I M t. MOTOR BOAT 
 GLUB'OFF 
 
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CORNELL UNIVERSnV LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 075 886^92 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924075886592 
 
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 Both Boys Lurched Backward. 
 
 Frontispiece^ 
 
The Motor Boat Club 
 Off Long Island 
 
 OR 
 
 A Daring Marine Game at Racing 
 Speed 
 
 By 
 
 H. IRVING HANCOCK 
 
 Author of The Motor Boat Club of the Kennebec, 
 
 The Motor Boat Club at Nantucket 
 
 The Motor Boat Club and the Wireless 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 
 
COFVRIGHT, 1909, BY HOWARD E. ALTBMUB 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 I. A Bbeathless Moment in the Foo 7 
 
 n. A WhIW of rOETTJNB 23 
 
 m. The Butee of Souls 38 
 
 rv. Tom Halstead 's Fight Against Odds 50 
 
 V. Me. Moddeidgb's Neeves Cut Loose 59 
 
 VI. The Sign of Mischief 65 
 
 YII. WoEKiNG Out the Puzzle 74 
 
 VIII. The Dashing Steen Chase 86 
 
 IX. Plating a Sailoe's Trick 95 
 
 X. The Monet Stoem Breaks Loose 106 
 
 XI. Tom Halstead 's Quick Wit at Woek 120 
 
 XII. GrOING StEAIGHT TO HEADQUAETEES 129 
 
 XIII. Stealing a Swift Maech 137 
 
 Xrv. The Melting op Millions 151 
 
 XV. The Masthead Game 161 
 
 XVI. "Putting TJp" a Maeine Job 170 
 
 XVII. Hank Butts Deops Something 177 
 
 XVIII. The Jest That Became Geim Eaenest 186 
 
 XIX. The Motoe That Wouldn't "Mote" 194 
 
 XX. Th« Council op Wab 205 
 
 XXI. Th« Battle of the Dolxabs 212 
 
 XXII. Springing the Money Mine 223 
 
 XXIII. "Tiro Million Dollars a Point" 232 
 
 XXIV. CONCLUSIOK 246 
 
The Motor Boat Club Off 
 Long Island 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A BBEATHliESS MOMENT IN THE FOG 
 
 CLA-A-ANG! Cla-a-ang! 
 The "Eocket," a sixty-foot motor 
 cruiser, her engine slowed down to ten 
 miles an hour, had just moved out of compara- 
 tively clear water into a thickish bank of fog. 
 The bell, probably on board a sailing craft, 
 had just been heard for the first time off 
 the starboard bow of the cruiser, and close 
 at hand. 
 
 Joe Dawson, forward lookout on the 
 "Rocket," leaned ahead, framing his mouth 
 with his hands as he shouted : 
 
 "Ahoy, there! Keep to your own port, cap- 
 tain 1" 
 
 Cla-a-ang! Cla-a-ang! 
 
 The sound of the bell was appallingly nearer, 
 now, seemingly almost upon the motor boat. 
 
 Captain Tom Halstead, at the "Rocket's*' 
 
8 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 wheel/ abaft of midship, sounded a shrill warn- 
 ing from his craft's auto whistle. 
 
 Too-oot! 
 
 At the same time Halstead threw his own 
 wheel over to go to port of the bell-ringing 
 stranger. 
 
 It was a fog that seemed to grow denser with 
 every foot of headway. The water at the hull 
 alongside was barely visible. 
 
 Then through the mist ahead shot the tip of a 
 bowsprit. Despite the signals, or through mis- 
 understanding them, the sailing vessel was keep- 
 ing to her course. She was due either to ram 
 the "Eocket," or to be rammed by that agile lit- 
 tle cruising craft. 
 
 There was but one thing to do — ^to reverse 
 the engine with lightning speed. The engiae 
 controls lay convenient to the young skipper's 
 hand and feet as he stood by the wheel. He was 
 just reaching for the reversing lever, in fact, 
 when, from well aft sounded another boy's 
 warning : 
 
 "Racing craft about to ram your port quarter, 
 captain!" 
 
 While, from one of the two men passengers 
 rose an almost despairing shriek : 
 
 "I can't stand this sort of thing. I'd sooner 
 jump overboard!" 
 
 Captain Tom, however, without betraying any: 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 9 
 
 excitement, sprang so that he could easily glance 
 astern. Instead of the reversing gear, he 
 grabbed for the speed ahead. One glance aft 
 showed him a long, narrow motor craft diving 
 out of the fog. To reverse would mean, a colli- 
 sion with the motor boat; to go ahead would 
 mean a smash against the sailing craft. What- 
 ever was to be done had to be thought out at 
 electric speed, all in a second. 
 
 Tom's judgment was for speed ahead. In 
 that sudden emergency he increased the fog 
 speed greatly, at the same time throwing his 
 wheel over as far as it would go. 
 
 Thus he escaped a violent meeting with the 
 racing craft, but ranged up alongside of the sail- 
 ing vessel, a schooner that now appeared dimly, 
 in an almost ghostly light, her rail, soon paral- 
 lel with the "Rocket's," being only a few yards 
 away. 
 
 "You lobster smack!" cried Joe, contemptu- 
 ously. ' ' Why do you ship lubbers for officers ? ' ' 
 
 The stupid handling that the sailing craft had 
 displayed was enough to rouse anger in the mind 
 of anyone endangered by the gross carelessness. 
 
 "Get out, you floating oil-stove!" came back, 
 sullenly, from the sailing craft's quarter deck. 
 "Your gasoline dories ought to be confined to 
 duck ponds." 
 
 Joe grinned. His wrath was easUy dissipated 
 
10 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 at any time. Anyway, young Captain Halstead, 
 swiftly wearing away to port and again slowing 
 down the speed, put an end to conversation with 
 the stranger. 
 
 In this manoeuvre the unknown racing motor 
 craft had, of course, been given ample room, 
 and was doubtless well out of reach by this time. 
 But Jed Prentiss, his face still a trifle white, 
 stood on the same spot on the after deck from 
 which he had sounded warning of the swift, nar- 
 row boat's coming. 
 
 "Now, Moddridge," urged a heavy, easy, per- 
 suasive voice, "get a grip on yourself and be a 
 man. You see for yourself how easily our new 
 skipper carries himself and the boat in a tight 
 squeeze. ' ' 
 
 "But my dear Delavan," protested the one 
 addressed as Moddridge, "I simply can't stand 
 this sort of thing. My nerves " 
 
 "Your nerves have always been the master of 
 a fool slave," retorted Mr. Delavan, good, hu- 
 moredly. ' ' Come, be bom again, and rule your 
 nerves and your wits." 
 
 "That scooter acted like a regular pirate," 
 uttered Jed Prentiss, under his breath. "Rush- 
 ing over the old ocean, and never a sound from 
 her whistle or bell!" 
 
 Mr. Francis Delavan, owner of the "Eocket," 
 tall, broad-shouldered, rosy-cheeked and atii- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 11 
 
 letio looking despite his fifty years, stepped 
 across the short after deck, going up the short 
 flight of steps at starboard and posting himself 
 on the bridge deck beside Skipper Tom. 
 
 "What's your speed now, captain?" inquired 
 the owner. 
 
 "Slowed down to six, sir," replied young Hal- 
 stead, punctuating his reply by sounding the 
 auto whistle. 
 
 "That's a wise speed, captain," nodded the 
 owner. '*! haven't been in as thick a fog as this 
 all season." 
 
 "Are you going to stay here a little while, 
 sir?" queried Tom. 
 
 "Why? Anything I can do for you?" 
 
 "You might sound the whistle, every thirty 
 seconds, sir, if you will. That will give me a 
 much better chance to pay heed to the look- 
 outs. ' ' 
 
 "All right, captain," laughed the owner, 
 drawing out a handsome watch. " If I make the 
 intervals forty, instead of thirty seconds, put me 
 in irons as soon as you like." 
 
 Captain Tom smiled, but made no other re- 
 ply. All the young sailing master's attention 
 was centered on the work in hand. There is 
 nothing at all like play about handling a sixty- 
 foot craft in such a fog. As the incident just 
 closed had shown, there are other lives than 
 
12 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ^ 
 
 those of one's own sailing party that are at stake 
 in a possible collision in the fog. 
 
 "Are you going to try to keep out in this 
 fog, sir?" asked Halstead, some two minutes 
 later. 
 
 "Yes," came the owner's decisive answer. 
 "Though Moddridge doesn't appear to think so, 
 it is well worth while to risk big stakes on a meet- 
 ing with the big 'Kaiser Wilhelm.' It may be 
 worth a small fortune to me." 
 
 "There are times when money doesn't mean 
 much to me," put in Eben Moddridge, who had 
 followed his friend up to the bridge deck, which, 
 on the "Rocket," instead of being forward, 
 was somewhat abaft of amidships. 
 
 Moddridge was a pale, thin, hollow-cheeked, 
 nervous looking man of forty, and of a height of 
 five feet four. Not much to look at was Mr. 
 Moddridge, yet, in his own way, he was a good 
 deal of a power in "Wall Street. 
 
 "Moddridge," retorted the owner, firmly, 
 "this is a time when you can do only one useful 
 thing. Go below and turn in. I'll wake you 
 when the fog has lifted. " ^t 
 
 ' ' What ? I lie down ? ' ' demanded Eben Modd- 
 ridge, in a startled voice. "And then very 
 likely go down to the fishes without ever wak- 
 ing upl" 
 
 "We haven't that kind of a captain, now," 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 13 
 
 replied Mr. Delavan, easily. "You just saw how 
 easily he pulled the 'Rocket' out of a danger- 
 ous trap. If Captain Bill Hartley had stood in 
 Halstead's place we'd have been smashed fore 
 and aft." 
 
 "Hartley was an excellent skipper," retorted 
 Moddridge, peevishly. "He was a most careful 
 man. He never would have gone into a fog. 
 He wouldn't take a chance of being wrecked." 
 
 * ' That was why I had to get rid of him, Eben, ' ' 
 retorted Mr. Delavan, "Hartley was an old 
 maid, who never ought to have tried to follow 
 the sea. If it looked like rain he'd run for har- 
 bor and drop anchor." 
 
 "A very wise and careful sailing master," 
 insisted Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "Yes; Hartley had nerves to pretty near 
 match your own," mocked Mr. Delavan. "But 
 he wasn't the kind of man for the kind of work 
 we have in hand nowadays. And now, Modd- 
 ridge, I know that your talk, and mine, is both- 
 ering Captain Halstead. Go down aft again, 
 and don't bother the lookout by talking to him. 
 Be a good fellow." 
 
 Muttering, and with many shakings of the 
 head, the smaller man obeyed. He would try 
 to be brave, but nothing could conceal from Eben 
 Moddridge the certainty that they were shortly, 
 to be sunk. 
 
14 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "The 'Kaiser' could slip in by us easily, in 
 this mean fog," declared Mr, Delavan. 
 
 "Not if she keeps to her usual course on this 
 part of the trip," Halstead answered. "She'd 
 be in these waters in passing, and we haven't 
 heard any fog-whistle heavy enough to come 
 from a craft of that size." 
 
 All these minutes the owner, who possessed 
 the faculty of keeping his mind on two things 
 at once, had not forgotten to sound the auto 
 whistle at regular intervals. 
 
 "I think, sir," Tom spoke presently, "I had 
 better keep to' inere headway now." 
 
 "Do so, if that's your best judgment," nodded 
 Francis Delavan. "But remember, captain, 
 that to-day's game is one that has to be played 
 in earnest." 
 
 "We won't miss the 'Kaiser Wilhelm,' if she 
 comes in soon, and follows her usual course," 
 Halstead answered. 
 
 Though Tom still kept one hand on the wheel, 
 the "Rocket" seemed almost to rest motionless 
 on the gentle swell. 
 
 It was an August day. The motor craft, a 
 handsome sixty-foot affair of racing build and 
 with powerful engines, lay on the light, fog- 
 covered swell some twelve miles nearly due south 
 of Shinnecock Bay on the southern coast of Long 
 Island. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 15 
 
 Eeaders of former narratives in thi^ ^i 
 will remember how Mr. Prescott, a BO^ 
 broker, organized tbe Motor Boat Club among 
 tbe sea-trained boys at the mouth of the Kenne- 
 bec Eiver, in Maine. j 
 
 Tom Halstead was fleet captain of the Glub, 
 and Joe Dawson the fleet engineer. They wefe 
 the two most skilled members. 
 
 Eeaders will also remember how these two 
 sixteen-year-old handlers of motor boats were 
 sent by Mr. Prescott to enter the sea-going serv- 
 ice of Horace Dunstan, a wealthy resident of the 
 island of Nantucket, south of Cape Cod. It will 
 be remembered how Tom Halstead and Joe Daw- 
 son, with Jed Prentiss, a Nantucket boy, as com- 
 rade, went through a series of dangerous yet 
 exhilarating adventures which resulted in the 
 detection and capture by the United States au- 
 thorities of a crew of filibusters who were at- 
 tempting Jo smuggle out of the country arms 
 and ammunition intended for revolutionists in 
 the republic of Honduras. Jt was while at'Nan- 
 tucket that these three members of the Motor 
 Boat Club had also, after going through a maze 
 of search and iadventure, discovered the missing 
 Dunstan heir and insured to the latter a great 
 inheritance that Master Ted Dunstan had been 
 upon the point of losing. , : 
 
 And now we find the same three young Ameri- 
 
16 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 cans aboard the "Rocket," a somewhat larger 
 craft than either of the others that Captain 
 Tom Halstead had handled. It will not take 
 long to account for the presence of the trio 
 aboard this craft in Long Island waters. 
 
 The "Meteor," Horace Dnnstan's boat at 
 Nantucket, was now in charge of two Nantucket 
 boys for whom Jed had secured membership in 
 the Motor Boat Club. This was the first day 
 for Tom, Joe and Jed aboard the "Rocket." 
 
 Francis Delavan, the owner, was one of the 
 men who make the History of Money in Wall 
 Street. Besides being a daring operator there 
 Delavan was also the president of and a big 
 stockholder in the Portchester and Toungstown 
 Railroad, more commonly known as the P. & Y. 
 Now, the P. & T., while one of the smaller rail- 
 roads of the country, was, on account of its con- 
 nections, a property of considerable value. 
 
 Mr. Delavan was not one of the multi-million- 
 aires who keep palatial summer homes on the 
 south side of Long Island. Just at present he 
 c6ntented himself with a suite of rooms at the 
 Eagle House in East Hampton, spending some 
 days of every week in New York City. 
 
 The "Rocket's" former captain. Hartley, 
 was entirely too timorous, and cautious a master 
 to suit an owner who loved a spice of danger 
 and adventure on the salt water. So Mr. Dela- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 17 
 
 van had felt obliged to let Captain Hartley go. 
 Griggs, the former engineer, had not been over- 
 brave, either. Griggs had had trouble with a 
 rough character on shore, and, upon being 
 threatened by him with serious bodily harm, had 
 promptly deserted his post on the "Eocket," 
 going to parts unknown. 
 
 Thus, at the time when the "Eocket" was 
 laid up,' and yet most urgently needed by her 
 owner, Mr. Delavan had met his friend Mr. 
 Prescott in New York. What followed was that 
 Tom, Joe and Jed had been wired to leave Nan- 
 tucket, if convenient for Mr. Dunstan, and pro- 
 ceed at once to Shinnecock Bay. As two young 
 friends of Jed's had been trained well enough 
 to be able to handle the "Meteor" satisfactor- 
 ily, Tom, Joe and Jed had traveled' to Long 
 Island with all speed. This was their first fore- 
 noon aboard the "Eocket," and it was destined 
 to prove a lively one. 
 
 All three were in their natty, sea-going, brass- 
 buttoned blue uniforms of the Motor Boat Club. 
 Each wore an oflBcer's visored cap. Jed, when 
 serving as steward, changed his blue to white 
 duck, but he also served frequently in engine 
 room or on deck. 
 
 Just now, as fore and aft lookouts were 
 needed, and as the big motor was run- 
 ning smoothly, control of the engine was man- 
 
 a— Motor Boat CM Off Long bland. 
 
18 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 aged through the deck-gear near the steering 
 wheel. 
 
 For another half-hour the "Rocket" barely- 
 moved over the water, though now her nose 
 was pointed east, in the track of in-coming 
 steamships. Mr. Moddridge had quieted down 
 enough to stretch himself in one of the wicker 
 chairs on the low after deck, where he chewed 
 nervously at the end of a mild cigar that was 
 seldom Jighted. In this time no other craft came 
 near them, or, if it did, failed to sound fog sig- 
 nals. 
 
 And now the fog was lifting slowly. The look- 
 outs were able to see over the waters for a dis- 
 tance of some two hundred feet at least. 
 
 "A morning fog, in August, off the Long 
 Island coast, isn't likely to last long," said Mr. 
 Delavan. "In half an hour more you may be 
 able to see the horizon on every side." 
 
 "I hope so," nodded Captain Tom. "Fog 
 has few delights for the sailor. Without fog we 
 could make out a huge craft like the 'Kaiser' 
 at a great distance. Listen, sir ! Did you hear 
 that?" 
 
 Again the sound came, though faintly, from 
 far away. 
 
 Whoo-oo-oo! whoo-oo-ool It was a hoarse, 
 deep-throated, powerful blast on a fog- 
 whistle. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 19 
 
 "That comes from some big craft, sir; as like 
 as not the 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.' " 
 
 "Have you ever seen that steamship?" 
 
 "No, sir; but I've studied her pictures. I 
 think I'd know her if I saw her." 
 
 "I'm hoping and praying that you do see her 
 this day," rejoined Mr. Delavan. "I've a 
 pretty big barrel of money at stake on seeing that 
 steamship. Well, she isn't in sight now, so I'm 
 going below to get some cigars." 
 
 His easy manner was in sharp contrast to the 
 fidgeting nervousness of Eben Moddridge. As 
 soon as the owner had vanished into the cabin 
 the nervous one almost trotted up onto the 
 bridge deck. 
 
 "You haven't any means of knowing, for a 
 certainty, that that is the 'Kaiser Wilhelm'?" 
 asked Mr. Moddridge, sharply. 
 
 "No, sir; I can only hope that it is," Cap- 
 tain Tom responded. 
 
 "I hope it's the 'Kaiser'; I hope it is, I hope 
 it is," cried Mr. Moddridge. As further evi- 
 dence of the excited state of his mind that gen- 
 tleman commenced to pace the bridge deck, from 
 side to side, with quick, agitated steps. 
 
 "Wonder why on earth both are so eager for 
 a glimpse of one of the biggest passenger ships 
 afloat?" wondered Halstead, attending, now, to 
 the whistle at two-minute intervals, as well as 
 
20 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 steering. "But, pshaw! It's none of my busi- 
 ness why the owner and his friend want or don't 
 want things. That's their own affair. Stick 
 to your wheel and your other duties, Tom, old 
 fellow!" 
 
 Yet, though Halstead honestly tried to drive 
 the matter out of his mind, it was human na- 
 ture that he should still wonder and catch him- 
 self making all sorts of guesses. The words "a 
 fortune" exert a strong magic over most human 
 minds. Tom had heard the owner declare that 
 a fortune hung in the balance on this day's 
 work. 
 
 "Well, if there is any fortune at stake on my 
 giving these gentlemen a glimpse of the 'Kaiser 
 Wilhelm,' " Halstead told himself, "it's my sole 
 business to see that I give them the look-across 
 at the big ship. That's all I need to know." 
 
 Whatever large steam craft it was that was 
 sounding the fog-horn slightly south of a due 
 east line from the "Eocket," she was coming 
 nearer with every minute. The increase in the 
 volume of sound told that much. 
 
 "How are we making the stranger, Hal- 
 stead?" inquired Mr. Delavan, returning to the 
 bridge deck, a lighted cigar between his teeth. 
 He dropped into a comfortable arm-chair. 
 
 "She's coming nearer, sir, and we can see for 
 three or four hundred feet, now, in every direc- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 21 
 
 tion. There's but a slight chance of the vessel 
 getting by us." 
 
 "What ails you, Moddridge?" demanded Mr. 
 Delavan, turning and gazing wonderingly at his 
 friend. 
 
 "I'm nervous, of course," returned that gen- 
 tleman. 
 
 ' ' Pshaw ! Sit down and let your nerves rest. ' ' 
 
 "But I can't!" 
 
 "Stand up, then," pursued Mr. Delavan, 
 coolly. "But you're tiring yourself out, Modd- 
 ridge, with that jerky gait over such a short 
 course." 
 
 "Delavan, have you no mind, no nerves?" 
 cried Moddridge, raspingly. "When you stop 
 to think of the great amounts of money that are 
 at stake. When you " 
 
 Eben Moddridge paused, out of breath. 
 
 "Well?" insisted Mr. Delavan, placidly. 
 
 "Oh, pshaw!" snapped the nervous one. 
 "There's no use in talking to you, or trying to 
 make you understand. You've no imagina- 
 tion." 
 
 "For which I'm very thankful," responded 
 the owner, blowing out a cloud of smoke. 
 
 The fog was lifting more and more, the sun's 
 rays trying to pierce what was left of the haze. 
 
 "You may as well come in, lookouts," hailed 
 Captain Tom. 
 
22 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Jed, if you're througli with deck duty," 
 called Mr. Delavan, ' ' suppose you begin to think 
 of getting lunch." 
 
 "All right, sir," Prentiss answered, and dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 "Oh, Delavan, man," groaned Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, "how on earth can you talk about eating 
 when everything lies at stake as it does?" 
 
 "Why, after I get the word," rejoined the 
 own^r, "I shall be hungry enough to eat^ — any- 
 thing." 
 
 "But what if the news be of the worst kind?" 
 
 "Let us hope it won't be, Moddridge." 
 
 "Yet, if it is? You don't. mean to say, Dela- 
 van, that you could think of eating then?" 
 
 "Confound you, man," drawled Mr. Delavan. 
 "What do you think my stomach knows about 
 news?" 
 
 The sounding of the fog-horn had died out 
 some minutes ago, as the vanishing fog rolled 
 further and further away. And now, Tom, gaz- 
 ing keenly ahead, saw a big black hull rapidly 
 emerge out of a bank of fog more than a mile 
 away. He looked sljiarply for a few seconds. 
 Then— 
 
 "Gentlemen," announced the young skipper, 
 pointing, "that craft over to the eastward is, I 
 think, the 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.' " 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 23 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A WHIFF OF F0BTT7NB 
 
 MR. DELAY AN immediately raised a 
 pair of marine glasses to his eyes, 
 taking a long, careful look at the 
 great hull. 
 
 "Yes; that's the 'Kaiser,' " he agreed. 
 
 "There's a smaller craft, astern, that may in- 
 terest you also, sir," reported Jed, from the 
 after deck. 
 
 Mr. Delavan turned quickly, though not with 
 such a start as did his friend, Moddridge. 
 
 Astern, or, rather, over the port quarter, ap- 
 peared a long, narrow racing hull. It was evi- 
 dently the same motor craft that had so nearly 
 rammed them in the deep fog. 
 
 "Confound that hoodoo boat," muttered Mr. 
 Delavan, in a low tone, to his companion. "I'd 
 give quite a bit to know who are aboard that 
 craft." 
 
 ' ' S-s-so would I, ' ' stammered Moddridgp. ' ' It 
 looks queer. Whoever they are, they're dog- 
 ging us, of course." 
 
 "That's what I'd like to know," returned 
 Delavan, musingly. 
 
 "Shall I keep to the same course, sir?" asked 
 
24 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Captain Tom, as soon as his employer looked 
 around. 
 
 "Whiy, now, I'll tell you what I want you to 
 do, captain," answered the owner. "Run out 
 towards the 'Kaiser,' though you needn't he 
 at pains to make it too plain that you're seeking 
 the hig ship. After you get the 'Rocket' some- 
 what near, take a wide, sweeping turn to land- 
 ward of the hig craft. Run fairly near, keeping 
 your port hull ahout parallel with the 'Kaiser's' 
 starboard. Run alongside for a little distance, 
 until your orders are changed. Moddridge and 
 I are going down into the cabin, to take our sta- 
 tions at port-holes. Prentiss will stamd by the 
 cabin doorway to pass up, in a low voice, any 
 orders that I may give him for you. Is that all 
 clear, captain?" 
 
 "Quite clear, sir." 
 
 "Then come beldw, Moddridge," continued 
 the owner, turning to his friend. "And for 
 goodness' sake, man, if you can, behave differ- 
 ently. Don't let your legs shake so under you. ' ' 
 
 "I c-c-can't help it," stammered the smaller 
 man, nervously. 
 
 "You're not going to the hangman, man!" 
 laughed Mr. Delavan, jovially, as he led the way 
 below. 
 
 "I reckon I'd better drop down into the en- 
 gine room for signals, hadn't I?" proposed Daw- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 25 
 
 son. Tom nodded, and his chum vanished, 
 though his head soon reappeared, framed in the 
 engine room hatchway. The beauty of a gaso- 
 line motor engine is that when all is running 
 sinoothly and no signals from the bridge are to 
 be expected, the engineer may spend much of 
 his time up on deck. On the bridge deck, near 
 the wheel, are "controls" by means of which the 
 helmsman can change the speeds, stop or re- 
 verse at will. 
 
 As Captain Tom headed in the direction or- 
 dered he heard Jed reporting to the owner that 
 the long racing boat astern did not appear to 
 be making any efforts to overtake the "Rocket" 
 or to reach the "Kaiser Wilhelm." Instead, 
 the racing boat seemed to be playing wholly a 
 waiting game. This racing craft was about 
 thirty-two to thirty-five feet long. She was not 
 fitted for cruising, but only for fast spurts. She 
 had, instead of a cabin, a deck-over hood for- 
 ward that protected her engine and galley from 
 the spray. 
 
 The "Kaiser Wilhelm" being one of the 
 swiftest of the ocean grayhounds, and the 
 "Eocket" now making at least sixteen miles an 
 hour, it was not long before young Halstead was 
 ready to carry out the second part of his sailing 
 orders. 
 
 He steered the "Eocket" so that she made a 
 
26 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 wide sweep around, then came up parallel with 
 the big ocean steamship. There was about four 
 hundred feet of water between the big hull and 
 the little one as the two craft ran along paral- 
 lel. 
 
 Tom yanked the bell-pull for more speed. 
 This Joe provided, looking up once in a while 
 to make sure that he was keeping up with the 
 swift "Kaiser Wilhelm." 
 
 "Ask Mr. Delavan if we're running all right, 
 Jed," requested the young captain. 
 
 "Yes," nodded Jed, after repeating the mes- 
 sage without moving. 
 
 The big steamship's deck was covered with 
 passengers, most of them crowding fairly close 
 to the starboard rail. It was plain that the voy- 
 agers felt some curiosity regarding this dapper, 
 trim little cruising craft that kept so handily 
 along with the racing grayhound. 
 
 There was a great fluttering of handkerchiefs, 
 which Tom acknowledged by several short blasts 
 on the auto whistle. The "Kaiser's" heavy 
 whistle responded. 
 
 "That's all. Mr. Delavan says to head about 
 for East Hampton," Jed reported. 
 
 "With a parting toot from the whistle, Hal- 
 stead altered the course. 
 
 "Make your best speed, captain," was the 
 next order young Prentiss transmitted. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 27 
 
 So it was not long before the "Kaiser" and 
 the "Eocket" were some miles apart. Mr. 
 Delavan came on deck, smiling, Tom tried not 
 to wonder, though he could not help guessing 
 what the Wall Street magnate could have ac- 
 complished by means of this brief, eventless 
 cruise alongside the larger vessel. 
 
 But Mr. Moddridge ! His face was positively 
 wreathed in smiles. All his fears seemed to have 
 vanished. The smaller man was still nervous, 
 but it was the agitation of intense joy. 
 
 "It's all right, Halstead," beamed Mr. Dela- 
 van. 
 
 "I suppose it must be, sir," smiled the youth- 
 ful skipper. 
 
 "You're puzzled, aren't you, lad?" 
 
 "Why, I'm trying not to be, as, of course, it's 
 none of my business." 
 
 "Of course it isn't," laughed Mr. Moddridge, 
 uneasily. "But what wouldn't he give to know, 
 Delavan?" 
 
 "Why, I can give you a hint or two," smiled 
 the big, good-natured man. 
 
 "Don't you say anything," protested Modd- 
 ridge, paling. 
 
 "Nonsense," laughed Mr. Delavan. "Hal- 
 stead, did you notice one man who stood at the 
 rail of, the big craft? A man tall and very 
 broad-shouldered, a man of seventy, with con- 
 
28 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 siderable of a sloop, but with tlie nose and eyes 
 that make one think of an eagle? His clothes 
 fitted him loosely. He isn't what you'd call a 
 man of fashion, but a man whom, once you saw 
 him, you'd never forget." 
 
 "And at his right hand stood a man who 
 looked like a clergyman?" inquired Halstead. 
 
 "I see you marked the man. Do you know 
 who he is?" 
 
 "No, sir, though I'm sure I've seen his por- 
 trait in the newspapers." 
 
 "H'm! I guess you have," chuckled Mr. 
 Delavan. "Well, that's Gordon, the great man 
 in the steel world, the colossal banker, the man 
 who lends nations money." 
 
 "You didn't make this trip just to make sure 
 that he was aboard?" Tom hazarded. 
 
 "Of course not, captain. I had that infor- 
 mation days ago, by cable. But Gordon has been 
 doing big things abroad, things that will rouse 
 the world's market and shake fortunes up or 
 down. By to-morrow morning Wall Street will 
 be seething, just on guesses as to what Gordon 
 has done in Paris aiid what speculations he'll 
 make, now that he-dias returned. ' ' 
 
 "Delavan!" cried Moddridge, sharply. "I 
 protest. Not another word." 
 
 "Nonsense!" retorted the big man, cheerily. 
 "Halstead, whoever makes the right guess as to 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 29 
 
 what big money deals Grordon has arranged 
 abroad can make barrels of money in Wall 
 Street during the next two or three days. Those 
 who guess wrong will lose their money. Money 
 will be madoj and money will be lost in Wall 
 Street, during the next few days — all on guess- 
 ing which way Gordon's cat jumped in Paris." 
 
 "And all*the while no one will know, except 
 Mr. Gordon himself?" smiled Tom Halstead. 
 
 "That's the point," chuckled Francis Dela- 
 van, contentedly. 
 
 ' ' S-s-stop ! ' ' cried Moddridge, warningly. But 
 his large friend, disregarding him utterly, con- 
 tinued: 
 
 "On that same ship a man came over whom 
 Moddridge and I trust. Our man has a great 
 knack for drawing people out. It was his task 
 to talk with Gordon at every good opportunity, 
 and to get from the great man some indication 
 as to the real news. Our man was paid by us, 
 and paid well, but he also gets a substantial 
 share of the profits we hope to make. He has 
 made every effort to get a tip from Gordon, and 
 it was that information that our man, by two 
 or three simple movements, signaled to us." 
 
 "And now I suppose you're going to unbosom 
 yourself, and tell this young boat-handler just 
 what our information is?" groaned Eben Modd- 
 ridge. 
 
30 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "No, I am not," grinned Mr. Delavan. "I 
 don't believe Hklstead even cares a straw 
 about knowing. If he had our information 
 he isn't the sort of lad who'd venture his 
 little savings in the vortex of Wall Street 
 speculation." 
 
 "Thank you. You've gauged me rightly, 
 sir," laughed Halstead. 
 
 "But now you can guess why I'm so anxious 
 to reach East Hampton just as early as you can 
 possibly get us in," continued Mr. Delavan. "I 
 have a long distance telephone wire of the main 
 trunk line, all the way to offices in New York, 
 reserved for my instant use. One minute after I 
 reach the telephone booth my orders will be 
 known by my secret agents in New York. To- 
 morrow morning Wall Street will seethe and 
 boil over Gordon's return, but my agents — our 
 agents, for Moddridge is in it — will have their 
 orders in time to do an hour or two of effective 
 work before the Stock Exchange closes this af- 
 ternoon. Now, you understand, captain, why 
 I want to crowd on every fraction of speed to 
 reach East Hampton." 
 
 "Joe Dawson is working the motor for every 
 bit of speed," Captain Tom replied, quietly. 
 
 Moddridge, plucking at his friend's sleeve, 
 drew him aside to whisper: 
 
 "No matter how well you may like the boy, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 31 
 
 Delavaa, you had no business to tell hina all that 
 you did." 
 
 "Nonsense," replied the owner, in a voice 
 loud enough to reach the young skipper's ears. 
 "Preseott knows this young chap like a book, 
 Prescott assured me that there isn't a tighter- 
 mouthed, or more loyal, dependable young fel- 
 low in the world. When a young man is sailing 
 your boat on rush business he should have some 
 idea of what he's doing and why he's doing it." 
 
 The ' ' Rocket "was now going at a full twenty- 
 five miles an hour, her powerful, compact engine 
 fairly throbbing with the work. While the boat 
 might have been pushed two miles an hour 
 faster, Dawson did not think it wise to attempt 
 it except for life and death business. 
 
 The racing boat that they had noted astern 
 was now somewhat ahead. This craft now 
 turned, came back at rushing speed, circled 
 about the "Rocket" in safe seaway, then started 
 ahead again. 
 
 "Confound that boat," grumbled Mr, Dela- 
 van, staring hard at the decked-over hood, "I'd 
 like to know whether the people I suspect are 
 hidden under that hood." 
 
 "Looks as though the boat meant to follow us 
 into East Hampton, doesn't it, sir?" Halstead 
 conjectured. 
 
 "I may as well tell you, Halstead •" 
 
32 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Delavan! Can't you be silent?" groaned 
 Moddridge. 
 
 "I may as well tell you," resumed tlie easy- 
 going owner, "that the boat ahead probably 
 carries, concealed, two daring Wall Street oper- 
 ators, or their spies, who, at any cost, want the 
 very information that Moddridge and I possess. 
 They must have watched our approach to the 
 'Kaiser' through a glass, and now they've sped 
 close to us in the effort to see whether they could 
 guess anything from our faces. Their next 
 moves will be to keep with us going in, and even 
 to attempt to overhear what we may telephone 
 to New York." 
 
 "They'd rather steal your news than get 
 their own honestly, would they?" muttered Hal- 
 stead. "A good many people are like that 
 about everything, I guess." 
 
 The racing craft had gained at least a quar- 
 ter of a mile in the race for East Hampton. Jed 
 had just gone below to spread lunch for the 
 owner and guest when the racing boat was seen 
 to be slowing down. It was not long before she 
 lay almost motionless on the rolling surface of 
 the ocean. 
 
 "What's that they're doing?" cried Mr. Dela- 
 van, as the watchers saw a piece of bunting 
 flutter up to the head of the single short mast 
 of the racing craft. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 33 
 
 "The United States flag, field down," replied 
 teen-eyed Halstead. 
 
 "The signal of distress!" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 Francis Delavan's round, good-humored face 
 betrayed instant signs of uneasiness, mingled 
 with disgust. 
 
 "Captain JIalstead, do we have to heed that 
 signal?" he demanded. "That is, are we 
 obliged to pay heed?" 
 
 * ' The laws of the ocean compel us to go close 
 and hail her," replied Tom, altering the "Rock- 
 et's" course slightly, so as to run near the 
 motionless boat. 
 
 "It's a trick," grumbled Mr. Delavan. 
 "They'll claim that their engine has broken 
 down. They'll want to demand a tow." 
 
 "Do you want us to extend any help?" Tom 
 inquired. 
 
 "Not unless we're obliged to. But, of course, 
 captain, neither you nor I can flagrantly defy 
 the laws of navigation." 
 
 "Luncheon is ready, gentlemen," called Jed, 
 from the deck below. 
 
 "Oh, bother luncheon!" muttered Moddridge. 
 
 "Not so, my dear fellow," retorted Delavan, 
 his old, easy manner returning. "We have 
 much work to do, my dear fellow, and we must 
 keep our furnaces running. Luncheon is the 
 
 g— Motor Boat ClMi Off Long Itland. 
 
34 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 best of ideas. Come along. Captain, I look to 
 yon to guard my interests. ' ' 
 
 Just as the "Rocket," lier speed lessened, ran 
 up close to the racing craft, Mr. Delavan disap- 
 peared into the cabin, almost dragging his 
 friend and guest after him. 
 
 Jn the cockpit of the speed boat appeared only 
 two men, both of a rough, seafaring type, clad in 
 oilskins and sou 'westers. There might, how- 
 ever, be several other men concealed around the 
 motor under the decked-over hood. 
 
 "Boat ahoy!" hailed Captain Tom, running 
 fairly close, then stopping speed and reversing 
 for a moment. "What's the cause of your 
 signal?" 
 
 "Engine broken down," responded one of the 
 men aboard the other boat. 
 
 "Well, you're in no danger," was Captain 
 Halstead's smiling answer. "You're riding on 
 a smooth sea. ' ' 
 
 "But we can't stay out here on the open 
 ocean," came the reply across the water. 
 "You're the only other craft near enough to 
 help. We ask you to tow us into port. ' ' 
 
 "We're in a hurry," replied Halstead. 
 "Eeally, we can't spare the speed." 
 
 "But we're in distress," argued the man in 
 the other boat. "We ask you for a tow that 
 you 're quite able to give. What 's the answer ? " 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 35 
 
 "That," retorted Skipper Tom. He pointed 
 at the mast of the "disabled" craft, to which 
 was rigged a small, furled mainsail. ' ' The wind 
 is right, and you can easily make port, even 
 imder a small spread of canvas. You're not in 
 actual distress, and we are in haste. Good- 
 bye!" 
 
 Joe's grinning face appeared at the engine 
 room hatchway for a moment, though it van- 
 ished below as the half -speed ahead bell rang. 
 The "Rocket" forged ahead, followed by ugly 
 words from the racing craft. 
 
