Studying over this problem, Frank brought a solution to mind and determined that after they had run a mile or so he would put his plan into effect.
It was not a meandering or shambling or loitering gait that the Rocket had taken—quite the contrary. The bow of the craft was well up from the surface of the river, the propeller blades were churning and whirling the water into foam behind them, and the breeze created by the speed was at once cooling and invigorating.
Frank had his accustomed position in the cockpit, his steady hand on the wheel. Ralph and Paul had their places, flat on the after deck, helping hold the bow out of the water and permitting the Rocket to skim and glide along the Harrapin at the fastest rate of speed it had ever made.
This was a race worth the while—a race with a thief to be caught or one who had conspired with thieves, and also a race between the two motor boats.
“See him?” asked Frank of Lanky, as that long lad twisted the searchlight from side to side.
“Not a see,” muttered Wallace. “If this light were only stronger we might see him ahead of us. I can’t even hear the exhaust.”
Just at this moment Frank cut off the motor. All was silent on the Rocket. From far ahead of them came the steady, rapidly firing put-put of the Speedaway! It was ahead of them down the stream! Were they gaining or losing in the race? It was almost, if not quite, impossible to determine.
Before they could lose much of their momentum Frank had whirled the flywheel over again, the heated engine picked up explosions at the first turn, and the Rocket seemed to fairly leap from under them as it dashed forward.
Feeling sure of their quarry now, Frank’s mind went back to some of the doings of the past few hours and the past few days. To his mind came, for a second, a thought of his father, and he wondered if everything at the hospital was going on as the doctor had said it would and that his father would show improvement after his heart had been stimulated by the drug. Then came a brief thanksgiving that his mother had reached home.
Who was Fred Cunningham? Was he one of the gang of thieves or had he merely fallen in with these fellows because he owned a fast motor boat and they could use one?