Read Ebook: Lost on the Orinoco; or American boys in Venezuela by Stratemeyer Edward Shute A B Illustrator

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Ebook has 1796 lines and 61530 words, and 36 pages

PAGE

"Stay where you are!" 47

A big mass of dirt came down 80

"I've got it," he muttered 142

"You have some baggage, that bag. I shall hold it." 173

"I heard something, what was it?" 203

"Take it off, do!" 249

"Help! Save me!" screamed the unfortunate youth 291

LOST ON THE ORINOCO

THE BOYS TALK IT OVER

"Hurrah, Mark, it's settled at last."

"What is settled, Frank?"

"We are to go to Venezuela and other places in South America. My father just got the word from Professor Strong. I brought the letter along for you to read."

"That's certainly immense news," remarked Mark Robertson, as he took the letter which Frank Newton held out to him. "Does he say how soon he will be able to start?"

"Just as soon as he can settle up affairs at Lakeview Academy. I suppose he's got quite something to do there yet. But we can hurry him along, can't we?"

"I don't think you'll hurry the professor much," answered Mark, as he began to read the communication which had been passed to him. "He's one of the kind that is slow but sure--not but that he can move quick enough, when you least expect it."

"As for instance on the night we tried to hide all the schoolbooks in the old boathouse," responded Frank, with a twinkle in his eye. "He caught us neatly, didn't he?"

"That's what. Hullo! So Beans and Darry are going, too. I like that first rate. Beans is all right, even if he is from Boston, and Darry will furnish fun enough for a minstrel show."

"To be sure. I wouldn't want to go if they weren't along, and you. But do you see what the professor says on the last page? He wants to take Jake the Glum along too."

At this the face of Mark Robinson fell somewhat. "I wish he had left Glummy out," he said. "He knows the fellow is sour to the last degree and a bully in the bargain."

"I guess the professor wants to reform him, Mark."

"He'll have up-hill work doing it. Glummy has been at the academy two years and I know him pretty thoroughly."

"Well, he'll be the richest boy in the crowd. Perhaps that had something to do with taking him along."

"No, the professor doesn't think so much of money as that. Each person in the crowd will have to pay his share of the expenses and his share of the professor's salary, and that's all, outside of the incidentals."

"I wonder if the incidentals won't be rather high."

"I fancy we can make them as high as we please--buying souvenirs and things like that. You can be sure Glummy will try his best to cut a wide swath if he gets the chance."

"Perhaps the professor will hold him in. But it's great news, isn't it?" And in his enthusiasm Frank began to dance an impromptu jig on the library floor.

Frank Newton was a New York city youth, sixteen years of age, tall, well-built and rather good looking. He was the only son of a Wall Street banker, and if his parent was not a millionaire he was exceedingly well to do. The lad resided in the fashionable part of Madison Avenue when at home, which was not often, for his family were fond of going abroad, and either took the boy with them or sent him to boarding school.

Directly opposite the home of the Newtons lived the Robertson family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, Mark, and several smaller children. Mr. Robertson was a dry goods importer who owned an interest in several mills in England and Scotland, and he made trips across the Atlantic semi-yearly.

Although Mark Robertson was a year older than Frank Newton, the two lads were warm friends and had gone to school together for years. Their earlier education had been had in the city, but when Frank was eleven and Mark twelve both had been packed off to Lakeview Academy, a small but well conducted school nestling among the hills of New Hampshire.

Five years of life at the academy had made the place seem like a second home to the boys. The master, Professor Amos Strong, was a thorough gentleman and scholar, and under his guidance the boys progressed rapidly in all their studies. The professor had in his day been both a traveler and hunter, and the stories he was wont to relate during off hours were fascinating to the last degree.

As might be expected, the boys, while at school, made many friends and also an enemy or two, although as regards the latter, the enmity was never very deep, for Professor Strong would not tolerate anything underhanded or sneakish.

