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1
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Test Banks for Essentials of Systems Analysis and
Design 5th Edition by Valacich
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Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design, 5e (Valacich/George/Hoffer)
Chapter 1 The Systems Development Environment
1) The end user is not the person in the organization most involved in the systems analysis and
design process.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 3
2) Systems analysis is the second phase of the systems development life cycle.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 3
3) The main goal of systems analysis and design is to improve organizational systems, typically
through applying software that can help employees accomplish key business tasks more easily
and efficiently.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 4
4) Components are parts, or aggregation of parts of the system.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
5) A boundary is the point of contact where a system meets its environment or where subsystems
meet each other.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
6) An information system interacts with its environment when it processes data.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
7) An interface separates a system from other systems.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
8) A system's environment is everything outside a system's boundary that influences the system.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
9) Interfaces exist between subsystems.
Answer: TRUE

2
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
10) A system's capacity can be viewed as a system constraint.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
11) Cohesion is the process of breaking down a system into its smaller components.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8
12) Coupling results in smaller and less complex systems that are easier to understand than
larger, complicated systems.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 9
13) Decomposition allows the systems analyst to build different parts of the system at
independent times and have the help of different analysts.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8
14) Component focusing allows the systems analyst to break a system into small, manageable,
and understandable subsystems.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8
15) Modularity is a direct result of decomposition.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 9
16) Modularity divides a system into chunks or modules of a relatively uniform size.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9
17) Cohesion is the extent to which subsystems depend on each other.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9
18) Systems analysts are key to the systems development process.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 11
19) A systems development methodology is a standard process followed in an organization to
conduct all the steps necessary to analyze, design, implement, and maintain information systems.
Answer: TRUE
20) A systems development technique is the series of steps used to mark the phases of

3
development for an information system.
Answer: FALSE

4
21) The systems development life cycle is a sequentially ordered set of phases.
Answer: FALSE
22) The phases of the systems development life cycle are circular in nature.
Answer: TRUE
23) In the systems development life cycle, it is possible to complete some activities in one phase
in parallel with some activities of another phase.
Answer: TRUE
24) Sometimes the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is iterative.
Answer: TRUE
25) A feasibility study is conducted before the second phase of the SDLC to determine the
economic and organizational impact of the system.
Answer: TRUE
26) The second task in systems analysis is to investigate the system and determine the proposed
system's scope.
Answer: FALSE
27) The output of the systems planning and selection phase is a description of the alternative
solution recommended by the analysis team.
Answer: FALSE
28) Logical design is tied to a specific hardware and software platform.
Answer: FALSE
29) During logical design, the analyst team decides which programming languages the computer
instructions should be written in, which database systems and file structures will be used for the
data, and which hardware platform, operating system, and network environment the system will
run under.
Answer: FALSE
30) Systems implementation and operation is the final phase of the SDLC.
Answer: TRUE

5
31) During installation, the new system becomes part of the daily activities of the organization.
Answer: TRUE
32) During operation, programmers make the changes that users ask for and modify the system
to reflect changing business conditions.
Answer: TRUE
33) Involving the user in analysis and design is a key advantage to the prototyping technique.
Answer: TRUE
34) Joint application design (JAD) is a structured process in which users, managers, and analysts
work together for several days in a series of intensive meetings to specify or review system
requirements.
Answer: TRUE
35) A key principle of the Agile Methodologies is a clear focus on people rather than roles.
Answer: TRUE
36) Rapid application development (RAD) sacrifices human efficiency when rapidly building
and rebuilding working systems.
Answer: FALSE
37) The organizational role most responsible for the analysis and design of information systems
best describes a:
A) business manager.
B) systems analyst.
C) chief information officer.
D) database analyst.
E) network administrator.
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 3
38) The information system includes all of the following EXCEPT:
A) hardware and software.
B) training materials.
C) people who use the software.
D) capital investment.
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 4

6
39) The process of developing and maintaining an information system best describes:
A) joint application design.
B) prototyping.
C) information systems analysis and design.
D) information technology infrastructure development.
E) systems implementation.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 4
40) Software designed to support the payroll function would best be classified as:
A) application software.
B) system software.
C) design software.
D) analysis software.
E) a decision support system.
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 4
41) An information system includes each of the following EXCEPT:
A) application software.
B) culture.
C) documentation and training materials.
D) specific job roles associated with the overall system.
E) controls.
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 4
42) Your primary responsibility as a systems analyst concerns:
A) people.
B) hardware.
C) application software development.
D) controls.
E) documentation and training materials.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5
43) A sequence of step-by-step approaches that help develop the information system best
describes:
A) techniques.
B) tools.
C) methodologies.
D) data flows.
E) flow charts.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5

7
44) The particular processes that an analyst will follow to help ensure that his work is complete,
well done, and understood by project team members best defines:
A) techniques.
B) tools.
C) methodologies.
D) data flows.
E) flow charts.
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5
45) A group of interrelated procedures used for a business function, with an identifiable
boundary, working together for some purpose, best defines:
A) environment.
B) system component.
C) constraint.
D) interface.
E) system.
Answer: E
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 6
46) Computer programs that make it easy to use specific techniques are best defined as:
A) techniques.
B) tools.
C) methodologies.
D) data flows.
E) flow charts.
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5
47) Which of the following is NOT a system characteristic?
A) Scope
B) Output
C) Input
D) Interface
E) Boundary
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 6
48) Dependence of one part of the system on one or more other system parts best describes:
A) boundary.
B) interrelated components.
C) cohesion.
D) dependency.
E) component.
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7

8
49) The line that marks the inside and outside of the system that sets off the system from its
environment, best defines:
A) delineation mark.
B) boundary.
C) scope.
D) interface.
E) analysis area.
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
50) An irreducible part, or an aggregation of parts within a system, is called a(n):
A) component.
B) input.
C) interface.
D) constraint.
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
51) An aggregation of parts is also called a(n):
A) interface.
B) subsystem.
C) collection.
D) accumulation.
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7
52) The overall goal or function of a system best defines:
A) purpose.
B) goal.
C) objective.
D) scope.
E) mission.
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
53) The environment of a state university would NOT include:
A) prospective students.
B) the legislature.
C) the president's office.
D) the news media.
E) a foundation.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7

