HENRY 
 
 M.- 
 HYDE
 
 THE UPSTART
 
 Thank you for helping me."
 
 THE 
 
 UPSTART 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY M. HYDE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE CENTURY CO, 
 
 TQO6
 
 Copyright, 1906, by 
 THE CENTURY Co. 
 
 Published October, 1906 
 
 THE DE VINNE PRESS
 
 OLIVE ORCHARDS FOR BOBO 
 
 222S412
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " Thank you for helping me " Frontispiece 
 
 PACING PAGE 
 
 " Tracing imaginary cruises over all the seas "... 8 
 
 " In front of Aunt Bridget's box-car" ..-.. 26 
 
 "By Gott! I teach you a lesson" 128 
 
 "Men and women of Liberty County! " 214 
 
 "Here it is, yer Honor !" 250 
 
 " Then suddenly he took her tightly into his arms" . 288 
 
 " Presently King Anders came, closely followed by his 
 
 six sons " 314 
 
 vii
 
 THE UPSTART
 
 THE UPSTART 
 
 THE boy was lying on the low bank of the 
 crooked little prairie creek, the shallow 
 channel of which cut off the Main Street of 
 Liberty from the fat, black, farming country 
 beyond. His bare feet almost touched the 
 oily, brown water and his face was buried in 
 his arms, which were crossed over the gnarled 
 root of a willow tree. His slight figure was 
 shaken at intervals by half-suppressed sobs. 
 Now and then he raised his head, brushed the 
 tears from his eyes with a torn blue gingham 
 shirt-sleeve and looked about him defiantly. 
 He feared witnesses of his unmanly weakness. 
 But the early August twilight had been kind 
 to him. Already the gray shadows had half
 
 4 THE UPSTART 
 
 hidden the whitewashed shanties of Kill- 
 grubbin, that were scattered irregularly 
 over the brown mud-flats about him. To the 
 left the yellow light of a smoky oil lamp 
 shone dimly through the open door of a green 
 box-car, now retired from the vicissitudes of 
 an active railroad career and raised up high 
 on stilts to do. permanent duty as a dwelling. 
 On the other side grew a tangled screen of 
 yellow and green willow shoots, beginning at 
 the very edge of the water and turning 
 inward in the shape of a half crescent. Black 
 and white pigs were rooting in the mud of a 
 narrow lane which twisted about among the 
 shanties and, a little farther off, a slatternly 
 woman was throwing bits of driftwood at a 
 marauding goat that had ventured to invade 
 her cabin. 
 
 To the ears of the boy came the hiss of 
 geese, marching up in long lines from the 
 river to their night shelter, and the occa- 
 sional raucous hoot of a switch engine in the 
 railroad yards which separated Killgrubbin 
 from the village of Liberty proper. Nearer 
 at hand sounded the voice of a shantytown
 
 THE UPSTART 5 
 
 virago, answering the drunken profanity of 
 her husband with shrill reproaches. 
 
 When the boy raised his head he could look 
 over the railroad track up the long stretch 
 of Main Street, along which the prosperous 
 people of Liberty lived in trim wooden cot- 
 tages, setting far back from the roadway, 
 each in its own shady, well-kept lawn. At the 
 far end of the street the red disc of the sun 
 was dropping behind the elms. In the middle 
 distance the white bulk of the Grecian court- 
 house loomed vaguely. 
 
 IN the soft mud of the bank behind the boy a 
 red, flat-bottomed skiff landed noiselessly. 
 Out 1 of the boat stepped a thin, wrinkled old 
 man, with a dark face, a hooked nose and a 
 pair of sharp gray eyes under bushy gray 
 brows. With one hand he dragged after him 
 a long string of slimy black cat-fish. As he 
 left the boat he caught sight of the boy and 
 stopped short, pursing his lips contemplatively. 
 
 "Well, Pat," he said sharply, "you missed 
 the biggest ketch o ' the season. ' ' 
 
 The boy started up.
 
 6 THE UPSTAET 
 
 ''I took twenty-four off the set lines and 
 one of 'em 's a mud cat that '11 weigh ten 
 pounds or I 'ma sucker. Hed your supper I ' ' 
 
 "Yep," answered Pat, getting to his feet. 
 "Aunt Bridget give me some grub." He 
 walked over and "hefted" the big fish. 
 
 " Gee ! " he said. ' ' That 'n ' is a whopper ! ' ' 
 
 "You come right along with me, Pat," 
 said the old man with a shrewd glance at the 
 swollen face, * ' and we '11 go on a vyidge. You 
 c'n carry th' fish." 
 
 The old fisherman and the small boy walked 
 a couple of hundred feet down the curving 
 river bank to a knoll, where, safe above high 
 water, stood a curious structure of driftwood 
 and refuse lumber. Its roof was little higher 
 than a man's head, but it stretched back for 
 forty feet, like a section of a tunnel. In front 
 of it was a little platform, supported on piles 
 over the oily stream, to reach which it was 
 necessary to descend the bank and then climb 
 a ladder of six steps. 
 
 "Climb right up on the bridge, Fust Mate," 
 said the old man, turning to the back of the 
 cabin, ' ' while I open the hatch. ' '
 
 THE UPSTART 7 
 
 The boy climbed the ladder and sat down 
 on the edge of the platform, his feet dangling 
 over the water. Presently the old man reap- 
 peared, opening a narrow door from within. 
 
 "Haul up the ladder and come into the 
 cabin, ' ' he said. 
 
 In the center of the long, box-like room and 
 from the low ceiling hung a miniature ship 
 in full sail. "Annie B." was lettered across 
 the stern. At one side was a narrow bunk, 
 built up three feet from the floor. On a shelf 
 opposite perched a curious object which its 
 owner was accustomed to refer to as a mer- 
 maid, though a shrewd observer might have 
 suspected the body of a weazened monkey, 
 skilfully attached to the tail of a big cat-fish. 
 The smell of the place was tarry and nautical. 
 
 ' ' Come right through into the chart-room, ' ' 
 said the old man. 
 
 Even small Pat had to duck his head to 
 pass through the little doorway which led 
 into this curious apartment. Its long, low 
 wooden walls were papered with lithographs 
 and pictures, cut from the illustrated week- 
 lies, showing ships at sea and all manner of
 
 8 THE UPSTART 
 
 nautical scenes. Among them was a biblical 
 engraving, revealing Jonah, in a long, red 
 night-gown, about to be swallowed by a yellow 
 whale not more than half his own size, and a 
 somewhat scandalous poster, displaying a 
 brown South Sea maiden, attired chiefly in a 
 bunch of green seaweed and a string of coral. 
 Across the wall hung a whaler's long harpoon. 
 The whole was garnished with dried starfish, 
 sea-horses, curiously colored shells and fans 
 of coral. 
 
 On a box in one corner rested a big brass 
 compass, and on another, in the center of the 
 room, stood a large globe, with a telescope 
 and other mysterious brass instruments lying 
 beside it. 
 
 The place and its master seemed strangely 
 misplaced there on the bank of a muddy in- 
 land creek, in the midst of an Illinois prairie, 
 a thousand miles from salt water. 
 
 The old man dre^y the globe close up to the 
 narrow bench, which ran along one side of the 
 room, and fell to tracing imaginary cruises 
 over all the seas. 
 
 "Cap'n," said Pat, as the sailor paused to
 
 " Tracing imaginary cruises over all the seas."
 
 THE UPSTART 9 
 
 break a piece from his twisted rope of tobacco, 
 "kin I bring Tom Hahn down here some 
 day?" 
 
 "Look here, Fust Mate," the old man 
 turned on him sharply, "have you been talk- 
 ing about our vyidges 1 ' ' 
 
 "No, I hain't," the boy answered indig- 
 nantly. "Outside I always call you * Paddy 
 Mack,' like everybody does. And I 've never 
 spoke of the 'Annie B.' to anybody. But I 
 wisht I could bring Tom down." 
 
 The old man shook his head slowly, a far- 
 away, reflective look in his eyes. "I 'm an 
 old fool to take any chances," he muttered, 
 speaking to himself. "It ain't fair to her." 
 
 " You ain't goin' to git mad at me, Cap'n?" 
 said the boy, starting up anxiously. "I '11 
 never give nothing away. Here! Let 's 
 shake on it." 
 
 The Captain looked up and a slow smile 
 of tender affection illumined his rugged face. 
 Impulsively he took the boy's dirty fist in 
 his own gnarled hand. 
 
 "Shake, then, shipmate. Some day I '11 
 tell you why nobody must know I 'm an old
 
 10 THE UPSTART 
 
 sailor. I 've got my reasons. Ten years I've 
 lived here" he paused and looked about the 
 cramped little room "and you 're the only 
 human 's ever put his nose inside. It 's a 
 long cruise I 'm sailin' an' there ain't no 
 home harbor at th' end of it." 
 
 The old man seemed to lose all consciousness 
 of his present surroundings. His deep-set 
 eyes looked past the boy into the years that 
 were gone or was it into the future? A 
 deep, slow sigh escaped him. 
 
 "What 's the matter, Cap'n?" asked the 
 boy, half-frightened, his freckled face re- 
 flecting the trouble of his friend. 
 
 "No thin'," answered the Captain, briskly, 
 throwing off his preoccupation with an effort, 
 "nothin' 's the matter. I was jest thinkin' 
 it 's worth consid'able to a lonely old skipper 
 to have a Fust Mate he kin tie to, that 's 
 all." 
 
 Clearing his throat loudly, the old man got 
 up and bustled about the cabin to conceal his 
 agitation. Finally he struck a light in a brass 
 ship's lantern, drew the globe still closer to 
 the bench on which the boy sat, and put a
 
 THE UPSTART 11 
 
 gnarled forefinger on its surface, just where 
 Cape Cod stuck its green nose into the yellow 
 ocean. 
 
 "We sail from Bedford, as usual, Fust 
 Mate," he said, "and lay our course a little 
 east of south so 's to stay in the stream. 
 It 's yere second vyidge as my Fust Mate. 
 We Ve got plenty of grub and water and a 
 crew of twenty. Bounding the Horn" the 
 forefinger traces the path of the ship on the 
 globe, "we strike a nasty gale, you recol- 
 lect that night? but the 'Annie B.' 's stanch, 
 and in three months we 're sailing the South 
 Pacific with a man in the tops looking for 
 sign o ' whale. 
 
 "Eight down here midway to the Fiigis 
 we sights a coral island. Six of the men goes 
 ashore looking for water and greenstuff. 
 Late that night the long boat comes back to 
 the ship, with nobody in it but Pedro, a 
 Portugee sailor. Pedro says the other five 
 are captured by the niggers and tied up in a 
 row to the palm trees, while the fat brown 
 king and his warriors and women dance 
 around 'em. When Pedro got off with the
 
 12 THE UPSTART 
 
 boat they were getting ready to bile and eat 
 the hull bunch of 'em. 
 
 "I was mighty glad then I had n't let you 
 go ashore in command of the long boat, like 
 you wanted to. A nice, juicy, tender, young 
 Fust Mate would n't 'a' stood no show at all. 
 Most likely they 'd Ve et you alive jest to 
 work up a' appetite." 
 
 The Captain paused, a twinkle in his eye, 
 to let the joys of the situation sink home. The 
 boy's face was shining. "And then?" he 
 urged, breathlessly. 
 
 "Pedro says they 's more than three hun- 
 dred niggers, armed with spears and bows 
 and arrows. They 're camped along, the shore 
 on the opposite side of the island. 
 
 "We 're getting a reskying party ready 
 when one of the crew comes up from down 
 in the hold, where he 's been sorting and pack- 
 ing a lot of dried fish. When he steps out on 
 the dark deck, somebody gives a yell and we all 
 turns to look at him. He is shining all over 
 like he was on fire and when he waves his 
 arms he looks like a Fourth of July pin- 
 wheel in full blast.
 
 THE UPSTART 13 
 
 ' ' The sight of him gives me an idee. Twelve 
 of us men strips to the skin and rubs each 
 other with that phosphorescent fish. Then 
 we lies down in the long boat and four of the 
 crew rows us with muffled oars round to the 
 other side of the islamd, leavin' you, in charge 
 of the ship. We kin see the niggers dancing 
 around the fires on shore and hear them yell- 
 ing and we 're afraid we 're too late to resky 
 anything but cold vittles. When we git in 
 pretty close, the hull dozen of us nekid, but 
 able-bodied seamen, stands up in the boats and 
 gives a yell. Then, with a pistol in each hand, 
 we jumps overboard and starts for the nig- 
 gers, firing a shot at every jump and looking 
 I make no doubt like a dozen fiery devils just 
 let loose from hell. 
 
 "The sight and the sounds of us scares 
 them niggers into fits. The fat old king gives 
 one yelp and with his three hundred loyal sub- 
 jects starts for the thick bush like a dory 
 running before the wind, leaving our five ship- 
 mates strung up to a row of palm-trees. 
 
 * * They was just about as scared as the nig- 
 gers was. One of 'em a tall, bony man from
 
 14 THE UPSTART 
 
 Martha's Vineyard, named Ebenezer Hall- 
 says, when we 're cutting 'em loose, 'Wall,' he 
 says, 'I 'd just as leave be biled and et as 
 scared to death, anyhow.' And Gershom 
 Brewster, th' bos'n, he speaks up an' says, 
 'We only reskied you tosave the niggers from 
 suffering, Hall,' he says. 'The nigger that 
 et you would have dyspepsy the rest of his 
 life.' 
 
 "As quick as we kin then we rows back to 
 the ship and sails away to the north,, killing 
 sixty right whales, biling down nine hundred 
 barrels of oil and stowing away fourteen hun- 
 dred-weight of bone an' a big chunk of amber- 
 gris. We ties up again at Bedford after a 
 prosperous vyidge of two years and three 
 months, the share of the Fust Mate in the 
 profits bein' three thousand, four hundred and 
 sixteen dollars and forty-seven cents. Will 
 you take it in cash or leave it on dee-posit to 
 your credit?" 
 
 "I don't care about drawing out any of it 
 jest now," answered Pat, his lips twisted in a 
 grin and fun twinkling in his eyes. 
 
 "Well an' good," answered the Cap'n sol-
 
 THE UPSTAET 15 
 
 emnly, taking down an old log book from 
 the shelf and proceeding to make an entry 
 with a stubby lead pencil. ' ' August 28, 1860, ' ' 
 he wrote. ''Patrick McCormick, First Mate 
 of the bark 'Annie B.' of Bedford. His share 
 of the profits in the whaling cruise ended 
 this day, $3,416.47." 
 
 "How 's my account stand, anyhow?" de- 
 manded Pat, pompously, crossing one bare leg 
 over the other. 
 
 Still solemn, the old Captain made some 
 apparently complicated calculations, his gray 
 brows pulled far down to hide the laughter in 
 his eyes. ' ' There 's some thirteen thousand odd 
 on the books to your credit, Fust Mate," he 
 said. "I 'm afraid," he went on, heaving a 
 deep sea sigh, "that I '11 have to be signin' 
 a new Fust Mate before long. You '11 be 
 wantin' to take out your own ship soon, I 
 cal'a'late."
 
 n 
 
 FOE a moment the Captain and his First 
 Mate sat smiling at each other, wrapped 
 in that delightful mutual understanding which 
 needs no words. Then the old man spoke 
 sharply. 
 
 "Where 'd you git that welt on yere face, 
 son?" 
 
 The boy's eyes darkened and an ugly scowl 
 drove away the smile. Instantly he left the 
 pleasant land of enchantment and became 
 again a son of shantytown a small human 
 animal, older than his years, aggressively 
 ready to defend himself by force or cunning 
 against a world that was mostly hostile. 
 
 "Old King Anders give me that dang 
 him!" he said, sullenly. 
 
 "H-m-m!" grunted the Captain, reflec- 
 tively. "Seems like a feller like him might 
 leave us poor folks alone, don't it? If I 
 
 16
 
 THE UPSTART 17 
 
 owned mighty nigh all the farmin' land in 
 the county I don't cal'a'late I 'd be covetin' 
 this little patch of black mud we 're squattin' 
 on, too. But how 'd he come to git after 
 yer?" 
 
 "I went over to the tannery to take the 
 old man's lunch to him this noon. Jest as I 
 got there he come flyin' out of the big door 
 and lit all in a heap in the road. When I 
 raised him up there was blood runnin' down 
 his face and old Anders was standing back 
 in the door shakin' his fist at us." 
 
 "Was yere dad hurt much!" 
 
 "He could n't hardly talk straight at first," 
 the boy answered. "He must 'a' lit so hard 
 on his head that he got stunned. ' ' 
 
 "Rum, I cal'r'late," said the Captain, in a 
 half-aside. 
 
 "I was bringin' him home, when King 
 Anders come along, drivin' his big grays and 
 hoggin' all the road. I cussed him out and he 
 leaned over and slashed me acrost the face. 
 Gol dang him! If he had n't dodged I 'd 'a' 
 laid him out with a rock ! ' ' 
 
 The boy's face was distorted with rage and
 
 18 THE UPSTART 
 
 his hands were tightly gripped in remembered 
 and renewed anger. The Captain looked at 
 him for a moment in silence, an expression of 
 pity and of understanding sympathy on his 
 face. Then he reached into the box under 
 the seat on which they sat and produced some- 
 thing which he held out in his hand. 
 
 "Here 's a ship's knife I Ve been a-meanin' 
 to give you for some time," he said. "It 
 rightly belongs to the Fust Mate of the 
 'Annie B.' " 
 
 The boy took the knife cautiously and ex- 
 amined it with eyes of awe. The handle was 
 of ivory, curiously carved in the likeness of 
 a dolphin. 
 
 * * Gee ! That 's a daisy, ' ' he said. 
 
 "She 's got four blades and a gimlet to 
 her," the Captain went on, cunningly. 
 "What 's more, she 's been to Asiay, South 
 Ameriky and the Gold Coast. I killed a 
 shark once with that biggest blade jest as 
 't was about to turn over and bite me. If 
 you look close mebbe you kin see the stain of 
 the blood yit." 
 
 "I guess that '11 put the other kids to sleep," 
 said Pat, boastfully.
 
 THE UPSTAKT 19 
 
 "Now look here, son," smiled the old Cap- 
 tain. "You don't want to go and git all 
 swelled up about owning ship's knives and 
 other real and pussanal property. They 's 
 too many people sufferin' from that complaint 
 already. ' ' 
 
 The little clock which hung at one end of 
 the chart-room struck nine. 
 
 ' 1 1 guess I '11 be going home, ' ' said Pat with 
 a yawn. "I 'm kind a-tired." 
 
 "All right, son. I '11 go out and sit on 
 the bridge a minute 'fore I turn in." 
 
 When the man and the boy went out on the 
 narrow platform, a thick gray mist was rising 
 from the river. It was impossible to -see more 
 than a few feet, but the quick ears of the 
 Captain detected the muffled sound of oars. 
 
 1 ' I wonder who 's out a night like this ? " he 
 said. "It 's coming across from the tan- 
 nery. ' ' 
 
 The soft sound of oars striking the water 
 grew gradually more distinct. Suddenly it 
 ceased. 
 
 "It 's landed, Pat," said the Captain. 
 
 At the foot of the big willow tree, down
 
 20 THE UPSTART 
 
 stream, where Pat had been found by his 
 ancient friend, a match flared up, making a 
 yellow blur in the grayness of the night. By 
 its light the two on the bridge plainly made 
 out the features of Mike McCormick, as he 
 held the flame to his short clay pipe. He was 
 crouching down in the center of the boat, the 
 bow of which rested in a cushion of soft mud. 
 Watching, they could see him muttering to 
 himself and shaking his head from side to 
 side in a maudlin way. Then the match went 
 out and the mist shut down like a thick shade, 
 blotting out the picture. 
 
 The Captain and Pat listened, but they 
 heard only a muttered curse as the man's 
 unsteady feet sank into the soft mud. He 
 had merged into the silence and shadows 
 which covered the flats of shantytown. 
 
 ' * I did n 't know your old man had any set- 
 lines out, Pat," said the Captain, finally. 
 
 "Neither did I. I don't think he was 
 fishin'. I guess mebbe I 'd better wait a little 
 till he gits to bed. ' > 
 
 For some minutes the two strange friends 
 sat side by side on "the bridge," silently
 
 THE UPSTART 21 
 
 watching the mists deepen. From behind 
 them came the muffled noises of the men and 
 animals of Killgrubbin, settling themselves 
 for sleep. 
 
 Then suddenly the thick silence which hid 
 the river was broken by a startled yell from 
 the opposite bank, and, against the black back- 
 ground of night, a quivering red flame shot 
 up, growing, almost in an instant, to a roaring 
 blaze. 
 
 " Douse my binnacle! It 's the tannery," 
 cried the Captain in awe. 
 
 Small Pat sprang to his feet, throwing up 
 his grimy hands in a convulsive movement 
 of excited interest. Then he slowly sank back 
 again upon his box, tensely still, watching the 
 lurid scene in utter fascination. 
 
 From behind them, along the dark stretches 
 of Main Street, came distant shouts that 
 quickly grew into a shrill, frightened, many- 
 voiced alarm ; a far-off bell rang faintly ; then 
 the thrilling reverberations of the great gong 
 on the tower of the court-house shook the 
 night. 
 
 The air grew thick with sound and luminous
 
 22 THE UPSTAET 
 
 with flame a quick crescendo of noise and 
 light that came to a climax with the falling in 
 of the tannery roof. As it crashed down 
 there rose a shower of brilliant sparks, 
 that drifted lazily westward on the gentle 
 breeze. Then all was blackness again and 
 quiet, but for the confused murmur of many 
 voices on the opposite bank. 
 
 The boy turned to the old man with a slow, 
 deep-drawn sigh. " 'T was a bully show, 
 wasn 'tit, Cap'n?" 
 
 "Aye! Aye! But" a deeper tone came 
 into the old voice "I 'm thinkin' King An- 
 ders '11 make somebody pay for it. Looks to 
 me like that tannery must 'a' been set afire for 
 spite." 
 
 "Well, then," answered Pat, with a pathetic 
 wisdom beyond his years, "I 'm glad we seen 
 the old man in the boat just now. If he 'd 
 been over on the other bank there, I guess old 
 Anders 'd 'ave done for him sure. But you and 
 me can prove an alibi for him, can't we?" 
 
 ' ' We kin swear to it, son, all right, but I 'm 
 afraid our word would n't count for much," 
 muttered the old man bitterly. "I 'm sech
 
 THE UPSTART 23 
 
 a shif less, wuthless, old cuss that what I swore 
 to would n't count fur nothin'; and you," he 
 went on with cruel candor, "you 're jest a 
 little shanty mick. ' ' 
 
 WHEN the fire was at its height there came a 
 deep sound from the south, which made itself 
 heard even through the prevailing din. Pres- 
 ently the spectators made out a long green 
 farm wagon coming furiously along the rough 
 dirt road. It was drawn by two huge gray 
 Norman stallions, galloping heavily. Stand- 
 ing up in the front of the wagon and brandish- 
 ing a black-snake whip was a giant of a man, 
 more than six feet tall and massive about the 
 shoulders. His broad, whiskered face was 
 red with excitement and he urged his great 
 horses forward with deep roars of anger. 
 
 Crouching in the wagon were four half- 
 grown boys, hardly less gigantic than their 
 sire. 
 
 "Here comes King Anders !" cried some one 
 in the crowd, and the panic-stricken people 
 made way for him. 
 
 He leaped from the wagon and the boys
 
 24 THE UPSTART 
 
 followed him, one of them stopping to hold 
 the frantic horses. A glance showed him that 
 the fight was hopeless. The tannery was al- 
 ready ruined. He ran to the office, thrusting 
 men and women out of his path with the 
 sweep of his arms. There, standing on the 
 top of the steps, he turned and faced the 
 crowd. 
 
 "By Gott!" he roared in his deep voice, 
 shaking his fist in the face of the people 
 nearest him, "I sent somebody by the peni- 
 tentiary for dis ! "
 
 HI 
 
 OVER across the river smoke was still 
 rising from the blackened ruins of the 
 tannery. In front of Aunt Bridget's box-car 
 a little group of people including Pat McCor- 
 mick and his mother was gathered to dis- 
 cuss the exciting events of the evening. 
 
 "I wonder now," said Mrs. McCormick, a 
 tall, raw-boned woman with a tired, pathetic 
 face, "I wonder how it got itsilf burned 
 down?" 
 
 "Annyhow," broke in Aunt Bridget, ram- 
 ming a fresh load into her clay pipe, " 't was 
 good luck for us Irish. I 'm thinkin' old 
 Anders bad 'cess to him won't be so anx- 
 ious now to make us git off the flats." 
 
 "Sure, you can't till," said old Mrs. Hogan, 
 pulling her green and black checked shawl 
 tighter about her head. "Anders the ould 
 diwle is mane enough to evict us jist for 
 
 25
 
 26 THE UPSTABT 
 
 the fun av it. And that Lawyer Wagner is 
 the wust av thim all." 
 
 " 'T was for new buildin's for th' tannery 
 he wanted our land," insisted Aunt Bridget. 
 "Now it 's burned down he '11 not be spindin' 
 money fer nothin'." 
 
 " 'T is good enough for him, annyhow," 
 went on Mrs. Hogan, sitting down on the edge 
 of a retired washboiler. "Him, wid his two 
 thousand acres of farm lands, thryin' to drive 
 daycint peepul off the little patch where they 
 been livin' fer tin years!" 
 
 "I wonder now," repeated Mrs. McCor- 
 mick from her seat on the top step, ' ' I wonder 
 how it got itsilf burned down? Somebody 
 must have set it on fire, I dunno ? ' ' 
 
 "That 's sure," promptly assented Mrs. 
 Hogan. "There 's plinty 'd be glad to hilp 
 the old Dootchman to a piece av bad luck. 
 Thim min over town, now, that Anders beat 
 out av their money in the tannery?" 
 
 "Ann Hogan," old Bridget spoke up 
 sharply, * ' 't was a good thing for Killgrubbin 
 the tannery burned. Lave it go at that and 
 stop thryin' to blame annybody for the bless- 
 in'!"
 
 THE UPSTART 27 
 
 A half-grown pig thrust a curious snoot out 
 from beneath the box-car and began to inves- 
 tigate Mrs. Hogan's bedraggled black calico 
 skirts. That lady, smarting under Aunt 
 Bridget's rebuke, kicked out viciously, and 
 the porker precipitately retired with shrill 
 squeals of pain and fright. 
 
 " 'T is a cannibal pig you 're kapin' under 
 th' house, Bridget Mahin," said Mrs. Hogan, 
 sharply. 
 
 ' ' Ah-wah, ' ' Aunt Bridget countered grimly. 
 "A pig '11 ate annythin'." 
 
 Then she relapsed into silence to let the blow 
 sink home. 
 
 Mrs. Hogan spoke quickly, anxious at the 
 same time to change the issue and to show 
 how little she was affected by old Bridget's 
 command to stop the voice of suspicion. 
 
 ' ' Thin there 's that Paddy Mack, ' ' she went 
 on calmly, "the Frinchman, or whatiwer he 
 is. Sure he 's not anxious to have that long, 
 lean shanty of his built like a sausage it is 
 moved from th' flats. Begob, it must be full 
 av silver and gold, he 's that careful niwir 
 to lit a white man stick his nose inside th' 
 dure. Lived here tin years, he has, and not
 
 28 THE UPSTAET 
 
 one av us leddies knows th ' real name av him. 
 Whin you 're lookin' fer th' lad that hilped 
 th' tannery burn down, you 
 
 "Aw!" Pat McCormick broke out indig- 
 nantly in defense of his ancient friend and 
 shipmate, "I was sitting out in front there 
 with him when the fire started ! ' ' 
 
 Just then the bell in the court-house tower 
 began to ring the hour. With a gesture which 
 commanded silence, Aunt Bridget took her 
 pipe from her mouth and counted the strokes. 
 
 "Nine tin," she concluded. "Full time 
 daycint peepul were in bid. Be off wid ye 
 all. And you, Norah," she said to her sister, 
 as the rest scattered, "go home and to slape. 
 'T was a big wash you had at th' Hahn's 
 to-day?" 
 
 "Yis," answered Mrs. McCormick. "Miss 
 Jack's wearin' more an' more of thim white 
 skirts and things. To-morry I 'm ironin' 
 there. But I 'm thinking I 'd betther stay 
 up until Mike comes back." 
 
 "You '11 not," declared Aunt Bridget 
 firmly. ' ' Whin Michael gits home he '11 find a 
 rayciption committee, consisting av me, wait- 
 ing to bid him th' top av th' mornin'."
 
 THE UPSTART 29 
 
 With the habit of obedience to the iron will 
 of her sister strong upon her, Mrs. McCor- 
 mick bade her son good-night, picked her way 
 across the muddy lane and went into the door 
 of the whitewashed cabin opposite. Old 
 Bridget blew a long puff from her pipe. 
 
 "Come here to me, Pat," she said. The 
 boy sat down on an empty nail keg beside 
 her. 
 
 "Whin ar-r-e you dining agin at Judge 
 Hahn's, Misther McCormick?" she asked, 
 with a note in her voice that was half pride 
 and half laughter. 
 
 "When I 'm invited," Pat answered, smil- 
 ing shrewdly up at her. 
 
 " 'T will not be long, nivir fear. Faith, 
 Mrs. Hahn was tellin ' yere mither this mornin ' 
 she was that glad you and her son, Tom, 
 was sich good f rinds. 'T is no thin' she cares 
 for th' coat on a man's back or th' house he 
 lives in and her misthress av' th' foinist 
 place on Main Sthreet. Thim Hahns ar-re 
 th' salt av th' earth!" Aunt Bridget stood 
 up and waved her hands in fine, dramatic ges- 
 tures. "Mrs. McCormick an' Aunt Bridgit 
 doin' th' washin' out in th' summer kitchin
 
 30 THE UPSTART 
 
 an' Misther Pat McCormick eatin' supper in 
 th' big dinin '-room. " 
 
 Playfully she poked the boy with her pipe. 
 
 "Aw-w, you 're a sly lad you an' yere fine 
 f rinds. ' ' 
 
 "Tom Hahn 's a lucky boy," stid Pat, with 
 a note of envy in his voice. 
 
 " Luck is ut?" went on Aunt Bridget. 
 "Listen to me now. The day befure Mike 
 and your mither and me left the County Eos- 
 common on our way to Ameriky, old Granny 
 Clancy, she that was great-grandmither to us 
 girls and older than any of us could count, 
 come hobblin' over to the cabin to say us 
 good-bye. I mind she wore a long green cloak 
 the day, with the hood av it pulled over her 
 head. Her pipe was in her mouth and she 
 carried a long blackthorn stick. 'T was the 
 talk among the cabins that Granny Clancy 
 always drissed that way whin she wint out 
 into the bog on moonlight nights to dance with 
 the litthle peepul be the light av the fireflies. 
 
 " 'Nora,' she says to your mither that was 
 to be, 'your first-born '11 be a bye and you '11 
 have no other though you live to be as old
 
 THE UPSTART 31 
 
 as I am. He '11 be a bit av a lad and you '11 
 call him Pat. His hair will be rid and the 
 freckles on his face as thick as the hidge-roses 
 in June on Omaugh Common. He '11 be born 
 neither in a house nor out av doors, and ye 
 must watch over him carefully and bring him 
 safely through the measles, for, in the grounds 
 av me tay cup the other night I see him 
 wearin' a long black coat and standin' up on 
 his feet, wid a thousand min and women cheer- 
 in' and batein' th' flure before him.' 
 
 " * 'T is a priest the boy '11 be, I dunno?" 
 says your mither. 
 
 11 'Faith,' says Granny Clancy, 'how inquis- 
 itive we be. A priest mebbe or a mimber av 
 parliment, who knows? Nobody but me and 
 the litthle peepul and we won't till.' 
 
 "There 's luck for you, my bye," Aunt 
 Bridget went on. "And it 's all come thrue 
 so far, too. You were born at sea and your 
 rid head and the freckles on your face are 
 plain for annyone to see. You 're your 
 mither 's only child and, bechune us, with the 
 hilp av th' litthle peepul across the sea, we 
 must come be th' long coat yit"
 
 32 THE UPSTART 
 
 As Aunt Bridget finished speaking a tall 
 figure staggered across the railroad track and 
 started unsteadily down the narrow lane be- 
 tween the cabins. At the sight she laid down 
 her pipe, picked up the long oak staff which 
 lay beside her chair and, without a word to 
 Pat, advanced grimly to meet his father. 
 
 ' ' Mike McCormick, ' ' she said, as she barred 
 the pathway of the approaching man, "you 're 
 slapein' the night on the flure av me box-car. 
 Come in wid ye!" 
 
 "Why, it 's Bridget," answered the man, 
 straightening up. "Good-evening, Bridget. 
 Can you kape a saycrit, Bridget?" his voice 
 dropped to a husky whisper. "I know how 
 ould Anders' tannery come to burn itsilf 
 down this avenin', Bridget." 
 
 "Thin you betther forgit it, ye fool. Into 
 th' box-car, now, till ye come to yere sinses!" 
 
 The man drew himself up in drunken dignity 
 and waved one hand in a lordly gesture. 
 "I 'm goin' home, Bridget," he said, thickly. 
 "Git out av me way." 
 
 "Ye 're goin' where I tell ye," declared 
 the old woman, shaking an accusing fore-
 
 THE UPSTART 33 
 
 finger at him. "In wid ye an' thank God *t is 
 not th' flure av th' calaboose. Ye talk too 
 much, whin ye' re drunk, Mike McCormick." 
 
 The man staggered across Aunt Bridget's 
 little yard and sat down in the open door 
 of the box-car. 
 
 "All right, Bridget," he said, looking up 
 furtively at the old woman's wrathful face. 
 "All right. I '11 do ut, to oblige ye." 
 
 Without wasting further words Aunt 
 Bridget gave him a shove and Mike McCor- 
 mick rolled over and collapsed on the floor. 
 The old woman quickly turned the key in 
 the lock. 
 
 "Come, Pat," she said to the boy. "We '11 
 go to bed now." The two walked across to 
 the whitewashed shanty into which Pat's 
 mother had disappeared an hour before. 
 
 "In th' name av the Lord, Pat," the old 
 woman said solemnly, as she stopped to open 
 the door, * * nivir touch a drop av tlr' creetur ! 
 'T is th' diwle's own ile fer greasin' th' 
 hinges av hell!"
 
 IV 
 
 EAELT on the morning after the fire 
 King Anders drove in from the country 
 to hold a conference with his lawyer, Henry 
 Wagner. Before leaving home he laid out 
 the work for the day for his six big sons 
 and the ten hired men who helped in culti- 
 vating the huge farm. His wife sat beside 
 him at the front of the long green wagon. 
 Behind, on the straw, surrounded by cases of 
 eggs and butter, was perched his little daugh- 
 ter Antje, a dainty, yellow-haired little maid- 
 in striking contrast to the other members of 
 the gigantic and swarthy family. 
 
 A wave of comment followed the king as 
 his great gray stallions trotted slowly up the 
 dusty stretch of Main Street. In front of 
 the two- and three-storied brick store build- 
 ings men stood in their shirt-sleeves and gos- 
 siped of the burned tannery and its owner. 
 
 34
 
 THE UPSTART 35 
 
 No man in all northern Elinois was better 
 known than he. 
 
 "I remember," said one graybeard, tilting 
 back in his chair, "when King Anders come 
 to this country, fresh from Holland, in his 
 wooden shoes. He was nigh as big then as he is 
 now. He come to work for his nncle, old 
 Geerds, out the river road. Inside of five 
 years he marries the Geerds' girl. Then 
 when the old man dies he steps right into 
 six hundred and forty acres of Pecatony bottom 
 land. And him only twenty-one. It 's been 
 the same way ever since. He 's et up every- 
 body that come near him." 
 
 "Well, he 's likely to lose a lot on the tan- 
 nery burning, anyhow," put in another. 
 "They say he did n't have no insurance." 
 
 "Tannery 's just a piece with the rest of 
 it," went on the oracle. "John Higgins and 
 Henry Kramer organizes the company no 
 better people in Liberty, you know that and 
 takes in King Anders. What happens I Huh ! 
 That was only two years ago and last month 
 Anders tried to squeeze 'em out, and, what 's 
 more, he done it. Course there was a h 1 of a
 
 36 THE UPSTART 
 
 row. But Lawyer Wagner and the King was 
 too smart for 'em. Higgins and Kramer are 
 just about bound to lose every cent they got 
 on earth. And now I s'pose he '11 be trying 
 to trace the tannery fire to them." 
 
 TYING his horses, King Anders climbed up 
 the steps leading to Henry Wagner's office 
 and sat down heavily in a chair close to the 
 lawyer's desk. At a glance his little eyes 
 took in every corner of the room. Then, with 
 his broad shoulders bent forward over the 
 desk, he spoke in what was intended to be a 
 whisper. 
 
 "I send Higgins and Kramer by the peni- 
 tentiary, ' ' he said in broken, guttural English. 
 
 " Bight away?" asked the lawyer, in ironical 
 response to the King's positive announcement. 
 
 "I got me the proof by them," declared 
 Anders emphatically, striking the desk a blow 
 with his fist. For half an hour he went on, 
 triumphantly reporting the evidence he had 
 gathered. ' ' When you have them arrested ? ' ' 
 he concluded. '"This afternoon?" 
 
 Wagner smiled at the King's ferocious ear-
 
 THE UPSTART 37 
 
 nestness. "What do you figure your loss in 
 the fire?" he asked. 
 
 "Twelve thousand dollars." 
 
 "It '11 cost half that much more to convict 
 them, even if they 're guilty." 
 
 "You send them by Joliet," said the King, 
 grimly, "und-I pay the bills." 
 
 "Well, we must go slow. It 's a serious 
 thing to charge men like Higgins and Kramer 
 with arson. They stand high in town here 
 and it '11 be hard to make people think they 're 
 guilty. First of all, we '11 put some detec- 
 tives on the case and see what more they can 
 find out." 
 
 Two sleuths from Chicago spent several 
 months working in Liberty. Finally they 
 succeeded in twisting such a rope of circum- 
 stantial evidence about John Higgins and 
 Thomas Kramer that Wagner felt justified in 
 taking the case before the grand jury. He 
 did it reluctantly, for he knew that the public 
 generally looked upon the accused as victims 
 of King Anders' abnormal greed. They had 
 been the original promoters of the tannery 
 enterprise and had been forced out just before
 
 38 THE UPSTART 
 
 the fire, after a bitter struggle, in which 
 charges of treachery and dishonesty had been 
 made by both sides. Both of them had lost 
 all the money they had invested. 
 
 Indictments for arson were promptly re- 
 turned against Higgins and Kramer, and on 
 a Monday evening the village of Liberty shook 
 with the sensation of their arrest and subse- 
 quent release on bail. 
 
 But, within twenty-four hours, the startling 
 news had been lost sight of and forgotten in 
 the tremendous shock of a national crisis, which 
 stirred the whole country to its profoundest 
 depths. 
 
 Sumpter had been fired on and President 
 Lincoln had issued his first call for volun- 
 teers. That night a great mass-meeting was 
 held in the court-house square. Huge flags 
 were stretched across Main Street, and under 
 them, from the top of the stairs leading to 
 the court-house, the leading citizens of Liberty 
 spoke to the thrilled crowd, denouncing the 
 South, pledging the men and money of the 
 North to the defense of the Union, and, in 
 tones which vibrated with patriotic enthu-
 
 THE UPSTART 39 
 
 siasm, calling on volunteers to answer the 
 President's call. 
 
 Among the first to respond was Mike Mc- 
 Cormick. He was at once enrolled in a com- 
 pany made up of men from Liberty and, a 
 little later, incorporated into a regiment of 
 Illinois Volunteers. 
 
 For weeks after the outbreak of the war 
 little else was talked of in the village. In 
 Liberty, as elsewhere all over the country, 
 business was neglected and the nation hung 
 breathless on the issue. But gradually life 
 accommodated itself to the new conditions and 
 commonplace, but necessary, transactions were 
 carried on as before, with one great vital ques- 
 tion ever in the foreground. 
 
 When the call came for reinforcements, 
 Liberty sent many more of her men to the 
 front, among them Pat's old friend, the Cap- 
 tain, who, in spite of his age, succeeded in 
 getting himself accepted, and was assigned 
 to the same regiment with Mike McCormick. 
 Thus the two men became neighbors once more 
 this time under arms. 
 
 In the fall the indictments against Higgins
 
 40 THE UPSTART 
 
 and Kramer were taken up again and the case 
 was set for trial at the December term of 
 court. Judge Hahn was retained to conduct the 
 defense, with Anders' lawyer, Henry Wagner, 
 assisting the state 's attorney in the prosecution. 
 
 On the opening day of the trial, the court- 
 room was packed, most of the spectators being 
 friends of the two defendants, who came ex- 
 pecting an early and triumphant vindication. 
 Pat and his friend, Tom Hahn, by favor of the 
 latter 's father, sat together inside the railing, 
 in the space reserved for lawyers. 
 
 Wagner and the detectives retained by An- 
 ders had pieced together an extremely strong 
 case for the state, and before the first week 
 was over the partisans of Higgins and Kramer 
 began to shake their heads in doubt. The 
 prosecution proved the bitter feeling existing 
 between the two defendants and King An- 
 ders; they produced a witness who testified 
 that in his hearing Higgins had sworn to 
 get even with Anders at any cost; they 
 proved that on the day before the fire 
 Kramer had bought five gallons of coal- 
 oil, and that on the evening of the fire, and
 
 THE UPSTART 41 
 
 not more than an hour before it broke out, 
 a white horse drawing a surrey with yellow 
 wheels had been driven across the river and 
 down the road leading to the tannery. Hig- 
 gins owned the only horse and surrey in 
 Liberty which answered that description. 
 Finally they produced a white silk handker- 
 chief with Kramer's initials on it, which the 
 watchman at the tannery swore he picked up 
 the morning after the fire just outside the 
 stock room, where flames had first appeared. 
 When the state closed its case after three 
 weeks of testimony, it seemed certain that a 
 conviction would result. 
 
 Several times during the progress of the 
 trial Pat wrote to the Captain at the front, 
 telling him the case was going against Higgins 
 and Kramer, and that everybody expected 
 them to be found guilty. 
 
 The defense contented itself with putting 
 the defendants on the stand, introducing but 
 two or three minor witnesses. Higgins and 
 Kramer admitted practically everything that 
 the state's witnesses had charged. They even 
 swore that they had driven together to the
 
 42 THE UPSTART 
 
 tannery on the night of the fire and had visited 
 the stock sheds and other outbuildings, because 
 they believed Anders had lied to them about 
 the amount of tan bark and other raw stock 
 on hand, and they wished to see for them- 
 selves, pending final settlement of a suit for 
 an accounting they were about to press against 
 the King. They had been refused admission 
 to the tannery buildings by Anders' orders, 
 and were, therefore, forced to visit them 
 secretly. Of course they both denied, as 
 strongly as possible any responsibility for 
 the fire. 
 
