CHAPTER XV
IN DANGER
"Well, Tom, we're moving!" cried Ned Newton, clapping his chum on theback, as he stood near him in the pilot-house. "We're going up, oldsport!"
"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 soworried about--"
"Not about the ship sailing," interrupted Tom. "It was only the effectthe firing of the guns might have. But I think we have that taken careof."
"Bless my pin cushion!" cried Mr. Damon, as he looked over the rail atthe 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'tquite equal their lateral speed."
"Just how fast do you think you can travel when you are in first-classshape?" asked Lieutenant Marbury, as he noted how the Mars wasbehaving on this, the first trip.
"Well, I set a limit of seventy-five miles an hour," the young inventorreplied, as he shifted various levers and handles, to change the speedof the mechanism. "But I'm afraid we won't quite equal that with allour guns on board. But I'm safe in saying sixty, I think."
"That will more than satisfy the government requirements," the officersaid. "But, of course, your craft will have to come up to expectationsand requirements in the matter of armament."
"I'll give you every test you want," declared Tom, with a smile. "Andnow we'll see what the Mars can do when put to it."
Up and up went the big dirigible aerial warship. Had you been fortunateenough to have seen her you would have observed a craft not unlike, inshape, the German Zeppelins. But it differed from those war balloons inseveral important particulars.
Tom's craft was about six hundred feet long, and the diameter of thegas bag, amidships, was sixty feet, slightly larger than the largestZeppelin. Below the bag, which, as I have explained, was made up of anumber of gas-tight compartments, hung from wire cables three cabins.The forward one was a sort of pilot-house, containing variousinstruments 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 sleepingquarters, where food was cooked and served and where those who operatedthe craft could spend their leisure time. Extra supplies were alsostored there.
At the stern of the big bag was the motor-room, where gas was generatedto fill the balloon compartments when necessary, where the gasoline andelectrical apparatus were installed, and where the real motive power ofthe craft was located. Here, also, was carried the large quantity ofgasoline and oil needed for a long voyage. The Mars could carrysufficient fuel to last for over a week, provided no accidents occurred.
There was also an arrangement in the motor compartment, so that theship could be steered and operated from there. This was in case theforward pilot-house should be shot away by an enemy. And, also, in themotor compartment were the sleeping quarters for the crew.
All three suspended cabins were connected by a long covered runway, sothat one could pass from the pilot-house to the motor-room and backagain through the amidship cabin.
At the extreme end of the big bag were the various rudders and planes,designed to keep the craft on a level keel, automatically, and toenable it to make headway against a strong wind. The motive powerconsisted of three double-bladed wooden propellers, which could beoperated together or independently. A powerful gasoline engine was thechief motive power, though there was an auxiliary storage battery,which would operate an electrical motor and send the ship along formore than twenty-four hours in case of accident to the gasoline engine.
There were many other pieces of apparatus aboard, some not completelyinstalled, the uses of which I shall mention from time to time, as thestory progresses. The gas-generating machine was of importance, forthere 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 younginventor, with a smile. "I expect we shall have to make quite a numberof changes."
"Are you going far?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Why, you're not frightened, are you?" inquired Tom. "You have been upin airships with me before."
"Oh, no, I'm not frightened!" exclaimed the odd man. "Bless mysuspenders, no! But I promised my wife I'd be back this evening, and..."
"We'll sail over toward Waterford," broke in Tom, "and I'll drop youdown in your front yard."
"No, don't do that! Don't! I beg of you!" cried Mr. Damon. "Yousee--er--Tom, my wife doesn't like me to make these trips. Of course, Iunderstand there is no danger, and I like them. But it's just as wellnot to make her worry-you understand!"
"Oh, all right," replied Tom, with a laugh. "Well, we're not going faron this trip. What I want to do, most of all, is to test the guns, andsee if the recoil check will work as well when we are aloft as it diddown on the ground. You know a balloon isn't a very stable base for agun, even one of light caliber."
"No, it certainly is not," agreed Lieutenant Marbury, "and I aminterested in seeing how you will overcome the recoil."