9
54) The point of contact where a system meets its environment or where subsystems meet each
other best describes:
A) boundary points.
B) interfaces.
C) contact points.
D) merge points.
E) forks.
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7
55) The process of breaking the description of a system down into its smaller components best
defines:
A) coupling.
B) cohesion.
C) decomposition.
D) modularity.
E) scaling.
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8
56) Which of the following is NOT a function of decomposition?
A) Permit different parts of the system to be built at the same time by the same person
B) Allow attention to be concentrated on the part of the system pertinent to a particular audience,
without confusing people with details irrelevant to their interests
C) Facilitate the focusing of attention on one area (subsystem) at a time without interference
from other parts
D) Break a system into smaller, more manageable and understandable subsystems
E) Build different parts of the system at independent times and have the help of different analysts
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 8
57) Which of the following is a direct result of decomposition?
A) Coupling
B) Open systems
C) Cohesion
D) Modularity
E) Interfaces
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9

10
58) The extent to which subsystems depend on each other refers to:
A) modularity.
B) coupling.
C) decomposition.
D) dependence.
E) cohesion.
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9
59) The extent to which a system or subsystem performs a single function defines:
A) modularity.
B) coupling.
C) decomposition.
D) dependence.
E) cohesion.
Answer: E
60) Today, systems development focuses on:
A) modularity.
B) coupling.
C) decomposition.
D) systems integration.
E) systems implementation.
Answer: D
61) Which of the following allows hardware and software from different vendors to work
together in an application?
A) Systems coupling
B) Systems integration
C) Systems decomposition
D) Participatory design
E) Joint application design
Answer: B
62) Analytical skills:
A) help you work with end users, as well as other analysts and programmers.
B) help you understand the potential and the limitations of information technology.
C) help you manage projects, resources, risk, and change.
D) enable you to understand the organization and its functions, to identify opportunities and
problems, and to analyze and solve problems.
E) promote an understanding of the different types of information systems.
Answer: D

11
63) Technical skills:
Answer: B
64) Management skills:
Answer: C
65) Interpersonal skills:
Answer: A
66) The need for a new or enhanced system is identified during:
A) systems planning and selection.
B) systems coding.
C) systems analysis.
D) systems design.
E) systems implementation and operation.
Answer: A

12
67) In which SDLC phase will the analyst study the organization's current procedures and the
information systems used to perform tasks?
A) Systems planning and selection
B) Systems observation
C) Systems analysis
D) Systems design
E) Systems implementation and operation
Answer: C
68) In which phase will the systems analyst convert the description of the recommended
alternative solution into logical and then physical system specifications?
B) Systems conversion
C) Systems analysis
D) Systems design
Answer: D
69) A description of the alternative solution recommended by the analysis team is provided
during the:
A) systems planning and selection phase.
B) systems design phase.
C) systems analysis phase.
D) systems implementation and operation phase.
E) systems alternative selection phase.
Answer: C
70) In which SDLC phase is the information system coded, tested, and installed in the
organization?
B) Systems replacement
C) Systems analysis
D) Systems design
Answer: E

13
71) Priorities for systems and projects are deliverables for the:
A) systems planning and selection phase.
B) systems analysis phase.
C) systems design phase.
D) systems priority phase.
E) systems implementation and operation phase.
Answer: A
72) Which of the following is NOT an approach to systems development?
A) Prototyping
B) Reengineering analysis
C) Joint application design
D) Agile Methodologies
E) Rapid application development
Answer: B
73) Building a scaled-down version of the desired system best describes:
A) prototyping.
B) Agile Methodologies.
C) joint application design.
D) reengineering analysis.
E) rapid application development.
Answer: A
74) A systems development methodology created to radically decrease the time needed to design
and implement information systems best describes:
A) Participatory Design (PD).
B) rapid application development.
D) CASE.
E) Agile Methodologies.
Answer: B
75) A systems development approach that originated in northern Europe, in which users and the
improvement of their work lives are the central focus, best defines:
A) Participatory Design (PD).
D) CASE.
Answer: A

14
76) A centralized database that contains all diagrams, forms and report definitions, data structure,
data definitions, process flows and logic, and definitions of other organizational and system
components best describes:
A) information safe.
B) code generator.
C) repository.
D) data generator.
E) project database.
Answer: C
77) Current approaches to systems development that focus on adaptive methodologies, people
instead of roles, and an overall self-adaptive development process best defines:
A) Participatory Design.
D) CASE.
Answer: E
78) The three key principles shared by the Agile Methodologies include:
A) a focus on predictive methodologies.
B) a focus on roles.
C) a focus on self-adaptive processes.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.
Answer: C

15
Match each of the following SDLC phases with its corresponding definition.
a. Systems planning and selection
b. Systems design
c. Systems implementation and operation
d. Systems analysis
79) The phase of the SDLC in which the current system is studied and alternative replacement
systems are proposed
Answer: d
80) The phase of the SDLC in which the system chosen for development in systems analysis is
first described independently of any computer platform and is then transformed into technology-
specific details from which all programming and system construction can be accomplished
Answer: b
81) The first phase of the SDLC, in which an organization's total information system needs are
analyzed and arranged, and in which a potential information systems project is identified and an
argument for continuing or not continuing with the project is presented
Answer: a
82) The final phase of the SDLC, in which the information system is coded, tested, and installed
in the organization, and in which the information system is systematically repaired and improved
Answer: c

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Left to
Themselves: Being the Ordeal of Philip and
Gerald

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you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Left to Themselves: Being the Ordeal of Philip and Gerald
Author: Edward Prime-Stevenson
Release date: May 23, 2018 [eBook #57203]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEFT TO
THEMSELVES: BEING THE ORDEAL OF PHILIP AND GERALD ***

LEFT TO THEMSELVES
BEING
THE ORDEAL OF PHILIP AND GERALD
BY
EDWARD IRENÆUS STEVENSON
Author of “The Golden Moon,” “White Cockades,” “Janus,” etc.
NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON
CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE
1891
Copyright, 1891, by
HUNT & EATON,
New York.

TO
H. Harkness Flagler
THIS VIGNETTE OF THE BEGINNING OF AN EARLY AND LASTING
FRIENDSHIP
IS INSCRIBED
ΑΘ. τοιγὰρ κατὰ χθόν’ οὖσ’ ἐπικτήσει φίλους.—Æschylus.

