[Illustration: cover]
[Illustration: THE TRAVELERS SAW BELOW THEM A LONG NARROW VALLEY]
THE MOTOR BOYS
OVER THE ROCKIES
Or
A Mystery of the Air
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=
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 MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
Or A Mystery of the Air
=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, 1911, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE AIRSHIP STOLEN 1
II. AN UNCONSCIOUS WATCHMAN 11
III. ON A MYSTERIOUS TRAIL 17
IV. A FARMER’S CLEW 28
V. THE TELEGRAM 41
VI. THE AIRSHIP RECOVERED 51
VII. A TRACE OF MR. BELL 63
VIII. HOME IN THE AIRSHIP 71
IX. PROFESSOR SNODGRASS ON HAND 79
X. OFF FOR THE WEST 88
XI. A TOWN IN TROUBLE 95
XII. NEW USE FOR AN AIRSHIP 103
XIII. RUNNING THE CABLE 110
XIV. THE PROFESSOR IS MISSING 117
XV. AT THE MINING CAMP 123
XVI. THE MINER’S STORY 131
XVII. NODDY NIXON ARRIVES 139
XVIII. OFF FOR LOST VALLEY 146
XIX. WRECKED ON THE DESERT 156
XX. A LION IN POSSESSION 163
XXI. MR. BELL IS FOUND 172
XXII. OVER LOST VALLEY 183
XXIII. THE FLICKERING LIGHTS 195
XXIV. BUSHES OF DEATH 201
XXV. THE PROFESSOR’S COUSIN 208
XXVI. PLANNING THE ESCAPE 216
XXVII. IN DISGUISE 222
XXVIII. MYSTERIOUS RITES 227
XXIX. THE FIGHT 234
XXX. NODDY NIXON DEFEATED--CONCLUSION 240
THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
CHAPTER I
THE AIRSHIP STOLEN
“Well, we ought to settle this question about our vacations, one way or
another, fellows,” remarked a tall, good-looking lad, with something
of an air of worriment, as he glanced at his two comrades who were
stretched out in the shade of a big maple tree one hot afternoon. He
plucked some blades of grass from the well-kept lawn, that extended
back to a large, white house, with big pillars, put the spears of green
into his mouth, and chewed them reflectively. Then he added: “Why can’t
you and Chunky agree, Ned? What’s the use of disputing? It’s too hot.”
“Of course it is,” answered the smaller of the two lads thus addressed.
“Hot nothing!” puffed the stout youth, whom the first speaker had
called “Chunky” in tribute to his fleshiness. “It’s only hot because
you imagine it, Ned Slade.”
“Bob says that because he wants to go South,” retorted Ned. “Eh, Jerry?”
“Now don’t you agree with him, Jerry Hopkins!” cried Bob Baker. “Be on
my side for once,” and he looked an appeal at his tall chum. “Ned wants
to go to Canada.”
“I’d like to go to the North Pole to-day,” responded Ned, turning over,
as if to find a cooler place in the grass. “But, speaking seriously, I
think I’ve got as much right to insist that the next trip we take in
our airship shall be to some new locality, as Bob has to suggest that
we go South.”
“Of course you’ve got a right to insist,” agreed Bob, puffing over his
exertion of turning on one side. “Of course you have, Ned. Who started
this argument, anyhow?” and he spoke rather sharply.
“Guess I’ve got as much right to start an argument as you have, Bob,”
was Ned’s retort, and there was an unpleasant tone in his voice, at
which Jerry looked troubled.
“Come, fellows,” spoke the tall lad, soothingly. “It’s too warm to
bicker. Get down to business. We’ll take a vote on it. Where shall we
spend this vacation in our airship?”
“I say South!” exclaimed Bob quickly.
“He’s thinking of the Florida everglades, where the Seabury girls had
their houseboat, or else he wants to try to locate another buried city
in Mexico,” broke in Ned.
“I do; eh? Well, what attracts you to Canada?” demanded the stout lad.
“Maybe he’s heard that the Seabury girls are going there,” suggested
Jerry, with a smile.
