Cardigan Read online

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  Transcriber's Note:

  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=.

  CARDIGAN

  See p. 40 CARDIGAN AND SILVER HEELS]

  _Cardigan_

  _By_ ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  Author of "The Maid-at-Arms," "The Tree of Heaven," "Fighting Chance," etc.

  Illustrated

  A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

  Published by arrangement with Harper & Brothers

  BOOKS BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  LORRAINE. Post 8vo $1.25

  THE CONSPIRATORS. Ill'd. Post 8vo 1.50

  A YOUNG MAN IN A HURRY. Ill'd. Post 8vo 1.50

  CARDIGAN. Illustrated. Post 8vo 1.50

  THE MAID-AT-ARMS. Illustrated. Post 8vo 1.50

  THE KING IN YELLOW. Post 8vo 1.50

  THE MAIDS OF PARADISE. Ill'd. Post 8vo 1.50

  IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN. Ill'd. Post 8vo 1.50

  OUTDOORLAND. Ill'd in Colors. Sq. 8vo, net 1.50

  ORCHARDLAND. Ill'd in Colors. Sq. 8vo, net 1.50

  RIVERLAND. Ill'd in Colors. Sq. 8vo, net 1.50

  THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE. 16mo 1.25

  HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, N. Y.

  Copyright, 1901, by ROBERT W. CHAMBERS. _All rights reserved._

  TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER

  INTRODUCTION

  This is the Land of the Pioneer, Where a life-long feud was healed; Where the League of the Men whose Coats were Red With the Men of the Woods whose Skins were Red Was riveted, forged, and sealed. Now, by the souls of our Silent Dead, God save our sons from the League of Red!

  Plough up the Land of Battle Here in our hazy hills; Plough! to the lowing of cattle; Plough! to the clatter of mills; Follow the turning furrows' Gold, where the deep loam breaks, While the hand of the harrow burrows, Clutching the clod that cakes; North and south on the harrow's line, Under the bronzed pines' boughs, The silvery flint-tipped arrows shine In the wake of a thousand ploughs!

  Plough us the Land of the Pioneer, Where the buckskinned rangers bled; Where the Redcoats reeled from a reeking field, And a thousand Red Men fled; Plough us the land of the wolf and deer, The land of the men who laughed at fear, The land of our Martyred Dead!

  Here where the ghost-flower, blowing, Grows from the bones below, Patters the hare, unknowing, Passes the cawing crow: Shadows of hawk and swallow, Shadows of wind-stirred wood, Dapple each hill and hollow, Here where our dead men stood: Wild bees hum through the forest vines Where the bullets of England hummed, And the partridge drums in the ringing pines Where the drummers of England drummed.

  This is the Land of the Pioneer, Where a life-long feud was healed; Where the League of the Men whose Coats were Red With the Men of the Woods whose Skins were Red Was riveted, forged, and sealed. Now, by the blood of our Splendid Dead, God save our sons from the League of Red!

  R. W. C. BROADALBIN.