TOSSED BY A TORNADO
"Shut down de engines!" cried Washington.
"Lower the ship!" exclaimed Mark, who had run back from the tower.
"Close to the earth we may escape the wind!"
"Is it headed toward us?" asked Andy.
"Straight," answered Mark. Jack tried to steer to one side, but the
currents of air sucked the ship right back into the path again!
"The captain knew more than we gave him credit for," muttered the
hunter. "He heard the storm coming."
The air, that had been so strangely quiet, now vibrated with a curious
humming. It seemed to make the whole ship tremble. Then, just as the
craft began to settle down, the upward pulling force of the gas being
lessened under Washington's manipulations, there came a terrible
roaring. The wind howled like a thousand demons seeking to tear the
_Monarch_ to pieces.
"It's a regular tornado!" cried Andy.
Then the storm picked the downward-falling ship up as if it had been a
feather and tossed the craft into the air. The adventurers were in a sad
plight.
There was nothing to be done. The forces of nature were ten times
stronger than those of man. To start the engines and try to run the ship
out of the grasp of the wind would only mean to strain the craft to a
dangerous point. There was but one thing to do, to run before the
tornado, as ships on the sea scud before the gale. In this way the
airship might be saved, if it was not dashed down to earth.
As soon as this plan manifested itself to be the best one, Washington
stopped drawing gas from the bag. He wanted to keep the ship as high as
he could. Jack still held his place in the conning tower, but he could
do nothing to guide the craft, and it would have been folly to attempt
it, so fearful was the force of the wind.
"Which way are we headed?" asked Mark, making his way back to the tower
where Jack was.
"Almost due west," was the reply. "About two points to the south, too."
"Then we are being driven away from the north pole," said Mark.
"We're as helpless as kittens tied up in a sack," said Andy. "If only I
could do something I'd feel better. But I've got to sit here and take
what comes."
The sick man stirred uneasily. Then he muttered in his delirium
something about the tornado that was tossing him from side to side of
the bunk.
Strangely enough there was nothing to the storm but wind. There was no
rain or snow, and the air was remarkably clear, excepting for the
darkness of the clouds. Aside from the way in which the ship was blown
along there was nothing to indicate that the breeze was rushing along at
tempest speed. There were no trees bent to the earth, and no clouds of
dust. The sky clouds kept pace with the airship.
"I wonder where we are?" asked Jack, who with Mark had come back from
the tower.
"We'll have to guess at it," replied Andy. "It would be as much as a
man's life is worth to go outside and take an observation."
"Don't hab to do dat," broke in Washington. "See here!"
He stooped over and pulled on an iron ring that was fastened in the
floor of the dining-room cabin. A section of a board came up.
"Look!" exclaimed the negro pointing down. All leaned forward and saw
that a heavy plate glass had been set over a hole cut through the floor
of the ship. By means of this strange window one could look directly
down toward the earth. Jack kneeled and peered through the glass. He
rose to his feet with a cry of fear.
"What's the matter?" asked Andy.
"We are right over the ocean!" exclaimed the boy. "I can see immense
waves not three hundred feet below! The airship must be falling and
we'll be dashed into the sea!"
At these words Washington ran to the engine room. He looked at the
height indicator.
"We's four hundred feet in de air, an' a--we's agoin' down!" he
muttered.
Jack, who had followed him, saw by the instrument what the dreadful
truth was. Blown from her course, the _Monarch_ was now over an open
polar sea, into which she might be dashed at any moment. The tornado
still howled and roared outside, making it impossible to inflate the gas
bag, so strong was the pressure of wind on it. And without a fresh
supply of gas, the ship must fall.
There was no abatement to the tornado. The ship was tossed more
violently than ever. Jack peered through the floor-window again.
"We are nearer the water!" he exclaimed as he arose. "The sea is
covered with icebergs. They are crashing together in the big waves. If
we fall the ship will be ground to pieces in the floes!"
"Try the gas machine again!" urged Andy. "Maybe the wind has lessened."
Washington started the machine. He kept one eye on the needle of the
indicator that told the gas pressure in the bag, and the other on the
height register. The black pointer of the latter went lower and lower.
It was now at one hundred, and kept on going down slowly, until it stood
at seventy-five. Soon only sixty-five feet stood between the airship and
her passengers, and the angry, swirling water beneath, where the
icebergs crashed and ground together.
Then Washington, who was ready to faint with fear and despair, gave a
cry of joy. He had noticed that the height indicator stopped. At the
same time the gas register showed that the vapor from the machine was
entering the bag.
"Glory! Glory!" cried the negro. "We's saved now. De ship is goin' up,
and the gas is workin' in. De wind must be goin' down!"
Then, while all save Professor Henderson, who was still unconscious,
crowded into the engine room, they saw that what Washington said was
true. The pressure of the wind had lessened, permitting the bag to fill
with the gas. This served to lift the ship, and the pointer on the
height indicator began to move upward. Higher and higher went the craft,
until in a few minutes the register showed six hundred feet. They had
been saved from death in the sea.
"Hurrah!" cried Jack. "I believe the tornado has left us!"
Indeed the roaring of the wind was less now. The ship was no longer
violently tossed. In a few minutes the wind died away almost completely,
and, aside from the rising motion, and a slight swaying, the _Monarch_
rode on an even keel. The danger was over.
"Is the ship safe?" called Professor Henderson from his bunk.
"All safe!" exclaimed the hunter cheerfully. "We had a little blow, but
it is all over, and the _Monarch_ behaved like the King she is--or,
perhaps I ought to say Queen, seeing that all ships are ladies. But how
do you feel, professor?"
"I am much better," was the answer, showing that the medicine had done
its work. "I feel hungry," he went on. "What time is it?"
"Six o'clock," answered Jack, looking at the dial.
"Night or morning?"
"Morning, I guess."
"Then we'll have breakfast," said the professor with a smile.
He stepped from the bunk. As he did so there was a sudden lurch to the
ship. Then it began to sink suddenly.
"We are going down!" cried the captain. "What has happened?"
"The gas bag is leaking again!" shouted Washington from the engine room.