The Motor Boys; or, Chums Through Thick and Thin — A Closer Reading

d! what do you say to a little race?”

“I’m ready,” called Ned Slade.

“How about you, Jerry?”

“Oh, I’m always ready,” answered Jerry Hopkins, tossing aside the core of an apple he had been eating. “But how far is the race to be, Chunky?”

“To the oak tree,” replied Bob Baker.

“Suits me,” said Jerry. “All aboard!”

The three bicyclists rose from the grass where they had been resting in the shade of a big maple tree, after a trip of about five miles on their bicycles around the country outside of the village of Cresville, where they lived. Cresville was a pleasant town, not a great many miles from Boston.

The three boys were chums, and had been ever since they had started to school together, eight years previous. There was Bob, the son of Andrew Baker, who was counted one of the wealthiest men in Cresville. His interests were varied, but were mainly in banks and banking institutions. Besides Bob there was in the family a daughter Susie. Bob was fourteen years old, and Susie two years younger, and Bob was so much inclined to stoutness that he was sometimes called “Chunky” by his chums.

Ned was the only child of Aaron Slade, owner of the largest department store in the town, and a well-off merchant. As for Jerry he lived with his widowed mother, and his sister Julia Hopkins, a girl whom it would do your heart good to know, she was so jolly and full of fun. The death of Mr. Hopkins, a few years previous, had left his widow with an ample income, which she devoted to the bringing up of her children. Jerry and Ned were the same age, fifteen years.

All three boys were sturdy chaps, full of life and energy. They had studied, played and fought together so long that they had come to be regarded as three inseparables by the townspeople.

“Now are you fellows ready for the word?” asked Bob, steadying his wheel in a line with the other two.

“Let her go!” called Jerry.

“Sing out, Chunky!” shouted Ned.

There was a moment of suspense, and a momentary thrill over even so slight a thing as this little sprint among the three boys. Each one meant to win.

In an instant the wheels were started off. Three boys bounded into three saddles. Three pairs of feet began to pump the pedals desperately. A cloud of dust arose and the race was on.

It was a distance of half a mile from the maple tree, where the start was made, to the oak which Bob had designated as the winning post. The road was a good hard level stretch of macadam and the wheels fairly spun along it.

At first the boys were on even terms. Then Bob gradually drew away from Ned and Jerry. Seeing this Ned put an extra ounce or two into his pushing and he soon caught up to Bob. These two held the lead on almost a line for a few hundred feet.

Suddenly there was a whirr of wheels behind them, an excited joyous shout and, with a yell, Jerry whizzed past, and obtained such a good advantage that he kept it, until he reached the oak, where he leaped off, and cast himself down in the shade to rest.

“I didn’t think you could do it, Jerry,” panted Ned, as he and Bob flashed up two seconds later. “Honest, I didn’t.”

“Nor I,” came from Bob. “You must have been practicing lately.”

“Well, I thought I ought to try and improve my wheel-work,” said Jerry modestly. “I’m thinking of going in the club races that will be held soon, and I wanted to stand some sort of a show.”

“I’d say you stood a pretty good one, if you ride like you did to-day,” interposed Ned. “You went past us flying, and Bob and I weren’t going so slow, either; were we, Bob?”

For a few minutes the boys lolled lazily in the grass, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Then Bob took three apples from his pocket and treated.

“Do you fellows know what I wish?” began Jerry, who had finished his light lunch first. “I wish we all had motor-cycles.”

“It wouldn’t be a half-bad idea,” agreed Bob, after a little thought. “I’m beginning to get a little tired of this leg-work, myself. How about you, Ned?”

“I think I could use a motor-cycle if one came my way,” replied Ned. “That is after I learned how to operate one, and wouldn’t blow myself and the immediate neighborhood up with gasolene.”