E-text prepared by Al Haines THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE A Story of the Plains by EMERSON HOUGH Author of _The Covered Wagon_, _54-40 or Fight_, _North of 36_, etc. Grosset & Dunlap Publishers New York 1900 TO EDWARD KEMEYS, SOLDIER, HUNTER, AND SCULPTOR, WHO KNEW AND LOVED THE WEST, AND WHO HAS PRESERVED ITS SPIRIT IMPERISHABLY, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED WITH MANY GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. CONTENTS BOOK I THE DAY OF WAR CHAPTER I. THE BRAZEN TONGUES II. THE PLAYERS OF THE GAME III. THE VICTORY BOOK II THE DAY OF THE BUFFALO IV. BATTERSLEIGH OF THE RILE IRISH V. THE TURNING OF THE ROAD VI. EDWARD FRANKLIN, LAWYER VII. THE NEW WORLD VIII. THE BEGINNING IX. THE NEW MOVERS X. THE CHASE XI. THE BATTLE XII. WHAT THE HAND HAD TO DO XIII. PIE AND ETHICS XIV. THE FIRST BALL AT ELLISVILLE XV. ANOTHER DAY XVI. ANOTHER HOUR BOOK III THE DAY OF THE CATTLE XVII. ELLISVILLE THE RED XVIII. STILL A REBEL XIX. THAT WHICH HE WOULD XX. THE HALFWAY HOUSE XXI. THE ADVICE OF AUNT LUCY XXII. EN VOYAGE XXIII. MARY ELLEN XXIV. THE WAY OF A MAID XXV. BILL WATSON XXVI. IKE ANDERSON XXVII. THE BODY OF THE CRIME XXVIII. THE TRIAL XXIX. THE VERDICT BOOK IV THE DAY OF THE PLOUGH XXX. THE END OF THE TRAIL XXXI. THE SUCCESS OF BATTERSLEIGH XXXII. THE CALLING XXXIII. THE GREAT COLD XXXIV. THE ARTFULNESS OF SAM XXXV. THE HILL OF DREAMS XXXVI. AT THE GATEWAY BOOK I THE DAY OF WAR CHAPTER I THE BRAZEN TONGUES The band major was a poet. His name is lost to history, but it deserves a place among the titles of the great. Only in the soul of a poet, a great man, could there have been conceived that thought by which the music of triumph should pass the little pinnacle of human exultation, and reach the higher plane of human sympathy. Forty black horses, keeping step; forty trumpeters, keeping unison; this procession, headed by a mere musician, who none the less was a poet, a great man, crossed the field of Louisburg as it lay dotted with the heaps of slain, and dotted also with the groups of those who sought their slain; crossed that field of woe, meeting only hatred and despair, yet leaving behind only tears and grief. Tears and grief, it is true, yet grief that knew of sympathy, and tears that recked of other tears.