 CHAPTER 1. WHERE IN GREAT RISKS ARE TAKEN AND THE LIMBERLOST GUARD IS HIRED. CHARACTERS Freckles, a plucky waif who guards the limberlost timberleases and dreams of angels. The swamp angel, in whom Freckles' sweetest dream materializes. McLean, a member of a Grand Rapids lumber company who befriends Freckles. Mrs. Duncan, who gives mother love and a home to Freckles. Duncan, head teamster of McLean's timber game. The bird woman, who is collecting camera studies of birds for a book. Lord and Lady Omor, who come from Ireland in quest of a lost relative. The man of affairs, brusque of manner but big of heart. Wessner, a Dutch timber thief who wants rascality made easy. Blackjack, a villain to whom thought of repentance comes too late. Sears, camp cook. Freckles came down the corduroy that crosses the lower end of the limberlost. At a glance, he might have been mistaken for a tramp, but he was truly seeking work. He was intensely eager to belong somewhere and to be attached to almost any enterprise that would furnish him food and clothing. Long before he came inside of the camp of the Grand Rapids lumber company, he could hear the cheery voices of the men, the neighing of the horses, and could scent the tempting odors of cooking food. A feeling of homeless friendlessness swept over him in a sickening wave. Without stopping to think, he turned into the newly made road and followed it to the camp, where the gang was making ready for supper and bed. The scene was intensely attractive. The thickness of the swamp made a dark, massive background below, while above towered gigantic trees. The men were calling jovially back and forth as the unharnessed tired horses that fell into attitudes of rest and crunched in deep content the grain given them. Duncan, the brawny scotch-head teamster, lovingly wiped the flanks of his big bays with handfuls of paw-paw leaves, as he softly whistled, "'Oh, what will be my dearie oh?' and a cricket beneath the leaves at his feet accompanied him. The green wood fire hissed and crackled merrily. Wreathing tongues of the flame wrapped around the big black kettles and when the cook lifted the lids to plunge in his testing fork, gusts of savory odors escaped. Freckles approached him. "'I want to speak with the boss,' he said. The cook glanced at him and answered carelessly, "'He can't use you.' The color flooded Freckles' face, but he said simply, "'If you will be having the goodness to point him out, we will give him a chance to do his own talking.' With a shrug of astonishment, the cook led the way to a rough board table where a broad, square-shouldered man was bending over some account books. "'Mr. McGlean, here's another man wanting to be taken on the gang,' I suppose,' he said. "'All right,' came the cheery answer. "'I never needed a good man more than I do just now.' The manager turned a page and carefully began a new line. "'No use of your bothering with this fellow,' volunteered the cook. He hasn't but one hand. The flush on Freckles' face burned deeper, his lips thinned to a mere line. He lifted his shoulders, took a step forward, and thrust out his right arm, from which the sleeve dangled empty at the wrist. "'That will do, Sears,' came the voice of the boss sharply. I will interview my man when I finish this report.' He turned to his work while the cook hurried to the fires. Freckles stood one instant as he had braced himself to meet the eyes of the manager. Then his arm dropped and a wave of whiteness swept him. The boss had not even turned his head. He had used the possessive. When he said, "'My man,' the hungry heart of Freckles went reaching toward him. The boy drew a quivering breath. Then he whipped off his old hat and beat the dust from it carefully. With his left hand he caught the right sleeve, wiped his sweaty face, and tried to straighten his hair with his fingers. He broke a spray of iron wart beside him and used the purple bloom to beat the dust from his shoulders and limbs. The boss, busy over his report, was nevertheless vaguely alive to the toilet being made behind him, and scored one for the man. McLean was a Scotchman. It was his habit to work slowly and methodically. The men of his camps never had known him to be in a hurry or to lose his temper. Discipline was inflexible. But the boss was always kind. His habits were simple. He shared camp life with his gangs. The only visible signs of wealth consisted of a big shimmering diamond stone of ice and fire that glittered and burned on one of his fingers. And the dainty beautiful thoroughbred mare he rode between camps and across the country on business. No man of McLean's gangs could honestly say that he had ever been over-driven or underpaid. The boss had never extracted any deference from his men. Yet so intense was his personality that no man of them ever had attempted a familiarity. They all knew him to be a thorough gentleman, and that in the great timber city several millions stood to his credit. He was the only son of that McLean who had sent out the finest ships ever built in Scotland. That his son should carry on this business after the father's death had been his ambition. He had sent the boy through the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh and allowed him several years travel before he should attempt his first commission for the firm. Then he was ordered to Southern Canada and Michigan to purchase a consignment of tall straight timber for masts and south to Indiana for oak beams. The young man entered these mighty forests, parts of which lay untouched since the dawn of the morning of time. The clear, cool, pungent atmosphere was intoxicating. The intense silence, like that of a great empty cathedral, fascinated him. He gradually learned that to the shy wood creatures that darted across his path or peeped inquiringly from leafy ambush he was brother. He found himself approaching with a feeling of reverence those majestic trees that had stood through ages of sun, wind, and snow. Soon it became difficult to fell them. When he had filled his order and returned home he was amazed to learn that in the swamps and forests he had lost his heart and it was calling, forever calling him. When he inherited his father's property he promptly disposed of it and with his mother founded a home in a splendid residence in the outskirts of Grand Rapids with three partners he organized a lumber company. His work was to purchase, fell, and ship the timber to mills. Marshall managed the milling process and passed the lumber to the factory. From the lumber Barthol made beautiful and useful furniture which up to Grove scattered all over the world from a big wholesale house. Of the thousands who saw their faces reflected on the polished surfaces of that furniture and found comfort in its use few there were to whom it suggested mighty forests and trackless swamps and the man big of soul and body who cut his way through them and with the eye of experience doomed the proud trees that were now entering the homes of civilization for service. When McLean turned from his finished report he faced a young man yet under twenty tall spare heavily framed closely freckled and red haired with a homely Irish face but in the steady gray eyes straightly meeting his searching ones of blue there was unswerving candor and the appearance of longing not to be ignored he was dressed in the roughest of farm clothing and seemed tired to the point of falling you are looking for work question McLean yes answered freckles I am very sorry said the boss with genuine sympathy in his every tone but there is only one man I want it present a hearty big fella with a stout heart and a strong body I hope that you would do but I'm afraid you were too young and scarcely strong enough freckles stood hat in hand watching McLean and what was it you thought I might be doing he asked the boss could scarcely repress a start somewhere before accident in poverty there had been an ancestor who used cultivated English even with an accent the boy spoke in mellow Irish voice sweet and pure it was scarcely definite enough to be called broke yet there was a trick in the turning of the sentence the wrong sound of a letter here and there that was almost irresistible to McLean and presaged a misuse of infinitives and possessives with which he was very familiar and which touched him nearly he was a foreign birth and despite years of alienation in times of strong feeling he committed inherited sins of accent and construction it's no child's job answered McLean I am the field manager of a big lumber company we have just leased 2 000 acres of the limberlost many of these trees are of great value we can't leave our camp six miles south for almost a year yet so we