_RAIL AND WATER SERIES._
BOOKS FOR BOYS.
By KIRK MUNROE.
=Under Orders=: THE STORY OF A YOUNG REPORTER.
=Prince Dusty=: A STORY OF THE OIL REGIONS.
=Cab and Caboose=: A STORY OF RAILROAD LIFE.
=The Coral Ship=: A STORY OF THE FLORIDA REEF.
Each 12mo. Illustrated $1.25
[Illustration: ONE OF THE GREAT OIL TANKS HAD BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING,
AND NOW A RAGING, ROARING MASS OF FLAME SHOT UP. (_Page 96._)]
RAIL AND WATER SERIES
PRINCE DUSTY
A STORY OF THE OIL REGIONS
BY
KIRK MUNROE
AUTHOR OF “UNDER ORDERS,” “THE FLAMINGO FEATHER,” “DERRICK STERLING,”
“DORYMATES,” “CAMPMATES,” etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON
27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD ST. 27 KING WILLIAM ST., STRAND
The Knickerbocker Press
1891
COPYRIGHT, 1891
BY
KIRK MUNROE
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.— A PRINCE AND PRINCESS GO IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURES 1
II.— A PRESENT FROM A FAIRY GODMOTHER 8
III.— BRACE BARLOW THE “MOONLIGHTER” 17
IV.— A TORPEDO MAN’S PERIL 25
V.— ARTHUR AND HIS COUSINS 33
VI.— A GALLANT RESCUE AND ITS REWARD 40
VII.— UNCLE PHIN’S PLAN 49
VIII.— AWAKENED AT MIDNIGHT 58
IX.— A HURRIED FLIGHT 66
X.— ON BOARD THE ARK 74
XI.— UNCLE PHIN’S DANGER 82
XII.— A TORRENT OF FLAME 90
XIII.— HOW THE ARK WAS SAVED 98
XIV.— A CAMP OF TRAMPS 107
XV.— ARTHUR’S FIGHT TO SAVE RUSTY 115
XVI.— THE MEANING OF SOME QUEER SIGNS 123
XVII.— PLEASANT DRIFTINGS 130
XVIII.— THE ARK IS STOLEN 139
XIX.— PENNILESS WANDERERS IN A STRANGE CITY 148
XX.— A RAILROAD EXPERIENCE 154
XXI.— CARRIED OFF IN A FREIGHT CAR 164
XXII.— SAVING THE KEYSTONE EXPRESS 172
XXIII.— CROSSING THE ALLEGHANIES 182
XXIV.— A BRAVE STRUGGLE WITH POVERTY 189
XXV.— FINDING A HOME 199
XXVI.— COLONEL DALE OF DALECOURT 207
XXVII.— A “GENUINE CHUMP” 216
XXVIII.— A FEW FACTS CONCERNING PETROLEUM 224
XXIX.— LOCATING AN OIL WELL 234
XXX.— THE DALE-DUSTIN MYSTERY 243
XXXI.— A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT 250
XXXII.— SHOOTING A “DUSTER” 259
XXXIII.— SAVED BY THE SIGN OF THE TRAMP 266
XXXIV.— AN OIL SCOUT OUTWITTED 274
XXXV.— DEVELOPING AN OIL REGION 283
XXXVI.— ARTHUR REMEMBERS HIS FRIENDS 290
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
ONE OF THE GREAT OIL TANKS HAD BEEN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING,
AND NOW A RAGING, ROARING MASS OF FLAME SHOT UP _Frontispiece_
PRINCE DUSTY AND CYNTHIA SET OUT ON THEIR ADVENTURES 4
PRINCE DUSTY AND HIS FAIRY GODMOTHER 8
A HURRIED FLIGHT BY MOONLIGHT 70
STANDING STEADILY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK HE SWUNG
HIS DANGER SIGNAL TO AND FRO 180
THE FAIRY GODMOTHER FINDS PRINCE DUSTY 198
WITH A MIGHTY ROAR LIKE THAT OF THUNDER, A DENSE VOLUME
OF GAS BURST FORTH 264
“YES, THAT’S SANDY’S MARK,” SAID ONE OF THEM, “THERE’S
NO GOING BACK ON THAT” 272
PRINCE DUSTY
A STORY OF THE OIL REGIONS.
CHAPTER I.
A PRINCE AND PRINCESS GO IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURES.
Twelve-year-old Arthur Dale Dustin did not look the least bit like a
Prince, sitting perched on the topmost rail of the zig-zag fence that
bright September afternoon. As he dangled his bare brown legs idly, he
wistfully watched his cousins at the play in which they would not allow
him to join. He loved to play as dearly as any other boy; but somehow or
other he was always left out of their games by the boisterous crew of
little Dustins whom he called cousins. He tried his best to like what
they liked, and to be one with them; but something always seemed to
happen to prevent.
Once when they all went to see the well that his uncle, John Dustin, was
drilling, deep down into the ground, with the hope of striking
petroleum, they found the men away, and, for a few minutes, had the
place to themselves. Thereupon Cousin Dick, who was two years older than
Arthur, climbed up the derrick, and, watching his chance, sprang on the
end of the great walking beam, that was working slowly up and down with
ponderous strokes. Here he rode on the back of his mighty wooden steed
for a few seconds, while the other children shouted and clapped their
hands with admiration.