 So keen was the interest in the trial, and 
 so eager was the prosecution for a verdict, 
 that court did not adjourn for the Christmas 
 holidays. Henry Wagner began the week by 
 a two days' speech for the state, in which he 
 wove the separate strands of evidence into a 
 tight web of guilt about the two defendants. 
 On the morning before Christmas Day Judge 
 Hahn rose to reply. He pointed out that 
 Higgins and Kramer were men of the highest 
 standing and reputation in the community; 
 that they had been made the victims of the
 
 THE UPSTAET 43 
 
 notorious greed and cunning of the prose- 
 cuting witness, who now, with the vindictive 
 spirit of a savage, was trying to punish them 
 for a crime they had not committed. Against 
 them there was nothing but some scattered 
 bits of circumstantial evidence, suspicious, 
 perhaps, in themselves, but perfectly explained 
 by the voluntary testimony of the defendants. 
 In conclusion he referred to the holy day so 
 near at hand; how at a million firesides little 
 children would be gathered together in mirth 
 and happiness, and how it rested with the 
 jury to decide whether not only this Christ- 
 mas, but all Christmases to come, should be 
 sad or happy ones for the children of the two 
 defendants. 
 
 He spoke but two hours. Then court ad- 
 journed and the judge announced that he 
 would deliver his charge to the jury that after- 
 noon. 
 
 When Pat got back to Shantytown, after 
 listening to the speech, he found his mother 
 being out washing that Aunt Bridget had 
 something to eat on the table. But, what was 
 more important, she had two letters which
 
 44 THE UPSTART 
 
 she had got at the post-office in the morning. 
 One of them was for Pat. He knew the writ- 
 ing. It was from the Captain. The other, 
 addressed ''Mrs. Michael McCormick," in a 
 large, clerkly hand, was marked ' ' Official Busi- 
 ness. ' ' 
 
 Before he sat down to dinner, Pat read his 
 letter. 
 
 "Dear Pat," the Captain wrote. " Since I 
 got your last letter, I Ve done a lot of think- 
 ing. I finally showed the letter to your father. 
 When he read it, I said : 'What were you doing 
 out on the river the night of that fire?' 
 
 "For a minute he was still, then he spoke 
 up: 'I suppose you saw me when I lighted 
 my pipe. Well, I 'd just got back from setting 
 the thing on fire. I knew Anders was going 
 to evict us on account of the damned old thing, 
 so I just set a match to it. I did it so that 
 nobody could prove it on me, either, but I 
 ain't going to see these fellows sent down for 
 my job. If they convict Higgins and Kramer 
 I 'm going back and 'f ess up to it. ' 
 
 "We talked about it almost all night. I 
 made your father see that it would be too late
 
 THE UPSTART 45 
 
 to confess after two innocent men had been 
 convicted. So we finally decided to draw up 
 a paper, stating the facts. I send it with this 
 letter. It 's signed by two witnesses and fixed 
 up in proper form, as near as we could make 
 it. Use it if you have to ; I leave that all to 
 you. 
 
 11 Perhaps you wonder why I take such an 
 interest in clearing John Higgins and his 
 partner? There 's a long story behind that, 
 and some day I '11 tell you all about it. I 
 wish, though, it was n't at your expense." 
 
 Pat ate no bite of dinner. Instead, he thrust 
 the Captain's letter into his pocket and hur- 
 ried up to the house of Judge Hahn, where he 
 knew his mother was at work. 
 
 The old woman was busy in the summer 
 kitchen, just at the rear of the house. She 
 was stooping over the wash-tubs when her 
 son came in. 
 
 "Here 's a letter for you, mother," he said, 
 holding out the big envelope with its official 
 stamp. He even tried to force a smile. 
 
 "Open it for me, Pat, darlin'," she said, 
 wiping the suds from her hands on her blue
 
 46 THE UPSTART 
 
 apron. "I wonder who kin be writin' to th' 
 likes av me? We 're not owing a cint to a 
 soul, at all. Now read me th' letther." 
 
 So Pat began. 
 
 "Army of the Mississippi," was the legend 
 engraved across the top of the sheet. "Mrs. 
 Michael McCormick, Liberty, Ills.," the letter 
 began in formal style. "Dear Madam, I am 
 directed by Col. Forsyth, commanding the th 
 Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, to express to 
 you his" 
 
 Pat hesitated, then stopped. ' ' Go on, bye, ' ' 
 his mother urged. t l Why, what 's the matter 
 wid ye?" 
 
 "to express to you his regrets and con- 
 dolences" the boy choked up again. 
 
 ' ' What is ut ? What is ut" ' ' cried Mrs. Mc- 
 Cormick. ' ' Hurry up ! " 
 
 " condolences at the death of your hus- 
 band, Private Michael " 
 
 "Kilted!" screamed the old woman, and, 
 collapsing in a chair, she threw over her head 
 the blue gingham apron she was wearing, and 
 so swayed back and forth, screaming, "He 's 
 kilted! My Mike is kilted!" Then the un-
 
 THE UPSTART 47 
 
 happy woman slipped to the floor, where she 
 'groveled in her abject grief. 
 
 Pat dropped the letter and knelt down beside 
 her. 
 
 At the first sound of her scream, Judge 
 Hahn and the rest of the family came hurry- 
 ing from the dining-room. The Judge picked 
 up the letter and glanced at its contents. 
 Meanwhile Lucy Wilson, Mrs. Hahn's sister, 
 had dropped on her knees by the side of the 
 clothes-basket and was giving old Mrs. Mc- 
 Cormick the comfort which only one woman 
 can give another in such an emergency. 
 
 "Here, Mrs. McCormick," said Judge 
 Hahn, finally, when she had been persuaded 
 to take her head from under her apron and 
 to quiet her shrieks to a series of heart-rend- 
 ing moans, ''let me read this letter. You 
 should be a proud as well as a sad woman this 
 day. Listen. ' ' 
 
 Then he read the concluding paragraph of 
 the official letter : 
 
 "The Colonel instructs me to say that Pri- 
 vate McCormick lost his life while attempting 
 an act of great daring and courage. Had he
 
 48 THE UPSTART 
 
 survived he would have been recommended for 
 a commission. The Colonel instructs me to" 
 say that while you have lost your husband, 
 the nation has added one to its list of heroes. ' ' 
 
 Judge Hahn lifted the old woman to her 
 feet. The others crowded round, offering her 
 a mixture of congratulation and condolence. 
 They wrung her hands, they patted her on 
 the back, and pressed upon her cups of tea 
 and other stimulants, until, finally, Mrs.JIahn 
 carried her away to rest in her own bed-room. 
 
 Pat sat beside his mother until she fell 
 asleep, with the Captain's letter burning in 
 his pocket. Now that his father was dead, 
 his duty was very clear. He slipped into the 
 library, where Judge Hahn was sitting. 
 
 ''Here 's another letter which came this 
 morning," he said. Judge Hahn read the 
 Captain's letter and its inclosures with fur- 
 rowed brow. 
 
 "It can't do father any harm now," Pat 
 said, when he looked up. "And mother "and 
 I can stand it." 
 
 "I '11 see you don't lose by it," answered 
 the judge, clasping the boy's hand. "Come
 
 THE UPSTART 49 
 
 with me. We must hurry down to the court- 
 house." 
 
 After a brief conference with the judge, 
 court was called to order. The jury was 
 brought in and Judge Hahn rose in the center 
 of a profound silence. The room was packed 
 and every one seemed to feel that an unex- 
 pected crisis was at hand. 
 
 Without a preliminary word, Judge Hahn 
 read the formal statement, in which Mike Mc- 
 Cormick described how he had set fire to the 
 tannery, and stated his motive in so doing, 
 ending with his signature and those of the 
 two witnesses, and the attestation, in legal 
 form, of the regimental judge advocate. 
 
 As he finished, Higgins clutched the arms of 
 his chair and gasped his relief. Wagner started 
 to rise, but was waved to his seat by the court. 
 The jury leaned forward in an attitude of 
 strained attention. King Anders' face went 
 fiery red. He leaned over and whispered to 
 Lawyer Wagner, who had grown suddenly 
 pale. Applause broke out in the crowded 
 room, but was instantly stilled by a rap of the 
 sheriff's gavel.
 
 50 THE UPSTART 
 
 Judge Halm told how the paper had come 
 into his possession. " These defendants are 
 as innocent of this crime as any member of 
 this jury," he went on. "It was Michael Mc- 
 Cormick who set the tannery on fire. He was 
 the criminal. But the same mail which 
 brought this confession, brought with it an- 
 other letter." 
 
 Slowly the lawyer opened the letter from 
 Colonel Forsyth and read it aloud. 
 
 "Michael McCormick," he said, impres- 
 sively, "has passed beyond the reach of any 
 earthly tribunal. But if it is possible for a 
 man to expiate a crime in this world, he has 
 done so. If he stained his name by the com- 
 mission of a private wrong, he has given his 
 life for the public good. Living in the shadow 
 
 of a crime, he died a hero Your Honor, 
 
 I move that the case against these defendants 
 be taken from the jury and that they be re- 
 leased, pending a further investigation." 
 
 Still there was a silence. The situation was 
 too tense for applause. Wagner made objec- 
 tions to the action asked for. He was over- 
 ruled and the court discharged the jury, and
 
 THE UPSTABT 51 
 
 released the defendants, with a promise that 
 all the facts connected with the confession 
 should be investigated. 
 
 Then, at last, a storm of cheers broke out. 
 Dozens of men crowded about the defendants 
 to congratulate them. In the midst of the 
 tumult Judge Hahn pulled Pat McCormick 
 forward. 
 
 ' * Here 's the fellow you want to thank, Hig- 
 gins," he said. 
 
 Higgins shook his hand. "Some day I '11 
 pay you for this, Pat, ' ' he said, with an empha- 
 sis which left no doubt of his deep sincerity. 
 
 At the table near-by stood Wagner and his 
 huge client. "Come on, Anders. Let 's get 
 out of this, ' ' said the lawyer. 
 
 But the old King shook his head furiously. 
 For a full minute he stood and glared at the 
 son of the man who had burned his tannery 
 and who had now spoken from the grave, as it 
 were, to thwart his revengeful plans.
 
 THE sudden end of the arson trial marked 
 what was apparently a sudden change 
 in the attitude of Pat McCormick toward the 
 problems of life. When the trial began he 
 was merely a boy ; when Higgins and Kramer 
 were discharged on that December afternoon 
 he had become a man, feeling a keen sense of 
 responsibility as head of the McCormick 
 family. In reality the change was not as sud- 
 den as it appeared. Pat's association with 
 Tom Hahn and other boys of happier birth 
 and better breeding at the public school, the 
 constant encouragement and inspiration of the 
 old Captain and Aunt Bridget, had developed 
 in him a vague, half -expressed ambition, need- 
 ing only some such shock as the sensational 
 death of his father to crystallize into a fierce 
 determination. 
 
 "I 'm going to stay here in Liberty and 
 
 52
 
 THE UPSTART 53 
 
 show people that a shanty mick can amount to 
 something, ' ' he wrote to the Captain, to whom 
 he could make such a statement without sus- 
 picion of boasting. 
 
 His plan had been to finish with the high 
 school and then to take up the study of law. 
 But now, as is always the case when the ideal 
 is to be translated into the actual, circum- 
 stances arose which made the following of 
 that plan impossible. 
 
 Within a week of the close of the trial 
 Lawyer Wagner began ejectment proceedings 
 to force Mrs. McCormick to give up her home 
 in Killgrubbin. Urged by King Anders, to 
 whom a petty revenge was better than none, 
 he pushed the suit to a quick hearing. But 
 before the order of ejectment was issued, Pat's 
 new friend, John Higgins, came forward with 
 the offer of a cottage, rent free. The offer 
 was made to old Mrs. McCormick, who ac- 
 cepted it gladly, but when Pat came home 
 from school that afternoon and heard the 
 news, he put an instant veto on the accept- 
 ance. 
 
 "I Ve got a job in the post-office, " he said,
 
 54 THE UPSTART 
 
 "and I 've found a little place out at the 
 end of Main Street we can rent for ten dollars 
 a month. I '11 go over and thank Mr. Hig- 
 gins. ' ' 
 
 "But how can you do that and go to 
 school ? ' ' asked Aunt Bridget. 
 
 1 ' I am going to quit, ' ' Pat announced. 
 
 "Aw now, darling," pleaded the old 
 woman, "you '11 not do that? Wid me and 
 your mither earnin' our tin dollars a week 
 and nothing at all ilse to amuse ourselves 
 wid?" 
 
 "I 'm going to work on Monday," Pat an- 
 swered. "I Ve rented the Main Street place 
 for a year. We '11 move to-morrow." 
 
 Aunt Bridget made many angry objections 
 to evacuating her box-car and she reproached 
 Pat bitterly for giving up school, with his 
 "diplomay" only a few years off, but secretly 
 she was full of pride for the boy. The evening 
 after the moving of the scanty household goods 
 was accomplished she rapped at the Hahns's 
 kitchen door, carrying a bundle under her arm. 
 It was Mrs. Hahn, herself, who opened the 
 door to her.
 
 THE UPSTART 55 
 
 "Good-evening," said Aunt Bridget, with 
 a somewhat haughty air, "we jist moved into 
 our new house on Main Street, Mrs. Hahn 
 and I Ve come to bring back that black basque 
 yere sisther Lucy brought over for Norah. 
 Misther McCormick '11 be buying our clothes 
 afther this." 
 
 Smiling, Mrs. Hahn invited the old woman 
 into her kitchen for a cup of tea and there 
 learned the whole story of what Pat had done. 
 
 "That 's fine," she said, half-way between 
 amusement and pride in the boy's deter- 
 mination. "The Judge was saying this noon 
 he had succeeded in getting Mrs. McCormick 
 a pension of twenty dollars a month." 
 
 "Wull, wull!" cried Aunt Bridget in de- 
 light. "Sure Mike McCormick dead is worth 
 a lot more to his family than ivir he was alive, 
 God rist his soul." 
 
 Not long after Pat went to work, the Rev- 
 erend Mr. Burton, friend and companion of 
 every boy in the village, hunted Pat up and 
 invited him to spend a couple of evenings each 
 week at the Rectory. 
 
 "I 'm getting a bit rusty myself, Pat," he
 
 56 THE UPSTART 
 
 said, "and if you 'd like to keep up your 
 algebra and read a little Latin and history, 
 we '11 begin to-morrow evening. ' ' 
 
 Pat smiled to himself every time he thought 
 of his first meeting with Mr. Burton. It was 
 a moonlight winter night and Vinegar Hill 
 and Killgrubbin were in the midst of a pitched 
 battle at the head of Cooper 's Hill. Suddenly 
 a sturdy figure in a red dressing gown shot 
 out of the Eectory door and sprinted across 
 the lawn, taking the low fence in its stride. 
 Pat and the leader of the Vinegar Hill gang, 
 struggling fiercely on the ground, felt their 
 collars clutched in a firm grip. 
 
 "Fighting 's bad enough," said the voice of 
 Mr. Burton, "but this kind of fighting is a 
 disgrace. Scratching and biting like dogs! 
 If you boys have got to fight, come over to 
 my barn and I '11 give you some boxing les- 
 sons." 
 
 Now Pat was glad to accept this new invi- 
 tation and regularly he spent two evenings 
 of each week at the old stone house, where the 
 Rector lived alone with his old and crotchety, 
 mother.
 
 THE UPSTAET 57 
 
 In the course of their reading, Mr. Burton 
 discovered that Pat was the possessor of a 
 bass voice surprisingly deep and powerful in 
 a boy of his small stature ; and often, when the 
 lessons were over, he leaned back in his easy 
 chair and listened in half-humorous appre- 
 ciation while Eienzi addressed the Romans or 
 Spartacus roused the gladiators to revolt. 
 
 One Sunday Mr. Burton and Pat were in- 
 vited to dine together at Judge Hahn's. At 
 the table the Rector noticed that the Judge 
 was not wearing his customary first-day black. 
 
 "I did n't see you at church to-day, Judge?" 
 he said. 
 
 ' ' No, ' ' answered the Judge, with a quizzical 
 smile, "I could n't go. Sister Lucy will tell 
 you why." 
 
 "Now, John," stammered the embarrassed 
 lady, blushing furiously, "I told you I would 
 buy you a new coat as soon as my interest 
 money came in. You see," she explained, 
 with perfect ingenuousness, "our theological 
 student, Mr. Patterson, had his first call to 
 preach to-day and he did n't have a decent coat 
 of any kind to wear. ' '
 
 58 THE UPSTART 
 
 After dinner, when Judge Hahn and Mr. 
 Burton sat down together in the library to 
 smoke their cigars, with Pat McCormick and 
 Tom to keep them company, the Judge quiz- 
 zically asked the Rector for advice on the sub- 
 ject of his wife's sister. 
 
 "Lucy would give away everything in the 
 house if we did n't keep a close watch on 
 her," smiled the Judge, "including herself. 
 Only this week she brought me a letter of pro- 
 posal from the Rev. Mr. Elliott you know him 
 the tall, discouraged-looking widower, with 
 the projecting Adam's apple and the seven 
 small children, they 've got over to the Second 
 Baptist Church. They get a new minister 
 over there about every six months and they 
 all propose to Lucy." 
 
 "I don't blame them,*" said Mr. Burton, 
 stoutly. 
 
 "She always comes to me for advice, and 
 so far I 've been able to prevent her doing 
 anything rash," the Judge went on. "But I 
 had a close call with this Elliott man. He 
 wrote a mighty eloquent letter." 
 
 Mr. Burton said nothing.
 
 THE UPSTART 59 
 
 ' ' I read it through. Then I asked : ' Do you 
 love him?' " 
 
 ''What did she say to that?" asked the 
 Rector. 
 
 " 'What has an old woman of thirty-seven 
 to do with love?' she answered me. 'But he 
 only gets six hundred a year and that is n't 
 always paid, you know. My little interest 
 money would be a great help. Then there 's 
 those seven little children with no one to look 
 after them!' " 
 
 "The man did n't ask her to marry him on 
 those grounds, surely," said Mr. Burton 
 hotly. 
 
 "Oh, no. That 's the way she put the case 
 to herself. I did some mighty hard thinking 
 for a minute. Finally I said, 'Mr. Elliott is 
 a very brilliant man. He will have a splendid 
 career. Within a few years, I have no doubt, 
 he will be called to one of the big city churches. 
 I can see you now, dressed in a fine new silk 
 dress, driving in your own carriage up to 
 the great church. They will have an assistant 
 pastor and a corps of deaconesses, so you will 
 have nothing to do but to attend to your social
 
 60 THE UPSTART 
 
 duties. Mr. Elliott's proposal will bear very 
 serious consideration, my dear.' " 
 
 Mr. Burton was smiling broadly. 
 
 "Now I want to know, Parson," asked the 
 Judge, " whether you think my flight of imag- 
 ination was justifiable." 
 
 "What was the result of it?" 
 
 "Why, she sat right down and declined his 
 offer, of course. The prospect I painted was 
 too much for her. The minute one of Lucy's 
 friends begins to have even a distant chance 
 of becoming prosperous she loses all interest 
 in him." 
 
 "The dear saint," laughed Mr. Burton. 
 
 "And such a bigot," Judge Hahn went on. 
 "Eight after you began coming to the house, 
 Pat, she came in one day and warned me that 
 I must n't let Tom associate with you. 
 'What 's the matter with Pat McCormickf I 
 asked. She lowered her voice to a whisper 
 to make answer. 'John,' she said, solemnly, 
 ' Pat McCormick is a Eomanist. ' 
 
 The roar of hearty laughter which followed 
 was interrupted by Mrs. Hahn. 
 
 ' l What are you men laughing at 1 " she asked 
 from the hallway.
 
 THE UPSTART 61 
 
 Before Mr. Burton could answer there 
 sounded the voice of Miss Lucy, calling to her 
 sister from the dining-room. 
 
 "0 Alice," she called, "I 'm going to take 
 the rest of this ice cream over to Mrs. Wolfer- 
 man. ' ' 
 
 Mrs. Hahn joined in the renewed laughter. 
 
 " There, hear her, ' ' said Judge Hahn. * ' Now 
 Burton, do you understand why I am still a 
 poor man?" 
 
 Walking home together up Main Street Pat 
 noticed that Mr. Burton was unusually silent. 
 
 "Is anything the matter, Mr. Burton?" he 
 asked finally. 
 
 "No, Pat," answered the Eector. "I was 
 just wondering how any man could dare to 
 ask a saint like Lucy Wilson to marry him."
 
 VI 
 
 FOE MOEE than a year life went smoothly 
 in the new house. Pat did faithful work 
 at the post-office and spent two evenings each 
 week at the Eectory. During the same time 
 Mr. Burton was preparing Tom Hahn for ad- 
 mission to Ann Arbor and the two boys studied 
 and recited together, their old friendship 
 growing constantly stronger. 
 
 In the Fall, after Tom had gone to matric- 
 ulate and his pretty sister, Miss Jack, had 
 entered the seminary at Bickford, Pat Mc- 
 Cormick took the examination for a teacher's 
 certificate, and, giving up his place in the post- 
 office, got an appointment to teach the Slayson 
 cross-roads school, eight miles out in the 
 country. 
 
 It was in October of the same year that 
 small-pox broke out in the village. It is still 
 referred to in Liberty as the year of the great 
 
 62
 
 THE UPSTAKT 63 
 
 plague. The dread disease first appeared, as 
 might have been expected, in Killgrubbin. The 
 physician who discovered the case hurried to 
 the office of Dr. Jackson, the health officer, and 
 turned it over to him with a groan of relief. 
 Shantytown was immediately quarantined, and 
 those within its borders were forbidden to 
 leave on any pretext. A big yellow flag was 
 put up on a pole near the first house on the 
 river bank and the necessary food for the 
 quarantined people was left in baskets each 
 morning at the side of the bridge nearest Kill- 
 grubbin. , 
 
 The first night of the quarantine a boat load 
 of Shantytown people escaped by rowing a 
 couple of miles down the river. When this 
 was discovered, an armed man was stationed 
 on either side of the river, with instructions 
 to shoot, if necessary, to keep the prisoners 
 within bounds. 
 
 Dr. Jackson, a young, unmarried physician, 
 gave up his practice and moved to Killgrubbin 
 to devote himself to stamping out the plague. 
 His greatest trouble was that he had no nurses. 
 Within a week twelve cases had appeared and
 
 84 THE UPSTART 
 
 the women of Skantytown were too terror- 
 stricken to be of much service. 
 
 Pat, coming home from his school in the 
 country one Friday night, found the whole 
 village demoralized with fear. The richer peo- 
 ple were leaving, and business was almost at 
 a standstill. It was the next morning, early, 
 that Pat's old Aunt Bridget, taking her pipe 
 and bag of tobacco and a big roll of clean 
 rags under her arm, left the house before 
 either her sister or nephew were up and 
 started straight for Killgrubbin. When the 
 guard tried to stop her from entering the quar- 
 antined district she faced him grimly. 
 
 "Young felly," she said, "I 'm going over 
 there on th' river bank to help me old f rinds, 
 so I am, and I 'd like to see you stop me ! You 
 run along now and tell Pat McCormick and his 
 mither that they 've seen the last av me unlis, 
 praise Mary, I come through this thing alive. 
 And mind now, you 're to leave a pound of 
 smoking tobacco in th' basket for me ivery 
 Mondah mornin'." 
 
 Distracted Dr. Jackson, inside the plague- 
 lines, welcomed the coming of the redoubtable
 
 THE UPSTART 65 
 
 old woman. She was the first person to come 
 inside since the quarantine was declared, and 
 she brought with her a fearless spirit and a 
 great store of common sense. While he doc- 
 tored the sick, she organized the women of 
 Killgrubbin and forced them to scrub the ram- 
 shackle shanties from top to bottom in the 
 effort to conquer the plague with soap and hot 
 water. 
 
 Three weeks went by and it began to be be- 
 lieved that the small-pox would be confined to 
 Killgrubbin. Then suddenly the town was 
 thrown into a wild panic of fear by 'the report 
 that a case had been discovered at the rear of 
 a house on Main Street, in a small hut occu- 
 pied by a German woman, who kept two cows 
 and sold the milk. 
 
 Most of the remaining population of Liberty 
 would have left town on the next train, had 
 that been possible, but the rest of the state 
 had by this time enforced a quarantine against 
 Liberty and trains did not even stop at the 
 village, mail and express matter being thrown 
 from the open cars as they passed through. 
 Such being the case, scpres of families left
 
 66 THE UPSTART 
 
 their homes and moved to the hills about the 
 town, living in tents and other temporary shel- 
 ters. The public schools had been closed at 
 the first outbreak of the disease and only 
 necessary business was carried on. 
 
 The Hahns, or rather the adult part- of the 
 family which was at home, _ were among those 
 who did not desert their house. 
 
 "We Ve got to stay and watch Lucy," the 
 Judge said, with a smile, when asked why he 
 did not join the exodus. "No, she has n't 
 got the small-pox, but she'd get it and scatter 
 it all over town if we did n't keep her almost 
 chained up. She'd have been over in Kill- 
 grubbin long ago if I had n't absolutely for- 
 bidden her to go. ' ' 
 
 In the cleaner and better residence part of 
 the village the disease did not spread rapidly, 
 but cases broke out here and there in the 
 most unsuspected places. 
 
 One evening Judge Hahn came home with 
 a grave look on his face. "There 's a yellow 
 flag on the Rectory," he told his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Hahn was horrified by the announce- 
 ment.
 
 THE UPSTART 67 
 
 "Has Mr. Burton got the plague?" she 
 asked anxiously. 
 
 "No, it 's his mother, but, of course, he '11 
 stay and care for her. They took milk from 
 old Mrs. Wolf erman. ' ' 
 
 1 1 What can we do f " asked Mrs. Hahn. 
 
 "I came home as soon as I heard of it to 
 see that you and Lucy did n't do anything 
 foolish. We 've sent to Chicago to get a special 
 nurse for the old lady. Whatever happens, 
 neither of you must go near the Rectory. Per- 
 haps it would be just as well to wait until the 
 nurse comes before we tell Lucy anything 
 about it. ' ' 
 
 * ' Great Heavens ! ' ' cried Mrs. Hahn. * ' They 
 have n't even a hired girl to help them. What 
 will the poor man do for his meals f ' ' 
 
 But Miss Lucy, coming downstairs at the 
 time, had heard Judge Hahn's first startling 
 announcement and had stopped short with a 
 thrill of pitying horror. She stood there, half- 
 way down, and listened eagerly to every word. 
 Then, silently, she slipped back to her room, 
 stuffed some things into her old straw satchel, 
 and stole as silently down the back stairs.
 
 68 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 She let herself out into the back yard the 
 Hahn's servant had fled in terror weeks be- 
 foreran through the garden, climbed the 
 high back fence in a most hasty and undig- 
 nified manner for a maiden lady of thirty- 
 seven and ran down the alley with the guilty 
 speed of a thief. 
 
 Just as she disappeared over the fence, she 
 heard her sister's voice calling, "Lucy!" and 
 the sound lent greater speed to her feet. 
 
 Dusk was beginning to fall as she reached 
 the side street upon which the alley opened, 
 and she hurried along without meeting a soul 
 she knew. Nearing the Rectory she shot 
 around to the rear, slipped through the little 
 churchyard and opened the door of the back 
 kitchen without stopping to knock. There she 
 stopped for a moment to listen. She could 
 hear some one in the front kitchen fumbling 
 about the stove and rattling the cooking uten- 
 sils. Still unannounced, she opened the door 
 into the kitchen and caught the Reverend Rich- 
 ard Burton in the act of frying an egg. 
 
 He looked up as the door creaked and his 
 face was startled and perplexed.
 
 THE UPSTART 69 
 
 "Oh, you poor thing!" said Miss Lucy. 
 
 ' * Miss Lucy ! ' ' cried the clergyman. ' i What 
 are you doing here ? ' ' 
 
 " In a minute, ' ' she answered, with the look 
 of a spoiled child, "I 'm going to be frying 
 eggs." 
 
 "I won't let you stay," Mr. Burton declared 
 firmly. 
 
 "You can't get rid of me," snapped Miss 
 Lucy in answer. "I Ve been exposed to the 
 plague, don't you see! They won't let me 
 leave here now till it 's all over." 
 
 She was already busy about the stove. Mr. 
 Burton stood looking at her in silent amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 "Mrs. Hahn?" he said questioningly. 
 
 "She has nothing to do with it. I guess 
 I am of age." Then, as he continued to ob- 
 ject, she went on, "I 'd like to know how you 'd 
 get on here without any help? Tell me that 
 now. ' ' 
 
 "But how did you come?" 
 
 "I came down the back alley, if you want to 
 know, Eichard Burton." 
 
 "The Hahns don't know, then!"
 
 70 THE UPSTART 
 
 "No, they don't. That reminds me I must 
 find some way to tell them." 
 
 Miss Lucy took a black wood coal from the 
 stove, tore a big sheet of white paper from 
 one of Mrs. Burton's kitchen shelves and wrote 
 on it this message : 
 
 ' ' Judge Hahn. I am here. Lucy. ' ' 
 
 Then she took a couple of pins from her 
 dress, walked through the Rectory, opened one 
 of the Main Street windows and pinned the 
 paper to the window-ledge outside. 
 
 "There," she said to herself, "I guess they 
 can read that from the street." 
 
 Then she went back to the kitchen, where Mr. 
 Burton was having an unsuccessful encounter 
 with an egg, took the tin turner from his hand, 
 and went to work. 
 
 "Now," she said, after she had boiled some' 
 coffee and spread a place on the kitchen table, 
 "sit down and eat your supper. I 'm going 
 to look after your mother. ' ' 
 
 "But are n't you going to eat anything?'' 
 asked the bewildered Mr. Burton. 
 
 "Not now. I 'm going to look after your 
 mother first, but you eat your supper right
 
 THE UPSTART 71 
 
 away. I don't want two sick people on my 
 hands. ' ' 
 
 Miss Lucy found old Mrs. Burton propped 
 up in bed. Her son had made her some badly 
 burned toast and a cup of tea and she was 
 suffering less from the disease than from lack 
 of womanly attention. 
 
 "Why, Lucy!" the old woman cried from 
 the bed. 
 
 "I Ve come down to take care of you, Mrs. 
 Burton," declared Miss Lucy, "and you 're 
 not to talk or worry about anything. Let me 
 take that burned stuff away and get you some- 
 thing fit to eat. ' ' 
 
 Presently Judge Hahn, driving hurriedly 
 down Main Street in search of some clue to his 
 sister's whereabouts, was told by a neighbor 
 of the sign pinned to the front of the Rectory. 
 Miss Lucy's message struck the comic note, 
 the more by contrast with the general dread 
 which prevailed and the man who told of it 
 startled gloomy Main Street with the sound of 
 unaccustomed laughter. Judge Hahn, him- 
 self, driving on to the Rectory, smiled broadly 
 at the means which Miss Lucy had adopted to
 
 72 THE UPSTART 
 
 notify her relatives. He read the message 
 with a chuckle and stopped long enough to 
 catch a sight of Miss Lucy herself, peering 
 out of an upper window. He shook his fist at 
 her playfully, then turned and carried the 
 news back to his wife. 
 
 "Will she corne through it alive?" wailed 
 Mrs. Hahn. "And what will people say?" 
 
 " We '11 hope so," answered the Judge. 
 "And what people say does n't make much 
 difference at a time like this. ' ' 
 
 Miss Lucy took hold of affairs at the Eectory 
 with entirely competent hands. When Mr. 
 Burton daily offered to help her about the 
 house, she relentlessly drove him out into the 
 churchyard for exercise. 
 
 "I '11 not have you meddling and fussing 
 about my work," she declared. "I 'd as soon 
 think of writing your sermons for you. Go 
 out and get some fresh air. That 's the way 
 you can help me most." 
 
 In the long evenings, when Mrs. Burton had 
 gone to sleep, they sat together in the study, 
 the clergyman reading aloud and Miss Lucy 
 incessantly sewing. She kept the Eectory in
 
 THE UPSTART 73 
 
 a condition of prim spotlessness which was 
 half painful and altogether refreshing. 
 
 As her illness progressed, old Mrs. Burton 
 grew querulous and demanded more and more 
 of her two attendants. She was greatly wor- 
 ried because, during her illness, no flowers 
 could be placed on the grave of her husband, 
 a labor of love which, during the twenty years 
 since his death, she had never forgotten for a 
 single day. After a consultation with Dr. 
 Jackson, who drove through the streets in a 
 closed buggy, the few wayfarers scattering to 
 get out of the way, Miss Lucy and Mr. Burton 
 took on themselves the acting of a lie. 
 
 "If she is to get well," the doctor said, "we 
 must save her from worry of every kind. ' ' 
 
 So Miss Lucy one morning promised her 
 that she, herself, would go to the cemetery and 
 take the flowers. Every morning thereafter 
 she disappeared below stairs, leaving Mr. Bur- 
 ton in the sick-room, and when, within ten 
 minutes, Mrs. Burton would call, complain- 
 ingly, "Lucy! Dick, where 'a Lucy? She 
 should n't leave me this way," her son would 
 answer, "Why, mother, Miss Lucy 's gone to
 
 74 THE UPSTART 
 
 the cemetery, you know," and the old lady 
 would lay her head down on the pillow again, 
 quite contented. 
 
 When the crisis came, Mrs. Burton grew 
 delirious, and, while in that condition, she 
 talked continuously. 
 
 ''Dick," she cried complainingly one after- 
 noon to her son, "you promised me you 'd 
 never get married while I lived. Now you Ve 
 brought home this strange woman as your 
 wife. I see her there in the window. It 's 
 the first time you ever disobeyed me. You 're 
 a bad boy, Dick. I '11 tell your father." 
 
 The doctor had left a quieting draught, and 
 after it had been administered and the old 
 lady had fallen into a deep sleep, Miss Lucy 
 turned to the clergyman. 
 
 ' ' Richard Burton, ' ' she said, ' ' so that is the 
 reason you have never married ? ' ' 
 
 "That 's one of the reasons, Miss Lucy." 
 
 "Well, it 's no reason at all. You Ve no 
 right to spoil your life for the sake of an 
 old woman's whim, even if she is your mother. 
 You need somebody here at the Rectory. Look 
 at the state I found you in ! "
 
 THE UPSTART 75 
 
 "But that 's not the only reason. There 's 
 a difference of religious belief between me and 
 the only woman I want to marry." 
 
 "Nonsense! It was never intended that 
 things of that kind should keep people apart. 
 
 "But I 'm not sure the woman I love loves 
 me," persisted Mr. Burton. 
 
 "Then ask her and find out," cried Miss 
 Lucy. "Richard Burton, I do hate a cow- 
 ard." 
 
 "I will ask her," said the clergyman, tightly 
 gripping both arms of his chair. ' * Lucy, will 
 you be my wife!" 
 
 In an agony of shame and blushes, Miss 
 Lucy stared at him with startled eyes. "Oh, 
 Oh, I hate you," she sobbed. 
 
 The clergyman crossed to her chair and 
 took one of the hands which had fallen help- 
 less into her lap. 
 
 "I Ve waited long enough, Lucy," he said. 
 
 "But your mother " she began to object. 
 
 "That is no reason at all," he quoted tri- 
 umphantly. "I have no right to spoil my 
 life." 
 
 "Don't," she pleaded, turning away her
 
 76 THE UPSTART 
 
 flaming face. "You know what I meant. 
 You must n't shame an old woman so." 
 
 "Look at me," he commanded. Still she 
 kept her face averted. ' ' Oh, Lucy, dear, I do 
 hate a coward." 
 
 Suddenly she turned to face him, smiling 
 through her tears. "I believe you think I 'm 
 afraid of you." And then, a moment later, 
 "You really do need somebody to look after 
 you, don 't you 1 ' ' 
 
 At the sound of voices, old Mrs. Burton 
 roused uneasily from her sleep. 
 
 ' ' Dick, ' ' she called feebly from the bed. Her 
 son sprang to her side. 
 
 "Mother," he said, "Lucy Wilson has just 
 promised to be my wife." 
 
 "I 'm very glad," the old woman answered 
 with an effort. l i I Ve been worried about you, 
 Dick." Suddenly she started up and spoke 
 again clearly. 
 
 "Good-bye, my children," she said. "God 
 keep you both," and was gone. 
 
 THE death of old Mrs. Burton was the last 
 death in Liberty from the plague. The spring
 
 THE UPSTART 77 
 
 came early, bringing with it almost unsea- 
 sonable hot weather and day after day of 
 cleansing sunshine. Almost as suddenly as 
 it had appeared, the dread disease vanished, 
 the various quarantines were lifted, the tent- 
 dwellers moved back into town, Aunt Bridget 
 came grimly back from Shantytown untouched 
 by the plague and the people of Liberty, under 
 the reaction from the long weeks of dread, 
 plunged into a summer season of great gayety.
 
 vn 
 
 THE effects of the great small-pox scare 
 were little felt in the broad domains of 
 King Anders. During the winter, while the 
 disease raged, no member of the family visited 
 Liberty. But that made small difference in 
 their manner of life. At best their visits 
 were few. And since his discomfiture in the 
 arson trial he had stuck more closely than 
 ever to the farm. The tannery fire had cost 
 him twelve thousand dollars, and, with a deter- 
 mination to retrieve that loss, he threw him- 
 self with titanic energy into the cultivation 
 of his square miles of land. His six great 
 sons were fast growing up and already each 
 of them was equal in working power to two 
 ordinary men. Though their father was the 
 richest farmer in the northwestern corner of 
 the state, not one of the boys had gone to 
 school for a day after he was thirteen. They 
 
 78
 
 THE UPSTART 79 
 
 were huge hulks of men, with no more knowl- 
 edge or intelligence than is required properly 
 to fertilize potato ground and get the best 
 results in the raising of livestock. Entirely 
 without initiative, they worked in gear with 
 the fly-wheel of their father's driving-power. 
 Over them, and the hired men and women of 
 the family, the King ruled with patriarchal 
 power. He managed his business affairs with- 
 out counsel or consideration of others. And 
 there was no one to question his authority. 
 
 To this rule there was one possible excep- 
 tion. That was the only daughter, Antje, now 
 a girl of sixteen. It was one of the freaks 
 of heredity that, while she inherited no trace 
 of physical likeness to her father, to her alone 
 of all the family should have descended the 
 King's masterful spirit and determined will. 
 In her short and slender figure, her red-gold 
 hair and deep-blue eyes, she harked back to 
 some far-off Teutonic ancestor, shining like 
 a flower amid the glowering swarthiness of her 
 great brothers while in the temper of her 
 mind the shrewd old father early recognized 
 a minature reproduction of himself. For her
 
 80 THE UPSTART 
 
 alone among his children King Anders was 
 forced to feel a sincere, if half-unwilling, 
 respect. He recognized the likeness to him- 
 self in the girl and his self-esteem was so 
 great that nothing else was needed to produce 
 affection. So far as tenderness was possible 
 to him, she was its object. 
 
 One day, not long after the unexpected out- 
 come of the arson trial, he and his daughter 
 were working together about the cow-stable. 
 Antje stopped to admire a beautiful black and 
 white Friesian heifer, which the King had re- 
 cently imported. 
 
 "She shall be yours, Antje," said the old 
 man. And Antje named the heifer Tulip and 
 fed and groomed the pretty animal with her 
 own hands. 
 
 One day in the following summer the King 
 announced at dinner, "Luders has bought 
 Tulip for two hundred dollars. It 's a good 
 sale. ' ' 
 
 "But you shan't sell her," said his daughter. 
 
 " No ? " sneered the King. ; ' For why not ? " 
 
 ' ' Because she is not yours to sell. You gave 
 her to me last spring."
 
 THE UPSTART 81 
 
 ' * Bah ! That was a good joke yet ! I guess, 
 maybe so, I sell my own cattle. ' ' 
 
 "You shall not sell Tulip," repeated the 
 girl stubbornly. 
 
 "Luders will be here for her to-morrow 
 morning yet," said the King, in a tone of 
 finality. 
 
 Next morning Antje refused to go to school. 
 Instead, she sat at the kitchen window, until 
 she saw Luders drive up to the horse-barn, 
 where her father was at work. Then she 
 slipped quietly out to the cow-stable, taking 
 with her a turnip and a bottle of white powder. 
 Outside the barn she stopped long enough to 
 hear Luders say that he had brought the 
 money to pay for the heifer and was ready to 
 take her away. 
 
 Then she hurried into the stable where her 
 beautiful pet was stalled, buried a lump of 
 powder in the turnip and fed it to her, crying 
 as she did so. Presently she heard her father 
 and the other farmer approaching. It was 
 characteristic of her that she stood by her 
 guns. 
 
 "Go into the house, Antje," ordered the
 
 82 THE UPSTART 
 
 King, anxious to avoid a scene. He might 
 have spared himself the anxiety. The girl 
 was dry-eyed and calm. 
 
 "I said you should not sell Tulip," she said, 
 quietly. "I have fed her poison." 
 
 The old King sprang forward in a fury, his 
 arm raised to strike. But Luders restrained 
 him. "Not that little girl, Anders," he said. 
 
 "Go into the house!" roared her father. 
 "I will teach you yet!" 
 
 The two men waited long enough to see that 
 the little girl had told the truth. Then Anders 
 returned the money and Luders drove away, 
 concealing an admiring grin beneath his beard. 
 
 "That little girl of Anders' ain't afraid of 
 him yet," he told his wife admiringly. 
 
 Anders walked grimly back to the house, 
 stopping to cut three willow switches. He 
 knew how to teach his women folks the danger 
 of rebellion against his authority! But alas 
 for the King; rebellion had already spread to 
 an astounding quarter! 
 
 "Antje, come here!" he called, throwing 
 open the kitchen door. Perhaps he had ex- 
 pected that the girl would be in hiding, but
 
 THE UPSTART 83 
 
 she rose directly from her chair to face him. 
 The sight of her fearlessness lashed his 
 rage. 
 
 "I teach you to kill my cattle!" he roared 
 and raised his switches to strike. But at that 
 moment his wife clutched him firmly about 
 the arm with both hands. 
 
 Actually it was beyond his comprehension. 
 For thirty years his wife and servant! Not 
 once had she dared to oppose his slightest 
 wish ; his whole conception of life tottered ! 
 
 He tried to shake her off, but she only clung 
 the tighter, crying, "Ander, you must n't 
 strike her!" Then his rage mastered him 
 and he turned and, with his left hand gave his 
 wife a savage push, almost a blow. The great 
 strength of his arm sent her flying across the 
 room. Her foot caught on a chair and, fall- 
 ing, her head struck the edge of the table. She 
 dropped to the floor motionless, a tiny trickle 
 of blood flowing from her temple. 
 
 With all his hardness, the thought of strik- 
 ing a woman his own wife, the mother of his 
 children unmanned him. The sight of the 
 prostrate body sent a chill over him. His
 
 84 THE UPSTART 
 
 anger gave way to a sickening, shameful fear. 
 He felt weak as a child. 
 
