Outward Bound.
by Oliver Optic.
PREFACE.
Outward Bound is the first volume of "A Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands," and contains the voyage of the Academy Ship "Young America" across the Atlantic. The origin and progress of this aquatic inst.i.tution are incidentally developed, and the plan is respectfully submitted to the consideration of those who are interested in the education and moral training of the cla.s.s of young men who are the characters in the scenes described in this work. Besides a full description of the routine and discipline of the ship, as an educational and reformatory inst.i.tution, the volume contains a rather free _expose_ of the follies and frailties of youth, but their vices are revealed to suggest the remedy.
The story includes the experience of the officers and crew of the Young America, eighty-seven in number, though, of course, only a few of them can appear as prominent actors. As the ship has a little world, with all the elements of good and evil, within her wooden walls, the story of the individual will necessarily be interwoven with that of the ma.s.s; and the history of "The Chain League," in the present volume, of which Shuffles is the hero, will, it is hoped, convey an instructive lesson to young men who are disposed to rebel against reasonable discipline and authority. In the succeeding volumes of this series, the adventures, travels, and "sight-seeing," as well as the individual and collective experience of the juvenile crew of the Academy Ship, will be narrated.
They will visit the princ.i.p.al ports of Europe, as well as penetrate to the interior; but they will always be American boys, wherever they are.
The author hopes that the volumes of the series will not only be instructive as a description of foreign lands, and interesting as a record of juvenile exploits, but that they will convey correct views of moral and social duties, and stimulate the young reader to their faithful performance.
HARRISON SQUARE, Ma.s.s., November 2, 1866.
CHAPTER I.
THE IDEA SUGGESTED.
"There are no such peaches this side of New Jersey; and you can"t get them, for love or money, at the stores. All we have to do is, to fill our pockets, and keep our mouths closed--till the peaches are ripe enough to eat," said Robert Shuffles, the older and the larger of two boys, who had just climbed over the high fence that surrounded the fine garden of Mr. Lowington.
"What will Baird say if he finds it out?" replied Isaac Monroe, his companion.
"Baird," the gentleman thus irreverently alluded to, was the princ.i.p.al of the Brockway Academy, of which Shuffles and Monroe were pupils in the boarding department.
"What will he say when he finds out that the King of the Tonga Islands picks his teeth with a pitchfork?" added Shuffles, contemptuously. "I don"t intend that he shall find it out? and he won"t, unless you tell him."
"Of course, I shall not tell him."
"Come along, then? it is nearly dark, and no one will see us."
Shuffles led the way down the gravelled walk, till he came to a brook, on the bank of which stood the peach tree whose rich fruit had tempted the young gentlemen to invade the territory of Mr. Lowington with intent to plunder.
"There they are," said the chief of the young marauders, as he paused behind a clump of quince bushes, and pointed at the coveted fruit.
"There"s no discount on them, and they are worth coming after."
"Hark!" whispered Monroe. "I heard a noise."
"What was it?"
"I don"t know. I"m afraid we shall be caught."
"No danger; no one can see us from the house."
"But I"m sure there"s some one near. I heard something."
"Nonsense! It was only a dagger of the mind, such as Baird talks about,"
answered Shuffles, as he crawled towards the peach tree. "Come, Monroe, be quick, and fill your pockets."
This peach tree was a choice variety, in whose cultivation the owner had been making an elaborate experiment. Mr. Lowington had watched it and nursed it with the most a.s.siduous care, and now it bore about a dozen remarkably large and beautiful peaches. They were not quite ripe enough to be gathered, but Shuffles was confident that they would "mellow" in his trunk as well as on the tree. The experiment of the cultivator had been a success, and he had already prepared, with much care and labor, a paper explanatory of the process, which he intended to read before the Pomological Society, exhibiting the fruit as the evidence of the practicability of his method. To Mr. Lowington, therefore, the peaches had a value far beyond their intrinsic worth.
Shuffles gathered a couple of the peaches, and urged his companion to use all possible haste in stripping the tree of its rich burden.
"Hallo, there! What are you about?" shouted some one, who hastened to make his presence known to the plunderers.
Monroe began to retreat.
"Hold on!" interposed Shuffles. "It"s no one but Harry Martyn."
"He can tell of us just as well as anybody else."
"If he does, he will catch it."
"What are you doing?" demanded Harry Martyn,--who was a nephew of Mr.
Lowington, and lived with him,--as he crossed the rustic bridge that spanned the brook.
"Don"t you see what I"m doing?" replied Shuffles, with an impudent coolness which confounded Harry.
"Stop that, Shuffles!" cried Harry, indignantly. "My uncle wouldn"t take ten dollars apiece for those peaches."
"That"s more than he"ll get for them," added Shuffles, as he reached up and gathered another peach.
"Stop that, I tell you!" said Harry, angrily, as he stepped up, in a menacing att.i.tude, before the reckless marauder.
"Shut up, Harry! You know me, and when I get all these peaches, I"ve got something to say to you."
Shuffles was about to gather another of the peaches, when Harry, his indignation overcoming his prudence, grasped his arm, and pulled him away from the tree.
"What do you mean, Harry Martyn?" exclaimed Shuffles, apparently astonished at the temerity of the youth. "I can"t stop to lick you now; but I"ll do it within twenty-four hours."
"Well, don"t you touch those peaches, then."
"Yes, I will touch them. I intend to have the whole of them; and if you say a word to your uncle or any one else about it, I"ll pulverize that head of yours."
"No, you won"t! You shall not have those peaches, anyhow," replied the resolute little fellow, who was no match, physically, for Shuffles.
"If you open your mouth----"
"Hallo! Uncle Robert! Help, help! Thieves in the garden!" shouted Harry, who certainly had no defect of the lungs.
"Take that, you little monkey!" said Shuffles, angrily, as he struck the little fellow a heavy blow on the side of the head with his fist, which knocked him down. "I"ll fix you the next, time I see you."