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.

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[2] 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.

[3]

“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[4] 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[5] 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[6] 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[7] 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[8] 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.

[9]

“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[10] 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.

[11]

CHAPTER II THE MOTOR BOAT

The boys found Mr. Jaeger so busy hauling all sorts of freight and merchandise from the depot and other parts of Cresville that he could not promise to go after the boat that day.

“Look here, Mr. Jaeger,” said Bob. “We’ve got to have that boat on the river to-night or we’ll lose all our sleep, and it will be your fault. We’ll come and stand under your window after dark and sing.”

“Oh my! Oh my!” exclaimed the truckman, throwing up his hands.

“Yes, we will!” insisted Bob. “We’ll sing ‘The Solder’s Farewell’ and ‘My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean’ if you don’t get that boat for us.”

“Don’t threaten any more!” cried Mr. Jaeger. “I’ll haul the boat for you if I have to disappoint every customer I’ve got. Only don’t sing. I can’t stand it. Never could,” and he laughed. Then he called his assistant and gave orders to have the boat taken from the freight station.

[12]

It was quite a job, for the boat was encased in a heavy box to prevent breakage, but eventually it was loaded upon the wagon. The boys climbed upon the truck and rode along, fearful to let the precious boat get out of their sight.

It was about a mile to the river and all along the way many persons stared at the big load, wondering what the motor boys were up to now, since their adventures were known all over Cresville. As the truck was passing Mr. Nixon’s house Jerry nudged Bob.

“What is it?” asked Chunky.

“There’s Noddy.”

“Where?”

“In the barn. He was just looking out. There he is now.”

Bob caught sight of Noddy’s head as he quickly dodged out of sight.

“Never mind,” said Bob, “we’ll be on the lookout for him after this.”

Noddy Nixon did not seem to care to be seen by the motor boys. As it developed, after the part he had played in the capture of Bob and in inducing the gang of Mexicans, Bill Berry and others to follow on the trail of the searchers after the lost city, the young rascal had kept pretty well under cover. But, being tired of a roving life[13] and keeping so far away from home Noddy had written to his father.

Mr. Nixon had called on Mr. Baker, and had humbly apologized for Noddy’s actions, promising to see that his son did no more mischief. On these conditions, of which Mr. Baker said nothing to his son or the other boys, Noddy was allowed to come home, it being agreed that he would not be prosecuted for his crimes. He had reached his house that very day, though the rumor of his coming had preceded him.

In anticipation of the arrival of the motor boat the boys had built a float and dock on the edge of the river fronting on a piece of land belonging to Mr. Baker. This plot adjoined one owned by Mr. Nixon, who had a small boathouse where were kept a rowboat and a small sailing craft.

The boys had hired a carpenter to erect for them a good sized shelter where their motor boat might be kept, but it was not quite finished. The big box was soon unloaded and opened.

“Ain’t she just a dandy!” cried Ned.

“A regular beauty!” exploded Jerry.

“Finest thing in the country!” came from Bob, his desire to eat now forgotten. “It’s worth every cent we paid for it. I only hope it will go all right.”

[14]

“Of course it will go,” answered Ned. “I wonder if we have any gasolene?”

“I sent some down last night on the chance that she would come to-day,” said Jerry. “Now to launch the Dartaway!”

“The Dartaway? Is that her name?” asked Ned.

“Sure,” replied Jerry. “I forgot to tell you when I wrote out the order that I told the manufacturers to give her that name. If you don’t like it, we can change it.”

“That’s a fine name,” came from Ned, and Bob said it suited him.

The boat was twenty-five feet long and about six feet beam. The engine was a four cylinder one, with all the latest improvements, arranged with three speeds forward and a reverse just as an automobile is, and the craft also steered with a bright colored wheel in the front, similar to a touring car.

There was a little cockpit forward where there was room for six to sit comfortably and leave a place for the steersman. The engineer had a little place partitioned off for himself, and amidships were roomy lockers and an arrangement where a table could be set.

There was even a small galley with a stove[15] which burned gasolene, and food could be cooked on board. There was a camping outfit of dishes and kitchen utensils, and the lockers could be made into fairly comfortable bunks in case one wanted to sleep on board.

There was a portable awning that could be put up to cover the whole of the craft and side curtains that could be fastened shut. The one in front was fitted with a celluloid window so that in stormy weather the boat could be worked and steered under shelter. Also, if the occupants desired they could pass a night on board and keep dry in the hardest rain.

A whistle worked by the exhaust of the gasolene explosions, a search lamp, similar to those on automobiles, a small anchor, a regular ship’s compass, flags and a kit of repair tools, with some extra parts of the engine, completed the boat’s equipment.

The truckmen, no less interested than the boys, surveyed the Dartaway. It was indeed a fine boat and the motor boys might well be proud of her. There was nothing like her on the river. She looked speedy, as if the name fitted her.

“Now to get her into the water,” said Ned. “How are we going to do it? I never launched a boat before.”

[16]

“I’ll show ye,” spoke the truck driver. “Come on men,” and he motioned to his helpers.

They passed a heavy rope about the cradle, and ran one end of it to a windlass under the front seat of the big wagon. The vehicle had been backed down on the dock. The driver next placed some rollers under the bottom of the cradle, and the craft was soon in the water.

By bow and stern lines the craft was made fast to the float. Then the boys jumped in. The boat rocked gently to and fro. It bobbed up and down slightly and swung with the current of the river.

“Oh! This is something like!” cried Bob as he grasped the steering wheel, and gave it a few turns.

“That’s like you, taking the easy part the first thing!” exclaimed Ned. “Why don’t you crank up the engine?”

“What’s the use, there’s no gasolene,” came from Bob.

“We’ll soon remedy that,” replied Jerry, as he hurried into the boathouse.

[17]

CHAPTER III AN ACCIDENT

Jerry came back with a large can and a funnel. With the help of the boys he filled the tank in the forward part of the boat.

“Now we’re ready to go,” he said.

“Hold on,” came from Ned, who had been reading a card of instructions that was attached to the engine. “This says it is best to let the boat rest in the water a few hours after launching to swell the seams before starting the engine, as they might strain open.”

“Oh I’m so glad you discovered that,” Bob said. “We might have gone out and been sunk! Let’s go to dinner first.”

“I guess that’s what you were thinking of all the while instead of any danger,” retorted Ned. “But I guess it’s just as well to let the boat rest a bit. Besides, we’ll have to oil the engine good before starting it.”

“Will we leave the boat here alone and all go to dinner?” asked Ned. “I think one of us ought[18] to stay on guard. Bob can stay until you and I come back, Jerry,” and he winked the eye concealed from Chunky.

“Oh I say, fellows!” cried Bob. “I don’t believe any one will touch the boat.”

His friends burst out laughing at the woe-begone expression on his face, and the manner in which Bob placed his hands over the region of his stomach.