“How glad mother will be to learn that I am safe!” said Dora to Dick.
“It will be good news to all of our folks,” answered Dick. “They will welcome us as from the grave.”
“I hope we can get a steamer directly from Honolulu to San Francisco,” said Tom. “Our little vacation has proved unusually long.”
“Do you think that we will ever see Dan Baxter again?” questioned Sam.
“I hardly think so,” said Dick. “After what has happened he will not dare to show his face again.” But Dan Baxter did show himself, and what he did to harm the Rover boys in the future will be told in another volume of this series, entitled “The Rover Boys in Camp; or The Rivals of Pine Island,” in which we shall meet many of our old friends again. It may be as well to mention here that Baxter and two sailors escaped from the seven islands just one week after our friends left it. The others, including Jack Lesher, lost their lives while in a quarrel over the last bottle of rum which the mate had brought with him from the burning wreck. Their taking off was an awful example of the evils of intemperance.
It was soon seen that Bostwick was not seriously burnt, and before the trip to Honolulu was over he was able to sit up and to walk a little. The wounds of those who had been shot proved slight.
“We are well out of that adventure,” said Tom one evening, as the Rover boys and the girls sat on the deck in the starlight. “And I don’t know as I want to go through anything like it again.”
“All I am thinking of is home, sweet home,” said Sam.
“Just what was in my mind,” answered Dick. “How father and Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha will welcome us!”
“Let us sing,” put in Dora, and in a moment more all were singing the first verse of “Home, Sweet Home”; and here let us bid them good-by.
THE ROVER BOYS IN CAMP
CHAPTER I
THE ROVER BOYS AT HOME
“All out for Oak Run!” shouted the brakeman of the train, as he thrust his head in through the doorway of the car. “Step lively, please!”
“Hurrah for home!” shouted a curly-headed youth of sixteen, as he caught up a small dress-suit case. “Come on, Sam.”
“I’m coming, Tom,” answered a boy a year younger. “Where is Dick?”
“Here I am,” replied Dick Rover, the big brother of the others. “Just been in the baggage car, making sure the trunks would be put off,” he added. “Say, but this looks natural, doesn’t it, after traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific?”
“And across the Continent from San Francisco,” put in Sam Rover.
“Do you know, I feel as if I’d been away for an age?”
“It’s what we’ve gone through with that makes you feel that way, Sam,” came from Tom Rover. “Just think of being cast away on a lonely island like Robinson Crusoe! Why, half the folks won’t believe our story when they hear it.”
“They’ll have to believe it.” Sam hopped down to the depot platform, followed by the others. “Wonder if the folks got that telegram I forwarded from Buffalo?”
“They must have, for there is Jack with the big carriage,” said Tom, and walked over to the turnout he mentioned. “Hullo, Jack!” he called out. “How is everybody?”
“Master Tom!” ejaculated Jack Ness, the Rovers’ hired man. “Back at last, are you, an’ safe an’ sound?”
“Sound as a dollar, Jack. How are the folks?”
“Your father is putty well, and so is your Uncle Randolph. Your Aunt Martha got so excited a-thinkin’ you was coming hum she got a headache.”
“Dear Aunt Martha!” murmured Tom. “I’ll soon cure her of that.” He turned to his brothers. “What shall we do about the trunks? We can’t take ‘em in the carriage.”
“Aleck is comin’ for them boxes,” said the hired man. “There’s his wagon now.”
A box wagon came dashing up to the depot platform, with a tall, good-looking colored man on the seat. The eyes of the colored man lit up with pleasure when he caught sight of the boys.
“Well! well! well!” he ejaculated, leaping down and rushing forward. “Heah yo’ are at las’, bless you! I’se been dat worried ‘bout yo’ I couldn’t ‘most sleep fo’ t’ree nights. An’ jess to t’ink yo’ was cast away on an island in de middle of dat Pacific Ocean! It’s a wonder dem cannonballs didn’t eat yo’ up.”
