Excerpt
CHAPTER I. A STORM ON LAKE ERIE.
"Dick, do you notice how the wind is freshening?"
"Yes, Sam, I've been watching it for ten minutes. I think we are in for a storm."
"Exactly my idea, and I shouldn't be surprised if it proved a heavy one, too. How far are we from shore?"
"Not over three miles, to my reckoning."
"Perhaps we had better turn back," and Sam Rover, the youngest of the three Rover brothers, shook his head doubtfully.
"Oh, I reckon we'll be safe enough," responded Dick Rover, who was several years older. "I know more about sailing a yacht than I did when we followed up the Baxters on the Atlantic Ocean."
"The poor Baxters!" put in Tom Rover, who stood close by, also watching the wind, and the heavy clouds rolling up from the westward. "Who ever supposed that they would be buried alive in that landslide on the mountain in Colorado?"
"It was a terrible fate," came, with a shudder, from Dick Rover. "But, nevertheless, I am glad we are rid of those rascals. They caused father and us trouble enough, goodness knows."
"And they brought trouble enough to Dora Stanhope and her mother, too," observed Sam. "By the way, Dick, weren't Dora and her mother going to take a trip on these lakes this summer?"
"Of course Dora was," put in Tom, with a sly wink. "If she wasn't, what do you suppose would bring Dick here? He got a letter only last week—"
"Oh, stow it, Tom!" cried the elder Rover, his face growing red. "You wanted to take a trip on the Great Lakes as much as anybody—said you wouldn't like anything better, and told all the fellows at Putnam Hall so, too."
"Well, I don't know as I would like anything better," rattled on Tom."The Swallow seems to be a first-class craft, and I've no doubtbut what we'll see lots to interest us in this trip from Buffalo toLake Superior."
"When are the Stanhopes coming out?" asked Sam.
"I can't say, exactly," replied Dick. "I expect another letter from them when we reach Cleveland. In the last letter Dora said her mother was not feeling as well as before."
"A trip on the lakes ought to do her good."
"Wonder if old Josiah Crabtree has been bothering her with his attentions?" came from Tom. "Gosh! how anxious he was to marry her and get hold of the money she is holding in trust for Dora."
"Crabtree's term of imprisonment ran out only last week, Tom. He couldn't annoy her while he was in jail."
"He ought to have been given five years for the way he used them, and us. It's strange what an influence he had over Mrs. Stanhope."
"He's something of a hypnotist, and she seems to be just the right kind of a subject for him. His coming from prison is one reason why Dora wanted to get her mother away. She isn't going to let outsiders know of the trip, so old Crabtree won't know where they are."
"He'll find out, if he can," remarked Sam. "He always was a nosy old chap."
"If he tries any game on, I'll settle him in short order," came from Dick, with determination. "We've put up with enough from him in the past, and I don't intend to give him any leeway in the future."
"Leeway?" burst out Tom....