Cheer Boys Cheer: The Boys' Journal, No. 62

About this issue

"Rogues & Rovers," a South Seas serial by Horace Phillips opens aboard the blackbirding schooner Lone Star. Captain Chance, a brutal trader in slave labor, commands a ship holding over a hundred Kanakas in the hold. After Kanakas attempt a violent escape, the situation devolves into mutiny suppressed by gunfire. The captain then confronts three younger crew members: Holroyd, a refined nineteen-year-old of mysterious origins; Bantry, a sharp-minded Cockney; and Tom Jesty, a loyal deckhand. Captain Chance reveals he recognizes Holroyd as a Navy deserter known as Harry Hoyden, using this knowledge to threaten and humiliate him. The young man, horrified by the Kanakas' brutal treatment, challenges the captain's authority. In a climactic confrontation, Hoyden strikes the skipper, precipitating further conflict.