Free The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

swing the Sleuth into another wide, sweeping turn. It would have been foolhardy to enter the river at such speed, and Joe knew that under the circumstances he needed lots of room to maneuver. The motorboat zoomed back into the middle of the bay. It seemed to the boys that suddenly there was far more traffic on the bay than there had been before.
    â€œLook out!” Chet yelled. Joe just missed a high-speed runabout.
    He turned and twisted to avoid the small pleasure boats. The young pilot was more worried about endangering these people than he was about colliding with the larger vessels, which were commercial craft.
    â€œKeep her as straight as you can!” Frank shouted to Joe. “I’ll take a look at the engine and see what I can do with it.”
    Frank stood up and leaned forward to open the cowling in front of the dashboard, as the boat leaped across the waves in the bay.
    â€œWatch out!” Chet yelled, as Frank almost lost his balance.
    Joe had made a sharp turn to avoid cutting in front of a rowboat containing a man and several children. Joe realized that the wash of the speeding Sleuth might upset it.
    â€œIf those people are thrown overboard,” he thought, “we’ll have to rescue them. But how?” Fortunately, the boat did not overturn.
    Frank quickly lifted the cowling from the engine and stepped into the pit. He knew he could open the fuel intake and siphon off the gas into the bay, but this would take too long.
    â€œI’ll have to stop the boat-right now!” he decided.
    Frank reached down beside the roaring engine and pulled three wires away from the distributor. Instantly the engine died, and Frank stood up just as Joe made another sharp turn to miss hitting a small outboard motorboat that had wandered across their path.
    â€œGood night!” Chet cried out. “That was a close one!”
    Even with the Sleuth’s reduction in speed, the other boat rocked violently back and forth as it was caught in the wash. Frank grasped the gunwale, ready to leap over the side and rescue the man if his boat overturned.
    But the smaller craft had been pulled around to face the wash. Though it bounced almost out of the water, the boat quickly resumed an even keel.
    The lone man in it kept coming toward the Sleuth. As he drew alongside, he began to wave his arms and shout at the boys.
    â€œWhat’s the matter with you young fools?” he yelled. “You shouldn’t be allowed to operate a boat until you learn how to run one.”
    â€œWe couldn’t—” Joe started to say when the man interrupted.
    â€œYou should have more respect for other people’s safety!”
    Frank finally managed to explain. “It was an accident. The throttle was jammed open. I had to pull the wires out of the distributor to stop her.”
    By this time the outboard was close enough for its pilot to look over the Sleuth’s side and into the engine housing where Frank was pointing at the distributor.
    The man quickly calmed down. “Sorry, boys,” he said. “There are so many fools running around in high-powered boats these days, without knowing anything about the rules of navigation, I just got good and mad at your performance.”
    â€œI don’t blame you, sir,” said Joe. Then he asked, “Do you think you could tow us into the municipal dock so that we can have repairs made?”
    â€œGlad to,” said the man.
    At the dock, the Hardys and Chet watched while the serviceman checked the Sleuth to find out the cause of the trouble. Presently he looked up at the boys with an odd expression.
    â€œWhat’s the trouble?” Frank asked. “Serious?”
    The mechanic’s reply startled them. “This is a new motorboat and no doubt was in tiptop shape. But somebody tampered with the throttle!”
    â€œWhat!” Joe demanded. “Let’s see!”
    The serviceman pointed out where a cotter pin had been removed