THE CAPTAIN'S TOLL-GATE

CONTENTS

I. OLIVE
II. MARIA PORT
III. MRS. EASTERFIELD
IV. THE SON OF AN OLD SHIPMATE
V. OLIVE PAYS TOLL
VI. MR. CLAUDE LOCKER
VII. THE CAPTAIN AND HIS GUEST GO FISHING AND COME HOME HAPPY
VIII. CAPTAIN ASHER IS NOT IN A GOOD HUMOR
IX. MISS PORT TAKES A DRIVE WITH THE BUTCHER
X. MRS. EASTERFIELD WRITES A LETTER
XI. MR. LOCKER IS RELEASED ON BAIL
XII. MR. RUPERT HEMPHILL
XIII. MR. LANCASTER'S BACKERS
XIV. A LETTER FOR OLIVE
XV. OLIVE'S BICYCLE TRIP
XVI. MR. LANCASTER ACCEPTS A MISSION
XVII. DICK IS NOT A PROMPT BEARER OF NEWS
XVIII. WHAT OLIVE DETERMINED TO DO
XIX. THE CAPTAIN AND DICK LANCASTER DESERT THE TOLL-GATE
XX. MR. LOCKER DETERMINES TO RUSH THE ENEMY'S POSITION
XXI. MISS RALEIGH ENJOYS A RARE PRIVILEGE
XXII. THE CONFLICTING SERENADES
XXIII. THE CAPTAIN AND MARIA
XXIV. MR. TOM ARRIVES AT BROADSTONE
XXV. THE CAPTAIN AND MR. TOM
XXVI. A STOP AT THE TOLL-GATE
XXVII. BY PROXY
XXVIII. HERE WE GO! LOVERS THREE!
XXIX. TWO PIECES OF NEWS
XXX. BY THE SEA
XXXI. AS GOOD AS A MAN
XXXII. THE STOCK-MARKET IS SAFE
XXXIII. DICK LANCASTER DOES NOT WRITE
XXXIV. MISS PORT PUTS IN AN APPEARANCE
XXXV. THE DORCAS ON GUARD
XXXVI. COLD TINDER
XXXVII. IN WHICH SOME GREAT CHANGES ARE RECORDED
XXXVIII. "IT HAS JUST BEGUN!"



_CHAPTER I_

_Olive._


A long, wide, and smoothly macadamized road stretched itself from the
considerable town of Glenford onward and northward toward a gap in the
distant mountains. It did not run through a level country, but rose and
fell as if it had been a line of seaweed upon the long swells of the
ocean. Upon elevated points upon this road, farm lands and forests could
be seen extending in every direction. But there was nothing in the
landscape which impressed itself more obtrusively upon the attention of
the traveler than the road itself. White in the bright sunlight and gray
under the shadows of the clouds, it was the one thing to be seen which
seemed to have a decided purpose. Northward or southward, toward the gap
in the long line of mountains or toward the wood-encircled town in the
valley, it was always going somewhere.

About two miles from the town, and at the top of the first long hill
which was climbed by the road, a tall white pole projected upward
against the sky, sometimes perpendicularly, and sometimes inclined at a
slight angle. This was a turnpike gate or bar, and gave notice to all in
vehicles or on horses that the use of this well-kept road was not free
to the traveling public. At the approach of persons not known, or too
well known, the bar would slowly descend across the road, as if it were
a musket held horizontally while a sentinel demanded the password.

Upon the side of the road opposite to the great post on which the
toll-gate moved, was a little house with a covered doorway, from which
toll could be collected without exposing the collector to sun or rain.
This tollhouse was not a plain whitewashed shed, such as is often seen
upon turnpike roads, but a neat edifice, containing a comfortable room.
On one side of it was a small porch, well shaded by vines, furnished
with a settle and two armchairs, while over all a large maple stretched
its protecting branches. Back of the tollhouse was a neatly fenced
garden, well filled with old-fashioned flowers; and, still farther on, a
good-sized house, from which a box-bordered path led through the garden
to the tollhouse.