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THE ROVER BOYS UNDER CANVAS
_By_ ARTHUR M. WINFIELD
[Illustration: "MY GRACIOUS! LOOK AT THAT!"
(_Frontispiece_)--_Page 28_]
THE ROVER BOYS
UNDER CANVAS
OR
_THE MYSTERY OF THE
WRECKED SUBMARINE_
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
BOOKS BY ARTHUR M. WINFIELD
(Edward Stratemeyer)
THE FIRST ROVER BOYS SERIES
THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL
THE ROVER BOYS ON THE OCEAN
THE ROVER BOYS IN THE JUNGLE
THE ROVER BOYS OUT WEST
THE ROVER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES
THE ROVER BOYS IN THE MOUNTAINS
THE ROVER BOYS IN CAMP
THE ROVER BOYS ON LAND AND SEA
THE ROVER BOYS ON THE RIVER
THE ROVER BOYS ON THE PLAINS
THE ROVER BOYS IN SOUTHERN WATERS
THE ROVER BOYS ON THE FARM
THE ROVER BOYS ON TREASURE ISLE
THE ROVER BOYS AT COLLEGE
THE ROVER BOYS DOWN EAST
THE ROVER BOYS IN THE AIR
THE ROVER BOYS IN NEW YORK
THE ROVER BOYS IN ALASKA
THE ROVER BOYS IN BUSINESS
THE ROVER BOYS ON A TOUR
THE SECOND ROVER BOYS SERIES
THE ROVER BOYS AT COLBY HALL
THE ROVER BOYS ON SNOWSHOE ISLAND
THE ROVER BOYS UNDER CANVAS
THE PUTNAM HALL SERIES
THE PUTNAM HALL CADETS
THE PUTNAM HALL RIVALS
THE PUTNAM HALL CHAMPIONS
THE PUTNAM HALL REBELLION
THE PUTNAM HALL ENCAMPMENT
THE PUTNAM HALL MYSTERY
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
_The Rover Boys Under Canvas_
INTRODUCTION
MY DEAR BOYS: This book is a complete story in itself, but forms the
third volume in a line issued under the general title, "The Second
Rover Boys Series for Young Americans."
As mentioned in a number of volumes of the first series, this line was
started some years ago with the publication of "The Rover Boys at
School," "On the Ocean," and "In the Jungle," in which I introduced my
young readers to Dick, Tom, and Sam Rover. The volumes of the first
series related the doings of these three Rover boys while attending
Putnam Hall Military Academy, Brill College, and while on numerous
outings.
Having acquired a good education, the three young men established
themselves in business and became married. Presently Dick Rover was
blessed with a son and a daughter, as was also his brother Sam, while
Tom Rover became the proud father of twin boys. At first the four lads
were kept at home, but then it was thought best to send them to a
boarding school, and in the first volume of the second series,
entitled "The Rover Boys at Colby Hall," I related what happened to
them while attending this institution.
From Colby Hall the scene was shifted to Snowshoe Island, where the
lads went for a mid-winter outing. Here they ran into a most unusual
mystery, and helped an old lumberman to establish his claim to the
island.
In the present volume the boys are back at Colby Hall, but it is time
for the annual encampment of the military school, and soon they depart
for a brief season "Under Canvas." This is at the time of the World
War, and the lads get mixed up in the mystery surrounding a wrecked
submarine. What this led to, I leave for the pages which follow to
relate.
