elphia, with this object in view.

As to the money part--for it takes a heap of cash to transport three
motor boats a thousand miles and more by fast freight--that was the
easiest part of the programme.

It happened that the treasury of the Motor Boat Club was quite flush at
that particular time. On one of their former cruises, up on the Great
Lakes, and in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands, these lads had been
instrumental in bringing to justice a set of rogues, for whose
apprehension a large reward had been offered by the authorities.

That sum, with others picked up in various ways, had been lying at
interest all this while. They had intended using it for their next
cruise, no matter where that might happen to take them.

Various indeed had been the suggestions made from time to time; and
some of them bordering on the ridiculous. Strange to say, it was Nick
Longfellow, the companion of George Rollins on the narrow beam speed
boat _Wireless_, who gave utterance to most of these absurd
propositions.

Nick was fat, and a tremendous eater. As a rule he could not be said
to be at all bold by nature; and yet he declared that nothing would
please him half so much as that they explore the Orinoco River in South
America, and discover things never before known by white people.

Then there had been Josh Purdue, the tall and thin assistant of Herbert
Dickson on the beamy and steady if slow _Comfort_, who wanted them to
lose themselves for an entire month in the depths of the swampy country
to be found along the St. Francis River.

But when Jack sprung his sensation about the long trip down the coast,
and around to New Orleans, it took like wildfire, and every other idea
was speedily forgotten. Preparations were hurried, the boats shipped,
and later on the boys turned up in Philadelphia, where they found their
craft waiting for them.

And now, here they were, at noon on this late September day, with the
prows of their beloved boats turned toward the south, and plowing the
waters of the Delaware, the Quaker City left far astern.

Doubtless many aboard the bustling tugs, and the vessels that came and
went, smiled as they heard the merry tooting of horns exchanged between
the three little power boats that were speeding along toward the wider
reaches of the lower river.

They easily guessed that the boys had a good time ahead of them; but
truth to tell not one could have imagined the extent of the voyage upon
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