The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Cousin's Conspiracy, by Horatio Alger

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Title: A Cousin's Conspiracy
A Boy's Struggle for an Inheritance

Author: Horatio Alger

Release Date: August 16, 2008 [EBook #26630]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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A COUSIN'S CONSPIRACY

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[Illustration: "Saving the Indian boy from drowning." (Page 102)]

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A COUSIN'S CONSPIRACY

OR

A BOY'S STRUGGLE FOR AN INHERITANCE

BY
HORATIO ALGER, Jr.

Author of
"Herbert Carter's Legacy," "Young Salesman,"
"Paul the Peddler," "Phil the Fiddler"

Made in U. S. A.

M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
CHICAGO :: NEW YORK

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A COUSIN'S CONSPIRACY

CHAPTER I

IN A LONELY CABIN

On the edge of a prairie, in western Iowa, thirty years ago, stood a
cabin, covering quite a little ground, but only one story high. It was
humble enough, but not more so than the early homes of some who have
become great.

The furniture was limited to articles of prime necessity. There was a
stove, a table, three chairs, a row of shelves containing a few articles
of crockery and tinware, and a bed in the far corner of the room, on which
rested a man with ragged gray beard and hair, a face long and thin, and
coal-black eyes.

It was evident he was sick unto death. His parchment-colored skin was
wrinkled; from time to time he coughed so violently as to rack his slight
frame, and his hand, thin and wrinkled, as it rested on the quilt that
covered him, shook as with palsy.

It was hard to tell how old the man was. He looked over seventy, but there
were indications that he had aged prematurely.

There was one other person in the room whose appearance contrasted
strongly with that of the old man--a boy of sixteen, with brown hair,
ruddy cheeks, hazel eyes, an attractive yet firm an