[Illustration: Illustrated title page.]
_THE LAKE SHORE SERIES._
BEAR AND FORBEAR;
OR, THE
YOUNG SKIPPER OF LAKE UCAYGA.
BY
OLIVER OPTIC,
_Author of “Army and Navy Stories,” “Great Western Series,” “Onward
and Upward Stories,” “Woodville Stories,” Famous “Boat-Club
Series,” “The Starry-Flag Series,” “Young America
Abroad,” “Lake Shore Series,” “Riverdale Story-Book,”
“Yacht-Club Series,” and “The
Boat-Builder Series.”_
BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.
ELECTROTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
No. 19 Spring Lane.
TO
_HELEN HAMLIN_, _FRANK HAMLIN_, _JARVIS L. CARTER_,
_EDWARD STETSON_, _CHARLIE HAMLIN_, _ISAIAH STETSON_,
_ADDIE HAMLIN_, _MARY STETSON_,
AND “A THOUSAND AND ONE OTHER BOYS AND GIRLS” OF THE
CITY OF BANGOR, WHO SENT ME A BLACK BEAR, IN TOKEN
OF THEIR LOVE AND ESTEEM, ADMONISHING ME
NOT TO EAT HIM, BUT TO INSTRUCT AND
TO PRESERVE HIM FROM THE EVILS
OF THIS WICKED WORLD,
This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
Though I did not eat him, nor any part thereof, and his life was too
short to permit him to profit by any instruction I might have been able
to give him, yet he is preserved from “the evils of this wicked world”
at the rooms of the Society of Natural History, and I hope my readers
will profit by the story he suggested.
O. O.
_THE LAKE SHORE SERIES._
1. _THROUGH BY DAYLIGHT_; or, The Young Engineer of the Lake Shore
Railroad.
2. _LIGHTNING EXPRESS_; or, The Rival Academies.
3. _ON TIME_; or, The Young Captain of the Ucayga Steamer.
4. _SWITCH OFF_; or, The War of the Students.
5. _BRAKE UP_; or, The Young Peacemakers.
6. _BEAR AND FORBEAR_; or, The Young Skipper of Lake Ucayga.
PREFACE.
“BEAR AND FORBEAR” is the sixth and last of the Lake Shore Series, and
was one of the serials which appeared in Oliver Optic’s Magazine. The
story itself is complete, and independent of its predecessors, though
the characters that have been prominent in the other volumes of the
series are again presented, to be finally dealt with according to their
several deserts. The writer has endeavored to show that fidelity to
duty prospers even in this world, and that evil doing brings pain and
misery; and if he has awarded “poetical justice” to each, it will only
make the contrast the more evident.
The author has endeavored to make a proper use of the Christian precept
which forms the principal title; and he trusts that his readers, both
young and old, will be able to deduce the moral from the story, and,
profiting by it, be enabled to avoid such disagreeable ruptures as that
which threatened the peace of the two communities in the story, but
which the “two bears” happily prevented.
In closing this series, the author desires once more to thank his
juvenile and his adult friends for the kind consideration they have
always extended to him, and for the increasing favor bestowed upon his
efforts to please and to instruct.
HARRISON SQUARE, BOSTON.
June 1, 1870.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
ON BOARD THE BELLE. 11
CHAPTER II.
A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 22
CHAPTER III.
AN ANGRY GUARDIAN. 33
CHAPTER IV.
FIRE ON THE LAKE. 45
CHAPTER V.
THE RESCUED PASSENGER. 57
CHAPTER VI.
THE ENGLISH LORD AND THE DRUMMER. 69
CHAPTER VII.
MISS DORNWOOD’S STORY. 82
CHAPTER VIII.
THE STRANGE BOAT. 94
CHAPTER IX.
THE ROBBERY OF THE CENTREPORT BANK. 107
CHAPTER X.
THE ROBBERS SEPARATE. 119
CHAPTER XI.
A LITTLE SPARK KINDLES A BIG FIRE. 131
CHAPTER XII.
THE LANDING OF THE ROBBER. 142
CHAPTER XIII.
TOM WALTON WOUNDED. 153
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ROBBER TAKES THE BACK TRACK. 164
CHAPTER XV.
THE ROBBER IN A TRAP. 175
CHAPTER XVI.
SHOWERS OF ROCKS. 187
CHAPTER XVII.
A BLOW WITH THE BOAT-HOOK. 198
CHAPTER XVIII.
AT THE CATARACT HOUSE. 209
CHAPTER XIX.
THE OTHER BANK ROBBER. 221
CHAPTER XX.
THE END OF LORD PALSGRAVE. 232
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ADVENTURES OF NICK VAN WOLTER. 243
CHAPTER XXII.
COLONEL WIMPLETON’S WRATH. 254
CHAPTER XXIII.
MAJOR TOPPLETON EXPLAINS. 265
CHAPTER XXIV.
