 
 season, and will permit us to go on with our work. 
 I speak for the company as well as for myself. " 
 
 The old lady stared at him, with unwinking, 
 beady eyes. There was a painful pause. 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 73 
 
 "Well, I don't know. You're a powerful slick, 
 soft-spoken young man. I'll say that much for 
 you." Marian gulped, and stooped hurriedly to 
 pat Fiimegan. "And I don't know as I have any 
 lastin' gredge against your company. Them mel- 
 ons was frost-bit, anyway. But if you do start 
 your machinery on that lateral, mind I don't want 
 no more tamperin' with my garden stuff. And 
 I don't want your men a-cavortin' around, run- 
 nin' races on my land, nor larkin' evenings, nor 
 comin' to the house for drinks of water. One of 
 them surveyors, last fall, he come to the door 
 for a drink, an' I was fryin' crullers, an' he asked 
 for one, bold as brass. Says I, 'Help yourself.' 
 WeU, he did that. There was a blue platter 
 brim fuU, and if he didn't set down an' eat every 
 single cruller, down to the last crumb! An' then 
 he had the impudence to tell me to my face that 
 they was tolerable good crullers, but that he'd 
 wager the next platterful would taste better than 
 the first, an' he'd like to try and find out for 
 sure!" 
 
 " I don't blame him. I'd Uke to try that experi- 
 ment m3^elf," said Rod serenely. The old lady 
 
74 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 glared. Then the ghost of a twinkle flickered 
 under the vasty sun-bonnet. 
 
 "Well, as I say, I ain't made up my mind yet. 
 But I'll let you know to-night, maybe. Now 
 you'd better be goin'. Looks Kke more rain. " 
 
 "Can't we help you with the clothes first?" 
 asked Marian. The old lady shook out a huge, 
 wet table-cloth and stood on tip-toe to pin it 
 carefully on the Une. 
 
 "You might, yes. Take these pillow-cases. 
 But don't you drop them in the mud. My 
 clothes-line broke down last week, and didn't I 
 spend a day of it, doin' my whole week's wash 
 over again!" 
 
 The strong breeze caught the big cloth and 
 whipped it Hke a banner. Finnegan, who had 
 been waiting poUtely in the background, beheld 
 this signal with joy. With a gay yelp he bolted 
 past Marian and seized a comer of the table- 
 cloth in his teeth. 
 
 "Scat!" cried Mrs. Chrisenberry, startled. 
 " WTiere did that pup come from? Shoo ! " 
 
 Fimiegan, imheeding, took a tighter grip, and 
 swung his fat heavy body from the ground. There 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 75 
 
 was a sickening sound of tearing linen. Marian 
 stood transfixed. Rod, his arms full of wet pillow- 
 slips, dashed to the rescue. But he was not in 
 time. 
 
 "Scat, I say!" Mrs. Chrisenberry flapped her 
 apron. 
 
 Amiable creature, she wanted to play with him! 
 Enchanted, the puppy let go the table-cloth and 
 dashed at her, under full steam. His sturdy paws 
 struck Mrs. Chrisenberry with the force of a 
 young battering-ram. With an astonished shriek 
 she swayed back, clutching at the table-cloth to 
 steady herself. But the table-cloth and clothes- 
 pins could not hold a moment against the on- 
 slaught of the heavy puppy. By good fortune, 
 the basketful of clothes stood directly behind Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry. As the faithless table-cloth sHd 
 from the rope, back she pitched, with a terrified 
 squeal, to land, safely if forcibly, in its snowy 
 depths. 
 
 Marian, quite past speech, sank on the porch 
 steps. Rod stood gaping with horror. Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry rose up with appaUing calm. 
 
 "You! You come here. You — varmint!" 
 
 Finnegan did not hesitate. Trustfully he gam- 
 
76 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 boiled up; gayly he seized her apron heni in his 
 white milk teeth and bit out a feather-stitched 
 scallop. Mrs. Chrisenberry stooped. Her broad 
 palm landed heavily on Finnegan's curly ear. 
 
 Alas for discipline! Finnegan dodged back and 
 eyed her, amazed. One grieved yelp rent the air. 
 Then, instantly repenting, he leaped upon her 
 and smothered her with muddy kisses. This was 
 merely the lady's way of playing with him. How 
 could he resent it! 
 
 Then Rod came to his wits. He seized Mr. 
 Finnegan by the collar and cuffed him into be- 
 wildered silence. He caught up the wrecked table- 
 cloth and the miry piUow-sKps, he poured out 
 regrets and apologies and promises in an all but 
 tearful stream. Mrs. Chrisenberry did not say 
 one word. Her small nut-cracker face set, omi- 
 nous. 
 
 "You needn't waste no more soft sawder," said 
 she, at length. "I 'low these are just the ram- 
 pagin' doings I could look for every day if I once 
 gave you folks permission to bring your dredge 
 on my land. So I may's well make up my mind 
 right now. Tell your boss that those tresp)ass 
 signs an' that barb wire are still up, and that 
 
THE MARTIN-BOX NEIGHBORS 77 
 
 they'll most likely stay up till doomsday. Good- 
 mornin'. " 
 
 "Well! I don't give much for my shirt-sleeve 
 diplomacy, " groaned Rod, as they teetered away, 
 down the board walk. 
 
 " I'm sorry, Rod. " Then Marian choked again. 
 Weak with laughter, she clung to the gate-post. 
 "It was j-just like a moving picture! And when 
 she vanished into the basket — Oh, dear — oh, 
 dear!" 
 
 "You better believe it was exactly like a moving 
 picture," muttered Rod. "It all went so fast I 
 couldn't get there in time to do one thing. It 
 went like a cinematograph — Zip! And off flew 
 all our chances for all time. Finnegan, you scoun- 
 drel! Do you realize that your plaj^ul nttle game 
 will cost the company a lawsuit and a small fort- 
 une besides?" 
 
 Finnegan barked and took a friendly nip of 
 Rod's ankle. Finnegan's young conscience was 
 crystal-clear. 
 
 "Let's take the launch down to Burford's and 
 tell them our misfortunes," said Rod. "I need 
 sympathy. " 
 
78 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 The Burfords heard their mournful tale with 
 shouts of unpitying joy. 
 
 "Yes, I -know, it's hard luck. Especially with 
 Marvin in the sulks and Carlisle sick, " said Ned 
 Burford, wiping his eyes. "But the next time 
 you start diplomatic negotiations, you had better 
 leave that dog at home. I'm going over to the 
 house-boat to tell Mr. Carlisle. Poor sick fellow, 
 this story will amuse him if anything can. " 
 
 He jumped into the launch. A minute later 
 Rod brought it alongside the house-boat and Bur- 
 ford disappeared within. 
 
 "Mr. Carlisle, sir!" They heard his laughing 
 voice at the chief's state-room door. "May I 
 come in? Will I disturb you if I tell you a good 
 joke on Hallowell?" 
 
 There was a pause. Then came a rush of feet. 
 Burford dashed from the cabin and confronted 
 Rod and Marion. His face was very white. 
 
 "Hallowell! Come aboard, quick!" he said, 
 in a shaking voice. "Mr. Carlisle is terribly ill. 
 He's lying there looking like death; he couldn't 
 even speak to me. Hurry!" 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 
 
 Roderick leaped aboard. Marian followed, 
 trembling with fear. 
 
 Mr. Carlisle lay in his seaman's hammock be- 
 side the window. His gaunt hands were like ice. 
 His lean face was ashen gray. But he nodded 
 weakly and put put a shaking, courteous hand. 
 
 ' ' Too bad to alarm you thus, ' ' he gasped. ' ' I — 
 I was afraid of this. Malaria plays ugly tricks 
 with a man's heart now and then. You'd better 
 ship me to the hospital at Saint Louis. They can 
 patch me up in a week probably. Only, the sooner 
 you can get me there, the better. " 
 
 "You call the foreman and teU him to get up 
 steam on the big launch, HalloweU." Burford, 
 very pale, took command of the situation. "Miss 
 HalloweU, will you go and bring SaUy Lou? I 
 want her right away. She's all kinds of good in an 
 emergency. " 
 
 79 
 
8o THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian fled, her own heart pounding in her 
 throat. But Sally Lou, after the first scared ques- 
 tions, rose to the occasion, steady and serene. 
 
 "Light the stove and make our soapstones and 
 sand-bags piping-hot. Mammy. Heat some bouil- 
 lon and put it into the thermos bottle. Ned, you 
 and the foreman must take him down to Grafton 
 Landing on the launch. The Lucy Lee is due to 
 reach Grafton late this afternoon. I'll catch the 
 Lucy's captain on the long-distance telephone at 
 the landing above Grafton, and tell him to wait 
 at Grafton Landing till you get there with Mr. 
 CarHsle. Then you can put him aboard the Lucy. 
 She will make Saint Louis in half the time that 
 you could make it with the launch. Besides, the 
 i«cy will mean far easier travelling for Mr. Car- 
 Usle." 
 
 "I never thought of the Lucy! I'd meant to 
 wait with him at the Landing and take the mid- 
 night train. But the steam-boat will be a far 
 easier trip. Sally Lou, you certainly are a peach ! " 
 Young Burford looked at his wife with solemn ad- 
 miration. " Go and telephone, quick. We'll have 
 Carlisle ready to start in an hour. " 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 8i 
 
 In less than an hour the launch was made ready, 
 with cot and piUows and curtains, as hke an am- 
 bulance as a launch could well be. With clumsy- 
 anxious pains Roderick and Burford Ufted their 
 chief aboard. Marian hiuig behind, eager to help, 
 yet too frightened and nervous to be of service. 
 But Sally Lou, her yellow hair flying under her 
 ruflfly red bonnet, her baby laughing and crowing 
 on her shoulder, popped her flushed face gayly 
 under the awning to bid Mr. CarUsle good-by. 
 
 "If it wasn't for these babies I'd go straight 
 along and take care of you myself, Mr. CarUsle, " 
 she cried. "But the hospital wiU take better care 
 of you than I could, I reckon. And the week's va- 
 cation will do you no end of good. Besides it will 
 set these two lazybones to work. " She gave her 
 husband a gentle shake. "Ned and Mr. Hallowell 
 will have to depend on themselves, instead of leav- 
 ing all the responsibiUty to you. It wiU be the 
 making of them. You'll see!" 
 
 "Perhaps that is true." Carlisle's gray Hps 
 smiled. He was white with suffering, but he 
 spoke with his unvarying kind formaKty. " I am 
 leaving you gentlemen with a pretty heavy load. 
 
82 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 But — I am not apprehensive. I know that you 
 boys will stand up to the contract, and that 
 you will carry it on with success. Good-by, and 
 good luck to you!" 
 
 The launch shot away down-stream. Sally 
 Lou looked after it. Marian saw her sparkling 
 eyes grow very grave. 
 
 "Mr. CarUsle is mighty brave, isn't he? But 
 he will not come back to work in a week's time. 
 No, nor in a month's time either if I know any- 
 thing about it. But there's no use a-glooming, 
 is there, Thomas Tucker! You two come up to 
 my house and we'll have supper together and 
 watch for Ned; for if he meets the Lucy at 
 Grafton he can bring the laimch back by ten 
 to-night." 
 
 Sally Lou was a good prophet. It was barely 
 nine when Ned's laimch whistled at the land- 
 ing. Ned climbed the steps, looking tired and 
 excited. 
 
 "Yes, we overhauled the Lucy, aU right. Mr. 
 CarUsle seemed much more comfortable when we 
 put him aboard. He joked me about being so 
 frightened and said he'd come back in a day or so 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 83 
 
 as good as new. But — I don't know how we'll 
 manage here. With Carlisle laid up, and Marvin 
 gone ofi in the sulks, for nobody knows how long — 
 Well, for the next few days this contract is up to 
 us, HaUowell. That is all there is to that. And 
 we've got to make good. We've got to put it 
 through. " 
 
 "You certainly must make good. And it is 
 up to us girls to help things along, " said Sally Lou, 
 briskly. "Isn't it, Marian? Yes, I'm going to 
 call you Marian right away. It's such a saving 
 of time compared to 'Miss HalloweU.' And the 
 very first thing to-morrow morning we wiU drive 
 over to Mrs. Chrisenberry's, and coax her into 
 letting you boys start that lateral through her 
 land." 
 
 Three startled faces turned to her. Three 
 astounded voices rose. 
 
 "Coax her, indeed! On my word! When she 
 drove Rod and me off the place this very morn- 
 ing!" 
 
 " Think you dare ask her to take down her barb- 
 wire barricade and lay away her shot-gun? 'Not 
 till doomsday!'" 
 
84 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Sally Lou, are you daft? You've never laid 
 eyes on Mrs. Chrisenberry. You don't know 
 what you're tackling. We'll not put that lateral 
 through tUl we've dragged the whole question 
 through the courts. Don't waste your time in 
 dreaming, child." 
 
 "I'm not going to dream. I'm going to act. 
 You'll go with me, won't you, Marian? We'll 
 take the babies and the buckboard. But, if you 
 don't mind, we'll leave Mr. Finnegan at home. 
 Finnegan's diplomacy is all right, only that it's a 
 trifle demonstrative. Yes, you boys are welcome 
 to shake your heads and look owlish. But wait 
 and see!" 
 
 "She'll never try to face that ferocious old 
 lady," said Rod, on the way home. 
 
 "Of course not. She's just making believe," 
 rejoined Marian. 
 
 Little did they know Sally Lou! Marian had 
 just finished her breakfast the next morning when 
 the yellow buckboard, drawn by a solemn, scraggy 
 horse, drove up to Mrs. Gates's door. On the 
 front seat, rosy as her scarlet gown and cloak, sat 
 Sally Lou. From the back seat beamed Mammy 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 85 
 
 Easter, in her gayest bandanna, with Edward Bur- 
 ford, Junior, dimpled and irresistible, beside her, 
 and Thomas Tucker bouncing and crowing in her 
 arms. 
 
 "Climb right in. Miss Northerner! Good-by, 
 poor Finnegan! This time we're going to try the 
 persuasive powers of two babies as compared to 
 those of one colUe. Here we go!" 
 
 "Are we really going to Mrs. Chrisenberry's? 
 Are you actually planning to ask her for the right 
 of way?" queried Marian. 
 
 Sally Lou chuckled. Her round face was guile- 
 less and bland. 
 
 "Certainly not. I am going to Mrs. Chrisen- 
 berry's to buy some goose-grease. " 
 
 " To buy some goose-grease ! Horrors ! What is 
 goose-grease, pray?" 
 
 " Goose-grease is goose-grease. Didn't you ever 
 have the croup when you were young, Miss North- 
 erner? And didn't they roll you in warm blankets, 
 and then bandage your poor little throat with 
 goose-grease and camphor and red pepper?" 
 
 "An' a baked onion for your supper," added 
 Mammy Easter. "An' a big saucer of butter- 
 
86 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 scotch, sizzlin'-hot. Dey ain't no croup what kin 
 stand before dat!" 
 
 "Mercy, I should hope not. I never heard of 
 anything so dreadful. You aren't going to give 
 goose-grease to your own babies, I hope?" ■ 
 
 Sally Lou surveyed her uproarious sons, and 
 allowed herself a brief giggle. 
 
 "They've never had a sign of croup so far, I'm 
 ■ thankful to say. But one ought to be prepared. 
 And Mrs. Chrisenberry has the finest poultry- 
 yard in the coimtry-side. We'll enjoy seeing 
 that, too. Don't look so dubersome. Wait and 
 see!" 
 
 Mrs. Chrisenberry was working in her vegetable 
 garden as they drove up. Her queer Uttle face 
 was bound in a huge many-colored "nuby," her 
 short skirts were kilted over high rubber boots. 
 She leaned on her spade and gave the "girls a 
 nod that, as Marian told Rod later, was like a 
 twelve-pound shot squarely across the enemy's 
 bows. 
 
 Sally Lou merely beamed upon her. 
 
 "Wet weather for putting in your garden, isn't 
 it?" she cried, gayly. "I'm Mrs. Burford, Mrs. 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 87 
 
 Chrisenberry. My husband is an engineer on 
 the Breckenridge contract. " 
 
 " H'm ! " Mrs. Chrisenberry glared. SaUy Lou 
 chattered gayly on. 
 
 "I'm staying down at the canal with these two 
 youngsters, and I want to buy some of your fine 
 goose-grease. They've never had croup in all 
 their born days, but it's such a cold, wet spring 
 that it is well to be prepared for anything. " 
 
 "Goose-grease!" Mrs. Chrisenberry looked at 
 her keenly. "For those babies? Highty-tighty! 
 Goose-grease is well enough, but hot mutton taller 
 is better yet. I've raised two just as fine boys 
 as them, so I know. Mutton taller an' camphire, 
 that's sovereign." 
 
 She put down her spade and picked her way to 
 the buckboard. Edward Jimior hailed her with 
 a shriek of welcome. Thomas Tucker floundered 
 wildly in Mammy's grasp and clutched Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry aroimd the neck with a strangling 
 squeeze. 
 
 Marian gasped. For Mrs. Chrisenberry, grim, 
 stern little nut-cracker lady, had lifted Thomas 
 to her stooped little shoidder and was gathering 
 
88 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Edward Junior into a lean strong little arm. 
 Both babies crowed with satisfaction. Thomas 
 jerked off the tasseUed nuby and showered rose- 
 leaf kisses from Mrs. Chrisenberry's tight knob of 
 gray hair to the tip of her dour Uttle chin. Edward 
 poimded her gleefully with fists and feet. 
 
 "They'll strangle her," Marian whispered, 
 aghast. 
 
 "Pooh, she doesn't mind," SaUy Lou whispered 
 back. "You mustn't let them puU you to pieces, 
 Mrs. Chrisenberry. They're as strong as Uttle 
 bear cubs. " 
 
 "Guess I know that." Mrs. Chrisenberry 
 shook Edward's fat grip loose from her tatting 
 collar. "They're the Uving images of my own 
 boys, thirty years ago. I hope yoiu: children 
 bring you as good luck as mine have brought me. 
 They've grown up as fine men as you'd find in a 
 day's journey. Let me take 'em to see the hen 
 yard. They'll like to play with the Uttle chickens, 
 I know." 
 
 Edward and Thomas Tucker were charmed with 
 the hen yard. They feU upon a brood of tiny yel- 
 low baUs with cries of ecstasy. Only the irate 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 89 
 
 pecks and squawks of the outraged hen mother 
 prevented them from hugging the fuzzy peepers to 
 a loving death. 
 
 "They're a pretty Uvely team," remarked Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry. "Let's take 'em into the house, 
 and I'll give them some cookies and milk. I don't 
 know much about new-fangled ways of feeding 
 children, but I do know that my cookies never 
 hurt anybody yet. " 
 
 She led them through her shining kitchen mto 
 a big, bright sitting-room. Again Marian halted 
 to stare. This was not the customary chill and 
 dreary farm-house "parlor." Instead, she saw 
 a wide, fire-Kt living-room, filled with flowering 
 plants, home-like with its books and pictures; 
 and at the arched bay-window a beautiful up- 
 right piano. 
 
 Mrs. Chrisenberry followed her glance. 
 
 "Land, I don't ever touch it," she said, with a 
 dry httle nut-cracker chuckle. "My oldest boy 
 he gave it to me, for he knows I'm that himgry 
 for music, and whenever my daughter-in-law comes 
 to visit she plays for me by the hour, and it's 
 something grand. And now and then a neighbor 
 
go THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 will pick out a tune for me. My, don't I wish I 
 could keep it goin' all the time! You girls don't 
 play, I suppose?" 
 
 Sally Lou's eyes met Marian's with a quick 
 question. Marian's cheeks grew hot. 
 
 "I — I play a Uttle. But I'm sure that Mrs. 
 Burford " 
 
 "Mrs. Burford will play some other time," 
 interrupted Sally Lou, hastily. "Go on, that's a 
 good girl!" 
 
 Now, it bored Marian dismally to play for stran- 
 gers. She refused so habitually that few of her 
 friends knew what a delightful pianist she reaUy 
 was. But dimly she reahzed that Sally Lou's 
 eyes were flashing with anxious command. She 
 opened the piano. 
 
 She ran through the airs from the "Tales from 
 Hoffmann," then played a romping folk-dance, 
 and, at last, the lovely magic of the " Spring Song." 
 
 Mrs. Chrisenberry hardly breathed. She sat 
 rigidly in her chair, her knotted Httle hands shut 
 tight, her beady eyes unwinking. 
 
 "My, but that goes to the place," she sighed, 
 as the last airy harmony died away. "Now I'U 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 91 
 
 bring your cookies and milk, you lambs, and then 
 you'd better be starting home. It looks like 
 rain. " 
 
 Marian and Sally Lou fell behind in the pro- 
 cession to the carriage. Edward Jimior toddled 
 down the board walk, cUnging to his hostess's 
 skirt. Thomas Tucker laughed and gurgled in 
 her arms. Mrs. Chrisenberry put Thomas on 
 Mammy's lap, then picked up Edward, who, 
 loath to depart, squeezed her neck with warm, 
 crumby httle hands and snuggled his fat cheek 
 to her own. Mrs. Chrisenberry looked down at 
 him. Her grim little nut-cracker face quivered 
 oddly. A dim pink warmed her brown, withered 
 cheek. 
 
 "It's nice while they're little, isn't it?" she said, 
 with a queer, wistful smile. "Though I dassent 
 complain. My boys are the best sons anybody 
 ever had, and they treat me like a queen. Here, 
 son, stop p ullin g my ears so hard; it hurts. Now, 
 I'U send you a whole bowlful of mutton taller to- 
 morrow; and a jar of goose-grease the very next 
 rendering I make. Didn't you say you're living 
 on the drainage job? Well" — the dim pink grew 
 
92 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 bright in her eheek — "well, you tell your man that 
 he kin go right ahead and cut his ditch through my 
 land. I'll not stand in the way no longer. Though 
 tell him that I'll expect him to see that his men 
 don't tramp through my garden nor steal my 
 watermelons. Mind that." 
 
 "I know I can promise that, always." Sally 
 Lou's eyes were brown stars. "And thank you 
 more than tongue can tell, Mrs. Chrisenberry. 
 You don't know what this will mean to my hus- 
 band, and I never can tell you how much we shall 
 appreciate your kindness. Packed in all right, 
 Mammy? Come, Edward, son. Good-by!" 
 
 They drove away in the silence of utter, aston- 
 ished joy. 
 
 "Your goose-grease worked that miracle, Sally 
 Lou!" 
 
 "Nonsense ! It was your music that carried the 
 day. But oh, I was so afraid you were going to 
 say no!" 
 
 Again Marian's cheeks flushed hot, with queer, 
 vexed shame. 
 
