IN DANGER
"Well, Tom, we're moving!" cried Ned Newton, clapping his chum on the back, as he stood near him in the pilot-house."We're going up, old sport!""Of course we are," replied Tom."You didn't think it wouldn't go up, did you?""Well, I wasn't quite sure," Ned confessed."You know you were so worried about--""Not about the ship sailing," interrupted Tom."It was only the effect the firing of the guns might have.But I think we have that taken care of.""Bless my pin cushion!" cried Mr.Damon, as he looked over the rail at the earth below."We're moving fast, Tom.""Yes, we can make a quicker ascent in this than in most aeroplanes," Tom said, "for they have to go up in a slanting direction.But we can't quite equal their lateral speed.""Just how fast do you think you can travel when you are in first-class shape?" asked Lieu tenant Marbury, as he noted how the Mars was behaving on this, the first trip.
"Well, I set a limit of seventy-five miles an hour," the young inventor replied, as he shifted various levers and handles, to change the speed of the mechanism."But I'm afraid we won't quite equal that with all our guns on board.But I'm safe in saying sixty, I think.""That will more than satisfy the government requirements," the officer said."But, of course, your craft will have to come up to expectations and requirements in the matter of armament.""I'll give you every test you want," declared Tom, with a smile."And now we'll see what the Mars can do when put to it."Up and up went the big dirigible aerial warship.Had you been fortunate enough to have seen her you would have observed a craft not unlike, in shape, the German Zeppelins.But it differed from those war balloons in several important particulars.
Tom's craft was about six hundred feet long, and the diameter of the gas bag, amidships, was sixty feet, slightly larger than the largest Zeppelin.Below the bag, which, as I have explained, was made up of a number of gas-tight compartments, hung from wire cables three cabins.The forward one was a sort of pilot-house, containing various instruments for navigating the ship of the air, observation rooms, gauges for calculating firing ranges, and the steering apparatus.
Amidships, suspended below the great bag, were the living and sleeping quarters, where food was cooked and served and where those who operated the craft could spend their leisure time.Extra supplies were also stored there.
At the stern of the big bag was the motor-room, where gas was generated to fill the balloon compartments when necessary, where the gasoline and electrical apparatus were installed, and where the real motive power of the craft was located.Here, also, was carried the large quantity of gasoline and oil needed for a long voyage.The Mars could carry sufficient fuel to last for over a week, provided no accidents occurred.
There was also an arrangement in the motor compartment, so that the ship could be steered and operated from there.This was in case the forward pilot-house should be shot away by an enemy.And, also, in the motor compartment were the sleeping quarters for the crew.
All three suspended cabins were connected by a long covered runway, so that one could pass from the pilot-house to the motor- room and back again through the amidship cabinAt the extreme end of the big bag were the various rudders and planes, designed to keep the craft on a level keel, automatically, and to enable it to make headway against a strong wind.The motive power consisted of three double-bladed wooden propellers, which could be operated together or independently.A powerful gasoline engine was the chief motive power, though there was an auxiliary storage battery, which would operate an electrical motor and send the ship along for more than twenty- four hours in case of accident to the gasoline engine.
There were many other pieces of apparatus aboard, some not completely installed, the uses of which I shall mention from time to time,as the story progresses.The gas-generating machine was of importance, for there would be a leakage and shrinking of the vapor from the big bag, and some means must be provided for replenishing it.
"You don't seem to have forgotten anything, Tom," said Ned admiringly, as they soared upward.
"We can tell better after we've flown about a bit," observed the young inventor, with a smile."I expect we shall have to make quite a number of changes.""Are you going far?" asked Mr.Damon.
