SO IT WAS ALL SETTLED
“What’s this—what’s this, my boy?” cried the major hastily adjusting
his reading glasses. “A telegram? And from the West, eh?”
“A night letter from Bob Douglas. I got it yesterday morning. I’ve been
all this time getting here, Major. Believe me! the railroads are badly
blocked.”
Major Dale was reading the telegram. His face flushed and his eyes
brightened as he read.
“This is authentic, Garry?” he finally asked, with shaking voice.
“Sure. I know Bob Douglas—and Gibson, the lawyer, too. Gibson has been
in touch with the poor old man all the time. I expect Uncle Terry must
have left the will and all his papers with Gibson when he hiked out
for Alaska. Poor, poor old man! He’s gone without my ever having seen
him again.” Garry’s voice was broken and he turned to look out of the
window.
“Not your fault, my boy,” said the major, clearing his throat.
“No, sir. But my misfortune. I know now that the old man loved me or
he would not have made me rich in the end.”
Major Dale was reading the long telegram again. “Your friend, Mr.
Douglas, repeats a phrase of the will, it is evident,” he said softly.
“Your uncle says you are to have his money ‘because you are too honest
to ever make any for yourself.’ Do you believe that, Garry?” and his
eyes suddenly twinkled.
Garry Knapp blushed and shook his head negatively. “That’s just the old
man’s caustic wit,” he said. “I’ll make good all right. I’ve got the
land, and now I’ve got the money to develop it——”
“Major Dale! Where is Miss Dorothy?”
“Gone out for a tramp in the snow. I heard her with the boys,” said the
major, smiling. “I—I expect, Garry, you wish to tell her the good news?”
“And something else, Major, if you will permit me.”
The old gentleman looked at him searchingly. “I am not altogether sure
that you deserve to get her, Garry. You are a laggard in love,” he
said. “But you have my best wishes.”
“You’ll not find me slow that way after _this_!” exclaimed Garry Knapp
gaily, as he made for the door.
Thus it was that, having traced Dorothy and her brothers from the
house, the young Westerner came upon the site of the accident to Roger
just as the girl and Joe discovered the disappearance of the smaller
boy in the deep drift.
“Run for help, Joe!” Dorothy was crying. “Bring somebody! And ropes!
No! don’t you dare jump into that drift! Then there will be two of you
lost. Oh!”
“Hooray!” yelled Joe at that instant. “Here’s Mr. Knapp!”
Dorothy could not understand Garry’s appearance; but she had to believe
her eyesight. Before the young man, approaching now by great leaps, had
reached the spot they had explained the trouble to him.
“Don’t be so frightened, Dorothy,” he cried. “The boy won’t smother in
that snowdrift. He’s probably so scared that——”
Just then a muffled cry came to their ears from below in the drifted
gulch.
“He isn’t dead then!” declared Joe. “How’re we going to get him out,
Mr. Knapp?”
“By you and Miss Dorothy standing back out of danger and letting me
burrow there,” said Garry.
He had already thrown aside his coat. Now he leaped well out from the
edge of the gully bank, turning in the air so as to face them as he
plunged, feet first, into the drift.
It was partially hollowed out underneath—and this fact Garry had
surmised. The wind had blown the snow into the gully, but a hovering
wreath of the frozen element had tempted Roger upon its surface and
then treacherously let him down into the heart of it.
Garry plunged through and almost landed upon the frightened boy. He
groped for him, picked him up in his arms, and the next minute Roger’s
head and shoulders burst through the snow crust and he was tossed by
Garry out upon the bank.
“Oh, Garry!” gasped Dorothy, trying to help the man up the bank and out
of the snow wreath. “What ever should we have done without you?”
“I don’t see what you’re going to do without me, anyway,” laughed the
young man breathlessly, finally recovering his feet.
“Garry!”
She looked at him almost in fear, gazing into his flushed face. She saw
that something had happened—something that had changed his attitude
toward her; but she could not guess what it was.
The boys were laughing, and Joe was beating the snow off the clothing
of his younger brother. They did not notice their elders for the moment.
“How——Why did you come back, Garry?” the girl asked directly.
“I come back to see if you would let such a blundering fellow as I am
tell you what is in his heart,” Garry said softly, looking at her with
serious gaze.
“Garry! What has happened?” she murmured.
He told her quietly, but with a break in his voice that betrayed the
depth of his feeling for his Uncle Terry. “The poor old boy!” he said.
“If he had only showed me he loved me so while he lived—and given me a
chance to show him.”
“It is not your fault,” said Dorothy using the words her father had
used in commenting upon the matter.
They were standing close together—there in the snow, and his arms were
about her. Dorothy looked up bravely into his face.
“I—I guess I can’t say it very well, Dorothy. But you know how I
feel—how much I love you, my dear. I’m going to make good out there on
the old ranch, and then I want to come back here for you. Will you wait
for me, Dorothy?”
“I expected to have to wait much longer than that, Garry,” Dorothy
replied with a tremulous sigh. And then as he drew her still closer she
hid her face on his bosom.
“Lookut! Lookut!” cried Roger in the background, suddenly observing the
tableau. “What do you know about Dorothy and Garry Knapp doing it too?”
“Gee!” growled Joe, in disgust. “It must be catching. Tavia and old
Nat will get it. Come on away, Roger. Huh! they don’t even know we’re
on earth.”
And it was some time before Dorothy Dale and “that cowboy person” awoke
to the fact that they were alone and it was a much longer time still
before they started back for The Cedars, hand in hand.
THE END.
