Ferris

“ Angel writhed and was gone.
Ferris did not look back. Hand in hand with Teucrete he walked slowly toward the forest of crystal shafts. There was much damage, and his heart quailed from the task ahead.
"Can you still find the way?" he asked numbly.
"I'm not sure," the girl faltered. "I'm not sure we can ever get back. Exact alignment is so terribly important."
"We can try," said Ferris grimly.
Hand in hand, young men and women, with the dream still fresh within them, will always seek the ultimate answer to the ultimate questions. ”

“ What about Ferris?"
"Ferris!" repeated Prain, in no wise astonished at this abrupt question. "Well, he is an artist, and a bit of a scamp, with whom Edith Wedderburn is in love. I don't know why; perhaps because he is a scamp. Women seem to like scamps, for some reason best known to themselves." ”

“ Ferris expected every instant to see culminate in the solemn gesture which he had used at the widow's bedside before she spoke. Even the group of women who clustered about the foot of the couch wore much the same expression as those who waited for movement on the part of Mrs. Clemmens; and had it not been for the sight of Imogene Dare sitting immovable and watchful on the farther side of the bed, he might almost have imagined he was transported back to the old scene, and that all this new horror under which he was laboring was a dream from which he would speedily be awakened. ”

“ Ferris, who knew his secret, felt a keen interest in watching how he would conduct himself at this juncture. Not an expression of the lawyer's keen and puzzling eye but was seen by the District Attorney and noted, even if it was not understood.
Of the three, Mr. Ferris was the first to turn away, and his thoughts if they could have been put into words might have run something like this: "That man"—meaning Orcutt—"is doing the noblest work one human being can perform for another, and yet there is something in his face I do not comprehend. ”

“ If that man don't answer up I'll shore mess him around; I shore will!"
"Don't forget that peace bond, Mr..Clinchell," Ferris remarked gravely. "It holds, you know—it holds, all excepting in self-defense."
"It 'll be self-defense! I'd shoot him down like a dog! That man's impident!" Sheriff Ferris watched the old man tearing up and down the veranda, swearing and growling, waving his hands and shaking his shaggy head. The sheriff had watched a good many men in his time, good men, bad men, mean men, men who were in earnest and men who put on. ”

“ Percy Ferris to himself as he rode hastily home through the lanes to lunch. "And old Gaunt's got her! That smoke-dried old curmudgeon! Well, some people have the devil's own luck. Poor little woman. Sold to him, I suppose? Sold, body and soul. And he sits looking as though he would like to shut her up in a harem where no other man but himself could ever set eyes on her. ”

“ In the same year John Wolfe printed for Edward White ‘The most dangerous and memorable Adventure of Richard Ferris.’ On the title-page appear the words, ‘Published for the sayd Richard Ferris,’ and a dedication to Sir Thomas Heneage, the queen's treasurer, follows. At the close of the tract is ‘a new sonnet’ celebrating Ferris's arrival at Bristol, by James Sargent. A copy of this rare work is in the Bodleian Library. None is in the British Museum. ”

“ North, between the fugitives and the older native quarters of Castarona, were the gigantic systems of airlocks, and below that, the sprawling tangles of dockland.
Ferris led his companions in a tortuous route that covered miles of angled and uneven rooftops. Realizing that his ident-cards must have come through, he knew that police and security officials must be turning the city inside out in a wild scramble to locate and deal with him. Speed was essential, and more than his personal safety depended upon the outcome of the wild chase over the jagged skylines. ”

“ But Teucrete and Ferris, with the flame of a new love burning fiercely between them, believed that it was important to find and destroy some alien thing that warped men's minds. Others may think only of building a life together, as a pledge to the future, but not Teucrete and Ferris. ”

“ Mayhem shone in Angel's eyes but Ferris put a restraining hand on the furry arm.
"Dead men don't talk," urged Angel hopefully, his non-human tongue licking feral lips.
"Wait," ordered Ferris. "If you kill him now, we will have no chance to escape. It would draw too much attention to us."
"Besides being foolish," said Pao Chung smoothly. "Both of you are strangers in Castarona. Where would you go? Who would hide you? How long would you last?"
"Talk fast," Ferris advised gently. "If you know so much, you know we have little to lose." ”

