Ned, Bob and Jerry caught a glimpse of something big and black looming up on the port side out of the fog.
A moment later there was a terrific crash, and it seemed as if the transport would be heeled over and capsized. The fear-anticipated collision had happened!
[CHAPTER XVI]
A WAIF OF THE SEA
Jerry Hopkins felt himself being tossed through space. That is to say, he felt himself moving through space; but, as a matter of fact, he did not at that instant know whether he had been tossed or was merely falling. There was blackness before his eyes, caused, as he learned later, by a blow on the head, and even if that had not been the case he could have seen little, for the fog, after the collision, seemed to settle down heavier than before.
Jerry had a confused idea that he was shouting something. What it was he did not know, but as there was a riot of shouts going on all about him it did not much matter.
The crash had stunned him for the time being. It had shaken him through and through and disturbed his logical thinking powers. He found time to wonder what had happened to his chums, Ned and Bob, and also to Professor Snodgrass. Was it not queer how they had so unexpectedly met him, and in a characteristic occupation—that of gathering a rare bug unsuspectingly harbored by some innocent spectator?
What had happened to Bob, Ned, and the professor? Did he get the bug he was after? What had become of the surprised sailor?
These, and other thoughts, rushed through the mind of Jerry Hopkins in a series of flashes, like the views on a moving picture screen. He instinctively flung out his hands to protect himself when he should land, and then——