[Illustration: The panther was now within four or five feet of the boat.
Page 196.]
_CAPTAIN CHAP_
_OR_
_The Rolling Stones_
_BY_
_FRANK R. STOCKTON_
_Author of “Rudder Grange,” “A Jolly Fellowship,” etc._
_ILLUSTRATED BY
CHARLES H. STEPHENS_
[Illustration]
_PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1897_
Copyright, 1882, by JAMES ELVERSON.
Copyright, 1896, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA,
U. S. A.
_CONTENTS_
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--“THE BEST THING YOU EVER HEARD OF” 7
II.--A SEA VOYAGE 16
III.--“A CONTINENT BEFORE US” 27
IV.--WITH HOOK AND LINE 38
V.--CHAP’S ALLIGATOR 50
VI.--THE ROLLING STONE 65
VII.--THE TWO ORPHANS 73
VIII.--“CAPTAIN OF HIMSELF” 83
IX.--FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 92
X.--PHIL’S UNCLE AND CHAP’S SISTER 101
XI.--TWO EXPEDITIONS 111
XII.--CHAP LEADS THE INDIANS 119
XIII.--ADAM LEADS HIS PARTY 127
XIV.--CHAP’S AMBASSADOR 140
XV.--THE FORCES MEET 145
XVI.--MARY BROWN SENDS A MESSAGE 154
XVII.--THE CHANNEL-BASS 163
XVIII.--CHAP BOARDS THE MAGGIE 172
XIX.--WAITING FOR A VISITOR 182
XX.--THE VISITOR ARRIVES 190
XXI.--THE METROPOLIS OF THE INDIAN RIVER 197
XXII.--THE COLONEL 204
XXIII.--A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED 211
XXIV.--COOT BREWER TAKES THE HELM 219
XXV.--AMONG THE ALLIGATORS 224
XXVI.--THE MAGGIE COMES TO TOWN 234
XXVII.--THE RACE THROUGH THE WOODS 243
XXVIII.--A PLOT AGAINST CHAP 251
XXIX.--HOW ADAM WAS BAGGED 259
XXX.--THE COUNTESS 267
XXXI.--A POINT OF HONOR 273
XXXII.--CHAP IS DOWN UPON ARISTOCRACY 282
XXXIII.--WHICH FINISHES THE STORY 289
_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_
PAGE
The panther was now within four or five
feet of the boat _Frontispiece._
The rescue 21
Adam tucking the other under his left arm 81
“Crouch down there, you varlets!” 177
“Don’t fire!” screamed Coot 226
“Now we’ll give it to him” 261
[Illustration]
_CAPTAIN CHAP_
CHAPTER I.
“THE BEST THING YOU EVER HEARD OF.”
It was the month of October, and yet for the boys who belonged to
the school of Mr. Wallace, in Boontown, the summer vacation was not
yet over. Mr. Wallace had been taken sick, and although he was now
recovering, it was not expected that he would be able to resume the
labors of his school until about the middle of November.
Everybody liked Mr. Wallace, and very few of his patrons wished to
enter their boys at another school when it was expected he would
certainly re-open his establishment in the course of the fall. Most
of his scholars, therefore, were pursuing their studies at home,
according to methods which he recommended, and this plan was generally
considered far more satisfactory than for the boys to go for a short
time to other schools, where the systems of study were probably very
different from those of Mr. Wallace.
It is true that some of the boys did not study very much during this
extension of the vacation, but then it must be remembered that those
who expect boys to do always everything that is right are very apt to
be disappointed.
Philip Berkeley, who lived with his uncle, Mr. Godfrey Berkeley, at
Hyson Hall, on the banks of one of Pennsylvania’s most beautiful
rivers, had studied a good deal since the time when his vacation should
have ended, for he was a boy naturally inclined to that sort of thing,
and he had, besides, the example of his uncle--who was hard at work
studying law--continually before his eyes. But his two most particular
friends, Chapman Webster and Phineas Poole, did not subject their
school-books to any great amount of wear and tear.
Chap Webster was a lively, energetic boy, always ready to engage in
some enterprise of work or play; and Phineas, generally called Phœnix
by his companions, was such a useful fellow on his father’s farm that
he was usually kept pretty busy at one thing or another whenever he was
at home.
At the time our story begins, Chap Webster had, for a week, been living
in what he considered the most delightful kind of clover. He was a
great lover of the water, although he had no particular desire for a
mariner’s life, in the ordinary sense of the term.
Accustomed since a child to the broad waters of the river, he had a
great fancy for what might be called the inland marine service, and his
highest ambition was to be captain of a tug-boat.
To course up and down the river in one of these swift and powerful
little vessels, and to make fast to a great ship ever and ever so much
larger than the “tug,” and to tow her along against wind and tide,
appeared to Chap a most delightful thing to do. There was a sense of
power in it which pleased him.
He was now paying a visit to a relative in the city, who was one of
the officers of a tug-boat company, and this gave Chap an opportunity
to take frequent trips on his favorite vessels. He enjoyed all this so
much that I fear he was in no hurry for his school to begin.
It was on a Monday afternoon that Philip and Phœnix were at the
railroad station in Boontown. Each had come to town on an errand for
his family, and they were now waiting for the three o’clock train from
the city to come in.
The first person who jumped from the cars was Chap Webster, and his
feet had scarcely touched the platform before he spied his two friends.
“Hello, boys!” he cried, striding toward them. “I’m glad I found you
here. I want to tell you the best thing you ever heard of! I’m going
down to the Breakwater to-morrow on a tug-boat, and you two can go
along if your folks will let you. I’ve fixed the whole thing up right.
