[Illustration: “SAFE!” CRIED JERRY, AND THERE WAS A BREATH OF RELIEF
FROM ALL ON BOARD.]
THE MOTOR BOYS
OVER THE OCEAN
Or
A Marvelous Rescue in Mid-Air
BY
CLARENCE YOUNG
AUTHOR OF “THE MOTOR BOYS,” “THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT,” “THE
MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS,” “JACK RANGER’S SCHOOL DAYS,”
“JACK RANGER’S TREASURE BOX,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
BOOKS BY CLARENCE YOUNG
=THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES=
(_=Trade Mark Reg. U. S. Pat. Office=_)
12mo. Illustrated
Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid
THE MOTOR BOYS
THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND
THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC
THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC
THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
=THE JACK RANGER SERIES=
12mo. Finely Illustrated.
Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid
JACK RANGER’S SCHOOLDAYS
JACK RANGER’S WESTERN TRIP
JACK RANGER’S SCHOOL VICTORIES
JACK RANGER’S OCEAN CRUISE
JACK RANGER’S GUN CLUB
JACK RANGER’S TREASURE BOX
Copyright, 1911, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. NED IS WORRIED 1
II. NEWS OF MR. JACKSON 14
III. THE PROFESSOR’S QUEST 20
IV. NODDY NIXON MAKES TROUBLE 28
V. “STUNG!” 38
VI. AN UNLUCKY BLOWOUT 48
VII. A SURPRISED INTRUDER 53
VIII. A DISAPPOINTMENT 68
IX. GETTING EVEN 77
X. REBUILDING THE COMET 88
XI. ON THE WATER 94
XII. IN PERIL 105
XIII. OFF TO THE MEET 111
XIV. A PRECARIOUS POSITION 117
XV. BOMBARDED WITH ROCKETS 121
XVI. AN ANGRY FARMER 128
XVII. HELD PRISONERS 134
XVIII. THE ESCAPE 141
XIX. AT THE BALLOON MEET 148
XX. MR. JACKSON IS GONE 155
XXI. A MESSAGE FOR HELP 159
XXII. TO THE RESCUE 166
XXIII. OVER THE OCEAN 176
XXIV. IN THE HURRICANE 184
XXV. A CLEW 193
XXVI. THE WRECK 204
XXVII. ATTACKED BY A WHALE 211
XXVIII. THE SINGING FISH 217
XXIX. THE UNCONSCIOUS CREW 223
XXX. THE RESCUE--CONCLUSION 228
PREFACE
DEAR BOYS:
It hardly seems possible that I have written as many as eleven volumes
of this series, yet such is the case. The present book is just one
short of a dozen, and if you are pleased with this, perhaps I shall be
encouraged to write the twelfth book.
As for the present volume, I have endeavored to give you in it a
stirring account of what happened to Jerry, Ned and Bob after they had
started out on an apparently simple errand to see a certain man.
Ned Slade’s father was in business trouble, and the lad and his
friends volunteered to ask aid from a Mr. Jackson. They started out
to find him, only to learn that he had gone to a balloon carnival, as
he was interested in air craft. The boys went to the aviation meet,
and arrived just as Mr. Jackson went up in his big dirigible balloon.
Instead of coming back, as he was expected to do, the millionaire sent
a wireless message stating that he and his friends were being blown
out to sea in a hurricane.
He asked for help, and our heroes, in their airship, the _Comet_,
started out over the ocean to the rescue. How they accomplished it,
the perils they ran, the dangers from the escaping gas, and how they
brought Mr. Jackson and his unconscious crew over a narrow plank, high
above the ocean, into their own craft, you will find told of in this
book.
I venture to hope that you will like this book as well as you have
those in the past, for that will encourage me to write others for you.
Sincerely yours,
CLARENCE YOUNG.
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
CHAPTER I
NED IS WORRIED
“Well, Chunky, what do you think of the idea?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Jerry. It seems as if it might be a good one, but
we’ve got a fine air-ship now, and it would be a pity to spoil it.”
“Who said anything about spoiling it?” demanded Jerry Hopkins, in
rather indignant tones, as he looked across the table at his chum, Bob
Baker, whose stoutness had gained him the nickname of Chunky. “Who
wants to spoil the _Comet_, you old calamity howler?”
