THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS

Or

Lost in a Floating Forest

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, 1909, by Cupples & Leon Company

The Motor Boys in Strange Waters

Printed in U. S. A.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[1]

THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS

CHAPTER I NODDY’S COCOANUT PLANTATION

“Shut your eyes,” called Bob Baker to his friend Jerry Hopkins, as the two boys sat in the library of Bob’s home.

“What for?”

“Never mind. Just shut ’em; that’s all.”

“No tricks now. I don’t want a mouthful of salt, or find that I’m all tangled up in a folding chair.”

“No, this is something on my own account. Shut your eyes.”

“All right. Here goes.”

Jerry accommodatingly closed his eyelids. He opened them almost immediately as he heard a loud thump in the room.

“What was that?” he asked.

“That was yours truly,” explained Bob.

“What doing?”

[2]

“I threw my Latin grammar and my algebra over there behind the bookcase.”

“What in the world did you do that for?”

“Because I don’t want to see ’em again until after vacation, and I didn’t want to see where they fell for fear I’d be tempted to do some studying to work off my conditions. And I didn’t want you to see where they went to for fear you’d tell me. So I just shut my eyes and let ’em go. They’re safe, and when they clean house in the fall they’ll find ’em. It’ll be time enough then to begin studying. Vacation’s here! Hurrah for a good time with nothing to do but have fun!”

“That’s so; to-day is the last one for school for more than two months,” remarked Jerry.

“As if you’d forgotten it!”

“Well, I wasn’t thinking of it, though I’m glad we don’t have to do any more studying for a while. There’ll only be the closing exercises this afternoon and then—”

“Yes, then what?” asked Bob. “What are we going to do with ourselves this vacation?”

“Go somewhere in our motor boat I guess,” replied Jerry. “But isn’t that a Latin grammar I see sticking out under the edge of the bookcase?” and he pretended to start to pull forth the volume.

[3]

“Don’t you dare touch it!” cried Bob. “Shut your eyes so you can’t see it!”

Jerry, however, dodging Bob’s outstretched arms, reached for the book.

“It’s a sea story!” he exclaimed. “Looks like a good one, too, from the pictures.”

“Give it to me! I was looking all over for that. Guess I must have dislodged it when I threw my school books back there. It is a corking good yarn.”

“Well, Chunky,” went on Jerry (giving Bob the nickname fastened on him because of his overabundance of flesh), “are the adventures in that anything like those we had last summer down at Harmon Beach?”

“Couldn’t touch ’em! Those were ‘adventures as were adventures,’ as Salt-Water Sam would say,” remarked Bob, giving his trousers a nautical hitch in memory of the odd character to which he referred. “I only hope we are as lucky in striking a good time this summer as we were on the Atlantic coast.”

“We generally have been pretty fortunate in that respect,” said Jerry. “I haven’t thought much about it this year. I studied rather hard to win the prize scholarship.”

[4]

“Yes, and you got it, which is more to the point, Jerry. As for me, the harder I bone away the less I seem to know. I don’t want to hear school mentioned again for three months. What do you say to having something to eat?”

“Just had my breakfast. Besides it’s most time to go to—Oh, I forgot, you don’t want me to mention school. Well, I’ll call it the place of learning.”

“Nobody will be on time this last day,” responded Bob. “I had breakfast myself, but it was an early one, and I can eat again.”

“Never saw the time when you couldn’t,” observed Jerry, taking care to get beyond the reach of Bob’s fist.

“Have a glass of milk, Jerry.”

“Well, I don’t mind that.”

“I’m going to have some and a bit of bread and jam,” went on Bob, as he disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.

He came back presently with what looked like enough for a substantial meal for two hungry boys. Jerry said nothing, as he was familiar with the eating capacity of his chum.

“Here comes Ned!” exclaimed Jerry as he finished his glass of milk. “Better get some more jam, Bob.”

[5]

“I will,” and before Jerry could stop him Bob had hurried off again. He returned with more refreshments just as Ned Slade came in.

“Are you fellows going to school to-day?” asked the newcomer. “It’s almost nine o’clock.”

