[Illustration: THE FOUR LADS BEGAN TO TUG AT THE TREE TRUNK.]
THE ROVER BOYS
ON SUNSET TRAIL
OR
_THE OLD MINER’S MYSTERIOUS
MESSAGE_
BY
ARTHUR M. WINFIELD
(Edward Stratemeyer)
AUTHOR OF “THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL,” “THE ROVER BOYS
DOWN EAST,” “THE ROVER BOYS AT COLBY HALL,”
“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 ROVER BOYS ON A HUNT
THE ROVER BOYS IN THE LAND OF LUCK
THE ROVER BOYS AT BIG HORN RANCH
THE ROVER BOYS AT BIG BEAR LAKE
THE ROVER BOYS SHIPWRECKED
THE ROVER BOYS ON SUNSET TRAIL
THE PUTNAM HALL SERIES
THE CADETS OF PUTNAM HALL
THE RIVALS OF PUTNAM HALL
THE CHAMPIONS OF PUTNAM HALL
THE REBELLION AT PUTNAM HALL
CAMPING OUT DAYS AT PUTNAM HALL
THE MYSTERY AT PUTNAM HALL
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated._
GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York
Copyright, 1925, by
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
_The Rover Boys on Sunset Trail_
INTRODUCTION
MY DEAR BOYS: This book is a complete story in itself, but forms the
ninth volume in a line issued under the general title, “The Second
Rover Boys Series for Young Americans.”
The volumes issued in the First and Second Series so far number
twenty-eight, and of these the publishers have already sold _over
three million copies_! To me this is an astonishing number, and I must
confess that I am tremendously pleased over the way in which the boys
and girls, as well as their parents, have stood by me in my efforts to
entertain them.
In the initial volume of the First Series, “The Rover Boys at School,”
I introduced my readers to Dick, Tom and Sam Rover and their friends
and relatives. This book and those which immediately followed related
the adventures of the three Rover boys at Putnam Hall Military Academy,
Brill College and while on many outings.
Having graduated from college, the three young men established
themselves in business in New York City and became married to their
girl sweethearts. Dick Rover was blessed with a son and a daughter, as
was likewise his brother Sam, while Tom Rover became the proud father
of twin boys. As the four youths were of a lively disposition, it was
considered best by their parents 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 took place while they were attending that
institution. From Colby Hall the scene was shifted to “Snowshoe Island”
and then to stirring adventures while “Under Canvas.” Then the boys
went “On a Hunt” and later to “The Land of Luck.” Then came further
adventures at “Big Horn Ranch,” at “Big Bear Lake,” and then when
“Shipwrecked,” where we last met them.
In the present book the scene is laid first during the final days at
Colby Hall and then on Sunset Trail in the far West. The boys had good
times and also some strenuous adventures, all of which are related in
the pages that follow.
Once more I wish to thank the young people for their interest in my
books and for the many pleasing letters they have written to me. I
trust that the reading of these books will do them all good.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE LAKE 1
II. SOMETHING ABOUT THE ROVERS 11
III. AN UNEXPECTED EXPLOSION 22
IV. THE ACCUSATION 34
V. THE MAN ON THE ROAD 44
VI. SAM ROVER BRINGS NEWS 54
VII. FINAL EXAMINATIONS 64
VIII. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRLS 74
IX. THE LAST NIGHT AT COLBY HALL 85
X. TIT FOR TAT 95
XI. A MYSTERIOUS PLOT 105
XII. HOME ONCE MORE 114
XIII. A NEW ACQUAINTANCE 123
XIV. OFF FOR THE WEST 133
XV. AN OLD FRIEND TURNS UP 143
XVI. A PLOT AGAINST THE ROVERS 152
XVII. FOUR BOYS AND A BULL 162
XVIII. A NARROW ESCAPE 171
XIX. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF LEW BILLINGS 182
XX. AT THE ROLLING THUNDER MINE 192
XXI. OUT ON SUNSET TRAIL 201
XXII. THE MOUNTAIN LION 211
XXIII. AT LAKE GANSEN 221
XXIV. THE TIMBER WOLVES 231
XXV. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LOG CABIN 241
XXVI. THREE DEMANDS 252
XXVII. PRISONERS IN THE CAVE 262
XXVIII. TRYING TO ESCAPE 273
XXIX. ANOTHER DEMAND 284
XXX. THE ROUND-UP――CONCLUSION 296
THE ROVER BOYS ON
SUNSET TRAIL
CHAPTER I
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE LAKE
“Some baseball game, if you ask me!” exclaimed Andy Rover, as he threw
his cap high into the air in satisfaction.
“Jack had the whole bunch from Longley guessing from the start,” added
Andy’s twin brother, Randy Rover.
“What got me was the way Tommy Flanders was batted out of the box in
that fatal sixth inning,” put in Captain Fred Rover. “It was worse than
the time we batted him out before,” and he grinned broadly.