 As her mother fell, Antje rushed to her. 
 She knelt down and loosed the dress about her 
 throat. 
 
 ' ' Put her on the bed, ' ' she said to the King. 
 He lifted the prostrate woman in his great 
 arms and carried her into the adjoining room. 
 
 "Now open the window and get some 
 water. ' ' 
 
 Like a child he obeyed. When he came back 
 his wife had recovered consciousness. She 
 looked up at him but said nothing. There was 
 no reproach, hardly recognition in her eyes. 
 
 "I '11 go for the doctor, ' ' the old King whis- 
 pered, leaning over. 
 
 "Don't waste money on such foolishness," 
 said the old woman, lifting her head from the 
 pillow. ' ' I don 't need a doctor. ' ' 
 
 She was quoting the King's own words and 
 they cut him like a knife. Without answering 
 he left the room and started toward Liberty 
 for the physician, with his fastest horse on the 
 gallop. He covered the twelve miles to town 
 and back in an hour and a half.
 
 THE UPSTART 85 
 
 "Must be somebody dying at King An- 
 ders ', ' ' said the farmers along the road, when 
 they saw him dash by. "It 's the first time 
 he 's had a doctor in ten years." 
 
 When Anders and the physician came into 
 the house his wife was sitting in an arm-chair, 
 with Antje beside her. "Mother fell and cut 
 her head on the table," said the girl, before 
 any questions had been asked. "Father was 
 worse scared than he needed to have been. ' ' 
 
 The speech brought both relief and shame 
 to the King. For the first time in his life he 
 felt himself in the power of another this slen- 
 der girl with the fearless blue eyes his own 
 daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Anders' injuries were not serious. In 
 a few days she was about her work as usual. 
 The events of the day were never referred to 
 by any member of the family. In a month or 
 two the King began to feel again absolute 
 master of himself and of his household. 
 
 One evening he came home with an offer of 
 marriage for his daughter. It had been ar- 
 ranged during the day between himself and 
 old Piet Krager, his greatest rival in the
 
 86 THE UPSTAET 
 
 county as a lord of the land. Krager had six 
 daughters and an only son; with Anders the 
 case was reversed. One of Krager 's daughters 
 had recently married and with her had gone 
 one hundred and sixty acres of her father's 
 land. Anders with marriageable sons at 
 home felt that so much had been lost to him. 
 He was the readier to begin negotiations 
 when Krager suggested it. 
 
 "Antje," the King said to his wife, when 
 he found her alone in the kitchen that evening, 
 "Piet Krager wants our girl to marry his 
 son Piet." 
 
 "But Antje is so young," objected she. 
 
 "How old were you when we married 1 ?" he 
 answered. 
 
 "Is he a good boy! Would he be good by 
 Antje? I hardly know him yet." 
 
 "Not like our boys," the- old man admitted. 
 "Not such a good farmer. He has been by 
 the business college in town and such fo.olish- 
 ness. But Piet will give six hundred and 
 forty acres of land. Also our Ander and 
 Klaas get two Krager girls for wives and half 
 as much land."
 
 THE UPSTART 87 
 
 "Ask Antje," his wife suggested. 
 
 "Young Piet Krager wants you for wife," 
 the King said bluntly, when the girl came 
 into the room. 
 
 "He is a smart boy," she answered. "I 
 should be ashamed to marry him, I know so 
 little. He has been to the business college. ' ' 
 
 "Ander," his wife broke in timidly, "Antje 
 wants to go away to boarding-school yet first 
 a little once. ' ' 
 
 The King started to bluster, but the memory 
 of that other scene in the kitchen restrained 
 him. 
 
 "She has gone always to school," he said. 
 
 "Yes," answered his wife proudly, "but 
 Antje knows already so much as the teacher. 
 She can learn her nothing yet. ' ' 
 
 King Anders had never paid any attention 
 to the management of the little red school- 
 house which stood on one corner of his own 
 land. Any teacher was good enough to give 
 his boys the scrap of learning they required. 
 But now, with a shrewd plan in his mind, he 
 held several conferences with the smaller 
 farmers in the neighborhood, who served as
 
 88 THE UPSTART 
 
 members of the school-board. One evening 
 he came home with an announcement which 
 he felt would put an effectual damper on the 
 extravagant idea of sending Antje away to 
 school. 
 
 "The school-board has hired a new man 
 teacher, ' ' he told his wife and daughter, ' ' and 
 he 's a smart one. I guess, maybe so, he can 
 learn Antje a few things yet. He begins Mon- 
 day morning already." 
 
 "We will see yet," answered Mrs. Anders. 
 Neither she nor her daughter made any 
 further comment. 
 
 ^he next week the new teacher took charge 
 of the little school-house and Antje went over 
 to begin her studies under him. The new 
 teacher was Pat McCormick.
 
 VIII 
 
 r I THE school-house stood at one corner of 
 J- the cross-roads which separated four 
 sections of the Anders land. Behind it and 
 across the road to the right grew thick groves 
 of tall oak and maple trees, fringed about the 
 edges with hazel brush and sumac. In front a fat 
 black corn-field, punctuated with regular green 
 dots, stretched away over a slope of the hill 
 to the horizon. To the left was a great pas- 
 ture, light green with the first tender grass, 
 against which sleek black and white banded 
 cattle stood out in high relief. 
 
 The school lot was inclosed by a rail fence, 
 in the angles of which grew blue-bells and tall 
 white cups of the trillium. A big locust tree 
 stood on either side the revolving stile which 
 closed the entrance, and from it a deeply worn 
 path led to the little faded, red building, stand- 
 ing back from the road under the shadow 
 of a towering elm. 
 
 89
 
 90 THE UPSTART 
 
 When the new teacher reached the cross- 
 roads on the first Monday morning, the chil- 
 dren, already arrived, looked up quickly with 
 open mouths and shy curiosity in their eyes. 
 A few of them bowed awkwardly; others 
 looked quickly down in confusion, digging 
 their bare toes into the dirt. Pat unlocked 
 the door leading to the front entry, while the 
 pupils gathered in little groups outside, await- 
 ing the teacher's summons. 
 
 Inside the single school-room there were 
 twenty little battered desks, with a pine table 
 on a raised platform at one end for the 
 teacher. Along one side of the room ran a 
 cracked and badly worn black-board. On the 
 other wall hung, in solitary state, a wood- 
 engraving representing a very large "Wash- 
 ington crossing the Delaware in the midst 
 of very small and fragile cakes of ice. 
 
 Presently the teacher tapped the hand-bell 
 which stood on his table and the pupils came 
 straggling in. They came by twos and 
 threes, holding hands as if for mutual pro- 
 tection against an ambushed foe. All alike 
 were barefooted. The girls wore blue or
 
 THE UPSTART 91 
 
 brown checked gingham dresses, made in a 
 single piece, with their light hair twisted in 
 little braids which hung down on either side 
 their faces. The long, baggy and patched 
 trousers of the boys were supported by single 
 suspenders, crossing their blue cotton shirts. 
 The smallest took the desks in front. At the 
 very rear sat the biggest boy of all, an over- 
 grown lout with a heavy, sullen face. The 
 desk across the aisle from him was occupied 
 by a slender girl, apparently older than the 
 others. Her pink calico dress did not conceal 
 the budding curves of her figure. Her thick 
 red-gold hair hung in a single braid. 
 
 As the new teacher glanced quickly about 
 the room most of the pupils dropped their 
 eyes shyly. Only the girl in the back row 
 met his gaze fearlessly. On her face was an 
 expression of curious hostility. This was the 
 new teacher who had come between her and 
 her dream of going away to school, and al- 
 though unconscious of his guilt in that direc- 
 tion, Pat McCormick was quick to see that 
 she did not look upon him with favor. 
 
 "Will each of you please give me his name,"
 
 92 THE UPSTART 
 
 he said, " beginning with the little boy in the 
 first row." 
 
 The little boy in the first row gave no sign 
 of comprehension. To the repeated question 
 he still remained dumb. A giggle broke out 
 and swept round the room. Only the girl in 
 the rear seat remained silent, though a twinkle 
 of amusement shone in her wide blue eyes. 
 Pat stepped down from the platform and 
 leaned over the little boy's desk. 
 
 ' ' What is your name ? " he asked. The child 
 glanced up in apparent terror, then tried to 
 wiggle down under the desk, crying piteo.usly. 
 The giggles broke into open laughter, the chil- 
 dren covering their mouths with their hands 
 and twisting with delight. 
 
 Pat glanced at the girl in the rear seat. 
 
 "The little boy can't understand English." 
 She smiled, as if she enjoyed his discomfiture. 
 "He speaks only low Dutch." 
 
 Pat walked back to her desk. "Give me 
 your name, please." 
 
 "Antje Anders." 
 
 It came to him like a flash that this was the 
 daughter of his ancient enemy, who* had driven
 
 THE UPSTART 93 
 
 his mother from her home in Killgrubbin, 
 whose tannery his father had burned. When 
 he had been engaged to teach the Silver Creek 
 school the name of the old King had never 
 been mentioned. This was his first intimation 
 that any of the Anders' children were to be 
 among his pupils. 
 
 Close behind him sounded a suppressed 
 chuckle. He turned quickly to see the fingers 
 of the big boy on the other side retreating 
 from a derisive gesture. 
 
 " Stand up, sir," he ordered. The boy sul- 
 lenly started to rise. Perhaps the deep bass 
 voice impressed him. Then he hesitated and 
 sullenly sank down again into his seat. 
 
 Pat's fingers clutched the collar of his blue 
 shirt and a jerk landed its wearer on his knees 
 in the aisle. Another pull helped him to his 
 feet. 
 
 "Come to the platform," ordered the new 
 teacher, leading the way with one hand still 
 firmly clutching the collar. The big boy, 
 towering a head above the teacher, obeyed un- 
 resisting, apparently stupefied by the quick- 
 ness of the fate which had befallen him. The
 
 94 THE UPSTART 
 
 giggles were stilled now. A silent awe 
 brooded over the school-room. Open mouths 
 and staring eyes paid their tribute of respect. 
 Only in the face of Antje Anders, Pat still 
 caught a twinkle of amusement, not unmixed 
 with a touch of appreciation. She also had 
 a will of her own. 
 
 The big boy his name was Hoppy Hoppens 
 was given the front desk and the small Hol- 
 lander transferred to the rear. 
 
 "Miss Anders," said Pat, "will you help 
 me with this little 'fellow? He '11 need an 
 interpreter. ' ' 
 
 The girl blushed charmingly. It was the 
 first time she had ever been so addressed and 
 she liked it. She went to work with her small 
 countryman and Pat busied himself with the 
 other children. 
 
 When recess came Pat called Antje Anders 
 to his table. "Thank you for helping me," 
 he said. "Now we 'd better see about your 
 own studies. How far have you gone in arith- 
 metic?" 
 
 Pat noticed that Antje, like all the other 
 pupils, was bare-footed. She called the fact
 
 THE UPSTART 95 
 
 to his attention by her efforts to conceal her 
 slender, brown ankles with her skirts. As 
 he looked at her thick, reddish-gold hair and 
 the smooth, even whiteness of her skin, he 
 wondered whether he might not be mistaken 
 in his conclusion that she was the daughter 
 of King Anders. He dimly recalled Anders 
 as a glowering black giant of a man. Surely 
 this slim, dainty girl could not be his child. 
 
 "I 've gone clear through White's Inter- 
 mediate," Antje answered to the teacher's 
 question. She spoke a trifle proudly, expect- 
 ing that this announcement would discomfort 
 him. White's Intermediate had marked the 
 furthest boundary of the former teacher's 
 mathematical knowledge. 
 
 "Then we '11 begin algebra." 
 
 Pat caught the unwilling look of respect 
 which came into the girl's face. It pleased 
 him greatly and he blessed Mr. Burton for 
 the year of study which had made him master 
 of the mysteries of "x" plus "y." 
 
 "I expect to go to Bickford Seminary in 
 the Fall," said the girl, shyly, voicing for the 
 first time, except to her mother, the plan on
 
 96 THE UPSTART 
 
 which she had set her heart. She wished, 
 for some sub-conscious, unrealized reason, to 
 have the new teacher understand that she, 
 too, had intellectual ambitions; that she was 
 not content with the narrow boundaries of 
 White's Intermediate. 
 
 "Then if you '11 bring the catalog for the 
 school we '11 prepare for the entrance exam- 
 inations. ' ' 
 
 "Yes, sir," she answered, smiling a little. 
 Pat, glancing down at his watch, was startled 
 to see that the ten minutes allowed for recess 
 had more than gone by. 
 
 "We '11 talk it over again," he said as he 
 tapped the bell. 
 
 That evening, after supper, King Anders 
 casually questioned his daughter about the 
 new teacher. 
 
 "How goes it, Antje?" he asked. "Ain't 
 that new teacher a smart one yet?" 
 
 "Oh, I guess so," she replied indifferently. 
 Next morning she surprised her mother by 
 insisting upon wearing her Sunday shoes and 
 stockings to school. 
 
 Pat's first month as master of the Silver
 
 THE UPSTART 97 
 
 Creek school went by swiftly. Outside in the 
 elm gorgeous orioles and scarlet tanagers 
 sang and worked at their nests. From the 
 pasture-lands came the low of feeding cattle 
 and the droning hum of bees busy about the 
 clover. Through the open windows of the 
 little school-house the soft airs of spring wan- 
 dered, bringing with them the fragrance of 
 the flowering locust. Now and then a quail 
 slipped out from the fields and perched on 
 the rail fence to call "Bob White," and once, 
 even, so quiet and remote was the place 
 Pat, glancing out of a window, saw a red 
 fox creep from the hazel brush and stand with 
 one front paw uplifted and head on side, 
 alert for danger, before trotting across the 
 school lot to the other woods. 
 
 Every Friday afternoon Pat walked into 
 town to spend Sunday with his mother and 
 Aunt Bridget and every Friday he took with 
 him a clearer picture of his most charming 
 pupil. Did he like her better in the pink calico 
 and bare ankles, as he had seen her first or 
 in the white dress, tied with a sash, that came 
 a few days later? It suddenly dawned on him
 
 98 THE UPSTART 
 
 that he was growing sentimental and he be- 
 rated himself for his folly. One Sunday he 
 fought it all out with himself and decided very 
 properly that he would forget Antje entirely, 
 or, since that was impossible as long as she 
 was one of his pupils, he would look upon her 
 only in the impersonal light of an unusually 
 good student. 
 
 But, on the next Monday, when he walked 
 into the school-house, she looked up at him 
 from her desk and smiled so divinely that poor 
 Pat quite forgot his fine resolutions. What 
 right had she, anyway, to do up her hair in 
 that fetching way on the top of her head. . . . 
 Still, he liked it better in the long braid. * ' The 
 school will please come to order." 
 
 As for the girl she saw in the new teacher 
 a help rather than a hindrance in her cherished 
 plan of going away to school in the Fall. If 
 she was conscious of his restrained admiration 
 she did not give sign of it. Only a sly glance 
 now and then in his direction, when she thought 
 he was not looking, betrayed the fact that he 
 was to her more than a mere impersonal figure 
 of Discipline and Knowledge.
 
 IX 
 
 WHEN the young people of Liberty came 
 home from college and seminary in June, 
 almost every one of them brought a guest. 
 The streets of the village took on a new tone of 
 youthful gayety; parties, picnics and moon- 
 light excursions on the river filled the days 
 and nights. 
 
 To walk up elm-shaded Main Street on one 
 of those soft June evenings was to catch fas- 
 cinating glimpses of white dresses grouped on 
 the wide front porches, far back from the 
 street, with little spots of black scattered 
 among them; to hear gay bursts of girlish 
 laughter, the tinkle of guitars and banjoes and, 
 now and then, the rollicking chorus of "My 
 Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" or "A Spanish 
 Cavalier," soprano and boyish bass blending 
 sweetly together. Or, perhaps, one would meet 
 a cavalcade of 'busses and buggies filled with 
 
 99
 
 100 THE UPSTAET 
 
 happy young people, and rattling down Main 
 Street and on over the bridge, bound for 
 Harshmanville, where, in the cross-roads tav- 
 ern, ice cream and lemonade and a country 
 fiddler were waiting. 
 
 And over all hung the silver lamp of the 
 moon, which shines only for youth and beauty, 
 spilling its magic light down through the feath- 
 ery elms which arched the streets, and chang- 
 ing the little Illinois village into the country 
 of immemorial romance. 
 
 The Hahns gave the first party of the season 
 on their lawn. Tom Hahn had brought two 
 young fellows home with him from Ann Arbor 
 and his sister, Miss Jack, was hostess to three 
 of her pretty classmates at Bickf ord Seminary. 
 Pat McCormick was one of the guests and he 
 was included, also, when, a week later, the 
 Hahns' new neighbor, Andreas Schumacher, 
 sent out invitations for a dancing party. 
 
 Originally a German peasant from the Rhine 
 country, Schumacher's thrift and industry as 
 a farmer, aided by his ambitious wife, had en- 
 abled him to lay up what was considered a 
 handsome fortune. Then, after thirty years'
 
 THE UPSTABT 101 
 
 hard work, he had sold his land and invested 
 his money in a business block on Main Street 
 and in the residence, half a mile away. 
 
 Schumacher never recovered from an atti- 
 tude of wondering surprise at his own success 
 in life. The first thing he did, after he bought 
 the down-town building, was to have fastened 
 to its front, in gold letters two feet long, the 
 legend "Schumacher's Block"; and his favor- 
 ite amusement was to sit on the court-house 
 steps opposite and admiringly survey this con- 
 crete monument to his importance in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 He took an even greater interest in his new 
 house. First of all, he added an extra story, 
 topped by a fancy cupola, and then had the 
 whole creation painted in the glaring reds and 
 greens which were at the time the last word in 
 the fine art of house-painting. Also, when a 
 sewer was laid down the Main Street of Lib- 
 erty, old Schumacher was among the first to 
 put in a bathroom and the marvel of turning 
 one spigot and getting cold water and another, 
 just like it and getting hot, was to him a pe- 
 rennial delight.
 
 102 THE UPSTART 
 
 Now the Schumachers were to give their first 
 evening party. Pauline Schumacher, the only 
 child, was a classmate of Jack Hahn 's, and the 
 list of guests at the Hahns ' party was taken as 
 a nucleus for the larger number of young peo- 
 ple who were to be invited to the Schumacher 
 mansion. The old man insisted that the chil- 
 dren of his old neighbors in the country should 
 be invited. He could not overlook this oppor- 
 tunity of showing them the wonders of life in 
 a great city. 
 
 With Miss Jack in the photon beside her, 
 Pauline drove about the village distributing 
 the cards of invitation, which had been written 
 in his most flourishing style by the principal of 
 the Liberty Business College. The two girls 
 even drove out far into the country and left in- 
 vitations for the Anders and Krager children 
 and their neighbors. 
 
 Then there was the silver to be provided for 
 the supper, and a dozen neighboring families 
 contributed from their store to make up the 
 necessary supply. The Hahn silver was 
 marked by tying a white thread to each piece, 
 that loaned by the Williamses with a red
 
 THE UPSTART 103 
 
 thread, and so on, each family being assigned 
 a different color by way of identification. From 
 all over town, also, Japanese lanterns were 
 gathered up, until more than a hundred, gor- 
 geous in red, blue and yellow paper were ready 
 to shed light on the coming festivities. 
 
 Old Schumacher and his hired man worked 
 for days at building the dancing platform in 
 the front yard, under the boughs of a huge elm 
 tree, and Jack Thompson's Full Dress Orches- 
 traso called because it had been the first to 
 introduce clawhammer coats in Liberty was 
 engaged, two weeks in advance, to furnish the 
 music. 
 
 King Anders snorted with contempt when 
 his wife told him of the invitation that had 
 come to the boys and to Antje. 
 
 "Our young ones shall stay at home," he 
 said. ' ' Schumacher gets foolish in his old age 
 already. ' ' 
 
 But next day Antje went to him and said, 
 "Piet Krager wants me to go with him to 
 Schumacher's party," and that arrangement 
 fitted in so well with his own plans, he curtly 
 consented.
 
 104 THE UPSTART 
 
 It was finally agreed that the children of the 
 Anders and Krager families should go toge- 
 ther, the head of each furnishing a long wagon 
 for their conveyance. But Piet Krager, em- 
 phasizing his position as an only son, called for 
 Antje in a buggy, and they started for town at 
 seven o'clock, an hour before the time set for 
 the opening of the party. 
 
 Piet Krager was a short, heavily built young 
 man of twenty-one. He had prepared for the 
 occasion by buying a new suit of ready-made 
 clothes, light green as to background with 
 large lumps of black scattered over the sur- 
 face in bold relief. The old French barber 
 in Liberty had cut his hair, parting it low on 
 the left and bringing it down in front to two 
 sharp points, with the aid of a little oil and 
 many combings. His slight black moustache 
 was waxed and the ends turned down in grace- 
 ful curves. His chin rested on the top of a 
 standing collar, too high for his short neck, 
 his necktie was red, with black polka-dots, and 
 his big hands were covered with yellow driving 
 gloves. He wore patent-leather "pumps," 
 above which one might catch glimpses of lurid 
 red socks with black clocks.
 
 THE UPSTART 105 
 
 Piet rather dreaded the presence of so many 
 college boys at the party, but he had fortified 
 himself with whiskey during the afternoon and 
 he had a pint flask in his hip-pocket for use in 
 a possible emergency. 
 
 Antje Anders was full of excitement at the 
 thought of going to her first party. Her cheeks 
 were as pink as the ribbons on her white dress 
 when she climbed into the buggy. Piet laid 
 the whip to his horse and it started down the 
 lane on a gallop. With much pulling at the 
 reins and a half -suppressed curse he steadied 
 the beast to a fast trot. "She 's got a record 
 of better than three minutes, ' ' he said. 
 
 "I should think you 'd be afraid she might 
 run away," answered Antje. 
 
 "I never saw the horse yet I could n't 
 drive," he boasted, giving the mare an extra 
 cut with the whip. "Look here, I can drive 
 her with one hand." 
 
 He gathered both reins into his right hand 
 and threw his left arm about Antje 's waist. 
 The girl sat up straight, her cheeks crimson. 
 
 "Take your arm away this instant," she 
 commanded.
 
 106 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 "Aw, what for?" he leered, pressing her 
 closer. 
 
 "There 's a man in the road, right ahead of 
 us," said Antje, pointing out a figure a few 
 rods away. Piet took the reins again and they 
 drove by at a fast trot. As they passed the 
 man raised his hat and Antje gave him a smile 
 and "good-evening." 
 
 "Who 's that you 're smiling at so sweet?" 
 demanded young Krager. 
 
 ' ' He 's the teacher out at our school, ' ' Antje 
 answered. 
 
 "He 's a little feller, ain't he?" said Piet, 
 out of the fulness of his self-satisfaction : " I 'm 
 kind of sorry for him." 
 
 "You need n't be," answered Antje hotly. 
 ' ' He 's the smartest man I know. And he can 
 teach some people a lot about good manners." 
 
 "Aw, Antje," said Piet, again throwing an 
 arm about her waist, "don't get cross by me. 
 We are promised to each other already. ' ' 
 
 "If you don't behave yourself, I '11 get out 
 of this buggy," the girl cried, her eyes flash- 
 ing. 
 
 "Come now," persisted the fatuous youth, 
 "we will kiss and make it up yet."
 
 THE UPSTART 107 
 
 He pulled her close to him and touched her 
 cheek with his lips. Instantly she struck him 
 full in the face. 
 
 "By Grott!" he burst out, "you need n't 
 make no threats about getting out of my buggy. 
 You get out right this minute ! ' ' 
 
 He pulled up at the side of the road, and the 
 girl climbed down without a word. Piet Kra- 
 ger lashed his horse and drove on. Antje 
 turned, and, with a crimson face, started back 
 to her father's farm. Climbing the next hill 
 she met Pat McCormick. He stopped in aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 "I quarreled with Piet Krager. I 'm not 
 going to the party. ' ' 
 
 "But you 're almost in town. Come to the 
 party with me 1 ' ' 
 
 "0, I can't. I must go home. I 'd be 
 ashamed to go this way. . . I hope you '11 have 
 a good time. ' ' 
 
 "Please come," urged Pat. "It 's only a 
 little way now. I 'm going with the Hahns. 
 They live next door to the Schumachers and 
 we Ve got lots of time. ' ' 
 
 In the end she consented. It was her first 
 party and the temptation was great.
 
 108 THE UPSTART 
 
 Half a dozen young people were sitting on 
 the Hahns' front porch when Pat and Antje 
 walked up the lawn. 
 
 "Our wagon broke down and Piet Krager 
 had to stay to tend to the horses," explained 
 the artful Pat. 
 
 ' ' Let me take you, Miss Anders 1 ' ' said Tom 
 Hahn. " Laura Keene 's ill and can't go and 
 I 'm all alone in the world. ' ' 
 
 So presently the little party walked over 
 across the closely-clipped grass plots, to where, 
 on the platform under the elms, Schumacher 
 and his family stood to receive their guests. 
 
 "Is n't she a pretty girl, Pat?" asked Miss 
 Jack, as they followed in the wake of her 
 brother and Antje. 
 
 " I 'm thinking she 's not the only one, ' ' the 
 Irishman in Pat made answer.
 
 OLD man Schumacher in a long black frock 
 coat, his short gray beard freshly trimmed 
 and a broad white waistcoat covering his ro- 
 tund front, fairly exuded hospitality. He 
 shook hands repeatedly with everybody in 
 reach and he greeted each new comer with a 
 hearty l ' Wie gehts ? ' ' His wife in a new black 
 silk and Pauline, a slender girl in a flowered 
 muslin, stood close beside him and reinforced 
 his welcome with smiles and laughter. 
 
 When, after an unmelodious period of tun- 
 ing-up, the music finally began and Jack 
 Thompson bellowed "Take your pardners fer 
 the op'nin' waltz," there were more than a 
 hundred boys and girls gathered on the lawn, 
 to say nothing of the mothers and other elderly 
 relatives. These last waited to catch a glance 
 of their own especial darling as she fluttered 
 by, then hurried off to the kitchen to assist 
 Mrs. Schumacher in the final arrangements 
 for the supper. 
 
 109
 
 110 THE UPSTART 
 
 Old Schumacher insisted on dancing the first 
 waltz with his daughter, first removing his un- 
 accustomed black coat and revealing himself 
 in all the glory of stiff white shirt-sleeves. 
 
 "But I don't waltz," Antje Anders said re- 
 gretfully, when Tom Hahn asked her. 
 
 "0, you can't make me believe that," Tom 
 answered laughingly. "Come on anyway. 
 I '11 guide you and we won't have a bit of 
 trouble. ' ' 
 
 She let herself be persuaded into trying and 
 before she knew it, she was gliding in and out 
 among the crowd on the platform. Tom Hahn 
 certainly knew how to do things easily and 
 well. 
 
 "I was sure you could do it," he said to her 
 when the music had stopped and they sat down 
 together on a circular bench that ran around 
 a giant box-elder tree. ' * Here, let me see your 
 program before these chaps fill it up." 
 
 Tom Hahn's college mates were coming up 
 to ask for dances, but, before he would give 
 up the card, he insisted on putting down his 
 name for the next four round dances. 
 
 "By right of discovery," he whispered to 
 Antje. "Besides, I 'm your escort, you know."
 
 THE UPSTART HI 
 
 The other boys almost filled up her card be- 
 fore she had fairly caught her breath. She 
 glanced up to see Pat McCormick strolling by, 
 with Miss Jack on his arm. He certainly was 
 very short even Miss Hahn was slightly 
 taller. And there is nothing captivating about 
 straight red hair and freckles. 
 
 ' * May I have the next dance ? " It was Pat 's 
 voice at her elbow. 
 
 1 'I 'm afraid it 's taken," she answered, 
 holding out her card. 
 
 "I thought you told me you did n't waltz?" 
 Pat flashed out as his eye ran down the card. 
 
 "She was fooling thee," laughed Tom Hahn. 
 ' ' Miss Anders waltzes like a fairy. ' ' 
 
 The girl's cheeks were pink and there was 
 a new, wondering look of delight in her big 
 blue eyes. 
 
 "I did n't," she stammered, "but Mr. 
 Hahn-" 
 
 "You have n't got a round dance left for 
 me, ' ' Pat broke in rudely, looking up from the 
 card. She took it quickly from his hand. 
 
 " I 'm sorry there 's nothing you want, ' ' she 
 said. Now her cheeks flew the red flag of 
 war.
 
 112 THE UPSTART 
 
 "He 's my teacher, you know," Pat heard 
 Antje say as he turned away. 
 
 "Well," Tom Hahn answered, "he may 
 teach you everything else, so long as I teach 
 you to waltz." 
 
 Pat found Miss Jack and her classmates and 
 was devoting himself savagely to their service 
 when supper was announced. Schumacher had 
 been in favor of ringing a huge dinner bell 
 relic of his days on the farm but had finally 
 been persuaded to make the announcement ver- 
 bally. The boys and girls gathered at little 
 tables on the porches and under the trees, 
 where they were served by their own mothers 
 and aunts. First came fried chicken, creamed 
 potatoes and peas, followed by salad, sand- 
 wiches and coffee. Last of all, huge dishes of 
 home-made ice-cream, with strawberries; and 
 heaped platters of chocolate, cocoanut and jelly 
 cake, in thick slices, were served. 
 
 Among the scattered tables wandered old 
 man Schumacher, in his shirt-sleeves, stopping 
 at each to rub his hands in boisterous hospital- 
 ity as he saw the awful ravages of youthful 
 appetite.
 
 THE UPSTART 113 
 
 . . 
 
 'Well, young folks," was his loudly ex- 
 pressed wish at each table, "here 's hoping that 
 the vittles '11 agree with ye ! " 
 
 Supper over, the young men were invited 
 into the Schumacher sitting-room, where, on 
 the marble-topped table, half a dozen open 
 boxes of cigars were resting. This was the old 
 man's special field of entertainment and he 
 rose to the occasion. The opportunity to dis- 
 play the glories of his new bath-room was too 
 good to be lost. When the sitting-room was 
 filled with smokers he threw open the door 
 leading to his pride. 
 
 "Now, gents," he said, "would n't you like 
 a wash hot and cold water?" 
 
 Meanwhile that portion of the population of 
 Liberty which had not been invited to the Schu- 
 macher party was not missing all its grandeur. 
 Early in the evening the crowd of the unin- 
 vited had begun to gather on the Main Street 
 sidewalk. By the" time dancing began there 
 were almost as many outside as within the in- 
 visible boundaries. And it may fairly be ques- 
 tioned which had the better time, for those on 
 the outside were not bound by the laws of hos-
 
 114 THE UPSTART 
 
 pitality not to criticise the arrangements, the 
 guests and even the host and hostess, a piece 
 of good fortune of which they took full advan- 
 tage. So that below the shrill notes of Jack 
 Thompson's fiddle and the gay buzz of laughter 
 and talk, one might have heard, in the outer 
 circle, a constant stream of comment, some of 
 it caustic and all of it displaying an amazing 
 knowledge of the social secrets of the village. 
 
 When supper was served the excitement 
 among the crowd outside was redoubled. It 
 was not easy from the sidewalk to be sure as to 
 the exact items, and one daring youth, who, by 
 creeping through the shadows on the lawn, had 
 secured a near view of a table and brought back 
 a complete list of everything served, was in 
 great demand. 
 
 ' * That 's more 'n they had at the Hahns ' or 
 the Williamses'," was one comment. "I call 
 this a real swell party." 
 
 And that was the general' verdict of the unin- 
 vited. Kind-hearted Mrs. Schumacher, find- 
 ing that she had prepared much more fried 
 chicken and ice-cream than even the youthful 
 appetites of her guests demanded, sent out
 
 THE UPSTART 115 
 
 twenty heaping platesful to the sidewalk and 
 that made the verdict certain beyond all chance 
 of appeal. 
 
 While the last extra was being danced, Tom 
 Hahn hunted up Pat McCormick. 
 
 1 1 Come and help me hitch up the surrey, ' ' he 
 said, "I 'm going to drive you and Miss An- 
 ders home." 
 
 "I '11 walk," Pat answered sulkily. 
 
 * * 0, nonsense ! ' ' laughed Tom Hahn. * ' Walk 
 six miles when I 'm going right out there! 
 Come on!" 
 
 Tom helped Antje Anders up to the front 
 seat of the surrey. Pat sat on the back seat, 
 with pretty Miss Jack beside him. So they 
 drove out over the moonlit country roads, Pat 
 displaying the most astonishing high spirits, 
 while from the front seat there came to his 
 strained ears only occasional low ripples of 
 laughter and the sibilant murmur of confiden- 
 tial voices. 
 
 Everything was dark when they reached the 
 Anders farm-house. Tom Hahn jumped down 
 and helped Antje to alight with much more 
 care than seemed to Pat at all necessary. Then
 
 116 THE UPSTART 
 
 Miss Jack leaned over from the surrey and 
 bade her a cordial good-bye. 
 
 "We all want to see a lot more of you this 
 summer," she said. 
 
 And Pat had to be content with a casual 
 "good-night" which Antje called over her 
 shoulder as she turned to enter the house. 
 
 The farm where Pat happened to be board- 
 ing that month was half a mile farther out the 
 river road. 
 
 * ' Well, Pat, ' ' said Tom as the surrey turned 
 the first corner, "your little Dutch girl was the 
 belle of the ball all right." 
 
 1 ' Yes, Miss Anders did seem to be popular, ' ' 
 answered Pat dryly, furiously angry at the 
 familiarity which so lightly called her ' l a little 
 Dutch girl." 
 
 "She 's just as pretty and sweet as she can 
 be," Miss Jack burst out enthusiastically. 
 "Her father owns whole townships of land 
 about here," she added thoughtfully. 
 
 "Tom," his sister asked, a moment later, 
 after Pat had been let out at the gate of his 
 boarding place, "what in the world was the 
 matter with Pat McCormick to-night!"
 
 THE UPSTART 117 
 
 1 'Oh, I don't know," answered the careless 
 youth, "I reckon he is n't quite used to going 
 to parties." 
 
 As for Pat McConnick, he lay down to sleep 
 in the hay-mow, rather than rouse the farm- 
 house, all unconscious of the storm which was 
 about to break over his head.
 
 XI 
 
 PAT woke early and went into the house for 
 his breakfast. Then he walked over to the 
 school-house and called his pupils to order. 
 Antje Anders was not present. 
 
 All morning his mind was on what had hap- 
 pened the night before chiefly he thought 
 about Antje. Was she ill? Was her father 
 angry with her for not having gone to the 
 party with Piet Kragerf In a way he was 
 responsible for that. At least, but for him, 
 she would have gone home after getting out of 
 the buggy. He would go over to the Anders' 
 house and take the blame on himself. It 
 was n 't her fault, after all, that Tom Hahn and 
 his college friends had filled up her dancing 
 program. And he had behaved like a fool he 
 was sure of that now. He must see her and ex- 
 plain and ask her to forgive him. He could 
 
 hardly wait for the time to dismiss school. 
 
 us
 
 THE UPSTART 119 
 
 Antje was still asleep when the Anders fam- 
 ily sat down to their early breakfast. 
 
 ' ' Where 's the girl I ' ' asked the old King. 
 
 ( 'Still asleep," answered the mother. "She 
 did n 't get home till late yet. ' ' 
 
 "That 's the way with such foolishness," 
 said the King. "Ander" indicating his eld- 
 est son "and I go by town with some hogs. 
 We won't be back till night." 
 
 Half an hour later old Piet Krager drove up 
 to the Anders house. 
 
 "Where is my son, Piet?" he demanded of 
 Mrs. Anders, who opened the door to him. ' ; He 
 has not come home from that party." 
 
 "I have yet no idea," the old woman an- 
 swered, wiping her red hands on her apron. 
 "Antje is asleep. She got back at three o 'clock 
 this morning already." 
 
 "My girls did not see their brother at the 
 party," persisted Krager. "Your girl was 
 there and was all the time dancing with those 
 town dudes. I want to know where my boy, 
 Piet, is yet?" 
 
 "Wait. I wake up Antje and ask her."
 
 120 THE UPSTAET 
 
 The sleeping girl woke with a start when her 
 mother shook her gently by the arm. 
 
 ' ' Old Krager is here looking for Piet, ' ' said 
 Mrs. Anders. ' ' He has not come home. Where 
 did you leave him yet?" 
 
 "I did n't go to the party with Piet Kra- 
 ger," she said, sitting up in her bed. "He 
 kissed me and I slapped him. Then he made 
 me get out of his buggy. I met the school- 
 teacher and went with him. I don't know 
 where Piet Krager is and I don't care." 
 
 "This will make plenty trouble by your 
 father, AmVje," said the old woman, shaking 
 her head. "I go tell Krager." 
 
 ' ' Ant je did n 't go by the party by your son, ' ' 
 she told the old man waiting at the door. ' l He 
 got fresh by her and she got out of his buggy. 
 She don't know where he is yet." 
 
 "So," said old Krager in an ugly tone. 
 "Mine son is not good enough for her, huh? 
 We see about that yet ! You better look a little 
 out for your girl. Where is Anders ? ' ' 
 
 "He is in town," flared up the old woman, 
 ' ' and he make you eat what you say bad about 
 our girl with a pitchfork yet. Antje went to 
 the party with the school-teacher. When you
 
 THE UPSTART 121 
 
 look after that boy Piet, it will keep you plenty 
 busy. ' ' 
 
 Muttering to himself, Krager climbed to his 
 wagon and drove straight to Liberty to search 
 for his missing son. 
 
 Meanwhile King Anders had sold his hogs 
 and then, with the money in his pocket, he 
 went up to the office of Lawyer Wagner. As 
 the King stalked in, Wagner looked up from 
 his table with a grin on his face that made the 
 old man uneasy. 
 
 ' ' Hear you Ve got a new school-teacher out 
 your way," he said. 
 
 "Yah," answered the King, "and he 's a 
 smart one, too, yet. ' ' 
 
 "Yes, smart enough to pull the wool over 
 your eyes all right." 
 
 "What you mean?" 
 
 "Why, you know who he is, don't you? 
 He 's the son of Mike McCormick who burned 
 down your tannery. ' ' 
 
 * * Huh ! Aw, what you talk about ? ' ' 
 
 "The same. The red-headed boy who 
 cleared Higgins and Kramer," Wagner 
 laughed, unpleasantly. 
 
 "Well, if he is I get him out pretty quick al-
 
 122 THE UPSTART 
 
 ready," roared the King, getting to his feet. 
 "Come, Ander, we go home." 
 
 The King and his son climbed up on the high 
 seat of the wagon, the big hog-rack behind 
 them, and rattled out of town at a sharp trot. 
 As they jolted along over the rough dirt road 
 the anger in the old man grew hot and violent. 
 He was furious at the school-trustees who had 
 employed Pat McCormick. They had made a 
 fool of him. Wagner and Higgins and 
 Kramer everybody, who knew about it, was 
 laughing at him. 
 
 * ' By Gott ! " he burst out, striking the horses 
 a heavy blow, "I '11 drive that teacher out 
 of the Anders neighborhood with a black-snake 
 whip!" 
 
 His great son, who shared the general fear 
 which his father inspired, said nothing. Under 
 the smart of the blow the horses broke into a 
 heavy gallop and it took all the boy's strength 
 to pull them down again to a trot. By that 
 time they had overhauled a green farm-wagon, 
 traveling along the road ahead of them. Its 
 driver looked back at the sound of approach- 
 ing wheels. He was old Piet Krager.
 
 THE UPSTART 123 
 
 "Anders," he said, sullenly, stopping his 
 horses. "I want to speak mit you." 
 
 The King drew up his team. The back of 
 Krager's long wagon was covered with a can- 
 vas sheet. To the end gate was tied young 
 Piet's mare, drawing his empty buggy. Old 
 Krager's face was red with rage and shame. 
 
 "That 's a nice girl you got, Anders," he 
 said hotly. ' ' She 's too good for my son, Piet, 
 huh?" 
 
 The old King glowered down from his seat, 
 saying nothing. He was in no mood to be 
 bearded on the highway by a neighbor. 
 
 "She don't go by the party with him. No! 
 But she dance all night with them town dudes 
 and comes home at three in the morning yet. ' ' 
 
 "Krager, you lie to me," thundered the 
 King. 
 
 "Your woman told me so herself already 
 that Antje goes by the party with the school- 
 teacher," answered Krager. 
 
 Young Anders on the seat beside his father 
 could hear the old man's heavy breathing and 
 feel his body tighten in the grasp of the demon 
 of rage that seized him. Pat McCormick tak-
 
 124 THE UPSTART 
 
 ing his daughter to a party! Was he a thing 
 for all men to laugh at! 
 
 "You come right, away by my house, Kra- 
 ger, ' ' said the King, * ' and we settle this pretty 
 quick. Come ! ' ' 
 
 He tore the reins from his son's hands and 
 lashed his horses into a gallop. Leaning for- 
 ward as if to shorten the distance, he urged 
 them on. Close behind, old Krager followed 
 grimly, eager to see the shame and confusion 
 of King Anders. 
 
 Pat McCormick dismissed school a little 
 earlier than usual. Mrs. Anders opened the 
 kitchen door to him when he knocked. 
 
 "I 'm the school-teacher," he began. 
 
 "You went by the party with Antje last 
 night!" the old woman interrupted. 
 
 "Yes. She was almost in town when I met 
 her. We went with Miss Hahn and some other 
 young people. Antje was n't at school to-day. 
 I was afraid she might be ill I " 
 
 "No, she is not sick, but her father will be 
 mad when he hears. ' ' 
 
 "It was my fault. I will wait and see Mr. 
 Anders. May I see Antje a minute?"
 
 'THE UPSTART 125 
 
 ' ' She is working in the garden already. ' ' 
 
 Walking down the lane over the shoulder of 
 a hill Pat found Antje kneeling in the soft 
 earth. She started to rise from the onion-bed 
 she was weeding as the garden-gate clicked 
 behind him. 
 
 1 ' No, let me help you, ' ' he said, dropping on 
 one knee beside her. "I was afraid you were 
 sick. ' ' 
 
 "I slept late, that was all," she said, "I '11 
 be at school in the morning. ' ' 
 
 "Antje," Pat began unsteadily. "I was 
 very rude to you last night. ' ' 
 
 "Kude?" repeated the girl, a world of sur- 
 prise in her voice. * * Why, I did n 't know it. ' ' 
 She went on about her weeding. 
 
 "Yes, I was," said Pat, "and you were 
 mighty unkind to me. ' ' 
 
 The girl stopped her work and glanced over 
 her shoulder at him. Her face was in profile 
 and her yellow hair was lying in little wanton 
 curls over her low forehead. The cheek turned 
 toward him was flushed and where the collar 
 of her blue calico dress was turned in he could 
 see a little vein beating against the whiteness 
 of her skin.
 
