The Wonder Island Boys: The Mysteries of the Caverns

the guns should be completed first. The feeling that the time would come when a vi

g the evenings. As Harry had sufficient steel left for four barrels more, two days were devoted to boring them out, in the hope that they would ultimately be able to finish

y extending finger, so it could be drawn back against the resistance of the spring. Below the plug was a trigger, with a hook-shaped forward end, in such a position that when the plug was drawn back th

. The F

"to polish the inside of the bored barre

do this?"

put on a wiper which will snugly fit the bore, and the barrel may then be put in the lathe and rotated at a high rate of speed with the wiper in the bore, and duri

he best gr

mantine spar, in sufficient quantit

of materi

stance known

the same

heretofore that both of these products come from the precious gems; the blue variety is known under the

e time in prospecting for the gems, but if he succeeded i

material had been prepared, and was at the beach. Prior to this the island had been visited by

cover the material, as moisture would make it very undesirable f

he work of putting on the bottom boards was progressing rapidly. One night, a few days after the laying of the keel, a brisk wind sprang

rge's observation, "that we shoul

"Do you remember the experience we had less than

that. Do they o

n the Indian Ocean, which is a northeast wind, and they

ow with such regularity

, they have the southwest monsoons, which blow from April to October. As these violent winds are the most tempestuous during the period when the sun crosses the equator, it has been argued that it

nderstand by the e

arch and September, when the days

ummers are longer north of the equa

the equator is about sev

the cause

e angular motion of the earth in its orbit is slower. The result is, that the interv

d. He came back with a sorry-looking countenance. "I am afraid every

red out to take stock of their surroundings, George was the first to notice the disappearanc

he was almost heart-broken. The Professor, however, was not in the least perturbed. He

omething of this kind to add zest to life. Just imagine what life would be if everythin

e their eyelids did double duty in t

e started for the hill. Angel, who was in the loft, swung down and made his way out of the door, and before George had

st be inland somewhere. Search was made in every direction, but to no purpose. Every rock and lodging place was examined, but it had disappeared. Angel was an interested searcher. He real

ss lightly. "I presume it is intended that we should work out our own rescue. After all, I think that is the proper thing to do.

events us from having a signal, but I hate to think that

s woven, and then dyed, and it was a hard task to haul the pole, which was over fifty fe

n the sun, which now came out bright and warm, the work proceeded with renewed vigor. Late th

as laughing immoderately, and Angel stood

? Has Angel been ex

ould answer, George ca

ag! Where did

Ang

done? Ask those delvers into the mysterious realms of thought, what prompted him to search for and r

y happy. Angel imitated that laugh, and he had not b

ears which had come from the excess of laughter

bout them, and the struggle for existence an everlasting one. They have never known amusing incidents as we understand them. Naturally, the muscles of mobility in the face, which express pleasure, never have been exercised, and those indic

he guns polished up and completed, wo

e the molds out of a metal or alloy whi

est for th

an alloy of c

u mean

eadily cast and

e shall we mak

de long, with a po

better than a round

a missile. A long one contains double the metal of a spherical one. Second, it

way does

When the explosion takes place the thin shell at the rear end of

bject of havin

If it does not fit tightly in the bore, more or less of the powd

object of rif

gun, the heaviest side has a tendency to divert the ball and make it more or less erratic in its motion, and, therefore, inaccurate. The spiral motion has the effect of minimizing this difficulty. The cavity forme

ns, there will be no necessity of putting

he cavity there

at

bullet to turn around and travel en

he cavity p

When a cavity is made it is lighter at that end. Without the cavity, if the forward end is poin

the Professor cautioned against making any castings with the molds in any position except upright, so

1. The

r had spoken about it on several occasions. For some reason he was intensely interested in doing that. In

n questioned on the subject directly, but it was evident he had

t reason. Ever restless, and always willing to undertake anything which promised to delve

o take one day off

sted at once. "It will n

why

not get in very far,

not use ou

on met with i

d forgotten

dering the matter for some time it was decided to put off the trip for several days at least, principally because the late

and that barred their further progress. On the second trip the water had receded, so they could go in six hundred feet b

he sails. As the mast had been stepped back over six feet from the prow, it was concluded to make a mainsail and a jib, a small triangular sail which is attached to the forwardly projecting jib-boom. The two sails would afford

The Sea-g

it could be operated by hand power solely, it will be seen that the sails required not only time, but an immense amount of

of time the weaving process became so familiar to Angel that whenever George would throw the bobbin, containing the weft, through the opening of the