“You mustn’t give me too much credit for winning that game,” came
modestly from Major Rover, as he smiled at his cousins and the other
cadets of Colby Hall who were with him, all togged out in their natty
baseball uniforms. “Remember, I made only one of the eleven runs we
got. Fred made two and so did Dan, while Gif brought in three.”
“Of course we all helped, Jack,” returned Gif Garrison, the captain
of the Colby Hall nine. “But what counts big with us is that you held
Longley down to a sum total of one big goose egg. Wow! that’s enough to
keep them off the diamond for a year or two.”
“And I hope it does,” came from Spouter Powell, who had gone with the
team as a substitute. “Remember, our team has got to be thoroughly
reorganized next season, with Jack and Fred and Gif dropping out.”
“It’s a good thing that Colonel Colby didn’t enforce that rule he was
going to put through of keeping officers out of athletic contests. If
he had done that, we’d have been minus Jack and Fred for this game.”
“Gosh! how I’m going to miss old Colby Hall,” sighed Fred Rover. “At
first I thought graduating and getting away was going to be fine. But
when I think of what we’re going to miss in baseball and football and
in the gymnasium and on the campus――well, I’m not so sure,” and his
face clouded.
“Oh, well, we can’t be cadets and schoolboys all our lives,” consoled
his cousin Jack. “Just the same, I’ll hate to give up baseball, and
I’ll hate to give up being major of the school battalion, too.”
“How the Longley Academy fellows hated to see that silver trophy going
to us,” put in Phil Franklin, who had gone along as scorer. “Some
of the fellows looked as black as a thundercloud when the committee
wrapped it up in that cloth and turned it over to Gif.”
“Well, I guess the fellows from Hixley High and Columbus Academy felt
just as bad,” came from Spouter Powell. For the trophy was one which
had been fought for by four of the schools on and in the vicinity of
the lake.
“We’ve got the goods! We’ve got the goods!
Because we played good ball.
No matter what we try to do,
Old Colby’s got the call!”
chanted Andy Rover gayly. “I don’t see why Colonel Colby can’t add a
Chair of Baseball to the curriculum,” he added, with a grin. “We’d have
a whole lot of professors to fill it.”
The cadets from Colby Hall were on their way to the boat-landing, where
they intended to embark on several motor boats which were to take them
across Clearwater Lake to where the military academy they attended was
located. Behind them came a motley collection of other cadets and
spectators in general, including not a few girls from Clearwater Hall.
Two of the members of the ball team――the second baseman and the right
fielder――carried between them an object carefully wrapped in a bit of
dark cloth. This object was a tall silver vase beautifully engraved. It
had been put up as a prize by the owners of the rival institutions of
learning on the lake, and now, having been won three times by the Colby
Hall nine, had become the permanent property of that organization.
“What will we do with the vase, now we’ve won it?” questioned Fred.
“Better melt it up and make souvenirs of it,” suggested Randy Rover,
with a smile. “Each cadet might get a medal the size of a quarter,
stamped, ‘In Memory of the Time that We Licked Longley out of Its
Boots,’” and at this there was a general laugh.
“I guess we’ll have to put it in that glass case in the gymnasium along
with the other Hall trophies,” said Gif. “It doesn’t belong to any one
in particular, you know. It belongs to the whole school.”
When the cadets reached the lake front they began to separate because
the various motor boats were tied up at different landings. As the four
Rover boys went forward they heard a girlish cry behind them and,
turning, saw four young ladies hurrying toward them.
“Oh, Jack! Wait a minute!” cried Ruth Stevenson, a tall and exceedingly
good-looking girl, as she came up and extended her hand. “I want to
congratulate you on your splendid victory. It was simply great!”
She caught the young major’s hand and squeezed it warmly.
“Oh, Fred, to think you really won that trophy!” burst out May Powell,
another of the girls. “Oh, I could just have hugged somebody when I
heard the good news!”
“Dad will be awfully glad to hear of this new victory of yours, Jack,”
said Martha Rover.
“I’m going to write a long letter home to-night,” added Fred’s sister
Mary quickly. “I’m just going to let them know what real heroes you two
boys are.”
“Oh, say, Mary! don’t pile it on so thick,” interrupted her brother.
“Remember, a baseball game is only a baseball game, after all.”
“All aboard!” shouted one of the cadets from a motor boat near by.
“Remember, fellows, it’s getting late and we’ve got quite a trip before
us.”
“Yes, and remember that we’ve got to get ready for the celebration
to-night,” added another cadet.
“Oh, I wish we could see the celebration!” cried Ruth Stevenson.
“You don’t wish it any more than I do,” answered Jack quickly. “But I
don’t see how it can be done.” And then, after a few words more, the
boys and girls separated and the four Rovers boarded one of the Colby
Hall motor boats, along with Gif, Phil Franklin, and half a dozen
others.
