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RALPH GRANGER'S FORTUNES
by
WILLIAM PERRY BROWN
Illustrated By W. H. Fry
[Frontispiece: "Grandpa!" cried Ralph. "You shall not shoot, I say!"]
Akron, Ohio
The Saalfield Publishing Co.
New York ---- 1902 ---- Chicago
Copyright, 1902,
by
The Saalfield Publishing Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. Ending the Feud
II. Ralph and his Grandfather
III. Ralph Continues his Journey
IV. The Moonshiners and the Railroad
V. Ralph's First Railroad Ride
VI. Ralph in Columbia
VII. An Enraged Photographer
VIII. Captain Shard's Proposal
IX. Ralph Arrives at Savannah
X. The Captain Talks with Ralph
XI. Aboard the Curlew
XII. The Curlew Puts to Sea
XIII. A Taste of Ship's Discipline
XIV. Bad Weather
XV. Boarded by a Cruiser
XVI. Nearing the Gold Coast
XVII. Up the River
XVIII. A Brush in the Wilderness
XIX. Left Behind
XX. Ralph Stumbles on a Discovery
XXI. At Close Quarters
XXII. Trouble of Another Kind
XXIII. Adrift
XXIV. Ralph's Sufferings
XXV. The Second Mate's Story
XXVI. Hard Times
XXVII. Uncle Gideon
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Grandpa!" cried Ralph. "You shall not shoot, I say!" . . . . . . . . .
_Frontispiece_
"Mr. Duff," said Gary in his most grating tones, "who gave you the
authority to interfere with my designs regarding this insolent
youngster?"
Ralph's Winchester cracked and the raised arm fell shattered and
useless.
"Quick, Ralph, pull me through by the arms."
Ralph Granger's Fortunes.
CHAPTER I.
Ending the Feud.
"Must I do it, grandpa?"
"Of course you must! I'm afraid you ain't a true Granger, Ralph, or
you wouldn't ask no such question."
"But why should I do it, grandpa?"
"Listen at the boy."
The sharp-eyed, grizzled old man rose from his seat before the fire,
and took down an ancient looking, muzzle loading rifle from over the
cabin door.
"I'll tell you why."
He patted the gun, now lying across his knees.
"This here was your father's gun. He carried it for many years. I had
it when the feud betwixt the Grangers and the Vaughns first began. He
had it with him when he was shot down at the Laurel Branch by John
Vaughn, just six years ago today."
"Today is my birthday," commented Ralph, a sturdy-limbed, ruddy-faced
lad.
"And you are fifteen. Think of that; 'most a man. I said I'd wait
till you was fifteen, and as it happens, his son's a goin' to mill
today."
"What of that?"
"You just wait and you'll see. All you've got to do is to obey orders."
The old man got up, took down a leather shot pouch, and proceeded to
load the rifle carefully. After which he slung the pouch and a powder
horn round Ralph's neck, then went out and looked at the sun.
He returned, placed the rifle in the lad's hands, and bade him follow.
Taking their hats they went out of the house.
Steep mountain ridges cut off any extended view. An old field or two
lay about them, partially in the narrow creek bottom and partially
climbing the last rugged slopes.
There was a foot log across the little brawling brook, beyond which the
public road wound deviously down the glen towards the far distant
lowlands.
Ralph eyed the unusually stern expression of his grandfather's face
dubiously as they trudged along the road.
Bras Granger was all of sixty-five years old, dried and toughened by
toil, exposure, and vindictive broodings, until he resembled a
cross-grained bit of time-hardened oak. His gait, though shambling,
was rapid for one of his age.
"You said you'd tell me why," suggested Ralph, as they wound their way
along the crooked road.
"Didn't I say that the son of the man as killed your father was comin'
by the Laurel Branch this mornin'? Haven't the Vaughns and the
Grangers been at outs for more than twenty year? What more d'ye want?"
The boy frowned, but it was in perplexity rather than wrath.
They came at last to a wooded hollow, through which another creek ran,
thickly shaded by thick overhanging shrubbery. The old man led the way
to a half decayed log of immense size, that lay behind a thick fringe
of bushes, at an angle just beyond where the road crossed the creek.
It was a deadly spot for an ambuscade.
"Lay down behind that log," said old Granger. "Now, can you draw a
good bead on him when he comes in sight?"
Young Granger squinted along the rifle barrel, now resting across the
log. Though apparently concealed himself, he had a fair view of the
road for sixty yards in both directions. Where it entered the brook it
was barely thirty feet away.