Then Dick came down and dared Arthur to perform the same feat; but the
boy held back. He was not afraid, not a bit of it; and even if he had
been he would gladly have done anything Dick dared do, merely to win his
good-will and that of the others. But his Uncle John had forbidden them
even to go near the derrick or the engine unless he was there to look
after them. The others seemed to have forgotten this; but Arthur
remembered it, and so refused to ride on the walking beam because it
would be an act of disobedience. Then Cousin Dick sneered at him, and
called him a “’Fraid-cat,” and all the others, except tender-hearted,
freckle-faced little Cynthia, took up the cry and shouted, “’Fraid-cat!
’Fraid-cat!” as they crowded around him and pushed him into the derrick.
Just then Uncle John returned and the others ran away, leaving poor
Arthur, looking very confused and red in the face, standing in the
middle of the derrick floor. Then, when his uncle in a stern voice asked
him what he was doing in that place which he had been strictly forbidden
to enter, Arthur hung his head and would not say anything; for he was
too brave a lad to be a “tell-tale,” and too honest to tell a lie. So
his Uncle John said that he was a naughty boy who had led the other
children into mischief, and that he might go right home and get into
bed, and stay there for the rest of the day as a punishment.
Poor Arthur obeyed; and, as he walked slowly toward the only place in
the world he could call his home, great tears rolled down his cheeks.
When the other children, who were hiding in the bushes, saw them they
called out, “Cry-baby! Cry-baby!” Only little Cynthia ran out and put
her arm about his neck and said she was sorry; but Dick pulled her
roughly away.
Another time when Cynthia asked Arthur to build a house for her dolls,
under the roots of a great tree that had blown down just on the edge of
the woods back of the house, he, being an obliging little soul,
consented at once to do so. Under the huge mass of roots and earth they
played happily enough at making believe it was a cave, and Cynthia was
radiant with delight over the beautiful time they were having. For a
little while Arthur experienced the novel feeling of being perfectly
happy. Then, all of a sudden, a shower of earth and gravel came rattling
down on them from above, and with it came a mocking chorus of “Girl-boy!
Girl-boy! Look at the girl-boy playing with dolls!” and little Cynthia
began to cry over the ruin of her beautiful baby-house.
[Illustration: PRINCE DUSTY AND CYNTHIA SET OUT ON THEIR ADVENTURES.
(_Page 5._)]
Upon this, with a quick blaze of indignation, Arthur picked up a bit of
stick and flung it with all his strength at the tormentors who had
brought tears to his little cousin’s eyes. It was aimed at nobody in
particular; but it happened to strike Dick on the cheek and make a
slight cut, from which the blood flowed. Thereupon the big boy ran
crying home to his mother, and told her that Arthur had struck him with
a stick, in proof of which story he showed his bloody face. Then Mrs.
Dustin, who always acted upon the impulse of the moment, took down the
apple switch from over the mantel-piece and gave her nephew a whipping,
which she said would be a lesson to him. Poor little Cynthia tried to
explain how it had all happened; but her mother had no time to listen,
and only told her and the other children to come away from the bad boy,
and not go near him again that day.
Some days after this, when all the others had gone on a fishing
expedition, upon which they had refused to let Arthur and Cynthia
accompany them, the boy proposed a beautiful plan to his little cousin.
He remembered the fairy tales his own dear mother used to read to him,
and now he said:
“Let us make believe we are a Prince and Princess, Cynthia, and go out
into the world in search of adventures.”
Cynthia had not the remotest idea of what was meant by “adventures”; but
she was willing to agree to anything that Arthur might propose.
So the two children set forth, and nobody noticed them as they went out
of the front gate and walked, hand in hand, down the dusty road.
They had not gone far before they discovered a poor little robin just
learning to fly, that had fallen into a ditch by the roadside, where in
a few moments more he would have been drowned. Of course they rescued
him, and, while the old mother and father birds flew about them uttering
cries of distress and begging them not to hurt their baby, Cynthia dried
his wings and carefully wiped the mud from his downy feathers with her
pinafore. Then Arthur climbed over a fence and gently placed the little
trembling thing down in the soft grass on the other side.
Next they found a yellow butterfly, whose pretty wings were all tangled
in a spider’s web. Of course they set him free, and had the pleasure of
seeing him flutter joyously away. Arthur said these were beautiful
adventures, and both the children looked eagerly forward to finding some
more; but they walked nearly a mile, and were becoming very hot and
tired, before they met with another.
All of a sudden, as they were passing a cottage by the roadside, they
were startled by a deep, loud bark, and turning they saw a big
Newfoundland dog bound over the front fence, and come dashing directly
toward them. Now, while Arthur was very fond of dogs that he was
acquainted with, he was also very much afraid of strange dogs,
especially big ones; and his first impulse upon this occasion was to run
away. Then he remembered that he was a Prince, and that princes were
always brave. So he told Cynthia to run as fast as she could, and hide
in the bushes. As she did this the brave little fellow turned a bold
front, though he was trembling in every limb, toward the enemy. The next
instant the big dog sprang upon him, threw him down, rolled him in the
dust, and then stood over him wagging a bushy tail, and barking with
delight at what he had done.