PLOWING ON SUNDAY [Illustration] THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED TORONTO PLOWING ON SUNDAY _By_ STERLING NORTH NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1934 _Copyright, 1934, by_ THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. All rights reserved--no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper. _Set up and electrotyped._ _Published October, 1934._ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NORWOOD PRESS LINOTYPE, INC. NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A. CONTENTS BOOK ONE CHAPTER PAGE I 3 II 19 III 37 IV 54 BOOK TWO V 73 VI 92 VII 111 BOOK THREE VIII 131 IX 159 X 185 XI 202 BOOK FOUR XII 215 XIII 225 XIV 239 BOOK FIVE XV 255 BOOK ONE CHAPTER I 1 Sarah Brailsford hurried through the April downpour holding her lantern with its shining reflector high above her and picking her way among the puddles which gleamed in the lantern light. Now and then she would stop to listen or would hallo in her sweet, anxious voice, "Stanley! Oh, Stan!" The lantern cast gigantic shadows behind each boulder, fence-post and clump of hazel bushes as she splashed along between the rushing buggy ruts with an unreasonable panic in her heart. The willow branches from the trees beside the ditch whipped wetly across her face and shoulders. She brushed them aside without stopping and crossed the bridge over the flooded creek. She lowered her head to fight the mounting wind, and labored up the hill through muddy torrents until she stood at last beneath the giant cottonwood with half the world below her. Then as she rested, panting from her climb, the distant lightning flared and the panic left her.