Bob was, because of his stoutness5, rather fortunate in the water. He floated well, and he was by no means a bad swimmer. As for Professor Snodgrass, in spite of his preoccupation at times, he had mastered the art of keeping himself afloat in the water, and was really well able to look out for himself. So he had not much difficulty.
“Are you hurt, Professor?” gasped6 Bob, as soon as he had cleared his eyes and mouth of some of the salty water that had entered.
“I—I don’t seem to be,” gasped the little[141] scientist. “This was rather unfortunate, wasn’t it?”
“If you mean being tossed overboard, I’ll say it was,” replied Bob, hardly meaning his answer to take that army-slang phraseology. “But it’s lucky we found this bit of wreckage. It will keep us up, without our having to swim, for some time.”
“Oh, yes, that was lucky,” agreed the professor. “But what I meant was it’s too bad I didn’t get that bug7 when I had the chance. I refer to the one on the sailor. Very rare bug, that. I almost had it when the crash came. I wonder if he’ll be there when we get back?”
“The bug?” asked Bob, unable to restrain a smile.
“Well, the bug and the sailor. Those bugs8 cling, once they get fastened on a person or object. If that sailor hasn’t been tossed overboard, like ourselves, I may be able to get my specimen9 after all when we get back.”
“If we do get back,” put in Bob, as he took an easier position on the bit of wreckage and looked about him.
“Get back! Why shouldn’t we get back?” asked Professor Snodgrass. “All we’ve got to do is to cling here until they send a boat for us.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” half agreed Bob. “But if they can’t see to pick us up, and we drift much farther apart, why——”
[142]
He did not need to say more. The little scientist looked about and saw the white fog enveloping10 them. It was answer enough.
“This surely is unfortunate,” went on the little bald-headed man. “I need just that one bug to complete my collection, and if we don’t return soon some one else may get it.”
“Who’d want it?” asked Bob.
“Why Dr. Hallet, of course,” was the answer, as if there could be no other. “I’ve had to fight tooth and nail the last month to keep him from securing things that really belong to me. And now that I am in this unfortunate position he may get ahead of me. There is only one hope.”
“What’s that?” asked Bob. “Do you see a boat coming for us?”
“No. The hope I refer to is that the sailor on whom I saw that bug may remember that I have first claim to it. He may save it for me and not let Dr. Hallet get it.”
“Is Dr. Hallet on board?” asked Bob, beginning to get a glimmer11 of light on some matters that had puzzled him and his chums during the past few days.
“Well, he was at the time I left,” announced the professor. “But he, too, may have been tossed overboard as we were. If he was, I hope he doesn’t want to get aboard our present craft. There is hardly room for one more.”
[143]
“No, indeed,” agreed Bob. “But, say, Professor, we ought to do something.”
“Do what, Bob?”
“Shout and yell to let ’em know we’re out here. They’ll send a boat for us. Come on, yell!”
Accordingly they blended their voices, far from musically, but into what they hoped would prove to be an appeal for help. Whether it was effective or not they could not tell, as the fog shut them in like a great white blanket.
“If we could manage to propel our craft in the direction of the ship we might be saved sooner,” said Professor Snodgrass. “What do you imagine hit us, Bob?”
“Oh, some sort of ship—derelict, I imagine, because I didn’t hear any whistle before the crash. Ours was the only one going. It wasn’t an iceberg—I know that. I had a glimpse of something big looming12 up in front of me, then I heard and felt the crash, and—here we are!”
“Yes, here we are!” agreed the professor. “And the next matter to consider is—what are we going to do?”
“We’ve got to hold on to what we have until we can get something better,” the Motor Boy decided13, after a moment of thought. “If we smashed the other ship up much, or she smashed us, there’ll be a lot of wreckage floating around soon, and we may be able to pick up a bigger piece. As it[144] is, I think you can get on this one, Professor, and let me swim behind and push it. In that way we can make better progress, and may get back to the transport.”
“I suppose that would be a good plan, Bob. But why can’t we both get on this bit of wreckage?”
“Won’t hold us,” was the answer. “It’s just big enough for you. I’m too fat. Besides, I guess I can stand it better swimming and pushing than you. I’ll get off some of my things, though, and make it easier.”
Partly supporting himself on the mass of wreckage, Bob removed his shoes, trousers and coat, and remained in his underwear, which did not form a bad bathing suit.
His garments he rolled up and stuffed into a big crack in the mass of timbers and boards.
