CHAPTER XIA GRAND SUCCESS
“All ready!”
Robert King, seated in the pilot room of theAlbatross, spoke the words through a tube at his side connecting with the cabin.
Dave Dashaway stood beside him, and behind the young aviator was Hiram Dobbs. It was the most impressive moment in all the boys’ lives. Well might it be, for the next movement of the expert airman meant the start of the giant airship on a cruise but once before attempted by mortal man.
Before the skilled sky rider was a great sheet of glass punctured with knobs of metal. Each bore a number. From practice, these indices to guiding detail were as familiar to Mr. King as an alphabet to a schoolboy. The operator was so intent upon his work that his hand trembled, his eyes were glued to the pilot board, and his face was quite pale. Dave stood with every nerve tense and strained. Hiram fairly held his breath.There was a grind and a sway as Mr. King touched a particular button. The huge gas bag lifted its prow from the ground, then its body cleared all earth of contact, and the next instant was stretched out on an angle of forty-five degrees.
“We’re started!” breathed Dave.
“It’s grand!” pronounced Hiram, in a gasp.
Both edged towards the open window. A dizzying panorama greeted their sight.
The old factory was a wreck. One entire sidewall and parts of the front and rear walls had been torn out of place that morning, to allow for the exit to level ground of theAlbatross. Outside of the enclosure over a thousand persons were gathered. A band was playing, the crowd was cheering, and from a neighboring roof a group of reporters and a dozen airmen, friends of Mr. King, joined in the tumult, waving hats, flags and handkerchiefs.
TheAlbatrossbehaved splendidly. There was not a jar as it ended a mile ascent in exactly five minutes. Then, as the vast machine balanced to its natural position, it began a straight, even glide so graceful and buoyant that it imparted a positive thrill to the passengers.
“Say, it’s glorious!” burst out the irrepressible Hiram, “I feel as if I had been taking laughing gas!”
Dave resumed his position near his friend and patron, Mr. King. For the present he was to take no active part in running theAlbatross. He had, however, sat up half the night listening to the arrangements mapped out by Professor Leblance. He realized, too, that as soon as he learned all that the aviator had acquired he was to relieve him. There was not a movement made by the skilled hand of the airman that Dave did not memorize. He had accompanied the professor in a tour all over the craft two hours before starting, and had been amazed at the simplicity of the construction as a whole. He was lost in admiration as he realized what a perfect mechanism controlled the giant airship.
The Frenchman had four skilled airship men under his orders. They had been trained to their duties in Germany and France. Each knew what was required of him, and each understood that, while they appeared to act as automatons, a single miss in the programme might end their career in mid-air, or in the ocean depths.
Outside of these men, who performed engineering duties solely, a young and enthusiastic Pole named Vacla assisted the professor in the actual control of the craft. In the pilot room Mr. King directed the course of theAlbatrossby electric signals, or word of mouth through the speaking tube.
Passages ran past the cased-in balloonets to every part of the airship. In the direct center of the craft and above the airplanes and float attachments was the roomy cabin. Two persons, both foreigners, the cook and the cabin attendant, had this department in charge. The cabin had rows of windows on both sides, and was furnished comfortably and even elegantly. Seated at one of the windows, a passenger had a perfect view as far as the eye could reach.
Hiram found his way to the cabin, to come upon Mr. Dale and Grimshaw viewing the fast-receding earth. The good hearted old gentleman, who had financed the proposition almost solely on Dave’s account, was chuckling, with his fat comfortable face crossed with a great smile of delight. Grimshaw seemed more contented and spirited than Hiram had ever seen him before.
“We’ve made a famous start,” burst out Hiram, waving his hand in glee.
“That’s pleasant,” beamed Mr. Dale.
“And Mr. King says we’re going to keep it up.”
“That’s natural,” joined in Grimshaw.
“Everything has been provided for, and we’re going ahead slick as grease.”
“That’s evident,” chuckled Mr. Dale.
