“There, I guess that will do!”
“Should it not be put up a little farther forward?”
“No, it will light up better where it is. Besides, we can’t move it any farther forward, or it will interfere with the hydroplane lever.”
“That’s right.”
The above colloquy took place between Jerry, Ned and Bob in the big shed that housed the motorship Comet, a few hours after their decision to start in their air craft in search of the wreck of the Hassen. The boys had lost no time going over their wonderful craft to put her in the best possible condition for a long, and possibly dangerous, flight.
They had determined to start at once on the search, for well they knew the terrible distress the shipwrecked persons might be in—with nothing but an open boat between them and the vast ocean.
But there were a few needful things to be done, and one was the installation of a large searchlight, and it was concerning this that the talk had been.
Bob was of the opinion that the big lamp should go farther toward the bow, but Jerry had his own reasons for placing it where it was. The light was a new one, much larger than the one heretofore in use, and it had been purchased and installed in a hurry.
“For we may have to stay on the wing all night,” said Ned, “and this light may enable us to locate even a small boat on the ocean.”
“But if we do find my uncle and cousin in a small boat, how can we save them?” asked Bob.
“Easily enough, if the sea isn’t too rough,” replied Jerry. “We can drop the hydroplanes, and descend to them. If it’s too rough we can drop a rope, and haul them up, or even tow the boat if we have to. I’m not worrying about that part of it. The thing to do first is to find them.”
“And that isn’t going to be so easy,” observed Bob, with a sigh.
“Oh, don’t be crossing bridges until you can hear the rustling of their wings,” spoke Ned, with a smile at his chum. “Now let’s get busy, stock up, and set out on this cruise. We’ve lost a lot of time as it is.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jerry. “But we’re doing the best we can.”
“I know that,” spoke Bob, with a grateful look. “Our folks say it’s mighty kind of you boys to take this trouble.”
“Huh! Why wouldn’t we?” demanded Ned. “I guess we’re as much interested in this rescue as you are, Bob Baker.”
“Well, it’s good of you. I’m glad it was the storm that sunk the Hassen, and not that German submarine. If that boat had rammed the steamer she might have gone down so quickly that no one would have had a chance for life.”
“Oh, try to forget that submarine,” protested Jerry. “You’re getting it on the brain.”
“Like Professor Snodgrass,” spoke Ned. “Only a little while ago, when I went in the house, Jerry, to get some of that high tension wire, he asked me if we had started on it yet.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“That we had other fish to fry. I spoke of our trip in the Comet and of course he wanted to come along. He said if he couldn’t get his hermit crab specimens right away he might find some new bugs up in the air. So I told him he was welcome to come.”
“That’s right,” agreed Jerry. “We may need his help if it comes to a rescue.”
“The only trouble is,” remarked Bob, with a smile, “that if we sight that submarine again the professor may insist on being put aboard so he can get to the bottom of the sea. What will we do then?”
“Wait until it happens—worry then,” advised Jerry, with a laugh. “I don’t imagine that submarine is within a thousand miles of us.”
“Me either,” added Ned.
But neither he nor Jerry realized how soon their idle words were to be proven wrong.
All haste was made in preparing the Comet for her rescue trip. The parents of the boys thoroughly approved of it, for the motor lads had undertaken so many strenuous “stunts” in their craft that even Mrs. Hopkins no longer worried much when Jerry and his chums went out in her.
“Well, I guess we’re ready to start,” announced Jerry, a little later, after a look at the airship. Everything had been put in first class shape, and the rudder, that had given so much trouble before, had been replaced by a different one.
“Look who’s there,” said Bob in a low voice, nodding toward the roadway in front of the Hopkins house.
“Noddy Nixon,” muttered Jerry.
“Yes, and Bill Berry is with him,” went on Bob. “They seem to be looking in here pretty sharply.”
“Yes, they probably see that we’re getting ready for a trip,” spoke Ned. “I hope they won’t try to follow us, and make trouble.”
Jerry looked annoyed. Noddy and Bill were staring insolently in the direction of the open shed which housed the airship. Even a passer-by could see that it was in readiness for a flight.
Jerry, who, with his chums, had not seen much of Noddy since the bully and his crony had vainly tried to get the sixty nuggets of gold, as told in the last volume, started toward the front gate. Noddy saw him coming, but did not move.
“Were you looking for me?” asked Jerry, in no friendly voice.
“I don’t know as I was,” returned Noddy, in surly tones.
“If you are,” put in Ned, who had stepped to the side of his chum, “you won’t find any gold nuggets to try and get away from us this time.”
“Huh! Think you’re mighty smart; don’t you?” sneered Bill Berry.
“We were smart enough to fool you and the Dominion police you set on us,” laughed Bob. “Now will you have gravy on your pancakes?”
