Roy Rockwood

“ And, of course, every fellow who was building an iceboat believed that his was the better craft!
The girls had run down to the ice to see the Speedwells’ boat at closer range.
“What under the sun do you call it?” gasped Lettie Parker. “That’s a name for you! ‘Fly-up-the-Creek!’ Whoever heard of such a thing?”
“It’s the blue heron; isn’t it?” asked Mildred, laughing.
“That’s what some folks say; but, anyhow,” explained Dan, “the fly-up-the-creek flies so fast that few people have ever seen one in full flight.”
“My goodness! aren’t you smart?” quoth Lettie. ”

“ That is the principal peril of iceboating; it is impossible to stop a craft, once she is under fast way, within a reasonable distance.
It was too late to drop the sail and hope to bring the Fly-up-the-Creek to a halt before her nose was in the open water. For the instant Dan Speedwell’s heart seemed to stand still.
There flashed across his mind the remembrance of how that other iceboat—the White Albatross—had gone into the open river. Had he and Billy not been on the spot, as they were, Money Stevens and Barrington Spink would doubtless have been drowned. ”

“ Dan was pretty busy with the steering of the boat, but he managed to tell the girls—briefly—of his short association with the strange boy whom Billy had almost run over in the snowstorm.
“Isn’t that strange!” exclaimed Mildred. “And do you suppose the poor dumb boy is still somewhere about here?”
“Billy says he’s camping on the island yonder,” chuckled Dan.
“Of course, that’s just like Billy,” scoffed Lettie Parker. “Chock full of romance.”
“All right, all right,” grumbled the younger boy. “You folks wait. Dummy’ll turn up again when you least expect him.” ”

“ You’re not going to be stingy, Billy Speedwell! You know our mothers wouldn’t hear of our sailing an iceboat; but if you boys take us——”
“Ho!” cried Billy. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Let!”
“There isn’t any place you go, Billy Speedwell, that I can’t!” cried the red-haired one, who had always been something of a tomboy. “And I’m not afraid to do anything that you dare to do—so there!”
“Dear me, Lettie don’t get so excited,” advised Mildred. “Do you suppose girls could sail on your iceboat, Dan?”
“Why not? An iceboat is no more dangerous than a sailboat. ”

“ And so thinking, as he crept on over the higher part of the island above the hollow stump, Billy suddenly stepped right out into space. At least, so it seemed. He put his foot upon a bank of snow, and “slumped right in”!
The snow had treacherously filled a narrow cut between two boulders. Billy dropped to his chin in the soft, cold mass, and then found that he was wedged so tightly that he couldn’t get out.
He dared not shout to Dan. That might be their undoing indeed. If there were men about whom they must perforce consider enemies, Billy was determined not to bring them out here. ”

“ Suddenly the “put, put, put!” of the engine reached his ears. And at the same time the sail filled and bellied full. The motor-iceboat leaped ahead, the exhaust became a rumble, and the Follow Me shot up the river faster—it seemed to Bromley—than he had ever seen any craft move before.
She crossed the frozen stream diagonally and in two minutes was out of sight behind the humpback of Island Number One! Her disappearance left the old man breathless.
“Some boat—that,” said a voice behind him.
“Heh?” exclaimed John Bromley, turning to see a strange man standing coolly on his private wharf. ”

“ The Fly-up-the-Creek, at greatly reduced speed, crossed the open space between the two islands. They saw nothing of the missing Follow Me; but in a very few minutes their own craft staggered into a tiny cove and the runners plowed into a two-foot drift.
Dan dropped the canvas, and it came down stiffly and creakingly. Billy trampled it into some sort of a bundle on the main beam of the craft. He grumbled meantime:
“What are you doin’, Dan? We’ll never catch those fellows—never!” ”

“ Everybody about the Boat Club landing saw it, and the interest became general.
“There’s another iceboat, Mr. Spink,” exclaimed Lettie. “And see it fly! I guess there are others besides you and Money who know how to sail such craft.”
“I declare!” said Spink, in surprise. “It’s re’lly coming finely. Must be, Miss Parker, that you have some professionals here after all.”
“It’s Dan and Billy, of course,” declared Mildred.
Spink laughed at that statement. “Hardly,” he said. “I have seen the professional racers on the Hudson, and that is the way they manage their craft. See it! what a swoop. ”