 "Neatly done, Halstead," greeted the voice 
 of Mr. Delavan, as that gentleman, holding a 
 napkin, appeared at the cabin door below for 
 an instant. "I heard it all." 
 
 "If that fellow hadn't had his canvas rigged 
 we might have had to stand by him," replied 
 Halstead. 
 
 A few minutes later it was seen that the 
 racing craft was coming in slowly, under that 
 small sail. It looked probable, then, that the 
 break in her engine had been genuine. 
 
 Going at full speed, the "Eocket" was not 
 long in making Shinnecock Bay. Soon after- 
 ward the young captain ran his craft in at a 
 pier, on which stood a waiting automobile. 
 
 "I'll be back for the rest of my lunch soon, 
 steward," announced the owner, stepping 
 
36 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 ashore. He entered tlie automobile, and was 
 "whirled away through the streets of East Hamp- 
 ton. Mr. Moddridge remained ia the cabin, 
 though he played nervously with knife and fork, 
 eating little. 
 
 In fifteen minutes Francis Delavan returned, 
 walking lazily from the touring car to the deck 
 of his boat, his face expressive, now, of indolent 
 content. 
 
 ' ' Take us out a little way, captain, ' ' requested 
 the owner. "We want some good, cool sea air 
 in which to finish the meal, eh, Moddridge?" 
 
 "I — I'm too excited to eat," protested the 
 smaller man. "Tell me, is everything all right 
 at the New York end?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, I fancy so," drawled the owner. 
 "Steward, some more of that excellent salad, if 
 you please." 
 
 As Captain Tom slipped his craft out of Shin- 
 necock Bay once more they made out the mys- 
 terious speed boat, still under sail and at a dis- 
 tance, making slowly for the Long Island coast. 
 
 "Whatever those fellows have guessed at or 
 discovered," chuckled Mr. Delavan, glancing at 
 the other boat and then at his watch, as he came 
 on deck, "they can't hope to reach a telephone 
 in time to catch the Stock Exchange open to- 
 day. Good! Prentiss, come up here. Call 
 Dawson aft if he can leave his engine." 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 37 
 
 As the little group met near the wheel Fran- 
 cis Delavan drew out a pocket-book, which he 
 opened. 
 
 "Young gentlemen," he observed, '.'I believe 
 Moddridge and I have been able to play a most 
 important game in the money world to-day. 
 That was largely through the bright services 
 of my new crew aboard the 'Eocket. ' Accept this 
 card, each of you, as a little indication of my 
 appreciation." 
 
 The "card" that was held out to- each was a 
 twenty-dollar bill. Halstead glanced at it hes- 
 itatingly, while his two comrades looked at him. 
 
 "Don't be backward," urged Mr. Delavan, 
 good-humoredly. "This sort of thing doesn't 
 happen every day. You've really earned it to- 
 day, and my luncheon will set better if you take 
 the money." 
 
 "Thank you," said Tom, in a low voice. 
 "But we're under regular salaries to serve your 
 interests, Mr. Delavan." 
 
 It was a little whiff from the gale of fortune 
 that the two Wall Street men believed had 
 blown their way this day. 
 
38 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 -CHAPTEE in 
 
 THE BUYER OE SOTILS 
 
 WHEN the "Eocket" was tied up at her 
 pier at East Hampton, at a little be- 
 fore four o'clock that afternoon, and 
 while Tom and Jed were still busy at the haw- 
 sers, tjie owner and his guest slipped away. 
 
 "No orders for the rest of the day, or to- 
 morrow," remarked Halstead, as soon as he 
 realized the fact. "Oh, well, the orders will 
 probably come down later on. We've enough 
 to keep us busy for a while, anyway. ' ' 
 
 There is, in fact, always enough to be done 
 aboard a good-sized motor cruiser when the 
 crew have her in at her berth. There is the en- 
 gine to be gone over, deck and steering tackle to 
 be inspected and perhaps repaired, the search- 
 light and signal lanterns to be taken care of, 
 and a hundred other routine duties. The 
 steward has his hands full of "housekeeping" 
 affairs. 
 
 "I don't see that speed boat in anywhere," 
 commented Jed, looking over the harbor. 
 
 "She must put up at some other point of the 
 Bay," Tom replied. "Well, the game of her 
 people was beaten to-day, so I don't suppose 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 39 
 
 we shall have to feel any more concern about the 
 speedboat." 
 
 Never did Tom Halstead make a more er- 
 roneous guess. That same speed boat, as subse- 
 quent events will show, was destined to become 
 intensely involved in the affairs of all aboard 
 the "Rocket." 
 
 At five o'clock Jed began to busy himself, in 
 the galley forward, with the preparation of such 
 a meal as young appetites, sharpened by the sea 
 air, demanded. An hour later that meal was 
 ready, and eaten to the last morsel. 
 
 Darkness found Tom and Joe pacing the pier 
 together, while Jed reclined lazily in one of the 
 
 wicker deck chairs on the deck aft. 
 
 > 
 
 "I really wish Mr. Delavan had given us some 
 hint of to-morrow's orders," muttered Hal- 
 stead. 
 
 "If he wanted to sail early to-morrow I be- 
 lieve he'd have said so," replied Joe. 
 
 "That might be true enough for most days," 
 argued Halstead. "But think what an unusual 
 day this has been for him. His mind is on the 
 biggest game of a money king's year." 
 
 "He seemed to take it easily enough," re- 
 joined Dawson. 
 
 "Why, that's his business mask, Joe. Our 
 new owner is a man who has made himself suc- 
 cessful by not allowing himself to get so rattled 
 
40 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 that he gets everyone around him on pin-points. 
 He felt the excitement of the day's work well 
 and plenty. Don't have any hazy ideas about 
 that." 
 
 "But what a fearfully nefvous chap little Mr. 
 Moddndge is," observed Dawson. "It really 
 makes one begin to stutter, just to look at him 
 when he's worried." 
 
 "Joe," announced the young skipper, after 
 a look at his watch, "if you and Jed will stay 
 with the boat I'm going to rim up to the 
 hotel, just to see if there's any definite word 
 for us." 
 
 "Don't take the word from Moddridge, 
 then," laughed Dawson. 
 
 The young skipper didn't hurry; there was no 
 need of that, and the night, away from the water 
 front, was warm and close. East Hampton is a 
 busy summer resort, and the streets were 
 thronged with girls in summer white and hol- 
 iday mood, a sprinkling of young men, a good 
 mainy children and some older people. Not a 
 few turned to gaze after the erect young sailor, 
 in his natty uniform, as Halstead strolled along 
 taking in the sights. Tom knew where the 
 Eagle House was, for that was where he and his 
 mates had first reported to the "Rocket's" 
 owner. In a few minutes he stepped into the 
 lobby of that handsome summer hostelry. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 41 
 
 "Is Mr. Delavan in?" lie asked of a clerk at 
 the office desk. 
 
 "Mr. Delavan left about half an hour ago," 
 was the answer. "He and his friend went 
 away in an auto, but I think they went 
 only for a short spin to get the air. If you 
 wish to wait, captain, make yourself at home 
 here." 
 
 "Thank you," nodded Tom, courteously. "I 
 believe I will wait. ' ' 
 
 Passing out onto the porch the young skipper 
 seated himself near the railing. Wind, fog and 
 sunshine had all left their impress of drowsi- 
 ness on Halstead. Before long he sat with half- 
 closed eyes, thinking slowly of the events of the 
 day, and wondering not a little what unusual 
 business it could be that Messrs. Delavan and 
 Moddridge were pursuing. Back of the young 
 captain men and women were strolling up and 
 down the veranda in little groups, laughing and 
 chatting. 
 
 Half sleepily Tom felt a paper touch against 
 his hand. More or less instinctively his fingers 
 closed upon it. Then, with something of a 
 start he sat more upright, bringing that hand 
 from his side to his lap. 
 
 It was a single, small sheet, folded once. 
 Opening it. Captain Tom read these typewritten 
 words : 
 
42 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 As a most important matter of business take a 
 ■walk at once, out over the Bridge Road. Continue 
 walking, perhaps for a quarter of a mile, until you 
 are accosted. Remember that Fortune rarelj knocks 
 at any man's door. This is your opportunity to line 
 your pockets with greenbacks of large denominations. 
 Come and meet one who truly enjoys seeing a young 
 man prosper, and who will take pleasure in showing 
 you how you may soon have a fine bank account. But 
 come at once, as your well-wisher's tim« is very 
 limited. 
 
 ' ' Arabian Nights ! Fairy tales ! ' ' smiled Cap- 
 tain Tom Halstead, showing his teeth. "Who 
 is putting this up on me, and what is the joke, 
 I wonder?" 
 
 He was about to toss away the piece of paper, 
 after tearing it up, when a new thought stayed 
 him. 
 
 "There may be something real in this," 
 thought the boy. "Mr. Delavan and his friend 
 certainly appeared a bit worried over that ra- 
 cing craft. If there's anything behind this note 
 Mr. Delavan will want to know what it's about, 
 and so shall I." 
 
 Young Captain Halstead was already on his 
 feet, his shrewd, keen eyes looking over the 
 veranda crowd. Yet he saw no one upon whom 
 he could settle as a likely suspect. He could 
 only conclude that whoever had casually slipped 
 the paper into his hand had already purposely 
 disappeared. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 43 
 
 "I believe I'll accept tbis invitation to take 
 a walk, ' ' mused the young skipper. ' ' If there 's 
 anything teal behind the note I may as well find 
 out what it is. If there's nothing but a hoax 
 in it I'll be willing to admit that I snapped at 
 it." 
 
 There was plenty of time to take the walk and 
 be back before Mr. Delavan's return was looked 
 for. Asking one of the hotel employes where 
 to find the Bridge Road, young Captain Halstead 
 set out briskly. Nor did he have to go far before 
 he came to the bridge that gave the road its 
 name. A little way past the bridge in question 
 the road became more lonely. Then Halstead 
 came to the edge of a forest, though a thin one 
 of rather recent growth. 
 
 "I'll walk on for five minutes, anyway," de- 
 cided Captain Tom. "After that, if nothing 
 happens, it'll be time to think of turning 
 back." 
 
 "Hist!" That sound came so sharply out of 
 the dark depths that the boy started, then halted 
 abruptly. 
 
 "Halstead! Captain Halstead!" hailed a 
 voice. ; 
 
 "Where are you?" Tom asked, -in a louder 
 tone than that which greeted him. 
 
 "You're Captain Halstead, are you?" insisted 
 a voice, not much above a whisper, which the 
 
44 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 young skipper now located in a clump of bushes 
 between two tall spruce trees. 
 
 ' ' Yes ; I 'm Halstead. Wbo wants me ? " 
 I "Step in this way, please." 
 
 So Tom stepped unhesitatingly from the road, 
 and walked toward the voice, at the same time 
 demanding : 
 
 "Are you the one who handed me a note?" 
 
 "Yes, but not quite so loudly, please." 
 : "Why not?" challenged Halstead, simply. 
 
 "Well, because our business is to be — er — ^well, 
 confidential." 
 
 Tom Halstead found himself standing before 
 a tall, slim, well-dressed young man. More than 
 that he could not see in the partial darkness, so 
 the young skipper struck a match and held it up. 
 
 "Here," exclaimed the stranger, hastily, 
 "what are you doing?" 
 
 "Trying to get a better idea of you, and 
 whether you are in the least ashamed of your 
 business with me," Tom replied, quietly. 
 
 The stranger, who proved to be red-haired, 
 stood more quietly, gazing intently at this com- 
 posed young motor boat boy. 
 
 "Well," inquired the stranger, at last, and 
 speaking more pleasantly, "are you satisfied 
 with my appearance?" 
 
 "I'll admit being curious to know what your 
 business with me can be," Halstead replied. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 45 
 
 "Tou read my note through?" 
 
 ' ' Yes, of course. But that did not tell me your 
 business, or your name," Tom answered. 
 
 "Oh, I can tell you all about my business 
 with you, in a few minutes," the other assured 
 the young skipper. 
 
 "And your natae, too?" 
 
 "Why are you so particular about my name?" 
 
 ""Why, you see," smiled Captain Tom, "down 
 in our little country town, the place where I was 
 raised, we always rather wondered at any man 
 who seemed ashamed or reluctant to give his 
 name." 
 
 "Oh, I see," laughed the other. "And, on 
 the whole, captain, I think your point is rather 
 well taken. So, to begin with, my name is Cal- 
 vin Eexford. Now, as to my business, you are 
 willing to make a little money now, and a great 
 deal more later on, are you not?" 
 
 "How much money?" asked Tom Halstead, 
 bluntly. 
 
 "Can you guess how much there is here?" 
 inquired Bexford. He took from one of 
 his pockets and held out a small, compact 
 roll of bills.- Tom coolly struck another 
 match, scanning the roll, and discovering 
 that there was a twenty-dollar bill on the out- 
 side of it. 
 
 "There's five hundred in this little pile," ob- 
 
46 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 served Mr. Eexford. "Half a thousand dollars. 
 That's just the starter, you understand. If you 
 obey certain orders you'll get another little lump 
 of money like this. In the end there '11 be a sum 
 big enough for you to live on the rest of your 
 days. Like the sound of it? And this half thou- 
 sand goes to you at once, in return for a promise 
 or two. Now, can we undertake business to- 
 gether?" 
 
 Though Captain Tom Halstead's eyesx had 
 momentarily glistened at the tempting sight of 
 so much money, he now asked, composedly : 
 
 "What's the business?" 
 
 "You're skipper of Francis Delavan's 
 'Eocket,' aren't you?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 * ' You expect to continue to hold the position? ' ' 
 
 "Probably all through this summer." 
 
 "Then see here. Captain Halstead, all you 
 have to do is to follow certain orders. One of 
 them, for instance, is, whenever you see another 
 craft near that hoists a red pennant, crossed 
 diagonally by a single white stripe, you're to 
 have something happen to your boat so that you 
 can't proceed for some time. You can make 
 believe something happens to the boat, you 
 know." 
 
 "You've got hold of the wrong party, my 
 friend," answered the young skipper, as quietly 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 47 
 
 'The fellow you want is my chiim, 
 Joe Dawson, the 'Rocket's' engineer." 
 
 Eexford looked Tom Halstead over as keenly 
 as was possible in the darkness. 
 
 "Do you mean, captain," he demanded, 
 finally, "that we'll have to let your friend in on 
 this?" 
 
 "Of course," Tom nodded, "if there's really 
 anything to be done along the lines you're de- 
 scribing." 
 
 "What kind of a fellow is this Joe Dawson?" 
 
 "Well," replied Tom, reflectively, "Joe's hot 
 
 tempered once in a while. If you proposed any- 
 
 'thing to him that he considered crooked, he'd 
 
 most likely hit you over the head with a wrench. ' ' 
 
 "So you call my offer a crooked one, do you?" 
 insisted Eexford, a curious note in his voice. 
 
 "You're proposing to buy us out — to pay us 
 to sell out our employer, aren't you?" asked 
 Halstead, directly. 
 
 "Why, I am trying to show you how you can 
 make a very handsome sum of money by being 
 accommodating," said the young man, slowly. 
 
 "You're asking us to sell out our employer and 
 our own sense of honor, aren't you?" persisted 
 the young motor boat captain. 
 
 "Look here, Halstead, you don't want to be 
 foolish, ' ' remonstrated the red-haired one. " I 'm 
 willing enough to let your friend into this mat- 
 
48 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 ter, and I'll make it highly profitable for you 
 both. But don't get too stiff about it. I'm only 
 making a very handsome offer to buy some of 
 your interest and time." 
 
 "Oh," smiled Halstead, quizzically. "Par- 
 don me. I thought you were tryiag to buy my 
 soul." 
 
 The irony, however, was wasted on the other. 
 "Well, now you understand that I'm not," 
 laughed Eexford, easily. "So we can begin to 
 talk real business. Let us begin by dropping 
 this money into your pocket. " 
 
 He attempted to slip the roll of banknotes 
 into one of the boy's coat pockets, but Halstead 
 quickly side-stepped, receiving the proffered 
 money in his right hand. 
 
 "Oh, very well," laughed Eexford, "do just 
 as you please with the money. It's yours, you 
 know." 
 
 "Thank you," acknowledged the yotmg skip- 
 I>er. Then, before Eexford could even guess 
 what he meant to do, Tom Halstead swung back 
 his right arm, bringing his hand up over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Here, stop that!" quivered Eexford, darting 
 forward and clutching the young skipper's arm. 
 But the move was too late, for Captain Tom 
 had already hurled the compact little mass of 
 banknotes as far as he could throug^h the forest. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 49 
 
 On accotmt of Eexford's sudden movement 
 neither of them heard the money drop to earth. 
 
 "What do you mean hy that?" demanded the 
 red-haired one, hoarsely, his breath coming fast, 
 his eyes gleaming angrily. 
 
 "You told me to do as I pleased with the 
 money," retorted Tom. "So I got it out of my 
 hands as quickly as possible. I don't like that 
 kind of money." 
 
 "Do you mean to say that you throw our busi- 
 ness over?" cried Rexfor3. 
 
 "Of course I do," smiled Tom. "Are you so 
 slow-witted that it cost you aU that money to find 
 it out?" 
 
 "Confound you, I've a good mind to give you 
 a good beating," came tempestuously from the 
 other's lips. 
 
 "Try it," agaia smiled Halstead, undauntedly. 
 
 "Then we can't get you on our side?" de- 
 manded Rexf ord, his tone suddenly changing to 
 one of imploring. Still smiling, Captain Tom 
 shook his head. There was a quick step in the 
 bushes behind him, and a sturdy pair of arms 
 wound themselves about the young skipper, 
 while Eexf ord leaped at him from in front. 
 
 "If we can't count on Halstead," declared a 
 new voice, from the rear, "then we can't let 
 him get away from us, either — ^not when there 
 are millions at stake ! " 
 
 4— Motor Boat Out Off Long Tsland. 
 
50 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 TOM HALSTEAD's FIGHT AGAINST ODDS 
 
 TOM'S sea-trained muscles could always be 
 relied upon to stand Mm in good stead 
 at need. He strove, now, like a young 
 panther, to free Mmself. But this was a battle 
 of one boy against two men, and one of the lat- 
 ter bad tbe boy's arms wrapped close to bis 
 body in a tight embrace. 
 
 There was a short, panting struggle, after 
 which the young skipper was bent over. He 
 lurched to the earth, face downward, while his 
 yet unseen assailant fell heavily upon him. 
 
 "Fight fair, can't you?" growled the captain 
 of the"Eocket." 
 
 "This isn't a fight," retorted the voice of the 
 newcomer. "It's a matter of self-preservation. 
 Lie still, can't you. I don't want to have to 
 club you out of your senses. It isn't a gentle- 
 man's kind of work." 
 
 ^'You're right it isn't," gritted Halstead, 
 though he now lay more quietly, for the auburn- 
 haired Eexford had thrown himself, also, upon 
 him. ' ' There isn 't anything about this business 
 that smacks of the gentleman," the boy added, 
 tauntingly. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 51 
 
 "Hold your tongue, will you?" demanded the, 
 unknovm one, angrily. 
 
 "When it pleases me most," growled Captain 
 TofiQ, fast getting into an ugly, reckless mood. 
 
 "Eexford, I can hold him," went on the man. 
 "Station yourself by the youngster's head. Go 
 as far as you like, if he tries to make any noise. 
 Now, yoimg man, I think you would better 
 listen, while I do the talking. We're sorry 
 enough to treat you in this fashion, but it's all 
 your own fault." 
 
 "How is that?" challenged the youthful 
 skipper. 
 
 "We gave you a fine chance to make your 
 fortime. You wouldn't have it. Now, if we let 
 you go, you'd spoil all our plans by repeating 
 what has happened to your employer." 
 
 "Eight!" snapped Captain Tom. "That's 
 just what I'm going to do." 
 
 "Just what you're not going to do," retorted 
 the man. "It'll be many a day before you'll 
 see anyone we don't want you to see." 
 
 "What are you talking about?" demanded 
 Halstead, gruflBiy. 
 
 "You'll find out. Eexford, get out some cord, 
 and we'll tie this young Indian up. If he tries 
 to yell, hit him as hard as you like, and after 
 that we'll gag him. Eemember, Halstead, 
 vyouVe got to keep quiet and go with us. If you 
 
52 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 behave quietly you won't be hurt at all. You'll 
 only be held for safe keeping for a few weeks. 
 Then you'll be turned loose, with a little purse 
 to console you for your present loss of liberty." 
 
 That didn't sound very dangerous, but the 
 young motor boat skipper was not one who 
 would tamely submit to any such proposition. 
 iYet he said nothing as the unknown man rose 
 from his back, to kneel beside him while Eex- 
 f ord tied his hands. 
 
 Just as that shifting was accomplished, how- 
 ever, Tom Halstead rolled swiftly over on his 
 back. With a cry of anger the man made a 
 swift movement to bend over the lad. It was 
 an unfortunate move. One of Halstead 's flying 
 feet caught him squarely in the face. Another 
 kick was aimed at Eexford, who sprang back 
 out of the danger zone. 
 
 "Now I don't care what you do to the boy!" 
 snarled the unknown, after venting a groan of 
 pain and raising his hands to his face, which, 
 however, had not been struck hard enough to 
 mark it. "Sail in, Eexford, and help me teach 
 the young idiot a lesson." 
 
 But Captain Tom had made brisk use of that^ 
 moment of freedom. As his heels struck the 
 earth again he threw his arms and body for- 
 ward, leaping to his feet. In the instant he 
 started running. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND' 53 
 
 "Here, you can't get away — don't attempt 
 it!" growled the unknown, bolting after the 
 boy. 
 
 Eeiford, being at one side, ran so as to head 
 off the young skipper ere he could reach the 
 road. And Eexford at once showed signs of 
 being a sprinter. 
 
 If either of the pair caught hold of him Tom 
 Halstead knew that capture would be swift 
 enough. Well ahead of the unknown, Halstead 
 veered enough to give him another momentary 
 start on Eexford. 
 
 Tom darted to a young oak tree, one of whose 
 branches hung low. This gave an opportunity 
 not to be overlooked at such a moment. Leap- 
 ing at the branch, grappling with it with both 
 hands, Halstead drew himself up with a sailor's 
 speed and surety. From that he stepped like a 
 flash to the next higher branch. Now, he 
 grinned down at his enemies. 
 
 Rexford and the unknown collided with each 
 other just beside the trunk of that tree. 
 
 "I hope you won't either of you try to follow 
 me up here," hinted Captain Tom, mockingly. 
 "If you do, I shall have to kick one of you in 
 the face." 
 
 Holding on above him, he swung one foot 
 suggestively. It was not too dark for the pair 
 bplow to realize how much bodily risk there 
 
54 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 would be in attacking this gritty youngster ia 
 his present place of advantage. 
 
 "You're all right up there," admitted Eex- 
 ford, coldly. "We can't come up ^ after you 
 without getting damaged heads. But, my boy, 
 what is to hinder us from throwing enough 
 stones up there to make it pretty warm for 
 you?" 
 
 Tom's grin of confidence suddenly vanished. 
 He had overlooked the possibility of being dis- 
 lodged by a volley or two of stones. Had the 
 field been clear for a six-foot start from his tor- 
 mentors he would have felt like taking the 
 "chance of leaping down and taking to his heels 
 once more. But they were right at hand, below. 
 The boy felt himself trapped. 
 
 "Don't let him get away," advised Eex- 
 ford. "I'm going into the road after a few 
 stones." 
 
 The unknown got even closer to the base of 
 the tree. Eexford, after a careful look at the 
 relative positions of trapper and trapped, ran 
 out to the road. 
 
 ^'Who are we? Who are we? C-o-l-b-y! 
 Eah! rah! rah!" 
 
 Down the road came volleys of ringing yells, 
 as though from the throats of a lot of happy 
 savages. 
 
 "Eahl rah! rah!" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 55 
 
 "College boys, or a lot of young fellows mas- 
 querading as such!" flashed jubilantly through 
 Tom Halstead's brain. 
 
 "Rah! rah! rah! Wow! Eight here! Trou- 
 ble! Hustle!" roared Tom, as huskily as his 
 lung power permitted. 
 
 "Stop that, you infernal imp!" snarled Rex- 
 ford, leaping back from the road. 
 
 ' ' Colby ! Here on the run ! Trouble ! ' ' roared 
 Halstead at the top of his voice. 
 
 "What's that? Who's there?" came a hail 
 from up the road. 
 
 Whizz-zz! Thump! A stone, guided by Rex- 
 ford's hand, came through the air, glancing 
 from one of Halstead's shins. 
 
 "Hustle here quick! Follow the voice!" 
 roared Tom. 
 
 He ducked his head just in time to avoid a 
 stone propelled at his face by Rexford. 
 
 "Rah! rah! Hold on! We're coming. 
 Trouble, you say? Colby to the mix-up and the 
 happy ending!" 
 
 "Come, Rexford! We've got to sprint," 
 advised the unknown. 
 
 Up the road the sound of charging feet came 
 nearer. Rexford and his companion sprang 
 into the woods, running as fast as they could go. 
 But Halstead wisely concluded to remain treed 
 until he beheld more than a dozen athletic look- 
 
56 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 ing young men imder tlie tree. Then He slid to 
 the ground. 
 
 "Did you call 'trouble'?" demanded one of 
 the newcomers. 
 
 "I did," the young skipper admitted. 
 
 "Then hand over the goods! Show us the 
 face of trouble, or take your punishment as a 
 raiser of false hopes!" insisted the leader of 
 the boys. 
 
 "And be quick about it. We haven't seen 
 any trouble in an hour," proclaimed another of 
 the boisterous crowd. 
 
 "Come into these woods with me," begged 
 Halstead. "Scatter and sprint. There are 
 two men trying to get away — ^the rascals! If 
 you can find them for me I'll try to have them 
 held by the police for assault." 
 
 "What do they look like?" 
 
 Halstead gave a quick description of Rexf ord. 
 Of the unknown one the young skipper could say 
 only that he was a dark-haired man of thirty, 
 clad in a gray suit. 
 
 The spirit of adventure being upon these 
 young fellows, they scattered, dashing through 
 the woods on a chance of finding anything 
 that might look like a scrimmage. Five min- 
 utes of strenuous chasing, however, failed to 
 discover Rexford or his companion, who 
 must have known these woods well. Then the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 57 
 
 raH-rali boys, hot and disgusted, came back to 
 the road. 
 
 "See here, young man," remarked one of 
 their leaders, severely, "you haven't been 
 trifling with our young hopes, have you?" 
 
 "On my word of honor, no," Tom replied, 
 earnestly. Then a happy, somewhat vengeful 
 thought struck him. 
 
 "See here, fellows," he went on, "I know 
 pretty near the spot where a roll of five hundred 
 dollars lies in the woods yonder. If you can 
 find it I guess it will be yours, for frolic or di- 
 viding, just as you like." 
 
 But that proved an almost dangerous piece 
 of information to offer. 
 
 "Five hundred— what?" scowled the leader 
 of the young men. 
 
 "We've found a crazy boy!" roared another. 
 
 ' ' To the asylum with him ! ' ' 
 
 "No! Drag him along and duck him — ^that 
 will be enough!" 
 
 Whooping, these irresponsible young fellows 
 charged down upon Halstead. But he knew bet- 
 ter than to run. Laughing, he stood his ground. 
 
 "Oh, well, if you won't believe me," he said, 
 with mock resignation, "let it go at that. But 
 what are you going to do?" 
 
 "Listen, child!" roared the leader of the 
 crowd. "We are pushing forward for the sur- 
 
58 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 prise and capture of East Hampton, Willst go 
 with us, and witness scenes of military glory?" 
 
 "I'm gladly with you for going to town," re- 
 plied the young skipper. 
 
 "Then come along. Preserve the utmost 
 silence and stealth, all ye, my brave men," or- 
 dered the leader, leaping out into the road. 
 
 "Eah, rah,i rah!" they answered him, roar- 
 ingly, and turned their faces townward. Tom 
 glad to get out of it all so easily, stepped along 
 with them. 
 
 "What was that about trouble, younker?" 
 one of the supposed college boys asked Hal- 
 stead. ' ' Did you think you saw a shadow among 
 the trees?" 
 
 "It was a good deal more than a shadow," 
 insisted Halstead. "I was attacked by two 
 men." • 
 
 Tom's questioner looked at him searchingly, 
 then replied good-humoredly : 
 
 "Oh, well, say no more about it, and I gi;iess 
 the fellows will forget. It gave us a good ex- 
 cuse for a sprint, anyway." 
 
 To Halstead it looked as though these col- 
 lege boys suspected him of some hoax, but were 
 good-naturedly willing to overlook the joke on 
 them. The young skipper was willing to accept 
 the protection of their boisterous, husky com- 
 panionship on any terms until safely out of the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 59 
 
 woods and over the bridge once more. As lie 
 found himself entering the town again Tom 
 slipped away, unobserved, from the noisy dozen 
 or more. Two or three minutes later he was 
 back at the hotel. 
 
 Inquiry showed that Messrs. Delavan and 
 Moddridge had not yet returned. Captain Tom 
 again sought a veranda chair, and, sitting down, 
 awaited their coming. 
 
 CHAPTER Y 
 
 ME. MODDEIDGb's NERVES CUT LOOSE 
 
 UP in Mr. Delavan 's suite of rooms Eben 
 Moddridge paced the floor in great ex- 
 citement. For Captain Tom Halstead 
 had just finished his story of the night's queer 
 happening. 
 
 Francis Delavan, on the other hand, drew 
 slowly, easily, at his cigar, his outward com- 
 posure not in the least ruffled. 
 
 Yet, at the outset, Moddridge had been the 
 one to doubt the young motor boat skipper's 
 strange yarn, Delavan, on the other hand, had 
 believed it implicitly. At the end the nervous 
 smaller man was also a believer. 
 
 "Frank," declared Eben Moddridge, "this is 
 a simply atrocious state of affairs. There is a 
 
BO THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 plot against us, and a desperate, well-organized 
 one." 
 
 ' ' Let them plot, then, ' ' smiled Delavam. " It 's 
 all right, since we are warned. Yet, Halstead, 
 I'm just a bit disappointed that you didn't pre- 
 tend to fall in with the schemes of your stran- 
 gers. You would have learned more of what is 
 planned against us." 
 
 "I don't believe they intended to tell me any- 
 thing definite, sir," Captain Tom answered, 
 slowly. "They spoke of a signal, on seeing 
 which I was to pretend that the 'Rocket' was 
 disabled and unable to proceed. I have an idea, 
 Mr. Delavan, that all their other instructions 
 would have been as vague, as far as real infor- 
 mation is concerned." 
 
 "I dare say" you are right, my boy," nodded 
 the ' ' Rocket 's ' ' owner, ' ' You did best, after all, 
 no doubt. I must confess myself puzzled, 
 though. Your descriptions of the two men 
 don't fit any possible enemies that I can call to 
 mind." 
 
 "They were most likely agents, acting for 
 someone else, don't you think, Mr. Delavan?" 
 
 "Undoubtedly, captain." 
 
 "Frank," broke in Eben Moddridge, in a 
 shaking voice, as he halted, looking the picture 
 of nervous breakdown, "you must engage de- 
 tectives instantly." 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 61' 
 
 "Nonsense, Eben," retorted his friend. 
 
 "Or at least, two or three strong, daring men 
 who will remain with yon, to defend you against 
 any possible attack." 
 
 Mr. Delavam laughed heartily. 
 
 "Eben," he demanded, "what on earth ails 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, I am so nervous!" moaned the other. 
 "I see dangers, horrors, ahead of us!" 
 
 Francis Delavan grinned. Then, noting the 
 ashen-gray look on his fijiend's face, he stepped 
 over, walking with the nervous one and laying 
 a kindly hand on the other's shoulder. 
 
 "Eben, you always let yourself get unduly 
 excited. What you need, just now, is a good, 
 sound night's sleep." 
 
 "Sleep?" shuddered the nervous one. "I 
 couldn't think of it. My nerves " 
 
 "You've let them cut loose again, Eben, and 
 make life a burden to you. There's no need of 
 it." 
 
 "But you know, Frank, the big money deals 
 we're engaged in. You know well that some 
 men would give their souls to possess our infor- 
 mation, both that which we have and expect to 
 get." 
 
 "True, perhaps," admitted Mr. Delavan, nod- 
 ding. "But the only way they have tried to 
 reach us is through the bribing of our young 
 
62 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 captain. Halstead and his friends can't be 
 bribed, so the rascals can't hope to do anything. 
 I have full faith in our crew. ' ' 
 
 "Something terrible is almost certain to hap- 
 pen, just the same,^' insisted Mr. Moddridge, 
 his voice quaking. 
 
 "Oh, nonsense, man'! Gro to sleep. Your 
 nerves need rest." 
 
 "Laugh at me," muttered Moddridge, his 
 face now showing a sickly smile. "But the day 
 will come soon, Frank, when you wiU wish you 
 had listened to me." 
 
 "But haven't I listened to you?" inquired 
 Mr. Delavan, with a mock-injured air. "Eben, 
 are you going to be disappointed because I 
 won't let my nerves rule me, too?" 
 
 "I wish your nerves did get the upper hand 
 once in a while," groaned the smaller man. 
 "Then you'd know what I feel. I tell you, 
 Frank, the immediate future looks dark — 
 dark!" 
 
 Mr. Delavan laughed jovially. 
 
 "Something fearfully unfortunate is going to 
 happen," insisted the man of nerves. 
 
 "Something very imfortunate," assented 
 Delavan. "We're going to add something in 
 the way of millions to our fortunes, and those 
 millions will have to be looked after. Eben, a 
 rich man's lot isn't a happy one, is it?" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 63 
 
 "Happy?" groaned Moddridge. "I should 
 say not." 
 
 '^Then I'll tell you what to do," proposed Mr. 
 Delavan. ' ' Turn your naiserable fortune over to 
 Halstead, and then sit by to watch him going 
 to pieces with worry." 
 
 Mr. Moddridge, however, refused to be com- 
 forted, or to take a humorous view of anything. 
 
 "Halstead," said Mr. Delavan, going over 
 and resting a hand on the young captain's 
 shoulder, "I don't expect to need the 'Eocket' 
 for any purpose to-morow, but I can't tell defi- 
 nitely yet. Go back on board. To-morrow keep 
 all hands on board or close by, so that you can 
 take the boat out if needed. Enjoy yourselves 
 all you can. Eat the, best that you can find 
 aboard. Don't bother about to-night's happen- 
 ings — my friend, Moddridge, will attend to all 
 of that. If it happens that you, or Dawson, are 
 approached again by strangers, let them think 
 that you might be induced to fall in with their 
 plans, after all, and then you can let me know 
 what follows. Moddridge and I are playing a 
 peculiar and big game with the money market, 
 and I've no doubt that others would like to steal 
 or bribe their way into it. But I trust you. 
 Good night, my boy." 
 
 " So Captain Tom strolled back to the pier, 
 thinking over a good many things. As he came 
 
64 THE MOTOR BOAT CLTIB 
 
 in sight of the "Rocket" at her berth he noted 
 that the only lights showing were one deck 
 light, aft, and the gleam that came through tho 
 port-holes of the crew's quarters forward. It 
 looked as though Joe Dawson and Jed Prentiss 
 had turned in for the night, or were about to 
 do so. 
 
 One of the small Shinnecock Bay freight 
 boats lay in at the other side of the same pier. 
 A good many cases and barrels were piled up, 
 as though awaiting shipment. Captain Tom 
 stepped over to his own side of the pier, still 
 thinking intently. 
 
 Just as the young skipper turned toward 
 the "Rocket's" gang-plank a heavy object came 
 up over one of the freight piles, flying through 
 the air. Some instinct of danger made young 
 Halstead leap aside. Bump! An iron hitching 
 weight struck the gang-plank with a bang. 
 
 For just an instant CaptainJTom stood gazing 
 at that heavy missile almost in a daze. 
 
 "That was aimed at my legs. The intention 
 must have been to cripple me!" leaped to his 
 lips. 
 
 Then, in a lustier voice, he roared: 
 
 "Joel Jed! Tumble out on deck! Lively, 
 now!" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 65 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE SIGN OF MISCHIEF 
 
 THE next instant after that rousing hail 
 there was a sound of scrambling below. 
 Halstead did not wait. Turning, he 
 raced around the end of that pile of freight. He 
 was in time to hear a loud splash in the 
 water astern of the little freight steamer, 
 though not in time to see who or what 
 jumped. Then he heard Joe and Jed on the 
 "Eocket's" deck. 
 
 "Over here, fellows!" he called. "And come 
 quickly!" Then as his two friends, partly dis- 
 robed, rushed to his side. Captain Tom pointed 
 to the water. 
 
 "Someone threw a weight at me," he ex- 
 plained. "He jumped in. Watch to see him 
 rise. Jed, you watch from the other side of the 
 pier. Joe, take the end — and hustle!" 
 
 ,Thus distributed, the crew of the "Rocket" 
 watched and listened for the rising of Tom Hal- 
 stead's recent assailant. Time went by, how- 
 ever, until it was certain that no human being 
 could any longer remain under water. Yet no 
 head showed, nor was any being heard making 
 the shore. Then the two other boys came back 
 
 e— Motor Boat Out Off Long Island. 
 
66 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 to their young leader, who was looking ex- 
 tremely thoughtful. 
 
 "I. wonder," mused Tom, aloud, "whether! 
 I've had a good one played on me? You see 
 that weight restiag yonder on our gang-plank. 
 That was thrown at me from behind this pile of 
 freight. After yelling for you fellows, I rushed 
 over here just in time to hear a splash. And 
 now it has struck me that some mighty smooth 
 chap may have pitched another weight into the 
 water, then doubled around the freight and so 
 got ashore and away." 
 