“Well, aren’t you talking of ripping it apart and putting some
new-fangled attachment on it? I say let well enough alone.”
“Say, if everybody was like you, Bob, there wouldn’t be much done in
this world. ‘Let well enough alone!’ If Columbus had said that, America
would never have been discovered.”
“Oh, get out!”
“No, I’ll not. Here I come and propose a good improvement for our
air-ship, something that will make it possible to do stunts over water,
and you sit down on it!”
“What, sit on the water?” asked Bob, with a mischievous grin. “You know
I never was much good at floating, Jerry.”
“Oh, cut it out! Now be serious if it’s possible. Honestly, what do you
think of the idea? Look at the illustration there. It shows a fellow
in an aeroplane getting his start on the water instead of on land, and
rising up in the air. The article says that by means of the hydroplanes
it is possible for an aeroplane to also land on the water and float.
Now what I want to do is to attach hydroplanes to our _Comet_. How
about it?”
“Gee! Anybody’d think you were delivering a lecture on aeronautics,
Jerry! But, as I said, I don’t know what to say. You sprang this thing
on me so suddenly. I’d like a chance to think it over.”
“Think it over! Why, it oughtn’t to take long to decide on a feature
like this. Our air-ship is old-fashioned now. We’ve had it quite a
while, and you know there has been a big advance made among the birdmen
lately. Hydroplanes are the latest idea, and I say we ought to put
them on the _Comet_, and also make other improvements. But I can’t do
it unless you and Ned agree, as we each own a third interest in our
air-ship.”
“That’s so. I wonder where Ned is?” and Bob looked out of the window,
hoping he might see the third member of the motor boys’ trio. “Didn’t
you meet him on your way over to my house, Jerry?”
“No. I stopped for him, but his mother said he was down at his father’s
department store. Say, I shouldn’t be surprised but what there was some
trouble in the Slade family, Bob.”
“Why?” asked the stout youth, his attention temporarily taken off the
subject of air-ships by the serious tone in which his chum spoke. “What
makes you think that, Jerry?”
“Because Mrs. Slade looked worried, and, come to think of it, Ned
hasn’t been around much with us lately. He’s been down in the store a
number of nights, helping his father on the books, he said. I shouldn’t
be a bit surprised if there was some trouble in the business.”
“I hope not. But I wish Ned were here to help settle this question.”
“It won’t take long to settle it when he does come,” retorted Jerry,
rising and going over to the window, where he could get a better light
on a magazine he had brought so that he too might show his chum some
new ideas regarding air navigation. “I know Ned will agree with me,”
went on the tall lad, “and you will be the obstructing party.”
“Well, large bodies move slowly, you know, Jerry. It takes me some
time to make up my mind. Just what do you want to do to the _Comet_,
anyhow? Put in a new steam-heating apparatus, or add a gymnasium, and
shower-baths, and elevators?”
“Oh, don’t get funny, Bob! I’m serious. What I want to do is to add
the hydroplane feature. That’s the biggest improvement, though there
are several smaller ones to be put in. But it won’t be much work to
attach the hydroplanes. All we need to do is to build on some air-tight
floats, or boxes, which will do on the water exactly what the bicycle
wheels of an aeroplane do on land--support it. Then, in case we have an
accident, say over the ocean, we can just drop down, and float until we
make repairs. Or, for that matter we can swim along on the water.”
“Why, you don’t expect to go over the ocean, do you?”
“No, but you never can tell what you want to do,” declared Jerry, “and
the hydroplanes might be very useful some day.”
The time was to come, and that not far distant, when Jerry’s prediction
was to bear fruit.
“Well, I’m not in favor of ripping the good old _Comet_ too much
apart,” declared Bob firmly. “She carried us many a mile, and did good
service. Why, look at all we did in her. Look what a help she was in
rescuing those poor people from the valley, when Professor Snodgrass
got his flying lizard.”
“That’s all true, but if we have a motor-ship that can go on the water,
the professor can get a flying fish, or something like that, in case he
goes along with us on the next trip.”