“Thanks, but we didn’t meet any ‘cannonballs,’ Aleck, I am thankful to say,” replied Dick Rover. “Our greatest trouble was with some mutineers who got drunk and wanted to run things to suit themselves. They might have got the best of us, but a warship visited the island just in the nick of time and rescued us.”
“So I heared out ob dat letter wot yo’ writ yo’ father. An’ to t’ink dat Miss Dora Stanhope and de Laning gals was wrecked wid yo’! It’s wonderful!”
“It certainly was strange, Aleck. But, come, I am anxious to get home. Here are the trunk checks,” and Dick passed the brasses over.
In a moment more the three boys had entered the carriage, along with Jack Ness. Tom insisted on driving, and away they went at a spanking gait, over Swift River, through the little village of Dexter’s Corners, and then out on the road that led to Valley Brook farm.
As my old readers know, the Rover boys were three in number, as already introduced. They were the sons of Anderson Rover, a well-to-do gentleman, who was now living in retirement at Valley Brook, in company with his brother Randolph, and the latter’s wife, Martha.
While Anderson Rover had been on a hunt for gold in the heart of Africa, the three boys had been sent by their Uncle Randolph to a military academy known as Putnam Hall. Here they made many friends and also a few enemies, the worst of the latter being Dan Baxter, a bully who wanted his way in everything. Baxter was the offspring of a family of low reputation, and his father, Arnold Baxter, was now in prison for various misdeeds.
The first term at school had been followed by an exciting chase on the ocean, after which the boys had gone with their uncle to the jungles of Africa, in a search after Anderson Rover. After the parent was found it was learned that Arnold Baxter was trying to swindle the Rovers out of a valuable gold mine in the far West, but this plot, after some exciting adventures, was nipped in the bud.
The trip West had tired the boys, and they hailed an outing on the Great Lakes with delight. During this outing they learned something about a treasure located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, and the next winter visited the locality and unearthed a box containing gold, silver, and precious stones, worth several thousands of dollars. During this treasure-hunt Dan Baxter did his best to bring the Rover boys to grief, but without success.
After the winter in the Adirondacks, the boys had expected to return at once to Putnam Hall to continue their studies. But three pupils were taken down with scarlet fever, and the academy was promptly closed by the master, Captain Victor Putnam.
“That gives us another holiday,” Tom had said. “Let us put in the time by traveling,” and, later on, it was decided that the boys should visit California for their health. This they did, and in the seventh volume of this series, entitled “The Rover Boys on Land and Sea,” I related the particulars of how they were carried off to sea during a violent storm, in company with three of their old-time girl friends, Dora Stanhope and her cousins, Nellie and Grace Laning. It may be mentioned here that Dick thought Dora Stanhope the sweetest girl in the world, and Tom and Sam were equally smitten with Nellie and Grace Laning.
Being cast away on the Pacific was productive of additional adventures and surprises. On a ship that picked the girls and boys up they fell in again with Dan Baxter, and he did all in his power to make trouble for them. When all were cast away on a deserted island, Dan Baxter joined some mutineers among the sailors, and there was a fight which threatened to end seriously for our friends. But as luck would have it, a United States warship hove into sight, and
from that moment the boys and girls, and the friends, who had stuck to them through thick and thin, were safe.
Before the warship left the island a search was made for Dan Baxter and for those who had mutinied with him. But the bully and his evil-minded followers kept out of sight, and so they were left behind to shift for themselves.
“Do you think that we will ever see Dan Baxter again?” Sam had questioned.
“I hardly think so,” had been Dick’s reply. But in this surmise the elder Rover boy was mistaken, as later events will prove.
The journey across the Pacific to San Francisco was accomplished without incident. As soon as the Golden Gate was reached the boys, and also the girls, sent telegrams to their folks, telling them that all was well.
Mrs. Stanhope was staying at Santa Barbara for her health. All of the girls had been stopping with her, and now it was decided that Dora, Nellie, and Grace should go to her again.
