“Oh!” cried Alice suddenly. “Something bit me on the foot! I believe it’s a rat! Oh dear! Save me!”
She jumped up, much excited, Mollie following her example.
“Sit still!” cried Jerry. “There are no rats aboard!”
“But something bit me!” insisted the girl. “It had sharp teeth and I felt them in my ankle. I have low shoes on!”
She moved away from where she had been sitting. Mollie retreated toward the stern. Jerry got a lantern and lighted it, for it was now dusk, and dark down in the cockpit where the girls had been resting. He made a careful examination.
“I’ve got it!” he cried.
“What, the rat?” asked Alice.
“No; I’ve found the broken wire that caused all our trouble,” came from Jerry. “It was the end of it sticking up through a crack and touching you on the ankle that you felt. Now we’ll be off!”
It was indeed the break in the copper conductor that he had discovered. The ends of the wire came up through a space in the flooring of the boat. They ran from a compartment in the forecastle back to the motor. In less than a minute Jerry had twisted the broken ends together. Then he fastened the conductor back in the spark plug. Turning on the gasolene he gave the fly wheel a twist.