The Motor Boat Club off Long Island; or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed

by H. Irving Hancock

  CHAPTER XXIII

  “TWO MILLION DOLLARS A POINT”

  SELDOM had a fiercer, more resolute fight been waged on the firing lineof the money field.

  On the whole, P. & Y. seemed to have the better of it, though the“shorts” fought with determination and discipline.

  For an hour more Delavan, with his two motor boat boys and a fewoperators who preferred to remain near the great figure in this battle,remained in the gallery.

  Then, with an easy, good-humored smile, the “Rocket’s” owner turned toHalstead with:

  “I’m afraid, lad, I didn’t enjoy my breakfast this morning as much as Iought to have done. Let us three go out and find something good to eat.”

  “Can you feel like eating now?” asked Halstead, in astonishment.

  “Why, yes, Captain. Can’t _you_?”

  “But I haven’t any money at stake down there,” replied Halstead,nodding toward the floor.

  “Yes, you have. If I’m wiped out to-day I don’t know how I’m even topay my motor boat crew. So, you see, you certainly have some money atstake, just as I have.”

  “But my few dollars don’t amount to anything,” protested the youngskipper, smiling.

  “If I manage to come out on top of the heap, your ‘few dollars,’ as youcall them, may prove to be quite a good many. However, come along toeat. It will serve to kill time, at least.”

  So the trio left the Stock Exchange building. Mr. Coggswell couldn’tgo, as he must be on hand to manage the details of the fight.

  Delavan and his young employes went to one of the famous restaurantsnearby. They were followed by several brokers who wanted moreinformation, but Francis Delavan engaged a private room at therestaurant, and thus barred out all intrusion.

  “Now,” proposed the host, “we can put in at least a couple of goodhours if we eat slowly.”

  “Can you spare all that time, sir?” inquired Dawson.

  “Why, bless you, boy, I could spare the day, if I had to,” laughed Mr.Delavan. “The fight is up to Coggswell and his aides. There’s nothing Ican do now.”

  “Are you going to ’phone any word to Mr. Moddridge?” asked CaptainHalstead.

  “What’s the use? We’re a long way from out of the woods, yet, and poorModdridge, on any uncertain news, would only go worse to pieces. Now,boys, please don’t even think of the word business until we’re out ofthis place.”

  It was after two o’clock when they left the restaurant. Mr. Delavan wassmoking a cigar as they stepped to the sidewalk. At the curb stood anautomobile that he had ordered by ’phone.

  “We’ll just drop down to ’Change,” announced their employer. “You canwait outside, if you wish, until I get an idea how the market isgoing.”

  When Mr. Delavan again joined them before the Stock Exchange Buildingthe confident smile had not left his face.

  “P. & Y. is up to 74,” he announced, “but all the ‘shorts’ are makingsavage assaults. Boys, this is a rather interesting game. It meansabout two million dollars a point for Moddridge and myself. A pointup means the money in our pockets; a point down simply means that ourpockets are being picked. However, I’m going to stop fussing untilto-morrow. I’m off, now, in the auto, so you two will have to walk downto the pier. Expect me aboard with a party at about six o’clock. We’llsail outside to-night. Tell Hank Butts I want a first-class dinner forsix this evening. And now, bye-bye.”

  “Well, he’s a wonder,” ejaculated Joe Dawson, as the motor boat boysturned to walk down the street “He may get wiped out yet, but if hedoes he’ll buy a fresh cigar, laugh and sit down to plan what he’sgoing to do to make a new fortune.”

  “He can have Wall Street all to himself, though, as far as I’mconcerned,” declared Tom Halstead. “If I went there every day I’mafraid I’d grow to be more like Mr. Moddridge.”

  To the intense astonishment of both boys, when they boarded the“Rocket,” Hank informed them that Eben Moddridge was in his berth belowand sound asleep.

  “Why, I really believe Mr. Moddridge is acquiring some nerve,” laughedHalstead.

  As Hank went below to look over his larder and galley, Halstead and hischum turned to busy themselves with the boat. After her long trip atracing speed there was much to be done in cleaning and trimming up hermachinery, and the time was short. Yet, by team work, they accomplishedmuch, and were on deck, in their best uniforms, when two cabs arrivedat the pier.

  Out of the first stepped Mr. Johnson, Banker Oliver and a stranger, thelatter one of Mr. Delavan’s Wall Street friends.

  Out of the second cab came Mr. Delavan. He turned while a secondgentleman alighted. At sight of this last man Tom Halstead and JoeDawson looked in swift delight at each other, then straightened up morethan ever. For the man with the owner was George Prescott, the Bostonbroker, who had organized the Motor Boat Club and was now its president.