have blazed trail and strung barbed wires securely around this lease before we return to our work I must put this property in the hands of a reliable brave strong man who will guard it every hour of the day and sleep with one eye open at night I shall require the entire length of the trail to be walked at least twice each day and to make sure that our lines are up and that no one has been trespassing freckles was leaning forward absorbing every word with such intense eagerness that he was beguiling the boss into explanations he had never intended making but why wouldn't that be the finest job in the world for me he pleaded I am never sick I could walk the trail twice three times every day and I'd be watching sharp all the while it's because you are scarcely more than a boy and this will be a trying job for a work-hardened man answered McLean you see in the first place you would be afraid in stretching our lines we killed six rattlesnakes almost as long as your body and as thick as your arm it's the price of your life to start through the marsh grass surrounding the swamp unless you are covered with heavy leather above your knees you should be able to swim in case high water undermines the temporary bridge we have built where sleepy snake creek enters a swamp the fall and winter changes of weather are abrupt and severe well I would want strict watch kept every day you would always be alone and I don't guarantee what is in the limberlost it is lying here as it has lain since the beginning of time and it is alive with forms and voices I don't pretend to say what all of them come from but from a few slinking shapes I've seen and hair-raising yells I've heard I'd rather not confront their owners myself and I'm neither weak nor fearful worst of all any man who will enter the swamp to mark and steal timber is desperate one of my employees in the south camp John Carter compelled me to discharge him for a number of serious reasons he came here entered the swamp alone and succeeded in locating and marking a number of valuable trees that he was endeavoring to sell to a rival company when we secured the lease he has sworn to have these trees if he has to die or kill others to get them and he is a man that the strongest would not care to meet but if he came to steal trees wouldn't he bring teams and men enough that all anyone could do would be to watch and be after you queried the boy yes replied McLean then why couldn't I be watching just as closely and coming as fast as an older stronger man asked freckles why by George you could explain McLean I don't know as the size of a man would be half so important as his grit and faithfulness come to think of it sit on that log there and we will talk it over what is your name freckles shook his head at the pro-offer of a seat and folding his arms stood straight as the trees around him he grew a shade wider but his eyes never faltered freckles he said good enough for every day laughed McLean but I scarcely can put freckles on the company's books tell me your name I haven't any name replied the boy I don't understand said McLean I was thinking from the voice and the face of you that you wouldn't said freckles slowly I've spent more time on it than I ever did on anything else in all of me life and I don't understand does it seem to you that anyone would take a newborn baby and row over it until it was bruised black cut off its hand and leave it out in bitter night on the steps of a charity home to the care of strangers that's what somebody did to me McLean stared aghast he had no reply ready and presently in a low voice he suggested and after the home people took me in and I was there the full legal age and several years over for the most part we were a lot of little Irishmen together they could always find homes for the other children but nobody would ever be wanting me on account of me arm were they kind to you McLean regretted the question the minute it was asked I don't know answered freckles the reply sounded so hopeless even to his own ears that he hastened to qualify it by adding you see it's like this sir kindnesses that people are paid to lay off in job lots and that belong equally to several hundred others ain't going to be spoken into any one fellow so much go on said McLean not incomprehendingly there's nothing worth the taking of your time to tell replied freckles the home was in Chicago and I was there all me life until three months ago when I was too old for the training they gave to the little children they sent me to the closest ward school as long as the law would let them but I was never like any of the other children and they all knew it I'd go and come like a prisoner and be working around the home early and late for me bored and close I always wanted to learn mighty bad but was glad when that was over every few days all me life I'd be called up looked over and refused a home and love on account of me hand and ugly face but it was all the home I'd ever known and I didn't seem to belong to any place else then a new superintendent was put in he wasn't for being like any of the others and he swore he'd weed me out the first thing he did he made a plan to send me down the state to a man he said he knew who needed a boy he wasn't for remembering to tell that man that I was a hand short and he knocked me down the minute he found out I was the boy who had been sent him between noon and that evening he and his son close my age had me in pretty much the same shape in which I was found in the beginning so I lay awake that night and ran away I'd like to have squared me account with that boy before I left but I didn't dare for fear awaken the old man and I knew I couldn't handle the two of them but I'm hoping to meet him alone some day before I die McLean tugged at his mustache to hide the smile on his lips but he liked the boy all the better for this confession I didn't even have to steal clothes to get rid of starting in me home ones freckles continued for they had already taken all McLean neat things for the boy and put me into his rags and that went almost as sore as the beatons for where I was we were always kept tidy and sweet smelling anyway I hustled clear into this state before I learned that man couldn't have kept me if he'd wanted to when I thought I was good and away from him I commenced hunting work but it is with everybody else just as it is with you sir big strong whole men are the only ones for being wanted I have been studying over this matter answered McLean I'm not so sure but that a man no older than you and similar in every way could do this work very well if he were not a coward and had it in him to be trustworthy and industrious freckles came forward a step if you will give me a job where I can earn me food clothes and a place to sleep he said if I can have a boss to work for like other men and a place I feel I've a right to I will do precisely what you tell me or die trying he spoke so convincingly that McLean believed although in his heart he knew that to employ a stranger would be wretched business for a man with the interests he had involved very well the boss found himself answering I will enter you on my payroll we'll have supper and then I will provide you with clean clothing waiting boots the wire mending apparatus and a revolver the first thing in the morning I will take you the length of the trail myself and explain fully what I want done all I ask of you is to come to me at once at the south camp and tell me as a man if you find this job too hard for you it will not surprise me it is work that few men would perform faithfully what name shall I put down freckles gays never left McLean's face and the boss saw the swift spasm of pain that swept his lonely sensitive features I haven't any name he said stubbornly no more than one somebody clapped on to me when they put me on the home books with not the thought or care they'd name a house cat I've seen how they enter those poor little abandoned devils often enough to know what they called me is no more my name than it is yours I don't know what mine is and I never will but I am going to be your man and do your work and I'll be glad to answer to any name you choose to call me won't you please be giving me a name mr. McLean the boss wheeled abruptly and began stacking his books what he was thinking was probably what any other gentleman would have thought in the circumstances with his eyes still downcast and in a voice harsh with huskiness he spoke I will tell you what we will do my lad he said my father was my ideal man and I loved him better than any other I have ever known he went out five years ago but that he would have been proud to leave you his name I firmly believe if I give