Across India Or, Live Boys in the Far East   By: Oliver Optic (1822-1897)

All Over the World Library Third Series

ACROSS INDIA

OR

LIVE BOYS IN THE FAR EAST

BY

OLIVER OPTIC

AUTHOR OF "A MISSING MILLION" "A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN" "A YOUNG KNIGHT ERRANT" "STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD" "AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT" "THE YOUNG NAVIGATORS" "UP AND DOWN THE NILE" "ASIATIC BREEZES" AND UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED OTHER VOLUMES

BOSTON

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

10 MILK STREET

1895

TO

MY LONG TRIED FRIEND OF MORE THAN FORTY YEARS, WITH WHOM IN ALL THAT TIME, I HAVE NOT HAD A BICKER OR A SHADOW OF UNPLEASANTNESS THOUGH HE HAS BEEN MY SENIOR PUBLISHER FOR MORE THAN AN ENTIRE GENERATION, AND TO WHOM I HAVE NOT DEDICATED A BOOK FOR THIRTY YEARS

WILLIAM LEE

This Volume

IS RESPECTFULLY AND CORDIALLY INSCRIBED BY HIS FAITHFUL AND EVER GRATEFUL FRIEND

WILLIAM T. ADAMS

PREFACE

"Across India" is the first volume of the third series of the "All Over the World Library," in which the voyage of the Guardian Mother is continued from Aden, where some important changes were made in the current of events, including the disposal of the little steamer Maud, which figured to a considerable extent in the later volumes of the library, though they also comprehended the addition of another and larger consort to the ship, in which the distinguished Pacha, as a reformed and entirely reconstructed person, sails in company with the voyagers.

A few days out from the port of departure, a stirring event, a catastrophe of the sea, adds three very important personages to the cabin passengers of the Guardian Mother, and affords two of the "live boys" an opportunity to distinguish themselves in a work of humanity requiring courage and skill. These additions to the company prove to be a very fortunate acquisition to the party; for they are entirely familiar with everything in and relating to India. They are titled individuals, two of the trio, who have not only travelled all over the peninsula, but have very influential relations with the officers of the government, and the native princes, rajahs, kings, maharajahs, and nobles.

The commander, the professor, the surgeon, the young millionaire, and others who have hitherto given the "talks" and lectures for the instruction of the young people, and incidentally of the older ones also, find themselves almost entirely relieved from duty in this direction by those whom the ship's company have saved from inevitable death in the stormy billows of the Arabian Sea. The gratitude of the two titled members of the trio, and their earnest appreciation of the educational object of the long voyage, induce them to make themselves very useful on board.