The Speedwell Boys and Their Ice Racer: or, Lost in the Great Blizzard

CHAPTER VI
GETTING INTO TRIM

Ready as the Speedwell boys were in most emergencies, here was an occasion in which it seemed that disaster could not be averted. 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.

And here was another such accident. The iceboat flew right down to the wide channel where the moonbeams glanced upon the ripples —

But she kept right on in her flight, and to Dan’s amazement the runners rumbled over the apparently open water with an increasing roar!

“Crickey!” shrieked Billy, turning a grin upon his brother, “didn’t you think that was open water, Dan? I thought we were done for – I really did! And it was only the moonlight glistening upon a rough piece of ice.”

Dan’s heart resumed its regular beat; but he knew that – had it been daylight instead of moonlight – his brother would have observed how pale he was. Seldom had his coolness been put to a keener test than at that moment.

“I tell you what it is,” Dan said, discussing the incident with his brother afterward, “iceboating is a job where a fellow has to have his head about him all the time. And we’ve got to be especially careful if we take the girls riding on this thing.”

“If we do!” grunted Billy. “Why, if we don’t, Mildred and Lettie will give us no peace – you know that, Dan.”

“Just the same, we’ll not take ’em with us when there’s any sign of a gale on the river. It means too much. There are too many chances in iceboating.”

During this week some of the other Riverdale boys had been busy. Monroe Stevens’s Redbird arrived and made a pretty show on the river near town. Money maneuvered it about the cove and up and down the stretch of river near the Boat Club very nicely.

Barrington Spink had saved the mast and sail from the wreck of his old boat and local mechanics had built for him another White Albatross. As he had plenty of money he easily obtained what he wanted, including a mate to help handle the iceboat. But, as a whole, the boys and girls of Riverdale did not quite “cotton” to the new boy.

Came Saturday, however, and there were more than a few of the Outing Club down by the river to watch the maneuvers of the iceboats. Although the skating was excellent, it was neglected while the young folk watched Money Stevens get under way and shoot out of the cove in his Redbird.

The White Albatross was a larger boat than Money’s and it was rigged up quite handsomely. There were cushions in the box-body, and neat hand-rails. Money had taken out his sister Ella and Maybell Turner; so now Barry wanted to inveigle some of the girls into his craft.

Mildred and Lettie were waiting for the appearance of the Speedwells, but not altogether sure that they would come. The girls hadn’t had a chance to speak to Dan and Billy for several days.

“Do you suppose they have finished the boat they were building?” Lettie asked the doctor’s daughter.

“When Dan promises a thing – ”

“I know,” Lettie broke in, hastily. “But he isn’t infallible. And I do want to try iceboating. That Barry Spink hinted that he’d take me out if I wanted to go. Here he comes now.”

Spink came forward, all smiles and costume – and the latter was really a wonderful get-up for Riverdale. Most of the boys of the Outing Club were content to wear caps lettered “R. O. C.” and call it square. That is as near to a uniform as many of them got.

But Barry Spink was dressed for the occasion. His outfit was something between a Canadian tobogganing costume and a hockey suit. He wore white wool knickerbockers, gray stockings, high-laced boots, a crimson sweater and a white “night-cap” arrangement on his head – one of those floppy, pointed caps with a tassel.

Lettie couldn’t help giggling when he approached; nevertheless she managed to greet him with some show of calm.

“This is my friend, Miss Kent, Mr. Spink,” said Lettie. “How nice your boat looks, Mr. Spink!”

“Ya-as,” drawled Barry. “I think she’s the goods, all right. I’m just going to hoist the sail. Wouldn’t you ladies like to take a little trip?”

“In the White Albatross? Oh! I don’t know that we really could,” said Lettie, her eyes dancing.

“You needn’t be afraid,” returned Barry, airily. “I have managed iceboats since I was a child – re’lly!”

“Let’s go!” whispered Lettie to her friend.

