The first edition of this book is dated 1888. The edition used is dated 1892. The publisher was Blackie and Son Limited, London, Glasgow. The number of pages is 344.

---

General information

It was a bit puzzling to to work out who or what the Rover was, and what the secret was. The word Rover is not mentioned once in the body-text of the book, and the word secret only three or four times. However, eventually I sussed it out. The Rover is a pirate who figures enough in the book for one to be aware he is there. He is mortally wounded, and in the last chapter he tells his secret before he dies, thus providing an explanation for several other puzzling things that we have been told, or that happened, in the book.

On the other hand I was not too happy with the overall style of the book, which is too florid and long-winded. Practically every sentence could be greatly shortened without loss, and it is sometimes an amusing exercise to rest from reading, and then try to re-phrase the current paragraph.

Apart from those things, the book is written in a style much like that of Kingston. This is typical of Collingwood, but one sometimes thinks he is a bit plagiaristic. That doesn’t stop it from being quite an enjoyable book. There is some evidence that there are some missing commas in the text as I have presented it, but I do not think that this will at all impede the flow of the story as it unfolds.

---

Contents

Chapter I.
My Childhood.

Chapter II.
My Mother’s Portrait.

Chapter III.
I Join the “Hermione.“

Chapter IV.
An Unsuccessful Chase.

Chapter V.
A “Cutting-Out” Expedition.

Chapter VI.
A Remonstrance—and its Sequel.

Chapter VII.
The Mutiny.

Chapter VIII.
La Guayra.

Chapter IX.
Inez De Guzman.

Chapter X.
Our Flight—And Subsequent Mystification.

Chapter XI.
Captain Carera imparts some interesting Information.

Chapter XII.
A Narrow Escape.

Chapter XIII.
The Conconil Lagoons.

Chapter XIV.
A Packet of Disturbing Letters.

Chapter XV.
A Brush with a Piratical Felucca.

Chapter XVI.
The Pirates attempt a Night Attack upon the “Foam.“

Chapter XVII.
The Conquest of the Conconil Lagoons.

Chapter XVIII.
A Dinner Party at the Admiral’s Penn.

Chapter XIX.
We assist in the Capture of a French Frigate.

Chapter XX.
The Privateer and the Indiaman.

Chapter XXI.
An Unexpected Meeting.

Chapter XXII.
The Foundering of the “Dolphin.“

Chapter XXIII.
The Spanish Treasure-ship.

Chapter XXIV.
The Capture and Recapture of the “Santa Catalina.“

Chapter XXV.
“All’s well that ends well.“

---