For a few moments it seemed to the Motor Boys that the end of everything had come. It appeared impossible that their comparatively frail craft could weather the storm in the very heart of which she was being hurled along. Now tilted with her bow toward the earth; again, almost standing on her tail rudders; now on her port beam, and again on the starboard—the gallantCometstruggled on in the grip of the hurricane.
“Lend a hand, fellows!” gasped Jerry, as he tried in vain to bring the lever of the depressing rudder toward him. “Lend a hand! The wind pressure is so strong that I can’t work this alone.”
Bob and Ned sprang to their chum’s aid, and even then the task was almost more than that to which their combined strength was equal. Professor Snodgrass, seeing their trouble, was about to give them some assistance, when an instant’s lull in the gale so relieved the pressure on theplanes that they were able to bring the lever to the right position.
“Jove, but it blows!” cried Ned. “It’s a wonder it didn’t rip off the wings, rudders and everything else.”
“Lucky thing for us they’re of double strength,” added Bob, for with the remodeling of the motorship, the wing-planes and rudders had been strengthened.
“I guess we’ll be all right, now,” observed Jerry. “We must have gotten into the hurricane by coming up so high. I’ll stay at a lower level after this.”
“Do you suppose it’s the same gale that Mr. Jackson and the others were caught in?” asked Ned.
“Shouldn’t wonder a bit,” was the reply of the tall lad. “And if they’re in it, and it’s still blowing at this rate, they’ll be carried half-way across the Atlantic before we can catch them.”
“My gracious!” exclaimed Professor Snodgrass, “half-way across the Atlantic! That will be just the thing for me. I can get my singing fish then.”
“I hope we don’t have to go that far to rescue them,” spoke Jerry. “But if we don’t soon get out of this wind we may not get anywhere.”
“We don’t seem to be going down out of it very fast,” observed Ned, with a glance at the barograph. It still registered nearly two miles above sea level.
“That’s so,” agreed Jerry with a look at the instrument. “I wonder if anything could have happened to the depressing rudder. Maybe it doesn’t work, or it may be disconnected from the lever. In that case——”
“I’ll go outside and look,” volunteered Ned, clinging to the side wall of the pilot house in which they all were.
“No, I’ll go,” decided Jerry. “It’s risky, and——”
“Youwant to take all the risk,” interrupted Bob. “Let me go. I’m shorter than you, and the wind won’t have so much surface to blow on. I’ll go.”
It did seem wise to let the smaller lad venture outside on the stern deck, and inspect the rudder, and after some argument Jerry consented to this. By going out of the rear door of the main cabin, Bob would, in a measure, be sheltered by the deck structures.
The force of the gale may be imagined when it is said that as Bob stepped out he felt himself fairly forced down toward the deck, as if somegiant hand had pushed him. The power of the wind was terrific, and, realizing this, the stout lad got down as low as possible, and fairly crawled on his hands and knees to a place where he could see the rudder.
“It’s there, all right,” he reported pantingly to his chums, when he had worked his way back to the cabin.
“Then why don’t we go down?” asked Ned. “Is it set to send us down, Chunky?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t see——”
“I believe it’s because the wind is so powerful that we can’t cut our way downward through the level strata of the hurricane,” was Jerry’s opinion.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Bob.
“It’s this way, and I think Jerry is right,” spoke Mr. Snodgrass. “We’re sailing along on an almost solidified bank of air, which is compressed by great pressure. To go below, into an area where there is no storm, it is like cutting through a layer of thick ice to get to the water beneath. But the air buoys us up so that we’re having difficulties.”
“What are we going to do?” inquired Ned anxiously.
“We’ve got to do something, that’s evident,” responded the tall lad, as a sudden burst of the storm once more nearly made theCometturn turtle. “We’ve got to get out of this.”
Jerry went to the engine-room, and called to Bob and Ned to accompany him. He began adjusting the machinery.
“What are you going to do?” asked Ned.
“Key up the motor,” explained the tall lad. “We’ve got to try and beat this wind, and the only way we can do it is to get up all the speed possible, and cut down through the air. Bob, hand me that monkey-wrench. Ned, you tighten up the intake valves, and open the outlets on the port cylinders. I’ll set the electric generator to give a hotter spark and one at shorter intervals. We’vegotto go down!”
The need was increasing every moment, for the hurricane, instead of dying out, was getting worse every second.
Soon the motor was working at twice its former speed. The great propellers could be observed whirling around with terrific power. Now, if ever, theCometshould go down. Anxiously they watched the needle of the barograph. It remained stationary for a few minutes, during which the craft trembled from end to end withthe awful strain. Then the pointer swung slowly around.
“There she goes!” cried Ned in delight.
“Yes, we’re going down,” observed Jerry, with a sigh of relief.
“And none too soon,” added Bob, as another gust sent the motorship on end.
It was a struggle between the forces of nature and those of man, and the machinery won. Slowly the airship was forced down on a slant until, finally piercing through the strata that represented the terrific wind, she came to a calm region about two thousand feet above the sea. Then, bringing her to a level keel, Jerry sent the craft onward.
“And not a sign of theManhattan,” remarked Ned, a little later, when the motor had been slowed down to its usual speed.