“It’s too bad we must part,” Dick had said, as he squeezed Dora’s hand. “But you are coming East soon, aren’t you?”
“In a month or two, yes. And what will you do?”
“Go back to Putnam Hall most likely—if the scarlet fever scare is over.”
“Then we’ll be likely to see you again before long,” and Dora smiled her pleasure.
“It will be like old times to get back to the Hall again,” Sam had put in. “But first, I want to go home and see the folks.”
“Right you are,” had come from Tom. “I reckon they are dead anxious to see us, too.”
And so they had parted, with tight hand-squeezing and bright smiles that meant a good deal. One train had taken the girls southward to Santa Barbara, and another had taken the boys eastward to Denver and to Chicago. At the latter city the lads had made a quick change, and twenty-six hours later found them at Oak Run, and in the carriage for the farm.
CHAPTER II
NEWS OF INTEREST
“My boys! my boys!”
Such was the cry given by Anderson Rover, when he caught sight of the occupants of the carriage, as the turnout swept up to the piazza of the comfortable farm home.
“Home again! Home again Safe from a foreign shore!”
sang out Tom, and leaping to the ground, he caught his father around the shoulders. “Aren’t you glad to see us, father?” he went on.
“Glad doesn’t express it, Tom,” replied the fond parent, as he embraced first one and then another. “My heart is overflowing with joy, and I thank God that you have returned unharmed, after having passed through so many grave perils. How brown all of you look!”
“Tanned by the tropical sun,” answered Sam. “Oh, here is Aunt Martha, and Uncle Randolph!”
“Sam!” burst out the motherly aunt, as she kissed him. “Oh, how you must have suffered on that lonely island!” And then she kissed the others.
“We’ve certainly had our fill of adventures,” came from Dick, who was shaking hands with his Uncle Randolph. “And more than once we thought we should never see Valley Brook farm again.”
“We were real Robinson Crusoes,” went on Sam. “And the girls were Robinson Crusoes, too.”
“Are the girls well?” questioned Mrs. Rover.
“Very well, auntie. If they hadn’t been we shouldn’t have parted with them in San Francisco. They went back to Santa Barbara to finish their vacation.”
“I see. Well, it certainly was a wonderful trip. You’ll have to tell us all the particulars this evening. I suppose you are as hungry as bears just now. Tom is, I’m sure.”
“Oh, Aunt Martha, I see you haven’t forgotten my failing,” piped in the youth mentioned, with a twinkle in his eye. “And do I get pie for dinner?”
“Yes, Tom, and all you care to eat, too. We are going to make your home-coming a holiday.”
“Good!”
They were soon in the house, every nook and corner of which was so familiar to them. They rushed up to their rooms, and, after a brushing and a washing up, came down to the big dining room, where the table fairly groaned with good things.
“Gosh! this is a regular Christmas spread!” observed Tom, as he looked the table over. “Tell you what, Aunt Martha, I’m going to be cast away every week after this.”
“Oh, Tom, don’t speak of it! After this you must stay right here. Neither your father nor your uncle nor myself will want to leave you out of sight.”
“Pooh! We can’t stay home. But we’ll be careful of our trips in the future, you can be sure of that.”
“Have you heard anything about Putnam Hall since we went away?” asked Dick, during the meal.
“The academy opened again last week, Dick,” answered his father. “We received a circular letter from Captain Putnam. The scarlet fever scare did not amount to much, for which the captain is very thankful.”
“I sent him a telegram, stating we were safe,” said Sam. “I knew he would like to hear from us. The captain is a brick.”
“The best ever,” said Tom, with his mouth full of chicken.
“And ditto, Mr. Strong,” put in Dick, referring to the head assistant at the Hall.
“Exactly, Dick. But no more Jasper Grinders in mine,” went on Tom, referring to a tyrannical teacher who had caused them much trouble, and who had been discharged from the academy, as already mentioned in “The Rover Boys in the Mountains.”
