Produced by Robert Shimmin, Robert Ledger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "THEN IT'S ALL LIES! LIES AND MURDER!"] THE CLARION BY SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY W.D. STEVENS _Published October 1914_ TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER MYRON ADAMS WHO LIVED AND DIED A SOLDIER OF IDEALS THIS BOOK IS REVERENTLY INSCRIBED CONTENTS I. THE ITINERANT II. OUR LEADING CITIZEN III. ESME IV. THE SHOP V. THE SCION VI. LAUNCHED VII. THE OWNER VIII. A PARTNERSHIP IX. GLIMMERINGS X. IN THE WAY OF TRADE XI. THE INITIATE XII. THE THIN EDGE XIII. NEW BLOOD XIV. THE ROOKERIES XV. JUGGERNAUT XVI. THE STRATEGIST XVII. REPRISALS XVIII. MILLY XIX. DONNYBROOK XX. THE LESSER TEMPTING XXI. THE POWER OF PRINT XXII. PATRIOTS XXIII. CREEPING FLAME XXIV. A FAILURE IN TACTICS XXV. STERN LOGIC XXVI. THE PARTING XXVII. THE GREATER TEMPTING XXVIII. "WHOSE BREAD I EAT" XXIX. CERTINA CHARLEY XXX. ILLUMINATION XXXI. THE VOICE OF THE PROPHET XXXII. THE WARNING XXXIII. THE GOOD FIGHT XXXIV. VOX POPULI XXXV. TEMPERED METAL XXXVI. THE VICTORY XXXVII. MCGUIRE ELLIS WAKES UP XXXVIII. THE CONVERT ILLUSTRATIONS "THEN IT'S ALL LIES! LIES AND MURDER!" HELP AND CURE ARE AT THEIR BECK AND CALL "KILL IT," SHE URGED SOFTLY "DON'T GO NEAR HIM. DON'T LOOK" THE CLARION CHAPTER I THE ITINERANT Between two flames the man stood, overlooking the crowd. A soft breeze, playing about the torches, sent shadows billowing across the massed folk on the ground. Shrewdly set with an eye to theatrical effect, these phares of a night threw out from the darkness the square bulk of the man's figure, and, reflecting garishly upward from the naked hemlock of the platform, accentuated, as in bronze, the bosses of the face, and gleamed deeply in the dark, bold eyes. Half of Marysville buzzed and chattered in the park-space below, together with many representatives of the farming country near by, for the event had been advertised with skilled appeal: cf. the "Canoga County Palladium," April 15, 1897, page 4. The occupant of the platform, having paused, after a self-introductory trumpeting of professional claims, was slowly and with an eye to oratorical effect moistening lips and throat from a goblet at his elbow. Now, ready to resume, he raised a slow hand in an indescribable gesture of mingled command and benevolence. The clamor subsided to a murmur, over which his voice flowed and spread like oil subduing vexed waters.