SNAPPING AN AVALANCHE
"Bless my thermometer!" gasped Mr. Damon. "This is terrible!" The
airship was plunging and swaying about in the awful gale. "Can't
something be done, Tom?"
"What has happened?" cried Mr. Nestor. "We were on a level keel before.
What is it?"
"It's the automatic balancing rudder!" answered Tom. "Something has
happened to it. The wind may have broken it! Come on, Ned!" and he led
the way to the engine room.
"What are you going to do? Don't you want Koku to shift the deflecting
rudder? Here he is," Ned added, as the giant came forward, in response
to a signal bell that Tom's chum had rung.
"It's too late to try the deflecting rudder!" tried Tom. "I must see
what is the matter with our balancer." As he spoke the ship gave a
terrific plunge, and the occupants were thrown sideways. The next
moment it was on a level keel again, scudding along with the gale, but
there was no telling when the craft would again nearly capsize.
Tom looked at the mechanism controlling the equalizing and equilibrium
rudder. It was out of order, and he guessed that the terrific wind was
responsible for it.
"What can we do?" cried Ned, as the airship nearly rolled over. "Can't
we do anything, Tom?"
"Yes. I'm going to try. Keep calm now. We may come out all right. This
is the worst blow we've been in since we were in Russia. Start the gas
machine full blast. I want all the vapor I can get."
As I have explained the Flyer was a combined dirigible balloon and
aeroplane. It could be used as either, or both, in combination. At
present the gas bag was not fully inflated, and Tom had been sending
his craft along as an aeroplane.
"What are you going to do?" cried Ned, as he pulled over the lever that
set the gas generating machine in operation.
"I'm going up as high as I can go!" cried Tom. "If we can't go down we
must go up. I'll get above the hurricane instead of below it. Give me
all the gas you can, Ned!"
The vapor hissed as it rushed into the big bag overhead. Tom carried
aboard his craft the chemicals needed to generate the powerful lifting
gas, of which he alone had the secret. It was more powerful than
hydrogen, and simple to make. The balloon of the Flyer was now being
distended.
Meanwhile Tom, with Koku, Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor to help him, worked
over the deflecting rudder, and also on the equilibrium mechanism. But
they could not get either to operate.
Ned stood by the gas machine, and worked it to the limit. But even with
all that energy, so powerful was the wind, that the Flyer rose slowly,
the gale actually holding her down as a water-logged craft is held
below the waves. Ordinarily, with the gas machine set at its limit the
craft would have shot up rapidly.
At times the airship would skim along on the level, and again it would
be pitched and tossed about, until it was all the occupants could do to
keep their feet. Mr. Damon was continually blessing everything he could
remember.
"Now she's going!" suddenly cried Ned, as he looked at the dials
registering the pressure of the gas, and showing the height of the
airship above the earth.
"Going how?" gasped Tom, as he looked over from where he was working at
the equilibrium apparatus. "Going down?"
"Going up!" shouted Ned. "I guess we'll be all right soon!"
It was true. Now that the bag was filled with the powerful lifting gas,
under pressure, the Flyer was beginning to get out of the dangerous
predicament into which the gale had blown her. Up and up she went, and
every foot she climbed the power of the wind became less.
"Maybe it all happened for the best," said Tom, as he noted the height
gage. "If we had gone down, the wind might have been worse nearer the
earth."
Later they learned that this was so. The most destructive wind storm
ever known swept across the southern part of Europe, over which they
were flying that night, and, had the airship gone down, she would
probably have been destroyed. But, going up, she got above the
wind-strata. Up and up she climbed, until, when three miles above the
earth, she was in a calm zone. It was rather hard to breathe at this
height, and Tom set the oxygen apparatus at work.
This created in the interior of the craft an atmosphere almost like
that on the earth, and the travelers were made more at their ease.
Getting out of the terrible wind pressure made it possible to work the
deflecting rudder, though Tom had no idea of going down, as long as the
blow lasted.
"We'll just sail along at this height until morning," he said, "and by
then the gale may be over, or we may be beyond the zone of it. Start
the propellers, Ned. I think I can manage to repair the equilibrium
rudder now."
