Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid

Madge Morton, Captain of the
Merry Maid

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Maid
by Amy D. V. Chalmers This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere
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Title: Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid
Author: Amy D. V. Chalmers
Release Date: July 9, 2005 [EBook #16253]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MADGE
MORTON ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: Their houseboat vacation had begun.]

Madge Morton,
Captain of the Merry Maid

By
AMY D. V. CHALMERS

Author of Madge Morton's Secret, Madge Morton's Trust, Madge
Morton's Victory.

PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY HOWARD E. ALTEMUS

PRINTED IN THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS
CHAPTER.
I. MADGE MORTON'S PLAN II. CHOOSING A CHAPERON III.
THE SEARCH FOR A HOUSEBOAT IV. THE FAIRY'S WAND V.
ALL ABOARD VI. PLEASURE BAY VII. THE UNKNOWN
JAILER VIII. AN ANXIOUS NIGHT IX. THE GIRL ON THE
ISLAND X. AN EXCITING RACE XI. AT THE MERCY OF THE
WAVES XII. A BRAVE FIGHT XIII. LIFE OR DEATH? XIV.
MADGE COMES INTO HER OWN AGAIN XV. A CALL FOR
HELP XVI. THE ATTEMPTED RESCUE XVII. THE CAPTURE
XVIII. ON A STRANGE SHORE XIX. FINDING A WAY TO HELP

MOLLIE XX. MADGE'S OPPORTUNITY XXI. MOLLIE'S BRAVE
FIGHT XXII. THE EVIL GENIUS XXIII. "MOTHER" XXIV.
FAREWELL TO THE "MERRY MAID"

List of Illustrations
Their houseboat vacation had begun . . . Frontispiece.
Madge and Tom went gayly down to the boat.
The girls ran down to the water's edge.
"I wish you to come and live with me, Madge."

Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid

CHAPTER I
MADGE MORTON'S PLAN
"I never can bear it!" cried Madge Morton excitedly, throwing herself
down on her bed in one of the dormitories of Miss Tolliver's Select
School for Girls. "It is not half so bad for Eleanor. She, at least, is
going to spend her holiday with people she likes. But for Uncle
William and Aunt Sue to leave for California just as school closes, and
to send me off to a horrid old maid cousin for half my vacation, is just
too awful! If I weren't nearly seventeen years old, I'd cry my eyes out."
Madge was alone in her bedroom, which she shared with her cousin,
Eleanor Butler. The two girls lived on an old estate in Virginia, but for
the two preceding terms they had been attending a college preparatory
school at Harborpoint, not far from the city of Baltimore.
Madge had never known her own parents. She had been reared by her

Uncle William and Aunt Sue Butler and she dearly loved her old
southern home. But just when she and Eleanor were planning a
thousand pleasures for their three months' vacation a letter had arrived
from Mr. and Mrs. Butler announcing that they were leaving their
estate for six weeks, as they were compelled to go west on important
business. Eleanor was to be sent to visit a family of cousins near
Charlottesville, Virginia, and Madge was to stay with a rich old maiden
cousin of her father. Cousin Louisa did not like Madge. She felt a sense
of duty toward her, and a sense of duty seldom inspires any real
affection in return. So Madge looked back on the visits she had made to
this cousin with a feeling of horror. Inspired by her Aunt Sue, Madge
had always tried to be on her best behavior while she was the guest of
Cousin Louisa. But since propriety was not Madge Morton's strong
point she had succeeded only in being perfectly miserable and in
offending her wealthy cousin by her unconventional ways.
Madge had a letter from this cousin in her hand while she gave herself
up to the luxury of despair. She had not yet read the letter, but she
knew exactly what it would say. It would contain a formal invitation
from Cousin Louisa, asking Madge to pay her the necessary visit. It
would suggest at the same time that Madge mend her ways; and it
would doubtless recall the unfortunate occasion when Mistress Madge
had set fire to the bedclothes by her wicked habit of reading in bed.
It was the study hour at Miss Tolliver's school, and all of the girls
except Madge were hard at work. Eleanor had slipped across the hall to
the room of their two chums to consult them about a problem in algebra.
Madge at that moment was far too miserable to be approached in