Chapter XXIV: The Last Fight

Under the concentrated anguish of Conover’s gaze the girl’s long lashes seemed to flicker ever so slightly. Through the Gethsemane of the moment the impossible fancy that she lived pierced Caleb’s numbed brain; tearing away the apathy that was closing over him. All at once he was again the Fighter,--the man who could not know defeat.

“She is alive!” he persisted as the physician turned from the bed. “Look! She--”

Dr. Bond’s bearded lip curled in a sad derision that woke Caleb’s smouldering antagonism into flame. With a sudden insane impulse the Fighter knelt on the edge of the bed and caught up the pitifully still little hands.

“_Dey!_” he cried, his great rough voice echoing through the dreadful hush of the room.

Bond opened his mouth to protest; then shrank back to the wall, staring in heavy wonder.

“_Dey!_” called the Fighter again, an agony of command in his tone. “Dey! _Come back!_”

It was not the wail of a weak nature vainly summoning the Lost to return. Rather it was the sharp, fierce call of the officer who by sheer force of accepted rulership rallies his stricken men. Sublimely imperious, backed by a will of chilled steel and by a mentality that had never been successfully balked, the Fighter’s voice resounded again and again in that harsh, domineering order:

“_Dey! Come back!_”

Calling upon his seemingly dead love to re-enter the frail flesh she was even now quitting, Conover threw into his appeal all the vast strength that was his and the immeasurably enforced power of his despair and adoration. He held the white hands gripped tight to his chest; his face close to the silent girl’s; his light eyes blazing into hers; his every faculty bent with superhuman pressure upon drawing an answering sign from the lifeless form.

“It is madness!” muttered the doctor; infected nevertheless by the dominant magnetism that played about the Fighter and that vibrated through every tone of his imperative voice. “It is madness. She is dead, or--”

Conover did not heed nor hear. He had no consciousness for anything save this supreme battle of his whole life. Vaguely he knew that the innate mastership within him which for years had subdued strong men to his will had been as nothing to the nameless power that love was now enabling him to put forth.

From the threshold of death,--yes, from the grave itself,--she should come at his call; this little, silent wisp of humanity that meant life and heaven to him.

The red-haired man was fighting.

He had always been fighting. But the fiercest of his campaigns had hitherto been as child’s play by comparison with this contest with the Unknown. Once again he was “taking the Kingdom of Heaven by violence!” This time literally.

The mad whim had possessed him through no conscious volition of his own; and he had acted upon it without reflection. He was matching his mortal power against the Infinite.

He was doing what Science knew could not be done; what the most hysterical spiritualist had never claimed power to achieve. He was trying, by force of personality and sheer desire, to check the flight of a soul upon the Borderland.

And over and over again his voice swelled, untiring, through the room, in that one all-compelling demand:--a demand that held no note of entreaty, nor of aught else save utter, fierce domination.

“_Dey! Come back!_”

The doctor, scared, irresolute, slipped from the room. This type of mania was outside his experience. In time it would wear itself out. In the meanwhile, his nerves could not endure the sound of that ceaseless calling; the sight of the tense, furiously masterful face.

* * * * *

It was two hours later that Dr. Colfax, the first of the summoned New York specialists, arrived. Jack Hawarden met him at the entrance of the hotel and briefly explained the case.

“I wish,” the boy added, “you would go in and see what you can do for Mr. Conover. I’m afraid he has lost his mind. I looked into the room several times and--”

He shuddered at the picture conjured up. His nerves had gone to pieces.

“It was terrible,” he went on. “I didn’t dare interrupt him. He was crouching there, holding her close to him and looking at her as if he’d drag her spirit by main force back into her body. And all the time he was saying over and over--”

“I will go up,” said the specialist, cutting in on the narrative. “Even if the local physician did not complete a full examination to make sure she was dead, such insane treatment would destroy any chance of life. Show me the way.”