to you the name of my nearest kin and the man I loved best will that do freckles rigid attitude relaxed suddenly his head dropped and big tears splashed on the soiled calico shirt McLean was not surprised at the silence for he found that talking came none too easily just then all right he said I will write it on the roll James Ross McLean thank you mightily said freckles that makes me feel almost as if I belonged already you do said McLean until someone armed with every right comes to claim you you are mine now come and take a bath have some supper and go to bed as freckles followed into the lights and sounds of the camp his heart and soul were singing for joy end of chapter one chapter two of freckles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org freckles by Gene Stratton Porter chapter two wherein freckles proves his medal and finds friends next morning found freckles in clean whole clothing fed and rested then McLean outfitted him and gave him careful instruction in the use of his weapon the boss showed him around the timber line and engaged him a place to board with the family of his head teamster Duncan whom he had brought from Scotland with him and who lived in a small clearing he was working out between the swamp and the corduroy when the gang was started for the south camp freckles was left to guard a fortune in the limberlost that he was under guard himself those first weeks he never knew each hour was torture to the boy the restricted life of a great city orphanage was the other extreme of the world compared with the limberlost he was afraid for his life every minute the heat was intense the heavy waiting boots rubbed his feet until they bled he was sore and stiff from his long tramp and outdoor exposure the seven miles of trail was agony at every step he practiced at night under the direction of Duncan until he grew sure in the use of his revolver he cut a stout hickory cudgel with a knot on the end as big as his fist this never left his hand what he thought in those first days he himself could not recall clearly afterward his heart stood still every time he saw the beautiful marshgrass begin a sinuous waving against the play of the wind as mclean had told him it would he bolted half a mile with the first boom of the bittern and his hat lifted with every yelp of the shite poke once he saw a lean shadowy form following him and fired his revolver then he was frightened worse than ever for fear it might have been Duncan's collie the first afternoon that he found his wires down and he was compelled to plunge knee deep into the black swamp muck to restring them he became so ill from fear and nervousness that he scarcely could control his shaking hand to do the work with every step he felt that he would miss secure footing and be swallowed into the clinging sea of blackness in dumb agony he plunged forward clinging to the post and trees until he had finished restringing and testing the wire he had consumed much time night closed in the limberlost stir gently then shook herself growled and awoke around him there seemed to be a great owl hooting from every hollow tree and a little one screeching from every not hole the bellowing of big bullfrogs was not sufficiently deafening to shut out the wailing of the whipper-wheels that seemed to come from every bush night hawk swept past him with their shivering cry and bats struck his face a prowling wildcat missed its catch and screamed with rage a straying fox bathed incessantly for its mate the hair on the back of freckles neck arose as bristles and his knees wavered beneath him he could not see whether the dreaded snakes were on the trail or in the pandemonium hear the rattle for which mclean had cautioned him to listen he stood motionless in an agony of fear his breath whistled beneath his teeth the perspiration ran down his face and body in little streams something big black and heavy came crashing through the swamp close to him and with a yell of utter panic freckles ran how far he did not know but at last he gained control over himself and retraced his steps his jaws set stiffly and the sweat dried on his body when he reached the place from which he had started to run he turned and with measured steps made his way down the line after a time he realized that he was only walking so he faced that sea of horrors again when he came toward the corduroy the cudgel fell to test the wire at each step sounds that curdled his blood seemed to encompass him and shapes of terror to draw closer and closer fear had so gained the mastery that he did not dare look behind him and just when he felt that he would fall dead before he ever reached the clearing came Duncan's rolling call freckles freckles a shuttering sod burst into the boy's dry throat but he only told Duncan that finding the wire down had caused the delay the next morning he started on time day after day with his heart pounding he ducked dodged ran when he could and fought when he was brought to bay if he ever had an idea of giving up no one knew it for he clung to his job without the shadow of wavering all these things in so far as he guessed them Duncan who had been set to watch the first weeks of freckles work carried to the boss at the south camp but the innermost exquisite torture of the thing the big scotchman never guessed and McLean with his finer perceptions came only a little closer after a few weeks when freckles learned that he was still living that he had a home and the very first money he ever had possessed was safe in his pockets he began to grow proud he yet sidestepped dodged and hurried to avoid being late again but he was gradually developing the fearlessness that men ever acquire of dangers to which they are hourly accustomed his heart seemed to be leaping when his first rattler disputed the trail with him but he mustered courage to attack it with his club after its head had been crushed he mastered an Irishman's inborn repugnance for snakes sufficiently to cut off its rattles to show Duncan with this victory his greatest fear of them was gone then he began to realize that with the abundance of food in the swamp flesh hunters would not come on the trail and attack him and he had his revolver for defense if they did he soon learned to laugh at the big floppy birds that made horrible noises one day watching behind a tree he saw a crane solemnly performing a few measures of a belated nuptial song and dance with his mate realizing that it was intended in tenderness no matter how it appeared the lonely starved heart of the boy sympathized with them before the first month passed he was fairly easy about his job by the next he rather liked it nature can be trusted to work her own miracle in the heart of any man whose daily task keeps him alone among her sights sounds and silences when day after day the only thing that relieved his utter loneliness was the companionship of the birds and beast of the swamp it was the most natural thing in the world that freckles should turn to them for friendship he began by instinctively protecting the week and helpless he was astonished at the quickness with which they became accustomed to him and the disregard they showed for his movements when they learned that he was not a hunter while the club he carried was used more frequently for their benefit than his own he scarcely could believe what he saw from the effort to protect the birds and animals it was only a short step to the possessive feeling and with that spring the impulse to caress and provide through fall when brooding was finished and the upland bird saw the swamp in swarms to feast on its seeds and berries freckles was content with watching them and speculating about them outside of half a dozen of the very commonest they were strangers to him the likeness of their actions to humanity was an hourly surprise when black frost began stripping the limber lost cutting the ferns sharing the vines from the trees mowing the succulent green things of the swell and setting the leaves swirling down he watched the departing troops of his friends with dismay he began to realize that he would be left alone he made special efforts toward friendliness with the hope that he could induce some of them to stay it was then that he conceived the idea of carrying food to the birds for he saw that they were leaving for lack of it but he could not stop them day after day flocks gathered and departed by the time the first snow whitened his trail around the limber lost there were left only the little black and white juncos the sap suckers yellow hammers a few patriarchs among the flamingo cardinals the blue jays the crows and the quail then freckles began his wizard work he cleared his face of swell and twice