In conclusion I wish to thank my numerous readers for all the nice
things they have said about my books. I trust the reading of the
volumes will do all of them good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A GAME OF BASEBALL 1
II ABOUT THE ROVER BOYS 12
III THE AMMUNITION FACTORY EXPLOSIONS 25
IV A RESCUE ON THE LAKE 35
V MEETING OLD ENEMIES 41
VI CELEBRATING THE BASEBALL VICTORY 56
VII FUN WITH CODFISH 66
VIII AN INTERRUPTED FEAST 76
IX A TELEGRAM FROM HOME 87
X ON THE WAY HOME 98
XI TOM ROVER'S DILEMMA 109
XII AT THE ROVER COMPANY OFFICES 120
XIII FUN AT A RAILROAD STATION 132
XIV BACK TO COLBY HALL 142
XV THE ELECTION FOR OFFICERS 153
XVI OFF FOR THE ENCAMPMENT 164
XVII A NIGHT ON THE ROAD 175
XVIII ONE SURPRISE AND ANOTHER 184
XIX AT CAMP BARLIGHT 194
XX FIRST DAYS UNDER CANVAS 202
XXI STRANGE NOISES 212
XXII AT THE RIFLE RANGES 221
XXIII GIRL VISITORS 231
XXIV TOM ROVER'S ANNOUNCEMENT 240
XXV AT CAMP HUXWELL 250
XXVI AN ASTONISHING DISCOVERY 260
XXVII ON BOARD THE SUBMARINE 271
XXVIII THE CABIN IN THE WOODS 282
XXIX THE FIGHT ON THE SUBMARINE 291
XXX AN IMPORTANT CAPTURE--CONCLUSION 300
THE ROVER BOYS UNDER CANVAS
CHAPTER I
A GAME OF BASEBALL
"Now for a home run, Jack!"
"Soak it out over the bleachers!"
"Show the Hixley boys what we can do!"
"Give him a swift one, Dink! Don't let him hit it!"
"Oh, dear, I do hope Jack scores!" came in a sweet, girlish voice.
"Of course he'll score!" returned a youth sitting near the girl who
had made the remark. "He's been holding back for just this chance."
"Oh, do you think so?" asked another girl in the grandstand.
"Surest thing ever was," was the airy rejoinder. "This is the time
we're going to show the Hixley boys what's what."
"Not on your life!" bellowed a heavy voice from the rear. "Here is
where Colby Hall gets snowed under."
Then came a series of yells, followed by the tooting of horns and the
sounding of rattles, making a din that was almost ear-splitting.
The occasion was the annual baseball game between Hixley High and
Colby Hall. It had been scheduled to take place on the high-school
athletic field, but at almost the last minute this field had been
declared out of condition, and it had been decided to hold the contest
on the athletic grounds attached to the military academy.
Hixley High was very anxious to win this game. During the previous
fall, as related in a former volume of this series, the high-school
lads had lost the annual football game with Colby Hall by a single
touchdown. This defeat still rankled in their minds, and they were
determined if possible to take the baseball game by a score that
should be well worth while.
And they had good reason to be hopeful of doing this. While their
football team had always been considered by the other teams of that
locality to be of the "second string variety," the baseball nine was a
remarkably strong organization. At its head was Dink Wilsey, a pitcher
who was destined at some time in the future to show himself in one of
the big leagues.
"Why, Dink alone can walk off with that game," was the way more than
one Hixley High student had expressed himself.
But more than this--Hixley High had an exceptionally good first
baseman and a trio of outfielders whose batting average was high.
"We're going to put it all over Colby Hall this trip," was the way the
manager of the Hixley High ball club declared himself on the day
previous to the match.
The game was now at the second half of the sixth inning, and the score
stood, Hixley High, 4; Colby Hall, 2. Colby Hall was at the bat with
two men out and one man at second.
It was therefore no wonder that the military academy students became
anxious when Jack Rover took up his bat and walked to the plate. A
home run would mean the tying of the score, and with a chance to do
even better.
"Take your time, Jack," said Gif Garrison, who was the manager of the
nine. "Make him give you a ball just where you want it."
"Watch yourself!" yelled one of the coaches to the runner at second,
for the Hixley High pitcher had suddenly whirled around, sending the
ball down to the second baseman. There was a quick drop by the runner,
and he escaped getting caught by a few inches only.
"Close shave! Watch yourself, Dan!" yelled Gif Garrison; and Dan
Soppinger, at second, nodded to show that he understood, and then
danced away in the direction of third base as before.