“ Not a flake of snow had fallen yet, but the night was starless, and the wind cut sharply.
They got under way in ten minutes. The black horses were young and they had been standing in the stable behind Appleyard’s all day, and were very restive. The girls squealed a little as they clipped the corners going down to the open ice.
From River Street a path had been made down to the shore. It was an easy slant and the runners of the sleigh fairly pushed the horses on their haunches.
“Easy, boys! now we have it!” cried the sheriff, coaxingly. ”

“ Mildred was crying a little, for she was frightened; but Lettie Parker, Billy declared, sputtered like a bottle of soda.
“What a mean, mean thing to do!” she stammered. “I—I could box that Spink boy’s ears myself! Stop crying, Milly—we’re not all dead yet.”
Billy chuckled—he had to. “We’re far from dead; but Dan looks kind of bright-eyed. I wonder what he’d do to Barrington Spink right now?” ”

“ At once the sail filled on the upper side, and the Follow Me proved her name to be good. She led the five iceboats, and the crowd of spectators that crowded the bridge cheered the Speedwell boys as their craft darted up the river. ”

“ Meanwhile Barry Spink and his helper had got the White Albatross under way. She was already running for the mouth of the cove.
“You won’t be so lonely as you think, Billy,” said Miss Parker, pointing a red mitten at Spink’s craft. “Mr. Spink is going to show you boys how an iceboat ought to be handled.”
“Crickey!” ejaculated Billy. “What a get-up!”
“Yes! isn’t he gay?” asked Mildred, smiling.
“Just the same,” Dan observed, quietly, “I reckon that fellow can handle his boat all right. He’s been living where they know all about iceboating.” ”

“ It’s not so long ago that we had her in on the machine shop floor, you know, Billy, and Mr. Hardy, Biff’s father, went all over her himself. She’s getting old, of course, and we’ve used her a lot.”
“I—should—say—yes,” drawled the younger boy. “Nobody’s got more out of a motor car around Riverdale than we have out of this one.”
“But I believe she’s good for many a race,” asserted Dan. “You see, it may be some little thing. There might be a leak——”
“Leak? pshaw! you know the gas runs as clean as a whistle. And what would that have to do with her losing time?” demanded Billy. ”

“ Whoever heard of a motor iceboat? Zing!”
“Hits you hard; does it?” chuckled Dan.
“I—should—say! Wouldn’t it be ‘some pumpkins’ to own an engine-driven craft that would make Money, and Spink, and Burton Poole, and all the others that are going in for iceboating, look like thirty cents?” ”

“ Haven’t you got wealth enough? We’re capitalists.”
“Yes—I know,” said Billy, nodding. “But I wonder if we’ve got money enough to get us the fastest iceboat that’s going to be raced on the Colasha this winter?”
“Ah! now you’ve said it,” agreed Dan. “But it isn’t going to be money that will get us that boat. We’ve got to learn something about iceboat building as well as iceboat sailing.”
“Huh! that blamed little wisp, Barry Spink,” grunted Billy. ”

“ We know where she is,” said Billy. “But if any of the fellows got hold of the other——”
“Barrington Spink, for instance?” suggested Dan.
“Crickey, Dan! I believe he found those plans of yours. Jim Stetson declares that Barry and that mechanic of his are building a regular wonder of an iceboat. He’s going to call it the Streak o’ Light.”
“Well, we can’t help that,” returned his brother, gruffly. “If he beats us, he beats us! That’s all there is to it.” ”

“ Dan handled the helm and the sheet, while Billy rode the crossbeam for balance, and to keep the outrigger runner on the ice.
For boys who had entered in semi-professional motorcycle races, and had handled a Breton-Melville racing car, the speed gathered under normal conditions by this sailing iceboat seemed merely ordinary. What she would do in a gale was another matter.
While they had been building the craft just enough rain fell to wash the snow from the roads; and as the frost came sharply immediately upon the clearance of the rainstorm, almost the entire river surface was like glass. ”

