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EDWARD STRATEMEYER'S BOOKS
Old Glory Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
UNDER DEWEY AT MANILA.
A YOUNG VOLUNTEER IN CUBA.
FIGHTING IN CUBAN WATERS.
UNDER OTIS IN THE PHILIPPINES.
THE CAMPAIGN OF THE JUNGLE.
UNDER MacARTHUR IN LUZON.
Soldiers of Fortune Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
ON TO PEKIN.
UNDER THE MIKADO'S FLAG.
AT THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR.
WITH TOGO FOR JAPAN.
Colonial Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
WITH WASHINGTON IN THE WEST.
MARCHING ON NIAGARA.
AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL.
ON THE TRAIL OF PONTIAC.
THE FORT IN THE WILDERNESS.
TRAIL AND TRADING POST.
Mexican War Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.00._
FOR THE LIBERTY OF TEXAS.
WITH TAYLOR ON THE RIO GRANDE.
UNDER SCOTT IN MEXICO.
Pan-American Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume $1.00._
LOST ON THE ORINOCO.
THE YOUNG VOLCANO EXPLORERS.
YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE ISTHMUS.
YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE AMAZON.
TREASURE SEEKERS OF THE ANDES.
CHASED ACROSS THE PAMPAS.
Dave Porter Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
DAVE PORTER AT OAK HALL.
DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS.
DAVE PORTER'S RETURN TO SCHOOL.
DAVE PORTER IN THE FAR NORTH.
DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLASSMATES.
DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH.
DAVE PORTER AND HIS RIVALS.
DAVE PORTER ON CAVE ISLAND.
DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS.
DAVE PORTER IN THE GOLD FIELDS.
DAVE PORTER AT BEAR CAMP.
DAVE PORTER AND HIS DOUBLE.
DAVE PORTER'S GREAT SEARCH.
DAVE PORTER UNDER FIRE.
DAVE PORTER'S WAR HONORS.
Lakeport Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
THE GUN CLUB BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
THE BASEBALL BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
THE BOAT CLUB BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
THE FOOTBALL BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
THE AUTOMOBILE BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
THE AIRCRAFT BOYS OF LAKEPORT.
American Boys' Biographical Series
_Cloth. Illustrated. Net $1.50 per volume._
AMERICAN BOYS' LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY.
AMERICAN BOYS' LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
DEFENDING HIS FLAG. _Price $1.50._
[Illustration: The canoe was sent closer and finally beached.--_Page
258._]
Dave Porter Series
DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS
OR
THE STRANGE CRUISE OF THE STORMY PETREL
BY
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
Author of "Under Togo for Japan," "Under the Mikado's
Flag," "At the Fall of Port Arthur," "Old Glory
Series," "Pan-American Series," "Colonial
Series," "American Boys' Biographical
Series," etc.
_ILLUSTRATED BY I. B. HAZELTON_
BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
Published, August, 1906
COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD CO.
_All rights reserved_
DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS
Norwood Press
BERWICK AND SMITH CO.
NORWOOD, MASS.
U. S. A.
PREFACE
"Dave Porter in the South Seas" is a complete story in itself, but forms
the second volume in a line issued under the general title of "Dave
Porter Series."
In the first volume of this series, called "Dave Porter at Oak Hall," I
introduced a typical American boy, and gave something of his haps and
mishaps at an American boarding school of to-day. At this school Dave
made a number of warm friends, and also a few enemies, and was the means
of bringing one weak and misguided youth to a realization of his better
self. Dave was poor and had to fight his way to the front, and this was
not accomplished until he had shown those around him what a truly
straightforward and manly fellow he was.
The one great cloud over Dave's life was the question of his parentage.
He had been raised by those who knew practically nothing of his past,
and when he thought that he saw a chance to learn something about
himself, he embraced that opportunity eagerly, even though it
necessitated a long trip to the South Seas and a search among strange
islands and still stranger natives. Dave makes the trip in a vessel
belonging to the father of one of his school chums, and is accompanied
by several of his friends. Not a few perils are encountered, and what
the boys do under such circumstances I leave for the pages that follow
to tell.
