PICKETT’S GAP [Illustration: The TMT Co.] [Illustration: “‘I have been to blame.’”] PICKETT’S GAP BY HOMER GREENE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1904 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up, electrotyped, and published October, 1902. Reprinted March, 1904. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. _The illustrations in this book are reproduced from the original drawings by the kind permission of_ THE YOUTH’S COMPANION. ILLUSTRATIONS “‘I have been to blame.’” _Frontispiece_ Facing Page “‘This land is my gran’father’s, an’ I’ll stand where I please on it.’” 30 “‘No better deed could be done by any one than to pull their accursed stakes from the ground, and fling ’em, one and all, into the water of the brook.’” 42 “‘Good-by, my boy!’” 66 Signing the Contract. 82 “Abner Pickett sat upon the wall holding his gun in readiness for action.” 102 “‘What shall I do, Aunt Martha?’” 114 “‘Tell the truth, you fool!’” 132 “He held the door wide open while the old man and his grandson passed out into the corridor.” 164 PICKETT’S GAP CHAPTER I Abner Pickett stood in the dusty roadway, rake in hand, watching a load of late August clover, that day harvested, move slowly toward the barn. It was a rich, fragrant, well-proportioned load, covering the hay-rigging wholly from sight, hiding the horses that drew it, swallowing in its luxurious depths the man who drove the team. It was Abner Pickett’s hay, and his team, and his barn; so indeed were his all the fertile acres that surrounded him. But for all this Abner Pickett was not happy.