There was a whirr and a buzz and then a volley of explosions.
“Fine!” exclaimed Ralph, as the big motors began to revolve. He adjusted the mixture and then the powerful machines settled down to a rhythmic hum. The clutch was not in and they were running free—that is, the propellers were not yet revolving.
“All right!” cried Ralph, hastening on deck. “All ready when you are!”
The old man and the boy cast off the stem lines, and then Ralph, without loss of time, for there was danger of the freed hull swinging with the current, hastened below once more. Old man Whey took up his position on the bridge. A flash of fire came into his aged eyes as he felt the spokes of a steering wheel in his grip once more.
He seized the engine-room signal lever with a hand that shook but was still determined.
“Full speed astern!” flashed up on the indicator below, on which Ralph’s eyes had been glued.
“The old man sure does understand his business,” murmured the boy, as he grasped the reverse lever.
There came a rattling, grinding whirr as the cogs of the gears engaged. Then a tremor and a convulsion of the hull.
“Is she moving?” wondered Ralph excitedly.
He speeded up the engines to their full capacity. The sharp pitched propellers “bit” the water, exercising a tremendous backward drag on the River Swallow.