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Dave, on the following Monday morning. "Just two weeks more of the grind, boys!"

      "They'll soon slip by," said Phil.

      "Dave, do you imagine that Merwell and Jasniff will return to Rockville?" continued the shipowner's son.

      "I don't know--perhaps, after a while--when they think I will drop the charge against them."

      "Perhaps they are too scared to come back," said Phil.

      "They are bad eggs," murmured Dave. But how bad, he was still to learn. He was to meet Merwell and Jasniff again, and what that pair did to injure him and those he so dearly loved will be told in another volume of this series, to be entitled: "Dave Porter on Cave Island; or, A Schoolboy's Mysterious Mission." In that book we shall meet Dave and many others of our characters again, and learn the particulars of a happening at Crumville that was as dismaying as it was perplexing.

      "Well, let us forget Merwell and Jasniff," said Roger. "Say, that hockey victory has made me feel two years younger."

      "That and a letter he got from Laura," murmured Phil.

      "Humph, as if I didn't see the letter you got from Belle Endicott," retorted the senator's son.

      "Dave got a letter, too--from Jessie," went on Phil. "Perhaps----"

      "Hi, you fellows, get through grinding, and come for a skate!" shouted Ben, bursting into the dormitory. "The ice was never better."

      "That's the talk!" cried Dave, throwing down his Latin grammar. "First fellow to get his skates on gets a ginger snap!"

      And off he ran, with the others at his heels. And here for the present we will say good-by to Dave Porter, his chums, and his rivals.

      THE END

       DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS

      OR

      LAST DAYS AT OAK HALL

      BY

      EDWARD STRATEMEYER

      PREFACE

      "Dave Porter and the Runaways" is a complete story in itself, but forms the ninth volume of a line issued under the general title of "Dave Porter Series."

      In the first volume of this series, entitled "Dave Porter at Oak Hall," the reader was introduced to a typical American lad, and the particulars were given of his doings at an up-to-date boarding school.

      There was a cloud over Dave's parentage, and in order to solve the mystery of his identity he took a long voyage over the ocean, as related in the second volume, called "Dave Porter in the South Seas." Then he came back to his schoolmates, as told of in "Dave Porter's Return to School," and then took a long trip to Norway, to hunt up his father, the particulars of which are given in "Dave Porter in the Far North."

      Having settled the matter of his identity to his satisfaction, our hero came back to Oak Hall and had a number of strenuous contests, related in detail in "Dave Porter and His Classmates." Following this came the summer vacation, and the youth made a trip West, the happenings of which are set down in "Dave Porter at Star Ranch."

      When Dave returned to Oak Hall once more he found the school rivalries as bitter as ever, and what these led to has been related in "Dave Porter and His Rivals." His enemies tried hard to do our hero much injury, but he exposed them and they were forced to flee, to escape the consequences of their actions.

      The winter holidays found Dave homeward bound. He had anticipated some jolly times among his relatives and friends, but a robbery upset all his plans, and, almost before he knew it, he found himself bound southward, as related in "Dave Porter on Cave Island." On the island he had many adventures out of the ordinary, and he came home more of a hero than ever, having saved Mr. Wadsworth, his benefactor, from ruin.

      In the present story Dave is back once again at school. There are some queer happenings, and then some lads run away. How Dave proved his common sense, and brought the runaways back, I leave for the pages which follow to tell. I trust the reading of this volume will do all my young friends good.

      Edward Stratemeyer. _February_ 1, 1913.

      DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS

      CHAPTER I

      DAVE AND HIS CHUMS

      "I say, Dave, here's an odd piece of news."

      "An odd piece of news, Roger? What about?"

      "A wild man in the woods back of Oak Hall," answered Roger Morr, who held a letter in his hand. "Queerest thing you ever heard of."

      "I should say it was, if it's about a wild man," returned Dave Porter. "Who sent that letter?"

      "Shadow Hamilton."

      "Maybe it's another one of Shadow's innumerable yarns," suggested Dave, with a faint smile. "If he can't tell them by word of mouth, he writes them down."

      "What has Shadow got to say about the wild man?" asked Phil Lawrence, looking up from the suit-case he was packing. "Has he been trying to clean out Oak Hall, or anything like that?"

      "No, not exactly," returned Roger, turning back to the letter, which he had not yet finished. "He keeps in the woods, so Shadow says, and scares everybody who comes that way."

      "How does he scare them?" asked Dave, pausing in the act of stowing a suit of clothing in a trunk.

      "Shadow writes that he and Lazy were out walking one day and the wild man came after them with a big club. He wears long hair and a long beard, and his clothes are in tatters."

      "What did they do?" questioned Phil.

      "They ran back towards the school. The wild man followed 'em as far as the bridge over the brook, and then jumped into the bushes and disappeared."

      "Humph!" muttered Phil. "Is that all?"

      "Oh, no! The day before that, Chip Macklin and two other of the smaller boys went out, along the river, and the wild man came after them and shoved Chip into the water. He yelled to them never to come near him again. The other fellows ran away, and as soon as Chip could get out of the water he went after 'em. Then, three days later, Doctor Clay sent out Mr. Dale and Horsehair, the driver, to look into the matter, and the wild man met them at the bridge and threw mud balls at 'em. One mud ball hit the teacher in the arm, and one struck Horsehair in the nose and made it bleed. Horsehair was afraid to go on, because the wild man jumped around and shouted so furiously. Mr. Dale tried to catch him, but he ran away."

      "Poor chap! He must be crazy," was Dave's comment. "He ought to be taken care of by the authorities."

      "Yes, but they can't catch him," continued Roger. "They have tried half a dozen ways, but he slips 'em every time."

      "Who is he?" asked Dave, as he continued to pack his trunk.

      "Nobody has the least idea, so Shadow writes."

      "Say, that will give us something to do--when we get back to Oak Hall!" cried Phil. "We'll organize a posse to round up the wild man!"

      "I think we'll have plenty of other things to do when we get to school, Phil," remarked Dave. "Just remember that we have lost a lot of time from our lessons, and if we want to make up what we have missed, and graduate from Oak Hall with honor, we've got to buckle down and study."

      "Oh, I know that," answered Phil, and gave a little sigh. "Just the same, I'm going to have a try at the wild man--if he comes my way."

      "So am I," cried Roger. "And Dave will try with us; won't you, old man?" And Roger caught his chum affectionately by the shoulder. "You are the fellow to solve mysteries!"

      Dave

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