In this volume it is unnecessary to go into the details of how Dave became acquainted with Mr. Oliver Wadsworth, a rich manufacturer of the neighborhood, and how the boy saved Jessie Wadsworth from being burned to death when the gasoline tank of an automobile exploded and enveloped the young miss in flames. For this service the Wadsworths were all more than grateful, and when Dave told his story Oliver Wadsworth made the discovery that Caspar Potts was one of the professors under whom he had studied in his college days.
"I must meet him and talk this over," said the rich manufacturer, and the upshot of the matter was that the professor and Dave were invited to dine at the Wadsworth mansion.
This dinner proved a turning point in the life of the poorhouse youth.
Mr. Wadsworth had lost a son by death, and Dave reminded him strongly of his boy. It was arranged that Caspar Potts should come to live at the Wadsworth mansion, and that Dave should be sent to some first-cla.s.s boarding school, the manufacturer agreeing to pay all bills, because of the boy"s bravery in behalf of Jessie.
Oak Hall was the school selected, a fine inst.i.tution, located not far from the village of Oakdale. The school was surrounded by oaks, which partly shaded a beautiful campus, and the grounds, which were on a slight hill, sloped down in the rear to the Leming River.
Dave"s heart beat high when he started off for Oak Hall, and he had a curious experience before he reached that inst.i.tution. The house of a Senator Morr was robbed, and the boy met the robber on the train, and, after a good deal of trouble, managed to recover a valise containing a large share of the stolen goods. This threw Dave into the company of Roger Morr, the senator"s son, and the two became warm friends. Roger was on his way to Oak Hall, and it was through him that Dave became acquainted with Phil Lawrence--reckoned by many the leader of the academy; Maurice Hamilton, generally called Shadow; Sam Day, Joseph Beggs,--who always went by the name of Buster, because he was so fat,--and a number of others. In Crumville Dave had had one boy friend, Ben Ba.s.swood, and Ben also came to Oak Hall, and so did Nat Poole, as flippant and loud-mouthed as ever.
But Dave soon found out that Nat Poole was not half so hard to get along with as was Gus Plum, the big bully of the Hall. There was a difference of opinion almost from the start, and Plum did all he could to annoy Dave and his friends. Plum wanted to be a leader in baseball and in athletics generally, and when he found himself outcla.s.sed, he was savagely bitter.
"I"ll get square!" he told his toady, Chip Macklin, more than once; but his plans to injure Dave and his chums fell through, and, in the end, Macklin became disgusted with the bully and left him. Most of the boys wanted nothing to do with the boy who had been the bully"s toady, but Dave put in a good word for him, and, in the end, Macklin was voted a pretty fair fellow, after all.
With the toady gone, Gus Plum and Nat Poole became very thick, and Poole lost no opportunity of telling how Dave had been raised at the poorhouse. Gus Plum took the matter up, and for a while poor Dave was made miserable by those who turned their backs on him. But Doctor Clay, who presided over the academy, sided with Dave, and so did all of the better cla.s.s of students, and soon the affair blew over, at least for the time being. But now the bully was agitating it again, as we have just seen.
During the winter term at Oak Hall one thing of importance had occurred, of which some particulars must be given, for it has much to do with our present tale. Some of the boys, including Dave, had skated up the river to what was locally called the old castle--a deserted stone dwelling standing in a wilderness of trees. They had arrived at this structure just in time to view a quarrel between two men--one a sleek-looking fellow and the other an elderly man, dressed in the garb of a sailor.
The sleek-looking individual was the man who had robbed Senator Morr"s house, and just as he knocked the old sailor senseless to the ground, the boys rushed in and made him a prisoner.
When the old sailor came to his senses, he stared at Dave as if the boy were a ghost. He said his name was Billy Dill and that he had sailed the South Seas and many other portions of the briny deep. He insisted that he knew Dave well, and wanted to know why the youth had shaved off his mustache. The boys imagined that the tar was out of his head, and he was removed to a hospital. Later on, as Dave was so interested in the man, Mr. Wadsworth had him taken to a private sanitarium. Here he lingered for awhile between life and death, but at last grew better physically, although his mind was sadly unbalanced, and he could recall the past only in a hazy way.
Yet he insisted upon it, over and over again, that he had met Dave before, or, if not the youth, then somebody who looked exactly like him, although older. Pressed to tell his story, he said he had met this man on Cavasa Island, in the South Seas. He also mentioned a crazy nurse and a lost child, but could give no details, going off immediately into a wild flight about the roaring of the sea in his ears and the dancing of the lighthouse beacon in his eyes.