A
PREFACE.
preface to a little book of this sort is an anomaly. Consequently it
should be understood the sooner that these fore-words are not
intended for any boys or girls that take up Left to Themselves. It is
solely for the benefit of the adult reader led by curiosity or
carefulness to open the book. The young reader will use his old
privilege and skip it.
It was lately observed, with a good deal of truth, that childhood
and youth in their relations to literature are modern discoveries. To
compare reading for the boys or girls of to-day with that purveyed
even twenty-five years ago, in quantity and quality, is a trite
superfluity.
But it has begun to look as if catering to this discovery of what
young minds relish and of what they absorb has gone incautiously
far. There exists a good measure of forgetfulness that children, after
all is said, are little men and little women, with hearts and heads, as
well as merely imaginations to be tickled. Undoubtedly these last
must be stirred in the story. But there is always a large element of
the young reading public to whom character in fiction, and a definite
idea of human nature through fiction, and the impression of
downright personality through fiction, are the main interests—
perhaps unconsciously—and work a charm and influence good or
bad in a very high degree. A child does not always live in and care
for the eternal story, story, story, incident, incident, incident, of
literature written for him. There are plenty of philosophers not yet
arrived at tail-coats or long frocks. They sit in the corners of the
library or school-room. They think out and feel the personality in
narrative deeply. This element, apart from incident, in a story means
far more to impress and hold and mold than what happens. Indeed,
in the model story for young readers—one often says it, but often

does not succeed in illustrating it—the clear embodiment of
character is of the first importance, however stirring or however
artistically treated or beneficial the incidental side. Jack feels more
than he says from the personal contact, feels more, may be, than he
knows; and Jill is surely apt to be as sensitive as Jack.
Has there not little by little come to be a little too much of kindly
writing down to childhood and to youth? of writing down to it until
we are in danger of losing its level and getting below it? Is not
thoughtless youth more thoughtful than our credit extends to it?
Certainly a nice sense of the balance between sugar and pill seems
needed just now—admitting the need of any actual pill. Children,
after the earliest period, are more serious and finer and more
perceptive natures than we may have come to allowing, or for which
we may have come to working. We forget the dignity of even the
young heart and mind. Light-hearted youth does not necessarily
mean light-headed youth.
This story—with apology for such a preamble—is written in the
aim at deferring to the above ideas; and, furthermore, at including in
the process one or two literary principles closely united to them. It
will be found its writer hopes to embody study, as well as story, for
the thoughtful moments in young lives, on whose intelligences daily
clearly break the beauty and earnestness of human life, of resolute
character, of unselfish friendship and affection, and of high aim. To
them, and of course to all adult readers, who do not feel themselves
out of sympathy with the idealizings and fair inclusions of one’s early
time in this world, what follows is offered.
New York City, February, 1891.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Mr. Sip’s Appearance and Disappearance—Philip and Gerald
Break Ice in Summer 9
CHAPTER II.
Mutual Confidences; and Philip Turns Red in the Face 25
CHAPTER III.
All About a Row 41
CHAPTER IV.
Under Sailing Orders 58
CHAPTER V.
“The Unguessed Beginnings of Trouble” 67
CHAPTER VI.
A Riddle Not Easily Answered—The “Old Province” 90
CHAPTER VII.
Open War 102
CHAPTER VIII.
In Night and Mist 120
CHAPTER IX.
Two out of Twelve 132

CHAPTER X.
From an Old Scrap-book 143
CHAPTER XI.
A Nameless Haven 149
CHAPTER XII.
Invading the Unknown 163
CHAPTER XIII.
At Home in My Neighbor’s House 179
CHAPTER XIV.
Allies 201
CHAPTER XV.
Storm-stayed 218
CHAPTER XVI.
Suspense 247
CHAPTER XVII.
In the Arbor 270
CHAPTER XVIII.
Explanations; and Mr. Jennison sends a Request 293
CHAPTER XIX.
After Many Days 305
CHAPTER XX.
Present and Future 317

LEFT TO THEMSELVES:
BEING
THE ORDEAL OF PHILIP AND GERALD.

M
CHAPTER I.
MR. SIP’S APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE
—PHILIP AND GERALD BREAK ICE IN
SUMMER.
r. Patrick Sip had seated himself by the side of the brook that
purled through the deep green ravine lying about three miles
back of the Ossokosee House. Mr. Sip was not a guest at that new
and flourishing summer resort. Mr. Sip, indeed, had hardly found
himself a welcome guest anywhere within five or six years. He
possessed a big, burly figure, a very unshaven and sunburnt face,
and a suit of clothes once black, when upon the back of an earlier
wearer, but long since faded to a dirty brown. Mr. Sip never used an
umbrella nowadays, although he exercised much in the open air.
Upon his unkempt hair slanted a tattered straw hat. Beside him lay a
thickish walking-stick without any varnish. There was one thing
which Mr. Sip had not about him, as any body would have inferred at
a glance, although it is often difficult to detect by sight—a good
character. In short, Mr. Sip looked the complete example of just what
he was—a sturdy, veteran tramp of some thirty summers and
winters, who had not found through honest labor a roof over his
head or a morsel between his bristly lips since his last release from
some one of the dozen work-houses that his presence had graced.
“Humph!” said Mr. Sip, half aloud, as he changed his position so as
to let his bare feet sink deeper in the rippling creek (Mr. Sip was
laving them), “I see plenty o’ water around here, but there aint
nothin’ in sight looks like bread. Plague them turnips! Raw turnips
aint no sort o’ a breakfast for a gentleman’s stomach. Is they, now?”

