"I must return to the house! There's something in the garret I must have."—page 34.
ALICE WILDE:
THE
RAFTSMAN'S DAUGHTER.
A
FOREST ROMANCE.
BY MRS. METTA V. VICTOR.
NEW YORK:
IRWIN P. BEADLE AND COMPANY,
141 William St., corner of Fulton.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1860, by
IRWIN P. BEADLE & CO.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
ALICE WILDE.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. THE CABIN HOME.
CHAPTER II. PALLAS AND SATURN.
CHAPTER III. REJECTED ADDRESSES.
CHAPTER IV. BEN PERKINS.
CHAPTER V. AN APPALLING VISITOR.
CHAPTER VI. THE COLD HOUSE-WARMING.
CHAPTER VII. SUSPENSE.
CHAPTER VIII. AWAY FROM HOME.
CHAPTER IX. A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER.
CHAPTER X. RECONCILIATION.
CHAPTER XI. A MEETING IN THE WOODS.
CHAPTER XII. FAMILY AFFAIRS.
CHAPTER XIII. THE TORNADO.
CHAPTER XIV. GATHERING TOGETHER.
CHAPTER XV. BEN AND ALICE.
CHAPTER I.
THE CABIN HOME.
"That ar' log bobs 'round like the old sea-sarpint," mutteredBen Perkins to himself, leaning forward with his pole-hookand trying to fish it, without getting himself too deep inthe water. "Blast the thing! I can't tackle it no how;" andhe waded in deeper, climbed on to a floating log, and endeavoredagain to catch the one which so provokingly evaded him.
Ben was a "hand" employed in David Wilde's saw-mill, afew rods farther up the creek, a young fellow not withoutclaims to admiration as a fine specimen of his kind and calling.His old felt-hat shadowed hair as black as an Indian's,and made the swarthy hue of his face still darker; his cheeksand lips were red, and his eyes blacker than his hair. Thestriped wammus bound at the waist by a leather belt, and thelinen trowsers rolled up to the knees, were picturesque in theirway and not unbecoming the lithe, powerful figure.
Ben had bobbed for saw-logs a great many times in hislife, and was a person too quick and dextrous to meet with