“We’ll go on the wings of the wind,” declared his son, laughing outright. “Of course, this eventuality is exactly what I must have built the _Winged Arrow_ for. I will telephone the shops at once and tell Brannigan to get the crew together. I’ll take Ned and Koku. If my new flying boat is any good at all, she ought to fly to Iceland in less than three days. As soon as she can be made ready, I will start, Mary.” “Oh, Tom! suppose you should be lost, too? Suppose you should be killed?” “That can happen but once,” declared Tom. “Only once! But that’s the horror of it! Oh, Tom!” and Mary gave a slight shudder. “Let’s not worry about that, Mary.” But both knew that Mary would carry a load of worry in her heart, and not entirely for her father. CHAPTER XVI THE TRANSATLANTIC VOYAGE It was possible, of course, to cable funds to Captain Olaf Karofsen for the financing of a searching party to go in quest of those marooned on the giant iceberg. But Tom Swift knew that the result of such a search could not be known in the United States for weeks. He felt that he could not restrain his desire to take an active part in the search. Mary’s father and Mr. Wakefield Damon must be found soon. And he believed the best way to do this was to go personally with the searching party. Mr. Swift might have had some objections to his son’s plan. He was getting old, and, although his health now was much improved, he worried whenever Tom left him for any extended trip. In this case, however, he knew the young fellow felt strongly that his duty lay in the only chance of quickly assisting Mr. Nestor. The _Winged Arrow_ had proved her speed, her seaworthiness, and her balance in the air. If she was good for anything at all, here was a set of circumstances seemingly made by Fate for the trying-out of the flying boat. “Go if you must, my boy,” said the old gentleman, with his hand on Tom’s shoulder when he agreed to the arrangement. “But be very, very careful.” Although Tom was courageous, he was never reckless. He had accepted Mary’s challenge on the instant. But it was not without thought. “The moment I read that cablegram from Karofsen I saw what it meant,” he told Ned. “The _Winged Arrow_ can go where no vessel can sail. If she arrives at Reykjavik in good condition, she can sweep the whole of the Greenland Sea, back and forth, until the berg on which the men were cast away is found. If Karofsen is honest——” “That is a chance, too,” retorted Ned. “It looks fishy to me, Tom.” “What looks fishy?” “His story. He knew all about that treasure of more than a hundred and twenty thousand Danish crowns. Humph! Suppose he and some of his crew got up a scheme to grab the gold and pitch those who were not in their confidence, as well as the passengers, overboard? Looks fishy.” “You sound mighty suspicious. And it might be so. Anyway, how are we going to prove even such an awful thing if we can’t be on the ground——”