Part 23 (1/2)

I have been long of telling my story; yet I might have told much more but for the fear of wearying you. Billy sometimes says he wouldn't have minded taking a trip to the South Seas and having a look at Old Smoker; but if it had come to the point I think he could hardly have torn himself away from Elizabeth and the little Bobbins. As for me, though I have neither wife nor child, I am too busy a man, and maybe too old, to think of entering upon what would, I fear, be a long and troublesome search. There have been many voyages of discovery in those parts since my time, and if Palm Tree Island is now marked on maps and charts for the guidance of captains and navigators, I think I should feel a trifle sorry did I see it under another name.

[1] This must have been Bougainville Island, one of the Solomon Group.--H.S.

RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,

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HERBERT STRANG'S

BOOKS FOR BOYS

”_Mr. Strang is the legitimate successor to the late Mr. Henty. There were many chapters of Henty's, however, which boys were p.r.o.ne to 'skip'; they will not be tempted to skip anything of Mr.

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In this story are recounted the many adventures that befell Mr.

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Rob Somers, son of an English settler in New York State, sets out with Lone Pete, a trapper, in pursuit of an Indian raiding party which has destroyed his home and carried off his younger brother. He is captured and taken to Quebec, where he finds his brother, and escapes with him in the dead of the winter, in company with a little band of New Englanders. They are pursued over snow and ice, and in a log hut beside Lake Champlain maintain a desperate struggle against a larger force of French, Indians, and half-breeds, ultimately reaching Fort Edward in safety.

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Desmond Burke goes out to India to seek his fortune, and is sold by a false friend of his, one Marmaduke Diggle, to the famous Pirate of Gheria. But he escapes, runs away with one of the Pirate's own vessels, and meets Colonel Clive, whom he a.s.sists to capture the Pirate's stronghold. His subsequent adventures on the other side of India--how he saves a valuable cargo of his friend, Mr. Merriman, a.s.sists Clive in his fights against Sirajuddaula, and rescues Mr.

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