“No,” answered Ned. “I only thought it would be cooler. I’m willing to
leave it to you, Jerry.”
“So am I,” agreed Bob, more amiably, and the little cloud that seemed
to threaten to come over the friendship of the chums, had almost
vanished.
“I was going to suggest a Western trip,” proposed Jerry quickly,
wishing to strike while the iron was hot, “but as we have been there
before, perhaps Ned will object.”
“It depends on what part of the West you’d aim for,” came from Ned. “Go
ahead, Jerry, and tell us some more.”
“Sure,” agreed the tall lad, pleasantly. He glanced quizzically at his
two chums. Bob was idly chewing a leaf, and Ned was gazing up into the
blue sky through the leaves of the maple tree.
The three chums, whose devotion to vehicles of the gasolene type, from
motor cycles to airships, had gained for them the title of “The Motor
Boys,” lived in the town of Cresville, not far from Boston. Bob Baker’s
father was Andrew Baker, a rich banker; Ned was a son of Aaron Slade,
who was the proprietor of a large department store, and Jerry Hopkins
was the only child of Mrs. Julia Hopkins, a wealthy widow.
The boys had had many adventures together, and the beginning of them
was told of in the first book of this series, entitled “The Motor
Boys.” Their activities started in a bicycle race, but they soon
exchanged their wheels for motor cycles, and a short time after that
they won a touring car, offered as a prize. In that they made a long
trip overland, and, later, went to Mexico, to which trip Ned referred
when he mentioned the buried city, for the boys actually did discover
one, for which a friend of theirs, Professor Uriah Snodgrass, a noted
scientist, was in search.
They returned home from Mexico across the western plains of the United
States, and then, using some money they had made from a gold mine they
had located, they bought a speedy motor boat.
The fifth volume of this series, entitled “The Motor Boys Afloat,” took
up their adventures in connection with the speedy craft _Dartaway_.
They had some stirring times around home, and then took quite a long
trip along the Atlantic coast. From there they journeyed to the
mysterious Florida everglades, to which Ned had also referred. But the
happenings there, strange and weird as they were, seemed, to the boys
at least, to be more than equalled in a trip they made on the Pacific,
though this voyage was in a motor boat they hired, as their own was
smashed in a freight wreck.
The growing interest in aeronautics soon led the motor boys to
investigate the possibility of navigating through the air, and, shortly
after their return from their trip on the Pacific, they began to build
an airship. In this they were assisted by a Mr. Rupert Glassford,
and in the ninth book of this series, called “The Motor Boys in the
Clouds,” there was related the particulars of a trip they took for fame
and fortune.
Their airship, a combination of dirigible balloon and aeroplane, was
called the _Comet_, and was one of the most completely fitted-up air
craft devised in recent years. There was ample accommodation for a
long trip, and the travelers could keep afloat in it a long time,
provided no accident occurred. In it, as related in the ninth book,
they won a substantial prize in competition with a number of balloons
and aeroplanes.
It was about this airship that Bob, Ned and Jerry were talking the
pleasant summer afternoon, on which I have, once more, brought them
to the attention of my readers. As they sat there on the grass, their
minds went back to the wonderful air trip they had made and they
thought of the efforts of Professor Snodgrass to capture strange
insects and bugs, for that was the one hobby of the scientist. They
also recalled the dastardly attempt made by Noddy Nixon, a town bully,
to injure them, by firing at their craft. Noddy had made an attempt to
build a sort of airship, but had failed.
Now the motor boys were on the point of planning a second flight in
their craft, only, as has been indicated, they could not seem to agree
on where to go. The long summer vacation had arrived, bringing a
cessation of studies, and in the blood of the three chums there was a
desire to be doing something.
For several seconds after Jerry Hopkins had announced his willingness
to tell his chums of his plan, he remained silent; so long, in fact,
that Bob asked:
“Well, what about it, Jerry? Are you, too, thinking of the Seabury
girls?”
