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[Illustration: THE BOAT BUILDER SERIES
OLIVER OPTIC
William T. Adams]
The Boat-Builder Series.
I.
ALL ADRIFT;
OR,
THE GOLDWING CLUB.
II.
SNUG HARBOR;
OR,
THE CHAMPLAIN MECHANICS.
III.
SQUARE AND COMPASS;
OR,
BUILDING THE HOUSE.
IV.
STEM TO STERN;
OR,
BUILDING THE BOAT.
V.
ALL TAUT;
OR,
RIGGING THE BOAT.
VI.
READY ABOUT;
OR,
SAILING THE BOAT.
[Illustration: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE? DEMANDED PEARL." PAGE
252.]
[Illustration: OLIVER OPTIC'S
BOAT-BUILDER SERIES.
ALL ADRIFT.
BOSTON, LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS.]
_The Boat-Builder Series_
ALL ADRIFT
OR
THE GOLDWING CLUB
BY
OLIVER OPTIC
AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES" "THE ARMY
AND NAVY SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE SERIES" "THE STARRY-FLAG SERIES" "THE
BOAT-CLUB STORIES" "THE UPWARD AND ONWARD SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB
SERIES" "THE LAKE-SHORE SERIES" "THE RIVERDALE STORIES" ETC. ETC.
_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM
1883
COPYRIGHT, 1882,
BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
_All rights reserved._
TO MY GRANDSON
ROBERT ELMER RUSSELL
This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
"All Adrift" is the first volume of a new set of books, to be known as
"THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES." The story contains the adventures of a boy
who is trying to do something to help support the family, but who finds
himself all adrift in the world. He has the reputation of being rather
"wild," though he proves that he is honest, loves the truth, and is
willing to work for a living. Having been born and brought up on the
shore of Lake Champlain, he could not well avoid being a boatman,
especially as his father was a pilot on a steamer. Nearly all the scenes
of the story are on the water; and the boy shows not only that he can
handle a boat, but that he has ingenuity, and fertility of resource.
The narrative of the hero's adventures contained in this volume is the
introduction to the remaining volumes of the series, in which this boy
and others are put in the way of obtaining a great deal of useful
information, by which the readers of these books are expected to profit.
Captain Royal Gildrock, a wealthy retired shipmaster, has some ideas of
his own in regard to boys. He thinks that one great need of this country
is educated mechanics, more skilled labor. He has the means to carry his
ideas into practice, and actively engages in the work of instructing and
building up the boys in a knowledge of the useful arts. He believes in
religion, morality, and social and political virtue. He insists upon
practice in addition to precept and theory, as well in the inculcation
of the duties of social life as in mechanics and useful arts.
If the first volume is all story and adventure, those that follow it
will not be wholly given up to the details of the mechanic arts. The
captain has a steam-yacht; and the hero of the first story has a fine
sailboat, to say nothing of a whole fleet of other craft belonging to
the nabob. The boys are not of the tame sort: they are not of the
humdrum kind, and they are inclined to make things lively. In fact, they
are live boys, and the captain sometimes has his hands full in managing
them.
With this explanation, the author sends out the first volume with the
hope that this book and those which follow it will be as successful as
their numerous predecessors in pleasing his young friends--and his old
friends, he may add, as he treads the downhill of life.
DORCHESTER, MASS., AUG. 21, 1882.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
A GROWLING PASSENGER 13
CHAPTER II.
A SHORT AND DECISIVE CONFLICT 24
CHAPTER III.
A BRILLIANT SCHEME MADE POSSIBLE 34
CHAPTER IV.
IN THE CABIN OF THE GOLDWING 45
CHAPTER V.
A BOAT WITH A BAD REPUTATION 55
CHAPTER VI.
THE ROBBERY AT THE HOTEL 66
CHAPTER VII.
THE MAN THAT LOOKED THROUGH THE KEYHOLE 76
CHAPTER VIII.
THE COLCHESTER CLUB CHANGES ITS NAME 87
CHAPTER IX.
A WEATHER HELM AND A LEE HELM 98
CHAPTER X.
THE MISSISQUOI IN PURSUIT 109
CHAPTER XI.
THE BEGINNING OF THE CHASE 119
CHAPTER XII.
A ROUGH TIME OF IT 129
CHAPTER XIII.
SAFE UNDER A LEE 140
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY IN THE MORNING 150
CHAPTER XV.
THE STRATEGY OF THE CHASE 161
CHAPTER XVI.
A GRAVE CHARGE AGAINST THE SKIPPER 172
CHAPTER XVII.
DORY DORNWOOD DECIDES TO "FACE THE MUSIC" 183
CHAPTER XVIII.
DORY LOCKS HIS PASSENGERS INTO THE CABIN 194
CHAPTER XIX.
PEARL HAWLINSHED RESORTS TO VIOLENCE 205
CHAPTER XX.
