Show N EXMOOR in the county of somerset IN in the year of gruce grace dwelt the outlawed doo doonis es wu wll huge and brutal defied king and cornmon common c committed brazer brazee robberies with impunity and took refugo refuge after every outrage in the well nigh impregnable glen doone on the nearby farm of plovers barrows dwelt john wall ridd a great limbed lad ind who ind had been summoned home from boarding school in his teens to learn that his father a wealthy farmer had been slain in a night raid by the doones john blunt and honest was kind to his mother and his two sisters did his share of the farm work vork and as lie grew to manhood learned to ride a horse and shoot a blunderbuss with unfailing skill one day while yet a boy ills his fishing excursions in dagworthy Bag worthy water led him to discover an entrance to glen doone so secret so remote that the robber band stationed no guard there never dreaming that living soul would discover it following a little cascade john emerged at last into a dell blooming with primroses prim roses and beheld with amazement a beautiful child of eight with hair like a black shower and eyes full of pity and wonder iler her name pretty like ilka herself was lorna doone and john often had bad her in ills thoughts through the six years which followed lie he was twenty then and lorna tour four teen and already john ridd nidd knew that lie he loved her that fate had decreed it to BO and that till nil the world was naught when weighed against this girl to be found in n doone valley spelled death for any man but the thought of lorna loma light and white ni nimble nible smooth and elegant filled john with yearning and lured him to the hazard again and again ho he sought the maidda maid in the primrose bower above the cascade and then one afternoon in the splendor of an april sunset john once more threw down the gauntlet which ch love ever casts lit at danger to lornas tremulous sou tire are mad to come they will kill you if they find you here jolin john smiled sallied and thought her fairer than the primroses prim roses amid which she bho stood she lived in constant fear slid she confessed for the gigantic and pas passionate carver doone openly paid her homage and glowered with jealous eyes tit at tiny man who durst cast a glance at her 1 I core care naught for him or his jealousy cried john illda 1 I have loved you long as child ns ins comely girl and now as full frown in maiden rinalden alden I 1 you more than tongue can tell or heart can an told hold in ji silence lence 11 lorna raised her glorious eyed and flinging tier her arms about his nark cried with her er heart on his a irlIng I 1 shall never be my own again I 1 am yours forever borc or and forever but before lie he went she bho was in tears how dare I 1 tream dream of love something in my heart tolls tells me ie it can never be that hiat fear of ills his belov eds spurred john to penetrate into glen doone one night at ilia risk of hla his ufa life for word of lorna once a guard leveled ills bis gun bun at him but went on off C ringing cringing at the thought that after all so BO huge a form could be only that of carver doone it was a real danger which threatened lorna lama tor for old sir ensor doone head of tile the robber crew lay dying and he h alone laz been ber protector protect im against the brain carver for 20 1 6 to play a desperate game earn and carry lorna ore off w boum 0 uld but incite the doones to wreak re revenge upon the country side with fire and sword at times lie he swore to smoke out this i nest of rascals but the timid farmers overawe 6 by their savagery would promise no support meanwhile an unparalleled ha had d set in day after day the anoni fell steadily and blown by the wind almost smothered the low cot desperate for some word ol of lorna corua john made hla his way on snow shoes into the very heart of gler gier doone unobserved in that feather fox to john found lornah li hamlet amlet stifled her exclamations of surprise wit kisses klasek and felt his heart swell with anger on learning that slid she and her mald maid gwenny carfax were kept in confinement and deprived of food li il order of carver doone unell loah I om should consent con bent to be his wife jot not toi for naught was jolin john ridd a glant giant and in love throwing discretion to tiia th winds hw he carried lorna loma and gwenny awny away upon his sledge that very night to t the he warm re jugo of hla his mothers fireside the doones t lough so openly set at de defiance flance bided heir time with sprint spring the alie roads were open and one moon light night bight with tin an arrogance 0 of f carver they attacked plovers bar rows row s in force john wild nothing daunted defended his fireside and loved ones with spirit meeting the attackers squarely with a handful of 0 me men n tin and d putting them to speedy flight A murderous attack by the doones was bad business enough but to johns honest soul a worse trouble followed ills lorna was discovered to be no t true rue doone but the niece of the grent lord dugal ns as a child to london and the protection of her bar noble uncle she was summoned her heart lt as well a ns s lier her overs lovers torn by the tion the thought that lie he might nevez again behold his lorna plunged him into nii ral sery after all he asked himself wilc am I 1 but a simple farmer who dares daree lift his eyes to the niece of an earl but this was vas no time for repining for the ill starred rebellion of monmouth named flamed out catching john arjad innocent though he was in its tolls but all came to a happy issue when john summoned to london fr frustrated rated tho the intended murder of lord dugal ruptured the attackers and turned t them I 1 bent ove avei tor for punishment to the ter lord jeffreys reys events moved swiftly his exploit made london ahir ho he was knighted by king james and when the earl of dugal died soon att aft er cr a well directed bribe secured jeffreys permission to let lorna his lit ward in chancery wed the redoubtable sir john bade back to exmoor and plovers barrows went john kidd knight to lead the farmers of the countryside who infuriated furia ted by it a new outrage committed by the doones took the law into theli own hands bands ard and swept the stronghold clean with fire and sword only the scheming old 11 counsellor and his son the brutal carver escape escaped i a bloody death wow now at last the great day dawned tuf fr john and lorna and they made their way to the little country churey to be wed while all the neighboring farmers came to applaud tho the event scarcely were the sacred words of the service pronounced when a shot rang through the church and lorna hei bet dark eyes drooping her wedding goar stained with blood sonk sank into her hus bands arms john ridd never forgon the agony of that moment and yet lie seemed strangely calm only ki canei reT doone could have done this dastardly dastard das tanH lv deed and as john dashed off in hot pursuit he swore that the world was too narrow a place to harbor him anil ills his enemy another day F for or carver on his jaded horse there was no escape ills his pistol missed fire and tit lit last in a narrow defile flanked by it wood and a stretch of bog the two men come came to grips they spoke little tind ani that hint grim duel was fought with neither knife nor pistol but body to body a as became two giants john flit felt a lower rib crack beneath beneat li Car carvers terrible embrace buthals but his iron fron hand ripped the muscles of tits ills assailants arm arin from the bone like an arango pulp and lie flung him crushed mul weeding bleeding upon the ground in an instant the blade black lips of tho the bog fastened upon carvers huge limbs swiftly silently and john ridd had time to getchis own feet upon firm soli soil before ills his enemy was sucked down into those prim grim depths ills face dis ported with agony but his quivering lips uttering tittering no sound loves true course lines does not always run awry and both john and lorna lorn recover recovered id he to worship her and slit to assure him through I 1 the serene years year with eyes and lips all alk eloquent 19 J love you john iliad copyright 1319 1919 by the post publishing co tho the hoston post copyright in UK tho united kingdom tho its lt tol col onlea entes and dependencies under the coay cony right act by the post publishing co donton boston mass U S A all rights re serve carved |