Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made from images produced by the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library.) WHEN THE COCK CROWS By WALDRON BAILY _Author of "Heart of the Blue Ridge," "The Homeward Trail," etc._ ILLUSTRATED BY G. W. GAGE NEW YORK BEDFORD PUBLISHING CO. 1918 Copyright 1918, by BEDFORD PUBLISHING CO. PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. TO Hon. Josephus Daniels As a token of the author's admiration and respect, for one who in the greatest crisis in history has demonstrated to the public those qualities of courage, determination and achievement that his friends have always known him to possess. [Illustration: He bore her with what haste he could to the landing and gently placed her within the blankets.] CONTENTS I. ICHABOD'S ISLAND II. AMONG THE BREAKERS III. A NEW CALAMITY IV. UNDER THE AFTER AWNING V. A PRISONER OF MORPHIA VI. HUNTING A CLUE VII. STORMBOUND VIII. THE EFFICIENCY OF CLAM-BROTH IX. ONCE IN A LIFETIME X. EYES FROM THE DEEP XI. THE AWAKENING OF ICHABOD XII. TOWARD THE UNKNOWN XIII. AMONG THE FISHERFOLK XIV. GARNET THE HERO XV. ADRIFT WITH A MADMAN XVI. THE COMING-OUT PARTY XVII. STRANGERS AT ICHABOD'S ISLAND XVIII. THE CALL OF THE DARK XIX. BOTTLED UP XX. THE TRUTH UNALLOYED XXI. SEALED ORDERS XXII. THE PARTING CROW XXIII. THE SEARCH UP THE SHORE XXIV. A GENTLEMAN'S PROMISE XXV. DOING HIS BIT List of Illustrations He bore her with what haste he could to the landing and gently placed her within the blankets. She sat down and stared eagerly. Van Dusen unpinned the note, opened it, and read aloud. WHEN THE COCK CROWS CHAPTER I ICHABOD'S ISLAND The tide was at ebb. The noisily rushing spume-spotted waters of the sea were pounding the hard-sand shore of the easterly side of a beautiful island, nestling as a jewel in its setting just within the Capes, which form the shores on either side of Beaufort Inlet, but so exposed that when the winds blow from the sea the full force of the breakers is felt at this point. As this small bit of land is low-lying, more than once when a southeaster has raged, the tiny isle has become entirely submerged. Man has placed but one habitation upon this toy of the great waters, and that a fisherman's shack, surrounded with the usual net-drying racks and other crude tools of the fisherfolk. One would rightly guess that the occupant of an abode built upon such a tiny bit of old mother earth must be a hardy customer, who understood the ways of the winds and sea and who dared combat them.