“ Dummy said nothing, but he kept on with his new friends—and he had to travel some to keep up with them. For neither the wind nor the snow retarded the Speedwells just then.
As the two robbers sprang upon Mr. Parker and the sheriff for the second time, Dan, Billy, and Dummy appeared. The Speedwells gave a great shout and plunged into the affray, swinging their clubs. Dummy kept in the rear, but he helped some in the end. The man, Tom Davis, whom the sheriff had overpowered, began to stir. The Dummy ran to him and threatened him with the club he had brought from the cave on Island Number One. ”

“ There she soared, steady and true, and the Speedwells hastily boarded their heavy sled. Dan fastened the line to a ring in front of the tiller with which he steered the sled. Billy, hanging on behind, started the sled over the brow of the hill by striking his heel sharply into the hard-packed snow.
The runners squeaked a little, and then the sled plunged downward. Had the wind been lighter, the momentum the sled gathered on the first half-mile of the hill would have forced the coasting Speedwells ahead of the kite. ”

“ Billy remarked, as they crept out of the passage leading into the cavern, “it doesn’t look as though we’d hold iceboat races next week on the Colasha. Goodness, Dan! did you ever in your life see so much snow?”
“It’s worse on this side of the island, don’t you see?” said his brother. “The snow is drifting this way. The high back of the island breaks the wind and the snow piles up here in drifts.”
“But our Fly-up-the-Creek is on this side of the island,” complained Billy. “She’s buried a mile deep, I bet!” ”

“ Barry shot the white iceboat down toward them as they came out of the cove, and shouted:
“Better come aboard here, girls, if you want to reach the lake. I’m on my way!”
“Who’s going to tow you?” demanded Billy.
“I don’t need any towing,” returned Spink, sharply. “There’s one thing sure, I can beat that old milkwagon of yours. Better take up my offer, girls!” he added, grinning impudently.
He did shoot away in advance at a good pace, and Lettie cried, under her breath: “Oh! don’t you dare to let him beat us, Dan Speedwell!”
“The race is not always to the swift,” returned Dan, smiling. ”

“ While most of the Riverdale young folk were skating in the Boat Club Cove, the Speedwell brothers were trying out the iceboat each evening, and “learning the ropes.”
The proper handling of a craft the size of the one Dan and Billy had built is no small art. With the huge mainsail and jib they had rigged, she could gather terrific speed even when the wind was light. ”

“ The fire was so fierce for a minute that its rosy hue reflected on the smoke. We can’t see the smoke now—the snow drives altogether too hard.”
“Crickey, old man!” ejaculated Billy. “We’ll be buried here if we stand much longer.”
“Then let’s keep moving. Come on!”
Dan started for the higher part of the island at once. It was a rocky, steep ascent, and the snow covering everything made the way more arduous. As they panted along Billy whispered:
“D’ye suppose that dummy and the three men that stole the boat are in cahoots, Dan?”
“Give it up,” returned Dan. “But we’ll find out.” ”

“ Look at the almanac.”
“Humph!” returned Dan, “I’ve heard of such a thing as an almanac being mistaken.”
“That’s all right,” said Billy, not at all shaken. “Everybody believes this will be a great old winter. Robert Darringford is going in for iceboating, too. He’s having a boat built in the shops—and he says it’s going to be a wonder.”
“Let ’em all rave,” grunted Dan. “You’ll see, Billy. There won’t one of ’em get the speed out of their craft that we will out of ours.” ”

“ Dan called up his own house and caught his father just before he started for the barn to get the milk truck ready.
“Though, in this storm, it is lucky if we get around. I shall take Bob and Betty, rather than the motor truck,” said Mr. Speedwell. “Your mother says to bring that poor boy home with you. We must look after him.”
“And I tell you,” said the enthusiastic Billy, to Mildred and Lettie, “Dummy is going to ‘get in good’—don’t you forget that! Sheriff Kimball says there will be several hundred dollars coming to him.” ”