Together they entered the sick room. Conover had not stirred. Through the closed door they had heard the hoarse rumble of his eternal command:--

“_Dey! Come back!_”

Dr. Colfax walked briskly across to the bed.

“Here!” he said, addressing Caleb in the sharp tones used for arousing the delirious. “This won’t do! You must--”

He paused; his first idle glance at Desirée’s pale face changing in a flash to one of keen professional interest. He caught one of her wrists, at the point where it was engulfed in Caleb’s great hand; held it for an instant; then, turning, flung open his black medical case.

Jack, who had lingered at the door, hurried forward on tiptoe.

“You don’t mean--?” he whispered quaveringly.

“The local physician was mistaken,” returned Dr. Colfax in the same key. “Or she--” he hesitated.

“I have heard of such cases,” he murmured, in wonder. “But I only know of two that are authentic. It is more probable that she was merely in a collapse. I can inquire later.”

While he talked, he had been selecting and filling a hypodermic needle. Now, stepping past Conover, who had not noted the newcomers’ presence, he pressed the needle-point into Desirée’s forearm.

“You really think then--?” cried Jack.

“I think it is worth a fight!” snapped the doctor. “Go down and see if my nurse has come. I left her at the station. She could not walk as fast as I. Go out quietly. This man doesn’t even know we are here, but I don’t want to take any chance just yet of breaking his ‘influence.’ Time enough for that when the digitalis begins to act.”

* * * * *

Caleb Conover stretched himself and sat up. He felt oddly weak and depressed. For the first time in his life he was tired out.

For twenty hours he had slept. The afternoon sun was pouring in at the windows. Caleb glanced stupidly about him and recognized the anteroom leading off from the sick chamber. Vaguely at first, then more clearly, he recalled that someone--ever and ever so long ago--had shaken him by the shoulder and had repeated over and over in his ears “_She is alive!_”

Then, at last the iterated words of command that had been saying themselves through his own lips for three hours had somehow ceased, and something in his head had given way. He had lurched into the anteroom, tumbled over on a sofa and had fallen asleep at once from sheer exhaustion. And Dey--?

Weakly cursing the gross selfishness that had let him sleep like a log while Desirée’s life had hung in the balance Conover got to his feet and made for the door of the sick room. His step was springless, clumping, noisy. Dr. Colfax, hearing it, came out from the inner room to meet him. Caleb gazed at the man with dull vacancy. He did not remember having seen him before.

“Miss--Miss Shevlin?” asked Conover, thickly; his throat agonizingly raw from the long hours of tireless, unremittent calling.

“She will get well, I think,” answered the specialist. “The crisis is past. The spine was not injured. But convalescence will be slow. Nursing is the only thing left to do now. I am leaving for New York by the six o’clock train.”

Caleb’s apathetic look slowly changed to deep, growing wonder.

“I think,” went on Dr. Colfax, watching Conover, narrowly, “it may be barely possible that you can thank yourself for her recovery. Perhaps I am mistaken. You see we doctors deal with _facts_. But, once in a century something happens outside the realm of fact. Mind you, I don’t go on record as saying this is one of those exceptions. But--I should like to ask you some questions when you are rested enough to--”

“By and by,” assented Caleb. “But I’m going in there to see Dey now, if you don’t mind. Can I?”

“Yes. She has been asking for you. Be careful not to excite her, or--”

“I’ll be careful,” promised Caleb.

Then, with a sheepish laugh, he added:

“I’m glad you didn’t make me put up a fight about goin’ in to see her. I--I kind of feel as if there wasn’t any fight left in me.”

THE END

_GET THE BEST OUT-DOOR STORIES_

Stewart Edward White’s

Great Novels of Western Life.

GROSSET & DUNLAP EDITIONS

THE BLAZED TRAIL

Mingles the romance of the forest with the romance of man’s heart, making a story that is big and elemental, while not lacking in sweetness and tenderness. It is an epic of the life of the lumberman of the great forest of the Northwest, permeated by out of door freshness, and the glory of the struggle with nature.