He splashed his feet about in the pure cold water, by no means to
cleanse them from the dust of the highway, but simply because it
was easier to drop them into the stream than to hold them out as he
sat on the abrupt bank. He whistled a part of a tune and seemed to
forget having put his question to the wrens and wagtails in the
sassafras.
“If, now, I could jist stick out my hand and pull a ham sangwich
off o’ that there useless little tree,” pursued Mr. Sip, complainingly;
“or if you could sort o’ lay here an’ meditate an’ presen’ly find a
good-sized pan o’ cold victuals a-comin’ a-floatin’ up.”
Neither of these attractive phenomena seeming likely to occur
immediately, Mr. Sip sighed as if injured, shook his head, and said
with decided temper, “Ugh, natur’! They talk so much about natur’ in
them books an’—an’ churches, an’ p’lice courts, an’ sich. What’s
there nice about natur’, I’d like to know, when a man can keep
company with natur’ as stiddy as I do an’ never git so much as his
reg’lar meals out o’ her one day in the week? Natur’, as fur as I’ve
found out, don’t mean nothing ’cept wild blackberries in season. I
don’t want no more to do with natur’!” Mr. Sip concluded with an
angry slap at a huge horsefly that had lighted upon his ankle, and
uttered his favorite exclamation, “My name aint Sip!”—which,
although he meant the phrase merely as an expletive when he was
particularly put out over any matter, happened to be the case.
Just at that moment Mr. Sip looked across to the opposite bank of
the creek and discovered that he and the horsefly were not alone. A
boy was standing rather further up the stream with a fishing-rod in
his hand observing the odd figure this wandering philosopher upon
nature cut. The boy appeared to be in the neighborhood of twelve
years of age. He had a trim figure and fair hair, and the sunlight on
it and through a green branch of a young maple behind him made
the brightest spots of color in the somber little chasm. On his young
face were mingled expressions of amusement and disgust as to Mr.
Sip. Across his arm was a basket. A napkin dangled out of this
suggestively.

“Come here, sonny,” invited Mr. Sip in an amiable tone, and with a
leer of sudden good feeling—for the luncheon basket.
“What did you say?” the boy called back rather timidly, without
moving toward his new acquaintance.
“I said, ‘Come here,’” repeated Mr. Sip, sharply, drawing his feet
out of the water and beckoning. He took a hasty glance up and
down the stream. “How many nice little fishes has you and that pa o’
yourn caught since morning? Ten?”
“I haven’t caught any fish so far,” replied the lad, “and my father
isn’t here. He’s up in Nova Scotia, thank you.”
“O,” Mr. Sip responded, “Nova Scotia? I remember I heard o’ his
goin’ there. Say, sonny,” he went on, wading out to the middle of the
creek with an ugly expression deepening over his red face as he
realized that the bearer of the basket was alone, “What time is it?”
The boy retreated a few steps, pulling out a neat little silver
watch, too polite to refuse the information. “Half past eleven,” he
said, in his pleasant accent.
“O, but is that there watch correck?” inquired the evil-faced
gentleman, taking several steps in the water toward that margin
from which the lad had drawn back prudently. “Let me come up and
see it for myself, wont you? That looks like a new watch.”
“I say, keep off!” cried the owner of the watch, all at once
suspecting the designs of Mr. Sip and turning slightly pale. “Keep off,
there, I say!” The intrepid little fellow dropped his rod and caught up
a stone that lay near. “I—I don’t like your looks! I’ll throw this at you
if you come any closer.”
The boy’s face was whiter at each word, although his spirit gave a
ring to his threat. But Mr. Sip had invaded too many kitchens and
terrified far too many helpless servant-maids to allow himself to be
daunted by a boy well dressed and carrying a watch and a basket of
good things. He uttered an angry oath and splashed violently toward

the lad, stumbling among the sharp flints of the creek. It was open
war begun by hot pursuit.
The path by which Gerald Saxton (for that happened to be the
name of the solitary little fisherman) had made his way to the creek
was steep and irregular. He ran up it now, panting, with Mr. Sip in
stumbling chase, the latter calling out all manner of threats as he
pursued. The boy was frightened greatly, but to be frightened is not
to be a coward, and he knew that the path led into Farmer Wooden’s
open meadow.
Through the green underbrush he darted, running up along the
slope of the ravine, prudent enough not to waste his wind in cries
that would not be at all likely to reach the farm-house, until he
should dash out in the field itself, and planting his small feet
carefully.
“If he catches up to me,” thought Gerald, “he will knock me over
and get the watch and be off before I can help it! I must make the
meadow!”
On hurtled Mr. Sip, floundering up the narrow path, still giving
vent to exclamations that only quickened Gerald’s flight. Suddenly
Mr. Sip saw an opportunity for a short cut by which Gerald might yet
be overtaken. He bounced into it. Just as Gerald shot forth into the
long meadow the furious philosopher found himself hardly ten yards
in arrear.
“Now I’ve got yer!” he called, too angry to observe that the farm-
house was in sight. “You drop—that basket—an’ that watch—or—”
Now Gerald shouted lustily, still flying ahead.
But Mr. Sip did not finish. A new figure came into action.
“What under the canopy is that?” cried a boy who was so much
older and larger than little Gerald that he might almost have been
called a young man. He was standing by the well up in the
Woodens’s dooryard waiting for the horse he had been driving to
finish drinking. In another moment he grasped the situation and was
leaping swiftly and noiselessly down the long slope over the stubble.

Tramps had been plentiful lately. His voice rang out to comfort
Gerald and warn Mr. Sip. Gerald looked up, but with a white, set little
face ran past him. Mr. Sip, taking in the height, weight, and courage
of the frightened boy’s new ally, turned and began running toward
the low oak trees.
A strong ash stick, thrown with excellent aim, struck Mr. Sip
squarely in the small of his back. He staggered for an instant, but
rallied, and, a coward to the last, vanished in the thicket with a
parting curse. Within an hour he might have been seen drinking
buttermilk thirstily at a cottage a mile away. The good-humored
farmer’s daughter gave it to him, pitying a man who was “walking all
the way from Wheelborough Heights to Paterson, in Jersey, marm,
to find my old boss and git a job he’s promised me.”
And now good-bye, Mr. Sip! You have done something to-day that
would surprise your lazy self immensely. You have done a stroke of
work. Thanks to your being a brutal vagrant, there is just coming
about an acquaintance that is of the utmost import in the carrying
on of this story—without which it would never have been worth
writing or reading.
“Well, upon my word!” ejaculated the new-comer, wheeling about
as if disposed to waste no more pains upon a man of Mr. Sip’s
kidney, and coming back to Gerald Saxton. “I am very glad I heard
you! What did that rascal want of you? His kind have been
uncommonly thick this autumn.”
“Why—he was after my watch, I think,” replied Gerald, sitting
down on a flat rock, a smile re-appearing upon his startled face. “I
was standing down at the bottom of the path in the glen when he
began talking to me. First thing I knew I saw that he meant
mischief. I suppose it wasn’t wonderfully brave of me to run from
him.”
“Brave in you!” exclaimed merrily the solid-looking older lad. “As if
a brute like that was not as big as six of you! You acted precisely as

