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

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 the chums as they stood together by the wheel after passing below the Battery.

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

“I’m glad you like her,” nodded Francis Delavan, smiling. “I’ve bought 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 in sheer amazement.

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

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

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

“Tell them the rest, Prescott,” laughed Mr. Delavan, hurrying away to avoid 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. “Are you trying to beach on Bedloe’s Island, or collide with the Statue of Liberty!”

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

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

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

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

“But this boat is still worth a fortune,” choked Halstead. “It wouldn’t seem 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 and a lot of other things. After you’ve used them a while, if you want to sell, you’ve got to be satisfied with a fraction of the original price. Delavan secured this boat for three thousand dollars. As to its being right for you to accept, I tried to decide that for you. I believe you 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 over feeling utterly dazed. It was a much longer time before they outlived the 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 other people.”

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

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

“Joe and I have just been talking it over,” replied Halstead. “You have had as much to do with this cruise, Hank, as we have had, and it seems to 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 talking with me yesterday, though I didn’t know what he was up to. You see, my father is getting old, and my mother isn’t always well. I’m the only boy 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 to have it in a day or two, as soon as Mr. Delavan gets time to go around with 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 on quizzically. “Mine is to be a thirty-foot launch, suited for taking out pleasure parties in and around Shinnecock Bay. But Mr. Delavan is going to buy me a lot on the bay-front, and build a little pier, so I’ll have my own water frontage. Fellows, I’ll be fixed for life!”

“As we are,” throbbed Joe Dawson.

“But, geewhillikins, fellows,” remembered Hank, suddenly, “I mustn’t get my mind so much on my good luck that I forget there’s a dinner to serve.”

On this first trip with her new owners the “Soudan” behaved splendidly. In fact, she afterwards proved to be an exceptionally good, strong and sea-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 was over P. & Y. stock was up where it belonged. Steel and the allied securities also behaved in a way that netted large profits for the Delavan-Moddridge combine. Francis Delavan came out of the affair with more than fifteen million dollars of profits, and Eben Moddridge with ten million dollars – this in addition to the fortune with which they had started.

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

Eben Moddridge has invested largely in Government bonds, as a rest for his nerves. The balance of his great fortune is invested in securities that do not go up and down on the Wall Street barometer. Mr. Moddridge spends much of his time in the Western States, notably hunting in the Rocky Mountains, and his nerves are coming gradually, surely under control.

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

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

Francis Delavan, generous and forgiving, refused to try to find the crews of the racing launch or of the schooner, or to consider prosecution of these underlings, and they have never been heard of since.

“Bolton was the arch-scoundrel, and he’s had punishment enough meted out to him,” declared the good-humored president of the P. & Y. “I never did feel much like going after small fry, anyway. Besides, having to go into court as a witness might upset all the good that has been done to good old Eb’s nerves.”

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

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

Mr. Delavan continued to cruise for the balance of August, using his own 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 must now be deferred for narration in the next volume of this series. The most absorbing and exciting adventures of our young motor navigators will be made the subject of the fourth volume in the Motor Boat Club Series. These rousing adventures will be described under the title: “The Motor Boat Club and the Wireless; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.”

(The End.)