"He must know something of my past," Dave said, when he came away from visiting the old tar. "Oh, if only his mind were perfectly clear!"
"We must wait," answered Oliver Wadsworth, who was along. "I think his mind will clear after awhile. It is certainly clearer now than it was some months ago."
"The man he knows may be my father, or some close relative."
"That may be true, Dave. But don"t raise any false hopes. I should not like to see you disappointed for the world."
Dave knew that Phil Lawrence"s father was a shipping merchant of considerable standing, owning an interest in a great number of vessels.
He went to Phil and learned that the boy was going to take a trip to the South Seas that very summer, and was going to stop at Cavasa Island.
"I am going on business for my father," explained Phil. "It is something special, of which he wishes the supercargo to know nothing." And then he told Dave all he knew of Cavasa Island and its two towns and their inhabitants. After that, Dave sent a letter to both of the towns, asking if there were any persons there by the name of Porter, or if any English-speaking person had lost a child years ago, but so far no answer had been received.
Of course, Phil wanted to know why Dave was so anxious to learn about his proposed trip, and, in the end, the poorhouse boy told his story, to which his chum listened with interest.
"Phil, what would you say if I wanted to go with you on that trip to Cavasa Island?" Dave had said, after his story was finished.
"Do you really mean it, Dave?" had been the return question, and Phil"s face had shown his astonishment.
"I do--if matters turn out as I think they may."
"That is, if that old sailor gets around so that he can tell a pretty straight story?"
"Yes."
"Well, I"d like your company, first-rate. But--" Phil drew a deep breath--"I"d hate to see you go on a wild-goose chase. Think of traveling thousands of miles and then being disappointed at the end of the trip. That old sailor may simply be crazy."
"I don"t think so. Why should he mention a lost child--a boy?"
"Well, that is the only thing that makes it look as if there was something in the story. But couldn"t I do the looking for you?"
"No, I"d prefer to do that myself. Besides, you must remember, that sailor did not come directly from Cavasa Island to this country. So, whoever was on the island--I mean the person I may be interested in--may have gone elsewhere--in which case I should want to follow him."
"I see. Well, Dave, do what you think is best, and may good luck go with you!" Phil had said; and there the conversation on the subject had come to a close.
It was not until a week later that Dave had called on Billy Dill again--to find the old tar sitting on a porch of the sanitarium, smoking his pipe contentedly.
"On deck again, my hearty!" had been the greeting. "Give us your flipper," and a warm handshake had followed.
But the visit had been productive of little good. Billy Dill could remember nothing clearly, excepting that he knew a man who looked very much like Dave, and that that man had been his friend while he was stranded on Cavasa Island and looking for a chance to ship. He said he could recall a bark named the _Mary Sacord_ and a crazy nurse called Polly, but that was all.
"I had a picter o" that man once--the feller that looks like you," he said. "But I dunno what"s become o" it," and then he had scratched his head and gone off into a rambling mumble that meant nothing at all. And Dave had gone back to Oak Hall more mystified than ever.
CHAPTER III
THREE CHUMS ON THE RIVER
Down at the boathouse the three boys procured a round-bottomed rowboat, and were soon on the river. Roger took one pair of oars and motioned to Phil to let Dave take the other.
"Let him do the most of the rowing--it will help him to forget his troubles," he whispered, and Phil understood.
It was a beautiful afternoon in the early summer, with just the faintest breeze stirring the trees which lined the river bank on either side. The boys pulled a good stroke, and Roger purposely kept Dave at it, until both were thoroughly warmed up.
"You"re improving in your stroke," remarked Dave, as they came to a bend in the watercourse and rested on their oars for a minute. "Perhaps you are training for the boat races."
"Well, I shouldn"t mind going into a race," returned the senator"s son.
"It would be lots of sport, even if I didn"t win."
"I am going into some of the field contests this summer," said Phil.
"That is, if they come off before I go away."
"When do you expect to start?"
"I don"t know yet. It depends upon when one of my father"s vessels gets back to San Francisco and ships her cargo."
"I"ve heard a rumor that the Hall is to be shut up early this summer,"
said Dave. "The doctor is thinking of building an addition before the fall term begins, and he wants to give the masons and carpenters as much of a show as possible."
"Do you remember that day we were on the river, and Gus Plum ran into us with that gasoline launch?" observed Phil. "My, what a mess we were in!"
"I"ve had trouble with him ever since I clapped eyes on him," answered Dave.