any sensible fellow of your size would do. ‘He who fights and runs
away,’ you know. Did he do you any harm?”
“Not a bit, thanks. He didn’t get close enough to me”—this with a
chuckle.
“Were you fishing down in that lonely glen? It is a very fair spot
for bass.”
“Yes; Mr. Wooden took me down into the ravine quite a little way
above it. Do you know the place, sir?”
“O, yes, sir; I know the place very well, sir,” answered Gerald’s
defender, with a quizzical twinkle in his eyes as he repeated those
“sirs.” Then they both laughed. Gerald slyly compared their
respective heights. His new friend could not be so very much taller.
Certainly he was not over seventeen.
“You see, I was raised here—after a fashion,” went on the latter in
his clear, strong voice. “You are one of the guests over at our
Ossokosee House, aren’t you? I think I’ve seen you on the piazza.”
“Yes; I’ve been stopping there while my father is away. My name
is Gerald Saxton, though almost every body calls me Gerald.”
“And mine is Philip Touchtone, but every body calls me Philip, and
you needn’t call me ‘sir,’ please. I know Mr. Marcy, who keeps the
Ossokosee, very well. It was to deliver a message from him to the
Woodens about the hotel butter that I stopped here this afternoon.
But do tell me how that scamp dared run after you? The minute I
saw him and you, even as far off as Mrs. Wooden’s back door, I
suspected that it was a tramp, and I didn’t hesitate very long.”
“No, you didn’t,” answered Gerald. And he walked along, swinging
his arm manfully and fighting over again for Philip Touchtone’s
benefit those details of the brief skirmish between himself and Mr.
Sip that had hurriedly followed one another previous to Philip’s
advent. He continued his furtive observation of his new friend all the
time. Touchtone had gained about five feet four of his full height,
with a broad, well-developed chest, active legs, and a good straight

way of carrying himself that reminded one of his sharp, pleasant way
of speaking. His hair was dark enough to pass for black, as would his
eyes and eyebrows, although they were actually brown, and full of
an honest brightness. As for his face, it was rather long, full, and not
particularly tanned, though the sun was well acquainted with it. The
most attractive feature of it was a mouth that expressed good
humor and resolution. In short, Gerald might have easily made up
his mind that Philip Touchtone was a person born to work for and
get what the world held for him.
“Whew!” exclaimed he, as Gerald reminded him, “I forgot Mrs.
Wooden’s carpet-beater! I threw it after your friend down there. He
got the full benefit of it.”
“And I forgot my rod! I dropped it when I thought it was best to
run.”
“Wait a minute and I’ll get both,” said Philip. “I know that identical
rock where you say you stood—at the foot of the path.” And before
Gerald could remonstrate Philip ran from his side and darted down
into the glen where Mr. Sip must have still lurked in wrath. But
sooner than Gerald could feel alarm for him Philip came back with
rod and beater.
“We need never expect to see him again,” he said, breathlessly.
“But—halloa! There are Mrs. Wooden and Miss Beauchamp, who
boards with her. She teaches the district school here, and it’s just
begun. They must be wondering what has become of me. Suppose
we hurry up a trifle. You can ride back to the hotel with me, unless
you care to stay and fish—for more tramps.”
“No, I thank you,” answered Gerald. “You would be nowhere near
to help me fight them.” A determined flash came into the boy’s
countenance, such as he had shown when he caught up the bit of
rock in defiance of the ragged Sip.
“O, I beg your pardon,” he went on in his odd, rather grown-up
manner; “I haven’t said how much obliged to you I am for coming
down there.”

“You are quite welcome,” laughed his new friend, looking down
with frank eyes upon the younger boy.
“Perfectly welcome, ‘Gerald,’ you were going to say,” added his
companion, simply, feeling as if he had known for years this winning
new-comer, who seemed not so much boy or man, but a confusion
of both, that made up some one with whom he could speedily be on
familiar terms. “Hark! Mrs. Wooden is calling you. That horse of
yours is eating an apple out of Miss Beauchamp’s hand, too.”
The two Woodens and their boarder, Miss Beauchamp, walked
forward to meet the boys as they advanced from the lane.
“Well, Philip,” was the white-headed old farmer’s greeting, “where
did you fly to so sudden? Neither wife, here, nor I could set eyes on
you. And so you’ve struck up an acquaintance with Master Gerald,
have you?”
“Well, yes; and struck an acquaintance of his in the middle of his
back,” responded Philip. “How do you do, Miss Beauchamp? Didn’t
you, any of you, see the fight?”
“Fight!” cried Mrs. Wooden, clapping her fat hand to her bosom
and nearly dropping the wooden tray of fresh butter she held. “Why,
Philip Touchtone! Who has been a-fightin’? Not you—nor you?” she
added, turning to Gerald.
“We all have been fighting, I’m afraid, Mrs. Wooden,” said the
latter—“three of us.”
After this preamble there had to be an account of the skirmish.
Miss Beauchamp and Mrs. Wooden alike decided it was “shocking.”
“He might have drawn a pistol on both of you!” exclaimed Miss
Beauchamp, “and a great deal more might have come of it.”
“Well,” Gerald protested, “the only thing that’s come of it is that I
have met a friend of yours here.”
“And you couldn’t do a better thing, Gerald!” exclaimed Mrs.
Wooden, beginning to stow away butter and eggs in the spring-

wagon from the Ossokosee House. “Mr. Philip Touchtone is a
particular pet of Miss Beauchamp’s and mine when he is a good boy
—as he almost always is,” the farmer’s fat wife lightly added.
“And a capital friend,” added the grave Miss Beauchamp, with a
smile, “for a boy about the age and size of one I know to have on
his books. You ask Mr. Marcy over at the hotel all about him, Gerald.
Now, you do that for me soon.”
“O, pshaw, Miss Beauchamp!” Philip interrupted, his wide-awake
face rather red, and straightening himself up to endure these broad
compliments, “you and Mrs. Wooden ought to remember that people
who praise friends to their faces are said to be fond of slandering
them behind their backs. Come, Mr. Wooden, I promised Mr. Marcy
to be back as soon as I could. Jump in, Gerald.”
The boy swung his slender figure up to the cushioned seat. Philip
quickly followed after a few more words with the farmer. Then the
wagon rattled out into the road and was soon bowling along to the
Ossokosee. Philip favored the baskets and bundles in the back of the
spring-wagon with a final glance, and then turned to Gerald with the
manner of a person who intends asking and answering a large
number of questions. And Gerald felt quite eager to do the same
thing.
Why each of these lads, so entirely out of his own free will, should
have mutually confided details of their two histories, when each was
so much a stranger, met to-day, and perhaps never sitting again
within speaking-distance after to-morrow, was a riddle to both of
them. But the solution of it is as old as the rocks in Wooden’s
Ravine, perhaps older. We may keep our lives and thoughts under a
lock and key as tightly as we like until the day comes when,
somewhere along this crowded highway called Life, we all at once
run square against some other human creature who is made by fate
to be our best friend. Then, take my word for it, whether he is
younger or older, he will find out from our own lips every thing in the
bottom of our hearts that he chooses to ask about; and, what is

