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                             Jack Harvey's
                               Adventures
                         Or, The Rival Campers
                        Among the Oyster Pirates


                                   By
                           Ruel Perley Smith

            Author of "The Rival Campers Series," "Prisoners
                           of Fortune," etc.

                             ILLUSTRATED BY
                            Louis D. Gowing

                                 BOSTON
                          L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
                                  1908

                          RIVAL CAMPERS SERIES
                                   BY
                           RUEL PERLEY SMITH

              Each 1 vol., large 12mo, illustrated, $1.50


  The Rival Campers
  The Rival Campers Afloat
  The Rival Campers Ashore
  Jack Harvey's Adventures
    Or, The Rival Campers Among the Oyster Pirates

                          L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
                  New England Building, Boston, Mass.

                            Copyright, 1908
                        By L. C. Page & Company
                             (INCORPORATED)
                          All rights reserved

                   First Impression, September, 1908

                      Electrotyped and Printed at
                          THE COLONIAL PRESS:
                  C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A.


                                   TO
                              Lucy E. Cyr
                         With the Author's Love




                                CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
  I. Harvey Makes an Acquaintance                                      1
  II. The Cabin of the Schooner                                       12
  III. Down the Bay                                                   25
  IV. Aboard the Bug-eye                                              40
  V. The Law of the Bay                                               52
  VI. The Working of the Law                                          62
  VII. Dredging Fleet Tactics                                         75
  VIII. A Night's Poaching                                            85
  IX. Faces through the Telescope                                    102
  X. Flight and Disaster                                             117
  XI. Harvey Sends a Message to Shore                                132
  XII. Escape at Last                                                149
  XIII. Henry Burns Makes a Discovery                                163
  XIV. Harvey Meets with a Loss                                      181
  XV. Henry Burns in Trouble                                         199
  XVI. Artie Jenkins Comes Aboard                                    212
  XVII. Artie Jenkins at the Dredges                                 223
  XVIII. The Battle of Nanticoke River                               241
  XIX. Surprises for Jack Harvey                                     256
  XX. The Pursuit of the Brandt                                      271




                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    PAGE
  "Dealt Harvey a blow in the face that knocked him off his feet"
          (Frontispiece)                                             115
  "Up from the forecastle there burst three men"                      28
  "Presented a pretty sight as viewed from the deck of the river
          steamer"                                                   113
  "'Stand back there, or I'll shoot,' he cried"                      196
  "'Get up there; you're quitting!' cried Haley"                     237
  "The speaker was a middle-aged, well-built man"                    257




                             JACK HARVEY'S
                               ADVENTURES


                                   OR

                      THE RIVAL CAMPERS AMONG THE
                             OYSTER PIRATES




                               CHAPTER I
                      HARVEY MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE


An Atlantic Transport Line steamship lay at its pier in the city of
Baltimore, on a November day. There were indications, everywhere about,
that the hour of its departure for Europe was approaching. A hum of
excitement filled the air. Clouds of dark smoke, ascending skyward from
the steamer, threw a thin canopy here and there over little groups of
persons gathered upon the pier to bid farewell to friends. Clerks and
belated messengers darted to and fro among them. An occasional officer,
in ship's uniform, gave greeting to some acquaintance and spoke hopefully
of the voyage.

Among all these, a big, tall, broad-shouldered man, whose face, florid
and smiling, gave evidence of abundant good spirits, stood, with one hand
resting upon a boy's shoulder. A woman accompanied them, who now and then
raised a handkerchief to her eyes and wiped away a tear.

"There!" exclaimed the man, suddenly, "do you see that, Jack? You'd
better come along with us. It isn't too late. Ma doesn't want to leave
you behind. If there's anything I can't stand, it's to see a woman cry."

The boy, in return, gave a somewhat contemptuous glance toward the
steamship.

"I don't want to go," he said. "What's the fun going to sea in a thing
like that? Have to dress up and look nice all the time. If it was only a
ship--"

He didn't have a chance to finish the sentence.

"Jack Harvey!" exclaimed his mother, eying him with great disapproval
through her tears, "why did you wear that awful sweater down here, to see
us off? If you only knew how you look! I'm ashamed to have folks see
you."

Harvey's father burst into a hearty roar of laughter.

"Isn't that just like a woman?" he chuckled. "Crying about leaving Jack,
with one eye, and looking at his clothes with the other. Why, Martha, I
tell you he looks fine. None of your milk-sop lads for me!" And he gave
his son a slap of approval that made even that stalwart youth wince.

"Why, when I was Jack's age," continued the elder Harvey, warming to the
subject and raising his voice accordingly, "I didn't know where the next
suit of clothes was coming from."

Mrs. Harvey glanced apprehensively over her shoulder, to see who was
listening.

"Guess I wasn't much older than Jack," went on the speaker, thrusting his
hands into his pockets and jingling the coins therein, "when I was
working in the mines out west and wherever I could pick up a job."

"Now, William," interrupted Mrs. Harvey, "you know you've told us all
about that a hundred times--"

She, herself, was interrupted.

"You've got just a minute to go aboard, sir," said one of the pier
employees, addressing Mr. Harvey. "You'll be left, if you don't hurry."

Jack Harvey's father gave him a vigorous handshake, and another slap
across the shoulder. Mrs. Harvey took him in her arms, despised sweater
and all, and kissed him good-bye. The next moment, the boy found himself
alone on the pier, waving to his parents, as the gang-plank was hauled
back.

The liner slowly glided out into the harbour, a cloud of handkerchiefs
fluttering along its rail, in answer to a similar demonstration upon the
pier.

Jack Harvey's father, gazing back approvingly at his son, strove to
comfort and cheer the spirits of his wife.

"Jack's all right," said he. "Hang me, if I wasn't just such another when
I was his age. I didn't want anybody mollycoddling me. He'll take care of
himself, all right. Don't you worry. He'll be an inch taller in six
months. He knows what he wants, too, better than we do. He'll have more
fun up in Benton this winter than he'd have travelling around Europe.
There he goes. Take a last look