Produced by Al Haines [Frontispiece: "Cautiously Cynthia stepped close and looked in . . . Sandy was painting at his easel"] A SON OF THE HILLS BY HARRIET T. COMSTOCK AUTHOR OF JOYCE OF THE NORTH WOODS, JANET OF THE DUNES, ETC. GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK Copyright, 1913, by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_ A Son of the Hills CHAPTER I Lost Hollow lies close at the foot of the mountain which gives it its name. The height of neither is great, geographically considered; the peak is perhaps eighteen hundred feet above sea level: The Hollow, a thousand, and from that down to The Forge there is a gradual descent by several trails and one road, a very deplorable one, known as The Appointed Way, but abbreviated into--The Way. There are a few wretched cabins in Lost Hollow, detached and dreary; between The Hollow and The Forge are some farms showing more or less cultivation, and there is the Walden Place, known before the war--they still speak of that event among the southern hills as if Sheridan had ridden through in the morning and might be expected back at night--as the Great House. Among the crevasses of the mountains there are Blind Tigers, or Speak Easies--as the stills are called--and, although there is little trading done with the whiskey outside the country side, there is much mischief achieved among the natives who have no pleasure of relaxation except such as is evolved from the delirium brought about by intoxication. The time of this story is not to-day nor is it very many yesterdays ago; it was just before young Sandy Morley had his final "call" and obeyed it; just after the Cup-of-Cold-Water Lady came to Trouble Neck--three miles from The Hollow--and while she was still distrusted and feared. Away back in the days of the Revolution the people of the hills were of the best. All of them who could serve their country then, did it nobly and well. Some of them signed the Declaration of Independence and then returned to their homes with the dignity and courage of men in whose veins flowed aristocratic blood as well as that of adventurous freemen. There they waited for the recognition they expected and deserved. But the new-born republic was too busy and breathless to seek them out or pause to listen to their voices, which were softer, less insistent than others nearer by. In those far past times the Morleys and the Hertfords were equals and the Walden Place deserved its name of the Great House. The Appointed Way was the Big Road, and was kept in good order by well-fed and contented slaves who had not then dreamed of freedom.