The Rover Boys in Southern Waters; or, The Deserted Steam Yacht Read online

  Produced by W. R. Marvin

  THE ROVER BOYS IN SOUTHERN WATERS

  or

  THE DESERTED STEAM YACHT

  By Arthur M. Winfield

  Chatterton-Peck Company Publishers

  Copyright 1907 by The Mershon Company

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I. THE ROVER BOYS AND THEIR FRIENDS II. ABOUT A MISSING HOUSEBOAT III. A FRIEND IN NEED IV. HAROLD BIRD'S STRANGE TALE V. STUCK IN THE MUD VI. FIGHTING BOB CATS VII. THE HOUSEBOAT IN THE BUSHES VIII. IN THE SWAMP IX. TWO YOUNG PRISONERS X. THE CHASE ON THE RIVER XI. WHAT THE ROCKETS REVEALED XII. STUCK ON A SNAG XIII. THE CAPTURE OF SOLLY JACKSON XIV. ON A GULF STEAMER XV. THE CASTAWAYS OF THE GULF XVI. A DESERTED STEAM YACHT XVII. IN UNDISPUTED POSSESSION XVIII. IN PERIL OF STEAM XIX. THE STORM ON THE GULF XX. A NIGHT OF ANXIETY XXI. THE PICTURE IN THE CARDCASE XXII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING ON THE WATER XXIII. THE ENEMY TRIES TO TAKE POSSESSION XXIV. IN THE ENGINE ROOM XXV, ONE PLOT AND ANOTHER XXVI. TURNING THE TABLES XXVII. DAN BAXTER'S REPENTANCE XXVIII. HATCHWAY AND DOOR XXIX. AN EXCITING TIME ALL AROUND XXX. HOMEWARD BOUND--CONCLUSION

  INTRODUCTION

  My Dear Boys: "The Rover Boys in Southern Waters" is a complete storyin itself but forms the eleventh volume of a line known by the generaltitle of "The Rover Boys Series for Young Americans."

  Eleven volumes! Just think of it! What a great number to write aboutone set of young people and their doings! When I started out, as Ihave mentioned before, I thought to pen three volumes, possibly four.I was not at all sure that the boys and girls would wish any of them.But no sooner had I given them "The Rover Boys at School" than therewas a demand for "The Rover Boys on the Ocean" and then "The RoverBoys in the Jungle," and then, year after year, there followed "TheRover Boys Out West," "On the Great Lakes," "In the Mountains," "OnLand and Sea," "In Camp," "On the River," and "On the Plains," wherewe last met them.

  In the present tale the scene is shifted to the lower Mississippiand then the Gulf of Mexico. As before, Sam, Tom, and Dick areintroduced, along with a number of their friends, and all have avariety of adventures and not a little fun. While on the Gulf theboys discover a deserted steam yacht, board the craft, and try toascertain who is the owner, and this leads to a mystery which I leavethe pages that follow to unfold.

  Once again I take the opportunity to thank the thousands of youngfolks all over our broad land who have signified their appreciationof my efforts to afford them amusement and at the same time teach amoral. Were it possible I should like nothing better than to writeto each and shake everyone by the hand. But that is out of thequestion, so I can simply pen my thanks, and subscribe myself,

  Affectionately and sincerely yours,

  ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.

  THE ROVER BOYS IN SOUTHERN WATERS

  CHAPTER I

  THE ROVER BOYS AND THEIR FRIENDS

  "The houseboat is gone!"

  "Tom, what do you mean?"

  "I mean just what I say, Sam. The houseboat is gone--vanished, missing,disappeared, drifted away, stolen!" ejaculated Tom Rover, excitedly.

  "Tom, don't go on in such a crazy fashion. Do you mean to say thehouseboat isn't where we left it?"

  "It is not,--and it is nowhere in sight on the river," returned TomRover. "Come, we must tell Dick and the others about this."

  "But we left the _Dora_ in charge of that big planter last night,"insisted the youngest of the Rover boys. "He said he would take goodcare of the craft."

  "Well, he is gone too. I hunted high and low for the houseboat, andfor that planter, but without success."

  "Maybe the boat drifted away, with the planter on board, Tom. Thecurrent has been pretty strong since those heavy rains."

  "She was tied up good and tight," answered Tom Rover, his usuallymerry face wearing a troubled look. "I can't understand it."

  "I must say I didn't like that planter's manner much. He looked tobe rather a sly one. Come on, let us find Dick and the others atonce," went on Sam Rover. "If the houseboat has been stolen we wantto know it right away, so we can get on the trail of the thief."

  "True for you, Sam." Tom Rover heaved a short sigh. "My! what a lotof troubles we have had since we started on this houseboat trip!"

  "Yes--but we have had lots of sport too."

  The two brothers were standing near the bank of the broad MississippiRiver, just below the town of Shapette, in Louisiana. The party towhich they belonged had reached the town on their journey down theFather of Waters the day before, and an hour later the houseboat hadbeen tied up at a bend in the stream and left in charge of a planterwho had appeared and volunteered for the task. The planter had givenhis name as Gasper Pold, and had stated that his plantation lay halfa mile inland, on higher ground. He had mentioned several people inShapette as being his close friends--among others the principalstorekeeper--and the boys had thought it all right to get him to lookafter the houseboat while they paid a visit to a sugar plantationwhere one of their party had a distant relative living.

