CHAPTER I THE STRANGE CONTRACT "Judd, I'd rather a fellow would be anything else but a quitter!" Judd jumped to his feet, eyes blazing. "I'm not a quitter … but I'm not gonna go back to school!" Bob Billings, older brother, stared for a moment, unanswering. Judd had come on to the city to visit him during summer vacation. Since the father's death and Bob's attending Bartlett College, there had been little chance for the two to be... more...

INTERFERENCE "Can I see you a minute, Coach?" "Yes, Mack. Come in." Mack Carver, substitute back on Grinnell University's varsity squad, stepped across the threshold of Coach Edward's office. He carried his one hundred and eighty-seven pounds easily and with an athletic swagger. But he scowled as he entered, indicating that his call was about an unpleasant matter. "Well, boy—what's on your mind?" smiled the Coach, straightening up... more...

CHAPTER I. THE GATHERING.—CHRISTMAS EVE.—CONSEQUENCES.—HOW DO YOU LIKE IT? Not many miles from Philadelphia, in a beautifully wooded and hilly country, may be seen a large rambling mansion, whose substantial walls show that it was built at a time when more attention was paid to the durability of dwellings than at present. It is, indeed, quite an ancient house for this part of the world, having been erected by a certain John... more...

OLD BILLY. The summer at Marbury had begun. On the 20th of June, after seeing the Europe-bound party off for New York, the Ward children had arrived, bag and baggage, under Auntie Jean's escort. Early the first morning after their arrival, Cricket awoke Eunice with a punch. "Eunice, what do you think I am going to do to-day? and I'm going to do it every day till I succeed." "Don't know, I'm sure," said Eunice, sleepily. "Don't tumble round... more...

TWO LETTERS "Whew!" whistled Joe Matson, the astonishment on his bronzed face being indicated by his surprised exclamation of: "Well, what do you know about that, Sis?" "What is it, Joe?" asked his sister Clara, as she looked up from a letter she was reading to see her brother staring at a sheet of paper he had just withdrawn from an envelope, for the morning mail had been delivered a few minutes before. "What is it?" the girl went on, laying... more...

CHAPTER I IN DEADLY PERIL “Great Scott! Look at this!” Joe Matson, or “Baseball Joe,” as he was better known throughout the country, sprang to his feet and held out a New York paper with headlines which took up a third of the page. There were three other occupants of the room in the cozy home at Riverside, where Joe had come to rest up after his glorious victory in the last game of the World’s Series, and they... more...

A CHANCE "OUT" "You are so crazy as a loon! Boys? Boys to such a drip dake? Nein!" Von Hofe excitedly pounded the table until the attendants at the Explorers' Club stared. Then he leaned back determinedly and lighted his meerschaum. The lean, bronzed man who sat opposite pushed away his maps with a smile. "You misunderstand, von Hofe. I know both these boys personally and vouch for them. You have agreed that this is to be no milk-and-water... more...

TOM WANTS EXCITEMENT   “Have you anything special to do to-night, Ned?” asked Tom Swift, the well-known inventor, as he paused in front of his chum’s window, in the Shopton National Bank. “No, nothing in particular,” replied the bank clerk, as he stacked up some bundles of bills. “Why do you ask?” “I wanted you to come over to the house for a while.” “Going to have a surprise... more...

CHAPTER I A MYSTERIOUS VISITOR "Boys! B-o-y-s!" There was no response to the imperative summons. Professor Zepplin sat up in his cot, listening intently. Something had awakened him suddenly, but just what he was unable to decide. "Be quiet over there, young men," he admonished, adding in a lower tone, "I'm sure I heard some one moving about." The camp of the Pony Rider Boys lay wrapped in darkness, the camp-fire having long since died out.... more...

CHAPTER I WESTWARD, HO! "Ow, Wow, Wow, Wow! Y-E-O-W!" Tad Butler, who was industriously chopping wood at the rear of the woodshed of his home, finished the tough, knotted stick before looking up. The almost unearthly chorus of yells behind him had not even startled the boy or caused him to cease his efforts until he had completed what he had set out to do. This finished, Tad turned a smiling face to the three brown-faced young men who were... more...