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Hardy boys explained their plan to Tony Prito, who promised to ask his father about the motorboat provided they allowed him to go with them.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything," he said. "You let me come along on this trip with you and I'll see that we get the boat."

"We wouldn't go without you, Tony," promised Frank.

"I'll have the boat to-morrow afternoon. Be at the boathouse."

Tony was as good as his word. When Frank and Joe appeared at the little boathouse, one of a long row of ramshackle buildings along the shore, next afternoon, they found Tony clad in a greasy suit of overalls, tinkering with the engine. He was of a mechanical turn of mind and could never see an engine of any kind without investigating its most intricate machinery.

"She'll run as smoothly as a sewing ma-