Fenn Masterson's Discovery; or, The Darewell Chums on a Cruise Read online

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  FENN MASTERSON'S DISCOVERY

  Or

  The Darewell Chums on a Cruise

  BY ALLEN CHAPMAN

  AUTHOR OF "BART STIRLING'S ROAD TO SUCCESS," "WORKING HARD TO WIN," "BOUND TO SUCCEED," "THE YOUNG STOREKEEPER," "NAT BORDEN'S FIND," ETC.

  _The_ GOLDSMITH _Publishing Co._ CLEVELAND OHIO

  MADE IN U.S.A.]

  COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT 1 II. A MYSTERIOUS CAVE 11 III. SAVING THE AUTO 22 IV. PLANNING A CRUISE 30 V. CAPTAIN WIGGS'S PROPOSAL 39 VI. IN PERIL 45 VII. AN ELEVATOR BLAZE 52 VIII. FENN HEARS SOMETHING 61 IX. OFF AGAIN 71 X. THE CHASE 78 XI. ON LAKE HURON 85 XII. NED GETS A FISH 92 XIII. CAUGHT IN THE LOCK 99 XIV. MYSTERIOUS STRANGERS 108 XV. A QUEER FIND 115 XVI. FIRE ON BOARD 123 XVII. A STRANGE VISION 133 XVIII. AN EXPLORING PARTY 140 XIX. FENN BECOMES ILL 147 XX. OUT ON A HUNT 155 XXI. THE CHINESE BUTTON 162 XXII. FENN'S MISHAP 171 XXIII. THE SEARCH 180 XXIV. FENN IS CAPTURED 188 XXV. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING 194 XXVI. FENN'S ODD DISCOVERY 202 XXVII. A TIMELY RESCUE 213 XXVIII. RUTH TELLS HER SECRET 220 XXIX. A BAFFLING SEARCH 230 XXX. THE DISCOVERY--CONCLUSION 239

  FENN MASTERSON'S DISCOVERY

  CHAPTER I

  AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT

  "Hello!" exclaimed Fenn Masterson, as he opened the front door of hishome, in response to a ring, and admitted his chum, Bart Keene. "Glad tosee you, Bart. Come on in."

  "What's the matter with you?" demanded Bart, throwing a strap full ofbooks into a corner of the hall, as if he cared very little for thevolumes. "Why weren't you at school to-day, Stumpy?"

  "Oh, I was a little hoarse this morning--"

  "What are you now; a mule?" inquired Bart.

  "No--Oh, hang it, you know what I mean--"

  "Sure!" interrupted Bart. "You slept in a stable last night, and, whenyou woke up you were a little horse. I know."

  "I had a little cold this morning," went on Fenn. "Mother made me stayhome. Thought I was going into consumption, I guess. I'm all right now."

  "Gee, I wish my mother had made me stay home to-day," proceeded Bart."The algebra lesson was fierce. We all slumped."

  "What! You don't mean to say the professor floored Frank Roscoe?" andFenn looked much surprised.

  "Yes, and Ned Wilding, too. I tell you, Stumpy, it was a good thing youslept in that barn and became a little horse, or you'd have gone down todefeat on that problem about multiplying sixteen x, y, z's by the squareroot of the difference between--"

  "Pooh! That's easy," declared Fenn. "I remember it."

  "Easy? Here, let's see you do it!" exclaimed Bart, and he grabbed thebundle of books and proceeded to take out the algebra.

  "Never mind--there's no hurry about it. I'll show you later," spoke Fenn."Besides, I've got to take my cough medicine now. Come on up to my room."

  "Cough medicine?" repeated Bart, with a reproachful look at his chum.

  "Yes, cough medicine," answered Stumpy, seeing that his visitor ratherdoubted him. "Mom made me take it. It's awful nasty stuff, full of tarand horehound and pine--ugh! I hate it."

  "Moral, don't try to fool your mother and pretend you have a sore throat,when you don't want to go to school for an algebra exam.," said Bartsolemnly.