THE DOROTHY DALE SERIES
By MARGARET PENROSE
Author of “The Motor Girls Series”
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid.
[Illustration: Book]
Dorothy Dale is the daughter of an old Civil War veteran who is running
a weekly newspaper in a small Eastern town. Her sunny disposition, her
fun-loving ways and her trials and triumphs make clean, interesting and
fascinating reading. The Dorothy Dale Series is one of the most popular
series of books for girls ever published.
DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY
DOROTHY DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL
DOROTHY DALE’S GREAT SECRET
DOROTHY DALE AND HER CHUMS
DOROTHY DALE’S QUEER HOLIDAYS
DOROTHY DALE’S CAMPING DAYS
DOROTHY DALE’S SCHOOL RIVALS
DOROTHY DALE IN THE CITY
DOROTHY DALE’S PROMISE
DOROTHY DALE IN THE WEST
DOROTHY DALE’S STRANGE DISCOVERY
DOROTHY DALE’S ENGAGEMENT (_New_)
CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK
THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES
By MARGARET PENROSE
Author of the highly successful “Dorothy Dale Series”
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid.
[Illustration: Book]
Since the enormous success of our “Motor Boys Series,” by Clarence
Young, we have been asked to get out a similar series for girls. No
one is better equipped to furnish these tales than Mrs. Penrose, who,
besides being an able writer, is an expert automobilist.
THE MOTOR GIRLS
_or A Mystery of the Road_
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR
_or Keeping a Strange Promise_
THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH
_or In Quest of the Runaways_
THE MOTOR GIRLS THROUGH NEW ENGLAND
_or Held by the Gypsies_
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CEDAR LAKE
_or The Hermit of Fern Island_
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST
_or The Waif from the Sea_
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CRYSTAL BAY
_or The Secret of the Red Oar_
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON WATERS BLUE
_or The Strange Cruise of the Tartar_
THE MOTOR GIRLS AT CAMP SURPRISE
_or The Cave in the Mountain_
THE MOTOR GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS (_New_)
_or The Gypsy Girl’s Secret_
CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers, NEW YORK
THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES
By LESTER CHADWICK
Author of “The College Sports Series”
_12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid._
[Illustration: Book]
BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS
_or The Rivals of Riverside_
In this volume, the first of the series, Joe is introduced as an
everyday country boy who loves to play baseball and is particularly
anxious to make his mark as a pitcher.
BASEBALL JOE ON THE SCHOOL NINE
_or Pitching for the Blue Banner_
Joe’s great ambition was to go to boarding school and play on the
school team. He got to boarding school but found it hard to make the
team.
BASEBALL JOE AT YALE
_or Pitching for the College Championship_
From a preparatory school Baseball Joe goes to Yale University. He
makes the freshman nine and in his second year becomes a varsity
pitcher and pitches in several big games.
BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE
_or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher_
In this volume the scene of action is shifted from Yale college to a
baseball league of our central states.
BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE
_or A Young Pitcher’s Hardest Struggle_
From the Central League Joe is drafted into the St. Louis Nationals. A
corking baseball story that fans, both young and old, will enjoy.
BASEBALL JOE ON THE GIANTS
_or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis_
How Joe was traded to the Giants and became their mainstay in the box
makes an interesting baseball story.
BASEBALL JOE IN THE WORLD SERIES (_New_)
_or Pitching for the Championship_
A story to set the hearts of all baseball fans to thumping wildly.
The rivalry was of course of the keenest, and what Joe did to win the
series is told in a manner to thrill the most jaded reader.
_Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
CUPPLES & LEON CO. Publishers New York
THE Y.M.C.A. BOYS SERIES
By BROOKS HENDERLEY
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid._
[Illustration: Book]
_This new series relates the doings of a wide-awake boys’ club of the
Y.M.C.A., full of good times and everyday, practical Christianity.
Clean, elevating and full of fun and vigor, books that should be read
by every boy._
THE Y.M.C.A. BOYS OF CLIFFWOOD
_or The Struggle for the Holwell Prize_
Telling how the boys of Cliffwood were a wild set and how, on
Hallowe’en, they turned the home town topsy-turvy. This led to an
organization of a boys’ department in the local Y.M.C.A. When the lads
realized what was being done for them, they joined in the movement with
vigor and did all they could to help the good cause.
THE Y.M.C.A. BOYS ON BASS ISLAND
_or The Mystery of Russabaga Camp_
Summer was at hand, and at a meeting of the boys of the Y.M.C.A.
of Cliffwood, it was decided that a regular summer camp should be
instituted. This was located at a beautiful spot on Bass Island, and
there the lads went boating, swimming, fishing and tramping to their
heart’s content.
THE Y.M.C.A. BOYS AT FOOTBALL (_New_)
_or Lively Doings On and Off the Gridiron_
This volume will add greatly to the deserved success of this
well-written series. The Y.M.C.A. boys are plucky lads—clean minded and
as true as steel. They have many ups and downs, but in the end they
“win out” in the best meaning of that term.
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CUPPLES & LEON CO. Publishers New York
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 10 Changed: Otuside there beside the tracks
to: Outside there beside the tracks
pg 22 Changed: A floorwalked hastened forward.
to: A floorwalker hastened forward.
pg 32 Changed: like the notes of a coloratura sporano
to: like the notes of a coloratura soprano
pg 116 Changed: melodiously a pæn of joy
to: melodiously a pæan of joy
pg 117 Changed: sticking out a touseled head
to: sticking out a tousled head
pg 117 Changed: Jennie Hapgod peered out
to: Jennie Hapgood peered out