"I'm in command of this
boat, and you'll do as I say. I'll gladly set you on the surface
if I can, and this is the only way it can be brought about--it's
the only way to save all of us. I'm going to enlarge the mud hole
so we can pull out. Please keep still!"
Mr. Hardley stared at the young inventor a moment, seemed about
to say something, and then changed his mind.
"Hold fast, everybody!" suddenly called Tom. The next moment
the M. N. 1 began behaving in a most peculiar manner.
She appeared to be acting like a corkscrew. While her bow was
comparatively steady, her stern described a circle in the water
which was churned to mud by the two propellers, each being
revolved in a different direction.
"I'm trying to make the hole bigger just as an amateur
carpenter makes a nail hole bigger, so he can pull out the nail,
by twisting it around," explained Tom. "The motion may be a bit
unpleasant, but it is needful."
And indeed the motion was unpleasant. Tom, veteran airman and
sailor that he was, began to feel a trifle seasick, and Hr.
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