“Don’t you talk that way to us!” growled Bill. “If you do——”
“Oh, come on, we don’t want anything to do with them,” said Noddy quickly, taking his crony by the arm and leading him to one side.
“Glad you’ve come to that conclusion,” spoke Jerry, as he turned back toward the airship shed. “Come on, fellows,” he added to his chums, “we’d better get started. Bob, ask Professor Snodgrass if he’s ready.”
Noddy and Bill started down the street. They were talking earnestly together.
“They’re going off on another trip, that’s sure,” Noddy said.
“I guess so,” growled Bill. “But I don’t see that it makes any difference to us.”
“Oh, don’t you?” asked Noddy. “Well, it might. I’ve a notion to get out my airship and follow them.”
“What for?”
“What for? Because I need the money; that’s what for.”
“Money? How do you know they’re going after money?”
“Because they ’most always are. Now, Bill, it’s like this. Everything we’ve done, lately, has been a fizzle. We’ve lost out every time.”
“Well, it was as much your fault as mine,” growled Bill.
“Maybe it was,” assented Noddy, who seemed to have some special reason for not wanting to quarrel with his crony. “But when Jerry and his two chums start off it’s ’most always because they can make something out of it. Now I need money.”
“So do I, for that matter.”
“Our last trip didn’t pan out,” went on Noddy, “and my father has shut down on me. I’ve got to get some cash, and the only way I know to get it is to follow these chaps. They may be going out to locate another gold mine.”
“Well, I’m with you then,” agreed Bill. “Is your airship ready to run?”
“I can make her so in a little while. Let’s go back to our house.”
For a time, after getting into trouble, Noddy had left town with his parents, who thought of remaining away permanently, but Mr. Nixon had since moved back to Cresville, though living in a different house than the one he formerly occupied. Noddy, as my former readers know, had a large airship. It was one of several he had owned, and, though it was nowhere near as complete and powerful as the Comet, was quite serviceable.
So, while Noddy and Bill were preparing to follow our friends, in the hope of trailing them to some hidden fortune, Jerry and his chums were getting ready for the rescue flight.
“I’ll be with you in a few minutes!” called Professor Snodgrass when he was told that the start would soon be made. “I just want to get a small net, with a long handle, because I may see some rare insects in the upper air. We’ll have to let the sea crabs go for a time, until you boys can build a submarine.”
“I’m afraid that will be a long while,” said Jerry, as he looked to see that the plane-shifting levers worked properly.
It was decided to navigate at first as an aeroplane, since, after the storm, the weather was very calm. By telegraph, as good a description as possible had been obtained as to where the Hassen had been last seen. The boys intended to cruise around over this spot in ever-increasing circles.
“All aboard!” cried Bob, as he climbed up on the main deck. “We’ve got enough to eat for two weeks.”
“Trust Chunky for that,” commented Ned with a smile. “Are you coming, Professor.”
“Yes!” cried the little scientist. “I think I have everything. I am going——” he had started from the house toward the airship, but stopped suddenly to peer at something on the ground.
“Oh, what a find!” he cried. “Oh, what a lucky find!”
In an instant he was on his knees and was carefully lifting into one of his boxes some little creature.
“What is it?” asked Jerry, with a smile.
“A very rare specimen of a green striped angle-worm,” was the answer. “I have been looking for one for years. Now, if I could only get another,” and the professor began searching on the ground.
“I’m afraid, Professor Snodgrass, that we can’t wait,” said Jerry. “We ought to be under way now.”
“All right,” was the answer. “Though it is a pity to lose this chance. I say, Dick,” called the scientist to the gardener, “if you see a green striped angle-worm——”
“I’ll be sure to kill it, Professor,” interrupted the man. “I know the creatures, eating up the cabbages, and everything else. I’ll kill every one I see.”
“No, no! For the love of science don’t do that!” was the appeal of the professor. “I beg of you not to do that. I will give you two dollars for every one you save for me, Dick!”
“Do you mean that, Professor?”
“I certainly do.”
“Then I’ll search for ’em with a dark lantern to-night,” was the answer. “I’ll have a lot for you when you come back.”
“Ah, what a lucky day!” cried the professor, as he got aboard the Comet.
Good-byes were called to Mrs. Hopkins, and to the mothers of Bob and Ned, who had called at Jerry’s house to see the start. The boys took their places, the professor was in the cabin, writing out a description of his latest find, and all was in readiness.
“Here we go!” cried Jerry, as he swung over the lever that started the propeller motor. The Comet rolled across the smooth starting ground. Then, as the elevating rudder was tilted the craft shot into the air like a bird, soon attaining a good height.
At the same time, off to one side of the town, another aeroplane darted forward, trailing the one carrying our friends.