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FIGHTING BYNG
Howard carried her in his arms, talking to her as hewould to a child.
Fighting Byng
A NOVEL OF MYSTERY
INTRIGUE AND ADVENTURE
By
A. STONE
ILLUSTRATIONS
by L. Pern Bird
NEW YORK
BRITTON PUBLISHING CO.
Copyright, 1919, by
Britton Publishing Company
Made in U. S. A.
All rights reserved
To my daughter,
Marguerite-Maud
FIGHTING BYNG
CHAPTER I
At first sight Howard Byng impressed me asbeing a cross between a Wild Man of Borneo anda pirate.
He came bounding through the otherwise silentturpentine forest dragged along by a little graymule, hitched to a sledlike affair, shouting GeorgiaCracker profanity easily heard a mile away. Hatless,long-haired, and virgin fuzz-covered face;hickory shirt, flapping patched pants belted withhempen rope threatening to drop at each kangarooleap of his ample bare feet, describes the picture.The sound was not unlike a hurricane, the careeningmule charging toward our camp with his headdown, the sled drawn by chain traces often sailinghigher than his humped and angry back.
In Georgia nothing equals a scared runaway[Pg 8]mule as an excitement-producer. So at least itimpressed my surveying gang just about to breakfastunder a big mess tent pitched across a fadedcart track along the bank of a winding creek.Needless to say we were all amazed at the sulphurousanathemas he