"We ought to have dipped our ensign, I suppose," remarked Stratton.
"There wasn't time," rejoined Woodleigh. "He passed before you could count five."
"He's turning!" exclaimed Alan. "I say, what a heel! Oh, look! she's over!"
Hepburn's exclamation directed the attention of all hands aft. Even Flemming, who was in the wheel-house, allowed the Olivette to swing a couple of points out of her course as he looked astern.
The air-propelled craft, extremely sensitive to her helm, had made too sharp a turn, or perhaps the mechanic had not slowed down the motor sufficiently. In any case she capsized. For a moment, quite two-thirds of the under-surface of the floats was exposed. Then, with a rending crash, the rapidly-revolving propeller blades hit the water and were shattered into splinters. The next instant the violently racing engine dipped beneath the surface. A cloud of steam, as the water came into contact with the hot cylinders, momentarily hid the scene of the disaster.
Flemming acted promptly. Spinning the wheel hard over, and shouting to his chum, Roche, to slow down, he brought the Olivette's bows on to the spot where the glisseur had disappeared on an unpremeditated submarine excursion.
The owner of the vanished craft was with difficulty swimming towards his mechanic, who, unable to keep afloat, had sunk for the second time.
The Frenchman was obviously handicapped, because he made no attempt to use his left arm, but, arriving over the place where the air-bubbles marked the presence of the unfortunate mechanic, he dived to the latter's rescue.
The pair reappeared together, the mechanic desperately grasping his master round the neck. With a sudden wrench the latter shook himself partly clear, then, with a short quick jab with his right fist, the Frenchman hit the struggling man a stunning blow on the left temple, grasped him by the collar of his overalls, and waited the arrival of the Olivette.
Quickly the pair were hauled on board. Three of the Sea Scouts immediately set to work to resuscitate the half-drowned mechanic, while the others, in their imperfect French, offered their services to the owner of the lost craft.