CHAPTER XVITHROUGH THE ETHER
"What's that, Washington?" asked Mark, as the colored cook put something on the lad's plate. "It looks like chicken."
"It tastes like chicken," added Jack, after making a test.
"It am chicken," declared Washington. "I roasted some ob mah fowls, an' put 'em in de cold storage room. I was purty suah dere warn't any chickens on dat red planet where we're goin'."
"Probably not," answered Professor Henderson. "It was a good idea, Washington. Pass me some, please."
"Ain't Mr. Roumann comin' to dinnah?"
"Not now," answered the scientist. "He will stay in the pilot house until I relieve him."
"It seems mighty queer to be sitting down to a meal, and all the while we're shooting along at fifty miles a second," remarked Jack.
"Yes; it doesn't seem as if we were moving at all," agreed Mark.
Indeed, the dining–room of theAnnihilatorwas a very comfortable place, though the space was rather contracted, due to the shape of the projectile and the necessity for carrying a great quantity of stores. The living–room served as the place for serving the meals, which were prepared in a sort of galley or kitchen off the engine–room.
"It's like eating in a dining–car on a railroad train," observed Andy Sudds, "only it is more steady. No curves, and nothing like that."
"Do you like it?" inquired Mr. Henderson.
"Well, it's nice, of course, and there isn't any better cook than Washington, but, to tell the honest truth, I've eaten with more satisfaction when I made a fire in the woods and boiled coffee and fried bacon. I'm sort of hampered for elbow room."
"Still, it isn't as crowded as when we all got in the cylinder and were shot up from the center of the earth on the geyser," commented Jack.
"That's right," came from Mark.
Professor Henderson, having finished his meal, went to the pilot house to relieve Mr. Roumann.
The latter paid a visit to the engine–room before sitting down.
"Is everything all right?" asked Jack.
"The motor is working like a charm," was the reply. "I shall soon expect you boys to take your turn at guiding the projectile through space."
"I want to wait until we get into the ether," said Jack. "We'll go faster then. It's something wonderful to steer a machine going a hundred miles a second."
"I should say so; six thousand miles a minute," observed Mark. "The fastest automobile would seem like a snail compared to it."
"Yes, and we are going faster than some stars," added Mr. Roumann.
"But there isn't anything to see," objected Andy. "Now, I like scenery when I travel."
"Well, it's something to always be in sight of the sun," put in Mark.
"Yes, and when we get to Mars there'll be plenty to look at," suggested Jack. "We can see the rings around it."
"Mars hasn't any rings around it," retorted Mark, who had a good memory for scientific facts. "That's Saturn you're thinking of."
"Oh, yes, so it is. But hasn't Mars got a lot of moons, or something like that? Seems to me I've heard about 'em."
"Mars has two moons, or satellites," stated Mr. Roumann, who had studied much about the red planet, "but they do not amount to much, compared to our moon. One is about ten thousand miles from Mars, and is called Deimos, and the other, which is but sixteen hundred miles from the planet, is called Phobos by astronomers."
"And how far away is our moon from the earth?" asked Mark.
"It varies from about two hundred and fifty–two thousand miles to two hundred and twenty–one thousand miles."
"Then I should think the people on Mars would get more light from their two moons, so much closer to them, than we do from our moon, so far off," remarked Jack.
"No, they don't, at least as far as we know. The one closest to them gives about one–sixtieth of our moonlight, and the outer one about one twelve–hundredth, so you see that's not much. A peculiar feature of the inner moon is that it makes a revolution about Mars in seven hours, or more than three times in a day, and it rises in the west and sets in the east, while the moon farthest away from the planet rises just as our moon does, in the east, but it comes up only once in about five days."
"Golly!" exclaimed Washington, who had been listening. "Dat suah am a funny place. Two little moons, one shootin' around you three times a day, an' de odder one circlin' around once in five days! Land a' massy! I'll git all turned around up dere!"
"Yes, you'll have to be careful, Wash," cautioned Jack. "If you go out for a moonlight walk you may have to come home in the dark."
"Den I ain't goin'; an' when I do I'll take a lantern."
