Or

The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht

by
Arthur M. Winfield

Introduction

My Dear Boys: This is a complete tale in itself, but forms the thirteenth volume of the “Rover Boys Series for Young Americans.”

This line of books was started some ten years ago with the publication of the first three volumes, “The Rover Boys at School,” “The Rover Boys on the Ocean” and “The Rover Boys in the Jungle.” At that time I thought to end the series with a fourth volume — provided the readers wanted another. But with the publication of “The Rover Boys Out West,” came a cry for “more!” and so I added “On the Great Lakes,” “In the Mountains,” “In Camp,” “On Land and Sea,” “On the River,” “On the Plains,” “In Southern Waters” and “On the Farm,” where we last left our friends.

For a number of years Tom, Dick and Sam have attended a military academy, but now their school days at Putnam Hall are at an end, and we find them getting ready to go to college. But before leaving home for the higher seat of learning they take a remarkable cruise on a steam yacht, searching for an island upon which it is said a large treasure is hidden. They are accompanied on this trip by their father and a number of friends, and have several adventures somewhat out of the ordinary, and also a good bit of fun — for there is bound to be fun when Tom Rover is around. They lose themselves and lose their yacht, and once some of them come pretty close to losing their lives, but in the end — well, the story will tell the rest.

I cannot close without again thanking my many friends for all the nice things they have said about the “Rover Boys” stories and the “Putnam Hall” stories. I trust the present volume will fulfill every fair expectation.

Affectionately and sincerely yours,

Edward Stratemeyer

Chapter I
Bound for Home

“Hurry up, Sam, unless you want to be left behind!”

“I’m coming!” shouted Sam Rover, as he crossed the depot platform on the run. “Where is Tom?”

“He went ahead, to get two good seats for us,” answered Dick Rover. He looked around the crowd that had gathered to take the train. “Hi, there, Songbird, this way! Come in this car, Hans!”

“Say, aren’t you fellows coming aboard?” came a voice from the nearest car, and a curly-topped head with a pair of laughing eyes appeared. “Folks crowding in to beat the band! Come on in if you want seats.”

“We’ll be in directly,” answered Sam, and followed his brother Dick to the car steps. Here there was quite a jam, and the Rover boys had all they could do to get into the car, followed by half a dozen of their school chums. But Tom Rover had managed to keep seats for all, and they sat “in a bunch,” much to their satisfaction. Then the train rolled out of the station, and the journey homeward was begun.

The term at Putnam Hall Military Academy was at an end, and the school days of the three Rover boys at that institution were now a thing of the past. Each had graduated with honors, yet all were a trifle sad to think that there would be no going back to a place where they had made so many friends.

“It’s almost like giving up your home,” Dick had said, several times, while at the actual parting Sam had had to do his best to keep back the tears which welled up in his eyes. Even fun-loving Tom had stopped a good deal of his whistling and had looked unusually sober.

“We’ll never have such good times as we’ve had at Putnam Hall,” Sam had said, but he was mistaken, as later events proved.

The three Rover boys did not wish to part from their many school chums, yet they were more than anxious to get home, and for this there was a very good reason. Their father had told them that he had a very important communication to make to them — one regarding how the summer was to be spent. So far no arrangements had been made for the vacation, and the brothers were anxious to know “what was in the wind,” as Tom expressed it.

“Maybe we are to prepare for college,” said Dick.

“Perhaps we are to go on another trip to Africa?” added Sam.

“Or start on a hunt for the North Pole,” put in Tom. “That would be just the thing for this hot weather.”

“I can tell you one thing,” went on Dick. “Whatever father has on his mind is of a serious nature. It is no mere outing for pleasure.”

“I know that,” answered Sam. “I could see it by the look on his face.”

“Well, we’ll know all about it by this time to-morrow,” said Tom. “I hope it is some trip — I love to travel,” and his brothers nodded their heads in approval.

To those who have read any of the twelve previous volumes in this “Rover Boys Series” the three brothers will need no special introduction. For the benefit of new readers allow me to state that Dick was the oldest, fun-loving Tom next, and Sam the youngest. They were the sons of Anderson Rover, a widower and rich mine owner. The father was a great traveler, and for years the boys had made their home with their uncle, Randolph Rover, and their Aunt Martha, on a farm called Valley Brook, in the heart of New York state.