“Not exactly,” was the answer, accompanied by a short laugh. “I was
just considering the best method of presenting the matter to you
fellows, so you wouldn’t get on your ears again; that’s all.”
“Punch him, Bob!” cried Ned suddenly. “You’re nearer than I am. The
nerve of him! Insulting us like that!”
Bob playfully raised his fleshy fist with the intention of thumping
Jerry in the side, but the other, with a quick motion, snapped a pebble
from his thumb, and the little stone struck Bob on the end of the nose,
causing him to wince.
“Ouch! Quit that!” the stout lad cried.
“That was just my way of calling the meeting to order,” declared Jerry.
“I’m ready to proceed, now. My plan would be to make as long a trip as
possible. It would be something of a record to fly from here to, say,
Kansas or Colorado.”
“Why not to Arizona while you’re about it,” put in Bob, still rubbing
his nose in a reflective manner. “Then we could see if Jim Nestor is
giving us our share of the gold from our mine, though, of course, I
only said that last for a joke,” he added hastily.
“You couldn’t make Arizona on one supply of gasolene,” objected Ned.
“Who said we could?” fired back Bob. The spirit of contention was not
yet stilled, so Jerry hastened to add:
“Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to make anything like as long a
trip as that without coming down, but I calculated on that. We won’t
try for speed, only for distance. The reason I proposed the West
is that this season of the year is best for going out there: the
prevailing winds are more favorable, and I think we would enjoy it
immensely. Of course it is nice down South, and, as for Canada, I have
heard that it is fine there in the summer, but if you left it for me to
decide, I’d say let’s take the _Comet_ and go West.”
“All right,” agreed Bob, whose usual good spirits had returned. “I’m
willing. West it shall be,” and he looked inquiringly at Ned, who was
not the one to hold out against his two chums.
“I’m willing,” he announced. “We’ll get the _Comet_ ready for a long
Western trip--across the Rocky Mountains if necessary. We’ll have a
fine----”
Ned’s remarks were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a small lad
who rushed across the lawn toward where the three chums were sitting
under the tree. The newcomer was much excited. His hat had fallen off,
one cuff was all awry, and his hair was tousled, while his cheeks were
flushed.
“I--say!” he cried, brokenly, not pausing in his rush. “I--just--came
past--the shed--where you--keep your airship. It’s terrible--door
broken open--lock smashed--things scattered all about--watchman not
there--airship gone!” The little lad had to pause for breath.
“The airship gone!” exclaimed Jerry, leaping to his feet, an example
followed by Ned and Bob. “What do you mean, Andy Rush? Is this a joke?”
“No joke at all--airship’s gone--I saw the vacant shed,” and Andy Rush
sank down on the grass, completely exhausted by his run, and his rapid
talk, which latter was characteristic of him, by nature as well as by
name.
“Did you see it go?” cried Bob.
“No, I didn’t see it go--but it was gone when I came past,” answered
the excitable little chap.
“Who took it?” demanded Bob, clenching his fists, as if he wanted to
attack some one.
“Don’t know!” gasped Andy. “But--it’s gone. First--I thought--you
fellows--had it out, but when--I came up here--and saw you sitting
down--I knew it--wasn’t you. But it’s gone!”
“Come on, fellows!” commanded Jerry quickly. “Let’s see what’s up.”
Followed by Andy they hurried off toward the shed where the _Comet_ was
kept. This structure was some distance away from Jerry’s house. It had
been specially built to house the airship, and was located in the midst
of a large field, owned by Mrs. Hopkins, which field gave ample room
for manœuvring the craft. It was some distance from a road, and in an
unfrequented locality.
It did not take long to arrive at the place. Before they reached the
shed they could see that the big doors were opened. So far Andy’s tale
had been confirmed. A few minutes later the motor boys were staring
into the empty shed. The big air craft was gone!
“It’s been stolen, boys!” exclaimed Jerry, as he stepped into the shed.
“Our airship has been stolen!”
“And I’ll wager Noddy Nixon had a hand in it!” added Bob. “Let’s get
right after him!”