"come there, i say, are you going to sleep all day?"
jack golden was just dreaming that he had run the sprite into a big rock and was much relieved to find that the resulting thump was nothing more serious than the bang of a pillow thrown at his head by his brother.
"hey, cut that out," he mumbled, but half awake. "what time is it, anyway?"
"time you were up and dressed," was bob's answer. "today is wednesday, and the race is saturday, and, take it from me, we have a lot of work cut out for us before then if we are going to get the sprite ready."
"i guess that's right, all right," was the sleepy answer. "if we're going to get that new motor installed in the sprite, we sure have got to hustle. i'll be dressed in less than half a shake."
it was not yet 5 o'clock, but the golden boys were early risers, especially when they had work to do.11
quickly dressing, they rushed down to the laboratory where they found old mike busily engaged sweeping up the dirt they had made the day before. mike mcginty was an irishman and was very proud of that fact. it was his boast that "ivery bone in my body is pure irish, and don't you fergit it, young feller." he was about 40 years old, and for the last twenty years had been man-of-all-work for the goldens. he was very quick witted, good natured, had a decided mechanical turn, and his "byes," as he called bob and jack, were "the finest iver," and woe betide the person who said anything against them in his hearing. a good part of his time was spent helping the boys in the laboratory, and he was so careful and trustworthy that they found his help almost indispensable.
while waiting to be called to breakfast, the boys packed up what tools and material they would need, for as soon as possible they intended to start for the lake and put a new twenty horsepower electric motor in the sprite. jack had just put the last tool in place when the breakfast bell rang.
as soon as the meal was finished, bob said: "jack, you run over to the garage and bring round the big car and mike and i will get the stuff up from the lab."
"bejabers and do yees think ye're agoing to take all that truck in the car?"
"sure, mike, there's lots of room in the back. 12here's jack now. easy now with that motor and don't for mercy's sake, drop it. if we break it there'll be no time to get it fixed."
in addition to the tools and motor they were taking a lot of cooked stuff, for they did not intend to come down till they had finished, and as the family were not at the lake just then, there was no one to cook for them, and the boys did not want to take the time, although they could cook when necessary.
soon all was packed in the rear of the car and saying goodbye to the folks, who had come to see them off, they started with bob at the wheel, jack beside him, while mike sandwiched himself in the back seat.
it was a run of about ten miles to the cottage, as it was at the extreme upper end of the lake, but bob was a fast driver, and in about thirty minutes their destination hove in sight.
"well, byes, here we are, right side up wid care, bejabers," shouted mike, tumbling out of the machine as it came to a stop. "sure and i thought i'd break ivery blessed irish bone in me body bumping round wid all that truck."
"i guess irish bones must be pretty strong," laughed jack, as he unlocked the door of the boathouse.
it was but a few minutes' work to unload, and soon all three were in the boathouse busily engaged 13taking the old engine out of the sprite and so rapidly did they work, stopping only for a cold bite at noon, that by 6 o'clock it was all apart and out of the boat.
"now, jack, while mike and i are packing this stuff away suppose you take the canoe and see if you can get a few perch for supper," proposed bob. "you will find some worms in that pail in the corner."
"right you are, son, perch is my middle name," replied jack, and in almost less time than it takes to tell it, he had the little canoe in the water and was paddling across toward a little cove, the best fishing ground on the lake.
"guess i'll try trolling first," he said to himself, and baiting a hook, he let out about forty feet of line and began rowing at a rate just sufficient to keep the canoe in motion. the fish bit well, and in less than a half hour he had a dozen fine perch flopping about in the bottom of the boat.
"no use in catching more than we can use," he thought, as he reeled in his line and started for the other shore. hardly had he taken up the oars however, when, looking up, he saw a new motorboat coming rapidly up the pond, and only a short distance away. "that's the jenkins boys in their new boat, the winner, and she sure is some boat," thought jack.
"hello there, sonny, how they biting?" shouted 14will jenkins, as soon as they were within hearing distance.
"fair," replied jack as shortly as possible, for he did not relish being called "sonny" by them.
"say," shouted fred jenkins, "are you going to enter the sprite in the race saturday?"
"mebbe."
"well, it won't be any use; we can run circles round your old tub with this boat."
"she certainly does look fast," replied jack.
