Category: Children & Young Adult Reading

Bernard Brooks' Adventures: The Experience of a Plucky Boy

The speaker was fifteen years of age, but as tall as most boys of seventeen. He had a bold, aggressive manner, which he only assumed with those he thought were hostile or unfriendly.

Chapters

3. CHAPTER III. BROUGHT TO BAY.

When Bernard saw Septimus Snowdon and his father standing in front of the house he understood at once, from the expression of their faces, that trouble was in store for him.

17. CHAPTER XVII. BERNARD’S PERIL.

One evening Bernard was standing at the side of the vessel, looking out over the waste of waters, and wondering what was to be his future. It was quite dark, so that he was unab...

15. CHAPTER XV. JACK STAPLES.

Professor Puffer had a grievance. He had sent on board a good supply of whisky—sufficient to last him through the voyage—but the greater part of this had mysteriously disappeare...

28. CHAPTER XXVIII. ITALY SEEN THROUGH AMERICAN SPECTACLES.

Still, Mr. Cunningham reflected that in case of an attack it would be convenient to have such an addition to his party as the American, for Amos Sanderson seemed like a brave ma...

31. CHAPTER XXXI. WALTER CUNNINGHAM’S MISSION.

It was decided that Cunningham himself should go to Naples, carrying with him not only his own letter of credit, but Amos Sanderson’s as well. He was to draw three thousand scud...

36. CHAPTER XXXVI. PROFESSOR PUFFER BECOMES AN ALLY.

“If I could you would not have found me traveling through the streets as a sandwich man. Up and down I walk through the livelong day, and how much do you think I receive for my...

19. CHAPTER XIX. PROFESSOR PUFFERS DISCOMFITURE.

When Bernard noticed the disappearance of the bureau he understood at once the alarming significance of the step which Professor Puffer had taken, for he felt sure that it was a...

12. CHAPTER XII. BERNARD MEETS A FRIEND OF HIS FATHER.

Cornelius McCracken lived in a three story and basement house on Lexington Avenue. It was a solid and comfortable house, but not showy. He had a wife and three children. The eld...

13. CHAPTER XIII. PROFESSOR PUFFER.

“You are a sensible boy. Let me say, then, that my friend Professor Puffer—Ezra Puffer—perhaps you have heard of him—requires a boy of fair education as secretary and literary a...

24. CHAPTER XXIV. PROFESSOR PUFFER FROM HIS OWN POINT OF VIEW.

“I only wanted to make sure that it would be worth my while to accept. As you may infer from my card I am a man of reputation,” and Professor Puffer swelled out his chest and as...

11. CHAPTER XI. MR. SNOWDON LOSES HIS PUPIL.

Respected Sir: It gives me keen anguish to reveal to you the unworthy conduct of the boy whom you intrusted to my charge. It may not wholly surprise you, for, if I remember righ...

14. CHAPTER XIV. SOME OF THE PASSENGERS.

Bernard had always cherished high respect for literary men and professors, though it must be confessed that he did not venerate Professor Snowdon. To find Professor Puffer an in...

30. CHAPTER XXX. IN A TRAP.

They proceeded thus for a short distance, when there was a sudden stop. The _vetturino_ was ordered to descend from the driver’s seat, and he and the bandits had a conference.

26. CHAPTER XXVI. PROFESSOR PUFFER ONCE MORE.

“I will,” said Puffer sternly. “I will let him know in that case that you are under my guardianship, and that I will not permit you to accept the preposterous engagement. You, a...

4. CHAPTER IV. A ROAD SIDE ACQUAINTANCE.

He was, however, cool and collected, and not at all nervous. He maintained his ground till Mr. Snowdon, with slow and cautious steps, had crossed the narrow bridge, and then ran...

29. CHAPTER XXIX. CAPTURED BY BANDITTI.

Though on joining the party Amos Sanderson had spoken of the possibility of encountering banditti, his companions had scarcely given a thought to the subject since. In the scene...

21. CHAPTER XXI. A DAY IN LONDON.

Bernard found the Arundel Hotel, to which he had been directed, neat and quiet. It was more like a large boarding-house than a hotel. The terms were very reasonable, and that wi...

18. CHAPTER XVIII. THE EVENTS OF A NIGHT.

The chamber at the Albion Hotel occupied by Bernard was a small one, connecting by a side door with the larger one which had been taken by Professor Puffer. Bernard was not ordi...