  “How do you do, boys? I’m heartily glad to see you,” was Mr. Prescott’sgreeting. Stepping across the gang-plank, he shook hands vigorouslywith each youth in turn.

  “I’ve been hearing some fine things of you both,” he added. “I’m proudof my Motor Boat Club members. I shall have a long talk with each ofyou on the trip to-night.”

  “Down the Bay, through the Narrows, and then anywhere, Captain; say,down along the Jersey coast. We’ll be out all night,” announced Mr.Delavan, “though you’ll not need to put on much speed. Be back at eightin the morning, as you were this morning.”

  “Yes, sir,” replied Captain Tom, saluting lightly.

  Hank cast off, bow and stern, then hurried below, getting into hiswhite jacket and busying himself with the dinner.

  By the time they were a mile from the pier dinner was announced. Theywere through the Narrows, and some miles down the New Jersey coastwhen the gentlemen came out of the cabin again. It was a fine, starlitnight. While the others seated themselves in chairs on the after deck,Mr. Prescott climbed up the steps, pulling up an arm chair so thathe could sit close to the young captain. As the “Rocket” was goingalong at less than ten miles an hour and the sea was smooth, the youngskipper had not much in the way of duty to occupy his attention.

  “Tom,” began the Boston broker, “I can’t tell you how pleased I am thatyou have been able to be of such grand service to my friend, Delavan.I recommended Dawson and yourself to him, and he says it has proved tobe the greatest service I ever did, or could do him.”

  “Is it a proper question if I ask whether Mr. Delavan is now safely onhis feet again?” ventured Halstead.

  “It’ll take to-morrow’s dealings on ’Change to show whether he’s sage,”replied Mr. Prescott. “But, if he hadn’t been on hand to-day, just ashe was, nothing could have saved him. By three o’clock this afternoonthe Delavan-Moddridge combination would have been wiped off the slatefor good. Frank Delavan will be back and fighting again to-morrow.Perhaps the greatest strain of all will be to-morrow, for the ‘shorts’are powerful and they simply must fight. But Delavan isn’t by any meanscast down.”

  As if to prove this, Mr. Delavan’s voice was heard, at that moment, ashe broke into a roar of laughter over a story that had just been toldby one of his guests.

  “He doesn’t seem to know what fear or nerves mean,” smiled Captain Tom.“I never knew a man who seemed to care so little about the things thatworry most men to death.”

  “I think most likely,” replied Mr. Prescott, musingly, “he is no morea stranger to worry than other men. But he has wonderful courage andperfect control of himself. Frank Delavan will never allow himself tobe frightened until he has found out just what it was that scared him.”

  Tom took a look up at the sky to see how the weather lay. Mr. Prescotttook a few puffs at his cigar before he continued:

  “By the way, Tom, I saw Horace Dunstan the other day, and, for thefirst time, got a complete account of all you and Dawson were ableto do to serve him and his interests—perhaps I should say, his son’sinterests—down at Nantucket. It was a thrilling yarn to hear, but mad
efour-fold more interesting by the knowledge that boys of mine—that’swhat I call you Motor Boat Club boys—were the ones who had acquittedthemselves so magnificently.”

  Then the two fell to talking over the happenings at Nantucket. Readersof the second volume in this series are already familiar with theoccurrences at Nantucket. Then, by degrees, the two went back to thesubject of those days in the Kennebec waters, which resulted in theorganization of the famous Club, as told in the first book of thisseries.

  When they had exhausted other topics Tom Halstead ventured to inquire:

  “Can you tell me how Justin Bolton came out to-day?”

  “Oh, Bolton is still putting up a big fight on ’Change, or was whenthe gong sounded this afternoon. Yet he is a few millions of dollarspoorer than he was this morning. He will put up a plucky fight, for inthe battle of finance he is very nearly as game as Delavan himself.”

  After an hour’s chat Mr. Prescott dropped down into the engine roomand enjoyed a long talk with Joe Dawson. When the Boston broker cameon deck again the “Rocket’s” young steward was standing beside theyouthful skipper at the wheel.

  “Mr. Prescott,” spoke Captain Tom, respectfully, “Butts is very anxiousto be enrolled as a member of the Club. He can handle a boat like thisfrom the deck as well as anyone, and he promises to pitch in and studythe running of a motor hard.”

  “You’re a member, then, Butts,” laughed Mr. Prescott. “Tom Halstead’snomination of a young man for membership is as good as election intothe Motor Boat Club.”