In penning this tale, I have had a twofold object in view: first, to
give my young readers a view of a long ocean trip and let them learn
something of the numerous islands which dot the South Seas, and, in the
second place, to aid in teaching that old truth--that what is worth
having is worth working for.
Again I thank the many thousands of boys and girls, and older persons,
too, who have shown their appreciation of my efforts to amuse and
instruct them. I can only add, as I have done before, that I sincerely
trust that this volume fulfills their every reasonable expectation.
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
April 10, 1906.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE BOYS OF OAK HALL 1
II. A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST 10
III. THREE CHUMS ON THE RIVER 19
IV. A PLOT TO "SQUARE UP" 28
V. WHAT THE PLOT LED TO 37
VI. THE FUN OF A NIGHT 46
VII. GUS PLUM'S MYSTERIOUS OFFER 55
VIII. SHADOW HAMILTON'S CONFESSION 64
IX. ABOUT ATHLETIC CONTESTS 72
X. HOW A RACE WAS WON 81
XI. A FIGHT AND ITS RESULT 90
XII. SHADOW AS A SOMNAMBULIST 100
XIII. A PHOTOGRAPH OF IMPORTANCE 110
XIV. A GLEAM OF LIGHT 119
XV. WINDING UP THE SCHOOL TERM 128
XVI. PREPARING FOR A LONG TRIP 137
XVII. THE TRIP TO THE FAR WEST 146
XVIII. SAILING OF THE "STORMY PETREL" 155
XIX. DAYS ON THE OCEAN 164
XX. CAUGHT IN A STORM 174
XXI. CAVASA ISLAND AT LAST 183
XXII. ABOUT SOME MISSING MEN 192
XXIII. IN WHICH THE SUPERCARGO IS CORNERED 201
XXIV. THE CARGO MYSTERY EXPLAINED 210
XXV. SWEPT ONWARD BY A TIDAL WAVE 219
XXVI. EXPLORING A TROPICAL ISLAND 228
XXVII. A MAP AND A PLOT 237
XXVIII. MAROONED 245
XXIX. THE COMING OF THE NATIVES 254
XXX. THE RETAKING OF THE "STORMY PETREL" 262
XXXI. LIFTING THE CURTAIN 270
XXXII. HOMEWARD BOUND--CONCLUSION 278
ILLUSTRATIONS
The canoe was sent closer and finally beached
(page 258) _Frontispiece_
Page
Dave cleared the last hurdle, and came in a winner 87
"Tell me his name, at once!" 121
"Good-by to Oak Hall!" 137
Another flash lit up the scene 179
The former supercargo was washed off the steps and
came down flat on his back 225
Billy Dill managed to catch the last one and turn
him over 233
"I have come about seven thousand miles to see you" 274
DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS
CHAPTER I
THE BOYS OF OAK HALL
"Hello, Dave; where are you bound?"
"For the river, Phil. I am going out for a row. Want to come along?"
"That suits me," answered Phil Lawrence, throwing down the astronomy he
had been studying. "But I can't stay out late," he added, reaching for
his cap. "Got two examples in algebra to do. Have you finished up?"
"Yes," answered Dave Porter. "They are not so hard."
"And your Latin?"
"That's done, too."
Phil Lawrence eyed the boy before him admiringly. "Dave, I don't see how
you manage it. You're always on deck for fun, and yet you scarcely miss
a lesson. Let me into the secret, won't you?"
"That's right, Dave; pull the cover off clean and clear," came from a
youth who had just entered the school dormitory. "If I can get lessons
without studying----"
"Oh, Roger, you know better than that," burst out Dave Porter, with a
smile. "Of course I have to study--just the same as anybody. But when I
study, I study, and when I play, I play. I've found out that it doesn't
pay to mix the two up--it is best to buckle your mind down to the thing
on hand and to nothing else."
