prophet. By the time
those five minutes were up, he had succeeded in coaxing the refractory
motor to behave itself; and suddenly the _Wireless_ shot off amid a
rattling volley of explosions that told full well how her muffler was
cut out.

George continued on at a pace that took him far ahead of the rest.
Then they saw him draw up and wait, as though, having demonstrated the
ability of his motor to do good work, caution again dictated that he
keep in touch with the supply boat and the pilot craft.

That day was the easiest of the week. They had an open passage nearly
all the way to the bay, the weather was all that could be asked; and
the rest did seem so fine after so much hard labor with push poles.

"If this sort of thing would only keep up," Nick remarked, as they
landed on a sandspit to make a fire and have a pot of hot coffee at
noon, in order to cheer things up, "I'd have some hope of getting back
to my former condition again."

"Well, if that means taking up any more room aboard my boat," grunted
George, "I hope you won't do it. Things are getting to a pass now that
I'm feeling squeezed half the time. Some day we hope you're going to
have that ferryboat made to order, as you've been threatening. Say,
it'll just be a jim dandy, I guess."

"It's going to combine speed with comfort," declared Nick,
unblushingly. "While it'll beat Herb's tub all hollow for room, at the
same time it can make rings around the poor old _Wireless_. Just you
wait; I've got her all mapped out in my head, and some day I'll
surprise the bunch."

The afternoon run took them in good time to where the sound they were
following broke into Charleston Bay.

"There's the ruins of old Fort Sumter!" cried Nick, as they saw the
lovely panorama spread out in front of them.

"And Port Moultrie, too! Gee! to think that we'd ever get to set eyes
on the places we used to read so much about in history," said Josh,
staring around.

"Well," laughed Jack, "to my mind right now, the best of it is that
yonder lies Charleston, where we can lay in a new supply of gas;
because I'm expecting to find any minute that my well has gone dry.
It's an awful thing to have a thirsty engine and nothing to feed it.
But perhaps I'll pull through by making every drop tell."

It proved to be better than that, for there was not the slightest
trouble experienced in making the run up the bay to the city.

Skirting the shore, Jack kept his eyes on the alert fo