  “Thank you, sir, and thank you, Tom,” said Hank, very earnestly. “I amgoing to do everything I know how to become one of _the_ members of theClub.”

  “Then you like motor boating, do you?” inquired the Boston broker.

  “Like it?” echoed Hank. “Why, sir, motor boating is the only sport fora rich man, and the only job for a poor one. I came near saying I’dsooner be cabin boy on a motor craft than a member of Congress. And I’mnot sure, sir, but what that’s right.”

  Eleven o’clock found the cabin darkened, and all but the necessarylights out. Owner and guests were in their berths. Halstead was soonsound asleep and Joe dozed in a berth in the engine room, where hecould be ready for duty instantly if the engine needed his attention.

  Hank, at the wheel, handled the craft carefully, though he was dreaminga goodly bit under that fine August night sky.

  “A member of the Club,” he repeated to himself over and over again.“Whee! I hope I’m skipper of a craft like this myself one of thesedays. Being steward and crew ain’t so bad, yet I surely do envy TomHalstead.”

  In the morning, as on the day before, the “Rocket” was berthedpunctually. This time Tom and Joe were not invited to go up to theStock Exchange. They would have liked immensely to have seen the day’sdoings, but there was an abundance of work to be done aboard.

  “I shall probably have the same party again to-night,” said Mr.Delavan, before going ashore. “Coggswell will be with us, too, if it ispossible to get him to come.”

  At one o’clock that afternoon Captain Tom was summoned to thetelephone office nearest the pier to talk with his employer.

  “That you, Captain Halstead?” came the voice of Delavan over the wire.“Good enough. What I have to say is that I’m going to give the ‘Rocket’a rest for a little while.”

  “Are you going to lay the boat up, sir?” asked Tom, feeling a start ofdisappointment, for he had grown very fond of his present work.

  “Oh, I am going to keep on the water,” replied the Wall Street man.“But I’m going to make a change for a day or two anyway. Take yourcrew and go over to Macklin’s shipyard, South Brooklyn. There’s a boatover there, the ‘Soudan,’ that I want you to bring around to PierEight, North River, by six o’clock to-night. I’ve arranged it all bytelephone. You’ll find gasoline, provisions and everything aboard,ready for a start. As you’ll have some time to spare, you can try theboat up the Hudson a little way, if you like, in order to get used torunning her. Macklin has your description from me, and will turn theboat over to you, all right.”

  “Am I too forward, Mr. Delavan, if I ask how things are going on’Change?” Halstead ventured.

  “Oh, things are coming our way, I believe,” was the cheery response.“It’s too early to be wholly sure, but we’re a lot more ahead inthe two million dollars a point game. Oh, by the way, I came nearforgetting poor Moddridge. Give him my compliments, please, and ask himto go over to South Brooklyn with you.”

  After everything had been locked up aboard the “Rocket” the start forSouth Brooklyn was made.

  “I’m more than glad of this programme,” confessed the nervous one.“I have an idea that a change of boat will make our change of luck acomplete one.”

  Arrived at the ship-yard Mr. Macklin at once conducted the party downto the slip in which the “Soudan” lay. She proved to be an extremelyhandsome boat, five feet shorter than the “Rocket,” though broader ofbeam in proportion. In other words, she was fifty-five feet over all,and fifteen wide at the broadest part of her hull.

  “You’ll find everything shipshape and ready, I think,” said Mr.Macklin, fitting the keys to cabin door, the hatchways and other lockedplaces. “I hope you’ll like the boat, Captain.”

  “From the little I’ve seen of her she looks as though she had beenbuilt for a gentleman’s boat,” replied Halstead.

  “You may well say that,” replied the shipyard man. “For example, juststep into the cabin.”

  This part of the craft was found to be fitted up with much luxury.Besides berths in the cabin proper, there were a stateroom andbath-room.

  “I’ll leave you in possession, Captain,” announced Mr. Macklin. “Youwill find everything ready for starting at a moment’s notice.”

  “We won’t start until I’ve had a little time to study the motor of thisnew craft,” declared Joe. “I’m not going to be caught with a motor on aboat under way until I understand something about that motor.”

  In two or three minutes more he had the engine running.

  “It’s a smooth mote, all right,” Dawson declared, after a few minutesmore of observation. “I guess you can cast off, Captain, whenever youfeel like moving us out of here.”

  So the “Soudan” moved out into the stream. The craft behavedbeautifully as the young skipper turned her nose toward the Battery.

  “How do you like this boat, Mr. Moddridge?” asked the young skipper, asthe nervous one sauntered by on the bridge deck.