Mr. Roumann told the boys much more of interest about Mars, and then, taking them to the engine–room, he showed them something about adjusting the motors and other machinery, though he did not disclose the secret of the power.
"Now we'll go to the pilot house, and I'll show you some things there," he concluded.
They found Professor Henderson at the wheel.
"Is everything all right?" asked the German.
"I think so," answered the scientist. "This airship doesn't behave exactly as the ones I constructed before, but it seems to be moving along at good speed."
"Yes, we have increased our rate of progress," stated Mr. Roumann. "We are now going nearly fifty–five miles a second. At that rate we shall be beyond the atmosphere sooner than I expected."
The remainder of that day they kept on shooting forward toward Mars, nothing occurring to mark the passage of time, save the monotonous ticking of various clocks. There was nothing to be seen, save the glare of sunlight outside.
"Aren't we ever going to meet with world, or a wandering star, or something?" asked Jack rather discontentedly.
"There's no telling when we may pass near one," said Mr. Roumann.
"S'posin' we hit one?" asked Washington, his eyes becoming large with fear.
"There's not much danger. My instruments will warn me when we approach any of the heavenly bodies, and we can steer clear of them. The only things we have to fear will be comets, and their orbits are so irregular that there is no telling when we may get in the path of one."
"What will happen when we do?" asked Mark.
Mr. Roumann shrugged his shoulders.
"We'll do our best to get out of the way," he said.
"And if we can't?"
"Well—I guess that will be the end of us."
This was a new danger, and one the boys had not thought of before. But the German scientist did not seem to attach much importance to the matter.
They traveled on for two days, nothing of moment occurring. TheAnnihilator, true to its name, fairly ate up space, though they were still far from Mars.
It was on the morning of the third day. The two boys and Professor Henderson were in the pilot house, and Mr. Roumann was in the engine–room, adjusting the Etherium motor, for he expected to shortly put it in operation. Suddenly Jack, who was looking at one of the instruments on the front wall, uttered a cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Mark.
"We're approaching something!" was the answer. "Some sort of heavenly body. Look at that indicator!"
The hand or pointer on a peculiar dial was moving violently to and fro.
"Call Mr. Roumann," suggested the professor. "I don't know just what to do."
Mr. Roumann hurried into the pilot house, gave a quick glance at the indicator, and exclaimed:
"We are nearing a planetoid, or, as some call them, an asteroid!"
"Is there any danger?" asked Mark.
"No. Fortunately the instrument gave us timely warning. I shall simply steer to avoid it. It is a small, unnamed planet flying around in space. There are many of them."
"Can we go close enough to it to see it?" asked Jack, who was a curious lad.
"I think so. I'll try it, anyhow."
Mr. Roumann made some adjustments to the levers and wheels controlling the motor, and, by turning on a little more power on one side of the projectile, caused it to swerve to one side. A few minutes later he called out:
"Look from the window!"
The boys gazed out. They saw that they were rushing past a dark mass, that looked as if it was composed of heaped up, black rocks, piled in fantastic masses, with great chasms here, and towering peaks there. It seemed to be several miles in diameter, and looked like a great ball.
"A small, dead world," remarked Mr. Henderson. "I suppose our planet will be like that some time."
"I hope not by the time we get back to it," commented Jack. "I wonder if we will ever get back to earth again?"
It was the first time he had expressed any doubt on this score.
"There's the last of the dead planet!" Mark cried.
They looked to see the black mass vanish into space.
"Yes, and we have reached the end of the atmosphere!" suddenly cried Mr. Roumann as he glanced at a dial. "Now we will begin to travel through ether."
He adjusted some levers, turned two wheels, threw over electric switches, and there came a perceptible jar to the projectile.
"What was that?" asked Jack.
"I have disconnected the atmospheric motor," explained the German, "and the Etherium one is now working. We are shooting along through ether at the rate of one hundred miles a second."
CHAPTER XVIIA BREAKDOWN
After the first trembling, due to the increase of speed, the sensation of traveling at one hundred miles a second was no different from that when they had been speeding through the atmosphere at fifty miles a second.
