Special Messenger   By: Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933)

WORKS OF ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

Special Messenger Iole The Firing Line The Reckoning The Younger Set The Maid at Arms The Fighting Chance Cardigan Some Ladies in Haste The Haunts of Men The Tree of Heaven The Mystery of Choice The Tracer of Lost Persons The Cambric Mask A Young Man in a Hurry A Maker of Moons Lorraine The King in Yellow Maids of Paradise In Search of the Unknown Ashes of Empire The Conspirators The Red Republic A King and a Few Dukes Outsiders In the Quarter

FOR CHILDREN

Garden Land Mountain Land Forest Land Orchard Land River Land Outdoorland

SPECIAL MESSENGER

by

ROBERT W. CHAMBERS

[Illustration: "Daintily her handsome horse set foot in the water." Page 131.]

D. Appleton and Company New York MCMIX

Copyright, 1909, by Robert W. Chambers Copyright, 1904, 1905, by Harper and Brothers Copyright, 1908, by P F Collier & Son Copyright, 1908, by The Curtis Publishing Company

Published, March, 1909

TO GEORGE F. D. TRASK

IN MEMORY OF OUR FIRST MARTIAL EXPLOITS IN THE NURSERY

Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. PSALM lx, 4.

PREFACE

In the personality and exploits of the "Special Messenger," the author has been assured that a celebrated historical character is recognizable Miss Boyd, the famous Confederate scout and spy.

It is not uncommon that the readers of a book know more about that book than the author. R. W. C.

CONTENTS

PART ONE

WHAT SHE WAS Page

I. Noncombatants 3

PART TWO

WHAT SHE BECAME

II. Special Messenger 39

III. Absolution 67

IV. Romance 99

V. Red Ferry 127

VI. An Air Line 157

VII. The Pass 192

VIII. Ever After 223

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE

"Daintily her handsome horse set foot in the water" Frontispiece

"'They seem to be allfired sure of us'" 78

"Then, like a flash his hand fell to his holster, and it was empty" 90

"'Turn around,' said the Special Messenger" 176

"She dropped her sunbonnet stooped to recover it" 216

"White faced, desperate, she clung to him with the tenacity of a lynx" 220

"'We was there I know that; yes, an' we had a fight'" 238

"'Yes,' she gasped, 'the Special Messenger noncombatant!'" 258

PART ONE

WHAT SHE WAS

I

NONCOMBATANTS

About five o'clock that evening a Rhode Island battery clanked through the village and parked six dusty guns in a pasture occupied by some astonished cows.