 "Well, I did all but refuse. I do hate to play for 
 anybody, especially for strangers. " 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 93 
 
 "Why?" Sally Lou looked hopelessly puzzled. 
 "But when it gives them so much pleasure! And 
 besides, if you want a selfish reason, think how you 
 have helped the boys. There they come now. " 
 
 With a joyful call Sally Lou waved her scarf to 
 the two figures plodding up the canal road. Then 
 as the flimsy silk could not do justice to her feel- 
 ings, she caught up little Thomas Tucker and flour- 
 ished him, a somewhat ponderous banner. The 
 boys hurried to meet them. They listened to the 
 girls' excited tale, at first imbeUeving, then with 
 faces of amazement and reUef. 
 
 "Well, you two girls deserve a diamond medal," 
 declared Burford, heartily. His flushed, perturbed 
 face brightened. "You don't know what a load 
 you have taken off our shoulders. " He looked at 
 Roderick. "This is a real sterhng-silver lining to 
 our cloud, isn't it, Hallowell? So big that it fairly 
 bulges out around the edges. " 
 
 " A silver lining to what cloud, Ned? " demanded 
 Sally Lou, promptly curious. "Has something 
 gone wrong with the work? Another break in the 
 machinery? Or trouble among the laborers, or 
 what?" 
 
94 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 The two boys looked at each other. Marian 
 studied their faces. Burford was flushed and es- 
 cited. Rod's stolid dark face was frowning and 
 intent. 
 
 "Own up!" commanded Sally Lou, sternly. 
 "Don't you dare try to keep your dark and dread- 
 ful secrets from us!" 
 
 The boys laughed. But a quick warning glance 
 flashed from one to the other. Then Burford 
 spoke. 
 
 "Don't conjure up so many bogies, SaUy Lou. 
 We — ^we've had bad news from Mr. Carlisle. His 
 doctor told me, over the long-distance, that he 
 would not be able to leave the hospital for a fort- 
 night. And he must not come back on the work 
 for two months at the best. " 
 
 SaUy Lou sobered. 
 
 "That is bad news. Poor Mr. CarUsle! But is 
 that all that you have to tell me, Ned?" 
 
 Burford jumped. He reddened a little. 
 
 " Y-yes, I reckon that's all. You girls will have 
 to excuse us now. HaUowell and I are going back 
 to our boat-house to fix up our March reports. " 
 
 "Anything we two can help about?" 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 95 
 
 " You two have put in a mighty good day's work 
 in securing that right of way. Though if you're 
 hunting for a job you might verify the yardage 
 report I left on your desk. Run along now, we're 
 going to be busy. " 
 
 " Such is gratitude, " remarked Sally Lou, with 
 ironic philosophy, as she drove away. '"Run 
 along, we're busy.' Just like a boy!" 
 
 Roderick and Ned looked after the buckboard, a 
 little shame-faced at Sally Lou's parting shot. 
 
 "Just the same, it does no good to tell them all 
 our ill-luck, " said Burford. 
 
 "And Marvin's threatening to quit is even worse 
 luck than Carlisle's illness. For his quarrel with 
 the foreman has started half a dozen quarrels 
 among the workmen. Queer, isn't it? A grouch 
 like that wUl spread like wild-fire through a whole 
 camp." 
 
 "Marvin is waiting on the house-boat for us 
 this minute." Ned peered through a telescope 
 of his hands. " Now we'll listen to a tale of woe ! " 
 
 Marvin did not wait till they could reach the 
 boat. EGs angry voice rang out across the canal. 
 
 "Well, Mister Hallowell! I just got the note 
 
96 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 that you so kindly sent me. So you and Mr. Bur- 
 ford here think that I ought to stand by the job, 
 hey, 'and not let my private quarrels influence 
 me into deserting the contract?' Thank you. 
 Mister Hallowell, for your kind advice. But I 
 rather guess I can get along without any orders 
 from either of you two swells. No, nor criticisms, 
 either." 
 
 "We're not giving orders, and you know that, 
 Marvin. " Rod spoke sharply. " But you're never 
 going to throw down your biUet just because 
 of a two-cent fuss with the foreman. Think what 
 a hole you'd leave the company in! CarUsle 
 sick, high water holding back our freight, coal ship- 
 ments stalled, everything tied up " 
 
 "And you're directly responsible to the com- 
 pany for that berm construction, " broke in Bur- 
 ford hotly. " You know well enough that we can't 
 watch that work and oversee the ditch-cutting at 
 one and the same time. You're not going to sneak 
 out and play quitter " 
 
 "I'm going to play quitter, as you call it, when- 
 ever I choose. That happens to be right now. 
 You two silk-stockings can like it, or lump it. 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 97 
 
 Mulcahy!" he yelled to the camp commissary 
 man, who was just starting down the canal in his 
 launch on his way to Grafton for supplies. " Wait, 
 I'm going with you. Here, take this. " 
 
 He bolted into his cabin, then dashed back, 
 carrying a heavy suit-case. He heaved it into the 
 launch, then sprang in beside the open-mouthed 
 steward. 
 
 "Now, I'm off!" He blazed the words at the 
 two boys staring from the bank. "You can rim 
 thiS' contract to suit yourselves, gentlemen. I'll 
 send my resignation direct to the company. I 
 don't have to take orders from you two swells an- 
 other hour. Good-morning, gentlemen!" 
 
 The steward grinned sheepishly at sight of his 
 superior officer behaving himself like a spunky 
 small boy. With a rueful nod toward Roderick 
 he headed the launch down the canal. 
 
 Burford expressed himself with some vim. 
 
 " Well, he's gone. Good riddance, I call it. The 
 surly hound!" 
 
 "I don't know about that," muttered Rod. 
 "It was my fault, maybe, writing him that letter. 
 I was too high and mighty, I suppose. " 
 
98 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "You needn't blame yourself," returned Bur- 
 ford bluntly. "We've put up with his insolence 
 and his scamped work and his everlasting wran- 
 gling long enough. Mr. Carlisle won't blame us; 
 neither will the company. " 
 
 "We ought to wire company head-quarters at 
 Chicago, and report just how things stand; then 
 they'll send us a supervising engineer to take Mr. 
 Carhsle's place. And a new scrub, too, instead 
 of Marvin." 
 
 "You're right, Hallowell. You wire them 
 straight off, will you? I'm going up to the first 
 lateral to watch the afternoon shift. " 
 
 Early that evening Roderick received the an- 
 swering wire from head-quarters. He read it care- 
 fully. His sober young face settled into grim lines. 
 
 An hour later Burford turned up, tired, but in 
 high spirits, for his dredge had made a flying 
 start on the lateral. Roderick handed him the 
 despatch. 
 
 The two boys stared at each other. A deep 
 flush burned to Burford's temples. Rod's hard 
 jaw set. 
 
 The message was curt and to the point. 
 
GOOSE-GREASE AND DIPLOMACY 99 
 
 "The Breckenridge Engineering Company, 
 office of the vice-president. 
 
 Roderick Hallowell, Esq. 
 
 Vo Contract Camp, Grafton, Illinois. 
 Sir: Your report received. Consider your- 
 self and Burford as jointly in command tiU 
 further orders. I shall reach camp on route in- 
 spection by 26th inst. Kindly report conditions 
 daily by wire. 
 
 Breckenridge." 
 
 "So we're made jointly responsible. Put in 
 charge by Breckenridge. By Breck the Great, his 
 very self. H'm-m." Burford looked out at the 
 crowded boats, the muddy, half-built levee, 
 stretching far as eye could see; the night shift 
 of laborers, eighty strong, shufliing aboard the 
 quarter-boat for their hot supper; the massed, 
 powerful machinery, stretching its black funnels 
 and cranes against the red evening sky. "So 
 we're the two Grand Panjandrums on this job. 
 Responsible for excavation that means prosperity 
 or ruin for half the farmers in the district, ac- 
 cording as we do or don't finish those laterals 
 before the June rise; responsible for a pay-roU 
 that runs over four hundred dollars a day; re- 
 
loo THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 sponsible for a time-lock contract that will cost 
 our company five hundred dollars forfeit money a 
 day for every day that we nui over our time limit. 
 WeU, HaUoweU?" 
 
 "It strikes me," said Rod, very briefly, "that 
 it's up to us. " 
 
 "Yes, it is up to us. But if we don't make 
 good " 
 
 "Don't let that worry you." Rod's jaw set, 
 steel. "Don't give that a thought. We'll make 
 good." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 
 
 "Hello, Sis!" It was Roderick's voice over 
 the telephone. "How are you feeling this fine, 
 muggy morning?" 
 
 "Pretty well, I suppose. How are you. Rod? 
 Where are you telephoning from?" 
 
 "From Burf ord's shack. We're in a pinch down 
 here, Marian. We need you to help out. Can't 
 you ask Mr. Gates to hitch up and bring you down 
 to camp right away? Or if you'll walk down to 
 Gates's Landing I'll send Mulcahy with the 
 laimch, to bring you the rest of the way. And put 
 on your very best toggery. Sis. War paint and 
 feathers and all that. That pretty lavender silk 
 rig wiU do. But don't forget the gimcracks. 
 Put on all the jewelry you own." 
 
 "Why, Roderick HalloweU! What can you 
 mean? Dress up in my best, and come down to 
 
I02 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 camp at nine in the morning, and on Sunday morn- 
 ing at that?" 
 
 "I mean just what I say." Then Roderick 
 chuckled irresistibly. "Poor Sis, I don't wonder 
 you're puzzled. But Sunday is the contract's day 
 at home, and we want you to stand in line and 
 receive; or pour tea, whichever you prefer to do. 
 Do you see? " 
 
 "No, I don't see. All I do see is that you're 
 talking nonsense. And I don't intend to come 
 down to the camp. It is such a hot, horrid morn- 
 ing, I don't propose to stir. I want you to come 
 up and spend the day here instead. Mrs. Gates 
 wants you, too, she says, for dinner and for supper 
 as well. And yesterday the rural-delivery man 
 brought a whole armful of new magazines. We'll 
 sit on the porch, and you can read and I'U write 
 letters, and we'U have a lovely, quiet day to- 
 gether." 
 
 There was a pause. When Roderick spoke 
 agaia, his voice was rather quenched. 
 
 " Sorry, Sis, but it isn't possible for me to come, 
 even for dinner. I'll be hard at it here, every 
 minute of the day." 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 103 
 
 "You mean that you must work on the con- 
 tract all day Sunday? When you have worked 
 fourteen hours a day, ever since you came West? " 
 Marian's voice was very tart. "Can't you stop 
 long enough to go to church with me, even? 
 There's a beautiful Httle church four miles away. 
 It's just a pleasant drive. Surely you can give up 
 two hours of the morning, if you can spare no more 
 time!" 
 
 "It isn't a question of what I'm willing to do. 
 And I am not planning to work on Simday. As 
 you know. Sis, we bank our fires Saturday night 
 and give the laborers a day off. Nearly aU the 
 men left for town last night to stay till Monday. 
 But listen. Burford tells me that, on every clear 
 Sunday, we can expect a visit from most of the 
 land-owners for miles around. And not just from 
 the land-owners themselves: their sisters, and 
 their cousins, and their aunts; and the children, 
 and the neighbors, and the family cat. They want 
 to see for themselves just how the work is going 
 on. When you stop to think, it's their own work. 
 Their money is paying for every shovelful of dirt 
 we move, and every inch of levee-work. And 
 
I04 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 they're paying every copper of our salaries, too. 
 They have a right to see how their own investment 
 is being used, Sis. " 
 
 "So you have to treat these country people as 
 honored guests! Cart them up and down the 
 canal, and show them the excavations, and let 
 them pry into your reports, and ask you silly 
 questions! Of all the tiresome, preposterous 
 things!" 
 
 "That's pretty much what we'll do. But there 
 is nothing preposterous about it; it's their right. 
 And we fellows want to do the decent thing. Now, 
 more than ever, we want to do everything properly 
 because Carlisle is sick and away. Burford says 
 that Carlisle was more exacting about these visits 
 of inspection than about anything else on the plant. 
 He said that when a man builds a house to protect 
 his family he has the right to oversee every inch 
 of the construction, if he likes. On the same prin- 
 ciple, these farmers who are digging canals and 
 putting up levees to protect their lands should 
 have the right to watch the work, step by step. 
 Burford says, too, that Carlisle, with his everlast- 
 ing patience and courtesy, was steadily winning 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 105 
 
 over the whole district; even the men who had 
 fought the first assessments tooth and nail. It is 
 the least we boys can do to keep up the good 
 feeling that Carlisle has established." 
 
 "Well, I think it is all very absurd. Why 
 should I come down to the work? These people 
 do not even know that I exist. And if you really 
 need somebody to talk to their wives and be gra- 
 cious and all that, why can't Mrs. Burford do it 
 better than I? She is right on the ground, any- 
 way. " 
 
 "Yes, she's right on the ground. And so is 
 Thomas Tucker's newest tooth. The poor httle 
 skeezicks howled half the night, Burford says. 
 He has stopped yelling just now, but he won't let 
 his mother out of his sight for one minute. Mrs. 
 Burford is pretty much worn to a frazzle. But I 
 don't want to pester you, Marian. " There was a 
 worried note in Rod's voice now. "I wouldn't 
 have you come for any consideration, if it were to 
 make you ill or tired. So perhaps we'd better not 
 think of it." 
 
 Marian shrugged her shoulders. An odd, teas- 
 ing question stirred in her mind. 
 
io6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "I rather think I can stand the day if you can. 
 Finnegan and I will be at the landing in half an 
 hour. I, and my best beads and wampum, and 
 my new spring hat. There, now!" 
 
 Not waiting for Rod's dehghted reply, she hur- 
 ried away to dress. A whimsical impulse led her 
 to put on her freshest and daintiest gown, a charm- 
 ing Ulac silk, with a wide, tilting picture hat, 
 heaped with white and purple lilacs. She was 
 standing at the httle pier, tugging at her long 
 gloves, when the duty-laimch, with Rod himself 
 at the wheel, shot round the bend. Rod waved 
 his hand; then, at sight of her amazing finery, he 
 burst into a whoop of satisfaction. 
 
 "WiU you look at that! Marian Hallowell, 
 you're the best ever. I might have known you'd 
 play up. Though I was scared stiff, for fear you'd 
 think that just every-day clothes woidd do. My, 
 but you're stimning! You're looking stronger, 
 too. Sis. You're not nearly so wan and spooky as 
 you were a week ago. " 
 
 "I'm feeling better, too." Marian's color rose. 
 Even her sulky hmnor must melt under Rod's 
 beaming approval. "Now give me my sailing 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 107 
 
 orders, Rod. How many callers wiU we have? 
 What sort of people will they be? Tart and grim, 
 like Mrs. Chrisenberry, I suppose, or else kindly 
 and bashful and 'woodsy, ' like the Gateses? WiU 
 they stop by on their way home from church, or 
 will they come promptly after dinner and spend 
 the afternoon?" 
 
 Rod laughed. "No telling, Sister. We may 
 have ten callers, we may have a hundred. You'll 
 find aU kinds of people among them; precisely as 
 you'll find all kinds of people on Mount Vernon 
 Street, Boston, Massachusetts. There'll be nice, 
 neighborly folks who'll drive up the canal road in 
 Bond Street motoring clothes and sixty-horse- 
 power cars. There'll be other nice, neighborly 
 folks who'll ride in through the woods on their 
 plough horses, wearing slat sunbonnets and hick- 
 ory shirts. And they'll be friendly, and critical, 
 and enthusiastic, and dubersome, all in a heap. 
 You'll need all your social experience, and all your 
 tact, and all the diplomacy you can muster. 
 See?" 
 
 "Yes, I'm beginning to see." Marian's eyes 
 were thoughtful. Then she sprang up to wave 
 
io8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 her lilac parasol in greeting to the martin-box and 
 SaUy Lou. 
 
 "Isn't this the most mournful luck that ever 
 was!" Sally Lou sat with Thomas Tucker, a for- 
 lorn little figure, planted firmly on her knee. "To 
 think that my son must spend his first afternoon 
 of the season in cutting a wicked double tooth! 
 Maybe it'll come through by dinner-time, though. 
 Then he'll go to sleep, and I can slip over and help 
 you entertain our people — Why, Marian Hallo- 
 well! Oh, what a lovely, lovely gown! You wise 
 child, how did you know that to wear it to-day 
 was precisely the wisest thing that you could pos- 
 sibly do!" 
 
 " I didn't know that. I just put it on. Partly 
 for fun, and — ^well, partly to provoke Rod, I sup- 
 pose." Marian felt rather fooHsh. But she had 
 no time for further confidences. 
 
 Up the muddy canal road came a roomy family 
 carriage, drawn by a superbly matched black 
 team. That carriage was packed soUd to the 
 dashboard. Father, two tall boys, and a rosy 
 little daughter crammed the front seat; mother, 
 grandmother, and aunty were fitted neatly into 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 109 
 
 the back; and a fringe of small fry swung from 
 every direction. 
 
 "Morning." The father reined in and gave 
 everybody a friendly nod and smile. "How are 
 you, Mr. Burford? Glad to meet you, Mr. Hal- 
 lowell. No, thank you, we're on our way to Sun- 
 day-school and church, so we haven't a minute to 
 stop. But I have been wanting to know how you 
 think lateral four will work out; the one that 
 turns down past my farm. Will that sand cut 
 give you much trouble?" 
 
 "It will make slower dredging, Mr. Moore. 
 But we'll put it through as fast as we can. " 
 
 "Um. I'm in no hurry to see it go through. 
 The high water isn't due for a month, anyway. 
 Now, I don't know much about sand-cutting. But 
 I've been told that your worst trouble in a sand 
 streak is with the sHdes. After your dredge- 
 dipper has dumped the stuff ashore, it won't stay 
 put. It keeps tobogganing back into the channel 
 and blocking your cut. So sometimes you have to 
 hoist it out two or three times over. " 
 
 "That's exactly the case, Mr. Moore. Usually 
 our levee gangs follow along and tamp the sand 
 
no THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 down, or else spread it back from the berm where 
 it has no chance to sHde. But it is getting so near 
 the time set for the completion of our upper lateral 
 cut that we are obliged to keep our levee shift at 
 work on the upper laterals and take our chances 
 on the sand staying where we pile it. " 
 
 "Just what I'd supposed. Now, I shall need 
 a lot of that sand, in a week or so, for some cement 
 work. S'pose I send you a couple of teams and 
 haK a dozen hands to-morrow, to cart oflE the sand 
 under your direction. Would that help things 
 along?" 
 
 "Help things along? I should say it would!" 
 Rod beamed. "It would be the most timely help 
 we could ask. " 
 
 "But won't it put you to a lot of trouble, sir," 
 asked Burford, "to take the hands off their regu- 
 lar farm-work in that way?" 
 
 "W-well, no. Anyway they can haul sand for 
 a day or so without making much difference. 
 And it wiQ be a heap handier for you boys to have 
 the stuff carted off as fast as you throw it ashore. " 
 
 "It surely will. That's the best news we've 
 heard in one while!" The boys stood smiling 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY iii 
 
 at each other, completely radiant. Mr. Moore 
 nodded and turned his horses. 
 
 " Glad if it will be any accommodation. Well, 
 good day to you all. My good wishes to Mr. Car- 
 Usle. Tell him I said he left a couple of mighty 
 competent substitutes, but that his neighbors will 
 be glad to see him coming back, just the same. " 
 
 The big carriage with its gay load rolled away. 
 
 " So Moore will send men and teams to help us 
 on that sand cut!" Burford, fairly chortling with 
 satisfaction, started toward the martin-box. "If 
 all our land-owners treated us with haK the con- 
 sideration that he always gives, our work would be 
 a summer's dream. I'm going up to tell Sally 
 Lou." 
 
 He had hardly reached the martin-box before 
 he turned with a shout. 
 
 "There come our next visitors, Hallowell. The 
 commodore and Mrs. McCloskey, in that fat lit- 
 tle white laimch. See?" 
 
 Commodore McCloskey it was, indeed. Finne- 
 gan's wild yelp of deUghted greeting would have 
 told as much. Marian promptly joined the hila- 
 rious race to the pier. The commodore, crisp and 
 
112 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 blinding-white in his starchy duck, stood at his 
 launch wheel, majestic as if he stood on the bridge 
 of an ocean liner. But Mrs. McCloskey, a dainty, 
 soft-eyed, little old lady, with cheeks like Scotch 
 roses, and silky curls white as dandelion down 
 blowing from under her decorous gray bonnet, 
 won Marian's heart at the first glance. She was 
 as quaint and gentle and charming as an old-time 
 miniature. 
 
 While the boys took the commodore up and 
 down the laterals that he might see their progress 
 since his last visit, Mrs. McCloskey trailed her 
 soft old black silk skirts to the martin-box door 
 and begged for a glimpse of the baby. 
 
 "He's crosser than a prickly little porcupine," 
 protested Sally Lou, handing him over reluctantly. 
 
 "Oh, but he'll come to me just the minute! 
 Won't you, lamb?" 
 
 And like a lamb Thomas Tucker forgot his sor- 
 rows and snuggled happily into her tender arms, 
 while his relieved mother bustled about and helped 
 Marian to make a generous supply of lemonade; 
 for half a dozen carriage loads of visitors were now 
 coming up the road. 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 113 
 
 '"Tis amazin'. Where do they all come from?" 
 observed Mrs. McCloskey. "Yet there's nigh 
 three hundred land-owners in this district. And 
 the commodore, he passed the word yesterday that 
 there's close on two hundred thousand acres of 
 land that will be protected by this one drainage 
 contract. Think of that, Miss Marian. Is it not 
 grand to know that your brother is giving the 
 power of his hands and his brains to such a big, 
 helping work as aU that?" 
 
 "Why, I suppose so." Marian spoke absently. 
 
 "And ye wiU be a help to him, too, I can see 
 that." Mrs. McCloskey put out a hesitating 
 little hand in a quaint old silken mitt and patted 
 Marian's fluffy gown. " 'Tis not everybody makes 
 as bould as meself to tell you in so many words of 
 your pretty finery. But sure 'tis everybody that 
 will appreciate it, an' be pleased an' honored 
 with the compHment of it. " 
 
 Marian looked utterly puzzled. 
 
 " You think that I can be a help to Rod? Why, 
 I don't know the least thing about his work. I 
 really don't understand " 
 
 "Well, aren't you a magic-maker. Auntie Mc- 
 
114 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Closkey ! " Sally Lou put down the lemon-squeezer 
 and stared. "Look at that precious baby! Sound 
 asleep in your lap! While I haven't been able to 
 pacify him for one minute, though I walked and 
 sang aU night!" 
 
 '"Tis the cruel tooth has come through, I'm 
 thinkin'." Mrs. McCloskey laid the peaceful Ut- 
 tle porcupine tenderly into his crib. "Now, 
 I'll stay and watch him while you two go and 
 meet your guests. I'll call you the minute he 
 chirps." 
 