Next to Mark, Frank's dearest chum at the academy was Dartworth Crane, a slightly built boy of fifteen, who was as full of fun as a boy can well be. Dartworth, or "Darry" as he was always called for short, was the son of a rich Chicago cattle dealer, and the boy's earlier days had been spent on a ranch in Montana. He loved to race on horseback and hunt and fish, and the master sometimes had all he could do to hold the sunny but impetuous lad within proper bounds.

Among the lads to join those at the academy two years before had been Jacob Hockley, a thin, lank youth of Mark's age, with a white freckled face and hair strongly inclined to be red. Hockley was the only son and heir of a millionaire lumber dealer of Pennsylvania. His manner was peculiar, at times exceedingly "bossy" as the others declared, and then again morose and sour, the latter mood having won for him the nickname of "Glummy" or "Jake the Glum." Hockley was given to spending his money, of which he had more than was good for him, freely, but even this had failed to make him any substantial friends.

The enmity between Hockley on one side, and Frank and Mark on the other, had arisen over the captaincy of the academy baseball team the summer previous. Jake wished to be the captain of the team, and had done his best to persuade or buy the boys over to vote for him. But Frank had advocated Mark for the captaincy, and Mark had won, much to the lank youth's discomfiture.

"You'll never win a game with Mark Robertson as captain and with Frank Newton on first-base," had been Jake's sour comment, but he was sadly mistaken. That summer the team played nine games with the teams from rival schools, and won seven of the contests. The winning made Jake Hockley more down on Mark and Frank than ever, but as the others were popular he had often to conceal his real feelings.

On a windy night in June the cry of "fire!" had aroused every inmate of Lakeview Academy from his bed, and had caused all to leave the rambling building in a hurry. The conflagration had started in the laundry, and from this room quickly communicated to the kitchen, dining hall, and then the remainder of the stone and wood structure. In such a high wind, the fire department from the village, two miles away, could do little or nothing, and the efforts of the students, headed by the several teachers, were likewise of no avail. Inside of three hours everything was swept away and only a cellar full of blackened debris marked the spot where the picturesque academy had once stood.

Under such circumstances many a man would have been too stunned to act immediately, but ere the stones of the building were cold, Professor Strong was laying his plans with the insurance companies for the erection of a new and better structure. The students were cared for at some neighboring houses and then refitted with clothing and sent home.

During the fall there had been much talk of a personally conducted tour to South America during the coming year, the tour to be under the guidance of Professor Strong, who had been South a number of times before. Letters had been sent to the parents of various students, but nothing definite had been done up to the time the fire occurred.

Mark and Frank had planned for the trip South, and could not bear to think of giving it up, and as soon as Professor Strong was in a position to give them his attention, Frank had gotten his father to write concerning it. Several letters passed, and at last Professor Strong decided to leave the building and the management of the new academy to his brother, who had just left the faculty of Harvard, and go with the boys.

While the trip was being talked of at the academy, previous to the fire, Jake Hockley had announced his determination to go, but since the boys had separated, nothing more had been heard from the lank youth, and Mark and Frank were hoping he had given the plan up. The announcement therefore, that he would make one of the party, put a damper on their enthusiasm.

"He'll get us into some kind of trouble before we get back, you see if he doesn't," was Frank's comment.

"I'll make him keep his distance," was Mark's reply. "If he attempts to go too far I'll show him that I won't stand any nonsense."

The party of six were to leave for Venezuela by way of New York city, and a few days after the conversation just recorded Sam Winthrop came down on the train from Boston, to remain with Mark until the arrival of the professor.

"Beans, by all that's delightful!" cried Mark, as he wrung his friend's hand. "So glad you came a few days ahead."

"I wanted a chance to look around New York," answered Sam Winthrop. "I've never had a chance before, you know."

"You shall look around, all you please, and Frank and I will go with you."

"Is Darry here yet?"

"No, but Frank expects him to-morrow. Then we can all go around until Professor Strong arrives. But say, what do you think about Glummy going?" and Mark looked anxious.

"Can't say that I am overjoyed, Mark."

"I wish it was anybody but Hockley--and Frank wishes the same."

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