larry looked up. there, bearing down on them, was a swift gasolene launch, one of several that had been doing rescue work about the flooded town. the man at the wheel had her headed for the upset rowboat.
“they’re going to pick us up!” cried tony.
“but it will be too late,” said larry.
“maybe not, that’s a powerful craft, and maybe they’ll get you to shore ahead of that little skunk!” spoke tony.
“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.”
299 “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.”
“do you think you can get me ashore first?” asked larry.
“well, he’s got a pretty good start,” said the captain, “but i never saw anything that could beat the porpoise if you gave her half a show. we’ll see what we can do. can you steer while i attend to the engines?”
“i guess so,” replied larry.
“better let me,” put in tony. “i know the lay of the land better than you do.”
300 “go ahead then,” said the captain. “i’ll speed her up for all she’s worth.”
he went back to the stern. the steady chug-chug of the motor, which had not ceased, was now increased threefold as the captain shifted various levers, let more gasolene into the cylinders and advanced the spark. then, with tony at the wheel, the porpoise shot ahead, in an attempt to beat peter to the shore.
how the swift craft cut through the water! a big wave arose on either side of the bow. the motors were exploding like a battery of gatling guns as the captain, in the role of engineer, opened the exhaust to clean out the cylinders. then, shutting it down, the engine throbbed like a big turbine wheel under heavy pressure.
nearer and nearer to the shore the craft forged. peter, looking back, saw that larry and tony had been rescued and, in the fast boat, were bearing down on him.
“row! row!” he cried to jim. “they’re going to run us down!”
“don’t worry, they’re not as mean as you are,” said jim.
“then they’ll beat us ashore!” yelled peter.
“i shouldn’t wonder if they did,” was jim’s cool reply. “i’m doing my best, but i can’t beat the porpoise. she’s the fastest boat around here.”
peter’s craft was now about three hundred feet from the shore. there was a big crowd waiting to see the outcome of the affair.
“row! row! they are going to run us down”
from office boy to reporterpage 300
301
on came the porpoise, going like a race horse. larry stood behind tony, who grasped the spokes of the steering wheel with a firm grip, and kept the craft in a straight course.
“will we beat ’em?” asked larry in a strained voice.
“i don’t know! i hope so,” said tony as he shook his head to get the water, that was dripping from his hair, out of his eyes.
the engines seemed to increase their speed. they throbbed like the heart of an athlete at the end of a two-mile run. then, as the muffler was cut out, the explosions came with deafening power.
closer and closer to the rowboat came the motor craft. jim was pulling with all his strength at the oars. now his boat was but a hundred feet from shore. but, like an eagle swooping down, the porpoise was after him.
“get ready to jump!” called the captain. “put her broadside to the shore,” he added to tony. “we can’t stop without ramming the mud unless you do.”
“aye, aye, sir!” called tony tersely.
then, in a smother of foam, and passing so close that the wash rocked, and nearly upset the rowboat, the motor craft passed her, and shot up along shore.
302 the captain reversed the screw, and the blades churned up the water until it seemed that a small volcano was beneath the waves.
“jump and run for it!” the owner of the porpoise called to larry.
the boy needed no second bidding. over the side he went, while the craft was still moving at good speed. he jumped into about two feet of water and then, reaching into his pocket to see if his precious copy was safe, he started on a run up the hill toward the telegraph office. the crowd set up a cheer, though they did not know what for, except that there had been a race and someone had won.
the waves created by the passage of the porpoise prevented jim from rowing steadily, and it was several minutes later before he was able to land peter. the boy jumped ashore and started to run after larry.
“here!” cried jim, catching hold of him. “where’s my ten dollars?”
“pay you when i come back,” said peter.
“you’ll pay me now,” said jim, taking a firm grip on the boy’s shoulder. “i’ve earned my money and i want it.”
“there you go!” exclaimed peter, throwing down a bill and wrenching himself free. then he started up the hill after his rival.
but larry had too good a start to be beaten now. straight toward the tent he dashed, giving303 but one glance behind to see that peter was far in the rear. all he needed to do, he knew, was to get his copy into the hands of the operator first. the rule of precedence would then prevail.
“there!” gasped larry, a few minutes later, as, panting from his run, he dashed into the tent. “there’s some copy. rush it!”
“looks as if you’d been rushing it,” commented the man, with a glance at larry. “why, what in the world is the matter with it? it’s all wet.”
“i fell overboard,” said larry. “but you can read it, can’t you?”
“i reckon so. lucky it’s in pencil instead of ink. if it was ink, it would have run in the water.”
fortunately mr. newton had used tough and heavy paper to write on, and larry had folded the copy tightly and placed it inside a leather pocketbook, so that, though the sheets were pretty damp, their short immersion in the water had not harmed them.
three minutes after larry had “filed” his copy peter came dashing in. he flung down a package of paper.
“here! get that right on the wire!” he ordered in an insolent tone.
“you’ll have to wait,” said the operator coolly. “this gentleman had his in ahead of you, and the rule here is ‘first come first served.’”
304 “i’ll give you five dollars if you send mine first,” said peter.
“look here, you little whipper-snapper!” the operator exclaimed. “i want you to understand you can’t bribe me. i wouldn’t send yours first for fifty dollars. now you get out of this tent. you can leave your copy, and i’ll send it after i get this batch off. but the leader stuff goes first!”
peter, with an angry glance at larry, slunk out.
“i’d like to give him a good switching,” muttered the operator, as he began to work his telegraph instruments preparatory to getting larry’s copy off. “the idea of trying to bribe me!”
larry, after seeing that mr. newton’s story was safe, turned to go back.
“what’s your hurry?” asked the operator. “tell me what happened. i’ll have to wait a little while until i get a clear wire.”
then larry related the story of the race with peter, and told of the latter’s mean trick.
“well, i’m mighty glad you beat him,” said the operator. “this story will set new york by the ears, and your paper will be the only one to get it. all the wires are down but mine, and it will take me nearly all the morning to get this stuff off. that will make it too late for any of the scorcher’s copy to get to the office in time for to-day. you’ll score a big beat all right.”
305 and so larry did. he did not learn of it until some days later, however, as they did not hear from the leader office until that time, because of the difficulty in getting messages and mail through.
that night, in their room at the hotel, larry told mr. newton the story of the race.
“you’re too modest,” the reporter declared. “i heard all about it from my friend of the porpoise. if this don’t result in something nice for you when we get back i’ll miss my guess. by the way, there’s a letter for you.”
“i hope it’s from mother,” exclaimed larry. “she hasn’t written in two days.”
it was a letter from home, and contained good news, for it said that lucy was doing finely, and the doctor expected she would soon be well and able to walk.
“hurrah!” cried larry. “this is better than getting a beat!”
“they’re both good,” said mr. newton, smiling.