MR. PEPPERS FINDS THE TABLES TURNED 215
CHAPTER XXI.
Another Element in the Contest 226
CHAPTER XXII.
THE GAME AMONG THE SHALLOWS 237
CHAPTER XXIII.
HEADED OFF ON BOTH SIDES 247
CHAPTER XXIV.
THROUGH VARIED STRIFE AND STRUGGLES 257
CHAPTER XXV.
WIND SOUTH-SOUTH-WEST BLOWING FRESH 268
CHAPTER XXVI.
DORY DORNWOOD MANOEUVRES TO ESCAPE 278
CHAPTER XXVII.
DORY MAKES A HARBOR FOR THE NIGHT 289
CHAPTER XXVIII.
TERRIBLE INTELLIGENCE FROM HOME 300
CHAPTER XXIX.
CAPTAIN GILDROCK HAS DECIDED OBJECTIONS 310
CHAPTER XXX.
CAPTAIN GILDROCK DILATES UPON HIS NOTABLE SCHEME 321
ALL ADRIFT;
OR,
THE GOLDWING CLUB.
CHAPTER I.
A GROWLING PASSENGER.
"Boy, I told you to bring me some pickles," said Major Billcord, a
passenger on a Lake Champlain steamer, to a boy in a white jacket, who
was doing duty as a waiter at dinner in the cabin.
"Yes, sir; and I brought them," replied Dory Dornwood, as he took the
dish of pickles almost from under the passenger's nose, and placed it
quite under his nose.
"No impudence to me, boy!" exclaimed Major Billcord, as he bestowed a
savage glance at the young waiter.
"I beg your pardon, sir: I did not mean to be impudent," replied Dory
meekly.
"Waiter, bring me a piece of roast beef rare. Now, mind, I want it
rare," said the passenger sitting next to the major.
"Yes, sir; in a moment, sir," added Dory, to indicate that he heard the
order.
"When I send you for any thing, you should put it where I can see it,"
added Major Billcord sternly.
"I thought I put the pickles where you could see them," answered Dory,
as he started for the pantry to obtain the roast beef rare.
"Here, boy, stop!" called the major. "Where are you going now? Bring me
the boiled onions, and I want them well done."
"Yes, sir," replied the waiter, as he darted after the onions, and
returned with them in an instant; for he found the dish in another part
of the table. "The boiled onions," he added, as he placed them beside
the snappy passenger's plate, so that he should be sure to see them.
"Isn't it about time for my roast beef, waiter?" asked the next
gentleman.
"In a moment, sir."
"These onions are not half done, boy!" exclaimed the major. "I told you
to bring me onions well done, and not raw onions."
"I don't cook them, sir; and I brought such as I find on the table,"
pleaded Dory, as he started to fill the order of the next passenger.
"Here! come back, boy! I want boiled onions well done, and I don't want
any impudence," snarled the major.
Dory brought another dish of onions, and placed them by the side of the
gentleman's plate. He repeated the order of the next passenger to assure
him that he had not forgotten it, and was in the act of rushing for it,
when Major Billcord broke out again.
"These onions are no better than the others: they are not half cooked.
Now go to the steward, and tell him I want boiled onions well done."
"Get my roast beef first," added the next passenger.
"Here, waiter! bring me a sidebone of chicken, some green pease,
string-beans, pickled beets, boiled cabbage, a plate of macaroni, and
any other vegetables you may happen to have; and don't be all day about
it," said the passenger on the other side of Major Billcord.
"In a minute, sir," replied Dory.
"Go to the steward at once, and tell him what I want," stormed the
major.
"Waiter, bring me a plate of roast stuffed veal, with a specimen of all
the vegetables on the bill of fare. Don't leave out any. If you leave
out any of them, I will travel by railroad the next time I go north,"
shouted another passenger.
Dory did not wait to hear any more. He was not a waiter of great
experience, and he found that the confusion of orders was rather trying
to him. He went to the carving-table, delivered the message of Major
Billcord to the steward, and called for the orders he had received.
Before he had his tray ready, the steward brought him the onions; and he
carried them with the other articles to the table.
"Your onions, sir," said he, as he placed the little dish where the
irate gentleman could not help seeing them.
While Dory was serving the other passengers, whose orders he had taken,
and while half a dozen others were clamorous for every item on the bill
of fare, Major Billcord thrust his fork into one of the odoriferous
vegetables brought to him.
"These are not a whit better done than the others were!" exclaimed Major
Billcord, dropping his knife and fork in disgust. "What do you mean,
boy, by bringing me such onions as these?"
"The steward gave me those onions for you, sir," pleaded Dory, who was
certainly doing his best to please all the passengers at the dinner
table; and the young waiter had already learned that this was not one of
the easiest tasks in the world.
"Don't tell me that, you young rascal! You haven't delivered my message
to the steward," growled the irate passenger.
