"What in the name of Gatling guns is it?" asked Paul, wonderingly.
"It's the airship!" cried Innis. "My cousin's wrecked airship! It
must have been stuck in the mud, or held by some snag, and now it's
come to the surface. We ought to get it. He'll want to save it.
Maybe he can use part of the engine again, and he's out of funds to
buy a new one, I know."
"Besides, he wants to see if it had been tampered with by someone
so as to bring about an accident," suggested Paul.
"We'll get it!" cried Dick. "Come on! In my motor-boat!"
The speedy watercraft was in readiness for a run, and the three
cadets, racing down to her, soon had the motor started and the bow
of the boat pointed to the floating airship. The latter was moving
slowly from the force of the current, which was not rapid here. The
affair of wings, struts, planes and machinery floated, half
submerged, and probably would not have sunk when the accident
occurred except that the great speed at which it was travelling
forced it below the surface, even as one can force under a piece of
wood.
But the wood rises, and the buoyant airship would have done the
same, perhaps, save for the fact that it had become caught. Now it
was freed.
"Make this rope fast to it," directed Dick, as he guided his
motor-boat close to the airship. "We'll tow it to the dock."
Paul and Innis undertook this part of the work, and in a few moments
the Mabel, Dick's boat, was headed toward shore, towing the wrecked
airship.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44