"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 the houseboat isn't where we left it?" "It is not, -and it is nowhere in sight on the river," returned Tom Rover. "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 good care of the craft." "Well, he is gone too. I...

"Oh Jack how blue you look " "I feel blue, Deb," answered Jack Willington, as he entered the door of his modest home and gave his sister the brotherly kiss he knew she was expecting. "Is there something the matter up at the tool works, Jack?" "Yes, Deb. The works are going to shut down." "To shut down?" repeated the girl, her eyes wide open in affright, for she knew only too well what such a calamity meant. "When will they close?" "To-morrow. In fact we have quit on the regular work already."

"Come on, fellows, if you are going It's a good six-mile skate to Squirrel Island, and we've got to hustle if we want to get there in time for lunch." "Wait till I fix my right skate, Dave," returned Phil Lawrence. "I don't want to lose it on the way." "Say, that puts me in mind of a story," came from another of the group of schoolboys who were adjusting their skates. "Once a man asked for a pair of skates for--" "Stow it, Shadow " interrupted Dave Porter. "We haven't any time now to listen to stories. You can tell them while we are resting up at the island." "Shadow can tell stories while...

"What are the bonds worth, Allen?" "Close on to eighty thousand dollars, Hardwick." "Phew as much as that?" "Yes. The market has been going up since the first of December." "How did he happen to get hold of them?" "I don't know the particulars. Mr. Mason was an old friend of the family, and I presume he thought he could leave them in no better hands." "And where are they now?" "In his private safe." "Humph "

"Luke " "Yes, Mr. Stillwell." "Why didn't you sweep and dust the office this morning?" "I did, sir." "You did " "Yes, sir." "You did " repeated the gentleman, who, I may as well state, was my esteemed uncle. "I must say, young man, that lately you have falsified to an astonishing degree." "Excuse me, but I have not falsified-not to my knowledge, sir." "Stop; don't contradict me--" "I am telling the truth, sir." "Stop, I tell you I will not have it Look here, and then dare to tell me that this office has seen the touch of a broom or duster this day "

"Why, Dave, what are you going to do with that revolver?" "Phil and Roger and I are going to do some target shooting back of the barn," answered Dave Porter. "If we are going to try ranch life, we want to know how to shoot." "Oh Well, do be careful " pleaded Laura Porter, as she glanced affectionately at her brother. "A revolver is such a dangerous thing " "We know how to handle one. Phil has been painting a big door to represent a black bear, and we are going to see if we can do as well with a revolver as we did with the rifle."

"Dan Dan Come quick and see what I brought down with the gun " "Why, Ralph, was that you I heard shooting? I thought it was father." "No; I was out, down by the river bank, and I brought down the finest deer you ever set eyes on. He was under the bunch of pecan-trees, and I let him have it straight in the neck and brought him down the first crack. Now what do you think of that?" Ralph Radbury's rather delicate face was all aglow with excitement and pardonable pride, as he spoke, leaning on his father's gun, a long, old-fashioned affair that had been in the family's possession for many...

"Hello, Dave; where are you bound?" "For the river, Phil. I am going out for a row. Want to come along?" "That suits me," answered Phil Lawrence, throwing down the astronomy he had been studying. "But I can't stay out late," he added, reaching for his cap. "Got two examples in algebra to do. Have you finished up?" "Yes," answered Dave Porter. "They are not so hard." "And your Latin?" "That's done, too."

"How many miles have we still to go, Deck?" "Not over seven by this road, Artie," replied Major Deck Lyon, commanding the first battalion, Riverlawn Cavalry, of Kentucky. "I should think the surroundings would begin to look familiar to you, even if we have been away from home for some time." "I never frequented this road," exclaimed Captain Artie Lyon, commanding the fourth company of the Riverlawns. "Doesn't it run into that cut where you saved Kate Belthorpe and the rest of her party from that gang of so-styled 'Home Guard' ruffians?"

"Unless I miss my guess, Luke, we are going to have a storm." "Jest what I was thinking, Larry. And when it comes I allow as how it will be putty heavy," replied Luke Striker, casting an eye to the westward, where a small dark cloud was beginning to show above the horizon. "Well, we can't expect fine weather all the time," went on Larry Russell, inspecting the cloud with equal interest. "We want some wind anyway," he added. "We are not making this return trip to Nagasaki nearly as fast as we made the trip to Manila."