Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark
TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN
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[Illustration: Tom stood up occasionally and chatted with the other
two.]
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TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN
BY
PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH
Author of
THE TOM SLADE BOOKS
THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS
THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS
ILLUSTRATED BY
HOWARD L. HASTINGS
Published with the approval of
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS—NEW YORK
Made in the United States of America
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Copyright, 1923, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
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TO MY MOTHER
THIS STORY IS DEDICATED IN MEMORY
OF THE AFTERNOON SPENT ON THE
SUMMIT OF OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN
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CONTENTS
I TOM
II HERVEY WANDERS INTO THE STORY AND OUT AGAIN
III THE BOAT
IV THE STRANGER
V THE CUP OF SORROW
VI THE UNKNOWN FRIEND
VII IN THE WOODS
VIII THE DERELICT FINDS A PORT
IX AT CAMP
X ON THE TRAIL
XI OUT OF THE PAST
XII ANOTHER GLIMPSE OF THE GOODFELLOW
XIII TOM GETS HIS WISH
XIV THE JOB ON THE MOUNTAIN
XV ON THE WAY
XVI NEW FRIENDS
XVII VOICES
XVIII ON THE JOB
XIX TOM AND NED
XX AN ACCIDENT
XXI THE FACE IN THE STORM
XXII THE OBSCURE TRAIL
XXIII TOM AND AUDRY
XXIV GHOSTS OF YESTERDAY
XXV AT TWILIGHT
XXVI TOM IS TROUBLED
XXVII THE CRIMINAL
XXVIII IN CONFIDENCE
XXIX THE ONLY WAY
XXX THE DEPARTURE
XXXI TIME
XXXII ALONE
XXXIII GOODFELLOW
XXXIV THE BOAT ROCKS
XXXV LAST WORDS
XXXVI HOMEWARD BOUND
XXXVII THE BRIGHT MORN
XXXVIII T. S.—A. F.
XXXIX “HERE’S LUCK”
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TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN
CHAPTER I
TOM
If so it chance that you live in the city of New York and should, let us
say, stop for a cooling drink of water in the interval of a ball game,
pause for a few moments and consider this strange story of old Caleb
Dyker and perhaps the water will not taste quite so good to you.
Old Caleb Dyker had never seen the great city of New York; he had never
in all his life been away from the little village of West Hurley until
he was put out, thrown out, or rather until his little village was taken
away from him by the great city of New York.
If it is a good rule never to hit a fellow under your size, then the
great city of New York is not a very good scout, for it knocked the poor
little village of West Hurley clean off the map.
And that was because the great city of New York wanted a drink of water.
So poor Caleb Dyker, dazed and bewildered at this pathetic eviction from
all that was near and dear to him, became a tramp and wanderer. And that
is how Tom Slade fell in with him.
Tom Slade himself had something of the spirit of the tramp and wanderer.
He was assistant at Temple Camp, the big scout community in the
Catskills, and was the hero of every boy who spent the summer there. But
he was restless. Perhaps his service overseas had made him so, and at
the time of this singular chain of happenings the roving spirit was upon
him.
Yet it is unlikely that he would have gone away from Temple Camp, that
year at all events, if he had not fallen in with the queer personage who
all unwittingly gave impetus to his dormant wanderlust.
It is funny, when you come to think of it, how these two, poor old Caleb
Dyker and Tom, first met at a little crystal spring by the wayside where
they had both paused for a drink of water. Because, you know, this whole
story hinges on a drink of water as one might say....