THE SILENT PLACES

A powerful story of strenuous endeavor and fateful privation in the frozen North, embodying also a detective story of much strength and skill. The author brings out with sure touch and deep understanding the mystery and poetry of the still, frost-bound forest.

THE CLAIM JUMPERS

A tale of a Western mining camp and the making of a man, with which a charming young lady has much to do. The tenderfoot has a hard time of it, but meets the situation, shows the stuff he is made of, and “wins out.”

THE WESTERNERS

A tale of the mining camp and the Indian country, full of color and thrilling incident.

THE MAGIC FOREST: A Modern Fairy Story.

“No better book could be put in a young boy’s hands,” says the New York _Sun_. It is a happy blend of knowledge of wood life with an understanding of Indian character, as well as that of small boys.

Each volume handsomely bound in cloth. Price, seventy-five cents per volume, postpaid.

FAMOUS COPYRIGHT BOOKS IN POPULAR PRICED EDITIONS

Re-issues of the great literary successes of the time. Library size. Printed on excellent paper--most of them with illustrations of marked beauty--and handsomely bound in cloth. Price, 75 cents a volume, postpaid.

BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. By George Barr McCutcheon. With Color
Frontispiece and other illustrations by Harrison Fisher. Beautiful
inlay picture in colors of Beverly on the cover.

“The most fascinating, engrossing and picturesque of the season’s novels.”--_Boston Herald._ “‘Beverly’ is altogether charming--almost living flesh and blood.”--_Louisville Times._ “Better than ‘Graustark’.”--_Mail and Express._ “A sequel quite as impossible as ‘Graustark’ and quite as entertaining.”--_Bookman._ “A charming love story well told.”--_Boston Transcript._

HALF A ROGUE. By Harold MacGrath. With illustrations and inlay cover
picture by Harrison Fisher.

“Here are dexterity of plot, glancing play at witty talk, characters really human and humanly real, spirit and gladness, freshness and quick movement. ‘Half a Rogue’ is as brisk as a horseback ride on a glorious morning. It is as varied as an April day. It is as charming as two most charming girls can make it. Love and honor and success and all the great things worth fighting for and living for the involved in ‘Half a Rogue.’”--_Phila. Press._

THE GIRL FROM TIM’S PLACE. By Charles Clark Munn. With illustrations
by Frank T. Merrill.

“Figuring in the pages of this story there are several strong characters. Typical New England folk and an especially sturdy one, old Cy Walker, through whose instrumentality Chip comes to happiness and fortune. There is a chain of comedy, tragedy, pathos and love, which makes a dramatic story.”--_Boston Herald._

THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A story of American Life. By Charles Klein,
and Arthur Hornblow. With illustrations by Stuart Travis, and Scenes
from the Play.

The novel duplicated the success of the play; in fact the book is greater than the play. A portentous clash of dominant personalities that form the essence of the play are necessarily touched upon but briefly in the short space of four acts. All this is narrated in the novel with a wealth of fascinating and absorbing detail, making it one of the most powerfully written and exciting works of fiction given to the world in years.

LAVENDER AND OLD LACE. By Myrtle Reed.

A charming story of a quaint corner of New England where bygone romance finds a modern parallel. One of the prettiest, sweetest, and quaintest of old-fashioned love stories * * * A rare book, exquisite in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of tenderness, of delightful humor and spontaneity. A dainty volume, especially suitable for a gift.

DOCTOR LUKE OF THE LABRADOR. By Norman Duncan. With a frontispiece
and inlay cover.

How the doctor came to the bleak Labrador coast and there in saving life made expiation. In dignity, simplicity, humor, in sympathetic etching of a sturdy fisher people, and above all in the echoes of the sea, _Doctor Luke_ is worthy of great praise. Character, humor, poignant pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new civilizations are expressed through the medium of a style that has distinction and strikes a note of rare personality.