“Who’s got the silver trophy? Where is the silver trophy?” came from
others on the boat-landings.
“We’ve got it safe and sound,” sang out Phil Franklin.
“Well, take good care of it,” came from another cadet. “That trophy is
worth just about a million dollars to Colby Hall.”
“Make it nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, and I’ll believe you,”
answered Andy Rover loudly, and this produced a general chuckle. Then,
one after another, the motor boats bound for Colby Hall set off across
Clearwater Lake.
It was an ideal day in late June, with bright sunshine and just
sufficient breeze to make the air bracing. There had been a good
attendance at the ball game, and now the surface of the lake was alive
with all manner of craft carrying spectators to various points on the
water front. There were canoes and rowboats, motor boats and steam
yachts, as well as catboats and several small sloops. From the shore,
where a road ran up and down the lake front, could be heard the sounds
from numerous automobiles and motorcycles.
“I’ll bet the hole in a button against the hole in a doughnut that
there won’t be much of a celebration at Longley to-night,” remarked
Randy Rover, as the motor boat, under the guidance of Pud Hicks, one of
the school employees, proceeded cautiously out from among the mass of
craft near by.
“You’ll be able to cut the gloom with a knife,” answered his twin.
“And the gloomiest boy of the bunch will be Tommy Flanders,” put in
Fred.
“I hope it takes some of the conceit out of him,” answered Jack. “I
haven’t forgotten how he treated us when we were in camp up at Big Bear
Lake,” he went on, referring to some happenings which have already been
related in detail in another volume.
“I wonder if Tommy Flanders and his bunch will be at Longley next
season,” mused Fred.
“I heard so,” returned Spouter Powell. “Tommy and his cronies didn’t
pass some of the examinations last year, so they have got to hold over
another term.”
“Gee! I hope we pass in our final examinations,” said Andy wistfully.
“I’d hate awfully to flunk at the last minute, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t mention it, Andy!” returned his brother. “It’s enough to give a
fellow the shivers.” The twins were given to so much fun and horseplay
that it was next to impossible for them to buckle down to their
studies, and, as a consequence, each successive examination became more
or less of a nightmare to them.
“Oh, we’ve got to pass――every one of us!” burst out Jack. “Now that
the games are all at an end, each fellow has got to buckle down for
all he’s worth. Just think of what the folks at home would say if we
failed!”
“I wonder what that silver trophy is worth,” came from Phil Franklin.
“It certainly is a handsome vase.”
“I heard somebody say it cost over two hundred dollars,” answered the
young major of the school battalion.
“Yes, and then there is a lot of engraving to go on it, and that will
be extra,” put in Gif. “Remember, the name of the winning club and the
date of the final victory are still to be put on it.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if we could take it home and show it to the
folks,” said Fred wistfully.
“I didn’t get a very good look at it,” remarked Randy. “Phil, let’s
take a look at it now while we’re going home.”
“Be careful and don’t get it tarnished,” cautioned Gif. “We want to
keep that as nice as possible until we can put it under glass.”
“Oh, looking at it isn’t going to hurt it any,” answered Andy.
As the motor boat bounded on its way across Clearwater Lake in the
direction of the Colby Hall dock, Phil and Randy, assisted by Andy,
took the dark cloth covering off the tall silver vase and set the
trophy up on the forward deck of the motor boat where all might inspect
and admire the object.
“Gee, it certainly is a peach of a vase!” exclaimed Randy, as he and
his twin brother turned the object around and inspected it closely.
“It certainly is an art to turn out a vase like this,” answered Fred,
who was also looking the object over. “Just look at that curve to the
top, will you? And that little vine that trails around and down to the
bottom? Why, you can see every leaf just as plain as if it was real!”
“It’ll look better yet when it’s all engraved,” observed Randy. “I
wonder where they will put the name and the date? On this side, I
suppose,” and he turned the vase around.
“Look out there! Watch where you’re going!” came in a yell from Pud
Hicks.
The cry was so sharp and unexpected that all of the cadets started
in alarm. As they glanced up they saw a steam yacht bearing almost
directly across their bow.
“Gee, we’re going to be hit, as sure as guns!” exclaimed Spouter Powell.
“Back her, Pud! Back her!” yelled Jack.
“Sheer off! Sheer off to the right!” came from Gif.
Badly frightened by the proximity of the steam yacht which had come up
without warning, Pud Hicks stopped his motor and then threw over his
steering wheel in a wild endeavor to sheer to starboard. But the steam
yacht was too close. There came frantic cries to “look out!” from the
craft, a blast of a steam whistle and the jangling of a bell, and then
motor boat and steam yacht slid up to each other sideways.
For a moment it looked as if the motor boat must be capsized. The craft
careened at a sharp angle, shipping not a little water. The shock was
greatest at the bow, and in a twinkling Phil Franklin shot overboard.
Andy and Randy Rover followed, carrying the silver trophy with them.