wonderful what a hold Dave had
on his friends, considering his natural modesty. Physically he was well
built and his muscles were those of a youth used to hard work and a life
in the open air. Yet, though he loved to run, row, swim, and play games,
Dave did not neglect his studies, and only a short time before this
story opens had won the Oak Hall medal of honor, of which he was justly
proud.

In times gone by Dave's enemies had called him "a poorhouse
nobody"--something which had caused him a great deal of pain. When a
child, he had been picked up alongside of the railroad tracks by
strangers and taken to the Crumville poorhouse. At this institution he
remained until he was nine years old, when a broken-down college
professor named Caspar Potts, who had turned farmer, took him out and
gave him a home. At that time Caspar Potts was in the grasp of a
hard-hearted money lender, Aaron Poole, the father of Nat Poole, already
mentioned, and the outlook soon became very dark for both man and boy.

Then came an unexpected turn of affairs, and from that moment Dave's
future seemed assured. As related in my first volume, "Dave Porter at
Oak Hall," the boy called upon Mr. Oliver Wadsworth, a rich manufacturer
of that neighborhood. The gentleman had a daughter Jessie, a bright-eyed
miss some years younger than Dave. She was waiting to take an
automobile ride when the gasoline tank of the machine caught fire. It
was plucky Dave who rushed in and, at the peril of his own life, saved
the girl from being fatally burned.

The Wadsworths were more than grateful, and when Mr. Wadsworth
discovered that Caspar Potts was one of his former college teachers, he
insisted that both the old man and Dave come to live at his mansion. He
took a great interest in Dave, more especially as he had had a son about
Dave's age who had died.

"The lad must go to some boarding school," said Oliver Wadsworth, and at
his own expense he sent Dave to Oak Hall. With Dave went Ben Basswood, a
friend of several years' standing.

Dave made friends with great rapidity. First came Roger Morr, the son of
a United States senator, then Phil Lawrence, whose father was a wealthy
ship-owner, Sam Day, who was usually called "Lazy," because he was so
big and fat, "Buster" Beggs, "Shadow" Hamilton, and a number of others,
whom we shall meet as our story proceeds.

For a while all went well with Dave, but then came trouble with Nat
Poole, who had come to the Hall, and