“And yet,” said Johnny, “we must try to give them assistance. If we don’t there’ll not be a man of them alive by morning. Their ship is out where the breakers are rolling strongest, not sheltered by the point, as the Chinese ship was.”
“It’s true,” said the Professor, “we must render them some assistance, but how?”
“The ‘Dust Eater,’” said Johnny.
“Couldn’t ride that sea, even if she could the storm,” said Pant. “What’s your idea?”
“Might not work,” said Johnny, “but in times like these, anything’s worth trying. C’m’on.”
They hastened down to the beach where the “Dust Eater” was straining at her moorings.
“You and the Professor prop up the boat and set the wheels under her, while I work at something else,” said Johnny.
He rushed into the cabin of the “Dust Eater” to return at once with two great balls of stout hempen twine. This was a reserve supply to be used for lashing the wings of the plane in case of accident.
There were quantities of drift timber from the wreck of the Chinese craft scattered about on the beach. After gathering up several of these, Johnny began splitting them into pieces a foot in length and about the size of a broom handle. These, as fast as he had split them, he tied into one end of a ball of cord, leaving a space of six or more feet between each two. When he had worked at this for some time, he at last turned to his companions.
The “Dust Eater” was supplied with a set of starting wheels which might be attached to the beam of her boatlike body. These were for use only when an emergency made it necessary to take a start-off from land. Such an emergency was now at hand. Whether, with the gale blowing, they would be able to make a successful flight, remained to be seen. They were now in a position to make the attempt, for Pant and the Professor had completed their task.