  “Oh, as well as any other craft,” replied Eben Moddridge. “She’s ahandsome and comfortable vessel, but I’ve had so many horrors on thesalt water lately that, if I get out of Wall Street with my fortune,as I now have some hopes of doing, I think it will be the mountains orthe Middle West for me. Anything to be away from the salt water for agood, long while.”

  As Moddridge turned away Captain Tom could not help sending after hima look of sympathy. Anyone who could not love the sea and the smell ofsalt water was much to be pitied!

  The short spin up the Hudson River, over the same route taken threehundred years before by Hendrik Hudson—though our friends did not atthis time go as far up the river—proved the excellence of the “Soudan”as a well-behaved craft. Then the young skipper turned back for Piereight.

  A little before six o’clock Mr. Delavan and his friends came aboard,Mr. Coggswell among them. The boat left the pier right afterward.

  “How do you like this boat, boys?” asked Mr. Delavan, approaching thechums as they stood together by the wheel after passing below theBattery.

  “She’s a fine craft, sir,” Tom Halstead answered.

  “I’m glad you like her,” nodded Francis Delavan, smiling. “I’vebought the ‘Soudan,’ but I bought her in order to present her to you,Halstead, and to you, Dawson.”

  CHAPTER XXIV

  CONCLUSION

  TOM HALSTEAD started, then, open-mouthed, gaped at Francis Delavan insheer amazement.

  “You’re joking, sir,”
he said, thickly.

  “I sometimes _do_ jest,” admitted the Wall Street man, “but this isnot one of the occasions. Did you young men think I would let yourservices pass without remembering them in some substantial manner? Buthere, I’ll convince you as to whether I’m joking or not. Here comes thepresident of your Club. Mr. Prescott, to whom does this boat belong?”

  “The deed you handed me declares Thomas Halstead and Joseph Dawson tobe the joint owners,” replied the Boston broker. “The deed also namesme as trustee until the young men become of age, or until they disposeof the boat with my consent.”

  “Tell them the rest, Prescott,” laughed Mr. Delavan, hurrying away toavoid being thanked. “They take me for a jester.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean anything like that,” protested the young skipper.“Only it all seemed so wonderful, so much as though we were dreaming.”

  “Tom Halstead, what’s your course?” broke in Joe, rather sharply. “Areyou trying to beach on Bedloe’s Island, or collide with the Statue ofLiberty!”

  Truth to tell, Halstead had, for a moment, almost forgotten that he washandling the boat.

  “It’s all true,” Mr. Prescott went on heartily, “and I congratulateboth of you youngsters on your fine piece of property. Of courseDelavan knows you boys haven’t the means to run such a craft as thisfor pleasure, but he hopes and believes you can make a fine thingout of the boat by chartering her to other people and going alongto navigate the boat. Until you become solidly established in thisbusiness you can draw against me for supplies. Delavan has handed me asmall sum for that purpose.”

  “But a boat like this costs a fortune,” declared Joe, staggered, foronce.

  “She cost something like fourteen thousand dollars to build,” repliedthe Boston broker. “The former owner has had her two years, and nowwants a bigger boat, so he put this one up for sale. Delavan heard ofit to-day, and asked me, as a favor, to hurry over to Brooklyn and lookthe craft over. On my report he bought the ‘Soudan’ for you two.”

  “But this boat is still worth a fortune,” choked Halstead. “It wouldn’tseem right for us to take such a magnificent present.”

  “As a matter of fact,” Mr. Prescott replied, “the boat didn’t cost Mr.Delavan exactly a fortune. Motor boats are like automobiles, pianos anda lot of other things. After you’ve used them a while, if you want tosell, you’ve got to be satisfied with a fraction of the original price.Delavan secured this boat for three thousand dollars. As to its beingright for you to accept, I tried to decide that for you. I believeyou _have_ a right to such a reward. Without your daring services Mr.Delavan would have been despoiled of his whole fortune.”

  It was some time before the two young owners of the “Soudan” got overfeeling utterly dazed. It was a much longer time before they outlivedthe feeling of exultation that this fine piece of property caused them.

  “I have the deed to the boat for you, boys,” wound up Mr. Prescott,displaying a paper. “I’ll file it away for you until it’s needed. Now,take as good care of your own boat as you have of the boats of otherpeople.”

  Hank Butts, while they were talking, passed them on the run, the cabinbell having rung. Soon after Mr. Prescott left Tom and Joe, Hank cameout of the cabin, his face a study in amazement.

  “I—I have heard about your great luck fellows,” said Hank, eagerly. “Sothis fine boat is yours? Oh, I congratulate you.”

