Public Domain

The Buccaneer Farmer Published In England Under The Title Askew

The morning was bright after heavy rain, and when Osborn looked out of the library window a warm, south-west breeze shook the larches about Tarnside Hall. Now and then a shadow sped across the tarn, darkening the ripples that sparkled like silver when the cloud drove on. Osbor...

Chapters

35. Chapter 35

On the day after Gerald's return Osborn shut himself up in his library. If he could raise two thousand pounds, it would save him from agreeing to the demand Thorn would, no doub...

4. Chapter 4

The morning was bright after heavy rain, and when Osborn looked out of the library window a warm, south-west breeze shook the larches about Tarnside Hall. Now and then a shadow...

22. Chapter 22

Although the shutters on the balcony window were open, no draught entered the small, bare room and the heat that soaked through the thick walls was nearly intolerable. There was...

38. Chapter 38

By degrees Osborn accepted his daughter's choice philosophically. Kit was not the son-in-law he had wanted, but he was forced to admit that the fellow jarred less than he had th...

29. Chapter 29

Dinner was nearly over at Tarnside. The meal was served with some ceremony, although the bill of fare was frugal except when game could be shot and, as a rule, nobody but Osborn...

9. Chapter 9

It was getting dark when Kit and Tom, the shepherd, stopped to rest behind a cairn on the summit of Swinset moor. Close by, the two score sheep stood in a compact flock, with he...

27. Chapter 27

Dusk was falling and Kit urged his tired mule up the winding road. His skin was grimed with dust, for he had ridden hard in scorching heat, and was anxious and impatient to get...

14. Chapter 14

Soon after the farmers met at Ashness, Bell, feeling sore and resentful, sat one evening in the Tarnside library. Osborn, after fixing a time for his visit, had kept him waiting...

19. Chapter 19

Breakfast was over and Alvarez, sitting at a table in the arcade, smiled as he indicated the transformed patio. The broken pavement had been swept, the fountain scrubbed until t...

16. Chapter 16

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon and Kit Askew lounged in a chair on the bridge-deck as the _Rio Negro_ steamed slowly across the long swell of the Caribbean. The wrin...

30. Chapter 30

It was a calm evening and Osborn sat on the terrace, studying a printed notice. Mrs. Osborn poured out coffee at a small table, and Gerald and Grace occupied the top of the broa...

20. Chapter 20

For a time, Kit wandered about the arcade, talking now and then to people he knew. The doctor had forbidden him to return to Adam's room and the president said it was important...

13. Chapter 13

Bright moonlight sparkled on the snow when Kit left Ashness to post some letters he had written ordering new machines. He was young, but since he came home Peter had allowed muc...

5. Chapter 5

Grace's tweed dress was wet and rather muddy when she stood with Gerald on a gravel bank at the head of a pool, where the beck from the tarn joined a larger stream that flowed t...

12. Chapter 12

Although the air was bracingly keen the afternoon was calm and the scattered clouds scarcely moved across the sky. The snow in the valley shone a delicate gray, and soft lights...

31. Chapter 31

On the morning after the show, Osborn walked up and down the terrace, waiting moodily for Hayes. It was a rash extravagance to buy the sheep and he blamed Kit for this. The fell...

32. Chapter 32

The rain stopped at night, the next day was fine, and in the afternoon Kit went up the dale to look at the mended dyke. It had stood better than he had thought, the beck was fal...

10. Chapter 10

The morning was dark, and although the gale had dropped, a raw, cold wind blew up the valley past Mireside farm, where three or four farmers' traps and some rusty bicycles stood...

8. Chapter 8

Winter had begun, and although the briars shone red along the hedgerows and the stunted oaks had not lost all their leaves, bitter sleet blew across the dale when Grace went up...

36. Chapter 36

As the sun got lower an apathetic gloom began to replace the anxiety that had kept the Osborns highly strung. Mrs. Osborn went dejectedly about the house, sometimes moving an or...

6. Chapter 6

The sun had sunk behind the moors when Peter Askew sat by an open window in his big, slate-flagged kitchen at Ashness. All was quiet outside, except for the hoarse turmoil of th...

18. Chapter 18

Kit paused as he wound the long silk sash round his waist, and looked out of the window of his room at the presidio. Square blocks of houses, colored white and yellow, ran down...

17. Chapter 17

Dazzling sunshine flooded the belt of sand where the shadows of dusty palmettos quivered beyond the Moorish arch; the old presidio smelt like a brick-kiln and the heat outside w...

25. Chapter 25

The sun was high when Kit and his tired men reached the village. He was wet with sweat and the moisture that had dripped upon him from the leaves in the early morning, and the m...

7. Chapter 7

Osborn was dissatisfied and moody when, one afternoon, he stood, waiting for the grouse, behind a bank of turf on Malton moor. To begin with, he had played cards until the early...

24. Chapter 24

It was nearly full moon, the night was calm, and the flowing tide rippled among the mangrove roots. Clammy vapor drifted about the ship and big drops fell from the rigging and s...

21. Chapter 21

When Kit was half way across the alameda he stopped and looked about. Dark trees rose against the sky; he could smell the eucalyptus and their thin shadows covered the ground wi...

11. Chapter 11

Soon after the reckoning at Mireside, the snow melted off the fells and for a month dark rain clouds from the sea rolled up the dale. They broke upon the hill tops in heavy show...

37. Chapter 37

A week after Hallam's visit, Kit, one afternoon, started for Tarnside. He had been forced to go to London about some American business, but this was a relief, since it gave him...

28. Chapter 28

Kit was comfortably tired when he sat down by the beck at the head of the dale. He had been at Ashness for a week, and finding much to be done had occupied himself with characte...

23. Chapter 23

Early next morning, Kit went on deck. Although it was hot, everything dripped with damp, and sour-smelling mist drifted past the ship. Her masts and funnels slanted and Kit coul...

33. Chapter 33

Thorn went up to town and one evening loitered about the hall of his club. London rather bored him, but he went there now and then, because he felt one ought to keep in touch wi...

15. Chapter 15

When Grace and Kit had gone a short distance they heard voices and a rattle of sticks in the wood, but the noise got fainter and she imagined the beaters were moving the other w...

34. Chapter 34

Thorn went home and waited, confident that Osborn would presently send for him. The estate was heavily mortgaged, Osborn had no rich friends, and when the blow fell would look t...

26. Chapter 26

It was getting light when the man on watch called Kit, who went to the gap in the wall. Thin mist drifted about the trees and trailed across the road. There was some open ground...

2. Chapter 2

1. Chapter 1

3. Chapter 3