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AUTHOR OF "MASTERS OF THE WHEAT-LANDS," "WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE," "LORIMER OF THE NORTHWEST," "ALTON OF SOMASCO," "THURSTON OF ORCHARD VALLEY," ETC.
NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND UNDER THE TITLE "ALISON'S ADVENTURE"
CHAPTER PAGE I. A COLD WELCOME 3 II. MAVERICK THORNE 17 III. THE CAMP IN THE BLUFF 32 IV. THE FARQUHAR HOMESTEAD 47 V. THORNE GIVES ADVICE 59 VI. THORNE CONTEMPLATES A CHANGE 72 VII. A USEFUL FRIEND 86 VIII. A FIT OF TEMPER 99 IX. THE RAISING 110 X. THORNE RESENTS REPROOF 123 XI. AN ESCAPADE 135 XII. HUNTER MAKES AN ENEMY 145 XIII. NEVIS PICKS UP A CLUE 157 XIV. WINTHROP'S LETTER 167 XV. ON THE TRAIL 179 XVI. CORPORAL SLANEY'S DEFEAT 189 XVII. A COMPROMISE 199 XVIII. NEVIS'S VISITOR 209 XIX. THE MORTGAGE DEED 219 XX. HAIL 231 XXI. A POINT OF HONOR 242 XXII. ALISON SPOILS HER GLOVES 254 XXIII. AN UNEXPECTED DISASTER 265 XXIV. LUCY GOES TO THE RESCUE 275 XXV. THE ONLY MEANS 287 XXVI. OPEN CONFESSION 300 XXVII. A HELPING HAND 312 XXVIII. THE RECKONING 324 XXIX. THE NEW OUTLOOK 337
It was falling dusk and the long emigrant train was clattering, close-packed with its load of somewhat frowsy humanity, through the last of the pine forest which rolls westward north of the Great Lakes toward the wide, bare levels of Manitoba, when Alison Leigh stood on the platform of a lurching car. A bitter wind eddied about her, for it was early in the Canadian spring, and there were still shattered fangs of ice in the slacker pools of the rivers. Now and then a shower of cinders that rattled upon the roof whirled down about her and the jolting brass rail to which she clung was unpleasantly greasy, but the air was, at least, gloriously fresh out there and she shrank from the vitiated atmosphere of the stove-heated car. She had learned during the past few years that it is not wise for a young woman who must earn her living to be fastidious, but one has to face a good many unpleasantnesses when traveling Colonist in a crowded train.