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Title: The Adventure Club Afloat

Author: Ralph Henry Barbour

Release Date: October 30, 2004 [eBook #13897]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURE CLUB AFLOAT***

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THE ADVENTURE CLUB AFLOAT

by

RALPH HENRY BARBOUR

Author of _Left End Edwards_, _Left Tackle Thayer_, etc.

With Illustrations by E. C. Caswell

1917

[Illustration: The two cruisers were chug-chugging out of the harbour.]

TO

H.P. HOLT,

WHOSE THUNDER I HAVE STOLEN

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE TWO CRUISERS WERE CHUG-CHUGGING OUT OF THE HARBOUR

"IT IS!" HE CRIED. "WE'VE GOT HER, FELLOWS!"

"THOSE WAVES WILL BATTER HER TO PIECES"

"THEY OFFER YOU--" MR. HYATT LEANED FORWARD IN THE PROTESTING CHAIR

CHAPTER I

HOW IT STARTED

The Adventure Club had its inception, one evening toward the last of
June, in Number 17 Sumner Hall, which is the oldest, most vine-hidden
and most hallowed of the seven dormitories of Dexter Academy. It was a
particularly warm evening, the two windows were wide open and the
green-shaded light on the study table in the centre of the room had been
turned low--Sumner prided itself on being conservative to the extent of
gas instead of electricity and tin bathtubs instead of porcelain--and in
the dim radiance the three occupants of the room were scarcely more than
darker blurs.

Since final examinations had ended that afternoon and Graduation Day was
only some twenty-eight hours away, none of the three was doing anything
more onerous than yawning, and the yawn which came from Perry Bush,
didn't sound as though it cost much of an effort. It was, rather, a
comfortable, sleepy yawn, one that expressed contentment and relief, a
sort of "Glad-that's-over-and-I'm-still-alive" yawn.

There was a window-seat under each casement in Number 17, and each was
occupied by a recumbent figure. Perry was on the right-hand seat, hi