 The two girls hurried to greet their callers, to 
 offer them chairs on the shady side of the quarter- 
 boat, to serve them with iced tea and lemonade. 
 Much to Marian's surprise, she found herself 
 chattering away vigorously and actually enjo3dng 
 it all. As Rod had said, the slow stream that came 
 and went all day included all sorts and conditions 
 of folk. There were the gracious old clerg3Tnan and 
 his sweet, motherly wife, who stopped for a pleas- 
 ant half-hour, then jogged on across the country 
 to his "afternoon meeting," twelve miles out in 
 the lowlands. There were the two brisk young 
 plutocrats from the great Kensington stock farm 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 115 
 
 up-river, who flashed up in a stunning satiny- 
 gray French car, for a brief exchange of courtesies. 
 There were two of the district commissioners, 
 quiet, keen-eyed gentlemen. One of these men. 
 Rod told his sister later, was doing valuable ser- 
 vice to the commimity by his experiments in im- 
 proving the 3deld of corn throughout the district. 
 The other commissioner was a lawyer of national 
 reputation. Mrs. Chrisenberry stopped by, too: 
 a brusque little visitor, sitting very stiff and fine 
 in her cushioned phaeton, her beady eyes darting 
 questions through her shrewd spectacles. Marian, 
 feeling very real gratitude, devoted herself to Mrs. 
 Chrisenberry. That lady, however, hardly spoke 
 till just as she was starting to go. Then she leaned 
 forward in her carriage. She fixed Marian with 
 a gimlet eye. 
 
 "It's agreeable to see that you think we district 
 folks is folks," she said, very tartly indeed. "I'd 
 some mistrusted the other day, but I guess now 
 that you know what's what. Good-afternoon, 
 all." 
 
 "Well, Sally Lou! Will you tell me what she 
 meant?" 
 
ii6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Sally Lou nodded wisely. 
 
 "Your pretty dress, I suspect. Didn't you hear 
 Mrs. McCloskey praise it, too?" 
 
 "Oh!" And now Marian's face was very 
 thoughtful indeed. 
 
 Late in the afternoon came the one disagreeable 
 episode of the day. 
 
 The drainage district, upon which Roderick 
 and Burford were employed, had become part of 
 a huge league known as the Central Mississippi 
 Drainage Association. This league had recently 
 been organized. Its object was the cutting of 
 protective ditches on a gigantic scale, and its 
 annual expenditures for this work would rim 
 well past the milUon mark. Naturally there was 
 strong competition between all the great engineer- 
 ing firms to win a favorable standing in the eyes 
 of this new and powerful corporation. The Breck- 
 enridge Company, because of its superior record, 
 was easily in the lead. None the less, as Rod had 
 remarked a day or so before, it was up to every 
 member of the Breckenridge Company, from Breck 
 the Great down to the meekest cub engineer, to 
 keep that lead. 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 117 
 
 Burford jeered mildly at Rod for taking his own 
 small importance to the company so seriously. 
 
 "Just you wait and see," retorted Roderick. 
 
 "Oh, I'll wait, all right," laughed Burford. 
 To-day, however, he was destined to see; and 
 to see almost too clearly for his own peace of 
 mind. 
 
 A sumptuous Hmousine car whirled up the 
 muddy road. Its lordly door swung open; down 
 stepped a large, autocratic gentleman, in raiment 
 of startling splendor, followed by a quiet, courteous 
 elderly man. 
 
 "I am Mr. Ellingworth Locke, of New York. 
 I am the acting president of the Central Missis- 
 sippi Drainage Association, " announced the mag- 
 nificent one. "You gentlemen, I take it, are the — 
 ah — the jimior engineers left in charge by Mr. 
 Carhsle?" 
 
 Roderick and Burford admitted their identity. 
 
 "This is Mr. Crosby, our consulting engineer. 
 Now that this district has joined the association, 
 it comes imder om: direct surveillance. Mr. 
 Crosby and I desire to go over your laterals and 
 get an idea of your work thus far. " 
 
ii8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "We are honored." Burford bowed low and 
 welcomed his guests with somewhat flamboyant 
 courtesy. He led the way to the duty-launch. 
 Roderick followed, bringing the cushions and the 
 tarpaulin which the quick-witted Sally Lou hastily 
 commanded him to carry aboard for the poten- 
 tate's comfort. 
 
 Of all their guests, that long day, the acting 
 president was the sole critic. At every rod of the 
 big ditch, at every turn of the laterals, he foimd 
 some petty fault. The consulting engineer, Mr. 
 Crosby, followed him about in embarrassed si- 
 lence. He was obviously annoyed by his employ- 
 er's rudeness. However, for aU Mr. Locke's 
 strictures, it was evident that he could find no 
 serious fault with the work. Yet both boys were 
 tingling with vexation and chagrin when the regal 
 limousine rolled away at last. 
 
 "What does ail his highness? Did ever you see 
 such a beautiful grouch?" Rod mopped his fore- 
 head and stared beUigerently after the car. 
 
 "Nothing aUs him but a badly swelled head." 
 Burford's jaw set hard. "The fact of it is, that 
 the worshipful Mr. Ellingworth Locke hasn't two 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 119 
 
 pins' worth of practical knowledge of dredging. 
 He is a New York banker, and he has no under- 
 standing of conditions west of the Hudson. His 
 bank is to make the loans for the association's 
 drainage, and he has bought a big tract of land in 
 this district. That is why he was elected acting 
 president. Do you see?" 
 "Yes, that helps to explain things." 
 "So he struts around and tries to pick flaws 
 with the most trifling points of our construction, to 
 keep us from guessing how little he really knows 
 about the big underljdng principles. Gentle in- 
 nocent, he tries to think he's an expert!" Bur- 
 ford waved a disrespectful muddy paw after the 
 flying car. "All that an acting president is good 
 for, anyway, is to wear white spats and to put on 
 side." 
 "Well, that engineer knows his job." 
 " Crosby? Yes, he's an engineer all right. And 
 a gentleman, too. Just the same, I'm glad we 
 kowtowed to Mr. Locke. His opinion is so in- 
 fluential that his approval may mean a tremendous 
 advantage to the Breckenridge Company some 
 day." 
 
I20 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "I'm hoping that Breckenridge himself will 
 come before long and give us a looking over. " 
 
 "I'm hoping for that myself. Half an hour of 
 Brack will swing everything into shape. You 
 want to know Breckenridge if ever you get the 
 chance, Hallowell. He's the grandest ever. Just 
 to watch him tramp up and down a ditch, great 
 big silent figure that he is, and hear him fire oflf 
 those cool, close-mouthed questions of his at you, 
 brings you bristUng up like a fighting-cock. He's 
 a regular inspiration, I call him. " 
 
 "I'm banking on the chance that I shall know 
 him some day." Rod's eyes lighted. He re- 
 membered the words of his old professor, "To 
 work imder Breckenridge is not only an advantage 
 to any engineer. It is an education in itself." 
 
 It was nearly six o'clock when their last callers 
 arrived. They were not an interesting carriage 
 load: a gaunt, silent, middle-aged man; a saUow- 
 cheeked young woman, in cheap, showy clothes, 
 her rough hands glittering with gaudy rings; and 
 a six-year-old girl — a pitiful little ghost of a girl — 
 who looked like a frail Uttle shadow against Sally 
 Lou's lusty, rosy two-year-old son. Her warped, 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 121 
 
 tiny body in its forlorn laee-trimmed pink silk 
 dress was braced in pillows in her mother's arms. 
 Her dim black eyes stared listlessly with the in- 
 difference of long suffering. 
 
 Marian was always shaken and repelled by the 
 sight of pain. But by this time Thomas Tucker 
 was awake and loudly demanding his mother; so 
 Marian must do her shrinking best, to make the 
 new-comers feel themselves welcomed. 
 
 "No, Mamie she don't drink lemonade. No, 
 she don't want no milk, neither. We'll just 
 set here in the cool and rest a whUe till pappy 
 gets through lookin' aroxmd." The young, tired 
 mother sat down on the little pier. She settled 
 the wan Uttle creature carefuUy into her arms 
 again. "No, there's nothing you can get for her; 
 nothing at all. " 
 
 "Doesn't she like to look at pictures? I have 
 some new magazines, " ventured Marian. 
 
 "She does like pictures once in a while. Want 
 to see what the lady's got for you, Mamie?" 
 
 Mamie roused herself and looked silently at the 
 books that Marian piled before her. Bent on 
 pleasing the little wraith, Marian cut out several 
 
122 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 lovely ladies, and on a sudden inspiration added 
 rosy cheeks from Rod's tray of colored pencils. 
 
 Those red and blue and purple pencils caught 
 Mamie's listless eye. She even bestirred herself 
 to try and draw a portrait or so with her own shaky 
 little fingers. 
 
 "Beats all," sighed her mother. A little 
 pleased color rose in her cheeks. "I haven't seen 
 her take such an interest for months. Not even 
 in her doUies. We buy her all the playthings we 
 can think of. Her pappy, he don't ever go to 
 town without he up and brings her a whole grist 
 of candy and toys and clutter. But we never once 
 thought of the pencils for her. Nor of paper dolls, 
 either. My, I'm glad we stopped by. And her 
 pappy, he'll be more pleased than words can tell. 
 He's always so heart-set for Mamie to have a Uttle 
 fun." 
 
 "She must take these pencils home with her. 
 Rod has a whole boxful." Marian tied up not 
 only the pencils, but a generous roll of Rod's heavy 
 drawing-paper, expressly adapted to making paper 
 dolls that would stand alone. The child clutched 
 the bundle in her little lean hands without a word 
 
THE CONTRACT'S RECEIVING DAY 123 
 
 of thanks. But her white little face was eloquent. 
 So was her father's face when he came to carry her 
 away, and heard her mother's story of the new 
 pleasure. 
 
 "Well, this day has meant hard work all right, 
 even though it was a day of rest from my regular 
 work," said Roderick. He was swinging the 
 laimch up the canal to the Gates's Landing. "It's 
 a queer way to spend Sunday, isn't it. Sis? But it 
 seems to be the only way for me just at present. 
 And you can be sure that we're obUged to you, old 
 lady, for the way that you've held up your end. " 
 
 "I didn't mind the day, nor did I mind meeting 
 all those people nearly as much as I'd imagined 
 that I would," pondered Marian. "Especially 
 the McCloskeys, the dear things! And that poor 
 little crippled child, too. I wish I could do some- 
 thing more for her. Y-yes, as you say, it was 
 pretty hard work. I'm rather tired to-night. But 
 the day was well worth while. " 
 
 But just how worth while that day had been, 
 neither Rod nor Marian could know. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 
 
 "Ready for breakfast, Miss Hallowell?" Mrs. 
 Gates's pleasant voice summoned her. 
 
 "Just a minute." Marian loitered at the win- 
 dow, looking out at the transformed woods and 
 fields. She could hardly believe her eyes. Two 
 weeks ago only stark, leafless branches and muddy 
 gray earth had stretched before her. But in these 
 fourteen days, the magic of early April had 
 wrought wonders. The trees stood clothed in 
 shining new leaves, thick and luxuriant as a New 
 England Jime. The fields were sheets of Uving 
 green. 
 
 "It doesn't seem real," she sighed happily. 
 " It isn't the same country that it was when I first 
 came. " 
 
 "No more are you the same girl. " Mrs. Gates 
 
 nodded approvingly behind the taU steaming 
 
 124 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 125 
 
 coffee-pot. " My, you were that peaky and piney ! 
 But nowadays you're getting some real red in 
 your cheeks, and you eat more Uke a human being 
 and less Uke a canary-bird. " 
 
 Marian twinkled. 
 
 "Your brother is gettin' to be the peaky one, 
 nowadays, " went on Mrs. Gates, with her placid 
 frankness. " Seems to me I never saw a boy look 
 as beat out as he does, ever since that big cave-in 
 on the canal last week. I'm thankful for this 
 good weather for him. Maybe he can make up 
 for the time they lost digging out the cave-in if 
 it stays clear and the creeks don't rise any higher. 
 He's a real worker, isn't he? Seems like he'd 
 slave the flesh off his bones before he'd let his 
 job fall behind. But I don't like to see him look 
 so gaunt and tired. It isn't natural in a boy hke 
 him." 
 
 Marian looked puzzled. 
 
 "Why, Rod is always strong and well." 
 
 "He's strong, yes. But even strong folks can 
 tire out. Flesh and blood aren't steel and wire. 
 You'd better watch him pretty sharp, now that hot 
 weather is coming. He needs it. " 
 
126 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian pushed back her plate with a frown. 
 Her dainty breakfast had suddenly lost its savor. 
 
 "Watch over Rod! I should think it was Rod's 
 place to watch over me, instead. And when I have 
 been so ill, too!" she said to herself. 
 
 Yet a queer little thorn of anxiety pricked her. 
 She called Mr. Fianegan and raced with him 
 down through the wet green woods to the canal. 
 Roderick stood on the dredge platform, talking to 
 the head dredge-runner. He hailed Marian with 
 a shout. 
 
 "You're just in time to see me oflf. Sis. I'm 
 going to Saint Louis to hurry up our coal ship- 
 ment. " 
 
 " The coal shipment? I thought a barge-load of 
 coal was due here yesterday." 
 
 "Due, yes. But it hasn't turned up, and we're 
 on our last car-load this minute. That's serious. 
 We'U have to shut down if I can't hurry a supply 
 to camp within thirty-six hoijrs. " 
 
 Marian followed him aboard the engineers' 
 house-boat and watched him pack his suit-case. 
 
 "Why are you taking all those time-books. Rod? 
 Surely you will not have time to make up your 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 127 
 
 week's reports during that three-hour trip on the 
 train?" 
 
 "These aren't my weekly reports. These are 
 tabulated operating expenses. President Sturde- 
 vant, the head of our company, has just an- 
 nounced that he wants us to furnish data for 
 every working day. He's a bit of a martinet, you 
 know. He wants everything figured up into shape 
 for immediate reference. He says he proposes to 
 follow the cost of this job, excavation, fill, every- 
 thing, within thirty-six hours of the time when the 
 actual work is done. He doesn't realize that that 
 means hours of expert book-keeping, and that we 
 haven't a book-keeper in the camp. So Burford 
 and I have had to tackle it, in addition to our 
 regular work. And it's no trifle." Roderick 
 rolled up a formidable mass of notes. There was 
 a worried tone in his steady voice. 
 
 "Why doesn't the company send you a book- 
 keeper? " 
 
 "Burford and I are planning to ask for one when 
 the president and Breckenridge come to camp on 
 their tour of inspection. " 
 
 " Could I do some of the work for you. Rod? " 
 
128 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Thank you, Sis, but I'm afraid you'd find it a 
 Chinese puzzle. I get tangled up in it myself 
 half the time. We must set down every soUtary 
 item of cost, no matter how trifling; not only 
 wages and supplies, but breakdowns, time losses, 
 even those of a few minutes; then calculate our 
 average, day by day; then plot a curve for each 
 week's work, showing the cost of the contract for 
 that week, and set it against our yardage record 
 for that week. Then verify it, item by item, and 
 send it in. " 
 
 "AH tied up in beautiful red-tape bow-knots, I 
 suppose, " added Marian, with a sniff. She poked 
 gingerly into the mass of papers. "The idea of 
 adding book-keeping to your twelve-hour shift as 
 superintendent! And in this stuffy, noisy Httle 
 box!" She looked impatiently around the close 
 narrow state-room. The ceiling was not two feet 
 above her head; the hot morning sunlight beat 
 on the flat tin roof of the house-boat and dazzled 
 through the windows. "How can you work here? 
 — or sleep, either?" 
 
 Rob rubbed his hand uncertainly across his eyes. 
 
 "I don't sleep much, for a fact. Too hot. 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 129 
 
 Sometimes I drop off early, but the men always 
 wake me at midnight when the last shift goes off 
 duty." 
 
 "But the laborers are all across on their own 
 quarter-boat. They don't come aboard your 
 house-boat?" 
 
 "No, but the quarter-boat is only fifty feet 
 away. The cook has their hot supper ready at 
 twelve, and they lark over it, and laugh and shout 
 and cut up high-jinks, Uke a pack of school-boys. 
 I wouldn't mind, only I can't get to sleep again. 
 I he there and mull over the contract, you see. 
 I can't help it." 
 
 "Why don't you come up to the Gates farm- 
 house and sleep there?" 
 
 " I couldn't think of that. It's too far away. I 
 must stay right here and keep my eye on the work, 
 every minute. You have no idea what a dan- 
 gerously narrow margin of time we have left; 
 'specially for those north laterals, you know. Sis. " 
 His voice grew sharp and anxious. Marian looked 
 at him keenly. For the first time she saw the 
 dull circles under his eyes, the drawn, tired hnes 
 around his steady mouth. 
 
I30 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Then she glanced up the ditch. High on its 
 green stilts, Sally Lou's perky little martin-box 
 caught her eye. 
 
 "I have it, Rod! Tell some of your laborers to 
 build a cabin for you, Uke the Burfords'! Then 
 I'll come down and keep house for you. " 
 
 Roderick shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "I can't spare a soUtary laborer from the con- 
 tract, Marian; not for a day. We're short- 
 handed as it is. No, I'U stay where I am. I'm 
 doing weU enough. Steam up, Mulcahy? Good- 
 by. Sis. Back to-morrow!" 
 
 Marian watched the laimch till it disappeared in 
 the green mist of the willows. Then she sat down 
 to her brother's desk and began to sort the clutter 
 of papers. But sorting them was not an easy 
 matter. To her eyes they were only a bewilder- 
 ing tangle. Marian knew that she possessed an 
 inborn knack at figures, and it piqued her to find 
 that she could not master Roderick's accoimts at 
 the first glance. She worked on and on doggedly. 
 The Uttle state-room grew hot and close; the dull 
 throb of the dredge machinery and the noisy voices 
 from without disturbed her more and more. 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 131 
 
 At last she sprang up and swept the whole mass 
 into her hand-bag. Then she ran up the hiU to 
 the martin-box. 
 
 Sally Lou, very fresh and cool in pink dimity, 
 sat in her screened nest, with the babies playing 
 on the scrubbed floor. She nodded in amused 
 sympathy at Marian's portentous armful. 
 
 "Aren't those records a dismal task! Yes, I've 
 found a way to sift them, though it took me a long 
 time to learn. Start by adding up the time-book 
 accoimts; verify each laborer's hours, and see 
 whether his pay checks correspond to his actual 
 working time. Roderick has fifty men on his 
 shift, so that is no small task. Then add up 
 his memoranda of time made by the big dredge; 
 and also the daily record of the two Httle dredges 
 up at the laterals. Then run over the steward's 
 accoimts and see whether they check with his 
 bills " 
 
 Marian stared at Sally Lou, astonished. 
 
 "Well, but Sally Lou! Think how much time 
 that will mean! Why, I would have to spend all 
 afternoon on the time-books alone." 
 
 Sally Lou raised her yellow head and looked at 
 
132 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian very steadily. A tiny spark glinted in 
 her brown eyes. 
 
 "WeU, what if it does take aU afternoon? 
 Have you anything better to do?" 
 
 There was a minute of silence. Then Marian's 
 cheeks turned rather pink. 
 
 "I suppose not. But it is horridly tedious 
 work, Sally Lou. On such a warm day, too. " 
 
 "It certainly is." Sally Lou's voice was quite 
 dry. She caught up Thomas Tucker, who was 
 trying laboriously to feed Mr. Finnegan with a 
 large ball of darning cotton. "You'd find it even 
 more tedious if you were obhged to work at it 
 evenings, as your brother does. Can't you stay 
 to lunch, Marian? We'll love to have you; 
 won't we, babies?" 
 
 "Thank you, no. Mrs. Gates will expect me at 
 home." 
 
 Marian walked back through the woods, her 
 head held high. The glint in Sally Lou's eyes had 
 been a bit of a challenge. Again she felt her 
 cheeks flush hot, with a queer puzzled vexation. 
 
 "I'll show her that I can straighten Rod's 
 papers, no matter how muddled they are!" she 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 133 
 
 said to herself, tartly. And all that warm spring 
 afternoon she toiled with might and main. 
 
 Roderick, meanwhile, was spending a hard, dis- 
 couraging day. Arriving at Saint Louis, he found 
 the secretary of the coal-mining company at his 
 ofl&ce. Eager and insistent, he poured out his 
 urgent need of the promised barge-load of coal. 
 The consignment was now a week overdue. The 
 dredges had only a few himdred bushels at hand; 
 in less than forty-eight hours the engines must shut 
 down, unless he could get the fuel to camp. 
 
 "You can't be any more disturbed by this crisis 
 than I am, Mr. Hallowell, " the secretary assured 
 him. "Owing to a strike at the mines we have 
 been forced to cancel all deliveries. I can't let 
 you have a single ton. " 
 
 Roderick gasped. 
 
 "But our dredges! We don't dare shut down. 
 Our contract has a chUled-steel time-lock, sir, 
 with a heavy forfeit. We must not run over our 
 date limits. We've got to have that coal!" 
 
 "You may be able to pick up a few tons from 
 small dealers, " said the secretary, turning back to 
 
134 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 his desk. "You'll be buying black diamonds in 
 good earnest, for the retail price has gone up thirty 
 per cent since the news came of the mines strike. 
 Wish you good luck, Mr. HalloweU. Sorry that 
 is aU that I can do for you. " 
 
 Roderick lost no time. He bought a business 
 directory and hailed a taxicab. For six hours he 
 drove from one coal-dealer's ofl&ce to another. 
 At eight o'clock that night he reached his hotel, 
 tired in every bone, but in royal high spirits. 
 Driblet by driblet, and paying a price that fairly 
 staggered him, he had managed to buy over four 
 hundred tons. 
 
 "That will keep us going till the strike is set- 
 tled," he told Burford over the long-distance. 
 
 "Bully for you!" returned Burford, jubilant. 
 "But how will you bring it up to camp?" 
 
 "Oh, the railroad people have promised empties 
 on to-morrow morning's early freight to Grafton. 
 Then we can carry it to camp on our own barges. 
 I shall come up on that freight myself. I shall not 
 risk losing sight of that coal. Mind that. " 
 
 At five the next morning Roderick went down 
 to the freight yards. His coal wagons were al-- 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 135 
 
 ready arriving. But not one of the promised 
 "empties" could he find. 
 
 "There is a mistake somewhere," said the yard- 
 master. "Can't promise you a solitary car for 
 three days, anjrway. Traffic is all behindhand. 
 You'd better make a try at head-quarters." 
 
 "I have no time to waste at head-quarters," 
 retorted Rod. He was white with anger and 
 chagrin. This iU luck was a bolt from a clear sky. 
 "I'U go down to the river front and hire a barge 
 and a tow-boat. I'll get that coal up to camp to- 
 morrow if I have to carry it in my suit-case. " 
 
 His hunt for a barge proved a stem chase, but 
 finally he secured a large flat-boat at a reasonable 
 rental. But after searching the river front for 
 miles, he found only one tow-boat that could be 
 chartered. The tow's captain, noting Roderick's 
 anxiety, and learning that he represented the great 
 Breckenridge Company, promptly declared that 
 he would not think of doing the two-days' towing 
 for less than five hundred dollars. 
 
