SURROUNDED BY EAGLES
There was a sudden tremor all over the airship as Washington, in the
engine room, in obedience to the signals, turned off the power. Then
sounded a hiss as the captain let some gas from the bag. The ship began
to sink toward the earth.
The black cloud that the professor had been gazing at came nearer. It
grew larger and seemed to be made up of a number of small moving
objects.
"Quick, Andy!" cried the old inventor. "We shall need your services
now!"
"What's the matter?" exclaimed the old hunter, as he hurried forward
with his gun in readiness.
"Eagles!" cried Amos Henderson.
"Eagles?"
"Yes! A whole flock of them. Just ahead! See that dark cloud! They are
coming this way! They think the ship is a rival bird and they will
attack it. Strong as the _Monarch_ is, the silk in the gas bag is
frail. If the birds tear that we will fall to the earth and be killed!
Use your gun! See if you can drive them off!"
Andy kneeled down on the forward part of the ship. He aimed at the black
mass, in which scores and scores of birds could now be seen. Then his
gun sent out fire and lead.
Bang! Bang! it spoke, and two birds dropped toward the earth. Again the
gun belched forth, and more of the eagles were killed. As fast as Andy
could pull the trigger he fired.
"We must all get guns!" cried the professor. "It is the only way to save
the ship! Come on, boys! You'll find weapons in the dining-room
lockers!"
Mark and Jack hurried after the rifles. The professor was greatly
excited. Bill and Tom came running forward. The inventor rapidly handed
out the guns.
In the meanwhile the ship was slowly settling toward the ground. The
captain hoped to get low enough to escape the onward rush of the big
birds, but he had counted without the anger of the eagles. They thought
the airship was a rival in the realms of space and were determined to
destroy it.
On and on they came in spite of the number among them that were killed.
Every one on the ship, except Washington, who had to attend to the
engines, was firing. The birds never stopped or swerved from their
course.
Then with a rush and roar, a flapping of wings that sounded like
thunder, and shrill cries and screams that almost drowned the noise of
the guns, the eagles surrounded the _Monarch_. They struck at it with
their talons. They opened wide their sharp beaks and snapped at the wood
and iron.
Some of the fierce birds even attacked the men, and boys, and were
beaten off with the butts of the rifles. Others of the eagles rose
higher in the air and struck at the oiled silk bag. At first the
yielding surface offered no resistance and was not damaged. Then one
fierce bird, with wide-opened beak, struck at the thin cloth and tore a
hole in it as large as a man's hand.
The sudden settling of the airship told that something was wrong. Then
the professor, glancing aloft, saw what had happened, and hastened to
his helper.
"Quick, Washington!" he shouted. "Start the gas generator at full speed!
We must pump lots of the gas in to keep us afloat! We are in great
danger!"
"Why not try the machine gun on the eagles?" shouted Jack.
"Good idea!" exclaimed the inventor. "You two boys work it!"
At last the eagles, alarmed by the number killed, and frightened by the
noise of the guns and the shots, halted in their rushes at the airship.
Some of the wounded ones wheeled away. Then others followed until,
finally, the whole colony of birds sailed off.
"There they go!" cried Jack.
"Yes, but I fear too late to do us any good," spoke the professor. "The
airship is slowly settling."
"Can't it be fixed?" asked Mark.
"I suppose I could let it down to earth and patch up the hole, but I
fear to do so," answered the inventor. "The _Monarch_ is not under
control, and if I attempt to make a landing I may smash her all to
pieces. She may settle down until within a few hundred feet of the earth
and then plunge like a meteor. We would all be killed then."
"Is there no other way?" asked Jack.
"None, unless we could patch up the hole in the gas bag while we are up
aloft. I can hold the ship there for a while yet. Another reason why I
do not want to land is that we are over a thickly settled portion of the
state now, and if I go down to earth we will be surrounded by a curious
crowd that will delay us."
"Is that netting strong?" asked Mark, suddenly, pointing to the cords
that confined the gas bag.
"Two strands would support a man's weight," said Mr. Henderson.
"And have you anything to mend the silk bag with?" went on the boy.
"Yes, but why do you ask?"
"Because," answered Mark, "if you'll let me I'll climb up and mend the
hole the eagle made."
"Dare you do it?" cried the old professor, hope shining in his face.
"Try me and see."
The professor quickly prepared a piece of silk, kept on hand to repair
breaks in the bag. It was coated with a very strong and fresh cement.
The silk was to be inserted in the tear made by the eagles, when it
would at once harden and prevent the further escape of gas.
Mark made ready for the perilous ascent. He took off his coat, and
removed his shoes so his feet could better cling to the frail-looking
though strong cords.
"Slow down the ship!" commanded the captain. "Now, Mark, try! I hope
you succeed! Move cautiously. You don't want to lose your life!"
Mark said nothing. He grasped the piece of oiled silk, coated with the
cement, in his teeth, clinching it by a strip that was free from the
sticky substance. Then he stood on the rail of the _Monarch_ and began
his climb aloft. Surely few ascents were made under such fearful
conditions. The airship was now more than a mile above the earth. One
false step and the boy would plunge into eternity. Nothing could save
him.
Up and up he went, testing every cord and mesh before he trusted his
weight to it. On and on he advanced. The frail gas bag swayed in the
wind that was springing up. It seemed like a thing alive.
"Careful! Careful!" cautioned the professor in strained tones. Everyone
on the ship held his breath. Up and up Mark went. At last he reached the
place where the eagle's beak had torn the bag.
He braced himself in the meshes of the net. Then, leaning forward, he
fixed the patch under the rent, and pressed it into place. The cement
did not take hold at first. Mark pressed harder. Would the leak be
stopped?
"Will he make it?" asked one.
"I don't think so."
"He must make it!"
"If not we are lost!"
"You are right!"
For a moment there was a doubt. Then the sticky stuff adhered to the
silk bag, and the patch was made fast. A shout from Washington in the
engine room told that the gas had ceased to rush out. Mark had
succeeded.
Washington hastened to turn the gas generator to half speed. Before he
could do so, however, there had been a great increase in the volume of
vapor in the bag, caused by the sudden stopping off of the vent. Up shot
the airship, the accumulation of gas lifting it higher from the earth.
So suddenly did it shoot up, from having been almost at rest, that there
was a tremor through the whole craft.
"Look out, Mark!" cried Jack. He looked up to where his comrade clung to
the netting.
"Hold fast! We'll stop the ship in a second," exclaimed the captain.
But it was too late. The sudden rising of the craft had shaken Mark's
hold, which was not of the best at any time, since the gas bag was a
yielding surface to lean against.
The next instant the boy, vainly clutching the air for some sort of grip
for his hands, toppled over backward. His feet slid from the meshes of
the net, and he plunged downward toward the earth, more than a mile
below!