The Motor Boys Afloat; or, The Stirring Cruise of the Dartaway by Clarence Young
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SENT THE DARTAWAY OVER THE LINE A WINNER.]
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
Or
The Stirring Cruise of the Dartaway
BY CLARENCE YOUNG
AUTHOR OF "THE RACER BOYS SERIES" AND "THE JACK RANGER SERIES."
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
BOOKS BY CLARENCE YOUNG
=THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES=
(_=Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of.=_)
12mo. Illustrated
THE MOTOR BOYS Or Chums Through Thick and Thin THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND Or A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO Or The Secret of the Buried City THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS Or The Hermit of Lost Lake THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT Or The Stirring Cruise of the Dartaway THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC Or The Mystery of the Lighthouse THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS Or Lost in a Floating Forest THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC Or The Young Derelict Hunters THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS Or A Trip for Fame and Fortune
=THE JACK RANGER SERIES=
12mo. Finely Illustrated
JACK RANGER'S SCHOOLDAYS Or The Rivals of Washington Hall JACK RANGER'S WESTERN TRIP Or From Boarding School to Ranch and Range JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL VICTORIES Or Track, Gridiron and Diamond JACK RANGER'S OCEAN CRUISE Or The Wreck of the Polly Ann JACK RANGER'S GUN CLUB Or From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail
Copyright, 1908, by CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I. WHAT THE POSTMAN BROUGHT 1 II. THE MOTOR BOAT 11 III. AN ACCIDENT 17 IV. A QUEER KIND OF RAT 24 V. PLANNING A CRUISE 32 VI. AN ENCOUNTER WITH NODDY 37 VII. TO THE RESCUE 45 VIII. PLOTTING 52 IX. A TEST OF SPEED 60 X. SAVED FROM THE FALLS 68 XI. BILL BERRY'S THREATS 77 XII. AN ALARM OF FIRE 83 XIII. THE QUEER TRAMP 91 XIV. CAMPING OUT 101 XV. THE MOTOR BOAT MISSING 109 XVI. THE SEARCH 116 XVII. FINDING THE DARTAWAY 126 XVIII. READY FOR A CRUISE 132 XIX. THE STORE ROBBERY 143 XX. OFF TO THE LAKE 153 XXI. THE RACE 161 XXII. THE COLLISION 173 XXIII. THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE 179 XXIV. A QUEER MESSAGE 188 XXV. SEARCHING FOR THE SCHOONER 195 XXVI. THE PIECE OF SILK 203 XXVII. NED AND BOB CAPTURED 214 XXVIII. JERRY'S RETURN 224 XXIX. THE CHASE 230 XXX. CAUGHT--CONCLUSION 237
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
CHAPTER I
WHAT THE POSTMAN BROUGHT
The shrill vibration of the postman's whistle brought Bob Baker to thefront door on the run.
"Only a postal!" he exclaimed as the mail-man handed it to him. "It'sfor me though. Wonder what it is?"
He turned it over and glanced at what seemed to be only a printed formwith, here and there, a word written in.
"What's it all about?" mused Bob.
Carefully he went through the lines of printing and writing. Theyresolved themselves into a notice that at the freight station of theAtlantic & Northern Railroad there was a piece of merchandise shippedfrom the International Gas Engine Company, which article could be hadon application to the freight agent.
"It's our motor boat!" exclaimed Bob. "It's come! Hurrah! I must hurryover and tell Ned and Jerry! Whoop! I'm glad it's Saturday. We can putin the whole day getting the boat from the station. Hurrah!"
"Is anything the matter, Bob?" asked Mrs. Baker, coming to the head ofthe stairs and looking at her son, who, at that instant was standing onhis head in the lower hall.
"Matter? I should say there was, mother!" he cried, jumping to anupright position. "Our motor boat's here!"
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Baker. "Now I suppose you'll be going off oncruises which will be worse than the automobile trips."
"Worse? Better you mean, mother," remarked Bob. "But I must run over toNed's house. Where's my hat?"
"Where did you leave it?"
"I don't know," replied the boy, who seldom could keep track of thehead covering. "Never mind, it's warm, I'll go without it."
