“Where is it?” asked Ned. “You left it here and now it has disappeared!”
“Poor father!” exclaimed Olivia. “What can have happened to him?” and she looked at the startled countenances of her sisters.
The girls were very much frightened, not only at the disappearance of their houseboat but because of the strange happening that had closed the passage, and they were alarmed on account of their father.
“What shall we do?” asked Rose. “Perhaps those wicked colored men or some Seminole Indians have captured father.”
“Don’t talk of such horrid things!” exclaimed Nellie. “We never should have left him alone!”
“The best thing you can do is to come to our camp,” suggested Ned. “We can tell the professor what has happened and perhaps he can suggest a way out of it. Maybe the passage has become blocked by a mass of floating vegetation, or an island such as we are on.”
“Are you on a floating island?” asked Olivia.
“Yes, a regular floating forest,” answered Jerry. “I think you had better come with us.”
There was nothing else to do, and the girls got into the motor boat while their small craft was towed by the Dartaway. In a short time they arrived at the camp. The professor met them at the shore. He look worried, and Ned asked:
“Is anything the matter?”