Introduction
Castlemon, Harry, 1842-1915
Junior fiction.

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The first Sunday the Club spent ashore they went to the seaman's chapel to hear Father Damon preach to the sailors; and the next day they hired horses, a pack-mule, and guides for a ride around the island.
This was a great relief to them, especially to Dick and Bob, for it gave them a taste of the frontier life to which they had so long been

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accustomed.
They were all glad to find themselves on horseback once more; so they journeyed very leisurely, and the ride, which could easily
have been accomplished in four days, consumed the best part of eight.

Having explored Oahu pretty thoroughly, the Club returned on board the Stranger, which set sail for Hilo in the island of Hawaii, which place they reached after a rough passage of four days.
At Hilo - the town has been devastated by a tidal wave since the Club visited it - they had their first view of a sport for which the natives of these islands are so famous - swimming with the surf-board.
It was a fine, not to say a thrilling sight to see a party of men, some of whom were lying, others kneeling, and still others standing erect upon boards which seemed scarcely large enough to support their weight, shooting towards the beach with almost railroad speed, closely followed by a huge comber that seemed every instant to be on the point of overwhelming them.
The grace and skill exhibited by the swimmers made the feat appear

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very easy of accomplishment, and after watching the bathers for a few minutes, Eugene declared that he could do it as well as anybody, and dared Archie to get a board somewhere and go into the water with him.

"Find a board yourself, and see if I am afraid to follow where you dare lead," was Archie^s prompt reply; and to show that he meant what he said, he pulled off his jacket and threw it on the sand.
''Now, Archie," remonstrated Frank, "I wouldn't undertake anything I was certain to make a failure of, if I were you.
You can't get beyond the surf to save your life."
"I'd like to know if I can't duck my head and let a billow pass over me as well as anybody?"
" No, you can't."
''There's where you are mistaken.
You'll see.
Our countrymen can dive deeper and come out drier than any people in the world, not even excepting these Sandwich Islanders. I'll go as far as my leader goes, you may rely upon that.
Say, Mr.

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Kanaker," added Archie, approaching a stalwart swimmer who had just been landed high and dry by a huge billow, "you gives me board, I gives you, quarter, eh ?"
The native smiled good-naturedly and astonished Archie by replying in plain English, and in much better terms than he had used
"You may have it certainly, but I wouldn't advise you to try it."

While Archie stood perplexed and bewildered, wondering how he ought to apologize to the man for addressing him in such a way, the latter continued, "I think your friend has given up the idea of going out."

Archie looked toward Eugene, and saw that he was standing with his boots in his hand, gazing intently toward the water.
He glanced in the same direction, and was just in time to see a swimmer overtaken by a huge comber, and carried out of sight in an instant.
Archie was greatly alarmed, and expected to see the man dashed, stunned and bruised on the beach; but presently

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a head bobbed up and out of the water beyond the breaker, and the bold swimmer, still safe and sound and undismayed by his failure, struck out for another trial, diving under the waves as they came rolling in, and finally made his way to the smooth water, half a mile from shore, where he waited for another high swell to carry him in.
That was as near as Archie and Eugene ever came to trying their skill with the surf-board.
One picked up his jacket, the other pulled on his boots, and as both these acts were performed at the same time, neither could consistently accuse the other of backing out.

The first excursion the Club made from Hilo was to a bay, with an unpronounceable name, on the opposite side of the island, the scene of Captain Cook's death ; and the next was to the volcano of Kilauea, the largest active crater in the world.

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Castlemon, Harry: The Boy Traders, or, The sportsman's club among the Boers. Henry T. Coaxes and Co. Philadelphia,1877. Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/boytradersorspor00cast

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