He ran from the house into the pleasant spring sunshine, and soon wasracing down the street toward the home of one of his chums, Ned Slade.Reaching there he gave a shrill whistle on his fingers.
"What is it?" asked Ned, poking his head out of a window.
"She's here!" shouted Bob.
"What! Our boat?"
"Sure! Just got a postal from the freight office. Come on, we'll getJerry and have the boat taken to the river. Shiver my timbers, I canhardly wait! Hurry up, Ned!"
Ned needed no urging, and soon the two boys were at Jerry Hopkins'house. He was not home, but his mother told his chums where they couldfind him, and they started off to a neighbor's house, where Jerry hadgone on an errand.
The three boys had gone into partnership in the purchase of a motorboat. They lived in Cresville, Mass. Bob Baker was the son of arich banker, while Ned Slade's father was the proprietor of a largedepartment store. Jerry Hopkins was the son of a well-to-do widow.
The lads had been chums for a number of years, and had been closelyassociated in a series of adventures which began with the purchaseof motor cycles and which were destined to be continued with theacquisition of the motor boat.
As told in the first volume of this series, "The Motor Boys," the threetook part in some bicycle races under the auspices of the CresvilleAthletic Club. They won, but in doing so incurred the enmity of NoddyNixon, a town bully, whose wealth had made him a spoiled son. One ofthe chums won a motor cycle as a prize and, soon after this the otherboys also discarded their bicycles for the more rapid vehicles.
They had many adventures on the motor cycles, in some of which NoddyNixon played a prominent, if a mean part. The boys entered a motorcycle race and were successful, winning the first prize, a bigautomobile touring car. Because of a robbery at a local mill NoddyNixon had to flee from Cresville, running off one night in his father'sautomobile.
In the second book, "The Motor Boys Overland," I told of how Ned, Boband Jerry started west. They had many exciting adventures, being putto considerable trouble by Noddy, who heard of their trip and followedthem. The motor boys got permission from their folks to search for anold mine which a prospector whom they befriended told them of. Theyfound the mine with the help of Jim Nestor, and secured possession,though they had a close race with Nixon, and two of his cronies, JackPender and also Bill Berry, a Cresville ne'er-do-well.
The mine proved to be a rich one, and the shares the boys received wereconsiderable. They arranged to have Jim Nestor work the claim forthem, as he was the largest shareholder, because of having known of themine previously.
But the finding of the mine did not end the adventures of the motorboys. They had picked up on their trip west an old professor, UriahSnodgrass, who had heard of a buried city in Mexico. The boys resolvedto start for that country and got permission to go.
On the way many things occurred, as related in the third book of theseries, "The Motor Boys in Mexico." They had fights with Mexicans, andtheir old enemy Noddy Nixon turned up to bother them. There were fightswith wild animals
The buried city was found most unexpectedly by the auto sinking throughthe earth upon a concealed passageway. There were strange happeningsin the long-lost city, and the professor discovered a valuable box ofjewels.
The young travelers then resolved to make a trip across the prairiesand in the fourth book of the series, called "The Motor Boys Across thePlains," I told of their exciting journey. An old hermit was found whoproved to be the father of a boy that the three chums rescued from adesperate gang. Later the hermit was of much assistance to the motorboys, since the gang was trying to get possession of the mine. Thehermit was one of the original owners of the claim, and through himthe mine was kept in the power of the boys and Nestor. The claim wasfound to be paying better than ever; and, after defeating the gang thatsought to get it, the motor boys came home, having been away a longtime.
Their parents, no less than their friends and relatives in Cresville,were glad to see them, and it took the lads several days to tell oftheir adventures. The mine, the possession of which was kept in a sortof company formed by the boys, their parents and Jim Nestor, paid well,and it was with some of the proceeds that the boys bought a motor boat.
They still kept their automobile, but as they had arrived home in thefall, and as the winter, which soon came, was an unusually severe one,they had little chance to go out in the touring car.
They had resumed their studies, all three of them attending theCresville Academy. It was now the close of May and in another monththey would finish the term.