“Or Josiah Crabtrees,” said Dick, referring to another teacher, who had been made to leave Putnam Hall, and who had wanted to marry the widow Stanhope, in an endeavor to get control of the money that was coming to Dora. Crabtree’s misdeeds had landed him in prison, where he was likely to stay for some time to come.
While the meal was still in progress the boys began the recital of their many adventures, and this recital was kept up until a late hour. It was astonishing how much they had to tell, and how interesting it proved to the listeners.
“You might make a book of it,” said Anderson Rover. “It equals our adventures in the jungles of Africa.”
“I am going to write it out some day,” answered Dick. “And, maybe, I’ll get the story printed. The trouble is, I can’t end the tale properly.”
“How is that, Dick?” asked his Uncle Randolph. “You were all saved. Isn’t that a proper ending for any book?”
“Yes, but what of the villain? Baxter didn’t show himself, and that is no ending at all. He should have fallen over a cliff, or been shot, or something like that.”
“And we should have married the three girls,” put in fun-loving Tom. “That would make the story even more complete.”
“Well, things do not happen in real life as they do in story books,” said the parent. “It is likely you will never hear of Dan Baxter again. But we may hear from his father.”
“His father!” exclaimed the three youths in concert.
“Why, Arnold Baxter is in prison,” added Sam.
“He was, up to five days ago, when they took him to the hospital to undergo some sort of an operation. At the hospital the operation was postponed for a day, and during the night he slipped away from the institution and disappeared.”
“Well, I never!” burst out Dick. “Isn’t he the slick one, though! Just when you think you’ve got him hard and fast, you haven’t at all.”
“Haven’t they any trace of him?” asked Sam.
“None, so far as I have heard. There was a report that he had gone to New York and taken passage on a ship bound for Liverpool, but at present the ship is on the Atlantic, so the authorities can do nothing.”
“I hope they catch him.”
“We all hope that, Sam.”
For a few days the three boys did nothing but take it easy. It was pleasant weather, and they roamed around the farm in company with their father and their uncle, or with Alexander Pop, the colored man of work. As my old readers know, Pop had been in former
days a waiter at Putnam Hall, and Dick, Tom, and Sam had befriended him on more than one occasion, for which he was extremely grateful.
“Yo’ boys is jes’ naturally fust-class heroes,” said Aleck one day. “Even if dem cannonballs had cum after yo’, I don’t t’ink da could have cotched yo’, no, sirree!”
“It’s a pity you weren’t along, Aleck,” answered Tom.
“I can’t say as to dat, Master Tom. I got ‘bout all de hair-raisin’ times I wanted when we was in de jungles ob Africy. I’se only sorry ob one t’ing.”
“And what is that?”
“Dat you didn’t jes’ go an’ frow dat Dan Baxter overboard from dat ship de fust time yo’ sot eyes on him. Suah as yo’ am born he’ll turn up some day to make moah trouble.”
“Well, if he turns up we’ll be ready for him,” returned Tom grimly.
“How can yo’ be ready fo’ a pusson wot acts like a snake in de grass? He’ll sting befo’ yo’ hab de chance to spot him.”
“We’ll have to keep our eyes open, Aleck,” answered the youth; and then the subject was changed.
During those days the boys went fishing and bathing in the river, and also visited Humpback Falls, that spot where Sam had had such a thrilling adventure, as related in “The Rover Boys at School.”
“What a lot has happened since those days,” said Sam, taking a deep breath. “Tom, do you remember how you got into trouble with old Crabtree the very first day we landed at Putnam Hall?”
“I do, Sam; and do you remember our first meeting, on the boat, with Dan Baxter, and how we sent him about his business when he tried to annoy Nellie, and Grace, and Dora?”
“Yes, indeed. Say, I am getting anxious to get back to the Hall. It seems almost like a second home.”
“So am I,” put in Dick. “Besides, we have lost time enough from our studies. We’ll have to pitch in, or we’ll drop behind our classes.”
“Father says we can return to the Hall next Monday, if we wish.”
“I vote we do so.”
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