The Hunchback of Westminster

by William Le Queux

the motor. The two cars, to holdthree passengers each, like the motor, are supported by a pineframework, and are suspended at a distance of fifteen feet under theballoon. The propeller is an exceptionally large and strong one, andresembles a fish's tail, a mackerel's, for I contend we find all ourtrue air affinities in the sea. It turns at the rate of two hundred andfifty revolutions a minute, and the whole apparatus is strong enough tolet us take a fair amount of ballast; for the secret of my success in myinvention does not turn on lightness, where so many flying-machineinventors have gone wrong of late, but on weight--weight to subdue thepressure of the wind, to conquer the dead force of the air, and toanswer the power of the motor to get up anything approaching a decentspeed."

  The enthusiast stopped. Some detail in the rigging as the great aerialmonster rose higher and higher suddenly required his attention; and forthe next few minutes none of us spoke at all, as the captain movedhither and thither, directing his subordinates, and getting everythinginto working order. Curiously enough, all his feverishness left himlike magic directly there was any serious work to do. For that time hemight have been quite alone in his workshop. He moved and spoke andacted as one who had perfect confidence in himself and in the issue ofthe daring experiment which he was about to undertake.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  ABOVE THE CLOUDS.

  At last everything seemed in readiness.

  The beautiful grounds of the Quarry were black with thousands uponthousands of anxious spectators, and at a signal from the aeronautCasteno and I, amidst loud cheers from the mob in the enclosure, tookour places first in the car. There was room for a third passenger, andfor a few seconds the Spaniard and I debated eagerly whether we shouldhave Doris or the hunchback as the last party in the trio, and, if so,what line we ought to take with them lest they should suspect we werenot those harmless members of a curious section of the public which wehad given ourselves out to be. Unfortunately, as it happened, we weredestined to have as travelling companion a total stranger to both of us.All at once we saw Doris beckon to the captain, and when he approachedshe introduced him to a tall venerable-looking figure with a long whitebeard.

  "This is the Professor Stephen Leopardi of the Meteorological Office,whom I mentioned to you," she said in her clear, ringing tones. "He isan old friend of my father and myself from London, but just now hehappens to be staying near the Wrekin, and he is very anxious, if youwill take him, to make the ascent with you. He is a man of science too,of considerable reputation, and any testimony he can bear to the uses ofyour invention must, in the natural course of things, be very valuableto you."

  "Quite so! Quite so!" rejoined both Captain Sparhawk and the hunchback,whose eyes gleamed with avarice at the prospect of getting so famous anexpert to go with them and to speak up for them without a fee. "Weshall really be only too delighted if the professor will make the sixthin our party--if he will consent to do so. There is a very nice seatvacant in the car we have reserved for independent passengers. Will hehonour us by occupying that?" And with a good many flourishes and bowson both sides the scientist, to our profound disgust, was hoisted on toa seat next to Casteno and myself, thus cutting off for good all chanceof our carrying on any private conversation or of giving each other anyconfidential hints.

  A few minutes later Doris and the hunchback entered the adjacent car.Captain Sparhawk shook hands warmly with some of his more prominentsupporters and friends on the committee and followed them, and the nextmoment he blew a shrill call on a small whistle attached to the motor,close to which he had taken up his position, ready to set all themachinery at work.

  There was a loud crash of cannon, an ear-splitting salvo of cheers asone by one the guide-ropes slipped out of their blocks, and finally theair-ship "Doris" rose free from her moorings and went sailing like abird across the river Severn in the direction of Welshpool.

  At first the sensation was delightful. The earth and its people andfeatures dropped away from us, until we seemed to have risen out of thehollow of a basin. There was no sense of ascent at all. The worldslipped away from us, and not we away from the world. One by one thesounds died out, until at last we could only catch the hoarse barking ofsome sheep-dogs which must have seen us with those keen eyes of theirsand thought mischief was astir. Clouds, too, began to rush swiftlytowards us, and soon we found ourselves enveloped in a soft, clinging,whitish mist, which blotted out all sight of the earth we had leftbehind us.