The first ball pitched to Jack Rover was a slow in-curve, and he
stepped back and allowed it to pass him.
"Ball one!"
At this decision a howl of delight went up from the followers of Colby
Hall, while a corresponding groan came from Hixley High.
"That's the eye!"
"Better get a pair of glasses!"
"Sure! The umpire must be blind! That was a perfect ball!"
"Sure it was a perfect ball! That's the reason he called it a ball!"
came from Andy Rover, who sat on the substitutes' bench.
The second ball delivered was a fairly good one, although rather low.
Jack swung at it, and high into the air spun the sphere, well back of
the catcher's head.
"Foul!"
"Run, Billy, you can catch it!"
Flinging off his mask, the Hixley High catcher rushed back toward
where the ball was coming down. But it was too far away for him, and
it struck slantingly on one of the back posts, rolling off toward the
grandstand.
"Line it out, Jack! Don't be fooling with fouls!" yelled Fred Rover.
"Show 'em where the river is!" added Randy Rover.
The next ball to come in was a wide out-curve, and again Jack let it
pass him.
"Ball two!" shouted the umpire.
"That's the way to do it, Jack! Make 'em give you what you want!"
With two balls against him, the noted pitcher for the high school
exercised a little more care in his next delivery. He sent in a
straight, swift one, directly over the outer point of the plate. It
was not exactly what Jack desired, but it was good enough, and he
swung at it with all his strength. Crack! And the ball went sailing
directly over the head of the shortstop and into the field beyond.
"Run, Jack! Run! It's good for a two-bagger!"
"Leg it, Dan! Leg it for home!"
"Send the ball in, Wiffles! Don't let 'em get home!"
These and a hundred other cries rang out as nearly every spectator
sprang to his or her feet in the excitement. Dan Soppinger, half way
to third when Jack made the hit, had now touched that bag and was
tearing for the home plate.
In the meantime Jack, running like a deer, had passed first and was
making for second. The shortstop had made a high but ineffectual jump
for the ball, and now he and the fielder behind him were both after
the sphere. There was a short mix-up, and then the fielder sent the
ball with unerring aim toward the catcher at the home plate.
"Slide, Dan, slide!"
And then Dan Soppinger, running as he had never run before, dropped
down and slid to the plate amid a whirl of dust, followed instantly by
the ball, which landed with a thud in the catcher's mitt.
"He's safe! He's safe!"
"And look! Jack Rover is going to make third!"
Realizing that it was too late to catch the man at the plate, the
catcher threw the ball down to second. But Jack Rover had already
started for third, and now he streaked along with all his might,
arriving at that bag just an instant before the ball followed him.
"That's the way to do it, boy! Keep it up!"
"Oh, he made three bases!" cried one of the girls in the grandstand.
"Isn't that just lovely?"
"I told you he'd do it, Ruth," said another of the girls.
"I wish my cousin Dick was coming up," remarked one of the girls. "I'm
sure he would be able to help them out."
"Never mind, May. He'll be coming up pretty soon," answered Ruth
Stevenson.
The next cadet to the bat was Walt Baxter. Walt was a good all-around
player, but just at present he was not in the best of condition,
having suffered from a touch of the grippe early in the season.
"Bang out a homer, Walt!" sang out Andy Rover.
"Never mind that, Walt. Make a safe hit and bring Jack in," said Gif
Garrison.
"I'll do my best," answered Walt Baxter. But it was plainly to be seen
that his recent illness had rendered him somewhat nervous. He had a
ball and a strike called on him, and then got another strike through a
little foul that passed over one of the coaches' heads. Then Dink
Wilsey passed him a slow, tantalizing ball. Walt connected with it but
sent up only a pop fly, which the third baseman gathered in with ease.
"Hurrah! that's the way to hold 'em down," came the cry from one of
the high-school boys.
"Gee, old man, it's too bad you didn't have a chance to bring that run
in," remarked Gif Garrison to Jack Rover, as the latter walked in from
third base.
