STARTING
As soon as the sun was up the boys were at work The first job was to
remove the old motors to make place for the new. This was a dirty,
greasy job but not hard. The nuts holding the motors to the
solidly-built bed were unscrewed and the motors were carried out and
stored in a corner of the big warehouse where the aged docktender had
offered to keep an eye on them until the boys got back from their trip.
But the placing of the new motor was more of an undertaking. Strong as
they were, the boys could not lift it aboard.
"We will have to have help and plenty of it," Clay declared, after they
had twice made the attempt and failed. "Of course we could get a plank
and block and tackle and get it aboard, but if the rope or board slipped
just a little bit it would go through the bottom of the _Rambler_ as
though the boards were made of paper. Then I can see now that the engine
bed has got to be fixed. It's too narrow for this new motor. Now I've
got a few more things to buy, so I'll run up town and get them. I'll
stop on my way up and send down a couple of good carpenters with plenty
of hard wood to fix up that engine bed right. Then when I come down,
I'll bring four or five good husky men along with me and we'll have that
motor in its place in no time."
He was not gone long before the two carpenters came down bearing their
tools and several blocks of oak. The engine hold was a close place to
work in, but they made good progress and soon had fitted in a new bed
smooth and level to fit the new engine. They had just finished their job
when Clay appeared, followed by a loaded wagon and four big strapping
Irishmen.
With the aid of the Irishmen, and the help of the carpenters who had
remained to watch, the motor was lowered down onto the new bed. This
done, it only remained to fasten it down with six big bolts and connect
the engine up with the shaft. A few minutes sufficed for this. Clay paid
the Irishmen and the carpenters double wages for the time they had
worked and they departed well pleased with their few hours' labor.
The boys then turned to the task of stowing the load the wagon had
brought down. Part of this consisted of three barrels of kerosene, two
of which they emptied into the _Rambler_'s tank, the third was placed up
on the forward deck. The boxes and packages were taken below and their
contents emptied into the lockers. "We haven't got space for a hundred
pounds more stuff," Alex announced when they finished. "We are just
about filled up."
"We are ready to start right now," said Clay with satisfaction, "but of
course we cannot go until tomorrow's freight, and we can not go without
Ike. I saw him this morning and he said he would be down tonight--likely
would get down in time for supper. What do you say, boys, if we take a
little spin just to try out our new motor and see if there's anything
the matter with it. Turn on the oil at the tank, Alex, and then both of
you stand by to cast off when I give the word."
The boys obeyed quickly, eager for the test, while Clay went back and
fussed with the motor. Case and Alex waited long by the mooring lines
for the signal to let go, but it did not come.
"Can't you start it?" Alex at last shouted impatiently.
"Sure," replied Clay, coolly. "I could start it right off, but it would
be ruined in ten minutes without petting it up a little first. I've been
filling up grease cups, putting oil in the lubricating tanks, and oiling
up the working parts. You've got to watch those things closely with this
kind of a motor or it will run hot and melt away its bearings. But I am
about to start now. As soon as she starts throw off the lines, and you,
Case, take the wheel."
In a moment there came a series of sharp explosions from the engine
room. The boys cast off the lines and Case jumped back to the wheel. The
_Rambler_ backed slowly away from the wharf. As soon as she was clear of
the pier, Clay reversed the engine and the _Rambler_ was headed up
stream.
Clay remained in the engine pit tuning up his new charge, trying it out
slowly like a new race horse, striving to bring each working part into
harmony with its fellows, now turning on a little more oil, or a little
more air, again screwing down for less oil and increasing the air; his
keen ear attuned to the throb of the exhaust whose varying notes told
the story of the changes his tinkering had wrought. It was stuffy in the
engine hold and once he raised his head above the coaming for a deep
breath of fresh air. He grinned at the scraps of conversation that
floated back to him from up forward.
"The _Rambler_ don't go like she used to go," Case was saying, gloomily,
"every craft on the stream is passing us. Look at that Vixen behind. She
is creeping right up on us now and the _Rambler_ used to make two miles
to her one."
"Yes," Alex agreed, dejectedly. "Clay has handed us a lemon all right.
It has turned the _Rambler_ into a floating hearse. Well, he meant it
for the best and we must not show our disappointment. He'll feel bad
enough about it himself when he finds out the mistake he made."
"Sure, there's to be no roasting of Clay," Case agreed, heartily. "He's
the best one of us three."
Clay, still grinning, dropped down again into the hold and resumed his
tinkering with air and oil tubes. He straightened up at last, and gave a
sigh of satisfaction as his ear caught a new note in the throbbing
exhaust, a low, mellow throb, throb, throb, regular and even. He had at
last secured the right mixture of oil and air for the motor. He filed
little notches on the air and oil cocks so that in the future the proper
adjustments of air and oil could be made at a moment's notice. This
done, he climbed out of the hold and made his way forward.
"Well, how's she doing?" he asked of the downcast two.
Alex tried to answer brightly. "She seems to go a wee mite slower than
she used to, but maybe she'll do better when the new engine gets
limbered up a bit."
"It feels dandy to be out in the _Rambler_ once more, doesn't it?" put
in Case, hurriedly.
Clay turned aside to hide his grin. "Isn't that the Dingbat coming down
on us from ahead?" Didn't we used to be able to outrun her?"
"No, she always used to beat us a little," Alex said, gloomily.
"Well, it's time we were turning back anyway," Clay observed. "When she
gets past you, Case, turn around and follow her." He walked back to the
hold grinning at the scraps of conversation that followed him.
