Guy saw the operative instructing one of the women how to leap. The professor instructed another. Everybody tried to keep his balance as long as possible. It was a mighty turning of a mighty mass and took some little time. Now it seemed impossible longer to keep from slipping.
“Keep your heads and jump far out,” shouted Watson. “Now, jump.”
How many made the leap successfully, Guy could not see. The next moment he was in the water, while a terrific Niagara of noise filled his ears.
CHAPTER XXI
Searching the Sea
The Jetta was built for both speed and rough weather. She was fifty feet long, and her other proportions carried with them lines of beauty and grace, as well as “a good pair of heels.” She had a six-cylinder, 200-horse power gasoline engine, capable of driving the yacht, on a smooth sea, at the rate of 22 miles an hour.
Architecturally the little vessel was designed with a view to practical use of all the space within her. Just back of the fore peak was the galley, with sink, ice box, cooking stove, and various other “food factory” accessories and conveniences. Abaft this layout was a large cabin, with Pullman berths on either side. Amidships were two staterooms, with lockers and berths, and back of these was the engine room, flanked by two large fuel tanks and locker batteries. Overhead was a large well-glazed deck house, connecting directly with the galley and serving conveniently as a combined observation cabin and dining saloon. A forward portion of the deck house was partitioned off for the pilot and contained steering wheel, engine controls, chart case, log, ship’s clock, thermometers, barometer, compass and sextant.
There was little conversation on board the Jetta for several hours following her midnight departure. After getting her started and seeing that all was running well, Walter turned the engine over to Tony and returned to his wireless instruments. There, with receivers to his ears, he waited eagerly for new messages regarding the wrecked steamer and her passengers. Occasionally he would call down through the speaking tube to find out if everything was going well in the engine room, and Tony would always inquire if he had caught any new messages of importance. Finally Walter, in reply to one of these questions, revealed his hopeful secret by remarking casually:
“Nothing new of much importance. There’s a steamer hurrying to the rescue, but she’s over a hundred miles away from the Herculanea, and it’ll take her several hours to reach the wreck. By that time it’ll be all over, and all they can do is pick up the boats.”
“It’ll take us two days and one night at least to reach the wreck,” said Tony. “What do you expect to find then?”
“To tell the truth, I don’t really expect to find anything. But I’m going to search the sea all around, and if we’re unsuccessful, we’ll at least have the satisfaction of knowing we did our best.”