“What are you going to do?”
“I hardly know yet awhile; but I’ve got a sort of an idea which may turn out to be a big thing.”
Then, to the great surprise of both his companions, Ned began examining the partition which separated the cabin from the upper portion of the engine-room.
The inspection appeared to afford him considerable satisfaction, and he began cutting the highly polished moldings on either side of the center panel with his pocket knife.
This apparently useless destruction was more than Vance could witness in silence, and he asked quite sharply:
“What’s come over you now?”
Ned placed his finger on his lips as a token that no noise should be made, and continued to work with feverish haste, stopping every now and then to make certain he was not heard by any one who might chance to be on the opposite side of the wood-work.
During an hour he labored industriously, and then there was an expression of the most intense satisfaction on his face as he went softly to Vance’s post of duty, beckoning for Roy to join them.
“That bulkhead is only made of thin boards,” he said in a whisper, “and I have cut away the moldings until the center panel can be pulled out in a few seconds.”
“Well, what does that amount to?” Vance asked impatiently.