Motor Boat Boys Down the Coast or Through Storm and Stress to Florida   By: Louis Arundel

[Illustration: Cover art]

[Frontispiece: Jack, crouching there, with one elbow resting on his knee, took as good an aim as the conditions allowed]

Motor Boat Boys

Down the Coast

Or

Through Storm and Stress to Florida

By

LOUIS ARUNDEL

Author of "Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence," "Motor Boat Boys Cruise Down the Mississippi," "Motor Boat Boys on the Great Lakes," "Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys"

Chicago

M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY

Copyright 1913

by

M. A. DONOHUE & CO.

CHICAGO

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. AFLOAT ON THE LOWER DELAWARE II. A GOOD OMEN FOR THE START III. JACK TAKES A HYDRO AEROPLANE MESSAGE IV. THE FIRST CAMP FIRE ASHORE V. A STORM, AND NO REFUGE IN SIGHT VI. A CLOSE SHAVE, BUT NO DAMAGE DONE VII. HOW THE MOTOR BOAT FLOTILLA WENT TO SEA VIII. THE CAMP INVADED IX. THE DESPERATION OF HUNGER X. NICK IN SEARCH OF A MERMAID XI. A STUNNING DISCOVERY XII. THE CAMP UNDER CAPE CHARLES LIGHT XIII. A SHOUT AT MIDNIGHT XIV. NICK BAGS HIS GAME XV. A WARM WELCOME TO THE STORMY CAPE XVI. THE WIRELESS AS TRICKY AS EVER XVII. GOODBYE TO AN ANCHOR XVIII. A SIGNAL OF DISTRESS XIX. THE MESSAGE OF HOPE XX. MEETING TROUBLE HALF WAY XXI. FOG BOUND WHILE AT SEA XXII. SAVANNAH AT LAST XXIII. THANKS TO THE PILOT CONCLUSION

MOTOR BOAT BOYS SERIES

THE MOTOR CLUB'S CRUISE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI THE MOTOR CLUB ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER THE MOTOR CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES MOTOR BOAT BOYS AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS MOTOR BOAT BOYS DOWN THE COAST MOTOR BOAT BOYS RIVER CHASE MOTOR BOAT BOYS DOWN THE DANUBE

THE MOTOR BOAT BOYS

DOWN THE COAST;

or

Through Storm and Stress to Florida

CHAPTER I.

AFLOAT ON THE LOWER DELAWARE.

"Toot your horn, Jimmy, and let everybody know we're off at last!"

"Sure, there's the ould Wireless coming up on us, hand over fist. It's a broth of a bhoy George Rollins is for speed!"

"Yes, he always starts out well, and with a rush; but generally manages to have his engine break down; and then even the wide old tub Comfort gets there ahead of the narrow speed boat. Now give 'em a blast, Jimmy. The coast cruise is on!"

Accordingly, Jimmy Brannigan, who served as cook and crew aboard the staunch motor boat Tramp , some twenty three feet in length by six feet wide (the boat, not Jimmy), and with Jack Stormways as pilot, puffed out his cheeks and blew.

It was a necessary method for sounding the conch shell horn, which, if blown like a bugle, would send out a screech that could be heard a mile away.

Answering toots came from the two other crafts that had just left Philadelphia astern, and were heading down the old Delaware River, bound for Florida.

Here were six of the happiest young chaps on the face of the globe; and, indeed, how could they help it? Blessed with good health; three of them owning motor boats that had served them now for two seasons, and with stores aboard for a "bully" voyage down the Atlantic coast, taking the inland passage, what more could the heart of a real boy, with red blood in his veins, sigh for!

These six lads lived in a town "out Mississippi way." They had long ago ceased to be novices in the management of motor boats, and the great benefit they seemed to have secured from previous trips on the water, both down the wonderful Mississippi and on the Great Lakes, had convinced their fathers that they were to be trusted under any and all conditions.