"Take him right forninst the left shoulder, 'bout the time his mule
crosses the creek; then your poor father'll rest easy in his grave."
"Why ain't you killed him afore?" demanded Ralph.
"My hand hasn't been steady these nine year; not since them Vaughns
burned our house down the night your grandmother died. It was cold and
snowin', and bein' out in it was more'n she could stand."
"I remember," said the boy gloomily. "But that was a long time ago. I
can't stay mad nine year."
"I'm madder now than I was then!" almost shouted the infuriated
mountaineer. "After they got your pap, I 'lowed I'd wait 'twel you was
fifteen. Then you'd be big enough to know how sweet revenge is. Heap
sweeter than sugar, ain't it?"
"Hark?" interjected Ralph, without replying. "Some one is comin' up
the road."
A trample of hoofs became audible, and presently a man mounted on a
mule, with a sack of corn under him, was to be seen approaching the
ambuscade.
Seated before him was a child of perhaps four or five, who laughed and
prattled to the man's evident delight. Old Granger's eyes shown with a
ferocious joy.
"That's him!" he exclaimed in tremulously eager tones. "He's got his
brat along. I wish ye could get 'em both, then there'd be an end of
the miserable brood for one while. Wait, boy--wait 'twel he gets to
the creek afore ye shoot. Think of your poor pap, when ye draw bead."
But Ralph's face did not betoken any kindred enthusiasm. He was tired
to death of hearing about the everlasting feud between the families.
If the Vaughns had fought the Grangers, it was equally certain that the
Grangers had been no whit behind in sanguinary reprisals. He
remembered seeing this same Jase Vaughn, now riding unsuspectingly
toward the loaded rifle, at a corn shucking once. Ralph then thought
him a very jolly, amusing fellow.
"Now lad--now lad!" whispered the old man. "Get down and take your
sight. I've seen ye shoot the heads offn squirrels. Just imagine that
feller's head is a squirrel's. As for the child----"
"Grandpa, I will not shoot. It would be murder. I'll meet him fair
and square, though, and if he's sorry for what his father done, I'll
let it pass. He couldn't help it anyhow, if he wanted to, I reckon."
To the old man's intense disgust, Ralph leaped lightly over the log and
advanced into the road, rifle in hand. His grandfather followed him,
raving in his futile rage.
"Hello!" exclaimed Jase Vaughn, thrusting his hand behind him quickly.
"Here's old Granger and his son's kid. I wish you was at home, Clelly."
This last to his boy who, not at all alarmed, was smiling at Ralph in a
very friendly manner.
When the lad saw Jase throw back his hand, he dropped his rifle into
the hollow of his left arm and brought the trigger to a half cock,
advancing at the same time squarely into the middle of the road.
"Grandpa tells me that you are the son of the man who shot my father,
here, just six years ago," began the boy. "I knew it myself, but I
didn't 'low you was to blame, 'less you uphilt him in it."
"Suppose I do; what then?" Jase eyed the two Grangers steadily, though
not in anger as far as Ralph could see.
"Then we'll settle it right here," said the latter firmly. "I could
have shot you from the bushes, as your father did mine, but I wouldn't."
"The more fool you!" hissed the vindictive old man. "I ought to have
kept the gun myself."
"Suppose I don't uphold the deed?" added Vaughn, still totally
undisturbed.
"Then you can go, for all of me. I'm sick of the feud."
"Shake my boy!" Jase held out a large brown paw. "So am I. If I
could 'a' had my way your pap never would a been killed."
Ralph hesitated an instant, when suddenly little Clelly reached forth
his small, chubby fingers, and the boy surrendered. He suffered Vaughn
to shake his hand, then frankly took the child's and pressed it warmly.
"I like 'oo," cried the little fellow, whereat Jase gave a great horse
laugh of undisguised satisfaction.
"These young uns has got more sense than all of us older fools,"
exclaimed the gratified father. "Ain't that so, old man?" he added,
looking at the elder Granger.
But the face of Ralph's grandfather became convulsed with a sudden
fury. He rushed upon Ralph with a celerity unlocked for in one so old,
and wrenched the rifle from the boy's hands.
Then he turned upon Jase Vaughn who had witnessed this action in
astonishment.
"Now," shouted old Granger, "reckon I'll get even for the loss of my
son. Here's at ye!"
"Grandpa!" cried Ralph, springing between the old man and his intended
victim. "You shall not shoot, I say!"
"Out of my way, you renegade," retorted the other leveling his gun.
As the cap snapped, Ralph struck up the barrel, and was rewarded by a
furious imprecation from the aged but relentless relative.