The Y. M. C. a. Boys on Bass Island: Or, The Mystery of Russabaga Camp

Dick Horner and his Cliffwood friends are bound for Bass Island and Russabaga Camp, where summer should mean swimming, pranks, and the kind of adventures that define boyhood. But a thief has moved into their midst, and the mystery threatens to spoil everything. Asa Gardner carries a troubled past he's desperate to outrun, while the boys balance the competing urges of loyalty and suspicion. Before they even reach the island, a fire at Bratton's barn throws them into a test of courage that sets the tone for what's to come. As secrets stack up and trust frays, the boys must learn what it really means to stand together or fall apart. Written in 1916, this is early juvenile adventure fiction at its most earnest: full of competitive spirit, earnest moralizing, and the unshakeable belief that boys of good character can overcome any mystery if they stick by each other.