Produced by Marcia Brooks, Al Haines, Alex White & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net _BY ETHEL M. DELL_ * * * * * _The Way of an Eagle_ _The Knave of Diamonds_ _The Rocks of Valpré_ _The Swindler, and Other Stories_ _The Keeper of the Door_ _Bars of Iron_ _The Hundredth Chance_ _The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories_ _Greatheart_ _The Lamp in the Desert_ _The Tidal Wave_ _The Top of the World_ _The Obstacle Race_ _The Odds and Other Stories_ _Charles Rex_ Tetherstones By Ethel M. Dell Author of “The Way of an Eagle,” “Charles Rex,” etc. The Ryerson Press Toronto 1923 Canada Copyright, 1923 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons Made in the United States of America I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO VIOLET THE DEAR FRIEND WHO ALWAYS STANDS BY AS A TOKEN OF MY EVER-LOVING GRATITUDE FOR ALL SHE HAS DONE FOR ME The lonely circle on the hill Where mist-wreaths float and rise Hither and thither, lingering still, Like smoke of sacrifice— Forgotten fires, forgotten rites, Forgotten agonies. The heaven-blue flowers bloom below About the grim stone’s foot, The sweet hare-bells that always grow Where nought else e’er takes root. Of all that stony wilderness, The only fruit. A presence in the moonlit night Unseen doth ever brood, As though it kept in silent sight The stones rough-hewn and rude; The shrine of which it was the god,— The moorland solitude. And never shall that vigil tire, And never the great spell pass, Where the Druids built their altar-fire Over the dew-drenched grass, Till the last loud trump shall shatter The gates of brass. And then forgotten priests shall wake And forgotten victims rise, And the old grey stones of the circle shake In the place of sacrifice. . . . But the heaven-blue flowers will bloom for aye As flowers of Paradise. CONTENTS