THE DAY’S WORK. By Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated.

The _London Morning Post_ says: “It would be hard to find better reading * * * the book is so varied, so full of color and life from end to end, that few who read the first two or three stories will lay it down till they have read the last--and the last is a veritable gem * * * contains some of the best of his highly vivid work * * * Kipling is a born story-teller and a man of humor into the bargain.”

ELEANOR LEE. By Margaret E. Sangster. With a frontispiece.

A story of married life, and attractive picture of wedded bliss * * * an entertaining story or a man’s redemption through a woman’s love * * * no one who knows anything of marriage or parenthood can read this story with eyes that are always dry * * * goes straight to the heart of everyone who knows the meaning of “love” and “home.”

THE COLONEL OF THE RED HUZZARS. By John Reed Scott. Illustrated by
Clarence F. Underwood.

“Full of absorbing charm, sustained interest and a wealth of thrilling and romantic situations. So naively fresh in its handling, so plausible through its naturalness, that it comes like a mountain breeze across the far-spreading desert of similar romances.”--_Gazette-Times, Pittsburg._ “A slap-dashing day romance.”--_New York Sun._

DARREL OF THE BLESSED ISLES. By Irving Bacheller. With illustrations
by Arthur Keller.

“Darrel, the clock tinker, is a wit, philosopher, and man of mystery. Learned, strong, kindly, dignified, he towers like a giant above the people among whom he lives. It is another tale of the North Country, full of the odor of wood and field. Wit, humor, pathos and high thinking are in this book.”--_Boston Transcript._

D’RI AND I: A Tale of Daring Deeds in the Second War with the
British. Being the Memoirs of Colonel Ramon Bell, U. S. A. By Irving
Bacheller. With illustrations by F. C. Yohn.

“Mr. Bacheller is admirable alike in his scenes of peace and war. D’ri, a mighty hunter, has the same dry humor as Uncle Eb. He fights magnificently on the ‘Lawrence,’ and was among the wounded when Perry went to the ‘Niagara.’ As a romance of early American history it is great for the enthusiasm it creates.”--_New York Times._

EBEN HOLDEN: A Tale of the North Country. By Irving Bacheller.

“As pure as water and as good as bread,” says Mr. Howells. “Read ‘Eben Holden’” is the advice of Margaret Sangster. “It is a forest-scented, fresh-aired, bracing and wholly American story of country and town life. * * * If in the far future our successors wish to know what were the real life and atmosphere in which the country folk that saved this nation grew, loved, wrought and had their being, they must go back to such true and zestful and poetic tales of ‘fiction’ as ‘Eben Holden,’” says Edmund Clarence Stedman.

SILAS STRONG: Emperor of the Woods. By Irving Bacheller. With a
frontispiece.

“A modern _Leatherstocking_. Brings the city dweller the aroma of the pine and the music of the wind in its branches--an epic poem * * * forest-scented, fresh-aired, and wholly American. A stronger character than Eben Holden.”--_Chicago Record-Herald._

VERGILIUS: A Tale of the Coming of Christ. By Irving Bacheller.

A thrilling and beautiful story of two young Roman patricians whose great and perilous love in the reign of Augustus leads them through the momentous, exciting events that marked the year just preceding the birth of Christ.

Splendid character studies of the Emperor Augustus, of Herod and his degenerate son, Antipater, and of his daughter “the incomparable” Salome. A great triumph in the art of historical portrait-painting.

THE FAIR GOD; OR, THE LAST OF THE TZINS. By Lew Wallace. With
illustrations by Eric Pape.

“The story tells of the love of a native princess for Alvarado, and it is worked out with all of Wallace’s skill * * * it gives a fine picture of the heroism of the Spanish conquerors and of the culture and nobility of the Aztecs.”--_New York Commercial Advertiser._

“_Ben Hur_ sold enormously, but _The Fair God_ was the best of the General’s stories--a powerful and romantic treatment of the defeat of Montezuma by Cortes.”--_Athenæum._

THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS. By Louis Tracy.

