Now my scheme,"
he announced, his last trace of reserve vanishing, "is to box that
propeller somehow--if so be as it can be done--an'--," the voice
trailed off into meditation.
Robert Morton, too, was silent.
"You would have to see that the wheel was kept free," he mused aloud
after an interval.
"I know it."
"And not check the speed of the boat."
"Right you are, mate!" exclaimed Willie with delight.
"And not hamper the swing of the rudder."
"You have it! You have it!" Willie shouted, rubbing his hands together
and smiling broadly. "It's all them things I'm up against."
"I believe the trick might be turned, though," replied young Morton,
rising from the nail keg on which he was sitting and striding about the
narrow room. "It's a pretty problem and one it would be rather good
fun to work out."
"I'd need to rig up a model to experiment with, I s'pose," reflected
Willie.
"Oh, we could fix that easily enough," Bob cried with rising enthusiasm.
"_We_?"
"Sure! I'll help you."
The announcement did not altogether reassure the inventor, and Bob
laughed at the dubious expression of his face.
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