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THE ROVER BOYS ON A HUNT
OR
_THE MYSTERIOUS HOUSE IN THE WOODS_
BY
ARTHUR M. WINFIELD
(Edward Stratemeyer)
AUTHOR OF "THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL," "THE ROVER BOYS ON THE OCEAN,"
"THE PUTNAM HALL SERIES," ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
Copyright, 1920, by
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
[Illustration: THE WOLVES GAVE LOUD YELPS OF PAIN.]
_The Rover Boys on a Hunt_
INTRODUCTION
MY DEAR BOYS: This book is a complete story in itself, but forms the
fourth volume in a line issued under the general title, "The Second
Rover Boys Series for Young Americans."
As mentioned in some volumes of the first series, this line was started
years ago with the publication of "The Rover Boys at School," "On the
Ocean," and "In the Jungle," in which I introduced my readers to Dick,
Tom and Sam Rover. The twenty volumes of the first series related the
doings of these three youths while attending Putnam Hall Military
Academy, Brill College, and while on numerous outings.
Having acquired a thorough education, the three young men established
themselves in business and were married. Presently Dick Rover became the
father of a son and a daughter, and so did his brother Sam, while Tom
Rover became the father of twin boys. The four lads were later on sent
to boarding school, as related in the first volume of this second
series, entitled "The Rover Boys at Colby Hall."
From Colby Hall the scene was shifted to "Snowshoe Island," where the
lads went for a winter outing. Then they came back to the military
academy, and later on participated in the annual encampment, as related
in the third volume, entitled "The Rover Boys under Canvas."
In the present volume the scene is shifted from lively times at Colby
Hall to still more livelier times in the woods, to which the lads
journeyed for a season of hunting. They came upon a mysterious house in
the forest, and there uncovered a secret which I will leave the pages
that follow to relate.
Once more I wish to thank my numerous readers for the many nice things
they have said about these "Rover Boys" books. I trust that the reading
of the volumes will do them all good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
CONTENTS
I THE BOBSLED RACE
II ABOUT THE ROVERS
III NEWS OF IMPORTANCE
IV SOMETHING ABOUT CEDAR LODGE
V THE DEFEAT OF THE BULLY
VI AT THE MOVING PICTURE THEATER
VII THE END OF THE TERM
VIII CHRISTMAS AT HOME
IX THE RAILROAD ACCIDENT
X THE RESCUE
XI ON THE WAY TO CEDAR LODGE
XII AT THE FROZEN-UP SPRING
XIII THE MEETING ON THE ROAD
XIV THE FIRST HUNT
XV A CRY FOR HELP
XVI UNDESIRABLE VISITORS
XVII NEW YEAR'S DAY IN CAMP
XVIII FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
XIX LETTERS FROM HOME
XX LOST IN THE WOODS
XXI A NIGHT UNDER THE CLIFF
XXII AT TONY DUVAL'S CAMP
XXIII SIX BIG SNOWBALLS
XXIV A CONVERSATION OF IMPORTANCE
XXV THE MYSTERIOUS HOUSE IN THE WOODS
XXVI WHAT THE BIG BARN CONTAINED
XXVII THE COMING OF THE WOLVES
XXVIII THE MAN IN THE GREY OVERCOAT
XXIX WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LODGE
XXX THE EXPOSURE--CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I
THE BOBSLED RACE
"All ready, boys?"
"Wait a minute, Jack."
"Can't wait; life is too short!" cried Jack Rover gayly. He was seated
at the front of a long bobsled holding six boys. "Remember, we've got to
be back at the Hall in half an hour."
"Please don't mention it!" pleaded Randy Rover, his cousin.
"Hi, you fellows! are you going to race or not?" came from another youth
on a bobsled standing close by.
"You bet we're going to race!" sang out Fred Rover, who was at the tail
end of the first sled. "And we'll beat you, too, Bill Glutts!"
"You will, like fun!" grumbled the cadet addressed, a rather heavy-set
and by-no-means pre-possessing youth. "Come on now, unless you're
afraid."
"We're afraid of nobody!" sang out Andy Rover, and, leaning sideways
from where he sat on the bobsled, he scooped up a handful of loose snow
and threw it playfully at Glutts.
"Hi, you! what do you mean?" roared Bill Glutts in anger, as the snow
landed directly behind his right ear.
"Hello! I guess it must have begun to snow again," cried Randy Rover,
mischievously.
