CHAPTER XXVII

THE TRANSPORTING OF NODDY

“Just a little lower down, Ned. That’s it. Now to the left, there’s a big bunch of ’em there. No, that’s too much! Back up a little. Whoa! Hold me there!”

Jerry was in the motor room, working the connections to the dangling wires by means of which it was hoped to electrocute the serpents that had made prisoners of Noddy and his cronies in the hut on Snake Island. Ned was in the pilot house, directing the course of the _Comet_. The professor and Bob stood by, ready to lend whatever assistance was needed, while the prisoners in the hut, standing in the door, ready for an instant retreat, watched with anxious eyes the preparations for their rescue.

“Are you going to try and electrocute every snake?” asked Bob of his tall chum.

“As many as we can, Chunky.”

“But that will take quite a while, to drag the wires across every one.”

“We won’t have to do that,” replied Jerry, as he looked through the plate glass window in the floor of the motor room, one hand on the switch that controlled the electrical current, while in the other he grasped a speaking tube, by which he gave orders to Ned in the pilot house. “You see, Bob, the snakes’ bodies are moist, and moisture is a good conductor of electricity. So if I can drag a live wire over a bunch of snakes, and only touch one, the current will go through all of ’em, and kill the whole lot. They’ll help to kill themselves.”

“I see!” exclaimed Bob.

“Watch now, we’re going to begin!” cried Jerry, and his chum, looking down, saw the wires carrying the powerful current writhe and twist about, almost like snakes themselves. From the exposed ends there shot out a shower of blue sparks.

Suddenly one of the conductors touched a mass of snakes, that seemed tied in knots. A moment before the snakes had been twining in and out, hissing stridently. The next instant they were as if turned to stone, for they had been killed at once.

“That’s the way to do it!” cried Bob.

Again a wire, twisting and turning, was dragged over a mass of serpents, and the life went out of them. Time after time this happened until the writhing snakes were more than half destroyed.

“That’s a new and wonderful way to kill snakes,” said the professor, as he looked on. “I hope you aren’t killing any two-tailed toads.”

“They’ll be just as good for specimens,” remarked Jerry as he turned on more power, sending the wires that dangled from the airship, swirling about, carrying death and destruction.

At length, so great was the slaughter, that the snakes became terrified at the unknown power, and with angry hisses, they began crawling away in the crevices of the rocks, and under the bushes.

“I guess that’s enough,” announced Jerry, when he could see none but dead serpents. “You can come out now, Noddy!” he shouted to the bully, for the airship was close to the hut. Jerry began pulling up the wires, the current having been shut off.

“Oh, take us away! Take us away from this awful island!” begged Noddy. “We won’t bother you again. We’re sorry we ever followed you; aren’t we, Bill?”

“I am,” replied Noddy’s crony, thoroughly cowed.

“But we have as good a right to stay and hunt for the radium as they have!” put in Dr. Belgrade sharply.

“Then you stay!” cried Noddy. “I’ve had enough! I’m going back home.”

“And desert me?” asked the renegade professor.

“I don’t care anything about you! I wish I’d never come on this trip. Oh, Jerry, I’ll never bother you again, as long as I live if you only set me on the main land. We can’t get to shore unless you help us, because the current is too swift.”

“What shall we do?” asked Jerry of his chums.

“Transport him,” suggested Ned. “We want the island to ourselves, if we hunt for the radium treasure. This is an easy way to get rid of Noddy.”

The others agreed to this, and accordingly the airship was let down in front of the hut. The professor began searching among the dead snakes for a two-tailed toad, but did not find any.

Noddy lost no time in scrambling aboard the _Comet_. Bill Berry followed, and Dr. Belgrade much against his will, did likewise. He scowled at the boys and the professor, but they took no notice of him. As Jerry had said, the less they had to do with the plotters the better it would be.

Noddy was hysterically thankful to the motor boys, but they well knew he might, at the first chance, play some mean trick on them.

“How did you come to get to the hut?” asked Jerry.

Noddy briefly told his story. He did not mention taking the airship, nor the other unfair things he had done. He said he and his cronies had managed to reach the canyon, and, in spite of the advice of guides, they decided to try to float down the river in a boat. They took provisions with them, but were wrecked in the rapids. They managed to reach the island, and some of their provisions floated ashore. They had landed near the hut, which they found easily, and took shelter in there, hoping against hope for a rescue. They were at the opposite end of the island from where our friends had first landed.

“Well, we’ll give you some provisions, and you’ll have to get to civilization the best way you can,” said Jerry to the bully and his cronies, as they were landed on top of the bluffs, and supplied with food and water. “You’ve made trouble enough for us.”

“We left some of our food and things in the hut,” said Noddy, as Jerry and his chums were about to sail away. “After the flood which brought the snakes down, we didn’t dare go out. There was some stuff in the hut when we reached it. I think someone had been there just before we were.”

“What?” cried Jerry. “Someone had been in the hut recently?”

“I’m sure of it,” spoke Noddy. “There was food in some boxes when we took shelter there. And some books, and papers with writing on. But we didn’t see anyone while we were there until you came, and we were never gladder to see anybody than you. We couldn’t find any radium. I’m sorry I treated you so mean, and----”

“Well, never mind,” interrupted Jerry, in whose brain many thoughts were whirling about. “Are you sure someone had been in the hut recently?”

“Positive. You can ask Bill Berry.”

But Jerry had no desire to do this. He preferred to look for himself. Bill was sullen and angry, and so was Dr. Belgrade. Both knew that the game was up. But no attention was paid to them.

With no very hearty good-byes, our friends watched the trio of unpleasant ones depart. They could reach civilization in a day or so, and they had enough to eat and drink for that time.

“Now come on!” cried Jerry to his chums. “Come on, Professor,” for the scientist was chasing after a new kind of bug.

“Where to now, Jerry?” asked Ned.

“Back to the hut on Snake Island. I’m going to see who has been living there, and what has become of him.”

“Then you think it might be----”

“I’m going to make sure before I say anything,” interrupted the tall lad, as he sent the airship aloft.