“Breakfast is now being served in the dining car!” cried Jerry, imitating the porters on the Pullman coaches. “It’s Bob’s second attempt,” he explained.

“You did your share,” retorted Bob. “Have some, Ned?”

“No, thanks. Three meals a day are enough for me,” and Ned sat down in a chair to watch Bob eat.

“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry. “You look excited.”

“I met Noddy Nixon, on my way here.”

“You don’t mean it! So he’s back in town again. Did you have a quarrel with him?”

“Not exactly,—but we had a discussion. I can’t stand him. He makes me mad every time I meet him, and when I thought of how he and Bill Berry tried to wreck that vessel down on the coast,—though I guess Noddy didn’t realize what a game Bill was playing—why I feel as though I wanted to thrash Noddy.”

“Don’t blame you,” said Bob, finishing the[6] last of the jam and bread and butter. “What did he have to say?”

“Oh, a lot of things, but principally that he was going down to Florida to take possession of a cocoanut plantation he’s purchased, or which he thinks he’s bought. I think it’s all in his mind.”

“Cocoanut plantation!” exclaimed Bob.

“Down in Florida?” inquired Jerry.

“Yes. This is how he happened to mention it,” went on Ned. “I was going past him on the street without speaking, though I was so surprised at seeing him that I wanted to ask where he came from. However, he saved me the trouble. He hailed me and, in that sneering way of his, he said he had something that was better than the gold mine in which we own shares. I didn’t ask him what it was, but he told me. Said he had bought a cocoanut grove or farm, or whatever they call ’em, and was going to get rich. He said he was going down in a week or so to live on the land and be a wealthy man.”

“Do you s’pose he meant it?” asked Bob. “I’m very fond of cocoanut pie.”

“Go ahead,” remarked Jerry with a laugh. “You’ve got Chunky interested, Ned, as soon as you mention something good to eat.”

“I guess Noddy was in earnest all right,” went[7] on Ned. “He insisted on showing me a lot of papers. It appears he bought the land through seeing an advertisement in a magazine. You pay so much down and so much a month, and the advertisement says you can make enough raising cocoanuts to meet all your monthly installments. Noddy said he had secured a big tract down there.”

“Where’d he get the money?” asked Bob.

“From his father, I s’pose. Mr. Nixon is rich, and Noddy is the only child. That’s what makes him spoiled.”

“When’s he going down to the land of the everglades?” inquired Jerry.

“He starts in a week.”

“In what part of Florida is his cocoanut plantation located?” asked Bob.

“Near Lake Okeechobee.”

“I’d like to go to Florida,” observed Bob. “It’s a nice place to read about. Lovely climate, nothing to do but gather oranges, bananas and cocoanuts, watch the manatees and turtles, lie in the shade and—and—”

“Get eaten up with sand fleas,” put in Jerry. “They have ’em down there as big as sparrows.”

“I guess if we’re going anywhere we’d better be starting for school!” exclaimed Ned. “It’s after nine o’clock.”

[8]

The three chums left Bob’s house and strolled along the street in the direction of the academy they attended. Ned continued his recital of his encounter with Noddy, the town bully who, on more than one occasion, had proved himself the enemy of the three friends.

“Oh, he talked a lot about how rich he was going to be,” went on Ned. “He thinks his cocoanut grove is going to put our gold mine in the shade. Says he’ll buy us out in a few months. He was so excited that I guess he forgot all about how he acted down at Harmon Beach last summer until I asked him if he calculated to wreck any steamers on the Florida coast. That made him mad and we had quite a discussion. That’s what ruffled me up. I left him spouting about what he expected to do with his cocoanuts.”

“I guess all the cocoanuts he’ll raise wouldn’t make enough pies to satisfy Bob’s appetite,” remarked Jerry. “But we’d better hurry, if we want to get to school before noon.”

None of the chums realized what a part Noddy and his cocoanut plantation were to play in their experiences that summer, nor in what an unexpected manner they were to render the bully a service.

[9]

CHAPTER II PROFESSOR SNODGRASS ARRIVES

The three chums quickened their pace and were soon at the academy, where they were greeted by a number of boy friends.

