CHAPTER XXVI
ON LAKE MICHIGAN
Unsuccessfully they tried to make repairs to the horizontal rudderwithout going down, but it was not to be. The airship was being sentfarther and farther along on a Northern course, taking her far out ofher way. And more time and distance might thus be lost than bydescending, making repairs, and going on again.
"Well, I did hope we'd cover at least half the trip before we had to godown," Dick said, and his tone was regretful. "Try once more and seeif we can't get her back on the course."
But the horizontal guide--by which I mean the apparatus that sent thecraft to left or right--was hopelessly jammed. To try to force itmight mean a permanent break.
"Take her down," Dick finally gave the order, as captain. "What sortof a landing-place is below us?"
"We're too far up to see," said Mr. Vardon.
"And I hope we have the luck to be above open country. We can't go toleft or right except in the smallest degree, so we'll have to landwherever Fate disposes. We are all right on going up or down, but nototherwise."
The vertical rudder was now depressed, and on a long slant Dick'sairship was sent down. Lower and lower she glided, and soon anindistinct mass appeared. It was almost dusk, and no details could bemade out. Then, as she went lower what appeared to be a gray cloudshowed.
"There's a bank of fog below us," declared Paul.
"Or else it's the smoke of Pittsburg," said Innis.
"We left Pittsburg behind long ago," Larry returned. "Why!" he cried,as the gray foglike mass became more distinct. "That's water--that'swhat it is!"
"Water!" exclaimed Dick. "Can we have gone in the wrong direction, andbe back over the Atlantic?"
"Or the Pacific?" suggested Larry with a laugh.
"No such good luck as that! We haven't had time to cross the continentyet," declared Dick. "But what water can it be?"
"Oh, some small lake," spoke Paul.
"It isn't a small lake--it's a big one--an inland sea," was Dick'sopinion, as they settled lower and lower.
"It's Lake Michigan, that's what it is!" shouted Larry, after a quickglance at the map. "Fellows, we're over Lake Michigan!"
"And we're going to be IN it--or on it--in a little while, I'mthinking," Lieutenant McBride said, grimly. "Are you ready for a bath?"
"There won't be any trouble about that," answered Dick. "Thehydroplanes will take care of us. I only hope it isn't too rough tomake a safe landing."
Paul took a telescope from the rack, and, going out on the deck, lookeddown. The next moment he reported:
"It's fairly calm. Just a little swell on."
"Then we'd better get ready to lower the hydroplanes," went on Dick,with a look at the aviator.
"That's the best thing to do," decided Mr. Vardon. "We'll see howthey'll work in big water."
The hydroplanes, which were attached to the airship near the pointswhere the starting wheels were made fast, could be lowered into placeby means of levers in the cabin. The hydroplanes were reallywater-tight hollow boxes, large and buoyant enough to sustain theairship on the surface of the water. They could be lowered to a pointwhere they were beneath the bicycle wheels, and were fitted withtoggle-jointed springs to take up the shock.
Lieutenant McBride took out his watch, and with pad and pencil preparedto note the exact moment when the airship should reach the surface ofthe lake.
"I shall have to take official notice of this," he said. "Itconstitutes your first landing, though perhaps it would be more correctto call it a watering. As soon as you are afloat, your elapsed timewill begin, and it will count until you are in the air again. You willprobably be some time making repairs."
"No longer than we can help," said Dick. "I don't want Uncle Ezra, oranybody else, to get ahead of me."
Down and down sank the Abaris, on her first descent from the cloud-landsince her auspicious start. But, as Dick admitted, it might be worse.The accident itself was a comparatively slight one.
"Get ready, everybody!" called Mr. Vardon, as he saw that, in a fewseconds more, they would be on the surface of the water.
"Do you fear something will go wrong?" asked Larry, quickly.
"Well, we've never tried the hydroplanes in rough water, and there isalways the chance for an accident. Stand out where you can jump, ifyou have to," he directed.
Lieutenant McBride was standing with his watch out, ready to note theexact second of landing. He knew he must be officially correct, thoughhe would give Dick every possible chance and favor.
"Here we go!" came the cry from the aviator. "Only a few seconds now!"
