Ralestone Luck

Ralestone Luck, by Andre Norton

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Title: Ralestone Luck
Author: Andre Norton
Illustrator: James Reid
Release Date: July 13, 2006 [EBook #18817]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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RALESTONE LUCK
By ANDR�� NORTON
Author of The Prince Commands
ILLUSTRATED BY JAMES REID
D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY INCORPORATED NEW YORK 1938 LONDON
Copyright, 1938, by D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
D. B. N.
In return for many miles of proof so diligently read

[Illustration: "How hold ye Lorne?" Rupert's softly spoken question brought the well-remembered answer to Val's lips: "By the oak leaf, by the sea wave, by the broadsword blade, thus hold we Lorne!"]

CONTENTS
I. THE RALESTONES COME HOME
II. THE LUCK OF THE LORDS OF LORNE
III. THE RALESTONES ENTERTAIN AN UNOBTRUSIVE VISITOR
IV. PISTOLS FOR TWO--COFFEE FOR ONE
V. THEIR TENANT DISCOVERS THE RALESTONES
VI. SATAN GOES A-HUNTING AND FINDS WORK FOR IDLE HANDS
VII. BY OUR LUCK!
VIII. GREAT-UNCLE RICK WALKS THE HALL
IX. PORTRAIT OF A LADY AND A GENTLEMAN
X. INTO THE SWAMP
XI. RALESTONES TO THE RESCUE!
XII. THE RALESTONES BRING HOME A RELUCTANT GUEST
XIII. ON SUCH A NIGHT AS THIS--
XIV. PIRATE WAYS ARE HIDDEN WAYS
XV. PIECES OF EIGHT--RALESTONES' FATE!
XVI. RALESTONES STAND TOGETHER
XVII. THE RETURN OF RICK RALESTONE
XVIII. RUPERT BRINGS HOME HIS MARCHIONESS

ILLUSTRATIONS
"How hold ye Lorne?" Rupert's softly spoken question brought the well-remembered answer to Val's lips: "By the oak leaf, by the sea wave, by the broadsword blade, thus hold we Lorne!"
"I'se Lucy," she stated, thoroughly at her ease. "An' dis is Letty-Lou"
Ricky lifted off the cover. Val stared at the canvas
"It's a genuine Audubon," Charity said
Zzzzzrupp! Satan was industriously ripping the remnants of lining from its interior
The canoe floated almost of its own volition into a dead and distorted strip of country
At the bayou at last, they wriggled Jeems awkwardly into the boat
Then came a tree burdened with a small 'coon which stared at the boy piteously, its eyes green in the light
Ricky held aloft a great war sword. There could be no doubt in any of them--the Luck of Lorne had returned

RALESTONE LUCK

How hold ye Lorne?
By the oak leaf, By the sea wave, By the broadsword blade, Thus hold we Lorne!
The oak leaf is dust, The sea wave is gone, The broadsword is rust, How now hold ye Lorne?
By our Luck, thus hold we Lorne!

CHAPTER I
THE RALESTONES COME HOME
"Once upon a time two brave princes and a beautiful princess set out to make their fortunes--" began the dark-haired, dark-eyed boy by the roadster.
"Royalty is out of fashion," corrected Ricky Ralestone somewhat indifferently. "Can't you do better than that?" She gave her small, pert hat an exasperated tweak which brought the unoffending bowl-shaped bit of white felt into its proper position over her right eyebrow. "How long does it take Rupert to ask a single simple question?"
Her brother Val watched the gas gage on the instrument board of the roadster fluctuate wildly as the attendant of the station shook the hose to speed the flow of the last few drops. Five gallons--a dollar ten. Did he have that much? He began to assemble various small hoards of change from different pockets.
"Do you think we're going to like this?" Ricky waved her hand vaguely in a gesture which included a dilapidated hot-dog stand and a stretch of road white-hot under the steady baking of the sun.
"Well, I think that Pirate's Haven is slightly different from our present surroundings. Where's your proper pride? Not everyone can be classed among the New Poor," Val observed judiciously.
"Nobility in the bread line." His sister sniffed with what she fondly believed was the air of a Van Astor dowager.
"Nobility?"
"We never relinquished the title, did we? Rupert's still the Marquess of Lorne."
"After some two hundred years in America I am afraid that we would find ourselves strangers in England. And Lorne crumbled to dust long ago."
"But he's still Marquess of Lorne," she persisted.
"All right. And what does that make you?"
"Lady Richanda, of course, silly. Can't you remember the wording of the old charter? And you're Viscount--"
"Wrong there," Val corrected her. "I'm only a lord, by courtesy, unless we can bash Rupert on the head some dark night and chuck him into the bayou."
"Lord Valerius." She rolled it upon her tongue. "Marquess, Lady, and Lord Val, out to seek their fortunes. Pity we can't do it in the traditional family way."
"But we can't, you know," he protested laughingly.