"We'll soon be on Mars now," observed Jack.
"Oh, we'll have to keep going for several days yet," declared Mr. Roumann. "But I believe we shall eventually reach there. The Etherium motor is working better than I dared to hope. It is perfect!"
As they were constantly in the glare of the sun, there was no night for those aboard theAnnihilator, and they had to select an arbitrary time for going to bed. When any one wanted to retire, he went to the bunk–room, which was kept dark, and there slumbered.
For two days the Etherium motor kept sending the projectile through space. The adventurers divided their time in looking after the machinery, taking scientific observations or reading the books with which the small library was stocked. Occasionally Jack or Mark would play the electric piano, getting much enjoyment from the music.
"If folks on earth heard these tunes up in the air, I wonder what they'd think?" asked Jack.
"Humph! I guess we're too far off for them to hear anything that goes on inside this projectile," said Mark. "Why, we're nearly seventeen millions of miles above the earth now."
"Good land a' massy! Don't say dat!" cried Washington, who was setting the table for dinner.
"Why not? It's a fact," declared Mark.
"I knows it is, but don't keep dwellin' on it. Jest s'posin' we should fall. Mah gracious! Sebenteen million miles! Why, dat's a terrible ways to drop—it suah am!"
"You're right," assented Jack. "But hurry up dinner, Washington. I'm hungry."
The two boys were in the midst of the meal when they felt a curious sensation. Jack jumped up from the table.
"Do you notice anything queer?" he asked Mark.
"Yes. It seems as if we were falling down!"
"Exactly what I thought. I wonder if anything could have happened?"
TheAnnihilatorwas certainly falling through space, and no longer shooting forward. This was evident, as the motion was slower than when the projectile was urged on by the mysterious force.
"Let's go tell Mr. Roumann and Professor Henderson," suggested Mark.
They started toward the pilot house, but met the two scientists rushing back toward the engine–room.
"Has anything happened?" asked Jack.
"Yes," answered the German. "The Etherium motor has stopped working!"
"And are we falling?" asked Mark.
"Yes, in a sense," answered Mr. Henderson, as the other inventor hurried on. "The gravitation of the earth no longer attracts us, but we are not heading in a straight line for Mars. We may be falling into some other planet, or the sun."
Then he, too, went to the engine–room, and the boys followed. They found the place strangely quiet, since the throbbing and humming of the main motor had ceased. The dynamos that kept the light aglow and the air and other pumps were in motion, however.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Henderson.
"There's been a breakdown," was the reply of the German. "And it looks to me as if some one had been tampering with the motor."
"Tampering with the motor?"
"Yes. Some of the plates have been smashed. I believe there is some one concealed on board—some enemy of mine—who hopes to destroy us."
"What can we do?" asked Jack.
"Nothing, until the motor is repaired," replied the German scientist.
"But we are falling—"
"Yes, I know. But we can't fall with anything like the speed with which we were traveling, and though we may go downward, comparatively speaking, for a day or so, we can quickly regain our former place as soon as the motor is running again."
"But can you fix it?"
"Yes, I have some spare plates. But I wish you boys would make a search through the projectile."
"What for?" asked Mark.
"For the person who smashed the plates. I believe some one is concealed here who seeks to kill, us. We must find him."
"And I think I know who it is!" exclaimed Jack.
"Who?" asked Mr. Henderson.
"The crazy machinist. I believe he sneaked here through that open port leading into the storeroom."
"That's it!" cried Mr. Roumann. "He must have done this. See if you can't find him."
"Come on, Mark," said Jack. "We'll look for the rascal."
"And I'll help," added old Andy. "I'm pretty good on the trail. Maybe I can locate him."
"Do so, then," advised the German. "The professor and I will repair the motor."
CHAPTER XVIIIA VAIN SEARCH
The boys, with the old hunter, immediately began a search. Washington was needed to aid the two scientific men, who quickly prepared to substitute new plates for the smashed ones. The broken plates looked as if they had been struck with a sledge hammer.
Once the adventurers got used to the different motion of the projectile, which was now falling in some unknown direction of its own weight and not forced onward by the power of the motor, they did not notice anything strange.