 "That was the trick, I guess," nodded Joe 
 Dawson, thoughtfully. ' ' But what on earth was 
 it all about, anyway, Tom?" 
 
 "We'll take a look over this freight tub first, 
 and then I'll tell you," proposed Halstead, 
 swinging himself on board the little steamer. 
 But every door and hatchway on that craft had 
 been made fast for the night, and there appeared 
 to be no one aboard. Then the young skipper 
 led his friends back to the "Eocket." 
 
 "Now, let's have the yarn," begged Jed, who, 
 from being sleepy ten minutes before, was sud- 
 denly very much awake. 
 
 After they had seated themselves on the top 
 of the cabin, Halstead, in low tones, described 
 his brief adventures of the evening. 
 
 "Whatever someone's plan is," he wound up, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 67 
 
 earnestly, "it seems to be a sure thing that they 
 don't vant this boat to keep in commission. 
 That weight, if I hadn't jumped, would very- 
 likely have broken one of my legs. So, fellows, 
 do you believe we've any right to sleep all hands 
 at the same time, whUe tied to this pier?" 
 
 "Though I'm soon going to be pretty 
 drowsy," admitted Joe Dawson, "I honestly 
 don't believe we've any right to go below with- 
 out a watch. I'm ready to stand my share of 
 watch." 
 
 "Me, tOQ>" pledged Jed, ungrammatically. 
 
 "Then we'll divide the night, to six in' the 
 morning, into three watches," concluded the 
 yoimg motor boat skipper, looking at his time- 
 piece. "You fellows go below as soon as you 
 like. I'll take the first third of the night." 
 
 Joe and Jed were not long in going below, 
 but the former was soon on deck again. 
 
 "Here's something from the engine room that 
 may come in handy, in case of need," hinted 
 Dawson, laying two wrenches on top of the 
 deck-house beside the young captain. "You 
 can use 'em for clubs, or throw 'em, if you see 
 anything more'n shadows about." 
 
 Tom Halstead laughed, though he held the 
 wrenches, balancing them and figuring on what 
 sort of missiles they would make at need. 
 
 The night grew late as Captain Tom still 
 
68 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 ■watched. Even tlie lights in the nearby hotels 
 began to go out. All life on the water had 
 stopped some time before. Halstead had 
 already brought the weight aboard and stowed 
 it in the cabin below. He wanted to show it to . 
 his employer in the morning. 
 
 Once or twice Halstead thought he heard sus- 
 picious sounds near the pier. Each time, grip- 
 ping a wrench in his right hand, he went boldly 
 to investigate. No real sign of a prowler, how- 
 ever, appeared as the time glided by. 
 
 "It's so quiet I could almost think I had been 
 dreaming things to-night," thought Tom, 
 musingly, as he looked out at the few lights that 
 shone over the water. "We fellows will have 
 to try to keep this weight-throwing affair from 
 Mr. Moddridge, or the poor fellow will have 
 another heavy nervous attack. I don't believe 
 Mr. Delavan will tell him, if we don't." 
 
 At two bells past midnight (one o'clock) the 
 young skipper called Jed on deck, then turned 
 in. The crew's quarters on the "Eocket" con- 
 sisted of two tiny staterooms, each containing 
 two berths, and little else. Tom and Joe berthed 
 together. Joe was breathing soundly, in deepest 
 sleep, when Halstead turned in; The latter, 
 later in the night, was so deep in slumber that he 
 did not know when Jed called Joe to take the 
 last night watch on deck. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 69 
 
 Captain Tom, in fact, knew nothing until Joe 
 Dawson stepped into the little stateroom and 
 shook him by the shoulder. 
 
 "It's nearly eight o'clock, old fellow," rang 
 Joe's cheery voice, "and Jed has nearly finished 
 cooking the best breakfast he could find on 
 board. Can't you smell it?" 
 
 "Indeed I can," answered the young skipper, 
 turning out hastily, and with an almost guilty 
 feeling over having slept so long. What if the 
 owner should come aboard, wanting an immedi- 
 ate start made? "While dressing he made a re- 
 mark of that kind to Dawson, who only smiled. 
 
 "Where's the boat that belongs at the port 
 davits?" asked the young skipper, as he stepped 
 on deck and immediately noted the absence of 
 the small'boat. 
 
 ' ' Oh, a fellow came along and asked if he could 
 have the boat for a little while, ' ' said Joe, dryly. 
 
 "And you let him have it?" 
 
 "I figured that I had to," laughed Joe, "The 
 fellow was our owner." 
 
 "Mr. Delavan? What did he want the boat 
 for?" 
 
 "He said Mr. Moddridge was sound asleep, 
 for a wonder, and that he had slipped down for 
 a little early morning exercise," 
 
 "What time did he take the boat?" questioned 
 Captain Tom. 
 
70 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "About six o'clock. He rowed out south over 
 the bay, and I haven't seen Mm since." 
 
 "Well, I suppose it's the owner's business 
 if he wants to borrow his own boat and go for 
 a row on the bay, ' ' replied Tom. 
 
 "Breakfast!" hailed Steward Jed. The 
 chums disappeared below decks forward, and for 
 the next half hour gave most of their thoughts 
 to the enjoyment of the morning meal. Then the 
 young engineer and captain returned to the 
 deck. 
 
 "Mr. Delavan said he wasn't likely to use this 
 craft to-day, and I'll be as -well pleased if he 
 doesn't," said Halstead. An August morning 
 mist was just more than barely visible as it 
 formed out on the ocean, rolling slowly inward. 
 The remainder of the forenoon was likely to be 
 as foggy as on the day before. 
 
 ' ' The rest will do the engine good, ' ' said Daw- 
 son meditatively. ' 'These engines that are made 
 for racing speeds are all right at the trick if the 
 speed isn't pushed too often. We did quite 
 some speeding yesterday, so I'm glad if the en- 
 gine does get a rest." 
 
 "That's right," nodded Tom. "No matter 
 if you take the finest care possible of a gasoline 
 motor, if the engine is pushed too hard and some 
 little thing goes wrong, the average owner is 
 likely to think he has an incompetent engineer." 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 71 
 
 "That wasn't the way, though, with Mr. Pres- 
 eott," argued Joe. "Nor with Mr. Dunstan, 
 either. They both trusted everything about the 
 boats to us. They'd sooner blame the boat or 
 engine-builders than blame us." 
 
 "From all indications," pursued Captain 
 Tom, "Mr. Delavan is likely to prove the most 
 indulgent owner of all. Say, I wonder what 
 Mr. Delavan would look like, worried?" 
 
 "It would be easier to guess what Mr. Modd- 
 ridge would look like," laughed Joe. 
 
 " 'Speaking of angels ' " quoted Captain 
 
 Tom, dryly. Joe wheeled about to look up be- 
 yond the shore end of the pier. Eben Modd- 
 ridge was coming toward them on a nervous, 
 jerky run. He reached the pier and boarded the 
 boat, all out of breath. 
 
 "Is Mr. Delavan aboard?" he demanded, 
 pantingly. 
 
 "Mr. Delavan took the small boat from the 
 port davits and went for a row, sir, at about 
 six this morning," reported Captain Tom. 
 
 "And hasn't returned?" asked Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, eyes and mouth opening wide at the same 
 time. "Which way did he -go?" 
 
 "Out toward the inlet, sir," Joe answered, 
 pointing'^southward. 
 
 "And the fog rolling in there now ! ' ' exclaimed 
 Moddridge, looking more nervous every instant. 
 
72 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 » 
 
 "Then what are you doing here? "Why aren't 
 
 you out yonder trying to find your employer?" 
 
 "We will start, if you wish," Captain Tom 
 agreed. 
 
 "Wish!" echoed the nefvous one. "I com- 
 mand it!" 
 
 Eben Moddridge, not being the owner, could 
 issue no order that the young skipper was bound 
 to obey. But Halstead himself thought it would 
 be wholly wise to go out in search of his em- 
 ployer. The "Rocket's" bow and stem haw- 
 sers were quickly cast off by Jed, while Joe gave 
 the wheel a few vigorous turns in the engine 
 room. The craft fell off from the pier, then, at 
 slow speed, nosed straight out for the inlet. 
 
 "Jed, take a forward watch, at port side," 
 called the young skipper. "Mr. Moddridge, do 
 you mind keeping a lookout at starboard ? ' ' 
 
 The nervous one stationed himself on the side 
 indicated, not far from the young helmsman. 
 
 ' ' Something has happened to Frank ! I know 
 it, I know it!" muttered Eben Moddridge, in 
 deep agitation. "Oh, why did I sleep so late? 
 Why didn't I keep an eye open to watch that 
 reckless fellow? But he'll never consent to be 
 governed by me." 
 
 Tom, though he said nothing, smiled a bit 
 grimly, at thought of what it would be like for 
 one to be ruled by Eben Moddridge. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 73 
 
 At first, despite the growing fog, the search- 
 ers could see for a few hundred feet to either 
 side of them. This gradually narrowed down 
 to two hundred feet, or so, at the inlet. A little 
 further out they could make nothing out dis- 
 tinctly at a distance greater than sixty feet. 
 Captain Halstead sounded the whistle fre- 
 quently, now. 
 
 "Stop the boat!" yelled Ehen Moddridge, 
 frantically, after a while, as he peered ahead at 
 starboard. "Don't you see it? Don't you see 
 that?" 
 
 He was pointing, jumping up and down, star- 
 ing wildly. Tom caught sight of the object, too. 
 He did not sto;p the boat, but slackened her speed 
 down to little more than bare headway, throw- 
 ing the helm hard over and bringing the boat's 
 nose sharply around to starboard. 
 
 "Jed, a boat-hook!" shouted the young skip- 
 per. ' ' Be ready to make fast as soon as we get 
 alongside. ' ' 
 
 Joe Dawson sprang up from the engine room 
 for a brief look. No wonder he started, for the 
 "Eocket" was slowly, cumbrously, describing 
 a circle around an object that proved to be the 
 port boat, bobbing up and down on the light 
 waves. The small boat was keel up. Eben 
 Moddridge, as he stared at it, became speechless 
 from dread and terror. 
 
74 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Jed, at the right moment, made fast with the 
 boat-hook, drawing the small craft in alongside. 
 While he was doing so Joe suddenly cried : 
 
 ' ' And say ! Look there ! ' ' 
 
 Coming in on the start of the flood tide, floated 
 a straw hat and a coat — ^beyond a doubt those 
 lately worn by Francis Delavan. 
 
 "Now, what do you say to that? ' ' gasped Eben: 
 Moddridge, turning deathly pale and looking as 
 though he must sink to the deck. 
 
 A great fear was tugging at tbe heart of Cap- 
 tain Tom Halstead, though he managed to re- 
 ply) calmly enough : 
 
 "I don't know just what it means, Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, but it's surely the sign of mischief of 
 some sort." 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 WORKING OUT THE PUZ2X,B 
 
 JED, amid all the excitement, deftly captured 
 with the boat-hook the painter of the small 
 boat, then towed that little craft astern, 
 making it fast. 
 
 Captain Tom now manoeuvred the "Rocket" 
 alongside of the floatiag coat. The straw hat 
 was also recovered and pulled aboard. 
 
 "They're his — ^both the hat and the coat!" 
 cried Moddridge, in shaking accents. "See, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 75 
 
 here are even letters belonging to Delavan in 
 this pocket!" 
 
 The nervous one never looked nearer to swoon- 
 ing than he did at that moment. He tried to 
 rise, but would have tottered backward had not 
 Joe Dawson caught him and steadied him. 
 
 "Easy, sir. You'll best keep your wits now, 
 all of 'em," counseled Joe, quietly. "If there's 
 any work to be done, you'll have to direct it, 
 you know." 
 
 With Joe's aid Eben Moddridge reached the 
 rail. Then Joe brought a chair and Mr. Modd- 
 ridge sat down. 
 
 "You can't see the — ^the — poor Delavan?" 
 fluttered Moddridge, in the greatest agitation, 
 as he stared out over the waters. 
 
 "We haven't sighted Mr. Delavan as yet," 
 Captain Tom replied. "But you may be sure, 
 sir, we're going to make a most thorough 
 search." 
 
 "Prentiss, help me below," begged Modd- 
 ridge, his face still ashen white and his teeth 
 chattering. "I — I can't stand any more of 
 this." 
 
 Indeed, the poor fellow's looks fully bore out 
 his words as Jed helped him below. 
 
 "Put him in a berth," Tom murmured after 
 them. "Better stay with him for the present, 
 Jed." 
 
76 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 Then the "Eocket" was started on a very slow 
 cruise over all the waters nearhy. After a few 
 aninutes Captain Halstead began to feel that 
 further search, especially in the fog, would be 
 useless. Yet he continued the hunt for more 
 than an hour. No further traces, however, were 
 found of the boat's owner — or late owner. 
 Which? 
 
 Every few minutes Jed was sent up to deck 
 ^0 ask uselessly for news. 
 
 "How's Mr. Moddridge getting along?" 
 queried Captain Tom, at last. 
 
 "If he does any worse," confided Jed, "he 
 won't live to reach the pier. I never saw a man 
 more unstrung. He keeps insisting that he 
 knows Mr. Delavan is dead — drowned." 
 
 "And I'm almost equally positive that noth- 
 ing of the sort has happened to Mr. Delavan," 
 Tom Halstead retorted. 
 
 "You ?" gasped Jed, wonderingly, but 
 
 could go no further, his astonishment was so in- 
 tense. 
 
 "I'm of the same opinion as Tom," Joe Daw- 
 son addedj quietly. 
 
 "You two have been talking it over, then?" 
 Jed queried. 
 
 "Not very much," Joe replied. "But there 
 are some things about this case that look mighty 
 queer for a drowning." 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 77 
 
 "But it looks," protested Jed, "as though 
 Mr. Delavan had accidentally tipped the boat 
 and gone overboard. ' ' 
 
 "When you once begin to think," retorted 
 Joe, stubbornly, "it looks like nothing of the 
 sort. ' ' 
 
 Jed Prentiss looked wonderiingly from one to 
 the other, but Tom cut in with : 
 
 "Take the wheel, Joe, and keep the whistle 
 sounding, for the fog is still thicker than I like 
 to see it. I'm going below to talk with Mr. 
 Delavan 's friend. Jed, you'll be more useful 
 on deck, at present." 
 
 Moddridge was lying in a berth in the cabin, 
 moaning and holding a handkerchief over his 
 eyes. 
 
 "I've come to ask you what I'm to do, sir?" 
 Tom called briskly, thinking thus to rouse the 
 nervous one to action. 
 
 The only response was another moan. 
 
 "Come, rouse yourself, please, and think 
 what's to be done in your friend's interests," 
 urged the young skipper. 
 
 There was another moan, before Moddridge 
 answered, m a sepulchral voice : 
 
 "Don't ask me, Halstead." 
 
 "Eight! I guess I won't," Tom rejoined, 
 thoughtfully, "You're so utterly upset that I 
 guess I can furnish better instructions myself." 
 
78 THE MOTOE-BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Oh, yes, please," begged the other, help- 
 lessly. ''And leave me alone, Halstead, or else 
 keep quiet. ' ' 
 
 "But I've got to ask some questions, sir, and 
 you'll have to answer them, ' ' Tom went on. ' ' So, 
 sir, it seems to me that you will do best to come 
 on deck, into the open air." 
 
 "Do you — ^you — really think so?" faltered the 
 stricken one. 
 
 "It will be much better for you to be in the 
 air, Mr. Moddridge." 
 
 "I'd go if I could, but I feel that I simply 
 haven't the strength to get there," mxunbled the 
 nervous man. 
 
 "I'll show you how," responded Captain 
 Tom, briskly, almost cheerily. "Steady, now, 
 sir. There ; it 's as easy as can be. ' ' 
 
 Tom Halstead lifted the little man bodily out 
 of the berth, getting a good hold on him and car- 
 rying him out to the after deck, where he depos- 
 ited the collapsed burden in one of the wicker 
 arm-chairs, 
 
 "Now, in the first place, Mr. Moddridge," be- 
 gan Tom, "try to get it fixed in your mind that 
 your friend isn't drowned — that there isn't the 
 least probability of any such fate having over- 
 taken him." 
 
 "Nonsense!" declared Eben Moddridge, 
 feebly. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 79 
 
 "Perhaps you think Mr. Delavan stood up in 
 the boat, and it tipped and let him over," argued 
 Tom. "But that was next-door to impossible." 
 
 "How impossible?" demanded Moddridge, 
 taking notice sufficiently to sit up a little more. 
 
 "Why, the port boat, Mr. Moddridge, on ac- 
 count of her heavy keel, her comparatively 
 broad beam and other peculiarities, belongs to a 
 class of what are called 'self-righting' boats. It 
 would take a deliberate effort, by a very strong 
 man, to capsize such a boat. She's towing 
 astern now. After a good deal of effort we 
 righted her. ' ' 
 
 For a moment Eben Moddridge looked hope- 
 ful. Then he sank back once more, all but col- 
 lapsing. 
 
 "Nonsense," he remonstrated. "Any little 
 boat of that size can be easily tipped over." 
 
 "The boat can't be capsized easily, I assure 
 you," Tom argued. "I know the type of boat, 
 and understand what I am talking about. Now, 
 we found the boat capsized. It probably took 
 more than one man to do it. Mr. Delavan 
 could hardly have done it alone. If it took 
 others to help in capsizing the boat, what is 
 more likely than that others have seized him, 
 and then upset the boat in order to make it ap- 
 pear that he had fallen overboard and been 
 drowned? Mr. Moddridge, are there, or are 
 
80 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 there not, men who would be glad to seize Mr. 
 Delavan for a while, for the benefit of what 
 information they might expect to frighten or 
 torment out of him'? ' ' 
 
 "Yes, yes, yes!" cried the nervous man, firing 
 up for the instant and rising to his feet full of 
 new, brief energy. Then he sank back into the 
 chair. 
 
 "But I don't believe that happened," he went 
 on, brokenly. "I am quite convinced that my 
 friend was drowned by the capsizing of the small 
 boat." 
 
 "Wait a few moments, Mr. Moddridge, and 
 we'll show you, then," proposed Captain Tom, 
 turning and making a signal to Joe Dawson. 
 "Jed, keep the bridge deck, and sound the 
 whistle regularly." 
 
 Captain and engineer disappeared below, 
 going to their room. They were quickly back, 
 clad only in their bathing suits. 
 
 "Now, you keep your eyes on us, Mr. Modd- 
 ridge," young Halstead requested. "Mr. Del- 
 avan is a heavy man, but Joe and I, together, 
 are much heavier than he. We'll show you how 
 hard it is to upset a boat of this type." 
 
 Though the boat's own oars had not been re- 
 covered, there was another pair aboard that 
 would serve. Joe brought these, while Halstead 
 brought the port boat alongside of the barely 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 81 
 
 moving motor boat. Both, boys stepped down 
 into the smaller craft. Joe applied himself at 
 the oars. A slight lifting of the fog now made 
 objects visible for a radius of some two himdred 
 feet. 
 
 "Watch us," called Tom, when the port 
 boat was some forty feet away from the 
 "Rocket." 
 
 Both boys stood up, each resting a foot on the 
 same gunwale of that little port boat. They 
 bent far forward. The boat heeled; they even 
 forced it Ip take in some water from the gently 
 rolling sea. Then, as they stepped back, the 
 little craft quickly righted itself. 
 
 "Now, come on, Joe," proposed the young 
 skipper. "We'll both stand with our backs to 
 the gunwale. We'll tip the boat, and then fall 
 backward into the water, just as though it were 
 a real accident." 
 
 Wholly at home on or in the water, the two 
 chiuns went through the manoeuvre with reck- 
 less abandon. Once more they succeeded in 
 makiag the little craft heel over and take in 
 some water. 
 
 "Now!" shouted Halstead. 
 
 Both boys lurched heavily backward, striking 
 the water and causing the port boat to heel more 
 than it had done. Both splashed and disap- 
 peared under the water, but the boat righted. 
 
 6— Motor Boat Clu6 Off Long Island. 
 
82 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 itself as soon as relieved of the weight of iiieir 
 bodies. 
 
 Clutching the port rail of the "Eocket," Eben 
 Moddridge looked on in almost a trance of fas- 
 cination. A slight gasp left his lips as he saw 
 the young captain and engineer vanish under 
 the waves; but they quickly reappeared, swim- 
 ming for the port boat, and climbing on board 
 after recovering the oars. 
 
 "Now, you ought to be convinced that this 
 boat couldn't have been capsized and left float- 
 ing keel-up by any accident to Mr. Delavan," 
 hailed Tom Halstead, as Joe rowed in alongside. 
 
 "I — I am convinced — almost,''^ chattered 
 Moddridge, excitedly. 
 
 "Then please take our word for whatever you 
 can't quite realize," begged the young skipper, 
 as he clambered aboard the "Rocket." "Come 
 on, Joe, we'll get into dry clothes. Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, be sure of one thing: if any accident hap- 
 pened to Mr. Delavan, there were others present 
 when it happened. ' ' 
 
 "With that parting assurance Halstead and his 
 chum vanished below. Almost incredibly soon 
 they were once more on deck, appareled in dry 
 clothing. Jed then went to bale out the port 
 boat, which was next hoisted to her proper 
 davits. 
 
 As Captain Tom, still thinking fast and hard, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 83 
 
 took his place at the wheel, Eben Moddridge, 
 even though he moved somewhat shakily, man- 
 aged to climb the steps from the after deck and 
 take the chair nearest to the yomig skipper. 
 
 "Halstead, " he queried, hoarsely, "you even 
 went so — so — ^far as to declare that you 
 d-d-don 't believe Frank Delavan to be 
 drowned." 
 
 "I don't believe it in the least," Captain Tom 
 declared, stoutly. "Now, Mr. Moddridge, if 
 we 're to be of real help to you, you must answer 
 some questions, and you must answer them 
 fully and clearly. Will you do so ? " 
 
 "I— I '11 try." 
 
 "On your honor as a man, sir, do you know 
 of any reason why Mr. Delavan should want to 
 disappear, leaving behind the impression that 
 he had been drowned?" 
 
 ' ' G-g-good heavens, no ! ' * shuddered the nerv- 
 ous one. ""Want to disappear? Why Frank 
 Delavan has every reason in the world for want- 
 ing to keep in close touch with New York, and 
 with me, his associate in some present big 
 deals." 
 
 "Then, if he has disappeared, as seems 
 evident, it must have been through the compul- 
 sion of some other parties?" 
 
 "Yes — most absolutely, yes!" 
 
 "Mr. Moddridge," pursued the "Eocket's" 
 
84 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 yoTing skipper, impressively, "have you any 
 idea who those other persons are?" 
 
 Moddridge's face worked peculiarly for a few 
 seconds, hefore he replied, slowly, hesitatingly: 
 
 "I might suspect any one of a score of men — 
 perhaps almost the same score that Frank Del- 
 avan might name imder the same conditions. 
 But I pledge you my word, Halstead, that I do 
 not know enough to suspect any one man above 
 all others. It would be all guess-work." 
 
 Hesitatingly as this response had been deliv- 
 ered, Tom, watching his man, felt certain that 
 Eben Moddridge was trying to speak the truth. 
 
 "Then," said the young skipper, at last, very 
 deliberately, "since it's a pretty sure thing, in 
 our minds, that Mr. Delavan wasn't drowned 
 through accident, there can't be much sense in 
 trying further to find his body. Instead, our 
 search must be after those who may be holding 
 him, against his will, aboard some craft in these 
 waters." 
 
 Joe, listening nearby, nodded his approval of 
 this decision. 
 
 "We can't do much, though, until this con- 
 founded fog lifts," groaned young Halstead. 
 
 Just as he was reaching to sound the whistle 
 once more Captain Tom's hand was arrested by 
 a sound that made Joe and Jed also start 
 slightly. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 85 
 
 Then out of the fog, three hundred fteet away, 
 going at fifteen miles an hour, or more, glided 
 Bwiftly the same long, narrow racing craft they; 
 had encountered the day before. 
 
 TJiat strange craft crossed the "Rocket's" 
 bow, at least a hundred and fifty feet away. 
 
 "Eacer ahoy!" bawled the youthful skipper, 
 in his loudest voice. 
 
 But the swift craft vanished into the fog on 
 the other side. 
 
 Was it fancy, or were all three of the young 
 motor boat boys dreaming when they believed 
 that back from that swift-moving racer came a 
 sound of mocking laughter? 
 
 "Get into the engine room, Joe," shouted 
 Captain Tom. "Jed, up forward, on lookout!" 
 
 With that the young skipper swung aroimd 
 his speed control. The "Eocket," obeying the 
 impulse, leaped forward, then gradually settled 
 down into a steady gait, while the young skip-, 
 per strenuously threw his steering wheel over. 
 
 "What are you going to do, Halstead?" de- 
 manded Eben Moddridge, leaping to his feet as 
 he caught the infection of this new excitement. 
 
 "Do?" uttered Captain Tom. "That's the 
 same craft that hung about us yesterday, plainly 
 trying to nose into our secrets. The same craft 
 that afterwards tried to play a trick on us to 
 make us reach East Hampton late. And just 
 
86 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 now the fellows aboard the stranger laughed at 
 us. What am I going to do? Why, sir, we're 
 going after her, going to overhaul her, if there's 
 the speed in the 'Eocket.' We'll even try to 
 board that stranger, Mr. Moddridge, and see 
 whether Francis Delavan is aboard against his 
 own will ! ' ' 
 
 CHAPTER Vni 
 
 THE DASHING STEKN CHASE 
 
 NOT a single objection did the man of 
 nerves offer. Ordinarily he might have 
 jumped with fear at the proposal to go 
 at fast speed through the fog. Though the mist 
 was already lifting a good deal, as it had done 
 on the day before, there was still enough of a 
 curtain ahead to make it more than just risky to 
 go rushing along. 
 
 In the white bank ahead the racing boat was 
 already lost to sight. Captain Tom raised his 
 hand to pull the cord of the auto whistle. 
 
 "If I show 'em where I am, though," he 
 thought, at once, "the man handling that other 
 craft will know enough to swing off onto 
 another course. He can leave me behind easily 
 enough." 
 
 The auto whistle, therefore, did not sound. 
 Captain Tom imderstood fully the risk he was 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 87 
 
 taking in "going it blind"— -and fast, too — 
 right on this pathway of Long Island naviga- 
 tion. But he made up his mind that he would 
 very soon begin to sound his whistle, whether 
 he sighted the other craft or not. 
 
 "K they haven't changed their course I'll 
 soon be in sight of them," the young skipper 
 reflected, anxiously. "Oh, that this fog lifts 
 soon!" 
 
 Having guessed the other boat's course, Tom 
 could follow it only by compass, as any other 
 method would be sure to lead him astray. 
 
 Both boats' engines were equipped with the 
 silent exhaust. While not absolutely noiseless, 
 these exhausts run so quietly that a boat's pres- 
 ence at any considerable distance cannot be de- 
 tected through them. 
 
 One thing was certain. At present the fog 
 was lifting rapidly. All would soon be well if 
 another dq^p bank of mist did not roll in off 
 the sea. 
 
 Jed, watching the gradual going of the fog, 
 was straining his eyes for all he was worth for 
 the first glimpse of that racing craft. Engineer 
 Joe had not further increased the "Rocket's" 
 speed, for Tom, if he was getting somewhat off 
 the course of the other boat, did not want to be 
 too far away when the lifting of the white cur- 
 tain should show him the enemy, x 
 
88 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "1 
 
 'Hist!" The sharp summons caused Tom 
 Halstead quickly to raise his glance from the 
 compass. Jed Prentiss, standing amidships, for 
 he had run back, was pointing over the port bow. 
 Tom could have yelled with delight, for off there, 
 in the edge of the bank, now some eight hundred 
 feet distant, was a low, indistinct line that could 
 hardly be other than the racing boat. 
 
 "Ask Joe to kick out just a trifle more speed, 
 not much, ' ' muttered Captain Halstead, as Jed, 
 his eyes shining, moved nearer. 
 
 Under the new impulse the "Rocket" stole 
 up on that vague line, which now soon resolved 
 itself into the hull of the^ racing craft. 
 
 By this time the chase was discovered from 
 the other motor boat. There was a splurge 
 ahead; the hull dimmed down to the former in- 
 distinct line. After a few moments the racing 
 craft was out of sight again. 
 
 "Crowd on every foot of speed you can, 
 Joe," was the word Jed passed from the young 
 captain. Dawson, crouching beside his motor, 
 was watching every revolution of the engine 
 that he was now spurring. 
 
 And now the fog began to lift rapidly. A 
 thousand feet ahead, driving northeast, the 
 racing craft could be mad6 out. She was run- 
 ning a few miles away from the coast and nearly 
 parallel with it. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 89 
 
 During the last few minutes Eben Mdddridge 
 had been strangely silent, for him. Even now, 
 as he stepped up beside the wheel, he was far 
 less nervous than might have been expected. 
 
 "Can you overtake that other boat?" he 
 inquired. 
 
 "I've got to," came Captain Tom's dogged 
 reply, as he kept his gaze sharply ahead. 
 
 ' ' She seems like a very fast craft. ' ' 
 
 "She's faster than this boat," replied Hal- 
 stead, briefly. 
 
 "Good heavens! Then she will show us a 
 clean pair of heels," quivered Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "That's not so certain, sir." 
 
 Tom was so sparing of his words, at this 
 crisis in the sea race, that Mr. Dela van's friend 
 felt himself entitled to further explanation. 
 '' "You say she's faster, but intimate we may 
 catch her," muttered Mr. Moddridge. "How 
 can that be?" 
 
 "Motor engines sometimes go back on a fel- 
 low at the worst moment," Captain Tom ex- 
 plained. ' ' That may happen to the other fellow. 
 He may have to slow down, or even shut off 
 speed altogether." 
 
 "But that might happen to us, too," objected 
 Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "It might, but there are few engineers on 
 motor boats that I'd back against Joe Dawson," 
 
90 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Halstead continued. "Then again, Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, the fellow who is steering the boat ahead 
 doesn't handle his wheel as slickly as he might. 
 By the most carefuj steering I hope to gain some 
 on him." 
 
 So rapidly was the fog lifting that the skip- 
 pers of the two boats could now see the ocean 
 for a half mile on either side, ahead or astern. 
 The racing craft, after a few minutes, put on 
 still another burst of speed. 
 
 "Ask Joe if he has every bit crowded 
 on?" called Captain Tom. Jed called down 
 into the engine room, then reported back: 
 
 "Joe says he may get a little more speed out 
 of the engine, but not much. We're pretty near 
 up to the mark. ' ' 
 
 So Tom Halstead, whitening a bit at the re- 
 port, setting his teeth harder, devoted his whole 
 energies to trying to steer a straighter course 
 than did the boat ahead. 
 
 "There's some kind of a rumpus on the 
 stranger," called Jed. "Look at that fellow 
 rushing for the hood forward." 
 
 Plainly there was some excitement out of the 
 usual on board the stranger. Jed, snatching up 
 a pair of marine glasses, swiftly reported : 
 
 ' ' Someone is trying to fight his way out of the 
 hood, and the others are trjdng to force him 
 back. Wheel It looks as though someone had 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 91 
 
 just hurled sometMng out overboard from the 
 hood." ' , 
 
 "Did you see anything strike the water?" 
 demanded Captain Tom. 
 
 "It looked so, but it's a big distance to see a 
 small object, even through the glass." 
 
 "Keep your eye on where you saw that some- 
 thing go overboard," directed Captain Tom 
 Halstead. "Try to pilot me to that spot. It 
 may be a message — from Mr. Delavan." 
 
 It was a difficult task to scan the water so 
 closely. But Jed did his best, and, after a few 
 moments, called back excitedly: 
 
 "Better slow down your speed, captain. I 
 think I see something dancing on the water. 
 It's bobbing up and down — something." 
 
 Jed Prentiss seemed almost to have his 
 eyes glued to the marine glasses, so intently did 
 he watch. 
 
 "Half a point to port, captain," he shouted, 
 presently. "Headway, only. Joe, can you 
 leave the engine to bring me a hand-net while 
 I keep my eye on that thing bobbing on the 
 water?" 
 
 Dawson leaped up from the engine room, 
 going swiftly in search of the desired net. 
 
 "Half a poilit more to port, captain," Called 
 Jed. "Steady— so! Thank you, old fellow" — 
 as Joe handed him the net. Eben Moddridge 
 
92 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 had now hurried to the port rail as the boat 
 drifted up alongside the thing that Prentiss was 
 watching. It proved to be a leather wallet, 
 floating on the waves. So neatly did Jed pilot 
 that, soon, he was able to lean over the rail, 
 make a deft swoop with the net, and 
 
 "I've got it!" he shouted. 
 
 Captain Tom Halstead instantly gave speed 
 ahead through the bridge controls, trying to 
 gain as swiftly as he could the very consider- 
 able distance that had been lost. 
 
 "It's Frank's wallet — ^his own. There's his 
 monogram on it," cried Eben Moddridge, his 
 voice quaking. 
 
 "See if there is any message inside," shouted 
 Tom, still keeping his gaze on that hull ahead, 
 while Joe bounded below to nurse his motor on 
 to better performances. 
 
 Mr. Moddridge 's fingers trembled so in trying 
 to open the soaked wallet that Jed took it from 
 him. 
 
 "Your friend's money," reported Prentiss, 
 taking out a compact mass of banknotes and 
 passing the;m to Mr. Moddridge. "Here are 
 some cards, too, and that's all." 
 
 "See if anything is written on any of the 
 cards," Tom directed. 
 
 "Nothing on any of them," Jed quickly re- 
 ported. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 93 
 
 "It's Frank Delavan's wallet, thougla," cried 
 Eben Moddridge. 
 
 "And Mr. Delavan is aboard that boat, a 
 prisoner," returned Tom Halstead. "The best 
 he could do was to throw the wallet overboard in 
 the hope that we'd see it and know where to look 
 for him. There was only a small chance of our 
 seeing it, but Jed did, and we won. Confound 
 'em ! They seem to be gaining on us ! " 
 
 As it became more evident that the stran- 
 ger was gradually pulling further ahead of 
 the "Eocket," Eben Moddridge 's face be- 
 gan to twitch, his breath coming shorter and 
 faster. 
 
 "M-m-must we lose?" he faltered. 
 
 "No race is lost until it is finished," Captain 
 Tom replied, tersely. 
 
 "But you can't overtake that boat?" 
 
 "It's a speedier craft than ours, but I'll fol- 
 low 'em, even if they get hull down on the hori- 
 zon," Halstead retorted. "I'll keep to the 
 course if they beat us out of sight. I won't give 
 up while we've any gasoline left." 
 
 The stranger was now a mUe ahead. Tom 
 figured that, in an hour, the other boat's lead 
 would be very likely increased by four or five 
 miles more. Surely enough, two or three miles 
 more were gained in the next thirty minutes. 
 Then— 
 
94 THE, MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Hurrali!'' shouted Tom flalstead. "Oh, if 
 if^s only as good as it looks!" 
 
 "What is it?" queried Eben Moddridge, 
 brokenly, not even rising from his chair. 
 
 ' ' See how the other craft is slowing her speed. 
 It looks as though her engine had given out at 
 just the right time for us." 
 
 Indeed, the stranger seemed rapidly coming 
 down to bare headway. Then she barely drifted. 
 The "Eocket," eating up the miles, swiftly 
 gained on the other motor boat. 
 
 "It looks like a real enough- break in their 
 engine," reported Jed, his eyes once more at 
 the glasses. "They're rushing about under the 
 hood. I can see that much. They seem dread- 
 fully bothered about the engine." 
 
 Tom had steered the "Rocket," by this time, 
 within a half mile of the stranger's pointed 
 stem. 
 
 "Now, we'll run down upon them!" glowed 
 the young skipper. 
 
 "What will you do when you do get along- 
 side?" asked Eben Moddridge, tremulously. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 95 
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 PLAYING A sailor's TBICK 
 
 **"¥"> IGrHT, if we have to," was Tom's laconic 
 
 Ji reply, 
 
 "Oh, dear, I do hope that won't be 
 necessary," cried Moddridge, in deeper agita- 
 tion. "All quarrelsome noises and thoughts get 
 upon my nerves to a dreadful extent." 
 
 "We won't fight unless they put us to it," an- 
 swered Halstead. "And, of course," he added, 
 with a slight smile, "we may get the worst of 
 it. We may get ourselves fearfully whacked 
 about." 
 
 "Oh, dear!" groaned Moddridge again. 
 
 Nor was the nervous man one whit reassured 
 by seeing Joe, after slowing up the engine some- 
 what, step up on deck bearing a couple of 
 wrenches. As for Jed Prentiss, that yputh had 
 laid down the marine glasses to pick up a for- 
 midable looking boat-hook. 
 
 Even with her lessened speed the "Rocket" 
 was now within less than a quarter of a mile 
 of the racing craft. 
 
 ' ' Confound it ! Now, what does that mean ? ' ' 
 vented Tom, disappointedly, as he beheld one of 
 the men aboard the other craft leap to his post 
 
96 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 at the wheel. In another moment the answer 
 came. The racing boat was moving through 
 the water again. Every instant her propeller 
 churned up the water a little~-f aster. 
 
 "They've fixed their engine," quavered Cap- 
 tain Tom. "What we've now got to find out is 
 whether their motor is strong enough to get them 
 away from us." 
 
 For some three or four minutes the two craft 
 remained about the same distance apart, despite 
 the fact that Joe Dawson, who had dropped down 
 once more into the engine room, was coaxing 
 his motor along as skilfully as he could. Then, 
 at last, the stranger began to draw ahead. 
 
 "The lucky scoundrels!" gritted Tom. 
 "They're able to go at least pretty close to their 
 fuU speed. See 'em eat up the miles again!" 
 
 "At least, then, there'll be no fight," declared 
 Mr. Moddridge, in a tone of relief. 
 
