board," said Dave.

"Captain Bradley will do his best; you can rely on that," answered Mr.
Lawrence, gravely. "But that steamer is farther off than some of you may
imagine. Distances over the water are rather deceptive."

Many of my young readers are doubtless already well acquainted with Dave
Porter. For the benefit of those who are now meeting the youth for the
first time, something of an introduction may not be out of place.

When but a child of tender age, our hero had been found one day walking
along the railroad tracks near the town of Crumville. He could tell
nothing about himself or where he belonged, and was taken to the local
poorhouse, where he remained for a number of years, finally being bound
out to a retired college professor, named Caspar Potts, who was then
running a small farm for his health. The professor did what he could for
the lad, giving him a fairly good education. But Professor Potts was no
farmer and soon got into financial difficulties with a mean
money-lender, named Aaron Poole, and would have lost his farm had it not
been for something out of the ordinary happening.

One of the main industries of Crumville was a large jewelry factory,
owned by Mr. Oliver Wadsworth. Mr. Wadsworth had a beautiful young
daughter, named Jessie, and one day through an explosion of an
automobile gasoline tank, the young miss was in danger of being burned
to death when Dave came to her rescue. This so pleased the Wadsworths
that they came not only to the aid of the boy, but also assisted Caspar
Potts, who was discovered to be one of Mr. Wadsworth's former
instructors at college.

"The lad shall go to boarding-school and get a good education," said
Oliver Wadsworth. And he accordingly sent Dave away from home, as
related in the first book of this series, entitled "Dave Porter at Oak
Hall." At that school our hero made many warm friends, including Phil
Lawrence, the son of a wealthy shipowner; Roger Morr, the offspring of
a United States senator; Shadow Hamilton, who was known far and wide for
his yarn-spinning qualities; and many others.

In those days the great cloud resting over Dave had been the question of
his identity, and when some of his enemies spoke of him as "that
poorhouse nobody," he resolved to find out who he really was. Getting a
strange clue, he set out on a remarkable ocean voyage, as related in
"Dave Porter in the South Seas," and was gratified to fall in with his
uncle, Dunston Porter, a gr