The propellers, which gave the forward motion to the airship, had been
stopped when it was found that the wind was carrying her along, but
they were now put in motion again, sending the Flyer forward. In a
short time Tom had the equilibrium machine in order, and matters were
now normal again.
"But that was a strenuous time while it lasted," remarked the young
inventor, as he sat down.
"It sure was," agreed Ned.
"Bless my pen wiper!" cried Mr. Damon. "That was one of the few times
when I wish I'd never come with you, Tom Swift," and everyone laughed
at that.
The Flyer was now out of danger, going along high in the air through
the night, while the gale raged below her. At Tom's suggestion, Koku
got a lunch ready, for they were all tired with their labors, and
somewhat nervous from the danger and excitement.
"And now for sleep!" exclaimed Tom, as he pushed back his plate. "Ned,
set the automatic steering gear, and we'll see where we bring up by
morning."
An examination, through a powerful telescope in the bright light of
morning, showed the travelers that they were over the outskirts of a
large city, which, later, they learned was Rome, Italy.
"We've made a good trip," said Tom. "The gale had us worried, but it
sent us along at a lively clip. Now for Switzerland, and the
avalanches!"
They made a landing at a village just outside the "Holy City," as Rome
is often called, and renewed their supply of gasolene. Naturally they
attracted a crowd of curious persons, many of whom had never seen an
airship before. Certainly few of them had ever seen one like Tom
Swift's.
The next day found them hovering over the Alps, where Tom hoped to be
able to get the pictures of snow slides. They went down to earth at a
town near one of the big mountain ranges, and there made inquiries as
to where would be the best location to look for big avalanches. If they
went but a few miles to the north, they were told, they would be in the
desired region, and they departed for that vicinity.
"And now we've just got to take our time, and wait for an avalanche to
happen," remarked Tom, as they were flying along over the mountain
ranges. "As Mr. Damon said, these things aren't made to order. They
just happen."
For three days they sailed in and out over the great snow-covered peaks
of the Alps. They did not go high up, for they wanted to be near earth
when an avalanche would occur, so that near-view pictures could be
secured. Occasionally they saw parties of mountain climbers ascending
some celebrated peak, and for want of something better to photograph,
Tom "snapped" the tourists.
"Well, I guess they're all out of avalanches this season," remarked Ned
one afternoon, when they had circled back and forth over a mountain
where, so it was said, the big snow slides were frequent.
"It does seem so," agreed Tom. "Still, we're in no hurry. It is easier
to be up here, than it is walking around in a jungle, not knowing what
minute a tiger may jump out at you."
"Bless my rubbers, yes!" agreed Mr. Damon.
The sky was covered with lowering clouds, and there were occasionally
flurries of snow. Tom's airship was well above the snow line on the
mountains. The young inventor and Ned sat in the pilot house, taking
observations through a spyglass of the mountain chain below them.
Suddenly Ned, who had the glass focused on a mighty peak, cried out:
"There she is, Tom!"
"What?"
"The avalanche! The snow is beginning to slide down the mountain! Say,
it's going to be a big one, too. Got your camera ready?"
"Sure! I've had it ready for the last three days. Put me over there,
Ned. You look after the airship, and I'll take the pictures!"
Tom sprang to get his apparatus, while his chum hurried to the levers,
wheels and handles that controlled the Flyer. As they approached the
avalanche they could see the great mass of ice, snow, big stones, and
earth sliding down the mountain side, carrying tall trees with it.
"This is just what I wanted!" cried Tom, as he set his camera working.
"Put me closer, Ned."
Ned obeyed, and the airship was now hovering directly over the
avalanche, and right in its path. The big landslide, as it would have
been called in this country, met no village in its path, fortunately,
or it would have wiped it out completely. It was in a wild and desolate
region that it occurred.
"I want to get a real close view!" cried Tom, as he got some pictures
showing a whole grove of giant trees uprooted and carried off. "Get
closer Ned, and--"
Tom was interrupted by a cry of alarm from his chum.
"We're falling!" yelled Ned. "Something has gone wrong. We're going
down into the avalanche!".