THE LIGHTNING BOLT
Tom turned away from the window, to find his companions regarding him
anxiously.
"A storm," repeated Ned. "What sort?"
"It might turn into any sort," replied Tom. "All I can see now is a lot
of black clouds, and the wind must be blowing pretty hard, for there's
quite a sea on."
"Bless my galvanometer!" cried Mr. Damon. "Then we are out over the
ocean again, Tom?"
"Yes, there's no doubt of it."
"What part?" asked the assistant pilot.
"That's more than I can tell," Tom answered.
"Suppose I take a look?" suggested Captain Warner. "I've done quite a
bit of sailing in my time."
But, when he had taken a look through the window at which Tom had been
standing, the naval officer descended, shaking his head.
"There isn't a landmark in sight," he announced. "We might be over the
middle of the Atlantic, for all I could tell."
"Hardly as far as that," spoke Tom. "They haven't been pushing the Mars
at that speed. But we may be across to the other side before we realize
it."
"How's that?" asked Ned.
"Well, the ship is in the possession of these foreign spies," went on
Tom. "All their interests are in Europe, though it would be hard to say
what nationality is in command here. I think there are even some
Englishmen among those who attacked us, as well as French, Germans,
Italians and Russians."
"Yes, it seems to be a combination of European nations against us,"
admitted Captain Warner. "Probably, after they have made good their
seizure of Tom's aerial warship, they will portion her out among
themselves, or use her as a model from which to make others."
"Do you think that is their object?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Undoubtedly," was the captain's answer. "It has been the object of
these foreign spies, all along, not only to prevent the United States
from enjoying the benefits of these progressive inventions, but to use
them for themselves. They would stop at nothing to gain their ends. It
seems we did not sufficiently appreciate their power and daring."
"Well, they've got us, at any rate," observed Tom, "and they may take
us and the ship to some far-off foreign country."
"If they don't heave us overboard half-way there," commented Ned, in
rather gloomy tones.
"Well, of course, there's that possibility," admitted Tom. "They are
desperate characters."
"Well, we must do something," declared Lieutenant Marbury. "Come, it's
daylight now, and we can see to work better. Let's see if we can't find
a way to get out of this prison. Say, but this sure is a storm!" he
cried, as the airship rolled and pitched violently.
"They are handling her well, though," observed Tom, as the craft came
quickly to an even keel. "Either they have a number of expert birdmen
on board, or they can easily adapt themselves to a new aircraft. She is
sailing splendidly."
"Well, let's eat something, and set to work," proposed Ned.
They brought out the food which had been given to them the night
before, but before they could eat this, there came a knock on the door,
and more food and fresh water was handed in, under the same precautions
as before.
Tom and his companions indignantly demanded to be released, but their
protests were only laughed at, and while the guards stood with ready
weapons the door was again shut and locked.
But the prisoners were not the kind to sit idly down in the face of
this. Under Tom's direction they set about looking through their place
of captivity for something by which they could release themselves. At
first they found nothing, and Ned even suggested trying to cut a way
through the wooden walls with a fingernail file, which he found in one
of his pockets, when Tom, who had gone to the far end of the storeroom,
uttered a cry.
"What is it--a way out?" asked Lieutenant Marbury anxiously.
"No, but means to that end," Tom replied. "Look, a file and a saw, left
here by some of my workmen, perhaps," and he brought out the tools. He
had found them behind a barrel in the far end of the compartment.
"Hurray!" cried Ned. "That's the ticket! Now we'll soon show these
fellows what's what!"
"Go easy!" cautioned Tom. "We must work carefully. It won't do to slam
around and try to break down the door with these. I think we had better
select a place on the side wall, break through that, and make an
opening where we can come out unnoticed. Then, when we are ready, we
can take them by surprise. We'll have to do something like that, for
they outnumber us, you know."
"That is so," agreed Captain Warner. "We must use strategy."
"Well, where would be a good place to begin to burrow out?" asked Ned.
"Here," said Tom, indicating a place far back in the room. "We can work
there in turns, sawing a hole through the wall. It will bring us out in
the passage between the aft and amidship cabins, and we can go either
way."
"Then let's begin!" cried Ned enthusiastically, and they set to work.
While the aerial warship pitched and tossed in the storm, over some
part of the Atlantic, Tom and his friends took turns in working their
way to freedom. With the sharp end of the file a small hole was made,
the work being done as slowly as a rat gnaws, so as to make no noise
that would be heard by their captors. In time the hole was large enough
to admit the end of the saw.
But this took many hours, and it was not until the second day of their
captivity that they had the hole nearly large enough for the passage of
one person at a time. They had not been discovered, they thought.
Meanwhile they had been given food and water at intervals, but to all
demands that they be released, or at least told why they were held
prisoners, a deaf ear was turned.
They could only guess at the fate of Koku. Probably the giant was kept
bound, for once he got the chance to use his enormous strength it might
go hard with the foreigners.
The Mars continued to fly through the air. Sometimes, as Tom and his
friends could tell by the motion, she was almost stationary in the
upper regions, and again she seemed to be flying at top speed.
Occasionally there came the sound of firing.
"They're trying my guns," observed Tom grimly.
"Do you suppose they are being attacked?" asked Ned, hopefully.
"Hardly," replied Captain Warner. "The United States possesses no craft
able to cope with this one in aerial warfare, and they are hardly
engaging in part of the European war yet. I think they are just trying
Tom's new guns."
Later our friends learned that such was the case.
The storm had either passed, or the Mars had run out of the path of it,
for, after the first few hours of pitching and tossing, the atmosphere
seemed reduced to a state of calm.
All the while they were secretly working to gain their freedom so they
might attack and overpower their enemies, they took occasional
observations from the small window. But they could learn nothing of
their whereabouts. They could only view the heaving ocean, far below
them, or see a mass of cloud-mist, which hid the earth, if so be that
the Mars was sailing over land.
"But how much longer can they keep it up?" asked Ned.
"Well, we have fuel and supplies aboard for nearly two weeks," Tom
answered.
"And by the end of that time we may all be dead," spoke the young bank
clerk despondently.
"No, we'll be out of here before then!" declared Lieutenant Marbury.
Indeed the hole was now almost large enough to enable them to crawl out
one at a time. They could not, of course, see how it looked from the
outside, but Tom had selected a place for its cutting so that the
sawdust and the mark of the panel that was being removed, would not
ordinarily be noticeable.
They set night as the time for making the attempt--late at night, when
it was hoped that most of their captors would be asleep.
Finally the last cut was made, and a piece of wood hung over the
opening only by a shred, all ready to knock out.
"We'll do it at midnight," announced Tom.
Anxious, indeed, were those last hours of waiting. The time had almost
arrived for the attempt, when Tom, who had been nervously pacing to and
fro, remarked:
"We must be running into another storm. Feel how she heaves and rolls!"
Indeed the Mars was most unsteady.
"It sure is a storm!" cried Ned, "and a heavy one, too," for there came
a burst of thunder, that seemed like a report of Tom's giant cannon.
In another instant they were in the midst of a violent thunderstorm,
the airship pitching and tossing in a manner to almost throw them from
their feet.
As Tom reached up to switch on the electric light again, there came a
flash of lightning that well nigh blinded them. And so close after it
as to seem simultaneous, there came such a crash of thunder as to stun
them all. There was a tingling, as of a thousand pins and needles in
the body of each of the captives, and a strong smell of sulphur. Then,
as the echoes of the clap died away, Tom yelled:
"She's been struck! The airship has been struck!"