"We'll have a test soon," announced Tom.
Meanwhile the Mars, having reached a considerable height, being up sofar, in fact, that the village of Shopton could scarcely bedistinguished, Tom set the signal that told the engine-room force tostart the propellers. This would send them ahead.
Some of Tom's most trusted workmen formed the operating crew, the younginventor taking charge of the pilot-house himself.
"Well she seems to run all right," observed Lieutenant Marbury, as thebig craft surged ahead just below a stratum of white, fleecy clouds.
"Yes, but not as fast as I'd like to see her go," Tom replied. "Ofcourse the machinery is new, and it will take some little time for itto wear down smooth. I'll speed her up a little now."
They had been running for perhaps ten minutes when Tom shoved over thehand of an indicator that communicated with the engine-room from thepilot-house. At once the Mars increased her speed.
"She can do it!" cried Ned.
"Bless my-hat! I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon, for he was standingoutside the pilot-house just then, on the "bridge," and the suddenincrease of speed lifted his hat from his head.
"There you are--caught on the fly!" cried Ned, as he put up his handjust in time to catch the article in question.
"Thanks! Guess I'd better tie it fast," remarked the odd man, puttinghis hat on tightly.
The aerial warship was put through several evolutions to test herstability, and to each one she responded well, earning the praise ofthe government officer. Up and down, to one side and the other, aroundin big circles, and even reversing, Tom sent his craft with a true handand eye. In a speed test fifty-five miles was registered against aslight wind, and the young inventor said he knew he could do betterthan that as soon as some of the machinery was running more smoothly.
"And now suppose we get ready for the gun tests," suggested Tom, whenthey had been running for about an hour.
"That's what I'm mostly interested in," said Lieutenant Marbury. "It'seasy enough to get several good types of dirigible balloons, but few ofthem will stand having a gun fired from them, to say nothing of severalguns."
"Well, I'm not making any rash promises," Tom went on, "but I think wecan turn the trick."
The armament of the Mars was located around the center cabin. Therewere two large guns, fore and aft, throwing a four-inch projectile, andtwo smaller calibered quick-firers on either beam. The guns weremounted on pedestals that enabled the weapons to fire in almost anydirection, save straight up, and of course the balloon bag being abovethem prevented this. However, there was an arrangement whereby a smallautomatic quick-firer could be sent up to a platform built on top ofthe gas enve
lope itself, and a man stationed there could shoot at arival airship directly overhead.
But the main deck guns could be elevated to an angle of nearlyforty-five degrees, so they could take care of nearly any hostileaircraft that approached.
"But where are the bombs I heard you speaking of?" asked Ned, as theyfinished looking at the guns.
"Here they are," spoke Tom, as he pointed to a space in the middle ofthe main cabin floor. He lifted a brass plate, and disclosed threeholes, covered with a strong wire netting that could be removed. "Thebombs will be dropped through those holes," explained the younginventor, "being released by a magnetic control when the operatorthinks he has reached a spot over the enemy's city or fortificationwhere the most damage will be done. I'll show you how they work alittle later. Now we'll have a test of some of the guns."
Tom called for some of his men to take charge of the steering andrunning of the Mars while he and Lieutenant Marbury prepared to firethe two larger weapons. This was to be one of the most important tests.
Service charges had been put in, though, of course, no projectileswould be used, since they were then flying over a large city not farfrom Shopton.
"We'll have to wait until we get out over the ocean to give a completetest, with a bursting shell," Tom said.
He and Lieutenant Marbury were beside a gun, and were about to fire it,when suddenly, from the stern of the ship, came a ripping, tearingsound, and, at the same time, confused shouts came from the crew'squarters.
"What is it?" cried Tom.
"One of the propellers!" was the answer. "It's split, and has torn abig hole in the gas bag!"
"Bless my overshoes!" cried Mr. Damon. "We're going down!"
All on board the Mars became aware of a sudden sinking sensation.
Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship; Or, The Naval Terror of the Seas Page 15