 126 THE UPSTART 
 
 "What 's the matter !" she smiled. "You 
 're pulling up more onions than weeds." 
 
 They were alone in the big garden, screened 
 with tangled thickets of gooseberry and cur- 
 rant bushes. Above them a fleet of cottony 
 white clouds was at anchor in the blue sky and 
 the warm sun of late June beat down fervently. 
 Locusts were shrilling in the trees and a brown 
 and yellow striped chipmunk darted across 
 the nearest fence-rail and perched on the 
 post, fluttering its tail and fairly vibrating 
 with timid curiosity. 
 
 " Antje," Pat began, with a new note in his 
 voice but just then the serene silence of Arca- 
 dia and its onion bed was broken by the rattle 
 of wagon-wheels. The girl stood up. 
 
 "It 's my father," she said, "and old Piet 
 Krager is with him." 
 
 "Never mind," said Pat, standing beside 
 her. "I '11 explain to him." 
 
 King Anders, looking straight ahead, drove 
 on up the lane. He might have passed the gar- 
 den without noticing, had not his son pulled 
 him by the arm. 
 
 "Father," said the boy, "there is Antje in
 
 THE UPSTART 127 
 
 the garden already. And the teacher is with 
 her." 
 
 King Anders jerked his team to a sudden 
 halt and sat silent for an instant, glaring at 
 them over the garden fence. 
 
 It was all true then ! 
 
 Slowly and without speaking he climbed 
 down from the high seat, taking his black-snake 
 whip with him. Still silent he fumbled at the 
 leather strap which fastened the garden gate. 
 Finally he threw it open and stepped inside. 
 
 Out in the lane old Piet Krager had stopped 
 his horses and sat with a wicked leer on his 
 face. On the seat which his father had just 
 left young Ander sat motionless. Up at the 
 house old Mrs. Anders had heard the sound 
 of wheels and had stepped out on the porch, 
 looking down toward the road, her hand shad- 
 ing her dim eyes. As she saw her husband 
 climb down from his seat she ran swiftly to- 
 ward him, crying shrilly, "Ander! Ander! 
 Come here yet once a minute ! ' ' 
 
 "Is your name Pat McCormick?" the old 
 King demanded, the muscles in his throat work- 
 ing spasmodically. His lower lip was dropped
 
 128 THE UPSTART 
 
 and his teeth showed above his short gray 
 beard. 
 
 ' ' Yes, sir. ' ' Pat stepped forward to face him. 
 
 ' * By Gott ! I teach you a lesson ! " he roared. 
 The heavy whip cut through the air, but as it 
 fell, Antje sprang before her father, as if to 
 stop him, and caught the full force of the blow 
 on her shoulders. Only the lash struck Pat in 
 the face and cut a red stripe down his cheek. 
 Antje fell to the ground with a scream of pain. 
 Pat leaped forward and seized the whip as the 
 King, beyond himself with rage, raised it to 
 strike again. Close to them in the lane, now, 
 the old mother was coming, running at the top 
 of her speed, stumbling and shrieking execra- 
 tions on her husband. On his wagon Piet Kra- 
 ger sat, his face distorted with a sneer of scorn 
 and satisfaction. 
 
 As Pat grasped the whip King Anders drew 
 back his left hand to strike him. Upraised, it 
 strangely faltered; then dropped limp at his 
 side. His great figure stood still for an instant. 
 His lips moved, but only unintelligible sounds 
 came from them. A look of awful surprise and 
 fear shone in his eyes. He tottered, then sud-
 
 Q
 
 THE UPSTART 129 
 
 denly collapsed upon the ground in a senseless 
 heap. 
 
 As he fell, the disheveled figure of young 
 Piet Krager raised itself from under the can- 
 vas sheet which covered the back of his father 's 
 wagon. 
 
 "Hurruh!" he yelled in a drunken voice. 
 1 i Everybody have a good time. ' ' Then he dis- 
 appeared again. In the confusion which fol- 
 lowed the fall of the stricken King, that inter- 
 ruption passed unnoticed. 
 
 Mrs. Anders, Pat, Ander and old Krager 
 carried the great unconscious figure into the 
 house and stretched it on a bed. While his 
 wife loosened the woolen shirt around his neck, 
 one of the boys started after a doctor, riding 
 an unsaddled horse. 
 
 Pat left the house, to see Antje just going 
 in at the back door. She was still pale and 
 shaken from the blow she had received. He 
 ran toward her, calling her name. Without 
 turning to look at him she hurried in and shut 
 the door.
 
 XII 
 
 PAT was at supper when Luders, the 
 president of the school-trustees, came 
 over to see him. He called Pat out into the 
 yard and the two sat down on the frame of an 
 old grind-stone under an apple tree. The man 
 was plainly the embarrassed bearer of an un- 
 pleasant message. He began with a cautious 
 reference to what had happened during the 
 afternoon. 
 
 "I suppose you won't want to teach the 
 school any more?" he finally blurted out. 
 
 " Why not?" asked Pat. 
 
 "Well, you know, Anders '11 be mad enough 
 at us for hiring you at all. We never had an 
 idea that you were the fellow whose father 
 
 "Now, look here, Luders," Pat interrupted 
 "I 'm not to blame for what my father did 
 and I 'm going to teach this school until my 
 term 's out." 
 
 130
 
 THE UPSTART 131 
 
 "Two of the Anders boys were over at my 
 house to-night and they said there 'd be hell 
 to pay if you showed up at the school to-mor- 
 row. ' ' 
 
 "I '11 be there at nine o'clock," said Pat, 
 getting up from the seat. "I 'm not going to 
 run away." 
 
 "You don't know that crowd, or you 
 would n't be so anxious to get us all into 
 trouble, ' ' said Luders, as he turned away. 
 
 Half an hour later Pat saw another man 
 coming across fields to the house. It was one 
 of the Anders hired men an Irishman. He 
 carried a note from Antje. Pat tore it open. 
 
 "Doctor Jackson says father has broken a 
 blood vessel in his head," she wrote, "and if 
 he is to get well there must be nothing to make 
 him mad when he comes to himself. If you 
 keep on teaching our school it may kill him. 
 Please go away." 
 
 Pat looked up from the note and hesitated a 
 moment. 
 
 ' ' She told me they was a answer, ' ' said the 
 messenger. 
 
 ' l Tell her I 'm not going to teach the school
 
 132 THE UPSTAET 
 
 any more. I 'm going back to Liberty to- 
 night." 
 
 " And a good thing it is," the man burst out. 
 "They 're a bad lot over there" wagging his 
 head in the direction of the Anders farm 
 "all but the girl. She 's nursing the two av 
 thim this minute, with thim big louts av boys 
 standing around like dummies." 
 
 "The two of them?" said Pat in surprise. 
 
 "Sure the old woman keeled over tin min- 
 utes afther they got the old man in the house 
 and the doctor found both av thim in bed whin 
 he got there." 
 
 "Is n't there any one else to help?" 
 
 * l We 're all doing what we can and they Ve 
 sint for wan of the Luders girls to do the cook- 
 ing. But that Miss Antje now 's a ragaler 
 major-gineral for you." 
 
 "Well," Pat responded slowly, "you tell 
 her I 'm going back to Liberty to-night. That 's 
 the most I can do to help. ' ' 
 
 He sent word to the school-directors that he 
 had changed his mind, packed his trunk to be 
 brought in on Saturday by the farmer and at 
 ten o'clock started to walk the long stretch of
 
 THE UPSTART 133 
 
 six miles into town. Midway he mounted the 
 crest of a high hill and there he stood a minute 
 and looked back. Down in the valley lay the 
 dim buildings of the Anders farm. Between 
 him and the girl who lived there lay a gulf 
 which, it seemed, might never be crossed. Im- 
 pulsively he tossed a good-bye kiss to her 
 through the night. Then he faced to the west 
 again, where the lights of the village twinkled 
 among the trees. 
 
 NEXT morning Pat went down to see General 
 Bristow, the postmaster, his old employer. He 
 had decided not to look for another school. 
 One of his old ambitions was near to realiza- 
 tion now; what it was, only Judge Hahn and 
 Mr. Burton knew, but by the end of the year 
 he hoped to realize it. 
 
 There happened to be a place vacant in the 
 post-office and he was given it. Often he called 
 at Dr. Jackson 's office to inquire as to the con- 
 dition of King Anders. A rapid recovery was 
 reported. Finally, one day after three 
 months had gone by, Dr. Jackson told him that 
 the old man was himself again.
 
 134 THE UPSTART 
 
 "He 's got the constitution of an ox," the 
 Doctor said. "Apparently he 's as well and 
 strong now as he ever was. It 's mostly owing 
 to that girl of his, too, I tell you that. She 's 
 not only nursed him but practically managed 
 the farm ever since he took sick.'* 
 
 "She must be quite worn out," Pat ven- 
 tured. 
 
 "Yes, she is looking pretty peaked. I told 
 Anders he ought to send her away for a rest. ' ' 
 
 Less than a week later, Pat got an unex- 
 pected letter. His hand trembled a little as 
 he tore open the envelope. 
 
 "I 've Been wanting to tell you that I don 't blame 
 you for what happened that afternoon," it began 
 abruptly, "and I 'm dreadfully grateful to you 
 for giving up the school. I don't know what awful 
 thing would have happened if you had n't. I 'm 
 going to Biekford Seminary after all. I '11 be on 
 the 10:40 train next Monday morning. 
 "Your friend, 
 
 "ANTJE ANDERS. 
 
 "P. S. Don't come to the train if it 's incon- 
 venient. ' ' 
 
 
 
 Inconvenient ! When Monday came Pat was
 
 THE UPSTART 135 
 
 at the station half an hour before the train 
 was due. Presently Tom Hahn drove up in a 
 surrey, with satchels and bundles beside him 
 and his sister, Miss Jack, in the seat behind. 
 
 "Why, Pat McCormick," she cried at sight 
 of him. t ' Climb up here with me. Where have 
 you been all summer? We have n't laid eyes 
 on you since the Schumacher party." 
 
 "I Ve been very busy," he said. The ar- 
 rival of other phaetons and buggies filled with 
 young people, all come to see Miss Jack safely 
 off, saved further explanations. They formed 
 a circle about the seat where she held her 
 court and filled the station platform with gay 
 talk and laughter. Presently the train pulled 
 in. Pat would have climbed down but the girl 
 stopped him. 
 
 "Here, Pat," said Miss Jack, "you shall 
 carry my dearest treasure." She handed him 
 a long paste-board box. * * Be careful of that, ' ' 
 she warned him, smilingly. "It 's got my very 
 bestest party dress in it." 
 
 So in the midst of the laughing crowd of 
 young people, Pat entered the car, his eager 
 eyes going ahead in search of Antje. He saw
 
 136 THE UPSTART 
 
 her near the rear, a little figure in a country- 
 made brown dress, a huge canvas satchel on 
 the seat beside her. Miss Jack caught sight 
 of her at the same moment and ran to greet 
 her. 
 
 "Why, Antje Anders," she cried. "Where 
 are you going?" 
 
 "I 'm going down to Bickford Seminary," 
 Antje answered. 
 
 "How lovely! Here, Tom, turn over this 
 seat and we '11 ride together. ' ' 
 
 So Pat saw the girl he had come to see f taken 
 possession of without a chance to say a word 
 to her alone. 
 
 "Pat, put that box up here in the rack," 
 Miss Jack ordered, treating him as one of her 
 attendant knights. 
 
 "I hope I '11 see you again next week, Miss 
 Anders," Pat heard Tom Hahn saying. "I '11 
 be stopping at the seminary on my way to Ann 
 Arbor. ' ' 
 
 Then the conductor called "All aboard!" 
 The girls in the party rushed to kiss Miss Jack 
 good-bye and a moment later Pat found him- 
 self standing on the platform outside, watch-
 
 THE UPSTART 137 
 
 ing the train disappear down the track. Of 
 the tender meeting with Antje he had fondly 
 pictured, there was nothing left to him but a 
 little pressure of the hand and a glance from 
 her blue eyes could he be sure even of that! 
 
 Poor little girl, so tired and worn, with most 
 of the color gone from her cheeks. She looked 
 like a little brown wren in the midst of the 
 girls of Liberty, with their flowers and rib- 
 bons and flounces. 
 
 Pat hurried back to the office to write her a 
 letter. 
 
 "Dear Antje," he wrote. "I wanted very 
 much to see you alone and have a talk with 
 you, but you saw how it was. I wish the 
 whole Hahn family were in Guinea. You know 
 how glad I was to get your letter. As soon as 
 you are settled, I want to come down to the 
 seminary to see you. I hope you '11 have a 
 fine time at Bickford. May I write to you 
 while you are away? I know what a hard 
 summer you Ve had and I feel that I 'm re- 
 sponsible for it." 
 
 It was more than two weeks before the an- 
 swer came
 
 138 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 "I 'm feeling much better already," she 
 wrote. "Last week we had a pleasant visit 
 from Tom Hahn. He stopped over to see his 
 sister and took Jack and me out for a long 
 ride. We 're only allowed to see our brothers 
 and cousins, you see, and that 's why you can 't 
 come down here to see me. The idea of your 
 wishing the whole Hahn family in Guinea and 
 of your being so unhappy because you did n't 
 see me alone at the station ! When I looked out 
 of the car window as the train pulled in, I 
 thought you looked very happy sitting up on 
 the buggy seat with Jack. I think she thinks 
 a good deal of you. Now, don't go and get 
 conceited about it! Tom Hahn is going to 
 stop here on his way home for the Christmas 
 vacation and take us girls home with him. I 'm 
 sorry you can't come down to see me, but per- 
 haps you '11 come to the station and say 'How 
 do you do,' when I go through Liberty at 
 Christmas time. Yes, you may write to me 
 once in a while, when you have nothing better 
 to do." 
 
 Here was gall and wormwood, with only a 
 drop of honey at the end to make the taste of
 
 THE UPSTART 139 
 
 it bitter-sweet. Tom Hahn ran large through 
 it all, but Pat might write to her once in a 
 while! She had written him from the farm, 
 to say that she did not blame him and telling 
 him that he might come to the station to see 
 her. Perhaps, after all ... but whenever 
 his hopes grew brighter, the grim shadow of 
 old King Anders fell across them. For the 
 sake of the girl herself he must crush them 
 out. 
 
 And he had so little to offer her.
 
 xin 
 
 THE skill and tenderness shown by his 
 daughter in nursing him made a deep im- 
 pression on King Anders. No less was he im- 
 pressed by the ability she displayed in taking 
 over the management of the farm, to re- 
 lieve him of the worry caused by the entire 
 lack of initiative on the part of his sons. He 
 began to feel a certain fierce pride in her. 
 
 When Dr. Jackson spoke of her growing pal- 
 lor and weakness and urged that she be sent 
 away for a rest, old Mrs. Anders made bold 
 again to suggest that Antje's wish to go away 
 to school be gratified. To her surprise, the 
 King consented without objection. 
 
 Antje's first three months at the quaint old 
 seminary opened up a new world to her. The 
 girls from Chicago and the larger towns of 
 the state talked of books and dresses and other 
 things that put new interests into her life. With 
 
 140
 
 THE UPSTART 141 
 
 the quick adaptability which was hers, she soon 
 began to make changes in her attitude of mind 
 and in her wardrobe to meet the new condi- 
 tions. King Anders was used to spending 
 money on things which interested him land 
 and cattle and horses and now that his only 
 daughter was at school, he sent her plenty from 
 his great store. She spent most of it in buying 
 dresses and hats and the other dainty things 
 which help to make a pretty girl in the fresh- 
 ness of her teens a vision of delight. 
 
 To Pat she wrote an occasional letter. To 
 Tom Hahn she wrote more frequently. His 
 letters were a great delight to her. They told 
 of football games and of college larks and 
 frolics and they were laced with bits of verse 
 and scraps of Latin in a way that seemed to 
 Antje most fascinating. 
 
 When the Christmas holidays approached, 
 her room-mate, Jane Bartlett, asked her to 
 spend a part of the time with her in Chicago. 
 She longed to go, but would her father allow 
 it? She wrote him timidly about it. Presently 
 came a letter from her mother, written pain- 
 fully in low Dutch. It inclosed a draft for
 
 142 THE UPSTART 
 
 three hundred dollars. "Get yourself some 
 pretty dresses," it said, "and have a good 
 time. Your father says you may have more 
 money if you want it. We want to see you 
 very much." 
 
 She wrote to Tom Hahn at Ann Arbor that 
 she was going to spend her vacation in Chicago 
 and he promptly wrote back that that fell in 
 delightfully with his own plans. He was 
 spending a week in the city, too, and he would 
 call on her. 
 
 The drive from the station in Chicago to the 
 Bartlett home on the North Side was a pano- 
 rama of wonders to Antje. She shrank back 
 in the cab and watched the big buildings and 
 the miles of houses slip by in endless proces- 
 sion. Before Jane Bartlett, leaning out of the 
 cab, called "Here we are," her mind was a 
 kaleidoscope of confused impressions. 
 
 Next morning Antje was awakened by the 
 clatter of the milkman's horses on the pave- 
 ment. The whole day was spent downtown 
 and it was a bright-eyed and bewildered little 
 girl who sat down to dinner at the Bartletts'. 
 At eight o'clock Tom Hahn and his friend,
 
 THE UPSTART 143 
 
 John Tyler, called. Mrs. Bartlett and her 
 daughter were already in the drawing-room 
 and Antje came down presently. 
 
 When Tom rose to greet her he could hardly 
 believe his eyes. She wore a white, lacey dress, 
 trimmed with yellow, and Mrs. Bartlett 's own 
 maid had just finished arranging her great 
 mass of red-gold hair. As she gave him her 
 hand, Tom Hahn lost the assurance of a senior 
 collegian. For three months he had been writ- 
 ing letters to an angel and had been only half 
 aware of it ! The girl seemed perfectly at 
 home, but Sir Thomas had hard work to cover 
 his confusion. 
 
 "My Lord! But she 's a stunner!" cried 
 the enthusiastic Tyler as the young men left 
 the house. "Why did n't you give a fellow a 
 warning?" 
 
 "0, I thought I 'd let it burst upon you all 
 at once," answered Tom with the nearest ap- 
 proach to lightness he could assume. 
 
 The next afternoon Tom and young Tyler 
 took the girls to ride in the parks. In the even- 
 ing Mrs. Bartlett gave a little dance for the 
 young people at her house. There were other
 
 144 THE UPSTART 
 
 parties, a glee club concert, followed by a be- 
 wildering round of drives and dinners, and 
 through it all, Tom Hahn was never far from 
 Antje's side. It seemed to the girl that she 
 had known him for years. 
 
 On the last night of her stay in Chicago it 
 had been arranged that the four young people, 
 with Mrs. Bartlett as their chaperon, should 
 attend a performance of Romeo and Juliet. 
 Antje had never attended a theatrical perform- 
 ance; and at the prospect, naturally, she was 
 wrought up to a high pitch of excitement. 
 
 The young men took a stage box at McVick- 
 er's. The audience was a brilliant one and 
 when her party came into the crowded house, 
 Antje felt that she was looking upon a scene 
 from the land of fairies. Her wide blue eyes 
 swept round the gorgeous dress circle and up 
 the glittering tiers of boxes with startled de- 
 light. Despite the protests of Mrs. Bartlett 
 she insisted on sitting at the rear of the box, 
 where in the shadow of the heavy curtain she 
 could see without being seen. Tom Hahn took 
 the seat beside her, with the others in front of 
 them.
 
 THE UPSTART 145 
 
 While the orchestra was playing the over- 
 ture, late comers were filing into their seats 
 and the house was filled with gay chatter and 
 laughter. But Antje, her eyes half -closed, 
 leaned back in her chair and let herself drift 
 on the great waves of melody. It was like a 
 wonderful dream to her. Tom Hahn, sitting 
 close beside, watched the color come into her 
 cheeks and caught the soft sound of a little 
 sigh of delight. Neither of them spoke and 
 Mrs. Bartlett, glancing back, smiled happily to 
 herself, and then fixed her eyes upon the stage. 
 
 The lights in the great theater went sud- 
 denly out, the music stopped, the stage burst 
 into a glare of light and out tripped the gay 
 gallants in silken hose and doublet, the gray 
 and reverend seniors, and the tender girls of 
 mediaeval Verona, who live again in the mas- 
 ter 's love tragedy. 
 
 The little Dutch girl leaned forward, all her 
 soul in her eyes. Tom Hahn could see her 
 breathing quicken as she watched the action of 
 the play. When the curtain fell for the first 
 time, Mrs. Bartlett and Jane turned to speak 
 
 10
 
 146 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 of the wonderful acting. But Antje answered 
 hardly a word. It was all too real to her. 
 
 The farm with its dirt, its hard, grinding 
 work, seemed very far away. Had they ever 
 really existed ? Surely this was the real world, 
 this beautiful land, from which all sordid com- 
 monplaces were banished ; where no one toiled 
 or suffered save for love of some fair maiden. 
 
 What she saw took full possession of her. 
 All the young, fresh, virgin emotions of her 
 nature were deeply stirred. She, too, was a 
 princess of that fair country, where love is at 
 once the only means and the sole end of living. 
 She felt herself suddenly capable of a grand, 
 an overmastering passion. 
 
 The orchestra played again. ' ' Love ! Love ! ' ' 
 sang the fiddles ; "Love, ' ' whispered the flutes ; 
 "Love is the only thing in the world." 
 
 The next act began and the great house, 
 hushed and breathless, leaned forward again 
 in attitudes of strained attention. Tom Hahn, 
 glancing down, saw one of Antje 's slim brown 
 hands resting on the arm of her chair. He 
 reached over, reverently, and took it in his 
 own. To her it seemed the perfectly natural
 
 THE UPSTART 147 
 
 thing for him to do. She turned her beautiful 
 face toward him and he saw that her eyes were 
 misty. 
 
 "Antje, " he whispered, himself under the 
 spell, ' ' I love you, dear. ' ' 
 
 His voice was as passionate and compelling 
 as that of the other lover on the stage and the 
 girl thrilled to the mystery and wonder of it 
 all. It was true, then ! The world was merely 
 a place for men and women to love in. Nothing 
 else mattered. She was another Juliet and he 
 was her Romeo, telling her his love. She felt 
 a craving she could not resist to surrender her- 
 self to him entirely. 
 
 So she smiled up at him, with a tender light 
 in her eyes, and he bent quickly and kissed her 
 full on the lips. 
 
 When Antje Anders fell to sleep at last that 
 night she was still in Shakespeare's Verona, 
 with her eyes full of glorious color, with the 
 sound of sweet music and the voice of her lover 
 in her ears. To her half-sleeping fancy the 
 walls of her little white sleeping-room at the 
 Bartletts' were hung with gay banners and 
 silken tapestries, and the shrill rattling of the
 
 148 THE UPSTART 
 
 cable trains a block away might have been the 
 sibilant voices of her hand-maidens whispering 
 together in the next room of the castle. 
 
 SHE woke the next morning in Chicago. The 
 rattle and squeak of the cable trains was very 
 real now. The walls of her room were covered 
 with white paper, stamped with a horrid, geo- 
 metric pattern in blue and yellow. The rising- 
 bell was ringing. 
 
 How much of what had happened last night 
 was real and how much a part of the play? 
 A wave of rosy color rushed into her cheeks 
 as she remembered the pressure of Tom 
 Hahn's lips upon her own. She conjured up 
 his face as she had seen it the evening before 
 full of tenderness and love. Last night she 
 had been a child; now she was almost a 
 woman. The delicious languor of sleep came 
 over her again and, as she drifted back into 
 unconsciousness, the flying shutter of her mind 
 opened and closed upon a succession of other 
 faces. There was the heavy face of her father, 
 black and frowning; there was her mother's 
 face, sallow and wrinkled, smiling at her with
 
 THE UPSTART 149 
 
 a questioning love; last came a freckled face, 
 crowned by a hedge of red hair. She was smil- 
 ing as she slept. 
 
 Waking again in a few minutes, she found 
 herself most unromantically hungry. She 
 sprang up and looked at herself in the glass. 
 This morning she was going back to the farm 
 and Tom Hahn was going with her. How 
 should she meet him? What should she say to 
 him? 
 
 Tom Hahn came to take her to the station in 
 a carriage, but she insisted that Jane Bartlett 
 should go with them. She dreaded to be alone 
 with her lover and yet she assured herself that 
 she did love. him. 
 
 Tom helped Jane down from the car just as 
 the train left the station. As" he came backj 
 Antje looked up at him and smiled. 
 
 ' ' I 'm tired, Tom, ' ' she said, ' ' and I have a 
 bad headache. Would you mind if I took a 
 nap?" 
 
 But he was not to be put off longer. 
 
 "I 'm sorry," he said, sitting down in the 
 chair beside her, ' * but before you go to sleep I 
 want you to say that you love me."
 
 150 THE UPSTART 
 
 She sat up straight in her chair, her face 
 very serious. "We were foolish last night, 
 Tom," she said. "I 'm only a girl and you 
 are n't through law school yet. We must 
 wait." 
 
 5 ' Well, ' ' he answered, ' ' we can wait, but tell 
 me that you love me. Then there '11 be some- 
 thing worth waiting for." 
 
 If he had not been so young the pink in her 
 cheeks, the tender look in her eyes, would have 
 been his sufficient answer. 
 
 "Please tell me," he insisted. 
 
 "I 'd like to, Tom, but I can't now," she 
 said timidly. "You must give me time to be 
 sure. ' '
 
 XIV 
 
 "VWTHILE Antje Anders was visiting in Chi- 
 * " cago, Pat McCormick was admitted to 
 the bar. For two years he had been reading 
 law under the direction of Judge Hahn, devot- 
 ,ing his evenings and Saturdays to the work. 
 That was the secret he had so carefully guarded 
 from his mother and Aunt Bridget. The 
 ceremony was a simple one. Pat, in com- 
 pany with Judge Hahn and General Bris- 
 tow, went over to the court-house and, 
 appearing before the Circuit Judge who 
 interrupted a case for the purpose the post- 
 master, who was also a lawyer, moved his ad- 
 mission as a member of the bar. Judge Hahn 
 added a few words and with no further formal- 
 ity the order was issued. Pat had already 
 rented a little room in the same building where 
 Judge Hahn's office was located. Now he 
 tacked on the door a small sign reading : ' * Pat- 
 
 151
 
 152 THE UPSTART 
 
 rick McCormick, Attorney & Counselor-at- 
 Law" and took possession at once. 
 
 That evening in the Clarion his eye fell on 
 a note in the personal column: 
 
 "Patrick McCormick, Esq., who has been 
 reading law for some time with Judge Hahn, 
 was admitted to the bar this morning, on mo- 
 tion of General Bristow. Mr. McCormick was 
 born in Liberty and bids fair to become a credit 
 to our thriving little city." 
 
 He felt a thrill of pride as he read it. With 
 the paper in his pocket he started home to take 
 the great news to his mother and Aunt Bridget. 
 It threw both the old women into great excite- 
 ment. 
 
 "Pat, darlin', I 'm that proud av you," said 
 old Mrs. McCormick, kissing him. But Aunt 
 Bridget was not satisfied until she read the 
 wonderful announcement in the Clarion 
 with her own eyes. She got out her spectacles, 
 polished them on her apron and painfully 
 spelled out the item, word for word, her 
 gnarled forefinger following the lines. When 
 she had finished she threw the paper on the 
 floor and bounced about the room, her hands
 
 THE UPSTART 153 
 
 on her hips and her old feet keeping the meas- 
 ure of a wild Irish jig. 
 
 "Hurroo!" she shouted, while Pat and his 
 mother laughed till the tears ran down their 
 cheeks, "Hurroo for Granny Clancy and the 
 little peepul ! ' Patrick McCormick, Es-s-quire ! 
 Attor-r-ney an' Counsilor-r-at-Law. ' Now, 
 what would they think av that in the County 
 Koscommon 1 ' ' 
 
 Next morning Pat took the two old women 
 down to inspect the wonderful sign and the 
 interior of the office. In the center of the room 
 stood a little wooden table, with a plain chair 
 before it and a couple of similar chairs on the 
 other side. The only other furniture was a 
 tall pine book-case in which a half dozen law 
 books and some patent office reports made a 
 brave showing. Mrs. McCormick and her sis- 
 ter went into ecstasies at the sight. 
 
 Then Aunt Bridget, who might have been 
 a great actress if she had not been a washer- 
 woman, insisted that Pat sit down before the 
 table in a professional attitude, while she 
 planted herself on the other side. 
 
 ' ' Counsilor-r McCormick," she began with
 
 154 THE UPSTART 
 
 intense gravity, "I 'm afther asking your ad- 
 vice on a question av such great importance 
 to me that I would n't be taking it to anny 
 other lawyer in the wor-rld such is the confi- 
 dence I have in ye. But fir-rst I must know 
 what you '11 charge me for it you lawyers 
 ar-r-e so tricky." 
 
 "I must know what the question is, first, 
 Madam," answered Pat, falling in with the 
 spirit of the game. "In any case my charge 
 for advice would not be more than fifty dol- 
 lars." 
 
 * ' Fifty dollars ! ' ' cried Aunt Bridget. ' Do 
 you hear that gossoon talking about fifty dol- 
 lars ! Sure he knows the law all right ! He '11 
 be making a fine lawyer entirely!" 
 
 "Not so loud, Aunt Bridget," laughed Pat. 
 "You '11 scare the natives." 
 
 1 t Sure it 's yoursilf '11 be scaring the natives, 
 my bye, and that soon. And the first money 
 you take in you must spind in buying the long 
 black coat, do you mind?'* 
 
 That same afternoon a man came heavily 
 down the hall and thrust a curious face in at 
 the open door. It was Luders, president of the
 
 THE UPSTART 155 
 
 Silver Creek School trustees. He started with 
 surprise at the sight of Pat McCormick. 
 
 ' l Well, ' ' he said, ' * what you doing here 1 J ' 
 
 "I 'm practising law," Pat answered. 
 ' l Won 't you come in I ' ' 
 
 The man sat down in one of the wooden 
 chairs, crossed his feet and began to press the 
 heel of one boot into the toe of the other. His 
 clothes were worn and dust-covered and his 
 thin beard was of the same shade. 
 
 "How are things out your way?" Pat asked. 
 
 "They ain't very good." 
 
 "What 's the matter?" 
 
 "Well, ever since that row, old Anders has 
 been after me for hiring you. And now he 's 
 got me." 
 
 "Tell me about it," said Pat, feeling a per- 
 sonal responsibility for the plight in which 
 Luders found himself. 
 
 "Three years ago I had to borrow a thou- 
 sand dollars," the farmer said in a discouraged 
 voice. "I got it at the Liberty National and 
 they Ve renewed it for me twice. It comes due 
 again to-morrow and I come in to-day to fix it 
 up.
 
 156 THE UPSTART 
 
 " 'Sorry,' the cashier says, 'but we Ve sold 
 the mortgage to Ander Anders. You '11 have 
 to see him. ' And I know Anders '11 never re- 
 new it." 
 
 ' * Can 't you get the money somewhere else ? ' ' 
 Pat asked. 
 
 "I 've been around to all the banks and 
 they won't any of them make Anders mad. I 
 guess I '11 lose the land. ' ' 
 
 "How much is it?" 
 
 "Forty acres and it 's worth every cent of 
 fifty dollars." 
 
 "Come back at eleven o'clock to-morrow," 
 said Pat, * ' and I '11 see what I can do. ' ' 
 
 Up at the head of Main street^ next door to 
 the cottage which Pat had rented, old Williams, 
 the village note-shaver, lived in a big brick 
 house. At dinner-time Pat went in to see him. 
 
 "A client of mine wants to borrow a thou- 
 sand dollars on forty acres of land in Monroe 
 township," said Pat. "Would you like the 
 loan!" 
 
 "Well, now, I don't know," drawled the old 
 man with professional cynicism, "I guess I 
 don 't want to let any more money out in these 
 hard times. ' '
 
 THE UPSTART 157 
 
 "I 'm sorry," said Pat. "The land 's worth 
 fifty dollars an acre and if I don't get the 
 money by noon to-morrow, King Anders '11 
 get it for half what it 's worth. ' ' 
 
 ' ' Aw-w-w ! ' ' gurgled old Williams in his long 
 white beard. "It 's one of Anders' deals, is 
 it? I call Anders a dangerous man, gobbling 
 up all the land in the county and interfering 
 with legitimate business the way he does. I ' 11 
 go downtown and look the land up this after- 
 noon. If you don't hear from me, I reckon 
 I '11 take it, just to help you out. ' ' 
 
 At eleven o 'clock next morning, Luders came 
 into Pat's office. 
 
 "You did n't find nobody to take that loan, 
 I suppose?" he asked in a resigned tone. 
 
 "I 'm expecting old Mr. Williams here in a 
 few minutes with the money," Pat answered, 
 and Luders sprang to his feet. 
 
 1 ' If you help me out of this, ' ' he cried, "I '11 
 never forget you. ' ' 
 
 Williams came in presently and, after whis- 
 pering to Pat, was introduced to the farmer. 
 
 "Money 's awful tight," he began, "but I 
 guess I can let you have this thousand. Ten 
 per cent. '11 be right, I guess. ' '
 
 158 THE UPSTART 
 
 "No," Pat spoke up, "Luders '11 pay eight 
 that 's the market rate." 
 
 ' ' Wall, seeing 's it 's going to save you from 
 being et up by old Anders, I '11 let you have it 
 at that. I call him a dangerous man to the com- 
 munity, I do." 
 
 "I '11 go and bring Anders up here to re- 
 lease the old mortgage," said Luders. 
 
 Presently he returned, the King climbing 
 the stairs heavily in his wake. Anders was in 
 a sour humor and his face plainly showed the 
 disappointment he felt. Old Williams jumped 
 up from his chair and greeted him with ironi- 
 cal cordiality. 
 
 "Well, Anders," he said, "How are you 
 anyhow? I Ve just been making a little loan 
 to our friend here. Sorry to stop you from 
 getting another good forty for half what it 's 
 worth, heh?" 
 
 "I 'd lose all my land yet before I borrow 
 money from you," snorted the King. 
 
 "You own too much, Anders. It 's bad for 
 legitimate business, having all the land in a few 
 hands. I 'm glad to keep this poor fellow out 
 of your clutches." 
 
 ' ' Bah ! You suck the blood out of us farmers
 
 THE UPSTART 159 
 
 for thirty years already," returned the King 
 hotly. 
 
 "I have, hen? I been helping poor people 
 over their hard places, that 's what I been do- 
 ing. I been satisfied with my miserable little 
 eight and ten per cent., I have, while you Ve 
 been eating 'em up, body, soul and britches. 
 You 're a dangerous man, you are, Anders. 
 I 've always said so." 
 
 Hoping to save a further scene, Pat inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 "If you '11 sign this release, Mr. Anders," 
 he said, l ' I 'm ready to pay you the money. ' ' 
 
 Looking up, King Anders seemed to recog- 
 nize Pat for the first time. He stood still for 
 a moment, saying nothing. Then he crossed 
 over to the table, took the pen which Pat of- 
 fered, released the mortgage, counted the 
 money and put it into his pocket. Then he got 
 up and leaned forward over the table. 
 
 "So," he growled, "you get in my way 
 again, huh 1 You '11 do it once too many times 
 yet." 
 
 "Heh!" cried old Williams, as the King 
 stalked out, ' ' He 's a dangerous man, he is ! "
 
 XV 
 
 A DAY or two later Pat met Miss Jack on 
 the street. 
 
 "I know now why we Ve seen so little of 
 you," she said. ''You were reading law all 
 the time. Did you know that Antje was visit- 
 ing Pauline Schumacher this week I ' ' 
 
 "No," he answered. "I must go to call on 
 her." 
 
 He went that evening. There was surely no 
 reason why he should stay away. For the 
 girl's sake he had put out of his mind any 
 thought of trying to win her for his wife. But 
 that did not compel him never to see her. Old 
 man Schumacher opened the door to him. 
 
 "So, we 're a lawyer yet, huhf" he said 
 with a broad smile. "Come in once." 
 
 "I came to call on Miss Anders," Pat ven- 
 tured. 
 
 "Well," old Schumacher quavered good-na- 
 
 160
 
 THE UPSTART 161 
 
 turedly, "she been out sleigh-riding with Tom 
 Halm yet. Aber come in. ' ' 
 
 "No," answered the crestfallen Pat. "I 
 can't stop to-night, thank you. Will you tell 
 her that I '11 call to-morrow evening. ' ' 
 
 As he reached the gate a sleigh drove up. 
 Out of it sprang Tom Hahn. 
 
 "Why, it 's Pat McCormick," cried Tom. 
 
 "Good-evening, Pat," called a voice from 
 the sleigh. He walked to the curb and she held 
 out her hand to him. The touch of it thrilled 
 him. 
 
 "Antje," he began, then stopped to look at 
 her. She wore a fur coat that nestled close 
 under the curve of her dainty chin and her 
 beautiful hair was topped by a fur-trimmed 
 hat, with a long gray feather in it. Her cheeks 
 were red with the roses of the winter air. 
 
 "I hope you 're well," he stammered awk- 
 wardly. 
 
 "Do I look ill?" she smiled. "When am I 
 going to see you ? ' ' 
 
 "May I call to-morrow night!" he asked, 
 and wondered if she noticed how his voice 
 trembled. 
 11
 
 162 THE UPSTART 
 
 "Yes, and be sure you come," she warned 
 him, playfully, as Tom Hahn helped her to 
 alight. 
 
 Pat trod the air as he walked home that 
 night. At her smile and the touch of her hand 
 the fortress of his resolution had crumbled. 
 He would win her yet, let the grim old King 
 do his worst. For her own sake as well as his 
 own he would make the fight. 
 
 But when he called at the Schumachers' the 
 next evening, Antje took instant command of 
 the situation. She was cordial and most 
 friendly and there were no other callers, but 
 not once was he alone with her for a moment. 
 Pauline Schumacher or her father was always 
 in the room and poor Pat felt that she had 
 planned it so. 
 
 Only when he rose to go, Antje walked with 
 him into the dimly-lighted hall. 
 
 "Pat," she said as he was putting on his 
 overcoat, "seriously, I want to congratulate 
 you on your admission to the bar. I want you 
 to become a great lawyer. I 'm going home 
 to-morrow and back to school Monday, so I 
 shan't see you again, but I '11 always want to 
 know how you are and what you are doing."
 
 THE UPSTART 163 
 
 Pat turned and took her hand. Perhaps it 
 was the vigor with which he pressed it that 
 sent the rosy tide to her cheeks. A tender 
 confession was trembling on his lips, when old 
 Mrs. Schumacher came bustling out into the 
 hall from the kitchen. 
 
 "Well, Mr. McCormick," she burst out, 
 ' * You must think I 'm mighty inhospitable not 
 coming in to see you all evening, but the truth 
 is I 've been in jell all day and I just could n't 
 sleep to-night till I did up the last of these cran- 
 berries. They 're just lovely, too. I 've 
 brought out a glass of it that I want you to 
 take home to your maw." 
 
 Pat went out into the night with both his 
 mind and the glass of jelly upside down. Antje 's 
 speech in the hall, her actions all the evening, 
 seemed to indicate that she had a friendly in- 
 terest in his welfare and nothing more, and 
 that she was anxious to have him understand 
 it so. Perhaps probably she was already 
 engaged to Tom Hahn. He knew that to avow 
 his own love would be certain to bring upon 
 her the fierce rage of her old father. Was 
 it not the part of a man to spare her this ter- 
 rible ordeal to give her up, without effort,
 
 164 THE UPSTART 
 
 into the keeping of one towards whom King 
 Anders could harbor no such bitter hate! 
 
 Troubled in mind, with the instinct of self- 
 abnegation and the demands of a yearning 
 love struggling for the command of his will, 
 Pat went the next evening to visit his old 
 friend and confidant, the Captain. That an- 
 cient mariner had been invalided home from 
 the war with his left leg shattered below the 
 knee. Before a writ of ejection was served 
 on him, he had taken up his abode on 'a little 
 island in the channel of the river, where he set 
 up a duplicate of his old cabin, with all his old 
 treasures in place. 
 
 "And now," he announced, when the new 
 abode was completed, "I feel more to home 
 than ever, being used, as the geography says, 
 to being entirely surrounded by water. ' ' 
 
 "Come in, Fust Mate," he said, when Pat, 
 walking across on the ice, had climbed the 
 bridge and knocked on the door. "There 's a 
 good fire going in the chart-room." 
 
 The Captain puffed his corn-cob pipe and 
 looked shrewdly at his visitor. ' ' There seems 
 to be something on your mind, Fust Mate, ' ' he
 
 THE UPSTART 165 
 
 said. Already he knew in a general way how 
 the ground lay. He had been told of the scene 
 in King Anders' garden and of what had im- 
 mediately followed it. Besides, he loved the 
 boy, and it took but a few awkward sentences 
 to put the situation clearly before him. He 
 puffed hard at his pipe and cleared his throat. 
 
 "You remember that letter I sent you from 
 the front?" he said. 
 
 Pat nodded, wondering why the old man 
 should choose this time to go back into ancient 
 history. What bearing could that have on this 
 present problem? 
 
 "I said that some time I 'd tell you why I 
 took such an interest in clearing John Higgins, 
 a man I never talked to in my life, even at the 
 cost of getting you into trouble. I 'm going 
 to tell you now. 
 
 "My father was a whaler before me. He 
 was master of the Polly L. of Bedford, and 
 when he married he took his wife with him 
 on his next vyage. I Ve told you I was born 
 at Bedford, but that was n't true, plainly 
 speaking, for we was ten months out and 
 cruising the South Pacific when I signed
 
 166 THE UPSTART 
 
 the ship 's articles. Having salt water in my 
 veins, instead of blood, I took to the sea on nay 
 own hook when I was old enough to handle a 
 rope. I was a middling smart sailorman, too. 
 At twenty- four I was second mate of a whal- 
 ing-ship and at twenty-eight the fust mate. It 
 was then that I fust set eyes on Annie. ' ' 
 
 The old man stopped a moment, relighted 
 his pipe, and stared into the fire, where drift- 
 wood was burning briskly. 
 
 "Her pa was one of the big ship-owners of 
 Bedford. A fleet of forty sailed under the en- 
 sign of Bilson & Sturges and the firm name 
 was knowed in a hundred ports, from Siberia 
 to the Injun Ocean. Annie lived in a big stone 
 house on Mansion Street and drove about in 
 her carriage. I was the fust mate of one of 
 her father's ships. But I fell in love with her, 
 and Annie B. she took something of a liking 
 to me. When old man Bilson found out how 
 things were going he blew a gale from the 
 nor '-northwest. He give out orders that there 
 was no berth for me on any of the B. & S. 
 whalers and he packed the girl off to visit her 
 uncle in Boston.
 
