THE "METEOR."
WHITTINGHAME conducted his companion to the open air by a different
route from that by which they had gained the subterranean workshops.
It was a fairly broad way, of quite recent construction, and sloping
gently for quite eighty yards and finishing, up by a steep incline.
Dacres found himself in the midst of a thick wood, an avenue the
width of the passage terminating at the rear of a large shed. But
instead of entering the building, Whittinghame broke away to the left
by a narrow footpath, which by a circuitous route gained the open
space where Dacres had obtained his first glimpse of the returning
airship.
At first he was puzzled. There was the circular clearing with its
closely-mown grass, but no signs of the five airship-sheds.
Pulling out a whistle Whittinghame gave two sharp blasts. This signal
was almost immediately followed by the appearance of three men clad
in dungaree suits.
"Open up No I. shed, Parsons," ordered the "Meteor's" owner, then
turning to his companion he observed: "That's my chief engineer. He
is absolutely part and parcel of the 'Meteor's' machinery. What he
doesn't know about motors is hardly worth troubling about. Now
watch."
The engineer and his two assistants disappeared behind a clump of
trees. Then, even as Dacres looked, a number of lofty pines moved
bodily sideways with regimental precision, disclosing the end of one
of the sheds that he had seen overnight.
"We have to disguise our sheds as much as possible," said
Whittinghame. "Those trees are dummies set in a base that travels on
wheels on a pair of rails. They would defy detection unless anyone
were warned as to their nature. The roof too, is covered with
artificial tree-tops. An airman passing overhead would have no idea
that there were five sheds each two hundred and forty feet in length,
forty-five feet in height and forty in breadth hidden in this
comparatively small wood. Now, this is the bow section of the
'Meteor.' A noble craft, I think you'll admit."
As soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the semi-gloom Dacres saw that
the pointed bow was facing him, while on either side of the main
fabric was a smaller cylinder open at each end.
"Those contain the propellers," explained his guide. "The airship has
four cylinders with two propellers in each. The foremost propeller
works at 1,200 revolutions per minute, and the backdraught is taken
up by the rear propeller, which runs at twice that speed. The
cylinders form a partial silencer, so that, except through an arc of
about eleven degrees, its centre parallel to the major axis of the
airship, the whirr of the blades is practically inaudible when at a
height of two hundred or more feet above the ground. Do you notice
those plates of metal lying against the outer envelope?"
"One above and one underneath the propeller covering?"
"Yes, those are the elevating planes and rudders, 'housed' for the
time being to allow the craft to enter her shed. The motors are in
the centre of the body, the propeller shafting being chain-driven."
"What do you use--petrol?" asked Dacres.
Whittinghame shook his head.
"Too dangerous," he replied. "We use cordite."
"Eh?" ejaculated Dacres incredulously.
"Yes, cordite: the ideal fuel for internal combustion engines. You
must be perfectly aware of the properties of cordite. In the open air
and not under pressure it burns slowly; but under pressure its
explosive capabilities are enormous. Our motors are actuated by
introducing small charges of cordite into the cylinders and exploding
them by electricity. The principle is similar to that of a maxim gun,
only of course we don't use cartridges on a belt. The cylinder
chamber itself acts as a cartridge case. Suppose we go aboard?"
Whittinghame indicated a wire rope-ladder running from a doorway
about twenty feet from the ground.
"The whole of the underbody of the outer envelope is watertight," he
remarked. "The 'Meteor' can float on the sea if necessary. Of course
there are observation scuttles and bomb-dropping ports, but these can
be hermetically sealed."
Agilely Dacres swarmed up the swinging ladder and passed through the
doorway. He found himself in a room twenty feet square, and ten in
height, with circular ports on one side and doors on the transverse
bulkheads. In the floor were two rectangular openings furnished with
plate-glass, but for the time being shuttered on the outside by
closely-fitting slides.
"This is our forward bomb-dropping compartment," continued
Whittinghame as he regained his companion. "The devices for that
purpose are behind that partition. All the ammunition is stored in
the 'midship or No. 3 section and transported along these rails as
required. We also keep stores here, the idea being that should the
various sections of the airship have to part company each will be
self-supporting in a double sense.
"The next compartment for'ard contains the mechanism for actuating
the vertical rudders. Above that are the motor-rooms, while right
for'ard are the twin navigation-rooms. We'll have a look at the
motor-rooms first of all. By the by, those are the cylinders for
storing the ultra-hydrogen under pressure. At the present moment the
dead weight of this section is less than fifty pounds."
"But we weigh more than that," observed Dacres.
"Quite so; but the buoyancy is automatically maintained. As you
crossed the threshold of the doorway you stepped upon a plate
resembling the floor of aweigh-bridge. At once a sufficient quantity
of ultra-hydrogen is introduced into the ballonettes to counteract
your weight, and, in fact, the weight of any person or article
brought on board."