"Let's begin at the pilot house and work back," proposed Andy. "If that crazy machinist did the damage, it would be natural for him to want to get as far away as he could from the engine–room. That place would be the pilot house."
So they searched there, but there was no sign of any one. Indeed, it would have been a pretty small person who could have concealed himself in the prow of the projectile, occupied as it was with all sorts of mechanism.
"Well, he isn't here, that's certain," declared Andy, who had brought his gun along. "Now for the bunk–room."
There they had no better luck. They peered under the berths, above them, and even turned back the sheets and blankets to look for the intruder. He was not to be found.
Nor was he in the living–room, which was looked over from top to bottom, and every corner examined.
"If he's any place, it must be in the storeroom," declared Jack.
"Unless he's outside the projectile," suggested Mark.
"He couldn't live for a minute in a place without atmosphere," was Jack's opinion. "No, he's in here somewhere, and we must find him."
But it was more easily said than done. The storeroom contained many things, piled together, and it would have been easy for a person to conceal himself among them. The boys and the old hunter looked in every possible place, as they supposed, even taking down many boxes and barrels to peer behind them, but they did not find the man they sought.
"I don't believe he's here," said Jack as he paused in the hunt.
"Say, do you know, I have an idea," said Mark. "Maybe that motor broke itself."
"How could it do that?"
"Well, it might have got to going too fast, and the power may have broken the plates. Anyhow, we didn't hear any person in the engine–room, and there doesn't seem to be any one here."
"That's so."
"I'll make an affidavit that there ain't a person on this airship but ourselves," declared Andy.
"Let's ask Mr. Roumann if it's possible that the motor smashed itself," proposed Jack, and, having no further place to search, they went back to where the two scientists and Washington were busily engaged.
"Yes," replied Mr. Roumann, after Jack had stated his question. "It's possible for that to have happened, but not very probable. I think some person is hiding on board here, and that he did it."
"But we can't find any one."
"That may be. He is well concealed. Well you can't do anything more. Suppose you two boys turn in and help us?"
Jack and Mark were glad to get busy, and for several hours they labored in the engine–room, where the two scientists were toiling. As this rendered it unnecessary for Washington to be there, the colored man went to his kitchen, while Andy again made a vain search of the projectile, looking for the crazy man.
Though Mr. Roumann had provided duplicates of the power plates for the Etherium motor, it was quite a task to take out the broken pieces and insert the new ones.
"Can't you run the atmospheric motor while we're fixing this one?" asked Jack. "That would prevent us falling, I should think."
"No, for the reason that there is no atmosphere for it to work on," declared Mr. Roumann. "But don't worry. We shall soon be under way again. We will be somewhat delayed in reaching Mars, that is all."
They labored hard all the rest of that day and part of what corresponded to the night, though of course the daylight outside never ceased. Little of it could penetrate the projectile, however, for the big car was all sealed up, save for the observation window in the pilot house and one on the side.
"There," announced Mr. Roumann, after inserting the last new plate. "I think we are all right."
It had been nearly eighteen hours since the motor had so suddenly stopped.
"Will you start it now?" asked Jack.
"Yes. I wish you and Mark would go to the pilot house and turn on the power. Do it very slowly. Mr. Henderson and I will stay here and see how the motor behaves."
It was an anxious moment when the power was turned on the repaired machinery, but, to the delight of all, the motor again began to give out the mysterious force. The projectile ceased to fall, and once more was hurled onward.
"That's the stuff!" cried Jack, as he noted the needle of the indicator moving around, showing that they were again headed for Mars.
Once more they were shooting through the ether. The wonderful motor worked even better with the new plates, and Mr. Roumann said they had increased their speed about twenty–five percent.
"So we will soon make up for what we lost," he added.
They were all tired that night, for the work of making the repairs had not been easy, and Andy had gone over the whole projectile many times, looking for the hidden insane man.
"I don't believe he can be here," was Mr. Henderson's opinion.
"He certainly is," declared Mr. Roumann, "and we shall have more trouble from him."
"I hope not," ventured Professor Henderson.