"That's the talk," came from a boy resting on one of the beds. "It puts
me in mind of a story I once heard about a fellow who fell from the roof
of a house to the ground----"
"There goes Shadow again!" cried Roger Morr. "Shadow, will you ever get
done telling chestnuts?"
"This isn't a chestnut, and I haven't told it over twice in my life. The
man fell to the ground past an open window. As he was going down, he
grabbed another man at the window by the hair. The hair--it was a
wig--came off. 'Say,' yells the man at the window. 'Leave me alone. If
you want to fall, 'tend to business, and fall!'" And a smile passed
around among the assembled schoolboys.
"Perhaps Roger would like to come along," continued Dave. "I was going
out for a row, and Phil said he would go, too," he explained.
"That suits me," answered Roger Morr. "It will give us an appetite for
supper."
"What about you, Shadow?" and Dave turned to the youth on the bed.
Maurice Hamilton shook his head slightly. "Not to-day. I am going to
take a nap, if I can get it. Remember, I was up half the night."
"So he was," affirmed Phil Lawrence. "But he hasn't said what it was
about."
"Not much," growled the boy called Shadow. He was very tall and very
thin, hence the nickname. Turning over, he pretended to go to sleep.
"There is something wrong about Shadow," said Dave as he and his two
companions left the school building and hurried for the river at the
back of the grounds. "He has not been himself at all to-day."
"I think he has had something to do with that bully, Gus Plum," said
Phil. "I saw them together two days ago, and both were talking
earnestly. I don't know exactly what it was about. But I know Shadow has
been very much disturbed ever since."
"Well, the best he can do is to leave Plum alone," returned Dave,
decidedly. "I can tell you, fellows, that chap is not to be trusted; you
know that as well as I do."
"Of course we know it," said Roger Morr. "Didn't I warn you against Gus
Plum before you ever came to Oak Hall? And now that Chip Macklin has
turned over a new leaf and refused to be Plum's toady any longer, the
bully is worse than ever. Only yesterday Buster Beggs caught him back
of the gym., abusing one of the little fellows. Buster is generally too
lazy to rouse up, but he said it made him mad, and he told Plum to stop,
or it would be the worse for him, and Plum went off grumbling."
"It's a great pity Plum can't reform, like Macklin. I declare, Chip is
getting to be quite a decent sort, now."
"It's not in Plum to reform," exclaimed Phil Lawrence. "If I were Doctor
Clay, I'd get rid of him. Why, such a chap can keep a whole school in
hot water."
"Somebody said that Plum's father had lost a good bit of his money,"
observed Roger Morr. "If that is so, it must be a bitter pill for Gus to
swallow."
"Well, I wouldn't taunt him with it, if it's true," replied Dave,
quickly.
"Oh, I shan't say a word--although he deserves to have it rubbed in, for
the way he treated you, Dave."
"Yes, that was a jolly shame," commented Phil. "It makes me angry every
time I think of it."
"I am willing to let bygones be bygones," said Dave, with a little
smile. "As it was, it only showed me who my true friends were, and are.
I can afford to get along without the others."
"And especially after we waxed Plum and his crowd at baseball, and then
won our great victory over the Rockville boys," said Roger. "Oh, but
wasn't that a dandy victory! And didn't we have a dandy celebration
afterwards!"
"And do you remember the big cannon cracker we set off in the
courtyard?" Dave's eyes began to twinkle. "I heard afterwards that Pop
Swingly, the janitor, was scared almost to death. He thought somebody
was trying to blow up the building."
"Yes, and Job Haskers said if he could catch the fellow who----" Phil
broke off short. "Here comes Gus Plum, now," he whispered.
The others looked up, and saw coming toward them across the school
grounds a tall, broad-shouldered individual, loudly dressed, and with a
shock of uncombed hair and a cap set over on one ear.
"Hello, Plum," said Dave, pleasantly, while his two companions nodded to
the newcomer.
"Hello, yourself," came shortly from Gus Plum. "Hold up a minute," he
went on, planting himself in front of the three.
"What's wanted?" questioned Phil, in a little surprise.
"I want to know if Shadow Hamilton has been saying anything about me to
you," growled the bully of Oak Hall.