 "Nor will your friend and our employer have 
 any chance to get back to his own boat at pres- 
 ent," retorted Tom Halstead. Ordinarily he 
 could stand this nervous man's agitated spells, 
 though just now they wore upon the young skip- 
 per's patience. 
 
 For a few miles the chase continued, the 
 stranger gaining all the while. The two boats 
 had been running, lately, about five miles off 
 the Long Island coast. Now, the stranger could 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 97 
 
 be seen heading much more to the northward, as 
 though intent on making the coast. . 
 
 "Jed," directed the young skipper, "see 
 whether you can pick up the mouth of Cookson's 
 Inlet ahead of the stranger." 
 
 "There's a break in the beach over yonder," 
 reported Prentiss, soon. "It doesn't appear to 
 be more than fifty feet wide. ' ' 
 
 "It's sixty-two feet," responded Tom Hal- 
 ^ stead, who had made a hard study of all this 
 part of the Long Island coast. "And confound 
 them if they try to go in there. ' ' 
 
 "Why?" inquired Eben Moddridge. 
 
 "It's mighty shallow water, the other side of 
 the inlet, ' ' Captain Halstead explained. ' ' That 
 other boat probably doesn't draw more than two 
 and a half feet of water. Our draught, on ac- 
 count of our very heavy engine, is nearer nine 
 feet. I don't know just how far we can follow 
 them in that little bay. In some places the water 
 isn't over four feet deep." 
 
 "Then they are not playing fairly," mut- 
 tered Moddridge, in a tone of deep disgust. 
 
 "Rascals rarely do play a fairer game than 
 they're obliged to do," answered Tom, with a 
 queer little smile. "However, all we can do is 
 to stick to them as long as we are able." 
 
 With two boats going at such high speed it 
 was not long before the mouth of the inlet was 
 
 f— Motor Boat Club Off Lone Island. 
 
98 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 made. The stranger, however, passed through 
 ahout four mimites ahead of the "Bocket."' 
 
 Once in the bay the motor boat boys found 
 themselves not far from a low, sandy island, on 
 which were a few trees and three small cottages. 
 
 "There they are, passing iiie othef side of the 
 island," hailed Jed, pointing to the top of the 
 stranger's single mast, visible for an instant be- 
 fore it disappeared behind a rise in the sandy 
 surface of the island. 
 
 "It looks as though they're just running 
 around the island," muttered Tom Halstead. 
 "We won't follow; we'll meet 'em." 
 
 Putting the "Rocket" about, the young skip- 
 per steered for the other end of the island. In 
 a few minutes he passed around it, to discover 
 that the strange craft had put about, and wa3 
 going back the way it had come. 
 
 "I think, sir," explained the young skipper, 
 turning to Mr. Moddridge, "that the skortest 
 way out of this hide-and-seek game will be to 
 keep right after that pirate's stern." 
 
 "All right," nodded Moddridge, hesitatingly. 
 "Yet why do you call that other boat a pirate?" 
 
 "Any boat deserves the name that sails on 
 queer business, and is even afraid to show her 
 name-plate at her stem," Halstead rejoined. 
 
 The stranger still led, in that race in the nar- 
 row way between the island and the main shore. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 99 
 
 "Good enough, too," growled Halstead, as 
 ihis keen eyes noted a slight change in the color 
 of the water ahead. "They are leading us into 
 the shallows. Jed, get the lead, run ilp to the 
 bow and cast it in a hurry!" 
 
 Even as he gave the order, the young skipper, 
 his hands trembling slightly from vexation, 
 turned the speed control to lessen the "Rock- 
 et's" headway. 
 
 Jed, poisiQg the lead, made the neat cast of 
 a practiced sailor, letting the flannel-tagged line 
 pay out rapidly between his fingers. At the 
 instant the line slackened Prentiss, half -turned 
 toward the helm, sang drawlingly back: 
 
 "And a qua-arter, two!" 
 
 That signified two and a quarter fathoms, or 
 thirteen and a half feet of water under the bot- 
 tom of the cruiser, which drew about nine feet. 
 
 Eapidly hauling in, while the "docket" now 
 hardly more than crawled along in these shal- 
 lows, Prentiss heaved the lead once more. 
 
 ' ' And a scant — two ! " he reported. Joe Daw- 
 son, leaping to the deck, ranged up alongside of 
 Jed. The water had a shallower look ahead. 
 
 "A-a-and three-qua-arters — one!" came the 
 hail from the leadsman. 
 
 Ten and a half feet meant a foot and a half to 
 spare under the deepest point of the cruiser's 
 keel. 
 
100 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 Once more Jed poised the lead for the heaye, 
 but Joe, taking a more knowing look, shouted 
 back: 
 
 "Eeverse her, captain, or you'll poke her 
 nose ia the mud!" 
 
 Instantly Captain Halstead's hand flew to the 
 reversing lever. Slowly the motor boat stole 
 backward. The stranger had passed aroxmd to 
 the seaward side of the little island, and was 
 making for the inlet. 
 
 "They're playing with us!" grumbled Skip- 
 per Tom. "The fun's all theirs, for they've got 
 the faster craft. ' ' 
 
 Just as soon as the "Rocket" had once more 
 five feet of water to spare under her hull Hal- 
 stead decided to head about, the way he had 
 come, and put on all speed for the inlet. Yet, so 
 expensive of time was this proceeding that, 
 when the Delavan boat once more glided 
 through the inlet, the stranger was three miles 
 out to sea, heading south. 
 
 "That fellow must be laughing at us," fal- 
 tered Eben Moddridge. 
 
 "Of course he is," flared Tom Halstead. 
 "And I could grind my teeth, if that sort of 
 work would do any good. ' ' 
 
 "W-w-what can we do?" stammered the nerv- 
 ous one. 
 
 "Only keep up the chase until one or the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 101 
 
 oflier breaks down, or runs out of gasoloBe," 
 replied the young skipper, doggedly. 
 
 For almost an hour more the boats continued 
 to head south. All but the high parts of Long 
 Island were below the horizon. Yet Halstead, 
 calling Jed to the wheel, though still directing 
 the course, believed that he was gaining on the 
 other boat, even if very slowly. 
 
 "We've gasoline enough aboard," the young 
 skipper explained to the nervous man, "to keep 
 running for twenty-four hours yet. I hope that 
 other fellow hasn't." 
 
 "B-b-b-but see here," quavered Moddridge, a 
 new alarm dawning upon his mind, "if that 
 other crowd should let us get alongside, 
 and th-then s-s-s-shoot at us — ^it would be 
 awful!" 
 
 "That's a chance we've simply got to take," 
 replied Tom Halstead, coolly, "if we're to try 
 to reach Mr. Delavan and get him back aboard 
 his own boat." 
 
 "I — I — I couldn't s-s-stand anything of that 
 sort ! ' ' almost screamed the nervous one. 
 
 "Then will you get off the boat, sir, and 
 walk?" inquired the young skipper, with per- 
 haps pardonable irritation. This exhibition of 
 weak-kneed manhood made him indignant. 
 
 Erelong the stranger was a good twenty miles 
 south of the nearest point on the Long Island 
 
102 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 coast. Both boats had traveled fast over the 
 gently-rolling sea. The conditions would have 
 been ideal for a race, had the stakes been less 
 important. 
 
 "Maybe their gasoline is running so low that 
 those fellows are ready to be reasonable," 
 grinned Joe Dawsonj turning from the stand 
 he had taken near the bow. It could be seen, 
 now, that the stranger was slowing down her 
 speed. Presently she was lying to. 
 
 "That must be a confession of a tank low 
 with gasoline," cried Captain Tom, jubilantly, 
 hastening forward with the glasses. "Steer 
 straight for her, to come up on the port side, 
 Jed." 
 
 Seeing Joe again disappear below, to reappear 
 with a pair of ugly-looking wrenches, Eben 
 Moddridge turned very pale, and next hastened, 
 shakily, to the steps leadiag down to the after 
 deck. Thence he vanished into the cabin. 
 
 "Say," uttered Joe, disdainfully, "I wish I 
 had his fighting blood!" 
 
 Still the stranger lay to, only two men show- 
 ing in her cockpit. As the "Rocket" came 
 much closer to her possible prey Tom Halstead 
 again took the wheel, while Jed stood close to 
 where his prized boat-hook lay. Tom shut off 
 most of the speed as he ran in closer to port of 
 the stranger. The two men visible aboard the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 103 
 
 other boat were now standing by tbe rail, look- 
 ing curiously enough at tbe motor boat boys. 
 
 " 'Eocket' ahoy!" hailed one of them, as Tom 
 manoeuvred his craft within easy talking-dis- 
 tance of the other. "Have you been following 
 us?" 
 
 "Some!" admitted Halstead, dryly. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "To see whom you have aboard." 
 
 "Only us two boat-handlers on board," re- 
 plied one of the pair. 
 
 "Tell that to the niermaids," retorted Cap- 
 tain Tom, grimly. 
 
 "Don't you believe us?" demanded the same 
 speaker, the larger of the rough-looking sea- 
 faring pair. 
 
 "I'm not very good at believing," was the 
 younger skipper's reply. 
 
 "Then wait until we get slowly under way, 
 and you can come up alongside. I guess you can 
 board us, on this gentle sea, without scraping 
 either hull," proposed the speaker aboard the 
 racer. 
 
 That offer, made in seeming good faith, al- 
 most staggered Tom Halstead for the moment. 
 Why the stranger should run away for hours, 
 then suddenly agree to be boarded, was not at 
 once apparent. 
 
 "Unless they want to get one of us aboard, or 
 
104 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 want to try tlie mighty risky trick of capturing 
 ns on the high seas," reflected the young skip- 
 per. ' ' However, all we 're here for is to find and 
 rescue Mr. Delavan. We've simply got to try 
 to do that." 
 
 So he nodded, allowed his boat to fall away, 
 then come up alongside the racing boat, now 
 under slow headway. 
 
 As the two hulls bumped slightly, Jed Pren- 
 tiss made fast to the other craft's rail with his 
 boat-hook. Tom Halstead, with a wrench 
 dropped into a hip pocket out of sight, leaped 
 over the other boat's rail down into the 
 cockpit. 
 
 "You spoke about someone being aboard 
 here ? ' ' quizzed the larger of the two strangers. 
 "You can go ahead and find out your mistake. 
 Open anything you want; look anywhere you 
 please. ' ' 
 
 Halstead 's first swift look in under the hood 
 showed him only the motor housed there. 
 While Joe Dawson and Jed Prentiss watched 
 keenly, suspiciously, from the "Rocket's" rail, 
 the young skipper searched minutely under that 
 hood deck. There was not a human being there, 
 nor any trace of late occupancy by any. There 
 were lockers. Tom raised the lid of every one. 
 He might, in his dismayed wonder, have ex- 
 plored the gasoline tank, had he not known that 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 105 
 
 the opening was too small to permit the en- 
 trance of a man's body. 
 
 "Through in there? Satisfied?" called the 
 larger of the two men, half -mockingly. "There 
 are two lockers out here, and an after compart- 
 ment out here in the cockpit. ' ' 
 
 As soon as he was satisfied that there was no 
 other possible place under the hood, Halstead 
 accepted the invitation to make a search of the 
 cockpit lockers and storage spaces. Yet it was 
 all quite in vain. 
 
 Suddenly, however, the young skipper 
 straightened himself, glaring down at a 
 straight, not very distinct line that ran the 
 length of the cockpit, even extending under the 
 hood. As he looked swiftly up, he encountered 
 the mocking gazes of the two boat handlers. 
 
 "That was a slick trick," Captain Tom ad- 
 mitted, speaking dryly, though with an effort. 
 "That line was made by the dirty keel of a 
 small boat. In Cookson's Bay, while hidden 
 from us by that little island, you put the small 
 boat over the side, and some of your passengers 
 went ashore. Then you decoyed us all this 
 distance out to sea to have the joy of laughing 
 at us." 
 
 "Blessed if I can guess what the lad means, 
 friend," said one of the rough pair to the other. 
 
 But Captain Tom Halstead, as he leaped back 
 
106 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 aboard the "Eocket," and turned to them with 
 flashing eyes, retorted gamely: 
 
 "I'm planning to have the pleasure, mighty 
 soon, of showing you the value of the last 
 laugh!" 
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 THE MONEY STOKM BREAKS LOOSE 
 
 AS soon as the "Eooket" had fallen away 
 from the mocking strangers and was 
 heading back at nearly full speed for the 
 Long Island coast, Eben Moddridge came almost 
 totteringly on deck. 
 
 "Poor Frank Belavan wasn't aboard that' 
 other boat," he groaned. 
 
 "No, " answered Halstead, trying hard to keep 
 his disapproval of the other's cowardice from 
 sounding in his voice. 
 
 ' ' Then, good heavens ! We must get back to 
 East Hampton without loss of a moment," cried 
 the owner's friend. 
 
 "Don't you think we'll do a lot better to hustle 
 back to Cookson's Bay?" demanded the young 
 skipper. "We all of us know, as well as we 
 need to, that Mr. Delavan was aboard that ra- 
 cing boat this morning, so we must agree that 
 Mr. Delavan was carried ashore while that other 
 craft had the island between us and them. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 107 
 
 We're out to find Mr. Delavan, aren't we? If 
 we are, sir, the trail starts from Cookson's Bay. " 
 
 "But there are other matters you don't un- 
 derstand," replied Moddridge, nervously. 
 "Both Delavan and I have interests at work 
 in Wall Street. Those interests involve many 
 millions of dollars. While I was hoping every 
 minute to come up with Frank Delavan, the 
 chase seemed to me to be the main thing. But 
 I should have been in East Hampton hours ago, 
 to answer frantic appeals for instructions that 
 must have been coming in over the long distance 
 telephone." 
 
 "Then do you instruct me, sir, to head for 
 East Hampton, and leave Mr. Delavan to take his 
 chances in the hands of rascals?" 
 
 "Don't — don't put it in that way," begged 
 Mr. Moddridge, shivering. 
 
 "Unfortunately, sir, I don't see any other 
 way to put the question," young Halstead an- 
 swered. 
 
 Eben Moddridge wavered, thinking it all over 
 in an evident frenzy. While he was thus pon- 
 dering Captain Tom was heading straight in for 
 where he knew Cookson's Inlet to be. 
 
 "It's — ^it's — ^bad either way," Moddridge 
 finally confessed. "If I delay in reaching the 
 telephone Frank and I may lose millions through 
 some imf ortunate turn in Wall Street. And, on 
 
108 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 the other hand, if poor Frank has vanished, per- 
 haps never to turn up again, he and I may both 
 be ruined in the money world. ' ' 
 
 "As between losing some millions, and 
 all," spoke Tom, as judicially as he could, "I 
 should say it would be better to risk some of 
 the money and keep on after Mr. Delavan 
 himself." 
 
 "If that's the way it api)ears to you, then do 
 so," replied Eben' Moddridge, slowly, hesitat- 
 ingly. "Oh, dear, I simply can't think when I 
 am so nervous." 
 
 "This is a funny sort of an associate to take 
 into a big money deal," thought Halstead, won- 
 deringly. The young skipper discovered, later, 
 that Moddridge was a power in Wall Street 
 simply because he had inherited more millions 
 than he was capable of handling. He was valu- 
 able when men wanted more money for financial 
 operations than they themselves controlled. 
 Moddridge was in the present big Delavan deals 
 simply because Moddridge had discovered that 
 he could always trust Mr. Delavan. 
 
 So Tom headed for Cookson's Bay, making 
 that shallow little body of water in less than an 
 hour. Another hour was spent in lowering the 
 port boat and in rowing Moddridge both to the 
 little island and to the main shore. It was a 
 sparsely settled region. Only one of the cottages 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 109 
 
 on the little island was occupied, and that only 
 by a bachelor who admitted that he had been 
 asleep at the time when the two motor boats had 
 dodged about the island. He aided, however, in 
 searching the other two cottages, but no sign was 
 f otmd of Mr. Delavan or of his probable captors. 
 The search was continued on the main shore, 
 with no better results. 
 
 "Now, we simply must get back to East 
 Hampton," urged Moddridge, and Halstead was 
 reluctantly of the same opinion. 
 
 "If Frank can't be found soon," chattered 
 the nervous one, as the "Eocket" headed toward 
 her pier at East Hampton, "and if the news be- 
 comes public, then every stock he is heavily in- 
 terested in will go away down on the Stock Ex- 
 change." 
 
 "Why?" asked. Tom Halstead. 
 
 "Why, people will think there's something 
 queer about the disappearance," Moddridge ex- 
 plained. "Take the P. & T. Eailroad, for in- 
 stance. Its capital is eighty million dollars. 
 Delavan owns fifteen million of that himself. 
 He's the president, biggest stockholder, and the 
 virtual czar of that railroad. If Frank can't 
 be found, what will folks be apt to think? Why, 
 simply that he has been guilty of criminally mis- 
 managing the railroad, for his own profit, and 
 that now he has fled to some foreign country to 
 
110 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 hide away from the American law. P. & Y. 
 stock will take a fearful drop." 
 
 "That won't happen, all ia a day, wUl it?" 
 questioned Captain Tom. 
 
 "It might. It will be sure to happen withia 
 a very few days, if Frank doesn't show up 
 again. Wall Street is the most sensitive place 
 in the world. Let a breath of suspicion blow 
 against a certain stock, and that stock drops and 
 drops, until perhaps it goes down out of sight. 
 Everyone who has his whole fortune invested 
 in that stock may be ruined by the smash. If 
 the P. & Y. stock goes down, it wUl knock Frank's 
 deals and mine into a cocked hat. ' ' 
 
 "Why?" asked Tom, wonderiagly. 
 
 "Why?" repeated Eben Moddridge, shiver- 
 ingly. "Why, I've told you that Frank holds 
 fifteen millions of P. & Y. stock. I hold five 
 millions myself. Frank told you, yesterday, 
 that we were plunging in Steel and other allied 
 stocks that Mr. Gordon influences heavily. Steel 
 and those other stocks are going to work up and 
 down, like a see-saw, for the next few days. 
 To raise the funds for our operations Frank and 
 I have been pledging our P. & Y. stock, which 
 stands at 102. But suppose Delavan can't be 
 found, and P. & Y. drops to forty-r-or even 
 thirty?" gasped Eben Moddridge. "What 
 would happen then?" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 111 
 
 "Well, what would happeni" questioned Tom 
 Halstead, to whom the whole vast Wall Street 
 game was a great puzzle. 
 
 "Why, if P. & Y. tumbles like that," continued 
 Eben Moddridge, "the great banking houses 
 that have been advancing us money on P. & Y. 
 stock to play with Steel and allied stocks will 
 be forced to call in their loans in order to pro- 
 tect themselves. Frank Delavari and I are 
 pledged as heavily as we possibly can be. We 
 couldn't raise five million dollars more between 
 us. So, if the bottom drops out of the P. & Y. 
 stock Delavan and myself stand to be wiped 
 off the board in all our deals — ruined!" 
 
 The last word came from Moddridge in a sob- 
 bing gasp. He was clutching at the rail as the 
 "Eocket" moved in nearer to her pier. 
 
 "Halstead," he continued soon, "as quickly 
 as we land, I want you to get a carriage and rush 
 to the telephone office with me. I'm so excited 
 I feel as though I'd fall over in a faint. You 
 must go with me — remain with me until this fear- 
 ful ordeal is over." 
 
 Half a dozen well-dressed, alert-looking young 
 men who''stood on the pier seemed to be greatly 
 interested in the "Eocket" as that boat was 
 berthed. Jed was at the wheel as Captain Tom 
 stood by the rail, ready to leap ashore. 
 
 "Mr. Francis Delavan aboard?" hailed one 
 
112 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 of the young men, just as the young skipper's 
 feet touched the pier. 
 
 "Why do you want to know?" Halstead cross- 
 q^uestioned. 
 
 "I'm from the New York 'Herald','' replied 
 the young man. "I am here to interview Mr. 
 Delavan. ' ' 
 
 " I 'm from the ' World ', ' ' added another young 
 man. Halstead at once understood that this 
 group was made up of reporters. 
 
 "Mr. Delavan didn't go out with us this morn- 
 ing," replied Captain Tom, while Ehen Modd- 
 ridge surveyed the reporters, uneasily. Seeing 
 a cab up the road, Halstead signaled it vigor- 
 ously. 
 
 "Where is Mr. Delavan?" demanded the 
 "World" representative. 
 
 "That's Mr. Delavan 's business. I can't tell 
 you, " replied Tom, a bit stiffly. 
 
 "Is his friend, Mr. Moddridge, aboard? Is 
 that Mr. Moddridge?" asked another of the re- 
 porters. The nervous man, imder the concen- 
 trated gaze of six reporters, became more 
 nervous than ever. 
 
 "Gentlemen," went on Halstead, hurriedly, 
 drawing out his watch just as the vehicle rolled 
 down to the pier and stopped, "it's twenty-five 
 minutes of three, and the Stock Exchange in 
 New York closes at three o'clock. That is Mr. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 113 
 
 Moddridge on board, but he is in a rush to reach 
 the telephone ofl&ce, and he can't lose even a sec- 
 ond until he has talked with New York." 
 
 Halstead almost led the nervous one from the 
 boat to the cab, helping him inside, and getting in 
 with him. 
 
 ' ' Wait here, gentlemen, if you wish to talk with 
 Mr. Moddridge," coaxed Tom. As the cab 
 started one of the reporters bounded up onto 
 the step, from which he was adroitly yanked by 
 Jed Prentiss. Then the driver whipped his 
 horses forward, and the reporters were distanced 
 for the time being. 
 
 Yet one of the press scribes, as he ran 
 along in the vain effort to overtake the cab, 
 shouted : 
 
 "There's a mysterious report in New York 
 that everything is wrong with the P. & Y., and 
 that Delavan has absconded to some other coun- 
 try. Can you say anything to that, Mr. Modd- 
 ridge?" 
 
 If Moddridge could, he didn't. Instead, his 
 jaw dropped. He reeled to one side as though 
 about to fall from the seat. Tom hastily changed 
 to the same seat, supporting the worried man. 
 
 "So the news has already reached New York 
 and Wall Street?" he asked, faintly. 
 
 "If it has," whispered Halstead, watching to 
 see whether the driver was trying to listen, "then 
 
 8— Motor Boat Clui Off Long Island. 
 
114 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 it's because the crowd back of the trouble took 
 pains to send word in early this morning. Mr. 
 Moddridge, the news must have been known 
 hours ago, since reporters have had time to get 
 away out here from the city." 
 
 "If " 
 
 "Don't try to say any more, Mr. Moddridge," 
 urged Halstead, again in a whisper. "The 
 driver may be trying to overhear." 
 
 As they reached the telephone office, and got 
 out, Tom hurriedly paid the driver, then es- 
 corted Mr. Moddridge inside. The manager of 
 the office looked up to say, briskly: 
 
 "The wire in booth number two is waiting for 
 you, Mr. Moddridge." 
 
 "Come in the booth with me, Halstead," 
 begged Moddridge, shaking. "I may need you, 
 if my voice is too unsteady. ' ' 
 
 So the young skipper followed his employer's 
 friend into the booth, making sure that the door 
 was tightly closed. Hardly had this been done 
 when three of the reporters, who had followed 
 in another carriage, entered the office. The 
 manager, however, would not allow them near 
 the booth. 
 
 The telephone instrument was already 
 directly connected with a broker's office in Wall 
 Street, New York City. Immediately after he 
 had rung Moddridge asked: 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 115 
 
 "Is that you, Coggswell? How is everything 
 going?" 
 
 Tom Halstead, standing close to the receiver, 
 could hear the reply: 
 
 "Oh, is that you, Mr. Moddridge? Where on 
 earth is Mr. Delavan?" 
 
 "He is not here just now." 
 
 "Mr. Moddridge," came the earnest voice 
 from the other end of the wire, "I hope you will 
 be able to get hold of Mr. Delavan at the earli- 
 est possible moment. P. & Y. has gone 
 down, to-day, from 102 to 91. There'll be a 
 further drop unless you can bring Delavan to 
 the fore." 
 
 ■ Eben Moddridge groaned. Tom could see 
 ^perspiration oozing out on the nervous one's 
 "" face and neck. 
 
 "There are persistent rumors," continued 
 Broker Coggswell, "that Delavan has secretly 
 and systematically wrecked the P. & Y. Bail- 
 road, and that the road's finances are in a bad 
 condition. The newspapers have taken up the 
 yarn, and there's a bad flurry in all Delavan 
 stocks. ' ' 
 
 "The reporters are out here, trying to inter- 
 view me, ' ' admitted Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "Then," begged the New York broker, "pro- 
 duce Delavan at the earliest possible moment, 
 and let the reporters interview him. It will do 
 
116 THE MOTOK BOAT CLUB 
 
 a lot to steady your interests in Wall Street. 
 Where is Mr. Delavan, anyway!" 
 
 "I can't tell you that over the wire, Mr. 
 Coggswell. I'll write you this afternoon." 
 
 "Is it true that Delavan has fled, and is in 
 hiding on account of financial irregularities 
 with the P. & Y. Eailroadj" 
 
 "It's wholly false, Coggswell," cried Modd- 
 ridge, hoarsely. 
 
 "Then hurry up and produce him, or the 
 banks will call your loans, and you'll both go 
 under in the crash, besides dragging a good 
 many scores of innocent people down with you. " 
 
 "Oh, I hope it won't be as bad as that," 
 shivered Moddridge. 
 
 "If you and Delavan go under during the next 
 few days," warned Broker Coggswell, "Wall 
 Street is so shaky and suspicious that a good 
 many failures will result." 
 
 "I'll put Delavan iu touch with you at the 
 earliest possible moment," promised Eben 
 Moddridge. "And now, as my watch tells me 
 it's ten minutes to closing time on the Stock 
 Exchange, I'll wait right here for the day'siinal 
 news." 
 
 As soon as he had turned aWay from the in- 
 strument Moddridge looked out through the glass 
 door of the booth at the reporters hovering by 
 the street door. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 117 
 
 "There's a side door out of this place, Hal- 
 stead," whispered the nervous one. "I don't 
 ■want to have to meet all those reporters again. 
 Slip into another hooth and 'phone the Eagle 
 House to have Delavan.'s car rushed down to the 
 side door." 
 
 Tom Halstead accomplished this, returning to 
 the booth before Broker Coggswell called up Mr. 
 Moddridge. 
 
 It was a few minutes after three when that 
 call came. 
 
 "You, Moddridge!" demanded the New York 
 broker's voice. 
 
 "Yes, Coggswell." 
 
 "P. & Y. has broken down to 86. If it goes 
 to 85 in the morning, either you'll have to put 
 up extra collateral for your loans and Delavan's, 
 or the bankers wUl call in your loans." 
 
 "Good heavens!" shuddered Mr. Moddridge, 
 
 "But Delavan's reappearance will stop all the 
 wild rumors, and P. & Y. ought to climb back 
 up where it belongs. Be swift and active, Mr. 
 Moddridge, for you know how many millions are 
 at stake. I shall be here at my office for two 
 hours yet, for the situation looks black at this 
 end." 
 
 "Brace up, sir, please do," begged Tom, anx- 
 iously, as Eben Moddridge turned away from 
 the instrument and rose, his face haggard and 
 
118 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 ashen gray, Ms knees tottering under him. 
 "The reporters will see you. Think what they 
 may imagine if you look scared to death. A! 
 frightened face may cost you millions at this 
 time ! Throw your head up and back. Laugh, 
 then keep smiling. That's right; now come!" 
 
 Delavan's automobile was waiting up the street 
 a little way. As soon as the clever chauffeur saw 
 the pair appear at the side door, the machine 
 glided up to that side door, the nearer tonneau 
 door open-. Into it stepped Moddridge and the 
 young skipper, the latter closing the door. The 
 machine turned and was rolling away just as the 
 reporters, suddenly alert, hurried to the spot. 
 
 Arrived at the hotel, Eben Moddridge got to 
 his room as quickly as possible. There, all dis- 
 guise dropping, he began to shake so that he was 
 forced to drop into a chair. 
 
 "Tell the clerk I want no cards; that I'm too 
 busy to see any callers," directed the nervous 
 one. ' ' Tell him, on no account, to let anyone get 
 up here. Yet, Halstead, someone must see the 
 reporters. Why can't you do it? Tour nerve 
 is all right. See them! Talk to them. But 
 don 't let them know we can 't find Delavan. Go ! 
 To the clerk, first, then the reporters." 
 
 Slipping downstairs, Captain Tom Halstead 
 was able to fill both orders at the same time, for 
 the reporters were all at the clerk's desk, offer- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 119 
 
 ing their cards. At sight of Halstead the six 
 scribes bore down upon him. 
 
 "You can't see Mr. Moodridge for two or 
 three hours, anyway," Tom assured the gentle- 
 men of the press. "Every instant of his time 
 is taken up. If there's anything I can properly 
 tell you, I'll do so." 
 
 "Where's Delavan?" the six chorused to- 
 gether. 
 
 "Why do you want to know that?" inquired 
 Halstead, innocently. 
 
 "Why?" replied one of the reporters. "Be- 
 cause it is reported and believed that Francis 
 Delavan has wrecked the P. & Y. Railroad, that 
 he has sent the proceeds of his work out of the 
 country, and that he has followed the money. 
 There's another story to the effect that Delavan, 
 overcome with horror, has committed suicide by 
 drowning himself in nearby waters. There's a 
 big tumble in Wall Street, already, and the 
 money storm is breaking loose!" 
 
120 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 TOM HAIiSTEAD's QUICK WIT AT WOBK 
 
 ••"^TOW, where is Francis Delavan?" 
 
 I^y Six gentlemen of the press launched 
 
 that question at Captain Tom Hal- 
 stead's head. Their voices and their eyes put 
 the question together. 
 
 But the young man, smiling serenely, was 
 ready for them. 
 
 "Mr. Delavan left, early this morning, for 
 a pleasure trip on the water, and he hasn't 
 returned yet," replied the "Rocket's" skip- 
 per. 
 
 That was wholly the truth. 
 
 "Where did Mr. Delavan go?" 
 
 "He didn't tell me where he was going." 
 
 "How soon will he be bacjs?" 
 
 "He didn't tell me that, either." 
 
 "Did he go on the 'Rocket'?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Captain," demanded one of the reporters, 
 eyeing the lad keenly, "pardon me for asking 
 you if you answered that last (question truth- 
 fully." 
 
 "On my honor I did," Halstead replied, 
 promptly. "Yesterday Mr. Delavan went out 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 121 
 
 on the 'Rocket.' To-day only his friend, Mr. 
 Moddridge, went out with ns." 
 
 "See here, captain," demanded another re- 
 porter, bruskly and somewhat roughly, "don't 
 you know, quite well, that Delavan has skipped 
 away, probably out of the country, for good?" 
 
 "I give you my word, gentlemen, that I don't 
 know it, or even believe it. Indeed, while I do 
 not presume to feel myself in Mr. Delavan 's con- 
 fidence, I am very sure that he cannot be many 
 miles from here at this moment." 
 
 "Then where is he?" ' 
 
 "Not being in Mr. Delavan 's confidence, I 
 can't tell you." 
 
 "Do you know where he is?" 
 
 "Not — not exactly." 
 
 That reply conveyed the impression the young 
 skipper hoped it would, namely, that he simply 
 didn't want to tell where the Wall Street man 
 was supposed to be. 
 
 "All I can tell you," Tom Halstead added, 
 "is that Mr. Delavan is probably not many miles 
 away from here at this moment, that he will 
 imdoubtedly turn up very soon, and that he will 
 be pretty angry over the stories that his brief 
 absence have caused." 
 
 Not being easily daunted or turned aside, these 
 New York reporters continued their siege of the 
 young skipper for at least another quarter of 
 
122 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 an hour. Tom, however, could not be trapped 
 into saying more than he had already said. Yet 
 he spoke so simply, and with such candor, that 
 he imagined the reporters themselves were be- 
 ginning to believe that too much ado had been 
 made over Mr. Delavan's brief absence, and that 
 Wall Street had gone astray on another crazy 
 story. However, still intent on seeing Eben 
 Moddridge, and perhaps hoping to find Mr. 
 Delavan himself before the day was over, the 
 reporters lounged about the lobby or at the hotel 
 entrance. 
 
 As soon as he could do so without attracting 
 the attention of any of the others, Halstead 
 strolled over to the "Sun" reporter, a fair- 
 haired, alert, athletic-looking young man. 
 
 "Do you know that brown-haired, tall young 
 man, in the blue suit?" asked Halstead, rather 
 carelessly. 
 
 "I do not," answered the "Sun" man. 
 
 "Yet he belongs to your party, doesn't he?" 
 pursued the young skipper. 
 
 ' ' Why, he was witli us, yes. ' ' 
 
 "Do you know the other reporters?" 
 
 "All of them." 
 
 "But you don't know the brown-haired young 
 
 man?" 
 
 
 "No," answered the "Sun" man. 
 
 "I don't 
 
 believe he's from a New York paper. 
 
 He may 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 123 
 
 belong to one of the Brooklyn dailies. Shall I 
 ask him who he is and what paper he serves?" 
 
 "Oh, no, thank you," Tom answered, care- 
 lessly. "It's just the slightest curiosity on my 
 part. He makes me think, a little, of a fellow 
 I knew in my own town." 
 
 But as the motor boat boy presently strolled 
 away his mind was moving fast. He had already 
 suspected that the brown-haired young man, 
 with the well-tanned face, did not belong to the 
 party of reporters, though he pretended to. 
 
 For Halstead, rarely mistaken in a voice, had 
 heard the fellow speak twice. Though the tone 
 was low, it had brought back a memory of the 
 night before. 
 
 "If it's the same fellow," flashed through the 
 boy's mind, "then his hair, last night, was 
 lighter, and his cheeks fairer. Since then he 
 must have dyed his hair and stained his face. 
 He wore a gray suit, then, and a yachting cap, 
 but I'd wager a lot the fellow yonder is the one 
 who directed the fellow calling himself Eexf ord, 
 and one of the pair that chased me up a tree. 
 The voice is the same, I'm sure, though now 
 he's talking lower and trying to disguise his 
 voice. ' ' 
 
 The more Halstead covertly studied the sus- 
 pected one the more he became convinced of the 
 whole truth of his guess. 
 
124 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Then, if he's one of the fellows who tried 
 to tempt me last night, he's working for or with 
 the very crowd that have caused Mr. Delavan to 
 vanish," breathed the young captain, reeling 
 that his excitement must be showing in his eyes, 
 Halstead forced himself to cool down a good 
 deal. 
 
 ' ' That fellow you asked about claims his name 
 is Ellis, and that he's on a Brooklyn news- 
 paper," murmured the "Sun" man, drifting by 
 the young motor boat captain. 
 
 "Thank you," acknowledged Tom Halstead, 
 courteously, yet almost indifferently. To him- 
 self, however, as the real reporter strolled away, 
 the boy muttered: 
 
 "Ellis, eht And a Brooklyn newspaper? 
 iWhat a cool liar the fellow is!" 
 
 Though they had now waited but a few min- 
 utes after giving up young Halstead as a bad 
 interviewing job, the reporters were now once 
 more besieging the desk clerk to send their cards 
 up to Eben Moddridge. 
 
 "It's no use, gentlemen, I tell you," insisted 
 the clerk. "I'm not to let anyone near Mr. 
 Moddridge until he informs me that he is at 
 leisure. ' ' 
 
 ' ' That fellow who calls himself Ellis is the only 
 one who doesn't insist at all," muttered the 
 young skipper, covertly watching the game. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 125 
 
 Bye and bye, however, "Ellis" drew two of 
 the real reporters aside, engaging them in low, 
 earnest conversation. The other reporters 
 joined the party, all hands talking together for 
 some fifteen minutes. Then once more the 
 "Sun" reporter, as soon as he could do so with- 
 out attracting attention from his comrades, 
 sauntered up to Captain Tom, standing on the 
 veranda just outside the entrance. 
 
 "That fellow Ellis claims to have a whole lot 
 of inside track," whispered the "Sun" man. 
 "He tells us he knows that Francis Delavan, 
 overccTme with remorse at having looted the as- 
 sets of the P. & Y. Railroad, drowned himself 
 near the inouth of the inlet this morning. He 
 claims that the body has been recovered, but that 
 an effort is being made-to keep it from the cor- 
 oner." 
 
 "Then the fellow lies," retorted Tom bluntly, 
 indignantly. "You've been good to me in tell- 
 ing me this, so I'm going to assure you again, 
 on my honor, that Mr. Delavan isn't dead; and 
 I'm equally certain that he has done nothing 
 wrong. ' ' 
 
 The "Sun" man looked keenly at the boy, 
 concluding that the blue-uniformed young skip- 
 per was telling the truth as he knew it. 
 
 "Thank you," said the reporter, simply. 
 "I'll try to keep you posted on any other wild 
 
126 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 rmnors I hear. But I wish you'd lead me, alone, 
 to Delavan." 
 
 "I w^l," promised Tom, artlessly. 
 
 "When?" 
 
 "When the time comes that I have a right to. " 
 
 Just as the "Sun" reporter walked away the 
 young skipper caught sight of Jed, standing 
 under a tree in the grounds, making signs. Be- 
 side Jed stood a big, broad-shouldered hulking 
 young fellow with a face as freckled as the map 
 of the Thousand Islands. 
 
 Taking a last look inside, and seeing Ellis still 
 chatting with two of th6 New York reporters, 
 Halstead ran down the veranda steps, crossing 
 the grounds to his Nantucket friend, 
 
 "Say, cap," began Jed, affectionately, "I'm 
 terribly sorry, but I guess I've got to quit this 
 cruise. It's mean, but there's trouble at home. 
 Mother's ill. I've just had a wire from Dad. 
 He doesn't say it's the worst, Tom, but he ad- 
 vises me to come home. So I've got to go by 
 the next train, which leaves in twenty minutes. 
 Tou won't blame me, old fellow, will you?" 
 
 "Blame you?" repeated Halstead, quickly, 
 "Of course not. I'd drop anything if I had the 
 same kind of a telegram. We'll miss you, of 
 course, Jed, but it can't be helped. We'll get 
 along somehow." 
 
 "Oh, I'm not going to leave you thrown 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 127 
 
 down," retorted young Prentiss. "Cap, this is 
 my friend. Hank Butts. Hank is right out of 
 sea-faring stock for a hundred years back. And 
 he can cooh, too. Say, Tom, he was down at 
 Nantucket, two years ago, on the Life Saving 
 Service cutter. Even then he could cook, eh, 
 Hank?" 
 
 "Some," laconically responded the freckle- 
 faced youth, ' ' And I can handle boats — some — 
 though I don't know^much about motors." 
 
 "I just ran into him on the way up here, 
 Tom, ' ' confided Jed. ' ' But say, I know all about 
 him, from two years ago. Can you give him 
 the job imtil I show up back again, anyway?" 
 
 ' * Yes, ' ' agreed Halstead at once. ' ' Of course, 
 subject to Mr. Delavan's approval." 
 
 "Then good-bye, and good luck to you 
 all," cried Jed Prentiss, after hastUy looking 
 at his watch. "I've got to run. I've said 
 good-bye to Joe already. Tom, I've left my 
 uniforms on board — if you can squeeze Hank 
 into 'em." 
 
 With a hasty hand pressure for both youths 
 Jed Prentiss scurried away, intent on reaching 
 his Nantucket home at the earliest possible mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain Tom had stepped around so that the 
 bush was between himself and the hotel entrance. 
 Hank followed. 
 
128 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Shall I go on board and look about at the 
 new job?" queried Hank Butts. 
 
 "Yes," nodded Tom, instantly adding: "By 
 hokey — ^no!" 
 
 For at that very moment Ellis was coming out 
 alone through the hotel entrance. The fellow 
 glanced backward, to make sure he was not ob- 
 served by any of the genuine reporters. Then 
 he slipped rapidly through the grounds. 
 
 "See that fellow hurrying over there, in the 
 blue suit?" questioned young Halstead. 
 
 "Yep," nodded Hank Butts. 
 
 ' ' Think you could follow him, no matter where 
 he goes, so he wouldn't suspect you were follow- 
 ing him?" 
 
 ' ' Sure, ' ' nodded Hank. ' ' Nothing easier. ' ' 
 
 "Then do it," blazed Tom Halstead, in a 
 frenzied undertone. "And I will follow, keep- 
 ing only you in sight. In that way, he won't 
 have any chance to know I'm after him, and he 
 doesn't know you." 
 
 Hank, like a well disciplined follower of the 
 sea, sauntered away without asking another 
 question. Captain Tom watched him for a few 
 moments, then, when Ellis had passed out of 
 sight, the young skipper trailed after Hank 
 Butts, at that moment about to vanish from his 
 view. 
 
 "Ellis was hanging around, to spread stories 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 129 
 
 against Mr. Delavan, and also to find out what is 
 happening, ' ' quivered the young motor hoat cap- 
 tain. "Now, I'll bet Ellis is going straight to 
 his employer — and I'm going to follow him right 
 up to that same rascally chief!" 
 
 CHAPTER Xn 
 
 GOING STEAIGHT TO HEADQUAETEES 
 
 IT was an exhilarating thought that the fel- 
 low in the lead of the strange procession, 
 who was unquestionably a sham reporter, 
 was going straight to the headquarters of thfi 
 whole conspiracy 
 
 Had Ellis been suspicious and looked back, 
 only to behold Tom Halstead in his wake, it 
 would have been easy enough for the fellow to 
 turn aside from wherever he was going. As it 
 was, however, only unknown Hank Butts was 
 visible, once in a while, in the chase, and Hank, 
 in overalls and a farmer's straw hat, didn't look 
 like anything clever. Moreover, Hank was do- 
 ing his level best to appear more simple. He 
 went through the streets greeting people he knew, 
 or thought he knew, in a careless fashion. Once 
 they got beyond the town, on a road going east- 
 ward. Hank fell back out of sight of Ellis, though 
 ; still keeping on the trail. The first time it was 
 
 ,' g— Motor Boat Club Off Long Island, 
 
130 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 necessary for this Long Island boy to let him- 
 self be seen as Ellis turned for a look backward, 
 Hank yanked off his hat, nimbly chasing a but- 
 terfly, which he missed. 
 
 "This friend of Jed's knows his business all 
 right," thought Tom Halstead, admiringly, as 
 he followed, just managing to keep in touch with 
 young Butts, yet wholly behind and out of sight 
 of Ellis. "Hank looks like a Simple Simon, 
 which, in itself, is almost a sure sign that he 's 
 no fool." 
 
 After tramping more than a mile down a dusty, 
 lonely country road, Ellis hauled up under a tree, 
 removing his hat and mopping his face. Hank, 
 without shying, went straight on. 
 
 * ' Howdy, ' ' greeted Butts, nonchalantly. Then, 
 sighting another butterfly, he went off after it 
 at full speed, catching this one and wrapping it 
 carefully in a handkerchief. 
 
 "Interested in such things?" asked Ellis, fol- 
 lowing Hank down the road. 
 
 "Yep," replied young Butts, unconcernedly, 
 "when there's a fool professor in town willing 
 to pay me for such stuff." 
 
 "Oh, you're collecting 'em for someone else, 
 are you?" Ellis wanted to know. 
 
 ^'Now, did I say quite that?" asked Hank, 
 with a foolish grin. "Say, mister, I'm mind- 
 ing my business, ain't I?" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 131 
 
 "And you're a regular boor about it, too," 
 retorted Ellis, sharply. 
 
 "I Beckon that's my business, too, ain't it?" 
 mocked Hank. 
 
 Disgusted with this country bumpkin, as he 
 doubtless considered him, Ellis stalked on again. 
 But Hank had accomplished his purpose. There- 
 after Ellis, not suspecting him of anything 
 clever, paid no heed to him. 
 
 /'Hank is as near all right as anyone I've 
 seen," chuckled Tom Halstead, who, having 
 crept close for once, behind the shelter of a 
 fringe of sumac bushes, had overheard the talk. 
 "I can trust Jed's friend." 
 
 Thereafter Halstead did not take the risk of 
 getting too close. He was satisfied with keep- 
 ing track of Hank only. 
 
 After more than another mile had been cov- 
 ered, however. Hank came loping back over the 
 course. Tom stepped aside into the bushes. 
 
 "Hsst!" he hailed. 
 
 "I knew you'd stop me," whispered Hank, 
 hauling up short. "And I thought you'd bet- 
 ter know what's going on ahead. Quite a bit 
 down the road there's an auto hiauled up at the 
 side, and a feller in it just signaled the chap you 
 set me to watching. Your feller is hiking for- 
 ward to meet the goggles in the auto. What do 
 I do now?" 
 
132 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 Captain Tom's hesitation was brief. He 
 would have liked to ask Hank to wait near by, 
 but remembered the fact that young Butts was 
 not in the Delavan confidence. It might be bet- 
 ter, on the whole, to send Jed's friend back to 
 East Hampton. 
 
 "Skip back and aboard the boat," the young 
 captain directed, hurriedly. "Don't tell a soul, 
 except Joe Dawson, what you've been doing, 
 and don't go up into town away from the boat." 
 
 "Aye, aye, sir," nodded Hank, understand- 
 ingly. ' ' But don 't stay to watch me out of sight, 
 or your man may skip off in that auto with his 
 goggles friend." 
 
 The advice was good. Keeping off the road, 
 crouching low behind the bushes that fringed the 
 highway, Halstead hastened forward as noise- 
 lessly as he could travel. After going a quarter 
 of a mile he heard the quiet running of an auto- 
 mobile engine. 
 
 "Whoever has that car wants to be ready to 
 start on the instant without even having to wait 
 fo crank up," throbbed the young skipper, 
 moving more stealthily than before. In- 
 stantly, too, he became more excited, for now 
 he could hear the low hum of voices in con- 
 versation. 
 
 The noise of the automobile's engine guided 
 iiie young motor boat captain better than any 
 
OFF LONa ISLAND 133 
 
 other sound could have done. Crawling between 
 the bushes, he came, at last, to a point directly 
 opposite the auto at the roadside, and barely 
 more than a score of feet away. Halstead 
 crawled to this spot and lay there, securely hid- 
 den. 
 
 "You've done as well as you could, Ellis, no 
 doubt," a man's voice was saying. 
 
 "I'm sure of that, Mr. Bolton," replied the 
 young man. "I've made those New York re- 
 porters suspicious. I've done the trick so 
 strongly, in fact, that everyone of them will send 
 his paper a story that will make Wall Street 
 jump in the morning. Even if any of the re- 
 porters suspect that Delavan may be alive, they'll 
 give some space in their papers to the hint of re- 
 morse and suicide. P. & Y. ought to fall at 
 twenty points when the Stock Exchange opens 
 in the morning. ' ' 
 
 "It will," declared the man addressed as Bol- 
 ton. "But I hope it will drop even more than 
 that. The lower P. & Y. goes-, Ellis, the better 
 it will be for me. I want that railroad, and I'm 
 going to get it!" 
 
 "Oh, you are, are you?" thought listening 
 Tom Halstead, deeply interested. 
 
 "But I'm certain you'll have to get Delavan to 
 a safer place, Mr. Bolton, ' ' continued Ellis, ear- 
 nestly. "I'm afraid there'll be a big search for 
 
134 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 him. You know Moddridge still has a goodish 
 bit of money that's not tied up in his new deals." 
 
 "Moddridge!" sniffed Bolton, contemptu- 
 ously. "Pooh! That's the least of our wor- 
 ries. Moddridge simply won't do anything — 
 won't have courage enough, with.Delavan out of 
 the way. Moddridge is a feeble-minded idiot of 
 finance." 
 
 "But there are other people who stand to lose 
 heavily through a drop in P. & Y.," urged Ellis. 
 "Some of them have money enough to hire an 
 army of detectives and spies. If Delavan is 
 found before P. & Y. touches bottom price in the 
 market your profits will be much smaller. ' ' 
 
 "I know it," nodded Bolton. "But Delavan 
 simply isn't going to be found, until I've got 
 enough P. & Y. stock at my own figures. Then . 
 he can come back and boost the stock up 
 again — meaning millions in profits for Justin 
 Bolton!" 
 
 "If you're absolutely sure he won't be found 
 
 before our plans go through successfully " 
 
 hesitated Ellis. 
 
 "Found?" echoed Bolton, with a rough laugh. 
 "Not until I want it, Ellis. See here, this is 
 what I am going to do with Delavan, to-night." 
 
 Some whispered words followed. 
 
 "Get him out on the ocean?" cried Ellis, a 
 note of delight in his voice. "And keep him out 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 135 
 
 there for days, a close prisoner? Good! Noth- 
 ing better can be done, if it isn't traced back to 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, it won't be," declared Justin Bolton, 
 with a grunt of conviction. "Ellis, I'm plan- 
 ning this all too deeply. I couldn't get in on that 
 Steel business. I don't know what tips Dela- 
 van's agent got from Gordon, and I don't know 
 what Delavan and Moddridge started to do in 
 that direction. But when I heard that both had 
 pledged their P. & Y. stock with the bankers I 
 saw at once how to drive the bankers into selling 
 the pledged P. & Y. stock to save themselves. 
 And others will sell. There'll be a panic in 
 Wall Street to-morrow. We'll pick up the P. & 
 Y. for song-prices. Delavan 's final return will 
 show the folly of the scare. P. & Y. will then 
 go up again, and I'll clear the millions I want. 
 Ellis, you and Rexford won't be poor men any 
 more after that ! ' ' 
 
 Inch by inch Tom Halstead had continued to 
 creep forward. He wanted to get a good look at 
 Justin Bolton. He wanted, if possible, to find 
 some way of "catching on behind" the touring 
 car when it rolled away, for in that manner, he 
 believed, he could find his way direct to impris- 
 oned Francis Delavan. 
 
 Justin Bolton sat alone on the front seat of 
 the machine, Ellis stood in the roadway, two feet 
 
136 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 off. Beside Bolton dozed an ugly-looking bull- 
 dog. 
 
 One of Tom's movements under the bushes 
 made a slight sound. Neither of the men heard 
 it, but the bull-dog awoke. The animal thrust 
 up its ugly head, sniffing. Then, with a growl it 
 sprang out of the car, dashing into the bushes. 
 Tom had only time to hug the ground more 
 closely, praying that he might escape detection. 
 But the bull-dog rushed straight to the spot of 
 hiding. Too late the young skipper rolled over, 
 to leap to his feet. As he did so, the bull-dog 
 sprang at him. In a moment Tom felt the 
 brute's teeth at his throat. The teeth did not 
 sink through the skin, but Captain Tom knew 
 fhat the least movement to shake off the animal 
 would cause those strong jaws to fasten. 
 
 Ellis dashed into the bushes after the dog. 
 
 "What's wrong?" shouted Justin Bolton, in a 
 voice of alarm. 
 
 "Wrong?" echoed Ellis, glaring down at the 
 hapless young motor boat sldpper. "Every- 
 thing on the list is wrong ! Your dog has caught 
 the captain of Delavan's boat. And the infernal 
 young meddler must have heard every word of 
 our talk!" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 137 
 
 CHAPTER Xm 
 
 STEALING A SWIFT MAKCH 
 
 "/^ R-R-R!" snarled the bull-dog, still hold- 
 
 i "J" ing lightly onto Halstead's neck, 
 ready to sink his fangs in at the 
 first sign of resistance. 
 
 At Ellis's startling information Mr. Bolton 
 leaped from his car, crossing the road and 
 bounding over among the bushes. 
 
 "So we've got you, have we — the young man 
 who refused to aid us for a good price?" cried 
 the dog's owner, exultantly. "Ellis, this isn't 
 bad news. It's about the best thing that could 
 have happened, "We'll stuff this young man's 
 mouth up, tie him and take him to keep his 
 employer company. It reduces the danger of 
 any successful pursuit by the 'Rocket.' " 
 
 Tom Halstead wasn't a coward, as everyone 
 familiar with his career well knows. But the 
 dog had the upper hand at this moment, and 
 any attempt to show fight would have been 
 sheer folly. 
 
 "I guess you'll agree to offer no nonsense, 
 won't you, Halstead?" chuckled Mr. Bolton, 
 roughly. "If you do, I'll call my dog off, 
 though the beast will be at hand if needed," 
 
138 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 Captain Halstead's blood was boiling over 
 tlie hopelessness of this defeat in what he had 
 hoped would be the very hour of his success. 
 Before he could reply, however, the dog made 
 the next move. 
 
 Behind the whole group was a quick, light 
 step. The dog was the first to hear it. Spring- 
 ing back from the young skipper with a new 
 growl of warning, the brute turned, making a 
 fresh spring. 
 
 Hank Butts had just crossed the stone wall 
 that bordered the road. In his two hands 
 Hank held a rock slightly larger than his head. 
 Nor did the freckle-faced youth seem greatly 
 alarmed. As the bull dog sprang Hank calmly 
 bent forward and dropped the heavy rock on 
 the animal's head just in the nick of time. 
 
 Without uttering a sound the savage brute 
 dropped to the ground, dead. Ellis leaped for- 
 ward at the newcomer, but Hank Butts, with a 
 speed that seemed strange in him, snatched up 
 the dog and hurled it full in the face of the 
 sham reporter. 
 
 "Here, you young rascal!" roared Justin 
 Bolton, as Ellis toppled over backward. He 
 rushed at Hank, but Mr. Bolton was a stout, 
 middle-aged man — ^no match in agility for a 
 country boy. 
 
 "Get back before I have to do something im- 
 

 
 
 Hank Calmly Dropped the Bock. 
 139 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 141 
 
 polite," mocked Hank, sidestepping and throw- 
 ing liimself on guard. But Tom Halstead, leap- 
 ing to his feet at the first sign of rescue, now 
 tripped Justin Bolton neatly. That astounded 
 person fell backward, striking the ground 
 heavily. 
 
 "This way, Hank, on the hustle!" called 
 Tom, making a plunge for the road. Halstead 
 was in the automobile, at the steering wheel, 
 like a flash. Hank, trembling slightly, but all 
 a-grin, followed. 
 
 Ellis was the first to regain his feet, though 
 Bolton was close behind him as he gained the 
 road. They were just a second or so too late. 
 With the machine cranked up, the engine run- 
 ning, Halstead had only to give the steering 
 wheel a turn and push on the speed. The car 
 rolled ahead, then began to travel fast just as 
 the angry pair dashed up. In another instant 
 Halstead had distanced them, speeding the car 
 eastward down the country road. 
 
 Bang! There was a single shot. A bullet 
 sped by their heads, but both boys were crouch- 
 ing low. There was a second shot, but this 
 time no bullet was heard. The swift car had. 
 borne them out of revolver range. 
 
 "Hank,"" exploded Tom, gleefully, "I want 
 to say that I've known some real fellows, but 
 you're one of the best ever. But how did you 
 
142 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 manage it? I thought you were on your way 
 back to East Hampton.". 
 ^ "I ought to have been," admitted Hank 
 Butts, soberly. "But — well, I suppose I've a 
 notion for minding other people's business. I 
 was just aching to see how you came out, so — 
 well, I foUered." 
 
 "And the luckiest thing for me that you 
 did," asserted young Halstead, shutting off 
 much of the speed, now, and running along 
 more slowly. "But see here, Hank, can you 
 run this car for a moment or two?" 
 
 "I can steer it," Hank agreed. 
 
 Tom surrendered the wheel to this new friend, 
 and climbed over backward into the tonneau. 
 He promptly examined the cushions under the 
 rear seat. As he had hoped, he found a 
 large locker space under the seat, and some 
 tools. 
 
 "See here. Hank, listen," admonished Hal- 
 stead, leaning over the back of the front seat. 
 "I think our people will run after us a little 
 way in the hope that we'll leave the auto and 
 take to our heels. I'm going to stay here and 
 hide under the back seat. There's a wrench or 
 two there that I can fight with if I'm cornered. 
 If Bolton will only overtake his machine and 
 go where I think he'll go, I'll be on the track 
 of the biggest kind of news. But this time I 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 143 
 
 want you to really run back to East Hampton. 
 Don't even tliink of waiting to see what hap- 
 pens to me. Get aboard the 'Eocket' and tell 
 Joe Dawson, from me, to get the engine all 
 ready for an instant start. Then he wants to 
 be near the cigar store, close to the pier, so I 
 can call him over the telephone there if I want 
 to send him any message. Tell him to have the 
 tank full of gasoline, ready for a long chase. 
 Here, I'll give you a note that'll make' Joe Daw- 
 son pay a whole lot of attention to you. Shut 
 off the engine." 
 
 Hank Butts ran the car in at the side of the 
 lonely road and stopped. Halstead hastily 
 scribbled on an envelope: 
 
 Joe, trtist Hank Butts to the limit. He 's all right. 
 Tom. 
 
 "Take this," ordered the young skipper. 
 "Now, after I get in under the seat, pile the 
 cushions over it again as they should go." 
 
 Captain Tom quickly stowed himself away, 
 finding the space rather cramped after all. Un- 
 der the edge of the seat he slipped the end of 
 his jackknife, to keep the lid raised barely 
 enough for a supply of air. This done. Hank 
 placed the cushions. 
 
 "Now take to the woods and make a real 
 travel back to East Hampton," muttered Tom. 
 
144 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Be quick about it, before Bolton and Ellis get 
 in sight." 
 
 "Good-bye, Cap. Best of luck!" breathed 
 Hank Butts, fervently. Then the confined 
 young skipper heard his new friend leap down 
 into the road and scamper away. 
 
 There followed some weary moments, full of 
 suspense and anxiety. The young motor boat 
 boy hoped that the rascally pair would pursue 
 their car thus far, but he knew, too, that they 
 might be suspicious enough to explore that 
 locker space under the big rear seat. Though 
 Tom gripped a wrench tightly, this pair might 
 both be armed and ready to proceed to any 
 lengths to prevent the defeat of their plot to 
 wrest millions from an excited stock market. 
 
 At last Halstead heard running steps, fol- 
 lowed by a shout: 
 
 "There's the car! ilust as I had hoped!" 
 
 The running steps slowed down to a walk. 
 Then, as the new arrivals drew near, Justin 
 Bolton's voice proclaimed, triumphantly: 
 
 "I thought it might be so. Those boys didn't 
 dare take the risk of stealing a valuable car, 
 so, as soon as they got away safely, they de- 
 serted the machine." 
 
 "I hope they haven't done anything to dis- 
 able the ear," hinted Ellis, concernedly. "I 
 don't know who that hulking Simple Simon 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 145 
 
 chap is, but young Halstead undoubtedly knows 
 enougb about gasoline motors to know how to 
 leave one in mighty bad shape." 
 
 "We'll soon know," declared Bolton, as he 
 reached the car. "Why, the engine seems to be 
 running all right. Jump in, and we'll try the 
 car a little way." 
 
 After the pair had gotten in at the front the 
 car rolled ahead. Whoever was at the wheel 
 let the speed out a few notches, then slowed 
 down and stopped the car. 
 
 "It's all right, Ellis, and a tremendously for- 
 tunate thing for us. Now, you can get out and 
 go back to East Hampton. Sorry I can't take 
 you back, but it wouldn't do for me to take the 
 slightest risk of being seen and recognized with 
 you." 
 
 "That's all right, " nodded Ellis, leaping down 
 to the ground. 
 
 "You know just what to do, young man, and 
 you won't fail me?" 
 
 "Not with the big reward that's in sight," 
 laughed Ellis. 
 
 "Good-bye, for a little while. Be alert!" 
 
 The car started ahead again, though not at 
 great speed. Plainly Bolton was in no imme- 
 diate hurry about what he had to do. As he 
 guided the car along he hummed, merrily, in a. 
 low voice. 
 
 Zt^~Motor Boat Oub Off Long Jsland. 
 
146 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Just as though lie were an honest man," 
 muttered Halstead, indignantly. 
 
 Often, indeed, was the young motor boat 
 skipper tempted to try the lifting of the lid of 
 the seat enough to look at the country through 
 which they were now passing. But the risk that 
 Justin Bolton might be taking a backward 
 glance at the same moment seemed too great. 
 
 Twice, as sounds told, they passed other auto- 
 mobiles headed in the opposite direction. Peep- 
 ing through the narrow crevice that he had 
 made with his knife-end — an opening thait was 
 concealed by the overlapping cushions — ^Hal- 
 stead saw that daylight was now rapidly 
 waning. 
 
 Twenty minutes later it was fully davk. The 
 car now turned off the soft road ovei which it 
 had been running, to a more gravelly road. 
 Then the car stopped altogether. 
 
 "All well, sir?" hailed a voice that made Hal- 
 stead start. The tones were those of that red- 
 haired young man, Eexford. 
 
 "Not quite all well," replied the voice of 
 Bolton, though the speaker seemed hardly wor- 
 ried. "We ran into that young captain of the 
 'Eocket,' Halstead, and into another young fel- 
 low, a human cyclone. They know something 
 of our game, but they were glad enough to get 
 away from us." 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 147 
 
 Calvin Rexford gave vent to a low, prolonged 
 whistle of amazement. 
 
 "However," Bolton continued, "they don't 
 know enough of what we're doing to spoil our 
 enterprise. As I said, we got rid of them." 
 
 He then gave a rather truthful account of the 
 meeting in the woods, of the seizure of the auto 
 and of its abandonment, as Bolton supposed. 
 
 "I don't like the sound of that story," said 
 Rexford, uneasily. 
 
 "Nor do I, either," agreed Justin Bolton. 
 "Still, the boys don't know the most important 
 part of what they'd like to find out — where 
 Frank Delavan is. And, now, Rexford, how has 
 Delavan been behaving?" 
 
 "Naturally, he hasn't been giving us any 
 trouble, ' ' laughed Rexford. ' ' We haven 't given 
 him any chance." 
 
 "I think I'll take a look at him; though, mind 
 you, he mustn't have the slightest glimpse of 
 me." 
 
 "I think that can be easily arranged," re- 
 plied the red-haired one. "But did the boys, 
 this afternoon, hear your name?" 
 
 "I don't believe they did," replied Bolton, 
 stepping out of the car. "It might disarrange 
 our plans some if they did happen to know my 
 name. ' ' 
 
 The next words, spoken by Rexford, were not 
 
148 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 distinguisliable to Tom Halstead, crouching 
 under that rear seat. He raised the lid some 
 what as soon as he was satisfied that the twc 
 speakers were moving away. 
 
 The car had been run in under a shed, opei 
 at one end. Bolton and Rexford being out oi 
 sight, Tom softly raised the lid, cushions anc 
 all, then replaced the leather cushions anc 
 leaped hastily to the ground. 
 
 The shed had been built onto a bam tha' 
 was now rather dilapidated. Two hundred feel 
 beyond the bam was an old, spacious house oi 
 two stories. Toward this the two men wen 
 walking. 
 
 "So that's Mr. Dela van's prison, is it?' 
 thought the young skipper, throbbing with th( 
 excitement of his discovery. "Whereabouts is 
 this place? Probably near Cookson's Inlet. ] 
 wonder if the water can be seen from any poini 
 around here?" 
 
 Then, gazing after the two men, Tom saw 
 them disappear into the house. There seeming 
 to be no one else about, the boy stole slowlj 
 toward the house. He had reached an old, 
 tumble-down summer-house when the sound ol 
 voices made him hide there. Two other men, 
 middle-aged and strangers, came from the di- 
 rection of the house, going towards the bam, 
 They had been talking in undertones, but ceased 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 149 
 
 before they came near enougli for the young 
 motor boat captain to make out anything. 
 
 "Confound 'em," grumbled Halstead, a few 
 moments later. For the two men, having 
 reached the bam, now lighted pipes and stood 
 there, smoking and chatting in undertones. 
 
 Halstead could not move from where he 
 crouched. If he did he ran the almost certaia 
 chance of being discovered. Thus some ten or 
 twelve minutes passed. The young skipper of 
 the "Rocket" studied the old house, trying to 
 guess in yvhat part of it Francis Delavan was 
 confined aga,inst his will. Not a single light, 
 however, showed from the outside. 
 
 Someone was coming away from the house. 
 As he came nearer, Halstead made him out to 
 be Eesford. That young man kept on past the 
 bam to the shed. He soon returned slowly in 
 the car, the two men with pipes swinging aboard 
 as he passed them. 
 
 To Tom's great alarm the car stopped close 
 to the summer house. The two strangers now 
 stepped out again, going toward the main house. 
 Hardly had they vanished when Justin Bolton 
 came out once more, going straight to the auto- 
 mobile, though he did not board it. 
 
 "You understand your orders fully now, Rex- 
 ford?" inquired Bolton. "You know what to 
 do to-night, and you are aware that, this house 
 
150 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 having served its brief purpose, we shall not 
 use it again. The launch will remain where it 
 is, in hiding, for a day or two, at least. Then, 
 when all is ready, the launch will take you and 
 your charge out to sea. You know the rest?" 
 
 "It's all qnite clear, thank you, Mr. Bolton," 
 Eexford replied, 
 
 "I shall rely upon you, then, Rexford. Don't 
 fail me." 
 
 "No fear, Mr. Bolton. You are wagering mil- 
 lions on the game, but I have at least a fortune 
 at stake. Trust me. I won't fail you." 
 
 "Good-night, then, Eexford. Caution and 
 good luck ! " 
 
 "Good-night, Mr. Bolton. We'll both be 
 richer when I see you again," laughed the red- 
 haired one, recklessly. 
 
 Justin Bolton walked rapidly away. Had 
 Tom Halstead wished to follow, he could not 
 have done so. Rexford, sitting in the nearby; 
 car, would have been sure to see the boy. 
 
 Ten minutes passed. Then another crunch- 
 ing was heard on the gravel. This time the 
 young motor boat captain felt as though his 
 heart must stop beating. The two strange men 
 now appeared, carrying the helpless form of 
 Francis Delavan between them. 
 
 "Stow him in carefully.' Drop these blankets 
 over him, ' ' directed Eexford. Francis Delavan, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 151 
 
 bound and gagged for the journey, was placed 
 in the bottom of the tonneau and covered over. 
 One of the men got in beside him, the other 
 sitting on the front seat with Calvin Eexford. 
 Honk! The toot from the automobile's horn 
 was unintentionally jeering, for Tom Halstead 
 was left behind, helpless, at the very instant when 
 he longed, as never before, to be of the utmost 
 service. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE MELTING OF MILLIONS 
 
 IT would have been worse than useless to have 
 tried to jump into the breach just before 
 the car started. At the least, Tom Hal- 
 stead would have been made a prisoner by these 
 desperate plotters. 
 
 Free, though he could not immediately aid 
 Mr. Delavan, the young skipper could at least 
 carry word of what he had seen. He could rouse 
 Eben Moddridge to action, or, anyway, to the 
 putting up of money that would put other and 
 more capable men in action. 
 
 Yet the boy felt like grinding his teeth in 
 chagrin and bitter disappointment as he saw that 
 swift touring car glide swiftly off the grounds to 
 the road. 
 
 He had started to run after the car, hoping to 
 
152 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 overtake it before it got fully under speed, and 
 to catch'*on in some way behind. But almost at 
 once he saw that there was nothing to catch hold 
 of at the rear, and immediately afterwards the 
 car shot ahead at a speed of forty miles an hour. 
 
 "Whee! I hope the oflBcers stop them, some- 
 where, for speeding," thought Halstead, with a 
 half hopeful grin as he slowed down to a walk. 
 It would hardly do, however, to expect the car 
 to be stopped for going only forty miles an hour 
 on Long Island. 
 
 As the young skipper stepped out, pant- 
 ing, through the gate, he remembered the ne- 
 cessity of proceeding cautiously, lest he run afoul 
 of Justin Bolton, who could not be far away, and 
 was on foot. That scheming financier carried a 
 revolver, and had shown himself not slow to use 
 it. After half an hour Halstead felt that the 
 danger of meeting Bolton was slight, and hur- 
 ried on faster. 
 
 It was late in the evening when Tom Halstead 
 entered the hotel grounds at East Hampton. A 
 short distance away he had halted long enough 
 to remove all excessive amounts of dust from 
 clothing and shoes. In order to appear neither 
 excited nor in haste, he sauntered slowly enough 
 through the grounds, approached the veranda, 
 stood there two or three minutes, walked about 
 a bit in the lobby — long enough to see that two 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 153 
 
 of the New York reporters were still on the 
 scene — and at last escaped, without attracting, 
 special notice, up the stairs. Now he hastened 
 to the door of Mr. Moddridge's rooms, and 
 knocked briskly. 
 
 "It's Halstead, Mr. Moddridge," he replied, 
 in answer to a shaking query from within. The 
 door flew open like magic. 
 
 "Halstead? "Where have you been all these 
 hours?" came the peevish question, as Eben 
 Moddridge, in neglige attire and looking like a 
 more than ill man, faced the young skipper. 
 "You " 
 
 Tom went inside, closed the door, and led the 
 nervous one to an inner room. Here the motor 
 boat boy poured out the whole story of what he 
 had been through. 
 
 "Why, your new boy. Butts, hasn't been near 
 me with a word of this," gasped Moddridge, 
 presently. 
 
 "That must have been because he didn't know 
 you, of course," evaded Halstead, easily. "But 
 now, Mr. Moddridge, it will be necessary to pull 
 all your wits together if you're to save your 
 friend and yourself. "What should be the first 
 move?" 
 
 "Oh, dear," cried the nervous one, pacing the 
 floor, "I honestly don't know. I don't see my 
 way. "Why did Delavan ever allow himself to 
 
154 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 get into such a dreadful mess? If he had fol- 
 lowed my advice " 
 
 "If your advice is any good, sir," put in Tom, 
 crisply, "it ought to be useful, just now, in find- 
 ing out the way to extricate Mr. Delavan from his 
 present troubles. Now, what ought to be the 
 first step?" 
 
 With most men Halstead would have thought 
 himself presuming to go so far. But the case 
 was tremendously pressing, and it took more 
 than a little to get Eben Moddridge started. 
 
 By slow degrees Moddridge pulled himself to- 
 gether. He wouldn't hear to calling in the re- 
 porters and making the whole story public as far 
 as it was known. 
 
 "The public would regard it all as a cock-and- 
 bull invention, gotten up to hide Delavan 's sup- 
 posed flight," the nervous one rather sensibly 
 declared. "And, if we were to drag Bolton's 
 name in, Bolton would be very likely to give us 
 the trouble of proving the whole story, mostly 
 on your unsupported word, Halstead, with a lit- 
 tle corroboration, of course, from your very ec- 
 centric new steward — 'Butts, did you call 
 him? Besides, if Frank Delavan were here, I 
 think he would prefer to scheme secretly to pun- 
 ish Justin Bolton, instead of going after him 
 openly. ' ' 
 
 "Who is this Bolton?" asked Tom Halstead. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 155 
 
 "A man whom Delavan helped to make the 
 start of his fortane. But Bolton is unscrnpu- 
 lous' and dangerous; Frank had to drop him 
 years ago," 
 
 The idea of sending for detectives Ehen Modd- 
 ridge also declined to entertain. 
 
 "No matter how secretly we may think we 
 hire detectives," he objected, "it is pretty sure 
 to leak out. The Wall Street public would take 
 that as a sensational feature, and P. & Y. would 
 drop lower than ever in the market. No, no, 
 Halstead; we won't think of hiring detectives 
 until we have tried other means. Now, what 
 remains to be done?" 
 
 Tom Halstead pondered before he answered : 
 
 "Bolton's intention seems to be to take Mr. 
 Delavan off Long Island on that racing launch. 
 It will probably be at some point within twenty 
 or thirty miles of here, either east or west. If we 
 could put enough men on watch, we could find 
 out when that launch attempts to put out to sea. 
 But you object to using detectives. I wonder if 
 there are any other men we could trust, instead 
 of using detectives? Say," proposed the young 
 skipper, suddenly, "you both trust your broker, 
 Coggswell, don't you?" 
 
 "Very thoroughly," admitted Moddridge, 
 pausing in his nervous walk to stare hard at the 
 young skipper. 
 
156 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 ' ' Then why not get hold of Coggswell, at his 
 home to-night, over the telephone? Ask him to 
 send out some of his clerks whom he knows to 
 he reliable. He might even send ont a few other 
 young men that he could vouch for-?" 
 
 "But what good would they be?" asked Eben 
 Moddridge. . 
 
 ' ' I can take the map of this coast, sir, and lay 
 out stations for these young men, so that there'll 
 be one or two of 'em every few miles east and 
 west of here. I can give them perfect descrip- 
 tions of the racing launch. They can be pro- 
 vided with marine glasses. Just the instant that 
 any one of them spots the racing launch he can 
 telephone me. Then, whether the launch has Mr. 
 Delavan aboard, and is putting out to sea, or is 
 going after him, I can do my best to follow in 
 the 'Eocket.' Since you are opposed to hiring 
 detectives, Mr. Moddridge, that's the best thing 
 I can see that is left to do." 
 
 After some further talk the nervous financier 
 agreed to this. He called up Broker Coggswell 
 by 'phone, at the latter 's home in New York. 
 Mr. Coggswell agreed to send down twenty capa- 
 ble and honest young men by the earliest train 
 in the morning. 
 
 That being all that could be done for the pres- 
 ent, Captain Tom Halstead returned to the 
 "Eocket." Joe Dawson and Hank Butts were 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 157 
 
 both up, waiting for him. For the next hour, 
 sitting on the deck house of the boat, in the dark, 
 still watches of the night, talking in whispers, 
 the boys drscussed all the latest phases of the 
 puzzling affair. Then Tom turned in below, 
 Joe doing likewise, leaving Butts on deck for 
 the first watch. 
 
 "He can be wholly depended upon, can't he, 
 Tom?" Dawson asked. 
 
 "Who? Hank Butts? Joe, even though 
 Hank has struggled into one of Jed's uniforms, 
 he may still look like a Simple Simon, but don't 
 lose any sleep worrying about Hank!" 
 
 Early, in the morning the young skipper was 
 astir again. Hiring a bicycle he wheeled rapidly 
 to the next railway station above East Hampton. 
 There the young men sent by Broker Coggswell 
 left the train. Their leader reported to Hal- 
 stead with the whispered ^watchword provided 
 by the New York broker. Tom led them off in 
 private, unfolded the map he had brought with 
 him, and assigned to each young man the station 
 he was to watch day and night. For this pur- 
 pose the young men were sent away in j)airs. 
 When the instructions had been given and fully 
 understood, Halstead leisurely pedaled back to 
 East Hampton. 
 
 "Those young fellows all look bright," he 
 thought. ' ' If they serve faithfully, they may be 
 
158 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 able to give us the very warning that we shall 
 need. ' ' 
 
 Eben Moddridge, who rarely slept more than 
 two or three hours at a time, was awake when the 
 young skipper called on him. Moddridge had 
 arranged for a direct wire from his room to 
 Coggswell'& office in New York, and was fever- 
 ishly awaiting the hour of nine, when the great 
 Stock Exchange would open for the day's deal- 
 ings in money. 
 
 "I feel as though my death sentence must 
 come through this instrument," groaned the 
 nervous financier, tapping the telephone. 
 
 At last the call came. Now Moddridge had 
 abundant excuse for being nervous. The day in 
 New York opened with P. & Y. at 87. 
 
 "Two points lower," sighed the nervous one, 
 "and the bankers will begin to call in the loans 
 with which Frank and I have been buying 
 Steel." 
 
 Half an hour later P. & Y. touched 85. 
 