It was on the second day after the accident, when theAnnihilatorwas speeding along, that Jack and Mark, who were in the pilot house with Mr. Roumann, noticed a peculiar trembling of one of the needles on a dial designed to indicate the nearness of heavenly bodies.
"We're coming close to something," said Jack.
"We certainly are," admitted the scientist, with an anxious look at the instrument.
"Maybe it's Mars," suggested Mark.
"No, it can't be that planet."
"What is it?" inquired Jack. "Look, the needle went all the way around that time."
Mr. Roumann bent over the gage. Then he consulted some charts of the sky, and made a few calculations.
"Boys, I am afraid we're approaching a large comet," he said gravely. "And, what is worse, it is attracting us toward itself. We are in great danger!"
CHAPTER XIXESCAPING A COMET
The two boys looked at the German scientist. He was gazing, as if fascinated, at the swiftly moving needle of the gage that had told of the nearness of the comet.
"How far from it are we?" asked Jack.
"Many thousands of miles," replied Mr. Roumann. "But that distance is nothing compared to the rate at which we are traveling. We are almost certain to crash into it, or the comet will collide with us."
"And when it does, what will happen?" inquired Mark quietly.
"That is hard to say," was the answer of the German. "We know very little about the composition of comets. They may be composed merely of flaming gasses, or they may be a train of burning meteors, held together by attraction. The head may be some vast, blazing world, as large as our planet. In fact, comets are very baffling to astronomers."
"Well, if a comet is nothing but gas, it won't hurt if we run into it, will it?" inquired Jack.
"That's just the trouble. We don't know that it is gas," said Mr. Roumann. "It may be solid, and then to rush into it at terrific speed would mean that we would be demolished. Also, if the gas is flaming, you can easily imagine what would happen to theAnnihilator. There would be nothing left of it—or us—in less than an instant."
"But isn't there some way of escaping it?" asked Mark.
"I'm going to try," responded Mr. Roumann. "Jack, ask Professor Henderson to step here. I wish to consult him."
Jack delivered the message, and it was overheard by Washington White. Something in Jack's manner told the colored man that there was trouble aboard.
"What's de mattah?" he asked.
Jack saw no reason for concealing the danger from the cook.
"We're heading into a comet," he, said.
"What? One ob dem tings wid long, fiery tails, Massa Jack?"
The youth nodded.
"Am we gwine t' hit it?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Well, I hopes we does!" exclaimed Washington with great earnestness. "I hopes we knocks it clean outen de universe, dat's what I hopes."
"We're a great deal more likely to be knocked out ourselves, Wash."
"No, sah! Don't yo' believe anyt'ing like dat!" exclaimed the colored man. "I know dis airship. I helped build it, an' it's de strongest one de perfesser eber made. A comet won't be one, two, six wid it. We'll jest knock a piece of his tail off, at's what we'll do. I don't laik comets. Dey allers brings bad luck. Onct, when I was a young feller, I had a ten–dollar gold piece. Dat same year a comet was observed, an' de fust t'ing I knowed somebody done up an' stole mah ten–dollar gold piece. Comets brings bad luck, an' I knows it; Golly! I want t' see one ob 'em busted all t' pieces."
"I guess you don't appreciate the danger," said Jack gravely, as he followed Professor Henderson back to the pilot room, where the two scientists began to consult.
"We have decided on a plan, Mr. Henderson and myself," said Mr. Roumann. "The fact that so little is certainly known concerning comets makes it difficult to know what to do. We might keep on our course and come to no harm, merely pawing through a gaseous mass which makes up the comet's tail. But there is a danger that we might strike the solid head of it, for that the head is solid, and of a glowing, fiery mass, which gives off a train of sparks, is my belief. To collide with a fiery ball, larger than the sun, would indeed be terrible. So we have decided to try to pass through the less dense part the tail of the comet."
"Can't we steer to one side, or above or below the comet?" asked Jack.
"Impossible," replied Mr. Roumann. "We have made some calculations, and have ascertained that this is Donati's comet—the one of 1858—and the head of it is two hundred and fifty thousand miles in diameter. The tail is many millions of miles long, and as many thick. To pass entirely beyond it would consume much time. In fact, we could not move quickly enough to escape it, as we are now being attracted out of our course toward the comet."
