The Quest of the Silver Swan.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The Raft at Sea | [ 9] |
| II. | Introducing Brandon Tarr and Uncle Arad | [ 21] |
| III. | An Account of the Wreck of The Silver Swan | [ 34] |
| IV. | Brandon Comes to a Decision | [ 40] |
| V. | Uncle Arad Has Recourse to Legal Force | [ 45] |
| VI. | Relating a Meeting Between Uncle Arad and the Sailor | [ 51] |
| VII. | Introducing “Square” Holt and His Opinions | [ 59] |
| VIII. | Something About Leaving the Farm | [ 66] |
| IX. | Another Letter From New York | [ 72] |
| X. | Brandon’s Arrival at the Metropolis | [ 79] |
| XI. | The Firm of Adoniram Pepper & Co. | [ 85] |
| XII. | In Which Brandon Ventures into Rather Disreputable Society | [ 90] |
| XIII. | The Old Sailor with the Wooden Leg | [ 98] |
| XIV. | The Old Sailor’s Excitement | [ 103] |
| XV. | Caleb Receives a Startling Communication | [ 110] |
| XVI. | Telling How Brandon Bearded the Lion in His Lair | [ 116] |
| XVII. | How the Omnipresent Weeks Proves his Right to the Term | [ 123] |
| XVIII. | Brandon Listens to a Short Family History | [ 130] |
| XIX. | Telling a Great Deal About Derelicts in General | [ 137] |
| XX. | The Contents of Several Interesting Documents | [ 144] |
| XXI. | In Which Mr. Pepper Makes a Proposition to Caleb and Don | [ 151] |
| XXII. | Into Bad Company | [ 156] |
| XXIII. | Mr. Alfred Weeks at a Certain Conference | [ 163] |
| XXIV. | How a Nefarious Compact was Formed | [ 171] |
| XXV. | Uncle Arad Makes an Announcement | [ 176] |
| XXVI. | Caleb Wetherbee Obstructs the Course of the Law | [ 183] |
| XXVII. | Wherein Brandon Tarr Conceals Himself | [ 188] |
| XXVIII. | The Departure of the Whaleback, Number Three | [ 197] |
| XXIX. | The Stowaway Aboard the Success | [ 208] |
| XXX. | Showing What Miss Milly Does for Brandon | [ 217] |
| XXXI. | Wherein Number Three Approaches the Supposed Vicinity of the Silver Swan | [ 224] |
| XXXII. | Relating How the Silver Swan was Heard From | [ 229] |
| XXXIII. | In Which Comrades in Courage Launch Themselves Upon the Deep | [ 234] |
| XXXIV. | The Incidents of a Night of Peril | [ 240] |
| XXXV. | Showing how Caleb Appeared on the Scene Just Too Late | [ 250] |
| XXXVI. | The Castaways on the Brig Success | [ 257] |
| XXXVII. | Left in Doubt | [ 264] |
| XXXVIII. | How the Enemy Appeared | [ 270] |
| XXXIX. | Showing How Mr. Weeks Made his Last Move | [ 278] |
| XL. | In Which the Enemy is Defeated and the Quest of the Silver Swan is Ended | [ 286] |
THE QUEST OF
THE SILVER SWAN
CHAPTER I
THE RAFT AT SEA
The sun, whose upper edge had just appeared above the horizon, cast its first red beams aslant a deserted wilderness of heaving billows.
Here and there a flying fish, spurning its usual element, cut the air like a swift ray of light, falling back into the sea again after its short flight with a splash that sent myriad drops flashing in the sunlight.
There were not a few triangular objects, dark in color, and looking like tiny sails, darting along the surface of the sea, first in this direction and then in that. There was a peculiar sinister motion to these fleshy sails, an appearance to make the beholder shudder involuntarily; for these objects were the dorsal fins of sharks, and there is nothing more bloodthirsty and cruel than these “tigers of the sea.”
It was quite noticeable that these monsters had gathered about an object which, in comparison with the vast expanse of sea and sky, was but a speck. It labored heavily upon the surface of the sea, and seemed to possess a great attraction for the sharks.