Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) The BLUE GOOSE FRANK LEWIS NASON AUTHOR OF TO THE END OF THE TRAIL COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. NEW YORK Published, March, 1903, R Second Impression * * * * * "_So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise and behold a shaking, and the bones came together bone to bone._ "_And, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, but there was no breath in them._ "_Son of man, prophesy unto the wind. Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these that they may live._ "_And the breath came into them and they lived._" To MY FRIEND OF TWENTY-ONE YEARS, CHARLES EMERSON BEECHER, who, with infinite skill and patience, has breathed the breath of life into the dry bones of Earth's untold ages of upward struggle, who has made them speak of the eternity of their past, and has made them prophesy hope for the eternity to come, this book is dedicated by the author. CONTENTS I. THE BLUE GOOSE II. THE OLD MAN III. ÉLISE IV. THE WATCHED POT BEGINS TO BOIL V. BENNIE OPENS THE POT AND FIRMSTONE COMES IN VI. THE FAMILY CIRCLE VII. MR. MORRISON TACKLES A MAN WITH A MIND OF HIS OWN AND A MAN WITHOUT ONE VIII. MADAME SEEKS COUNSEL IX. THE MEETING AT THE BLUE GOOSE X. ÉLISE GOES FORTH TO CONQUER XI. THE DEVIL'S ELBOW XII. FIGS AND THISTLES XIII. THE STORK AND THE CRANES XIV. BLINDED EYES XV. BENDING THE TWIG XVI. AN INSISTENT QUESTION XVII. THE BEARDED LION XVIII. WINNOWED CHAFF XIX. THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT XX. THE RIVER GIVES UP ITS PREY XXI. THE SWORD THAT TURNS XXII. GOOD INTENTIONS XXIII. AN UNEXPECTED RECRUIT XXIV. THE GATHERING TO ITS OWN XXV. A DIVIDED HOUSE XXVI. THE DAY OF RECKONING XXVII. PASSING CLOUDS THE BLUE GOOSE CHAPTER I _The Blue Goose_ "_Mais oui!_ I tell you one ting. One big ting. Ze big man wiz ze glass eyes, he is vat you call one slik stoff. Ze big man wiz ze glass eyes." "The old man?" "Zat's him! One slik stoff! _Écoutez!_ Listen! One day, you mek ze gran' trip. Look hout!" Pierre made a gesture as of a dog shaking a rat.