By degrees, however, these reminders of the dreadful tragedy became fewer and fewer until Josh failed to discover any more of them. From this he decided that, owing to the increased momentum attained for the motorboat by the use of its engine, they had by this time distanced all drifting snags. Still he clung to his post until another ten minutes had elapsed, when he came back to where Jack sat.
“We’ve got beyond all the floaters, Jack,” he remarked, “and anyway my eyes begin to feel the strain. So I thought I’d just drop in and find out what your plan of campaign might be.”
“Do you mean for to-night?” asked the pilot at the wheel.
“Sure thing, Jack. We’re moving right now at a healthy pace, but how long do you mean to keep the same up, I’d like to know?”
Jack took a look aloft. He found that the same conditions prevailed there, with the heavens covered with clouds so that the moon was entirely shrouded from view.
“If things continued like that up there,” he assured Josh, “I’d feel like keeping on the move the whole night long. We’ll have to hide somewhere in the daytime so as to keep from getting into trouble; and perhaps to-morrow night we can cover the balance of the distance separating us from the Iron Gate.”
“But how will you be able to stand it?” demanded Josh, indignantly.
“Oh, I can make up for lost sleep to-morrow, you know; there’ll be really nothing else to do the whole day long but sleep. And if I find myself getting too dopey for any use, why, I can call on George or you to take hold. It’s all right, Josh, and please don’t waste any pity on me. I’m only too glad to be able to cover half that hundred miles before dawn comes on.”
Josh knew better than to dispute Jack when his mind was made up. Besides, that arrangement just suited his own ideas.
George had been listening to this talk, also Buster.