Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: "And whom may I say the message is from?"] WHISPERING SMITH BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN ILLUSTRATED BY N. C. WYETH AND WITH SCENES FROM THE PHOTO-PLAY PRODUCED BY THE SIGNAL FILM CORPORATION NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Published by Arrangement with Charles Scribner's Sons COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published, September, 1906 TO MY SON THOMAS CLARK SPEARMAN IN MEMORY OF A PIEDMONT WINTER CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Wrecking Boss 1 II. At Smoky Creek 10 III. Dicksie 23 IV. George McCloud 33 V. The Crawling Stone 51 VI. The Final Appeal 60 VII. In Marion's Shop 64 VIII. Smoky Creek Bridge 71 IX. The Misunderstanding 76 X. Sweeping Orders 88 XI. At the Three Horses 93 XII. Parley 103 XIII. The Turn in the Storm 122 XIV. The Quarrel 131 XV. The Shot in the Pass 141 XVI. At the Wickiup 148 XVII. A Test 155 XVIII. New Plans 162 XIX. The Crawling Stone Rise 169 XX. At the Dike 179 XXI. Supper in Camp 197 XXII. A Talk With Whispering Smith 207 XXIII. At the River 217 XXIV. Between Girlhood and Womanhood 225 XXV. The Man on the Frenchman 242 XXVI. Tower W 256 XXVII. Pursuit 262 XXVIII. The Sunday Murder 271 XXIX. Williams Cache 281 XXX. The Fight in the Cache 292 XXXI. The Death of Du Sang 305 XXXII. Mcloud and Dicksie 312 XXXIII. The Laugh of a Woman 320 XXXIV.