The Adventurous Seven Their Hazardous Undertaking   By: Bessie Marchant (1862-1941)

By BESSIE MARCHANT

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[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: