“She’s here!” shouted Bob.
“What! Our boat?”
“Sure! Just got a postal from the freight office. Come on, we’ll get Jerry and have the boat taken to the river. Shiver my timbers, I can hardly wait! Hurry up, Ned!”
Ned needed no urging, and soon the two boys were at Jerry Hopkins’ house. He was not home, but his mother told his chums where they could find him, and they started off to a neighbor’s house, where Jerry had gone on an errand.
The three boys had gone into partnership in the purchase of a motor boat. They lived in Cresville, Mass. Bob Baker was the son of a rich banker, while Ned Slade’s father was the proprietor of a large department store. Jerry Hopkins was the son of a well-to-do widow.
The lads had been chums for a number of years, and had been closely associated in a series of adventures which began with the purchase of motor cycles and which were destined to be continued with the acquisition of the motor boat.
As told in the first volume of this series, “The Motor Boys,” the three took part in some bicycle races under the auspices of the Cresville Athletic Club. They won, but in doing so incurred the enmity of Noddy Nixon, a town bully, whose wealth had made him a spoiled son. One of the chums won a motor cycle as a prize and, soon after this the other boys also discarded their bicycles for the more rapid vehicles.
They had many adventures on the motor cycles, in some of which Noddy Nixon played a prominent, if a mean part. The boys entered a motor cycle race and were successful, winning the first prize, a big automobile touring car. Because of a robbery at a local mill Noddy Nixon had to flee from Cresville, running off one night in his father’s automobile.
In the second book, “The Motor Boys Overland,” I told of how Ned, Bob and Jerry started west. They had many exciting adventures, being put to considerable trouble by Noddy, who heard of their trip and followed them. The motor boys got permission from their folks to search for an old mine which a prospector whom they befriended told them of. They found the mine with the help of Jim Nestor, and secured possession, though they had a close race with Nixon, and two of his cronies, Jack Pender and also Bill Berry, a Cresville ne’er-do-well.
The mine proved to be a rich one, and the shares the boys received were considerable. They arranged to have Jim Nestor work the claim for them, as he was the largest shareholder, because of having known of the mine previously.