“ Ferris to draw up to the curb while he told his story. It created quite a sensation.
“Then that’s the headquarters of the marine bandits,” declared Don, with conviction.
“Well, you can’t be sure of that,” said Mr. Ferris. “It is possible that the man might have simply bought stolen goods. But we’ll report this to the police at once. It is well worth knowing, and we may be on the right track, or have a very valuable clue.” ”

“ Ferris, with an eye ambitiously fixed upon the Senate of the United States, had quickly become a living spirit of boundless energy in the Western Trading Company's service, and Miss Alice Worthington, on her New York visits, a girlish tyro, saw only the man, and not the lawyer, in her accomplished metropolitan cavalier. ”

“ But little is known of Richard Ferris, though he was doubtless a man of repute, as Gale speaks approvingly of him, and he held the office of Serjeant-Surgeon in Queen Elizabeth’s time; his portrait is preserved by Holbein in our great picture, and Henry VIII, by his will, bequeathed him 100 marks. He was twice Master of the Barber-Surgeons, viz., in 1551 and 1562. ”

“ Sergeant Ferris and his men stuck to their task day and night, amid the dust and splinters and shock of bursting shells, and their work of reconstruction was more rapid than the enemy's work of destruction. They kept the road open. ”

“ Ferris’s good will to part from it after long suit by himself and great entreaty of Mr. Carleton, Mr. Epsley, [33] and other gentlemen belonging to the Earl of Northumberland, affirming him to be a very honest gentleman, and that they could not have a better tenant, her husband and she were contented to let him have the said lodging at the same rent Mr. Ferris paid for it.’ [34] Mrs. Whynniard had plainly never heard of the mine; and [Pg 30] that the Government was in equal ignorance is shown by the endorsement on the agreement of Ferris, or rather Ferrers, to make over his tenancy to Percy. ”

“ He'll take advantage of anything that comes his way. And frankly, Dr. Ferris, I may be making a mountain out of a mole-hill, but I'm worried to death. Suppose I told you that, say, Duane Carter spent hours every day in Barbara's studio? ”

“ While, as we have seen, the fairies are endowed with many supernatural qualities, they have much in common with ordinary mortals; there are fairy [Pg 56] men, fairy women, and fairy children. I have more than once heard of a fairy's funeral; they intermarry with mortals, and I have been told that those who bear the name of Ferris are descended from fairies. I presume Ferris is a corruption of Fir Sidhe. Fairies are never associated with churchyards, nor are they usually looked on as the spirits of the departed. The banshee may, indeed, partake to some extent of a ghostly character. ”

“ As the splash of paddles grew nearer, The Pup’s heart kept time with their beat, almost choking him with its fierce throbbing. Men! On his trail! He must move—must force his muscles to act! Yet he sat there, his face a sickly grey, his breath coming in short gasps.
Now the bow of the canoe slid into his line of vision. In another second—a fifth of a second—those in the craft would see him. Who were they? Did they know him? Could they be—
His lips pressed together suddenly, forcing back the cry of fear that strove for utterance. They were! Roy and Teddy Manley! And two others! ”

“ The women are the same as the men, the same as the thing that killed Ed. Don't worry about them. Hold the cross in front of you, and for God's sake hang onto it!"
The darkness swelled like a living thing. It swayed and clutched at the torches. Somewhere a high whining began, like a keening wind.
There were sudden sounds from the house—bangings and scramblings. Carver faltered.
"On!" Jerry said savagely, and began to run. He touched his home-made crucifix to the wood of the porch, and with the other hand brought the torch down. Blue sparks jumped out at him. ”

“ The shore slid by rapidly, and the water started to boil under the bow of the canoe. Pop, in the stern, wrinkled his face into a grin. Did this youngster think he could turn the boat on him? The old puncher dug his paddle deep into the water, and his shoulders moved rhythmically. Teddy was hard pushed to keep up with the old man, so powerful were the veteran’s strokes, and as the current was swifter here, the boat seemed fairly to skim over the water, heavy as it was.
“All right, men!” Roy called out. “You’re doing fine! We’re creeping up. ”

“ The boy looked at the unconscious man with open admiration. Then, bending swiftly down, he seized the puncher’s shoulders. “Where’ll we take him?” he asked of his father. “In here?” motioning toward the cook-house.
“No, better take him to the house,” Mr. Manley suggested, looking at Gus closely. “He’s out, cold! No wonder! Ridin’ twelve miles under that sun with a hole ripped in his arm! He sure is a nervy boy!”
“I’ll tell a maverick!” Roy exploded. “Come on, Teddy, we’ll lift him over to the house. Sing Lung, you run ahead and tell mother to get a bed ready. And talk English, not Chinese.” ”