A story of love and the salt sea--of a helpless ship whirled into the hands of cannibal Fuegians--of desperate fighting and tender romance, enhanced by the art of a master of story-telling who describes with his wonted felicity and power of holding the reader’s attention * * * filled with the swing of adventure.

A MIDNIGHT GUEST. A Detective Story. By Fred M. White. With a
frontispiece.

The scene of the story centers in London and Italy. The book is skilfully written and makes one of the most baffling, mystifying, exciting detective stories ever written--cleverly keeping the suspense and mystery intact until the surprising discoveries which precede the end.

THE HONOUR OF SAVELLI. A Romance. By S. Levett Yeats. With cover and
wrapper in four colors.

Those who enjoyed Stanley Weyman’s _A Gentleman of France_ will be engrossed and captivated by this delightful romance of Italian history. It is replete with exciting episodes, hair-breath escapes, magnificent sword-play, and deals with the agitating times in Italian history when Alexander II was Pope and the famous and infamous Borgias were tottering to their fall.

SISTER CARRIE. By Theodore Drieser. With a frontispiece, and wrapper
in color.

In all fiction there is probably no more graphic and poignant study of the way in which man loses his grip on life, lets his pride, his courage, his self-respect slip from him, and, finally, even ceases to struggle in the mire that has engulfed him * * * There is more tonic value in _Sister Carrie_ than in a whole shelfful of sermons.

THE AFFAIR AT THE INN. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by
Martin Justice.

“As superlatively clever in the writing as it is entertaining in the reading. It is actual comedy of the most artistic sort, and it is handled with a freshness and originality that is unquestionably novel.”--_Boston Transcript._ “A feast of humor and good cheer, yet subtly pervaded by special shades of feeling, fancy, tenderness, or whimsicality. A merry thing in prose.”--_St. Louis Democrat._

ROSE O’ THE RIVER. By Kate Douglas Wiggin. With illustrations by
George Wright.

“‘Rose o’ the River,’ a charming bit of sentiment, gracefully written and deftly touched with a gentle humor. It is a dainty book--daintily illustrated.”--_New York Tribune._ “A wholesome, bright, refreshing story, an ideal book to give a young girl.”--_Chicago Record-Herald._ “An idyllic story, replete with pathos and inimitable humor. As story-telling it is perfection, and as portrait-painting it is true to the life.”--_London Mail._

TILLIE: A Mennonite Maid. By Helen R. Martin. With illustrations by
Florence Scovel Shinn.

The little “Mennonite Maid” who wanders through these pages is something quite new in fiction. Tillie is hungry for books and beauty and love; and she comes into her inheritance at the end. “Tillie is faulty, sensitive, big-hearted, eminently human, and first, last and always lovable. Her charm glows warmly, the story is well handled, the characters skilfully developed.”--_The Book Buyer._

LADY ROSE’S DAUGHTER. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. With illustrations by
Howard Chandler Christy.

“The most marvellous work of its wonderful author.”--_New York World._ “We touch regions and attain altitudes which it is not given to the ordinary novelist even to approach.”--_London Times._ “In no other story has Mrs. Ward approached the brilliancy and vivacity of Lady Rose’s Daughter.”--_North American Review._

THE BANKER AND THE BEAR. By Henry K. Webster.

“An exciting and absorbing story.”--_New York Times._ “Intensely thrilling in parts, but an unusually good story all through. There is a love affair of real charm and most novel surroundings, there is a run on the bank which is almost worth a year’s growth, and there is all manner of exhilarating men and deeds which should bring the book into high and permanent favor.”--_Chicago Evening Post._

BARBARA WINSLOW, REBEL. By Elizabeth Ellis. With illustrations by
John Rae, and colored inlay cover.