 THE UPSTART 167 
 
 "But that did n't feaze me none. I was a 
 young feller and a determined one, and as 
 soon as I got another berth as fust mate on 
 one of Ferguson's whalers, I hunted up Annie 
 and her and me run off to Nantucket, where a 
 sky-pilot spliced us, good and trim and 
 proper. ' ' 
 
 1 ' 1 thought you were going to tell me about 
 John Higgins, Captain ? ' ' said Pat. 
 
 ' ' That 's what I 'm a-doing, Fust Mate, ' ' an- 
 swered the Captain, with a smile. "You jist 
 set and listen. 
 
 "When old man Bilson heard the news, he 
 raised a hurricane ; sent word that Annie was 
 dead to him and that he never wanted to see 
 either of us again. We was both sorry for 
 that, but still mighty glad that we 'd got mar- 
 ried. A good many whalers took their wives 
 with them on their vyages, but I thought Annie 
 had been raised too tender to stand life on a 
 ship for a couple of years let alone the dan- 
 ger. I bought her a little cottage in Bedford 
 and left her there. 
 
 "My first vyage was a short one little 
 more 'n a year. When we come sailing into
 
 168 THE UPSTART 
 
 the Ferguson docks, with our hold full of 
 sperm oil, there was Annie waiting for me, 
 waving her handkerchief and throwing kisses 
 as we warped in. And beside her was her 
 father, old Benjamin Bilson, head of the firm 
 of Bilson & Sturges, tall silk hat, brass-but- 
 toned coat, high white collar and all. He was 
 holding something up in his arms for me to see. 
 Pretty soon I makes out it was a little kiddie 
 in a long white dress, my baby, my little son, 
 Fust Mate." 
 
 The Captain knocked the ashes out of his 
 pipe with much unnecessary vehemence. Then 
 he reloaded it and picked up a blazing splinter 
 from the fire to serve as a lighter. Carelessly, 
 he held the flame so closely to his face that it 
 made his eyes water. 
 
 ' ' Dum the thing ennyhow ! " he said fiercely, 
 throwing pipe and all into the fire. 
 
 "Wall, as I was saying, I made a jump from 
 the rail when we got within ten feet of the dock 
 and the next minute I was holding Annie B. in 
 my arms. 
 
 " 'Here 's your son, sir," said old man Bil- 
 son, handing over the kiddie. 'It 's grand-
 
 THE UPSTART 169 
 
 mother is waiting to welcome you up to the 
 house. ' 
 
 ' ' That night we had a family reunion up to 
 the big stone house on Mansion Street. For a 
 month I went around walking on air, feeling 
 plum sorry for everybody else on earth, they 
 not having no Annie B. nor kiddie to make 
 things worth while." 
 
 The Captain blew his nose loudly, then got 
 up and stumped across the chart-room on his 
 wooden peg. He put one gnarled old hand on 
 Pat's shoulder. 
 
 "If you love a girl, Fust Mate," he said, 
 "the thing for you to do is to up-anchor, clap 
 on every rag you can carry, steer through the 
 breakers and past the rocks, damn the torpe- 
 does, like Farragut done, and let nothing on 
 earth stop yer, till you git into the harbor of 
 your soul's desire as the poet says. You 
 hear me ! ' ' 
 
 "Yes, Captain," said Pat quickly, anxious 
 not to further arouse the old man's deeply- 
 stirred emotions, "but what has this got to do 
 with John Higgins I ' ' 
 
 "From this time on it 's got all to do with
 
 170 THE UPSTART 
 
 him," said the Captain, going back to his 
 chair. "Old Mr. Bilson offered me a good 
 place on shore, but I was too proud and stub- 
 born to accept any favors from him. I got a 
 berth as master of Ferguson 's new whaler and 
 he let me christen her the Annie B. Three 
 months later I took her out. My wife is plum 
 distracted to go along, but 'No,' I says, hold- 
 ing the kid in my arms, 'I ain't going to risk 
 carrying this bundle of sweetness around the 
 Horn. I '11 be back in less than two years, any- 
 how, and then we '11 all settle down and stay 
 land lubbers as long as the ship hangs to- 
 gether. ' 
 
 "So, off we sails, with Annie B. standing on 
 Ferguson's dock and waving a handkerchief 
 at her namesake as long as we 're in sight. 
 
 "Wall, Fust Mate, less than six months 
 afterwards we strikes one of them Chinese 
 twisters out in the Pacific and it blows the rig- 
 gin' plum out of us. The Annie B. springs 
 a leak and I and the crew takes to the boats. 
 We lands on an island, jest like you read about 
 in the story books, and there we stays for four 
 years and three months, till a tea ship happens
 
 THE UPSTART 171 
 
 to send in a boat for water and takes those of 
 us who are left back to New York. 
 
 " First thing I found out was that the firm 
 of Bilson & Sturges was no longer in existence. 
 Old man Bilson had died three and a half years 
 before a bankrupt, not leaving enough money 
 to pay his debts. That made me powerful anx- 
 ious about Annie B. and I lit out for Bedford. 
 Them five years away had changed me to an 
 old man and nobody knew me. The big stone 
 house on Mansion Street was turned into a hos- 
 pital and strangers was living in the cottage 
 I 'd bought for Annie B. When I found that 
 out I never let on who I was, but I stayed 
 around Bedford for a month, picking up what 
 news I could. 
 
 " Seems like the wreckage of the Annie B. 
 had been found drifting around the South Seas 
 and word came back to Bedford that we 
 was all lost. That was jest after Annie B.'s 
 father died. Then she had nobody left to care 
 for but the kiddie. The next year he took sick 
 and died of the dypthery. 
 
 ' ' Poor girl ! I ain 't blaming her a bit when 
 pretty soon an old lover of hers come along
 
 172 THE UPSTART 
 
 and she up and married him. Then right away 
 they left Bedford and goes nobody knows 
 where. The hull Bilson family had jest van- 
 ished off the face of the earth. 
 
 ' l Eight then and there I histed a new flag 
 my old name was Silas Bright and I been 
 sailing under it ever since. I went on three 
 more whaling vyages under the name of John 
 Edwards and got together six thousand dol- 
 lars. Then it just seemed to me I must go 
 and hunt up Annie B. and see if she was well 
 and happy if that husband of hers was treat- 
 ing her right. 
 
 ' ' It tuck a long time, Fust Mate, but I found 
 her at last. I found her right here in Liberty 
 and her name is Mrs. John Higgins ! ' ' 
 
 Pat had been staring at the Captain with 
 wide eyes of incredulity. Now he sprang to his 
 feet and started to speak, but the old man 
 waved a restraining hand. 
 
 "Set right down, Fust Mate," he said, 
 ' ' That 's all there is to it and you and I are the 
 only humans that knows it. Annie B. 's happy 
 with her husband and children and I 'm dead, ' ' 
 he smiled grimly "My tombstone 's been
 
 THE UPSTART 173 
 
 a-standing for thirty years in the Baptist 
 graveyard at Bedford." 
 
 There was a moment's complete silence. It 
 was broken by the Captain. He stumped over 
 to Pat's chair and took him by the hand. 
 
 "It 's time you were going home, Fust 
 Mate," he said. "No," he broke in as Pat 
 started to speak, ' ' I don 't want to hear another 
 word about it. But remember this. Don 't you 
 let anything stand between you and the girl."
 
 XVI 
 
 PAT McCOKMICK leaned back in his office 
 chair, his feet on the table, reading the 
 Liberty Clarion. Presently his casual eye 
 focused on the following item, which seemed 
 to burn against the white paper in wavering 
 letters of fire: 
 
 "It is reported that the engagement will soon be 
 announced of the son of one of our most prominent 
 attorneys and the only daughter of perhaps the 
 largest land-owner in the county." 
 
 The paper slipped unnoticed to the floor. It 
 was true then ! A pang, physical in the inten- 
 sity of its pain, shot through him. But per- 
 haps the paper was wrong. If it had been based 
 on anything more than mere gossip the names 
 would surely have been printed. Uncertainty 
 was maddening. Moreover, the parting injunc- 
 tion of the old Captain was fresh in his mind. 
 
 174
 
 THE UPSTART 175 
 
 As Pat walked up the wide avenue of great 
 oaks which leads to the main building of the 
 old Bickford Seminary that evening, he sud- 
 denly became conscious that from fifty win- 
 dows girlish faces were peeping down at him. 
 He straightened his five feet six to its full 
 height, painfully aware that towering stature 
 and the broad shoulders of a gladiator were 
 needed to be properly impressive. The big 
 Swedish maid who opened the door, glanced 
 down at his freckled, boyish face, and, without 
 troubling to ask for a card, said, "Step in." 
 Inside the hall Pat heard the sound of half sup- 
 pressed giggles and, looking up, caught a 
 momentary glimpse of sparkling eyes peer- 
 ing over the banister railing. 
 
 The maid, never stopping to ask his errand, 
 had gone straight to the office of Miss Sophro- 
 nia Hunks, the chatelaine of that rosebud 
 garden of girls. 
 
 "Miss Sophronia," said the maid, "there 's 
 a boy waiting in the reception-room." 
 
 Up rose Miss Sophronia, on her guard at 
 once, as she always was when anything mas- 
 culine invaded her sacred portals, and with
 
 176 THE UPSTART 
 
 slow and stately steps descended to the recep- 
 tion-room. Very tall, very thin and very 
 short-sighted was Miss Sophronia, and as she 
 swept into the room Pat could almost feel the 
 icy current of air which accompanied her. She 
 adjusted her glasses. 
 
 "Well, my boy," she said, "what can I do 
 for you I ' ' 
 
 This, then, was the climax! To bring the 
 burning soul of a tragic hero into the icy pres- 
 ence of a venerable maiden lady who treats 
 one as a child ! 
 
 Up from his chair rose Pat, as dignified as 
 Miss Sophronia herself. 
 
 "Madam," he said in that deep bass voice 
 which always startled those unaccustomed to 
 it, "I am Patrick McCormick. Allow me to 
 present my card." 
 
 Miss Sophronia gingerly took the bit of 
 paste-board in her long, white fingers. Look- 
 ing over her glasses she read upon it, * ' Patrick 
 McCormick, Attorney and Counselor-at-law. 
 Notary Public." 
 
 Miss Sophronia 's dignified complacency, 
 which had supported her in so many difficult
 
 THE UPSTART 177 
 
 situations, deserted her entirely. She had made 
 a most mortifying and embarrassing mistake. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, sir," she stammered 
 uncertainly, but Pat interrupted her with a 
 bow. 
 
 "I have called to see Miss Antje Anders on 
 a matter of importance," he said. "May I 
 trouble you to ask her to come down ? ' ' 
 
 The combination of the startling card and 
 of the tremendous voice, most of all her own 
 blushing embarrassment, were too much for 
 Miss Sophronia Hunks. For the first time in 
 her life she found herself at a loss for a word. 
 
 "Certainly, sir," she stammered, as Pat 
 bowed her grandly out of the room. 
 
 "Why, Pat," said Antje, a few moments 
 later, with her hand outstretched to him, 
 "what 's the matter? And what in the world 
 did you do to Miss Hunks 1 ' ' 
 
 ' ' Nothing, ' ' he answered, rising to meet her 
 and holding her hand in his own. 
 
 "She opened the door of my room just now 
 and said: 'Miss Anders there 's an attorney 
 waiting to see you in the reception-room. 
 Here 's his card. ' Then she threw the card on 
 
 12
 
 178 THE UPSTART 
 
 my bed and almost ran away. I was fright- 
 ened half to death till I read your name. ' ' 
 
 "Don't you know why I Ve come down to 
 see you!" Pat asked. He looked straight at 
 her as she leaned back against the cushions of 
 a great easy-chair and she must have seen the 
 reason in his eyes. They were honest eyes and 
 they adored her, from the tip of her slipper to 
 the dimple in her tilted chin. 
 
 "It took courage anyhow," she countered. 
 "Miss Hunks usually freezes young men who 
 come here to call. Sha'n't I ask Jack Hahn 
 to come down?" 
 
 ' ' I came to see you, ' ' he said. ' ' I can 't wait 
 any longer to tell you that I love you." 
 
 The girl looked at him with pained, appeal- 
 ing eyes. ' ' 0, Pat, you must n 't, " she began. 
 
 "If there is some one else 
 
 "No," she interrupted, "there is no one 
 else not yet," she stammered. "I can't ex- 
 plain. I don't know. But 
 
 ' ' I have n 't much to offer. And your father 
 I tried hard. I decided I would never tell 
 you. But I can 't help it. I love you so. ' ' 
 
 "I hoped you would n't. I did n't want you 
 to. When I think of father "
 
 THE UPSTAET 179 
 
 "Ever since I saw you in the school-house I 
 have loved you. Won't you say 
 
 "Don't, Pat," she broke in hurriedly. "I 
 can 't listen to you. It 's all wrong ' ' 
 
 The clock on the marble mantel-piece chimed 
 ten o'clock in a very cold, metallic voice. At 
 the same instant they were left sitting in total 
 darkness. 
 
 "What 's the matter?" asked the startled 
 Pat, springing to his feet. 
 
 The girl was laughing in a relieved, half hys- 
 terical way. 
 
 "It 's nothing," she said. "The lights go 
 out all over the house at ten o'clock and I for- 
 got to warn you. I '11 lead you to the front 
 door." 
 
 They groped their way down the long, dark 
 hall. From the stairway above them came the 
 sound of suppressed giggles. At the door Pat 
 stopped, bent over and kissed the girl's hand. 
 
 "Please write me," he whispered. 
 
 "No," she answered. "Not until I good- 
 night." 
 
 Next day Sally Wagner, writing her semi- 
 weekly letter to her mother in Liberty, men- 
 tioned, quite incidentally, as among the happen-
 
 180 THE UPSTART 
 
 ings of the week at the seminary that they had 
 had prunes three times for dinner and that Pat 
 McCormick had been down to call on Antje 
 Anders. Mrs. Wagner, quite as incidentally, 
 told her husband the same bit of gossip at the 
 breakfast-table. 
 
 So when King Anders came in to see his law- 
 yer a few days later, that amiable person had 
 a fine bit of news for him.
 
 XVII 
 
 THE spring campaign was well under way 
 in Liberty County. For the first time 
 since the war the Democrats had thought it 
 worth while to nominate a full county ticket. 
 Their candidate for prosecuting attorney was 
 a young lawyer named Hiram Hector, not long 
 resident in the village. 
 
 A month before election day Hector was 
 called back by telegraph to his old home in 
 central New York. His father was critically 
 ill. Before his*son arrived, the old man died, 
 leaving his estate badly involved. Hector 
 promptly wrote John Higgins, the chairman 
 of the county committee, that he would be de- 
 tained in the east for months; possibly he 
 might never return to Liberty. At any rate, 
 he withdrew from the ticket and asked the 
 committee to name in his place a candidate who 
 could make an active canvass. 
 
 181
 
 182 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 The committee met to take action. Members 
 had consulted with several prominent lawyers, 
 none of whom would allow the use of his name. 
 Chairman Higgins said nothing till all the 
 others had expressed themselves. In his 
 pocket he had a note, which had been written 
 by the Captain, but which was signed "Vox 
 Populi." 
 
 "Why don't you put young Pat McCormick 
 in the place of Hector?" it said. "You fel- 
 lows need the Irish vote and he can get it. 
 Then there are lots of young Republicans who 
 will vote for him and he 'd make you a red-hot 
 campaign. ' ' 
 
 Higgins read the note aloud. ' ' What do you 
 think about that?" he asked. 
 
 Old man Williams, who served as treasurer 
 of the campaign committee, cleared his throat. 
 
 "I don't know about putting Mike McCor- 
 mick 's son on our ticket," he objected. 
 
 "Don't you remember the letter Mike's 
 Colonel wrote when he was killed?" Higgins 
 asked. "And Anders is n't the most popular 
 man in Liberty County, anyhow. Nobody but a 
 fool would raise that issue against Pat."
 
 THE UPSTART 183 
 
 Other names were mentioned and discussed 
 and further objections were made to the selec- 
 tion of Pat McCormick, but, in the absence of 
 any active candidates for the place, it was 
 finally decided to appoint Higgins and Wil- 
 liams a committee to confer with Pat and offer 
 him the nomination. 
 
 They found him at his office, in conference 
 with a roughly-dressed young man, whose 
 right arm was suspended in a sling, and who, 
 at the sight of the distinguished callers, got up 
 to leave. 
 
 "No, keep your seat, Joe," Pat said, bow- 
 ing to Higgins and Williams. "Take chairs, 
 gentlemen. I '11 see you in a minute." 
 
 "He 's a born politician," Higgins whis- 
 pered to his companion. ' ' He 's made a friend 
 of that fellow for life. You can't beat the 
 Irish." 
 
 But Williams, who did not enjoy waiting for 
 a railroad brakeman, only growled. 
 
 "Pat," said Higgins presently as the client 
 went out, "how would you like to be prosecut- 
 ing attorney of Liberty County?" 
 
 "Very much," he answered promptly, with
 
 184 THE UPSTART 
 
 a smile. Then as he glanced at the face of old 
 AVilliams: "What 's the joke?" 
 
 "Hector 's withdrawn and we thought you 
 might catch the Irish vote and a lot of the 
 young fellows for us." 
 
 "You 're in earnest, then!" 
 
 "So far as the Democratic nomination goes, 
 we are." 
 
 The splendor of the unexpected offer gave 
 his ambition wings. Through all his body he 
 felt the nerves tingle. Here was a chance. 
 And a chance was what he wanted. 
 
 "I 'm young," he said. "There 's lots of 
 better lawyers." 
 
 "Yes, that 's so," frankly assented Wil- 
 liams, ' * but they won 't none of 'em take it. ' ' 
 
 Higgins and Pat both broke out into a laugh. 
 
 "It ain't that bad, Pat," said Higgins. 
 "The older men can't afford to take the office 
 and we think you '11 run the best of the young 
 fellows. A Democratic nomination don't 
 usually amount to much in Liberty County, but 
 this is an off-year and we Ve got a chance." 
 
 "I 'd like nothing better than to make a fight 
 for it," declared Pat.
 
 THE UPSTART 185 
 
 "Of course," broke in old Williams, "we '11 
 expect you to make a contribution to the cam- 
 paign fund. Hector put in $500. ' ' 
 
 Pat's eyebrows fell, the corners of his 
 mouth drooped. "I 'm afraid that lets me 
 out, ' ' he said. ' ' I have n 't got the money. ' ' 
 
 Higgins glared angrily at the treasurer. 
 "Oh, that can be arranged all right. I '11 
 attend to that for you." 
 
 "Why, yes," spoke up Williams, not to be 
 outdone in generosity. "I '11 let you have the 
 money myself. At seven per cent., too." 
 
 "I could n't run on borrowed money," said 
 Pat, grinning to conceal his disappointment. 
 "You '11 have to get another candidate." 
 
 "We '11 not take no for an answer now," 
 said Higgins, anxious to get old Williams out 
 of the room before he complicated matters fur- 
 ther. "Think it over and we '11 come back 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Hardly had they left before the Captain 
 came stumping into the office, in the most cas- 
 ual way possible. 
 
 "Thought I 'd come in and see the new 
 shop, ' ' he said. * ' How are things going f Met
 
 186 THE UPSTART 
 
 old man Williams going down the stairs just 
 now. Is he one of your clients'?" 
 
 "He and John Higgins have just been here 
 to offer me the Democratic nomination for 
 prosecuting attorney," said Pat. 
 
 "Well, I want to know!" ejaculated the 
 Captain, with an air of great surprise. "I 
 surely want to know! And you tuck it, I 
 guess ! ' ' 
 
 "I could n't," answered Pat soberly. "I 
 have n 't got five hundred dollars to put into the 
 campaign funds." 
 
 The Captain's eyes narrowed shrewdly, as 
 he glanced quickly at Pat's melancholy face, 
 then stared out of the window. 
 
 "That 's surely too bad," he said and 
 waited. 
 
 "Higgins offered to put up the money for 
 me, but, of course, I could n 't run on borrowed 
 money. ' ' 
 
 "No, of course not. Then you declined?" 
 
 "They would n't let me say no. They 're 
 coming back to-morrow to hear me say it." 
 
 If Pat had been alert he might have seen the 
 spasm of relief which ran up the Captain's
 
 THE UPSTART 187 
 
 wrinkled face from chin to eyebrows, but he 
 was looking down at the table under the bur- 
 den of his disappointment. 
 
 "They ain't no way that a feller that ain't 
 got a cent can help you, I guess, ' ' said the Cap- 
 tain, drawing a long breath. 
 
 "No, Captain," Pat answered, getting up 
 from his seat. ' ' Maybe I '11 get another chance 
 some time. I thank you just as much." 
 
 When the old man went out he closed the 
 door behind him, then quickly dodged down 
 the hall and into Judge Hahn's office. This 
 door he also closed and locked behind him. 
 
 "Well, Edwards?" said the Judge, looking 
 up, with a smile. "You must have some very 
 private business on hand?" 
 
 "Judge, you got two thousand dollars of 
 mine, ain 't you ? " 
 
 The money had been in Judge Hahn 's hands 
 for investment for fifteen years, but the Cap- 
 tain always spoke as if he had doubts about it. 
 
 "I 've got to git five hundred of it right 
 away. ' ' 
 
 ' ' I can get it for you at the bank. But what 
 do you want that much money for?"
 
 188 THE UPSTART 
 
 The Captain put a gnarled forefinger along- 
 side his nose. 
 
 1 ' You know us sailors, Jedge. I 'm a-going 
 on a big bat. Kin I sit down in your back 
 room and write a letter while you git the 
 money? I want it all in one bill. And lock 
 the door behind you." 
 
 When the Judge returned, the Captain held 
 a much blotted sheet of foolscap. 
 
 1 1 Now, I got to git this copied, ' ' he said. 
 
 "I '11 do it for you," the Judge answered, 
 taking the sheet from his hands and sitting 
 down to his table. 
 
 "Disgeese your hand, Jedge," urged the 
 Captain, looking over his shoulder, "and spill 
 on a few blots. ' ' 
 
 "You damned old cuss!" said Judge Hahn, 
 as he finished, throwing one arm around the 
 old sailor's shoulders. 
 
 "Pretty good one, eh, Jedge?" snickered 
 the Captain, as he slipped the bill into the en- 
 velope. ' ' Do you know anybody in Chicago you 
 could trust to mail this vallybill dockimint?" 
 
 Both of them grinning like schoolboys, the 
 Judge wrote a note to a friend in Chicago, ask- 
 ing him to promptly remail the inclosed letter
 
 THE UPSTART 189 
 
 and the two went over to the Post Office to- 
 gether and dropped it into the box. 
 
 When Pat told his mother and Aunt Bridget 
 of the offer which had come to him and ex- 
 plained how he would be obliged to refuse it 
 for lack of five hundred dollars, his old aunt 
 was ready for desperate deeds. 
 
 "Sure there 'd be gold lace up and down 
 the tail av that long black coat now, but fer 
 the lack av five hundurd dirthy dollars," she 
 complained. "Can't you git hold av the 
 money somehow, Pat darlin'? I '11 go down 
 meself to-night and rob the bank." 
 
 "Old man Williams offered to loan it to 
 me, ' ' smiled Pat, ' l and he 'd only charged me 
 seven per cent, interest at that." 
 
 "You go and till old Williams, the dirthy 
 spalpeen that he is, that your Aunt Bridget '11 
 do his washin' and ironin' for th' rist av his 
 life and may the diwle carry him off to- 
 morry if he '11 put the money in your hands. ' ' 
 
 Pat went down the next morning, ready, if 
 not reconciled, to repeat his declination. In 
 the post-office at noon there was a letter for 
 him. It was post-marked Chicago and ad- 
 dressed in a strange and illiterate hand.
 
 190 THE UPSTART 
 
 "Dear Sir," it said. "Inclosed please find 
 five hundred dollars, which I owed your father. 
 Him and me was side pardners in the same 
 company during the war. Jest before he was 
 killed we went in halves on a two dollar lottery 
 ticket. When the drawing came off, we wins 
 a thousand dollars. Mike was dead then and I 
 keeps the money. After the war I come to 
 Chicago 2tnd I Ve did well here. I 've al- 
 ways knowed I 'd ought to have split up my 
 winnings with you, but I ain't never come to 
 the point till now. Anyway, here it is. Good- 
 bye. 
 
 Mike McCormick's comrade." 
 
 Enclosed in the envelope was a five hundred 
 dollar bill. There was absolutely nothing 
 about the letter to suggest the identity of the 
 sender. Pat's first feeling was one of aston- 
 ishment and buoyant delight. Then a suspi- 
 cion crept into his mind. Higgins had taken 
 this method of sending him the needed money. 
 He went straight to the office in which the 
 Democratic campaign was being managed and 
 handed the letter to the Chairman.
 
 THE UPSTART 191 
 
 "It 's mighty good of you, Mr. Higgins," 
 he said, "but I can't take your money that 
 way." 
 
 "I never was smart enough to get up a 
 scheme like that, ' ' said Higgins with a roar of 
 laughter that made it impossible to doubt the 
 sincerity of his denial. "Your unknown 
 debtor did n't forget to put in the money, did 
 
 Pat took the bill from his pocket and laid it 
 on the desk. 
 
 "Well, a fellow who 's as lucky as you are 
 can't be beat in politics," laughed Higgins. 
 
 Williams came into the room, attracted by 
 the unusual hilarity. He stopped and stared 
 at the green-backed bill on the desk. 
 
 "Mr. McCormick has just brought over his 
 contribution to the campaign fund, Mr. Wil- 
 liams, ' ' said Higgins, watching, with a twinkle 
 in his eye, the effect of his announcement on 
 the mercenary old treasurer. 
 
 "Well, by Gf-oll!" said Williams, clutching 
 his long white beard as if for support. ' ' Pat, 
 you did n't git that money for less 'n seven 
 per cent., did you 1 ' '
 
 XVIII 
 
 KING ANDERS came in from the stable, 
 looking black and glowering. The hired 
 men and the six big sons, coatless and freshly 
 washed, were waiting to sit down at the long 
 table in the kitchen. He hung his coat on the 
 nail behind the door, and sat heavily down in 
 the chair at the head without uttering a word. 
 Old Mrs. Anders, busy about the stove, saw at a 
 glance that her lord was in a savage mood. The 
 King lifted a piece of rock candy from its sau- 
 cer by the string to which it was attached and 
 twirled it around in his cup of coffee till the 
 drink was sweetened to his taste. Then he 
 passed it to the next man. Still he did not 
 speak. 
 
 ''Did the hogs sell well, father!" asked one 
 of the boys. 
 
 "No," growled the King, without looking 
 up. But Mrs. Anders was sure that something 
 more important than that was oppressing him. 
 
 192
 
 THE UPSTART 193 
 
 In fifteen minutes the meal was over. The 
 men and boys had gorged to the full and lum- 
 bered out of the room. Mrs. Anders sat down 
 next to the King. 
 
 "What is the matter yet, Ander?" she said. 
 
 Anders raised his sullen eyes from the table. 
 "Antje must come home from that damn 
 school right away quick," he said. 
 
 The old woman flinched as from a blow in 
 the face. 
 
 ''What did she do?" 
 
 "Do, huh!" he burst out. "That McCor- 
 mick feller was down there to Bickford to see 
 her two weeks ago yet ! That 's what she do ! " 
 
 "Maybe so that is a lie, Ander!" 
 
 "It is no lie yet. Lawyer Wagner told me 
 so his girl wrote a letter about it. He is laugh- 
 ing at me because that upstart school-teacher 
 makes me a fool out. I will not stand it yet. ' ' 
 
 "She will stay till the school term gets 
 over?" pleaded Mrs. Anders. 
 
 "She will come home this week already," 
 roared the King, striking the table with his 
 fist. "All the time I know it is damn foolish- 
 ness. I spend me my money to send her by
 
 194 THE UPSTART 
 
 school and how she pay me back? When she 
 milk ten cows every morning maybe so she 
 learn a little sense yet ! ' ' 
 
 "Ander," began his wife, "that McCormick 
 feller-" 
 
 "He is getting in my way too much al- 
 ready," broke in the King. "Last year he 
 beat me out of that Luders forty acres. Now 
 Lawyer Wagner makes shame of me and says 
 I have him for a son-in-law when I don't look 
 out. I drive him out of Liberty County first ! ' ' 
 
 ' ' She will promise never to " 
 
 "Make a letter to Antje," ordered the King, 
 "and tell her she must come home on Satur- 
 day." 
 
 That night old Mrs. Anders sat down and 
 laboriously wrote a long letter to her daugh- 
 ter. To Antje it came like a sentence of death. 
 Far better that she had never left the farm. 
 Then she had known nothing but the hard, 
 grinding, coarse life to which she had been 
 born ; now a brighter, happier, more inspiring 
 world had just been opened to her and the taste 
 of it was very sweet. She had seen the light ; 
 now she was to be dragged back into utter
 
 THE UPSTART 195 
 
 darkness. And Pat McCormick was responsible 
 for the calamity which had come upon her. 
 
 She took the letter to her room, locked the 
 door, threw herself on the bed and wept. 
 
 She would not go back to the farm and settle 
 down there to the life she had left ! . . . But 
 where else could she go I What door of escape 
 was open to her ? 
 
 Tom Hahn had asked her to marry him. If 
 she but said the word he would come and take 
 her away from it all. That was her way out. 
 She went to her desk and took out paper. Yet 
 she hesitated ... If only Pat McCormick 
 had not come down to Bickford. From the be- 
 ginning, almost, he had brought nothing but 
 sorrow into her life. 
 
 Again she threw herself on the bed and 
 wept. A muffled knock sounded on the door. 
 
 "Who is it," asked Antje, stifling her sobs. 
 She shrank from the inquisitive presence of 
 one of the teachers. 
 
 "It is I Jack. Please let me in.'* 
 
 "Go away," cried Antje. 
 
 "I won't. Let me in, please. If you don't 
 look out, Miss Hunks will hear you."
 
 196 THE UPSTART 
 
 Terrified at the idea of being subjected to 
 one of Miss Sophronia's cross-examinations, 
 Antje crept from her bed to the door and un- 
 locked it. Then, without waiting for the girl 
 to enter, she rushed back to the bed and flung 
 herself upon it. Jack slipped noiselessly in, 
 locked the door, turned down the light and 
 then hesitated for a moment by the bedside. 
 
 "Why, Antje, dear, what 's the matter?" 
 she whispered. The little Dutch girl raised 
 her pathetic face, that was like a wind-swept, 
 rain-streaked, country rose. Before her stood 
 Miss Jack, tall and white and graceful, a 
 high-bred lily. Into Antje's head flashed a 
 sudden hatred of all that she stood for. Why 
 should Jack Hahn be born to easy enjoyment 
 of what she, herself, had only tasted and was 
 now to lose? 
 
 "I hate you!" sobbed Antje. 
 
 "0, Antje," cried Miss Jack, throwing her 
 arms about the poor little figure on the bed, 
 "Antje, dear. Do tell me what 's the matter? 
 Perhaps I can help you." 
 
 Antje made no answer, trying hard to stifle 
 her sobs. Very gently, Jack raised her from
 
 THE UPSTART 197 
 
 the bed and rested the disheveled golden head 
 on her own shoulder. 
 
 "There, dear, there," she said soothingly. 
 " Cry it all out." 
 
 With her soft hands she stroked Antje's yel- 
 low hair. For a moment there was nothing 
 said. Then suddenly Antje sat straight up. 
 She looked Jack in the eyes, trying hard to 
 control herself. But the effort was useless. 
 
 "I Ve got to go home for good on Saturday, 
 Jack," sobbed Antje, presently, when their 
 mingled weeping had subsided. "I Ve got to 
 go home and give it all up. And I can't go, 
 Jack. I just can't go!" 
 
 ' ' What 's happened, dear I ' ' asked the other. 
 "There, lie down and let me undress you? 
 What has happened?" 
 
 Instant loyalty to her family, inborn, inher- 
 ited from long generations of proud Dutch an- 
 cestors, came to the girl's aid and guided her 
 tongue. 
 
 "0, nothing has happened," she answered, 
 her tears stopping as suddenly as they had be- 
 gun. "Mother needs me at home, that 's all, 
 and I Ve got to leave school on Saturday."
 
 198 THE UPSTART 
 
 "Perhaps it will be only for a little while," 
 said Jack, hopefully. 
 
 "I 'm afraid not. I 'm afraid this is the 
 end." 
 
 "O, well, dear, you '11 only be a little way 
 from Liberty. You '11 come in and visit me 
 often and I '11 drive out to the farm every day 
 or two." 
 
 But that was too much ! That brought home 
 to her too vividly what life on the farm would 
 mean, with all its petty meannesses, its sordid, 
 unnecessary economies, its total lack of books, 
 pictures, music, all that had filled the last few 
 months with light and sweetness. 
 
 "I can't give it all up, Jack," she cried, her 
 tears coming afresh. "I can't go back!" 
 
 But the flow of tears was suddenly inter- 
 rupted by a double knock on the door and 
 by the monitory voice of Miss Sophronia 
 Hunks. 
 
 "Miss Anders!" called Miss Hunks. Jack 
 Hahn hastened to open the door. 
 
 "Young ladies, what does this mean!" asked 
 Miss Hunks icily. 
 
 "We have had bad news," answered Jack. 
 Antje had pulled the bed clothes up about her
 
 THE UPSTART 199 
 
 disheveled head at the entrance of the dragon 
 and from beneath them came the sound of half- 
 suppressed sobs. 
 
 "It must be bad news, indeed, to justify such 
 an outbreak of unrestrained emotion," said 
 Miss Hunks. ' ' Nothing could be worse for the 
 nervous system. May I ask what is the nature 
 of the disquieting intelligence you have re- 
 ceived?" 
 
 Miss Hunks crossed her arms and waited 
 grimly for a reply. It came from an unex- 
 pected source. Anje suddenly sat up, her 
 eyes tearless. 
 
 "Miss Hunks," she said, in tones as icy as 
 that lady's own, "the news I have had con- 
 cerns only myself!" 
 
 "Miss Anders," cried the indignant princi- 
 pal. "Do not add an exhibition of bad tem- 
 per to 
 
 "0, you need n't mind," interrupted Antje, 
 breaking down into a half sob. "I 'm going 
 to leave your old school anyhow. And I 'm 
 g-g-glad of it, too ! ' ' 
 
 "Miss Hahn, " said Miss Hunks sternly, 
 fearful lest this rebellious spirit should prove 
 infectious, " go to your room at once. ' '
 
 200 THE UPSTART 
 
 Jack started to obey. Then she stopped at 
 the bedside, bent over and kissed Antje. 
 
 "I 'm awfully sorry, dear, she said. "But 
 don't cry. It '11 all come out right somehow." 
 
 At the door she stopped again and ran 
 quickly back to the bed. 
 
 "Antje, dear," she whispered, so low that 
 not even the keen ears of Miss Hunks could 
 hear, "why don't you write to Tom?" 
 
 Then, without stopping an instant for a re- 
 sponse to her suggestion, she left the room.
 
 XIX 
 
 THE nomination of Pat McCormick for the 
 office of prosecuting attorney was va- 
 riously received. As the Captain had predicted, 
 it was pleasing to the young voters of the 
 county and, particularly to those of the village, 
 most of whom had known Pat since his bare- 
 footed boyhood. A score of young men volun- 
 teered to help him in the campaign, and among 
 the first was Tom Hahn, now permanently 
 established in his father's law-office. 
 
 "We '11 take the horse and phaeton, Pat," 
 he said, ' ' and visit every farm-house in Liberty 
 County." 
 
 But it must be confessed that the nomina- 
 tion did not throw the Republican managers 
 into a panic. They had named Tom Martin, 
 Henry Wagner's law-partner, for prosecuting 
 attorney, and when Wagner heard of the ac- 
 tion of the Democratic committee, he expressed 
 
 his contempt for that body. 
 
 201
 
 202 THE UPSTAET 
 
 "That gives you a cinch, Tom," he said to 
 his partner. "I '11 take a few cracks at young 
 McCormick in the Clarion that '11 make Hig- 
 gins wish he had n't." 
 
 King Anders came his nearest to a smile 
 when Wagner told him the news. 
 
 "I bet you he don't get twenty votes in 
 Monroe township yet," he said with contemp- 
 tuous amusement. "What for the Democrats 
 do such a trick, anyhow?" 
 
 1 i It was Higgins ' doing. He was paying off 
 his old debt." 
 
 "Well, if Higgins thinks he can jam that 
 young feller down my throat, I '11 fool him 
 once. He 's getting too uppish already. He 'd 
 better stayed over in Shantytown where h6 be- 
 longsthe Upstart!" 
 
 That evening Wagner walked down to his 
 office to write some editorials for the Clarion, 
 to which he lent the scintillations of his vituper- 
 ative pen during every political campaign. He 
 stopped finally with a few lines. 
 
 "I '11 begin with an easy one," he said to 
 himself as he walked over to the Clarion office. 
 
 Next evening Chairman Higgins of the
 
 THE UPSTART 203 
 
 Democratic Committee found this paragraph 
 in the paper : 
 
 "It may be good public policy to nominate for 
 the position of chief administrator of the criminal 
 laws a man who numbers among his immediate rela- 
 tives a self-confessed criminal, but we doubt if the 
 law-abiding and decent citizens of Liberty County 
 will look at it in that light." 
 
 "There," laughed Higgins, as he dropped 
 the paper on his library table, "we Ve got an 
 issue now. I was afraid they 'd have too much 
 sense. ' ' 
 
 ; ' What 's the matter, John 1 ' ' asked his wife. 
 
 "Nothing, Annie, only young Pat McCor- 
 mick is going to be elected prosecuting attor- 
 ney, that 's all." 
 
 Next day Higgins waited in the sitting-room 
 after dinner until he saw Williams walking 
 down the street. Then he went out to join him, 
 casually. 
 
 In addition to his other responsibilities old 
 Williams held the office of Chairman of the 
 Board of County Commissioners. Three 
 months before, the Board had appropriated
 
 204 THE UPSTART 
 
 ten thousand dollars for the erection of a 
 monument in the court-house square, in honor 
 of the volunteer soldiers and sailors of the 
 country who lost their lives in the rebellion. 
 The date for the laying of the corner-stone was 
 only a week off and the program for the exer- 
 cises of dedication, which were intended to 
 make the patriotic lesson impressive, was not 
 yet completed. 
 
 It had been easy to decide that Father Cal- 
 lahan of the Catholic Church should make the 
 opening prayer and that the Eeverend Doctor 
 Matlack of the First Presbyterian should pro- 
 nounce the benediction. It was inevitable that 
 General Bristow, most conspicuous of local 
 veterans and commander of the Grand Army 
 Post, should deliver the principal oration. But 
 there the Board stopped. 
 
 At its first meeting to consider the program, 
 it had been agreed that the son of one of the 
 dead heroes of the county should be asked to 
 speak, as the representative of the younger 
 generation. Three candidates for the honor 
 had immediately appeared and the Board 
 could come to no decision. The contest had
 
 THE UPSTART 205 
 
 developed great bitterness. Half a dozen 
 meetings to decide the question had been called 
 and each ballot showed a hard and fast dead- 
 lock, with no hope of a break. The adherents 
 of the several candidates would not yield an 
 inch. 
 
 "Going down to settle the monument row?" 
 asked Higgins. 
 
 "Yes, we 've got to settle it to-day," Wil- 
 liams answered. "The corner-stone is laid 
 next Saturday." 
 
 "Why don't you try a compromise?" 
 
 "We '11 have to, I guess. The trouble is 
 there is n't anybody we can compromise on. 
 I 've suggested a dozen names and each time 
 there is a kick." 
 
 1 ' Get up one with no names mentioned at all, 
 then," suggested Higgins. 
 
 * ' How can we do that 1 ' ' 
 
 "How would it do to have the speech made 
 by the son of the first Liberty volunteer who 
 was killed in the war?" 
 
 ' ' Hum-m, ' ' hesitated old man Williams. ' ' I 
 wonder whp that would be?" 
 
 "The official records would settle that for
 
 206 THE UPSTART 
 
 you," answered Higgins. "There 'd be no 
 chance for an argument. That 's the beauty 
 of the scheme. ' ' 
 
 "I guess that 's a pretty good plan. I was 
 thinking of something like that myself." 
 
 When the Board met Williams laid his com- 
 promise before them. 
 
 "But who was the first volunteer killed?" 
 asked half a dozen commissioners in chorus. 
 
 "I don't know," Williams answered. "I 
 don't believe anybody could tell off-hand. 
 That 's what makes it a good compromise. 
 The idea only occurred to me on the way down 
 town and I Ve had no chance to investigate, if 
 I had wanted to." 
 
 The board members were tired of the con- 
 troversy and time was pressing. The sugges- 
 tion of President Williams was put in the form 
 of a resolution and carried unanimously. 
 
 Within twenty-four hours everybody in 
 Liberty knew that Pat McCormick had been 
 chosen to speak at the laying of the corner- 
 stone. The peculiar way in which the decision 
 had been reached was the subject of general 
 comment. Some partisans took the ground
 
 THE UPSTART 207 
 
 that old Williams, as Treasurer of the Demo- 
 cratic County Committee, had played a sharp 
 trick on his colleagues in thus securing the 
 selection of one of the candidates of his party. 
 Lawyer Wagner gave bitter expression to this 
 view in the columns of the Clarion. 
 
 "Things have come to a pretty pass," he 
 wrote, "when, by a disreputable trick, party 
 politics are injected into what was intended to 
 be an impressive ceremony dedicated to the 
 memory of our dead heroes. The trick was per- 
 petrated by the treasurer of one of the cam- 
 paign committees and the intended beneficiary 
 is a candidate on his party ticket. If this candi- 
 date were other than he is, he might be ex- 
 pected to decline the questionable honor, but 
 in a man of his antecedents a delicate sense of 
 decency can hardly be expected. It will remain 
 for the voters of Liberty County to properly 
 rebuke this shameless attempt to prostitute a 
 patriotic occasion." 
 
 "That '11 stir up the animals," John Hig- 
 gins chuckled as he read it. He was right. 
 Old man Williams, his long white beard wag- 
 ging with wrath, strode into the Clarion office
 
 208 THE UPSTART 
 
 to denounce the man who wrote it as a liar. If 
 he had known the choice would fall on Pat 
 McCormick he would not have made the sug- 
 gestion, "But now, by Goll! I '11 see that 
 Pat 's the speaker, no matter what happens ! ' ' 
 
 General Bristow called at the Clarion office 
 later in the day. He was a leading Republi- 
 can and held the federal patronage in his 
 hands. The editor of the Clarion listened to 
 him with respect. He had prepared a com- 
 munication which he would like published. 
 The editor would be delighted. General Bris- 
 tow handed the copy to him and he looked it 
 over. 
 
 "I don't see how I can consistently print 
 this," the editor said, as he looked up from 
 the letter with a troubled face. 
 
 * ' Don 't then and I '11 take the stump for Pat 
 McCormick," roared the angry old soldier. 
 