"I'll 'snow' you!" retorted Glutts. "I guess you fellows are afraid to
race. That's why you are cutting up."
"Never mind--race them anyway, Bill," came from a small, pasty-faced
youth, who was usually called Codfish on account of his broad mouth. "Go
ahead and show 'em what your new bobsled can do."
"That's the talk!" cried another cadet, a newcomer at the academy. "Show
'em that the _Yellow Streak_ can lick anything on this hill."
"That's a dream that will never come true!" cried Spouter Powell. "Come
ahead, Jack, let's start this race," he added to the oldest Rover boy.
The scene was Long Hill, a rise of ground located about midway between
Colby Hall Military Academy and the town of Haven Point. There was
something of a wagon road leading up the hill from the main highway
which skirted Clearwater Lake, and this road had been converted by the
cadets of the academy into a slide for their bobsleds.
From the top of the hill the slide ran down and over two smaller hills,
then crossed the main highway and shot down another road onto the lake,
which at this season of the year was covered with ice.
It was a Saturday afternoon, and, as usual, the cadets of the military
academy were making the most of their off time, some with bobsleds and
other with ordinary handsleds and what were locally called "bread
shovels."
For some weeks before this the boys, as well as many other residents in
that vicinity, had enjoyed skating on the lake. But a rather wet snow
had fallen which the wind had been unable to sweep away, and
consequently skating became a thing of the past. Then the lads turned to
their bobsleds, the Rovers getting out one they had used the season
before. This they painted and varnished very carefully and christened
the _Blue Moon_.
"Because, you see," explained Randy, with a wink, "it's only once in a
blue moon that she'll be beaten."
The Rovers and their chums, as well as many other cadets and boys and
girls from that vicinity, had been using the hill for a couple of hours
when the race between the _Blue Moon_ and the _Yellow Streak_ was
proposed by Nick Carncross, the new friend of Bill Glutts.
Now, as my old readers know, the Rovers and Bill Glutts were by no means
on good terms with each other. In the past Glutts had proved himself
anything but a friend, and they had had more than one personal encounter
with this freckled-faced bully.
But it was not in the nature of any of the Rover boys to refuse a
challenge to race, knowing well that if this was done many would think
they were afraid of being beaten. So the challenge was accepted, and
immediately the details were arranged.
Each bobsled was to carry six cadets, and they were to start down the
hill side by side, the _Blue Moon_ keeping well to the right and the
_Yellow Streak_ well to the left. The first sled to cross a mark located
out on the lake was to be declared the winner.
With the four Rover boys were their intimate chums, Spouter Powell and
Gif Garrison. With Glutts were Codfish, Carncross, and three other of
the bully's cronies.
"Gee! I wish I was in that race," came from Will Hendry, who, on account
of his unusual stoutness, was always called Fatty.
"Nothing doing, Fatty," remarked Dan Soppinger, another cadet. "You'd
make the Rovers lose sure."
"All ready?" questioned Walt Baxter, who had been settled on as the
starter of the race.
"All ready," answered Jack Rover, after a glance around to see that
nothing was out of order.
"Been ready half an hour," grumbled Bill Glutts.
"All right, then!" cried Walt. "One--two--three--go!"
As he finished Fred Rover, who was at the rear of the _Blue Moon_, gave
that bobsled a quick push and leaped aboard. At the same time Carncross
sent the _Yellow Streak_ forward and also sprang to his seat. Then, side
by side, the two bobsleds moved down the long hill, slowly at first, but
gradually gathering speed.
It was five o'clock of an afternoon in early December, and consequently
quite dark, even on the snow-clad hills. Many of the smaller children,
and also the girls, had gone home, leaving the place to the cadets and a
few others.
"I hope we win this," remarked Randy, as the two sleds continued to
speed forward side by side.
"Of course we'll win it," came promptly from Gif Garrison.
"We've got to win it!" added Fred Rover.
"If you don't win Bill Glutts will never stop crowing over you," put in
Spouter Powell.
"Hi, there, Glutts! Keep to your side of the run," warned Jack suddenly.
The _Yellow Streak_ had swerved over well into the middle of the road.
"I know what I'm doing," growled Glutts. "You tend to your own
business."
"Well, you know the rules," warned Jack. "You keep over on your own
side. If you don't there'll be trouble."
"Humph! you don't have to tell me what to do," growled the other cadet;
and then, striking a bit of extra smooth roadway, the _Yellow Streak_
bounded ahead, much to the delight of its riders.