“Where are you fellows going this vacation? Out west, down to Mexico or the North Pole? Lots of fun—never say die—right side up with care—automobiles—motor boats—flying machines—don’t stop—red flag—danger—never mind—go on—whoop!”

“Let up, Andy Rush!” exclaimed Jerry, laughing. “Give us a chance to catch our breath, please,” and he looked at a small boy who, in the stress of excitement, (which was the state he was continually in), was trying to talk to the three chums at once.

“But I want to know,” insisted Andy.

“We don’t know ourselves,” replied Bob. “Go get a drink of ice water, Andy. Your windpipe must be hot after all that.”

There was a general laugh at the small boy’s[10] expense, and then the pupils went inside. While they are thus off the stage for a brief period opportunity will be afforded to make the reader better acquainted with them.

The three chums, who, because of their long association with each other, and the part an automobile and motor boat had played in their adventures, had come to be known as the “Motor Boys,” lived in the town of Cresville, not far from Boston. They were Jerry Hopkins, son of a widow who was well-to-do, Ned Slade, whose father owned a large department store, and Bob Baker, the offspring of a rich banker.

In the first volume of this series, entitled “The Motor Boys,” was related how the chums became possessed of motor cycles and how, by taking part in races, they won a large touring car. Their adventures on the motor cycles were more than equalled by those that happened to them when they had their auto, as was told in the second book, “The Motor Boys Overland.” They conducted a successful search for a gold mine in Nevada, and aided an old prospector in securing it, though Noddy Nixon and his crony Bill Berry tried to get it away from them. It was on this trip that the boys became acquainted with Professor[11] Uriah Snodgrass, a learned man whose hobby was collecting bugs and butterflies.

In recognition of their aid the boys were given shares in the gold mine, which paid well. It was this mine to which Noddy referred when he boasted to Ned of his cocoanut grove.

At the suggestion of Professor Snodgrass the boys decided to take another trip, as described in the third volume of this series, “The Motor Boys in Mexico.” In this they discovered a buried ancient city, had fights with the Mexicans, and Bob was kidnapped but escaped.

Deciding to visit their mine on their way back to the United States, the three chums had rather a hard time of it. Their doings and the things that happened to them are told in the fourth book of the series, “The Motor Boys Across the Plains.” They rescued a small boy from the hands of a bad gang of men, and this boy proved to be the son of a queer hermit, who lived on the shores of a lake.

The boys reached home safely, and with quite a sum of money to their credit. With part of this they purchased a fine, large motor boat, called the Dartaway. In her they had a series of adventures on river and lake, as related in “The Motor Boys[12] Afloat.” They took part in races, won a prize, discovered the mystery of a strange schooner and cleared up the robbery of Mr. Slade’s department store.

But more exciting times awaited them. Their next vacation (for all their fun was had during the summers when there was no school) was spent at Harmon Beach, on the Atlantic coast, as recorded by me in “The Motor Boys on the Atlantic.” There they made the acquaintance of “Salt-Water Sam,” an old sailor and whaler, and with him made a successful chase after a whale and a shark. They also uncovered a plot to change the signals in a lighthouse, so that a steamer might be lured on the rocks, foiling the men, and aiding the aged keeper and his niece Jess.

Noddy Nixon, as the partner of Bill Berry (though Noddy claimed he did not know of the enormity of the offense) had a hand in the lighthouse plot. As soon as it failed Bill Berry disappeared and Noddy was not to be found for some time. Then, as there was no charge against him, Noddy returned to his home. His father would believe nothing wrong concerning him, and the bully was soon as bold as before. Being well supplied with money he had spent some of it in[13] buying land in Florida, as Ned has already related. Bill Berry did not come back to Cresville, which fact made the three chums rejoice, for they did not wish to see that rascal again.

“Closing exercises this afternoon, which will be short and sweet,” observed Bob, as he and his friends came from the academy at noon, “and then to map out a summer campaign.”

“Yes, we want to get busy,” said Ned. “No use wasting time. You fellows come to my house to-night and we’ll look over some maps and plan a cruise. The motor boat is better than ever with the improvements we put on her last fall.”

