Through the Air to the North Pole Part 11

"You are right!"

For a moment there was a doubt. Then the sticky stuff adhered to the silk bag, and the patch was made fast. A shout from Was.h.i.+ngton in the engine room told that the gas had ceased to rush out. Mark had succeeded.

Was.h.i.+ngton hastened to turn the gas generator to half speed. Before he could do so, however, there had been a great increase in the volume of vapor in the bag, caused by the sudden stopping off of the vent. Up shot the airs.h.i.+p, the acc.u.mulation of gas lifting it higher from the earth.

So suddenly did it shoot up, from having been almost at rest, that there was a tremor through the whole craft.

"Look out, Mark!" cried Jack. He looked up to where his comrade clung to the netting.

"Hold fast! We'll stop the s.h.i.+p in a second," exclaimed the captain.

But it was too late. The sudden rising of the craft had shaken Mark's hold, which was not of the best at any time, since the gas bag was a yielding surface to lean against.

The next instant the boy, vainly clutching the air for some sort of grip for his hands, toppled over backward. His feet slid from the meshes of the net, and he plunged downward toward the earth, more than a mile below!

CHAPTER IX

THE FROZEN NORTH REACHED

"He'll be killed!" shouted Jack.

"He's a goner!" yelled Was.h.i.+ngton, looking up from the engine room window.

The old professor groaned and shut his eyes. He did not want to see the boy fall.

Bill and Tom, with old Andy Sudds, had been watching Mark at his perilous task, standing directly beneath him. Andy was the closer. He leaned quickly backward when he saw what had happened.

Mark's body, turning over in its descent, was at the s.h.i.+p's side. Out shot the hands of the old hunter. His fingers were curved like the talons of an eagle. The long arms seemed to reach a great distance, and then, just as it seemed that Mark would plunge downward to his death, Andy grasped and held him.

"There!" exclaimed the hunter. "That was a close call, my boy!"

Mark did not answer. The fearful danger he had been saved from had so frightened him that he became partially unconscious.

"Is he dead?" faltered Jack.

"He has only fainted," answered Amos Henderson. "I'll soon bring him around."

The inventor hurried into the cabin and came out with some liquid in a gla.s.s. This he placed to Mark's lips and soon the color came back into the pale cheeks.

"What happened? Where am I?" asked the boy, sitting up and looking around.

"You're all right," answered Andy. "It was a close call though. I reckon you won't want to mend any more airs.h.i.+ps right away."

"I remember now," went on Mark, who had been dazed by the suddenness of it all. "I fell, didn't I?"

"Yes, and Andy caught you," put in Jack. "He was just in time."

Mark said nothing, but the fervor with which he shook the old hunter by the hand showed how deep his feeling was.

In a little while the fright and excitement caused by the accident had pa.s.sed over. The s.h.i.+p now rode evenly and neither rose nor fell, in consequence of the gas supply in the bag remaining the same, there being no leak. The patch Mark had put on fitted so closely that there was not the least escape of gas now.

"Well, we might as well start ahead," said Amos Henderson, at length.

"We have had excitement enough in this neighborhood, and maybe we'll be better off if we go forward."

Accordingly he went to the conning tower, set the propeller in motion, and soon the _Monarch_ was moving northward at great speed. With his eyes on the compa.s.s in front of him the captain held the s.h.i.+p on her course.

They were about half a mile above the ground now, the captain having allowed the _Monarch_ to settle. They could see that they were pa.s.sing over a populated part of the country.

"Come up here!" yelled Captain Henderson to the boys from the steering tower. "I'll explain a few things to you."

Willingly enough the boys joined him. He was busy making a calculation of figures on a piece of paper. The steering wheel was lashed and the compa.s.s pointed to indicate that the s.h.i.+p was rus.h.i.+ng due north.

"We're making satisfying progress," said the professor. "At this rate we will not be long on the journey."

"How fast are we moving?" asked Jack.

"About fifty miles an hour," replied the inventor. "That is 1,200 miles a day, counting that we run day and night at this speed. But we will hardly do that, not that we could not, for there will be no dangers of collisions up here. I think we have the air all to ourselves.

"But there will be contrary winds, and we may be blown off our course.

That is the only disadvantage an airs.h.i.+p is under. It can't sail against the wind like a s.h.i.+p on the water. Still, we have many advantages. Now I figure that we can count on an average of at least twenty-five miles an hour all day long and part of the night.

"We started from about the middle of New York state, and to the north pole would be about 3,000 miles. We ought to make the distance in about five days, or say a week, to be on the safe side. We will move as fast as we can, from now on, though, especially during the daylight."

The professor turned some wheels and levers and the speed of the airs.h.i.+p increased a little. It was kept at about the same height.

The sun was beginning to descend in the west, for it was getting late in the afternoon. Down below, on the earth, the landscape had changed from that of cities and towns to a stretch of dense woods.

"Must be near supper time," observed Mark.

"Your fright didn't deprive you of your appet.i.te, then?" asked Amos Henderson.

"Not a bit," replied the boy.

In a few minutes Tom and Bill were preparing a meal of the condensed foods, cooked on the electric stove. Everyone voted the victuals excellent. Then, as night settled down, the bunks were made up and the boys, together with the two farm hands, were glad to seek some rest, for the day had been an exciting one. Was.h.i.+ngton and the professor agreed to divide the night into two watches, as they were not familiar enough with the workings of the s.h.i.+p to dare to leave it unguarded. The machinery might need attention any moment.

The boys and their companions were soon asleep, and no thoughts of their strange position, that of slumbering on an airs.h.i.+p high in the atmosphere, disturbed their dreams.

The last thing Jack wondered was whether the pa.s.sing of the _Monarch_ would not be taken by people on the earth for the flight of some giant comet, as it sailed aloft, all lighted up. But he was too tired to pursue this speculation long.

Morning dawned without anything unusual having occurred. The s.h.i.+p had been kept going at a slow speed all night, and no accidents happened.

Breakfast was served, and then each of the crew took up his duties.

The professor, having made a careful examination of the s.h.i.+p to see that everything was in order, showed Jack and Mark how to steer the craft, and how to start, stop, raise and lower it from the conning tower or the engine room.

Then he let them practice a bit, and two more delighted boys there never was, as they sent the craft ahead up or down, starting and stopping her with a few turns of a wheel or lever.