"Yes, sir: I told him just what you wanted, and he sent the dish of
onions to you, sir," Dory explained.
"The steward would never have sent me such onions as these. You haven't
been to him as I told you. You are an impudent young cub, and you are no
more fit for a waiter than you are for a steamboat captain."
"I brought the onions the steward sent; and it isn't my fault that they
are not right," said Dory gently, though he did not always speak and act
in just that way.
"Is my dinner to be spoiled by the stupidity and carelessness of a boy?"
demanded Major Billcord. "If I have any influence on board of this boat,
such blockheads shall not be employed as waiters."
"I will get any thing you wish, sir," added Dory, appalled at the remark
of the important passenger.
"Don't come near me again! Go, and tell the steward to send another
waiter to me," was all the reply the major would give him.
Dory Dornwood intended to deliver even this message to the steward; but
he was kept very busy by the wants of the other passengers, so that he
could not go at just that minute. He had been instructed to serve all
persons at the tables alike; and he was not quite old enough and
experienced enough to comprehend that his instructions were to be obeyed
in a Pickwickian sense on certain occasions.
Major Billcord sat back in his chair, and watched the movements of the
boy-waiter for the full space of fifteen seconds, which he doubtless
interpreted as fifteen minutes. It was not to be expected that he could
finish, or even go on with, his dinner without the boiled onions well
done. Possibly he did not care so much for the aromatic vegetable as he
did for his own sweet will. At any rate, he would not touch another
morsel of food; and, when the fifteen seconds had fully expired, he was
ready to make another demonstration.
"Boy, didn't I tell you to go and call the steward, and tell him to send
me another waiter?" demanded Major Billcord, as savagely as though Dory
had struck him in the face.
"Yes, sir, you did, and I am going; but we are all very busy, and the
passengers want a great many things. I am going now, sir," replied Dory,
who thought it might be safer to let the rest of the passengers wait
than to anger so great a magnate as the major.
Dory delivered his message, and the steward uttered an exclamation which
would have cost him his situation if Major Billcord had heard it. The
head of the culinary department went to the place occupied by the
important personage.
"If you don't discharge that boy before supper-time, there will be
trouble," said the major when the steward presented himself. "He is
stupid, careless, and impertinent. He had the presumption to tell me
that he did not cook the onions, and it was not his fault that they were
not properly done."
Possibly the steward might have voted on the same side of the question,
if he had considered it prudent to express an opinion; but he apologized
for the cook, and said nothing about the waiter. He explained that he
had been to the kitchen for the onions, and had sent the best on the
boat to the distinguished passenger.
"Then the young rascal gave them to some other person!" exclaimed Major
Billcord. "The boy is not fit for a waiter."
"He is only serving for a week or two, while one of our regular waiters
is away. He is the son of one of the second pilots."
"Which one?" demanded the angry passenger.
"Dornwood. He says the boy is a little wild, and he wants to get
something for him to do," added the steward. "The boy is rather more
than his mother can manage when his father is away, as he is all the
season."
"This is not a reform-school, and we don't want any such scallawags on
the boat. But you needn't tell Dornwood that I said any thing about his
boy," added the major in a low tone.
Of course the steward would not say any thing on such a delicate
subject. After dinner Dory Dornwood was called up and discharged. He
tried to explain that he had done his best, and had not spoken an
impudent word. The steward had been satisfied with him, but it was
impossible to resist the influence of such a man as Major Billcord.
Perry Dornwood was the second pilot of one of the night boats for this
week; and Dory could not run to his father with his grievance, for he
felt that he had a grievance. Possibly it would have done no good if he
had. His father had had some trouble with him, and he was more inclined
to believe the worst that could be said of his son than the best.
Perry Dornwood the pilot had rather forced himself into the position he
occupied. He was a good enough pilot; but he drank too much whiskey to
be fully reliable. He was never drunk, at least not when on duty; but he
was generally pretty well soaked in liquor. The captain of his steamer
did not believe in him, and Perry's position had been nearly lost
several times; but some kind of an influence still kept him in his
place.
The pilot lived in Burlington. He had a wife and two children, a son and
a daughter. Mrs. Dornwood was a most excellent woman, but she was almost
discouraged under the trials and difficulties which beset her path in
life. Her husband did not half provide for his little family; and it was
all the poor mother could do to scrub along, feeding and clothing the
boy and girl.
The pilot had work only a portion of the year on the lake, and he was
not disposed to find other employment when not so engaged. Even the
money he did earn did not all find its way into the expenditures for
taking care of the family. It was feared by the good woman that her
husband gambled.
Dory--his name was Theodore--was now fourteen years old. His mother had
explained to him the condition of the family finances. They had nothing,
and Perry Dornwood owed many debts. The boy had been wild, but those
who knew him best said there was nothing bad about him. He had looked
for work, and his father had found it for him. Now he had lost his
place; and his discharge was a very heavy blow to him, though he was
wild.