16. CHAPTER XVI. A SCRAP OF PAPER.

Bernard was in the stateroom one day during the absence of Professor Puffer, when he noticed on the floor a fragment of paper, looking like a portion of a letter with writing up...

20. CHAPTER XX. A LOST CLUE.

“I will take your advice, though this will throw me upon my own resources. I think I can make a living in some way, though I should know better how to go about it in America.”

2. CHAPTER II. BERNARD’S BOLDNESS.

“There he is now! I wonder what he is up to.” Septimus Snowdon was an ill-favored boy of fifteen with red hair and freckles seeming like extensive patches upon a face in which e...

27. CHAPTER XXVII. A CITIZEN OF NEBRASKA.

Three months later Bernard and Mr. Cunningham were domiciled in the Hotel Constance in Rome. They had taken a leisurely course from London, staying three weeks in Paris, visitin...

6. CHAPTER VI. BERNARD’S DANGER.

“So I imagined; though when I was his pupil, he had no boarding pupils. Suppose we take a walk about the town. I have never been in Poplar Plains before.”

25. CHAPTER XXV. BERNARD’S GOOD FORTUNE

“It will be several days before I shall be able to get away, Bernard,” said Walter Cunningham, the next morning, “and, by the way, I have not told you where I am going.”

9. CHAPTER IX. ON THE HUDSON RIVER BOAT.

Just before going aboard Bernard bought from a newsboy a copy of the Albany _Argus_. He glanced rapidly over the contents of the paper, and his attention was arrested by the acc...

23. CHAPTER XXIII. AN APARTMENT AT MORLEY’S HOTEL.

Bernard was shown up-stairs to an apartment on the second floor. He was ushered into an anteroom, where four persons were already sitting. These Bernard inferred were applicants...

5. CHAPTER V. MR. PENROSE’S SECRET.

Bernard was by no means loath to accept the invitation he had received. His stock of ready money was very small, and would soon be exhausted. While he remained with Mr. Penrose...

1. CHAPTER I. BERNARD BROOKS.

The speaker was fifteen years of age, but as tall as most boys of seventeen. He had a bold, aggressive manner, which he only assumed with those he thought were hostile or unfrie...

7. CHAPTER VII. AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION.

Bernard posted himself at a point where he could watch the hotel. When he saw the departure of Septimus and his father he made his way back and rejoined Mr. Penrose.

8. CHAPTER VIII. THE CONSPIRATORS ARE FOILED.

Roque and the doctors loosened their hold of William Penrose when they heard the new voice. Then Roque in a supercilious tone said, “You had better attend to your business if yo...

22. CHAPTER XXII. DICK THE BOOTBLACK.

But he did not reckon for the bootblack. The latter advanced to meet the professor, and managed to stumble in front of him so that Puffer, whose legs were short, fell over him,...

33. CHAPTER XXXIII. RESCUED.

“I’ll tell you,” said Sanderson. “These gentlemen were about to kill us. They had just offered us the choice of how to die. But now that you have come with the money——”

10. CHAPTER X. HATCH, DETECTIVE.

Bernard was startled. He had heard of detectives and read about them, but this was the first time he had been brought face to face with one. It must be confessed that the quiet...

32. CHAPTER XXXII. SUSPENSE.

Neither Bernard nor his companion slept much that night. Both realized that it might be the last night of their lives. Bernard felt solemn, but mingled with Sanderson’s alarm an...

37. CHAPTER XXXVII. A BAD DAY FOR MR. MCCRACKEN.

Cornelius McCracken sat in his office in a complacent mood. He had just closed a successful speculation in Wall Street, by which he had cleared a few hundred dollars. He was not...

38. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CONCLUSION.

When Bernard left the cars and stepped on the platform of the Doncaster station, he saw Freedom Wentworth preparing to drive away on a store wagon. “Give me a ride, Freed?” said...

34. CHAPTER XXXIV. NAT BARCLAY’S LETTER.

The day after Bernard reached London he received at his old address a letter bearing the familiar postmark of Doncaster. It will be remembered that it was at Doncaster our story...

35. CHAPTER XXXV. PROFESSOR PUFFER’S DECLINE AND FALL.

“Bernard,” said Walter Cunningham, as they sat together in a handsome apartment at the Brevoort House, “I feel that I have not done as well by you as I should.”