  "No, honest, I did have a sore throat this morning," declared Fenn."It's all better now. I guess I don't have to take that medicine. Butcome on up to my room. I've just got a fine collection of minerals."

  "Minerals?"

  "Yes, I'm going to collect them now. I sent for a small case, of variouskinds, and I'm going to add to it. There are lots of minerals in thissection of the state."

  "Let's see, the last thing you were collecting was Indian arrow heads,"said Bart, in musing tones; "before that it was postage stamps, andbefore that, postmarks. Then, once, I remember, it was jackknives, andbefore that--"

  "Oh, let up!" begged Fenn. "Are any of the other fellows coming over?"

  "Before that it was butterflies," went on Bart relentlessly. "I guessyour mineral collecting craze will last about as long as any of theothers, Stumpy."

  "Well, all the others were too much trouble," declared Fenn, trying tojustify himself. "It's no fun to be sticking stamps and postmarks in abook, and I had to chase all over the country after butterflies."

  "To say nothing of getting on bad terms with half the boys in the schoolfor trading them poor knives for good ones, when you had that craze,"remarked Bart.

  "Oh, I intend to make a fine collection of minerals," declared Fenn."I'll not get tired of that. You see minerals are easy to get. All youhave to do is to pick up stones as you walk along. You put them in yourpockets and, when you get home, you look in the catalog, see what kindthey are, so as to label 'em, and put 'em in one of the little numberedsquares of the cabinet. Why, collecting minerals is fun. Besides, it'svaluable information. I might discover--"

  "Sure, of course. Oh, yes--you might discover a gold mine or a holefilled with diamonds!" interrupted Bart. "Oh, Stumpy, I'm afraid you'rea hopeless case."

  "Wait until you see my minerals," asserted the stout youth, as he ledthe way up to his room. "When are the other fellows coming over?"

  "Oh, Ned'll be along right away. Frank Roscoe said he had to go on anerrand for his father. They both are anxious to see what sort of a gameyou worked so's to stay home to-day. They might want to try itthemselves."

  The two chums were soon busy inspecting the case of stones which Fennhad bought. There were small samples of ore, spar, crystals and variousqueer rocks.

  "There's a piece of stone I found out near the river," said Fenn,pointing to a fragment of a bright red color. "Maybe it's a new kindof ruby. I'm going to show it to a jeweler."

  "It's red glass!" declared Bart.

  "It is not!"

  "I tell you it is! Look, it's a piece of a bottle. You can see where itcurved for the bottom," and he pointed it out to Fenn.

  "I guess you're right," admitted the collector, as he tossed the redobject away. "Never mind, I'll get some good specimens yet. Hello,there's Ned's whistle," and he looked out of the window, which, as itwas late in June, was wide open. "Come on up, Ned!" he called, "Bart'shere!"

  "Coming!" cried Ned. "Lower the drawbridge and raise the portcullis!Lord Mount Saint Dennis Morency Caldwalder de Nois approaches!"

  "Yes, I guess it is 'De Noise' all right," murmured Bart. "Since he'sbeen studying French history he's been getting off such nonsense as thatevery chance he has."

  "Greeting, fair and noble sirs!" cried Ned Wilding, reaching the door ofFenn's room, for, like the other chums, he had the run of the house,"greeting, most noble lords of the high justice, the middle and the low.I give thee greeting!"

  "And I give thee that!" interrupted Bart, putting out his foot, and,with a sly motion, upsetting Ned as he was making a low, exaggeratedbow.

  "First down! Ten yards to gain!" he cried good-naturedly, as he arose,for Ned was a lively, quick-witted youth, full of fun, and never seriousfor more than a minute at a
time.

  "I hope that jarred some of the foolishness out of you," observed Bart.

  Suddenly a head was poked in the open window, and a voice exclaimed:

  "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce myself. I am the original and onlygenuine second-story burglar!"