"I haven't heard anything," answered Phil, while Dave and Roger shook
their heads.
"Humph! He had better not!" muttered Plum, with a scowl. "If he
does----" The bully did not finish.
"I hope there is no more trouble in the air," was Dave's comment.
"There will be trouble, if Hamilton opens his trap. I won't allow
anybody in this school to talk about me, and all of you had better
understand it," and the bully glared at the others defiantly.
"I am sure I don't know what you are talking about," said Dave. "I
haven't said anything about you."
"And you haven't heard anything?" inquired Gus Plum, with a look of keen
anxiety showing on his coarse face.
"I've heard some roundabout story about your father losing money," said
Roger, before Dave could answer. "If it is true, I am sorry for you,
Gus."
"Bah! I don't want your sympathy. Did Hamilton tell you that story?"
"No."
"I suppose you are spreading it right and left, eh? Making me out to be
a pauper, like your friend Porter, eh?" continued Gus Plum, working
himself up into a magnificent condition of ill-humor.
"I am not spreading it right and left," answered Roger, quietly.
"And I am not a pauper, Plum!" exclaimed Dave, with flashing eyes. "I
thought we had settled that difference of opinion long ago. If you are
going to open it up again----"
"Oh, don't mind what he says, Dave," broke in Phil, catching his chum by
the arm. "You know nobody in the school pays attention to him."
"I won't let any of you run me down!" roared Gus Plum. "Now, just you
remember that! If any of you say a word about me or my father, I'll make
it so hot for you that you'll wish you had never been born. My father
has lost a little money, but it ain't a flea-bite to what he is worth,
and I want everybody in this school to know it."
"And I want you to know that you cannot continue to insult me," blazed
out Dave. "I am not as rich as most of the boys here, but----"
"He is just as good as any of us, Plum, remember that," finished Phil.
"It is an outrage for you to refer to Dave as a pauper."
"Well, didn't he come from the poorhouse, and ain't he a nobody?"
sneered the bully.
"He is a better fellow than you will ever be, Plum," said Roger, warmly.
He and Phil were both holding Dave back. "Don't listen to him, Dave."
"Yes, but, fellows----" Dave's face was white, and he trembled all over.
"I know it cuts you," whispered Roger. "But Plum is a--a brute. Don't
waste your breath on him."
"Ho! so I am a brute, am I?" blustered the big bully, clenching his
fists.
"Yes, you are," answered Roger, boldly. "Any fellow with a spark of
goodness and honor in him would not speak to Dave as you have done. It
simply shows up your own low-mindedness, Plum."
"Don't you preach!" shouted the bully. "Say another word, and
I'll--I'll----"
"We are not afraid of you," said Phil, firmly. "We've told you that
before. We intend to leave you alone, and the best thing you can do is
to leave us alone."
"Bah! I know you, and you can't fool me! You say one thing to my face
and another behind my back. But don't you dare to say too much; and you
can tell Shadow Hamilton not to say too much, either. If you do--well,
there will be war, that's all--and all of you will get what you don't
want!" And with this threat, Gus Plum hurried around a corner of the
school building and out of sight.
"What a cad!" murmured Phil.
"He is worked up; no disputing that," was Roger's comment. "He acts as
if he was afraid something was being told that he wished to keep a
secret."
The hot blood had rushed to Dave's face, and he was still trembling.
"I wish I had knocked him down," he said in a low tone.
"What good would it have done?" returned Roger. "It would only get you
into trouble with the doctor, and that is just what Plum would like.
When it comes to a standing in the class, he knows he hasn't as much to
lose as you have. He is almost at the bottom already, while you are
close to the top."
"But, Roger, he said--oh, I can't bear to think about it! I suppose he
blabs it to everybody, too, and they will think----"
"Don't give it another thought, Dave," said Phil, soothingly, and he
turned his chum toward the river again. "Dismiss Plum and all his
meanness from your mind."
"I wish I could," answered Dave, and his voice had a great deal of
seriousness in it.