 So this is what John Higgins read in the 
 Clarion the next day with many chuckles of 
 joy: 
 
 "In accordance with its policy of absolute fair- 
 ness, even in matters of party politics, the Clarion
 
 THE UPSTART 209 
 
 takes pleasure in printing the following communica- 
 tion from General Bristow: 
 
 "I read in the Clarion last evening an attack on 
 the action of the County Board in selecting Patrick 
 McCormick as one of the speakers at the laying 
 of the corner-stone of the Soldiers' Monument. 
 
 "The public is familiar with the original contro- 
 versy which followed the attempt of the Board to 
 name a representative of the Sons of Veterans. In 
 my opinion the Board acted with wisdom in decid- 
 ing to bestow the honor on the son of the first of 
 Liberty 's volunteers who lost his life in the rebellion. 
 When it so decided, I am informed that not one 
 member knew on whom the honor would fall. That 
 it did fall to Pat McCormick is no fault of his and, 
 though I do not agree with him in politics, I con- 
 sider the honor worthily bestowed. The fact that he 
 also happens to be a candidate for office has nothing 
 whatever to do with the case. 
 
 "I venture to say that the veterans of the late 
 war will be inclined to resent any further attacks, 
 veiled or otherwise, on a man who, whatever his 
 private faults, was one of the bravest soldiers in the 
 brigade which I had the honor to command. Cer- 
 tainly an attempt to cast insinuations on the son, 
 because of the sins of the father, is cowardly and 
 uncalled for. If politics have been injected into the 
 
 14
 
 210 THE UPSTART 
 
 proceedings of Saturday, I am sorry to say that 
 the Clarion, rather than the County Board, is respon- 
 sible for it. 
 
 "CHARLES BRISTOW." 
 
 "Wagner 's winning our fight for us," said 
 'Chairman Higgins when he read General Bris- 
 tow's letter. 
 
 The evening after he received formal notifi- 
 cation of his selection, Pat went over to the 
 island to tell the news to the Captain. 
 
 "Wall, son," said the old man, "now you 
 got a chance to show 'em what a shanty Irish- 
 man can do." 
 
 They sat for an hour on the bridge, looking 
 down the river, while the Captain smoked and 
 fought over some of the battles in which he 
 had taken part. 
 
 "In my company, Fust Mate," the old man 
 said, "there were twenty Irishmen, as many 
 Germans, half a dozen Swedes, a little bunch 
 of Hollanders, and a couple of English, to say 
 nothing of us Yankees. In camp and on the 
 march we was always fighting among ourselves. 
 Each of us stuck up for his country as the best
 
 THE UPSTART 211 
 
 in the world to be born in. Give us two weeks 
 without a battle and half the boys would be 
 nursing black eyes. But, when the bugle 
 sounded, and the captain yelled, "Charge! 
 Double quick ! ' ' there was only one nationality 
 in the whole company all sons of the one 
 flag. We fought then to see which could git 
 to the enemy's line fust. There was plenty of 
 countries the best to be born in, Fust Mate, 
 but only one among 'em all worth dying for ! ' ' 
 
 Pat's Celtic imagination was quick to catch 
 fire at the suggestion, which he made the text 
 for his speech. He worked on it almost con- 
 stantly, day^nd night, and had little time to 
 think of Antje or anything but the 'work on 
 hand. On Friday night he rehearsed the speech 
 at the rectory, with Mr. Burton and his wife 
 as an enthusiastic, but critical, audience. 
 
 Saturday came, clear and beautiful, with the 
 breath of the budding summer in the air. The 
 trees were burgeoning in fresh and tender 
 green. Early in the morning the farmers be- 
 gan to come in from all the surrounding coun- 
 try. Most of them had either served in the 
 Union armies or had sent their sons to fill a
 
 212 THE UPSTART 
 
 place in the ranks. This was their monument. 
 Their big wagons fringed the streets for blocks 
 and their families gathered in thousands on 
 the grass of the court-house square and over- 
 flowed on the sidewalks and up the stairways 
 in every direction. In the crowds were hun- 
 dreds in blue uniforms and scores who limped 
 on crutches or carried an empty sleeve. 
 
 When Father Callahan rose to offer the 
 opening prayer the square and all the streets 
 about it were one black, swaying mass of peo- 
 ple. The Liberty Cornet band followed, play- 
 ing "The Star Spangled Banner" and men 
 broke into the wild yells and cheers they had 
 learned on triumphant battle-fields. The fierce 
 fervor of the fight still sounded in their hoarse, 
 high-pitched voices. General Bristow spoke 
 briefly and was heard by few, his voice tremb- 
 ling with the- intensity of his emotions. Then 
 Pat heard his own name called by Williams, 
 who was presiding over the exercises. All his 
 courage oozed away and his knees shook as he 
 walked to the speaker's stand and bowed to 
 the great crowd, which was still cheering the 
 last speaker, less for what he had said than for 
 what he was.
 
 THE UPSTART 213 
 
 The people looked up at the short, youthful 
 figure, and were silent for a moment. There 
 was something about the white face, with its 
 broad mouth and hedge of red hair above, 
 which commanded their sympathy. He looked 
 so absurdly unequal to the situation. 
 
 "Men and women of Liberty County!" 
 
 It was the voice which held them, his voice 
 the one great gift which nature had be- 
 stowed upon him deep, ringing, powerful, 
 penetrating without the slightest effort to the 
 farthest limit of the crowd. 
 
 Farmers living far from town, who had 
 started to leave when General Bristow sat 
 down, stopped for a moment to listen. A half- 
 surprised, half-pleased, smile swept over the 
 upturned faces. Mouths opened and eyes 
 rounded and the smile changed to a look 
 of awed intensity as Pat went on. The 
 first sound which broke in upon his words was 
 a deep German roar of ' l Hoch ! Hoch ! " as he 
 told how the sons of the fatherland had proved 
 their courage. Then followed the shrill yells 
 of his old friends of Shantytown as the tale of 
 Irish valor was rehearsed. 
 
 Presently Pat made out two figures in the
 
 214 THE UPSTART 
 
 crowd. One of them was that of his Aunt 
 Bridget, mounted on top of a dry-goods box 
 at the corner and waving a big flag frantically. 
 Close by, he saw the Captain, his mouth 
 wide open and hand behind ear. To these 
 two, Pat talked for the remainder of his ten 
 minutes. 
 
 ' ' For the honor of that flag, ' ' he concluded, 
 "the brave men of a dozen nations gave their 
 lives. Born under imperial banners, they died 
 for the flag that set them free. They swore 
 that it should stand forever for equal rights 
 and equal opportunities for all men. It re- 
 mains for us their sons to see that their 
 blood-sealed oath is kept inviolate.'* 
 
 When he sat down there was at first a 
 moment's tense silence. Then burst a great 
 roar of voices, and a wild confusion of people, 
 struggling about the speaker's stand, throw- 
 ing hats into the air and cheering. In it all, 
 Pat saw first only his old aunt, jumping up 
 and down on her box like a rubber-doll and 
 uttering screams that pierced the deeper roar 
 like arrows. Then his eye caught the figure of 
 the Captain, fighting his way to the front like 
 a man driven by devils.
 
 "Men and women of Liberty County !"
 
 THE UPSTART 215 
 
 General Bristow came over and shook his 
 hand. 
 
 "I congratulate you, sir," said the old sol- 
 dier. "I am proud of you." 
 
 The Captain, his coat half-torn from his 
 body, came next, wringing Pat's hand and cry- 
 ing, "You showed 'em, Fust Mate! You 
 showed 'em!" 
 
 Far off on the outskirts of the crowd, John 
 Biggins, turning to drive away, said to his 
 wife, "Annie, that was the best political speech 
 I ever heard in my life. And there was n't a 
 word of politics in it."
 
 XX 
 
 ANTJE came back from the seminary de- 
 ~L\~ termined to face the conditions of life 
 on the farm without flinching. Least of all 
 should her father ever see in her any indica- 
 tion that she felt herself ill-treated. And at 
 the worst she knew that the old dead monotony 
 of existence could never return. She had new 
 resources a few books, a few friends, and a 
 new outlook into the possibilities of life. As 
 a blind man who has once looked out on the 
 good green world, flooded with golden light, 
 may be happier for the memory of that celes- 
 tial vision, so she treasured the recollection of 
 her days at the seminary and gave thanks for 
 them. Not even her mother ever heard a word 
 of complaint. Into the every-day work of the 
 farm she threw herself with an energy and an 
 intelligence which first surprised King Anders 
 and then aroused unpleasant reflections. Per- 
 haps he had been hard and unjust to the girl. 
 
 216
 
 THE UPSTAET 217 
 
 Instinctively he understood her better than 
 any one else, and in the depths of his stubborn 
 nature there lay a great pride in, and an over- 
 whelming love for, the one member of his fam- 
 ily who had inherited his own strong traits 
 of character. 
 
 When Jack Hahn drove out to the farm once 
 or twice during the spring vacation, he wel- 
 comed her, in secret, as cordially as Antje her- 
 self, and at the coming of big Tom Hahn, the 
 old King smiled grimly as he recognized a 
 suitor for the hand of his daughter. 
 
 "That Hahn girl gets pretty thick by Antje 
 already, ' ' he said to his wife. ' ' I think maybe 
 so they like to get her for their boy, huh 1 ' ' 
 
 "He was down two or three times by the 
 seminary to see her yet," answered the old 
 woman. "And in Chicago he took her by the 
 theater. He is a good boy, not so f " 
 
 The King was not present at the laying of 
 the corner-stone, but a few days later he called 
 at the office of Lawyer Wagner to talk it over. 
 
 "That McCormick feller 's getting to be a 
 pretty smart one, huh!" he said. "They say 
 he made a fine speech by the monument."
 
 218 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 ' ' That was just what we needed, ' ' answered 
 Wagner. "It stirred our boys all up and now 
 they '11 go to work in earnest. ' ' 
 
 "I hear he comes out by the Silver Creek 
 School pretty soon to make a speech," the 
 King went on. ' ' I should n 't wonder when he 
 does if there was a lively time yet. ' ' 
 
 "What 's going to happen?" asked Wagner, 
 with an anticipatory smile. 
 
 "Oh, maybe so noddings," said Anders with 
 a grin, "but some of those boys out our way 
 are pretty wild ones, huh?" 
 
 ' ' Oh, I see, ' ' smiled Wagner. " I M like to be 
 on hand myself." 
 
 Pat's speech at the Silver Creek school- 
 house came late in the campaign. He and Tom 
 Hahn had traveled together for several weeks, 
 driving out into the country in the morning, 
 calling at the various farms in the afternoon 
 and speaking at the district school-houses in 
 the evening. Always the best of friends, there 
 had yet grown up between them a feeling of 
 aloofness, almost of tension. One subject they 
 both instinctively avoided. Now, as they 
 drove out over the bridge and along the old,
 
 THE UPSTART 219 
 
 familiar river road, they were both strangely 
 silent. 
 
 "I wonder if there '11 be a big crowd to- 
 night," Tom asked finally. 
 
 "I hope so. The committee promised a full 
 house. ' ' 
 
 "You 've got a whole lot of old friends out 
 here, have n't you?" Tom asked. 
 
 "And some that are n't so friendly," Pat 
 answered smiling. "I don't reckon the King 
 and his boys '11 turn out to welcome me." 
 
 "Perhaps Antje '11 come." 
 
 Pat looked at his comrade sharply. ' ' She '11 
 hardly come up from the seminary to hear me 
 speak," he said. 
 
 "She 's been at home for three weeks. 
 Did n't you know?" asked Tom in surprise. 
 
 "No," said Pat. "I did n't know it." 
 
 The old white horse trotted noiselessly along 
 the dust-laden road, and both young men 
 lapsed into silence again. 
 
 Three weeks ago! That was just after he 
 had seen her at the seminary, Pat remembered. 
 Was he responsible for her recall? He knew 
 what it must mean to her to give it up. Surely
 
 220 THE UPSTART 
 
 -she must hate him now. That was why he had 
 not heard from her. He had never touched 
 her life, except to bring sorrow and trouble 
 into it. 
 
 "I can't bear to think of her back there on 
 the farm," burst out Tom. "It 's a dog's life 
 and she was never made for it." 
 
 ' ' Then why don 't you go and take her away 
 from it?" That was what Pat should have said. 
 That would have been generous and just to 
 both Antje and his friend there in the buggy 
 with him. But he could n't say it. Instead, 
 he turned his eyes away, and a feeling of 
 fierce, bitter, jealous rage burned within him. 
 
 The horse jogged around the corner and the 
 little old school-house, standing back under its 
 great elm, came into sight. 
 
 "Here we are, Pat," said Tom. "It looks 
 like a big crowd, too. ' ' 
 
 Over at the Anders farm the announcement 
 that Tom Hahn and Pat were to hold a meet- 
 ing, caused some little suppressed excitement. 
 The King did not speak of it, but Antje 
 gathered from bits of talk she overheard that 
 the boys were planning mischief.
 
 THE UPSTAET 221 
 
 On the evening^ appointed for the meeting, 
 King Anders, coming in to supper, noticed 
 the girl's absence, and asked, " Where is Antje, 
 yet?" 
 
 "She went to spend the night with the 
 Luders girls," answered her mother. 
 
 ' ' Hah ! ' ' said the King. * ' She have to go see 
 that Hahn boy yet." 
 
 Farmers' wagons were tied to the fence and 
 scattered through the grove about the school- 
 house, as Tom and Pat McCormick drove up. 
 Groups of people were standing about the 
 door and a score of men were perched like 
 crows upon the top rail of the fence, whittling, 
 smoking and talking about the crops. As the 
 two young men climbed down from their 
 buggy, the talk ceased and all eyes were fixed 
 upon them shrewd, critical eyes. 
 
 "Pretty young-looking cuss," said one old 
 farmer. "Yes," answered another, "but he 's 
 a smart one, all right. You ought to 'ave 
 heard the speech he made at the corner-stone 
 laying." 
 
 The chairman of the township committee 
 came out to receive them and the crowd fol-
 
 THE UPSTART 
 
 lowed back into the school-house. The women 
 and children filled the seats, the men standing 
 thick along the walls, sitting in the open win- 
 dows and massing themselves about the open 
 doors at the back. The two little kerosene 
 lamps, hanging by wires from the ceiling, filled 
 the shadowy recesses of the school-house with 
 a dim yellow glow. But there was plenty of 
 light for both Pat and Tom Hahn to make out, 
 sitting near the center of the room with the 
 Luders girls, the slender figure of Antje. 
 There was nothing about her to distinguish 
 her from the others nothing bul her uncon- 
 scious grace, the lure of her yellow hair and 
 the tender, fearless, uncertain spirit which 
 looked out through her dark blue eyes. 
 
 As Pat looked down at her, his heart beat 
 wildly. For him there was no one else present 
 and the idea of making a political speech to 
 Antje seemed impossible. Other words were 
 closer to his lips, and the old school-house was 
 full of tender memories. Why was she there 
 to make them real? 
 
 The girl herself could not have answered. 
 She had come because she must. Some impulse 
 had driven her.
 
 THE UPSTAKT 223 
 
 i 
 
 She looked up at the platform. There sat 
 Tom, tall and handsome. He was smiling at 
 her and a look of tenderness shone back from 
 her eyes. She glanced at Pat sitting at the 
 back of the platform, with his chair tilted back, 
 as he used to sit when she went to school to 
 him. His lack of dignity made her angry and 
 her cheeks went red. Not once did he glance 
 in her direction. 
 
 The chairman of the township committee 
 broke in upon the tumult of her mind. With 
 one hand fumbling at his watch-chain and the 
 other tightly clenched behind his back, he 
 stepped to the front of the platform and 
 cleared his throat nervously. 
 
 "Fellow citizens," he began. "The pres- 
 ence of so many here to-night in spite of its 
 being the busy season is proof that the voters 
 of Monroe township are fully alive to the great 
 importance of the issues of this campaign, 
 which we shall hear discussed this evening by 
 one of our most eloquent speakers. I 
 have the honor of introducing to you the 
 Democratic candidate for prosecuting attor- 
 ney of Liberty County, the Honorable Patrick 
 McCormick. ' '
 
 224 THE UPSTART 
 
 Pat stepped forward to the front of the plat- 
 form and faced the applause. His face was 
 red and he was furiously angry with himself 
 that the sight of the girl should have so upset 
 him. His sentinel eyes glanced instantly at 
 her face. It was white and sober. 
 
 The moment he began to speak, untoward 
 things happened. A length fell from the long 
 stove-pipe which stretched across the room, 
 and discharged a cloud of soot into the up- 
 turned faces of the people. Left unsupported, 
 the rest of the pipe fell also, each length, as 
 it tipped, pouring its burden of dirt over the 
 room. 
 
 The place was thrown into instant and utter 
 confusion. Women screamed, children climbed 
 on top of the desks, people in the front seats, 
 half-choked with soot, tried to force their way 
 to the windows, gasping for air. Some of the 
 men at the rear had rushed out of the house. 
 Others were laughing at the panic. 
 
 Instantly the thought of treachery came into 
 Pat's mind. 
 
 "Wait!" he called from the platform. 
 "Don't let a lot of mischief-makers break up 
 our meeting. There 's no danger ! ' '
 
 THE UPSTART 225 
 
 At the fall of the pipe, Antje Anders had 
 sprung to her feet. She glanced from side to 
 side through the open windows. 
 
 Then, as Pat spoke, there came fresh trouble. 
 Through each of the windows a big, gray hor- 
 nets' nest, filled with furiously buzzing insects, 
 was hurled into the confused crowd. Instantly 
 the confusion became wild panic. There were 
 screams of pain from the women and children 
 and execrations from the men, as the people 
 climbed through the windows and fought for 
 exit at the door. 
 
 Glancing to the right as the hornets' nest 
 was thrown in, Antje recognized in the dim 
 light the face of her brother, Klaas. The signt 
 filled her with a sudden fury. She looked up 
 at the platform, where Pat, pale and calm, still 
 stood, vainly trying to stop the riot, and her 
 heart went out to him. 
 
 And then in an instant she knew. It was 
 Pat McCormick she loved. She would stand 
 with him against even her own people. It 
 came to her with the certainty of fate that she 
 had always loved him. Doubts, questionings, 
 were over. The instant need was to help him 
 thwart the t)lot of her own brothers. In the 
 
 15
 
 226 THE UPSTART 
 
 newness of the realization of her love for him, 
 it was a blessed opportunity. So she waited 
 for him in the shadows, just outside the 
 school-house door. 
 
 Pat, Tom Hahn and the Chairman were the 
 last to leave the school-house. As he hur- 
 ried through the door, Pat heard a girl 's voice 
 calling to him softly. 
 
 "Pat," whispered Antje, "don't let them 
 beat you that way. Hold a meeting out here 
 in the open!" 
 
 It came to him like an inspiration. He 
 Hashed one grateful, adoring look upon her, 
 then turned and sprang to the top of the school- 
 house steps. 
 
 ' ' Friends ! " he cried in his great voice. * ' We 
 will hold our meeting in the open air. Wait 
 a moment and we will have a fire built. It 
 takes more than the sting of a yellow-jacket 
 to break up a Democratic rally." 
 
 Tom Hahn and some of the younger men 
 gathered a big pile of dry wood and presently, 
 by the red light of the blazing fire, Pat went 
 on to deliver what Tom declared was his best 
 speech of the whole campaign. Small wonder !
 
 THE UPSTART 227 
 
 For from a pair of dark blue eyes, not ten feet 
 away eyes that sparkled with enthusiasm and 
 excitement there flashed to him constantly re- 
 newed and increased inspiration. 
 
 When the speech was over, while the hearty 
 country cheers were still sounding, Pat and 
 Tom Hahn stepped up at the same moment to 
 speak to Antje. And then happened what to 
 Pat was a thing not to be understood. It was 
 for Tom Hahn that she had the first smile of 
 welcome and a lingering hand-clasp. Tom 
 leaned over and whispered to her. She shook 
 her head, smiling no longer, while Pat stood 
 by, raging inwardly. 
 
 Was this the girl whose excited whisper had 
 inspired the meeting in the open air? Why 
 had her warmth so suddenly cooled? Or had 
 he been dreaming? 
 
 "I 'm so sorry, Pat about to-night," she 
 said. 
 
 "Antje," he asked huskily, "why on earth 
 have n't you written a fellow?" 
 
 "I Ve been so busy since I came home, ' ' she 
 began, "and you Ve had a campaign on your 
 hands. I did n 't want to "
 
 228 THE UPSTART 
 
 "Oh, you girls!" the voice of old man Lu- 
 ders broke in. ' ' Hurry up yet. You want me 
 to stay up all night?" 
 
 Pat and Tom Hahn got into the buggy and 
 drove away in mutual silence. 
 
 "Mr. Luders," said Antje, as he turned his 
 team, "I wish you 'd let me out at home. 
 There 's something I must attend to to-night. ' '
 
 XXI 
 
 WHEN Antje opened the kitchen door, her 
 father looked up at her in surprise. He 
 was sitting in his big rocking-chair by the stove. 
 Klaas was perched on the top of the kitchen 
 table, his long legs almost touching the floor; 
 while the rest of the boys formed an appre- 
 ciative audience to the story Klaas was telling. 
 Antje had heard the sound of boisterous 
 laughter as she came up the lane and she had 
 interrupted Klaas in the midst of his story as 
 she opened the door. 
 
 She swept an angry glance over the seven 
 men giants, every one, huge and black, with 
 malicious smiles still hovering on their faces. 
 Her cheeks were red and little points of flame 
 glittered in her blue eyes. 
 
 The men looked at her, waiting for her to 
 speak as she faced them, with her back against 
 the kitchen door. 
 
 "Klaas!" she cried, pointing at her eldest 
 
 229
 
 230 THE UPSTART 
 
 brother with a trembling forefinger. "Yon 
 are a big coward ! I saw you throw that hor- 
 nets ' nest into the school-house right in 
 among the women and children ! ' ' 
 
 The big fellow looked up at her and laughed, 
 a heavy, insolent, contemptuous laugh. 
 
 "Tom Hahn got stung, huh!" he said. 
 
 "You 're a sneak," she went on, pricked by 
 his contempt. "Creeping around in the dark 
 like a thief ! You ought to go to jail for what 
 you did to-night!" 
 
 "Aw! What I care what you say!" 
 growled Klaas, getting to his feet. The other 
 boys laughed uneasily. 
 
 " I 'm ashamed of you all, ' ' she ended, break- 
 ing down in true womanly fashion, once her 
 defiance had been uttered. 
 
 Up to this point the old King had said 
 nothing. He had even taken a certain fierce 
 pleasure in seeing his daughter display the 
 dauntless spirit which she, among all his chil- 
 dren, had inherited. He had smiled as he lis- 
 tened to her hot denunciation of her huge 
 brother. But now Antje was crying; and her 
 mother, roused from sleep, was standing in the 
 door of her bedroom, calling to her daughter :
 
 THE UPSTART 231 
 
 11 Go by bed," he ordered. "Go by bed, 
 you all. We see about this yet in the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Half an hour later, while Antje lay sobbing 
 in her bed, her old mother crept softly into the 
 room and sat down beside her. Her gnarled 
 hand lay upon the girl's braided hair. Strok- 
 ing it tenderly, she whispered: " Antje, tell me 
 what is the matter, eh ? " 
 
 Brokenly the girl told the story of the night's 
 happenings. 
 
 "I 'm sure father knew all about it, too," 
 she added. ''It was such a cowardly thing to 
 do. That 's why everybody hates father and 
 hates us all." 
 
 ' ' Antje, ' ' said the old woman, with something 
 like awe in her voice, "your father owns near 
 four thousand acres of land. He is a very rich 
 man, yet." 
 
 ' ' That makes it all the worse, mother. Why 
 should he want to fight a poor boy like Pat 
 McCormick and fight him in the dark, too, 
 like a sneak?" 
 
 "Antje, his father burned the tannery and 
 Ander lost twelve thousand dollars." 
 
 "That was n't Pat's fault. He is n't to
 
 232 THE UPSTAET 
 
 blame for what his father did. It is n't fair 
 to fight him for that reason!" 
 
 "Antje, liebchen," said the old woman, 
 throwing a protecting arm about the girl's 
 shoulders, "don't cry. Why do you care so 
 much?" 
 
 "0, mother, don't you know? Can't you 
 seel It 's because I love him." 
 
 "0, Antje!" cried the old woman, horror- 
 stricken. "Antje! Love him! That will kill 
 your father yet! Wait, Antje! Wait for 
 God's sake!" 
 
 "I can't help it mother. I tried hard, but 
 I can't help it!" 
 
 "I don't know what becomes of us yet," 
 wailed the old woman under her breath. 
 "When your father knows that, I believe he 
 Mils you dead." 
 
 NEXT morning the King sent the boys early to 
 work in the fields. Then, after breakfast, he 
 said to his daughter, speaking very kindly: 
 "Come with me by the garden a little, 
 Antje." 
 The old man walked ahead into the garden.
 
 THE UPSTART 233 
 
 He was in his shirt-sleeves and was smoking 
 a long pipe, with a painted china bowl. As 
 Antje, following, heard the gate click behind 
 her, she was reminded of another scene in that 
 same prim Dutch garden and she braced her- 
 self to face another violent outbreak of anger. 
 But her father's manner was calm and half 
 jocular. He sat down on an oak stump near 
 the gate, took a long pull at his pipe and 
 searched her flushed face with his keen gray 
 eyes. 
 
 "Antje," he said, finally his voice was al- 
 most tender "your mother cried about you 
 all night. She waked me up crying." 
 
 "I 'm sorry, father." 
 
 "She would not tell me what was the mat- 
 ter by her. Blit I 'm not a fool yet. I guess 
 I understand it already, huh?" 
 
 The girl saw a smile on her father 's face and 
 looked down in confusion, saying nothing. 
 
 "You was mad by those boys' tricks last 
 night, not so?" There was amused admira- 
 tion in his voice. "You must not take it so 
 serious. But, yes, I know why you do not like 
 it when they laugh at him, huh?"
 
 234 THE UPSTART 
 
 He said it with a kindly chuckle and the girl, 
 astounded, kept her eyes on the ground. 
 
 "Antje," the old man went on, "you think 
 some about getting married, not so? I guess, 
 maybe so, we fix that all right, huh I What 
 you say?" 
 
 The girl could not speak. Evidently the old 
 mother had given him some hint of the mid- 
 night confession. But why this marvelous 
 change in her father 1 Instead of fierce threats 
 and terrible refusal, he was sitting there, smil- 
 ing his approval. 
 
 "You say noddings, huh? But you don't 
 need to. When a girl gets red like that and looks 
 down and can't talk yet, she don't need to say 
 noddings. Antje, I guess you like that feller 
 pretty much, already, huh?" 
 
 "Yes, father," she answered, looking up at 
 him, prepared now to believe in any miracle. 
 
 "You been a good girl by me, Antje," the 
 old man went on, his eyes fondly caressing her. 
 "When I was sick that time you took care of 
 me fine. I guess maybe so when you get mar- 
 ried I give you five hundred acres of land. 
 You sure you got the right feller this time, 
 huh?"
 
 THE UPSTART 235 
 
 "Yes, father, I 'm sure." They were smil- 
 ing at each other now. King Anders was al- 
 most playful. He took three or four short 
 pulls at his pipe and chuckled hoarsely. 
 
 1 1 1 guess any of those town fellers been glad 
 when they get Anders' girl for his woman, 
 not so? Maybe so you better look around 
 some more ! ' ' 
 
 The girl smiled back at him and shook her 
 head. This was a father she had never known 
 before. 
 
 "I don't care about the land, father, if only 
 you won't be angry with me," she said. 
 
 "You better take him. Five hundred acres 
 is a good deal some land. If you 're sure about 
 the feller, huh?" 
 
 "I 'm sure, father," she said, with a look 
 on her face that was like a vision of the prom- 
 ised land. 
 
 "I guess he 's a pretty good feller for a 
 lawyer. I go in town to-morrow and fix him 
 up, huh?" 
 
 "0, no, please don't do that," pleaded the 
 girl, all her maiden modesty behind the prayer. 
 * ' I would n 't have you say anything to him for 
 the world."
 
 236 THE UPSTART 
 
 "I won't say noddings to him yet," an- 
 swered the old King, with a slow, cunning 
 smile. " I go me to see his father. ' ' 
 
 "His father?" cried Antje, as the gulf 
 opened beneath her feet. "His father?" 
 
 "Sure," answered the old man, still with 
 that shrewd smile on his face. " I go me to see 
 Judge Hahn to-morrow morning when I go 
 in with the hogs yet." 
 
 Antje fell on her knees before her father, 
 her hands stretched out to him in hopeless ap- 
 peal. So suddenly, so cruelly, the blow had 
 struck that she had hardly breath to speak. 
 
 "But it is n't Tom Hahn, father," she cried 
 in a piteous voice, twisting her hands together 
 in impotent agony. "It is n't Tom Hahn! I 
 don't love Tom Hahn!" 
 
 Bang Anders' lower lip dropped and his 
 face went white. Then the blood swept back 
 in a flood and made it crimson. 
 
 "Huh? Huh?" he stammered, groping un- 
 willingly for the truth, his eyes staring. 
 "What you say?" 
 
 As he spoke, he rose from the stump and 
 stood, towering above her.
 
 THE UPSTART 237 
 
 "What you say?" he repeated, rasping out 
 his words, as though it were hard to force them 
 through his lips. For an instant Antje hesi- 
 tated. Then, with a courage greater than his 
 own, she looked the old man squarely in the 
 eyes. 
 
 1 'Father," she said, "I can't help it. I love 
 Pat McCormick." 
 
 All the muscles in King Anders' body tight- 
 ened convulsively. He raised his clenched 
 right fist above his head. Unnoticed, the china 
 bowl of his pipe was squeezed into fragments, 
 which cut the flesh of his hand so that the 
 blood dripped down on his daughter's yellow 
 hair. 
 
 "You tell me that so to my face!" he hissed. 
 "By Gott! When you ever speak to that man 
 in your life, I kill him dead ! ' ' 
 
 Then, without further word, he turned and 
 tottered to the gate and up the lane towards 
 the house.
 
 XXII 
 
 FOR ten minutes after they had started on 
 the drive back to Liberty, Pat and Tom 
 Hahn discussed the attempt of the Anders 
 gang to break up their meeting. Then they 
 suddenly fell into an embarrassed silence. 
 They were both struggling with the same prob- 
 lem. Over them both fell the shadow of their 
 love for the same girl. Each felt himself a 
 traitor to his friendship for the other. Each 
 was bitterly jealous of the other; and shame 
 that this feeling should exist kept both of them 
 silent. It was a relief when the old horse 
 stopped at the McCormick's cottage and Pat, 
 getting out, bade Tom Hahn a constrained 
 good-night. 
 
 Next morning, early, King Anders stalked 
 into the office of Lawyer Wagner. 
 
 "How goes the election yet?" he asked. 
 
 ' * 0, young McCormick '11 be beat all right, ' ' 
 Wagner answered. ' ' He may run ahead of his 
 
 238
 
 THE UPSTART 239 
 
 ticket, though. There 's no denying he 's made 
 a hot campaign." 
 
 4 'Ahead of his ticket!" growled the old 
 King. ' ' Damn him ! I want him wiped clean 
 off the slate ! I bet you I got Monroe township 
 fixed already." 
 
 "Yes, but it 'd take a lot of money to fix 
 the whole county the same way, ' ' said Wagner. 
 
 * ' How much it cost, huh 1 ' ' 
 
 1 ' Well, ' ' answered Wagner with assumed in- 
 difference, "I calculate that about five thou- 
 sand dollars would put Pat McCormick where 
 the lilies won't bloom again." 
 
 "I get him, " said the King sullenly. He got 
 up and went over to the bank. He came back 
 presently and laid the money on the table be- 
 fore Wagner, who took it greedily. 
 
 "You 're sure this beats him, huh?" asked 
 the old man suspiciously. 
 
 "Dead certain. Tom Martin 's as good as 
 elected this minute. Wait till I write you a 
 receipt for this." 
 
 Her father spoke never a word to Antje after 
 he left her in the garden. Orders for work to 
 keep her busy each day were delivered through
 
 240 THE UPSTART 
 
 her mother. Otherwise the King ignored her 
 completely. Her great brothers followed their 
 father's example, except that they added a 
 touch of cruelty to the treatment by occasional 
 indirect and indelicate taunts. Often she had 
 to clench her hands, until the nails bit into the 
 tender flesh, to keep from answering them 
 hotly. But it was the attitude of her old 
 mother which hurt the most. Always the old 
 woman had been her confidant and champion, 
 who understood her intuitively and whose love 
 was a sure refuge in time of trouble. But now 
 the time had come when she could go no fur- 
 ther in opposition to the will of her husband. 
 Open defiance to the old King and absolute 
 mutiny against his authority were as far be- 
 yond her sympathy as her imagination. She 
 seemed hardly to look upon her daughter as 
 any longer a member of the family. 
 
 When Antje first crept back from the gar- 
 den and climbed the narrow, crooked stairs 
 which led to her little bedroom, she found the 
 closet, where all her pretty new clothes had 
 been hanging, open and empty. Her trunk, 
 which held the rest of her treasures, was also 
 gone.
 
 THE UPSTART 241 
 
 "Mother," she cried, running down to the 
 kitchen, "what has become of all my things!" 
 
 "Your father has taken them," the old 
 woman answered, with averted face, and went 
 on about her work without a word of sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 Cut off thus from her own family, Antje per- 
 ceived that she was under a kind of surveil- 
 lance. Her father had made it impossible for 
 her to leave the farm, even if she had wished 
 to do so. She was a virtual prisoner. And in 
 the midst of all her troubles, she was tor- 
 mented by one terrible thought that made her 
 present situation seem pleasant by contrast. 
 
 Suppose Pat McCormick should attempt to 
 see her? With her own fresh consciousness 
 of complete love for him filling her nature, it 
 seemed to her, somehow, certain that he would 
 come that he must come that across the 
 six miles which separated them, her yearning 
 love would cry out and that it would be heard. 
 But with the awful threat which her father 
 had made in the garden hanging like a men- 
 acing sword between them, she felt, even more 
 strongly, that for her to permit the possibility 
 would be to "make herself an accomplice to 
 
 16
 
 242 THE UPSTART 
 
 murder. For she did not doubt that King 
 Anders would be quite equal to making good 
 his oath. Above all, it would endanger the 
 life of the man she loved, which was to be 
 rather guarded from all harm as the dearest 
 of treasures. 
 
 So she sat down in her little room under the 
 roof that night with a great task before her. 
 In her slender brown hands lay the destinies 
 of three strong men. 
 
 First of all she must, in decent fairness, 
 write to Tom Hahn and tell him that she did 
 not love him. How strange it was ! Yesterday, 
 altogether uncertain; to-day, so sure! She 
 could not understand or explain herself or her 
 decision. She but knew, with a blessed cer- 
 tainty that left no place for questioning. 
 
 It was a hard letter to write. She had 
 known Tom Hahn so intimately ; she owed him 
 so much ; she still felt so tenderly towards him. 
 Worst of all, she might not give him her rea- 
 son; for no slightest suspicion of the truth 
 must reach Pat McCormick. When it was fin- 
 ished, she was crying. It was hard to deliber- 
 ately cut one's self off from the only way of 
 hope which lay open. But it had to be done.
 
 THE UPSTART 243 
 
 There remained the letter to Pat McCor- 
 mick. As she drew the paper towards her, she 
 blushed divinely, as if at the very thought of all 
 the love which filled her. For the moment she 
 forgot the facts. On her face came a smile 
 in which pride and tenderness were mingled 
 with something wistful and altogether appeal- 
 ing. Then suddenly she realized again, as if 
 for the first time, that she had come into her 
 love only to renounce it. The smile went; the 
 face grew white, with wide, staring eyes; the 
 corners of the mouth drooped and the lower 
 lip trembled, so that any man seeing it must 
 have felt his heart torn from him by the pitiful 
 picture of her uncomforted distress. 
 
 She must tell Pat McCormick that he must 
 not come to take what she would have gloried 
 to give him. She must tell him bluntly, with 
 cold dissimulation, leaving him to think him- 
 self uncared for and cast off, for should he 
 catch the faintest, dimmest hint of the truth 
 between the lines, she knew that he would come 
 to her against all urging to the contrary. 
 
 DEAR MR. MCCORMICK : 
 
 It is n't an easy thing to write, but I can't put 
 it off any longer. I have made up my mind and you
 
 244 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 must not, under any circumstances, try to see me 
 again. It would only bring fresh trouble and sor- 
 row upon me. You know, I suppose, what followed 
 your visit to the seminary. If you have the least 
 regard for me, you will respect my wish and not 
 make bad matters any worse. Please take this as 
 final. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 ANTJE ANDERS. 
 
 Don't try to see me unless you want to make me 
 miserable for life. 
 
 She had no stamps and no chance to mail her 
 letters, but she carried them to one of the 
 hired men the same who had taken her note 
 to Pat, after her father 's seizure in the garden 
 and asked him, in confusion, to attend to it 
 for her. 
 
 "I will that," answered the man with a 
 smile. "To-morry 's eliction, annyhow, and 
 I 'm goin' to town." 
 
 Then she turned and went slowly back into 
 the old farm-house, having signed with her own 
 hand the warrant which committed her to what 
 she was sure would be worse than solitary con- 
 finement.
 
 xxin 
 
 EARLY on the morning of Election Day 
 King Anders and his six sons hitched up 
 the horses and drove away. Even the hired 
 men were given a day off. The farm was de- 
 serted, save for the two women. 
 
 In Liberty the polls opened at six o'clock in 
 the morning. Higgins, Tom Hahn, Pat, the 
 Captain, and others directly interested, were 
 up and about even before that hour. They met 
 at headquarters in the room over the engine- 
 house. 
 
 "I '11 stay here all day," said Chairman 
 Higgins, "and if anything turns up you '11 
 know where to find me. The rest of you get 
 out and hustle." 
 
 Presently it developed that Lawyer "Wagner 
 had spent a part of King Anders ' contribution 
 to the campaign fund in hiring all the avail- 
 able hacks and carriages, for use in bringing 
 Republican voters to the polls. When Tom 
 
 245
 
 246 THE UPSTART 
 
 Hahn saw the swarm of vehicles Displaying the 
 red and blue banners of the Republican ticket, 
 he hurried up to the house and hitched up his 
 own white mare. On the way he met Fred Wil- 
 liams, son of the campaign treasurer, and he 
 promised to bring down the family carriage 
 and pair. Pauline Schumacher called to Tom 
 from the next yard and offered her own pony 
 and phaeton for the good of the cause. 
 
 "I '11 drive it myself," she said. ''No, I '11 
 take the double-seated wagon and get Jack to 
 go with me!" 
 
 All the way up Main Street Tom got recruits 
 and in an hour more than a dozen private car- 
 riages were dashing about the streets, each 
 bearing the legend ''Vote for Pat McCormick 
 and the Democratic Ticket." 
 
 The first load which Pauline Schumacher 
 and Jack Hahn brought to the polls consisted 
 of old Slayson, who for ten years had taken 
 care of the Halms' lawn, Herr Professor Her- 
 mann, the huge, heavily-bearded old German 
 who had been the earliest apostle of music in 
 Liberty, and little Jimmy Strait, who had se- 
 cretly worshiped Jack Hahn ever since they
 
 THE UPSTART 247 
 
 had both graduated from the high school and 
 whom she bore away in triumph from the door 
 of his father's butcher-shop. 
 
 Tom Hahn met them, laughing, at the curb 
 in front of the little hotel where the votes were 
 cast. 
 
 "Well, Professor," he said, "what do you 
 think about the new woman in politics now? 
 I '11 take the rig off your hands now, girls." 
 
 "Indeed you won't," answered his -sister. 
 "We 're having a fine time. And we can get a 
 lot more votes than you can, can't we Pau- 
 line?" 
 
 The polls closed at six o'clock. Out at the 
 Anders farm the day dragged. Ahtje and her 
 mother kept steadily at their work, both lonely 
 and under a strain. The old woman yearned 
 to speak to her daughter tenderly and to try to 
 comfort her. The girl, her hands mechani- 
 cally busy with the homely tasks of the kitchen, 
 sent her spirit abroad to cheer her lover in his 
 battle at the polls. Almost despairingly, she 
 prayed for his success. 
 
 After an early supper she went to her little 
 bedroom and lay there for hours, sleepless
 
 248 THE UPSTART 
 
 with anxiety. It was nearly midnight when 
 she heard her father come in. He seemed to 
 walk straight through the kitchen to his bed- 
 room. Then came the muffled sound of three 
 or four questions on the part of her mother 
 and as many short, gruff replies. After that 
 there was silence. 
 
 An hour later Antje was roused from a 
 troubled sleep by the sound of boisterous talk- 
 ing just outside the house. Presently her 
 brothers, Klaas and Piet, tramped into the 
 kitchen, talking and laughing noisily. 
 
 "Hush the noise and go to bed yet," called 
 the old King angrily from his bedroom. 
 
 Then Klaas replied in a thick, unsteady 
 voice, speaking first to his brother in what was 
 intended to be a whisper. 
 
 "The old man is sore yet, huh, Pietf" he 
 said and then in a louder tone : ' ' Say, father, 
 the boys in town give you the laugh. They 
 say you put up five thousand dollars to beat 
 Pat McCormick. Lawyer Wagner puts most 
 of it in his pocket, already, and Pat McCormick 
 gets elected by the biggest majority on the 
 ticket. Heh! I don't blame you when you 
 feel sore!"
 
 THE UPSTART 249 
 
 Antje heard the old man 's incoherent retort 
 and the confused sound of several angry voices 
 talking at once. Then a deep silence spread 
 over the household and the girl buried a hot 
 cheek in her pillow and cried softly for joy 
 at the success of the man she loved. She knew 
 that defeat would make her father more savage 
 and vindictive, and that on her would be 
 visited his displeasure. But that was nothing 
 beside the glorious fact that Pat had won! 
 
 Pat McCormick and the other Democratic 
 candidates, with their managers and friends, 
 received the news of their election in the 
 headquarters at the engine-house. By nine 
 o'clock it was known that the town of Liberty 
 had given the ticket a large majority. Pres- 
 ently the first report came in from the country 
 towns. It was brought by a man on horse-back, 
 who announced that in Monroe township, 
 usually strongly Democratic, King Anders had 
 cut down the majority to a few votes. That, 
 for a time, caused some alarm, but before mid- 
 night, it was certainly known that the Repub- 
 licans were overwhelmingly defeated and Pat 
 went home to take the news. 
 
 The little cottage was all aglow, a kerosene
 
 250 THE UPSTART 
 
 lamp shining in each one of the front windows, 
 and from the porch hung a big flag. But when 
 he stepped inside the door the sitting-room 
 was empty. 
 
 "Mother!" he called jubilantly. "We Ve 
 won!" 
 