a day he spread a bird's banquet by the middle of december the strong winds of winter had beaten most of the seed from the grass and bushes the snow fell covering the swamp and food was very scarce and difficult to find the birds scarcely waited until freckles back was turned to attack his provisions in a few weeks they flew toward the clearing to meet him during the bitter weather of january they came halfway to the cabin every morning and fluttered around him as doves all the way to the feeding ground before february they were so accustomed to him and so hunger driven that they would perch on his head and shoulders and the saucy jays would try to pry into his pockets then freckles added to the weeding crumbs every scrap of refuse food he could find at the cabin he carried to his pets the pairings of apples turnips potatoes straight cabbage leaves and carrots and tied to the bushes meat bones having scraps of fat and gristle one morning coming to his feeding ground unusually early he found a gorgeous cardinal and a rabbit side by side sociably nibbling a cabbage leaf and that instantly gave to him the idea of cracking nuts from the store he had gathered from duncans children for the squirrels in the effort to add them to his family soon he had them coming red gray and black then he became filled with a vast impatience that he did not know their names or habits so the winter passed every week mclean rode to the limber lost never on the same day or at the same hour always he found freckles at his work faithful and brave no matter how severe the weather the boys earnings constituted his first money and when the boss explained to him that he could leave them safe at a bank and carry away a scrap of paper that represented the amount he went straight on every payday and made his deposit keeping out barely what was necessary for his board and clothing what he wanted to do with his money he did not know but it gave him a sense of freedom and power to fill it was there it was his and he could have it when he chose an imitation of mclean he bought a small pocket account book in which he carefully set down every dollar he earned and every penny he spent as his expenses were small and the boss paid him generously it was astonishing how his little horde grew that winter held the first hours of real happiness in freckles life he was free he was doing a man's work faithfully through every rigor of rain snow and blizzard he was gathering a wonderful strength of body paying his way and saving money every man of the gang and of that locality knew that he was under the protection of mclean who was a power this had the effect of smoothing freckles path in many directions mrs. Duncan showed him that individual kindness for which his hungry heart was longing she had a hot drink ready for him when he came from a freezing day on the trail she knit him a heavy mitten for his left hand and devised a way to sew and pad the right sleeve that protected the maimed arm in bitter weather she patched his clothing frequently torn by the wire and saved kitchen scraps for his birds not because she either knew or cared anything about them but because she herself was close enough to the swamp to be touched by its utter loneliness when Duncan laughed at her for this she retorted my god many if freckles had other birds in the beast he would be always alone it was never meant for a human being to be so solitary he'd get touched in the head if he had not them to think for and to talk to how much answer do you think he gets to his talk in last laugh Duncan he gets the answer that keeps the eye bright the heart happy and the feet walking faithful through the rough path he set them in answered mrs. Duncan earnestly Duncan walked away appearing very thoughtful the next morning he gave an ear from the corn he was shelling for his chickens to freckles and told him to carry it to his wild chickens in the limber lost freckles laugh delightedly me chickens he said why didn't I ever think of that before of course they are they are just little brightly colored cocks and hens but wild is no good what would you say to me wild chickens being a good deal tamer than yours here in your yard who to lad cried Duncan make yours light on your head and eat out of your hands and pockets challenged freckles go and tell your fairy tales to the wee people they're just brash on believing things said Duncan you cannot invent any story too big to stop them from calling for a bigger I dare you to come see retorted freckles take ye said Duncan if you make just and bird light on your head or eat for your hand you are free to help yourself to my corn crib and wheat bin the rest of the winter freckles spraying and air and howling glee oh Duncan you're too easy he cried when will you come I'll come next Sabbath said Duncan and I'll believe the birds of the limber lost or tame as barnyard foul when I see it and no sooner after that freckles always spoke of the birds as his chickens and the Duncan's followed his example the very next Sabbath Duncan with his wife and children followed freckles to the swamp they saw a sight so wonderful it would keep them talking all the remainder of their lives and make them unfailing friends of all the birds freckles chickens were awaiting him at the edge of the clearing they cut the frosty air around his head into curves and circles of crimson blue and black they chased each other from freckles and swept so closely themselves that they brushed him with their outspread wings at their feeding ground freckles set down his old pail of scraps and swept the snow from a small level space with a broom improvised of twigs as soon as his back was turned the birds clustered over the food snatching scraps to carry to the nearest bushes several of the boldest a big crow and a couple of J's settled on the rim and feasted at leisure while a cardinal that hesitated to venture fumed and scolded from a twig overhead then freckles scattered his store at once the ground resembled the spread mantle of montezuma except that his massive gaily colored feathers was on the banks of living birds while they feasted Duncan gripped his wife's arm and stared in astonishment for from the bushes and dry grass with gentle chipping and queer throaty chatter as if to encourage each other came flocks of quail before anyone saw it arrive a big gray rabbit sat in the midst of the feast contentedly gnawing a cabbage leaf well I'd be drawn on came Mrs. Duncan's tense whisper shh shh caution Duncan lastly freckles removed his cap he began filling it with handfuls of wheat from his pockets in a swarm the grain eaters arose around him as a flock of tame pigeons they perched on his arms and the cap and in the stress of hunger forgetting all caution a brilliant cock cardinal and an equally gaudy J fought for a perching place on his head well I'm beat mother Duncan forgetting the silence imposed on his wife I'll have to give in see in his believing a man would have had to see that to believe it we want to let the boss miss that sight for it's a chance will not likely come twice in a life everything is snowed under and that creatures near starved but trust in freckles that complete they are tamer than our chickens look hard bairns he whispered you will not see the like a yawn again while God let she live notice their color against the ice and snow and the pretty skipping ways of them and spunky well I'm hit fair freckles emptied his cap turned his pockets and scattered his last grain then he waved his watching friends goodbye and started down the timber line a week later Duncan and freckles arose from breakfast to face the bitterest morning of the winter when freckles warmly captain gloved stepped into the corner of the kitchen for his scrap pail he found a big pan of steaming boiled wheat on the top of it he will to miss his Duncan with a shining face were you fixing this warm food for me chickens or yours he asked it's for yours freckles she said hey was a fear this cold weather they would not lay good without a worm bite now and then Duncan laughed as he stepped to the other room for his pipe but freckles faced missus Duncan with a trace of every paying of starved mother hunger he ever had suffered written largely on his homely splotched narrowed features oh how I wish you were my mother he cried missus Duncan attempted an echo of her husband's laugh lord love the lad she exclaimed wife freckles are you not bright enough to learn without being taught by a woman that I am your mother if a great man like yourself did not can that learn it now and never forget it and so woman is the wife of any man she becomes wife to all men for having had the wifely experience she kins and some man