“I don’t know,” confessed Barton Swift. “I have been wondering and worrying all the afternoon. And now I know less about it than I did at first.”
“How is that?”
“It has crossed my mind that the message may be a fake. It may come from some schemer who wishes us ill. But on the face of it—here! Read it!”
He thrust the cablegram into Tom’s hand. The young inventor read, and read it aloud for Ned Newton’s benefit:
“Mes. Damon and Nestor lost with treasure chest on iceberg in Greenland Sea between Greenland and Iceland. Kalrye a wreck and our boats separated. Believe castaways alive on giant iceberg. Cable funds for rescue, or advise—Olaf Karofsen, com. Kalrye, Reykjavik.”
CHAPTER XV
ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND
Ned declared the message was a fake. He would not believe such an extraordinary tale could be true.
“Somebody wants to get you off the Winged Arrow,” he said. “That fellow who hung around here at the launching—remember? The chap with the Frenchy look. I bet he represented some inventor who is trying to put out a machine like yours. This is a scheme to take your mind off your work and delay you.”
“It can’t delay me much now,” said Tom, puzzled. “The flying boat has been proved practical—and is practically complete.”
“I fear that something really terrible has happened to our friends up there in the Arctic,” Mr. Swift broke in.