 "Five hundred dollars for two days' towing! 
 And I have already paid three times the mine 
 price for my coal!" Roderick groaned inwardly. 
 
136 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Suddenly his eye caught two trim red stacks 
 and a broad familiar bow not fifty yards away. It 
 was the little packet, the Liicy Lee. She was just 
 lowering her gang-plank, making ready to take 
 on freight for her trip up-stream. 
 
 "I'll hail the Lu£y. Maybe the captain can 
 tell me where to find another tow-boat. Ahoy, 
 the Lucy! Is your captain aboard? Ask him 
 to come on deck and talk to HalloweU, of the 
 Breckenridge Company, will you?" 
 
 "The captain has not come down yet, sir. But 
 our pilot, Commodore McCloskey, is here. Will 
 you talk with him?" 
 
 " Will I talk to the commodore ? I should hope 
 so ! " Rod's strained face broke into a joyful grin. 
 He could have shouted with satisfaction when 
 Commodore McCloskey, trim as a gimlet in 
 starchy white duck, strolled down the gang-plank 
 and gave him a friendly hand. 
 
 "Sure, I don't wonder ye're red-hot mad," he 
 said, with twinkling sympathy. "Five hundred 
 dollars for two days' tow! 'Tis no better than a 
 pirate that tow-boat captain is, sure. But come 
 with me. I have a friend at court that can give 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 137 
 
 ye a hand, maybe. Hi, boy ! Is Captain Lathrop, 
 of the Queen, round about?" 
 
 "The Queen? Why, her captain is the very 
 man who demanded the five himdred dollars!" 
 blurted Rod. 
 
 At that moment the captain's head popped 
 from the cabin door. He stared at Roderick. He 
 stared at Commodore McCloskey. Then he had 
 the grace to duck wildly back, with a face sheep- 
 ish beyond words to describe. 
 
 "Well, Captain Lathrop!" Commodore Mc- 
 Closkey's voice rang merciless and clear. "Tell 
 me the truth. Is it yourself that's turned high- 
 way robber? Five hundred dollars for twenty 
 hours' tow! Sure, ye must be one of thim high 
 fin-an-ciers we read about in the papers. Why 
 not make it five hundred dollars per ton? Then 
 ye could sell the Queen and buy yourself a Cu- 
 narder for a tow-boat instead. " 
 
 Captain Lathrop squirmed. 
 
 "How should I know he was a friend of yours, 
 commodore? I'll take his coal all the way to 
 camp, and gladly, for three hundred, seein' as it's 
 a favor to you. " 
 
138 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "For three hundred, is it?" The commodore 
 began a further flow of eloquence. But Rod 
 caught his arm. 
 
 "Three hundred will be aU right. And I'm 
 more obliged to you, commodore, than I can say. 
 Now I'm off. If ever I can do you a good turn, 
 mind you give me the chance!" 
 
 It was late the next night when Roderick 
 reached the camp landing with his precious black 
 diamonds. He was desperately tired, muddy, and 
 begrimed with smoke and coal-dust, himgry as a 
 wolf, and hilarious with reUef at his hard-earned 
 success. Marian,_ Sally Lou, and Burford were all 
 waiting for him at the little pier. Sally Lou 
 dragged him up to the martin-box for a late sup- 
 per. Afterward Marian, who was to spend the 
 night with Sally Lou, walked back with him to his 
 house-boat. 
 
 "Yes, yes, I'm all right, Sis. Don't fidget over 
 me so." Roderick stepped into his state-room 
 and dropped down into his desk chair. "Whew! 
 I'm thankful to get back. I could go to sleep 
 standing up, if it wasn't for making up the records 
 for President Sturdevant. Run away now, that's 
 
WELL, CAPTAIN LATHROP! COMMODORE McCLOSKEY S VOICE 
 RANG MERCILESS AND CLEAR. 
 
THE COAL AND THE COMMODORE 139 
 
 a good girl, and let me straighten my accounts. 
 Then I can go to bed." 
 
 Even as he spoke Rod's glance swept his desk. 
 Instead of the heaped disorder of the day before, 
 he saw now rows of neatly docketed papers. He 
 gave a whistle of surprise. 
 
 " Who has been overhauling my desk? Burford? 
 Why — why, did you do this for me, sister? Well, on 
 my word, you are just the very best ever." His big 
 fingers gripped Marian's arm and gave her a grate- 
 ful little shake. "You've squared up every single 
 account, haven't you ! And your figuring is always 
 accurate. This means two hours' extra sleep for 
 me. Maybe you think I won't enjoy 'em!" 
 
 "I might have been keeping your accoimts for 
 you all these weeks," returned Marian. She was 
 a little mortified by Roderick's astonished grati- 
 tude. "It is not hard work for me. I really en- 
 joyed doing it. " 
 
 "Maybe you think I don't enjoy having 
 you do it!" Rod chuckled contentedly. "I've 
 dreaded those accoimts all day. Now I shaU 
 sleep the sleep of the loafer who has let his sister 
 do his work for him. Good-night, old lady!" 
 
I40 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian tucked herseK comfortably into her 
 comer of the martin-box, but not to sleep. Try 
 her best, she could not banish Rod's tired face from 
 her mind. Neither could she forget the look of 
 his little state-room. True, she had made it 
 daintily fresh and neat. But the tiny box was hot 
 and stuffy at best. What could she do to make 
 Rod's quarters more comfortable? 
 
 At last she sat up with a whispered exclamation. 
 
 "Good! I'll try that plan. Perhaps it won't 
 do after all. But it cannot hurt to try. And if 
 my scheme can make Rod the least bit more com- 
 fortable, then the trying will be well worth while!" 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE BURGOO 
 
 Very early the next morning, Marian set to 
 work upon her brilliant plan for Roderick's com- 
 fort. The coast was clear for action. Both Rod- 
 erick and Ned Burford had gone up the canal 
 to oversee the excavation at the north laterals. 
 SaUy Lou had packed Mammy and the babies 
 into the buckboard and had driven away to 
 the nearest farm-house for eggs and butter. So 
 Marian had a clear field. And she made eager 
 use of every moment. 
 
 Perhaps two hundred yards from the canal 
 bank, set well up on a little knoU where it could 
 catch every passing breeze, stood a broad wooden 
 platform. High posts, buUt to hold lanterns, were 
 set at the four comers and half-way down each 
 side. 
 
 "The young folks of the district built that plat- 
 form for their picnic dances," Burford had told 
 
 141 
 
142 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian. "But this year our dredges have torn 
 up this whole section and have made the creek 
 banks so miry and disagreeable that no picnic 
 parties wiU come this way till the contract is fin- 
 ished and the turf has had time to grow again." 
 
 Marian measured the platform with a calcu- 
 lating eye. 
 
 "It is built of matched boards, as tight and 
 sound as if they had put it up yesterday. It wiU 
 make a splendid floor for Rod's house. But 
 when it comes to building the house itself — that's 
 the question. " 
 
 The contract suppUes, she knew, were kept in 
 a store-room built astern of Roderick's house-boat. 
 For a hot, tiresome hour she poked and pried 
 through high-piled hogsheads and tiers of boxes, 
 hoping that she might find a tent. But there was 
 no such good fortvme for her. She dragged out 
 bale after bale of heavy new canvas. But every 
 one of the scores of tents provided by the company 
 was already pitched, to form the summer village 
 occupied by the levee laborers. At last, quite 
 vexed and impatient, she gave up her search. 
 
 "Although, if I had any knack at all, I could sew 
 
THE BURGOO 143 
 
 up a tent from these yards on yards of canvas," 
 she reflected. 
 
 She carried one bolt of cloth on deck and un- 
 rolled it. 
 
 "This is splendid heavy canvas. It is just the 
 solid, water-proof sort that the fishermen at the 
 lake last summer used for walls and roof of their 
 ' open-faced camp,' as they called it. Now, I won- 
 der. Why can't I lash long strips of canvas to the 
 four posts of the platform for walls; then fasten 
 heavy wires from one post to another and lash a 
 slanting canvas roof to that! I can canopy it 
 with mosquito-bar — a double layer — ^for there are 
 dozens of yards of netting here. It would be a 
 ridiculously fmmy httle coop, I know that. But 
 it would be far cooler and quieter than the boat. 
 T beheve Rod would like it. Anyway, we'U see!" 
 
 Jacobs, the commissary man, came aboard a 
 few minutes later with a basket of clean linen. He 
 looked at Marian, already punching eyelet-holes 
 in the heavy duck, with friendly concern. 
 
 "Best let me give you a lift at that job, miss," 
 he urged, when Marian had told him her plans. 
 "I have an hour off, and I shall be pleased to help. 
 
144 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 if you will permit me. I'm an old sailor and I 
 have my needle and pabn in my kit. That kind 
 of fancy work is just pastime to me. Indeed, I'd 
 enjoy doing anything, if it's for Mr. Hallowell. 
 We ' ve never had a better boss, that's certain. You 
 lace those strips of duck, then I'll hang them for 
 you. We'll curtain off just a half of the platform. 
 That wiU leave the other half for a fine open porch. 
 We'll have this house built in two jiffies. Then 
 I'll put Mr. HalloweU's canvas cot and his desk 
 and his chair into place, all ready; so when he 
 comes home to-night he will find himself moved 
 and settled." 
 
 It took longer than two jiffies to lash up the can- 
 vas shack, to hang mosquito bar, and to move 
 Roderick's simple furniture. Retmning from 
 their drive, Sally Lou and Mammy Easter hur- 
 ried to help; and, thanks to many willing hands, 
 the tiny new abode was finished by afternoon; 
 even to the brackets for Rod's lamp, which 
 Jacobs screwed into a corner post, and the rack 
 for his towels. 
 
 At six o'clock, Roderick, fagged out and spat- 
 tered with mud, came down the canal. He would 
 
THE BURGOO 14S 
 
 have gone directly aboard his house-boat if Marian 
 had not called him ashore. 
 
 "March up'^here and see my out-door sitting- 
 room, " she commanded, with laughing eyes. 
 
 " Oh, you and Sally Lou have made a play-house 
 of that platform? That's all very nice. But wait 
 tiU I can scrub up and swallow a mouthful of sup- 
 per, Sis. My skiflf tipped over with me up the canal, 
 and I'm soaking wet, and dead tired besides." 
 
 "Oh, no, Rod. Please come up right away. I 
 can't wait, Slow-Coach. You really must see!" 
 
 Roderick was well used to Marian's imperious 
 whims. Reluctantly he cUmbed the sUppery 
 bank. Obediently he poked his head past the flap 
 which Marian held back for him. 
 
 There he saw his own cot spread white and 
 fresh under its cool screen; his tidy desk; and 
 even a "shower-bath," which clever Jacobs had 
 contrived from a tiny force-pump and a small gal- 
 vanized tank, borrowed from the company's 
 store-room. 
 
 For a long minute he stared about him without 
 one word. Then his tired face brightened to a 
 glow of incredulous delight. 
 
146 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Marian Hallowell! Did you rig up this whole 
 contrivance, all for me? Well!" He sank down 
 on the cot with a sigh of infinite satisfaction. 
 "You certainly are the best sister I ever had, old 
 lady. First you take my book-keeping off my 
 hands. Next you build me a brand-new house, 
 where I can sleep-^whew! Won't I sleep Kke 
 a log to-night, in aU. this quiet and coolness! On 
 my word, I don't believe I could stand up to my 
 work. Sis, if you didn't help me out as you do. " 
 
 Marian grew radiant at his pleasure. 
 
 "Building it was no end of fim, Rod. I never 
 enjoyed anything more." 
 
 "Only I hope you haven't tired yourself out," 
 said her brother, suddenly anxious. " You haven't 
 the strength to work like this. " 
 
 "Nonsense! You don't realize how much 
 stronger I am, Rod. " 
 
 "You surely do look a himdred per cent better 
 than you did a month ago." Roderick looked at 
 her with keen satisfaction. "But you must not 
 overtire yourself." 
 
 "Don't be so fussy, brother. It was just a 
 trifle, anyway." 
 
THE BURGOO 147 
 
 "It won't mean a trifle to me. Quiet and sleep 
 wUl give me a chance to get my head above water 
 and breathe. Hello, neighbors!" For Sally Lou 
 and Ned were poking their unabashed heads 
 through the fly. " Come in and see my new man- 
 sion. Guess I'll have to give a house-warming to 
 celebrate. What do you say?" 
 
 "There's a celebration already on the way," 
 laughed Burford. "Commodore McCloskey has 
 just called me up on the long-distance. He says 
 that he and Mrs. McCloskey will stop at the camp 
 bright and early to-morrow morning to escort your 
 sister and Sally Lou to the Barry Coimty burgoo. 
 I accepted the invitation for both you girls, for 
 a ' burgoo, ' whatever it means, sounds like a jolly 
 lark; especially since the commodore is to be your 
 host. But I'U admit that I'm puzzled. What 
 do you suppose a burgoo may be?" 
 
 The four looked at each other. 
 
 "It sounds rather like a barbecue," ventured 
 Sally Lou. 
 
 "Hoots! It is far too early in the spring for a 
 barbecue. " 
 
 "Burgoo? Barbecue?" Marian spoke the mys- 
 
148 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 tic words over, bewildered. " What is a barbecue, 
 pray? Two such grim, ferocious words I never 
 heard." 
 
 "A barbecue is a country-side picnic, where the 
 company imite to buy a huge piece of beef; 
 sometimes a whole ox. Then they roast it in a 
 trench floored with hot stones. The usual time 
 for a barbecue is in August. Then they add roast- 
 ing ears and new potatoes to the beef, and have a 
 dinner fit for a king. " 
 
 " Or for an ogre, " returned Marian. " It sounds 
 like a feast for giants. Yet a burgoo sounds even 
 fiercer and more barbaric. I shall ask the com- 
 modore what it means, the minute he comes. 
 Wasn't he a dear to think of taking us?" 
 
 Bright and early, even as he had promised, 
 Mr. McCloskey's trig Uttle launch puffed up to 
 the camp landing. The conamodore, arrayed as 
 Solomon in snowy linen, a red tie, and a large 
 Panama, waved greeting. Beside him sat Mrs. 
 McCloskey, her sweet little old face beaming 
 under her crisp frilled sunbonnet. 
 
 The two girls stepped aboard, with Finnegan 
 prancing joyfully after. For to-day the Burford 
 
THE BURGOO 149 
 
 ~babies were to stay at home with Mammy, while 
 Finnegan was to attend the burgoo, a specially 
 bidden guest. 
 
 "And now, Mr. McCIoskey! Tell us quick! 
 What may a burgoo be? " 
 
 "A burgoo?" Commodore McCIoskey reflected. 
 "Well, then, so ye don't know a burgoo by ex- 
 perietii Wherever was ye brought up? A 
 burgoo -s a burgoo, sure. 'Tis the only word in 
 the EngHsh language that describes it. 'Tis sack- 
 races, an' pole-cHmbin', an' merry-go-rounds, an' 
 pink limonade, an' a brass band, an' kettles full of 
 b'iled chicken an' gravy, an' more mortial things 
 to eat than the tongue of man can name. Ye 
 must see it to understand the real po'try of it. 
 For the half of it could not be told to you. " 
 
 The commodore was quite right. The burgoo 
 was all that he had claimed, and more. At least 
 two himdred people, gay in their Sunday best, had 
 already gathered at the coimty picnic grounds, a 
 beautiful open woodland several miles up the 
 Illinois River. Vendors of candy and popcorn, 
 toy balloons and pink lemonade, shouted their 
 wares. A vast merry-go-round wheezed and 
 
ISO THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 sputtered; the promised brass band awoke the 
 river echoes. And, swung in a mighty rank 
 above a row of camp-fires cleverly built in a 
 broad shallow trench, the burgoo kettles sizzled 
 and steamed. 
 
 "Burgoo," the girls soon learned, is the local 
 name for a delicious stew of chicken and bacon 
 and vegetables, cooked slowly for hours, then 
 served in wooden bowls with huge diU pickles 
 and corn pone. SaUy Lou, housekeeper bom, 
 wheedled the head cook, a courteous, grizzled 
 old negro, into giving her the recipe. Mariaij, 
 chuckling inwardly, heard his painstaking reply. 
 
 "Yes'um. I kin tell you jest how to go about 
 makin' burgoo. First you want sixteen, maybe 
 twenty, pounds of bacon, cut tolerable fine. Then 
 four dozen chickens won't be too many. Start 
 your meats a-b'ilin'. Then peel your taters — I 
 used three bushel for this batch. Then put in 
 ' tomatoes. I reckon two dozen cans might do, 
 though three would be better. Then cabbage, an' 
 beans, an' onions, if you like. Two dozen head 
 of cabbage is about right. An' two bushels of 
 beans " 
 
THE BURGOO 151 
 
 Just then Sally Lou dropped her pencil in 
 despair. 
 
 "I'll be no more than a head of cabbage my- 
 self, if I keep on trying to reduce this recipe to 
 the needs of two people," she groaned in despera- 
 tion. "Come along, Marian, let's climb on the 
 merry-go-roimd a while and see if it won't clear 
 my addled brain." 
 
 The merry-go-round proved delightfully thrill- 
 Ung, especially to Mr. Fiimegan, who rode round 
 and rovmd in a gilded sea-shell, barking himself 
 hoarse in dizzy ecstasy. 
 
 Just before noon the crowd, now astonishingly 
 large, gathered at the Uttle running track to watch 
 the sports. First came the sack-races; then the 
 pole-climbing; then the potato-race. Finnegan, 
 by this time dehrious with excitement, had to be 
 held down by main force to discourage his wild 
 ambition to take an active part in each event. 
 Last on the programme came the greased-pig race. 
 
 Now, the greased-pig race dates back a hundred 
 years and more, to the days when the Kentucky 
 pioneers met for their rare frolics of house-raising 
 or corn-husking. It is a quaint old sport, very 
 
152 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 rough, very grimy and breathless, very ridicu- 
 lously funny. A lively little pig is chosen and 
 greased with melted tallow from head to tail. 
 Then he is set free on the nmning-track. Half a 
 minute later, the starting-gun booms the signal 
 for his hunters to dash in pursuit. The winner 
 must capture piggy with his bare hands and carry 
 the sqmrming, slippery armful back to the judges' 
 stand. If piggy escapes en route, the race must be 
 run over again from the very start. 
 
 The competitors are boys and yoimg men. 
 Only the fleet-footed can hope for a chance at 
 success. But even as the starter stood calling the 
 race through his big red megaphone, a tall, elderly 
 man shouldered up to their group and hailed Mr. 
 McCloskey. 
 
 "Good-day, commodore! You're here to see 
 the greased-pig race? My faith, do you re- 
 member the race that we two ran, down in Pike 
 County in '63?" 
 
 The commodore beamed at his old neighbor. 
 
 " 'Deed an' I do. And it was mesi ' that capt- 
 ured that elegant pig, I remember. " 
 
 "You did that. But it was by accident en- 
 
THE BURGOO 153 
 
 tirely. For I had all but laid my hand on the 
 pig when you snatched it from under my grasp. 
 I've grudged ye that pig ever since." 
 
 The little commodore's eyes snapped. He 
 bristled from the crest of his white head to the 
 toes of his polished boots. His voice took on an 
 ominously silver tone. 
 
 "By my word, I'm sorry to learn that that 
 small pig has stood between us all these years, 
 Mister Jennings. If it could give you satisfac- 
 tion, I'd beg you to run that race over again with 
 me. Or, we might race each other in the con- 
 test that is just about to take place. What do 
 ye say?" 
 
 For a minute, the astounded Mr. Jennings found 
 nothing whatever to say. 
 
 "Now, commodore!" protested gentle Mrs. Mc- 
 Closkey, round-eyed with reproach. "You'd not 
 think of runnin' a half mile this hot noon in the face 
 of all your friends an' neighbors, an' all for one small 
 pig! And you seventy last month, an' that suit 
 of clothes bought new from Saint Louis not the 
 fortnight ago!" 
 
 "You don't understand, Mary. I'd run the race 
 
154 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 if there was no pig at all under consideration, so 
 it would give my friend Mister Jennings peace of 
 mind," said the little commodore hotly. "What 
 do ye say, sir? Will you join me, an' prove once 
 more which one of us is the rale winner? " 
 
 Very red and disconcerted, Mr. Jennings stood 
 on one foot, then the other, in a torture of indeci- 
 sion. Then he threw off his coat. 
 
 "I've never taken a dare Uke that yet, McClos- 
 key. And I don't begin now. Come along. " 
 
 "Commodore!" Poor Mrs. McCloskey's 
 shocked voice pursued him. But the commodore 
 would not hear. Mr. Jennings was already clam- 
 bering the rail to the running-track. Lightly as a 
 boy, the commodore vaulted after him. Shoul- 
 der to shoulder the two joined the group before 
 the judges' stand. 
 
 There ran a ripple of question through the 
 crowd, then a storm of delighted cheers and 
 laughter. Mr. Jennings wriggled in sheepish tor- 
 ment. The commodore, sparkling and debonair, 
 bowed to the throng and hung his Panama on a 
 fence-post. 
 
 Then down the running-track fled a small. 
 
THE BURGOO 155 
 
 shiny black object, squealing in glad escape. In- 
 stantly a shot crashed; then came a thundering 
 shout: 
 
 "Ready— go!" 
 
 With whoops and yells the group of runners 
 raced away down the track. The commodore 
 kept well in the lead. He ran as lightly and as 
 easily as did the boys that forged alongside him. 
 Mr. Jennings pufiFed and poimded farther in the 
 rear at every turn. They made the first lap of the 
 race. At the second turn the commodore, only 
 third from the lead, waved his hand to Mrs. Mc- 
 Closkey and the girls with a flourish of mischiev- 
 ous triumph. Marian and Sally Lou, tearful and 
 choking with delight, clasped hands and swayed 
 together in helpless rapture. Thus completely 
 absorbed in the spectacle, they let go of Mr. 
 Finnegan's leash. 
 
 That was all that Finnegan wanted. With one 
 glad yelp he hurled himself through the fence and 
 boimced like a ball, straight into the midst of the 
 fray. Far in advance fled a shiny black object. 
 Finnegan knew his duty. The commodore was 
 hurrying to catch that object. It was Fiimegan's 
 
iS6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 part to aid in that capture at all costs. Yelping 
 madly, he tore away down the track. 
 
 "Oh, it's Finnegan! Oh, the Uttle villain! If 
 I had only left him at home!" Poor Marian 
 strove to call him back. But against the uproar 
 of the crowd her voice could not make a soxmd. 
 "Oh, the naughty little sinner, he will catch that 
 pig himself and spoil the race for everybody. 
 Look, Sally Lou! He has almost caught up with 
 the pig this minute!" 
 