child has beaten his way to life under the heart of a woman she is mirth to all men for the hearts of millers are everywhere the same bless you laddie I am your mother she took the coarse scarf she had knit for him closer over his chest and pulled his cap lower over his ears but freckles whipping it off and holding it under his arm caught her rough reddened hand and pressed it to his lips in a long kiss then he hurried away to hide the happy embarrassing tears that were coming straight from his swelling heart missus Duncan sobbing unrestrainedly swept into the adjoining room and threw herself into Duncan's arms oh the pure lad she wailed oh the pure midder hungry lad he breaks my heart Duncan's arms closed convulsively around his wife with a big brown hand he lovingly stroked her rough sorrel hair Sarah you're a good woman he said you're a mighty good woman you have a way of speaking out at times that's like the inspired prophets of the Lord if that had been put to me now I'd have felt all I can't how to and been keen enough to say the right thing but dang it I'd have stuttered and stammered and got nothing out that would have done anybody a mighty good but she's Sarah did you see his face woman you sent him off looking like a white light of holiness at past door and settled on him you sent the latter way too happy for mortal words Sarah and you made me that proud of you I would not trade ye and my share of the limber lost with any king you could mention he relaxed his clasp and setting a heavy hand on each shoulder he looked straight into her eyes you're praying Sarah just praying he said Sarah Duncan stood alone in the middle of her two-roomed log cabin and lifted a bony claw-like pair of hands reddened by frequent immersion in hot water cracked and chafed by exposure to cold blacklined by constant battle with swamp loam calloused with burns and stared at them wonderingly pretty looking things you are she whispered but she had just been kissed and by such a man fine as God ever made at his very best Duncan would not trade with a king nah nor I would not trade with a king with a palace and velvet gowns and diamonds big as hazelnuts and a hundred visitors a day into the bargain you've been that honored I'm blessed if I can bear to souse you in dishwater still that kiss will not come off nothing can take it from me for its mind till I die lord if I am not proud kisses on these old claws will I be drawn on end of chapter two chapter three of freckles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org freckles by Gene Stratton Porter chapter three wherein a feather falls and a soul is born so freckles fared through the bitter winter he was very happy he had hungered for freedom love and appreciation so long he had been unspeakably lonely at the home and the utter loneliness of a great desert or forest is not so difficult to endure as the loneliness of being constantly surrounded by crowds of people who do not care in the least whether one is living or dead all through the winter freckles entire energy was given to keeping up his lines and his chickens from freezing or starving when the first breath of spring touched the limberlost and the snow receded before it when the catkins began to bloom when there came a hint of green to the trees bushes and swale when the rushes lifted their heads and the pulse of the newly resurrected season beats strongly in the heart of nature something new stirred in the breast of the boy nature always levies her tribute now she laid a powerful hand on the soul of freckles to which the boy's whole being responded though he had not the least idea of what was troubling him Duncan accepted his wife's theory that it was a touch of spring fever but freckles knew better he never had been so well clean hot and steady the blood pulsed in his veins he was always hungry and his most difficult work tired he not at all for long months without a single intermission he had trapped those seven miles of trail twice each day through every conceivable state of weather with the heavy club he gave his wires a sure test and between sections first in play afterwards to keep the circulation going he had acquired the skill of an expert drum major in his work there was exercise for every muscle of his body each hour of the day at night a bath wholesome food and sound sleep in a room that never knew fire he had gained flesh and color and developed a greater strength and endurance than anyone ever could have guessed nor did the limberloss contain last year's terrors he had been with her in her hour of desolation when stripped bare and deserted she had stood shivering as if herself afraid he had made excursions into the interior until he was familiar with every path and road that ever had been cut he had sounded the depths of her deepest pools and had learned why the trees grew so magnificently he had found that places of swamp and swale were few compared with miles of solid timberland concealed by summer's luxuriant undergrowth the sounds that at first had struck cold fear into his soul he now knew had left on wing and silent foot at the approach of winter as flock after flock of the birds returned and he recognized the old echoes reawakening he found to his surprise that he had been lonely for them and was hailing their return with great joy all his fears were forgotten instead he was possessed of an overpowering desire to know what they were to learn where they had been and whether they would make friends with him as the winterbirds had done and if they did would they be as fickle for with the running sap creeping worm and winging bug most of freckles chickens had deserted him entered the swamp and feasted to such a state of plethora on its store that they cared little for his supply so that in the strenuous days of mating and nest building the boy was deserted he chafed at the birds in gratitude but he found speedy consolation in watching and befriending the newcomers he surely would have been proud and highly pleased if he had known that many of the former inhabitants of the interior swamp now grouped their nests beside the timber line solely for the sake of his protection and company the yearly resurrection of the lemberlost is a mighty revival freckles stood back and watched with awe and envy the gradual reclothing and repopulation of the swamp keen-eyed and alert through danger and loneliness he noted every stage of development from the first piping frog and unsheathing bud to full leafage and the return of the last migrant the knowledge of his complete loneliness and utter insignificance was hourly thrust upon him he brooded and fretted until he was in a fever yet he never guessed the cause he was filled with a vast impatience a longing that he scarcely could endure it was June by the zodiac June by the lemberlost and by every delight of a newly resurrected season it should have been June in the hearts of all men yet freckles scowled darkly as he came down the trail and the running tap tap that tested the sagging wire and telegraphed word of his coming to his furred and feathered friends of the swamp this morning carried the story of his discontent a mile ahead of him freckles special pet a dainty yellow-coated black sleeved cock goldfinch had remained on the wire for several days past the bravest of all and freckles absorbed in the cunning and beauty of the tiny fellow never guessed that he was being duped for the goldfinch was skipping flirting and swinging for the express purpose of so holding his attention that he would not look up and see a small cradle of thistle down and wool perilously near his head in the beginning of brooding the spunky little homesteader had clung heroically to the wire when he was almost paralyzed with fright when day after day passed and brought only softly whistled repetitions of his call a handful of crumbs on the top of a locust line post and gently worded coaxings he grew in confidence of late he had sung and swung during the passing of freckles who not dreaming of the nest and the solemn-eyed little hymns so close above thought himself unusually gifted in his power to attract the birds this morning the goldfinch could scarcely believe his ears and clung to the wire until an unusually vicious wrap sent him spinning a foot in the air and his came with a squall of utter panic the wires were ringing with a story the birds could not translate and freckles was quite as ignorant of the trouble as they a peculiar movement beneath a small walnut tree caught his attention he stopped to investigate there was an unusually large luna cocoon and the moth was bursting the upper end in its struggles to reach light and air freckles stood and stared there's something