“Then as long as I can’t do anything, I may as well be on the hunt for the flying lizard,” decided the scientist, and he set off over the desert, with his net and his specimen box.
“Is there anything we can do?” inquired Tod, as he and Jim Nestor approached Jerry.
“Nothing, I guess,” replied the tall lad. “Ned and Bob will help me with the engine.”
“Then we’ll go off prospecting a bit,” said Jim. “We may find a place to catch some fish,” and he winked at Jerry, to indicate to him that he and Tod would hunt for water. And, indeed, Jerry knew there might soon be need of it, before the engine was repaired.
But nothing was said to either Ned, Bob or the professor on this score. Jerry did not want any needless alarm.
“Now, fellows,” he exclaimed cheerfully, when the three chums were alone beside the ship, “let’s get busy. It’s going to be quite a job to take out those broken cylinders.”
It was, indeed, as they soon found. The two cylinders which had been cracked by the flying wrench were in the centre of the motor. To get them out it was necessary to uncouple a number of pipes, cams, gears and wires. Fortunately there were the necessary tools on board, and all three of the lads had had considerable experience in machine work. But, even with all this, they were all day getting the two cylinders out.
“Now,” announced Jerry, “it remains to be seen whether we can connect up the other eight, and use the water-cooling system to good advantage,” for the motor was not an air-cooled one. “We’re going to have trouble connecting the water pipes,” he predicted, as he wiped the perspiration from his face.
It had been hard work--doubly so under the broiling sun of the desert. At noon Nestor and Tod had returned, but it did not need a negative nod of Nestor’s head to tell Jerry that their quest for water had been unsuccessful. They set off again in the afternoon. Professor Snodgrass had not come back to lunch, but there was nothing remarkable in this. Often in his search for a curious insect he had been known to go all day without food, and he never minded it.
Late that afternoon, while Ned and Bob were toiling away, helping Jerry, Bob went to the water tank, and, after taking a big drink, he threw away what liquid remained in the glass.