 At his call the door leading to the kitchen 
 burst suddenly open and out sprang Aunt 
 Bridget, with a whoop of joy. Clutched in her 
 two hands, her arms held out stiff before her, 
 she carried a black, broad-cloth, frock coat. 
 
 "Here it is, yer Honor!" she cried. "Here 
 it is ! Hurrah for the litthle peepul ! ' ' 
 
 Behind her, awkwardly and half shyly, came 
 Mrs. McCormick. She bore, as if it had been 
 an imperial crown, a shining silk hat. 
 
 "From yere mother and yere aunt," said 
 Aunt Bridget, with a profound curtsey. * ' And 
 a proud day it is for the County Roscommon ! ' ' 
 
 There were tears in Pat 's eyes as he laughed. 
 Then nothing would do but the new regalia 
 must be put on and Aunt Bridget walked 
 around the room to admire the spectacle from 
 every angle. 
 
 " 'T is the grandest sight a human bein' ivir 
 gazed upon, ' ' she announced finally.
 
 THE UPSTART 251 
 
 Old Mrs. McCormick, leaning against the 
 wall, with admiration and boundless love shin- 
 ing in her rugged old face, suddenly covered 
 her eyes with her hands. 
 
 "Why, mother, what 's the matter?" cried 
 Pat in alarm. 
 
 "Oh, sure," she wailed, shaking her head 
 from side to side, despairingly, "I 'm wishin' 
 my Mike God save his soul were here to 
 see ! ' ' 
 
 In the morning Pat started downtown in the 
 highest spirits. On the way fully a score of 
 people stopped to congratulate him and give 
 him their best wishes. He stuck his head into 
 the room over the engine-house which had been 
 used for headquarters. Higgins and Tom 
 Hahn were already there and a crowd of men 
 were sitting about, discussing the result. They 
 raised a cheer at the sight of him. 
 
 "You lead the ticket, Pat," said Higgins, 
 gripping his hand. "It 's a landslide. Half 
 the counties in the state have gone Democratic. 
 Look here what the Clarion has to s"ay about 
 you. ' ' 
 
 ' ' The great surprise of the whole unexpected 
 result," Pat read, "is the astonishing majority
 
 252 THE UPSTAET 
 
 of Patrick McCormick, candidate for prose- 
 cuting attorney. He received nearly four hun- 
 dred more votes than the next highest man on 
 either ticket. The river ward as might have 
 been expected voted solidly for him and the 
 silk stockings of upper Main Street were not 
 far behind in support. In addition he seems to 
 have got practically the entire Grand Army 
 vote throughout the entire county. 
 
 "The Clarion strongly opposed Mr. McCor- 
 mick 's election, but it cannot fail to recognize 
 that he has shown himself to be extremely 
 popular with the voters of Liberty County. 
 Now that the fight is over, it is only fair to 
 admit that during the campaign he displayed 
 most extraordinary power as a public speaker. 
 Beginning with a really eloquent oration at 
 the laying of the corner-stone of the soldiers' 
 monument, he spoke forcibly, more than once, 
 to large audiences in every township in the 
 county. He owes the impressive majority by 
 which he leads all competitors almost entirely 
 to his own exertions. We venture to express 
 the hope that his friends may not be disap- 
 pointed in his future career."
 
 THE UPSTART 253 
 
 Pat looked up from the paper, flattered and 
 proud, yet embarrassed in his pride. 
 
 ''I 'm going over to the post-office," he said, 
 by way of covering his confusion. "I '11 be 
 back shortly." 
 
 ' * Be sure, ' ' Higgins whispered to him as he 
 went out. "There is something important I 
 want to see you about." 
 
 Pat walked down the two blocks of Main 
 Street with his head in the clouds, finding it 
 hard to conceal the happiness he could not 
 help but feel. At the post-office there was a 
 single letter waiting for him. 
 
 It was the letter which Antje Anders had 
 written the day before election and had given 
 to the hired man to mail. He read it and the 
 light faded out of the sky. In his triumph the 
 proudest thought had been that now he had 
 something worth while to offer her. If he had 
 failed the blow would have been easier. But 
 coming most cruelly in the moment of his vic- 
 tory, it took all the sparkle out of his ambition ; 
 all the zest and spirit from life itself. 
 
 "I have made up my mind," she wrote, and 
 "please take this as final."
 
 XXIV 
 
 CHAIRMAN HIGGINS sat late in his 
 V_y library going over the returns. Not only 
 Liberty, but Washington and Madison Coun- 
 ties, the three making up the Twentieth con- 
 gressional district, had gone Democratic for 
 the first time since the war. Higgins set down 
 on a sheet of paper the majorities received by 
 all the winning candidates in each of the three 
 counties. He studied and compared the figures 
 carefully. 
 
 "By George!" he said to himself. "I be- 
 lieve we can do it." 
 
 For years the district had been represented 
 in Congress by John Mason of Washington 
 County, a Republican. Mason was not a man 
 of any especial ability or unusual brilliancy. 
 He had made many enemies in the district. 
 
 Next morning Higgins ran over to Allenton, 
 the county-seat of Washington County and had 
 an interview with his friend, Charley Johnson, 
 
 .254
 
 THE UPSTART 255 
 
 chairman of the Democratic county committee. 
 The following day Pat McCormick got a let- 
 ter from Johnson, signed in his official capac- 
 ity, inviting him to make the principal speech 
 at a Democratic ratification-meeting in Allen- 
 ton. 
 
 Unhappy and disheartened by the letter from 
 Antje, the Johnson invitation, though so flat- 
 tering in terms and so inspiring in the oppor- 
 tunity it offered, came without a thrill. Pat's 
 first and strong impulse was to decline it. It 
 did not seem worth while to make the effort. 
 But that, he reflected, would be the part of a 
 child. He needed something to keep him from 
 brooding uselessly on what he had lost. He 
 sat down at once and forced himself to write 
 an acceptance. Next day he told Higgins what 
 he had done. TJie Chairman, speaking as if it- 
 were all news to him, was warm in his congrat- 
 ulations. 
 
 "It 's a fine chance, Pat," he said, "and 
 more may depend on it than you imagine. You 
 must give them a ripper. My reputation 's 
 at stake, as well as your own." 
 
 As Pat plunged into the work of preparing
 
 256 THE UPSTART 
 
 his speech he found his enthusiasm growing. 
 Resolutely, with clenched teeth, he drove the 
 thought of his great disappointment out of 
 his mind. The love of a woman was not the 
 only thing worth while in the world. He 
 fiercely concentrated all his energies upon the 
 writing of his speech and the joy of the born 
 orator filled him, as he worked it out to a splen- 
 did climax. As he finished one period, tears 
 were in his eyes; at the conclusion of another 
 he sprang to his feet and, standing before the 
 mirror, rehearsed its stately sentences in a 
 voice that roused Aunt Bridget from her mid- 
 night slumber. When the last word was writ- 
 ten he threw himself on the bed and slept 
 soundly until morning. 
 
 Down at Allenton, Higgins, who was a mem- 
 ber of the State Central Committee, as well as 
 head of the county organization, had been at 
 work through his friend Johnson. The Demo- 
 crats, so long silent and uncomf orted in defeat, 
 were brought into the city from all over the 
 district on special trains. Marching clubs 
 from each of the three county-seats were pres- 
 ent, each headed by a brass band. At the cor-
 
 THE UPSTART 257 
 
 ners of the court-house square huge bonfires 
 were built and there, standing on a wooden 
 platform, Pat was introduced to the huge, 
 cheering crowd. 
 
 "The Twentieth congressional district has 
 redeemed herself,'' said Chairman Johnson. 
 "In each of her three counties every Demo- 
 cratic candidate has been elected. To-night I 
 have the honor of introducing to you the man 
 who won the most sweeping victory among 
 them all the Irish Bantam of Liberty County 
 Honorable Patrick McCormick." 
 
 The bands burst into wild discordant wel- 
 come ; down in front, Higgins, Tom Hahn and 
 the delegation from Liberty led the cheers; 
 from five thousand throats rose the shrill 
 triumphant voice of "the unterrified and un- 
 conquerable Democracy." Then Pat spoke. 
 
 Next morning the Chicago Tribune, whose 
 correspondent had been present at the sugges- 
 tion of Higgins, said: 
 
 "Not in ten years has there been such a scene of 
 enthusiasm and tumult at a political meeting in Illi- 
 nois as that which followed the conclusion of his 
 speech. From this time on Mr. McCormick must be 
 
 17
 
 258 THE UPSTART 
 
 reckoned with among the political factors of the 
 state." 
 
 Next day Higgins, Tom Hahn, old Williams 
 and the other members of the county central 
 committee tramped into Pat's law office. He 
 looked up in surprise from his desk and saw 
 the smiling faces of his friends. 
 
 "Pat," said Higgins, "we want you to run 
 for Congress. Wait a minute," he went on 
 smilingly, as the young man started to speak. 
 1 ' The election is four months off. The conven- 
 tion to nominate a Democratic candidate will 
 be held in August. There 's no time to lose. 
 We don 't want an answer now. Think it over 
 and let us know to-morrow." 
 
 Pat thanked the committee. In his heart he 
 knew already that he should accept the offer 
 if it were possible. Politics was his mistress 
 now and, the warmer he made his wooing of 
 her, the less he should be tormented with de- 
 spairing thoughts of Antje Anders. Besides, his 
 youthful blood was stirred with new conscious- 
 ness of power. The dazzling prospect of con- 
 gressional honors did not frighten him. And in 
 a far corner of his mind lurked the unexpressed
 
 THE UPSTABT 259 
 
 thought that he might show the girl that what 
 she rejected had a higher value than she 
 had dreamed of. 
 
 Higgins remained after the rest of the com- 
 mittee had gone out. "It 's like this, Pat, ' ' he 
 said. ' ' The Democratic nominee this year will 
 have pretty nearly a cinch. The fight '11 be 
 for the nomination. Washington County has 
 had the Congressman so long that it won't 
 have a candidate. That leaves it between us 
 and Madison. On the basis of the last vote, 
 Madison County will have eighteen delegates 
 to the convention, Liberty County twenty-one 
 and Washington County twenty. The man 
 who carries Liberty County and who can get 
 half of Washington's vote '11 win. I 've got it 
 fixed already with Johnson that, if he can con- 
 trol it, we shall have ten of Washington 's dele- 
 gates. And you can get Liberty's solid dele- 
 gation without half trying. See?" 
 
 Before Pat McCormick formally announced 
 his candidacy, Higgins succeeded in arranging 
 that the nominating convention should meet in 
 the Grand Opera House at Liberty on the first 
 Thursday in August. Delegates from each of
 
 260 THE UPSTART 
 
 the three counties in the district were to be 
 chosen at a primary election to be held two 
 days before that date. 
 
 The statement of Pat McCormick's new am- 
 bition was given space in all the papers of the 
 district. Even the Republican Clarion printed 
 a long article on its front page, declaring that 
 the newly-elected prosecuting attorney was 
 presumptuous and absurd in aspiring to suc- 
 ceed the veteran, John Mason, at Washington. 
 
 "We advise our friends, the enemy," said 
 the Clarion, ' ' not to bank too much on the result 
 of an off-year landslide. When national issues 
 are to be voted on, the stalwart Republicans of 
 the old Twentieth district can be depended on 
 to stick to their guns. Certainly they are not 
 likely to send to Washington, in the place of 
 our present time-tried and tested representa- 
 tive, a young man who, whatever his ability, is 
 utterly without legislative experience." 
 
 From Madison County came the prompt an- 
 nouncement that Fred Steffens, a prominent 
 German lawyer, had been chosen to carry its 
 banner in the fight for the nomination. 
 
 The campaign went with a rush, as Higgins
 
 THE UPSTART 261 
 
 had planned it. It was not a succession of 
 speeches and big meetings, like that which had 
 preceded the recent election. Instead, Higgins 
 and his aides sat at headquarters and prepared 
 lists of delegates to be voted for at the com- 
 ing primaries. Each man on the list was 
 called in and personally pledged to vote for 
 Pat McCormick, as Liberty County's candi- 
 date, until released by the chairman. 
 
 Steffens was somewhat active in Washing- 
 ton County, but Higgins made small effort 
 there, being content to trust to his secret un- 
 derstanding with Johnson, head of the county 
 organization. 
 
 "I can promise to deliver ten of our dele- 
 gates to you, no matter what happens, ' ' John- 
 son assured him, a week before the primaries 
 were held.
 
 XXV 
 
 FOB weeks after Pat McCormick's election 
 as prosecuting attorney, King Anders 
 did not leave the farm. He stayed close to the 
 house, though he drove his sons and the hired 
 men to their work with even more than his 
 usual savage energy. Day after day he shut 
 himself up in his bedroom adjoinging the 
 kitchen, muttering and talking to himself. To 
 Antje, busy with mechanical, never-ending 
 household duties, there came to be something 
 uncanny in the intermittent rumbling of that 
 harsh, old voice. As the days went by in their 
 dead, hopeless monotony, the sounds which 
 came from her father's bedroom grew to be a 
 menace of coming catastrophe. Sooner or later 
 she felt certain that the old King would rouse 
 himself to seek revenge on Pat McCormick and 
 the others who had helped to make^him ridicu- 
 lous, and every day which passed without ac- 
 tion on his part made more acute the dread 
 
 - 262
 
 THE UPSTART 263 
 
 that filled her. She became a bundle of ting- 
 ling nerves, strained to catch some hint of what 
 deep plot her father was laying, so that she 
 might warn her lover in time to save him. She 
 felt that she would have stooped to any subter- 
 fuge, to any trick of eavesdropping, to protect 
 Pat McCormick from what seemed, in her mor- 
 bid mood, the conspiracy that threatened him. 
 When the Weekly Clarion, telling of Pat's 
 triumph at tlje Allenton ratification-meeting, 
 reached the farm, she took it to her bedroom 
 and, behind a locked door, laughed and cried 
 there, for joy at what he had done. But when 
 she saw how the King's sullen and morose 
 wrath was rekindled when he read it, her dread 
 came back stronger than before. Then came 
 the paper of the next week, which announced 
 that Pat McCormick was a candidate for the 
 Democratic nomination for Congress. She 
 was not at the house when the paper arrived 
 and, before she returned, her father had 
 hitched up and driven to town for the first time 
 in months. She did not notice his absence for 
 some hours and the paper which explained 
 it did not fall into her hands until
 
 264 THE UPSTART 
 
 late in the afternoon. Then it seemed to her 
 that her heart stood still. The announcement, 
 she felt, might drive her father to any des- 
 perate act and she had been too late to send 
 word to Pat of his danger. In an agony of 
 nervous fear she kept about her work until 
 she heard the sound of wheels coming up the 
 lane. Then she went out into the yard as her 
 father drove by to the barn. 
 
 "Here, Antje," the King called to her. 
 "I Ve got you a letter yet." 
 
 He threw her the letter as he passed. She 
 recognized Tom Hahn's writing. It was the 
 first time her father had spoken to her for 
 months. She knew that something had hap- 
 pened to relax his stubborn mood, but it was 
 impossible, even to imagine what it might be. 
 She took the letter and went up to her bed- 
 room. 
 
 When King Anders read that Pat McCor- 
 mick was a candidate for Congress, he had 
 wasted not a minute. One hour later he 
 walked into Lawyer Wagner 's office. Wagner, 
 looking up from his table, took the opening. 
 
 "Well, Anders," he said, quickly, "you 're
 
 THE UPSTART 265 
 
 a stranger. The Demmys skinned us good and 
 plenty, did n't they?" 
 
 "Yes," growled the King. "What became 
 of that money of mine, already?" 
 
 1 i I did the best I could with it. Why, young 
 McCormick carried your own town against 
 you. I don't see how you could expect me to 
 do any better. ' ' 
 
 "What you do with the money, huh?" 
 
 ' ' Here are the vouchers, ' ' said Wagner, tak- 
 ing a lot of receipted bills from a pigeon-hole. 
 "Every cent 's accounted for." 
 
 "Uh-h, " said Anders, with a contemptuous 
 glance at the papers, "you got that fixed all 
 right." 
 
 "But now," the lawyer went on impres- 
 sively, ignoring the innuendo, "he 's going to 
 run for Congress and now we Ve got a 
 chance. ' ' 
 
 Wagner lowered his voice and, as the King 
 listened to the unfolding of the plan, a 
 malicious twinkle came into his small, black 
 eyes. 
 
 "I go me right back and start- ' he began, 
 but Wagner interrupted.
 
 266 THE UPSTART 
 
 . . 
 
 'Now wait a minute," lie said. ''If they 
 
 
 
 get even a suspicion of what you 're going to 
 do, they can beat us to death. You must let on 
 that you don't take a bit of interest in the 
 primaries. ' 
 
 He talked in low tones for fifteen minutes, 
 impressing upon King Anders the details of 
 the plot and the necessity for absolute secrecy. 
 
 "By Gott! Wagner," Anders burst out 
 finally, "I believe we get him this time sure. 
 We teach him yet, huh?" 
 
 "It all depends on how carefully you do it," 
 answered the lawyer. "And you don't want 
 to be seen about my office again until the 
 thing 's all over." 
 
 King Anders went home like a boy with a 
 new pet. The look of shrewd and cunning self- 
 satisfaction had come back again to his face. 
 Antje, picking up the letter which he had 
 thrown her, had noticed the change and tried 
 vainly to guess its cause. That wonder was 
 still first in her mind as she tore the envelope 
 to read what Tom Hahn had to say. 
 
 ' ' This is the third time I have written you, ' ' 
 he said, "since your letter came. I can't un- 
 derstand why you do not answer. I think I have
 
 THE UPSTART 267 
 
 a right to know why you will not marry me. 
 You don't say; you give no reason. At least 
 let me see you, before you finally make up your 
 mind. My great love for you is surely suffi- 
 cient reason for this insistence." 
 
 He had written her twice before? Where 
 had the letters gone? Her father had kept 
 them, of course. Perhaps, also, he had kept 
 from her a letter from Pat McCormick. For 
 that she hated him. Now she must answer 
 Tom Hahn. 
 
 "Dear Tom," she wrote. "I have just had 
 your letter of Thursday. The other two 
 you wrote have never reached me. You say 
 you have a right to know why I will not 
 marry you. I agree with you and I will tell 
 you, since you ask, though, as you say you love 
 me, you must keep my secret in the strictest 
 confidence. I cannot marry you because I love 
 another man. I can give you no better proof 
 of my feeling for you than to tell you this, for 
 you and I are the only ones who know it and 
 no one else must know. I cannot even mention 
 his name. If it is hard for you, please do not 
 think it is easy for me. ' ' 
 
 When she went down to see about the mail-
 
 268 THE UPSTAKT 
 
 ing of her letter, her father was bustling about 
 the house and exchanging jests with her mother, 
 in a mood so different from that which had 
 held him for months that she was frightened. 
 More than ever now she felt that she must be 
 on her guard. She knew that something was on 
 foot which involved the happiness and fortune 
 of Pat McCormick. How she yearned for a 
 word from him, just to say that he was well 
 and that he loved her, for, in spite of the letter 
 she had written him, she felt that he should 
 somehow have guessed the truth. 
 
 The next morning her father was up early 
 and went out to visit one of the old, vacant 
 houses which still stood on the various farms 
 he had swallowed up. A few days later a new 
 family, with three or four grown boys among 
 its members, moved into the house. 
 
 "I think I try me how some tenants work, 
 yet, ' ' the King announced at the table. ' i I get 
 some more out here next week." 
 
 Almost every day now, another one of the 
 vacant houses on the Anders' land was oc- 
 cupied by a family and every family seemed to 
 be made up largely of men. Never before had
 
 THE UPSTART 269 
 
 the King ever rented an acre of his land. He 
 had always insisted on working it all under his 
 own supervision. Why this sudden change in a 
 life-long policy? What possible effect could it 
 have on Pat McCormick and on his ambition 
 to go to Congress? The girl was puzzled, en- 
 tirely at sea. She thought of writing to Tom 
 Hahn and asking his advice. But, under the 
 circumstances, that seemed impossible. 
 
 Finally the vacant houses were all filled up. 
 The new tenants seemed to be strangely un- 
 sociable. They kept closely to themselves, 
 having nothing to do with any of the neigh- 
 boring farmers. And Antje noticed that so 
 far as working the land went they seemed to 
 be strangely indifferent. What was stranger 
 still, this laxity on their part seemed not to 
 rouse the ire of the King. It was a puzzle the 
 girl could not solve. 
 
 Finally one afternoon it was the day be- 
 fore the primaries for the election of delegates 
 to the Congressional convention were to be 
 held she was lying up in the haymow in the 
 horse barn, where she went occasionally to be 
 alone with her thoughts and with her love.
 
 270 THE UPSTAET 
 
 Her brothers, Klaas and Piet, drove into the 
 stable below from the fields. She heard them 
 as they unharnessed and put up their horses. 
 Then Klaas, standing just below the opening 
 to the loft, spoke with a guttural laugh. 
 
 ' ' The old man 's got that McCormick feller 
 fixed this time, ain't he?" 
 
 ' ' By Golly ! ' ' answered Piet, ' ' When he sees 
 you and me and the old man walk into the 
 Opera House on Thursday, I guess he '11 think 
 Anders ain 't such a fool, yet, huh ? ' ' 
 
 It came to her like a flash that this was the 
 secret she had been seeking. Just what it 
 meant she did not understand, but it was plain 
 that the plan was to defeat Pat at the nominat- 
 ing convention. That was only three days off. 
 If he was to be warned it must be at once. She 
 waited until her brothers had gone into the 
 house, then hurried after them and went up to 
 her room. The thought that she was doing 
 wrong in thus taking advantage of what she 
 had overheard did not even occur to her. Her 
 one object was to help Pat McCormick at any 
 cost and in any way. 
 
 "Dear Pat," she wrote, her fingers flying,
 
 THE UPSTART 271 
 
 ' ' Father and the boys are planning to beat you 
 at the convention. I don't know how, but I 
 heard Klaas say this afternoon that you would 
 be surprised when he and Piet and father walk 
 into the Opera House on Thursday afternoon. 
 For three months father has been filling up all 
 the vacant houses on his farm with tenant lam- 
 ilies. I suppose that has something to do with 
 it. I 'm sorry I did n't have sense enough to 
 see it before, for I >m afraid the news comes 
 to you too late. I don't know how I 'm going 
 to get this note to you, but I '11 try to find a 
 way. I hope you '11 win I 'm sure you will. 
 
 "Antje." 
 
 She wrote without stopping to think how 
 the receipt of this note must affect the man 
 who had received her cold and formal letter 
 of rejection. Putting it hurriedly into an en- 
 velop she slipped away across the fields to the 
 Luders farm-house. Mrs. Luders was in the 
 kitchen. 
 
 "Can you get this letter mailed for me to- 
 night?" asked Antje breathlessly. 
 
 ' ' Yes, sure, ' ' Mrs. Luders answered. ' l He ? s 
 going in to-night and I '11 put it up here on the
 
 272 THE UPSTART 
 
 clock to give to him." By "he" Mrs. Luders 
 meant her husband, of course. She always so 
 referred to him. 
 
 Early the next morning King Anders, his 
 sons and his hired men left the house. One of 
 them went straight to each of the tenant farms 
 and there marshaled the voters they had in- 
 stalled. Late in the afternoon they appeared at 
 the little red school-house, where the primary 
 election was held. The judges found that all 
 the necessary formalities had been attended 
 to. There was nothing to do but to permit them 
 to cast their votes. Each of them cast a ballot 
 for a delegate ticket on which appeared the 
 names of King Anders and his two eldest sons. 
 When the votes were counted it was found that 
 they had twelve majority over the regular 
 ticket prepared by Higgins and headed by 
 Luders. 
 
 Coming home late that night to supper King 
 Anders made no attempt to conceal his glee. 
 
 ' ' Huh ! " he began. * * I guess, maybe so, that 
 McCormick feller finds out now that he mon- 
 keys mit a buzz-saw. We three beat him to 
 death in the convention Thursday."
 
 THE UPSTABT 273 
 
 Had her letter miscarried? Had she been 
 too late after all? Antje listened to the taunt 
 with cheeks that burned and hot tears of anger 
 in her eyes. Her father looked at her and 
 chuckled grimly. 
 
 "I guess maybe so that young upstart has 
 to move back to Shantytown where he belongs 
 and go to work yet, huh, Antje?" 
 
 The girl did not answer. She clenched her 
 hands and strove to keep back the hot tears. 
 
 "What you got to say to that, Antje, huh?" 
 he persisted, brutally. 
 
 "I wrote him yesterday what you were do- 
 ing," she flashed back at him. "He '11 beat 
 you yet." 
 
 Then she turned and ran sobbing up the 
 stairs to her room. From below the sound of 
 boisterous laughter came up to her. 
 
 18
 
 XXVI 
 
 HAVING furnished King Anders with a 
 plan for defeating the congressional am- 
 bitions of Pat McCormick, Lawyer Wagner 
 set about gratifying a private and personal 
 spite of his own. His own feeling towards ' ' the 
 Irish Bantam of Liberty County" had come to 
 be only less bitter than that of the King him- 
 self. He chuckled with malicious self-satisfac- 
 tion as he finished writing a brief editorial for 
 the Clarion. 
 
 "I guess he and Higgins '11 fall right into 
 this figure-four trap," he said to himself as 
 he read it over for the tenth time. 
 
 ' ' Political ambition is commendable, ' ' he had 
 written. "And a man who is suddenly raised 
 from the street to a place of considerable polit- 
 ical power may almost be excused if he loses 
 his head. But, however dazzled, he should try 
 to remember that a high position carries with 
 it certain responsibilities. A man is not elected 
 
 274
 
 THE UPSTART 275 
 
 prosecuting attorney, for instance, in order 
 that he may live on the salary of that office 
 while he is trying to obtain a nomination for 
 Congress. Common decency, if nothing else, 
 should lead him to resign one office, while fight- 
 ing for the other, or else give up his ideas of 
 further preferment and settle down to try to 
 earn the salary he is drawing. ' ' 
 
 Pat read the paragraph in the Clarion and 
 took it over to headquarters. 
 
 "I think Wagner 's right about that," he 
 said to Higgins, when the chairman had read 
 it. "I '11 have to resign, anyhow, right after 
 the convention that is if I 'm nominated. ' ' 
 
 "Well, there 's no doubt about that," said 
 Higgins. "But I don't like the idea of doing 
 what Wagner says. He is n't making the sug- 
 gestion for our benefit, you know." 
 
 " If I stick, it '11 give the Republicans some- 
 thing to talk about when the campaign opens. 
 And I don't see that Wagner has shown him- 
 self to be especially brilliant so far, do you ? ' ' 
 
 "All right," said Higgins. "Send 'er in. 
 If there 's a nigger in the wood-pile this time I 
 don't see him."
 
 276 THE UPSTAET 
 
 So Pat sent in his resignation to the Gov- 
 ernor and, when its acceptance was made pub- 
 lic, Lawyer Wagner smiled grimly. 
 
 "I guess that young man '11 be out of a job 
 altogether pretty soon," he said. 
 
 Up to the day of the primary election, Hig- 
 gins held a weekly conference with the chair- 
 men of the various township committees. Once 
 he asked Luders, head of the organization in 
 Monroe township, whether King Anders was 
 showing any signs of activity. 
 
 "No, I guess the old man got his belly full 
 at the last election, ' ' Luders answered. ' ' He 's 
 farming now. I hear he 's renting some of his 
 land out to tenants. The King has n't been 
 up to working it all himself since he had that 
 stroke. ' ' 
 
 The evening before the primaries the last 
 conference was held. Luders came in late and 
 was in a great hurry. 
 
 "Everything 's all right," he reported. "I 
 was out*buymg some sheep this afternoon and 
 I did n 't stop at the house on my way to town, 
 so I must hurry back. The old woman '11 think 
 something 's happened to me if I don't get 
 home soon."
 
 THE UPSTART 277 
 
 So far as Higgins had been able to discover 
 there was no opposition to his delegate ticket 
 in any part of Liberty County. The next even- 
 ing he, with the remainder of the committee 
 and its candidate, waited at headquarters to 
 receive such returns as might come in. Luders 
 
 was one of the first to arrive. He threw him- 
 i 
 
 self, breathless and white-faced, from his horse 
 and rushed up the stairs. A glance at his face 
 showed the shame and chagrin which he felt. 
 
 "What 's the matter, Luders ?" demanded 
 Higgins, half rising from his chair. 
 
 "King Anders," he stammered. 
 
 "He has n't-" 
 
 * * He filled up all his tenant houses with vot- 
 ers and he beat us by twelve majority." 
 
 "Good Lord!" Higgins sank back into his 
 chair. "He what?" 
 
 "He got himself and his two boys elected 
 delegates by twelve majority." 
 
 Pat McCormick saw the golden dome of the 
 Capitol at Washington grow dim and fade out 
 before his eyes. A feeling of rage filled him. 
 
 "What did you let a lot of strangers vote 
 for?" he demanded. 
 
 "They 'd all been living there long enough
 
 278 THE UPSTAET 
 
 to vote," insisted Luders, "and the King had 
 affidavits ready to swear in everybody that we 
 objected to." 
 
 "We '11 beat 'em on a contest," said Hig- 
 gins. 
 
 "The Steffens crowd '11 have a majority 
 without . these three votes, ' ' broke in Pat. 
 What difference did it make after all? 
 The bitter thought flashed on him that Antje 
 must have known something about her father 's 
 plan. If she had cared she would have warned 
 him. 
 
 "That 's so," said Higgins, slowly. "Well, 
 Luders," he went on, "you might as well go 
 home. I don't see anything you can do now." 
 
 "Maybe we can " the man began, but Hig- 
 gins interrupted him. ' * I want to think it over 
 now," he said. "You come in to-morrow 
 morning and we '11 see what can be done. ' ' 
 
 Luders reluctantly left the room and Hig- 
 gins turned to his colleagues. 
 
 "Pat," he said, "I knew Wagner was up to 
 something when he said that you should re- 
 sign. ' ' 
 
 "He apparently was."
 
 THE UPSTART 279 
 
 "I 'm not going to give up yet. Have any 
 of you anything to suggest?" 
 
 Several half-hearted and desperate plans 
 were proposed, but none of them appealed to 
 the practical sense of the chairman. Pat 
 McCormick seemed to sum up the general feel- 
 ing when he said : i i Without our home county 
 solidly with us, I don't see that we have much 
 show. ' ' 
 
 Higgins stayed at headquarters after the 
 others had gone home. "It 's mostly my 
 fault, anyway," he said. "I did n't give Wag- 
 ner and old Anders credit for as much sense 
 as they Ve got and I should n't have trusted 
 anything to Luders. He means all right, 
 but I 'm going to stay awhile, anyhow, and 
 see what I can figure out." 
 
 Before he went home Higgins sent a tele- 
 gram to his friend Charley Johnson, chairman 
 of the Washington County delegation. 
 
 "Meet me at Hanson Junction as early as 
 possible to-morrow, Wednesday morning," 
 the message said.
 
 XXVII 
 
 KING ANDERS drove into Liberty early 
 the next morning. In his coat pocket 
 he carried the certificates of the election that 
 accredited him and his two sons as delegates 
 to the Congressional convention. But he did 
 not stop to see Lawyer Wagner and gloat with 
 him over the victory they had won. Instead, 
 he tied his team in front of the court-house and 
 tramped heavily up the stairway across Main 
 Street, which led to the office of Pat McCor- 
 mick. 
 
 Pat happened to be alone in the room, hav- 
 ing come down to look over his mail. 
 
 ' ' Good morning, Mr. Anders, ' ' he said, con- 
 trolling himself with an effort, as the old man 
 closed the door behind him. "What can I do 
 for you?" 
 
 "Huh!" said the old King, with a chuckle. 
 "I came up to do somedings by you this morn- 
 ing already." 
 
 280
 
 THE UPSTART 281 
 
 "Sit down, sir." 
 
 "So," said the old man, seating himself, a 
 grin on his face. "I hear you want to go by 
 Congress yet, huh!" 
 
 "Yes, I am working hard to that end," an- 
 swered Pat with a smile, falling in with the 
 Anders mood. 
 
 "Well, we see about that yet, huh?" said 
 the King, with a sudden scowl on his face. 
 "Maybe so, when me and my two boys votes 
 against you that Steffens feller goes?" 
 
 "What do you want to see me about, Mr. 
 Anders?" Pat asked sharply. He could not 
 imagine what the old man had in mind, but he 
 had no desire to get into a quarrel with him. 
 
 "I come up here to tell you that, maybe so, 
 I had three votes for you yet, ' ' said the King, 
 his big, red face wrinkled into a cunning smile. 
 
 "You what?" stammered Pat in astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 "Sure," the King went on in what was in- 
 tended to be a conciliatory and soothing tone. 
 "I got these three votes for you. But you 
 must also do someding a little for me." 
 
 "Well-what is it?"
 
 282 THE UPSTAET 
 
 King Anders got up, walked across to the 
 table, rested his two huge hands on its surface 
 and leaned over, speaking in a husky and con- 
 fidential whisper. 
 
 "There is mein girl, Antje," he said. "She 
 is no good. Naw-w!" He shook his head, 
 convincingly. ' l When she makes married I not 
 give her an acre of land." The little gray 
 eyes searched Pat's face shrewdly. They saw 
 there a strange tumult of emotions astonish- 
 ment, anger, a flicker of hope. Why this speech 
 to him, who carried in his breast pocket the 
 girl's letter of rejection? 
 
 "I vote for you when you promise to let 
 mein girl alone yet, huh?" The King thrust 
 his face further forward, waiting his answer. 
 It still wore a cunning, conciliatory smile. 
 
 Pat McCormick squared his slim shoulders ; 
 he rested his forefinger on the old man 's shoul- 
 der. In the face of the insult he smiled like a 
 man to whom has come a vision of unhoped 
 and impossible happiness. 
 
 "Mr. Anders," he said slowly, "if your 
 daughter will have me, I '11 marry her in spite 
 of you and all hell!"
 
 THE UPSTAET 283 
 
 "Marry you!" bellowed the King. "Marry 
 you ! I make her dead first ! Und you, too ! ' ' 
 
 Tom Hahn opened the door and stepped in, 
 just as King Anders uttered his threat. The 
 King showed a savage face over his shoulder, 
 and recognized the intruder, then dropped his 
 arms and, without another word, backed scowl- 
 ing out of the office. 
 
 For a moment the two young men stood 
 silent, looking straight into each other's eyes. 
 It was hard to tell which face was the whiter. 
 Pat was the first to speak. 
 
 * * Sit down, Tom, ' ' he said, * ' and I '11 tell you 
 about it." 
 
 Tom Hahn dropped into a chair, his eyes still 
 fixed on Pat. 
 
 "He came up to offer me his three votes" 
 Tom Hahn sat up straight, surprise in his 
 face "provided I 'd promise not to marry his 
 daughter. ' ' 
 
 A sudden look of anger blazed in Tom's eyes 
 at the insult to his friend. "As if that would 
 help me," Pat went on bitterly, "when she 's 
 turned me down cold." 
 
 Tom Hahn rose to his feet, his face troubled.
 
 284 THE UPSTART 
 
 Pat stepped forward and held out his hand. 
 ' ' Forgive me, old man, ' ' he said. "It 's been 
 hard to give her up. But I ought to have con- 
 gratulated you before this." 
 
 Tom took the offered hand, but shook his 
 head at the same time. ' ' Not me, Pat, ' ' he said, 
 slowly. "It is n't me." 
 
 Each looked at the other, embarrassed and 
 perplexed. Then both smiled, doubtfully. 
 
 " I 'm ashamed of the way I Ve felt towards 
 you, Tom." 
 
 1 ' There are some things a fellow can 't help. ' ' 
 
 "Well, whatever happens, we '11 stick to- 
 gether now." 
 
 "Nothing shall come between us." 
 
 Then, as if ashamed of the emotion he had 
 shown, Tom Hahn dropped the hand of his 
 friend and hastily opened the office door. 
 "Good-by, old man," he said. "I '11 see you 
 this afternoon." 
 
 Pat stood still a moment, his head in a whirl. 
 What did it all mean! 'He formed an instant 
 decision to find out. Five minutes later he 
 secured a mount at the livery-stable opposite 
 the court-house and rode down Main Street
 
 THE UPSTART 285 
 
 at a gallop. As he passed the Opera House 
 block he caught sight of the broad back of 
 King Anders, filling the stairway which led 
 up to the office of Lawyer Wagner. 
 
 Crossing the Main Street bridge he turned 
 north into the river road. He had no definite 
 plan of action in his mind. He only knew that 
 somehow he must find out the truth. Could it 
 be that after all she loved him? Then what 
 mattered anything else? What mattered his 
 failure to win the nomination ? The loss of his 
 position as prosecuting attorney? The fierce 
 anger and savage threats of the old King? If 
 she but loved him ! 
 
 He leaned over and patted the horse's out- 
 stretched neck. "Good boy! Good boy!" he 
 whispered. "Can you carry us both?" And 
 laughed aloud at the thought. They clattered 
 swiftly through King Anders' miles of sum- 
 mer woodlands and past his yellowing wheat 
 fields. It was harvest time harvest time for 
 the fields of wheat and for the hopes of lovers. 
 Surely she loved him and somewhere he would 
 find her ! 
 
 The pony seemed to catch its rider's fever
 
 286 THE UPSTART 
 
 of haste. Its long stride lengthened and it 
 swept round the corner, where stood the school- 
 house under its elm, at a speed to please the 
 temper of the fieriest Lochinvar. 
 
 For dear memory's sake, Pat gave the old 
 building a swift, tender glance of reminiscent 
 affection then suddenly pulled his horse back 
 on its haunches. 
 
 There on the low door-step sat a slender 
 girl in a blue dress, so wrapped in thought that 
 she had glanced with unseeing eyes at the 
 approaching horseman. Her hands lay list- 
 less in her lap, her shoulders had the curve of 
 despondency. For an instant Pat looked at 
 her, breathless. She was there because she 
 loved him! 
 
 "Antje!" he cried, throwing himself from 
 his horse. 
 
 The girl started up, terror in her eyes. Her 
 red lips were parted and her bosom rose and 
 fell with her quick, frightened breathing. Her 
 slender figure leaned back against the door for 
 support. 
 
 "What has happened!" she cried. "You 
 have n't killed him?"
 
 THE UPSTART 287 
 
 He came hurrying to her, arms outstretched, 
 laughing out of sheer joy. "Nothing has hap- 
 pened," he said. "Nothing except that you 
 love me!" 
 
 Up to the very edges of her sunny hair swept 
 the traitorous pink and her shining eyes grew 
 dim with tenderness, but she only pressed the 
 closer to the protecting wall. 
 
 "No," she stammered, not daring to look 
 him in the eyes, "I do not love you." 
 
 * * Ant je, dearest ! ' ' He seized her brown hand 
 and covered it with kisses. Then, suddenly, 
 he took her tightly into his arms. For an in- 
 stant she yielded herself to him utterly. He 
 felt her fluttered breathing against his heart 
 and, in a moment's ecstasy, he kissed away the 
 tears which filled her eyes. Her round brown 
 arms went up to twine about his neck, her rosy 
 face was upturned and her lips lifted to his 
 then suddenly there swam before her brim- 
 ming eyes a scene of bloody conflict a pro- 
 phetic vision, it seemed to her, of the hour 
 when her lover and her father should settle 
 once for all the feud that was of the old King's 
 making, and which she knew he would carry 
 on to the bitter end.
 
 288 THE UPSTART 
 
 "No! No!" she struggled and pulled her- 
 self away from his embrace, leaning back 
 trembling against the door. A blind terror of 
 what might happen, should she yield, mastered 
 her. "I do not love you," she said, fiercely. 
 "If you loved me you would not come here." 
 
 ' * Dear heart ! " he pleaded and took her hand 
 again from each to other thrilled the truth 
 ' ' I know you love me. I could not stay away. ' ' 
 
 "You must go," she faltered, "now at 
 once ! ' ' 
 
 "Not without you!" 
 
 To her strained ears came the distant sound 
 of wagon wheels. It might well be her father 
 coining home. Her eyes were big with terror. 
 At any cost of cruelty Pat must be sent away 
 and quickly. Her face was that of a tortured 
 saint, but the boy was too full of his love to 
 read it rightly. 
 
 * ' Pat, ' ' she said slowly, clenching her brown 
 hands, "I do not love you. You have brought 
 nothing but sorrow into my life. I told you 
 not to come here. You only make me miser- 
 able. I am fond of you, Pat but I do not 
 love you," she lashed herself to repeat.
 
 "Then suddenly he took her tightly into his arms."
 
 THE UPSTART 289 
 
 Pat dropped back a step as if he had been 
 stabbed. The pain of it was unbelievable. The 
 girl spared herself the sight of nis face. She 
 was afraid to look. 
 
 "Now, will you go?" she urged. It was 
 plain to her that he had never had her warning 
 letter, else he would not so quickly believe the 
 words her anguished face belied. Without 
 waiting for his answer, she turned and slipped 
 noiselessly away through the trees. He looked 
 up again at the sound of her voice. 
 
 ' * Go ! " she cried back to him. ' ' Hurry, and 
 don't take the river road!" 
 
 ON her homeward flight Antje stopped at 
 the Luders farm. She burst into the kitchen 
 unannounced, and fat old Mrs. Luders turned 
 around at her entrance with something like 
 haste in her ponderous movements. The girl's 
 cheeks were flaming and an angry light was 
 in her eyes. 
 
 "What 's the matter, Antje?" she asked. 
 
 ' ' You did n 't mail my letter ! ' ' said the girl, 
 accusingly. 
 
 "No," the old woman began, but Antje in- 
 
 19
 
 290 THE UPSTART 
 
 terrupted. "I knew you had n't," she broke 
 out. 
 
 "He went into town without coming home 
 the other night, ' ' the old woman went on, ' ' but 
 he took it in with him this morning all right, ' ' 
 
 "Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Antje. "I 'd give my 
 life if it had been mailed that night or not 
 mailed at all!" 
 
 Her lower lip was quivering and her whole 
 figure trembled under the stress of repressed 
 emotion. Farmer Luders' huge old wife was a 
 true woman and wise in the reading of hearts. 
 
 "Come here by me, once, little madchen," 
 she said in her broken English, throwing one 
 massive arm about the girl's shaking shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 So kneeling on the rag carpet, with her head 
 in old Mrs. Luders' capacious lap, Antje cried 
 and sobbed at her enforced cruelty to the man 
 she loved, while a big red hand stroked her 
 yellow braids and a soft old voice said, sooth- 
 ingly, "So-so, liebchen. You been have an 
 awful hard time, yes I But mebbe things come 
 out right yet."
 
 XXVIH 
 
 PAT McCORMICK'S gray pony limped 
 back into town, its rider dazed by the suc- 
 cession of cruel blows which had fallen on his 
 unlucky head. All his political ambitions had 
 come to worse than nothing. To-morrow St&f- 
 fens would certainly be nominated for Con- 
 gress. Three days later, his resignation 
 as prosecuting attorney already accepted 
 would go into effect. That would leave him 
 penniless a counselor without clients to be- 
 gin the practice of law all over again. And 
 the humiliation of political defeat would be an 
 additional handicap. 
 