more, we ought to find ourselves glad to trust such a person with
even more than the whole stock that is there.

“T
CHAPTER II.
MUTUAL CONFIDENCES; AND PHILIP TURNS
RED IN THE FACE.
his has been my first summer at the Ossokosee,” said Gerald,
as the wagon trundled on. “Papa and I live in New York, in the
Stuyvesant Hotel. We have always been to Shelter Island until this
year.”
“I have lived quite a good deal in New York myself,” remarked
Philip. “You see, I have nobody to look after me except Mr. Marcy.
My mother died several years ago. In three or four weeks from this
time Mr. Marcy takes me down to the city with him when this house
is shut.”
“Is Mr. Marcy your uncle?”
“O, no! No relation at all. I often feel as if he was, though. He has
kept watch of me and helped me with my education ever since my
mother’s death.”
Touchtone’s eyes lost their happy light an instant.
“During the summer, of course, I have no time to do any studying,
and not too much in the winter. I have a great deal else to busy me,
helping Mr. Marcy.”
“Why, what do you help him with?” inquired Gerald, with interest,
remembering Touchtone in the office and the dining-room, and
indeed every-where about the Ossokosee, except the parlors.
“Well, Mr. Marcy calls me a kind of aid-de-camp to him and Mrs.
Ingraham, the housekeeper, too, particularly when there is danger of

the kitchen running short of supplies. Now and then, if the farmers
around here fail us, I have to spend half the day driving about the
country, or you might starve at supper-table all at once. O, and then
I look after one or two books in the office!”
Gerald laughed.
“Papa has kept me here because he heard so much about the
table; and because Mr. Marcy told him there were so few boys that I
couldn’t get into mischief. Papa used to be a broker, but he don’t do
any thing now. I believe he retired, or whatever they call it, a year
or so ago. He’s been camping out with a party of gentlemen from
the Stock Exchange ever since midsummer away up in Nova Scotia. I
haven’t any mother either.”
“Why didn’t you go with them?” inquired Philip, guiding
Nebuchadnezzar skillfully through an irregular series of puddles. The
view of the rolling green country, dotted with farm-houses and gray
or red barns, was now worth looking at as they came out on the flat
hill-top.
“I should have liked to go very much; but papa said that they
were all expecting to ‘rough it,’ and the weather might be too cold
for me. He was afraid I would be sick or something, and I know I’d
be a good deal of trouble to him. Hasn’t it stayed hot, though? I
suppose they are having a splendid time up there all by themselves
hunting and fishing. He wrote me that there wasn’t a house within
five miles of them. In October we are to meet in New York again.
School begins next week; but I’m not to hurry back this year.”
Gerald spoke of the “splendid time” rather wistfully. The little
fellow had been lonely in the big Ossokosee, Philip fancied.
“What school do you go to?” inquired Gerald after a moment;
“that is, when you are in New York?”
“Not to any now,” soberly responded Philip, with a frown coming
over his forehead. It was the secret grief of his spirit that he had not
been able to advance further in a thorough education. When Gerald
spoke of his holidays coming to an end; he involuntarily envied this

boy. “But before I came to live so much with Mr. Marcy, and when
my mother was alive, I went to the Talmage School.”
“Why, that’s my school now!” exclaimed Gerald, smiling. “How
queer! But it’s a pretty old school.”
And then came interrogations as to what pupils or teachers had
been there in Philip’s school-days.
To Gerald, who was quite wide awake to reflections upon a good
many more problems than thinkers of his age often pause over,
already there seemed to be something like a mystery hanging
around this young Touchtone. He made up his mind that his new
friend did not appear a shade out of place this morning driving
around a hotel-wagon after butter and eggs from the farms. But he
also decided if he should meet Philip in a tennis-suit with a group of
the most “aristocratic” lads of Murray Hill, or see him marching
about the floor at some crowded “reception” given by the school,
why, Touchtone would look just as much in his proper surroundings
—only more so. While he was assenting to these ideas something
else occurred to make the younger boy puzzled about the older one.
A buggy came spinning along the road to meet them. From the
front leaned out a young man, ten or twelve years older than
Touchtone, wearing a brown beard. He checked his horse as he
approached and called out some words that Gerald at once knew
were German. Philip laughed and answered them in the same
language quite as fluently. The occupant of the buggy—Gerald
rightly supposed him the young German doctor that lived in the
village—began quite a chat with Touchtone entirely in German. Both
spoke so rapidly that Gerald found his study of the language at the
Talmage School did not help him to catch more than an occasional
“ja” or “nein.”
The young doctor rode on.
“How well you must know German,” said Gerald, admiringly. “Did
you learn it across the water?” the boy added, half in joke.

