Produced by Suzanne Shell, 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 REAL MAN BY FRANCIS LYNDE _ILLUSTRATED BY_ ARTHUR E. BECHER CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK :::::::::: 1915 COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published August, 1915 TO THOSE FRIENDS OF UNACQUAINTANCE AMONG HIS READERS WHO FROM TIME TO TIME EXPRESS, THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF KINDLY AND HEART-WARMING LETTERS, THEIR APPRECIATIVE SYMPATHY AND APPROVAL, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, WITH GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR [Illustration: There was time only for a mighty heave and shove.] CONTENTS I. HOST AND GUEST II. METASTASIS III. THE HOBO IV. THE HIGH HILLS V. THE SPECIALIST VI. THE TWIG VII. A NOTICE TO QUIT VIII. TIMANYONI DITCH IX. RELAPSINGS X. THE SICK PROJECT XI. WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK XII. THE ROCKET AND THE STICK XIII. THE NARROW WORLD XIV. A REPRIEVE XV. "SWEET FORTUNE'S MINION" XVI. BROKEN THREADS XVII. A NIGHT OF FIASCOS XVIII. A CHANCE TO HEDGE XIX. TWO WOMEN XX. TUCKER JIBBEY XXI. AT ANY COST XXII. THE MEGALOMANIAC XXIII. THE ARROW TO THE MARK XXIV. A LITTLE LEAVEN XXV. THE PACE-SETTER XXVI. THE COLONEL'S "DEFI" XXVII. TWO WITNESSES XXVIII. THE STRADDLER XXIX. THE FLESH-POTS OF EGYPT XXX. A STRONG MAN ARMED XXXI. A RACE TO THE SWIFT XXXII. FREEDOM XXXIII. IN SUNRISE GULCH ILLUSTRATIONS There was time only for a mighty heave and shove In a flash Smith knew what he had done "Your friends have money, Montague--plenty of it" "Catch him! catch him!" he shrilled. "It's Boogerfield, and he's going to dy-dynamite the dam!" Sketch map of the Timanyoni [Illustration: Sketch map of the Timanyoni] THE REAL MAN I Host and Guest It is conceivable that, in Noah's time--say, on the day before the heavens opened and the floods descended--a complacent citizenry of Antediluvia might have sat out on its front porches, enjoying the sunset over Mount Ararat and speculating upon the probable results of the next patriarchal election, all unsuspicious of chaotic cataclysms. Under similar conditions--fair skies, a good groundwork of creature comforts, and a total lack of threatening portents--there was no reason why the two men, smoking their after-dinner cigars on the terrace of the Lawrenceville Country Club, should suspect that the end of the world might be lying in wait for either of them just beyond the hour's relaxation.