CHAPTER II--A GLIMPSE AT THE PAST
"Disgrace you and ruin you!" cried Roger, in amazement.
"That is what it looks like," answered Dave. "I can account for theiractions in no other way."
"Tell us just what is going on," urged Phil. "You know you can trust usto keep it a secret."
"I will tell you everything," answered Dave. "But first let us skate upa little faster, so that the others won't catch a word of what is said."And with that he struck out more rapidly than ever, and his two chumsdid likewise.
To those who have read the former volumes of this series, Dave Porterwill need no introduction. For the benefit of others let me state thatmy hero had had a varied career, starting when he was but a child of afew years. At that time he had been found wandering along the railroadtracks near the town of Crumville. As nobody claimed him, he was placedin a local poorhouse and later bound out to a broken-down collegeprofessor, Caspar Potts, who had taken up farming for his health.
Professor Potts was in the grasp of a miserly money-lender of Crumvillenamed Aaron Poole, who had a son Nat, who could not get along at allwith Dave. Mr. Poole was about to foreclose a mortgage on theprofessor's place and sell him out when something occurred that was themeans of changing the whole course of the professor's own life and thatof the youth who lived with him.
On the outskirts of Crumville lived Mr. Oliver Wadsworth, a wealthymanufacturer, with his wife and daughter Jessie. One day the gasolinetank of an automobile took fire and little Jessie was in danger of beingburned to death. Dave rushed to her assistance and beat out the flames,and thus saved her. For this Mr. Wadsworth was very grateful. He madesome inquiries concerning Caspar Potts and Dave, and learning thatProfessor Potts had been one of his former college instructors, he madethe old gentleman come and live with him.
"Dave shall go to boarding school and get a good education," said Mr.Wadsworth. And how Dave went has been told in detail in the first volumeof this series, entitled "Dave Porter at Oak Hall." With Dave went BenBasswood, his one boy friend in Crumville.
At Oak Hall, a fine seat of learning, located on the Leming River, inone of our eastern states, Dave made a number of warm friends, includingPhil Lawrence, the son of a rich shipowner; Roger Morr, whose father wasa United States senator; Maurice Hamilton, usually called Shadow, whowas noted for his sleep-walking and the stories he loved to tell; SamDay, known throughout the school as Lazy, why nobody could tell, sinceSam at times was unusually active, and a score of others, some of whomhave already been introduced. He also made, in those days, one enemy,Gus Plum. But Gus had since reformed, and was now as good a friend asany of the rest.
What troubled Dave most of all in those days was the question of hisidentity. How he started to find out who he was has been related in mysecond volume, called "Dave Porter in the South Seas." There he did notmeet his father, as he had hoped, but he did meet his uncle, DunstonPorter, and learned much concerning his father, David Breslow Porter,and also his sister Laura, then traveling in Europe.
When Dave came back to Oak Hall, as related in "Dave Porter's Return toSchool," he met many of his friends and succeeded in making himself morepopular than ever. But some lads were jealous of our hero's success, andtwo of them, Nick Jasniff and Link Merwell, did what they could to getDave into trouble, being aided in part by Nat Poole, the son of themiserly money-lender, who had followed Dave to the school. The plotsagainst Dave were exposed, and in sheer fright Nick Jasniff ran away andwent to Europe.
Dave had been expecting right along to meet his father and his sister,and when they did not return to this country, and did not send word, hegrew anxious, and started out to find them, as related in detail in"Dave Porter in the Far North." It was in Norway that Dave first saw hisparent, a meeting as strange as it was affecting.
After his trip to the Land of the Midnight Sun, our hero returned onceagain to school, as related in "Dave Porter and His Classmates." Jasniffhad not returned, but Link Merwell was still at hand, and likewise thelordly Nat Poole, and they did what they could to make our hero's lifemiserable. In the end Merwell did something that was particularlydespicable and this caused Dave to take the law into his own hands andhe gave the bully the thrashing that he well deserved. Merwell wanted toretaliate in some manner, but in the midst of his plotting, word of hiswrongdoings reached the head of the school and he was ordered to pack upand leave, which he did in great rage.
While Dave was off hunting for his father and his sister, Laura Porterhad been visiting her friend, Belle Endicott, at Mr. Endicott's ranch inthe far west. Belle was anxious to meet her girl chum's newly-foundbrother, and this led to a visit to the ranch, as told of in "DavePorter at Star Ranch." Here Dave again met Link Merwell, and proved thatthe latter had been aiding some horse-thieves in their wicked work. Mr.Merwell had to settle a heavy bill because of his son's actions, andthen, for a short space of time, Link disappeared.