  “Joe and I have just been talking it over,” replied Halstead. “You havehad as much to do with this cruise, Hank, as we have had, and it seemsto us you should have a third of the boat. So we’re going to ask Mr.Delavan——”

  “Ask him nothing,” advised Hank, promptly. “Mr. Delavan was talkingwith me yesterday, though I didn’t know what he was up to. You see, myfather is getting old, and my mother isn’t always well. I’m the onlyboy left at home, so I’ve got to be near them every little while. Mr.Delavan has given me more than I ever thought I’d own. That is, I’m tohave it in a day or two, as soon as Mr. Delavan gets time to go aroundwith me and look things over.”

  “Then you haven’t been forgotten, or overlooked?” queried Halstead.“Oh, but we’re glad of that, old fellow.”

  “Now, I don’t get quite such a fine boat as yours,” Hank went onquizzically. “Mine is to be a thirty-foot launch, suited for taking outpleasure parties in and around Shinnecock Bay. But Mr. Delavan is goingto buy me a lot on the bay-front, and build a little pier, so I’ll havemy own water frontage. Fellows, I’ll be fixed for life!”

  “As we are,” throbbed Joe Dawson.

  “But, geewhillikins, fellows,” remembered Hank, suddenly, “I mustn’tget my mind so much on my good luck that I forget there’s a dinner toserve.”

  On this first trip with her new owners the “Soudan” behaved splendidly.In fact, she afterwards proved to be an exceptionally good, strong andsea-worthy craft.

  When the Wall Street party returned to town the following morning,the battle on ’Change was carried on to a finish. Before the day wasover P. & Y. stock was up where it belonged. Steel and the alliedsecurities also behaved in a way that netted large profits for theDelavan-Moddridge combine. Francis Delavan came out of the affair withmore than fifteen million dollars of profits, and Eben Moddridge withten million dollars—this in addition to the fortune with which they hadstarted.

  The experience has cured Mr. Delavan of any further desire to plungeinto Wall Street. He feels that he has more money than he can use,and is now devoting himself solely to advancing the interests of therailway of which he is president.

  Eben Moddridge has invested largely in Government bonds, as a rest forhis nerves. The balance of his great fortune is invested in securitiesthat do not go up and down on the Wall Street barometer. Mr. Moddridgespends much of his time in the Western States, notably hunting in theRocky Mountains, and his nerves are coming gradually, surely undercontrol.

  Justin Bolton’s end, financially, came with deserved suddenness andcompleteness. Unable, with all his millions, to buy in enough P. &Y. stock to cover his immense range of “short” sales, the worthlessfellow found himself with every dollar gone when that last stern dayof fighting on ’Change ended. Bolton is now clerking—drudging andscheming, though all in vain.

  Ellis and Rexford did not, of course, earn the great sums of money theyhad expected. Fearing prosecution for their part in the affair, theyfled to Europe. Lately the news came that they had been arrested inParis for swindling American travelers. The pair are now confined in aFrench prison.

  Francis Delavan, generous and forgiving, refused to try to findthe crews of the racing launch or of the schooner, or to considerprosecution of these underlings, and they have never been heard ofsince.

  “Bolton was the arch-scoundrel, and he’s had punishment enough metedout to him,” declared the good-humored president of the P. & Y. “Inever did feel much like going after small fry, anyway. Besides, havingto go into court as a witness might upset all the good that has beendone to good old Eb’s nerves.”

  Jed Prentiss was soon able to report that his mother had recovered. Jedthereupon took command of Horace Dunstan’s “Meteor” for the balance ofthe season.

  Hank Butts has the launch and the water frontage which Mr. Delavanpromised him, and is supremely happy. He would rather be a Motor BoatClub boy than anything else he could imagine.

  Mr. Delavan continued to cruise for the balance of August, using hisown boat part of the time and the “Soudan” the rest of the time.

  In September——

  But the story of the further doings of the Motor Boat Club boys mustnow be deferred for narration in the next volume of this series. Themost absorbing and exciting adventures of our young motor navigatorswill be made the subject of the fourth volume in the Motor Boat ClubSeries. These rousing adventures will be described under the title:“THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; OR, THE DOT, DASH AND DARECRUISE.”

  (THE END.)

  * * * * *

  Transc
riber’s Notes:

  Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

  Page 63, “to-morow” changed to “to-morrow” (purpose to-morrow, but)

  Page 119, “Moodridge” changed to “Moddridge” (can’t see Mr. Moodridge)

  Page 153, “neglige” changed to “negligee” (in negligee attire)

  Page 218, “hurired” changed to “hurried” (young man hurried out)