[Frontispiece: RUDDYFORD.] THE WHIRLWIND BY EDEN PHILLPOTTS LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, LTD. 1907 RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. CONTENTS BOOK I CHAP. I. THE MAN ON THE CAIRN II. RUDDYFORD III. A THEATRE OF FAILURE IV. SYMPATHY V. THE KEEPER OF THE CASTLE VI. WATTERN OKE VII. PLAIN SPEAKING VIII. A REPRIMAND IX. THE COMMITTEE MEETS X. 'DARLING BLUE-EYES!' XI. SUSAN BEINGS THE NEWS XII. THE PRICE OF SARAH JANE BOOK II I. FIRST BLOOD TO BRENDON II. THE GATES OF THE MORNING III. PROGRESS IN IDEAS IV. SATURDAY NIGHT V. VISIT TO A HERMIT VI. AWAKENING OF WOODROW VII. IN COMMITTEE VIII. ADVENT IX. A HUNGRY MAN X. KIT'S STEPS XI. TROUBLE AT AMICOMBE HILL XII. THE HERMIT PASSES XIII. BURSTING OF THE SPRINGS XIV. A LUNAR RAINBOW BOOK III I. BRENDON STOPS AT RUDDYFORD II. AFTER CHAPEL III. JARRATT BECOMES A FATHER IV. THE FARMER COMES HOME V. THE FRUIT OF FAITH VI. PHILIP FALLS VII. A CHRISTIAN CONVERT VIII. THE LOAN IX. THE MEMORY OF MR. HUGGINS X. FAREWELL XI. THE DOLLS XII. THE MOCK BURIAL XIII. ANOTHER EFFIGY XIV. THE LONELY ALTARS XV. SET OF MOON LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS RUDDYFORD (Frontispiece) THE CAIRNS ON WHITE HILL THE OLD PEAT WORKS TAVY CLEEVE LYDFORD CASTLE LYDFORD DUNNAGOAT COT GREAT LINKS KIT'S STEPS RUDDYFORD BENEATH GREAT LINKS THE WHIRLWIND BOOK I CHAPTER I THE MAN ON THE CAIRN Fifty years ago a wild and stormy sky spread above the gorges of Lyd, and the vale was flooded in silver mist, dazzling by contrast with the darkness round about. Great welter of vapour, here radiant, here gloomy, obscured the sinking sun; but whence he shone, vans of wet light fell through the tumultuous clouds, and touched into sudden, humid, and luminous brilliancy the forests and hills beneath. A high wind raged along the sky and roared over the grave-crowned bosom of White Hill on Northern Dartmoor. Before it, like an autumn leaf, one solitary soul appeared to be blown. Beheld from afar, he presented an elongated spot driven between earth and air; but viewed more closely, the man revealed unusual stature and great physical strength. The storm was not thrusting him before it; accident merely willed that the wind and he should be fellow-travellers.