CHAPTER XVII
A FRIEND IN NEED
The Speedwell boys went home in no very pleasant frame of mind. Heretofore they had experienced sufficient trouble through Chance Avery and his brother to know that the superintendent of the Darringford shops was quite capable of giving Chance great help in his attempt to “get even” with anybody whom he disliked.
And neither Chance nor Francis Avery could ever forgive the Speedwell boys for beating Chance in the manufacturers’ motorcycle races held at the Riverdale Baseball Park not long before. Chance had been picked by the superintendent of the Darringford shops to ride a Flying Feather, and carry the colors of the local shops to victory. But at the last moment Dan Speedwell, likewise riding one of the Darringfords’ machines, had beaten out the field and left Chance sadly in the rear.
“And they are going to make it impossible—if they can—for us to do anything to Chance and Burton in this endurance test of autos that Mr. Briggs is financing,” grumbled Billy. “Oh, pshaw, Dan! What makes folks so mean?”
“I don’t know. We’ll ask Doc Bugs,” laughed Dan, referring to one of the academy instructors who was very much inclined to harp upon the microbe theory, and bacilli. “There’s something mean got into Chance, and his brother’s caught it. That’s all I know about it.”
“But we’re not going to let them beat us so easy,” growled Billy.
“Not so’s you’d notice it,” agreed the older brother.
“What will we do?”
“First we’ll go over to the shops to-morrow and find out just where we stand.”