Copper Coleson's Ghost

By EDWARD P. HENDRICK Author of “THE CRUISE OF THE SALLY”
Illustrated by HAROLD CUE
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY BOSTON PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1930 By L. C. Page & Company (INCORPORATED) All rights reserved
Made in U. S. A.
First Impression, August, 1930
COMPOSED, PLATED AND PRINTED BY C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
BECAUSE THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT AND CRITICISM HAVE BEEN HELPFUL TO ME DURING THE WRITING OF THIS STORY, I AM DEDICATING IT TO MY BOYS BOB AND JACK
In the rear of a white cottage, known to all residents of the town of Truesdell as “the Blake homestead,” stands a great apple tree, whose leafy boughs have afforded shade in summer and fruit in autumn to several generations of Blakes. At present, its hospitable branches have been converted into an out-of-door gymnasium by Ned Blake, great-grandson of old Josiah Blake, from whose half-eaten apple-core the tree sprang some seventy years ago. “Six feet, two inches in his socks and as wide as a door,” is how tradition describes old Josiah, and although Ned Blake at seventeen stands less than seventy inches in his sneakers and tips the scales at a trifle less than one hundred and fifty pounds, he has something of the supple strength and a goodly measure of the courage and grit that made old Josiah respected among the early settlers of Truesdell.
Clad in a sleeveless jersey, duck trousers and sneakers, Ned has just climbed a rope hand over hand to an upper limb from which he descends in a veritable cascade of cat-skinning, toe-holding, ape-like swings to drop on the turf beside his friend, Tommy Beals.
“Bully stuff!” applauded Tommy. “You sure can do the monkey tricks, Ned, but it makes me sweat just to watch ’em this weather,” and Tommy hitched his rotund form farther into the shade of the friendly tree.
“It would do you good to try some of them, Fatty,” laughed Ned. “Come on now. Here’s a simple one for a starter,” and catching a horizontal limb above his head, Ned proceeded to chin himself with first one hand, then with the other, and finished with a two-handed hoisting swing that left him seated upon the limb.