“No,” said Mildred, firmly. “I am obliged to you, Mr. Spink; but we have promised to go out with Dan and Billy Speedwell in their boat – if they come down the river. And I would not care to disappoint them.”

“Oh, pshaw!” laughed Spink. “I heard they were trying to build an iceboat. But, of course, having no experience, they’ll never be able to do it. Money bought his boat all ready to put together, and it is a fairly good one; but it takes experience to build – as well as to handle – an ice racer.”

“What’s that coming?” cried Lettie, suddenly.

They stood where they could get a view of several miles of the upper reaches of the Colasha. The Redbird was just swooping around to return to the Cove; but beyond Money’s boat there had suddenly appeared another sail.

It was a huge sail and it flew over the ice at a terrific pace. 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. See that fellow standing up on that out-runner, and hanging on just by his teeth, as you might say! That’s some sailing – believe me!”

“It is Billy Speedwell!” cried Lettie, suddenly becoming anxious. “He’ll be killed! The reckless boy!”

“And it’s Dan at the helm,” added the doctor’s daughter.

“Never!” exclaimed Barry. “It can’t be those milkmen.”

But nobody paid any attention to the new boy just then. The crowd all ran to watch the fast-flying ice yacht speed down the river. Monroe Stevens’s Redbird was nowhere. The strange craft flew fully two lengths to its one, and was very quickly at the entrance to the Boat Club Cove.

They beheld Billy Speedwell hanging to the wire cable that helped steady the mast, and swinging far out from the out-runner, so as to help keep that steel on the ice as the boat swung into the cove.

Dan let go the sheet at just the right moment, and the sail rattled down into the standing-room. Billy dived for it, and kept the canvas from slatting, or getting overboard under the runners. Thus, under the momentum she had gained, the craft ran in to the landing amid the cheers of the Speedwells’ school fellows.

“Great work?”

“I’ve got something to tell you right now, Billy Speedwell!” shouted Jim Stetson, above the confusion.

“Shoot, Jim! let’s have it,” returned the younger Speedwell.

“You needn’t think you’re going to have it all your own way in this iceboat game – so now, Billy!”

“We don’t want it all our own way,” growled Billy. “But I reckon we’ll show you fellows some class, just the same.”

“Wait!” yelled Jim.

“What for?” demanded Billy.

“Wait till you see what Biff Hardy and I have got. We’ll have the Snow Wraith on the ice next week and then we’ll show you some sailing,” declared Jim, confidently.

“Bully!” cried Billy. “The more the merrier. I can see right now that if we have an iceboat regatta here at Riverdale, it will be some occasion.”

Indeed, the enthusiasm for the new sport increased hourly. The sight of the Speedwells’ boat sweeping in to the landing had made the heart of every spectator beat quicker. 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. “But why not select a pretty name for it?”

“Goodness! not if you are going to sail with us,” cried Billy. “We couldn’t afford such a superabundance of beauty. A pretty name for the boat as well as a couple of howling beauties like you and Mildred – ”

But Billy had to dodge Lettie’s vigorous palm then, and for the next few moments he kept well out of her reach.

He and Dan swung the craft around, raised the sail again, tucked the two girls in under the rugs with which they had furnished her, and then shoved the Fly-up-the-Creek out from the land.

“We’re off!” yelled Billy, as he leaped aboard the outrigger. “Bid us a fond farewell, and you can reach us by wire at Lake Karnac.”

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.”

“Huh!” exclaimed his brother. “The only time I ever saw him handle one he ran it into the water. We ought to be able to do as well.”

“Oh!” cried Mildred. “Don’t you dare! I wouldn’t have come if I thought there was any danger of that.”

CHAPTER VII
OUT ON THE ROAD

The humming runners of the Fly-up-the-Creek quickly drowned their voices. The wind was light, and it was not fair for the boats running up stream; yet handled right, the ice craft made good speed in that direction.

