[Illustration:
THE AUTOMOBILES CAME THROUGH SO CLOSE TOGETHER.
_Speedwell Boys and their Racing Auto_ _Page_ 161
]
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The Speedwell Boys
and Their Racing Auto
Or
A Run for the Golden Cup
BY
ROY ROCKWOOD
AUTHOR OF “THE SPEEDWELL BOYS ON MOTORCYCLES,” “THE
DAVE DASHAWAY SERIES,” “THE GREAT
MARVEL SERIES,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOKS FOR BOYS
BY ROY ROCKWOOD
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS SERIES
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS ON MOTORCYCLES
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR RACING AUTO
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR POWER LAUNCH
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS IN A SUBMARINE
THE DAVE DASHAWAY SERIES
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
DAVE DASHAWAY THE YOUNG AVIATOR
DAVE DASHAWAY AND HIS HYDROPLANE
DAVE DASHAWAY AND HIS GIANT AIRSHIP
DAVE DASHAWAY AROUND THE WORLD
THE GREAT MARVEL SERIES
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
THROUGH THE AIR TO THE NORTH POLE
UNDER THE OCEAN TO THE SOUTH POLE
FIVE THOUSAND MILES UNDERGROUND
THROUGH SPACE TO MARS
LOST ON THE MOON
CUPPLES & LEON CO. PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
Copyrighted 1913, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
--------------
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR RACING AUTO
Printed in U. S. A.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE MANŒUVERS OF MAXEY 1
II. DAN SPEEDWELL AT HIS BEST 7
III. MYSTERY OF THE MAROON CAR 14
IV. BILLY ACTS ON IMPULSE 25
V. THE ROBBERY OF THE BANK 32
VI. A FIRST DIFFICULTY 39
VII. THE HAND IN THE DARK 48
VIII. ON WATCH 57
IX. THIEVES IN THE NIGHT 64
X. JOSIAH SOMES ON THE WARPATH 72
XI. ON A HOT TRAIL 79
XII. A GREAT RUN 84
XIII. A SHARP TURN 93
XIV. A FAILURE AND A SUCCESS 99
XV. SECRET SERVICE 105
XVI. INGRATITUDE OF CHANCE AVERY 113
XVII. A FRIEND IN NEED 118
XVIII. ON THE ROAD TO KARNAC LAKE 126
XIX. AN EXCITING RUN 135
XX. ON THE ENDURANCE TEST 145
XXI. THE FIRST TEN HOURS 156
XXII. UNDERHAND WORK 167
XXIII. QUEER ACTIONS OF NO. 41 177
XXIV. AN OBSTACLE RACE 189
XXV. THE CAR AND THE CUP 197
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THE SPEEDWELL BOYS
AND THEIR RACING AUTO
CHAPTER I
THE MANŒUVERS OF MAXEY
“Say, fellows! Look at what’s coming!”
“Oh, my eyes! See him wabble! Why, he’ll be over the wall into the
river, machine and all, if he doesn’t watch out.”
“Say, Dan, did you ever see a fellow run a car as bad as Maxey? If we
didn’t know better we’d think he had a fit,” declared Billy Speedwell,
who sat with his brother, and several of their chums, on a high, grassy
bank overlooking the Colasha River and above the road, a mile or two
below Riverdale.
“He certainly does make a mess of it,” admitted the older Speedwell lad,
gazing down the road, as were his friends, at a drab-painted automobile
which was approaching them.
They were five boys, all members of the Riverdale Outing Club and all
rode motorcycles which just now were leaning, in a row, against the
bank. The chums had come out after school for a short spin into the
country. It was fall, which fact was proven by the brilliant coloring of
the leaves.
Beyond where the Riverdale boys lay on the short turf, and coming toward
them, was the erratically-guided car. The drab racer seldom kept the
middle of the road for a full minute at a time. It actually “wabbled,”
just as Jim Stetson said.
And yet the fellow at the wheel of the machine had been driving it up
and down the roads for nearly three months.
No instruction, and no practice, seemed to avail with Maxey Solomons,
however. His father was one of the richest men in the county, and when
Maxey expressed a wish to own and drive a car, Mr. Solomons made no
objection. Indeed, the wealthy clothing manufacturer seldom thwarted the
least of his son’s desires.
