“It would be hard to say,” remarked Jerry. “Certainly the boat looked as if it was going to overturn in the rapids, but I can’t really say that it did. The fog rolled up just then and hid everything from sight. I hope those in the boat weren’t lost, but their chances were slim.”
“Can we do anything for them?” asked Bob.
“Nothing, I’m afraid,” answered the tall lad. “We can’t even see them, and it would be useless to descend into that canyon of fog now. Besides, the current is so swift that the boat must be a good way from here by this time.”
The airship was slowly floating along over the Grand Canyon, which, at this point, wound in and out among the many colored cliffs, like some great serpent. Jerry had shut down the machinery until it was barely turning the propellers, and, had not the gas bag sustained the craft, she would have settled down, for the motion was not enough to keep her afloat as an aeroplane.
“Well, what are we going to do?” Ned wanted to know. “We must be nearly at Snake Island, if there is any such place, and if we’re going to get that radium fortune it’s time we got busy.”
“And I haven’t seen anything of that two-tailed toad, either,” spoke Professor Snodgrass. “I had hopes of finding a specimen—even if a small one—before now, but fate seems against me.”
“Wait until we get on the island,” suggested Bob. “There may be toads there, as well as snakes.”
“What makes you think there are snakes there?” asked Ned. “Didn’t the old guide say he thought it got its name because the tall cliff in the middle seemed to wiggle like a serpent when there was a fog?”
“Yes, he did, and if we put on a little more steam, Jerry, we may get to Snake Island now, in time to see that same thing. I say let’s move faster,” went on the stout lad. “We ought to be nearly there.”
“But we might pass right over the island in this fog,” objected Jerry. “It’s better to go a bit slow, I think.”