in there trying to get out he muttered wonder if I could help it guess I best not be trying if I hadn't happened along there wouldn't have been anyone to do anything and maybe I'd only be hurting it it it's oh scaginy it's just being born freckles gasped with surprise the moth cleared the opening and with many wabblings and contortions climbed up the tree he stared speechless with amazement as the moth crept around a limb and clung to the underside there was a big percy body almost as large as his thumb and of the very snowiest white that freckles had ever seen there was a band of delicate lavender across its forehead and its feet were of the same color there were antlers like tiny straw colored ferns on its head and from its shoulders hung the crumpled wet wings as freckles gazed tense with astonishment he saw that these were expanding drooping taking on color and small oval markings were beginning to show the minutes past freckles steady gaze never wavered without realizing it he was trembling with eagerness and anxiety as he saw what was taking place it's gotta fly he breathed in hushed wonder the morning sun fell on the moth and dried its velvet down while the warm air made it fluffy the rapidly growing wings began to show the most delicate green with lavender fore ribs transparent eye-shaped markings edged with lines of red tan and black and long crisp trailers freckles was whispering to himself for fear of disturbing the moth it began a systematic exercise of raising and lowering its exquisite wings to dry them and to establish circulation the boy realized that soon it would be able to spread them and sail away his long coming soul sent up its first shivering cry i don't know what it is oh i wish i knew how i wish i knew it must be something grand it can't be a butterfly it's a way too big oh i wish there was someone to tell me what it is he climbed on the locust post and balancing himself with the wire held a finger in the line of the moth's advance up the twig it unhesitatingly climbed on so he stepped to the path holding it to the light and examining it closely then he held it in the shade and turned it gloating over its markings and beautiful coloring when he held them off to the limb it climbed on still waving those magnificent wings my but i'd like to be staying with you he said but if i was to stand here all day you couldn't grow any prettier than you are right now and i wouldn't grow smart enough to tell what you are i suppose there's someone who knows of course there is mr mclean said there were people who knew every leaf bird and flower in the limberlost oh lord i wish you'd be telling me just this one thing the goldfinch had ventured back to the wire for there was his mate only a few inches above the man creature's head and indeed he simply must not be allowed to look up so the brave little fellow rocked on the wire and piped as he had done every day for a week see me see me see you of course i see you growled freckles i see you day after day and what good is it doing me i might see you every morning for a year and then not be able to be telling anyone about it seen a bird with black silk wings little and yellow as any canary that's as far as i'd get what are you doing here anyway have you a mate what's your name see you i reckon i see you but i might as well be blind for any good that it's doing me freckles impatiently struck the wire with a screech of fear the goldfinch fled precipitately his mate arose from the nest with a horror freckles looked up and saw it a whole he cried so that's what you're doing here you have a wife and so close my head i've been mighty near wearing a bird on my bonnet and never knew it freckles laughed at his own jest while in better humor he climbed to examine the neat tiny cradle and its contents the hen darted at him in a frenzy now where do you come in he demanded when he saw she was not similar to the goldfinch you'd be clearing out of here this is none of your fry this is the nest of me little yellow friend of the wire and you shan't be touching it don't blame you for wanting to see though my it's a fine nest and beauties of eggs will you be keeping away or will i fire the stick at you freckles dropped to the trail the hen darted to the nest settled on it with a tender cuddling movement he of the yellow coat flew to the edge to make sure that everything was right it would have been playing to the various novice that they were partners in that cradle well i'll be switched modern freckles if that ain't both their nest and he's yellow and she's green or she's yellow and he's green of course i don't know and i haven't any way to find out but it's as plain as the nose on your face that they're both ready to be fighting for that nest so of course they belong doesn't that beat you say that's what's been sticking me all this week on that grass nest in the thorn tree down the line one day a blue bird is setting so i think it's hers the next day a brown bird is on and i chase it off because the nest is blues next day the brown bird is on again and i let her be because i think it must be hers next day be golly blues on and off i sent her because it's browns and now i bet my hat it's both their nest and i've only been bothering them and making a big fool of me self pretty specimen i am pretending to be a friend of the birds and so blamed ignorant i don't know which ones go in pairs and blue and brown or a pair of course if yellow and green are and there's the red birds i never thought of them he's red and she's gray and now i want to be known are they all different why no of course they ain't there's the jays all blue and the crows all black the tide of freckles discontent welled until he almost choked with anger and chagrin he plotted down the trail scowling blackly and viciously spanging the wire at the finch's nest he left the line and peered into the thorn tree there was no bird brooding he pressed closer to take a peep at the snowy spotless little eggs he had found so beautiful when at the slight noise upraised four tiny baby heads with wide open mouths uttering hunger cries freckles stepped back the brown bird alighted on the edge and closed one cavity with a wiggling green worm while not two minutes later the blue fell another with a white that settled it the blue and the brown worm mates once again freckles repeated his how i wish i knew around the bridge spanning sleepy snake creek the swales spread widely the timber was scattering and willows rushes marsh grass and splendid wild flowers grew abundantly here lazy big black water snakes for which the creek was named sunned on the bushes wild ducks and grebe chatterd cranes and herons fished and muskrats plowed the bank in queer rolling furrows it was always a place full of interest so freckles loved to linger on the bridge watching the marsh and water people he also transacted affairs of importance with the wild flowers and sweet marsh grass he enjoyed splashing through the shallow pools on either side of the bridge then to where the creek entered the swamp was a place of unusual beauty the water spread in dark some mossy green pools water plants and lilies grew luxuriously throwing up large rank green leaves nowhere else and the limber loss could be found frog music to equal that of the mouth of the creek the drumming and piping rolled in never-ending orchestral effect while the full chorus rang to its accompaniment throughout the season freckles slowly followed the path leading from the bridge to the line this was the one spot at which he might relax his vigilance the boldest timber thief the swamp had ever known would not have attempted to enter it by the mouth of the creek on account of the water and because there was no protection from surrounding trees he was bending the rank grass with his cudgel and thinking of the shape the denser swamp afforded when he suddenly dodged sidewise the cudgel whistled sharply through the air and freckles spring back from the clear sky above him first level with his face then skimming dipping tilting whirling until it struck quill down in the path in front of him came a glossy iridescent big black feather as it touched the ground freckles snatched it up with almost a continuous movement facing the sky there was not a tree of any size in a large open space there was no wind to carry it from the clear sky it had fallen and freckles gazing eagerly into the arch of june blue with a few lazy clouds floating high in the sea of ether had neither mind nor knowledge to dream of a bird hanging as if frozen there he turned the big quill questioningly and again his odd eyes swept the sky a feather dropped from heaven he breathed reverently are the holy angels molting but no