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DEAN DUNHAM
[Illustration: DEAN HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH SQUIRE BATES.]
[Illustration: DEAN FINDS A CLEW.]
DEAN DUNHAM
Or
The Waterford Mystery
by
HORATIO ALGER, JR.
Author of
"The Young Acrobat," "The Erie Train Boy,"
"Adventures of a Telegraph Boy," etc.
Philadelphia
David Mckay, Publisher
610 South Washington Square
Copyright, 1888
By Frank A. Munsey
Copyright, 1891
By United States Book Co.
Copyright, 1900
By Street and Smith
Dean Dunham
DEAN DUNHAM;
OR,
THE WATERFORD MYSTERY.
CHAPTER I.
ADIN DUNHAM SURPRISES HIS WIFE.
"I've been looking forward to this day for weeks, Sarah," said Adin
Dunham, as he rose from the breakfast-table on a certain Wednesday
morning in the early part of June.
"Why, father, what do you mean?" asked Mrs. Dunham curiously.
"Because to-day I am to receive a thousand dollars—a thousand dollars
in hard cash," answered her husband in a tone of exultation.
"Well, I declare!" ejaculated his wife in amazement. "Who on earth is
going to give you a thousand dollars?"
"No one is going to give it to me; it's my own."
"How strangely you do talk, Adin Dunham! You ain't out of your mind,
be you?"
"Not as I know of," answered her husband with an amused smile.
"Is it really true that somebody is going to pay you a thousand
dollars?"
"Yes, it is."
"And you say it is your own?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand it," said Mrs. Dunham, with the air of one to whom
a puzzle is propounded and who gives it up.
"Then I'll explain. You know when Uncle Dan died he left me a piece of
stony pasture land in Rockmount?"
"Yes, I know. You never could sell it, I've heard you say ag'in and
ag'in."
"Well, I've sold it at last. There's a company goin' to put up a big
hotel just on that spot, and they've offered me a thousand dollars for
the land."
"Couldn't they find a better buildin' lot than that?"
"Well, you see it's located near the lake, and though it's barren enough
it's well situated, and there's five acres of it, plenty of room for all
the buildin's required. They offered me first seven hundred, then eight
hundred, and finally when they got up to a thousand I caved in----"
"You what?"
"Well, I agreed to let 'em have it. I'm going over to-day to get the
money."
"Why, it'll make us rich, Adin. I never expected you'd be wuth a
thousand dollars."
"I wonder what Uncle Dan would have said if he'd thought I would have
got so much for the land. He never cared much for me, and he only left
me that because he thought it wasn't wuth anything. He did better by me
than he expected."
"What are you going to do with the money, Adin?"
"I don't know yet. I'll keep it by me till I've decided. Perhaps I'll
invest in gov'ment bonds. I guess they're about as safe as anything."
"So I've heard, Adin. I suppose the gov'ment ain't likely to fail."
"If it is, I guess all the banks will fail too."
"How are you goin' over to Rockmount?"
"I'll borrow neighbor Gould's horse and buggy. That horse is pretty
strong, and he won't mind the twenty miles—ten there and ten back."
"I don't like to have you travelin' so far with all that money. S'pose
you should meet with robbers."
"There ain't any robbers round here, Sarah. This is a respectable
community."
"You might meet a tramp."
"Well, the chances are that he'd be more afraid of me than I would be
of him. I ain't a child, Sarah. I can lift a barrel of potatoes and put
it in a wagon as easy as most men."
"Well, Adin, you know best. Hadn't you better take Dean with you?"
"Why should I take Dean?"
"It would be safer for two than for one."
"You don't mean to say that I need a boy of sixteen to protect me? If I
thought I did, I'd stay at home and send Dean by himself."
"Well, Adin, I don't want to interfere. It wouldn't be much use,
either, for you generally have your own way. Have you told any of the
neighbors that you are goin' for some money?"
"No except Lawyer Bates."
"What made you tell him?"
"Well, I was in his office the other evenin', and somehow I was led
into tellin' it. I gave a sort of hint, and the lawyer he drew it out
of me. Them lawyers are great on cross-examinin', you know."
"What did Squire Bates say?"
"He told me I'd better not tell anybody else. He talked for all the
world just like you did, Sarah. You haven't been chatterin' with the
squire, have you?"
"No, Adin, I don't like him well enough for that. I never fancied the
squire. He's always showin' those long front teeth of his, like a wild
beast."
"They ain't very handsome teeth, I'm bound to admit, Sarah, but the
poor man can't help himself. He's as God made him."
"He gave you good advice at any rate, Adin. There's so many dishonest
people in the world that it's best to be careful. Did you tell him when
you were goin' for the money?"
"I don't exactly remember. I guess I did."
"Do you think Squire Bates is a rich man, Adin?"
"I don't know. He's a lawyer, and keeps his affairs mighty close."
"That boy of his—Brandon—is his very image, even to the teeth."
"Well, he does favor his father considerable."
"Dean doesn't like him. He's a very big feeling boy. He looks down on
Dean because he is the nephew of a poor man."
"O, he'll get wiser in time. We mustn't mind them young folks so much.
Boys will be boys."
"So they will, but there's different kinds of boys."
"I guess there's room enough in the world for both of them. If they
don't like each other they can keep apart."
"Dean is an excellent boy. I don't know how we should get along without
him."
"I indorse all that, wife," said Adin Dunham heartily.
"He's always cheerful and willin'—always ready to do chores and give
up his own pleasure. I remember last winter he'd set his heart on going
with a skatin' party, but when I was taken sick, he stayed at home and
tended me, without a word of complaint. He couldn't have done no more
if he'd been a son instead of a nephew."
"Just so, wife! Just so! He's a likely boy, and if he keeps on as he's
begun he's sure to do well."
"He deserves to prosper, and I hope he will. I wish we could do more
for him."
"So do I, but a carpenter that gets work only about half the time can't
do what he'd like to."
Just then Dean came into the house—a broad-shouldered, strongly built
boy, with a frank, open countenance and red cheeks.
"Dean," said his uncle, "won't you go over to neighbor Gould, and ask
if he will lend his horse and buggy for the day? I'm goin' over to
Rockmount."
"Going to Rockmount?" repeated Dean eagerly. "Will you take me, uncle?"
"Not to-day, Dean. It's a long ride, and it'll be easier on the horse
to carry one than two."
Dean looked disappointed. A ride to Rockmount, which was a considerably
larger place than Waterford, would have been to him a very agreeable
recreation, but he was not a boy to complain or tease when a favor had
been refused. So he indulged in no remonstrance, but went over to Mr.
Gould's dwelling, only twenty rods away, and preferred the request.
"Certainly," said Mr. Gould pleasantly. "So your uncle has business in
Rockmount, has he?"
"Yes sir, I suppose so, but he didn't tell me what it is."
"Well, tell him not to over drive the Captain." (This was the rather
peculiar name of Mr. Gould's horse.)
"I don't think there's any danger," said Dean smiling, for he knew that
Adin Dunham was one of the most deliberate of men, and permitted a
horse to select his own pace.