“We’re heading straight into the sea—bow down!” cried Ned, taking a hasty observation.
“Turn on the gas again!” ordered Jerry. “That’s the only thing that will stop us now! And do it quick, too! I’ll have a new rudder if we ever get out of this alive!”
Ned, with desperate haste, was opening the gas valves. With an angry hiss the vapor rushed from the condensers it had so recently entered, and began filling the lifting-bags. Still the Comet plunged down toward the ocean, in which could still be seen that strange creature. It was circling about now, as though waiting for the destruction of the motorship.
[CHAPTER II]
A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
“Jerry, we’ve got to do something!” cried Ned.
“And do it quick!” added Bob.
“We’re doing all we can,” responded the tall youth in tense tones. In all the excitement he remained calmer than did his chums, and calmness was a necessary virtue in this emergency. Jerry Hopkins had that one happy faculty of seldom “losing his head.”
Now he was striving desperately, however, in spite of his seeming calm, to prevent the accident which seemed so imminent. And his companions, catching something of his cool self-control, restrained their own excitement and came to Jerry’s aid.