[Illustration: 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 the
front door on the run.
“Only a postal!” he exclaimed as the mail-man handed it to him. “It’s
for me though. Wonder what it is?”
He turned it over and glanced at what seemed to be only a printed form
with, here and there, a word written in.
“What’s it all about?” mused Bob.
Carefully he went through the lines of printing and writing. They
resolved themselves into a notice that at the freight station of the
Atlantic & Northern Railroad there was a piece of merchandise shipped
from the International Gas Engine Company, which article could be had
on application to the freight agent.
“It’s our motor boat!” exclaimed Bob. “It’s come! Hurrah! I must hurry
over and tell Ned and Jerry! Whoop! I’m glad it’s Saturday. We can put
in the whole day getting the boat from the station. Hurrah!”
“Is anything the matter, Bob?” asked Mrs. Baker, coming to the head of
the stairs and looking at her son, who, at that instant was standing on
his head in the lower hall.
“Matter? I should say there was, mother!” he cried, jumping to an
upright position. “Our motor boat’s here!”
“Oh dear!” exclaimed Mrs. Baker. “Now I suppose you’ll be going off on
cruises which will be worse than the automobile trips.”
“Worse? Better you mean, mother,” remarked Bob. “But I must run over to
Ned’s house. Where’s my hat?”
“Where did you leave it?”
“I don’t know,” replied the boy, who seldom could keep track of the
head covering. “Never mind, it’s warm, I’ll go without it.”
He ran from the house into the pleasant spring sunshine, and soon was
racing 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 get
Jerry and have the boat taken to the river. Shiver my timbers, I can
hardly 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 could
find him, and they started off to a neighbor’s house, where Jerry had
gone on an errand.
The three boys had gone into partnership in the purchase of a motor
boat. They lived in Cresville, Mass. Bob Baker was the son of a
rich banker, while Ned Slade’s father was the proprietor of a large
department 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 closely
associated in a series of adventures which began with the purchase
of motor cycles and which were destined to be continued with the
acquisition of the motor boat.
As told in the first volume of this series, “The Motor Boys,” the three
took part in some bicycle races under the auspices of the Cresville
Athletic Club. They won, but in doing so incurred the enmity of Noddy
Nixon, a town bully, whose wealth had made him a spoiled son. One of
the chums won a motor cycle as a prize and, soon after this the other
boys also discarded their bicycles for the more rapid vehicles.
They had many adventures on the motor cycles, in some of which Noddy
Nixon played a prominent, if a mean part. The boys entered a motor
cycle race and were successful, winning the first prize, a big
automobile touring car. Because of a robbery at a local mill Noddy
Nixon had to flee from Cresville, running off one night in his father’s
automobile.
In the second book, “The Motor Boys Overland,” I told of how Ned, Bob
and Jerry started west. They had many exciting adventures, being put
to considerable trouble by Noddy, who heard of their trip and followed
them. The motor boys got permission from their folks to search for an
old mine which a prospector whom they befriended told them of. They
found the mine with the help of Jim Nestor, and secured possession,
though they had a close race with Nixon, and two of his cronies, Jack
Pender and also Bill Berry, a Cresville ne’er-do-well.
The mine proved to be a rich one, and the shares the boys received were
considerable. They arranged to have Jim Nestor work the claim for
them, as he was the largest shareholder, because of having known of the
mine previously.
But the finding of the mine did not end the adventures of the motor
boys. They had picked up on their trip west an old professor, Uriah
Snodgrass, who had heard of a buried city in Mexico. The boys resolved
to start for that country and got permission to go.
On the way many things occurred, as related in the third book of the
series, “The Motor Boys in Mexico.” They had fights with Mexicans, and
their old enemy Noddy Nixon turned up to bother them. There were fights
with wild animals and reptiles, and by a plot between Noddy and some
rascally Mexicans, Bob was captured, but later got away.
The buried city was found most unexpectedly by the auto sinking through
the earth upon a concealed passageway. There were strange happenings
in the long-lost city, and the professor discovered a valuable box of
jewels.
The young travelers then resolved to make a trip across the prairies
and in the fourth book of the series, called “The Motor Boys Across the
Plains,” I told of their exciting journey. An old hermit was found who
proved to be the father of a boy that the three chums rescued from a
desperate gang. Later the hermit was of much assistance to the motor
boys, since the gang was trying to get possession of the mine. The
hermit was one of the original owners of the claim, and through him
the mine was kept in the power of the boys and Nestor. The claim was
found to be paying better than ever; and, after defeating the gang that
sought to get it, the motor boys came home, having been away a long
time.
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 of
their adventures. The mine, the possession of which was kept in a sort
of 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 the
fall, 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 the
Cresville Academy. It was now the close of May and in another month
they would finish the term.
Ned and Bob hurried to where Mrs. Hopkins had said Jerry could be
found. 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, rather
than walked, to the freight house. They went up the platform steps by
jumps 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, preparing
to go on with his work.
The hearts of the boys began to sink. Suppose the boat had been lost in
shipment?
“But this postal says it has arrived,” persisted Bob showing what the
letter carrier had given him.
“Oh that,” said Mr. Hitter. “Well, yes, there is a piece of freight as
big as a house addressed to you. But I didn’t s’pose it was a boat. I
took it for a specimen of a whale that I thought Professor Snodgrass
had ketched while you an’ him was down in Mexico. It’s boxed up jest
like 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 bite
ye! I’ll bet it’s a shark if ’tain’t a whale,” and Mr. Hitter chuckled
heartily.
The boys raced down the platform. At the end, where it had just been
taken from a flat car, was a long box, measuring about twenty-seven by
ten, by seven feet. Indeed it did look as if it contained the remains
of some prehistoric monster.
“Hurrah! This is it!” cried Ned, as he read from a paper pasted on the
big 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 at
this juncture. “Was ye calalatin’ to sail right here from th’ depot
down 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, and
the excitement made him warm.
“You’ll have to make haste slowly, Chunky,” said Ned, applying to him
the 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’ git
Hen Jaegers, who’s got th’ biggest truck in town t’ cart it t’ the
river for ye. Then ye won’t damage it. Jest come in an’ sign the
receipt an’ let Hen do th’ rest. If ye carried it yerselves ye might
drop it, an’ damage the spark plug or whatever it is makes it go,” and
he laughed again at his joke.
The boys decided this would be the best to do. Bob, to whom the boat
was consigned, put his signature to the receipt, and then the lads
hurried 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 directions
until I know ’em by heart.”
“Do you remember when we first got the motor cycles and how one got
going 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 you
hear the news?”
“What news?” came from Ned and Bob.
“About Noddy Nixon. He’s coming back. His father has fixed everything
up, I understand.”
“You don’t say so!” exclaimed Ned. “Well, he’s got nerve after what he
did to us, trying to rob us of the mine and putting those Mexicans up
to 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 about
our motor boat all the while it’s on the river, as long as Noddy Nixon
is 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 going
to have more trouble with Noddy.”
And after events showed that Bob had guessed rightly.