"Think of him wanting to race the Dingbat, with this one-mule water
wagon."
"And the Dingbat is one of the swiftest motor boats around here."
"Think of our hoping that he would tumble to his mistake by degrees and
not get so rough a jar."
"Well, he had to know it some time. He isn't quite blind."
Clay reached the hold and dropping down into it, stood with head above
the hatch coaming watching. He saw the Dingbat sweep past like an arrow,
and Case, obedient to order, swing the _Rambler_ around in slow, clumsy
pursuit. Then he reached down to the motor and shoving over the lever to
make a quicker spark, turned on a little more oil and air. He could feel
the _Rambler_ leap forward as he clambered out of the hold and walked
forward.
The boys' faces were a study. Case, his mouth wide open, was handling
the wheel and gazing ahead at the great foamy waves parting away from
the bow.
Alex, leaning over the side, was watching the foam slip by while
amazement and surprise stood out on his freckled face. "Clay," he
shouted, "pinch me and see if I'm asleep or just plain crazy. Five
minutes ago I was in a hearse, and now I'm in a flying machine."
"Oh, she isn't flying yet, laughed Clay. "She's only just getting off
the ground. Face around and have a good look at the Dingbat."
The _Rambler_ swept past the Dingbat like a trolley car past a loaded
wagon. The Dingbat's captain in assumed rage, rose to his feet and shook
his fist at them as they swept by."
"Look here," he shouted. "I'm willing to race any motor boat around
these parts, but I'll be hanged if I'll match my boat against a
hydroplane."
"Want more speed, Case?" Clay inquired. "I've only got three-fourths of
the power turned on."
"More speed?" yelled Case as he nearly swamped a passing row boat with
the high waves which the _Rambler_'s bows sent rolling away from her.
"More power?" he repeated, when the curses heaped on him by the row
boat's crew had died away behind. "The balance of the power would drive
her under water, loaded as she is."
"No," Alex grinned. "It would send all the water in the South Branch
clean up into the city in a series of tidal waves."
Clay prudently set the timer at half speed. They made the run back to
the dock in less than half the time it had taken them to go. The boys
were jubilant over the motor.
"I'll bet she made 18 miles an hour on that first sprint," Alex exulted.
"Under full power and laden light, I am sure we can get twenty-two miles
an hour out of her," Case said, confidently.
They found the two applicants for passage waiting on the wharf. "Hallo,"
said the big man heartily. "We come as we said we would. This is my
partner. Partner Bill, and a right good partner too he is. Me and him
have been partners for a right smart number of years. Ain't we, Bill?"
"Yes, Jed, but don't talk too much," growled Bill, who, though smaller
than his partner, was a man of powerful build and heavily muscled,
unlike Jed, however, his hands were dirty and his face bore the stamp of
every evil passion.
"All right, Bill," said Jed, good-naturedly. "I guess this chap,"
indicating Case," told you fellows about the talk I had with him
yesterday."
"Haven't I seen you two somewhere before?" Clay demanded before Alex or
Case could reply.
Bill looked startled and Jed shifted his feet uneasily before he
answered. "You might have seen us somewhere," he admitted, slowly. "We
have been in Chicago all winter doing odd jobs to keep our bodies and
souls together, 'till the spring thaw. Yes, you may have seen us working
somewhere."
"It was last fall at Ike's news stand on the corner I first saw you,"
Clay spoke slowly and watched the two faces. Jed squirmed uneasily but
the other came promptly to the rescue.
"That's where it was," he exclaimed. "We was strangers to the city and
we stopped there to ask some directions, and had a right pleasant chat
with the boy before we left."
"And I saw you there again," Clay continued.
"Like as not," interrupted the other. "We have hung around the stand a
good deal this winter and Ike and us got to be real good friends."
"Yes, you seemed mighty good friends the last time I saw you together,"
Clay said, dryly. "It was only a couple of afternoons ago and you two
were trying to rough house Ike and you might have done it too, if I
hadn't seen the fracas and called the police."
Bill seemed at a loss for an answer for a second and then his reckless
air came back. "We wasn't going to hurt him none--just scare him. We
asked him for a dime to get a bowl of soup, 'cause we were nearly
starved, and that miserable whining Jew----"
"Stop right there," Alex commanded. "Ike is a Jew but he is not
miserable and he is not whining. He is manly and straight. He is one of
our best friends and he is coming down this evening to go on this trip
with us."
Clay had shook his head vigorously at Alex but the boy would not be
stopped until he said what he had to say.
The effect on the two men was amazing. Anger and evil passions played
over Bill's face like black clouds over a murky sky. Even Jed's
good-humored countenance became downcast and troubled.
"Come on, partner," he said, plucking at Bill's sleeve. "They don't want
you an' me here. Let's go and try somewhere else."
Bill, with a string of oaths on his lips, suffered him to lead him off
the end of the dock where he turned and shook his clenched fist at the
boys on the _Rambler_.
"He would sure be a nice one to have along on a trip," Alex grinned.
"I'd be afraid to go to sleep for fear I'd wake up murdered."
"I'm sorry you told them Ike was going with us," Clay said severely. "If
he had wanted them to know he would have told them, but he didn't. You
could see that by their faces when you blurted it out. Well, it's done
now and can't be helped. It's your turn to cook dinner, Case. After it
is over, I'll show you both how to run the new motor. It's very simple.
You'll soon be able to handle it."