"I will!" snapped Mr. Merwell. "I'll get out just as soon as the t.i.tle can be pa.s.sed! I never liked to live here, anyway!" And then in a rage he made out a check for the value of the horses, handed it to Mr.

Endicott, and showed his visitors to the door.

"Phew, but he was mad!" was Dave's comment, as the three rode over to Star Ranch.

"If he sells out, that is all I ask," said Mr. Endicott. It may be added here that, two weeks later, Mr. Merwell sold his place and moved to parts unknown, taking his son with him. The purchaser of the ranch proved to be an agreeable man, and he and Mr. Endicott got along very well together.

"Well, I hope that is the last of Link Merwell," said Roger, when he heard about the affair. But it was not the last of the fellow, as Dave, later on, found out. Link crossed his path again, and what happened will be told in the next volume of this series, to be called, "Dave Porter and His Rivals; or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall." In that volume we shall meet all our old friends and learn the particulars of a peculiar mystery and a stirring struggle on the gridiron.

At last came the time to leave Star Ranch. Mr. Dunston Porter arrived, and listened to the many tales the young folks had to tell.

"Well, you certainly have crowded things," he declared. "I wish I had been on that hunt."

Belle was going East with Laura and Jessie, and Snogger accompanied the boys and Mr. Porter. All received a warm send-off at the railroad station.

"Come again!" shouted Sid Todd, and to show his spirits fired his revolver into the air, and the other cowboys did the same.

At Chicago the party were met by Charley Gamp. Hank Snogger hugged his boy to his breast and wept for joy, and Charley cried too, and so did the girls. Then it was learned that Snogger was really a carpenter by trade. He said he would settle down in the city, and did so, and to-day he is a steady workman, and he and Charley have a good home. The father is giving the son a good education, hoping to make a first-cla.s.s business man of him.

"Well, all told, we had the outing of our lives," declared Roger, on the way to Crumville.

"It couldn't have been better!" cried Dave. "I tell you what, Star Ranch is all right!"

And the others agreed with him. And here, for the time being, let us say farewell.

THE END

DAVE PORTER SERIES

By EDWARD STRATEMEYER

"Mr. Stratemeyer has seldom introduced a more popular hero than Dave Porter. He is a typical boy, manly, brave, always ready for a good time if it can be obtained in an honorable way."--_Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis._

"Edward Stratemeyer's 'Dave Porter' has become exceedingly popular."--_Boston Globe._

"Dave and his friends are nice, manly chaps."--_Times-Democrat, New Orleans._

DAVE PORTER AT OAK HALL Or The School Days of an American Boy

DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS Or The Strange Cruise of the _Stormy Petrel_

DAVE PORTER'S RETURN TO SCHOOL Or Winning the Medal of Honor

DAVE PORTER IN THE FAR NORTH Or The Pluck of an American Schoolboy

DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLa.s.sMATES Or For the Honor of Oak Hall

DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH Or The Cowboy's Secret

DAVE PORTER AND HIS RIVALS Or The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall

DAVE PORTER ON CAVE ISLAND Or A Schoolboy's Mysterious Mission

DAVE PORTER AND THE RUNAWAYS Or Last Days at Oak Hall

DAVE PORTER IN THE GOLD FIELDS Or The Search for the Landslide Mine

DAVE PORTER AT BEAR CAMP Or The Wild Man of Mirror Lake

DAVE PORTER AND HIS DOUBLE Or The Disappearance of the Ba.s.swood Fortune

DAVE PORTER'S GREAT SEARCH Or The Perils of a Young Civil Engineer

DAVE PORTER UNDER FIRE Or A Young Army Engineer in France

DAVE PORTER'S WAR HONORS Or At the Front with the Fighting Engineers