The following, taken from story, will best describe the heroine: A TOAST: “To the bravest comrade in misfortune, the sweetest companion in peace and at all times the most courageous of women.”--_Barbara Winslow._ “A romantic story, buoyant, eventful, and in matters of love exactly what the heart could desire.”--_New York Sun._

SUSAN. By Ernest Oldmeadow. With a color frontispiece by Frank
Haviland. Medalion in color on front cover.

Lord Ruddington falls helplessly in love with Miss Langley, whom he sees in one of her walks accompanied by her maid, Susan. Through a misapprehension of personalities his lordship addresses a love missive to the maid. Susan accepts in perfect good faith, and an epistolary love-making goes on till they are disillusioned. It naturally makes a droll and delightful little comedy; and is a story that is particularly clever in the telling.

WHEN PATTY WENT TO COLLEGE. By Jean Webster. With illustrations by C.
D. Williams.

“The book is a treasure.”--_Chicago Daily News._ “Bright, whimsical, and thoroughly entertaining.”--_Buffalo Express._ “One of the best stories of life in a girl’s college that has ever been written.”--_N. Y. Press._ “To any woman who has enjoyed the pleasures of a college life this book cannot fail to bring back many sweet recollections; and to those who have not been to college the wit, lightness, and charm of Patty are sure to be no less delightful.”--_Public Opinion._

THE MASQUERADER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by
Clarence F. Underwood.

“You can’t drop it till you have turned the last page.”--_Cleveland Leader._ “Its very audacity of motive, of execution, of solution, almost takes one’s breath away. The boldness of its denouement is sublime.”--_Boston Transcript._ “The literary hit of a generation. The best of it is the story deserves all its success. A masterly story.”--_St. Louis Dispatch._ “The story is ingeniously told, and cleverly constructed.”--_The Dial._

THE GAMBLER. By Katherine Cecil Thurston. With illustrations by John
Campbell.

“Tells of a high strung young Irish woman who has a passion for gambling, inherited from a long line of sporting ancestors. She has a high sense of honor, too, and that causes complications. She is a very human, lovable character, and love saves her.”--_N. Y. Times._

THE SPIRIT OF THE SERVICE. By Edith Elmer Wood. With illustrations by
Rufus Zogbaum.

The standards and life of “the new navy” are breezily set forth with a genuine ring impossible from the most gifted “outsider.” “The story of the destruction of the ‘Maine,’ and of the Battle of Manila, are very dramatic. The author is the daughter of one naval officer and the wife of another. Naval folks will find much to interest them in ‘The Spirit of the Service.’”--_The Book Buyer._

A SPECTRE OF POWER. By Charles Egbert Craddock.

Miss Murfree has pictured Tennessee mountains and the mountain people in striking colors and with dramatic vividness, but goes back to the time of the struggles of the French and English in the early eighteenth century for possession of the Cherokee territory. The story abounds in adventure, mystery, peril and suspense.

THE STORM CENTRE. By Charles Egbert Craddock.

A war story; but more of flirtation, love and courtship than of fighting or history. The tale is thoroughly readable and takes its readers again into golden Tennessee, into the atmosphere which has distinguished all of Miss Murfree’s novels.

THE ADVENTURESS. By Coralie Stanton. With color frontispiece by
Harrison Fisher, and attractive inlay cover in colors.

As a penalty for her crimes, her evil nature, her flint-like callousness, her more than inhuman cruelty, her contempt for the laws of God and man, she was condemned to bury her magnificent personality, her transcendent beauty, her superhuman charms, in gilded obscurity at a King’s left hand. A powerful story powerfully told.

THE GOLDEN GREYHOUND. A Novel by Dwight Tilton. With illustrations by
E. Pollak.