  We were now being carried upward with a terrific force, and insensiblyall of us turned our eyes towards Captain Sparhawk to see how he wasgoing to acquit himself and his machine now the time of real trial hadcome. After all, any balloon could rise like this had done. Indeed,all balloons had been able to accomplish as much since the days of theBrothers Montgolfier. It was on the steering--directing--descent thatthe fame of the "Doris" and all modern flying machines had to rest. Howwould the vessel behave in a wild upward dash like ours?

  Alas! we had not long to wait for an answer.

  All at once we saw Captain Sparhawk stagger and throw up his arms. Thewind had blown his coat, which he had carelessly left unfastened,against the motor, and the petroleum ignition had set the dry woollenmaterial on fire. In vain he tried to extinguish the flames. Theyspread with hideous rapidity, and at last, frantic with pain, hescrambled on to the framework, and dashed headlong to the earth, aseething mass of fire.

  For a moment, I believe, all our hearts stood still with terror.

  Freed, too, from the burden of Captain Sparhawk's weight, the air-shipshot upward at a most amazing rate of speed. At first it gave two greatviolent lurches, as though the loss of that twelve or fourteen stone ofballast would send it heeling over, with its cars at a crazy angle'twixt earth and heaven, but, luckily, in our consternation we all madevarious movements that served to right the vessel, and later we foundourselves safe, at all events for the moment, but perfectly helpless.By this time, too, there was not a trace of the world to be seen. Wewere simply surrounded with clouds, which seethed about us in white,clinging vapour and wrapped themselves about our clothes and faces asthough we had been overtaken in a mist on some Scottish moor.

  "Something will have to be done," said the professor sternly, turningsuddenly to Casteno and myself, his sole travelling companions in thatcar. "We can expect no assistance from that old hunchback or that girl,Miss Napier, in the other compartment. Do either of you gentlemenunderstand anything about air-ships?" And he gave a quick, scrutinisinggaze at our uniforms, as though he could find thereon some badge whichshowed we belonged to the ballooning section of the Royal Engineers.

  "We know nothing whatever," replied Jose quietly, stamping up and downto keep his feet warm. "We have come, for pleasure we thought it, andhere is the result."

  "Besides, professor," I cut in, "are not you really the one to takecharge of operations at this juncture? I understand that you come fromthe Meteorological Office and that ventures like this fall under yourreview in your department. Surely you know enough of ballooning bywhich, even if you couldn't make the machine perform like the inventorintended it should, you could at least take us back to the earth."

  "I am not so sure about that," said the man quickly, and then all atonce he stopped and bit his lip. It was obvious that he had said alittle more than he intended, and a new suspicion about him gatheredshape and force in my mind. Suppose he were not the Professor StephenLeopardi that Doris had pretended but some other spy sent by Cuthbertsonto keep an eye on the hunchback?

  "Well, at all events, we can't go blindly to death like this," Isnapped. "Look, there is Miss Napier making signals to us with herhandkerchief? Where, though, is the hunchback? Ah! I see. The frighthas been too much for him. He has collapsed, fainted, and dropped likea log to the seat on the side of the car. We must do something or shewill grow frantic." And waving a hand to her I, half unconscious ofwhat I had myself resolved upon, scrambled on to the stays of themachine and began to crawl like a monkey towards the tiny platfor
m fromwhich poor Captain Sparhawk had fallen, and on which stood the motor andthe different cords and levers that controlled the machine.

  "Come back! Come back!" Casteno shouted. "Are you mad, man? Don'tyou understand that in a cold, rarefied atmosphere like this the gas inthe balloon is bound to condense, and that, as surely as an apple dropsfrom a tree to the earth instead of the sky, by the law of gravitation,we must land on terra firma again?"

  But his appeal fell on ears that were deaf to all save one voice. Abovethe swirl and the wind I had heard Doris call to us, and nought elsemattered. Doris was frightened. Doris wanted somebody near to herbesides that senseless Spaniard. Doris dreaded what might happen. Thatmust not be, and so, with eyes fixed resolutely on her graceful figurestanding silhouetted against the clouds, I shut my lips tightly andcrept along