  To my old readers the Rover boys, Sam, Tom, and Dick, need no specialintroduction. Sam was the youngest, fun-loving Tom next, and cool-headedand clever Dick the oldest.

  When at home the three boys lived with their father, Anderson Rover,and their uncle Randolph and aunt Martha in a pleasant portion ofNew York State called Valley Brook, near the village of Dexter'sCorners. From that home they had gone, as already related in "TheRover Boys at School," to Putnam Hall, an ideal place of learning,where they made many friends and also some enemies.

  A term at school had been followed by a brief trip on the AtlanticOcean, and then a journey to the jungles of Africa, where the ladswent in a hunt for their father, who had become lost. Then they hadgone west, to establish a family claim to a valuable mine, andafterwards taken two well-deserved outings, one on the Great Lakesand the other in the mountains.

  From the mountains the Rover boys had expected to go back to PutnamHall, but a scarlet fever scare caused a temporary closing of thatinstitution of learning and the lads took a trip to the Pacific coastand were cast away on the ocean, as told of in "The Rover Boys onLand and Sea," the seventh volume of this series. But all came backsafely and returned to the Hall, there to do their duty and haveconsiderable fun, as set forth in "The Rover Boys in Camp."

  The boys' uncle, Randolph Rover, had taken an elegant houseboat fordebt. This craft was located on the Ohio River, and in a volume called"The Rover Boys on the River," I related how Sam, Tom, and Dickresolved to take a trip on the craft during their summer vacation.On this outing they were accompanied by "Songbird" Powell, a schoolchum given to the making of doggerel which he persisted in callingpoetry, Fred Garrison, who had stood by the Rovers through thick andthin, and Hans Mueller, a German youth who had not yet fully masteredthe English language. To make the trip more interesting the boysinvited an old friend, Mrs. Stanhope, to accompany them, and alsoMrs. Laning, her sister. With Mrs. Stanhope was a daughter Dora, whoDick Rover thought was the best and sweetest girl in the whole world,and with Mrs. Laning were her daughters Grace and Nellie, warm friendsof Tom and Sam.

  The trip on the houseboat started well enough, but soon came troublethrough the underhanded work of Dan Baxter, a big youth who had beenthe Rovers' bitter enemy ever since they had gone to Putnam Hall,and another boy named Lew Flapp. These young rascals ran off withthe houseboat and two of the girls, and it took hard work to regainthe craft and come to the girls' rescue. Lew Flapp was made a prisonerand sent east to stand trial for some of his numerous misdeeds, butDan Baxter
escaped.

  "We don't want to see any more of Baxter," Sam had said, but thiswish was not to be gratified. Floating down the Mississippi, thehouseboat got damaged in a big storm, and had to be laid up forrepairs. This being so, all on board decided to take a trip inland,and accordingly they set out, the ladies and girls by way of therailroad and the boys on horseback.

  As already told in "The Rover Boys on the Plains," this trip was fullof mystery and peril. Dan Baxter turned up most unexpectedly, andour friends visited a mysterious ranch only to learn that it was arendezvous for a band of counterfeiters. Through a government detectivethe counterfeiters were rounded up, only one man, Sack Todd, escaping.Dan Baxter also got away, but later on he was traced to a big swamp,where his horse was found, stuck fast in the slimy ooze. It wasthought by some that Baxter had lost his life trying to find his waythrough the swamp, but of this the Rovers were somewhat doubtful.

  After the capture of the counterfeiters the boys and their chums hadgone on to meet the ladies and the girls, and had spent a full weekat the ranch of a friend, having the best times possible, horsebackriding, hunting, and helping to round-up cattle. Then the whole partyhad gone back to the Mississippi, embarked on the _Dora_, as thehouseboat was named, and floated down the mighty stream once more.

  "This sort of thing is simply grand," Fred Garrison had remarked, ashe stood on the forward deck of the craft, yet an hour later he hadchanged his tune. The houseboat had gone whirling in a bend of thestream, struck a snag and hurled poor Fred overboard. He was hauledup by Sam and Dick Rover, and then it was ascertained that thehouseboat was leaking and would have to be laid up again for repairs.

  They had stopped at the town of Shapette, a small place, and therethey found a carpenter who promised to do what they wanted. When thehouseboat was laid up the captain had come to them with a letter.

  "My brother in Cairo is dead," said Captain Starr. "I shall have toleave you and look after his children."

  The captain was an eccentric individual and the Rovers did not likehim much, so they were perfectly willing to let him go. They decidedto look around for somebody else to manage the houseboat and in themeantime run the craft themselves.

  With the party as cook and general housekeeper was Alexander Pop, acolored man who had once been a waiter at Putnam Hall, but who wasnow attached to the Rover household. The boys had expected to leaveAleck, as he was called, in charge of the _Dora_ while they visiteda nearby sugar plantation, but the colored man had begged to be takenalong, "jes fo' de change," as he expressed it. As Aleck had remainedon the houseboat during the entire time the boys were on the plainsDick agreed to take him along; and thus, for the time being, the_Dora_ had been left in the sole care of the planter.

  After the visit to the sugar plantation the party had ridden toShapette, to do a little shopping before returning to the houseboat.There Tom and Sam had left the others, to make certain that the _Dora_was in proper trim to continue the trip down the Mississippi. On theway Sam stopped at a plantation house to get a drink of water, andwhen he rejoined his brother it was to learn the dismaying news thatthe houseboat and the man left in charge of the craft had mysteriouslydisappeared.