CHAPTER IV

A QUEER KIND OF RAT

“Oh, this is terrible!” cried Alice. “I’m going to jump out!”

“Put us ashore! We’ll sink!” screamed Mollie.

“Look here!” exclaimed Jerry sternly. “You girls are old enough to know better. There’s no danger, even if the boat has broken down, and we are stuck fast. If worst comes to worst we can row you ashore. Now, if you’ll keep quiet, I’ll see what’s the matter.”

As Ned had guessed, they were on a sand bar. The boat had been moving quite swiftly before the accident happened, and, what with the momentum and the drift of the current, had run well up on the obstruction.

“Well,” remarked Jerry when matters had quieted down somewhat, “I guess the first thing to do is to look and see what the trouble is with the motor.”

With the assistance of Ned and Bob, Jerry tested the engine to see if there was good compression, that is if there was the proper mixture of air with the vapor from the gasolene to produce the explosive gas which made the piston move. He found that there was no trouble from this source.

“How’s the spark?” asked Ned.

“I haven’t tried that yet,” said Jerry. “I will now.”

He detached one of the wires connected with the batteries and magneto or small dynamo from the binding post of one of the cylinder heads and adjusting the contact breaker, touched the end to the set screw. There was no answering spurt of greenish flame.

“That’s the trouble,” said Ned. “No spark. Wire must be broken.”

“Let’s see if it’s the faults of the batteries or the magneto,” spoke Bob, who was inclined to go slow.

By means of a small handle on the armature of the magneto it was whirled rapidly around. As soon as this was done there came a vicious spark from the end of the wire.

“Trouble is in the batteries,” said Ned.

The spark which exploded the gases in the cylinders of the _Dartaway_ was produced in two ways. When the engine was first started it came from a series of dry cells and a spark coil. Once the fly wheel was revolving well, a switch could be turned to make the current come from the magneto, which was operated by it. But it was necessary that the fly wheel revolve swiftly before any current sufficient to operate the motor would be produced by the magneto.

Now the only way the fly wheel could be operated swiftly enough was to run the engine rapidly and this could not be done except by a spark from the batteries. So it will be seen that the motor boys were in trouble of a peculiar kind right at the start.

True, if one of them could have turned the fly wheel swiftly enough by hand to have made the magneto produce a spark, to get the explosions started the problem would have been solved, but it is doubtful if even a strong man could have performed that feat.

They tried it by turns, when Jerry had exhausted everything else he thought of, but for all their back-breaking efforts there was no result. The _Dartaway_ belied its name.

The boys were hot and tired. The girls were nervous. It had been Jerry’s plan to get the engine started, reverse the screw, and see if he could not pull the boat from the bar. But she stuck fast.

“Shall we row the girls ashore?” asked Sammy. “It’s getting late and the folks may be worried.”

“Well, we’re sorry to lose your company,” said Jerry, “but we seem to be up against it. Maybe it would be the best thing to do. We’ll make up for this some day and give you all a better ride.”

The girls got up, preparing to leave.

“Well, here’s a fine pickle!” exclaimed Sammy.

“What’s happened?” cried Alice.

“Our rowboat’s gone!”

“Our boat?” asked Andy, shortening his remarks for another time.

“That’s what I said,” came from Sammy. “The rope got untied. She’s floated off. I guess you’ll have to entertain us a little longer, Jerry.”

“Make yourselves comfortable,” said the engineer of the _Dartaway_. “I’m going to find out what’s the trouble before I go home. We’ll get you back some time.”

“I hope it’s soon,” murmured Alice. “It will be dark in a little while.”

Spurred on by the plight of their guests the motor boys redoubled their efforts to discover the cause of the trouble and remedy it. That it was in the wires leading from the batteries to the cylinders was certain, but the conductors, when examined as far as possible, showed no sign of break.

“I’ll just have to run new wires, temporary ones of course,” said Jerry after a while. “It will take a little time, but it’s bound to do the trick.”

He overhauled the stores and extra parts in one of the lockers. “I hope we have a coil of wire,” he muttered. “I’m certain I saw some.”

But his search did not reveal any. The situation was getting serious. Already the sun was behind the trees, and the girls plainly showed their nervousness.

“Let Sammy and me get out, take the rope and try to pull the boat off the bar,” suggested Andy.

“It’s too risky,” said Ned. “This bottom is of the quick-sand variety, and you’d sink down. I guess we’re stuck here until the motor goes.”

Bob was rummaging about under one of the seats. He hauled out a package, exclaiming as he did so:

“I’ve got it!”

“What, the wire?” asked Jerry excitedly.

“No, that lunch I brought along! I’m glad it’s here. I’m hungry and I guess the rest of you can nibble at a chicken sandwich or two.”

“Can we?--well I guess yes!” cried Andy, and the others chimed in with him. Even Jerry, though much worried over the mishap, stopped tinkering with the engine long enough to munch some of the food.

“Call me all the names you want to,” said Chunky with a grin, “but you’ll have to admit I’m there with the goods.”

“Good for you, Chunky!” exclaimed Ned.

“Oh!” cried Alice suddenly. “Something bit me on the foot! I believe it’s a rat! Oh dear! Save me!”

She jumped up, much excited, Mollie following her example.

“Sit still!” cried Jerry. “There are no rats aboard!”

“But something bit me!” insisted the girl. “It had sharp teeth and I felt them in my ankle. I have low shoes on!”

She moved away from where she had been sitting. Mollie retreated toward the stern. Jerry got a lantern and lighted it, for it was now dusk, and dark down in the cockpit where the girls had been resting. He made a careful examination.

“I’ve got it!” he cried.

“What, the rat?” asked Alice.

“No; I’ve found the broken wire that caused all our trouble,” came from Jerry. “It was the end of it sticking up through a crack and touching you on the ankle that you felt. Now we’ll be off!”

It was indeed the break in the copper conductor that he had discovered. The ends of the wire came up through a space in the flooring of the boat. They ran from a compartment in the forecastle back to the motor. In less than a minute Jerry had twisted the broken ends together. Then he fastened the conductor back in the spark plug. Turning on the gasolene he gave the fly wheel a twist.

There came a welcome chug-chug and then a throb of the motor. Jerry threw in the reverse gear. The water at the stern was churned into foam as the screw revolved. Slowly the _Dartaway_ backed off the sand bar and into a deeper channel. Then Jerry threw in the forward speed and the craft shot ahead.

“Hurrah!” cried the boys. “We’re off!”

“It’s lucky you discovered that rat,” said Jerry to Alice, “or we might have stayed there all night.”

Bob lighted the search lamp, as it had grown quite dark, and the shaft of glaring whiteness shone on the black river. Jerry speeded up the boat, and it went down the stream toward Cresville at a rapid pace.