THE HAND OF THE MIGHTY AND OTHER STORIES By Vaughan Kester Author of The Prodigal Judge. The Just and The Unjust. The Fortunes of The Landrays, Etc. With Portrait, And a Sketch of The Author by Paul Kester Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers 1913 Acknowledgments are due to Short Stories, Munsey's Magazine, The Century Magazine, The Bellman and The American Magazine for permission to reprint certain stories included in this volume. CONTENTS VAUGHAN KESTER THE HAND OF THE MIGHTY THE BAD MAN OF LAS VEGAS MOLLIE DARLING THE BLOOD OF HIS ANCESTORS WHEN WE HAVE WAITED THE DESERTER WHAT REARTON SAW HOW MR. RATHBURN WAS BROUGHT IN MISS CAXTON'. FATHER THE HALF-BREED WILLIE MR. FEENY'. SOCIAL EXPERIMENT ALL THAT A MAN HATH VAUGHAN KESTER Vaughan Rester was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, but the greater part of his boyhood was spent in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Among our earliest and most vivid recollections were the long railway journeys which we took with our father and mother back and forth between our home in the East and my grandmother's house in Mount Vernon. It was in Mount Vernon that my brother contracted the severe cold that resulted in a hoarseness of speech from which he never entirely recovered, and that finally developed into the condition which occasioned his most untimely death. Despite this difficulty of speech, his boyhood was a very happy one. My grandmother's house was near the edge of the town and we knew all the short cuts to the woods and the river. We played games, took long tramps, and lived healthy and delightful lives. We went barefoot, we swam and played with all the boys in the town. Indeed, my brother was an absolute democrat all his life. We went to a little private school kept by Miss Plummer, a friend of the family. Miss Plummer had an original method of teaching, and expanded our minds and won our affection, but I doubt if we were good students. I know I had great difficulty in learning to read, and Vaughan also had his struggles. At home our mother made a practise of reading aloud to us books of all sorts—ancient history, science, biography, the Bible—anything in which she was interested. For a long time I think it was the sound of her voice which held our attention, but soon we followed with more or less comprehension the words we heard. This formed a most valuable part of our education. We were very fortunate, too, in our friendships as little boys. We had charming friends who exercised a lasting influence upon us. When a little older we went to a private school kept by Mrs. Charles Curtis. Here again we had the personal care of a woman of culture. Her instruction was individual and helpful to us both. Later we attended the public school for one term.