 ' ' We 've got to put up some money to the banks 
 now," stated Coggswell. "But Steel has been 
 doing a little. If you authorize me, I can sell 
 out some Steel and allied securities, and meet 
 the first demand from the banks on your SJi- 
 count. ' ' 
 
 ' ' What shall I do ? " shivered Moddridge, turn- 
 ing appealingly to the "Rocket's" skipper. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 159 
 
 "Wliy, I don't know a blessed thing about the 
 game," Tom admitted, promptly. "But I 
 should take Coggswell's advice. He seems to 
 have a clear head," 
 
 Eben Moddridge acted on the suggestion. But 
 the New York newspapers were printing columns 
 about the disappearance of Delavan, and more 
 -about the shakiness of P. & Y. stock. By noon 
 the P. & Y. stock had dropped to 81. (joggswell 
 had closed out more of the Delavan-Moddridge 
 buyings in Steel, and thus had averted a crash 
 for those interests. 
 
 /^"If Steel will only go up as P. & Y. goes 
 down," smiled Halstead cheerily, "you will be 
 able to keep even." 
 
 "That is, one debt will wipe out the other, and 
 leave Frank and myself penniless, " replied Eben 
 Moddridge, with a ghastly face. 
 
 The Stock Exchange closed for the day with 
 P. & Y. at 76, that is, at a selling price of seventy- 
 six dollars per share, instead of a hundred and 
 two dollars per share as it had been forty-eight 
 hours earlier. So far, by sales of Steel and its 
 allied securities. Broker Coggswell had been able 
 to keep the Delavan-Moddridge interests from 
 going wholly to smash. 
 
 "But there's to-morrow to face," almost 
 shrieked the nervous financier. "To-day mil- 
 lions of our money have literally melted away. 
 
160 TgB MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 If to-morrow brings no change in our luck, we 
 shall both be ruined!" 
 
 The only change of the next day was to carry 
 P. & Y. as low as 71, where it remained for the 
 time being. Having between three and four mil- 
 lions of dollars left in private funds, Moddridge, 
 shaking like a leaf, had ordered Coggswell to 
 turn this last remnant of his fortune into the 
 joint Delavan-Moddridge interests. Thus again 
 the banks had been staved off for a little while. 
 
 "But the next drop in P. & T. will eat up all 
 our Steel investments, and Frank and I won't 
 have another penny to turn in," sobbed the 
 nervous one. "Then the banks will have to 
 close us out to save themselves. Frank Delavan 
 and I will be beggars ! ' ' 
 
 Tottering to the bed in the adjoining room, 
 Eben Moddridge threw himself across it, sob- 
 bing hysterically. 
 
 Tom Halstead, however, gazed after the nerv- 
 ous financier with a new, deeper feeling of re- 
 spect. 
 
 "I don't understand very much about this 
 "Wall Street game, and my head is lined with a 
 maze of figures," the young skipper muttered 
 to himself. ."But there's a heap of the man in 
 you, Moddridge. When you might have saved 
 a very decent fortune to yourself, you threw it 
 into the whirlpool to try to protect your absent 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 161 
 
 friend. You may be a nervous wreck, but hang 
 me if you aren't a whole lot of a man at bot- 
 tom!" 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE MASTHEAD GAME 
 
 WHILE the game that frenzied men were 
 playing in Wall Street had been hurry- 
 ing Mr. Delavan and Mr. Moddridge 
 into a ruin that would drag scores of others into 
 the crash, Engineer Joe Dawson had been going 
 ahead very methodically under his young cap- 
 tain's orders. 
 
 The "Rocket's" gasoline tank had been filled. 
 In addition, as many extra cases of the oil had 
 been taken aboard and stored as the boat's space 
 below could provide for. 
 
 "But be mighty careful what you do, Hank, 
 with the galley fire," urged the young skipper, 
 seriously. "Any blaze that starts aboard this 
 boat when we're out on the water is pretty sure 
 to blow us a thousand miles past Kingdom 
 Come." 
 
 Just after dark, on the night of that day when 
 Eben Moddridge threw his last dollars into the 
 frantic game of speculation, Tom was summoned 
 in haste from the boat to the cigar store near the 
 pier. There was a telephone booth there, and 
 the young skipper was wanted at the 'phone. 
 
 XI— Motor Boat Club Off Long IsUind. 
 
162 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "This is Theodore Dyer," announced the 
 speaker at the other end. 
 
 "Oh, yes; you're one of the watchers," Hal- 
 stead remembered, swiftly. 
 
 "That launch you set us to watching for has 
 just gone into Henderson's Cove, a mile north 
 of here." 
 
 ' ' Oh, bully for you. Dyer ! ' ' throbbed the motor 
 boat boy. ' ' Has she had time to leave yet ? ' ' 
 
 "Not yet." 
 
 "One thing more. Was the launch showing 
 all her lights?" 
 
 "Every one of them." 
 
 "You're absolutely certain it's the launch?" 
 
 "Top-sure. My side-partner, Drew, first 
 sighted her coming down the coast just before 
 dark fell. It's the launch, all right, or her exact 
 twin." 
 
 Captain Tom had only time to thank the 
 watcher up the coast, then bolted back to the 
 boat. 
 
 ' ' Get everything ready, Joe, " he called. * ' We 
 ought to be under way in five minutes. I'm off 
 to speak to Mr. Moddridge." 
 
 "I'm going with you," cried the nervous one, 
 leaping up as soon as he heard the news in his 
 room at the hotel. 
 
 "We may be out a long while, sir," suggested 
 the young skipper. ' ' How about your broker ? ' ' 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 163 
 
 "I gave Coggswell final orders, two hours ago, 
 to do the best he could and not to communicate 
 with me until he has better news — or everything 
 has gone to smash. Hurry, lad!" 
 
 By the time they reached the hotel entrance 
 Moddridge was trembling so that Tom bundled 
 him into a waiting cab. Two minutes later they 
 were at the pier. 
 
 "Cast off. Hank," Halstead called, at once. 
 Then, as he reached the deck : 
 
 "Joe, be ready at the speed-ahead." 
 
 In a jiffy the "Rocket" was moving out from 
 the pier. 
 
 "Hank," called the young skipper, at the 
 wheel, "down with that masthead light." 
 
 "Why, it's against the law to sail at night 
 without a masthead light," gasped Butts. "And 
 look at the weather out yonder." 
 
 "We can sail with a bow light when we have 
 no mast," Tom retorted, doggedly. "And in 
 twenty minutes we won't have a mast. Down 
 with the masthead light. ' ' 
 
 Wondering, Hank Butts obeyed. 
 
 "Trim the side-lights down to just as little as 
 the law will stand for," was Tom's next order. 
 "Just at present they're too bright — for our 
 purpose. ' ' 
 
 This, too. Hank obeyed, though he was plainly 
 enough of a seaman to be disturbed. 
 
164: THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Shall I turn the searchlight on, to pick up 
 the inlet?" Butts next inquired. 
 
 "Blazes, no!" the young skipper ejaculated. 
 "I don't want to show the glimmer of a glow 
 that I don't have to. " 
 
 "How are you going to pick up the inlet in 
 this dark, nasty weather?" Hank inquired. 
 
 "Feel for it," Captain Tom retorted, dryly. 
 "Get up forward. Hank, and pass the word 
 back." 
 
 A native of this section. Hank was a compe- 
 tent pilot. Thus they got out through the inlet 
 from Shinnecock Bay, heading southwest for 
 Henderson's Cove, ten miles away. As soon as 
 they were safely in deep water Halstead smn- 
 moned Joe and Hank, sending them forward to 
 unstep the mast. Moddridge looked on in silent 
 wonder at these unusual proceedings. They were 
 going at slow speed after a little, as it was no 
 part of the yoimg skipper's purpose to show 
 his own boat to those whom he intended to watch 
 and follow. 
 
 "You can take the wheel now. Hank," called 
 the young skipper, and stepped forward, carry- 
 ing a pair of the most powerful marine glasses, 
 which he had persuaded his employer's friend 
 to order from New York. Moddridge followed, 
 keeping close to the young skipper. 
 
 "Stop the engine!" Tom Halstead soon called 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 165 
 
 back, his eyes at the glasses. "Do you see that 
 searchlight ray against the sky, Mr. Moddridge? 
 That's over by Henderson's Cove. The racing 
 launch is coming out. And, by Jove, she's car- 
 rying her masthead light. Bully for her!" 
 
 For some little time the young skipper watched 
 the searchlight and moving masthead light of 
 the distant craft with keen interest. Then, out 
 of the dark weather a squall struck the 
 "Rocket," rolling her over considerably. 
 Sheets of rain began to drive down. Captain 
 Tom made a dive below for his oilskins, 
 bringing up another outfit for Hank Butts. Mr. 
 Moddridge, too, disappeared briefly below, com- 
 ing up clad for the weather. 
 
 "See that masthead light, sir?" called Hal- 
 stead, jubilantly. "It ought to be easy to fol- 
 low. That boat is headed due south — putting 
 straight out for the high seas. ' ' 
 
 "And do you imagine Frank Delavan is a 
 prisoner on that craft?" demanded Moddridge. 
 
 "From what I heard Bolton say I'm sure of 
 it. Bolton has been making his arrangements, 
 and now he's going to put it beyond Mr. Dela- 
 van to escape until P. & Y. has gone clean to 
 the bottom." 
 
 The wind was increasing so that the 
 "Rocket" rolled and pitched in the troubled 
 sea. 
 
166 THE MOTOE BOAT_CLUB 
 
 "Grood heavens!" gasped Eben Moddridge. 
 "This boat can't live long in such a gale." 
 
 "The 'Rocket' ought to be fit to cross the 
 ocean, in any weather, if her fuel lasted," Cap- 
 tain Tom replied, coolly. 
 
 "But this is going to be a regular gale." 
 
 "It looks that way, sir." 
 
 "Then, by all that's certain, that launch can't 
 weather it," cried Moddridge, his pallor in- 
 creasing. "Poor Frank! To be sent to the bot- 
 tom in that fashion!"" 
 
 "Why, the launch isn't a large craft, it's true, 
 sir, ' ' Captain Tom responded. ' ' But she 's built 
 for a sea-going craft. With decent handling 
 she '11 go through any weather like this. ' ' 
 
 "You're not getting any nearer. You're not 
 overtaking them," was Moddridge 's next com- 
 plaint. The "Rocket" was moving, now, at 
 about eighteen miles an hour. 
 
 "I don't want to overtake that boat," Cap- 
 tain Halstead replied, with vigor. "I don't 
 want to get near enough to let them see our 
 lights. We can't see anything but their mast- 
 head light, since, they've stopped using the 
 searchlight. ' ' 
 
 Even had it been daylight, the two boats were 
 now so far apart that from the deck of either, 
 one could not have seen the other's hull. In 
 the chase 'that must follow the young motor 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 167 
 
 boat skipper intended to preserve that distance 
 in order to avoid having his pursuit detected. 
 In the thick weather it was not possible to 
 see the launch's masthead light from the 
 "Eocket's" deck with the naked eye. An 
 ordinary marine glass might not have shown 
 the light, either, but the one that Captain Tom 
 held in his hand kept the light in sight. 
 
 "If Frank is really aboard that launch," in- 
 quired Mr. Moddridge, "where on earth can 
 they be taking him?" 
 
 "One guess is as good as another when you 
 don't know," smiled Halstead. "It may be 
 that they have picked out some lonely little 
 island in the sea for their purpose. I hope they 
 don't increase their speed to-night. That other 
 craft could get away from us if our pursuit 
 were suspected." 
 
 All through the night the gale continued. 
 The "Rocket" rolled a good deal, and strained 
 at her propeller, but she was a sea boat and 
 held her own well. When morning dawned the 
 motor craft was getting out toward the edge 
 of the storm. Hours before the course of the 
 quarry ahead had changed to the east, and both 
 boats were now south of regular ocean routes 
 and far east of coast-going vessels. 
 
 Daylight brought the racer's masthead in 
 sight. 
 
168 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "We'll keep just about the upper two feet of 
 that masthead in sight all day," proposed the 
 young skipper. Soon afterward he called Hank, 
 who had had thr.ee or four hours* sleep, to the 
 wheel. Joe, when there was nothing to do, slept 
 on a locker beside his engine. Eben Moddridge" 
 dozed in a deck chair. 
 
 At noon, when Halstead again took the wheel, 
 the relative positions of the two boats were the 
 same. Through the glass only about two feet 
 of the racer's mast could be made out above 
 the horizon. There was no reason to suppose 
 that those aboard the racer had caught the least 
 glimpse of the "Rocket." 
 
 By sun-down this sea-quarry's masthead was 
 still in sight, each boat going at about nine- 
 teen miles an hour. 
 
 "We can carry gasoline to go as far as they 
 can," laughed Tom Halstead, confidently. 
 
 At dark the launch's masthead light again 
 glowed out, so that the chase continued to be a 
 simple matter of vigilance. The young navi- 
 gators caught their sleep well enough, only the 
 helm requiring constant attention. 
 
 Soon after the second morning out had 
 dawned clear and bright. Captain Tom, who was 
 at the wheel, caught sight of something so in- 
 teresting that he yelled to Hank Butts, asleep 
 on a mattress on deck: 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 169 
 
 "Wake up, steward! Hustle Mr. Moddridge 
 on deck. Tell him there's something ahead of 
 huge interest!" 
 
 Joe, just rousing from a nap on an engine 
 room locker, heard and was hastily on deck. 
 He and Halstead were using the glasg and their 
 own eyes when Hank appeared with Eben Modd- 
 ridge in tow. 
 
 "What is it?" demanded the nervous one. 
 
 "See the tops of a schooner's masts ahead?" 
 challenged Halstead. "You can make 'em out 
 with your own eyes. And the glass will show 
 yoir the tip of the launch's masthead. The 
 power-boat is making for the schooner." 
 
 "For what purpose?" trembled the nervous 
 financier. 
 
 "For what purpose?" chuckled Tom, glee- 
 fully. "Why, sir, undoubtedly so that those 
 aboard the launch can transfer Mr. Delavan to 
 the sailing craft. The two vessels must have 
 met here for that very trick, and by previous 
 arrangement of Justin Bolton!" 
 
 "How is that going to help us any?" queried 
 Eben Moddridge, wonderingly. 
 
 "How is that going to help us?" repeated the 
 young skipper of the "Eocket," staring hard 
 at his questioner. "Why, if the guess is cor- 
 rect, it's going to be the greatest piece of good 
 luck that could come to us!" 
 
170 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 "putting up" a mabinb job 
 
 THE "Rocket" was now drifting, while 
 those aboard watched developments in 
 the ocean game ahead. 
 
 "I don't quite understand what it profits us 
 if Frank is sent aboard the schooner as a 
 prisoner," insisted Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "Well, if the launch crowd do that, and then 
 the launch heads back for the coast, passid^ut 
 of sight of things hereabouts, it's going to be 
 rather easy for a fast boat like ours to keep up 
 with a sailing schooner, isn't it?" Captain Tom 
 propounded. 
 
 "Yes, but how are we going to help Frank 
 Delavan any?" demanded the nervous one. 
 "There must be men aboard the schooner, and 
 imdoubtedly they're armed, which we're not." 
 
 "We'll have to see what happens, and use 
 our ingenuity," Tom replied. 
 
 ' ' Humph ! " said Mr. Moddridge, sadly. " I 'd 
 rather have one small cannon than all the in- 
 genuity in the world, just now." 
 
 Knowing that nothing could happen right 
 away, Hank Butts coolly stretched himself on 
 the mattress to finish his interrupted nap. Tom 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 171 
 
 and Joe remained intently watching the mast- 
 heads of the two craft that, were miles away. 
 
 "The launch is surely making straight for the 
 schooner, ' ' Joe Dawson ventured. ' ' Your guess 
 is all right, Tom." 
 
 Within a few minutes more the mastheads 
 were mingled to the view of the young observ- 
 ers aboard the "Eocket." The two suspected 
 ci*aft remained together for nearly half an hour. 
 
 "Now, they're breaking apart," Halstead re- 
 ported, at last, watching through the glass. 
 "The launch is turning. She's making back 
 west. And now, old fellow, it's us for a more 
 southerly course. We must keep out of the 
 laimch's sight, but never for an instant lose 
 the schooner's mastheads. For, if Francis 
 Delavan isn 't aboard that schooner now I shall 
 never feel at liberty to make a guess again. 
 Take the wheel, Joe, and start her up. Keep to 
 the southwest. I'll keep my eye mainly on the 
 launch's masthead." 
 
 This they did, for fifteen minutes. Then Tom 
 laid the glass down in its rack by the wheel. 
 
 "The launch has just gone out of sight," he 
 announced. "Not even the button on her mast- 
 head is visible through the glass. Now, head 
 about for that schooner's tops, Joe." 
 
 After a few minutes more they could make 
 out the schooner's cross-trees. Bit by bit more 
 
172 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ^ ' 
 
 of her masts became visible. Then followed the 
 first glimpse of the schooner's upper hull. 
 
 Throwing on the speed to full eighteen miles 
 an hour, Captain Tom now gave fast pursuit. 
 The schooner had now observed the "Rocket's" 
 chase and was using all sail, but could nbt make 
 more than seven knots. 
 
 "We've surely kicked up some excitement 
 on that other craft," laughed the young skipper, 
 gleefully. 
 
 "How many men can you make out on her 
 decks?" queried Joe. 
 
 "Five." 
 
 In a stern chase of this kind the "Rocket" 
 was not long in coming to close quarters with 
 the sailing vesseL But now eleven men were 
 visible on her decks. 
 
 "And all rough, hard-looking customers, 
 too," chuckled Halstead. 
 
 "Hm! I can't quite understand what you're 
 so merry about," said Mr. Moddridge, wonder- 
 ingly. 
 
 "Force of habit," replied Captain Tom, with 
 a smile. 
 
 He ran the "Rocket" up parallel with the 
 schooner, shutting down speed considerably. 
 There was now a distance of barely five hun- 
 dred feet between the two craft. The crew of 
 the schooner lined up at her port rail, survey- > 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 173 
 
 ing the "Eoeket" and those aboard, but no hail 
 was passed between the two craft. 
 
 "They're not allowing Mr. Delavan the free- 
 dom of the deck, anyway," declared Tom. He 
 now r^ the "Eoeket" a little further to the 
 northward, every eye on the schooner's deck 
 following the manoeuvre. 
 
 "Joe, shut off speed jerkily," ordered the 
 young skipper, by the time the two craft were 
 almost a mile apart. "Shut off as though some- 
 thing were happening to our engine." 
 
 "Why — er — what " began Eben Modd- 
 
 ridge, hesitatingly, as Joe vanished below 
 after turning the wheel over to his chum. 
 
 "I'm going to try the value of putting up a 
 marine job on those fellows yonder," replied 
 Halstead, very quietly. 
 
 Eben Moddridge asked no more questions, 
 though there was a most wondering look in his 
 eyes. The "Rocket's" speed began to dwindle. 
 
 "Hank," called Tom, "get up and rush 
 about, into the engine room and out. Mr. 
 Moddridge, show all the excitement you can 
 yourself. That ought to be easy," the young 
 captain added, under his breath. 
 
 "Why — why — ^why " came from the 
 
 nervous one. 
 
 "Act as though our engine had broken down, 
 and we were simply crazy over our luck." 
 
174 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 By this time the motor boat was lying all but 
 motionless, moving only under the impulse 
 of recent headway. Leaving the wheel at a 
 bound, Halstead leaped down into the engine 
 room. 
 
 "11 the fellows on the schooner are holding a 
 glass on us, they saw me do that," laughed Tom, 
 as he landed beside his chum. Hank rushed up 
 on deck, vanishing aft. After a few moments 
 he flew forward again, diving down iato the 
 engine room. 
 
 "I say," called Eben Moddridge, from the 
 hatchway, "this conduct of yours is about as 
 hard to understand as " 
 
 "That's right, sir,." replied Tom, coolly. 
 "Stand there, looking down at us as though 
 you're all broken up. That'll help fool the fel- 
 low with the glass aboard the schooner." 
 
 "It's working bully, fine!" reported , Joe, 
 gleefully, looking out of one of the starboard 
 port-holes. "The schooner's skipper is easing 
 off his sheets. He's going to lie to and watch 
 us. Hank, you'd better start another excited 
 merry-go-round between here and aft." 
 
 Young Butts was surely in his element doing 
 things that looked crazy. The way he raced 
 over the deck and bobbed in and out must have 
 made the schooner's people believe that there 
 was extraordinary excitement aboard the motor. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 175 
 
 Hoat. Halstead now joined his chum in look- 
 ing ont to starboard. 
 
 "Say," he roared, suddenly, "that's just 
 "what we wanted I" 
 
 Eben Moddridge turned to stare over the 
 water. 
 
 "Why, they seem to be lowering a boat," he 
 observed. 
 
 "Just what," retorted Gaptain Halstead, 
 springing up on deck and bringing the marine 
 glass to bear. "One, two, three — say, they're 
 putting ^ight men over the side to man that 
 boat. They're going to send that hard-looking 
 crowd to board us." 
 
 "What for?" demanded Moddridge, begin- 
 ning to tremble. 
 
 "They think our engine has broken down 
 temporarily. They're going to board us and 
 finish the job by putting our engine out of 
 business for good," laughed Tom Halstead, 
 happily. 
 
 "I — I — er^ — I can't quite see where we gain 
 by that," quaked the nervous financier. 
 
 "Keep your eyes open, then," begged Hal- 
 stead, as he continued to watch the strangers. 
 The boat, with its eight men, was coming 
 across the waters as fast as four lusty rowers 
 could send it. Hank performed a few more 
 frantic rushes in and out of the engine room 
 
176 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB . 
 
 during the minutes that the boat's crew used 
 in getting near the "Eocket." 
 
 "Keep off!" hailed Tom, mockingly, when 
 the small boat was within three hundred feet. 
 
 No reply came from the boat's crew. They 
 were sullenly silent. Halstead could see no 
 signs of weapons among them. Suddenly the 
 young skipper sprang to the speed-ahead deck 
 control of the engine, giving it a whirl. Then, 
 instantly, he laid hands on the wheel. The 
 "Eocket" forged ahead once more, while 
 angry oaths burst from the lips of the men in 
 the small boat, almost alongside. But the motor 
 boat shot on her way, leaving the small boat's 
 crew helplessly in the lurch. 
 
 Giving a wide sweep to the helm, Tom 
 brought about, heading straight for the distant 
 schooner. Those in the small boat followed at 
 only a fraction of the speed. 
 
 "Why, what are you up to, now?" demanded 
 Eben Moddridge, his eyes wide and almost 
 bulging. 
 
 "Going to board the schooner before that 
 boat's crew has a chance to get back," replied 
 Captain Tom, his eyes gleaming brightly. "If 
 Mr. Delavan is aboard :we'll get him. There are 
 only three men left on the schooner, and the 
 'Eocket 's' crew numbers three." 
 
 "There are four of us, you mean," declared 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 177 
 
 Moddridge, with a near- whoop. "If there's to 
 be any fighting, now, on Frank Delavan's ac- 
 count, you'll have to count me in!" 
 
 The shock of that sudden announcement al- 
 most had the effect of causing Tom Halstead 
 'to fall away from the wheel in sheer amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 GHAPTEE XVII 
 
 HANK BUTTS DBOPS SOMETHING 
 
 ««TyMNE and swift!" chuckled the young 
 
 ri skipper, though he had not much faith 
 that the nervous one would remain up 
 to pitch. "Don't forget that new idea of yours, 
 Mr. Moddridge." 
 
 "I won't," promised the other, though his 
 voice trembled a bit. 
 
 Under the young skipper's orders Joe and 
 Hank brought up the grappling hooks and 
 chains and made them fast in place at the star- 
 board rail. 
 
 These chains, only a few feet long, ended in 
 hooks that were intended to catch in the rail 
 of another vessel, holding the two craft locked 
 fast together. 
 
 "Bring me a wrench, and get one for Mr. 
 Moddridge, too. Hank," was Halstead 's next 
 order. "Also, get one for yourself. They're 
 
 Xa—Mator Boat Cltib Ojf Long Island. 
 
178 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 handy, if strangers try to get rough with 
 you." 
 
 Young Butts quickly obeyed, though his own 
 wrench he dropped into a hip pocket. He came 
 on deck bearing the same heavy hitching weight 
 that had been shied at the boat's young skipper 
 on the pier a few nights before. 
 
 "Like that better, do you?" asked Tom, his 
 gaze lighting on it as Hank sprang on deck. 
 
 "Well, it might come handy," replied the 
 freckle-faced one, speculatively. 
 
 The three men left on the schooner had al- 
 ready hauled in their sheets and headed around 
 in the effort to reach their own boat's crew. 
 But the "Rocket" ran swiftly up alongside. 
 
 "You keep away from Us!" yelled the man 
 at the schooner's wheel. 
 
 "Don't you believe it for a minute," Captain 
 Tom retorted. Joe and Hank were already at 
 their stations with the grappling hooks. 
 
 "You're acting like pirates, if you try to 
 come aboard us," shouted back the fellow at 
 the schooner's wheel, 
 
 "A fine lot you are, to talk about piracy," 
 retorted Captain Halstead, ironically. Then, 
 by a piece of neat steering, he ran the motor 
 boat up so close alongside that she almost 
 grazed the other vessel. 
 
 "Let go the hooks!" he ordered. Hank and 
 
There Wag a Boar of Pain From the Sailor. 
 179 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 18l 
 
 Joe threw the grapplers so that both made fast 
 over the schooner's rail. In the same instant 
 Ealstead shut off power. The schooner, if it 
 remained under sail could tow the ''Rocket" 
 now. 
 
 The instant that Joe Dawson and Hank Butts 
 let go of the hooks they sprang to board the 
 schooner. A sailor brandishing a belaying pin 
 ran to intercept Hank, but that freckle-faced 
 youth bounded to the sailing vessel's deck, bear- 
 ing the hitching weight before him in both 
 hands. 
 
 Just as the sailor was about to close in with 
 him Hank, almost as if by accident, dropped 
 the heavy iron weight. It fell, just where he 
 had intended it should, on the sailor's advanced 
 right foot. 
 
 There was a roar of pain as the sailor doubled 
 up and sat down on the deck. But Hank, who 
 had sidestepped before the downward stroke 
 with that belaying pin, now regained his 
 weapon and straightened up, grinning. 
 
 "Sorry, matey," observed Hank to the squat- 
 ting sailor. "But didn't your father ever tell 
 you that you oughtn't to run into anyone who's 
 carrying too much weight for his age." 
 
 Joe, a heavy wrench in one hand, and fire in 
 both eyes, had leaped forward to meet the other 
 sailor half-way. But that fellow, though armed 
 
182 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 with a length of stout rope, knotted at the end, 
 prudently retreated, snarling all the while. 
 
 Tom Halstead was followed by Eben Modd- 
 ridge as the young skipper made his way aft 
 to where the helmsman stood. 
 
 Hank, seeing that the sailor with the crushed 
 foot was really out of the running, followed 
 Halstead aft. Butts, holding his iron weight, 
 perched himself on the cabin house, his feet 
 dangling over the hatchway. 
 
 The helmsman had hastily made a few turns 
 of rope fast around the wheel, to hold the vessel 
 .to its course. Now, his eyes glaring, he stepped 
 in front of Halstead. 
 
 "What on airth d'ye mean by these pirate 
 tactics?" he bellowed. 
 
 "Keep cool, and keep your distance," ordered 
 young Halstead, holding the wrench so that he 
 could use it in a twinkling at need. "You have 
 a friend of ours on board here. Where is he?" 
 
 "There ain't no one on board 'cept you 
 pirates and us three of the crew," retorted the 
 late helmsman. "And you fellers ain't going 
 to be aboard but a few seconds more." 
 
 "If you won't help me out, I'll go below and 
 search the cabin," proposed Captain Tom. 
 
 Just as the helmsman sprang forward to in- 
 tercept this move Joe darted between them, 
 shoving the fellow back and threatening him 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 183 
 
 with a wrench. The sailor who had first moved 
 to engage Dawson was now stepping stealthily 
 aft. 
 
 "Jorkins," yelled the engaged helmsman, 
 "don't you let no one go down that companion- 
 way. Stop it!" 
 
 "Ya-ah!" sneered Jorkins, sulkily. "With 
 that feller balancing his ton of iron for a crack 
 at my head?" 
 
 For Hank Butts had suddenly risen to a 
 standing position on the cabin house roof, and 
 was holding the hitching weight in a way that 
 did not look remarkably peaceful. 
 
 Halstead sprang down the companionway. 
 Moddridge started to follow, then turned, feel- 
 ing that he might be wanted on deck. In his 
 present excitement he actually forgot to be 
 nervous. 
 
 Below were two staterooms and a small 
 saloon. Captain Tom quickly explored these 
 rooms, searching also the lockers and cup- 
 boards. Just as he was finishing he heard 
 sounds of a tussle above, then a heavy fall. Like 
 a flash the boy was on deck, fearing mischief. 
 The troublesome helmsman had made a spring 
 at Dawson, only to be tripped by that agile 
 youth. Now Mr. Moddridge was seated on the 
 helmsman's chest, while Hank Butts had taken 
 up a new post from which he could drop the 
 
184 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "weiglit, at need, upon the helmsman's legs. 
 The latter fellow, therefore, was now keeping 
 quiet. Turning, Joe, wrench in readiness, had 
 driven the other uninjured seaman forward. 
 The fellow whom Hank had first encountered 
 was limping about, though he did not look 
 likely to cause any trouble. 
 
 One swift glance Halstead shot out over the 
 water, at that small boat, still more than half a 
 mile distant. Then the "Socket's" yoimg 
 skipper ran forward, looking in at forecastle 
 and galley. He even looked down into the 
 water butts, but no Mr. Delavan was to be 
 found. 
 
 "I am afraid we've boarded the wrong ship," 
 declared Mr. Moddridge, hesitatingly. 
 
 "Ye '11 find out ye have, afore ye 're through 
 with the law," growled the prostrate and now 
 prudent helmsman, from his "bed" on the deck, 
 "Boarding a craft forcibly, on the high seas, 
 is a crime." 
 
 "Aw, be a good well, and run dry," advised 
 Hank. 
 
 There remained, now, only the holds to be 
 investigated. Oppressed by the shortness of 
 the time that was left to him, and feariag, also, 
 that his guess had not been a good one, Tom 
 Halstead sprang down the ladder into the for- 
 ward hold. Here there was nothing beyond a 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 185 
 
 miscellaneous cargo of supplies. The after hold 
 "was empty. With a white face Halstead 
 reached the deck. 
 
 Here the young skipper heheld Joe and the 
 seaman whom his chum was holding at bay. 
 
 "See here, my man," Tom uttered hastily, 
 turning to the sailor, "tell me just where to find 
 the man that's a prisoner on board, and, on be- 
 half of Mr. Moddridge, I'll offer you five hun- 
 dred dollars in cash and a safe passage ashore 
 on our boat." 
 
 "There ain't no one on this boat a prisoner, 
 unless it's us fellers of the crew," returned the 
 sailor, sulkily. 
 
 Yet, as he spoke, there was a cunning gleam 
 in his eyes that made Halstead believe him to 
 be lying. 
 
 "By gracious, there's one place I over- 
 looked," ejaculated Captain Halstead, turning 
 from the seaman and heading again for the hold 
 ladder. Down he went, as fast as he could 
 travel. With the wrench he tapped along the 
 floor. 
 
 "Oho! It's hollow here," muttered the 
 young skipper, halting in the middle of the fore 
 hold, right over the keel. His keen eyes moved 
 fast as he looked for some indication of un- 
 fastened planking. Finding one crack that 
 looked suspicious, he pried in an edge of the 
 
186 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 wrench. The plank yielded, came up in Tom's 
 nervous, ready, strong fingers, and 
 
 There lay Francis Delavan! 
 
 "Good gracious! What have they done to 
 him?" gasped the young motor boat skipper. 
 
 The Wall Street man lay on his back, his 
 arms under him, as though tied behind him. 
 
 The plank he was holding fell to one side as 
 Tom Halstead's first glimpse of his employer 
 revealed that much. 
 
 There was a gag in Mr. Delavan 's mouth, but 
 the startling signs were the purplish blue in his 
 face and the queer, lifeless look in his partly- 
 open eyes. 
 
 "Have they killed him? Is it spite work, 
 or all part of their fearful plot?" shuddered 
 Tom Halstead. 
 
 Then, his heart pounding against his ribs at 
 a fearful rate, the boy bent down to rest an 
 inquiring hand on that unnatural-looking face. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE JEST THAT BECAME GKIM EARNEST 
 
 ««"r T TH^TEVER you're doing, old chap, 
 W hustle!" sounded Joe Dawson's 
 warning voice from the ^eck over- 
 head. "The boat's getting uncomfortably near 
 with its load of scoundrels ! ' ' 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 187 
 
 "I've found Mr. Delavan!" Halstead shouted 
 up. 
 
 Upon receiving that startling information 
 Dawson, for the moment, forgot all caution, dart- 
 ing forward. The sullen helmsman seized upon 
 the opportunity to shake himself free of Mr. 
 Moddridge, for Hank Butts, too, forgot himself 
 long enough to turn and run a few steps. 
 
 "Look out, Butts!" called the alarmed Mr. 
 Moddridge. 
 
 Hank wheeled ahout just in time to find the 
 sullen helmsman coming face to face with him. 
 
 There was time to do but just one thing, and 
 Hank did it. Leaning toward his would-be as- 
 sailant. Butts dropped the weight squarely across 
 the toes of the scoundrel's advanced foot, then 
 jumped aside. 
 
 "You ■young villain!" roared the sullen helms- 
 man, sinking to the deck, and reaching both 
 hands out toward his injured foot. 
 
 "Much obliged," said Hank meekly. But he 
 had picked up his iron weight again, and, with 
 it, he advanced upon the one able-bodied sea- 
 man left. 
 
 "Won't you oblige me by aiming a blow of 
 your fist at me?" Hank begged. "Then you'll 
 have your own troubles, and we can attend to 
 our own business. " 
 
 But this sailor, who was the least courageous 
 
188 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 of the three, retreated aft, using some explosive 
 language as he went. 
 
 Joe, in the meantime, had gained the fore 
 hatchway, and stood looking down with the keen- 
 est interest at his chum, one of whose hands 
 rested on Francis Delavan's face. 
 
 "I think he's alive," Halstead reported, 
 feverishly, ' ' for there 's still quite a bit of warmth 
 to his skin. But," snifiSng, "I'm sure he was 
 chloroformed when the scoundrels saw us com- 
 ing, for I can smell it here. Joe, hustle down a 
 rope." 
 
 Dawson turned, snatching up the nearest bit 
 of cordage that would serve. Tom, with nerv- 
 ous haste, but tying good, seamanlike knots, 
 made one end of the rope secure under his em- 
 ployer's shoulders. 
 
 "Now, I'm coming up. Be ready to give a 
 strong hand on the haul," called the young skip- 
 per. 
 
 Eben Moddridge also had both hands on the 
 rope by the time that Halstead stepped up on 
 deck. A hard, quick haul, and they had the 
 financier on deck. 
 
 From out on the water, close at hand, came an 
 ugly roar. In a hurried glance over the rail 
 the young captain saw the boat's crew not more 
 than two hundred yards away. 
 
 "Pick Mr. Delavan up. Over the rail with 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 189^ 
 
 him," called the young skipper. "Se,coiids now 
 are as good as hours later ! " 
 
 Between them the three bore the heavy forin 
 of the Wall Street magnate. Moddridge, though 
 not strong, could, under the stress of excitement, 
 carry his few pounds. 
 
 As they reached the rail with their human 
 burden, the sullen helmsman rose, hobbling, 
 despite the pain in his foot. He snatched up a 
 marlinespike to hurl at the rescuera, but a warn- 
 ing yell from Hank made him drop it harmlessly 
 to the deck. 
 
 "Wait a second," directed Tom, releasing his 
 hold on the senseless body as they rested it 
 against the schooner's rail. Leaping over to the 
 motor boat's deck, he turned like a flash. 
 
 "Now, pass Mr. Delavan over carefully," he 
 ordered. 
 
 ' ' And you get in and help, ' ' commanded Hank, 
 ppising his weight so as to menace the seaman 
 he was watching. 
 
 Butts looked so wholly ready and handy with 
 that hitching weight that the seaman sprang to 
 obey. 
 
 The instant that Francis Delavan rested flat 
 on the deck of his own craft Captain Halstead 
 leaped forward to one of the grappling hooks. 
 
 "Hank, throw off the hook astern — lively!" 
 he shouted. 
 
190 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Joe Dawson had darted to the wheel, starting 
 the speed and giving the steering wheel a half 
 turn to port. Nor was the young engineer a 
 second too soon, for the small boat, with its eight 
 rough-looking fellows, almost grazed the port 
 side of the "Rocket's" hull. Hank, having 
 brought the after grappling hook aboard, rushed 
 to port, poising his hitching weight over his 
 head. 
 
 "It's a headache for one of you, if you get 
 alongside," declared Butts. Nevertheless, the 
 boat-steerer attempted to reach the motor boat. 
 Had Joe been ten seconds later in starting there 
 must have been a hand-to-hand fight on the 
 "Rocket's" deck, with the odds all against the 
 Delavan forces. 
 
 With that timely start, however, Joe Dawson 
 left the boat's crew nothing to do but to board 
 their own vessel. The motor boat glided easily 
 away. 
 
 "Keep the wheel, Joe," called Captain Tom. 
 "Now, Hank, lay by and lend a hand in trying 
 to bring Mr. Delavan around. First, off with 
 the cords that bind him, and out with the 
 gag." 
 
