The Last Cruise of the Spitfire

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Last Cruise of the Spitfire (1900)
by Edward Stratemeyer
1521839The Last Cruise of the Spitfire1900Edward Stratemeyer

THE


LAST CRUISE OF THE SPITFIRE


OR


Luke Foster's Strange Voyage


BY


EDWARD STRATEMEYER

AUTHOR OF "UNDER DEWEY AT MANILA," "A YOUNG VOLUNTEER IN CUBA"
"FIGHTING IN CUBAN WATERS," "RICHARD DARE'S VENTURE"
"REUBEN STONE'S DISCOVERY," "OLIVER BRIGHT'S SEARCH"
ETC., ETC.


ILLUSTRATED


BOSTON

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

Copyright, 1894,

By THE MERRIAM COMPANY.


Copyright, 1900, by Lee and Shepard.


All Rights Reserved.


The Last Cruise of the Spitfire.


Norwood Press

J. S. Cushing & Co. – Berwick & Smith

Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

My Wakening was a Rude One.Page 53.

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.




"The Last Cruise of the Spitfire" is the opening volume of the "Ship and Shore" Series, and tells of the things which happened to a boy who ran away from his guardian's home because he could no longer stand the cruel treatment received.

In this tale, in order to get close to the heart of the boy, the author has allowed Luke Foster to tell his own story in his own way. Luke has never before been to sea, and when he is carried off on the "Spitfire" his real experiences on the briny ocean, set up in juxtaposition to what he had imagined a life on the "rolling deep" to be, make reading which I trust every lad who has a "hankering" after a sailor's life may digest with profit. Luke concludes that a life on land is good enough for him, and I feel certain that a majority of our readers will agree with him.

Of Luke's overbearing cousin and his dishonest uncle much might be said which Luke leaves untold. The boy does this probably out of his natural good-heartedness. Yet the lives of the pair, and especially that of the father, well illustrate the old saying, that, sooner or later, every wrong-doer is bound to overreach himself and fall into the hands of justice.

Upon first appearing in print, "The Last Cruise of the Spitfire" was as well received as the stories in the "Bound to Succeed Series," which had preceded it; and once again the author begs to thank readers and critics for their continued kindness to him.

EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
Newark, N.J.,
May 1, 1899.

CONTENTS.


PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Myself and my Uncle 5
CHAPTER II.
An Unexpected Letter 15
CHAPTER III.
Somebody's Crime 23
CHAPTER IV.
An Unexpected Arrival 29
CHAPTER V.
An Appalling Prospect 39
CHAPTER VI.
A Turn of Fortune 45
CHAPTER VII.
On Board the Spitfire 56
CHAPTER VIII.
Phil Jones 64
CHAPTER IX.
Up Long Island Sound 69
CHAPTER X.
A Narrow Escape 75
CHAPTER XI.
Captain Hancock's Plot 81
CHAPTER XII.
The Storm 89
CHAPTER XIII.
A New Friend 99
CHAPTER XIV.
Some Plain Facts 107
CHAPTER XV.
Captain Hancock tries to make Terms 115
CHAPTER XVI.
An Important Discovery 121
CHAPTER XVII.
In a Tight Fix 130
CHAPTER XVIII.
I am put in Irons 137
CHAPTER XIX.
The Burning of the Spitfire 147
CHAPTER XX.
On the Raft 154
CHAPTER XXI.
Night on the Hasty 162
CHAPTER XXII.
A Terrible Loss 169
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Deep Blue Sea 175
CHAPTER XXIV.
Picked Up 182
CHAPTER XXV.
The Capture on the Ocean 190
CHAPTER XXVI.
On Land Once More 201
CHAPTER XXVII.
Mr. Felix Stillwell's Hope 214
CHAPTER XXVIII.
On the Cars 220
CHAPTER XXIX.
Back in New York 226
CHAPTER XXX.
An Unexpected Death 234
CHAPTER XXXI.
Conclusion 242

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1930, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 93 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse