brother THE CENTURY offered to older readers. Kipling's "Jungle Stories" were first published in ST. NICHOLAS, and Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and many other things that have since become very famous. ST. NICHOLAS, like its older brother, has always tried to have only the best for its readers. Some of the Good Things to Come in April "Timothy" by Stephen Chalmers. This is one of the finest bear stories we ever published. Do you believe it is fair to keep animals cooped up as pets until they are old and unmanageable, and then kill them to be rid of them? The illustrations are by Paul Bransom, who did those wonderful pictures for "Where the Buffalos Begin" in the February number. "Tommy and the Wishing Stone" by Thornton Burgess, one of the always popular animal stories. "The Lost Prince" by Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, and in the April chapters Marco is made captive by the Samavian spies. "What Every American Boy—and Man-Should Know about Locomotives" by F. B. Masters, with numerous photographs and drawings of types of locomotives from 1831 to 1915. These pictures are all drawn to scale so that you can see just how much bigger the modern locomotives are than the old ones. Did you know that one of the old-time trains, including all the cars, was just about as long as the locomotive of to-day is? "Pasteur" is another of Ariadne Gilbert's fine biographical sketches, showing the obstacles the great French scientist overcame. It is one of the "More than Conquerors" series. "Peg o' the Ring" and "The Boarded-up House" are continued, and there is a great deal more besides. Have n't you several friends you would like to be subscribers to ST NICHOLAS? It would be lots of fun to be able to talk about stories all of you have read. Send us the name and address of one or two, and we shall be glad to mail them a sample copy of St. Nicholas, and thank you too. CHAPTER I THE PURSUIT OF THE MESSENGER It was the spring of the year 1563. On the highway near the little village of Billères, in the pleasant land of Béarn, two small barefooted boys stood in eager conversation. They were sturdy little fellows of about twelve years of age, clad in coarse peasant blouses. Their eyes sparkled with excitement as they gazed down the road. "I tell thee, Gaston," said the shorter of the two, "he passed this way two good hours since. Thou 'It not see him. Besides, the mother always says, 'Best look the other way when a trooper passes; then when the next one comes, thou hast seen nothing."" "And I tell thee, Jean," exclaimed the other, energetically, "he cannot cross the ford since the rain, no, nor the swamps either! He must return and take the forest road. Do as thou wilt; but I wait here to see him pass. Hark! There he comes!" At the word, the first boy leaped into the wood by the side of the road, and concealed himself behind a tree. But the other stood erect in the middle of the highway, a smile of anticipation on his merry little face. "I do love a trooper," he said, "and this one comes so fast he must be a fine rider. Nay," he added, with quick intelligence, "he is pursued. No man goes at that gait otherwise. Eh, but Henri will be sorry to miss this!" Hardly had he finished speaking when the |