“Ugh! What a creature!” cried Ned.
“A most valuable acquisition to science,” declared the professor proudly.
There came a shrill whistle through the tube leading to the pilot house.
“What is it?” asked Ned.
“Aren’t you going to start?” Jerry wanted to know. “The river is still rising, and more logs are coming down! Get a move on!”
“Aye, aye!” answered Ned, and he yanked over the electrical switch. Instantly the propellers whizzed around, and the Comet strained at the mooring ropes.
“Now’s the time!” cried Jerry to Bob, who had been provided with a light, keen hatchet, for the purpose of severing the lines. “Cut!”
The little axe came down as the Comet lifted her dripping hydroplanes out of the water, and, freed from the holding cables, she soared aloft. Jerry directed her toward the big hill in the middle of the island, where there was room to land. Fortunately there was scarcely any wind to sway the craft, though the rain came down in torrents.
Well aloft now, over the raging flood of the Colorado, the Comet was more like herself, and, with Jerry to guide her, there was comparatively little danger.