A thoroughly good story that keeps you guessing to the very end, and never attempts to instruct or reform you. It is a strictly up-to-date story of love and mystery with wireless telegraphy and all the modern improvements. The events nearly all take place on a big Atlantic liner and the romance of the deep is skilfully made to serve as a setting for the romance, old as mankind, yet always new, involving our hero.

GROSSET & DUNLAP,--NEW YORK

BOOKS ON GARDENING AND FARMING

THREE ACRES AND LIBERTY. By Bolton Hall. Shows the value gained
by intensive culture. Should be in the hands of every landholder.
Profusely illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.

Every chapter in the book has been revised by a specialist. The author clearly brings out the full value that is to be derived from intensive culture and intelligent methods given to small land holdings. Given untrammelled opportunity, agriculture will not only care well for itself and for those intelligently engaged in it, but it will give stability to all other industries and pursuits. (_From the Preface._) “The author piles fact upon authenticated instance and successful experiment upon proved example, until there is no doubt what can be done with land intensively treated. He shows where the land may be found, what kind we must have, what it will cost, and what to do with it. It is seldom we find so much enthusiasm tempered by so much experience and common sense. The book points out in a practical way the possibilities of a very small farm intensively cultivated. It embodies the results of actual experience and it is intended to be workable in every detail.”--_Providence Journal._

NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE. By W. S. Harwood and Luther Burbank.
An Authoritative Account of the Work of Luther Burbank. With 48
full-page halftone plates. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.

Mr. Burbank has produced more new forms of plant life than any other man who has ever lived. These have been either for the adornment of the world, such as new and improved flowers, or for the enrichment of the world, such as new and improved fruits, nuts, vegetables, grasses, trees and the like. This volume describes his life and work in detail, presenting a clear statement of his methods, showing how others may follow the same lines, and introducing much never before made public. “Luther Burbank is unquestionably the greatest student of human life and philosophy of living things in America, if not in the world.”--_S. H. Comings, Cor. Sec. American League of Industrial Education._

A WOMAN’S HARDY GARDEN. By Helena Rutherfurd Ely. Superbly
illustrated with 49 full-page halftone engravings from photographs by
Prof. C. F. Chandler. 12mo. Cloth.

“Mrs. Ely is the wisest and most winsome teacher of the fascinating art of gardening that we have met in modern print. * * * A book to be welcomed with enthusiasm.”--_New York Tribune._ “Let us sigh with gratitude and read the volume with delight. For here it all is: What we should plant, and when we should plant it; how to care for it after it is planted and growing; what to do if it does not grow and blossom; what will blossom, and when it will blossom, and what the blossom will be. It is full of garden lore; of the spirit of happy outdoor life. A good and wholesome book.”--_The Dial._

GROSSET & DUNLAP,--NEW YORK

NATURE BOOKS

With Colored Plates, and Photographs from Life.

NATURE’S GARDEN. An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors. 24 colored plates, and many other illustrations photographed directly from nature. Text by Neltje Blanchan. Large Quarto, size 7-3/4×10-3/8. Cloth. Formerly published at $3.00 net. Our special price, $1.25.

Superb color portraits of many familiar flowers in their living tints, and no less beautiful pictures in black and white of others--each blossom photographed directly from nature--form an unrivaled series. By their aid alone the novice can name the flowers met afield.

Intimate life-histories of over five hundred species of wild flowers, written in untechnical, vivid language, emphasize the marvelously interesting and vital relationship existing between these flowers and the special insect to which each is adapted.

The flowers are divided into five color groups, because by this arrangement anyone with no knowledge of botany whatever can readily identify the specimens met during a walk. The various popular names by which each species is known, its preferred dwelling-place, months of blooming and geographical distribution follow its description. Lists of berry-bearing and other plants most conspicuous after the flowering season, of such as grow together in different kinds of soil, and finally of family groups arranged by that method of scientific classification adopted by the International Botanical Congress which has now superseded all others, combine to make “Nature’s Garden” an indispensable guide.

GROSSET & DUNLAP,--NEW YORK

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.