Professor Snodgrass was small and light, and when he had managed, with Bob’s help, to clamber up on the wreckage he found he had a fairly comfortable position compared to being unsupported in the water. Nor did he submerge the mass very much.
“What are you going to do?” the professor asked, as he settled himself on the middle of the mass.
“Try to get back to the Sherman,” Bob answered. “She can’t be very far away.”
[145]
“Hadn’t we better yell again?” asked Professor Snodgrass, after a period of silence. “We ought to let them know we’re here.”
“Yes,” agreed Bob, “we had.”
Now, again, they raised their voices, but after several trials, there came no answer.
“They must have got up steam, and are going away from us,” said Bob. “Or else they’ve sunk,” he added, after a moment.
“I can hardly believe that,” answered the professor. “The blow struck by the derelict, as you say it was, I am sure was not hard enough to sink our ship so soon. Besides, if she had gone down we’d see signs of more wreckage, or the lifeboats. As it is, we have seen nothing.”
“That’s right,” admitted Bob. “It surely is queer.”
Bob Baker had paused in his efforts to push the raft, and now was resting himself while he held this conversation with his friend.
He was about to start to swimming again when the professor began quickly to remove his coat, shoes, and trousers.
“What are you going to do?” cried Bob, wondering if the shock had suddenly sent his scientific friend mad.
“Don’t stop me!” cried Professor Snodgrass. “I’ve just got to get it!”
An instant later he dived overboard, and Bob[146] was about to swim around and catch hold of him, when he saw the little man’s object.
Just ahead of the raft was a mass of floating seaweed, and on it, or entangled14 in it, were several forms of marine15 life—a crab16, a radiolite and one or two others.
“There’s enough here for a month of study!” cried the professor, as he swam back to the raft with his prize. “Oh, if I only had my microscope and notebook here. But they are back on the transport. Oh, if she should be sunk what a loss it would be!”
“I should say so!” agreed Bob, as he helped steady the raft while the little bald-headed man, holding the mass of weeds he had secured, climbed “on board” again. “Think of the lives that would be lost!”
“Yes, that would be awful,” agreed his companion. “But I would lose a most wonderful collection of specimens17 and much valuable data concerning them. That rascally18 Dr. Hallet would get them if he could.”
“Who is he?” asked Bob. “Is he that mysterious individual who was in the guarded cabin? the little man who looks like you from behind, with whom Jerry had the row, and who——”
“Look! Look!” suddenly cried the professor, holding to his bunch of seaweed with one hand and with the other stuffing his removed clothes[147] into a crack of the raft so they would not be washed away. “Look! There’s a boat after us!”
Bob looked in the direction of the pointing finger and saw, dimly through the fog, a white object of considerable size, at least as compared to their improvised19 vessel20. It floated well up out of the water, and as the drifting currents brought the two nearer Bob saw that it was a ship’s life raft. It consisted of two large steel cylinders21, filled with air and sealed. Between them was a platform and a raised object which Bob knew was a water-tight box, or locker22, containing food and water.
“Look!” cried the professor. “There he is! There he is! Oh, I hope the bug is still on him!”
And then Bob observed that the life raft held a lone23 occupant. It was a sailor, and it needed only a second glance to show that it was the same man from whom Professor Snodgrass had been about to remove a “specimen,” when the crash came.
Almost at the same instant that Bob and the professor observed the lone sailor on the life raft, the man noticed them. He stared a moment, then waved his hand in greeting and called:
“Are you alive?”
“Very much so!” answered Bob. “Have you room for us there?”
[148]
“Plenty and to spare,” was the answer. “This raft is built to hold twelve. Wait, I’ll row over to you!”
Then Bob saw that the queer craft was provided with oars24; and though it moved clumsily in the water it progressed toward him and the professor. The latter gave one look and observing that substantial help was on the way, he began to examine the specimens in the bunch of seaweed. Not before he had called out, however to the sailor:
“Don’t lose that bug, whatever you do!”
“Bug! Lose the bug! Sure, and the man’s plumb25 daft!” Bob heard the old salt mutter.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
baker
|
|
| n.面包师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
wreckage
|
|
| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
partially
|
|
| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
stoutness
|
|
| 坚固，刚毅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
bug
|
|
| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bugs
|
|
| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
enveloping
|
|
| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
glimmer
|
|
| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
looming
|
|
| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
entangled
|
|
| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
marine
|
|
| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
crab
|
|
| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
specimens
|
|
| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
rascally
|
|
| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
improvised
|
|
| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
cylinders
|
|
| n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
locker
|
|
| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
plumb
|
|
| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |