“Hydroplanes! hydroplanes! not water shoes, you old backwoodsman!” cried Jerry. “Here, Ned, let me explain,” and with that the tall lad launched into a lively description of the proposed changes, with Bob interrupting every now and then with an objection, or with some queer comment.
While the boys are thus engaged, I will take a moment to tell you something about them, for, though many of my readers are well acquainted with the motor lads, some of my new friends may never have been introduced to them.
The three chums were Jerry Hopkins, son of a widow, Mrs. Julia Hopkins; Bob Baker, whose father, Mr. Andrew Baker, was a wealthy banker; and Ned Slade, son of Aaron Slade, proprietor of a large department store.
The chums lived in Cresville, not far from Boston, and they had gained the title “Motor Boys” from the fact that they had been associated with motor vehicles for a long time.
Their early adventures on bicycles were told of in the first volume of this series, entitled, “The Motor Boys.” Later they got motor-cycles, and soon after that an automobile. In this machine they made a long trip overland, taking with them a certain Professor Uriah Snodgrass, a learned scientist, who was always searching for some queer bug, reptile, or butterfly.
The boys went to Mexico, discovered a buried city, and returned across the plains, and later they purchased a motor-boat.
In this fine craft, named the Dartaway, they had many adventures, not a few of which are set down in the fifth volume of the series called “The Motor Boys Afloat.” They made a long trip on the Atlantic, and during the following vacation had some surprising adventures in the Everglades of Florida. Some time later they made a voyage on the Pacific ocean in search of a mysterious derelict. On this and on other trips they had much trouble from a bully, Noddy Nixon, and his crony, Bill Berry.
By this time the conquest of the air was well under way, and it might have been expected that our heroes would take part in it. They built an air-ship, with the aid of a Mr. Glassford, and a wonderful craft it was. Christened the Comet, their motor-ship was a combination of a dirigible balloon and an aeroplane. That is, there was a gas bag, which alone would support the machine in air, and there were also side planes, which were of service in case of accident to the gas bag.
In the book called “The Motor Boys in the Clouds,” the air-ship is fully described, so I will not take up space here to give the details of its construction. Sufficient to say that it was capable of long flights; it had a powerful motor and other machinery, and there was a roomy cabin in which the travellers of the air could live in comfort. Large propellers enabled the Comet to travel at a good speed.
Aboard her the boys had some exciting times, and in the book named “The Motor Boys Over the Rockies,” they were the means of rescuing a party of white men and women who had long been held in captivity by a band of Indians.