if they were it would be white maybe all the angels are not for being white what if the angels of god or white and those of the devil are black but a black one has no business up there maybe some poor black angel is so tired of being punished it's for slipping to the gates beating its wings trying to make the master here again and again freckles searched the sky but there was no answering gleam of golden gates no form of sailing bird then he went slowly on his way turning the feather and wondering about it it was a wing quill eighteen inches in length with a heavy spine gray at the base shading the jet black at the tip and it caught the play of the sun's rays and slanting gleams of green and bronze again freckles old man of the sea sat sullen and heavy on his shoulders and waited him down until a step lagged and his heart ached where did it come from what is it oh how i wish i knew he kept repeating as he turned and studied the feather with almost unseeing eyes so intently was he thinking before him spread a large green pool filled with rotting logs and leaves bordered with delicate ferns and grasses among which lifted the creamy spikes of the arrowhead the blue of water hyacinth and the delicate yellow of the jewel flower as freckles leaned handling the feather and staring at it then into the depths of the pool he once more gave voice to his old query i wonder what it is straight across from him couched in the mosses of a soggy old log a big green bullfrog with palpitant throat and batting eyes lifted his head and bellowed in answer find out find out what's that stammered freckles almost too much bewildered to speak i know you're only a bullfrog but the jabbers that sounded mildly like speech wouldn't you please be saying it over the bullfrog cuddled contentedly in the ooze then suddenly he lifted his voice and as an imperative drum beat rolled it again find out find out find out freckles had the answer something seemed to snap in his brain there was a wavering flame before his eyes then his mind cleared his head lifted in a new poise his shoulders squared while his spine straightened the agony was over his soul floated free freckles came into his birthright before god i will he uttered the oath so impressively that the recording angel never winced as he posted it in the prayer column freckles set his hat over the top of one of the locus posts used between trees to hold up the wire while he fastened the feather securely in the band then he started down the line talking to himself as men who have worked long alone always fall into the habit of doing what a fool i've been he muttered of course that's what i have to do there wouldn't likely anybody be doing it for me of course i can what am i a man for if i was a four-footed thing of a swamp maybe i couldn't but a man can do anything if he's the grit to work hard enough and stick at it mr mclean is always saying and here's the way i am to do it he said too that there were people that knew everything in the swamp of course they've written books the thing for me to be doing is quit moping and be buying some never bought a book in me life or anything else of much account for that matter oh ain't i glad i didn't waste me money i'll surely be having enough to get a few let me see freckles sat on a log took his pencil and account book and figured on a back page he had walked the timberline ten months his pay was thirty dollars a month his board cost him eight that left twenty two dollars a month and his clothing it cost him very little at the least he had two hundred dollars in the bank he drew a deep breath and smiled at the sky with satisfaction i'll be having a book about all the birds trees flowers butterflies and yes by gummy i'll be having one about the frogs if it takes every cent i have he promised himself he put away the account book that was his most cherished possession caught up his stick and started down the line the even tap tap and the cheery gladsome whistle carried far ahead of him the message that freckles was himself again he fell into a rapid pace for he had lost time that morning when he rounded the last curve he was almost running there was a chance that the boss might be there for his weekly report then wavering flickering darting here and there over the sweet marsh grass came a large black shadow sweeping so closely before him that for the second time that morning freckles dodged and sprang back he had seen some owls and hawks of the swamp that he thought might be classed as large birds but never anything like this for six feet it spread its big shining wings its strong feet could be seen drawn among its feathers the sun glinted on its sharp hooked beak its eyes glowed caught the light and seemed able to pierce the ground at his feet it cared no more for freckles than if he had not been there for it perched on a low tree while a second later it awkwardly hopped to the trunk of a lightning-riven elm turned its back and began searching the blue freckles looked just in time to see a second shadow sweep the grass and another bird a trifle smaller and not quite so brilliant in the light slowly sailed down to perch beside the first evidently they were mates for with a queer rolling hop the first-comer shivered his bronze wings sidled up to the new arrival and gave her a silly little peck on her wing then he coquettishly drew away and ogled her he lifted his head waddled from her a few steps awkwardly ambled back and gave her such a simple sort of kiss on her beak that freckles burst into a laugh but clapped his hand over his mouth to stifle the sound the lover ducked and sidestepped a few feet he spread his wings and slowly and softly waved them precisely as if he were fanning his charmer which was indeed the result he accomplished then a wave of uncontrollable tenderness moved him so he hobbled to his bombardment once more he faced her squarely this time and turned his head from side to side with queer little jerks and indiscriminate peckings at her wings and head and smirkings that really should have been irresistible she yawned and shuffled away indifferently freckles reached up pulled the quill from his hat and looking from it to the birds nodded in settled conviction so you're me black angels you spalpenes no wonder you didn't get in but i'll back you to come in closer than any other birds ever did you fly higher than i can see have you picked the limberloss for a good thing and come to try it well you can be me chickens if you want to but i'm blessed if you ain't cool for new ones why don't you take this stick for a gun and go skin in a mile freckles broke into an unrestrained laugh for the bird lover was keen about his courting while evidently his mate was diffident when he approached to boisterously she relieved him of a goodly tough to feathers and sent him backward in a series of squirmy little jumps that gave the boy an idea of what had happened up sky to send the falling feather across his pathway score one for the lady i'll be umpiring this volunteered freckles with a ravishing swagger half lifted wings and deep guttural hissing the lover approached again he suddenly lifted his body but she coolly rocked forward on the limb glided gracefully beneath him and slowly sailed into the limberlost he recovered himself and gazed after her in astonishment freckles hurried down the trail shaking with laughter when he neared the path to the clearing and saw the boss sitting motionless on the mare that was the pride of his heart the boy broke into a run oh mr mclean he cried i hope i haven't kept you waiting very long and the sun is getting hot i've been so slow this morning i could have gone faster only there were that many things to keep me and i didn't know you'd be here i'll hurry after this i've never had to be given excuses before the line wasn't down and there wasn't a sign of trouble it was other things that were making me late mclean smiling on the boy immediately noticed the difference in him this flushed panting talkative lad was not the same creature who had sought him in despair and bitterness he watched in wonder as freckles mocked the perspiration from his forehead and began to laugh then forgetting all his customary reserve with the boss the pent-up boyishness in the lad broke forth with an eloquence of which he never dreamed he told his story he talked with such enthusiasm that mclean never took his eyes from his face or shifted in the saddle until he described the strange bird lover and then the boss suddenly bent over the pommel and laughed with the boy freckles decorated his story with keen appreciation and rare touches of irish wit and drollery that made it most interesting as well as very funny it was a first