“Yes,” responded Touchtone, to the astonishment of the other lad.
“I learned it in Hanover, when I was there, before we lived near New
York.”
Gerald happened to glance at Philip’s face. It was oddly red, and
his voice sounded strangely. All this time, too, there was certainly
one particular person to whom he had not so much as referred. But
after Gerald had bethought himself of this omission and put his next
question he would have given a great deal not to have uttered it.
The regret did not come until he had asked Philip point-blank:
“I think you said that your—your father was dead, didn’t you? Was
that after you came back?”
Philip made no reply. A blush reddened his frank face painfully. His
pleasant expression had given place to an angry look. He gave
unoffending Nebuchadnezzar a sharp cut with the long whip, as if to
conceal mortification in showing his feelings, whatever they arose
from, to a comparative stranger. He looked away from Gerald’s
startled blue eyes toward the flag-crowned gables of the Ossokosee
House, that now were in full sight, as the wagon turned into one of
the graveled avenues leading to the kitchen.
“My father died after we came home,” he said, as if he had to face
himself to speak of something that he could hardly bear to think of.
“I was born in Germany, and lived there until we sailed.”
“I—I beg your pardon,” said Gerald, blushing in his turn.
“What for?”
“Because I think I asked you something that—that there was no
reason for me to be told.”
“O, don’t mention it,” returned Touchtone. He recovered his self-
possession so curiously lost. “It is just as well that you did, I rather
believe. Some day, perhaps, I can explain about it to you. No harm
done. Pompey! Pompey!” he called out in his pleasant voice to a tall
servant walking across the back piazza of the dining-room. “Come
here, please, and help take some of these things to Mrs. Ingraham’s

store-room. If you will wait a moment,” he continued, to Gerald, “I’ll
walk around to the front with you. I want to see Mr. Marcy.”
The contents of the wagon were disposed of among the servants.
Nebuchadnezzar set out by himself for the stables, at a word of
command from Philip.
On the front steps were some groups chatting, reading, writing, or
watching the nearer of two games of tennis, played at a little
distance, out upon the wide lawn. The Ossokosee was to close for
the season within about a fortnight, and only the uncommon heat of
the September weather kept it still fairly full.
“Halloa, Philip!” called Mr. Marcy from the desk. The office
inclosure was a handsome addition to the hall, with its cheerful
stained glass, carved railings, rows of letter and key boxes and bell
signals. “Where did you light upon that young gentleman? I’m not
sorry, Gerald. Your father has left you in my charge, and you’re too
heavy a responsibility. I think I’ll turn you over to Philip there. You
might make a pretty fair guardian, Philip.”
“All right,” returned Gerald, gayly. “I say, guardian,” he continued,
turning with mischievous eyes to Touchtone, “can’t you come up to
my room after you get through your luncheon? Harry Dexter and I
are going down to the lake at four o’clock to see them practice for
the regatta. But we’ll have plenty of time first.”
“I am going to the lake myself,” said Philip. “I belong to the
Ossokosee crew that rows, you know.”
“O, yes; so you do. Then we can all go together. You’ll come, wont
you?” And he seemed so anxious that Touchtone answered, “Yes,”
and “Thank you,” at once.
Philip turned into the office, where he began giving the gentlemen
there the history of the battle at Wooden’s Ravine. “Served him
right, Philip!” heartily exclaimed the genial book-keeper, Mr. Fisher,
on hearing of the stick throwing, “and you’ll find that little fellow a
youngster worth your knowing.”

Meantime Gerald was running lightly up the broad, smoothly
polished oak stairs and entering the room that the father had
engaged for his son’s use. Not being able, or thinking he was not, to
have the boy with him in Nova Scotia, he had wished to make Gerald
as luxuriously comfortable as a lad could be. The gay Ossokosee
House had, nevertheless, a perfectly new interest to Gerald now.
The little boy had been welcomed by a good many of the guests
stopping there. There were a few of his own age that had been his
chums, for want of others. But now that he had met Touchtone
things began to look all at once more enjoyable.
And what could be the reason that so open-hearted and jolly a
companion should be so alone in the world, and feel so terribly cut,
and blush in that embarrassed fashion because of a simple question
concerning his father?
Philip came up to Number 45 in due time that afternoon. He
looked over Gerald’s foreign photographs and his coin collection. And
so the time sped on, and interest in the acquaintance mutually
prospered.
The next day they did not meet until after supper. Mr. Marcy had
only three or four letters he wished Philip to write. When these were
finished he and Gerald walked out into the hotel grounds, talking of
the coming regatta and feeling quite like old companions. Two crews
only were to row—the Ossokosee Boat Club and the Victory Rowing
Association—and much interest was attached to the race. Mr. Marcy
had offered a prize of two hundred dollars to the winners, and,
furthermore, the Ossokosee Club were determined not to be beaten
for the fourth year. The last three regattas had resulted, one after
another, in the triumph of the elated Victors. Philip was a zealous
member of the Ossokosees, and found it hard work to keep in any
kind of training, what with his duties at the hotel. But then the
whole affair was not so “professional” as it might have been, and
Touchtone’s natural athletic talents and Mr. Marcy’s indulgence
helped him to pull his oar as skillfully and enduringly as any other of
the six.

Gerald listened with all his ears to his friend’s account of their last
year’s defeat. All at once Philip remembered a message for Mrs.
Ingraham about the flowers from the conservatory.
“Please stand here by the arbor one moment?” he asked. “I’ll just
run to the dining-room and find her.”
Now, there was a long rustic seat outside the thick growth of
vines, running over the same arbor. Gerald sat down upon this
bench. Some guests of the house were grouped inside, conversing
together. No secrets were being told. Gerald did not feel himself an
eavesdropper. In fact, he did not pay any heed to the talking going
on just back of his head until he heard a slow voice that was a
certain General Sawtelle’s.
“O, young Touchtone, you mean? Yes, yes; a remarkably fine
young fellow! Any father might be proud of such a son—and any son
ashamed of such a father as he had.”
Gerald started almost to his feet.
“Why, who was his father?” asked another indolent voice. “What
did he do?”
Gerald was a boy of delicate honor. He was about to hurry away,
eager as he was to sympathize with his attractive “guardian’s”
trouble. He scorned to play the eavesdropper, and he equally
scorned to be told this secret until Philip would utter it. But before
he could step to the soft turf, and so slip out of ear-shot, Philip
Touchtone himself came up beside him. Philip had stepped with
unintentional lightness to the bench where he had left his little
protégé and caught the last clearly spoken sentences.
Gerald would have drawn him away, too; but Philip took the hand
of the younger boy and made a sign to him to remain and hear what
General Sawtelle would reply. He put his finger upon his lips.
“Why,” responded the general, from within this arbor, “his father
was Touchtone—Reginald Touchtone—who was so badly involved in