But the drab auto seemed aiming for trouble now. It nearly ran up the
bank on the inner side of the road; then it shifted to the other side
under the manipulation of Maxey at the steering wheel, just grazing the
stone fence that separated the highway at this point from the sheer drop
of fifty feet or more to the bank of the river.
“As sure as you live,” cried Monroe Stevens, “he’ll back over the dump!”
The boys with the motorcycles jumped to their feet the better to watch
the manœuvers of the drab car and its owner. Shaving the stone wall,
Maxey came back into the middle of the road and wabbled along for some
rods toward the group of Riverdale youths.
Suddenly the spectators heard the purring of a fast moving car coming
from the direction of the town. The road was quite straight for a couple
of miles here; but there was a sharp turn behind the group of boys that
hid the approaching car.
They knew it was coming at great speed. No warning was sounded on the
horn as the car approached the turn. The driver of the unknown auto was
very reckless.
Dan Speedwell was first to realize that Maxey Solomons was very likely
to get into much more serious trouble than he was having at the moment,
if the fast motor car swept around the corner upon him without any
warning. It was well known that the only really successful way by which
Maxey could pass any vehicle on the road, was by pulling out to one
side, and stopping until the other machine went by!
Although moving so slowly, the drab car was steadily approaching the
turn in the highway. Maxey was not two hundred yards from where the boys
stood upon the grassy bank.
Knowing that he would only startle Maxey by running toward him, Dan
leaped away in the other direction. He reached the turn in the road and
saw the racing automobile coming in a cloud of dust.
Surely the reckless driver of the machine must slow down to round this
curve. Dan Speedwell could see him plainly—a little, goggled-eyed
fellow, completely disguised in coat and motor-cap, alone in the
driver’s seat.
There were two passengers, however, and Dan knew that they must see him
as he sprang out upon a jutting tree-root, and waved his cap wildly to
attract their attention. One of the men leaned forward and tapped the
chauffeur on the shoulder. He pointed to Dan above them on the bank; but
the boy’s warning motions did not seem to do the least bit of good. The
driver of the madly-running car did not reduce its speed.
On came the racing automobile, and the cloud of dust which traveled with
it flew down to the curve in the road. The driver shifted his wheel and
the machine took the turn on its outer tires, with the others in the
air—Dan could actually see daylight between the wheels and the ground.
The boy saw, too, that it was a heavy touring car; that it was painted
maroon, and that a blanket, or robe was trailing over the back of the
tonneau, fairly dragging in the dust, in fact, and so hiding the plate
on which was the license number.
Without a single blast of the horn the car charged around the bend. The
group of boys on the bank yelled excitedly at Maxey down below. That
erratic youth beheld the maroon car coming and literally “threw up his
hands!”
The road was wide enough so that the racing car could have passed
Maxey’s machine on the outside. But, unfortunately, it had stopped so
that the rear wheels, bearing the larger weight of the car, was on the
outer slope of the roadway, which was rounded to properly shed the
water. The drab car began to run backward. Maxey did not know enough to
put on the brakes.
The few seconds that elapsed after the fast-traveling auto came around
the bend in the road would not have been sufficient for the chauffeur of
that car to stop; and he merely swerved to the outer side of the road,
intending to pass Maxey’s stalled car at full speed.
Maxey himself was immovable with terror at the appearance of the
charging auto. He could not even leap from his seat. And when his own
car began to run backward, directly into the path of the other machine,
young Solomons only opened his mouth to emit a yell.
The drab car ran back into the shallow gutter. The stone wall behind it
needed some repairs, several of the top layer of stones having fallen
into the chasm below the road. This left the barrier at the spot
scarcely eighteen inches high.
The unguided motor car ran back until its rear wheels came against this
broken wall. The chauffeur of the maroon automobile swerved his car
again, but only slightly. His heavier machine, running fast, charged
down upon poor Maxey and his car like a huge battering-ram.
There was nothing the boys on the bank could do to save Maxey, or his
car. And, at that late moment, there was little the wheelman of the
maroon car could do to avert the catastrophe. His reckless driving of
his machine made it impossible for him to stop in time.
The collision stopped Maxey’s cry of fright in the middle. The lighter
car was flung up and backward by the swiftly moving and heavier touring
automobile. The latter passed on in a flash, and practically unharmed.
The drab car was flung over the low stone wall and, upside down, with
the cushions and other gear raining from it, dropped into space.