THE ROVER BOYS
DOWN EAST
OR
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE STANHOPE FORTUNE
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 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, 1911, BY
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
The Rover Boys Down East
INTRODUCTION
My Dear Boys: This is a complete story in itself, but forms the fifteenth
volume of the “Rover Boys Series for Young Americans.”
Twelve years ago the line was started with the publication of the first
three stories, “The Rover Boys at School,” “On the Ocean,” and “In the
Jungle.” I earnestly hoped that the young people would like the tales,
but never did I anticipate the tremendously enthusiastic welcome which
was given to the volumes from the start, nor the steady sale, ever
increasing, which has been accorded the series up to the present time.
The publication of the first three books immediately called for a fourth,
“The Rover Boys Out West,” and then followed yearly “On the Great Lakes,”
“In Camp,” “On Land and Sea,” “On the River,” “On the Plains,” “In
Southern Waters,” “On the Farm,” “On Treasure Isle,” and then “At
College,” where we last left our heroes.
Dick, Tom and Sam are older than when we first made their acquaintance
and told how they went to Putnam Hall. They are now college boys,
attending a well-known institution of learning in the middle-west. But
though older, they are as lively as ever, and Tom, at least, is just as
full of fun. They have a great struggle to save the Stanhope fortune, and
have to work hard to get the best of several enemies. They take a long
journey Down East, and their adventures are both mysterious and exciting.
Again I take this opportunity to thank my friends, both young and old,
for all the nice things they have said about my books. I am more than
sorry that I cannot answer all the letters that pour in upon me from
everywhere praising the stories. I earnestly hope the present volume will
please all my readers and do them some good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
Edward Stratemeyer
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Game of Baseball 1
II. The Fire on the Steamer 13
III. College Boys to the Rescue 23
IV. What Flockley Had to Tell 33
V. A Celebration on the Campus 43
VI. Good-Bye to Brill 53
VII. Dreams of Youth 63
VIII. Home Once More 73
IX. Preparations for the Fourth of July 84
X. When the Cannon Went Off 94
XI. A Day to Remember 105
XII. Off for Camp 115
XIII. Hans Mueller’s Queer Catch 125
XIV. The Happenings of a Night 135
XV. Strange News 145
XVI. Something of a Clue 155
XVII. Dan Baxter’s Revelation 165
XVIII. A Fortune and a Lady Disappear 175
XIX. On the Way to Boston 185
XX. An Adventure in Boston 195
XXI. From One Clue to Another 205
XXII. A Chase up the Coast 215
XXIII. Aboard the “Mary Delaway” 223
XXIV. Out on Casco Bay 231
XXV. On Chesoque Island 238
XXVI. A Talk of Importance 246
XXVII. What Happened in the Cave 254
XXVIII. At the Bottom of the Pool 262
XXIX. A Minute too Late 270
XXX. Back Home—Conclusion 278
THE ROVER BOYS DOWN EAST
CHAPTER I
A GAME OF BASEBALL
“Hurrah! that’s the way to do it!”
“Now, then, Tom, see if you can’t bring Dick home!”
“Give him a swift one, Frank! Don’t let him hit it!” cried Sam Rover,
merrily.
“I’ll knock it down into the river!” retorted Tom Rover, as he caught up
a bat and walked to the home plate.
“I’m waiting for you, Tom!” sang out Dick Rover, who had just reached
second base on a beautiful drive to right field. “Come now, it’s time we
tied the score.”
“Everybody in the game!” yelled Stanley Browne, who was in the coacher’s
box. “Here is where we do ’em up!”
“Get ready to run, Dick!” came from Songbird Powell. “Tom is going to
land it on the other side of the river.”
“If he does that I’ll walk home,” answered Dick, with a grin.
“Now then, here is where Tom misses!” called out Sam, who was behind the
bat, and he thumped his fist in his catcher’s mitt. “Give him a
double-ender curve, Frank.”
“Oh, I’ll give him a regular corkscrew curl,” retorted Frank Holden, who
occupied the pitcher’s box. “Tom, prepare to die!” And he drew back to
pitch the ball.
Eighteen of the students of Brill College were having a game of baseball
on the athletic field of that institution of learning. The regular season
for baseball was at an end, and the youths had fixed up their nines to
suit themselves, with Dick Rover as captain of one side and Frank Holden
as captain on the other. On Dick’s side were his brother Tom, and a
number of their chums, while Sam was doing the catching for Frank.
It was only a friendly contest and all of the students were in the best
of spirits. The main examinations for the term were practically over, and
in a few days more the students were to scatter for the summer vacation.
It was the ending of the fourth inning and the score stood 6 to 4 in
favor of Frank Holden’s nine. If Tom should manage to bring both Dick and
himself in it would tie the score. But Tom was not known for his home-run
qualities.
Frank Holden made a signal to Sam and then sent in a low, swift ball. Tom
made a swing at it. But he was too slow.
“Strike one!” sang out Will Faley, the umpire. “Try it some more, Tom.”
Again the ball came in and this time Tom struck at it with all his might.