"Hurrah! here is where we leave them behind," sang out Codfish.
"Nothing to it but the shouting," added another of Bill Glutts' cronies.
"We'll be a mile ahead by the time we reach the lake," exulted Nick
Carncross.
For half a minute it looked as if his prophecy might be true. The
_Yellow Streak_ was gliding over the icy surface of the long hill, and
consequently going ahead, while the _Blue Moon_ struck several soft
spots where going was anything but good.
"Oh, Jack! can't you pull out of this?" queried Gif Garrison anxiously.
"Pull over to the left where the going is harder. It's too soft here
entirely."
"I'm sticking to my side of the road, just as I was expected to do,"
said Jack grimly.
The _Yellow Streak_ disappeared over the first rise, and for a few
seconds was lost to view. But then the _Blue Moon_ came along, and
beyond this rise found going somewhat easier. Slowly but surely they
crawled up behind the other bobsled.
"Keep to your side of the road, Glutts!" yelled Jack, in a second
warning. "If you don't, there'll be trouble."
"And you'll get the worst of it," added Randy.
"I know what I'm doing," retorted Glutts. He had found the snow somewhat
soft on his side of the road, and was now running near the center, and
occasionally crowding to Jack's side.
"We'll run into 'em sure!" came from Spouter Powell in alarm. "Look out,
Jack!"
"Look out!" echoed Fred.
"Over on your own side, or we'll smash you, Glutts!" yelled Jack, for
the _Blue Moon_ had suddenly found going much easier and was forging
forward rapidly. "Get out of the way!"
The call was so peremptory that Glutts felt bound to obey. He swerved to
his side of the road, and with not a second to spare, for almost
instantly the _Blue Moon_ shot past and continued down the slope toward
the lake.
"We win! we win!" yelled Andy gayly.
"But the _Yellow Streak_ is just behind us!" cried Spouter, looking
back. "Here they come!"
"Yes, and on our side of the road, too!" cried Fred, in alarm. He turned
his head still further around. "Glutts, get to your own side!"
"Aw, dry up!" cried the other cadet, in disgust. "You don't have to act
as if you owned the whole road."
"You know the rules of the race," flung back Fred.
Crossing the highway which skirted the lake was not so easy, and beyond
this the snow was rather deep, and consequently the speed of the _Blue
Moon_ was slackened. The _Yellow Streak_ came dangerously close, and
then Bill Glutts seemed to lose his head completely. He slued around to
his own side of the road, but made such a short turn that in a twinkling
the long bobsled was upset and the occupants hurled in all directions.
"There they go! They are upset!" yelled Fred. And then he lost sight of
those left behind as the _Blue Moon_ shot out on the surface of the lake
and beyond the mark set for the end of the race.
"We win! we win!" cried Andy, leaping from the bobsled, and in the
exuberance of his spirits he turned a handspring in the snow.
"What happened to the other sled?" asked Jack, who had been so busy
steering the _Blue Moon_ he had paid little attention to what had been
going on behind.
"They had a spill," answered Fred. "But before they took it they came
pretty close to running into us."
"It was up to them to keep to their side of the road," said Gif
Garrison. "Why, we might have had a terrible accident if they had run
into us!"
There were about a dozen boys on the lake who had witnessed the finish
of the race, and these, along with those who had come down on the _Blue
Moon_, now turned back to see what had happened to the Glutts party.
They found the cadets who had been spilled picking themselves up and
brushing the snow from their garments. One was nursing a bruised ankle,
and another a bruised elbow, while Bill Glutts was wiping some blood
from a scratch on his chin.
"Well, we won the race," said Jack briefly. He had no desire to crow
over his opponents.
"Huh! you didn't win it fairly," growled Glutts, glaring at him.
"Didn't win it fairly!" exclaimed Jack. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean you got in our way so we couldn't get past you--that's what I
mean!" growled the other.
"That is false, Glutts, and you know it," retorted the oldest Rover boy.
"See here, Jack Rover! you can't talk to me in that fashion," roared
Bill Glutts. He had been in a more or less bad humor all the afternoon,
and the defeat had not improved his temper. "I say you got in my way,
and that is why I lost the race."
"And I say your statement isn't true," returned Jack sturdily.
"It is true! And I won't let you or anybody else say any different,"
said Bill Glutts. And then, in sudden passion, he stepped forward and
gave Jack a shove which sent the oldest Rover boy flat on his back in a
snowbank.