CHAPTER XVI--A THANKLESS RESCUE

The two motor boats by now had drawn close together and were holding parallel courses.

"Hey, you fellows!" yelled Buck Looker. "I suppose you think you've got a fine, fancy boat there, don't you?"

"That's just about what we think, all right," called back Bob. "It looks it, doesn't it?"

"Looks ain't much," said Buck.

"The looks of that tub of yours aren't, anyway," said Herb sarcastically. "A few gallons of paint would make it look more like a real boat."

"Oh, is that so?" said Buck, with a sneer. "Well, let me tell you, this is a fast boat. We can make circles around that thing you've got there."

"Open her up, Buck, and run away from them," urged Lutz. "Show them what speed looks like."

"We'll have to admit you fellows are good at running away," commented Joe. "But this time it may not be as easy as you think."

"We'll show you!" squeaked Terry Mooney. "Open 'er up, Buck."

His amiable friend did "open 'er up," and, with a terrific noise from the exhaust and a cloud of smoke, their boat darted ahead.

But Bob opened the throttle of the _Sea Bird_ a little, and their boat surged forward, apparently without an effort, until they were again abreast of the Looker coterie.

"What's the matter, Buck?" queried Joe, with mock solicitude. "Won't it go any faster to-day?"

Both boats were hitting a pretty speedy clip, and this question seemed to infuriate Buck.

"You bet it can go faster!" he yelled. "Pump some more oil into that engine, Carl."

His friend did as directed, and Buck juggled the spark and throttle controls until his craft attained a speed that would have been sufficient to have left the average cruising motor boat far in the rear. But the _Sea Bird_ was built both for long distance cruising and for speed, and the faster Buck's craft went, the faster went the Harvey craft.

Straight out to sea the boats headed, diving into the rollers and throwing showers of spray over their occupants. Crouching low in the engine cock-pit, Bob nursed the motor lovingly, an oil can in one hand and a bunch of greasy waste in the other. He was mottled with oil and grease, and the perspiration trickled down his face in little rivulets, but he had never been happier in his life. The engine was running like clockwork, and he knew there was plenty of power and speed in reserve if he needed them.

Buck, on the other hand, was fussing and fuming over his engine, trying to make it go a little faster. But it was working up to its limit, and do what he would, he could not coax an extra revolution out of it.

Joe, who was steering the _Sea Bird_, looked back at Bob, a question in his eyes. He yelled something that Bob could not hear above the whistle of the wind and the throb of the engine, but he knew what Joe meant, and nodded his head.

The time had come to show Looker and his friends what speed really was. Bob opened the throttle to the limit. The engine responded instantly, and the _Sea Bird_ leapt forward, gathering more speed every second. Leaping from wave to wave, it seemed to be trying to live up to its name, and actually fly. Buck Looker's craft dropped away as though standing still, and there was soon a long strip of swirling white water between the two boats.

All four radio boys laughed and shouted exultantly, and Jimmy and Herb pounded each other madly on the back in the excess of their joy.

"This is some little through express!" screamed Jimmy into his companion's ear. "Can't she hit it up, though?"

But now Buck Looker and his friends were quite a way astern, and Bob was forced to slow down, as they were plunging into the waves at a dangerous speed. One big wave swept over the boat and left them dripping, and for the first time they realized how high the seas were running. They were now well outside the bay, and a stiff southwest wind had arisen and was kicking up a nasty chop. Bob slowed down to half speed, after which they took the big seas more easily, but they all judged it was high time to start back. In the excitement of the race they had gone much further than they had intended, and Joe made haste to swing the bow around and head back for quieter waters.

"I wonder how Buck is making out," shouted Bob to Joe. "Can you see them yet?"

"Yes, I can see them. But they seem to be having trouble of some sort," replied Joe. "They're rolling around in the trough of the waves, and I can only see them when they come up on top of one."

"If they're in trouble, I suppose we'll have to help them out," said Bob, and as there could be no question about this, the radio boys directed their course toward their erstwhile competitors.

Buck and his cronies were indeed in a bad plight, for their engine had stalled and they were unable to get it going again. This left them at the mercy of the waves, as they had not even an oar aboard. Their boat had not been designed for rough weather, and now it rolled dangerously broadside on to the waves, threatening at any moment to capsize.

As the radio boys approached the helpless craft Terry and Carl stopped long enough in their frantic bailing to shout wildly for help. Buck was still tinkering with the engine, but without result. Their boat was drifting out to sea, and altogether they were in a sorry plight.

Joe approached the helpless craft cautiously, while Bob throttled the engine down until they had only steerage way.

"You'll have to jump for it!" yelled Joe. "We'll come as close as we can, and then you can jump aboard."