They could plainly see the heaving waters of the big lake. Fortunatelyit was comparatively calm, though once she had landed the airship couldstand some rough weather afloat.
Splash! went the hydroplanes into the water. The springs took up theshock and strain, and the next moment Dick's craft was floating easilyon the great lake. The landing had been made without an accident tomar it.
"Good!" cried Lieutenant McBride, as he jotted down the time. "Do youknow how long you have been, so far, Dick, on the trip?"
"How long?"
"Just thirty-five hours, four minutes and eight seconds!" was theanswer.
"Over half the estimated time gone, and we re only a third of the waythere!" exclaimed the young millionaire. "I'm afraid we aren't goingto do it, Mr. Vardon."
"Well, I'm not going to give up yet," the aviator answered, grimly."This is only a start. We haven't used half our speed, and when we getcloser to the finish we can go a hundred and twenty-five miles an hourif we have to--for a spurt, at any rate. No, I'm not giving up."
"Neither am I," declared Dick, for he was not of the quitting sort.
Floating on the surface of Lake Michigan was like being on the ocean,for they were out of sight of land, and there were no water craft inview. The Abaris seemed to have the lake to herself, though doubtlessbeyond the wall of the slight haze that hemmed her in there were othervessels.
"Well, now to see what the trouble is," suggested Dick. "It must besomewhere in the connecting joints of the levers, for the rudder itselfseems to be all right."
"But we'd better begin out there and make sure," suggested Mr. Vardon.He pointed to the rudder, which projected some distance back of thestern of the aircraft.
"How you going to get at it to inspect it?" asked Paul. "It isn't asif we were on solid ground."
"And no one has long enough a reach to stretch to it from the deck,"added Innis.
"You forget our collapsible lifeboat," Dick answered. One of thoseuseful craft was aboard the airship. It could be inflated with air,and would sustain a considerable weight.
"I'll go out in that and see what's the trouble," Dick went on. "Itwill tell us where we've got to begin."
"Perhaps we had better wait until morning," suggested LieutenantMcBride. "It is fast getting dark, and you can do much better work indaylight. Besides, you are not pressed for time, as your stay herewill not count against you. I think you had better wait until morning."
"And stay here all night?" asked Dick.
"I think so. You have proved that your hydroplanes are all right. Whynot rest on the surface of the lake until morning? You can't anchor,it is true, but you can use a drag, and there seems to be no wind, soyou will not be blown ashore. Besides, you can, to a certain extent,control yourself with the propellers."
"I think we will wait then," decided the young millionaire captain. "Asyou say we can make a drag anchor to keep us from drifting too much."
By means of a long rope a drag anchor was tossed out at the stern ofthe aircraft. This would serve to hold her back. Then, as nothingfurther could be done, preparations were made for supper.
"Well, this aeroplaning has its ups and downs," said Paul, with alaugh, as he sat at table. "Last night we were eating up in the air,and now we're on the water."
"And it's lucky we're not IN the water!" exclaimed Innis. "RegularHamilton lu
ck, I call it."
"No, it's Vardon luck," Dick insisted. "He planned the hydroplanesthat made it possible."
Lights were set aglow to show the position of the craft on the water.
"We don't want to be run down in the night," Dick said, as he noted thered and green side lights as well as the white ones at bow and stern.For, in the water, the Abaris was subject to the same rules as wereother lake craft. It was only when in the air that she was largely alaw unto herself.
The night passed quietly enough, though it came on to blow a littletoward morning. But the drag anchor worked well.
"And now for the repairs," cried Dick, after breakfast, as he and hischums got out the collapsible boat. It was blown up, and in it Dickand Mr. Vardon paddled out to the stern rudders.
They were examining the universal joint, by which the apparatus wasdeflected when Dick suddenly became aware of a wet feeling about hisfeet, and a sinking feeling beneath him. He looked down, and foundthat the boat, in which he and Mr. Vardon were standing, was goingdown. Already it was half filled with water.
"More trouble!" cried Dick. "I guess we'll have to swim for it!"
Dick Hamilton's Airship; Or, A Young Millionaire in the Clouds Page 26