“Oh, I don’t think it’s very much, Jack. Of course, we came down so hard it gave us all a terrible jolt.”
“It was like one of those roller-coaster boats hitting the water at a seaside resort,” remarked Randy.
“A good deal worse than that!” cried Ruth. “You know, we came down nose first, as they say. Why, for an instant I thought I was going to be thrown out on my face. And, you must remember, we were several hundred feet up in the air when we started to fall.”
“Oh, I know you came down pretty hard,” answered Andy. “Why, the water splashed in every direction!”
After this there was a brief period of silence, the boys bending vigorously to their oars, feeling that the Stevensons would like to get ashore and to shelter as soon as possible.
“I am staying at the Haven Point House,” said Mr. Stevenson. “I’ll go right up there and get an extra room for Ruth, and then we can telephone to Clearwater Hall and have some of the girls bring her some dry clothing. And I’ll have a doctor look her over, as well as find out what’s the matter with my side. I don’t think it’s much, but I want him to make sure. I have trouble enough these days without becoming sick,” he added, with a thoughtful look on his face.
As anticipated, their coming to one of the docks of the town created not a little excitement. A number of persons had seen the erratic movements of the biplane and had witnessed its disappearance into the lake, and the news had spread that the aviator and his passengers were probably drowned. Several boats had put out to the scene of the disaster, but these now returned. A crowd surrounded the Stevensons and the cadets, asking numerous questions. But Jack soon obtained a taxicab, and into this the Stevensons were hurried and the driver was directed to take them at once to the hotel.
“We’ll be up after a while,” said Jack. “I want to telephone to Colonel Colby first, to let him know we’ll be late in getting back. I don’t want to leave here until I find out what condition your father is really in.”
With the Stevensons gone, the Rover boys told the crowd some of the particulars of what had happened.
“I think I know what was the trouble,” said another aviator who was present, a man who occasionally took Tom Bossick’s place. “Tom and I were going over the motor a couple of days ago, and I noticed that it wasn’t as fast to the framework as it might be. It’s my opinion it worked loose, and that threw the machine off its keel.”