"I'm afraid I'm curious," said Dacres, "but what will happen when we
go 'ashore'? Will the volume of the gas in the ballonettes be
correspondingly reduced?"
"Yes, but not wholly automatically. You will have to record your
weight on an indicator, and the adjustment then takes place. That
dial you see on the bulkhead gives the total lifting power of the
whole of the ballonettes. That instrument to the left makes the
necessary compensating adjustments to the airship according to the
temperature, altitude, and amount of moisture in the air."
In the starboard engine-room Dacres noticed that each of the two
motors had four cylinders of comparatively small bore considering the
horsepower developed.
"These are not air-cooled?" he asked pointing to the motors.
"No, water-cooled. This system serves a dual purpose, for the water
circulates throughout all the cabins of the section, and if necessary
through Nos. 2 and 3 section as well, thus affording a warmth that is
appreciated when we are flying at a great altitude. Ten to twelve
thousand feet is our favourite height, for then we can command a
field of vision--provided the atmosphere is clear--of anything up to
one hundred and twenty miles. Now for the upper navigation-room--your
future post."
This compartment was situated under the commencement of the tapering
portion of the envelope, its roof and walls being formed by the
rounded surface of the outer skin. Here there were several
observation panes, so that a fairly extensive view could be obtained.
It was impossible, however, to see immediately below, and on this
account the necessity of a second navigation-room was apparent.
It reminded Dacres strongly of the conning-tower of a battleship,
except that the scuttles were much larger than the slits in the
armoured walls of the latter. A standard compass, chart-table,
gauges, indicator, voice-tubes, and telephones left very little space
unoccupied.
Professional habit prompted Dacres to unfasten a sextant case and
critically examine the instrument. "Can't say I altogether like this
chap," he observed bluntly. "If you don't mind I'll use my own
sextant. It's with the rest of my luggage at Fenchurch Street
Station."
"We'll send for it, by all means," said Whittinghame. "I frankly
admit that I'm not much use at fixing positions, and one sextant is
very much like another to me. The difficulty of getting hold of a
competent navigator worried me considerably until you trespassed upon
my property. I'm jolly glad you did."
"And so am I," said Dacres cordially.
"Now you've seen practically everything of importance in the foremost
section," continued his companion. "The rest of the available space
is taken up with ballonettes. No. 2 section is devoted to crew space,
stores, and of course more ballonettes. No. 3 contains the
wireless-room, the ammunition and reserve of cordite for propelling
purposes, in No. 4 the officers are berthed, while the aftermost, or
No. 5, is practically identical with No. 1."
"But how are the various divisions kept in position?" asked Dacres.
"By means of double-cam action bolts. The 'Meteor' is of a semi-rigid
type. Her great length would be a positive danger if she were
otherwise, while she would be most awkward to manoeuvre. As it is we
can turn her in a radius equal to twice her length. In violent
air-currents she 'whips' considerably; it's a weird experience until
you get accustomed to it, but therein lies another proof of safety.
It is analogous to the case of a tall chimney that sways in a gale.
If it didn't it would snap like a carrot.
"The upper surface of the envelope is flattened, and we have a
promenade deck exactly one thousand feet in length. Of course it is
only available when we are running at a greatly reduced speed or are
brought up. At a very high rate of speed you would be unable to keep
your feet and run a great risk of having the air forced out of your
lungs."
"A most marvellous craft!" exclaimed Dacres enthusiastically. "How I
shall enjoy a cruise in her!"
"I hope you will," added Whittinghame gravely.
"Are you making another trip before you take her to Portsmouth?"
"I think not. I do not believe in purposeless flights. Her final
trials have been successfully passed, and now nothing remains to be
done until she is required to perform some task for the well-being of
the British nation."
As the two men prepared to descend the ladder Whittinghame suddenly
remarked:--
"You'll meet the rest of the officers to-night, Dacres. Hambrough,
our doctor, turns up at five. You'll like him, I think. He's a real
good sort, and as keen as anything on the voyage. I don't suppose
he'll have much to do, for these high altitudes are so beastly
healthy; but there's no telling. He hasn't seen the 'Meteor' yet; in
fact, he's only just resigned his post as medical officer to a North
of England hospital. Setchell, who will be next in seniority to you,
is at present on leave. We dropped him near his home at Plymouth
about three weeks ago. He had urgent domestic affairs to demand his
attention, and our wireless man here got in touch with us as we were
passing over the Pennines. We made a rattling good run down to
Plymouth--rattling good--but cut it rather fine in getting back here.
I was almost afraid that we should be spotted, but luckily we
descended without being detected. Setchell will also be here at about
the same time. Callaghan will pick the pair of them up at Holmsley
Station. By Jove! It's close on five already. How time flies when
you're busy. We had better get back to the house."