Billy, by Dan’s order, shook out the jib, and with all canvas drawing they made a long leg to the farther shore of the Colasha, so that when they tacked they were ahead of both the Redbird and Barry Spink’s craft.

The three iceboats, however, were not far apart at any time as they tacked up the river. Money Stevens did not handle the Redbird as smoothly or as neatly as did Barry Spink and his mate; therefore the White Albatross was the nearer to the Speedwells’ craft.

Once the Spink boat crossed the bows of the Fly-up-the-Creek, and the excited Lettie cried:

“Oh, dear! that boy is beating us. Can’t you go faster, Dan? I thought you always were speedy?”

“No. Only Speedwell,” returned Dan, gravely.

“I think we’re going quite fast enough,” remarked Mildred, who was clinging tightly to the hempen loop that Dan had put into her hand when they started.

“It does not follow that we’re being left behind because the Albatross crossed in front of us,” Dan reassured Lettie.

The girl raised up her head to look, and Billy yelled at her:

“Low bridge! Down, I say! Do you want your head knocked off?”

For at that moment Dan had brought the helm about. The boom swept across the body of the iceboat. Billy himself dropped to a horizontal posture.

With creaking and groaning the huge sail bellied out at just the right angle and the slant of the wind flung the iceboat forward on the new tack. She fairly leaped from the ice under the momentum of that sudden gust, and both girls screamed.

Billy laughed happily, for nobody was hurt, and the Fly-up-the-Creek was almost at once on even keel again. But the two girls could only cling tight for the next few minutes and gasp their fear into each other’s ears.

“Look behind!” commanded Dan, after a minute.

Mildred and Lettie did so. To their amazement both the White Albatross and the Redbird were far astern. At least a mile separated them from the Speedwells’ craft.

“How – how did you do it, Dannie?” asked Mildred, wonderingly.

“Oh! whatever you did, don’t do it again,” gasped Lettie.

“We went fast enough to suit you that time; did we, Let?” chortled Billy.

“I merely took advantage of a flaw in the wind,” declared Dan. “You see, the wind is not steady this afternoon, and really, bye and bye, I expect it will get around into a new quarter and stick there. I was looking for that puff, and Spink wasn’t. He tacked too soon and thought he had beaten us. But now – ”

“He won’t catch us in a week of Sundays!” finished Billy, in delight.

The wind became so uncertain, however, within the next few minutes, that Dan decided it was inexpedient to continue farther than Island Number One. There were clouds in the northeast, too, and a storm might be on the way.

Therefore the boat was headed about and the canvas filled again as the steel runners squealed around the head of the island.

“Don’t see our friend the dummy anywhere, Dan!” yelled Billy.

“Pshaw! there isn’t anybody on this island,” returned his brother.

This attracted the girls’ attention and Lettie asked, curiously: “Who is ‘the dummy,’ Billy? Anybody I know?”

“Give it up! he may be one of your particular friends for all I know,” returned the younger boy. “But he doesn’t speak English – not so’s you know what he says; and I never heard, Let, that you were very proficient in French or German. How about it?”

“What does he mean, Dan?” asked Lettie, turning her back upon the other boy. “Who is this dummy?”

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.”

And oddly enough Billy proved to be a prophet in this event; but the others did not believe it at the time.

The uncertainty of the wind shortened the stay of the Speedwell iceboat on the river that day. The boys took the girls back to the landing and then were quite two hours in getting the Fly-up-the-Creek to John Bromley’s.

There was some snow that night; but not enough to clog the roads, and it all blew off the ice. The intense cold continued and most of the Riverdale Academy pupils spent their spare time on the ice the following week. But Dan and Billy Speedwell had work in another direction.

Their racing car was now four years old, for they had bought it second hand. For short distances there were probably a dozen cars right in Riverdale that could best the boys’ racer.

But when it came to the longer runs, Dan and Billy were well aware that skillful handling counted really more than the machine itself. There were frequent amateur road races and the Speedwells never refused a challenge.