“I’ll be there,” called Jerry, as he left his two chums. “I’ve got to go on an errand for my mother now, but I’ll be on hand after supper.”

“So will I,” added Bob. “I may be a little late though, because—”

“Because he has to eat so much supper; eh, Chunky?” and Jerry laughed as he shot that parting shaft.

“I promise to provide a light lunch at ten o’clock if you’ll stay that late,” called Ned. “So long!”

The afternoon exercises passed off successfully, and with farewells from their teachers the three chums, as well as all the lads in the academy, bade[14] good-bye to the place of learning and scattered for the long summer vacation. The motor boys, who were all in the same class, walked down the street, arm in arm, as three fine lads as one could wish for,—tall, strong, full of recourse in times of danger, brave and fearless—excellent types of the American Boy.

“Let’s each think of some plan for a trip,” proposed Ned, as they parted to go to their several homes. “We can talk ’em all over to-night.”

A few hours later the three chums were at Ned’s house. On the library table he had spread out a number of geographies, guide books and maps, and the boys were soon pouring over them. They talked a perfect babble, the only things that could be distinguished now and then being such expressions as:

“How about a trip to Maine?”

“What’s the matter with doing the Gulf of Mexico?”

“We could go to Cuba if the weather kept good.”

“The Bermudas aren’t so very far off.”

“Say, we’ll never settle anything this way,” called Ned after an hour had been spent in fruitless discussion. “I’ve got a plan.”

“What is it?” asked Jerry.

[15]

“Let each one write on a slip of paper the place he’d like to go to. We’ll drop the slips in a hat and one of us, blindfolded, can pull a slip out. We’ll go wherever the slip says.”

“Suits me,” exclaimed Bob, and Jerry nodded assent.

Pencils and paper were provided, and the boys were about to write down their choices when there came a knock on the library door. A moment later the portal opened and Mr. Slade was looking in on the chums.

“A visitor to see you,” he announced.

“To see who?” asked Ned.

“All three of you. Let me present Professor Uriah Snodgrass.”

“Professor Snodgrass!” exclaimed the three boys in a surprised chorus. “Where did he come from?”

“I just arrived,” announced a little man with very large spectacles, as he stepped past Mr. Slade and bowed to the boys. “I reached town this afternoon, and inquired for Mr. Slade’s store, as I had some business to transact. He heard my name, and remembered me. He invited me to call this evening, and—here I am.”

“Yes, and just in time, too,” cried Ned.

“How is that? Have you just captured a rare[16] specimen of a mosquito or a June bug for me?” and the professor was ready at once to mount his hobby and start off on a scientific discussion.

“Not exactly,” answered Ned, “but we are trying to decide where to go in our motor boat for our vacation. Perhaps you can help us out.”

“I’m afraid not,” the professor replied. “I never took a vacation in my life, and I do not know where would be a good place to spend one. I know where I am going this summer.”

“Where?” asked Jerry.

“I am going to Florida, to search for a very rare butterfly. It is pink, with blue and gold wings, and a certain museum has offered me five thousand dollars for a perfect specimen. It is to be found in Florida only, and I am off for the everglades next week.”

“That’s a lot of money for a butterfly,” remarked Ned.

“Yes, but the museum can afford it,” went on the scientist. “No other scientific place in the world has this kind of a butterfly and the museum I speak of will be the envy of all the others. But it is not only for the money that would come to me that I would like to get that butterfly.

“If I succeed I hope to get a position with the museum. A sort of commission to travel for[17] them into all parts of the world after curious bugs and relics. That is my ambition, and that is why I am going to try for this butterfly. It means a great deal to me, as, all my life, I have wanted to be on the staff of some good museum, in order to search for curiosities for it. So you see it is not only the five thousand dollars I am after, though, of course that sum will be very acceptable.”

“Do you think you can find the butterfly?” asked Mr. Slade, much interested.

“I hope so,” replied Uriah Snodgrass. “As I have said, it is very rare, and very difficult to catch. I have read of a number of specimens being found but they were in poor condition, or discolored, and it is for the rare coloring of this species that it is desired by the museum.”