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[Illustration: ROBERT OVERHEARS AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION.
_Frontispiece_]




  OUT FOR BUSINESS

  OR

  _ROBERT FROST'S STRANGE CAREER_


  BY

  HORATIO ALGER, JR.

  AUTHOR OF "FALLING IN WITH FORTUNE," "LUCK OR PLUCK,"
  "THE YOUNG BOATMAN," "ONLY AN IRISH BOY,"
  "YOUNG MINER," ETC.

  COMPLETED BY

  ARTHUR M. WINFIELD

  AUTHOR OF "THE ROVER BOYS AT SCHOOL," "THE ROVER BOYS
  ON THE OCEAN," "THE ROVER BOYS IN THE JUNGLE,"
  "THE ROVER BOYS OUT WEST," ETC.

  [Illustration]


  GROSSET & DUNLAP

  PUBLISHERS      ::      ::      NEW YORK




BY THE SAME AUTHOR


  THE YOUNG BOOK AGENT;
  Or, Frank Hardy's Road to Success.

  FROM FARM TO FORTUNE;
  Or, Nat Nason's Strange Experience.

  LOST AT SEA;
  Or, Robert Roscoe's Strange Cruise.

  JERRY, THE BACKWOODS BOY;
  Or, The Parkhurst Treasure.

  NELSON, THE NEWSBOY;
  Or, Afloat in New York.

  YOUNG CAPTAIN JACK;
  Or, The Son of a Soldier.

  OUT FOR BUSINESS;
  Or, Robert Frost's Strange Career.

  FALLING IN WITH FORTUNE;
  Or, The Experiences of a Young Secretary.


_12mo, finely illustrated and bound. Price per volume, 60 cents._


  GROSSET & DUNLAP
  PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK


  COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY
  THE MERSHON COMPANY




PREFACE.


"OUT FOR BUSINESS" is a complete tale in itself, but forms the first
of two companion stories, the second being entitled "Falling in with
Fortune."

In this tale are related the various haps and mishaps which befall a
sturdy country youth, of high moral aim, who, by the harsh actions of
his step-father, is compelled to leave what had once been the best of
homes, and go forth into the world to make his own way.

Robert Frost finds his path to fortune no easy one to tread. The thorns
of adversity line the way, and there is many a pitfall to be avoided.
But the lad is possessed of a good stock of hard, common sense, and in
the end we find him on the fair road to success--and a success richly
deserved.

The two stories, "Out for Business" and "Falling in with Fortune,"
give to the reader the last tales begun by that prince of juvenile
writers, Mr. Horatio Alger, Jr., whose books have sold to the extent
of hundreds of thousands of copies, not only in America, but also in
England and elsewhere. The gifted writer was stricken when on the point
of finishing the stories, and when he saw that he could not complete
them himself, it was to the present writer that he turned, and an
outline for a conclusion was drawn up which met with his approval,--and
it is this outline which has now been filled out in order to bring the
tales to a finish, so that both stories might be as nearly as possible
what Mr. Alger intended they should be. It may be that the stories will
not be found as interesting as if Mr. Alger had written them entirely,
nevertheless the present writer trusts that they will still hold the
reader's attention to the end.

  ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.

March 1st, 1900.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                                                PAGE

  I. A GREAT SURPRISE,                                       7

  II. MR. TALBOT AND THE DOG,                               15

  III. THE LITTLE PLOT AGAINST ROBERT,                      24

  IV. MR. TALBOT IS MYSTIFIED,                              33

  V. A CRISIS,                                              42

  VI. ON THE TRAIN,                                         51

  VII. BAFFLED,                                             59

  VIII. PERIL,                                              67

  IX. AT THE PALMER HOUSE,                                  75

  X. ROBERT GETS A PLACE,                                   83

  XI. MR. PALMER'S INFATUATION,                             92