"fast? she's a streak, and look at her name—that's no lie."
while talking the jenkins boys had shut down their engine, and the two boats were only about thirty feet apart.
"well, so long, we'll see you saturday, if you can manage to keep in sight," taunted fred, as he threw over the fly wheel of his engine.
the winner started off at a good speed straight for the canoe. probably fred did not intend to run jack down, but he evidently purposed to come as close as possible without hitting and give him a good scare. but just as he was going to turn to avoid hitting the canoe, something went wrong with the tiller and the next moment jack was in the water. he could swim like a fish and shaking the water out of his eyes he struck out for the canoe which was floating bottom up a few feet away.
"you clumsy claudes," he shouted as he caught 15hold of the canoe. "isn't the lake big enough for you to turn your old scow in?" jack was mad clear through, for it had looked to him as though fred had hit him intentionally. fortunately, the canoe was so light, that it was not stove in, and he had little trouble in righting it and climbing in. meanwhile, the winner had come about.
"say, jack, i didn't mean to hit you; my tiller rope stuck and i couldn't turn her," said fred. "are you all right?"
"i guess so, but the next time you want to give me a wider berth or i'll be tempted to put a head on you."
"ho, ho, hear the young bantam! suppose you learn how to spell able."
jack said nothing more but paddled about and managed to pick up all but two or three of his fish, while the winner headed down the lake and was soon lost to sight round the bend.
"just the same i don't believe he tried very hard not to hit me," muttered jack as he headed the canoe toward the cottage.
he found that bob and mike had just finished packing away the old engine and told them what had happened.
"begorra," said mike, "that was a mean trick. if i had them two young saplin's in me hands i'd rap their two heads together, so i would."
"well," said bob, "perhaps it was as fred said 16and only an accident, but he ought to be taught to be more careful. however no great harm is done and now let's go up to the house and get some supper; i'm hungry enough to eat those fish raw."
supper over and the dishes washed, it was nearly 9 o'clock, and the boys decided that they would go to bed and be up bright and early in the morning.
it seemed to bob that he had hardly touched the pillow when some one began to shake him and opening his sleepy eyes he saw mike standing by his bed, holding a lantern in his hand.
"jump up and dress quick," he said, "some one is trying to get in to the boathouse. i was smoking a last pipe by the window and saw him sneaking round."
by this time jack also was awake and in less than a minute they were out of bed and had pulled on trousers and shoes.
"now, mike, you slip down by the shore, and jack and i will go round through the woods. go easy now, for i want to find out who it is."
the boathouse was about 100 feet from the cottage, and the boys crept quickly through the trees, which were not very dense. it was a bright moon-light night, and as they emerged from the woods and were within about twenty feet of the boathouse, they saw two boys close to the house, evidently trying to get a window open.17
"come on now," whispered bob, "let's make a rush for them."
springing from the bushes the two boys darted toward the boathouse, and before the intruders could recover from their surprise, they were grabbed and thrown to the ground. it is not to be supposed that they gave in without a struggle, and for a few moments the fight waged fast and furious. but the golden boys were strong and the fight was over by the time mike showed up.
"ah, i thought so," muttered bob, as he turned his captive over. "what are you doing here this time of night, will jenkins?"
"you let me up," was the dogged reply. "can't a fellow take a walk without being jumped on?"
"yes," replied bob, "but you can't get into our boathouse in the middle of the night, not if we see you first."
"aw, we weren't trying to get into your old shack. we were only walking by and happened to look in," was the sullen answer.
"i don't believe a word of it," said jack, letting up his captive, who proved to be fred jenkins. "they were trying to get in to find out what we have been doing."
"now see here," said bob, letting his captive up, "you hike out of here and what's more you keep away, see?"
"yis and begorry," broke in mike, "if i catch 18yees sneaking round here again sure and it's meself that'll be timpted to throw yees into the drink."
muttering something about getting even, the two crestfallen boys slunk away.
"now you byes go up to the house and go to bed," ordered mike. "i'm agoing to sleep in the boathouse, and if them fellers come back here they'll think the auld bye hisself is after them."
"all right," agreed bob, "i guess that will be the best plan. come on, jack, it is nearly 1 o'clock, and we have a big day's work ahead for tomorrow."19