 But that situation might have been faced. 
 Given sufficient incentive and he could have 
 gone into that fight hoping for eventual victory. 
 Fighting for her, no hope would be too des- 
 perate, no odds too great. Patience and cour- 
 age, backed by a woman's love, must conquer. 
 But he had just been told, by her own lips, that 
 
 291
 
 292 THE UPSTART 
 
 she did not love him had been told that he 
 made her only miserable. What was the use 
 then? What mattered anything! 
 
 The reaction came swiftly. Clenched teeth 
 and lowered brows succeeded an hour of utter 
 despondency. Whatever happened he owed 
 a debt to himself and to his friends. Without 
 a thought of dinner he went to his office and 
 sat grimly down at the desk to make necessary 
 plans. 
 
 At 4 o'clock in the afternoon Higgins and 
 Tom Hahn walked in. Pat looked up and the 
 expression on his face somehow moved Hig- 
 gins to a smile. 
 
 ' ' Cheer up ! " the chairman burst out. * ' Per- 
 haps it ain't as bad as you think!" 
 
 The candidate forced an answering smile and 
 the two men pulled chairs close to the desk and 
 bent over it in confidential whispers. 
 
 "After you went home last night," Higgins 
 began, "I wired Charley Johnson to meet me 
 at Hanson Junction early this morning. I 
 caught a way-freight at six o'clock and found 
 him there waiting." 
 
 "Then you have n't been to bed yet?" Pat 
 asked.
 
 THE UPSTART , 293 
 
 "No, and I 'm not sleepy, either. I just got 
 back fifteen minutes ago." 
 
 "A man 's lucky that has you to fight for 
 him." 
 
 "Don't flatter yourself," Higgins answered 
 lightly. "My reputation as a political mana- 
 ger is at stake. I can't stand letting Wagner 
 and King Anders make a fool of me." 
 
 "Well, what happened?" 
 
 "I told Johnson what the Anders gang had 
 done for us and he was tickled." 
 
 "And sorry he could n't do anything more 
 for us!" Pat put in bitterly. 
 
 "Not directly, he can't, but he 's willing to 
 be more than decent, at that. We fixed up a 
 scheme between us. Both you and Steffens are 
 to be called on to speak to the convention. 
 You 're to speak last and your speech is sup- 
 posed to be so blamed eloquent that three of 
 Steffens' delegates from Washington County 
 are swept off their feet by it and vote for you, 
 in spite of everything that Johnson can do to 
 stop them." 
 
 Pat was smiling broadly. Here was the way 
 for which he had been vainly groping. "Can 
 he deliver the goods ? ' '
 
 294 . THE UPSTART 
 
 "He could turn over the whole twenty if he 
 wanted to," Higgins answered, "but this way 
 he can't be blamed and you '11 be nominated 
 just the same." 
 
 "Higgins," said Pat, holding out his hand, 
 "some day I hope I '11 be able to pay you for 
 this." 
 
 "You don't owe me anything, my boy," the 
 chairman answered. "I 'in just playing the 
 game and it is n't won yet, either!" 
 
 All that evening Higgins, Tom Hahn, Pat 
 and the rest were busy completing arrange- 
 ments for the convention which was to be held 
 the next afternoon. And long into the night 
 they sat, planning their tactics for the coming 
 day. Johnson came up from Allenton on a 
 late freight train to report that his arrange- 
 ments were perfected. He gave Higgins the 
 names of three of his delegates. 
 
 "They 're the chaps I 'm not going to be 
 able to hold in line, after Mr. McCormick, here, 
 makes his spiel," he said with a smile. 
 
 "The Steffens people don't suspect?" asked 
 Higgins. 
 
 "No," answered Johnson, with smiling con-
 
 THE UPSTART 295 
 
 tempt. ' ' Nobody knows I 'm up here to-night. 
 I 'm going back on the freight at four o 'clock 
 to be ready to march in with the brass band 
 and the rest of the boys at ten. ' ' 
 
 Tom Hahn and Pat escorted Johnson to the 
 station. When they came back to headquar- 
 ters Higgins looked at his watch. 
 
 "By George!" he said. "It 's nearly five 
 o 'clock. ' ' 
 
 ' i Not much use of going to bed at all, ' ' said 
 Tom Hahn. 
 
 "Oh, yes!" Higgins insisted. "Pat must 
 get some rest, somehow. He 's got to have all 
 his eloquence on tap to-morrow, you know." 
 
 The three men walked up Main Street to- 
 gether. Higgins turned off at the corner above 
 the First Presbyterian church. Tom and Pat 
 McCormick went on, arm-in-arm. 
 
 "Tom," said Pat, "I 'm going to owe you 
 fellows a mighty big bill. ' ' 
 
 ' ' We '11 be around to collect, all right, ' ' Tom 
 laughed. "Six or eight of us '11 want the 
 Liberty post-office to begin with." 
 
 "If I 'm elected, all you and Higgins need 
 do is ask for what you want," Pat answered.
 
 296 
 
 "Elected! I wish I had half as good a 
 chance of getting to Heaven. A five-minute 
 speech to-morrow afternoon and you 're It! 
 Good-night, old man." 
 
 Pat walked alone up the long walk to the 
 house. Victory was in his grasp and he saw be- 
 fore him a successful career in Congress a 
 higher honor than he had dreamed of a year 
 before. The painful memory of the girl he 
 had so nearly won, and lost, only put a fiercer 
 determination into his ambition. Washington ! 
 the great white dome of the Capitol ! An op- 
 portunity to bring honor to a tarnished name ! 
 No wonder he felt equal to any possible 
 demand in the way of a speech that afternoon. 
 
 The house was in darkness. He let himself 
 in and slipped quietly into his own room on 
 the ground floor. He would undress without 
 striking a light, for fear of waking his mother 
 and old Aunt Bridget. But no! He could 
 not sleep; he would close the doors and read 
 a while before going to bed. He lighted the 
 lamp and there on the little table beside it lay 
 a letter. 
 
 He picked it up. It was addressed in the
 
 THE UPSTART 297 
 
 handwriting of Antje. On the instant there 
 rose before him the trembling figure of the 
 girl as she bade him go. He could feel the 
 pressure of her lips upon his. All his love for 
 her surged up within him. He tore the envel- 
 ope and read the letter which Antje had given 
 to Mrs. Luders to mail the evening before the 
 primary election. 
 
 "I hope you '11 win. I 'm sure you will!" 
 she had written. He dropped the note on the 
 table and clenched his hands upon it. 
 
 "She must care a little!" sang his heart. 
 "And I '11 make her care more!" 
 
 For a moment he hesitated. Then he but- 
 toned her letter into his coat pocket, put on 
 his hat and went out into the night. In the 
 east the first blushes of the sunrise were begin- 
 ning to brighten over the Anders farm.
 
 THE day of the Congressional convention 
 will long be memorable in Liberty and 
 in all the northern end of the state. Never 
 before had a political meeting of such impor- 
 tance been held in the county, and the fact that 
 there was a local candidate in the field made 
 the convention of tremendous interest to all 
 Pat's townspeople. It had been arranged 
 that special trains should run from Washing- 
 ton and Madison Counties and preparations 
 were made to receive the greatest crowd in the 
 history of Liberty. 
 
 The court-house square was the center of ex- 
 citement. Across from one corner of it stood 
 the Grand Opera House, on the front of which 
 was stretched a huge white cotton banner, 
 bearing, in red letters, the legend: "DEMO- 
 CRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CONVEN- 
 TION." Over the upper story of the engine- 
 house hung another big sheet, with the inscrip- 
 
 298
 
 THE UPSTART 299 
 
 tion: "PATRICK McCORMICK- HEAD- 
 QUARTERS." The managers of the Stef- 
 fens campaign had fitted up a similar room 
 nearby. The women of the three different 
 church societies had opened temporary lunch- 
 rooms for the visitors in as many vacant store- 
 buildings and their banners, also, flaunted over 
 the streets. ' ' A GOOD SQUARE MEAL FOR 
 A QUARTER," read one of them. And an- 
 other: "PATRONIZE THE METHODIST 
 LADIES." The whole town was dressed as 
 for some great festival. 
 
 It was a still, scorching August day. By 
 7 o'clock the farmers of the county, many of 
 whom had started early to escape the heat, 
 were beginning to arrive, their progress 
 heralded by clouds of dust, kicked up by the 
 shambling feet of the heavy horses. It was the 
 first chance that most of them had ever had 
 to participate, even as spectators, in anything 
 like national politics, and they came, almost 
 to a man, within a radius of twenty miles. 
 They early filled the livery-stables with their 
 teams. Later comers hitched their horses in 
 unbroken rows along the racks which fringed
 
 300 THE UPSTART 
 
 the court-house square and the streets adjoin- 
 ing. 
 
 The men and boys, in shirt-sleeves, gathered 
 in groups on the court-house steps and sat in 
 rows along the curb. Presently they filled the 
 grass-plot, in the center of which stood the 
 soldiers' monument, and overflowed on to the 
 sidewalks. The delegates from the various 
 townships were the center of attraction for 
 each group. Most of them had not yet heard 
 of the trick which King Anders had played on 
 the Liberty County candidate. 
 
 As that news slowly passed from lip to lip 
 it roused heavy anger and resentment. In al- 
 most every group there was one present who 
 had been the victim of the greed and cunning 
 of the King and he was ready to start the dis- 
 cussion with a curse. 
 
 "If he beats old Liberty out of a Congress- 
 man, he ought to be tarred and feathered!" 
 was the sentiment, more profanely put, that 
 was expressed in fifty places. 
 
 Higgins, Tom Hahn and the rest of the cam- 
 paign managers had met at Pat's headquar- 
 ters shortly after seven o 'clock.
 
 THE UPSTART 301 
 
 "Where 's Pat?" Higgins asked. 
 
 "Oh, he did n't turn in until after five, you 
 know," Tom answered. 
 
 "That 's so. We 'd better let him sleep 
 awhile. He can't do much, anyhow, this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 About seven o'clock, too, King Anders rode 
 into town, his six sons in the wagon behind him. 
 He hitched his gray stallions before the Grand 
 Opera House and stalked up the stairs, with- 
 out a word, to the office of Lawyer Wagner. 
 The crowds on the street saw him and many a 
 fist was shaken after his broad back. 
 
 An ugly feeling was developing all along 
 the line. After breakfast the men of Liberty 
 came downtown and joined the impromptu de- 
 bating clubs along the street. They added a 
 new note of bitterness, for Pat McCormick 
 was the idol of many of them, and they hated 
 King Anders, almost to a man. His attempt 
 to send Higgins and Kramer to the peniten- 
 tiary had never been forgiven. And his 
 treachery to Liberty 's Congressional candidate 
 acted like a strong wind on a smoldering fire. 
 
 At eight o'clock the Silver Cornet Band
 
 302 THE UPSTART 
 
 swung into the court-house square and struck 
 up "Marching through Georgia." And the 
 crowds stopped, thickened along the curb. 
 
 Presently the band turned into Main Street 
 and headed for the railroad station. Steffens 
 and his delegates from Madison County were 
 coming in on a special train. Higgins, look- 
 ing out of the window at headquarters, heard 
 the music and saw the gathering crowds. 
 
 ' ' Tom, ' ' he said, ' * the bp.ll 's open. You 'd 
 better go and wake up Pat." 
 
 "All right," Tom answered. "I Ve got the 
 phaeton waiting down on the street." 
 
 In twenty minutes Tom Hahn was back. He 
 rushed up the stairs to headquarters without 
 stopping to tie his horse. 
 
 "By God! Higgins, he ain't there!" he 
 cried, breathlessly. "The old lady says he 
 did n't come home all night." 
 
 "Hush-h!" whispered the chairman, raising 
 a warning hand. ' ' Don 't talk so loud. Where 
 did you leave him this morning!" 
 
 "Right at his own gate. He was almost at 
 the door when I looked back." Tom Hahn 
 leaned over the chairman's desk and spoke in 
 a whisper.
 
 THE UPSTART 303 
 
 "King Anders was up in Pat's office yes- 
 terday morning," he said. "I heard Anders 
 threaten to kill him. Do you think ?" 
 
 "No," Higgins answered, slowly, after a 
 moment's hesitation. "No," he repeated, 
 more firmly, as the situation grew clearer to 
 his mind. "You see the King expects to beat 
 us in the convention, so there 's no reason why 
 he should want Pat out of the way. But keep 
 it quiet, for the Lord's sake! The crowd 's 
 sore enough at Anders now. If this gets out 
 there '11 be trouble." 
 
 But word that Pat McCormick had disap- 
 peared spread quickly through the crowd, in 
 spite of Higgins' precautions. His mother 
 and Aunt Bridget alarmed the neighborhood 
 with their inquiries, within a few minutes after 
 Tom Hahn had called. In widening circles 
 the alarm spread and, within half an hour, the 
 crowds gathered about the court-house were 
 beginning to talk of it in excited voices. Wild 
 rumors flew from mouth to mouth. Yesterday, 
 it was told, King Anders had called on the 
 candidate in his office and had threatened him 
 with death if he did not withdraw. Now Pat 
 was missing. Anders had kept his word.
 
 304 THE UPSTART 
 
 "I 'd like to help string up the old Dutch- 
 man ! ' ' cried one gaunt farmer in the growing 
 crowd about the Opera House building, shak- 
 ing his fist at the window where the huge fig- 
 ure of King Anders could be seen standing. 
 
 "You '11 get a chance if Pat don't show up 
 soon," was the grim retort. 
 
 Up Main Street from the railroad station 
 came a long procession, the band at its head, 
 and, behind it, Steffens, Madison County's can- 
 didate, and his eighteen delegates, each of 
 them wearing a big red and gold badge. They 
 were followed by two hundred of Steffens' 
 friends, who at regular intervals rent the air 
 with staccato cheers. 
 
 Presently, with a somewhat milder blare 
 of trumpets, Johnson and his twenty delegates 
 arrived from Washington County. Johnson 
 called first at Steffens' headquarters. There 
 he heard the startling news of Pat's disap- 
 pearance and hurried over to the engine-house 
 to see Higgins. 
 
 "WhaJ; the devil is this I hear, Higgins!" 
 he asked in a whisper. 
 
 "Well, Pat 's gone, that 's all we know 
 about it. ' '
 
 THE UPSTABT 305 
 
 "The boys say old Anders has made away 
 with him?" 
 
 "That don't sound reasonable to me. Why, 
 the old man expects to beat us this afternoon. 
 Why should he want to get Pat out of the 
 way?" 
 
 "What are you going to do?" 
 
 "Get the convention postponed until four 
 o'clock, for one thing. If we don't look out 
 we '11 have something worse than a convention 
 to handle." 
 
 "Yes, they 're talking mighty ugly on the 
 street already. They '11 be after Anders with 
 a rope if the boy don't turn up." 
 
 It was getting close to noon and with the 
 passage of each half hour the temper of the 
 crowd grew more dangerous. Hundreds of 
 excited men were now massed about the Grand 
 Opera House. In the center of the crowd was 
 a big dry-goods box and from it as from a 
 pulpit, man after man was stirring up the mob 
 to violence against the King. The concentrated 
 hate of long years flamed up into fury. 
 
 Word had early been brought to Lawyer 
 Wagner of the bitter feeling which had devel- 
 oped against his client. As the excitement 
 
 20
 
 306 THE UPSTART 
 
 grew more and more intense and an outbreak 
 of violence seemed imminent, the attorney lost 
 courage. He urged Anders to slip down the 
 back stairs and into hiding until the clamor 
 was quieted. But the old King laughed at 
 him. 
 
 "They can't scare me yet!" he declared. 
 "By Gott! when they come up here by me 
 they been sorry already!" 
 
 In a circle about him, like a royal body- 
 guard, sat his six great sons. Whatever their 
 faults, they were not afraid in this emergency. 
 And, truly, the men who attacked them would 
 have need of all their strength and courage. 
 
 The King even refused to leave the window. 
 He stood there in full sight of the mob below 
 and glared down, as if to defy them. 
 
 It was one of Anders' own farm-hands an 
 Irishman who was the first actively to incite 
 riot. He came staggering down the street, 
 half a dozen wild comrades with him. Ex- 
 citement and whiskey had mastered them all. 
 He was half lifted up to the top of a dry-goods 
 box. 
 
 ' ' There you are, you ould divvle ! " he cried.
 
 THE UPSTAET 307 
 
 pointing a drunken, wavering finger at the 
 window above him. ' ' You, that I Ve seen beat 
 your -own daughter wid a blacksnake whip! 
 Sure you 'd think no more av cutting a man's 
 throat, whin you 're mad, than I would av 
 crossing the sthreet. You know where Pat Mc- 
 Cormick is this minute, ye sour-faced old scut ! 
 Come on, byes!" he screamed, waving both 
 arms out over the crowd, "We '11 choke it out 
 av his dirthy black throat ! ' ' 
 
 Tom Hahn, who. had been standing in the 
 crowd turned and ran swiftly to the engine- 
 house. 
 
 ' ' Higgins, ' ' he cried. ' ' Hurry up ! They '11 
 be stringing Anders up in a minute!" 
 
 Higgins sprang from his seat and the two 
 rushed back down the stairs. 
 
 "We Ve got to protect him somehow," 
 gasped Tom Hahn as he ran. But before they 
 reached the crowd in front of the Opera House, 
 affairs had come to a climax. 
 
 As the Irishman sprang down from his 
 perch on the box an old farmer forced his way 
 to the center, brandishing a long rope and cry- 
 ing * * Come on, boys ! ' ' Instantly the mob be-
 
 308 THE UPSTAET 
 
 came a wild beast, clamoring with a hundred 
 savage voices for its prey. Men rushed and 
 fought each other for entrance to the stairway. 
 Suddenly in the doorway loomed up the spare 
 and determined form of the Captain. 
 
 "Hold on, you fools!" he shrilled. In his 
 right hand he brandished his wooden leg. 
 
 The mob paused in wonder. "Ye know 
 me " he yelled, * ' and ye know me fur a friend 
 of Pat McCormick. I know where Pat is this 
 blame minute an' when the right time comes 
 he '11 pop up in Convention and turn the 
 tables on that Dutchman upstairs. Now go- 
 wan, you fellers, and don't spoil his game for 
 him!" 
 
 For an instant the mob hesitated and 
 wavered. The moment of madness was over. 
 The excited men gazed at one another with 
 foolish grins. 
 
 "Right you are, Cap!" bawled a voice. 
 This ain't no lynchin' bee. This here 's a 
 political convention ! ' ' 
 
 When the Captain declared he knew Pat's 
 whereabouts there was, at first, a murmur of 
 incredulity, but there was no doubting his ear-
 
 THE UPSTART 309 
 
 nestness. Higgins and Tom Hahn took their 
 cue from him. 
 
 * ' Yes, ' ' they assured one man after another, 
 as they circulated through the crowcl, * l we know 
 where he is, all right, but we can't tell now. 
 It would spoil all his plans. Just you wait and 
 see." Gradually the crowd melted away and 
 an ugly tragedy had been averted. 
 
 They found the Captain sitting down on the 
 curb to adjust his wooden leg and took him 
 over to headquarters with them. They, too, 
 had been half deceived by the old man's 
 vehement speech. 
 
 "God forgive me for a liar," he said, in 
 answer to their questioning. "I don't know 
 where Pat is any more than you do. But 
 we 've got to get Anders out of town before 
 that convention meets. I do know that."
 
 XXX 
 
 WHEN the mob began to grow threatening, 
 Lawyer Wagner had fled from his office, 
 followed by the sneers of the old King, 
 who never, for a moment, relaxed his bold 
 front. Wagner did not return and when Hig- 
 gins and Torn Hahn climbed the back-stairs to 
 the Opera House block and rapped at the door 
 of his office, it was the voice of King Anders 
 that roared permission for them to enter. As 
 the King and his sons saw the managers of 
 their rival come into the room, they rose as one 
 man from their chairs and stood at bay. 
 
 "Mr. Anders," he said, "we want to talk 
 with you." 
 
 "Well!" growled the old man, still stand- 
 ing, surrounded by his giant guard. 
 
 "You saw what happened out there just 
 now, ' ' Higgins went on. * ' We had all we could 
 do to keep the mob from coming up here after 
 you with a rope." 
 
 310
 
 THE UPSTART 311 
 
 "Let dem come!" said the King, and his 
 boys moved a little closer about him. "What 
 you think we 'd be doing, huh?" 
 
 "We stopped 'em by saying that we knew 
 where Pat McCormick is. But we don 't know. 
 We promised 'em Pat would show up at the 
 convention. But we don't know whether he 's 
 alive or dead, I tell you. We Ve come up here 
 to ask you to get out of town, while you can. 
 If the convention meets and Pat McCormick 
 does n't appear, we can't answer for your 
 life!" 
 
 "Go to the devil, yet!" said the King, 
 scornfully. "You and your gang can't scare 
 me-! I know your dirty tricks, already. You 
 drive me out of town and then you nominate 
 that young feller for Congress, huh? What 
 for you take me? Me and my boys, we take 
 care of ourselves, by Gott!" 
 
 "Anders," said John Higgins, earnestly, "I 
 don't know whether you had anything to do 
 with Pat McCormick 's disappearance or not. 
 But if he is n 't here when the convention meets 
 this afternoon there '11 be bloodshed sure, if 
 the mob can lay hands on you. If you '11 go
 
 312 THE UPSTART 
 
 and take your boys with you, I '11 promise 
 that his name shall not be presented to the con- 
 vention. ' ' 
 
 * ' Aw, go talk to some fool, yet ! ' ' sneered the 
 King. "I stay right here, by damn, and this 
 afternoon I go by that convention. When you 
 chase me home you have to get something more 
 but a clothes-line rope and a lot of drunk Irish- 
 mans. You go find that coward, Wagner, and 
 scare him some more yet ! ' ' 
 
 ' ' Well, ' ' said Higgins, as he and Tom Hahn 
 slipped down the back-stairs, their errand an 
 utter failure, "there 'a nothing to do but to 
 postpone the convention as late as possible and 
 hope for the best." 
 
 A conference was held with Johnson of 
 Washington County and with the manager of 
 the Steffens forces and presently a placard 
 was posted on the front of the Opera House, 
 announcing that the convention would not be 
 called to order until four o 'clock. The delegates 
 already were impatient of idle waiting. Some 
 of them had been drinking and all were ex- 
 citedly discussing the events of the morning. 
 The shrewder saw in the announcement a part
 
 THE UPSTART 313 
 
 of the plot for the undoing of King Anders. 
 Others suspected that they had been deceived 
 and that the managers were merely fighting 
 for time. They waited, sullenly, for develop- 
 ments. 
 
 Four o 'clock came without a word from Pat. 
 For more than an hour a huge crowd had been 
 gathering about the Opera House. 
 
 ' ' There 's nothing to do but call the conven- 
 tion to order," said Higgins. "If we delay 
 any longer Hell will break loose. We must 
 string out the preliminaries as long as pos- 
 sible. Perhaps some of the boys '11 get tired 
 and go home. ' ' 
 
 Promptly at four o'clock the doors of the 
 Opera House were thrown open and up the 
 wide stairways swept a torrent of excited men. 
 Most of them were in their shirt-sleeves. They 
 were smoking pipes and cigars and carrying 
 their coats over their arms. They packed the 
 gallery until it seemed that the pillars which 
 supported it must give way. Men and boys sat 
 as close as they could crowd into the window 
 casements and stood in deep ranks about the 
 rear of both the balcony and the first floor, the
 
 314 THE UPSTAET 
 
 front half of which was roped off for the dele- 
 gates. The hum which filled the great room 
 was like the buzzing of a vast swarm of angry 
 bees. 
 
 Presently King Anders came, forcing his 
 way through the crowd and closely followed 
 by his six sons in single file. The old man and 
 his sons towered High above the men who made 
 way for them. It was like the entrance of a 
 file of giant grenadiers. 
 
 "Yes," answered Higgins, when the door- 
 keeper appealed to him, "I know only two of 
 the boys are delegates, but let 'em all in. The 
 old man 's likely to have more than a political 
 fight on his hands this afternoon. We '11 give 
 him a fair show." 
 
 Looking straight ahead, the seven big men 
 tramped across the house and sat down in the 
 front row of seats, farthest from the door. 
 Higgins felt an irresistible thrill of admiration 
 at the sight. 
 
 "By George!" he said to Tom Hahn. 
 ' ' They '.re a nervy lot ! " 
 
 For a moment, the undaunted entrance of 
 the old man and his sons, forced a respectful 
 silence in the packed body of the house. Then
 
 THE UPSTART 315 
 
 the angry buzz broke out again, louder than 
 before, but it was promptly quieted by whis- 
 pers of "Wait and see old Anders get the 
 razzle-dazzle ! ' ' 
 
 Higgins, Johnson and the Steffens man- 
 agers held an animated conference on the stage. 
 They realized that they were holding a conven- 
 tion of a dangerously explosive character. 
 
 "For God's sake keep things moving as 
 slowly as you can ! ' ' pleaded Higgins as John- 
 son rose to call the house to order. So John- 
 son went on to give a complete history of the 
 Democratic party from the time of Thomas 
 Jefferson down. He reviewed all the follies 
 and mistakes of the Republicans, and spoke at 
 length on the administration of every presi- 
 dent since Washington and then started in to 
 "view with alarm" the present condition of 
 the country. Finally the impatient galleries 
 revolted. Men began to yell * ' Time ! " to shout 
 angry interruptions and to beat the floor with 
 their heavy boots. 
 
 "I '11 have to quit," said Johnson in an 
 aside to Higgins. * ' They '11 be throwing chairs 
 in a minute." 
 
 So, as slowly as possible, the managers pro-
 
 316 THE UPSTART 
 
 ceeded with the organization of the convention. 
 Johnson was chosen permanent chairman, two 
 secretaries were selected and a committee was 
 appointed to pass on the credentials of the 
 delegates. Then a recess was proposed from 
 the floor. 
 
 "No," said Higgins, below his voice, "we 
 dare n't do it. If we don't keep them busy, 
 they '11 start a row in a minute. Call somebody 
 up to speak." 
 
 "There 's Calkins," Johnson whispered 
 back. ' ' He can set his mouth to going and go 
 way and leave it. I '11 call on him." 
 
 Calkins had been talking fully ten minutes, 
 though it seemed to Higgins not more than 
 one, when the credentials committee came back 
 to report. The convention waited, in silence, 
 as the names of the accredited delegates were 
 read, until Monroe township was reached. 
 
 "Ander Anders," sounded the shrill sing- 
 song of the reading clerk. Hisses began to 
 break out all over the house. The crowd had 
 hoped that the old King might not be seated. 
 "Klaas Anders." The hisses redoubled, shot 
 through by derisive cat-calls. * * Piet Anders. ' ' 
 
 "Hurry up!" Higgins whispered to the
 
 THE UPSTART 317 
 
 chairman. "Get things started before things 
 break loose." 
 
 "Nominations for Congress are now in or- 
 der," cried Johnson, stepping to the front of 
 the stage. There was an instant's silence; if 
 anything was going to happen, it must happen 
 soon. 
 
 A delegate from the Steffens County of 
 Madison jumped up on his chair. "Stage! 
 Stage!" shouted the galleries. The delegates 
 in front boosted the Madison County spokes- 
 man over the footlights. He stood at the front 
 center of the platform and spoke with the con- 
 fidence of assured victory, naming Fred Stef- 
 fens for the nomination. When he had finished 
 and was climbing down, the Madison County 
 delegation sprang to their feet, cheering and 
 throwing hats into the air. But the rest of the 
 house was strangely silent. 
 
 "Any further nominations?" asked the 
 chairman. The hush of the room was accented 
 by the heavy breathing of a thousand excited 
 men, waiting under pressure for an expected 
 sensation. Higgins, his face white and 
 strained, leaned over and whispered to Tom 
 Hahn.
 
 318 THE UPSTART 
 
 1 'Get up, Tom," he said, "and talk!" 
 
 Never had an orator a more breathlessly 
 attentive audience and never had an orator less 
 to say than he. 
 
 "After him the deluge!" groaned Higgins. 
 
 * l Gentlemen of the convention, ' ' Tom began. 
 "My first duty and I could have none more 
 pleasant is to welcome you to the county and 
 city of Liberty. I welcome you on behalf of all 
 our people, but more especially on behalf of 
 the loyal Democrats of the county, who, fight- 
 ing under the same standard which you so re- 
 cently have followed to victory, have just 
 elected their entire ticket, from Prosecut- 
 ing Attorney to County Superintendent of 
 Schools. More especially still and with the 
 greatest possible pleasure, I welcome you on 
 behalf of Liberty County's candidate for Con- 
 gress, whose name I shall have the honor of 
 presenting to this convention. 
 
 "We of his home town know him too well 
 and love him too dearly to need a word of in- 
 troduction. We have known him since the 
 years when as a barefooted Irish boy he lived 
 with his parents in a shanty on the mud-flats 
 of Killgrubbin. His life has been an open
 
 THE UPSTART 319 
 
 book to us during all the years since then. We 
 have seen how, when his father was killed in 
 battle, the boy gave up his scholarly ambitions 
 and assumed the responsibility of head and 
 chief support of the family. We have been 
 moved by admiration for his industry and his 
 perseverance as he studied law at night and in 
 the intervals of regular employment, prepar- 
 ing himself for admission to the profession, 
 which already he honors. We have seen how, 
 with compelling eloquence, he lead the Demo- 
 cratic hosts of Liberty County to a sweeping 
 victory last spring, himself coming in at the 
 head of the poll, with a majority unmatched in 
 Illinois. More lately, we have listened with 
 pride and admiration as his silver voice stirred 
 the Democratic heart at Allenton and made his 
 name familiar to all the people of our state. 
 We point to him as the rising star of the young 
 Democracy. To-day we bring his name before 
 you, that you may honor the old Twentieth dis- 
 trict by honoring him with your nomination 
 for Congress." 
 
 The packed gallery broke into uproarious 
 cheers. 
 
 ' ' Gentlemen, ' ' Tom Hahn went on, " I thank
 
 320 THE UPSTAET 
 
 you on behalf of Pat McCormick for your ap- 
 plause and I venture also, in his name, to urge 
 you to remember that he would be the last 
 to thank you for any act of discourtesy to 
 those, who, well within their legal rights, op- 
 pose his political ambition. 
 
 "There have been those among you who 
 have attempted to stir up the mad spirit of 
 mob violence ; who have urged you to lawlessly 
 take the law into your own hands and, with- 
 out even the shadow of proof, revenge a sus- 
 pected crime upon the gray head of one who 
 sits here to-day as a delegate, with as good a 
 title to that place as any one among us all. In 
 the name of Pat McCormick, I cry shame upon 
 such false friends of his. Were he in this hall 
 he would be the first to rise in his seat and re- 
 fuse a nomination for Congress, won at such 
 a cost of disgrace and dishonor to his party, to 
 the county of Liberty and the state of Illi- 
 nois ! ' ' 
 
 ' ' Where is Pat McCormick 1 ' ' cried an angry 
 voice from the gallery. An instant tumult 
 started. Tom Hahn waved his hands for a 
 moment's silence.
 
 THE UPSTART 321 
 
 "You have been promised," he said, impres- 
 sively, "that before this convention adjourns 
 you shall hear from him." 
 
 "What in the name of Heaven is that boy 
 going to say next?" gasped Johnson. 
 
 "He had to do it," answered Higgins. "It 
 was the only thing that would keep them 
 quiet. ' ' 
 
 From the door at the side of the stage 
 stepped a small boy, wearing a blue cap. He 
 held up a yellow envelope. 
 
 ' ' Here 's a telegram for Mr. Hahn, ' ' he said- 
 Tom Hahn took the message, tore the envelope 
 and read it, then turned again to face the 
 breathless house, the open telegram in his 
 hands. Higgins and Johnson had started to 
 their feet. All over the house men were get- 
 ting up. The silence was tense with apprehen- 
 sion. 
 
 * ' I promised you that you should hear from 
 Pat McCormick," the speaker said, in a low, 
 shaken voice. "I shall keep my word. His 
 message to us all has just come." 
 
 It seemed to Higgins that Tom must be 
 
 about to read a message announcing Pat's 
 21
 
 322 THE UPSTART 
 
 death, so solemn was his manner and his voice. 
 From the gallery men leaned over, their hands 
 to their ears : others stopped still, half-way be- 
 tween sitting and standing. The strain was 
 audible. 
 
 " Chicago, Illinois," Tom read. "August 
 7th. Thomas Hahn, Grand Opera House, Lib- 
 erty, Illinois. Antje Anders and I have just 
 been married. If I have lost the Crown I 
 have won the Princess. Our thanks to all my 
 friends. Patrick McCormick." 
 
 Up from a front seat in the gallery rose a 
 wild yell of triumph. It was the voice of the 
 captain. The delegates from Liberty County 
 leaped to their chairs, as if an explosion had 
 thrown them into the air. They were cheering, 
 laughing and slapping each other on the back. 
 Old King Anders sat dazed in his seat. His 
 sons leaned over and whispered to him. He 
 rose to his feet and shouted at Tom Hahn, wav- 
 ing his hands wildly. What he was saying was 
 lost in the mingled din of cheers and derisive 
 yells. 
 
 * * What 's the matter, King Anders ? ' ' bawled 
 a voice from above. ' ' Did n 't you get a bid to 
 the wedding?"
 
 THE UPSTART 323 
 
 Some one in the gallery started singing. A 
 hundred voices took it up, beating time with 
 their feet against the floor and railing. 
 
 I saw the steamer go 'round the bend 
 Good-bye, my lover, good-bye 
 All loaded down with Anders' men 
 Good-bye, my lover, good-bye ! 
 
 The King, his six sons in his wake, fought 
 his way to the stage and Tom Hahn leaned 
 over the footlights to hear him. 
 
 "It 's a damn lie!" he roared. "Gimme 
 that message yet ! ' ' Eagerly he . spelled out 
 the writing on the slip of paper, his sons lean- 
 ing over his shoulders to read. Then he con- 
 vulsively tore it into bits and stamped them on 
 the floor. 
 
 "That 's right! Dance at the wedding!" 
 cried the shrill voice from the gallery. 
 
 The King turned to face the howling, laugh- 
 ing, cheering mob, clenching both fists above 
 his head in furious defiance and pouring out a 
 torrent of unheard and unheeded curses. 
 
 "Come! We see about this!" he bellowed, 
 rushing for the door, his sons surging after.
 
 324 THE UPSTART 
 
 Behind them broke a fresh and triumphant 
 pandemonium. 
 
 In the hall outside Lawyer Wagner was 
 standing, afraid to go in, yet anxious to know 
 the result. As Anders and his boys dashed by, 
 regardless, he learned from one of the strag- 
 glers in their train what had taken place in- 
 side the Opera House. He hurried after them 
 and caught the King by the sleeve at the head 
 of the stairs. "Don't go, Anders," he cried. 
 "They '11 nominate Pat McCormick sure!" 
 
 The King shook him off with a contemptu- 
 ous curse and thundered on down the wide 
 stairs, unheeding. The tiny, alert young 
 woman who sat at her table in the telegraph 
 office across the street, pecking at the key like 
 a bird, looked up in terror at the entrance of 
 the band of raging giants. 
 
 "Have you a telegraph from Pat McCor- 
 mick got!" demanded the old man. 
 
 Without a word, the frightened girl handed 
 across the counter a rumpled bit of tissue 
 paper. 
 
 Painfully King Anders spelled it over. 
 Then he crushed the copy in his hand and 
 threw it on the floor.
 
 THE UPSTART 325 
 
 "It is a trick yet!" he roared. "It is a 
 damn lie ! Come ! " he ordered the boys. ' ' We 
 go by home and see vunce. ' ' 
 
 Higgins, looking out of a window, saw the 
 descent on the telegraph office. He watched 
 anxiously, until the King, followed by his sons, 
 charged out again into the street and across 
 to where their team was standing. Then, as 
 the high-strung Normans leaped forward in- 
 to their collars, under the old man's furious 
 lash, Higgins turned and hurried back to the 
 stage. 
 
 1 1 Anders and his boys have gone home, ' ' he 
 whispered to Chairman Johnson, under cover 
 of the disorder, which still filled the house. 
 "Get the roll-call started as soon as you can." 
 
 Johnson beat on the table-top with a heavy 
 cane. "Are there any further nominations 
 for Congress?" he cried, through the din. 
 
 A sudden silence, almost terrifying in its 
 contrast to the previous uproar, fell over the 
 convention. Men sat still, again, in strained, 
 tense attitudes, waiting for the climax. 
 
 "If there are no more nominations," John- 
 son went on, "the clerk will please call the 
 roll."
 
 326 THE UPSTART 
 
 * ' Liber-r-ty Conn-n-ty f ' ' 
 
 ''Liberty County casts twenty-one votes 
 for Patrick McCormick!" answered Tom 
 Hahn, from his place on the floor. 
 
 The Chairman of the Madison County 
 delegation leaped to his feet. 
 
 'I rise to a point of order," he cried. 
 "Three of the twenty-one delegates from 
 Liberty County have left the hall. I demand 
 that the delegation be polled." 
 
 "I remind the gentleman," Tom Hahn an- 
 swered, "that, under the call for this conven- 
 tion, when any part of a delegation is absent 
 the remainder is given the right to fill the va- 
 cant places. This power we have already exer- 
 cised. Liberty County fills twenty-one seats 
 on the floor of this convention and it casts its 
 solid vote for Patrick McCormick ! ' ' 
 
 ' ' The chair rules the point well taken, ' ' said 
 Johnson from the stage. "The vote will be 
 so recorded. The roll-call will proceed." 
 
 "Madison County?" 
 
 "Eighteen votes for Frederick Steffens!" 
 
 "Washington County?" 
 
 "Ten votes for Patrick McCormick and"
 
 THE UPSTART 327 
 
 The announcement was drowned in a thou- 
 sand voiced yell of triumph. Thirty-one votes 
 were a majority of the convention. Steffens, 
 standing on his chair, appealed for recogni- 
 tion. The crowd recognized him and hushed 
 into listening silence. 
 
 "I move that the nomination of Patrick 
 McCormick be made unanimous," he said. 
 
 HALF an hour later Higgins and Tom Hahn 
 jointly wrote a telegram and saw it off on the 
 wires to Pat McCormick. 
 
 "The crown is also yours. The convention sends 
 its unanimous nomination as a wedding-present to 
 Pat and the Princess."
 
 XXXI 
 
 THE unexpected news of his nomination 
 for Congress brought Pat McCormick 
 and his bride quickly back to Liberty. A hard 
 campaign was before him and the time was 
 short. Now, more than ever, he was deter- 
 mined to win. They drove directly to the little 
 cottage at the head of Main street. There, 
 also, came King Anders, the afternoon of their 
 arrival. He tied his big gray stallions before 
 the gate and, tramping heavily up the walk, 
 beat upon the door with the butt of his black- 
 snake whip. Aunt Bridget opened to him. 
 
 "Good evenin', sorr," the old woman said, 
 eyeing him with her most martial aspect. 
 
 "Where is my girl, yet?" the king de- 
 manded. 
 
 11 'T is th' wife av Congrissman McCormick 
 yere wantin' to see, I dunno?" Aunt Bridget 
 questioned aggressively, her hands on her 
 hips. 
 
 328
 
 THE UPSTART 329 
 
 "Where is Antje Anders?" 
 
 1 'There ain't nobody be that name stoppin' 
 here, sorr," replied Bridget, her nose high in 
 air. "Ye Ve come to th' wrong house, I 'm 
 thinkin'. 'T is th' McCormick fam'ly lives 
 here, I 'd have ye know. ' ' 
 
 " I go me in and see yet ! ' ' roared the King. 
 
 Then, just as an Homeric battle seemed cer- 
 tain, Antje herself came to the door. She had 
 recognized the deep tones of her father's voice, 
 as it was raised in anger and hurried down, 
 her husband with her. 
 
 "Here I am, father," she cried. 
 
 "Th' gintlemin called to offer ye his con- 
 gratulations, Mississ McCormick," said Aunt 
 Bridget, with a mock curtsey to the old King. 
 
 Then she stepped aside, still holding her- 
 self in reserve, ready for any sudden emer- 
 gency. The three stojod silent for a moment. 
 Shrewdly and long the little gray eyes of King 
 Anders searched his daughter's face. The 
 pleading look he saw there, did not con- 
 ceal the happiness which filled her. She 
 smiled up at him wistfully and in her face was 
 a stray beam of summer sunshine.
 
 330 THE UPSTART 
 
 The old man turned his gaze suddenly upon 
 Pat McCormick and the look on his face in- 
 stantly hardened. His heavy eye-brows 
 dropped far down and the muscles about his 
 mouth grew tense. In the background Aunt 
 Bridget cleared her decks for action. 
 
 Then, as his rage rose to master him, King 
 Anders felt the timid pressure of his daugh- 
 ter's hand upon his arm and turned to face 
 her. She did not speak. Her eyes were filled 
 with tears and on her lips was still a tremu- 
 lous, appealing smile. 
 
 Slowly, as he looked, his great figure 
 straightened itself. One could almost feel the 
 effort of his tremendous will as it faced the 
 inevitable and choked to death the vain pas- 
 sion which struggled to rise within him. 
 
 "Antje," he said at last, "come here once 
 yet" 
 
 The girl, her face all aglow with trium- 
 phant tenderness, crept closer to the old man 
 and he threw his great left arm tightly about 
 her. With his right he reached out and 
 clutched Pat McCormick 's hand. 
 
 "You be good by her !" he roared, the thun-
 
 THE UPSTART 331 
 
 der of his voice only half hiding the new feel- 
 ing which shook him. 
 
 At the sight, old Aunt Bridget, all her fight- 
 ing colors furled, and sniffling vigorously to 
 cover her own emotion, slipped her anchor 
 and came also into port. 
 
 "Misther Anders, sorr," she said, this time 
 with a curtsey of real respect, "I 'm afther 
 beggin' Yere Honor's pardon, that I am. 
 Won't ye be steppin' in to have a cup av tay? 
 Sure, what have I been thinkin' av to lave ye 
 standin' out here on the por-r-ch all this 
 time?" 
 
 With a chorus of relieved laughter thay all 
 followed Aunt Bridget into the little front 
 room. There at the deal table, Antje sat by 
 her father's knees, her husband close beside 
 her, while the old woman bustled about with 
 the tea things. 
 
 " Pretty soon already you '11 be going by 
 Congress, not so I " said the King presently to 
 his new son. 
 
 "I don't know. The Republicans '11 put up 
 a hot fight. They 'd go a long way to beat 
 me."
 
 332 THE UPSTART 
 
 "By damn!" roared the King, striking the 
 table a great whack with his fist, "when they 
 try that, we teach 'em a few things yet, huh?" 
 
 THE END
 
 University of California 
 
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