“And we’re going to cross the Atlantic first!” boasted the excited young airman.
“That’s all!” roared Grimshaw—“all worth working for and waiting for. I’ve dreamed it for ten years. Now—hooray!”
In about half an hour Professor Leblance, Mr. King and Dave came into the cabin. The Frenchman’s eyes were shining with half-suppressed excitement and satisfaction. Mr. Dale rushed at him and grasped his hand fervently.
“My friend,” he said, “you’ve proven a genius, a wonder! Hold out as you have begun, and I double the fee originally agreed upon.”
“Ah, sir,” replied the gifted engineer, “let me but see the land on the other side—then, undying fame! I ask no more.”
“See here,” broke in the ever-active and restless Hiram, “is this all we’ve got to do—sit here and let her drift?”
“About that, for the present,” returned Mr. King.
“Remember, we are still over land,” reminded the professor. “It is calm and fair. It is a pleasant beginning. When we get over the ocean——”
The Frenchman here shrugged his shoulders expressively, as if he thought it no child’s play ahead.
“Then,” added Mr. King, “every man must do his duty as on a ship in stress of weather.”
“The orders are for four hours drifting,” explained Professor Leblance. “About nightfall we will have reached what we call the approximate air current. The right air course is just as established as the ocean roads, and we aim to follow it in our voyage.”
“And now, my friends,” came from Mr. Dale. “I have something more to say about this wonderful airship.”
All eyes were at once turned on the rich gentleman who had made it possible to construct theAlbatross.
“Years ago Dave Dashaway’s father and I were chums. He did me many a good turn. That is why I have taken such an interest in my young friend here. Now that this giant airship is an accomplished fact, I wish to make it known to all of you that I have had it built on his account——”
“Oh, Mr. Dale!” interrupted our hero.
“It is true, my boy, and from this moment on I wish theAlbatrossto be known as Dave Dashaway’s airship,” went on the rich gentleman.
“Hooray!” cried Hiram and Grimshaw, in unison.
“My airship?” cried Dave.
“Yes, my boy, your airship,” answered Mr. Dale. “And may she win her way across the Atlantic without a mishap.”
“Amen to that,” put in Mr. King. “Dave, my warmest congratulations,” and he held out his hand.
Dave was so overcome he could scarcely speak. But at last he thanked Mr. Dale heartily for his great kindness. The thought that the giant airship had been turned over to him filled his heart with new enthusiasm.
“I’ll do my best to make a success of the trip,” he said, in a voice filled with emotion.
“I know you will—I bank on you, my boy,” answered Mr. Dale.
They circled out toward the water for a few miles, to ascertain the strength of some of the ocean currents of air, and as they were turning inward again Dave cried out:
“Look, there’s a seagull trying to race with us, I do believe!” He pointed upward and there, in the air above them and off to one side, was one of the graceful birds.
“That’s what it is!” exclaimed Mr. Dale. “And that reminds me of something I must do to oblige a friend. But first let us watch that seagull.”
All eyes were now turned toward it. The swift bird seemed to realize that one of its own kind, or, more properly, a rival, was disputing the element so long unconquerable by man. The seagull would approach the giant airship as if to ascertain what it wanted in the upper regions, to learn itsspeed and power. Then, as if alarmed at the noise of the propeller, or perhaps some of the odors of the escaping gas, the bird would veer off, only to return.
“Look!” cried Dave again. “It’s going to see how much faster it can go than we do. It’s trying to double on us, I declare!”
And that is exactly what the seagull did. Darting ahead it swung around a good distance in front of the airship, and then, as if to prove how puny was man, compared to nature, the bird darted straight back toward the craft.
“He’s going to ram us—he’ll be killed, sure!” yelled Mr. King.
“No, he’s going to one side,” declared Mr. Dale.
And that is what the bird did! Like an arrow it shot along the side of theAlbatross, almost brushing the gas bags with its wing tips. To the rear swung the big bird. Its purpose was now plain. It was going to circle the airship.
