THE AUTO BOYS' QUEST

CONTENTS


CHAPTER PAGE

I A Plan and a Scheme 7

II A Little Practice in Strategy 23

III A Plan that Did not Fail 40

IV Safely Away 53

V Camping on a Strange Road 74

VI On to the Gold Cup Races 90

VII A Night Adventure 104

VIII Plans for the Big Race 120

IX The Crafty Plan of Mr. Gouger 134

X Adventure Befalls the Chosen Trio 151

XI Mr. Blackbeard, the Giant 168

XII Discovered 184

XIII Around the Gold Cup Circuit 203

XIV At the Clarion Racing Camp 218

XV Secrets of the Woods 233




THE AUTO BOYS' QUEST




CHAPTER I

A PLAN AND A SCHEME


"And they piled three stones one on top of another to mark the place.
The first was just a big field stone, the second was rough and flat and
the third, which was at the top, was the kind called conglomerate. You
know--all full of pebbles, like coarse gravel pressed into a mass.
Or--or like a fruit cake."

There was a note of earnestness in Billy Worth's voice, as if he felt
his words to be of great importance and desired that his hearers be
impressed accordingly. That his communication did have reference to an
important matter was made most apparent, perhaps, by the response it
elicited, also earnestly spoken:

"And if no one has disturbed them, the chances are the rocks are there
yet," said Phil Way. "I mean that, although the heaving of the ground,
as it froze and thawed winter after winter, would probably throw the
pile down, the three different stones would still be close together for
years upon years."

"And I'll be standing here for years upon years without starting this
engine if you don't give me a spark! Almost breaking myself in two, and
you sit there threshing over that old stone pile again! Did you think I
was working this crank handle just for exercise?" These remarks, both
earnest and emphatic, came from a young gentleman who stood at the front
of a large touring car, the forward seats of which vehicle were occupied
by the two whose words have been earlier noted. "Or did you think I was
trying an experiment in perpetual motion?" he added, with equal sarcasm.

Mr. Billy Worth, at the steering wheel, laughed good-naturedly. "I
solemnly beg your pardon, Mac," he said. "I was thinking of those three
stones. Now you're all right!" So saying, he moved the quadrant to the
point at which there was a spark advanced to set the automobile's engine
chugging when his friend with the crank handle had again given it an
initial motion.