“Oh, he’ll go all right enough,” spoke Bob, with a laugh. “Dear old
professor! We wouldn’t know how to get along without him, though he
sometimes does the oddest things.”
“You’re getting away from the main discussion,” said Jerry. “What about
making the changes?”
“I’m not exactly in favor of them!” remarked Bob, after a moment’s
thought. “The _Comet_ was always good enough for us as she is, and why
change her?”
“Oh, you and your ‘good enough’!” burst out Jerry. “Why don’t you have
some progressive spirit in you?”
“I have, only I don’t want to spoil a good thing and----”
“Hello! Here comes Ned, now!” interrupted Jerry, looking out on the
porch, the steps of which a youth was at that moment ascending.
“Well, we’ll see what he says,” remarked Bob. “I’ll wager that he’ll
agree with me.”
“No, he’ll say that I’m right,” came from Jerry. “I’ll let him in.”
Jerry was so eager to hear what the new-comer would say, and Bob,
because of his fleshy build, was so slow in getting up that the tall
lad was at the front door before the young host had reached the portal,
and had admitted Ned Slade.
“Just in time, Ned!” greeted Jerry. “You have the deciding vote.”
“What about?” asked Ned, and his chums were at once aware of a change
in his manner. He spoke listlessly, and as if he was little interested.
He seemed tired out, too, as if he had been working too hard, and yet
it was only the beginning of the summer vacation.
“It’s about our motor-ship,” began Jerry.
“He wants to cut her all up, put on racing skates, or water shoes, or
something like that, and add a lot of improvements,” broke in Bob, with
a grin at his tall chum.
“Hydroplanes! hydroplanes! not water shoes, you old backwoodsman!”
cried Jerry. “Here, Ned, let me explain,” and with that the tall lad
launched into a lively description of the proposed changes, with Bob
interrupting every now and then with an objection, or with some queer
comment.
While the boys are thus engaged, I will take a moment to tell you
something about them, for, though many of my readers are well
acquainted with the motor lads, some of my new friends may never have
been introduced to them.
The three chums were Jerry Hopkins, son of a widow, Mrs. Julia Hopkins;
Bob Baker, whose father, Mr. Andrew Baker, was a wealthy banker; and
Ned Slade, son of Aaron Slade, proprietor of a large department store.
The chums lived in Cresville, not far from Boston, and they had gained
the title “Motor Boys” from the fact that they had been associated
with motor vehicles for a long time.
Their early adventures on bicycles were told of in the first volume of
this series, entitled, “The Motor Boys.” Later they got motor-cycles,
and soon after that an automobile. In this machine they made a long
trip overland, taking with them a certain Professor Uriah Snodgrass,
a learned scientist, who was always searching for some queer bug,
reptile, or butterfly.
The boys went to Mexico, discovered a buried city, and returned across
the plains, and later they purchased a motor-boat.
In this fine craft, named the _Dartaway_, they had many adventures,
not a few of which are set down in the fifth volume of the series
called “The Motor Boys Afloat.” They made a long trip on the Atlantic,
and during the following vacation had some surprising adventures in
the Everglades of Florida. Some time later they made a voyage on the
Pacific ocean in search of a mysterious derelict. On this and on other
trips they had much trouble from a bully, Noddy Nixon, and his crony,
Bill Berry.
By this time the conquest of the air was well under way, and it might
have been expected that our heroes would take part in it. They built
an air-ship, with the aid of a Mr. Glassford, and a wonderful craft
it was. Christened the _Comet_, their motor-ship was a combination of
a dirigible balloon and an aeroplane. That is, there was a gas bag,
which alone would support the machine in air, and there were also side
planes, which were of service in case of accident to the gas bag.
In the book called “The Motor Boys in the Clouds,” the air-ship is
fully described, so I will not take up space here to give the details
of its construction. Sufficient to say that it was capable of long
flights; it had a powerful motor and other machinery, and there was a
roomy cabin in which the travellers of the air could live in comfort.
Large propellers enabled the _Comet_ to travel at a good speed.
Aboard her the boys had some exciting times, and in the book named “The
Motor Boys Over the Rockies,” they were the means of rescuing a party
of white men and women who had long been held in captivity by a band of
Indians.
