Their journey to the Pacific enabled them to locate a strange derelict, after considerable hardships.
It was to be expected, with the progress made in navigating the air, that the motor boys would, sooner or later, want a biplane, or some craft that could take them above the earth. In the book “The Motor Boys in the Clouds,” I related how they went on a long trip for fame and fortune, while later, when they went over the Rockies, they solved a strange mystery of the air. Then they traveled over the ocean and made a marvelous rescue in mid-air.
Getting on the wing again, they sought the airship treasure, and in the book that immediately precedes this one, called “The Motor Boys After a Fortune,” I related how the three chums sought to locate a quantity of radium, said to be deposited in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Incidentally they located a hut on Snake Island, and rescued a celebrated scientist.
The boys had not been back home very long when the present story opens. I might add that though the lads had many friends they had one or two enemies, of whom Noddy Nixon, a rival airship enthusiast, was one, together with his crony, Bill Berry. Noddy and Bill never lost a chance to do our friends a bad turn.
In one of their many adventures the boys had met with Jim Nestor, an old miner and prospector, and they had been able to help him locate a rich gold mine in Arizona. The boys were given shares in it for their help, and Mr. Nestor remained out West to work the claim, sending the boys their profits at intervals. It can well be imagined how surprised the lads were when they saw the old miner in their home town, engaged in the curious occupation of digging in the dirt between the railroad tracks.
“He must be crazy!” exclaimed Bob.
“What’s he up to, anyhow?” asked Ned.
“Sure, they’re both crazy!” declared a man in the throng about the depot. “They got off the through train a little while ago, and one of them—that big fellow—right away started to dig in the dirt with an old broom handle. Then the other did the same thing, and they’ve been at it ever since. Do you boys know ’em?”
“One of them—Jim Nestor—is the foreman at a gold mine in which we have an interest,” said Jerry. “The other I don’t know, except that Jim said his name was Harvey Brill.”
“Well, they’re both crazy,” said the man.