Part 1 (1/2)
Dave Porter and the Runaways.
by Edward Stratemeyer.
PREFACE
”Dave Porter and the Runaways” is a complete story in itself, but forms the ninth volume of a line issued under the general t.i.tle of ”Dave Porter Series.”
In the first volume of this series, ent.i.tled ”Dave Porter at Oak Hall,” the reader was introduced to a typical American lad, and the particulars were given of his doings at an up-to-date boarding school.
There was a cloud over Dave's parentage, and in order to solve the mystery of his ident.i.ty he took a long voyage over the ocean, as related in the second volume, called ”Dave Porter in the South Seas.”
Then he came back to his schoolmates, as told of in ”Dave Porter's Return to School,” and then took a long trip to Norway, to hunt up his father, the particulars of which are given in ”Dave Porter in the Far North.”
Having settled the matter of his ident.i.ty to his satisfaction, our hero came back to Oak Hall and had a number of strenuous contests, related in detail in ”Dave Porter and His Cla.s.smates.” Following this came the summer vacation, and the youth made a trip West, the happenings of which are set down in ”Dave Porter at Star Ranch.”
When Dave returned to Oak Hall once more he found the school rivalries as bitter as ever, and what these led to has been related in ”Dave Porter and His Rivals.” His enemies tried hard to do our hero much injury, but he exposed them and they were forced to flee, to escape the consequences of their actions.
The winter holidays found Dave homeward bound. He had antic.i.p.ated some jolly times among his relatives and friends, but a robbery upset all his plans, and, almost before he knew it, he found himself bound southward, as related in ”Dave Porter on Cave Island.” On the island he had many adventures out of the ordinary, and he came home more of a hero than ever, having saved Mr. Wadsworth, his benefactor, from ruin.
In the present story Dave is back once again at school. There are some queer happenings, and then some lads run away. How Dave proved his common sense, and brought the runaways back, I leave for the pages which follow to tell. I trust the reading of this volume will do all my young friends good.
Edward Stratemeyer.
_February_ 1, 1913.
DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS
CHAPTER I
DAVE AND HIS CHUMS
”I say, Dave, here's an odd piece of news.”
”An odd piece of news, Roger? What about?”
”A wild man in the woods back of Oak Hall,” answered Roger Morr, who held a letter in his hand. ”Queerest thing you ever heard of.”
”I should say it was, if it's about a wild man,” returned Dave Porter.
”Who sent that letter?”
”Shadow Hamilton.”
”Maybe it's another one of Shadow's innumerable yarns,” suggested Dave, with a faint smile. ”If he can't tell them by word of mouth, he writes them down.”
”What has Shadow got to say about the wild man?” asked Phil Lawrence, looking up from the suit-case he was packing. ”Has he been trying to clean out Oak Hall, or anything like that?”
”No, not exactly,” returned Roger, turning back to the letter, which he had not yet finished. ”He keeps in the woods, so Shadow says, and scares everybody who comes that way.”
”How does he scare them?” asked Dave, pausing in the act of stowing a suit of clothing in a trunk.