 "Er — er — ^hadn't we better take Frank below 
 to a berth?" inquired Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 "No," replied young Captain Halstead, de- 
 cisively. "Mr. Delavan has been chloroformed, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 191 
 
 and almost had his breath shut off by that trick. 
 We must keep him in the open air. Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, kneel behind your friend, and support him 
 in a sitting position. Hank, get around on the 
 other side and take hold of the left forearm and 
 wrist. We'll pump-handle Mr. Delavan, and see 
 if we can't start more air into his lungs." 
 
 Then, looking up, Captain Tom inquired : 
 
 "Joe, what's the matter with our speed?" 
 
 ' * I just can 't help it, ' ' grinned Dawson. " I 'm 
 ruiming slowly just to tantalize that rascally 
 crew back there. It makes them want to dance 
 and swear to see us going so slowly, and yet to 
 know that, if we want to, we can run away from 
 them like an express train." 
 
 Captain Tom and Hank continued their pump- 
 handling until Francis Delavan 's eyes fluttered 
 more widely open, the bluish color began to leave 
 his cheeks, and his chest started to rise and fall 
 gently. 
 
 "He's coming around all right," cheered Hal- 
 stead. "And he's naturally as strong as a horse. 
 His vitality will pull him out of this. ' ' 
 
 * ' The schooner has put about and is following 
 us," called Joe. 
 
 "Let 'em," muttered Halstead, glancing up 
 and astern. "I wish they'd follow us until we 
 meet the police boat at New York. But don't let 
 'em get too infernally close, Joe. Something 
 
192 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 might happen to us. If our motor stopped, 
 where would we be then?" 
 
 Joe Dawson laughed easily as the "Eockel" 
 stole lazily over the waters, her speed just a 
 trifle faster than the sailing vessel's. - 
 
 In a very few minute^more Francis Delavan's 
 eyes took on a loofeof returning intelligence. 
 His lips parted as he ftiurmured, weakly: 
 
 "Thank you — Boys." 
 
 "And now you're all right, sir," cried Tom 
 Hafstead, gleefully. "All you've got to do 
 is to keep on breathing as deeply as you can. 
 Mr. Moddridge, is your strength equal to 
 bringing up an ^rm-chair from the after 
 deck?" 
 
 Apparently Eben Moddridge didn't even 
 pause to wonder about his strength. He ran 
 nimbly aft, then came struggling under his arm- 
 ful. He deposited the chair where the young 
 skipper indicated. 'They raised Mr. Delavan to 
 a seat. Hank stationing himself in front of the 
 chair to keep the boat's owner from pitching 
 forward. 
 
 "Now, old fellow, you'd better kick up more 
 speed," advised Halstead, stepping over beside 
 his chum. "You know, we've got to make the 
 coast in record time, for several fortunes are 
 hanging on our speed." 
 
 Bending forward, Dawson swung the speed 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 193 
 
 control wheel around generously. The "Rocket" 
 forged ahead through the water. 
 
 "This will leave the schooner hull-down be- 
 fore we've burned much gasoline," smiled Hal- 
 stead. "Hullo, there they go about again. They 
 realize the point, and have left off the chase." 
 
 Joe still had the wheel, but he turned 'to look. 
 
 The "Rocket" was more than a mile away 
 from the schooner when a jarring thump shook 
 the motor boat. 
 
 In an instant Joe Dawson's face went white. 
 His chum looked scarcely less startled. The 
 extra vibration ceased almost as soon as it was 
 felt, for the engine had stopped running. 
 
 "Hank, take the wheel. The engine might 
 start again, ' ' called Tom Halstead, barely paus- 
 ing in his chase after Joe, as the former jumped 
 down into the engine room. 
 
 "What on earth has happened?" gasped Eben, 
 Moddridge, but there was on one to pay him 
 heed. 
 
 For a few moments the two white-faced chums 
 looked over the "Rocket's" powerful engine to- 
 gether. Then their eyes met as Halstead 's lips 
 framed the startled words: 
 
 "Joe, my boy, it's one thing to play at broken- 
 down engine, but the reality, at a time like this, 
 is simply awful! This time the engine is truly 
 out of business ! ' ' 
 
 Z3— Motor Boat Club Off Long Island. 
 
194 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE MOTOR THAT WOULDn't "mOTE" 
 
 IT was Eben Moddridge who, marine glass in 
 hand, now devoted the most attention 
 to the schooner, w-hich was once more in 
 full chase. 
 
 Francis Delavan was now doing so well that 
 there was no doubt in anyone's mind of his full 
 recovery. 
 
 "How — Show's the stock market?" he ventured 
 at last to ask. 
 
 " Don 't know, sir, ' ' retorted Butts. ' ' Neither 
 does anyone else. We've got you and the en- 
 gine to fix. When you're both going fine, then 
 , we '11 try to find more time to talk. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Delavan smiled, good-humoredly, but next 
 inquired : 
 
 "How do you happen — to be aboard the 
 'Rocketr " 
 
 ' ' Walked aboard, ' ' admitted Hank. ' ' Had to 
 sir. Nobody ever took the trouble to shanghai 
 me." 
 
 Joe, in the meantime, made two or three frantic 
 efforts to make the motor "mote," though with- 
 out success. 
 
 "It's all on account of this valve," Dawson 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 195 
 
 explained to his chum, pointing. "I knew it 
 wouldn't last forever, but the last time I in- 
 spected it, it looked all right." 
 
 "You've another valve in the repair chest that 
 will fit," replied Tom. "And, in goodness' 
 name, hurry up. I'll help you." 
 
 "One more try at this old valve, for a few 
 miles anyway," cried Dawson, desperately. 
 "Tom, the new valve is just a shade too large 
 at the screw-thread end. It'll take a few des- 
 perate minutes to make it fit." 
 
 By the time he had finished speaking the young 
 engineer was industriously engaged in forcing 
 in packing around the worn old valve. 
 
 "Hank," Captain Tom roared from the com- 
 panion-way, "shake out that solitary sail and 
 hoist it. Get all the speed you can out of it. ' ' 
 
 No one had thought of the sail up to this mo- 
 ment. It wasn't much of a sail. Rigged to the 
 single signal mast of the "Rocket," the sail was 
 intended only to enable the boat to reach port if 
 ever the engine should give out. 
 
 Butts, with an exclamation of disgust at not 
 having thought of the canvas before, ran for- 
 ward. Almost before he stopped running, his 
 fingers were at work on the knots that held the 
 canvas furled. In surprisingly quick time this 
 Long Island boy had the sail hoisted, set, and 
 was back at the wheel. 
 
196 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Eben Moddridge, without waiting to be called, 
 had taken his place as attendant by the side of 
 his friend's chair. 
 
 What Hank Butts didn't know about motors 
 he made up by his knowledge of sailing craft. 
 He handled the "Eoeket" now as though she 
 were a catboat, watching the fill of her canvas 
 and making the most out of the steady light 
 breeze that was blowing. 
 
 As he steered, Hank looked back often at the 
 schooner. That craft, with all canvas hung out, 
 was coming along at something like seven knots. 
 The "Rocket" was making barely four under 
 her small spread. 
 
 The answer? Hank Butts knew it ^well 
 enough, and groaned as he watched his own tiny 
 sail. 
 
 Down below Joe Dawson, the perspiration 
 standing out in great, cold drops, was working 
 against time. After another trial he had aban- 
 doned the idea of making the old valve work even 
 for a few miles. He had opened the repair chest 
 and had taken out the substitute valve that had 
 to be fitted over. The young engineer was now 
 bending over the repair bench, rapidly turning 
 the shank of a thread-ctitter. Captain Tom 
 stood by, anxious, useless for the present, yet 
 ready to lend an instant pair of hands as soon 
 as he could help. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 197 
 
 "Thread still a bit too large," reported Daw- 
 son, after the second attempt to make it fit. 
 
 Back to the work-bench he sprang, while Hal- 
 stead bounded up into the open so that he could 
 take a brief look astern. 
 
 Behind them trailed the schooner, now a bare 
 third of a mile astern, and gaining visibly. 
 
 "I'm not "going to say a word to hurry you, 
 Joe," he remarked, dropping below again. "I 
 know you're working to save even seconds." 
 
 "Ain't I just, though!" gritted Dawson, as he 
 turned. 
 
 "Eb," demanded Delavan, of his friend, 
 "you've simply got to tell me how the stock 
 market is going." 
 
 "I — I — er — ^haven't had the least idea for 
 more than forty hours, ' ' replied Mr. Moddridge, 
 embarrassed. 
 
 "Hey, there," called Hank, offigiously, from 
 the wheel, "just at the present moment I'm skip- 
 per here, and boss. My orders are that no Wall 
 Street slang be talked on board until after the 
 steward has found a chance to serve something to 
 eat. Mr. Delavan, be glad, sir, that you are 
 able to get some of your breath." 
 
 "Are the rascals gaining on us?" was the 
 owner's next question, as he endeavored to turn 
 himself around in the chair for a look astern. 
 
 "Not much," replied Mr. Moddridge. "Be- 
 
198 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 sides, in a moment or two more the boat's engine 
 will be doing its duty again. The engineer has 
 his repair work almost finished." 
 
 Francis Delavan smiled good-humoredly, 
 though he did not by any means believe this re- 
 assuring information. 
 
 The schooner was less than an eighth of a mUe 
 away when Joe Dawson made one more effort 
 to adjust the substitute valve. 
 
 "I think it's going to fit," he murmured, a 
 world of hope in his voice, though he squinted 
 vigilantly, watchfully, as he continued the twist- 
 ing. "By Jove, Tom, I believe it's 0. K. It 
 seems fast and tight. I'll let a little oil in; give 
 the wheel a few turns." 
 
 A few breathless seconds passed. Then the 
 pistons began to move up and down, slowly, all 
 but noiselessly. Seized with a kind of fearful 
 fascination, both motor boat boys watched the en- 
 gine, almost afraid to breathe lest the driving 
 cease. 
 
 Then Captain Halstead, still looking backward, 
 while Joe's chest heaved at last, yanked himself 
 up into the hatchway, glancing out over the 
 water. 
 
 The schooner was now almost upon the 
 "Rocket," though hauling off a bit to windward 
 as though intending to make a sudden swoop and 
 bear down crushingly against the motor boat. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 199 
 
 "Safe?" Halstead almost whispered down 
 into the engine room. 
 
 "Try it, awfully easy," replied Joe. 
 
 "Hank, give the speed-ahead control just a 
 bare turn," called Halstead. "Easy, now!" 
 
 The propeller shaft began to revolve. At that 
 same instant the schooner came around on a star- 
 board tack, so steered as to intercept the shorter 
 craft. 
 
 Captain Tom himself sprang to the speed con- 
 trol, letting out just a notch more, praying under 
 his breath that the motor might stand by them 
 in this moment of greatest crisis. 
 
 At them, heeling well over, her crew at the 
 rail ready to board the "Rocket," came the 
 schooner. Her first manoeuvre had been to 
 board by the bows. Now it looked as though the 
 sailing vessel must strike amidships. Halstead 
 gave a quick turn to the speed-ahead control. 
 Answering, the motor boat took a jump ahead, 
 then settled down to steady going. The 
 schooner, left astern, jibed with a noisy flapping 
 of sails. 
 
 "I think we can make it," called up Dawson. 
 
 "We have made it," called back Captain Hal- 
 stead, joy ringing in his voice. ' ' The only ques- 
 tion is whether we can keep it up. ' ' 
 
 "Let her out a bit more," called Joe. 
 
 One hand on the wheel, the other on the speed 
 
200 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 control, the young skipper increased the speed 
 by slow degrees until the "Rocket" had settled 
 down to a steady twelve-mile speed. 
 
 Hank, relieved of the helm, ran aft. Stand- 
 ing on the stem rail, one arm wrapped around 
 the flag-pole, young Butts made a lot of ges- 
 tures at the crew of the schooner. Those 
 gestures were eloquent of derision and con- 
 tempt. 
 
 Five minutes later the schooner had given up 
 the chase, heading off to the southward. 
 
 "Ev — everything is all safe now, isn't it!" 
 asked Eben Moddridge, shakily. 
 
 "Trouble seems to be all behind us,' replied 
 Halstead. 
 
 "Then — er — I'm — I'm going below and lie 
 down," quaked Mr. Moddridge. "I never felt 
 more nervous in my life ! " 
 
 "Go below and enjoy yourself, sir," laughed 
 Tom, without malice, but without thinking. 
 "You've done yourself proud, Mr. Moddridge, 
 and you're entitled to the best attack of nerves 
 you can find." 
 
 Hank sprang quickly to aid Mr. Modd- 
 ridge, for the latter was really shaking and tot- 
 tering as he started aft. 
 
 "Still no one seems able to tell me about the 
 thing I want most of all to know about — the con- 
 dition of the market, and of securities in par- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 201 
 
 ticular, " complained Francis Delavan, in a mucli 
 stronger voice. 
 
 "No one knows well enough how to tell you," 
 laughed Skipper Tom, "except Mr. Moddridge. 
 If you only knew, sir, what a trump he's heen 
 lately, you wouldn't begrudge him one first-class 
 nervous fit now. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Delavan laughed, though he added, with a 
 comical sigh: 
 
 "I don't see but I shall have to wait." 
 
 "Something to eat, did you say, sir?" asked 
 Hank, suddenly appearing at the owner's elbow. 
 "Yes, sir ; as fast as possibly for all hands. Why, 
 we've been so rattled this morning we didn't 
 even think about food. And now my stomach 
 is reading the riot act to my teeth. 0-o-oh!" 
 
 Hands clutched over his abdomen. Hank made 
 a swift disappearance into the galley. There 
 was an abundance of food in the "Rocket's" 
 larder that could be prepared hastily. But as 
 Mr. Moddridge was "enjoying" himself in his 
 own especial way, and Mr. Delavan was still 
 feeling the effects of the chloroform too much to 
 have any appetite, the crew fell in for the first 
 chance at table. 
 
 When that food had been disposed of, Joe 
 cautiously worked the engine on until the boat 
 was making twenty miles an hour. The new 
 valve proved fully equal to the strain put upon it. 
 
802 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Mr. Moddridge remained below more than two 
 hours. When he came on deck again he appeared 
 to be in shape to tell Mr. Delavan the latest news 
 he had of the state of their affairs. 
 
 The owner listened with a face that became 
 graver every moment. 
 
 "It looks black for us, Eben, and we may be 
 wiped out by this time, or, anyway, by the time 
 we can get back to the battle-field. But it was 
 grand of you, Eb, to throw in the last dollars of 
 your private fortune to save us both. What- 
 ever happens, I won't forget your act. But, 
 good heavens, how we must hustle and move 
 now! Captain Halstead, just where are you 
 heading?" 
 
 "As straight as the crow flies, sir, for New 
 York harbor. But I can change the course if 
 there's any other point you'd rather make." 
 
 ' ' No ; keep straight on, captain. New York is 
 our battle-field. And, by all that's sure, we'll 
 win out yet if there's a fighting spar left stand- 
 ing when we hit Wall Street!" 
 
 With a vigorous bound this fighting Wall 
 Street man was on his feet again, pacing the 
 deck, not a glimpse of fear in his strong face. 
 
 Then, a little later, he and Moddridge found 
 their appetites, and Hank Butts served them 
 enthusiastically. 
 
 As the afternoon passed, and all hands gath- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 203 
 
 ered ,near the wheel, the stories of all were 
 told. 
 
 Mr. Delavan, for his part, explained that, on 
 that morning when he had taken the "Eocket's" 
 port boat and had gone out for a row, he had 
 gone past the inlet. While out beyond, he had 
 been overtaken by the nameless racing launch. 
 A hail from the deck of the other craft had fol- 
 lowed, and then an invitation to take a look 
 aboard. Thinking that he might possibly pene- 
 trate the mystery as to who was really running 
 that craft, Mr. Delavan had rowed alongside, 
 intending only to stand up in his own little boat 
 and look aboard the launch. 
 
 But, while doing so, he had been seized by both 
 the boat handlers and dragged aboard. There 
 he became mixed in a fight with two others who, 
 from their descriptions, must have been Rexford 
 and Ellis. When the fight stopped Francis 
 Delavan was under the hood, his hands tied be- 
 hind him. He remembered that, later on, the 
 small port boat had been overturned and set 
 adrift, and that his own hat and coat had been 
 taken from him and cast into the water. 
 
 "Later, that forenoon," continued Mr. Dela- 
 van, "I saw my own 'Eocket' following us. By 
 stealth I had succeeded in freeing my hands. 
 Now, I made a dash for freedom, intending to 
 leap overboard and try to swim to you. But I 
 
204 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 was caught and held, just at the edge of the hood. 
 I found chance only to snatch my wallet from 
 an inner vest pocket and hurl it out into the 
 water. I was in hopes you'd see it, pick it up, 
 and understand." 
 
 "We did," nodded Mr. Moddridge. 
 
 Mr. Delavan went on to explain how, after the 
 throwing of the wallet, he had been more care- 
 fully bound, hand and foot, and gagged. WJien 
 taken ashore at Cookson's Inlet he had also 
 been blindfolded, his removal from the boat 
 not taking place until a carriage had been 
 brought. 
 
 Then the story of the final chase was told, even 
 how Hank Butts had done so much to carry the 
 day aboard the schooner by his artless trick of 
 dropping the hitching weight where it would 
 do the most harm to the enemy. 
 
 "Say, Hank," put in Joe Dawson, who had 
 taken little part in the talk, "wherever did you 
 learn the easy way that you drop that weight?" 
 
 "A feller from New York taught us that last 
 summer," Butts replied. "Some of us fellows 
 over in East Hampton practiced it imtil we 
 couldn't miss." 
 
 "But how did you learn to land it on another 
 fellow's foot so easily that it looks almost like 
 an accident?" 
 
 " I 've been telling you, ' ' Hank insisted. ' ' We 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 205 
 
 Kept on dropping weights on each other's toes un- 
 til we got the trick down fine." 
 
 "What?" ejaculated Dawson, opening his 
 eyes wider. "You practised by dropping iron 
 weights on each other's feet? You fellows must 
 he wonders, if you could stand that!" 
 
 "Oh, no," Hank confessed. "We practised 
 with small sandbags." 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE COUNCIL OP WAR 
 
 IT was Saturday morning when the 
 "Rocket's" crew boarded the schooner out 
 on the high seas. Late Sunday evening 
 the motor boat moved in through the Narrows 
 of lower New York Bay. The cruise had been 
 at racing speed, without a single hitch after En- 
 gineer Joe had fitted that new valve. 
 
 On the way Francis Delavan, who had thor- 
 oughly recovered, formed his plans in case his 
 fortunes had not gone entirely to smash in Wall 
 Street. But it was still needful to consult 
 Broker Coggswell and others, in order to learn 
 just how far the plans were likely to succeed. 
 
 As the "Rocket" was intended, in ordinary 
 times, to be a "one-man" boat — ^that is, to be 
 handled from the bridge by the helmsman, the 
 
206 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 three members of the crew had managed to di- 
 vide up the watches so that all had had plenty of 
 sleep. 
 
 As Captain Tom dropped anchor at ten 
 o'clock that August Sunday night, near Bedloe's 
 Island, and Hank hung out the anchor light, all 
 three of the boys were wide awake and eager 
 to see what was to follow. 
 
 Hank was to row Mr. Delavan ashore in the 
 same little port boat that had figured in the 
 Shinnecock Bay affair. The owner intended go- 
 ing to one of the cheapest of the downtown hotels, 
 whence he would telephone Broker Coggswell 
 and some others. 
 
 "Expect a party of us back by midnight," 
 was the last word the owner left with the young 
 skipper. "We'll want a little cruise out to sea, 
 to-night, where we can talk things over with no 
 danger of any eavesdroppers about." 
 
 Mr. Moddridge and the two remaining mem- 
 bers of the crew stretched themselves out com- 
 fortably in arm-chairs on the bridge deck. 
 
 "It's hard to realize that we can rest," sighed 
 Captain Tom. "It seems to me that I still hear 
 the throb-throb-throb of the engine and hear the 
 continual turning of the propeller shaft. Still, 
 we really are having a brief rest. ' ' 
 
 "Rest?" snorted Eben Moddridge, getting up 
 and pacing within the short limits of that deck. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 207 
 
 "What does rest mean, I wonder? I feel as 
 thougli this Wall Street game I'm in had been 
 going on, night and day, for ten years, with never 
 a pause for breath. Best! Is there such a 
 thing?" 
 
 A few days before Halstead would have been 
 either amused or bored by this exhibition of 
 nervousness. But he had seen Mr. Moddridge 
 come out with surprising strength when things 
 had been darker. There was a good deal of 
 hidden manhood in this undersized, nervous lit- 
 tle fellow who had had the hard luck to be born 
 with too much money. 
 
 "You can feel pretty easy, sir, with a man 
 like Mr. Delavan, ' ' Captain Tom went on, after 
 a few moments. "If there's a single foot of 
 ground left for him to fight on, you can feel 
 pretty sure that he'll pull at least a goodly por- 
 tion of both your fortunes out of the panic that 
 has struck the money market." 
 
 "I can hardly believe that we have a dollar 
 left in the game, ' ' rejoined Mr. Moddridge, shak- 
 ing his head moodily. "Of course, Coggswell 
 is capable and honest, and he has done his best, 
 whatever that was. But with such a terrific run 
 on P. & Y. stock, and with such an overwhelming 
 part of our assets bound up in that stock, I 
 haven't the least belief that Coggswell has been 
 able to hold our heads above water for us. This 
 
208 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 long suspense, this awful wait for news, is kill- 
 ing me," went on the nervous one, sinking 
 weakly back into his chair. "Oh, why didn't I 
 go asliore with Frank, the sooner to know how 
 we stand?" 
 
 "Mr. Delavan thought it would he better for 
 him to go alone, and to move quickly," hinted 
 Tom Halstead, gently. 
 
 "Oh, yes, I know," retorted Moddridge, with 
 a sickly smile. "Frank was certain that my 
 nerves would go to pieces on shore, and that 
 I'd make a fool of myself and be in the way." 
 
 Hank came back at last, alone in the port boat. 
 
 "What's the news ashore. Butts?" cried the 
 nervous one, anxiously. 
 
 "If you mean the stock market news," Hank 
 replied, as he brought the port boat around un- 
 der the davits, "I don't know. Mr. Delavan 
 left me at the pier where I landed him. Told me 
 he'd get a launch to bring his friends out here 
 in." 
 
 So Mr. Moddridge took to another long 
 stretch of pacing the bridge deck. 
 
 Almost punctually as the "Rocket's" ship's 
 bell tolled out the eight bells of midnight the 
 lights of a small launch were to be seen approach- 
 ing. It came alongside, bringing Mr. Delavan 
 and three other gentlemen. One was Coggswell, 
 the broker. A second was Lyman Johnson, a 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 209 
 
 middle-aged man and managing vice-president of 
 the P. & Y. The third stranger was a banker 
 named Oliver. 
 
 "What news?" was the quaking question that 
 Eben Moddridge shot over the waters as soon 
 as the little craft was within haih 
 
 "Things right down to the bottom," replied 
 Broker Coggswell, plainly. 
 
 "But there's a fighting chance, Eb," broke in 
 Francis Delavan, "and a chance to fight is all I 
 want for winning. ' ' 
 
 As soon as the party had boarded, and the 
 launch was speeding back to town, Mr. Modd- 
 ridge began to shake again. 
 
 "Look at that little boat scoot," he shivered. 
 "That boatman is going back as fast as he can, 
 to trade the information he has overheard," 
 
 "Nonsense," laughed Mr. Delavan. "A pas- 
 senger boatman like that fellow hears all kinds 
 of talk in twenty-four hours. If he tried to re- 
 member a hundredth part of what he hears it 
 would drive him into an insane asylum. Cap- 
 tain Halstead, get up anchor and take us outside, 
 anywhere. We 're going to sit up and talk for a 
 while. Then we '11 turn in below and sleep. We 
 don't want to berth the boat in New York earlier 
 than eight in the morning, but must be there 
 sharp at that hour. ' ' 
 
 Tired of the motion of the boat so long at ra- 
 
 14.— Motor Boat CluS Ojff Long Island. 
 
210 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 cing speed, Captain Tom got under way at a 
 speed of about eight miles an hour. The new- 
 comers and Mr. Moddridge sat in a close group 
 on the bridge deck, to hold their council of war 
 for the morrow. 
 
 "In the first place, Moddridge," began Mr. 
 Coggswell, "P. & Y. closed yesterday noon, on 
 the Stock Exchange, at 68." 
 
 "We must be closed out, then — ruined!" cried 
 the nervous one, aghast. "You figured, you 
 know, that the stock touching 71 would wind us 
 up." 
 
 "And so it would have done," replied the 
 broker, "but Steel and the other stocks that are 
 traveling with it behaved, rather better than I 
 had expected. So, as things stand to-night you 
 and Delavan have, perhaps, a few hundred thou- 
 sand dollars left out of the game. But if P. & 
 Y., at the opening on the Board to-morrow, goes 
 down to 65 — well, Oliver, as the head of the bank- 
 ers ' syndicate that has been furnishing money 
 to the Delavan-Moddridge interests, suppose you 
 tell what must happen. ' ' 
 
 "If the stock drops to 65 to-morrow morn- 
 ing," took up the banker, "our pool will have to 
 call in the loans, Mr. Moddridge. Delavan and 
 yourself will have to heave all your P. & Y. 
 stock overboard in order to meet the call of the 
 loans. Then, but not until then, as I imderstand 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 211 
 
 Mr. Coggswell's statement, you will both be 
 cleaned out." 
 
 "But that isn't going to happen," declared 
 Francis Delavan, coolly lighting a fresh cigar 
 and puffing slowly. "There have, of course, 
 been all sorts of stories out that I've been rob- 
 bing the P. & Y. railroad and that I've smuggled 
 the money out of the country. But Johnson, our 
 vice president, has had a firm of the most re- 
 spected and trusted accountants in New York 
 going over all the railroad's accounts. By to- 
 morrow forenoon the reports of the accountants 
 will be ready, and will show that every dollar of 
 the P. & Y. 's money is safe. ' ' 
 
 "That will help," replied Mr. Cogswell, "if 
 the buying and selling public believe the state- 
 ment at once. But you never can tell how small 
 dealers in stocks will accept any report. They 
 may think the move only a trick to bolster up 
 confidence until the inside operators can slip 
 out of their holdings in P. & Y. If that view is 
 taken, the stock may fall off a dozen points in 
 the first half hour that 'Change is open." 
 
 "It can all be summed up in these words," 
 announced Banker Oliver, gravely. "Delavan, 
 start P. & Y. going up in the morning, and you're 
 safe for a while, with a big chance for fortune 
 left. But let the stock start downward at the 
 opening tomorrow morning, and you won't be 
 
212 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 able to get the stock up again, in season to do you 
 any good." 
 
 Breathing hard, shaking all over, Eben Modd- 
 ridge rose and left the council, tottering below 
 emd seeking his berth. 
 
 "Now that the poor, shaken fellow is gone," 
 murmured Francis Delavan, sending a sympa- 
 thetic glance in the direction his friend had taken, 
 "I'll tell you, gentlemen, the plan I have for to- 
 morrow." 
 
 The council did not break up until an hour 
 later 
 
 OHAPTEE XXI 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE DOLLAES 
 
 ALMOST at the minute of eight o'clock next 
 morning the "Eocket" was made fast 
 in berth at an East Eiver pier. 
 Just about three minutes later a closed auto- 
 mobile rolled out on the wharf. Tom Hal- 
 stead and Joe Dawson had been invited to go on 
 shore and see the finish of this notable battle 
 of the dollars. Hank, of his own choice, re- 
 mained behind as watchman over the boat. 
 
 The two motor boat boys had changed their 
 uniforms for ordinary street dress, straw hats 
 included. It would have taken a very close 
 friend, indeed, to have recognized Francis Dela- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 213 
 
 van as that gentleman stepped ashore from his 
 boat. Over his natty suit he wore an envelop- 
 ing linen duster. His eyes and much of his face 
 were obscured behind a pair of automobile gog- 
 gles. A cap, the peak pulled well down over his 
 eyes, completed the concealment. Few of Mr. 
 Delavan's most intimate friends would have 
 known him at first or second glance. 
 
 The employer and his two young men entered 
 the closed car, which, first of all, rolled away 
 to the bank of which Mr. Oliver was president. 
 Here there were some papers that required the 
 signature of the "Rocket's" owner. 
 
 From the bank the automobile went straight 
 down to the big, grim-looking building in which 
 the New York Stock Exchange is located. Here 
 they arrived five minutes before the opening 
 hour, nine o'clock. Mr. Delavan was already 
 provided with three tickets admitting strangers 
 to the visitors' gallery. 
 
 As they entered the trio found that, at this 
 hour, they had the gallery to themselves. Down 
 on the floor, however, some two or three hundred 
 members of 'Change were already present, gath- 
 ered in little groups. Though these men talked 
 mostly in undertones, it was evident that there 
 was much excitement. 
 
 P. & T. had not alone suffered. Many other 
 stocks had gone down, "in sympathy." The 
 
214 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 outlook was for a gloomy week in financial cir- 
 cles. Many of the more cautious investors of 
 the country at large were watching Wall Street 
 and dreading a panic. 
 
 Clang! As a sonorous stroke of a gong 
 opened the morning session the scene became in- 
 stantly one of turmoil. Bellowing voices broke 
 loose. At that instant Broker Coggswell slipped 
 into the gallery, taking a seat behind Mr. Dela- 
 van. The entire little party was well out of 
 range of vision from most of the floor. 
 
 "Watch the board," whispered the broker. 
 "There's the first quotation — a thousand shares 
 of P. & Y. at 67— and, by Jove, no taker !" 
 
 A few moments later information was posted 
 that ten thousand shares of P. & Y. had been 
 offered and sold at 66. 
 
 "That's the work of Dimitri & Clark, and 
 Weeks & Bond," whispered Coggswell. "My 
 partner has sent me word that those two firms 
 are doing the selling for Justin Bolton. He'll 
 sell, through his brokers, a hxmdred thousand 
 shares short in the next hour, if need be, to keep 
 the downward course of the stock in motion. Ah, 
 what did I tell you?" 
 
 Ten thousand more shares of P. & Y. had gone 
 at 651/2. 
 
 "He's a reckless bear, that fellow, Bolton!" 
 ground out Coggswell, between his teeth. " He 's 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 215 
 
 selling short at a furious rate, Mr. Delavan, 
 your enemy, Bolton, expects to close your in- 
 terests out this, forenoon. If he can bear the 
 stock low enough he'll begin to buy in for his 
 own account, as well as to cover his sales. If he 
 can only keep this going for a while he'll con- 
 trol the P. & Y. through his bona-fide buyings of 
 the stock." 
 
 Francis Delavan merely smiled, and Tom Hal- 
 stead, looking covertly at him, admired the dif- 
 ference between his employer and Eben Modd- 
 ridge. 
 
 A "bear" is one who is trying to lower the 
 selling price of a stock. Often, in order to ac- 
 complish this, the "bear " "sells short." That 
 is, he otfers to sell large blocks of the stock in 
 question, at a lower figure than the market price. 
 This "short operator," as he is called, does not 
 actually own the stock that he sells, but he hopes 
 to drive the price of the stock still lower, and 
 thus be able to buy and fill his sale at a lower 
 price than he has made the sale for. 
 
 When a stock is headed downward in price, 
 the offer of another large block at a lower price 
 than yet offered has a strong tendency to force 
 the price still lower, for scared investors who 
 really own large blocks of the stock may become 
 panic-stricken and close out their holdings of that 
 particular stock at any price they can obtain. 
 
216 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Thus, a "short operator" may offer, in a fall- 
 ing market, ten thousand shares of a certain 
 stock at 67. If he makes a sale at that price the 
 fact may induce some real owner of stock to 
 offer his holding of ten thousand shares to he 
 sold at the best price oifered, say 65. The 
 "short operator," who has just disposed of ten 
 thousand shares at 67, but does not possess those 
 shares, may be able to buy back again enough 
 shares at 65, which under thje terms of his sale, 
 he has disposed of at 67. Thus, he has cleared 
 two dollars a share, or $20,000 in all, by the 
 operation. If the "short operator" who sells 
 at 67 is able to cover his sales by buying at the 
 still lower price of 63, his profits would be 
 $40,000. But if our "short operator" buys at 
 67, and then the market rallies, it may be that 
 the "short" cannot buy lower than 71. Having 
 made his sale, he must fill the order, anyway, 
 and thus he would lose $40,000. 
 
 If a "short" sells stock he does not own, and 
 a sudden rally in that stock carries the stock up 
 so high that he has not money enough to make 
 good his sales, then he is ruined and becomes a 
 bankrupt. 
 
 If a "bear" sells short, and then the stock 
 continues to drop and drop in price, it is a happy 
 day for that "bear. ' ' On this Monday morning 
 Justin Bolton, though not yet actually present, 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 217 
 
 but operating through brokers whom he in- 
 structed by telephone, was prepared to sell short 
 at a furious rate. First of all, Bolton's pur- 
 pose was to "bear" down P. & Y. to a point 
 where he could buy all the stock he wanted for 
 himself, and enough more to cover his "short 
 orders" at a profit. 
 
 As the four watchers in the gallery lookedron, 
 a howl suddenly went up from the floor : 
 
 "P. & Y. at 65!" 
 
 "No takers at that price!" 
 
 "Bring it on at a lower price!" 
 
 " It 's going to smash ! ' ' 
 
 In lower tones men on the floor of the Ex- 
 change below were talking over the latest infor- 
 mation supplied by the newspapers. It was be- 
 lieved by many that Francis Delavan had looted 
 the railroad of which he was president, and that 
 a vast sum of the stealings was hidden securely 
 abroad. 
 
 "It's a bad stock to deal in anyjvay, at pres- 
 ent," muttered one of the brokers below. "I 
 •have advised all of my clients to keep away from 
 it." 
 
 "If the run is based on false information, 
 someone is going to reap a heavy profit when 
 the stock begin^ to soar again," remarked 
 another broker. 
 
 "It won't soar in a year. There's something 
 
218 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB ' 
 
 peculiar and rotten behind the whole business. 
 The road won't amount to anything until it has 
 been reorganized by another crowd." 
 
 Just then an agile young man hurried out on 
 the floor, holding in his hand the earliest edi- 
 tion of an evening paper. He called out some- 
 thing to those nearest him. Instantly there was 
 a rush, others crowding about the bearer of the 
 newspaper. 
 
 "Accountants have just finished going over 
 the statements of the P. & Y. There's not a 
 dollar short anywhere. The road is as sound 
 as a good nut. ' ' 
 
 That information, backed by the reputation of 
 the accountants, sent a small squad scurrying 
 off to buy if more P. & Y. were offered at low 
 prices. 
 
 "A thousand shares at 67!" shouted one of 
 those who offered to buy. 
 
 "Wanted, two thousand, at 671/2!" called 
 another. 
 
 "Bosh! That's only a trick played by those 
 who are 'long' to get a little more for their 
 paper!" 
 
 Thus belief and disbelief eddied and surged 
 backward and forward. 
 
 Some small sales were made at a fraction 
 above 68. Then, like a thunderclap came the 
 offer: 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 219 
 
 "Ten thousand P. & Y. at 66!" 
 
 Five minutes later the stock was being offered 
 at 65%, with few takers. 
 
 A man entered the visitors' gallery, taking a 
 swift, careless look at the others. It was Justin 
 Bolton, but, as he had reason to be sure that 
 Francis Delavan was hundreds of miles out to 
 sea, Bolton nodded coldly to Coggswell, merely 
 glanced at the boys, and turned to a seat at some 
 distance. 
 
 Now the Bolton brokers were hurling short 
 stock in, in thousand, two-thousand and five- 
 thousand lots, trying to break the price below 65. 
 There were takers, for the newspaper report 
 made many buyers look upon P. & Y. as a fair 
 bargain at 65. 
 
 Coggswell took a sidelong look at Justin Bol- 
 ton, whose gaze was turned unceasingly upon 
 the floor below. 
 
 "Your enemy is smashing things the best he 
 Imows how," whispered the broker to the 
 "Rocket's" owner. 
 
 "It'll be rough on him if anything happens 
 to prevent his covering his sales, won't it?" 
 smiled back Mr. Delavan. 
 
 Another evening newspaper reached the floor 
 below, then half a dozen appeared, each being 
 glanced over by excited groups of men. 
 
 Johnson, the managing vice-president of the 
 
220 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 P. & Y., had been found and interviewed. He 
 load confirmed the news given out by the ac- 
 countants. P. & Y. went up two points. A 
 messenger entered the gallery, handing a note 
 to Mr. Coggswell. 
 
 ' ' Oliver sends word he likes the looks of things 
 better, and that he won't desert you just yet in 
 the battle of the dollars, Mr. Delavan," whis- 
 pered the broker. ' ' Oliver has a million of his 
 own money placed in this game. He's buying 
 on the 'bull' side of the market." 
 
 "Oliver may be a much richer man, then, by 
 the time night comes," smiled the "Rocket's" 
 owner. This seasoned financier had not, during 
 all the storm below, shown the faintest trace of 
 excitement. His face was calm, his voice even. 
 One would have thought him almost bored with 
 dulness. 
 
 "Justin Bolton must be wondering hard why 
 your holdings of P. & Y. haven't been dumped 
 into the market," suggested Coggswell. 
 
 "That's what he's here for, sitting over yon- 
 der," replied Mr. Delavan. "As soon as the 
 dealings denote that my holdings are being 
 dumped Bolton will know that the day and the 
 game are his." 
 
 Some other stocks were being traded in briefly, 
 now. Steel, among them, was going up a couple 
 of points. Bolton found time to look over 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 221 
 
 curiously at Goggswell, whom he knew to be 
 directing the fight for the Delavan-Moddridge 
 combine. Bolton also studied the man behind 
 the goggles rather attentively, though not once 
 did it occur to the arch-plotter to connect that 
 half-hidden face with the countenance of the man 
 he was moving heaven and earth to ruin. 
 