With the coming of fall, Dave and his chums returned to Oak Hall, asrelated in the volume preceding this, called "Dave Porter and HisRivals." As his chief enemies had left the school, he did not anticipatemuch trouble, yet trouble came in a manner somewhat out of the ordinary.Nat Poole joined a group of students who had come to Oak Hall fromanother school, and the crowd did what it could to get Dave and hisfriends off the football eleven. Then, when Dave had once more foughthis way to the front, came word that Nick Jasniff and Link Merwell wereagain "after his scalp," as Roger expressed it. Jasniff and Merwell werethen attending a rival institution of learning known as RockvilleMilitary Academy.
"Be careful, or they'll play you some dirty trick, Dave," said Phil,warningly.
"I've got my eyes open," replied Dave.
In a rather unusual manner Dave had become acquainted with a man namedHooker Montgomery, a fake doctor, who traveled around the countryselling medicines that he made himself. This man asked Dave to call onhim, and when the youth did so he was suddenly seized from behind, madea prisoner, and carried off in a sleigh and then in an automobile. Atfirst he did not know what to make of it, but at last learned that hewas being held, for some purpose, by Merwell, Jasniff, Montgomery, andthe fourth man, a mere tool. He watched his chance, and, at length,escaped, much to his enemies' chagrin.
"Have them all arrested," was the advice of Dave's chums, but this wasnot easy, since all of the evil-doers had disappeared. Then, one day,while on a sleigh-ride to a distant town, the boys fell in with HookerMontgomery. The fake doctor was practically "down and out," as hehimself expressed it, and said he would do anything for Dave, providedhe was not prosecuted.
"It was all a plot gotten up by those two, Jasniff and Merwell," saidHooker Montgomery. "They promised me some money if I would help them,but I never got a cent." Then he said that Jasniff and Merwell were intown.
"We'll locate them," said Dave, but this was not accomplished untillater, when the pair of rascals were encountered at a railroad office.Our hero and his chums tried to stop Jasniff and Merwell, but therascals rushed through a crowd and got aboard a train; and that was thelast seen of them for the time being. The boys might have gone after thepair, but they had an important hockey game to play, and when theyadministered a stinging defeat to Oak Hall's ancient rival, RockvilleAcademy, Dave, for the time being, forgot that he had an enemy in theworld.
"Two weeks more of the grind, boys!" cried Dave, on the followingMonday. "And then home for the holidays."
"Right you are," answered Phil. "But, oh, those two weeks!"
On Wednesday one of Dave's chums celebrated his birthday, and among thepresents received was a very fine double-barreled shotgun. This ladimmediately wanted to go hunting; and the result was that the boysapplied to Doctor Clay for permission to go to Squirrel Island, up theriver, on a hunting expedition, the following Saturday. There was justsufficient snow on the ground to make rabbit and squirrel tracking good,and the boys were told that they might remain away all day. Six of themhad guns and two had revolvers, and they carried in addition agood-sized hamper of provi
sions for lunch.
"Now, boys, be careful and don't shoot yourselves or anybody else," saidDoctor Clay, with a smile, when Dave, Roger, and Phil left the schoolbuilding. "Don't fire at anything until you are certain of what it is.Every hunting season somebody is killed through the sheer carelessnessof somebody else."
"We'll be careful," answered Dave.
"Do you think you'll get any game?" And the doctor continued to smile.
"I hope to bring you at least a brace of rabbits or squirrels, Doctor."
"Well, I wish you luck. And don't stay too late," returned the head ofthe school, and then with a pleasant nod he dismissed them.
Dave, Roger, and Phil were the first at the place of meeting, but theywere quickly joined by all the others except Ben.
"I'll tell you what, Phil," said the senator's son, when he had a chanceto talk to Phil alone. "Something is wrong with Dave. He isn't himselfat all. Can't you see it?"
"Of course I can, Roger," was the reply of the shipowner's son. "If Iget a chance to speak to him about it, I am going to do so. But I've gotto be careful--I don't want to hurt his feelings."
"When you do speak, give me the sign, so I can hear what he has to say,too," went on Roger, and to this Phil agreed. Then came the start up theriver, and a little later Phil broached the subject, and Dave made thedismaying announcement that Jasniff and Merwell were doing their best tobring disgrace to himself and his family and ruin them.