Produced by Mark C. Orton, Janet Blenkinship, Linda McKeown and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net SOUTHERN STORIES RETOLD FROM ST. NICHOLAS [Illustration] NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1907 Copyright, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1898, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1907, by THE CENTURY CO. THE DE VINNE PRESS * * * * * [Illustration: A REAL UNCLE REMUS STORY.] CONTENTS PAGE A REAL UNCLE REMUS STORY _Frontispiece_ HIS HERO _Margaret Minor_ 3 JERICHO BOB _Anna Eichberg King_ 18 HOW WE BOUGHT LOUISIANA _Helen Lockwood Coffin_ 28 THE CITY THAT LIVES OUTDOORS _W. S. Harwood_ 34 QUEER AMERICAN RIVERS _F. H. Spearman_ 52 THE WATERMELON STOCKINGS _Alice Caldwell Hegan_ 65 THE "'GATOR" _Clarence B. Moore_ 80 THE EARTHQUAKE AT CHARLESTON _Ewing Gibson_ 96 HIDING PLACES IN WAR TIMES _J. H. Gore_ 102 ST. AUGUSTINE _Frank R. Stockton_ 108 CATCHING TERRAPIN _Alfred Kappes_ 126 "LOCOED" _Edward Marshall_ 130 A DIVIDED DUTY _M. A. Cassidy_ 165 THE "WALKING-BEAM BOY" _L. E. Stofiel_ 178 THE CREATURE WITH NO CLAWS _Joel Chandler Harris_ 185 SOUTHERN STORIES SOUTH Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit-trees; Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of the forest. _Longfellow._ HIS HERO BY MARGARET MINOR It was an October afternoon, and through Indian summer's tulle-like haze a low-swinging sun sent shafts of scarlet light at the highest peaks of the Blue Ridge. The sweet-gum leaves looked like blood-colored stars as they floated slowly to the ground, and brown chestnuts gleamed satin-like through their gaping burs; while over all there rested a dense stillness, cut now and then by the sharp yelp of a dog as he scurried through the bushes after a rabbit. Surrounded by this splendid autumn beauty stood Mountain Top Inn, near the crest of the Blue Ridge in Rockfish Gap, its historical value dating from the time when Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, after a long and spirited discussion in one of its low-ceiled rooms, decided upon the location of the University of Virginia.