A Jolly Fellowship — Frank R. Stockton / Frank Richard Stockton

When Charles Scribner's Sons first published this book, way back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they described it this way: "This story is told by Will Gordon, a young fellow about sixteen years old, who saw for himself everything worth seeing in the course of the events he relates, and so knows much more about them than anyone who would have to depend upon hearsay. Will is a good-looking boy, with brown hair and gray eyes, rather large for his age, and very fond of being a leader among his young companions. Whether or not he is good at that sort of thing, you can judge from the story he tells." If it was us, today, writing the blurb, you'd hear all about the adventure that ensued (and you "know" there's an adventure -- after all, this is a book by Frank R. Stockton, the man who gave us all the Lady and her Tiger, the man who imaged up the Beeman of Orn, for goodness' sake ). But folks were prone to understatement way back in the days of the dinosaurs, so we'll just have to settle for that . . .