The Little Colonels Hero

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The Little Colonel's Hero

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Title: The Little Colonel's Hero
Author: Annie Fellows Johnston
Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15122]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO
By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON
AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE COLONEL," "TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY," "BIG BROTHER," "ASA HOLMES," "THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY," "THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS," ETC.
FRONTISPIECE BY ETHELDRED B. BARRY
L.C. PAGE & COMPANY BOSTON PUBLISHERS
_Copyright, 1902_
BY THE PAGE COMPANY
All rights reserved
Made in U.S.A.
Twenty-seventh Impression, June, 1925 Twenty-eighth Impression, February, 1926 Twenty-ninth Impression, January, 1928 Thirtieth Impression, June, 1929 Thirty-first Impression, October, 1930 Thirty-second Impression, March, 1932 Thirty-third Impression, February, 1934 Thirty-fourth Impression, August, 1935 Thirty-fifth Impression, July, 1937
PRINTED BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC.,
CLINTON, MASS., U.S.A.
TO
ALL THE FRIENDS OF THE "LITTLE COLONEL"
TO WHOSE LETTERS
THE AUTHOR COULD NOT REPLY,
THIS BOOK IS OFFERED IN ANSWER TO
THEIR MANY QUESTIONS

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S
(Trade Mark)
HERO
THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS
=by
Annie Fellows Johnston=
Limited popular editions, each, cloth 12 mo. Illustrated
=Three Titles--=
The Little Colonel's House Party $1.00 The Little Colonel's Holidays $1.00 The Little Colonel's Hero $1.00
* * * * *
Regular Trade Edition
=The Little Colonel Series=
(Trade Mark, Reg. U.S. Pat. Of.)
Each one vol., large 12 mo, bound in rose silk cloth; illust.
The Little Colonel Stories $2.00
(Containing the three stories, "The Little Colonel," "The Giant Scissors," and "Two Little Knights of Kentucky.")
The Little Colonel Stories--Second Series $2.00
(Containing the three stories, "The Three Tremonts," "The Little Colonel in Switzerland," and "Ole Mammy's Torment.")
The Little Colonel's House Party $2.00 The Little Colonel's Holidays 2.00 The Little Colonel's Hero 2.00 The Little Colonel at Boarding-School 2.00 The Little Colonel in Arizona 2.00 The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation 2.00 The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor 2.00 The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding 2.00 The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware 2.00 Mary Ware in Texas 2.00 Mary Ware's Promised Land 2.00 The above 13 vols., boxed, as a set 26.00
[Illustration: "'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY 11
II. THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND 25
III. LLOYD MEETS HERO 41
IV. HERO'S STORY 55
V. THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA 67
VI. THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT 79
VII. IN TOURS 102
VIII. WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA 121
IX. AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS 136
X. ON THE WING 147
XI. HOMEWARD BOUND 161
XII. HOME AGAIN 179
XIII. "THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME" 197
XIV. IN CAMP 234
XV. THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE 249
XVI. "TAPS" 262

THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO
(Trade Mark)
CHAPTER I.
HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY
"Oh, Tarbaby! Everybody has forgotten that it is my birthday! Even Papa Jack has gone off to town without saying a word about it, and he nevah did such a thing befo' in all his life!"
As she spoke, the Little Colonel put her arm around her pony's neck, and for a moment her fair little head was pressed disconsolately against its velvety black mane.
"It isn't the presents I care about," she whispered, choking back a heart-broken sob; "but oh, Tarbaby, it's the bein' forgotten! Of co'se mothah couldn't be expected to remembah, she's been so ill. But I think grandfathah might, or Mom Beck, or somebody. If there'd only been one single person when I came down-stairs this mawnin' to say 'I wish you many happy returns, Lloyd, deah,' I wouldn't feel so bad. But there wasn't, and I nevah felt so misah'ble and lonesome and left out since I was bawn."
Tarbaby had no words with which to comfort his little mistress, but he seemed to understand that she was in trouble, and rubbed his nose lovingly against her shoulder. The mute caress comforted her as much as words could have done, and presently she climbed into the saddle and started slowly down the avenue to the gate.
It was a warm May morning, sweet with the fragrance of the locusts, for the great trees arching above her were all abloom, and the ground beneath was snowy with the wind-blown petals. Under the long white arch she rode, with the fallen blossoms white at her feet. The pewees called from the cedars and the fat red-breasted robins ran across the lawn just as they had done the spring before, when it was her eleventh birthday, and she had ridden along that same way singing, the happiest hearted child in the Valley. But she was not singing to-day. Another sob came up in her throat as she thought of the difference.
"Now I'm a whole yeah oldah," she sighed. "Oh, deah! I don't want to grow up, one bit, and I'll be suah 'nuff old on