The first part of this trip was delightful, but on the third day it rained hard, and they had to stay cooped up in the cabin, which was not much fun. But the storm could not last forever, and the sun finally came out, to the satisfaction of all.
“Well, we’ll soon have to take a little land journey,” remarked Ned, at the close of the fifth day of their trip.
“How’s that?” asked the professor. “Are you going to desert the boat?”
“No,” spoke Bob, “but by to-morrow noon we’ll come to the end of water travel, for a short space. That is, we’ll need to have the boat hauled over land to the canal that connects with the river by which we will get on the Alleghany. I wrote to a man who is going to move the boat, and he promised to be on hand with a big truck, and some helpers. We’ll run the Dartaway up on the truck, drive over to the canal, and float her again. Then it will be smooth sailing to Pittsburg.”
“And we haven’t seen a sign of Noddy Nixon,” remarked Ned.
“I hope we don’t—the whole trip,” spoke Jerry earnestly.
It was a little before noon when they had gone as far as was practical up the stream on which they were then motoring.
“The dock where the truck is to meet us must be around here somewhere,” said Ned, who was steering.