"How far off is it now?" asked Mark.
"About seven hundred and twenty thousand miles."
"Then we'll be up to it in about two hours," went on Mark, making a rapid calculation.
"I only hope we don't get into it, as well as up to it," commented Jack.
"We all do," observed Mr. Henderson. "But now, boys, we are going to do our best to escape. Mr. Roumann will remain in the pilot house to steer the projectile, while you and I will attend to the Etherium, motor."
"Try and see if you can get any more speed out of it," advised the German. "Use the accelerator plates, as I instructed you. Perhaps we can pass so quickly through the gaseous tail, or a portion of it, that we shall not be harmed."
"Even if it blazes?" asked Jack.
"Even if it blazes. The gas between the two shells of our projectile will absorb an enormous quantity of heat. It is our only hope."
Their hearts filled with apprehension, the two boys accompanied Professor Henderson back to the engine–room. There the scientist changed the plates on the motor, and made some adjustments, as suggested by Mr. Roumann, so that more speed would develop. Anxiously they watched the gages, to see if the motor did work any faster.
"It's increasing!" cried Jack, as he watched the needle swing, until it indicated a rate of one hundred and thirty miles a second. "We are going faster than we ever went before."
"And we need to," observed Mr. Henderson. "A comet is a terrible mass to escape from."
In spite of the increased speed of the projectile, it could not be noticed by those within it. For all they could tell they were stationary, but they were really flying through the ether at enormous velocity. For over an hour the motor was worked at the increased rate. Then, leaving the boys in charge for a few minutes, Mr. Henderson went to the pilot house to ask Mr. Roumann if there was any chance of escape. He met the German coming toward the engine–room.
"Well?" inquired the professor.
"No, not well—bad," was the gloomy answer.
"Why so?"
"I can't force theAnnihilatorto one side or the other. I have tried, time and again, to steer it away from the comet's head and into the less dense part of the tail, but, so far, without success. The rudder arrangement appears to be affected by the comet and will not work."
"What can we do?"
"Nothing, unless, perhaps, we can get a little more speed out of the motor. The rudder might work then."
They tried, but without success. Not a bit more speed could the Etherium machine be induced to give out. Indeed, Mr. Roumann admitted that it was working faster than he had ever expected it would.
"I'll go back and make one more attempt to steer out of the way," he said.
He was gone for perhaps ten minutes. In that time Mr. Henderson, aided by Jack and Mark, tried to adjust the motor differently, but unavailingly. Mr. Roumann came hurrying back from the pilot house.
"It's of no use!" he exclaimed. "We are heading right toward the point of the comet. We must prepare for the worst!"
There was silence for a moment. It was an awful fate to meet, and they realized it. Then Washington White, looking into the engine–room from his kitchen, exclaimed:
"Now, don't yo' all go t' worryin' 'bout dat ole comet. It can't hurt us, an' we'll knock it into smithereens!"
"You talk that way because you know nothing of comets," said Mr. Roumann solemnly.
"I don't know nuffin' 'bout 'em?" demanded the colored man. "I knows too much ob 'em, dat's what I does. Didn't I lose mah ten dollars?"
He stopped suddenly. From without there came a terrible roaring sound, that grew louder and louder.
"The comet!" cried Mr. Roumann. "We are almost upon it. That roaring is caused by the flaming gases!"
There was nothing that could be done. There was no place to go—no place to run to—no place in which to hide. They could only stand there and wait for total annihilation, which they expected every moment.
The roaring grew louder. It was like the howling of a mighty mind. The projectile seemed to tremble.
Then there came a brilliant light, rivaling even that of the sun, in the rays of which they constantly were. The light streamed in through the plate–glass ports in the engine–room. It showed violet rays, purple, orange, green, yellow—all the colors of the rainbow.
"We'll be consumed in a moment!" murmured Mr. Roumann. "We are in the midst of the comet!"
Several seconds passed. There was no increase in temperature. After all, would the wonderful gas in the space between the two shells of the projectile absorb the terrific heat?