Ned and Bob hurried to where Mrs. Hopkins had said Jerry could befound. He was just leaving to come home.
"Hey!" called Bob, catching sight of him. "The boat's come, Jerry!"
"Really?"
"Sure! Got a postal! Come on to the freight yard!"
The boys, whose spirits were bubbling over with excitement ran, ratherthan walked, to the freight house. They went up the platform steps byjumps and burst in on the agent, who was busy over waybills.
"Where is it, Mr. Hitter?" gasped Bob.
"Where's what?" asked Mr. Hitter, peering over the tops of his glasses.
"Why our motor boat."
"I don't know nothin' about no motor boats," said the agent, preparingto go on with his work.
The hearts of the boys began to sink. Suppose the boat had been lost inshipment?
"But this postal says it has arrived," persisted Bob showing what theletter carrier had given him.
"Oh that," said Mr. Hitter. "Well, yes, there is a piece of freight asbig as a house addressed to you. But I didn't s'pose it was a boat. Itook it for a specimen of a whale that I thought Professor Snodgrasshad ketched while you an' him was down in Mexico. It's boxed up jestlike a whale. I'll bet it is a whale, Bob."
"Where is it?" cried the boys in chorus.
"Down at th' t'other end of th' platform. But look out it don't biteye! I'll bet it's a shark if 'tain't a whale," and Mr. Hitter chuckledheartily.
The boys raced down the platform. At the end, where it had just beentaken from a flat car, was a long box, measuring about twenty-seven byten, by seven feet. Indeed it did look as if it contained the remainsof some prehistoric monster.
"Hurrah! This is it!" cried Ned, as he read from a paper pasted on thebig box:
"_One motor boat. This side up with care._"
"Get a hammer and we'll unpack it!" cried Bob. "Where's an axe?"
"Now ye'd better go slow, boys," cautioned Mr. Hitter, coming up atthis juncture. "Was ye calalatin' to sail right here from th' depotdown th' main street?"
"That's so, I forgot you have to have water for a boat," spoke Bob,wiping the perspiration from his forehead, for he was quite fat, andthe excitement made him warm.
"You'll have to make haste slowly, Chunky," said Ned, applying to himthe nick-name Bob's chums sometimes used.
"How are we going to get it home?" asked Jerry.
"Can't ye carry it on yer shoulders?" asked Mr. Hitter with a laugh.
"I'll bet it weighs a ton," spoke Bob.
"Nearer two, accordin' t' th' way bill," chimed in the freight agent."Now I tell ye what t' do. Leave it right in th' box. Go off an' gitHen Jaegers, who's got th' biggest truck in town t' cart it t' theriver for ye. Then ye won't damage it. Jest come in an' sign thereceipt an' let Hen do th' rest. If ye carried it yerselves ye mightdrop it, an' damage the spark plug or whatever it is makes it go," andhe laughed again at his joke.
The boys decided this would be the best to do. Bob, to whom the boatwas consigned, put his signature to the receipt, and then the ladshurried to the office of the truckman.
"I wonder if we can try it to-night?" asked Jerry.
"Guess so," put in Ned. "I've been reading the catalog and directionsuntil I know 'em by heart."
"Do you remember when we first got the motor cycles and how one gotgoing and we couldn't stop it?" asked Ned.
"Sure. And when we first got the auto," chimed in Bob.
"That reminds me of something I almost forgot," spoke Jerry. "Did youhear the news?"
"What news?" came from Ned and Bob.
"About Noddy Nixon. He's coming back. His father has fixed everythingup, I understand."
"You don't say so!" exclaimed Ned. "Well, he's got nerve after what hedid to us, trying to rob us of the mine and putting those Mexicans upto kidnap Bob. I'd like to give him a good threshing."
"I'll bet he'll make trouble for us," said Bob. "I'll be worried aboutour motor boat all the while it's on the river, as long as Noddy Nixonis in town."
"Nonsense, he'll not interfere with us any more," came from Jerry.
"Well, I'm no calamity howler," put in Bob, "but I'll bet we are goingto have more trouble with Noddy."
And after events showed that Bob had guessed rightly.