“I hope we will very soon be over the ocean,” remarked Mr. Snodgrass earnestly, as he came forward, holding in his hand a little bug, of which he seemed to take great care. He had been so interested in its capture that he had taken little notice of the landing on the lake.
“We’ll try a flight over the water, perhaps a trip out to sea for a few miles, and back again,” said Jerry. “Now that it works all right, I’m not afraid to go anywhere in the Comet.”
“But first we go to Danforth,” said Ned.
“Of course, to see Mr. Jackson. There’s no reason why we can’t start to-morrow or the next day,” said the tall lad.
“We can’t get the grub and other things on board in that time,” objected Bob.
“Yes, we can, if we leave the eating part to you,” declared Ned. “You’ll see that there’s plenty of canned chicken and stuff like that, and Jerry and I can hustle in the stores, gasolene and supplies. Maybe we could start to-morrow, fellows.”
“I’ll do my share,” agreed the fat lad.
“It’s rather too short notice,” objected Jerry. “But we can start in two or three days. I’ll have to make a few little changes in the machinery, and we’ll be all right then.”
“All I care about is getting the singing fish,” spoke Professor Snodgrass, scanning the surface of the lake as if he might sight a specimen there.
The Comet was moving slowly over the water. It was not built for very great speed in that element, being designed for use in the air, but it made fairly good progress. By using the air propellers it could be made to go much faster, and they would be put into operation when it was designed to get a flying start so that the wing planes would lift the craft up.