“ The woman leaned on the barrel, her eyes glittering strangely.
“Lucky fer ye my dawg gives ye a clean bill,” she said, with a little laugh. “Sol, here, is my outpost, an’ nothin’ goes by here that he don’t give the once over—not nothin’!” She spat energetically. “Now, if you-all have a mind to, ye can ride on. But stay clear of the cabin. Sol don’t like strangers.”
Bug Eye cast a quick look at Teddy.
“Maybe we ain’t in such a hurry as we was,” he stated carelessly. “Kind of hot, ridin’.” He dismounted slowly, and gave the reins of his mount to Gus to hold. ”

“ They die from that. Clovita rode horses before you were born. Wild horses, that ran like fire! No one could ride like Clovita, I—”
“Hang it up,” Richmond said brutally. Then: “Miss Manley, I must ask you to change cars at this station. Sorry, but the road ain’t so good fer autos. The other young gals too. Boys, pile off. We go back in the car. You girls ride with Clove. We’ll see you later, so don’t pine too much when we leave. And now—adios.” He bowed mockingly.
“What do you mean?” Belle demanded, the blood coming to her cheeks like a flame. “You won’t dare take us! ”

“ The Carver brothers looked out over Dark Valley and shook their heads. "We've lived alone," Ed said. "We'll fight alone."
When Jerry told the sheriff about the giant spoor, Watson gave a derisive snort. "Those old coots got bats in their belfries!" ”

“ How about it, Teddy? Roy? Take a little jaunt? She’s good. Bust her hide, she’s good! Why, on the way over I seen a prairie dog that was goin’ the same way I was, an’—”
“Save it, save it!” Nick yelled. “Why don’t you write a book, Bug Eye? Snakes! I never see a man that could talk as much as you an’ say so little.”
“Yes?” Bug Eye glanced at Nick calmly. “Maybe you don’t understand. You know I talk English, an’ I guess it’s kind of hard for you birds to catch on. Here’s the note, Roy. Fer yore sister. Got anything to eat in there, Gus? Where’s Sing Lung? He ought to have some beans warmin’.” ”

“ Once more Clovita shrugged her shoulders, spreading her hands wide.
“You look,” she said indifferently. “You no find. They far away. Besides—” she stopped, holding her hand to her ear—“I hear men coming,” she concluded, with another grin.
“The rustlers!” Nell gasped, seizing Belle’s arm. “They’re coming here!”
A clatter of horses’ feet sounded on the path outside. There were some muttered sentences, which the girls could not catch, and a figure filled the doorway. It was Richmond, the man who had driven the car. ”

“ Bug Eye inquired eagerly.
Teddy snorted.
“What for? Just to see the scenery? Marino is gone by now. We haven’t as much of a chance as a fish on a desert of finding him.”
“Let’s see! Ain’t that what some one said a while ago?” came from Bug Eye. “Seems to me I heard a voice say he would try fer the Border, an’ that this part of the country would see him no more,” and he looked quizzically at Pop.
“Dry up,” Pop said succinctly. “We all make mistakes. But if you want to, Roy, we’ll land an’ take a look. Think it would do any good?”
“Not a bit,” Roy decided. “We’d only waste our time. ”

“ He stopped and looked at the girls, who stood by the car, Belle defiant, Ethel frankly trembling, Nell pale, but game.
“I’m sorry to have to do this, but you’ll understand why later,” Richmond went on. “When we hear from yore dad an’ if he answers the way we think he will, you’ll be home right soon. If not—” He shrugged his shoulders. “But I’m not worrying about that. Now, climb aboard, you girls. I guess you all can ride. If not, you’ll have to learn quick. The ponies are gentle an’ won’t buck none. Come on, boys.” He entered the car. ”

“ Roy, clothed “in assembled finery,” as Bug Eye said, was delighted when he saw that the craft was not irreparably damaged. It had been washed ashore a short distance below the rock, and, aside from the hole in the stern, it was as good as ever.
“Guess dad’ll be at Jake Trummer’s by now,” Teddy declared. “But we’ll soon have the old boat on the way. Give your orders, Pop! You can be the boss carpenter. What do we do first?”
“Get out that strip of canvas,” Pop suggested. “Where’s yore knife, Roy? ”