Robert Coverdale's Struggle

“Then I’ll tell you what you can do. I understand that young Frank Shelton is seeking for a home where he can take his promised wife. I advise you to enlarge the cottage, puttin...

“Yes,” answered Andrew in the tone of a martyr. “He knocked me down with a hoe, and if mother had not come out just as she did I think he would have killed me.”

Had he possessed plenty of leisure, Robert would have been glad to remain in Boston long enough to see the principal objects of interest in the city and its vicinity, but he nev...

About ten minutes after Bill Benton left his little chamber an ill-looking man, whose garb and general appearance made it clear that he was a tramp, came strolling across the fi...

When Robert arrived in Boston he was at first bewildered by the noise and bustle to which, in the quiet fishing village, he was quite unaccustomed. All that he knew about the ci...

When morning dawned a new face was put upon the matter. Steps were discovered leading from the scene of the murder along the beach and up the cliff. There were also discovered s...

The town of Dexter was almost entirely agricultural. Its population was small and scattered. There were no large shops or manufactories to draw people to the place. Many of the...

“John Trafton will have to answer for it,” said the fisherman sternly. “There ain’t one of us that don’t love Bob. He’s a downright good boy, Bob Coverdale is, and a smart boy,...

It is hardly necessary to say that the man with whom the fisherman was engaged in deadly conflict was not the hermit. It was the stranger who, in the tavern, had manifested so m...

Charles Waldo was the name of the hermit’s cousin, who was suspected of kidnapping the boy who stood between him and the property. It was to find this very man that Robert was s...

“Why, child, you’ll lose your way! There’s ever so many streets and roads. I went to Boston once, and I got so puzzled I didn’t know whether I stood on my head or my heels. If t...

Mr. Jones, in his anger at Robert, regretted that he must wait four weeks before he could turn him and his aunt out of the house. It would be a great satisfaction to him to see...

“He won’t succeed,” said he to his wife; “you may depend on that. I don’t believe he’s got any relations that have money, and, even if he has, they’re goin’ to think twice befor...

After a brief glance of bewilderment, Robert remembered where he was, and with the recovery of his strength, which had been repaired by sleep, he felt a natural curiosity about...

Of course our hero’s position was not to be compared with that of one left on a lonely island in the Pacific, but it was not agreeable. He was only three miles from the mainland...

George did not at all enjoy the plain speaking he had heard from Robert. The more he thought of it the more his pride was outraged and the more deeply he was incensed.

With the new but unlawful purpose which he had begun to entertain John Trafton resolved to find out all he could about the hermit, and he rightly judged that Robert could give h...

One of the most tasteful houses in Cook’s Harbor was occupied in summer by the family of Theodore Irving, a Boston lawyer, who liked to have his wife and children in the country...

It was rather a strange idea the fisherman had--that he could live like a gentleman on the proceeds of a burglary--but there are many who, like him, consider that nothing is nee...

When Robert parted from Mr. Tudor he felt as if he had unexpectedly fallen heir to a fortune. Two dollars is not a very large sum, but to Robert, nurtured amid privation, it ass...

In any ordinary matter he would have unhesitatingly obeyed him. But, in the present instance, he felt that his aunt’s comfort depended, in a measure, upon his retention of the s...

“First of all, here is a pound of tea,” said the boy, laying it down on the kitchen table. “Here is a pound of sugar and here is a loaf of bread.”

The last thing that Robert could remember was the singing of the waters in his ears and a weight as of lead that bore him downward with a force which he felt unable to resist.

Late one afternoon Robert Coverdale reached Columbus on his Western trip. The next day he was to push on to the town of Dexter, where he had information that the boy of whom he...

“I suppose he’s over at the tavern as usual,” said the woman despondently. “He drinks up about all he earns, and there’s little enough left for us. I hope you won’t follow in hi...

If Robert had not been in such a strait he would not have pressed the request, but he was not sure when there would be another chance to leave the island, and he persisted.

“Yes, I am pretty strong,” said Robert complacently, extending his muscular arms. “I can row the boat when the tide is very strong. What errand have you got for me to the villag...

“There’s your nephew, Trafton,” said old Ben Brandon, who, like John Trafton, frequented the barroom too much for his good. “Hasn’t come here for his dram, has he?” added the ol...

Robert rose at six the next morning and half an hour later took his breakfast. It consisted of fish, bread and a cup of tea, and though most of my young readers might not be sat...

When Robert awoke in the morning it was eight o’clock and the steamer lay quietly at its pier. Almost all the passengers had landed and he was nearly alone on the great steamer.

It is needless to say that Robert received a joyful welcome from his aunt. Her joy was increased when her nephew showed her the gold which he had found upon the island.

“Shut up, Mr. Badger,” said his wife, who was ashamed when she remembered her panic. “You’d better not say anything. He got you on the floor and pounded you--you a full-grown man!”

Sitting on a bench outside was Robert Coverdale, whittling. He had put on his old clothes, intending it to be for the last time. He wanted to surprise Mr. Jones.

Notwithstanding his rather critical situation, he was in excellent spirits. The treasure which he had unearthed from the wreck very much elated him. It meant comfort and indepen...