  "Frank Roscoe!" exclaimed Fenn. "How did you get there?"

  "Climbed up over the porch," replied the newcomer. "I rang the belluntil I was tired, and nobody answered."

  "That's so, I forgot. Mother's out this afternoon and there's no onedown stairs. But why didn't you do as Ned did, walk in? The door's notlocked. I didn't hear you ring."

  "I prefer this method of stealing into houses," replied Frank, a talldark youth, as he bounded from the window sill into the room. "It's moreromantic. Besides I needed exercise, and it was easy climbing up theporch pillar."

  "Don't give us any romance," begged Bart.

  "No, don't," advised Ned, rubbing his thigh where he had come downrather heavily. "The days of romance are dead."

  "That's not the only thing that's dead in this town," put in Fenn."Things are getting rather dull. We need some excitement to keep usawake."

  The two newcomers soon learned the reason for Fenn's absence from schoolthat day. They examined his cabinet of minerals and made more or lesssarcastic comments about his new fad.

  "Yes," went on Bart, after a pause. "I wish we could have some fun, aswe did when we were off camping in the woods, last summer."

  "And rescued Frank's father from that sanitarium," put in Ned.

  "Well, we had a pretty lively time when you slipped off to New York, andthe lodging-house keeper held you a prisoner, Ned," said Bart. "You hadsome romance then."

  "Not the right kind," declared Ned. "I'd like some more fun such as wehad when the King of Papricka tried to fool us."

  "Sure! When we got carried away in the captive balloon," added Frank."That was a time!"

  "And do you remember when we fastened the ladder on the donkey's back,the night we were going to rescue Frank's father," suggested Fenn? "Howhe ran away in the woods?"

  "Yes, and how it rained," put in Ned. "Gee, that was fierce!"

  "But we had a good time," remarked Frank. "Father can never forget howmuch you boys did for him."

  "It wasn't anything!" exclaimed Ned. "Say, do you remember when theythought we blew up the school with dynamite?"

  "Do I? I should guess yes," replied Ned.

  "Yes, and how Ned thought he was going to become a millionaire with thatinvestment which made him a fugitive!" spoke Bart. "Oh, yes, we had goodtimes then. But we don't seem to be having them any more. It's nothingbut measly old algebra exams. that no fellow can pass. I wish--"

  But what Bart wished he never told, for, at that instant there came fromthe street outside a series of sharp explosions, that sounded like aGatling gun in full operation.

  "What's that?" cried Fenn.

  "It's an automobile!" replied Frank, who was nearest the window. "It'srunning away, too, from the looks of it. They've opened the muffler andare trying to reverse I guess! Something's wrong! There's going to be anaccident!"

  The other boys crowded up back of Frank to see what was going on. Thestreet in front of Fenn's house sloped sharply down to a cliff at theend of the thoroughfare. Across the highway was a stout fence, designedto prevent any one from driving over the cliff, which was quite high.Toward this fence a big touring car, which, as the boys could see,contained an elderly gentleman and a young lady, was rushing at furiousspeed.

  "Stop! Stop!" cried Fenn in desperation, thinking the man in the car didnot know or realize his danger. "The street ends at the fence! You'llgo over the cliff!"

  As the auto whizzed past the house the girl in it gave one glance atFenn. The youth thought her the most beautiful person he had ever seen,though there was a look of terror in her eyes.

  "He can't stop!" shouted Bart. "Something's wrong with the machine!"

  Indeed this seemed to be true, for the man at the steering wheel wasfrantically pulling on various levers and stamping, with his feet, onsome pedals in front of him.

  The young woman in the car half arose in her seat. The man, holding thewheel with one hand, held her back with the other. She gave a startledcry and, a moment later the auto had crashed through the fence, asthough it was made of paper, and the front wheels disappeared over theedge of the cliff.

  "Come on!" cried Bart. "We must go to their help!"

  "I'm afraid they're dead," spoke Frank solemnly, as he quickly followedhis chums from Fenn's house.