"Hey! there, sheer off you fellers!" shouted Lanky, as he finally scratched one of his matches along the leg of his trousers, and held the flame aloft so that it would illumine the faces of the occupants of the rowboat.
The furious popping of the power-boat's exhaust ceased, but there was little abatement to the speed of the craft. Frank was sure he heard a low laugh as of fiendish glee just as the prow of the speed launch crashed against the side of the rowboat. The next instant both he and Lanky found themselves floundering in the water of the Harrapin, as the force of the collision turned their boat turtle!
CHAPTER II
THE ADVENTURE ON THE RIVER ROAD
"Frank! oh, Frank!"
Lanky's voice was more than husky, for he had swallowed considerable water, and was still spouting as he tried to call aloud.
"All right! I'm here, Lanky! Come this way! I've got hold of the boat. It's upside down, but floating still!" answered a voice close beside the swimmer.
"And I've fallen foul of an oar by good luck. Why don't the curs come back and pick us up? I hear the motor chugging again. Say, d'ye suppose they did that on purpose?" demanded Lanky, as he brought up alongside his companion, whom he found clinging to the overturned boat, and gradually pushing it toward the shore.
"I'm dead sure of it, because I heard somebody laugh just before it smashed into us," returned Frank, quickly.
"The hounds! They might have drowned a fellow, that's what!" exclaimed Lanky, indignantly, as he relieved himself of more water which he had almost swallowed.