Crack! The ashen stick met the horsehide and the ball went whizzing off
to the right of the home plate, in the direction of a number of students
who were crossing the grounds.
“Foul!” sang out the umpire, as the sphere curved through the air.
“You can’t get it, Sam!” called out Max Spangler. “It’s too far off
already!”
“Look out, you fellows!” yelled Frank, from the pitcher’s box. “If you
don’t——”
Before he could finish the crowd walking across the grounds looked up and
commenced to scatter, to give Sam a chance to catch the ball, which had
gone quite high in the air. But before the youngest Rover could reach the
sphere down it came—straight on the fancy straw hat of a dudish youth,
crushing the article over its wearer’s head.
“Whoop! there’s a strike for you, Tom!” murmured Dick.
“Do you call that knocking the ball over the river?” demanded Songbird,
dryly.
“Here’s a case where a straw shows how the ball blows,” misquoted Stanley
Browne.
“Hi! hi! what do you mean by smashing my hat!” roared Dudd Flockley, the
student who had been thus assaulted. “Who did this, I demand to know?”
“I knocked the ball—but I didn’t aim for your hat,” answered Tom. And as
Dudd Flockley held up the damaged hat he could not help but grin.
“You did it on purpose, Tom Rover!” growled the dudish student. “You
needn’t deny it!”
“Nonsense, Dudd!” put in Stanley. “He wanted to make a home run—he wasn’t
aiming at your hat at all.”
“I know better!” answered the other student, bitterly. “Say, Tom Rover,
it’s up to you to buy me a new hat,” he added.
“All right, if that’s the way you feel about it,” answered Tom. “You get
the hat and I’ll pay for it. But I didn’t smash it on purpose, Dudd.”
“That hat cost me five dollars, and I don’t know where to get one like
it,” growled the dudish pupil.
“Oh, I can tell you where to get a hat like that!” piped in a drawling
voice. “Try the Melrose English Shop, on Broadway. They have all styles,
don’t you know.”
“Good for William Philander Tubbs!” cried Dick. “He knows the directory
on straw hats.”
“Huh! Think I’m going all the way to New York for a new hat?” growled
Dudd Flockley. “I want one to go home in.”
“Maybe I can lend you an old one,” suggested Tom, dryly.
“I don’t want your old hat,” growled Dudd Flockley. “I’ll get a new
one—and you can foot the bill!” and he turned and walked away, his face
full of sourness.
“The same old Flockley,” whispered Sam to his brother. “After all we did
for him, too!”
“You beware of Dudd,” put in Songbird, who was near. “He pretends to be
friendly, since you put in a good word for him to the doctor, but, just
the same, he has got it in for you.”
“Play ball!” called out the umpire; and then the ball was thrown down to
Frank Holden, and the game went on. Tom gave one more glance in the
direction of Dudd Flockley and saw that the dudish student had stopped in
his walk, turned around, and was glaring at him savagely.
To my old readers the lads who have thus far taken a part in this story
will need no special introduction. But for the benefit of others who have
not read the former volumes in this “Rover Boys Series,” let me state
that Dick, Tom and Sam Rover were three brothers, who, when at home,
lived with their father, Anderson Rover, and their Uncle Randolph and
Aunt Martha, on a beautiful farm called Valley Brook.
From the farm, and while their father was in Africa, the three boys had
been sent to a military academy, as related in the first volume of this
series, called “The Rover Boys at School.” At the school they made a
large number of friends, and also a few enemies, and had “the best time
ever,” as Sam expressed it.
A term at school was followed by a trip on the ocean, as set down in the
second volume of this series, and then by a journey to Africa, where the
boys went to locate their father, who had become a captive of the
natives. After that came a trip out West, to locate a mine belonging to
the Rovers, and then trips to the Great Lakes, and to the mountains, and
then, returning to the school, the lads went into camp with the other
cadets.
“I guess we had better settle down now,” said Dick. But this was not to
be. Not much later they took a long trip on land and sea, and followed
this up by a voyage on the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers on a flatboat.
Then came some thrilling adventures on the plains, and a little later
found the dauntless boys in Southern waters, where they solved the
mystery of a deserted steam yacht.
“The farm for mine!” said Tom, after traveling north from the Gulf, and
all of the boys were glad to take it easy for some weeks, and also get
ready to graduate from Putnam Hall. They had an idea they were to go
directly from the military school to college. But something turned up
which made them change their plans.
Through Mr. Rover it was learned that a small fortune belonging to a
certain Stanhope estate was missing. It had been secreted on an island of
the West Indies, and it was settled that the Rovers and some of their
friends should go in quest of it.
The boys were particularly anxious to locate this treasure, and with good
reason. While at Putnam Hall they had made the acquaintance of Dora
Stanhope and also of Nellie and Grace Laning, Dora’s cousins. From the
very start Dick was attracted to Dora, and now the pair were practically
engaged to be married. Tom had taken a particular liking to Nellie Laning
and it must be confessed that Sam was equally smitten with Grace.