 "Twenty thousand P. & Y. offered at 651/2!" 
 
 That was the next challenge hurled on the floor 
 below. There were no takers at the moment. 
 
 * ' Twenty thousand at 65 ! " 
 
 Within the next few minutes this offering was 
 traded off in smaller lots. 
 
 "Watch Bolton fidget," whispered Mr. Goggs- 
 well. "There's a bigger hammering coming, 
 and of course Bolton knows it's near. We'll 
 see his biggest plunge within the next few min- 
 utes." 
 
 Within two minutes by the big clock the pound- 
 ing came. 
 
 "Forty thousand P. & Y. offered at 62 !" 
 
 There was instant pandemonium. While 
 there were those on the floor who rushed forward 
 to get in on some of the buying at this price, 
 there were many more who believed that P. & Y. 
 would quickly slump far worse than it had yet 
 done. 
 
 Justin Bolton's eyes were gleaming. Most of 
 the color had left his cheeks. His breath was 
 
222 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 coming in quick, short gasps. It was near the mo- 
 ment when he hoped to reap millions from his 
 operations, and also to become the largest owner 
 of P. & Y. Yet this schemer, knowing full 
 well that the sales below were being made 
 mainly on his own account, realized also that 
 the Delavan-Moddridge stock had not been 
 sprung. 
 
 "Does Delavan think he's at a moving-pic- 
 ture show?" whispered Joe Dawson, in Tom 
 Halstead's ear. "Is he going to do nothing but 
 sit here and smile 1 ' ' 
 
 "Perhaps there's nothing he can do here yet," 
 was Halstead's answer. "I am wondering 
 whether he's going down to ruin, or whether he 
 hopes to find the way out yet. ' ' 
 
 A messenger from one of the brokers on the 
 floor now darted through the gallery, handing 
 a sheet of paper to Justin Bolton. 
 
 That worthy, after glancing over the sheet, 
 penciled a few words upon it. The messenger 
 hastened back to one of the brokers below. 
 
 Bolton's own face, after the messenger had 
 gone, was of a ghastly pallor. He looked un- 
 steady, worried — or else as though he were about 
 to take the most daring plunge of all. 
 
 "Watch out for what's going to happen," 
 nudged Mr. Coggswell. That broker had now a 
 pad on his own knee, a fountain i)en in hand, as 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 223 
 
 though prepared to dash off written orders in a 
 hurry. 
 
 "Look out for a thunderclap," whispered 
 Coggswell, as one of the Bolton brokers on the 
 floor hurried forward. 
 
 Then it came : 
 
 "Forty thousand P. & Y. at 60!" 
 
 CHAPTER XXn 
 
 SPEINGING THE MONEY MINE 
 
 IN an instant all seemed mad frenzy on the 
 floor of the Stock Exchange. 
 Members ran about, waving slips of pa- 
 per, bawling themselves hoarse, colliding with 
 each other in efforts to reach desired parts of 
 the floor. 
 
 Junior members of brokerage firms rushed to 
 their private telephones to call for instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 Many thought that the day would go out in 
 widespread panic, for now much more seemed 
 involved than merely the P. & T. Railroad. 
 
 At the first crack of this new firing on the bat- 
 tle line Broker Coggswell, a written order in his 
 hand, bounded from his seat in the gallery, mak- 
 ing his way frantically to the floor below. 
 
 Justin Bolton turned for an instant to follow 
 
224 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 the broker with his eyes. Then down below he 
 looked to see Coggswell hurl himself into the 
 wild chaos of the 'Change floor. 
 
 Broker Coggswell snatched np the entire offer- 
 ing of forty thousand shares like a flash. That 
 held the market steady at that price for a mo- 
 ment. There was even talk among the excited 
 Operators that P. & Y. might be good for some 
 rise. Gradually the hubbub lessened. Quiet 
 followed. Every operator interested waited to 
 see what the next move in the great game was to 
 be. 
 
 Justin Bolton, shaking all over in his excite- 
 ment at this crisis in the daring battle he had 
 waged, stood up, leaning forward over the rail- 
 ing. 
 
 "Coggswell, your clients must be crazy to go 
 in so heavily on a dropping stock," one "bear" 
 operator called to Delavan's broker. 
 
 "I don't believe it," smiled the broker. 
 
 "But P. & Y. will be at 40 by to-morrow," in- 
 sisted the other. 
 
 "Bosh, man!" returned Coggswell, serenely. 
 
 "You think you have inside information, do 
 you, Coggswell?" demanded the "bear," ban- 
 teringly. 
 
 ' ' My principal client believes he has, ' ' laughed 
 Coggswell, good humoredly. 
 
 "Your principal client!" 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 225 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I wish I knew who he is," admitted the 
 "bear," moving closer to the bold broker. 
 
 "Why, I might tell you," came the smiling 
 retort. 
 
 It would be news of great value to many opera- 
 tors to-day to know who was behind the pur- 
 chase of forty thousand shares of a falling stock. 
 A crowd surged around Coggswell. 
 
 "Tell us who your client is," dared the same 
 "bear," while the size. of the gaping crowd in- 
 creased. A hush had again fallen over every- 
 thing. 
 
 "My principal client " began Coggswell, 
 
 then paused, smiling in a tantalizing way. 
 
 "Name him!" insisted the same "bear." 
 
 "Yes, name him! Name him!" came the 
 fevered demand from all sides, though probably 
 not one expected the broker to comply. 
 
 "My principal client, for whom I just made 
 the big purchase," announced Broker Coggs- 
 well, "is Francis Delavan himself." 
 
 "Francis Delavan?" 
 
 The cry was taken up and repeated all over 
 the floor. Scores of men came running to get 
 as near as possible to the talking broker. 
 
 "I made that purchase on behalf of the Dela- 
 van-Moddridge interests," continued Coggswell, 
 showing a still smiling face. 
 
 XS— Motor Boat Out Off Long fsbni. 
 
226 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 "Then you must know where Delavan is?" 
 called someone, rather banteringly. 
 
 "I do," nodded Coggswell. 
 
 One of the Bolton brokers sent a messenger 
 scurrying to the gallery to inform the arch- 
 plotter. 
 
 "Where is Delavan 1" 
 
 It rose as a shout, penetrating every nook and 
 comer of the great Stock Exchange space. 
 
 "Eight up there!" called Mr. Coggswell, 
 turning and pointing toward the gallery. 
 
 At that instant Mr. Delavan stood up. As he . 
 rose he cast off the linen duster and peaked cap. 
 In the next moment he removed the disfiguring, 
 concealing goggles from his eyes, dropping them 
 to the floor. 
 
 ' ' Delavan ! Yes, it 's Delavan ! ' ' rose a mighty 
 shout. 
 
 Justin Bolton turned at the same time. He 
 fell back, clutching at a seat, gasping, his lower 
 jaw dropping, his eyes protruding. It must be 
 all a wild, disordered trick of the imagination, 
 for wasn't Francis Delavan a close prisoner in 
 that schooner out at sea? 
 
 But as Justin Bolton, horror-stricken and 
 dazed, continued to glare at the cahn, smiling 
 face of his foe, it was driven home to him that 
 here, indeed, was Delavan in the flesh. 
 
 It came over the scoundrel slowly, but crush- 
 
"Delavan! Tes, It's DelavanI" 
 ^227 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 229 
 
 ingly. Still wildly staring, foam flecking his 
 lips, Justin Bolton sank back in his seat. 
 
 And those below saw. While they could not 
 comprehend it all, they knew that Justin Bolton, 
 who was known to be the chief factor behind the 
 "bear" movement in P. & T. stock, plainly ad- 
 mitted defeat. 
 
 At all events, Francis Delavan was neither an 
 absconder nor a defaulter, since he was here in 
 the flesh and dared show himself. Then it was 
 that the report of the accountants, as published 
 in the evening newspapers, was remembered and 
 accepted in good faith. Plainly the "bear" 
 movement had been based on a cruel hoax of 
 some kind. 
 
 "When the tumult had begun to subside, a 
 broker 's voice was heard announcing : 
 
 "I bid 67 for three thousand P. & Y. !" 
 
 The upward movement started then and there. 
 Yet there were many cautious ones. Almost at 
 the outset a score of excited operators left the 
 floor to crowd about Francis Delavan. 
 
 The two intensely interested motor boat boys 
 extricated themselves from that crush, standing 
 well apart from the crowd. 
 
 "You fool !" hissed a voice in Tom Halstead's 
 ear. \ 
 
 The young skipper turned, to find himself gaz- 
 ing into the glaring eyes of Justin Bolton. 
 
230 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 "In some way," declared the scoundrel, "this 
 is all your work ! ' ' 
 
 "Partly mine, partly that of my friends," 
 Tom smilingly admitted. 
 
 "You may have beaten me, but I offered you 
 a fortune to work on my side. What do you get 
 out of this turn of affairs?" 
 
 "The satisfaction, at least, Mr. Bolton, of 
 knowing that I'm a decent human being, true to 
 what little trusts may come my way. ' ' 
 
 "Bah! That, as against a fortune!" 
 
 Then, suddenly, as though actuated by uncon- 
 trollable fury, Bolton leaped at young Halstead, 
 gripping him furiously by the throat. 
 
 ' ' Quit that ! ' ' commanded Joe Dawson, sternly. 
 Without waiting the young engineer swung his 
 fist, striking Bolton a heavy blow full in the 
 face. 
 
 The maddened financier let go, staggering 
 back. He reached for one of his hip pockets. 
 
 But two new actors moved swiftly into this 
 scene. They were plain clothes policemen, pro- 
 vided by the thoughtfulness of Broker Coggs- 
 well. Bolton was seized, and his right hand fol- 
 lowed to his hip pocket. 
 
 "You don't need this weapon," remarked 
 one of the officers, taking Bolton's revolver. 
 * ' Calm down, man, and come with us. ' ' 
 
 ' ' But, good heavens, officer, I can 't leave here 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 231 
 
 now, ' ' cried Bolton, his eyes flashing fire. " I 've 
 millions of dollars at stake on the floor below." 
 
 "Then calm down and behave yourself," ad- 
 vised the other policeman. "If you had drawn 
 that gun and pointed it, we'd have to take you. 
 Behave yourself, and we'll let you stay here and 
 attend to your deals. " 
 
 "I'll — I'll promise," agreed Justin Bolton, his 
 words coming in a gasp. 
 
 This scene, as quickly as it had taken place, 
 had not altogether escaped the attention of those 
 about Francis Delavan. 
 
 ' ' Gentlemen, ' ' said the ' ' Eocket 's ' ' owner, ' ' if 
 you can see any connection between my brief dis- 
 appearance and that scene over yonder, you're 
 welcome to draw your own conclusions. But 
 I've nothing further to say on the subject, for 
 the present, at any rate. My absence from the 
 world wasn't a matter of my own choice — that's 
 all. As to P. & Y., I give you my word of honor 
 that I regard it as a splendid investment, even at 
 110. If there's any man here who ever knew 
 me to lie, let him stand back and keep out of the 
 good things that are going to happen on the 
 Stock Exchange to-day. ' ' 
 
 Broker Coggswell, with the help of three of his 
 men, was now on the floor, snapping up all P. & 
 Y. stock that offered. The selling price was 
 above 70. 
 
232 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 Then Clark, one of the Bolton brokers, came 
 rushing up in person to consult his client. The 
 two withdrew by themselves, forming the new 
 plan of campaign. 
 
 While Bolton had been the power behind the 
 plot against P. & Y. stock, yet there were scores 
 of others who had been led into selling that rail- 
 road stock "short." They were not going to 
 allow themselves to be wiped out without a strug- 
 gle of the fiercest sort. 
 
 In fact, these "shorts" now rallied about 
 Justin Bolton, and a powerful money combine 
 was spontaneously formed. 
 
 Francis Delavan was yet a long way from 
 having won the day. His dramatic appearance 
 in the gallery of the Stock Exchange had brought 
 about at least a strong momentary rise in P. & Y. 
 
 Could it be made to last? 
 
 CHAPTEE XXin 
 
 n'> 
 
 SELDOM had a fiercer, more resolute fight 
 been waged on the firing line of the money 
 field. 
 On the whole, P. & Y. seemed to have the bet- 
 ter of it, though the "shorts" fought with de- 
 termination and discipline. 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 233 
 
 For an hour more Delavan, with his two motor 
 boat boys and a few operators who preferred to 
 remain near the great figure in this battle, re- 
 mained in the gallery. 
 
 Then, with an easy, good-humored smile, the 
 "Rocket's" owner turned to Halstead with: 
 
 "I'm afraid, lad, I didn't enjoy my breakfast 
 this morning as much as I ought to have done. 
 Let us three go out and find something good to 
 eat." 
 
 "Can you feel like eating now?" asked Hal- 
 stead, in astonishment. 
 
 "Why, yes, Captain. Can't you?" 
 
 "But I haven't any money at stake down 
 there," replied Halstead, nodding toward the 
 floor. 
 
 "Yes, you have. If I'm wiped out to-day I 
 don't know how I'm even to pay my motor boat 
 crew. So, you see, you certainly have some 
 money at stake, just as I have." 
 
 "But my few dollars don't amount to any- 
 thing," protested the young skipper, smiling. 
 
 "If I manage to come out on top of the heap, 
 your 'few dollars,' as you call them, may prove 
 to be quite a good many. However, come along 
 to eat. It will serve to kill time, at least. ' ' 
 
 So the trio left the Stock Exchange building. 
 Mr. Coggswell couldn't go, as he must be on 
 hand to manage the details of the fight. 
 
234 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB' 
 
 Delavan and his yoiing employes went to one 
 of the famous restaurants nearby. They were 
 followed by several brokers who wanted more 
 information, but Francis Delavan engaged a 
 private room at the restaurant, and thus barred 
 out all intrusion. 
 
 "Now," proposed the host, "we can put in 
 at le^st a couple of good hours if we eat slowly. ' ' 
 
 "Can you spare all that time, sir?" inquired 
 Dawson. 
 
 "Why, bless you, boy, I could spare the day, 
 ^f I had to, ' ' laughed Mr. Delavan. * ' The fight 
 is up to CoggsweU and his aides. There's noth- 
 ing I can do now." 
 
 "Are you going to 'phone any word to Mr. 
 Moddridge?" asked Captain Halstead. 
 
 "What's the use? We're a long way from out 
 of the woods, yet, and poor Moddridge, on 
 any uncertain news, would only go worse to 
 pieces. Now, boys, please don't even think 
 of the word business until we're out of this 
 place. ' ' 
 
 It was after two o'clock when they left the 
 restaurant. Mr. Delavan was smoking a cigar 
 as they stepped to the sidewalk. At the curb 
 stood an automobile that he had ordered by 
 'phone. 
 
 "We'll just drop down to 'Change," an- 
 nounced their employer, "You can wait out- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 235 
 
 side, if you wish, until I get an idea how the 
 market is going." 
 
 When Mr. Delavan again joined them before 
 the Stock Exchange Building the confident smile 
 had not left his face. 
 
 "P. & T. is np to 74," he announced, "but all 
 the 'shorts' are making savage assaults. Boys, 
 this is a rather interesting game. It means 
 about two million dollars a point for Modd- 
 ridge and myself. A point up means the money 
 in our pockets ; a point down simply means that* 
 our pockets are being picked. However, I'm go- 
 ing to stop fussing imtil to-morrow. I'm off, 
 now, in the auto, so you two will have to walk 
 down' to the pier. Expect me aboard with a 
 party at about six o'clock. We'll sail outside 
 to-night. Tell Hank Butts I want a first-class 
 dinner for six this evening. And now, bye-bye. ' ' 
 
 "Well, he's a wonder," ejaculated Joe Daw- 
 son, as the motor boat boys turned to walk down 
 the street. "He may get wiped out yet, but if 
 he does he'll buy a fresh cigar, laugh and sit 
 down to plan what he's going to do to make a 
 new fortune." 
 
 "He can have Wall Street all to himself, 
 though, as far as I'm concerned," declared Tom 
 Halstead. "If I went there every day I'm 
 afraid I'd grow to be more like Mr. Moddridge." 
 
 To the intense astonishment of both boys, when 
 
236 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 they boarded the "Rocket," Hank informed 
 them that Eben Moddridge was in his berth be- 
 low and sound asleep. 
 
 "Why, I really believe Mr. Moddridge is ac- 
 quiring some nerve," laughed Halstead. 
 
 As Hank went below to look over his larder 
 and galley, Halstead and his chum turned to 
 busy themselves with the boat. After her long 
 trip at racing speed there was much to be done 
 in cleaning and trimming up her machinery, and 
 the time was short. Yet, by team work, they 
 accomplished niiuch, and were on deck, in their 
 best Tmif orms, when two cabs arrived at the pier. 
 
 Out of the first stepped Mr. Johnson, Banker 
 Oliver and a stranger, the latter one of Mr. Dela- 
 van's "Wall Street friends. 
 
 Out of the second cab came Mr. Delavan. He 
 turned while a second gentleman alighted. At 
 sight of this last man Tom Halstead and Joe 
 Dawson looked in swift delight at each other, 
 then straightened up more than ever. For the 
 man with the owner was George Prescott, the 
 Boston broker, who had organized the Motor 
 Boat Club and was now its president. 
 
 "How do you do, boys? I'm heartily glad to 
 see you," was Mr. Prescott 's greeting. Step- 
 ping across the gang-plank, he shook hands 
 vigorously with each youth in turn. 
 
 "I've been hearing some fine things of you 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 237 
 
 both," lie added. "I'm proud of my Motor 
 Boat Club members. I shall have a long talk 
 with each of you ou the trip to-night." 
 
 "Down the Bay, through the Narrows, and 
 then anywhere. Captain; say, down along the 
 Jersey coast. We'll be out all night," announced 
 Mr. Delavan, "though you'll not need to put on 
 much speed. Be back at eight in the morning, 
 as you were this morning." 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied Captain Tom, saluting 
 lightly. 
 
 Hank cast off, bow and stern, then hurried be- 
 low, getting into his white jacket and busying 
 himself with the dinner. 
 
 By the time they were a mile from the pier 
 dinner was announced. They were through the 
 Narrows, and some miles down the New Jersey 
 coast when the gentlemen came out of the cabin 
 again. It was a fine, starlit night. "While the 
 others seated themselves in chairs on the after 
 deck, Mr. Prescott climbed up the steps, pulling 
 up an arm chair so that he could sit close to the 
 young captain. As the "Eocket" was going 
 along at less than ten miles an hour and the sea 
 was smooth, the young skipper had not much in 
 the way of duty to occupy his attention. 
 
 "Tom," began the Boston broker, "I can't 
 tell you how pleased I am that you have been 
 able to be of such grand service to my friend, 
 
238 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 Delavan. I recommended Dawson and yourself 
 to him, and lie says it has proved to be the great- 
 est service I ever did, or could do him." 
 
 "Is it a proper question if I ask whether Mr. 
 Delavan is now safely on his feet again?" ven- 
 tured Halstead. 
 
 "It'll take to-morrow's dealings on 'Change to 
 show whether he's sage," replied Mr. Prescott. 
 "But, if he hadn't been on hand today, just as 
 he was, nothing could have saved him. By three 
 o'clock this afternoon the Delavan-Moddridge 
 combination would have been wiped off the slate 
 for good. Frank Delavan will be back and fight- 
 ing again to-morrow. Perhaps the greatest 
 strain of all will be to-morrow, for the 'shorts' 
 are powerful and they simply must fight. But 
 Delavan isn't by any means cast down." 
 
 As if to prove this, Mr. Delavan 's voice was 
 heard, at that moment, as he broke into a roar 
 of laughter over a story that had just been told 
 by one of his guests. 
 
 "He doesn't seem to know what fear or nerves 
 mean," smiled Captain Tom. "I never -knew a 
 man who seemed to care so little about the 
 things 'that worry most men to death." 
 
 "I think most likely," replied Mr. Prescott, 
 musingly, "he is no more a stranger to worry 
 than other men. But he has wonderful courage 
 and perfect control of himself. Frank Delavan 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 239 
 
 will never allow himself to be frightened until 
 he has found out just what it was that scared 
 him." 
 
 Tom took a look up at the sky to see how the 
 weather lay. Mr. Prescott took a few puffs at 
 his cigar before he continued: 
 
 "By the way, Tom, I saw Horace Dunstan the 
 other day, and, f or'the first time, got a complete 
 account of all you and Dawson were able to do 
 to serve him and his interests — perhaps I should 
 say, his son's interests — down at Nantucket. It 
 was a thrilling yam to hear, but made four-fold 
 more interesting by the knowledge that boys of 
 mine — ^that's what I call you Motor Boat Club 
 boys — ^were the ones who had acquitted them- 
 selves so magnificently." 
 
 Then the two fell to talking over the happen- 
 ings at Nantucket. Eeaders of the second vol- 
 ume in this series are already familiar with the 
 occurrences at Nantucket. Then, by degrees, 
 the two went back to the subject of those days 
 in the Kennebec waters, which resulted in the or- 
 ganization of the famous Club, as told in the first 
 book of this series. 
 
 When they had exhausted other topics Tom 
 Halstead ventured to inquire: 
 
 "Can you tell me how Justin Bolton came out 
 to-day?" 
 
 "Oh, Bolton is still putting up a big fight on 
 
240 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 'Change, or was when the gong sounded this 
 afternoon. Yet he is a few millions of dollars 
 poorer than he was this morning. He will put 
 up a plucky fight, for in the battle of finance he 
 is very nearly as game as Delavan himself." 
 
 After an hour's chat Mr. Prescott dropped 
 down into the engine room and enjoyed a long 
 talk with Joe Dawson. When the Boston broker 
 came on deck again the "Eocket's" young stew- 
 ard was standing beside the youthful skipper at 
 Ithe wheel. 
 
 "Mr. Prescott," spoke Captain Tom, respect- 
 fully, "Butts is very anxious to be enrolled as 
 a member of the Club. He can handle a boat 
 like this from the deck as well as anyone, and 
 he promises to pitch in and study the running 
 of a motor hard." 
 
 "You're a member, then, Butts," laughed Mr. 
 Prescott "Tom Halstead's nomination of a 
 young man for membership is as good as elec- 
 tion into the Motor Boat Club." 
 
 "Thank you, sir, and thank you, Tom," said 
 Hank, very earnestly. " I am going to do every- 
 tiiing I know how to become one of the members 
 of the Club." 
 
 "Then you like motor boating, do you?" in- 
 quired the Boston broker. 
 
 "Like it?" echoed Hank. "Why, sir, motor 
 boating is the only sport for a rich man, and the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 241 
 
 only job for a poor one. I came near saying 
 I'd sooner be cabin boy on a motor craft than 
 a member of Congress, And I'm not sure, sir, 
 but wbat that's right." 
 
 Eleven o'clock found the cabin darkened, and 
 all but the necessary lights out. Owner and 
 guests were in their berths. Halstead was soon 
 sound asleep and Joe dozed in a berth in the en- 
 gine room, where he could be ready for duty in- 
 stantly if the engine needed his attention. 
 
 Hank, at the wheel, handled the craft care- 
 fully, though he was dreaming a goodly bit under 
 that fibie August night sky. 
 
 "A member of the Club," he repeated to him- 
 self over and over again. " Whee ! I hope I'm 
 skipper of a craft like this myself one of these 
 days. Being steward and crew ain't so bad, yet 
 I surely do envy Tom Halstead." 
 
 In the doming, as on the day before, the 
 "Rocket" was berthed punctually. This time 
 Tom and Joe were not invited to go up to the 
 Stock Exchange. They would have liked im- 
 mensely to have seen the day's doings, but there 
 was an abundance of work to be done aboard. 
 
 "I shall probably have the same party again 
 to-night," said Mr. Delavan, before going 
 ashore. "Coggswell will be with us, too, if it 
 is possible to get him to come." 
 
 At one o'clock that afternoon Captain Tom 
 
 j6— Motor Boat Out Og Long /slant. 
 
242 THE MOTOE BOAT CLUB 
 
 was summoned to the telephone office nearest the 
 pier to talk with his employer. 
 
 "That you, Captain Halstead?" came tFe 
 voice of Delavan over the wire. "Good enough. 
 What I have to say is that I'm going to give the 
 'Rocket' a rest for a little while." 
 
 ' ' Are you going to lay the boat up, sir ? " asked 
 Tom, feeling a start of disappointment, for he 
 had grown very fond of his present work. 
 
 ' ' Oh, I am going to keep on the water, ' ' replied 
 the Wall Street man. "But I'm going to make 
 a change for a day or two anyway. Take your 
 crew and go over to Macklin's shipyard. South 
 Brooklyn. There's a boat over there, the 'Sou- 
 dan,' that I want you to bring around to Pier 
 Eight, North Eiver, by six o'clock to-night. I've 
 arranged it all by telephone. You'll find gaso- 
 line, provisions and everything aboard, ready 
 for a start. As you'll have some time to spare, 
 you can try the boat up the Hudson a little way, 
 if you like, in order to get used to running her. 
 Macklin has your description from me, and will 
 turn the boat over to you, all right." 
 
 ' ' Am I too forward, Mr. Delavan, if I ask how 
 things are going on 'Change?" Halstead ven- 
 tured. 
 
 "Oh, things are coming our way, I believe," 
 was the cheery response. "It's too early to be 
 wholly sure, but we're a lot more ahead in the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 243 
 
 two million dollars a point game. Oh, by the 
 way, I came near forgetting poor Moddridge. 
 Give him my compliments, please, and ask him 
 to go over to South Brooklyn with you." 
 
 After everything had been locked up aboard 
 the "Rocket" the start for South Brooklyn was 
 made. 
 
 "I'm more than glad of this programme," 
 confessed the nervous one. ' ' I have an idea that 
 a change of boat will make our change of luck a 
 complete one." 
 
 Arrived at the ship-yard Mr. Macklin at once 
 conducted the party down to the slip in which 
 the "Soudan" lay. She proved to be an ex- 
 tremely handsome boat, five feet shorter than 
 the "Rocket," though broader of beam in pro- 
 portion. In other words, she was fifty-five feet 
 over -all, and fifteen wide at the broadest part 
 of her hull. 
 
 "You'll find everything shipshape and ready, 
 I think," said Mr. Macklin, fitting the keys to 
 cabin door, the hatchways and other locked 
 places. "I hope you'll like the boat. Captain." 
 
 "From the little I've seen of her she looks as 
 though she had been built for a gentleman's 
 boat," replied Halstead. 
 
 "You may well say that," replied the ship- 
 yard man. "For example, just step into the 
 cabin." 
 
244 , THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 This part of the craft was found to be fitted up 
 with much luxury. Besides berths in the cabin 
 proper, there were a stateroom and bath-room. 
 
 "I'll leave you in possession, Captain," an- 
 nounced Mr. Macklin. "You will find every- 
 thing ready for starting at a moment's notice." 
 
 "We won't start until I've had a little time 
 to study the motor of this new craft,." declared 
 Joe. "I'm not going to be caught with a motor 
 on a boat under way until I understand some- 
 thing about that motor. ' ' 
 
 In two or three minutes more he had the en- 
 gine running. 
 
 "It's a smooth mote, all right," Dawson de- 
 clared, after a few minutes more of observa- 
 tion. "I guess you can cast off. Captain, 
 whenever you feel like moving us out of here. ' ' 
 
 So the "Soudan" moved out into the stream. 
 The craft behaved beautifully as the young skip- 
 per turned her nose toward the Battery. 
 
 "How do you like this boat, Mr. Moddridgel" 
 asked the young skipper, as the nervous one 
 sauntered by on the bridge deck. 
 
 "Oh, as well as any other craft," replied Eben 
 Moddridge. "She's a handsome and comfort- 
 able vessel, but I've had so many horrors on the 
 salt water lately that, if I get out of Wall Street 
 with my fortune, as I now have some hopes of 
 doing, I think it wUl be the mountains or the 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 245 
 
 Middle West for me. Anything to be away from 
 the salt water for a good, long while. ' ' 
 
 As Moddridge turned away Captain Tom 
 could not help sending after him a look of sym- 
 pathy. Anyone who could not love the sea and 
 the smell of salt water was much to be pitied! 
 
 The short spin up the Hudson Eiver, over 
 the same route taken three hundred years be- 
 fore by Hendrik Hudson — though our friends 
 did not at this time go as far up the river — 
 proved the excellence of the "Soudan" as a well- 
 behaved craft. Then the young skipper turned 
 back for Pier eight. 
 
 A little before six o'clock Mr. Delavan and 
 his friends came aboard, Mr. Coggswell among 
 them. The boat left the pier right afterward. 
 
 "How "do you like this boat, boys?" asked Mr. 
 Delavan, approaching the chums as they stood 
 together by the wheel after passing below the 
 Battery. 
 
 "She's a fine craft, sir," Tom Halstead an- 
 swered. 
 
 "I'm glad you like her," nodded Francis 
 Delavan, smiling. "I've bought the 'Soudan,' 
 but I bought her in order to present her to you, 
 Halstead, and to you, Dawson." 
 
246 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 CHAPTER XXrV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 TOM HALSTEAD started, then, open- 
 mouthed, gaped at Francis Delavan in 
 sheer amazement. 
 
 "You're joking, sir," he said, thickly. 
 
 "I sometimes do jest," admitted the Wall 
 Street man, "but this is not one of the occa- 
 sions. Did you young men think I would let 
 your services pass without remembering 
 them in some substantial manner? But here, 
 I'll convince you as to whether I'm joking 
 or not. Here comes the president of your 
 Club. Mr. Prescott, to whom does this boat 
 belong ? " 
 
 "The deed you handed me declares Thomas 
 Halstead and Joseph Dawson to be the joint 
 owners," replied the Boston broker. "The 
 deed also names me as trustee until the young 
 men become of age, or until they dispose of the 
 boat with my consent. ' ' 
 
 "Tell them the rest, Prescott," laughed Mr. 
 Delavan, hurrying away to avoid being thanked. 
 "They take me for a jester." 
 
 "Oh, I didn't mean anything like that," pro- 
 tested the young skipper. "Only it all seemed 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 247 
 
 so wonderful, so much as though we were dream- 
 ing." 
 
 "Tom Halstead, what's your course?" broke 
 in Joe, rather sharply. "Are you trying to 
 beach on Bedloe's Island, or collide with the 
 Statue of Liberty?" 
 
 Truth to tell, Halstead had, for a moment, 
 almost forgotten that he was handling the boat. 
 
 "It's all true," Mr. Prescott went on heart- 
 ily, ' ' and I congratulate both of you youngsters 
 on your fine piece of property. Of course 
 Delavan knows you boys haven't the means to 
 run such a craft as this for pleasure, but he 
 hopes and believes you can make a fine thing out 
 of the boat by chartering her to other people 
 and going along to navigate the boat. Until 
 you become solidly established in this business 
 you can draw against me for supplies. Delavan 
 has handed me a small sum for that purpose." 
 
 "But a boat like this costs a fortune," de- 
 clared Joe, staggered, for once. 
 
 "She cost something like fourteen thousand 
 dollars to build," replied the Boston broker. 
 ' ' The former owner has had her two years, and 
 now wants a bigger boat, so he put this one up 
 for sale. Delavan heard of it to-day, and asked 
 me, as a favor, to hurry over to Brooklyn and 
 look the craft over. On my report he bought 
 the 'Soudan' for you two." 
 
248 THE MOTOR BOAT CLTJB 
 
 "But this boat is still worth a fortune," 
 choked Halstead. "It wouldn't seem right for 
 us to take such a magnificent present." 
 
 "As a matter of fact," Mr. Prescott replied, 
 "the boat didn't cost Mr. Delavan exactly a 
 fortune. Motor boats are like automobiles, 
 pianos and a lot of other things. After you've 
 used them a while, if you want to sell, you've 
 got to be satisfied with a fraction of the original 
 price. Delavan secured this boat for three thou- 
 sand dollars. As to its being right for you 
 to accept, I tried to decide that for you, I 
 believe you have a right to such a reward. 
 "Without your daring services Mr. Delavan 
 would have been despoiled of his whole for- 
 tune." 
 
 It was some time before the two young owners 
 of the "Soudan" got over feeling utterly dazed. 
 It was a much longer time before they outlived 
 the feeling of exultation that this fine piece of 
 property caused them. 
 
 "I have the deed to the boat for you, boys," 
 wound up Mr. Prescott, displaying a paper. "I'll 
 file it away for you until it's needed. Now, take 
 as good care of your own boat as you have of 
 the boats of other people." 
 
 Hank Butts, while they were talking, passed 
 them on the run, the cabin bell having rung. 
 Soon after Mr. Prescott left Tom and Joe, Hank 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 249 
 
 came out of the cabin, his face a study in amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 "I — I have heard about your great luck fel- 
 lows," said Hank, eagerly. "So this fine boat 
 is yours? Oh, I congratulate you." 
 
 "Joe and I have just been talking it over," 
 replied Halstead. "You have had as much to 
 do with this cruise. Hank, as we have had, and 
 it seems to us you should have a third of the 
 boat. So we're going to ask Mr. Delavan " 
 
 "Ask him nothing," advised Hank, promptly, 
 "Mr. Delavan was talking with me yesterday, 
 though I didn't know what he was up to. You 
 see, my father is getting old, and my mother 
 isn 't always well. I 'm the only boy left at home, 
 so I've got to be near them every little while. 
 Mr. Delavan has given me more than I ever 
 thought I'd own. That is, I'm to have it in a 
 day or two, as soon as Mr. Delavan gets time 
 to go around with me and look things over." 
 
 "Then you haven't been forgotten, or over- 
 looked?" queried Halstead. "Oh, but we're 
 glad of that, old fellow." 
 
 "Now, I don't get quite such a fine boat as 
 yours, ' ' Hank went on quizzically. ' * Mine is to 
 be a thirty-foot launch, suited for taking out 
 pleasure parties in and around Shinnecock Bay. 
 But Mr. Delavan is going to buy me a lot on the 
 bay-front, and build a little pier, so I'll have my 
 
250 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 own water frontage. Fellows, I'll be fixed for 
 life!" 
 
 "As we are," throbbed Joe Dawson. 
 
 "But, geewhillikins, fellows," remembered 
 Hank, suddenly, "I mustn't get my mind so 
 much on my good luck that I forget there's a 
 dinner to serve." 
 
 On this first trip with her new owners the 
 "Soudan" behaved splendidly. In fact, she 
 afterwards proved to be an exceptionally good, 
 strong and sea-worthy craft. 
 
 When the Wall Street party returned to town 
 the following morning, the battle on 'Change 
 was carried on to a finish. Before the day was 
 over P. & Y. stock was up where it belonged. 
 Steel and the allied securities also behaved in a 
 way that netted large profits for the Delavan- 
 Moddridge combine. Francis Delavan came 
 out of the affair with more than fifteen million 
 dollars of profits, and Eben Moddridge with ten 
 million dollars — this in addition to the fortune 
 with which they had started. 
 
 The experience has cured Mr. Delavan of any 
 further desire to plunge into Wall Street. He 
 feels that he has more money than he can use, 
 and is now devoting himself solely to advanc- 
 ing the interests of the railway of which he is 
 president. 
 
 Eben Moddridge has invested largely in Gov- 
 
OFF LONG ISLAND 251 
 
 eminent bonds, as a rest for his nerves. The 
 balance of his great fortune is invested in securi- 
 ties that do not go up and down on the Wall 
 Street barometer. -Mr. Moddridge spends much 
 of his time in the Western States, notably hunt- 
 ing in the Rocky Mountains, and his nerves are 
 coming gradually, surely under control. 
 
 Justin Bolton's end, financially, came with de- 
 served suddenness and completeness. Unable, 
 with all his millions, to buy in enough J*. & T. 
 stock to cover his immense range of "short" 
 sales, the worthless fellow found himself with 
 every dollar gone when that last stem day of 
 fighting on 'Change ended. Bolton is now clerk- 
 ing — drudging and scheming, though all in vain. 
 
 Ellis and Rexf ord did not, of course, earn the 
 great sums of money they had expected. Fear- 
 ing prosecution for their part in the affair, they 
 fled to Europe. Lately the news came that they 
 had been arrested in Paris for swindling Ameri- 
 can travelers. The pair are now confined in 
 a French prison. 
 
 Francis Delavan, generous and forgiving, re- 
 fused to try to find the crews of the racing launch 
 or of the schooner, or to consider prosecution of 
 these underlings^ and they have never been heard 
 of since. 
 
 "Bolton was the arch-scoundrel, and he's had 
 punishment enough meted out to him," declared 
 
252 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB 
 
 the good-hxunored president of the P. & Y. "I 
 never did feel much like going after small fry, 
 anyway. Besides, having to go into court as 
 a witness might upset all the good that has been 
 done to good old Eb's nerves." 
 
 Jed Prentiss was soon able to report that his 
 mother had recovered. Jed thereupon took com- 
 mand of Horace Dunstan's "Meteor" for the 
 balance of the season. 
 
 Hank Butts has the launch and the water 
 frontage which Mr. Delavan promised him, and 
 is supremely happy. He would rather be a 
 Motor Boat Club boy than anything else he 
 could imagine. 
 
 Mr. Delavan continued to cruise for the bal- 
 ance of August, using his own boat part of the 
 time and the "Soudan" the rest of the time. 
 
 In September 
 
 But the story of the further doings of the Mo- 
 tor Boat Club boys must now be deferred for 
 narration in the next volume of this series. The 
 most absorbing and exciting adventures of our 
 young motor navigators will be made the sub- 
 ject of the fourth volume in the Motor Boat 
 Club Series. These rousing adventures will be 
 described under the title: "The Motor Boat 
 Club and the Wireless; Or, The Dot, Dash 
 
 AND DaBE CbUISE." 
 
 (The End.) 
 
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