BEAR AND FORBEAR. 276
CHAPTER XXV.
MISS DORNWOOD’S GUARDIAN. 287
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE YOUNG SKIPPER OF THE BANSHEE. 298
BEAR AND FORBEAR;
OR,
THE YOUNG SKIPPER OF LAKE UCAYGA.
CHAPTER I.
ON BOARD THE BELLE.
“Wolf, I am about ready to buy this boat, if you are about ready to
sell it,” said Tom Walton, as we were sailing up the lake in the Belle.
“I’m quite ready to sell it to you, Tom,” I replied.
“You ought to own her by this time, Tom,” added Waddie Wimpleton, who
was one of the party.
We were going up the lake to have a good time; in other words, it was
vacation with me. When Tom Walton spoke, I was thinking of the events
of the past, as the sail-boat glided swiftly over the clear waters
of Lake Ucayga. I was the general agent of the Union Line, which now
included the Lake Shore Railroad and the Ucayga Steamboat. The two
_millionnaires_, who had fixed their residences on opposite sides of
the lake, at the Narrows, where it is only one mile wide, had been
the most bitter enemies for years, taking up the hatchet after a long
period of the most intimate and friendly relations. Major Toppleton had
built the Lake Shore Railroad as a plaything for the students of the
Institute established on his side of the lake, in order to give them
a thorough and practical knowledge of railway business. The idea had
grown on his hands till the road had become a very important channel
of travel. Buying up the stock of the old steamers on the lake, he
had obtained the control of them, and ran them in connection with the
railroad. This movement gave Middleport, on the major’s side of the
lake, a very great advantage over Centreport, where Colonel Wimpleton
resided.
Then the two great men became rivals for the business of the lake; and
the colonel built a large and splendid steamer, to run in opposition
to the railroad, which, by its great speed and elegant accommodations,
had carried the day against the railroad. The students of the Wimpleton
Institute were formed into a company, and nominally managed the affairs
of the steamer, thus obtaining an insight into the method of conducting
business in stock companies. I had been a kind of shuttlecock between
the rival magnates, and had been successively employed and discharged
by each. The war between the two sides of the lake had extended to
the families of the principal parties, and the inhabitants of the
large towns in which they lived. The two sons of the great men had
been particularly hostile; but, having mended their ways, and, from
vicious, overbearing, tyrannical young men, becoming kind, gentle, and
noble, they buried the hatchet, and their relations were pleasant and
friendly. By their indirect efforts, with some help from me, the feud
between the fathers had been healed, and they were now warm personal
friends. The railroad and steamboat lines had been united, and were now
running in connection with each other.
I am not disposed to say much about my own agency in bringing about
this happy state of things, though I had labored patiently and
persistently for years to accomplish the result. I was happy in the
achievement, and not inclined to apportion the credit of it among
those who had brought it about, except to award a very large share of
it to the sons of the two magnates. The two lines had been running
in connection about two months. As the general superintendent of the
united line, I had gone over the entire route daily until everything
worked to my own satisfaction, as well as to that of the traveling
public. As captain of the steamer, I had been constantly employed all
winter, and I felt disposed to play a few days. It was vacation at
both the Institutes, and Tommy Toppleton had gone to one of the great
watering-places with his father and mother, though the time fixed for
their return had arrived. Waddie Wimpleton had accepted an invitation
to spend a few days on a cruise with me up the lake. We intended to
live on board of the Belle, and spend the time in fishing, sailing, and
rambling through the wild region.
I had bought the Belle at auction, at a time when I was out of
employment, having been discharged by Major Toppleton from my situation
as engineer on the Lake Shore Railroad. She had cost me a very small
sum, compared with her value, and I intended to make my living by
taking out parties in her. But, as I was very soon appointed to the
command of the steamer, I employed Tom Walton to run her for me; and he
paid me a portion of the receipts. He had done well for himself, and
well for me, in her. Tom was a very honest, industrious, and capable
fellow, and supported his mother and the rest of the family by his
labor. I had told him I would sell the Belle to him at a fair price,
any time when he wished to buy her. I had been rather surprised that he
did not avail himself of this offer, for my share of the earnings of
the boat had already paid me double the amount she had cost me.
“I think of going into the general navigation business,” said Tom, with
one of his good-natured laughs; “and if I can buy her, I will do so.”
“You can, Tom,” I replied.
“My mother has been sick a good deal for the last two years, and it
took about all I could make to take care of the family, or I should
have bought her before.”
“I’ll trust you, Tom,” I added.
“I don’t want anybody to trust me, except to keep the folks from
starving. I didn’t mean to buy that boat till I had money enough to pay
for her. I’ve got a little ahead now.”
“How much have you, Tom?” I asked.
“I haven’t enough to bust the Middleport Bank yet. You’ve used me first
rate, Wolf, and I don’t mean to cheat you on this boat. After all,
whether I buy her or not rather depends on what you ask for her.”