Terry Mooney was the first to make ready to jump. He gave a wild leap, but fell short, and would have fallen into the ocean, had not Herb and Jimmy grasped him as he fell and dragged him aboard. Buck and Carl had better luck, and landed safely on the deck of the _Sea Bird_. They left their craft none too soon, for one of its seams had started to leak, and it was rapidly filling with water. At first the radio boys thought they might be able to tow the disabled craft in with them, but it soon became apparent that it would not stay afloat long enough for this. It settled lower and lower, and even as the _Sea Bird_ picked up speed for the run home the unfortunate craft dived under as an unusually large wave broke over it, filling it with water.

"We got you off just in the nick of time," said Bob. "If we hadn't been around, it looks as though you would have had a long swim home."

"Oh, somebody else would have picked us up if you hadn't," said Buck ungraciously. "This boat isn't the only one at Ocean Point, you know."

"It seems to be the only one around just now," said Joe, which was true enough. There was no other craft in sight, and it would have fared ill with Buck Looker and his cronies had the radio boys not been at hand to aid them.

However, gratitude was not to be expected of such boys as Buck and his friends. They drew off sullenly to the stern of the _Sea Bird_, and as for the radio boys, they wasted no more breath on them. They headed directly for the mouth of the little creek leading to the wireless station, and as they came within the sheltering headlands of the bay the sea became less rough and gradually lessened in violence as they entered more shallow waters.

As they went out that morning, the radio boys had taken special note of conspicuous landmarks, so that they had little difficulty in locating the inlet. Bob throttled the engine down to a low speed, and they were soon creeping up the quiet waters of the creek that were in striking contrast to the turbulent seas outside.

Mr. Harvey had left the doors of the boathouse open, so the boys nosed the _Sea Bird_ carefully into its berth, Herb and Jimmy standing by with fenders to keep it from bumping against the timbers and taking off paint.

Bob had hardly shut off the engine before Buck Looker and Terry and Lutz, without a word of thanks or even saying good-bye, leaped ashore and made off.

"Oh, well, it's good riddance," said Jimmy cheerfully. "I'm sure we don't want them hanging around."

"I suppose they felt sore about losing their boat," said Bob. "But they could hardly blame us for that. It was they who proposed to race."

"And they got all the race they wanted," said Joe. "Isn't this boat a little peacherino, though?"

"It's a wonder," said Bob. "I'd almost be willing to undertake a trip to Europe in it. I'll bet she'd make it all right." The others agreed with him in this estimate of the _Sea Bird's_ prowess, and they discussed her many virtues as they cleaned up the decks and made everything neat and shipshape. This accomplished, they proceeded to the wireless station, where they met their friend just coming off duty.

"Well, how did you enjoy yourselves?" he questioned. "Did the boat act up all right?"

"I should say she did!" said Bob, and gave him a brief account of the day's happenings.

"Shucks!" exclaimed Harvey, when he had finished. "Those boys must be poison mean not to have even thanked you for picking them up. I didn't think anybody could be quite that ungrateful."

"You haven't had the experience with them that we have," said Bob. "But we enjoyed the trip immensely, anyway, and certainly want to thank you for lending us your boat."

"Oh, that's all right," said Harvey heartily. "Any time you want it again, just say so. When are you coming to visit me at the station again?"

"Why, we've been meaning to get there for several days past," said Bob. "If you're going to be there to-morrow, we can drop in then. How about it, fellows?" turning to his friends.

"Sure thing," said they all, and so it was agreed. Mr. Harvey had been walking with them in the direction of the bungalow colony while the foregoing conversation took place, but now his path branched off from theirs, and he said good-night after reminding them of their promise to visit him the following day.

The boys continued on home, discussing the events of the day. They arrived just a little before the evening meal was served, and they fell on the repast like a pack of young wolves, as they had taken no lunch with them, not expecting to be out so late.

"My goodness!" exclaimed Mrs. Fennington, when they had at last finished. "I'm glad you boys don't go motor boating every day. You'd soon eat us out of house and home if you did."

"If we owned the _Sea Bird_, Mother, we wouldn't need any home," said Herb. "We'd live aboard, wouldn't we, fellows?"

The others laughingly agreed to this.

"There's a dandy concert on to-night," remarked Jimmy. "I saw the program in the newspaper. Some colored singers from a college down South."

"Suits me," returned Joe, and a little later all the boys and a number of the others were listening in. The musical numbers were well rendered, and they listened with delight.

"Hark!" cried Bob, when they were waiting for another announcement by wireless. "There goes a regular code message. Wish we could read it."

"I can make out some of it," answered Joe. "W--I--K--no, I guess that was L. Maybe it was WILL. Might be 'will arrive,' or something like that," and he sighed. "Gee, if we only could get onto it!"

"We will some day," answered Bob.

"You bet!"