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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, declaimin