It was all executed very swiftly and silently. The connection was made and Frank turned to the villain, saying, pleasantly:
“We are half a mile from the earth now!”
“Jericho!” gasped Dooley. “What a drop that would be!”
“Yes, a comfortable one.”
“Eh? I should think it would be a terrible one. Would it not mean death?”
“Possibly. That would depend upon the shock which would be something like—this!”
Frank made the connection.
In that swift second the steel frame received the full force of the dynamos. The villain could not know what struck him.
He sank down in a lifeless heap. Frank switched the current off, and with a leap gained his side. He picked up the revolver and covered Jack Bowler, who had come rushing out of the cabin.
“Great guns!” roared the sailor; “what’s the matter with the skipper—eh—what’s this?”