A FEARFUL GALE
“Well, boys, you seem to think there is something strange in my new
quest,” remarked Professor Snodgrass, looking from one to the other of
the motor boys. “Don’t you care to go off on expeditions with me any
more? I know you used to be fond of traveling. And now, when I come to
you with this proposition, you seem to think it is too much.
“As soon as I received the commission to get a hermit crab--one that
lives in the shell of some mollusk--I thought of you boys. I said to
myself that you were not afraid to sail through the air, so naturally
you wouldn’t back out when it came to going under water. And now----”
“It isn’t that, Professor,” interrupted Jerry, respectfully. “It’s just
the suddenness of it, and a peculiar coincidence. We haven’t thought
much about a submarine, though I’m sure we could manage one if we
tried. It’s just a certain happening that occurred yesterday that made
us seem so surprised. We’ll tell you all about it.”
“One moment!” exclaimed Mrs. Hopkins. “I didn’t object very much,
Jerry, when you wanted to take up aeroplaning, though I was very
anxious. But I am afraid I must draw the line at submarines. I am _so_
afraid of them. Professor Snodgrass, if I had known this was the nature
of your new quest, I’d never have let you mention it to the boys,” and
she playfully shook her finger at him.
“There will be no danger--no danger in the least, I assure you, Mrs.
Hopkins,” said the little scientist, with an old-fashioned bow. “I
know the boys are brave and if we do go to the bottom of the sea in a
submarine we will come back safely. Don’t worry.”
“I just can’t help it,” Mrs. Hopkins rejoined. “But I feel sure that it
will be a long time before the boys will be able to build a submarine
and go down in it.”
“I don’t know about that,” answered Jerry, with a smile. “But,
Professor, let us tell you how strangely your quest fits in with a
little experience we passed through yesterday.”
Then, by turns, each adding something, the boys told of the sight of
the submarine, and of the storm through which they had passed.
“Hum! Yes,” said Mr. Snodgrass, when Ned had spoken of reading about
the German boat. “I also recollect that. The man’s name is Klauss, I
believe.”
“And is his boat really so wonderful?” asked Bob.
“Yes, from the brief accounts I saw of it I should say it was the
last word in submarines,” replied the scientist. “I wish I had an
opportunity to examine it, and if it is in this country, which seems to
be the case, we may get a chance.”
“Not if he acts the way he did when we saw him,” commented Jerry. “He
didn’t seem to want to be interviewed, and dived down as soon as he
could.”
“Oh, well, maybe he was afraid of the coming storm,” went of Mr.
Snodgrass. “Even the best submarine can’t stand being filled with
water, you know, and they have very little free-board when running
awash. However, let us now consider this new quest of mine. I really
must make an attempt to get some of these rare hermit crabs, and the
only way I know how to do it is to get to the bottom of the sea in a
submarine. If you boys have no idea of making one perhaps I can get
someone else. But I would rather go with you.”
“And I think we’d like to go!” cried Jerry, looking about to make sure
his mother did not hear him. He knew she would let him go when the
time came, after she had been assured of the comparative safety of the
cruise.
“Then it’s all settled!” cried the professor, as if that was all that
was necessary. “I’ll leave the details to you boys. When you have
the submarine ready we will go. Meanwhile, I can be collecting other
specimens. At present I must put away this rare lady bug that I got
from Susan. It is really quite valuable, and I must make some notes
concerning it before I forget them.”
He went into Jerry’s house, where he was always a welcome guest,
leaving the boys to stare in surprise at one another.
“Well, if he isn’t the limit!” exclaimed Ned. “He tells us to let him
know when the submarine is ready, just as though it was only a call to
a meal.”
“Or as if we could produce a submarine at a minute’s notice, the way
the magician in the show brings a rabbit out of a hat,” added Jerry.
“The professor expects us to do wonders. A submarine, and we haven’t
even so much as a ballast tank!”
“Well, maybe we could buy a second-hand submarine, if we could not have
one made,” suggested Bob.
“Ha! Chunky is getting up his spunk,” spoke Ned. “Well, we’ll have to
think this over. Meanwhile I guess I’d better be getting on home. Come
on, Jerry, we’ll put away the _Comet_ and to-morrow, or next day, we
can talk over this latest stunt. I’m rather for it, myself.”
“So am I,” said the tall lad.
But the boys were not destined to immediately consider ways and means
of obtaining a submarine. Hardly had Jerry and his chums put away the
airship in the big shed than the storm through which they had passed,
out near Boston, reached Cresville. The blow began gently enough, and
for a time it seemed that there would be no special disturbance. But,
as the day advanced, the fury of the gale grew until the wind had
attained the force of a hurricane.
“Say, we seem to be taking a special course in storms,” remarked
Jerry to his mother and the professor that afternoon, when one or two
shutters had been blown from the Hopkins house. “This is almost as bad
as the one at sea when we saw the submarine.”
But the professor was oblivious to everything but writing out facts
concerning the rare lady bug, and with making memoranda concerning the
hermit crabs, of which he soon hoped to start in search.
Jerry was kept busy tying back window blinds, and in mending a
rain-pipe leader that had become displaced, letting the water flood the
cellar.
Attired in a raincoat and rubber boots, the tall lad was working away
when Ned came splashing through the storm. He seemed much excited.
“What’s the trouble?” panted Jerry, ceasing from his labors.
“Say, this is a fearful blow!” burst out Ned. “Two or three houses in
town have been unroofed, and when I came past the newspaper office just
now I saw a bulletin to the effect that out at sea it was much worse.
It is feared that a number of ships have been sunk.”
“Then I’m glad we’re safe on land,” remarked Jerry. “Say, lend me a
hand for a minute, Ned; will you? Just hold that piece of pipe until I
slip this section into it. The wind blew it out of the fastenings.”
“This wind would do almost anything!” cried Ned, as he helped his chum.
“I could hardly walk up the street. The chimney blew off the roof of
Mr. Black’s house, and some of the bricks just missed me.”
“‘A miss is as good as a mile’,” quoted Jerry with a laugh. “But it
sure is some blow, all right! I’m glad we’re not out in it in the
_Comet_.”
“Same here. Whew! That was a fierce one!” cried Ned as a blast of wind
almost tore the rain pipe from his grasp.
“Look out!” cried Jerry. “Duck!” and he pushed his chum aside just in
time, as a slate from the roof sailed past them and crashed to pieces
on the stone walk at their side. Ned turned a little pale.
“Thanks, old man,” he said quietly. “You saved me from a bad cut.”
“I saw it just in time,” returned Jerry. “So the bulletin says the
storm is even worse out at sea; eh?”
“It does, and say--Bob’s uncle and cousin! They must be out in it. He
said their boat would arrive in a day or so!”
“By Jove!” cried Jerry. “I never thought of that. It may be bad for the
Sheldons. I wish we could help them, but I don’t see how we can. Poor
old Bob will worry, and----”
“Here he comes now!” interrupted Ned, as he saw a figure splashing
along the street. “He acts as though he had news, too!”