The Adventurous Seven

The Adventurous Seven, by Bessie Marchant,

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Title: The Adventurous Seven Their Hazardous Undertaking
Author: Bessie Marchant

Release Date: September 23, 2007 [eBook #22744]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN
* * * * * *
By BESSIE MARCHANT
THE YOUNGEST SISTER: A Tale of Manitoba. 5s.
A PRINCESS OF SERVIA: A Story of To-day. 3s. 6d.
A GIRL OF DISTINCTION: A Tale of the Karroo. 5s.
A COUNTESS FROM CANADA: A Story of Life in the Backwoods. 5s.
DAUGHTERS OF THE DOMINION: A Story of the Canadian Frontier. 5s. "Related with immense spirit."--Globe.
SISTERS OF SILVER CREEK: A Story of Western Canada. 5s. "A very attractive and brightly written story."--Daily Chronicle.
THE FERRY HOUSE GIRLS: An Australian Story. 3s. 6d. "The story is told with great realistic force and style."--British Weekly.
GRETA'S DOMAIN: A Tale of Chilo��. 3s. 6d. "Few girls but will enjoy this exciting tale."--Academy.
THREE GIRLS IN MEXICO: A Story of Life in the Interior. 3s. 6d. "The style is simple and direct, and the whole book pleasing."--Saturday Review.
A COURAGEOUS GIRL: A Story of Uruguay. 3s. 6d. "It is a most fascinating story."--Schoolmistress.
NO ORDINARY GIRL: A Story of Central America. 3s. 6d. "The conception of the story is fresh, and deserves praise."--Athen?um.
A GIRL OF THE FORTUNATE ISLES: A Story of New Zealand. 3s. 6d.
A DAUGHTER OF THE RANGES: A Story of Western Canada. 3s. 6d.
A HEROINE OF THE SEA: A Story of Vancouver Island. 3s. 6d.
THREE GIRLS ON A RANCH: A Story of New Mexico. 2s. 6d.
THE GIRL CAPTIVES: A Story of the Indian Frontier. 2s. 6d.
THE BONDED THREE: A Story of Northern India. 2s. 6d.
HOPE'S TRYST. 2s.
LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: "THE DOCTOR'S CANE CAME CUTTING THROUGH THE AIR"]
THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN
Their Hazardous Undertaking
by
BESSIE MARCHANT
Author of "The Heroine of the Ranch" "The Loyalty of Hester Hope" "A Princess of Servia" "The Youngest Sister" &c.
Illustrated by W. R. S. Stott

Blackie and Son Limited London Glasgow and Bombay

Contents
Chap. Page I. The Great Idea 9 II. The Deputation 18 III. The Emigrants 34 IV. Rumple's Discovery 49 V. The End of the Voyage 61 VI. A Real Friend 73 VII. The One-armed Man 88 VIII. The Start 102 IX. In a Strange Place 114 X. A Fright at Night 124 XI. Anxious Hours 136 XII. Repairing the Damage 148 XIII. In Sight of Hammerville 159 XIV. The Arrival 173 XV. A Great Shock 186 XVI. The Next Thing To Be Done 196 XVII. In the Thick of It 213 XVIII. "Father, We Want You!" 225 XIX. The News 243 XX. How It All Ended 252

THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN
CHAPTER I
The Great Idea
The village schoolroom was packed as full as it would hold, and the air was so thick that, as Sylvia said, it could almost be scooped up with a spoon. The lecturer was stout and perspiring freely, but he meant to do his duty at all costs, and he rose to the occasion with tremendous vigour, declaiming in really fine style:
"It is a poor man's paradise, and there is no place on the face of this earth to rival it. You reach it by a pleasure cruise across summer seas, to find it has the finest scenery your eyes have ever beheld and a climate that is not to be beaten."
"Hear, hear!" shouted Rumple, clapping vigorously. He had led the applause from the very beginning of the lecture, only it was a little awkward for the lecturer that he mostly broke into the middle of a sentence instead of waiting for a pause, as a more judicious person might have done.
"Encore!" yelled Billykins, forgetting for the moment that it was not a concert, and, as the lecture had already lasted for upwards of an hour and a half, it might have proved a little tedious to some of the audience if it had been repeated from the very beginning.
The rows of people sitting in the seats behind broke into a wild uproar of stamping, thumping, and clapping which lasted for nearly five minutes, and, of course, raised more dust to thicken the atmosphere.
The pause gave the lecturer time to recover his breath and wipe some of the perspiration from his face; it also made him rather cross, for he had somehow got the idea that