"Well, anyway, I brought Dan in," returned Jack, as cheerfully as he
could.
"Yes; but if you had got in that would have tied the score," went on
the manager. "However, the game isn't over yet."
"Over! Why, we've just begun to play!" returned Jack, with a grin.
"That's the talk!" cried Andy Rover. "Colby Hall forever! Now then,
boys, all together!" he yelled, turning to the grandstand. And a
moment later there boomed out this refrain:
"Who are we?
Can't you see?
Colby Hall!
Dum! Dum! Dum, dum, dum!
Here we come with fife and drum!
Colby! Colby! Colby Hall!"
And then followed a great yelling and tooting of horns and sounding of
rattles.
"My gracious! if they keep on I'll surely become deaf," said Martha
Rover.
"I think I had better retire from this game," remarked Walt Baxter, as
he faced the manager. "I told you I didn't feel like going in, and
now I am sure I should have kept out of it."
"All right, Walt. I'll be sorry to lose you," answered Gif. And then
he told Andy Rover to get ready to get into the game.
With a score still 4 to 3 in their favor, Hixley High opened the
seventh inning with vigor. They managed to get a man on first, and
then on a sacrifice advanced him to second. Then came a two-bagger,
and the play made by Colby Hall in the ending of the sixth inning was
repeated by their opponents, thus making the score 5 to 3.
On their part Colby Hall tried its best to score during the seventh,
but was doomed to disappointment.
Then came the eighth inning with a goose egg placed on the board for
each nine.
"Say, this begins to look bad for us," remarked Will Hendry, the
fattest boy at Colby Hall. "It looks as if Hixley High was going to
have a sweet revenge."
In the Hixley High half of the ninth inning Dink Wilsey showed what a
very good all-around player he was. The noted pitcher cracked out a
home run, making the tally with ease. Fortunately this was at a time
when there was no one on base, so that only one run was scored. Two
men were out, and the next player knocked a fly to short, which was
gathered in by Frank Newberry with ease.
"Hurrah! Score another for Hixley High!"
"That makes the score six to three!"
"I guess this game is as good as won!"
So the cries ran on among the high-school scholars and their friends.
The Colby Hall contingent was, of course, much downcast, but they
refused to show it, and once more the slogan of the military academy
boomed forth.
"Now, boys, pull yourselves together and go at 'em hammer and tongs,"
cried Gif Garrison. "Watch the pitcher. Don't let Dink put anything
over you."
Fred Rover was at the bat, and he managed to make a safe hit. He was
followed by a player who made another safe hit, thus advancing Fred to
second. Then came two outs, but in the mix-up Fred managed to steal to
third, while the player on first got down to second. Jack Rover was
now once more to the bat, and all of his friends were yelling at the
top of their lungs for him to "Knock the hide off the ball!" "Send it
over the back fence!" "Show 'em where the other side of the river is!"
and to "Wipe up the field with Hixley High!"
One ball was called, and then a strike. Then came another strike, and
things began to look gloomy for Colby Hall. But then Jack got a ball
exactly where he wanted it, and he swung at it with every ounce of
muscle he could command. Crack! went the bat, and the sphere went
sailing far down in left field.
"That's the way to do it! Run, boys, run!"
"Come on home, Jack!"
Fred, on third, was already streaking for home, and close behind him
came the player who had been on second. In the meanwhile, Jack raced
to first and around to second, and then came plowing up to third.
"Hold it, Rover! Hold it!"
"Come on in--don't wait! Come on in!"
Jack looked down into the field and saw that the fielder was just in
the act of picking up the ball. With a great bound, he started for the
home plate, and when ten feet from that place dropped to the ground
and slid in with the rapidity of lightning.
"He's safe! A home run!"
"That ties the score!"
"Now then, boys, go in and finish 'em up!"
The din and excitement was now tremendous. The score was indeed a tie.
Which club would win?