attempt at descriptive narration with an inborn gift for striking the vital point a naturalist's dawning enthusiasm for the wonders of the lemberlost and the welling joy of his newly found happiness he made mclean see the struggles of the moth and its freshly painted wings the dainty brilliant bird mates of different colors the feathers sliding through the clear air the palpitant throat and batting eyes of the frog while his version of the big bird's courtship won for the boss the best laugh he had enjoyed for years they're in the middle of a swamp now said freckles do you suppose there's any chance of them staying with me chickens if they do they'll be about the queers to have but i tell you sir i'm finding some plumb good ones there's a new kind over at the mouth of the creek that uses its wings like feet and walks on all fours it travels like a threshing machine there's another tall as me waist with a bill of foot long a neck near two not the thickness of me wrist and an elegant color he's some blue and gray touched up with black white and brown the voice of him is such that if he'd be going up and standing beside a tree and crying at it a few times he could be sawing it off square i don't know but it would be a good idea to try him on the gang sir mclean laughed those must be blue herons freckles he said and it doesn't seem possible but your description of the big black bird sounds like genuine black vultures they're common enough in the south i've seen them numerous around the lumber camps of georgia but i never before heard of any this far north they must be strays you've described perfectly our nearest equivalent to a branch of these birds called in europe pharaoh's chickens but if they're coming to the limberloss they'll have to drop pharaoh and become freckles chickens like the remainder of the birds won't they or are they too odd and ugly to interest you oh no not at all at all cried freckles bursting into pure brogue in his haste i don't know as i'd be calling them exactly pretty and they do move like a rocking horse loping but they're so big and fearless they have a fine color for black birds and their feet and beak seem so strong you never saw anything so keen as their eyes and fly why just think sir they must be flying miles straight up for they were out of sight completely when the feather fell i don't suppose i have a chicken in the swamp that can go as close heaven as those big black fellas and then freckles voice dragged and he hesitated then what interestingly urged mcclain he was loving or so answered freckles in a hushed voice i know it looked awful funny and i laughed and told on him but if i'd taken time to think i don't believe i'd have done it you see i've seen such a little bit of love it in me life you easily can be understanding that at the home it was every day the old story of neglect and desertion always people that didn't even care enough for their children to keep them so you see sir i had to like him for trying so hard to make her know how he loved her of course there are only birds but if they're caring for each other like that why it's just the same as people ain't it freckles lifted his brave steady eyes to the boss if anybody loved me like that mr mcclain i wouldn't be spending any time on how they looked or moved all i'd be thinking of would be how they felt toward me if they will stay i'll be caring as much for them as any chickens i have if i did laugh at them i thought he was just fine the face of mcclain was a study but the honest eyes of the boy were so compelling that he found himself answering you are right freckles he's a gentleman isn't he and the only real chicken you have of course he'll remain the limberlost will be paradise for his family and now freckles what has been the trouble all spring you've done your work as faithfully as anyone could ask but i can't help seeing that there's something wrong are you tired of your job i love it answered freckles it'll almost break me heart when the game comes and begins tearing up the swamp and scaring away my chickens then what is the trouble insisted mcclain i think sir it's been books answered freckles you see i didn't realize it myself until the bullfrog told me this morning i hadn't ever even heard about a place like this anyway i wasn't understanding how it would be if i had being among these beautiful things every day i got so anxious like to be knowing and naming them that it got to be eaten into me and went and made me near sick when i was well as i could be of course i learned to read write and figure some in school but there was nothing there or in any of the city i ever got to see that would make a fella even be dreaming of such interesting things as there are here i've seen the parks but good lord they ain't even beginning to be in it with the limberlost it's all new and strange to me i don't know a thing about any of it the bullfrog told me to find out plain as day and books are the only way anything of course said mcclain astonished at himself for his heartfelt relief he had not guessed until that moment what it would have meant to him to have freckles give up you know enough to study out what you want yourself if you have the books don't you i'm pretty sure i do said freckles i learned all i'd the chance at in the home and me schooling was good as far as it went wouldn't let you go past 14 you know i always did me sums perfect and loved me history books i had them almost by heart i never could get me grammar to suit them they said it was just born in me to go wrong talking and if it hadn't been i suppose i would have picked it up from the other children but i'd the best voice of any of them in the home or at school i could knock them all out singing i was always leader in the home and once one of the superintendents gave me car fare and let me go into the city and sing in a boys' choir the master said i'd the sweetest voice of them all until it got rough like then he made me quit for a while but he said it'd be coming back by now and i'm rarely thinking it is sir for i've tried it on the line a bit of light and it seems to be going smooth again and a lot stronger that and me chickens have been all the company i've been having and it'll be all i'll want if i can have some books and learn the real names of things where they come from and why they do such interesting things it's been fretting me more than i knew to be shut up here among all these wonders and not knowing a thing i want to ask you what some books would cost me and if you'd be having the goodness to get me the right ones i think i have enough money freckles offered his account book and the boss studied it gravely you needn't touch your account freckles he said ten dollars from this month's pay will provide you everything you need to start on i will write a friend in grand rapids today to select you the very best and send them at once freckles eyes were shining never owned a book in me life he said even me school books were never mine lord i used to wish i could have just one of them for me very own won't it be fun to see me saw bird and me little yellow fella looking at me from the pages of a book and their real names and all about them printed alongside how long will it be taken sir ten days should do it nicely said mcclain then seeing freckles lengthening face he added i'll have duncan bring you a tin bushel store box the next time he goes to town he can haul it to the west entrance and set it up wherever you want it you can put in your spare time filling it with the specimens you find until the books come then you can study out what you have i suspect you can collect specimens that i could send to naturalists in the city and sell for you things like that wing creature this morning i don't know much in that line but it must have been a moth and it might have been rare i've seen him by the thousand in museums and in all nature i don't remember rarer coloring than their wings i'll order you a butterfly net in box and show you how scientists pin specimens possibly you can make a fine collection of these swap beauties it'll be all right for you to take a pair of different moths and butterflies but i don't want to hear of your killing any birds they're protected by heavy fines mcclain wrote away leaving freckles staring aghast then he saw the point and smiled standing on the trail he twirled the feather and thought over the morning well if life ain't getting to be worth living he said wonderingly biggest streak of luck i ever had about time something was coming my way but i wouldn't ever thought anybody could strike such magnificent prospects through only a falling feather end of chapter three wherein a feather falls and a soul is born