“What are you going to do?” asked Ned.
“Catch those horses!” replied Jerry as he hurried on.
And in the momentary pause that ensued, while he and his friends were getting in the car, to give pursuit to the runaway fire engine steeds, I will take a brief moment to acquaint my new readers with the chief characters of this story.
Those of you who formed your friendship for the chums in the book called “The Motor Boys,” know Ned, Bob and Jerry full well by this time.
Jerry Hopkins was the son of a rich widow of Cresville, and was the leader of the trio, the three boys having been chums, friends and inseparable companions for many years. Bob Baker, otherwise known as “Chunky,” was the son of Andrew Baker, a banker of the town, while Ned Slade’s father kept the chief department store in Cresville. As already stated, this town, or city, as its more enthusiastic admirers called it, was in New England, not far from Boston.
As may be guessed from the title of the first book, the lads were much interested in machines propelled by gasoline motors. Their initial venture was with motor cycles, after their bicycle days, and then they secured an automobile, in which they went on many a tour, even down into Mexico, as related in other volumes of the “Motor Boys Series.”
They later acquired a motor boat and voyaged on the Atlantic and Pacific, and several books are devoted to their activities in this regard. As might be expected, the perfection of the aeroplane gave the boys a chance for new activities, and they ventured above the clouds more than once.
From the heights to the depths was a natural descent, and a submarine took the motor boys under the ocean where they had more than one thrill. Then they went back to their motor car and boat again; and had more exciting times on road and river.
In “The Motor Boys at Boxwood Hall; or, Ned, Bob and Jerry as Freshmen,” the seventeenth book of this series, you will find our heroes in a new phase. Too long, their parents decided, had they been living a free and careless life, with no systematic studying to fit them for the struggle that lay before them. So they were sent to school again, and Boxwood Hall was the place selected for them.
Because a certain clique there had the idea that these lads regarded themselves too seriously, there was a conspiracy formed against Ned, Bob and Jerry at the school, and they entered under a handicap. How they worked it off, and came in “first under the wire,” will be found fully set down. Also may be read how the faithful trio, at the last moment, turned what might have been an athletic defeat into victory, and, incidentally, helped a fellow student to develop his character along the right lines.