“No,” spoke Jerry, “but the search isn’t over yet. I’m sure we’re going in the right direction, though. The hurricane did us that much service, for it’s evident that the missing balloon was caught just as we were, only they haven’t powerful enough machinery to get out of it. Now we’ll keep on at this level, and in this direction.”
Nothing developed the rest of that day. They flew onward slowly, taking turns scanning the airabout them through a powerful telescope for a sight of the dirigible containing the man whose aid was so greatly needed by Mr. Slade. But theManhattanwas not seen.
At night they set the powerful searchlight aglow, hoping that it might be observed by those whom they sought, and who possibly could send out a signal, indicating their position. But no signal came. Thus two more days passed, and theCometat times was sent about, back over the air-line over which they had come, for Jerry feared they might have passed the missing balloon in the night.
Several times they dropped to the surface of the ocean, to give Professor Snodgrass a chance to use his net in an endeavor to get the singing fish. But his efforts were unsuccessful.
“It seems as if there was a hoodoo on this trip,” spoke Ned gloomily, one morning as they were sailing along. “We missed Mr. Jackson at every point, and now no one knows where he is.”
“Oh, we’ll find him yet,” said Jerry cheerfully. “I tell you what let’s do: go down on the hydroplanes and fish! Some fresh fish would go good for dinner; eh, Chunky?”
“Sure. I’ll fry ’em brown in corn-meal. Send her down, Jerry.”
TheCometwas once more dropped to the surface of the sea, and the boys got out their lines. They had pretty good luck, and a fish dinner was a certainty. Of course, the professor only tried for his prize, but he did not get it.
Bob was just landing a large fish, and was giving all his energy to it, when the attention of Ned and Jerry was attracted to a large steamer, which was rapidly approaching them. They had not noticed her creeping up on the horizon.
“She seems to be heading this way,” observed Ned.
“Yes; maybe she wants to see what sort of a craft we are, fellows,” said Jerry.
Suddenly there came a puff of smoke, a dull flash, and a booming sound came over the water.
“They’re firing at us!” cried Bob, who had landed his fish.
“No; I think it’s a signal,” remarked Jerry, who had observed closely, and had not seen a projectile bounding over the wave crests. “They may take us for a wreck, and want us to know that we’re going to be saved.”
This, as they learned later, was the reason for the shot. On came the steamer, and soon it was within hailing distance. The rails were lined with curious passengers, many of whom were takingsnap-shots of theComet, as she rested lightly on the water. On the steamer’s bridge were the captain and a number of officers.
“What sort of a craft are you, and what are you doing?” came the hail through a megaphone.
“TheComet, of Cresville,” returned Jerry.
“Where are you bound?”
“We don’t know. We’re looking for a disabled balloon.”
“Do you need any help?”
It was evident that Jerry’s answers were not well understood since before he could reply to the question about aid, a small boat was lowered, and came rapidly toward theComet.
“Do you want to be taken off?” asked the mate in charge.
“No; we’re all right,” was Jerry’s reply. “We’re going on through the air soon. We just came down here to catch some fish. But have you seen anything of the balloonManhattan, which ought to be somewhere out to sea?”
The mate had not, nor had the sailors, and it was evident that they hardly knew what to believe about theComet. Seeing their incredulity, Jerry started the air-propellers, and, getting a flying start, mounted up into the sky, circling over and around the steamer.
There were cries of wonder at this, and a round of applause from the passengers and crew. Then the boys dropped back to the ocean again on the hydroplanes, and, in response to a request from the captain, Jerry and Bob went aboard theCinnabar, leaving Ned and Mr. Snodgrass on theComet.
Jerry explained to an admiring and wondering throng the object of their voyage through the air.
“But we can’t get a sight of theManhattan,” he concluded, “and we want to very much, for we wish to rescue the people aboard her, and it is very necessary for us to get Mr. Jackson’s signature to certain papers.”
“Well, that’s the greatest stunt I ever heard of,” declared the captain. “Using one airship to go to the rescue of another. But can’t you pick her up by wireless?”
“We’ve tried, but none of our signals are answered,” replied Bob.
“Their apparatus may be disabled,” said Jerry. “Well, if you haven’t sighted her, we’ll have to keep on hunting.”
“Wait a minute,” suggested the commander. “I’ll have an inquiry made among the crew and passengers. None of my officers have reported seeing anything like a runaway balloon, but it’sjust possible that some one else may have sighted it, and said nothing about it.”
A steward was sent to make a general inquiry, and, while waiting, Jerry explained the nature of theComet, and how she worked.
“Well?” asked the captain, as the steward returned, “did you learn anything?”
“Yes, sir,” was the unexpected answer; “last night, when Lars Porsen had the bow lookout, he said he saw, about midnight, several lights, close together in the sky, quite a distance up. They were moving rapidly, and, all at once, they seemed to come down toward the sea. He thought they were shooting stars, until he heard voices crying. Then he got frightened, being of a superstitious nature, sir, and he decided not to report it. But he thinks now, that it may have been the missing airship being blown along, sir.”
“That’s her, without a doubt!” cried Jerry excitedly. “In what direction was she?”
“A little to the north-east of here,” replied the steward, “and she was making rather a northerly course, according to Porsen.”
“Then we’ve been on the wrong track!” cried the tall lad. “We’ll change our direction! Come on, Bob! I believe we have a clew at last!”