"Here it is, sticking through the floor. Here's the place it went through the cowl, leaving a jagged hole in the metal."
Harry proceeded to extract the bolt from its lodging place, and soon brought it forth for inspection. Jimmie kept a sharp lookout for the other machine, preparing to elude it if it returned.
With a considerable degree of interest the boys examined the object brought forth by Harry. It was a bolt or shaft of iron about nine inches long, and had been provided with a vane at one end, evidently for the purpose of causing it to fall perpendicularly in its flight.
"Gee!" ejaculated Harry. "A few bushels of those things dropped into a regiment of soldiers would play sad havoc! They'd go through a man!"
"You're right, they would!" declared Jack. "If they were dropped from any considerable distance, they'd go through more than a man!"
"Well, Ned, you're lucky the thing didn't hit you instead of the compass," congratulated Harry. "We need both, but you more than the compass, if either is to be spared! I'm glad it wasn't worse!"
"Let's be ready for him if he returns," suggested Jimmie.
"Let's get out of his way!" offered Harry. "We can beat him!"
"Not much!" argued Jimmie. "We don't have to run away! If he comes back again, I'm going to show him that he's monkeying with a buzz saw when he bothers us! If he can drop slugs like that, I can shoot!"