Tom signaled to the power room for the compressed air pump to be started again. In this gale he realized the boat would roll, and this was dangerous. She needed more balance-weight.
Again the structure rolled and groaned. Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor cried out. They had not experienced this motion before. The Winged Arrow came to an even keel, then once more dipped sideways.
With a crash one wing-end scraped along the hill of ice. The rebound carried the plane away from the wall of ice; but she began to descend, slowly but surely.
Tom speeded up, and the groaning boat shot away from the hillside. Behind them the spiral of smoke came from a cleft into which it had been impossible for any of them to see. The flying boat was flapping downward like a broken-winged bird!
“Are we wrecked? Is it a smash-up?” queried Mr. Nestor anxiously.
“Bless my anchors!” gasped Mr. Damon.
“We’ve got to make a landing,” said Tom, with some show of cheerfulness. “But there is a pretty level field of ice to make it on. I think we shall be all right.”
The next moment the boat was bouncing on its wheels and tail. The power had been shut off. Soon they came to a halt and it was possible to discover how badly the flying boat was damaged, if damaged at all.
CHAPTER XXIV
UNEXPECTED GOOD FORTUNE
Mr. Wakefield Damon was possessed of a bulldog trait. When he once set his teeth into a thing he would not let go until he had mastered it.