 Even as she spoke, Finnegan, running at top 
 speed, shot ahead of the fleeing pig. Then, with 
 a frenzied bark, he whirled and charged straight 
 at the prize. 
 
 This front attack was too much for any pig's 
 self-control. Not content with galloping murder- 
 ously at his heels, his pursuers had set this fero- 
 cious brute to destroy him! With a squeal of 
 mortal panic the little fellow turned right-about 
 and bolted. Shrieking, he dashed back, straight 
 mto the crowd of runners. 
 
 "Oh — oh! He's right under the commodore's 
 hand! Oh, if he wasn't so slippery — Look, 
 quick, Marian!" 
 
THE BURGOO 157 
 
 "Well, will you look at that now!" Mrs. Mc- 
 Closkey's mild voice rose in a laugh of triumph. 
 "Sure, I never yet knew the commodore to fail 
 if once he'd set his head to do a thing!" 
 
 "If only he can keep fast hold of the pig till he 
 reaches the judges' stand," whispered Sally Lou. 
 All three gazed in pale suspense at the commodore, 
 now striding gayly up the race-track, the pig 
 squirming and squealing wildly in his arms. 
 
 "I'm mistrustin' that myself," said Mrs. Mc- 
 Closkey, nervously, "for the little animal is not 
 so convenient to hold, bein' he's so glassy smooth. 
 But trust the commodore. He'll not faU, now." 
 
 The commodore did not fail. Calm and majes- 
 tic, as if he strode a quarter-deck, he paced down 
 the track and halted before the judges' stand, his 
 shrieking prize held high. As the umpire bent 
 forward to give him the champion's blue ribbon, 
 the crowd broke loose. No 01)Tnpic victor ever 
 received his laurel in the face of a more enthusi- 
 astic tumult. 
 
 "I give up," puffed Mr. Jennings, fanning him- 
 self with his hat. "You caught that pig fair an' 
 square, commodore. The honors are- yours. " 
 
iS8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Tut, tut, 'twas no great matter," declared the 
 commodore modestly, as the girls heaped him 
 with praises. " 'Twas just a moment's divarsion. 
 And it took no skill whatever, though I will own 
 that to carry the little felly back to the judges' 
 stand demanded some e£fort on me part. You 
 will observe that a pig furnishes but few hand- 
 holds, particularly when he's that slippery and 
 excited-like. Yes, Mary, perhaps we'd best be 
 startin' home, as it's so near sundown. " 
 
 "Well, but these girls must not go home empty- 
 handed," urged Mrs. McCloskey, "Think of 
 your poor boys, who could not take a day off for 
 the burgoo ! We must carry home a taste for them. 
 Go to yonder booth and buy a market-basket, 
 commodore. Then we'll pack in a few samples. " 
 
 Marian and Sally Lou looked on in silent amaze 
 while Mrs. McCloskey packed the few samples, 
 including a tall jar of the delicious burgoo, a daz- 
 zling array of cookies and preserves, and a fat 
 black-currant pie. Meanwhile the commodore 
 was fitting his treasured pig neatly into a small 
 crate, much to the dismay of the pig and the 
 keen joy of a large group of on-lookers. 
 
THE BURGOO 159 
 
 At last basket and crate were made ready. 
 Tired out by their long, absurd, delightful day, the 
 party settled themselves aboard the commodore's 
 launch and started home. The trip downstream 
 to camp was made in rapid time. It was just 
 dusk when they reached their own landing. 
 Roderick and Ned Burford had heard the commo- 
 dore's whistle and were waiting to help them 
 ashore. 
 
 "What sort of a day was it, Sis?" 
 
 "Yes, tell us, quick, if you had any fim. We 
 have put in a gruelling day of it here," added 
 B urf ord. ' ' Three break-downs on the Uttle dredge 
 and a threatened cave-in on the first lateral! Go 
 on and tell us something cheerful. " 
 
 Marian and Sally Lou stole a glance backward. 
 The commodore was just putting his boat into 
 mid-stream. He was safely out of earshot. With 
 almost tearful laughter the two girls poured out 
 the story of the day. 
 
 "You brought home the best of the day to us," 
 said Ned, as they spread the "samples" on a tiny 
 deck table, picnic-fashion. "We fellows only laid 
 oflE our levee shifts a few minutes ago. We're 
 
i6o THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 rushing that construction before the creeks rise 
 any higher. So neither of us has eaten a mouth- 
 ful since noon. This luncheon will taste like 
 manna in the desert. S'pose Manuny Easter 
 would make us a pot of coffee, SaUy Lou? Then 
 we could ask no more. " 
 
 "I'll go to the cabin and coax her to do it. I 
 want a peep at the babies, anyway." 
 
 Sally Lou sprang up and started toward the 
 gangway. At the cabin door she stopped short. 
 Her voice rang out, a frightened cry. 
 
 "Ned Burford! Come quick! What is that 
 blazing light away up the ditch? Is it — Oh, 
 it is one of the boats — it is the big dredge! And 
 it is on fire!" 
 
 Ned Burford leaped up. His startled voice 
 echoed Sally Lou's cry. 
 
 "HalloweU! It's the big dredge, the giant Gar- 
 rison! Wake up and pitch in. Hurry!" 
 
 Days afterward Marian would try to recall 
 just what happened during those wild moments; 
 but the whole scene would flicker before her mem- 
 ory, a dizzy blur. She remembered Roderick's 
 shout of alarm; the rush of the day-shift men from 
 
THE BURGOO i6i 
 
 their tents; the clatter of the racing engine as 
 Rod pushed them into the launch, then sent the 
 little boat fljdng away up the canal. Then, 
 directly ahead, she could see that dense black pil- 
 lar of smoke rising straight up from the dredge 
 deck, shot through with spurts of flame. 
 
 Burford's half-strangled voice came back to 
 them as he groped his way across the deck. 
 
 "It's a pile of burning waste, right here by the 
 capstan. Bring the chemical-extinguishers . . . 
 no time to wait for the hose. . . . Wet your coats, 
 boys, and let's poimd her out. . . . Whe-ew! 
 I'm 'most strangled. . . . Sally Lou Burford! 
 You clear out ! You and Marian, too. Go away, 
 I tell you. This is no place for you!" 
 
 Sally Lou and Marian stood doggedly in line 
 passing the buckets of water which one of the 
 laborers was dipping up from over the side. 
 Roderick, stolid as a rock, stood close by that 
 choking column of smoke and flame and dashed 
 on the water. Burford rushed about, everywhere 
 at once, half mad with excitement, yet giving 
 orders with unswerving Judgment. 
 
 "Can't you start the pumping engine, boys? 
 
i62 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Sv/ing out that emergency hose, quick. There 
 you are! Now turn that stream on those oil 
 barrels yonder — and keep it there. Start the big 
 force-pump and train a stream on the deck near 
 the engines. The fire mustn't spread to the 
 hoisting-gear. Mind that. Mulcahy, give me 
 that chemical-tank. Wet my handkerchief and 
 tie it over my mouth, Sally Lou. No, give me 
 your scarf. That's better. I'm going to wade 
 right in. Aha! See that?" 
 
 The smoke column wavered, thinned. A shower 
 of water, soot, and chemicals drenched everybody 
 on deck. Nobody noticed the downpour, for the 
 smoke column was sinking with every moment. 
 
 Burford staggered back, half smothered. The 
 extinguisher fell from his hand. But the force- 
 pumps were working now at full blast. Stream 
 after stream of water poured on the fire, then 
 flooded across the deck. Two minutes more of 
 frantic, gasping work and not a spark remained — 
 nothing save the heap of quenched, still smoking 
 waste. 
 
 Dazed, Marian found herself once more on the 
 house-boat deck. Ashore the laborers were flock- 
 
THE BURGOO 163 
 
 ing back to their tents, laughing and shouting. 
 For them it had been a froUc rather than a danger. 
 But the four on the house-boat deck looked at 
 each other without a word. They were too shaky 
 with relief to move or to speak. Sally Lou, the 
 steady-willed, dependable SaUy Lou, clung trem- 
 bling to Marian, who in her turn leaned rather 
 weakly against the rail. Roderick, ashen white, 
 confronted Burford, who stood absently mopping 
 his wet, smarting eyes with Sally Lou's singed and 
 dripping crSpe scarf. Suddenly Burford broke the 
 tension with a strangled whoop. 
 
 "Our — our daily reports to the company!" 
 he gurgled. "President Sturdevant wants every 
 day's detail. Let's put it aU in. 'I have the honor 
 to report that while your engineers were stoking 
 with burgoo and black-currant pie. Garrison 
 Dredge Number Three was observed to be on fire. 
 Your engineers, assisted by their partners, said 
 engineers' wife and sister, all of whom displayed 
 conspicuous bravery, attacked the fire. Thanks 
 to their heroic efforts, the conflagration was ex- 
 tinguished. I beg further to report that damages 
 are confined to one pile of waste, one smooched 
 
i64 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 pink silk scarf, and'" — ^he passed his hand over 
 his smutty forehead — "'and one pair of eye- 
 brows.'" 
 
 "I'm going straight home to bed," vowed 
 Marian, as the laughter died away in exhausted 
 chuckles. "This day has brought so many 
 thrilling events that it will take me at least a week 
 to calm myself down. Do let us hope that noth- 
 ing whatever wiU happen for a while. I'm longing 
 for monotony — days, months, ages of monotony, 
 at that!" 
 
 And, even as she spoke, there was a shout 
 from the pier. Mulcahy came running toward 
 them at top speed. 
 
 "Will you look at Mulcahy, sprinting up from 
 the ditch! I'll wager he has some more bad news 
 for us. Come, Hallowell. Hurry!" 
 
CHAPTER rX 
 
 THE MAGIC LEAD-PENCIL 
 
 " Bad news, is it? " puffed Mulcahy. " Indeed, 
 sir, I'm sorry to be the one to bring it to you. 
 Lateral Four has caved in again." 
 
 "Lateral Four! The cut where we've spent 
 more time and work, filHng in, than we've spent 
 anywhere else on the whole ditch!" 
 
 "Yes, Lateral Four. The ungrateful piece of 
 fill she is ! And when you have shored up the mar- 
 gins with brush, twice over!" 
 
 "How far up is the cave-in, Mulcahy?" 
 
 "Half a mile from the mouth. Right where 
 Mr. EUingworth Locke's land begins, sir. " 
 
 "Right on President Locke's land! Will you 
 hear that, Hallowell? And he's the biggest grum- 
 bler in the whole district! And the most powerful 
 grumbler, too. Of all the hard luck!" 
 
 "I do hear. And I'm going to get busy." 
 Rod pulled himself together with a grim little 
 
 i6s 
 
ii66 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 chuckle. "It's an all-night job, Burford. Or 
 else we can add one more calamity to our head- 
 quarters report. 'One bad cave-in, on lateral 
 draining land owned by H. R. H., the acting 
 president of the Central Mississippi Association.' 
 Do you see us putting in that cheery news?" 
 
 "No, I don't. Not just yet." Burford wiped 
 the last soot-streak from his chin and jximped into 
 the launch. "Here we go!" 
 
 "Wait a ji£fy, Burford. You'd better stay by 
 the dredge an hour or so. Keep the men at work 
 flooding her deck. We can't be certain-sure that 
 the fire is completely out. There's always a 
 risk." 
 
 "That's a fact. You go up to the cave-in 
 and set the levee crews to work. I'll follow in an 
 hour." 
 
 Rod started his engine, but Marian stopped 
 him. 
 
 "Wait, Rod. Take me up to the lateral, too." 
 
 "Take you up to the cave-in, you mean? 
 Why on earth should you go? At this time of 
 night " 
 
 "Because I want to see just what you have to 
 
THE MAGIC LEAD-PENCIL 167 
 
 do. I'm getting very much interested in the 
 work, truly. Please, brother." 
 
 "Of all the notions!" Rod looked completely 
 puzzled. Yet a warm Uttle gratified smile bright- 
 ened his tired face. Again he felt the heart- 
 warming satisfaction that he had felt on the day 
 he had come home, fagged and blue, to find that 
 Marian had sorted all his accounts and cleared 
 up his reports for him. It was wonderfully pleas- 
 ant to find that his sister coidd show such real 
 comradeship in his work. 
 
 "Of course you shall go with me if you wish, 
 dear. Hop in. Careful!" 
 
 "Let me steer. Rod." 
 
 "Think you can see all right?" 
 
 "With this big search-light? I should hope so. 
 Lie down on the cushions and rest for two minutes. 
 I'll run very carefully." 
 
 •"Good enough." Rod stretched his weary 
 bones on the seat. At the end of the six-mile run 
 he sat up, with a shamed grin. 
 
 "Lazy sinner I am, I dropped off the minute I 
 struck those cushions. My, that snooze makes one 
 thirsty for more! Put the launch inshore. Sis. 
 
i68 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Hello there, boys ! Is that Dredge A crew? Why, 
 how did you swing the dredge downstream so 
 quickly?" 
 
 "We had steam up, so we dropped down the 
 lateral the minute we got word of the cave-in, " 
 answered the dredge foreman. "It was Mister 
 Jim Conover who happened by and saw the land- 
 slip, sir. He came a-gallopin' over with his horse 
 all lather, and brought us the news, not fifteen 
 minutes after it happened. Then he called his 
 own hired men and a crowd of neighbors, and they 
 aU set to to shore up the bank, above and below 
 the break, with sand-bags and brush. They're 
 workin' at it now, sir, Uckety-cut. " He pointed 
 up the lateral to a dim glow of torch-Ught. ' ' Shov- 
 eUin' away like beavers they are, sir. There won't 
 be another slump in that margin, you can depend 
 on that. They've saved you and the company 
 two days' work and five hundred dollars clear in 
 damages alone, I'm thinkin'." 
 
 "Five hundred damages? It would have been 
 nearer a thousand if they hadn't stopped that 
 slide on the double-quick." Roderick sat star- 
 ing at the hurrying figures in the dull glow of 
 
THE MAGIC LEAD-PENCIL 169 
 
 smoky light. He could hardly grasp this amaz- 
 ing stroke of fortune. "But how — ^why — I never 
 heard of such a royal piece of kindness!" 
 
 "It's all Conover's doing. He said you folks 
 had done mighty neighborly by him, and that he 
 wanted to show his appreciation. " 
 
 "Conover! Why, I never even heard the man's 
 name till now!" 
 
 "Conover?" Marian screwed up her forehead. 
 A vague recollection flickered in her mind. 
 
 "Yes, sir, Conover. He has a good-sized farm 
 back here a piece. Likely you've forgotten. 
 There's him and his wife and his little girl. Crip- 
 pled she is, the poor child. Mamie, they call her." 
 
 "Mamie Conover — Oh! The poor Uttle soul 
 who was so deUghted with your red pencils, Rod! 
 That visitors' Sunday, don't you remember?" 
 
 " Oh, to be sure. You're better at remembering 
 than I am. Sis. Well, I'm going up to thank him, 
 this minute. Then we'll ship the dredge into 
 trim and begin digging out the channel again. 
 Think it will take us all night?" 
 
 "Now that Conover's gang has stopped the 
 sHde so good and square for us, we ought to be 
 
I70 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 able to cut out and tamp down, too, by daybreak, 
 sir. Maybe sooner. Here comes Conover this 
 minute. " 
 
 Coated with mud, squashing heavily into the 
 sodden crest of the bank with every step, Conover 
 tramped down the ditch. In that shambling 
 figure, Marian instantly recognized little Mamie's 
 father. Vividly she remembered his deep, weary 
 look at her, the infinite tenderness with which he 
 had lifted the little frail body from her arms. 
 
 In the white glare of the search-light, his gatmt 
 face was radiant with friendly concern. 
 
 "We've done what little we could, Mr. HaUow- 
 ell," he said, in reply to Rod's eager thanks. 
 "Little enough at that. But now if you'll put in 
 a few hours' dredging to get out that slide, your 
 ditch will be all right again. Mr. Locke there, 
 whose land borders on this lateral, is a little — 
 well, a little fussy, you know. That's why we fel- 
 lows kinder butted in and set to work without 
 waitin' to hear from you. Land, it wasn't noth- 
 ing to thank us for. Just a little troke between 
 neighbors. You here. Miss Hallowell? My buck- 
 board is right up-shore. Can't I drive you to Mr. 
 
THE MAGIC LEAD-PENCIL 171 
 
 Gates's? It's right on my way home — only a 
 mile or so off my road, that is." 
 
 "Run along, Sis. Please. It's late and damp, 
 and chiUy besides. Scoot, now. " 
 
 "But I don't want to go, Rod. I want to stay 
 and see the dredge make the cut over again. This 
 is the most interesting performance I ever dreamed 
 of." 
 
 "I'd much rather have you go home, old lady. 
 You can't see much in this half-light. And you 
 can't help me. Worse, you'll catch cold sure and 
 certain. " Yet that odd little glow warmed Rod's 
 heart once more. It was a wonderful satisfaction 
 to hear Marian speak with such keen interest of 
 his beloved work. 
 
 "Well, then — " reluctantly Marian scrambled 
 ashore. Mr. Conover wiped his muddy hands on 
 the lap-robe and helped her into the buckboard, 
 with awkward care. They drove swiftly away, 
 up the wide country road, between the dark, level 
 fields. 
 
 Neither spoke for some minutes. At last 
 Marian began, rather clumsily, to tell him of their 
 exciting day. 
 
172 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 The man made no comment. Still more clum- 
 sily, she tried to thank him for his generous and 
 timely aid to Roderick. 
 
 Suddenly Mr. Conover turned to her. In the 
 faint starKght she saw that his dull face was 
 working painfully. 
 
 "So you want to thank me for this job, eh? 
 Why, if I'd done ten times as much, I wouldn't 
 have begun to do what I want to do for you and 
 your brother. I've been aimin' to come over and 
 tell you, long ago. But seems like I never get 
 around to it. Don't you mind about them red 
 pencils?" 
 
 " Those red and blue pencils of Rod's, you mean? 
 What of them?" 
 
 "What of them? My, if you could see Mamie 
 with them, you wouldn't ask! " The color burned 
 in his thin face. His eyes were shining now. 
 "They're the one pleasure that ain't never failed 
 her. If I could ever tell you what they've meant! 
 I've sent to the city and bought her three or four 
 dozen assorteds, so's to be sure she never gets short 
 of all the colors. No matter how. bad her back 
 hurts, she'll set there in her pillows and mark 
 
THE MAGIC LEAD-PENCIL 173 
 
 away, happy's a kitten. Seems like long's she's 
 workin' with those pencils, she forgets everything, 
 even the pain. And that's the best we can ever 
 do for our baby." His voice broke on a terrible 
 and piteous note. "The only thing we can do — 
 help her forget. " 
 
 There was a long silence. 
 
 "An' then you talk as if what I did to-night 
 could count for anything — alongside of that!" 
 
 Marian's own lips were quivering. She did not 
 dare to reply. 
 
 Yet as she put out her bedroom candle and 
 stood looking out on the dark starlit woods, the 
 narrow black ribbon of the canal, a whimsical 
 wonder stirred in her thought. 
 
 "I'll tell Rod to-morrow that his red pencils 
 must have the credit of it all. It's the story of 
 the Uttle Dutch hero who stuffed his thumb into 
 the crack in the dike and saved the city, right 
 over again. Only this time it's something even 
 tinier than a thumb that has saved the day. It's 
 just a little red lead-pencil. And, oh, how glad 
 I am for Roderick's sake! The dear, stodgy old 
 slow-coach, I'm proud of every inch of his success. 
 
174 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Though maybe Slow-Coach isn't just the fitting 
 name for Rod nowadays. Sometimes the slow 
 coaches are the very ones that win the race — ^in 
 the long nin. " 
 
CHAPTER X 
 HONORED GUESTS 
 
 Marian's wish for quiet and monotonous days 
 was promptly granted. Only too promptly and 
 too thoroughly, she owned ruefuUy. The next 
 morning dawned bleak and gray, with a chiU east 
 wind and a driving rain. Held prisoner in the 
 house by the storm, Marian amused herself 
 through the long dreary day as bqgt she could. 
 At supper-time, feeUng very lonely indeed, she 
 called Roderick up on the telephone; but their 
 long-distance visit gave her little satisfaction. 
 
 Roderick had spent a hard day, hurrying from 
 one lateral to another, crowding the levee work to 
 the highest possible speed; for in this wide-spread 
 rain the creeks to the north were rising an inch an 
 hour, and every inch meant danger to his half- 
 built embankments. Marian s)Tnpathized eagerly 
 and declared that she would come down to the 
 canal the next day and help him with his reports. 
 
 175 
 
176 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Not if it rains you won't," croaked Roderick 
 hoarsely. "Don't let me catch you outside the 
 house. You'll catch cold just as I have done, wad- 
 ing through this swamp. Mind, now. Don't you 
 dare leave the farm-house imless it clears. " 
 
 Marian promised. When the morning came, 
 dark and drizzly, she found it hard to keep her 
 word. The hours went on leaden feet. The down- 
 pour never slackened. It was impossible for her 
 to go out-doors even as far as the driveway. In 
 that flat, low country a two-days' rain means an 
 inundation. Meadows and fields were like flooded 
 marshes. Sheets of water spread through the 
 orchards; the yard paths were so many brooks, 
 the barn-yard was an infant lake. 
 
 "It won't last very long," Mrs. Gates consoled 
 her. "A year ago we'd have been heart-broken 
 at the sight of such a rain. It would have meant 
 ruin for all the crops. The surplus water would 
 not have drained off in a fortnight. But since 
 they began digging the ditches, we know that our 
 crops will be safe, even if it rains for a week. " 
 
 "I'm glad to learn that Rod's hard work counts 
 for something," said Marian impatiently. She 
 
HONORED GUESTS 177 
 
 flattened her downcast face against the pane. 
 "In the meantime, I feel like a marooned pirate. 
 If I can't get out of doors for some fresh air 
 before long, I'll develop a pirate's disposition, 
 tpo." 
 
 At dusk she tried again to call Roderick on 
 the telephone, to demand sympathy for her im- 
 prisonment. But to her astonishment she could 
 get no reply from central. 
 
 "The wires are all down, I dare say," said Mrs. 
 Gates cheerfully. "It'll be three or four days be- 
 fore the hne-men can get around to repair 
 damages. The roads are hub deep. No telling 
 when they can haul their repair wagons through. 
 You'll see." 
 
 Marian did see. The district roads had been 
 aU but impassable ever since her coming. Now, 
 thanks to this downpour, they would be bottom- 
 less pits of mire. 
 
 "Well! It's worse this morning, if anything," 
 Mrs. Gates announced cheerfully, as Marian ap- 
 peared on the third gray morning. "'Pears to 
 me that you won't get out-doors again before the 
 Fourth of July." 
 
1 78 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 " But I must have some air. I can't stay cooped 
 up forever," cried Marian. "If you'd only lend 
 me your rubber boots, Mrs. Gates; the ones you 
 wear when you're gardening. Then I could put 
 on my mackintosh and my rubber bathing-cap and 
 splash about beautifully. Besides, I must go down 
 to the canal. I must see how Rod is getting on. 
 Think, it has been two days since I have heard one 
 word from him. Yet he is barely two miles 
 away!" 
 