Returning from this trip, on which they were accompanied by Professor
Snodgrass, our friends resumed their studies, and, now that winter was
over, and vacation at hand, they were planning for new adventures.
As has just been told, Jerry Hopkins had called on his chum Bob to
propose certain changes in the _Comet_.
“Well, what do you think of my scheme?” asked the widow’s son, as he
finished explaining to Ned.
“Oh, I don’t know,” was Ned’s rather listless answer.
“Oh, for cats’ sake!” cried Jerry. “Don’t be as Bob was! Say something,
even if you don’t agree with me. If both of you are down on the idea,
that settles it, and we’ll leave the _Comet_ as she is.”
“That’s what I say!” remarked Bob.
“Let’s hear what Ned has to propose,” suggested the tall lad. He looked
at his other chum, but Ned appeared strangely indifferent. He sat
looking out of the window, his thoughts apparently elsewhere.
“Well, what about it, Ned?” asked Jerry, after a pause.
“About what?” inquired Ned, with a start.
“Why, this air-ship!” exclaimed Jerry, in some surprise. “Haven’t you
been listening to what I’ve said?”
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t paid much attention,” admitted Ned.
“What’s the matter?” demanded Bob. “Are you in trouble, Ned?”
“Well, no, not exactly,” and Ned spoke slowly. “That is, _I’m_ not,
but dad---- Oh, I forgot. I’m not supposed to tell,” and once more Ned
gazed gloomily out of the window.
“Look here, Ned,” spoke Jerry softly. “I didn’t mean to inflict this
talk on you when you’ve got other things to think about.”
“Oh, that’s all right, Jerry.”
“And if there’s anything Bob or I can do----”
“Of course,” broke in the fat lad. “Can’t we help you, Ned?”
“Well, I don’t know. Dad doesn’t want it talked about, though it’s
bound to come out soon, anyhow, I guess. If I tell you fellows it won’t
go any further, will it?”
“Of course not!” exclaimed Jerry and Bob together.
“I needn’t have asked that; I might have known it wouldn’t,” said Ned.
“Well, the truth of it is that dad’s business is in bad shape.”
“Do you mean that he is going to fail?” asked Jerry.
“Well, it might amount to that, though we hope to stave it off. I’ve
been helping him on his books lately, that’s what makes me so tired.
I’ve been up late for several nights. The business is in fairly good
shape, and can be made better if we could do certain things.”
“What are they?” asked Bob.
“It’s too complicated to go much into detail over,” explained Ned,
“but, in brief, it’s this: Certain opposition to dad’s department-store
business is being organized by a powerful syndicate. Now, if dad could
get the help and co-operation of a certain man, everything would be all
right.”
“Who is the man?” asked Jerry.
“His name is Mr. Wescott Jackson. He once was in great trouble, and my
father aided him. Dad knows that if he could get into communication
with this man he would be only too glad to help him, lend him his
influence, and all that, and then the business wouldn’t suffer.”
“Well, why doesn’t he ask aid of this Mr. Jackson, then, Ned?” inquired
Jerry.
“He’d be only too glad to, but he can’t locate him. And, another thing,
dad’s enemies are interested in keeping Mr. Jackson away from father.
That is, they don’t want dad to get word to him of his trouble. So that
complicates matters. If I could only talk to Mr. Jackson, and get his
signature to certain documents, everything would be all right.”
“Well, why can’t you?” asked Bob.
“I don’t know where to look for Mr. Jackson.”
“Say! we’ve done harder things than that!” cried Jerry suddenly.
“What’s the matter with the three of us having a hunt for this Mr.
Jackson? Can’t we aid you, Ned?”
“I only wish you could.”
“We can!” declared the tall youth, with energy. “Bob--Ned! We’ll let
the air-ship go for a while, and we’ll devote all our energies to
finding Mr. Jackson. What do you say, Bob?”
“I’m with you from the drop of the hat!”
“Good! Then, Ned, you can consider that your father’s troubles, and
yours, too, are in a fair way to be settled when the Motor Boys get on
the trail,” and the tall lad clapped his chum on the back with hearty
good-will.