the famous robbery of the Suburban Trust Company, years ago, in X
——, just outside of New York.”
“O,” returned the other speaker, “I remember. Touchtone was the
cashier.”
“Yes; the man that turned out to be a friend of the gang that did
the business,” another speaker chimed in.
“Certainly. They were sure that the scamp opened the safe for
them. They made out a clear case against him. He went to the
penitentiary with the rest of ’em.”
Gerald was trembling, and held Philip’s cold hand as the two lads
stood there to hear words so humiliating to one of them. But Philip
whispered, “Don’t go!” and still restrained him.
“Yes, it was as plain as daylight. The fellow opened the safe for
the rogues! At first the indictment against him was rather shaky. He
was tried, and got off with a light sentence; only a year or so, I
believe.”
“Convicted, all of ’em, on State’s evidence, weren’t they?”
“Yes, this Touchtone included. One of the crowd decided to speak
what he knew. I presume Touchtone had had his share of what they
all got. But it didn’t do the man much good.”
“Why, what became of him?” asked another voice.
“O, he and his wife rented a little cottage up here. They left their
house near New York, or in it, and came here till Touchtone died. He
had consumption. Marcy was an old friend of the lad’s mother, and
helped them along, I understand, till this boy, Philip, was left alone
by her dying, too. She was a fine woman, I’ve been told. Stuck to
her husband and to his innocence, till the last. After that, Marcy took
Phil with him. I think he expects to adopt him.”
“Well, he’s a nice boy, anyway,” came the other voice, “and
Marcy’s proud of him, I can see. I guess he’ll turn out a credit in
spite of his father. What time is it? My watch has stopped.”

“Come,” said Philip, softly. He walked away with Gerald. Neither
spoke.
At length Gerald said, gently, “Is that all, Philip? You made me
listen!”
“All?” replied young Touchtone, bitterly. “Isn’t it enough? Yes, I
made you listen! I wanted you to know the story before you saw any
more of me. There’s another side to it, but that isn’t the one you will
find people trouble themselves over. I wanted you to hear what you
did. But I couldn’t tell you myself. I am the son of—of—my father. I
don’t care for mere outsiders, who know it already and think none
the worse of me for it. But other people, if I care any thing about
them, why, they must know with whom they are taking up.”
It cost him a struggle to say this. Gerald was younger than he. But
the manly, solitary little guest of the Ossokosee had gained in these
two days a curious hold over him. Philip had never had a brother. If
he had ever thought of one, the ideal conjured up would have been
filled by Gerald. He felt it now as he stopped and faced the latter in
the moonlight.
But Gerald looked straight up into Philip’s face. He smiled and
said, “Philip, I believe your father didn’t do that.”
Touchtone put out his hand with a quick gesture of intense
surprise.
“Gerald!” he cried as their two palms met in a clasp that hurt the
smaller one, “what in the world made you say that?” There was
something solemn, as well as eager, in his tone.
“O, nothing particular,” the heir of the Saxton impulsiveness
answered, simply; “but I don’t believe it, that’s all! I don’t!”
“He don’t believe it either,” Gerald heard Philip say, as if to himself,
“and I don’t. What a little trump you are, Gerald Saxton!” They
walked a little further in silence; then Philip again spoke, in a tone
from which all the sudden joy and cheerfulness were gone: “Well,

Gerald, you and I may be able to prove it together some day to the
people. But I don’t know—I don’t know!”
Certainly they were to accomplish many strange things together,
whether that was to be one of them or not.

T
CHAPTER III.
ALL ABOUT A ROW.
he guests of the Ossokosee had the pleasure of seeing a bright,
still day for the regatta. By nine o’clock the shady road leading to
the lake began to echo with carriages. In the little wind that stirred
flags swayed down in the village and from the staffs on the
Ossokosee and the little boat-house. As for the pretentious Victors’
head-quarters, they were flaunting with streamers and bunting to an
extent that must have severely taxed the treasury.
“I don’t see where so many more people than usual have come
from!” exclaimed Mr. Marcy to Gerald and Mrs. and Miss Davidson as
they drove along toward the starting-point. And, in truth, for a race
between two crews of lads, and of such local interest, the crowd was
flattering. Country wagons lined the bank, in which sat the farmers
of the district, with their wives and daughters gorgeously arrayed in
pink and blue and white calico gowns; and bunches of roses and
dahlias were every-where about them.
“There are Mr. Wooden and Mrs. Wooden, with Miss Beauchamp,”
exclaimed Gerald, nodding his head vigorously to the group.
Fashionable carriages were not few, filled with ladies in gay colors,
who chatted with knickerbockered young men, or asked all sorts of
questions of their husbands and brothers and cousins about the two
crews.
“Those must be regular parties from the other hotels about here,”
said Miss Davidson, “made up expressly to drive over here this
morning. Well, well!”

“Yes,” Mr. Marcy assented, “I never expected to see such a general
turning out at one of the Ossokosee regattas. Do notice, too, how
the shores over there are covered with people, walking and sitting!
Bless my heart! I hope that Phil and his friends are—h’m—not going
to be so badly beaten, when there are so many hundreds of eyes to
see it! Never was such a fuss made over our race before, especially
a race so late in the season.”
Mr. Marcy jumped out. They were near the Ossokosee boat-house.
After he had seen how the oarsmen who bore the name and credit
of his hotel were feeling over their coming struggle he was to get
into a good-sized barge with several other gentlemen, one of them
being the starter and umpire.
Gerald was looking at him with the full power of his blue eyes as
Mr. Marcy stood directing the driver where to station the carriage for
Mrs. Davidson and her daughter. The boy’s glance was so eloquent
that the proprietor of the Ossokosee House exclaimed:
“Why, Gerald, what was I thinking of? You come along with me if
you choose to. That boat is apt to be crowded, but you’re a little
fellow and wont add much to the party. I guess I can have you
squeezed in.”
So the delighted boy followed his elderly friend through the grass
toward the boat-house and the judge’s barge.
“Shall I see Philip?” he asked, as they advanced to the inclosure. A
long line of stragglers hung about the gate leading down to the
Ossokosees’ quarters. The village constable good-naturedly kept
them from entrance.
“Yes; come right along,” Mr. Marcy said, taking Gerald’s hand.
They hurried down to the rear door together.
“Hurrah! there’s Mr. Marcy,” was the exclamation, as they were
allowed to step in. The six boys, Philip and Davidson foremost, were
already in full rig and busy over the long shell just about to be easily
deposited in the water by the side of the float. Mr. Marcy and a
couple of his friends saw this feat accomplished safely. Others of the

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