"I'm willing to risk the dive, sir," replied Leslie.
The boy had abundant confidence in the specifications and plans his father had made. Provided the makers had implicitly followed Mr. Ward's instructions, the material of the sleigh was quite strong enough to resist the shock of a twenty-feet dive into the sea.
"And so am I," added Ranworth. "At the same time, there's a risk, and it is obviously unfair to keep all the crew on board when two will be ample for this occasion."
Despite the protestations of Guy and the two seamen, Rogers and Payne, the trio were ordered to leave the cabin and take their place on the ice. If things went amiss, and the cabin walls were stove in, the sleigh would sink like a stone, without the faintest chance of escape for Ranworth and Leslie. In that case, Guy and the two men would be able to retrace their way on foot to the Polarity.
Leslie felt sorry for Guy, as his chum exchanged the comfort of the enclosed cabin for the bitter cold of the open air. In spite of his warm fur clothing, the keenness of the wind cut Guy like a knife.
With the deepest concern and anxiety, he saw the sleigh move slowly forward. At the very brink of the glacial wall it hung irresolute as the chain bands cut into the "rotten" ice. Then, tilting bows downwards, it toppled, and, like an arrow, plunged into the sea.
For several seconds the sleigh was invisible owing to the depth to which it had descended, and to the mighty column of spray it had thrown up on impact with the water.
Then, to Guy's intense satisfaction, the amphibious invention reappeared, bobbing buoyantly upon the surface. He watched it anxiously. Seconds passed, but the floating sleigh showed no signs of foundering. It had survived the shock and was undoubtedly watertight.
Under the sharp stern the water began to churn. Leslie had coupled up and was running the "nautical" propeller. To attempt to approach the wall of ice under the action of the twin aerial propellers, was to court disaster.
Adroitly manoeuvred, the sleigh was brought alongside the ice. By means of a rope fastened to a crowbar, which in turn was wedged tightly in a crevasse, Guy and the two seamen slid down to the roof—or, as Rogers expressed it, the upper deck—whence by means of a hatchway they regained the interior of the cabin.