 Mrs. Gates yielded at last to her coaxing. Soon 
 Marian started out, wearing the borrowed boots 
 and Mr. Gates's oil-skin coat. She stumbled and 
 splashed away through the dripping woods, with 
 Finnegan romping gayly behind. Rainy weather 
 held no melancholy for Finnegan. Shut in the 
 house, he had made those three days memorable 
 for the household, especially for poor irate Em- 
 press, who had taken refuge at last on the top 
 rafter of the corn-bin. On the way to camp he 
 flushed three rabbits, chased a fat gray squirrel 
 into chattering fury, and dragged Marian knee- 
 deep into a bog, in his wild eagerness to dig out 
 an imaginary woodchuck. 
 
HONORED GUESTS 179 
 
 "I wish I had a httle of your vim, Finnegan." 
 Marian sat down, soaked and breathless, on the 
 step of Sally Lou's martin-box. From that emi- 
 nence she surveyed the canal and its swarms of 
 laborers. Her eyes clouded. 
 
 In spite of her growing interest in Roderick's 
 work, to look upon that work always puzzled her 
 and disheartened her. The slow black water; the 
 ugly mud-piled banks; the massive engines throb- 
 bing night and day through a haze of steam; the 
 gigantic dredge machines, swinging their great steel 
 arms back and forth, up and down, lifting tons of 
 earth from the bottom of the ditch and placing it 
 on the waiting barge with weird, imerring skill. 
 Most of all, the heavy tide of hurry and anxiety 
 that seemed to rise higher every day. All these 
 things vexed her and harassed her. When Rod 
 talked over his work with her with aU his eager 
 enthusiasm, she could share his triumph or lament 
 his disappointment, as the case might be. But 
 the work itself was so huge, so complicated, that 
 she could never quite grasp it. She could never 
 understand her brother's passionate interest. 
 
 "Although I don't despise the very sight of 
 
i8o THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 camp, as I did at first," she reflected. "It is 
 rather queer that I don't, too. Perhaps one can 
 get used to anything. And I do want to learn 
 more about Rod's work, for he loves it so dearly, 
 and I know he wants me to enjoy it too. Though 
 how anybody can enjoy such a life! To spend 
 day after day, month on month, toiling Uke a 
 slave in a steaming marsh like this!" 
 
 A brisk finger tapped on the window-pane above 
 her. 
 
 " Come in, Miss Northerner! Poor dear, you're 
 all but drowned. Stand on the oil-cloth and drip 
 till Mammy can help you to take off those boots 
 and put on my sUppers. " 
 
 Marian entered the dry, warm little house with 
 a sigh of pleasure. Presently she sat at the win- 
 dow with Thomas Tucker bouncing on her knee. 
 Thomas Tucker had charms that could cheer the 
 most pensive spirit. Yet Marian stared soberly 
 past his bobbing yellow head at the swarming 
 camp below. 
 
 " Don't look so droopy. Miss Northerner. Perk 
 up, do!" Sally Lou gave her ear a gentle nip. 
 "You and I will have to manufacture cheerfulness 
 
HONORED GUESTS i8i 
 
 in car-load lots this week, to counterbalance our 
 partners' gloom." 
 
 "Why? Have the boys met with more iU- 
 luck on the contract?" 
 
 "More ill-luck!" Sally Lou checked off point 
 by point on her slim fingers. "Day before yester- 
 day — the morning after the fire — the district in- 
 spector was due here to pass judgment on the two 
 upper laterals. As you know, the contract pro- 
 vides that the inspector must look over every yard 
 of excavation and approve it before it can be con- 
 sidered as actually done. Lo and behold, no in- 
 spector appeared. The boys were wild with anx- 
 iety to start their levee-work before the rain 
 should wash the soft new banks down into the 
 canal; for the company is responsible for every 
 cave-in, and every slide of land means double 
 labor in digging all that soil out of the ditch again. 
 By noon the inspector had not been heard from, 
 but two small cave-ins had occurred, and the 
 company was losing money at the rate of thirty 
 dollars an hour, because of the enforced idleness of 
 the laborers and the shutting down of the ma- 
 chinery. Finally Roderick took his launch and 
 
i82 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 started out in search of the inspector. At Grafton 
 he managed to get telephone connections with his 
 ofl&ce, and he was cheerfully assured that the in- 
 spector would appear on the scene 'as soon as the 
 rain stops.'" 
 
 '"As soon as the rain stops?' Why, Sally Lou! 
 Then he hasn't come at all!" 
 
 "Precisely. Back came poor Rod, very cross 
 and doleful indeed. Then he and Ned gave up 
 work on the laterals and set the men to hacking 
 away at the regular excavation. The laborers are 
 sulky accordingly. Yesterday they threatened a 
 strike. I don't blame them. The bank-cutting 
 is all very well in dry weather, but in this rain it 
 is a miserable task." 
 
 "Well, Rod can keep the men pacified. He's 
 a splendid manager." 
 
 "Yes; and the men like him. But the work 
 is terribly wearing on both the boys. And the 
 third calamity arrived last night. The dipper- 
 handle broke." 
 
 "The dipper-handle? On the big dredge? SaUy 
 Lou, how dreadful!" 
 
 "Yes, it is dreadful. It means, of course, that 
 
HONORED GUESTS 183 
 
 twenty of the laborers will stop work and enjoy a 
 vacation at the company's expense while the 
 new handle is being made and put in. Luckily 
 the boys have one set of duplicate chains and 
 timbers, and the company blacksmith is wonder- 
 fully capable. But it will cost the company a 
 lump loss of a thousand dollars. Imagine, Marian, 
 how those poor boys will groan when they make 
 out their week's reports for President Sturdevant. 
 'One fire. One delay and two cave-ins, due to 
 non-appearance of district inspector. One strike. 
 One smashed dipper-handle.' Think what a dis- 
 mal task the writing of that report will be!" 
 
 "Don't let me hear any more croaking, Sally 
 Lou," came a wrathful voice from the door. 
 "For we're facing the worst smash yet. What do 
 you suppose this telegram says?" 
 
 Sally Lou shook a small fist at the yellow sUp 
 in his hand. 
 
 "Don't you dare tell me that it's some new 
 misfortune!" 
 
 " Two of 'em. That lordly, gloomy grouch, Mr. 
 Ellingworth Locke, acting president of the Central 
 Mississippi Association, is headed for this luck- 
 
i84 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 less camp. He's on his way up-river this identical 
 minute. With him comes Crosby. Crosby, con- 
 sulting engineer for the whole Valley Association. 
 Coming on a tour of inspection, if you please. 
 Just think of the lovely job that they have come a 
 thousand miles to inspect!" 
 
 There was a stricken pause. 
 
 "President Locke! That — that potentate! Ned, 
 you don't mean it! And Mr. Crosby, whose word 
 is law on every question of engineering!" 
 
 "And they're coming to-day! To 'inspect' 
 this soaking, miry, half-baked camp!" 
 
 "And just this minute I've had some more 
 news, Burford. " Roderick bolted up the steps 
 and entered the room. He tried to wrench his 
 face into a reassuring grin; but beneath the grin 
 he was the picture of angry dismay. "A big 
 white laimch is just coming up the canal, with two 
 passengers aboard. If I'm not mistaken, they are 
 our honored guests. Come along, Burford, and 
 help me welcome them. " 
 
 Burford, pop-eyed with amazement, meekly 
 obeyed. Wordless, the two girls watched the boys 
 pelt away toward the landing. 
 
HONORED GUESTS 185 
 
 "WeU!" 
 
 Sally Lou and Marian looked at each other 
 eloquently. 
 
 "WeU! I could find it in my heart to wish that 
 the boys were not obliged to unfold quite so many 
 tales of misery! Then the broken machinery and 
 the quarrelling laborers ! But we mustn't let our- 
 selves fidget over it, Marian. It will come out all 
 right, somehow." 
 
 Roderick and Burford pounded down to the 
 shore. The white launch was just putting into 
 the landing. At the bow sat Mr. Elhngworth 
 Locke, wrapped in a huge storm coat. Evidently 
 he was scolding the launch pilot with some 
 energy. Behind him stood Crosby, his gray, keen 
 eyes searching every inch of the ditch construc- 
 tion. 
 
 "His Jove-like Majesty looks even grumpier 
 than usual," whispered Burford the irreverent. 
 "Come along, Hallowell. It is our professional 
 duty to welcome them with heart and soul. " 
 
 "Mr. Burford?" Mr. Locke stepped upon the 
 landing and put out a plump gloved hand. "Ah, 
 Mr. Hallowell? How goes it? We hope that you 
 
i86 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 have no ill news of the contract to give us." 
 He led the way up the shore, with ponderous 
 dignity. "The three contracts in central Illinois, 
 which we have just inspected, have shown de- 
 plorable results from the high water. I trust 
 that you have no such misfortxmes to report. " 
 
 "We haven't anything but misfortunes to re- 
 port," muttered Burford. Aloud he said, "We 
 have not been able to bring the work to the desired 
 point, sir. We have had several accidents and 
 delays. If you can face the discomforts of a boat 
 trip in this rain, perhaps you will make a tour of 
 inspection and see how matters stand." 
 
 The honorable Mr. Locke hesitated. The canal 
 looked very muddy and uninviting. The sky was 
 black with rain clouds. 
 
 "Perhaps it would be as well for us to confer 
 with you. Then we could go back to Saint Louis 
 immediately. " 
 
 "Beg pardon, Mr. Locke." Mr. Crosby spoke 
 for the first time. His gray face had no particular 
 expression; but his voice held an oddly pleasant 
 note. "You go back right away, if you like. But 
 I'll look over this excavation with my own eyes. 
 
HONORED GUESTS 187 
 
 I want to discuss it with the executive committee 
 day after to-morrow. " > 
 
 "Oh, of course, if you insist!" Mr. Locke 
 turned impatiently to Burford. "Where is your 
 boat, sir? Let us start at once. " 
 
 That tour of inspection! Silent, humiHated, 
 miserable, Roderick and Burford plodded after 
 the two Olympians, up and down the narrow 
 laterals, back and forth through the maze of seep- 
 ing, half-cut channels. Every question that they 
 must answer told of some unlucky happening. 
 Every report was apologetic, unsatisfactory. 
 
 "This ruinous high water isn't our fault. 
 Neither is CarUsle's illness, nor the broken dipper- 
 handle, nor the district inspector's delay. Just 
 the same I feel like a penny-in-the-slot machine 
 for grinding out explanations," whispered Roder- 
 ick to Burford. Burford merely scowled in reply. 
 
 Thus far, Mr. Crosby had had nothing to say. 
 He strode on ahead, his keen eyes judging, his 
 shrewd mouth shut hard. President Locke made 
 up for his silence. He hectored the boys with 
 fretful questions and complaints. He criticised 
 the laborers, the equipment, the weather. 
 
i88 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Your company's losses, indeed! The Breck- 
 enridge Company will be fortunate, Mr. Burford, 
 if, under the present management, this contract 
 does not bring forfeitures as well as loss. As for 
 the land-owners in this district, their dissatisfac- 
 tion can be only too readily imagined. " 
 
 Just then the president caught Mr. Crosby's eye. 
 
 "Do you not agree with me, Mr. Crosby? Is 
 not this a most disheartening outlook? On my 
 word, sir, the company has no chance to complete 
 those laterals before the great Jime freshets. That 
 calamity will mean ruin for the farmers and for the 
 contract alike. To finish this work would be 
 difficult with a full quota of experienced men. 
 And with only cub engineers — " He threw out 
 both fat hands, with a gesture of despairing scorn. 
 
 Burford bit his lip and turned fiery red with 
 mortification. Roderick's stohd face did not 
 flinch. But his heart sank leaden to his miry 
 boots. What an infuriating humiliation for the 
 company! His company, the pride of his boy 
 heart! And Breckenridge, Breck his hero, would 
 have to hear it all! 
 
 "You thuak it's as bad as all that?" Mr. 
 
HONORED GUESTS 189 
 
 Crosby spoke with slow, bland unconcern. Then 
 he looked at the two boys. For one moment his 
 lean gray face lighted with a curious, kindly 
 sparkle. "H'm! Strikes me that their company 
 is mighty lucky to have cub engineers employed 
 on this job." 
 
 "'Lucky?' Why, sir? Why?" 
 
 "Well, because they're the only kind that any 
 company can depend upon to have nerve enough 
 and grit enough to swing such a forlorn hope of 
 a contract through." 
 
 He tramped on, up the landing. Burford threw 
 back his shoulders. The blood flamed to his ears. 
 Roderick's heart suddenly leaped up to its normal 
 altitude and began to pound. His lagging feet 
 swung into a jaunty stride. He met Burford's 
 red, deUghted face with a shamefaced grin. That 
 vote of confidence had fairly set them afire. 
 
 "At what time had we best start back to Saint 
 Louis?" asked Mr. Locke. 
 
 "By leaving camp at nine-thirty you will meet 
 the north-boimd limited at Grafton, sir. " 
 
 "Then, Crosby, we will stay here until that hour. 
 But where shall we dine?" 
 
iQO THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "It will be a pleasure to Mrs. Burford and my- 
 self if you and Mr. Crosby will dine with us at 
 our cabin," interposed Burford eagerly. 
 
 The stout potentate graciously accepted, and 
 Burford fled to break the news to Sally Lou. 
 
 "Mercy, Sally Lou, how can you manage it!" 
 cried Marian, as Burford popped his head through 
 the window, shouted his news, then hastily de- 
 parted. "How on earth can you entertain such 
 high mightinesses?" 
 
 "Well, I should hope that I could give them 
 one meal at least." 
 
 "But you haven't enough dishes. That is, you 
 haven't cups that match " 
 
 "Cups that match, indeed! H'm. They can 
 be thankful to get any cups at all in this wilder- 
 ness. I've promised Mammy Easter my pink 
 beads if she'll make us some beaten biscuit, and I 
 have sent Mulcahy to Mrs. Gates's for three 
 chickens, and I'll open two jars of my white 
 peach preserve. I don't care if they're the 
 Grand Mogul and the Czar of all the Russias, 
 they can surely condescend to eat Mammy's fried 
 chicken. " 
 
HONORED GUESTS 191 
 
 "Yes, they'll be sure to like chicken," conceded 
 Marian. 
 
 "They'd better like it. It's all they're going 
 to get. Chicken and potatoes and biscuit, pre- 
 serves and coffee, that's all. Yes, and lashin's 
 and lavin's of cream gravy. It'll be fit for a king. 
 Even his Highness, the acting president, won't 
 dare complain!" 
 
 If any complaints as to Sally Lou's hospitality 
 were spoken, they were not audible to the human 
 ear. As Roderick said afterward, it was fortunate 
 that nobody kept the beaten biscuit score; while 
 one grieves to relate that in spite of SaUy Lou's 
 generous preparation, poor Mammy Easter was 
 obUged to piece out an exceedingly skimpy meal 
 from the fragments of the supper, instead of the 
 feast that she had anticipated. Even the pink 
 beads proved a barely adequate consolation. 
 
 The hour that followed, spent before the Bur- 
 fords' tiny hearth-fire, was the best of all. For 
 a while, the men worked over the mass of blue- 
 prints that recorded the excavation made during 
 the month past. Here President Locke, the 
 magnificent figure-head, gave way, promptly and 
 
192 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 meekly, before Crosby's wider experience. Roder- 
 ick and Burford listened, all ears, to the elder man's 
 shrewd illuminating comment, his quiet suggestion, 
 his amused friendly sympathy. Both groaned in- 
 wardly when the launch whistled from below, a 
 warning that their guests must be off to meet the 
 north-bound train. 
 
 President Locke bowed over Sally Lou's hand 
 with majestic courtesy. 
 
 "A most delightful hour you have given us, 
 Mrs. Burford. We shall remember it always and 
 with deep pleasure. But one thing is lacking in 
 your hospitality. You have not given us the 
 special pleasure of meeting your young sons. " 
 
 Then Sally Lou, the poised stately young host- 
 ess, colored pink to her curly fair hair. 
 
 "It is high time that my sons were sound 
 asleep," said she. "But if you reaUy wish to see 
 them, and can overlook their informal attire, 
 Mammy Easter shall bring them in. " 
 
 In came two small podgy polar bears, wide- 
 eyed at the marvel of company, and up-at-Nine- 
 o'clock, dimpling, crimson-cheeked. Roderick and 
 Burford stood gaping, to behold their august su- 
 
HONORED GUESTS 193 
 
 periors now stooping from their heights to be- 
 guile small Edward and shy Thomas Tucker with 
 clumsy blandishments. 
 
 "Where did you learn to handle a baby like 
 that?" gasped Sally Lou, so astonished at Mr. 
 Crosby's dexterous ease that she forgot all con- 
 vention. 
 
 " Six of my own," returned the eminent engineer, 
 capably shifting small, shppery Thomas Tucker 
 on his gaunt shoulder. "All grown up, I regret to 
 say. My baby girl is a junior at Smith this year. 
 Try him. Isn't he a stunner for a year old?" 
 He plumped the baby into the arms of the lordly 
 president, who was already jouncing Edward 
 Junior on his knee and showing him his watch. 
 
 "A whale," approved President Locke, with 
 impressive emphasis. He stood up, gaining his 
 footing with some difficulty; for both the babies 
 were now clambering over him delightedly, while 
 Finnegan yapped and nipped his ankles with 
 cordial zest. "I wish we might spend another 
 hour with these most interesting members of your 
 household, Mr. Burford. " His stern, arrogant face 
 was beaming; he was no longer the exacting offi- 
 
194 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 cial, but the gracious, kindly gentleman. "Since 
 we must go, we will leave behind us our good 
 wishes, as well as our thanks for your most charm- 
 ing hospitaUty. And we will take with us" — 
 his eye sought Mr. Crosby's; there passed be- 
 tween the two men a quick, satisfied glance — 
 "we shall take with us our hearty certainty that 
 these good wishes for your husband's work, as 
 well as for his household, will be abundantly ful- 
 fiUed." 
 
 In the flickering torchlight of the landing 
 Roderick and Ned watched their laimch start 
 away. Then they looked at each other. 
 
 "Well! Do you feel like tackling your job 
 again, Burford?" 
 
 "Feel Uke tackling it!" Ned chuckled, softly. 
 "When I know they're going to give their execu- 
 tive committee a gilt-edged report of our company 
 and its work! When Crosby himself said that we 
 were the right men on the right job! Feel Uke 
 tackling it? Give me a shovel and I'll tackle 
 the Panama Canal. " 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 
 
 "What is the latest bulletin, Sally Lou?" 
 
 Ned Burford, hot, muddy, breathless, ran up 
 the martin-box steps and put his head inside the 
 door. 
 
 Sally Lou sat at Ned's desk, her brown eyes 
 intent, her cheeks a Uttle pale. A broad map 
 lay spread before her. One hand steadied small 
 Thomas Tucker, who clung against her knee. The 
 other hand grasped the telephone receiver. 
 
 "What's the news, I say? Doesn't central 
 answer? Wires down again, do you s'pose?" 
 
 "Yes, central answered, and we reached the 
 operator at Bates Creek an hour ago. She says 
 that the smaller streams below Carter's Ford have 
 not risen since daybreak, but that Bates Creek 
 itself has risen three inches in the last four hours. " 
 
 "Whew! Three inches since morning! That 
 sounds serious. What about Jackson River?" 
 
 I9S 
 
196 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Below Millville the Jackson has flooded its 
 banks. Above Millville the men are patrolling 
 the levees and stacking in sand bags and brush to 
 reinforce the earthwork. " 
 
 "That means, another crest of water will reach 
 us to-morrow, early. Well, we are ready to face 
 it, I'm thankful to say. " Ned settled back in his 
 big chair with a sigh of relief. "That is, vmless 
 it should prove to be more than a three-foot rise. 
 And there is practically no danger that it will go 
 beyond that stage. Our upper laterals are ex- 
 cavated to final depth. Our levee is growing like 
 magic, and HaUowell is putting in splendid time 
 on the lower laterals with the big dredge. So we 
 needn't worry. As soon as he finishes aU the lateral 
 excavation, he will bring the dredges down to the 
 main ditch and start in to deepen the channel 
 to its final depth. When that second excavation 
 is done, the channel will allow for a six-foot rise. 
 That chaimel depth, of course, wiU put us far out 
 of any danger of overflow. Then when the Jxme 
 floods come, the creeks can rise four inches or 
 forty inches if they hke. We won't care." 
 
 Sally Lou looked sharply at his grimy, cheerful 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 197 
 
 face. Her own did not reflect his contentment. 
 She put down the receiver and bent frowning over 
 the map. Her pencil wandered over the maze of 
 fine red lines that marked the excavation. 
 
 "Hallowell and I had nothing but bad luck on 
 this contract until two weeks ago, when Locke 
 and Crosby came on their inspection tour," Ned 
 went on serenely. "But since their visit, we've 
 had two solid weeks of the best fortune any en- 
 gineer could ask. It has been almost too good; 
 it's positively uncanny. Not a break in the ma- 
 chinery; only one cave-in, and that a trifle; not 
 a solitary quarrel among the laborers — the shifts 
 have moved like clock-work. It was Crosby's 
 doing, I suppose. His conung heartened us all 
 up; all of us; even to the dredges themselves. 
 Though, on my word, Sally Lou, I'm almost 
 afraid of such unchanging good luck. It's no' 
 canny. " 
 
 Sally Lou turned to him suddenly. Her fingers 
 tapped the desk with nervous little clicks. 
 
 "Listen, Ned. Have you finished the upper 
 laterals? Are they safe, no matter how high the 
 water may rise?" 
 
198 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "N-no. They are excavated, but the bank is 
 nothing but heaped mud, you know. Still, it would 
 stand anything short of a flood. " 
 
 "What about the lower laterals?" 
 
 " Same state of affairs there. Only that the two 
 lowest ditches aren't cut at all. Why?" 
 
 Sally Lou swung round in the desk chair and 
 faced her husband. Her eyes were very dark and 
 anxious now. 
 
 "One more question, Ned. Could the work 
 stand a three-foot rise?" 
 
 Ned stared. 
 
 "A three-foot rise? No, it could not. A 
 three-foot rise would stop our levee-building. A 
 rise of four feet or more would put us out of the 
 game. We'd be washed out, smashed, ruined. 
 But why do you ask such questions? What makes 
 you imagine -" 
 
 "I'm not imagining, Ned. I had a telephone 
 call not five minutes ago from the district inspector. 
 Yes, I know you think he's always shouting ' Wolf I ' 
 but this time he may be right. He says that he has 
 just come down from Chicago on the Central, and 
 that the whole mid-section of the State is fairly 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 199 
 
 submerged by these endless rains. Worse, the 
 storm warnings are up for further rains. And he 
 beheves that there will be a rise of three feet within 
 two days. That is, unless the rains stop. " 
 
 Ned started to his feet. 
 