Now they intended to put their old car into tip-top order, and most of the boys’ spare time that week was devoted to this object.

They got her out on the road Monday afternoon and despite the cold worked for three hours between their house and the Meadville turnpike. Dan drove her and the speedometer registered what they would have considered very good time indeed for an ordinary run. But they didn’t make racing time – “Not by a jugful!” as Billy grumbled.

“There’s something wrong,” admitted his brother, seriously.

“S’pose she needs a regular overhauling? Have we got to knock her down and overhaul her from the chassis up?”

“I don’t know. 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.

“Wait. I mean a leak in the ignition wiring.”

“Wow!”

“Never thought of that – eh?” demanded Dan.

“No. And I’m not thinking much of it now, Dannie – you old fuss.”

“Don’t you be too fresh calling me names, sonny,” advised the older youth. “You want to remember that the wiring of this car is old. A tiny break in the insulation would be enough to spell ‘trouble.’ Get me, Billy?”

“Uh-huh! But I don’t see – ”

“Let’s try it. That’s the only thing to do to make sure.”

“How are you going to do it?” demanded Billy, anxiously.

“Watch me,” returned his brother, with assurance, and he immediately went to work to test the insulation.

Billy was sure he was “some punkins” (as he often remarked) when it came to mechanics; but he knew Dan had him “beaten to a mile” when once the elder boy put his mind to a mechanical problem. So he watched Dan narrowly.

To find a leak in the ignition wiring of a machine is no joke; the break may be of the tiniest and in a remote location, too. But Dan had a practical idea about it and he started right.

First he disconnected the conductors, one at a time, replacing them with temporary connections made with an ample length of free wire, laid outside the motor parts.

It did not take long to do this, and this method of “bridging” the conductors without dismantling the connections brought about just what Dan wished. There were two tiny leaks and in an hour Dan had corrected the faults and put everything in shape again.

“Now, we’ll give her another spin,” he grunted. “If I’m not mistaken, Billy, she will act like a different car.”

“Come on. You’ve got to show me,” returned the other. “Doesn’t seem as though those two little cracks in the insulation could put her in so bad.”

They got the car out on the hard road. There was still an hour before sunset and they could go far in an hour.

And how the old car spun along! Billy was delighted and Dan grinned happily. “You sure hit the trouble, old boy!” declared the younger brother. “You are one smart kid – ”

Dan punched him good-naturedly in the ribs, and said:

“Be respectful – be respectful, sonny. Remember I’m older than you.”

“That doesn’t worry me much,” returned Billy. And then suddenly he jumped up, demanding: “D’ye see that, Dan? Look!”

They had been going pretty fast, but Dan shut off the power at once. Far ahead of them on the road a red touring car was approaching – a brilliant patch of color against the background of saffron sky.

If the color scheme had caught their eye, so much more did it catch the eye of Farmer Bulger’s black bull, that had just broken out of bounds and entered the highway from the barnyard lane.

Instantly the beast saw the red car coming and it bellowed a challenge, pawing the frozen ground and shaking his horns threateningly. His back was to the Speedwells’ gray car, and he paid that no attention; the boys saw that the brilliantly painted touring car was filled with girls.

“It’s Burton Poole’s new car!” gasped Billy.

“And Mildred and Lettie are in it!” added Dan, quite as excited as his brother.

“Crickey! why doesn’t that Poole know enough to back out. That bull is an ugly fellow.”

“It isn’t Burton at the wheel,” growled Dan, suddenly. “It’s Barry Spink – By George!”

There were other girls in the car besides the doctor’s daughter and Lettie. They were all screaming as the red car dashed toward the great beast that barred the way. At last Spink stopped; but then it was too late to turn the car and escape.

With a vicious bellow the bull charged and struck the radiator of the car a solid blow, breaking it. He bounded back from the collision and shook his head from side to side; but he showed every intention of making a second charge and this time he might clamber into the car itself!