CHAPTER X

AFLOAT ONCE MORE

How the boys wished they understood the mysterious clicking of dots and dashes that came over the wires, so they might interpret the message which meant so much to them! They watched the agent as he wrote down the words that he evolved from the sounds of the clicking instrument. Then, with what the boys thought was exasperating coolness, he clicked back something in answer, and slowly arose from his chair.

“Good news,” he said. “It wasn’t your boat that was smashed. It was some rowboats being sent to a steamship company on Lake Okeechobee. Your boat was in the wreck, but was only scratched a bit. It will be here this afternoon.”

“Hurrah!” yelled Jerry.

“That’s the kind of news we like to hear!” exploded Ned.

“What a relief!” ejaculated Bob.

“Well, yo’ uns seem quite pleased,” remarked the agent. “Can I do anything else for yo’?”

“You’ve done more than enough, in locating our boat,” said Jerry. “Is it on the way now?”

“The agent at Longwood says they’re making up a freight train now to send here. It’s due shortly after one o’clock. Queer how things will get mixed up sometimes when there’s a wreck. I’m glad it wasn’t yo’ boat. But yo’ Northerners are always in such a hurry! By the way, was that Noddy fellow any relation of yours?”

“We know him,” answered Jerry.

“I reckoned yo’ uns must have, ’cause he was in the same kind of a rush,” the agent explained, as if proud of his discernment.

The boys went back to the hotel for breakfast, which even Bob had forgone in order to get earlier news of the boat. Now, with feelings greatly relieved, they ate the morning meal.

“We might as well arrange for some one to cart the boat to the lake,” suggested Jerry as they arose from the table.

“Maybe we’d better look for a shop where we can have it repaired,” put in Ned. “It may need a lot of attention.”

“Hope not,” spoke Jerry, though he thought Ned’s idea a good one.

They found near the shores of Lake Tohopekaliga a boat builder, who agreed to take charge of the _Dartaway_, do whatever was necessary and transport it to the water for them. Then there was nothing to do but to wait.

It seemed a long time until noon, and from then until one o’clock, when the freight was due, the boys thought the clocks had all gone on a strike. But at length, as they waited on the depot platform, they heard a shrill whistle.

“There she comes!” cried Ned. “Now to learn the worst.”

“Or the best,” remarked Jerry, who was of a more hopeful turn of mind.

“I see it!” exclaimed Bob, as the freight train passed them to draw up to the long platform. “Doesn’t seem to be in such bad shape!”

The formalities of paying the freight and getting possession of the craft was soon over. The cradle was left at the depot in readiness for their return after cruising about Lake Okeechobee, and the motor boat was taken on a truck to the repair shop.

Carpenters were soon busy on the craft, and, though the boys were anxious to get her into the water they had to wait over another night. This made them rather impatient but it just suited the professor, who found many more forms of insect life than he had anticipated, and he was kept busy capturing them, much to the astonishment of the citizens of the place, who voted him almost, if not completely, insane.

By the second morning of their stay in Kissimmee City the _Dartaway_ was ready to be put into the water.

“Hurrah! She’s afloat once more!” cried Ned, as he saw their craft moored at the lake dock.

They waited until noon to allow the seams to soak up, and then, having taken on some fresh provisions, and succeeded in coaxing the professor from his search after a peculiar pink fly he had heard infested the region, they were off.

It did not take them long to traverse Lake Tohopekaliga, which is a small body of water. They caught some fine fish in it, and had dinner on shore. Through an artificial canal they reached Lake Hatchenana, and, crossing that, and again traversing a canal they emerged, late that afternoon, upon Lake Kissimmee, the largest body of water between them and Lake Okeechobee.

“This beats railroad travel,” announced Ned, as he sat in the bows, steering. “No dust, no cinders, no smoke, no--”

“No smash-ups!” finished Bob. “We were lucky to get out of it as we did.”

“What’s the program for to-night?” asked the professor of Jerry, who had, in a measure, assumed charge of the trip.

“There’s an island in the middle of this lake,” he answered. “I was thinking we might camp on it.”

“I’m going to put up a net to prevent the manatees from getting at me,” announced Bob with a laugh.

“No danger of them here,” spoke the professor. “But I think we’ll need a net to keep away the gnats and mosquitoes.”

This proved a correct surmise. When they landed on the island in the lake, which piece of land, as far as they could see, was deserted, they were met with a swarm of winged pests that made life miserable.

“This is awful!” exclaimed Bob, slapping about with both hands at the cloud of insects about his head.

“I think I can do something to make it more bearable,” Uriah Snodgrass announced, as he began to delve among his possessions. “Here is a chemical preparation, which, if you rub it on your hands and faces, will, I think, keep the mosquitoes and black flies away.”

The boys gladly availed themselves of the stuff, and, after generous applications, they found, that though the insects still hovered about them, they were not bitten.

Preparations for supper were hastily made, and a fire built in the portable stove. A “smudge” was also made, to keep off most of the mosquitoes and, after this, the travelers were more comfortable.

“It’s warm enough to sleep in the open to-night,” announced Jerry when the question of erecting the tent was raised. “No use getting it out, and we can start off so much earlier in the morning if we don’t have it to bother with.”

The other boys were willing, so, after lighting some lanterns, and clearing a place amid a clump of trees, the sleeping blankets were spread out there and the boys turned in.

The professor, as usual, remained up to arrange the specimens he had collected during the day, making entries in his book by the light of a lantern suspended over a butter tub which he used as a table. He was still at this when the boys fell asleep.

Ned was dreaming that he was in swimming and that Bob and Jerry was splashing water on him, when he awoke with a start, to find he was soaking wet. It was pitch dark, and Ned, at first, did not know what to make of it. It seemed as if some one was dashing a pail of water over him as he lay on the ground.

“Here! Let up!” he cried.

“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry, awaking at the same time. Then Bob added his inquiry, and the professor, who had retired at midnight, called to the boys.

“It’s raining cats and dogs!” cried Ned, scrambling to his feet. “I’m wet through. The lanterns are drowned out! We should have put up the tent!”

“Raining!” exclaimed Jerry. “I guess it’s a cloud-burst from the way I’m getting it!”

It was a drenching downpour, but otherwise the storm was not violent. It had begun to shower gently and from that had rapidly increased to a torrent of water dripping from the clouds.

“Light a lantern somebody!” called Ned. “Let’s make for the boat! We can keep dry there!”

“My matches are all wet!” announced Jerry.

“So are mine!” added Bob.

“I have some dry ones!” the scientist called. “Wait a minute!”

They could hear him moving about in the darkness and rain, seeking for a sheltered place in which to strike a light. Suddenly the blackness was illuminated by a brilliant white glare. It shone full in the faces of the travelers, who, much startled, turned to see what it was. They heard some object strike the island near where their boat was moored, and then the light went out, making the blackness more intense than before.