It was learned that the treasure had been willed to Mr. Stanhope, and
consequently, on his death, it had become part of his estate, which in
turn had been willed in part to his wife and Dora, with a small share to
Mrs. Laning, his sister.
“We’ll get that treasure and make the girls happy,” declared Dick, and
how the whole crowd set off on the quest has already been told in the
thirteenth volume of this series, entitled: “The Rover Boys on Treasure
Isle.” The treasure was also claimed by two of their enemies, Sid Merrick
and his nephew, Tad Sobber, and they did all they could to gain
possession of the valuables. But the treasure was at last brought safely
to this country, and then it was learned that Sid Merrick had been lost
at sea in a hurricane. Tad Sobber was saved, and carried on a passing
vessel to England.
“And now for college!” cried all of the Rover boys, and wondered to what
institution of learning they were to go.
“How would you like to go to Brill?” asked Mr. Rover. “It is a fine
place, located in one of our middle-western states, and the head of it,
Doctor John Wallington, is an old friend of mine.”
The boys had heard that Dora, Grace and Nellie were going to an
institution known as Hope Seminary, not far from the town of Ashton. As
soon as they learned that Brill College was situated less than two miles
from Hope they decided without hesitation to go to the institution their
parent had mentioned.
“We’ll be near the girls, and we ought to have lots of good times,” said
Tom.
“It will be our own fault if we don’t,” Dick had answered.
How the brothers went to Brill has already been related in the volume
entitled “The Rover Boys at College.” At Brill, as at Putnam Hall, they
quickly made a number of friends, not the least of whom were Stanley
Browne, Max Spangler, a German student, and Allen Charter, the leading
senior. They also had with them their former school chums, John Powell,
better known as Songbird because of his cleverness in writing and
reciting doggerel, and William Philander Tubbs, a student whose entire
spare time was spent in buying things to wear of the latest fashions, and
in seeking the society of his young lady friends.
At Brill the Rovers soon came into contact with the dudish pupil, Dudd
Flockley, and also with two bullies, Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur. Led
by Koswell, who was a thoroughly bad egg, the three tried their best to
make trouble for the Rovers, and finally succeeded. But the rascals
overreached themselves, and when they were exposed Koswell and Larkspur
became so frightened that they ran away from Brill and refused to return.
Dudd Flockley remained, and he pleaded so earnestly to be forgiven that
the Rovers finally decided to drop the case against him, and spoke a good
word for him to the head of the college, and he was allowed to continue
at Brill.
“I guess Flockley has learned his lesson,” said Dick. But it looked as if
he might be mistaken, for Flockley, as soon as he felt himself secure at
Brill, acted in anything but a grateful manner. Yet he was not as
assertive as he had been, for he missed the companionship and support of
his former cronies.
With the fortune in their possession, and Sid Merrick dead, the Stanhopes
and Lanings had felt secure of their wealth. But, returning from England,
Tad Sobber had gone to a shyster lawyer, and put in a claim, and the
lawyer had obtained a court injunction, restraining anybody from touching
a dollar of the money. This depressed the girls greatly, and made them,
for a time, leave Hope. But in the end, the injunction was dissolved, and
the Stanhopes and Lanings were told that they could do as they pleased
with the fortune.
“That’s the best news yet!” Dick had said, on hearing it. “I guess that
will put a spoke in Tad Sobber’s wheel.”
“It will take one out, you mean,” returned Tom, with a sly grin. “Wonder
what Tad will do next?”
“He can’t do anything,” had come from Sam. “He is knocked out clean and
clear. I always said he had no right to the fortune. That claim of Sid
Merrick’s was a fake pure and simple.”
“I believe you,” Dick answered. “Just the same, I feel, somehow, that Tad
won’t give up even yet.”
“But what can he do?” his two brothers had asked.
“I don’t know—but he’ll try to do something; see if he doesn’t.”
A few days later had come in some particulars of the case. After the
injunction had been dissolved Tad Sobber and his lawyer had gotten into a
big row and Sobber had ended by blackening the legal gentleman’s left
eye. Then Sobber had mysteriously disappeared, but the next day he had
sent a rambling letter to Mrs. Stanhope, stating that, even if thrown out
of court, he considered that the fortune from Treasure Isle belonged to
him, and, sooner or later, he meant to gain possession of it.
“We’ll have to watch out for Tad Sobber,” had been Dick’s comment, on
learning the news. “He is growing desperate, and there is no telling what
he will do next.”
“He’s the same old sneak he was at Putnam Hall,” declared Tom.
“This will scare Mrs. Stanhope, and Mrs. Laning, too,” had been Sam’s
comment.
“And the girls,” his oldest brother had added. “I wish we could round Tad
Sobber up, and put him where he couldn’t worry them any more.”
“Maybe he’ll drop out of sight,” said Tom. But this was not to be. Tad
Sobber was to cause a great deal of trouble, as we shall learn in the
near future. The young rascal had convinced himself that the Stanhope
fortune belonged to him, and he meant to leave no stone unturned to get
possession of it.