As for Professor Snodgrass, no sooner did he understand what Jerry had said, and no sooner did he note the glistening metal plates of the under-water craft, than he cried out:
“Boys, please put over there. This is the very chance I want. I must go aboard, sink to the bottom of the sea and try to get one of those hermit crabs. Jerry, signal him, and ask him to take me aboard!”
The little scientist was all excitement. Forgotten was the last strange bug he had been cataloging, in his desire to fulfill his newest quest.
“Are you sure that is the same submarine, Jerry?” asked Ned, as the three lads got aboard the Comet again.
“Of course, I’m not sure it’s the same one we saw first,” was the answer; “but it’s a submarine, all the same, and of a similar type. Perhaps it may be one of Uncle Sam’s fleet. I understand they are to have some practise out this way soon.”
“There’s no doubt of it being a submarine,” added Bob. “Did you see it pop up, Professor?”
“Yes,” answered the scientist, “I was looking over in that direction when I observed a commotion in the water. I thought at first it was some big fish, and when it came well up out of the water, with its rounded back, I made up my mind it was a whale. But when Jerry called out——”
“I’ve seen her—or one like her—before,” interrupted the tall lad. “I could make out the overlapping, riveted plates.”
“Yes, I can see them now, quite plainly,” agreed the scientist. “But, boys, can you possibly put me aboard?”
“I fancy it depends more on the captain of that craft than on us,” said Jerry, with a smile. “It will be easy enough for us to steer the Comet over there, but whether he’ll let us come aboard is another question.”