Suddenly Ensign Hallock gave an exclamation of excitement.
“The Nippon!” he burst out. “Let’s turn the tables on the Chinese, and seize the Nippon! She’s probably got a guard on board, but maybe we can take it by surprise!”
“What could we do with her?” I objected. “She needs a large crew—and there are only twenty-seven of us!”
“We’ll sail her away, of course!” replied the young naval officer with enthusiasm. “There must be fuel on board, for her fires are going. Three of the boys here are apprentice engineers. I can do the navigating. And the rest of you can take turns stoking the boilers!”
“But how could we slip past the Albatross?” asked Dr. Gresham.
Ensign Hallock seemed to have thought of that, too, for he promptly answered:
“The Albatross is an oil-burning craft, with the new type of burners that came into use since these Chinks have been stowed away here in the wilderness. The mechanism for using the oil is quite complicated, and the sorcerers are likely to have trouble operating her until they figure out the system. If we reach them before they have time to master the thing, they will be helpless to stop us!”
The young man’s enthusiasm was contagious. Dr. Gresham begun to give heed.
“Even if we fail to get away in the Nippon,” the scientist admitted, “she has a powerful wireless outfit: Kwo-Sung-tao has been using it to communicate with Washington. With that radio in our hands for ten minutes, we can summon help sufficient to annihilate these yellow devils!”
The plan was adopted without further question. And, believing that the sorcerers’ easy victory over the Albatross had made them careless, perhaps, we struck out in as direct a course as possible for the spot at which the Nippon was docked.