Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 61840-h.htm or 61840-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61840/61840-h/61840-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61840/61840-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/runningfight00osboiala Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). [Illustration: "Just a stroke of the pen, dear, and my father will be free" (page 279)] THE RUNNING FIGHT by WILLIAM HAMILTON OSBORNE Author of "The Red Mouse" With Illustrations by Harrison Fisher and George Brehm [Illustration] New York Dodd, Mead and Company 1910 Copyright, 1910, by William Hamilton Osborne Published April, 1910 _TO_ W. H. O., Jr. _and_ F. S. O. ILLUSTRATIONS "Just a stroke of the pen, dear, and my father will be free" (page 279) _Frontispiece_ It was a mere wisp of a girl who confronted him, 14 If only he had dared ... he would have drawn the dainty head of Leslie Wilkinson down on his shoulder and would have kissed her then and there, 76 "We've got a long fight ahead, Leslie--a running fight, as Colonel Morehead calls it, but I'm ready", 370 I Once, twice, thrice,--failing miserably in his attempt to appear unconcerned,--Ilingsworth paced back and forth in front of Peter V. Wilkinson's big house in Riverside Drive. There it stood: a massive, forbidding, modern pile of limestone, wholly unlike anything in its vicinity. And yet, now that the time had come, Ilingsworth's face wore a confused, half-fearful look, a sense of uncertainty possessed him, which was all the more maddening because so far, at least, there had been no obstacles or delays in this brief, turbulent journey of his; on the contrary, all had gone well with him, and like a falcon in pursuit of its prey he had sped on the straightest of straight lines towards a person of the name of Leslie Wilkinson, and this person, so Ilingsworth assured himself, would soon feel his claws.