 "A rise of three feet! What is the man talking 
 about? Don't you beUeve one word, Sally Lou. 
 That inspector is a regular hoot-owl. He'd rather 
 gloom and forebode than breathe. But maybe 
 I'd better go and tell Hallowell. Perhaps we can 
 ginger up our excavation. Yet the men and the 
 machines are working up to their limit. " 
 
 He shuffled into his wet oilskins once more. 
 
 "Where is Roderick, Ned?" 
 
 "He just came in off his watch. He's sound 
 asleep in the hammock over at his shack. Marian 
 is over there too. She made Mr. Gates bring her 
 down at five this morning, and she has worked 
 like a Turk every minute. She spent the morning 
 with Hallowell, up the laterals. She has learned 
 to run his launch better that he can, so he lets her 
 manage the boat for him. Then she takes all his 
 notes, and does all his telephoning, and passes along 
 his orders to the commissary men, and seconds 
 
200 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 him at every turn. Did you ever in all your life 
 see anybody change as she has done? When I 
 rernember the listless, useless, fretful specimen 
 that she was, those first weeks, then look at her 
 now, I can hardly beHeve my eyes. " 
 
 SaUy Lou listened a little impatiently. 
 
 "Yes, I know. Ned, please go and tell Rod- 
 erick about the inspector's message. He surely 
 ought to know. " 
 
 "All right, I'm going." Ned put down his 
 frolicking small sons reluctantly. Sally Lou 
 laughed at his unwilling face. Yet she looked 
 after him anxiously as he sauntered away. Then 
 her eyes turned to the brimming canal. Tree 
 branches and bits of lumber, washed down from 
 the upper land by the heavy storm, rolled and 
 tumbled past. The sky was thick and gray, the 
 wind blew straight from the east. 
 
 "I hate to fidget and forebode. But I — I al- 
 most wish that I could make Ned forebode a 
 little. I'm afraid he ought to worry. And Rod- 
 erick ought to be a little anxious, too." 
 
 Suddenly the telephone bell rang. Sally Lou 
 sprang to answer it. 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 201 
 
 "Yes, this is the contract camp. A Chicago 
 call? Is it — Is it head-quarters? Oh, is this 
 Mr. Breckenridge who is speaking? Shall I call 
 Mr. Burford?" 
 
 Strong and clear across two hundred miles of 
 storm the voice reached her, a hurrying command. 
 
 "Do not call your husband. No time. Oper- 
 ator says the wind raging here may break connec- 
 tions at any minute. Tell him that we have posi- 
 tive word that a tremendous rise is on the way. A 
 cloudburst north of Huntsville started this new 
 crest two hours ago. Moreover, a storm belt ex- 
 tends across the State, covering a district thirty 
 miles wide directly north of you. Tell our en- 
 gineers to spare neither money nor effort in mak- 
 ing ready. Tell them, whatever else they must 
 neglect, to save " 
 
 CUck! 
 
 The receiver dropped from Sally Lou's shaking 
 hand. Not another sound came over the wire. 
 She signalled frantically. 
 
 "Oh, if he had only told me! 'To save'— to 
 save what ? The machinery, the levee, the later- 
 als — Oh, central, please, please!" 
 
202 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Still no sound. At last central's voice, a thin 
 little whisper. 
 
 " Chicago connections broken . . . terrible storm 
 . . . sorry can't reach " 
 
 The thin little whisper dropped to silence. 
 
 "Mammy, take these babies. I'm going away. " 
 Sally Lou rolled Thomas Tucker off her lap and 
 dashed away to Roderick's shack. Trembling, 
 she poured out her iU news. 
 
 " This means busiaess. " Roderick, heavy-eyed 
 and stupid, struggled into hip boots and slicker. 
 "Breckenridge isn't frightening us for nothing. 
 We daren't lose a minute. Come along. Bur- 
 ford." 
 
 " Come along — ^where? " Burford stood stunned 
 before this bewildering menace. "What more can 
 we do? Aren't we rushing the whole plant to 
 the danger notch of speed as it is? " 
 
 "There is one thing we must do. Decide what 
 part of the work we can abandon. Then put our 
 whole force, men, machinery, and aU, to work at 
 the one point where it will do the liiost good. " 
 
 "What can we abandon? It's all equally im- 
 portant. " 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 203 
 
 "That is for you and me to decide. Come 
 along. " 
 
 "If Breck had only finished his sentence! 'To 
 save — ' Surely he meant for us to save the 
 dredges?" 
 
 Again the boys looked at each other. 
 
 ' ' To save the dredges, maybe. But that doesn't 
 sound like Breckenridge. 'To save the land- 
 owners from loss,' that's more like what he'd 
 say." 
 
 "If we could only reach him, for even half a 
 minute " 
 
 "That is precisely what we can't do." Roder- 
 ick's big shoulders lifted. His heavy face settled 
 into lines of steel. "We'U bring all three of the 
 machines down stream, and put up our fight on 
 the main ditch. If we can cut through to the 
 river, before the rise gets here, we will save the 
 crops for most of the land-owners, anjnsray. That 
 will check any danger of the water backing up 
 into the narrow laterals and overflowing them. " 
 
 Burford frowned. 
 
 "Do you realize that by making that move we 
 shall risk wrecking the dredges? We will have to 
 
204 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 tow them down in this rough, high water against 
 this heavy wind. We may smash and sink all 
 three. And they cost the company a cool twenty 
 thousand apiece, remember. " 
 
 Roderick's jaw set. 
 
 "I realize just that. But it is up to us to de- 
 cide. If we stop our excavation and huddle the 
 machines back into the laterals, we will save our 
 equipment from any risk. But the overflow will 
 sweep the whole lower district and ruin every acre 
 of com. On the other hand, if we bring the 
 dredges down here and start in full tilt to deepen 
 the channel, we may wreck our machines — and 
 we may not. But, whatever happens, we will be 
 giving the land-owners a chance. " 
 
 Burford held back, but only for a moment. 
 Then he put out his hand to Roderick, with a slow 
 grin. 
 
 "I'm with you, Hallowell. I'll take your lead, 
 straight through. It's up to us, all right. We've 
 got to shoulder the whole responsibility, the whole 
 big, hideous risk. But we'll put it through. 
 That's all." 
 
 Together the boys hurried away. Left behind. 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 205 
 
 the girls set to work upon their share of the plan 
 with eager spirit. 
 
 "You go with the boys and run the launch for 
 them, Marian. . I'll turn the babies over to 
 Mammy and stay right here to watch the tele- 
 phone and keep the time-books, although time- 
 books could wait, in such a pinch as this. We'll 
 all pull together. And we will pull out safely, 
 never fear." 
 
 Sally Lou was right. They all pulled together. 
 Machines, laborers, foremen and all swung splen- 
 didly into line. As Ned said, the contract had 
 never shown such team-work. Everybody worked 
 overtime. Everybody faced the rain, the mud, 
 the merciless hurry with high good-humor. The 
 thrill of danger, the daring risk, the loyal zeal 
 and spirit for the company, all spurred them on. 
 
 Side by side with Roderick, Marian worked 
 through the day. She had long since forgotten 
 her frail health. She had forgotten her hatred 
 of the dun western coimtry, her dislike of Roder- 
 ick's work, her weariness, her impatience. With 
 heart and soul she stood by her brother. Only 
 the one wish ruled every act: her eager desire to 
 
2o6 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 help Roderick, to stand by him through to the end 
 of this tremendous strain. 
 
 "We'll make it!" Roderick grinned at her, 
 tired but content, as he came into the shack 
 for his late supper. "SaUy Lou finally reached 
 Springfield on the telephone. The rain has 
 stopped; so whUe the rise will come, sure as fate, 
 yet it may not be as high as Breckenridge feared. 
 At any rate, we have made splendid time with the 
 big dredge to-day. There is barely an eighth of 
 a mile more cutting to be done. Then we'll reach 
 the river, and we'll be safe, no matter what 
 freshets may happen along. Burford says I'm 
 to take six hours' sleep; then I'U go on watch 
 again. Twelve more hours of working time will 
 see our land-owners secure." 
 
 "Ned Burford is running up the shore this 
 minute. " Marian peered through the tent flap. 
 "Mulcahy is coming with him. They're in a 
 hurry. I wonder what has happened." 
 
 "They'd better not bring me any bad news till 
 I have eaten my supper, " said Roderick grimly. 
 
 Burford and Mulcahy galloped up the knoU. 
 Headlong they plimged into the tent. Burford 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 207 
 
 was gray-white. Mulcahy stared at Roderick 
 without a word. 
 
 "What has happened? Burford, what ails you?" 
 
 Burford sat down and mopped his sweating 
 forehead. 
 
 "The worst break-down yet, Hallowell. The 
 dipper-bail on the big dredge has snapped clear 
 through. " 
 
 The three stared at each other in helpless de- 
 spair. Marian broke the silence. 
 
 "The dipper-bail broken again ? Why, it's 
 not two weeks since you put on the new handle!" 
 
 "True for you, miss. Not two weeks since 
 it broke," said Mulcahy wrathfuUy. "And its 
 smash means a tie-up all along the line. Not one 
 stroke of ditch-work can be done tUl it's replaced. 
 Who ever saw a dipper break her bail twice on 
 the same job? 'Tis lightnin' strikin' twice in the 
 same place. But 'tis no use crjdn' over spilt milk. 
 One of you gentlemen will have to go to Saint 
 Louis and have a new bail welded at the steam 
 forge. It will cost twenty-four hours' time, but 
 it is the only way. I'll keep the bqys hot at 
 work on the levee construction meanwhile. " 
 
2o8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "Go to Saint Louis to-night! And neither of 
 you two have had a night's sleep this week!" 
 Marian looked at Burford. His sodden clothes 
 hung on him. His round face was pinched and 
 sunken with fatigue. She looked at her brother. 
 He had slumped back in his chair, limp and hag- 
 gard. He was so utterly tired that even the shock 
 of ill news could not rouse him to meet its chal- 
 lenge. 
 
 Then she looked out at the weltering muddy 
 canal, the dark stormy sky. 
 
 "Never mind, Rod. We'll manage. You and 
 Ned make out the exact figures and dimensions 
 for the new bail. Then Mulcahy can take me to 
 Grafton in the launch. There I'll catch the Saint 
 Louis train. I'll go straight to the steam forge 
 and urge them to make your bail at once. Then 
 I'll bring it back on the train to-morrow night. " 
 
 Promptly both boys burst into loud, astonished 
 exclamations. 
 
 " Go to Saint Louis alone! I guess I see myself 
 letting you do such a preposterous thing. I'll 
 start, at once. " 
 
 "Stop that, HaUowell. You can't possibly go. 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 209 
 
 You're so sleepy that you haven't half sense. I'll 
 go myself." 
 
 "Oh, you will. Then what about your watch 
 to-night? Shall I take it and my own, too?" 
 
 Burford stopped, quenched. He reddened with 
 perplexity. 
 
 "We can't either of us be spared, that's the fact 
 of it. But Miss Marian must not think of going. " 
 
 "Certainly not. I would never allow it." 
 
 "Yes, Rod, you will allow it." Marian spoke 
 quietly, but with determination. "The trip to 
 Saint Louis is perfectly safe. Once in the city, 
 I'll take a carriage to the College Club and stay 
 there every minute, except the time that I must 
 spend in giving orders for the bail. No, you two 
 need not look so forbidding. I'm going. And I'm 
 going this identical minute." 
 
 Later Marian laughed to remember how swiftly 
 she had overruled every protest. The boys were 
 too tired and dazed to stand against her. It was 
 hardly an hour before she f oimd herself flying down 
 the river, in charge of the faithful Mulcahy, on her 
 way to catch the south-bound train. 
 
 "The steam-forge people will do everything 
 
2IO THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 in their power to serve you, " Roderick had said, 
 as he scrawled the last memoranda for her use. 
 "They know our firm, and they will rush the bail 
 through and have it loaded on the eight-o'clock 
 train. I'll see to it that Mulcahy and two men 
 are at the Grafton dock to meet your train. But 
 if anything should go wrong, Sis, just you hirnt up 
 Commodore McCloskey and ask him to help you; 
 for the commodore is our guardian angel, I am 
 convinced of that." 
 
 The trip to the city was imeventfxil. She awoke 
 early, after a good rest, and hurried down to the 
 forge works, a huge smoky foundry near the 
 river. The shop foreman met her with the ut- 
 most courtesy and promised that the bail should be 
 made and deUvered aboard the afternoon train. 
 Feeling very capable and assured, Marian went 
 back to the club and had spent two pleasant hours 
 in its reading-room when she was called to the 
 telephone. 
 
 "Miss HalloweU?" It was the voice of the 
 forge works foreman. "I — er — ^most unluckily 
 we have mislaid the slip of paper which gave 
 the dimensions of the bail. We cannot go on 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 211 
 
 until we have those dimensions. Do you remem- 
 ber the figures?" 
 
 Poor Marian racked her brain. Not one meas- 
 urement could she call to mind. 
 
 "I'U ask my brother over the long-distance," 
 she told the foreman. But even as she spoke, she 
 knew that there was no hope of reaching Roderick. 
 All the long-distance wires were down. 
 
 "And not one human being in all Saint Louis 
 who can tell me the size of that bail ! " she groaned. 
 "Oh, why didn't I measure it with my own tape- 
 measure — and then learn the figures by heart! 
 Yet — ^I do wonder! Would Commodore McClos- 
 key know? He has been at the camp so often, 
 and he knows everything about our machinery. 
 Let's see. " 
 
 Presently Commodore McCloskey's friendly 
 voice rang over the wire. 
 
 "Well, sure 'tis good luck that ye caught me 
 at the dock, Miss Marian. The Lucy is just startin' 
 up-river. Two minutes more and I'd have gone 
 aboard. So ye've lost the bail dimensions? Well, 
 well, don't talk so panicky-like. I'll be with ye 
 in two minutes, an' we'll go to the forge together. 
 
212 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 'Tis no grand memory I have, but I can give them 
 a workin' idea. " 
 
 "Oh, if you only will, commodore! But the 
 Lucy ! How can you be spared? " 
 
 "Hoot, toot. The LiAcy can wait while I go 
 shoppin' with you. Yes, she has a time schedule, 
 I know weU. But, in high wather, whoever ex- 
 pects a Mississippi packet to be on time? Or in 
 low wather, either, for that matter. I'U come to 
 ye at once." 
 
 The commodore was as good as his word. 
 Soon he and Marian reached the forge works. 
 There his shrewd observation and his wise old 
 memory suggested dimensions which proved later 
 to be correct in every detail. Moreover, he in- 
 sisted upon staying with Marian till the bail should 
 be welded. Then, imder his sharp eyes, it was 
 loaded safely on the Grafton train. As he es- 
 corted Marian elegantly into the passenger coach, 
 she ventured, between her exclamations of grati- 
 tude, to reprove him very gently. 
 
 "You have been too good to me, commodore. 
 But when I think of the poor deserted Lucy ! 
 And the captain — ^what will he say?" 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PULL 213 
 
 "He'll say a-plenty." The little commodore 
 smiled serenely. "'Tis an unchivalrous set the 
 steam-boat owners are, nowadays. If he were 
 half as obUgin' as the old captains used to be in 
 the good days before the war, he'd be happy to 
 wait over twenty-four hours, if need be, to serve 
 a lady. But nowadays 'tis only time, time that 
 coimts. Sure, he's grieved to the heart if we make 
 a triflin' loss, like six hours, say, in our schedule. " 
 
 "And I'm not thanking you for myself alone," 
 Marian went on, flushing. "It is for Rod, too. 
 You don't know how much it means to me to be 
 able to help him, even in this one small way. " 
 
 Then the little commodore bent close to her. 
 His shrewd little eyes gleamed. 
 
 "Don't I know, sure? An' by that token I'm 
 proud of this day, and twice proud of the chance 
 that's led me to share it. For, sure, I've always 
 said it — the time would certain come when you — 
 when you'd wake up. Mind my word. Miss Marian. 
 Don't ye forget! Don't ye let go — and go to 
 sleep again." 
 
 The train jarred into motion. His knotted little 
 hand gripped hers. Then he was oflf and away. 
 
214 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "The dear little, queer little commodore!" 
 Marian looked after him, her eyes a bit shadowy. 
 "Though what could he mean! 'Now you've 
 waked up.' I do wonder!" 
 
 Yet her wonder was half pretended. A hot 
 flush burned in her cheek as she sat thinking of 
 his words. 
 
 "Well, I'm glad, too, that I've 'waked up,' 
 althpugh I wish that something had happened to 
 stir me earUer." 
 
 The train crept on through the flooded coun- 
 try. It was past eight o'clock when they reached 
 Grafton. Marian hurried from the coach and 
 watched anxiously while two baggagemen hoisted 
 the heavy bail from the car. 
 
 "Well, my share is done," she said to herself. 
 "That precious bail is here, safe and sound. But 
 where is Mulcahy? And the launch? Rod said 
 that he would not fail to be here by train time. " 
 
 The train pulled out. From the dim-lit station 
 the ticket agent called to her. 
 
 "You're expecting your launch, Miss HaJlowell? 
 There has been no boat down to-day." 
 
 "But my brother promised to send the launch," 
 
A LONG PULL AND A STRONG PtJLL 215 
 
 stammered Marian. "Surely they knew I was 
 coming to-night!" 
 
 Then, in a flash of recollection, she heard Roder- 
 ick's voice: 
 
 "And Mulcahy will meet you on the eight- 
 o'clock train." 
 
 "Rod meant the train that leaves Saint Louis 
 at eight in the morning ! Not this afternoon train. 
 How could I make such a blunder! He does not 
 look for me to reach Grafton tiU to-morrow. " 
 
 She looked at the huge, heavy bail. 
 
 "If that bail could reach camp to-night, they 
 could ship it up and start to cutting immediately. 
 It would mean seven or eight hours more of work- 
 iag time. But how to take it there!" 
 
 "There's a man yonder who owns a gasolene- 
 launch," ventured the agent. "It's a crazy, bat- 
 tered tub, but maybe " 
 
 Marian looked out at the night: the black, 
 suUen river; the ranks of willows swa)dng in the 
 heavy wind; the thunder that told of approaching 
 storm. 
 
 " Call that man over, please. Yes, I shall risk the 
 trip up-river. That bail shall reach camp to-night. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 
 
 "What time is it, miss?" 
 
 Marian put down the gallon tin with which she 
 had bailed steadily, and looked at her watch. 
 
 "Almost midnight." 
 
 "Only midnight!" 
 
 The steersman gave a weary yawn and turned 
 back to his wheel. Inwardly Marian echoed his 
 discouraged word. It seemed to her that she had 
 crouched for years in the stern of the crazy little 
 motor-boat. Rain and spray had drenched her 
 to the skin. She ached in every half-frozen bone. 
 Yet she sat, wide awake and alert, watching her 
 pilot keenly. 
 
 He was a poor helmsman, she thought. How- 
 ever, an expert would have found trouble in taking 
 an overloaded laimch up-stream against that swol- 
 len current and in pitch darkness. Worse, the 
 
 weight of the heavy dredge-bail weighed the launch 
 
 216 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 217 
 
 down almost to water level. Every tiny wave 
 splashed over the gunwale. Marian bailed on 
 mechanically. 
 
 She had had hard work to bribe the owner to 
 risk the trip up-stream. The men at Grafton had 
 warned her, moreover, that she was running a nar- 
 row chance of swamping the laimch, and thus of 
 losing her precious piece of machinery, to say 
 nothing of the danger to her own Ufe. But all 
 Marian's old timidity had fled, forgotten. Nothing 
 else mattered if just she might serve her brother 
 in his supreme need. 
 
 Through these four dreary hours the old com- 
 modore's quaint, frank words had echoed in her 
 mind. And the commodore had been right, she 
 owned, with a quiver of shame. Always, since 
 their mud-pie days. Rod had done his part by 
 her in full measure, generously, lovingly. Never, 
 until these last days, had she even reaUzed what 
 doing her own part by Roderick might mean. 
 
 "Although I have been slower than my blessed 
 old Slow-Coach himself in reaUzing what my life 
 ought to count for. Well, as the commodore said, 
 I have waked up at last. And mind this, Marian 
 
2i8 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Hallowell! You stay awake ! Never, never let me 
 catch you dozing off again!" 
 
 "There's the camp light yonder," the steersman 
 spoke at last, with a sigh of satisfaction. 
 
 Marian peered ahead through the cold, blinding 
 mist. Away up-stream shone a feeble glimmer, 
 then a second light; a third. 
 
 "Good! And — there are the dredge search- 
 lights! Only a minute more and we'll be there. " 
 
 Only a minute it seemed till the launch wheezed 
 up to the landing and swung with a thud against 
 the posts. Marian stumbled ashore. 
 
 "Mulcahy!" she called to the dark figure stand- 
 ing on the dredge deck. " Send two men to unload 
 the bail for us. " 
 
 "Marian Hallowell! Where under the shining 
 sun did you come from?" Roderick leaped from 
 the deck to the shore and confronted his sister. 
 Then, in his horrified surprise at her daring risk, 
 he pounced upon her and administered a scolding 
 of such vigor that it fairly made her gasp. 
 
 "Of all the outrageous, reckless " 
 
 " There, there, Rod ! Look ! " 
 
 StiU breathing threateningsand slaughter, Rod- 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 219 
 
 erick turned. Then he saw the huge new bail 
 which the men were hoisting ashore. 
 
 "So that's what it all means! That's why you 
 came up on the early train! You brought that 
 bail yourself, all the way. You risked your hfe in 
 that groggy little boat! All on purpose to help 
 us out! Marian HaUoweU, I'd like to shake you 
 hard. And for two cents I'd kiss you right here 
 and now. You — ^you peach .'" 
 
 Burford, awakened by the launch whistle, was 
 hurrying down the bank. Reaching the landing 
 his eye fell on the precious new bail. 
 
 Utterly silent, he stared at it for a long rapt 
 minute. Then, rubbing his sleepy eyes, he turned 
 to Marian and Rod with a grin that fairly lighted 
 up the dock. 
 
 "Now," he said, with slow exultation, "now — 
 we've got our chance to win." 
 
 And win they did. 
 
 True, the water had already risen close to the 
 dreaded three-foot danger-mark. True, neither 
 of the boys had had half a dozen hours of sleep in 
 three days. As for the laborers, they were fagged 
 and overworked to the Umit of their endurance. 
 
220 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 But not one of these things counted. Not a grum- 
 bling word was spoken. This was their company's 
 one chance. Not a man held back from seiz- 
 ing that chance and making good. Not a man 
 but felt himself one with the company, a living 
 vital element of that splendid struggling whole. 
 