From the farm, and while their father was in Africa, the boys had been sent to Putnam Hall, as related in the first volume of this series, entitled, “The Rover Boys at School.” At the Hall they made a score of friends and several enemies, some of which will be introduced later. A term at school was followed by a trip on the ocean, and then one into the jungles of the Dark Continent in search of Mr. Rover, who had mysteriously disappeared. Then the Rover boys went out west and to the great lakes, and later spent a fine time hunting in the mountains. They likewise spent some time in camp with their fellow cadets, and during the summer vacation took a long trip on land and sea. Then they returned home, and during another vacation sailed down the Ohio River in a houseboat, spent some time on the plains, took an unexpected trip to southern waters, and then came back to the farm.

On getting back home, as related in the twelfth volume of this series, called “The Rover Boys on the Farm,” the boys had imagined that adventures for them were a thing of the past. They were willing to take it easy, but this was not to be. Some bad men, including a sharper named Sid Merrick, were responsible for the theft of some freight from the local railroad, and Merrick, by a slick trick, obtained possession of some traction company bonds belonging to Randolph Rover. The Rover boys managed to locate the freight thieves, but Sid Merrick got away from them, dropping a pocketbook containing the traction company bonds in his flight. This was at a time when Dick, Tom and Sam had returned to Putnam Hall for their final term at that institution. At the Hall they had made a bitter enemy of a big, stocky bully named Tad Sobber and of another lad named Nick Pell. Tad Sobber, to get even with the Rovers for a fancied injury, sent to the latter a box containing a live, poisonous snake. The snake got away and hid in Nick Pell’s desk and Nick was bitten and for some time it was feared that he might die. He exposed Tad Sobber, and fearing arrest the bully ran away from the Hall. Later, much to their surprise, the Rover boys learned that the bully was a ward and nephew of Sid Merrick, and when the sharper disappeared Tad Sobber went with him.

“They are certainly a bad pair,” said Dick, but how bad the Rovers were still to find out.

With the boys on the train were John Powell, better known as “Songbird,” because he had a habit of reciting newly made doggerel which he called poetry, Hans Mueller, a German youth who frequently got his English badly twisted, Fred Garrison, who had graduated with the Rovers, and some others.

“Dick, you haven’t told me yet what you intend to do this summer,” remarked Fred Garrison, as the train rolled on.

“Because I don’t know, Fred,” answered the elder Rover. “My father has something in store, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Can’t you guess?”

“No.”

“I wish we could take another trip like that on the houseboat — it was certainly a dandy.”

“The best ever!” put in Tom. “Even if we did have trouble with Lew Flapp, Dan Baxter and some others.”

“Speaking of Dan Baxter puts me in mind of something,” came from Songbird Powell. “It has just leaked out that Tad Sobber sent a note to Captain Putnam in which Tad blamed some of the cadets for his troubles, and said he was going to get square some day.”

“Did he mention any names?” questioned Sam.

“Yes.”

“Mine?”

“Yes — and Dick’s and Tom’s, too.”

“It is just like Sobber — to blame his troubles on somebody else,” remarked Dick.

“I am not afraid of him,” declared Tom. “He had better keep his distance — unless he wants to get the worst of it. We used to put up with a whole lot from Dan Baxter before he reformed — I am not going to put up with as much from Sobber.”

“Tad certainly went off in bad company,” said Sam. “His uncle ought to be in prison this minute.”

“Have the authorities heard anything of Merrick?” asked Songbird.

“Not a thing.”

“I dink me dot feller has skipped to Europe alretty,” vouchsafed Hans Mueller. “He vould peen afraid to stay py der United States in, yah!” And the German boy shook his head wisely.

“Personally I never want to set eyes on Sobber again,” said Dick, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “The idea of introducing that deadly snake into the school was the limit. Why, half a dozen of us might have been bitten instead of only poor Pell.”

“Maybe he did it only for a joke,” said Larry Colby, another of the cadets.

“If he did, it was carrying a joke altogether too far — endangering one or more human lives. I don’t believe in that sort of fun.”

“Nor do I,” came from several.

“If he is in Europe with his uncle perhaps I’ll meet him there,” said Larry Colby. “I am going to France and Italy with my uncle and cousin. Wish some of you fellows were going along,” he added, wistfully.

“I am going to the Maine woods,” said a lad named George Granberry. “You can never guess who is going there, too.”

“Who?”

“William Philander Tubbs and Mr. Strong.”