We’ll be gone two days and a night. And I tell you what it is, boys,
it will be more than glorious! We’re going down after a big steamer,
that’s broken her propeller-blades and has to be towed up to the city.
I came up to tell you fellows, and see what my people said about it.
But I know they’ll agree, and I don’t want you to let your folks put in
any objections. It’ll be just as safe as staying at home, and there’s
entirely too much fun in it for any of us to miss it.”
Neither Phil nor Phœnix hesitated for an instant in agreeing that
Chap’s idea was a splendid one.
Mr. Berkeley, Phil’s uncle, when the subject was laid before him about
an hour afterward, gave a hearty approval to the plan, for he was very
glad that Phil should have an opportunity to enjoy an excursion of the
kind.
His summer vacation had been filled up much more with work and
responsibility than with recreation, and his uncle considered that a
trip of some kind was certainly his due.
But the matter did not appear in the same light in the eyes of Mr.
Poole. Now that Phœnix was not going to school, he thought it the boy’s
duty to make himself useful about the house and farm, and there were a
great many things he wanted him to do.
When Phœnix came over to Hyson Hall early the next morning, and told
Phil he didn’t believe his father intended to let him go on this jolly
old trip, Mr. Berkeley ordered his horse, Jouncer, to be saddled, and
rode over to the Poole farm.
When he came back, he found Chap Webster with the other boys, and
a noisy indignation meeting going on. He put a speedy stop to the
proceedings, by informing the members of the small assemblage that Mr.
Poole had consented to let Phœnix join the tug-boat party.
This news was received with a unanimous shout, and the boys separated
to get ready as quickly as possible for the expedition, for they were
to start for the city on the noon train.
“Take your heavy overcoats with you,” said Mr. Berkeley, as Chap and
Phœnix were bidding him a hasty good-by; “for it may be cold on the
water at night, and you had better each take a change of linen with
you, and some underclothes.”
“What!” cried Phil; “for a little trip like this?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Berkeley. “I am an old traveller, and I know that a
great many things happen on these little trips. One of you may tumble
overboard, and need a dry shirt, and at any rate you ought to feel that
you may rough it as much as you please, and yet look clean and decent
when you are coming home.”
Hyson Hall was appointed for the rendezvous of the boys, and, after
a slight luncheon, Joel drove them over to Boontown. But before they
started Mr. Berkeley gave each of them a long, stout fishing-line,
suitable for salt-water fishing.
“You may have a chance to use these,” he said, “and I don’t believe any
of your own lines are strong enough for deep-water work.”
He gave Phil a pocket lantern and a tin box of matches, with a paper of
extra fish-hooks and various other little articles, which might be of
use.
“If I’d been going by myself,” said Chap, “I’d have just clapped on my
hat, and started for town.”
“Yes,” said Phœnix, “and then, when you got a chance to fish, you’d
have growled because you hadn’t a line. I tell you what it is, Phil,
your uncle knows what he is about. I wish I knew what he said to
father.”
“Some magic words,” said Chap; “but you needn’t think anybody is ever
going to tell them to you. You’d go round slinging spells over your
whole family, and having everything your own way. I rather think you’d
have an easy time of it.”
“Yes,” said Phœnix, “you’re about right, and when any work turned up
that I wanted to do, I’d chuck a spell over a long-legged fellow named
Chap Webster, and make him come and help.”
“Joel,” said Chap, “hadn’t you better touch up the noble beast? We
don’t want to be late, you know.”
“We’ll get there soon enough,” said Joel. “I drive on time, and I never
miss trains.”
“If you hurry up people that way, Chap,” said Phil, “you’ll have this
trip over sooner than you want it to be.”
“You needn’t worry your mind about that,” said Chap. “When we get on
the real trip, I’m the fellow to help stretch it out as far as it will
go.”
The trip down the river and bay was quite as enjoyable as the boys had
expected it to be. The little tug was not very commodious, and not very
clean, but there was a small after-deck, on which they could lounge
quite comfortably.
The boys had never been far below the city, and the scenery was novel
and interesting to them. Chap would have been glad to have the tug stop
occasionally, so that they could have a chance to fish; but he had
sense enough not to propose anything of the kind to the captain.
They reached their destination the next day, and it was then found that
the steamer with the broken propeller was not quite ready to be towed
up; and it was decided not to start with her on her trip up the river
until the following morning.
In the course of the afternoon, however, some work appeared for the
captain of the tug-boat. Far out to sea a schooner was perceived, with
her foremast and part of her bowsprit gone, and endeavoring, against a
head-wind, to make her way to the refuge of the Breakwater.
There was a strong wind blowing from the north, with a chance of its
getting farther to the east before long, and it was considered doubtful
whether the disabled schooner would be able to get in before a storm
came on.
“Boys,” said the captain, coming aft to where our friends were sitting,
“I’ve made up my mind to go out and offer to tow that schooner in. I
might as well be making some money for the company as to lie here doing
nothing. But I think it’s going to be pretty rough, and, if you fellows
don’t care to go along, I’ll put you ashore.”
The boys, who had been so much interested in everything around them
that they had not even taken out their fishing-lines, cried out at once
that they would not think of going ashore. Nothing would please them
more than a trip out to sea.
“The rougher the better!” cried Chap. “I just want to feel what it is
like to be tossed on the ocean wave.”
“All right!” said the captain, with a grin. “We’ll toss you.”
[Illustration]