“Stand by to be taken off!” cried the captain of the motor boat.
With a graceful curve the craft swung up to where Larry and Tony clung to the keel of their boat. The man at the wheel pulled a lever and the screw reversed, though the engines did not stop. The motor boat slowed up, and, as it slowly passed by, the two in the water grasped the gunwale, which was low, and pulled themselves aboard, before the craft had come to a stop.
“Saw you upset,” said the motor boat’s captain, “and I headed right for you.”
“We didn’t upset, we were run down,” said Tony, “and there goes the mean chap that did it,” he added, pointing to Peter’s boat.
“Can you put us ashore in a hurry?” asked Larry. “I must get some press dispatches to the telegraph office. I want to beat the boy in that boat. We were beating him, but he ran his boat into ours and upset us. Then he wouldn’t stop to pick us up.”
“So you want to get ashore first, eh?” asked the owner of the motor craft. “What paper are you from?”
“I’m with Mr. Newton of the Leader,” said Larry.
“What, Harvey Newton?” asked the man.
“Yes,” said Larry.
“Well, I’d do a good bit for Harvey Newton,” the captain went on. “He was at our motor boat races in New York bay last summer, and I found him a good friend.”