“Two can play at that game!” cried Dave. “Let’s put on all speed! Can we beat the seagull?”
“We certainly can,” said Mr. King, in a quiet voice. He walked over to some of the signal buttons and pushed them. The effect was at once apparent. There was an increased tremor through the whole craft. It darted ahead andcleaved the air as it had never done before. Once more Mr. King pressed a small lever. Again the trembling of the craft increased as if she would shake apart. But she was staunchly built.
“Can you see the gull?” demanded Mr. Dale.
“Yes, here he comes!” cried Dave. “He’s been to the stern, rounded it, and here he comes up alongside like the wind. He’s trying to pass us!”
“But he never will,” spoke Mr. King. “Here goes for the final test. Perhaps it’s foolish to use our greatest speed on a new motor before it’s been warmed up and run longer than this has, but we might as well know first as last just what theAlbatrosswill do. Now for the test!”
He pressed a button that communicated with the motor room, and there came such a vibration to the craft that one and all, who were not aware of the reserve power, looked at one another in some alarm.
“How about it, Dave?” inquired Mr. King. “Are we holding our own?”
“Yes! Yes!” eagerly answered the young aviator. “The gull is straining every wing feather, but he’s falling back. Look, no he’s even with us now! He’s going ahead—see—see!”
Was theAlbatross, after all, to be beaten?
The gull was now flying alongside in such a position as to be visible to all. Clearly the bird was exerting every last ounce of strength. Its wings were wildly beating the air, and its slender head and hooked bill were stretched out like the prow of some slave-galley—cutting the air.
“It’s falling back—it’s falling back—we win!” cried Dave exultantly.
It was so. The gull, unable to keep up the terrific speed, was losing ground. The airship kept on, its awful power forcing it forward. Foot by foot the bird fell back until like some express train passing a slow freight, theAlbatrossshot ahead of the weary bird, and the creature, as if humiliated by the test, folded its wings and dropped downward like a shot, in order to rest. Then spreading wide its pinions again, it floated in the air, far below the rival craft.
“We sure did go!” cried Dave in triumph, as some of the terrific power was cut down. “But what was it you said you wanted to do, Mr. Dale—something that the sight of the gull reminded you about?”
“Oh, yes. Well, it’s nothing more or less than to release a carrier pigeon I have on board.”
“A carrier pigeon?” cried several.
“Yes, a friend of mine, who is interested in aeronautics, and who published a magazine about them, asked me to do this for him. He gave me a carrier pigeon a few days ago, and requested me to release it on our trial trip. I said I would,and now I am going to send him a message of our success. The bird will fly directly to his coop, and later, when I give him the time we liberated it, and he notes the time of arrival, he can figure the speed.”
“Good!” cried Dave. “Where is the pigeon?”
It was brought out in the basket where it had been held captive, and Mr. Dale, who understood such matters, prepared a short message on thin paper. The paper was put in a quill, sealed at both ends, and then tied by silk thread to one of the pigeon’s wings.
The bird was taken to the deck of the craft and liberated. It soared high in the air, circled about once or twice and, then even in that void, seeming to get its bearings, it darted off to the south.
“Later we will learn how my friend received the message,” said Mr. Dale. “And now I think we had better change our course.”
TheAlbatrosslined the coast a few miles to the interior. Until dusk Dave and the others viewed a constantly changing panorama. Then there was supper, a bountiful meal, well prepared, and immensely relished by all hands.
After that lights were set, the big headlights, front and rear, sending out far-reaching shafts of radiance that must have appeared to uninitiated landsmen as streaming meteors.
Mr. King was in the cabin when the electric call bell took him to the speaking tube. He dropped it as if some important message called him instantly to the pilot room.
His manner and face indicated to the young aviator that whatever message he had received had urged him to seriousness and haste.
“Something’s up; eh, Dave?” shot out Hiram, as the airman hurried from the cabin.
“It looks that way,” assented Dave. “I wonder what?”