The light faded away. Only the glow of the sun remained. TheAnnihilatorshot onward.
Mr. Roumann rushed to the pilot house. He uttered a cry.
"We have escaped the comet!" he called to the boys and Professor Henderson, who followed him. "We went right through a small section of the tail. And I was mistaken in thinking it was composed of flaming gases. It is only nebulous light. There is no harm in a comet, after all!"
"Dat's what I said all along," remarked Washington White, as he went back to his kitchen. "All a comet is good fer is t' bring bad luck. Look at mah ten dollars. I wish we'd batted dis one inter pieces!"
CHAPTER XXTHE MOTOR STOPS
They were hardly able to realize their escape. That is, all but Washington. He took it as a matter of course.
"How did it come about?" asked Jack.
"It's hard to say," replied Mr. Roumann. "I couldn't steer away from the comet, but it's probably just as well that I could not. It seems that the mass of queer light attracted us to it, but to a certain section where we came to no harm. And we must have gone through it at an angle, or we would have been much longer within its influence."
"Can we see the comet?" asked Mark.
"There it is," replied the German. "Only it doesn't look as a comet does when you view it from the earth. We are too close to it."
They looked from the side window of the projectile. Far off appeared to be a great mass of clouds, except that instead of being white, the mass was colored with many hues, It was so vast in extent that they could see neither the beginning nor the ending of it.
"Our first comet," remarked Jack.
"And I hope our last," added Mark.
"Yes, indeed," interjected Mr. Roumann. "Now I think we will slow down the motor somewhat. We must save some of the energy for our return trip, though I have a large surplus. Still, we cannot be too careful."
"Are we once more headed for Mars?" asked Mark.
"Yes, we are pointing directly toward it. Perhaps you boys will go and slow down the motor, while Professor Henderson and I make some scientific notes concerning the comet. It will be great information to the astronomers on earth. Many of their theories will be changed, I fancy."
Jack and Mark started for the engine–room.
They passed through the living or dining–room, where Washington was setting the table for dinner.
"What I done tole yo'?" he demanded triumphantly. "I wasn't skeered ob no ole comet."
"That's right, Wash," admitted Mark. "You had one on us that time."
Andy Sudds was in one corner of the room, oiling his gun.
"Getting ready to go hunting?" asked Jack.
"Well, I heard Mr. Roumann say we'd be on Mars in a few days," replied the old man, "and if there's any game there I want to get a shot at it."
"That's right," said Jack. "I guess I'll take—"
He got no further. From the engine–room there sounded a tremendous racket, as if some one was pounding on the machinery with a big hammer.
"What's that?" cried Mark.
"Something's happened to the motor!" exclaimed Jack. "Maybe it's going too fast! Come on!"
They ran to the engine–room. The sight that met their eyes was a startling one.
Standing with his back to them was a strange man. Over his head he was swinging a sledge hammer, which he brought down with great force upon the Etherium motor.
"I'll smash it! I'll stop this machine! I'll send us all to the bottom of the universe!" the man was muttering.
"Quit that!" cried Jack, springing forward.
The man paused and turned.
"The crazy machinist!" shouted Jack. "Hell break the engine all to pieces!"
"That's what I will!" replied the infuriated man. "I'll end this voyage now!"
Once more he brought his hammer down on the machine, and the motor, with a hissing of gas and a shower of sparks, stopped working.
Jack and Mark were brave lads. They sprang upon the man, though he was large and strong, and his strength was added to by his insane fury.
In an instant they were in the midst of a fierce fight. The maniac tossed them aside as if they were mere infants, but they returned to the attack. They sought to hold his arms to prevent him from doing any further damage with the hammer. Fortunately for the lads, the man was forced to drop the weapon, to enable him to grapple with his two assailants.
"Can you hold him?" cried Mark.
"Not very well," panted Jack, as his grip of the man's arms was broken and he was flung across the room.
"Help! Help!" suddenly cried Mark. "The crazy machinist is here!"
