“Get busy with supper, Bob!” called Jerry, as he set the automatic steering gear. “There’s nothing else to do now except eat.”
“And after that?” asked Ned.
“Oh, we’ll hang around here for a few days, and then, if we don’t see any more of the Hassen’s lifeboats, with some of the passengers or crew, or if we don’t sight the submarine once more, I think we may as well go back home,” replied Jerry. “Bob will want to see his uncle, and the folks will get anxious about us if we stay out too long.”
“You seem pretty sure my uncle is safe ashore,” spoke the stout lad.
“I am,” declared Jerry. “You’ll soon be able to satisfy your curiosity regarding that valuable object he brought over with him.”
“I have been wondering what it could be,” admitted Bob. “It’s a family secret, I know that much, and it’s valuable. Well, I may as well get supper, I suppose,” and he finished his remarks in such a naive way that Ned and Jerry laughed.
As for Professor Snodgrass, now that his hope of getting on the submarine was dashed, he went back to his beloved labor of catching any stray bugs and insects that might be aboard the Comet, or which he could net out of the air.
Supper was progressing satisfactorily, various appetizing odors that came from the galley testifying to Bob’s activities. Jerry and Ned looked to see if the machinery was running properly and then they kept watch down below for a possible sight of the boat that had eluded them.
But it would soon be too dark to see, and Jerry decided that the chances of picking up the craft in the rays of the powerful search-light were too small to make up for the discomfort that would be caused by standing watch all night.
“We’ll just let her go, and trust to luck for finding her again,” he said. “Evidently she is cruising about in these waters, and the chances are just as good for finding her again by accident as they would be if we made a search. Luck goes in threes, anyhow, you know, fellows. We’ve seen her twice when we least expected it, and I believe we’ll see her again. Now I’m going to take it easy,” and he stretched out on a sofa in the living cabin, through the glass floor of which glimpses could be had of the ocean below them.