There was no gainsaying his words, but Ding-dong, as usual, had to say something. He was the most unperturbed person on board, in fact.
“I d-d-d-d-didn’t do it on p-p-purpose, you know,” he remarked, as he walked off.
“Good heavens!” exclaimed the professor, leaning against the rail, “what trouble is that boy going to get into next?”
The stuttering lad’s narrow escape had so unnerved them all that there was no answer.
“Well?” said the professor at length, as if seeking a reply to his question.
“Don’t ask me, sir,” gasped out Nat. “I haven’t got my breath back yet.”
It was, perhaps, half an hour later when the entire craft was electrified by a cry from Joe.
“Nat was right! It is a lake!”
No need to ask to what he referred. The professor ordered the Discoverer sent higher, so as to give them a larger horizon, or, rather, a bird’s-eye view.
As the craft rose upward in obedience to her planes, they saw beneath them, but still at some little distance, what Nat has since declared was the most wonderful sight he has ever seen or hopes to see.