“You shall have her for what she will bring at auction.”
“What will she bring at auction?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t think I can buy her, then, for I know a man in town who will
start the bidding at one hundred and fifty.”
“Do you? Well, I had no idea any one would give that for her,” I
replied.
I saw that Tom was troubled, though he still kept his face alive with
his usual smile. I would have given him the boat at once, only the
offer to do so would wound his pride and hurt his feelings, for, poor
as he was, he had the instincts of a gentleman.
“I shall make money by buying the boat, Wolf, and I want her badly, but
not enough to run in debt for her,” added he.
“Suppose we do as Major Toppleton and Colonel Wimpleton did on the
steamers.”
“What’s that?”
“Mark.”
“I’m willing to mark; but I’m afraid I can’t hit your figures, Wolf,
for the Belle is a valuable piece of property. I ought to know that, if
no one else does.”
“You write what you are willing to give, and I will write what I am
willing to take. If my figures are lower than yours, they shall be the
price of the boat, and the trade is completed.”
“Your figures?”
“Yes.”
“Why not my figures, if they are higher than yours?”
“If you give all I ask, that’s enough. If my figures are higher than
yours, we will split the difference,” I continued, handing him a pencil
and paper.
“That’s fair, so far as I am concerned; but don’t you cheat yourself,
Wolf,” replied Tom, taking the paper and making his figures upon it,
after considerable hesitation.
“You needn’t worry about me, my dear fellow. Give your figures to
Waddie. He shall stand between us,” I added, as I wrote my own
valuation, and handed it to him.
“There is considerable difference in your estimates,” laughed Waddie.
“What am I to do?--split the difference?”
“Not unless my figures are higher than Tom’s.”
“They are not, Wolf. Tom’s are a mile and a half higher than yours.”
“Then the boat is sold at my price,” I added.
“Cheap enough!” exclaimed Waddie.
“What are the figures?” asked Tom.
“You marked one hundred and fifty dollars, Tom, and Wolf marked fifty
dollars. So the Belle is sold.”
“So am I,” said the skipper.
“Are you not satisfied?”
“No; I feel just as though I had been overreached. See here, Wolf
Penniman; I didn’t mean to have you give me this boat.”
“I haven’t given her to you.”
“I supposed you would ask three or four hundred dollars for her.”
“I am satisfied, Tom. I have made money out of her, and now I get back
all she cost me.”
“But don’t you think it’s an insult to the Belle to sell her for fifty
dollars?” laughed Tom.
“If she does not complain, you need not.”
“Wolf, I don’t feel exactly right about it. I have a kind of an idea
that you have taken pity on me, for a poor, miserable fellow as I am,
and given me the boat.”
“No such thing, Tom!” I protested.
“Didn’t I say there was a man in town that would bid a hundred and
fifty dollars on her if she was put up at auction?”
“I don’t know him, Tom; and I’m afraid he would not use her kindly. The
Belle is yours.”
“I can afford to give you a hundred for her without busting the
Middleport Bank. Don’t you think I’d better do it?”
“Certainly not, Tom. A trade is a trade.”
“But I feel just as though I had stolen her.”
“Don’t feel so, my dear fellow. I will give you a bill of sale when
I can get something to write it with. It’s all right now, Tom. ‘Be
virtuous and you will be happy,’ and your boat will sail all the faster
for it.”
“I am happy, Wolf I have saved up about one hundred and fifty dollars.
I thought that would almost buy the Belle. Now I’m just a hundred in.
I’m going into the general navigation business, and I want some more
boats, to let, and I’m lucky enough to have the capital to invest in
them. I shall buy some row-boats, for there are lots of people that
want to hire them.”
“I have no doubt you will do a good business letting boats, Tom. Rowing
is a great art, and a healthy one. But have good boats. Don’t buy poor
ones because they are cheap.”
“Not I, Wolf; my boats shall be first chop, ‘A, No. 1, prime.’ But I
suppose you gentlemen want some dinner--don’t you?”
“We do want some dinner, Tom,” I replied. “I make a business of
attending to that matter every day.”
“Exactly so, Wolf. That’s just what you thought the last time you
thought so.”
“Eating dinner I have always found to be a healthy amusement, and I
intend to follow it up as long as I live, and can get any dinner to
eat,” I replied.
“You will always get it, Wolf, for you are a rich man now; and you will
die worth a million, if you don’t die before you have a million. Now,
if you will take the helm, you shall have a beefsteak and some baked
potatoes, first chop, A, No. 1, prime, in about half an hour, more or
less, but rather more than less.”
I took the tiller, and Tom went into the cuddy to prepare the meal. In
half an hour, more or less, we had the beefsteak and baked potatoes,
smoking hot, done to a turn, and just as nice as the best hotel in the
country could furnish.