Produced by Darleen Dove, Roger Frank, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE RECLAIMERS BY MARGARET HILL McCARTER _Author of_ "VANGUARDS OF THE PLAINS" HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Reclaimers Copyright, 1918, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America Published October, 1918 TO MAY BELLEVILLE BROWN CRITIC, COUNSELLOR, COMFORTER [Illustration] CONTENTS PART I JERRY I. THE HEIR APPARENT II. UNCLE CORNIE'S THROW III. HITCHING THE WAGON TO A STAR IV. BETWEEN EDENS V. NEW EDEN'S PROBLEM VI. PARADISE LOST PART II JERRY AND JOE VII. UNHITCHING THE WAGON FROM A STAR VIII. IF A MAN WENT RIGHT WITH HIMSELF IX. IF A WOMAN WENT RIGHT WITH HERSELF X. THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER XI. AN INTERLUDE IN "EDEN" XII. THIS SIDE OF THE RUBICON PART III JERRY AND EUGENE--AND JOE XIII. HOW A GOOD MOTHER LIVES ON XIV. JIM SWAIM'S WISH XV. DRAWING OUT LEVIATHAN WITH A HOOK XVI. A POSTLUDE IN "EDEN" XVII. THE FLESH-POTS OF THE WINNWOC XVIII. THE LORD HATH HIS WAY IN THE STORM XIX. RECLAIMED THE RECLAIMERS I JERRY I THE HEIR APPARENT Only the good little snakes were permitted to enter the "Eden" that belonged to Aunt Jerry and Uncle Cornie Darby. "Eden," it should be explained, was the country estate of Mrs. Jerusha Darby--a wealthy Philadelphian--and her husband, Cornelius Darby, a relative by marriage, so to speak, whose sole business on earth was to guard his wife's wealth for six hours of the day in the city, and to practise discus-throwing out at "Eden" for two hours every evening. Of course these two were never familiarly "Aunt" and "Uncle" to this country neighborhood, nor to any other community. Far, oh, far from that! They were Aunt and Uncle only to Jerry Swaim, the orphaned and only child of Mrs. Darby's brother Jim, whose charming girlish presence made the whole community, wherever she might chance to be. They were cousin, however, to Eugene Wellington, a young artist of more than ordinary merit, also orphaned and alone, except for a sort of cousinship with Uncle Cornelius.