 Marian and Sally Lou stood on the shore watch- 
 ing the dredge as the great dipper cnmched its 
 way through the last submerged barrier. The 
 canal rolled bank full. Little waves swashed over 
 the platform on which they stood. Pools of seep- 
 water already gathered behind the mud embank- 
 ment, which was cnunbUng into miry avalanches 
 with every sweep of rising water against it. Not 
 by any chance could the levee stand another hour. 
 But even as the dredge cut that narrow passage, 
 the heavy overflow boiled outward into the river 
 beyond. Minute by minute the rou^ surface of 
 the canal was sinking before their watching eyes. 
 Now it had fallen from six inches above to high- 
 water mark; now to three inches below; now to 
 mid-stage — and safety. 
 
 As the freed stream rolled out into the river, a 
 great cheer rose from the laborers crowded along- 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 221 
 
 shore. Roderick and Burford stayed aboard the 
 dredge until it was warped alongside the dock and 
 safely moored. Then they crossed to land and 
 joined the girls. Neither of the boys spoke one 
 word. They did not seem to hear the shouts and 
 cheers behind them. There was no glow of success 
 on their sober faces. Perhaps their rehef was so 
 great that they were a Uttle stunned before its 
 wonder. Victory was theirs; but victory won in 
 the face of so great a danger that they could not 
 yield and feel assured of their escape. 
 
 "We cannot reach head-quarters on the tele- 
 phone, of course. But, by hook or crook, one of 
 you boys must get a despatch through to Mr. 
 Breckenridge. Think of being able to tell him 
 that you have deepened the canal straight through 
 to the river, so that the whole lower half of the dis- 
 trict is safe from overflow! And that you have 
 moved aU these costly, treacherous machines 
 down-stream without one serious accident, with- 
 out so much as a broken bolt! It is too good to 
 be true. " 
 
 "I'll take a laimch and sprint down to Grafton 
 and wire our report from there," said Burford. 
 
222 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 His tense face relaxed; he broke into a delighted 
 chuckle. "Think of it: this once I can actually 
 enjoy sending in my report to head-quarters! I'd 
 like to write it out instead of wiring it. I'd put 
 red-ink curlycues and scroll-work dewdabs aU over 
 the page. Think, Hallowell, you solemn wooden 
 Indian! The crest of this flood is only two hours 
 away. By noon the highest level will reach our 
 canal. But it can't flood our district for us. 
 for — for we got there first!" 
 
 His rosy face one glow of contentment, he started 
 toward the pier. But as he was about to step 
 aboard the duty-launch, Roderick hailed him 
 sharply. 
 
 "Wait, Burford. Somebody is coming up the 
 big ditch. A large gray launch, with a Httle dark- 
 blue flag." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 Burford sprang back. He shaded his eyes and 
 looked down the canal. Then, to Rod's amaze- 
 ment, he sat down on a pile of two-by-fours and 
 rocked to and fro. 
 
 "Whatever ails you, Burford?" 
 
 "Whatever ails me, indeed!" Burford choked 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 223 
 
 it out. His ears were scarlet. His eyes were fairly- 
 popping from his head with delight. "Oh, I 
 reckon I won't bother to send that report to head- 
 quarters, after all. I'll just let the whole thing 
 sUde." 
 
 Rod gaped at him. 
 
 "Have you lost your last wit, Ned?" 
 
 " Not quite. I'm going to give my report to my 
 superior ofl&cer by word of mouth. That big gray 
 power-boat is one of our own company's launches. 
 That small blue flag is the company ensign. And 
 that big gray man standing 'midships is — Breck- 
 enridge! Breck the Great, his very self." 
 
 "Breckenridge!" 
 
 "Breckenridge. All there, too — every splen- 
 did inch of him. Talk about luck! Our levee is 
 saved. Our dredges are all anchored, right yon- 
 der, trim as a gimlet. Our schedule is put through 
 up to the minute. And here, precisely on the 
 psychological moment, comes our chief on his tour 
 of inspection. Can you beat that?" 
 
 Roderick merely stared down the canal. 
 
 Close behind the launch pilot, scanning the bank 
 intently as they steamed by, towered a broad- 
 
224 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 shouldered, heavily built man, gray-headed, yet 
 powerful and alert in every movement. He was 
 well splashed with mud; his broad, heavily feat- 
 ured face was colorless with fatigue. Yet as he 
 stood there, with his big tense body, his tired, 
 eager face, he seemed like some magnificent natu- 
 ral force imprisoned in human flesh. 
 
 "Isn't he sumptuous, though?" said Burford, 
 under his breath. "Look at those shoulders! 
 What a half-back he would make!" 
 
 "Half-back? Why, he could make the Ail- 
 American," Rod whispered back. His eyes were 
 glued to that tall approaching figure. His heart 
 was poimding in his breast. So this was Brecken- 
 ridge the Great, his hero ! And, marvel of marvels, 
 he looked the hero of all Rod's farthest dreams. 
 
 Breckenridge stepped from the launch and shook 
 hands heartily with the radiant and stammering 
 Burford. He looked at Roderick with steady 
 dark eyes. He hardly spoke in reply to Burford's 
 introduction. But the grip of his big, muscular 
 hand was warmly cordial. 
 
 He asked a few brief questions. Then he lis- 
 tened, Ws heavy head bent, his heavy-lidded eyes 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 225 
 
 half closed, to Burford's eager account of their 
 struggles and their triumphs. Almost without 
 speaking he clambered into the launch again and 
 motioned the boys to follow. 
 
 For four consecutive hours the three went up 
 and down the rough miry channels. Roderick 
 steered the launch. Burford answered Brecken- 
 ridge's occasional questions. Breckenridge stood, 
 field-glass in hand, sweeping first one bank, then 
 another with tireless eyes. He made almost no 
 comment on Burford's explanations; but the slow 
 occasional nod of his massive head was eloquent. 
 
 Finally they retraced the last lateral and 
 brought the launch up to the main landing. 
 
 "No, I'U not stop to dine with you, much as 
 I should enjoy it. I must be getting on to the 
 next contract. They're seeing heavy weather 
 too." Breckenridge stood up, stretching his big, 
 cramped body. As he stood there, brushing the 
 clay from his coat, he seemed to loom. 
 
 "I have nothing much to say to you fellows," 
 he went on in his quiet, casual voice, "only to 
 remark that you must have worked like Trojans. 
 You have made a far larger" yardage record than 
 
226 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 we had dared to expect. You've put brains into 
 your work, too. Can't say I'm surprised at your 
 success, by the way. I was pretty certain from 
 what Crosby said that you two would swing this 
 contract, all right. Crosby and I had a talk in 
 Chicago a week or so ago. We were in Tech 
 together. Naturally he's quite a pal of mine, 
 though nowadays we're opponents in a business 
 way. But his opinion weighs heavily with me. 
 And now that I have gone over the ground for my- 
 self, I am inclined to think that Crosby rather — 
 well, that he underestimated your services to the 
 company." Again his big head bent with that 
 queer slow nod. For a moment Breck himself, 
 the real man, alert, just, keenly understanding, 
 flashed a glance from behind that heavy mask of 
 splendid, impassive flesh. "Later you will prob- 
 ably receive a more detailed explanation of my 
 opinion on your work. Good luck to you both, 
 and good-by." 
 
 He stepped into the launch. The powerful 
 boat dashed away down the rough yellow canal. 
 
 The boys stood and looked after him. Burford 
 was wildly exultant. But Roderick was silent. 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 227 
 
 A curious, deep satisfaction lighted his stolid, 
 boyish face. Every word that Breckenridge had 
 spoken was tingUng in his blood. At last he 
 had met his hero face to face, man to man. And 
 his hero had proven all that heart could ask. 
 
 "I wish I knew what he meant by saying that 
 you'd hear further as to his opinion on your 
 work," pondered Marian. 
 
 Just two days later her wish was gratified. 
 
 It was a rainy, dreary day. Rod had spent the 
 morning up the laterals and had come home drip- 
 ping. Marian was trying to dry his soaked clothes 
 before the smoky little oil-stove, but without much 
 success. Just before noon she heard a welcome 
 whistle. She ran down the bank to meet the ru- 
 ral delivery-man in his Uttle spider-launch. The 
 roads were long since impassable; the mail and 
 all the camp supplies must come by water. 
 
 "Stacks of letters. Rod. A fat official one for 
 the Burfords and a still fatter, more official one 
 for you. Do read it and tell me your news. " 
 
 "All right, Sis." Rod pushed aside his blue- 
 prints and set to opening his mail. 
 
228 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 Marian looked over her own letters. They were 
 all of a sort: pleasant, affectionate notes from her 
 friends at home. All, with one accord, besought 
 her to hiury back to college for commencement. 
 All earnestly pitied her for the tedious weeks that 
 she was spending "in that rough, dreadful west- 
 ern coimtry." 
 
 Marian's eyes twinkled as she read. At the 
 bottom of the pile lay a note from her good friend 
 Isabel, begging her for the twentieth time to 
 spend August with her ia her beautiful home at 
 Beverly Farms. 
 
 Marian read that letter twice. Her dark brows 
 narrowed. 
 
 Before her eyes gleamed Isabel's home, the great 
 beautiful house, set on a terraced emerald-green 
 hill. Behind it, dark, cool, mysterious, lay the 
 pine woods; before it flashed and gleamed the sea. 
 She coxild see its wide, stately rooms, its soft- 
 hued, luxurious furnishings. She could feel the 
 atmosphere of quiet contentment, of assured ease, 
 which was to Isabel and her mother the very air 
 they breathed. 
 
 Then she looked around her. 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 229 
 
 Here she sat in a tiny canvas shack with a 
 rough board floor. She looked at its mended 
 chairs, its rag-tag rug, and stringy curtains; 
 Rod's wet clothes, dripping before the little oil- 
 stove; Rod's battered desk, heaped with papers 
 and blue-prints, a mass of accumulated work. 
 Then she looked through the tent-flap. Neither 
 blue ocean nor deep, still forest met her eyes. 
 Only a narrow, muddy ditch; a row of wind-torn 
 willows; a dark, swollen river, hurrying on be- 
 neath a dark, sinister sky. 
 
 An exclamation from Rod startled her. He 
 stooped to her, his tired face burning. With un- 
 steady fingers he put a letter into her hand. 
 
 "Read that. Sis. No, I'll not read it aloud to 
 you. Look at it with your own eyes." 
 
 The Breckenridge Engineering Company, 
 office of the superintendent. 
 Roderick T. Hallowell, C. E., 
 
 7o Contract Camp, Grafton, Illinois. 
 
 Sir: I beg to state that certain changes in the 
 engineering force of the company have brought 
 about a change in the position occupied by your- 
 self with our firm. Beginning upon the first day 
 of Jime, 1912, you will be transferred to the post 
 of assistant superintendent on a large drainage 
 
230 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 contract in northern Iowa. While your position 
 will be second to that of Mr. McPherson, our 
 supervising engineer, yet you wiU be given entire 
 charge of Sie assembling of the plant and its con- 
 struction. Your salary will be two thousand dol- 
 lars. Payment quarterly, as is our custom. 
 
 Some objections to this promotion have been 
 raised by members of our company on the score 
 of your limited experience. Mr. Breckenridge, 
 however, considers from his observation of your 
 methods that you wiU prove fully equal to this 
 exacting and responsible position. 
 
 I am, very respectfully. 
 The Breckenrtoge Engineering Company. 
 Per R. W. Austin, Sec'y. 
 
 Silent, wide-eyed, Marian read this amazing 
 document. Then, with a cry of surprise and de- 
 light, she turned to her brother. But before she 
 could speak, a storm of- eager feet dashed up the 
 cabin steps. In burst Sally Lou and Ned, head- 
 long. Ned, breathless with excitement, waved a 
 long official envelope. But Sally Lou, close at 
 his heels with Thomas Tucker crowing on her arm, 
 poured out the wild tale. 
 
 "Oh, Marian! Oh, Roderick! Oh, it's too 
 good and grand and glorious to be true! We're 
 going home, home, straight back to Virginia!" 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 231 
 
 "Yes, we're going home, we're fired," puffed 
 Ned, as Sally Lou paused for breath. He sank 
 down on the bench with a sigh of ecstasy. " Don't 
 look so dazed, Hallowell. There is more news 
 coming. We're ordered off this contract. But 
 we're not ordered out of the Breckenridge Engi- 
 neering Company. Not quite yet. Instead, I'm 
 directed to report on the Dismal Swamp Canal 
 the first of the month. My position will be prac- 
 tically the same as the one that I'm now holding. 
 But we can live at home. At home, I sa,y I Right 
 in Norfolk, right in the midst of all Sally Lou's 
 own home-folks, right around the corner from my 
 own father's house. Won't we have a glorious 
 year of it ! And won't Edward Junior and Thomas 
 Tucker be good and spoiled, though!" 
 
 "We're so happy we can't even say it to each 
 other!" Sally Lou sat down suddenly, hiding her 
 April face in Thomas Tucker's small pinafore. 
 "It took Mammy Easter to express our feelings 
 for us. 'Land, honey,' said she, 'I cert'n'y am 
 thankful that we's goin' back to civilization. I 
 want to chmb on a real street-car again. I want 
 to ride in an elevator, I don't care if I never sets 
 
232 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 foot in one of dem slippery little launches again, 
 long's I live. But most of aU I want to tote dese 
 lambs out of this swamp and on to de dry land 
 before dey grows up plumb web-footed.'" 
 
 In the midst of the laugh that followed, a laxmch 
 whistled from down the canal. 
 
 "There's Mulcahy now. Hurry, Ned. Go 
 down to Grafton and send your telegram to 
 head-quarters. Good-by, folks! Come over to 
 the ihartin-box to-night and we'll hold one last 
 celebration. " 
 
 Sally Lou tossed her baby to her shoulder. 
 Away she sped beside her husband. Marian 
 looked after the gay, hurrjdng figures. Then, 
 still bewildered, she turned to Roderick.. 
 
 "Well! What will happen next! Ned and 
 Sally Lou ordered to Virginia; you promoted — 
 it takes my breath away! But, Rod!" Her 
 voice rose with a startled note. She looked up 
 keenly at her brother's grave face. "You — ^you 
 dear, cold-blooded old slow-coach! How can you 
 look so pensive and pei^lexed? Of all the splen- 
 did, splendid news! How could you keep still 
 and not tell the Burfords? How can you keep still 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 233 
 
 now? If I wasn't so tired, I'd dance a jig right 
 here on your desk!" 
 
 "I ought to be dancing jigs myself," Roderick 
 answered. "I don't half deserve this magnificent 
 chance, I know that. But I — I don't know what 
 to say. I'm facing a dead wall. " 
 
 "Rod, what do you mean? Of course you will 
 accept this promotion. You must. There can't 
 be any question!" Marian was on her knees by 
 his chair now, clasping his cold hands in her own. 
 Her voice rang sharp with angry affection. "Don't 
 halt and fumble so, brother! Don't you remem- 
 ber, three months ago, how you fretted and hesi- 
 tated about taking the position that you are hold- 
 ing to-day? See how you have succeeded in it! 
 Yet look at you! To-day you are wavering 
 and boggling and hanging back, just as you did 
 then." 
 
 "I'm hanging back, yes. But not for the same 
 reason. " Roderick looked down at her with dark, 
 troubled eyes. "That time, I hesitated to accept 
 on your account. This time, I'm hesitating on my 
 own. " 
 
 " Why, Roderick Hallowell ! You are not afraid 
 
234 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 of hard work, nor of taking chances, either. Rod, 
 tell me this minute. Are you ill? What is it, 
 dear?" 
 
 "Nonsense. I'm perfectly well. But I am 
 tired out. I don't know how to tell you what I 
 mean. So tired that I dread the mere thought of 
 going on a new contract, and taking charge of a 
 new crew, and breaking myself in to a new piece 
 of work. Yes, it does sound cowardly. But I 
 cannot see my way clear. I don't beheve I dare 
 take it up." 
 
 Marian looked at him closely. 
 
 "Sleep on this, Rod. A night's rest will give 
 you a different light on the matter. " 
 
 "A night's rest won't make any difference in 
 the facts. Sis. The position is too compUcated 
 for a greenhorn like me. I believe I could assem- 
 ble the plant, all right. And I think I could handle 
 the laborers. But the endless outside detail is 
 what I'm afraid of. That, and the responsibihty, 
 too. For instance, on a contract like this one in 
 Iowa, the engineers must act as paymasters, each 
 for his division. That means, reckon the men's 
 time daily; make out their checks; handle their 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 235 
 
 wages for them; and so on. Then there are my 
 tabulated reports for the head office. Then my 
 supplies. You have seen with your own eyes 
 how much time and work just the buying of coal 
 and machinery can demand. Then there would 
 be a thousand smaller matters to look after. Tak- 
 ing it all in all, I don't want to make a try at this 
 offer, then fail. So the sensible thing to do is, 
 meekly to ask the company for a less impressive 
 post." 
 
 " All that you would need for the extra work that 
 you describe would be a competent book-keeper, 
 Rod." 
 
 "Exactly!" Rod laughed shortly. "But a 
 'competent' book-keeper is the last employ^ that 
 one can find for such hard, isolated work as this. 
 What I need is not just a man to add columns for 
 me. I need another brain, an extra pair of hands. 
 I need the sort of first-aid that you have been giv- 
 ing me all these weeks. Sis. That's the sort of 
 help that you can't buy for love nor money. 
 That's all." 
 
 Marian studied her brother's face. When she 
 spoke, her voice was very gentle and low. 
 
236 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 "All right, Rod. Telegraph head-qxiarters that 
 you will accept." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because — I am going to take that position as 
 book-keeper. There, now!" 
 
 Roderick sat up with some vehemence. 
 
 "Marian HaUoweU, I think I see myself letting 
 you do any more of my work. You're going back 
 to college next week, for commencement. Then 
 you may come West again, if you're determined to 
 stay somewhere near me. I'm mighty glad to have 
 you within reach, I must admit that. But you 
 are not to live down in the woods any longer. 
 And not another stroke of my work shall you do. " 
 
 "Why not? Am I such a poor stenographer?" 
 
 Roderick laughed at her injured tone. Pride 
 and affection mingled in that laugh. 
 
 "You have been invaluable. Sis. You know 
 that perfectly well. I'd never have pulled through 
 this month without you. You have been of more 
 real use than any three ordinary stenographers 
 rolled together. For you have used your own 
 brains and will and courage. You have not stood 
 gracefully by and waited for orders. You have 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 237 
 
 marched right on, and you have done a man's 
 work straight through. But our long pull is over 
 now. And you are well and strong again, I'm 
 thankful to say. So back to the East you go, 
 old lady. No more contract jobs for you. " 
 
 Marian's eyes narrowed ominously. Dehber- 
 ately she seated herself on the arm of her brother's 
 chair. Gently but firmly she seized him by both 
 ears. 
 
 "Now, Roderick HaUowell, Hsten to me. Three 
 months ago the company offered you this posi- 
 tion. I wanted you to accept it. But, of all 
 things, I did not want to go West with you. I 
 teased and coaxed and whined. Much good my 
 whining did me. For you just set that Rock-o'- 
 Gibraltar chin of yours, and took me firmly by 
 the collar and marched me along. 
 
 "Now, Roderick Hallowell, look at me!" 
 
 Chuckling and shamefaced, Roderick struggled 
 to turn his face away; but Marian's fingers gripped 
 mercilessly tight. 
 
 "Look at me, I say. Answer. Didn't you 
 buUy me into giving up to your wishes, by threat- 
 ening to refuse this position unless I'd come West 
 
238 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 with you? Didn't you drag me out here willy- 
 nilly? Very well. You have had your way. You 
 have brought me here, and — you can't send me 
 back. There now." 
 
 "Marian, this is not fair." Roderick freed one 
 ear and looked sternly at his sister. "You must 
 finish your education. I have no right to keep 
 you trailing around the country with me, wasting 
 your time and cutting you oflf from your friends 
 and denying you any home comfort. You shall 
 not sacrifice yourself " 
 
 "Sacrifice myself, indeed!" Marian took a 
 fresh grip. "All I ask is to stay with you until 
 next February. Then I'll go back and take up 
 my college work at the exact point where I laid it 
 down. I cannot graduate with my class, no matter 
 how hard I try. My illness last winter took too 
 much time. So I may as well join the class fol- 
 lowing, at mid-years'. In the mean time, we will 
 have eight splendid months together. No, I have 
 waked up, Rod. You can't hush me off to my 
 selfish doze again. " 
 
 "But, Marian, I can't possibly permit " 
 
 "Yes, you can. And you will. As to home 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 239 
 
 comforts — ^isn't it home, wherever we two are to- 
 gether? As to being cut off from my friends — 
 aren't you the best chum I ever had? How 
 do you suppose I like being cut off from you, 
 brother?" 
 
 Rod did not answer. At last he looked up. 
 The sober gratitude in his eyes brought an an- 
 swering radiance to Marian's own. 
 
 "I give up. Sis. You shall stay with me for 
 the summer, anyway. Then we'll see. Now run 
 away, you blessed old partner!" His big hands 
 shut on her shoulders with an eloquent grip. " I'm 
 going to write to head-quarters and accept that 
 position before I have time to turn coward again 
 and change my mind." 
 
 Marian gave him a vigorous hug of satisfaction, 
 and ran away. Letter in hand, Roderick went to 
 his desk. 
 
 Carefully he set down his formal, courteous ac- 
 ceptance. He read the finished letter with critical 
 care. Something was lacking. Yet he had taken 
 all possible pains. What more could his reply 
 need? 
 
 Suddenly his face brightened. He took up his 
 
240 THE HALLOWELL PARTNERSHIP 
 
 pen. Slowly and carefully he added a final par- 
 agraph: 
 
 "In accepting this promotion, I wish to do so 
 with the understanding that my sister, Miss Hal- 
 lowell, who has acted as my assistant during the 
 past month, shall continue to hold that position 
 imder the new contract. As her work is to be 
 counted as a part of my own, I will request that 
 my quarterly checks shall be made out, not to 
 R. T. Hallowell, but to 'Hallowell & Hallowell,' 
 as the salary is to be drawn by us on a basis of 
 equal partnership." 
 
 He put down the finished sheet. His bo3dsh 
 face Ughted with a slow, triumphant glow. He 
 looked out across the gray wet coimtry, the fog- 
 banked river. To his eyes the dull scene was 
 illumined. For his steady vision could see past 
 that gray dreariness, far up the broad high-road 
 of work and success that he had now set foot upon. 
 These three months of heavy toil had proven him. 
 He had seized his fighting diance, and he had 
 made good. And now all the royal chances of his 
 profession were waiting at his call. 
 
PARTNERS AND VICTORIES 241 
 
 "Though X never could have put it through 
 without Marian, ' ' he said tmder his breath. ' ' My 
 splendid, plucky little old Sis ! No wonder I made 
 good, with such a partner. And from now on she 
 shall be my real partner, bless her heart. 'Hal- 
 lowell & Hallowell,' now and forever!"