Washington and Andy, in the living–room, heard the yells of the boys. They rushed to the scene, and, taking in the situation at a glance, flung themselves upon the unfortunate man, aiding the boys in holding him.
Even their strength was not sufficient, and it was not until Mr. Roumann, leaving Professor Henderson in charge of the pilot house, had come up, that they were able to secure the maniac.
He was quickly bound with ropes, and placed in the storeroom as a prisoner, while the German turned his whole attention to the motor, a part of which had been broken. Once more theAnnihilatorhad ceased to advance, and was falling through space.
"Can you fix it?" anxiously asked Jack, who was panting from the terrible struggle.
"Yes," replied Mr. Roumann. "Fortunately he did not smash a vital part. I will soon have it running again."
In less than half an hour the motor was repaired, and was speeding the projectile on its way. It was not set at the greatest power, however, as Mr. Roumann did not want to put too much strain upon it.
"Now I have time to inquire how it happened," he said to the boys. "Tell me about it."
They related how they had come upon the crazy machinist.
"Then he has been hidden on board all the while," commented the German. "I was not mistaken in thinking some one opened that port after I closed it. He sneaked in here the night before we started, and has been waiting his chance to do us some damage. It was he who smashed the plates."
"But where could he have concealed himself?" asked Jack.
"I don't know. We'll see if he will tell us."
They went to the storeroom, where the maniac was bound.
"Why did you try to damage my machinery?" asked Mr. Roumann.
"Because it is an infringement on my patent," was the surprising answer. "I invented a perpetual motion machine, for making dog biscuits, and you have used it to make your airship go. Therefore I smashed it. I have the sole right to make dog biscuits for the king of the cannibal islands. I'm his private secretary."
"He is hopelessly insane," murmured Jack.
"I fear so," agreed Mr. Roumann. Then he asked: "Where have you been hiding?"
"Ah, I fooled you, all right," said the man with a cunning laugh. "It was just like a game of hide and seek to watch you hunting for me, and me looking at you all the while. Ha, ha! Oh, I had a good place."
"Where was it?" asked Mr. Roumann soothingly.
"Right up there," answered the machinist, pointing to the roof of the storeroom. The German made an investigation, and discovered a small compartment where it had been intended to make a port, but the idea for which had not been carried out. This left a space in the wall of the projectile, large enough for a man to conceal himself in. No one would suspect he was there.
"I sneaked on board one night," went on the man. "I managed to open a port into the storeroom. And I lived high, I can tell you."
"Golly! He's been at mah kitchen stuff!" exclaimed Washington.
"Did that other man come aboard with you?" asked Jack. He referred to the tramp who had peered in the window of the professor's house.
"No. He's been elected King of France," was the answer. "He had to go over there to get his crown fitted on. I'm all alone here. A few minutes more and I would have smashed that engine."
"I guess you would," responded Mr. Roumann. "Well, we'll take good care that you do not get loose again."
The bonds of the maniac were made more secure, and Washington White was told to keep, close watch over him.
It was the day after this occurrence, though Jack and Mark had not gotten over talking about it, that they were in the pilot house with Professor Henderson. The projectile was speeding along rapidly, and from calculations that had been made it was believed they would arrive at Mars in about two days.
"I'll be glad of it," said Jack. "I want a chance to stretch my legs."
"And grow lighter," added Mark. "You're fatter than ever since you began this trip."
"That's because I don't have any exercise. But I'll make up for it. I understand that on Mars one can jump twice as far as he can on the earth, due to the less dense atmosphere."
"Well, we'll soon see," said Mark.
Mr. Henderson suddenly bent over one of the indicators. He pressed a lever, turned a wheel, and then exclaimed:
"The Etherium motor has stopped working 'again! I wonder if the maniac is loose!"
"We'll see!" cried Jack, as he and Mark hurried toward the engine–room. They found Mr. Roumann there.
"The motor has stopped!" exclaimed Jack.
"I know it."
"Has there been an accident?"
"No."
"What's the matter, then?"
"We have completed our journey through the ether. The motor will only work in that."
"And that means—" began Mark.
"That we have reached the atmosphere of Mars!" exclaimed Mr. Roumann in triumph.