OFF AT LAST
In the gathering twilight Professor Henderson read slowly the note Dick
had brought. Then he passed it to Professor Roumann. The latter shook
his shaggy gray hair, and murmured something in German.
"Where did you meet the man?" asked Jack of the young motorcyclist.
"About two miles down the road. He was walking along, sort of talking
to himself, and I was afraid of him. He called to me, and offered me a
half a dollar to deliver this message. I didn't want to at first, but
he said if I didn't he'd hurt me, so I took it. Is it anything bad?"
"We don't know yet," replied Mark.
"No, that is the worst of it," added Professor Roumann. "He has made a
threat, but we can't tell whether or not he will accomplish it. We are
in the dark. He may have done some secret damage to our machinery, and
it will take a careful inspection to show it."
"And will the inspection have to be made now?" asked Jack.
"I think so," answered Professor Henderson gravely. "It would not be
safe to start for the moon and have a breakdown before we got there. We
must wait until morning to begin our trip."
"It will be the safest," spoke the German, and the boys, in spite of
the fact that they were anxious to get under way, were forced to the
same conclusion.
"Then if we're going to camp here for the night," proposed old Andy,
"what's the matter with me and the boys having a hunt for that man?
We've put up with enough from him, and it's time he was punished. If we
let him go on, he'll annoy us all the while, if not now, then after we
get back from the moon. I'm for giving him a chase and having him
arrested."
"He certainly deserves some punishment, if only for the way he treated
Mark," was Jack's opinion, his chum having related how he was drugged
and kept a prisoner in the secret room, and how he escaped in time to
unmask the villain.
"Well," said Professor Henderson, after some thought, "it might not be
a bad plan to see if you could get that scoundrel put in some safe
place, where he could make no more trouble for us. I guess the lunatic
asylum is where he belongs, though I can sympathize with him on account
of his brother. But it was not our fault that the crazy machinist went
with us to Mars. He was a stowaway, and went against our wishes, and
when he got there he tried to injure us."
"Then may Mark, Andy and I see if we can find this man?" asked Jack.
"Yes, but be careful not to get separated; and don't run any risks,"
cautioned the professor. "Mr. Roumann and I, with the help of
Washington, will go carefully over all the machinery, and every part of
the projectile, to see if any hidden damage has been done. But don't
stay out too late. You had better notify the police. They may be able
to give you some aid, and I don't mind letting them know about it now,
as we will soon be away from here, because, no matter if they do send
detectives or constables spying about now, they can learn none of our
secrets."
Waiting only to partake of a hasty meal, the two boys and the veteran
hunter set out, Andy with his gun over his shoulder and his sharp eyes
on the lookout for any sign of Axtell, though they hardly expected to
find him in the vicinity of the projectile.
Taking the road, on which Dick Johnson said he had encountered the man,
the two lads and Andy proceeded, making inquiries from time to time of
persons they met. But no one had seen Axtell, and the insane man, for
such he seemed to be, appeared to have dropped out of sight.
On into the village the searchers went, and there they reported matters
to the chief of police, telling him only so much as was necessary to
give him an understanding of the situation.
"I'll send a couple of my best constables right out on the case," said
the chief. "We've just appointed two new ones, and I guess they'll be
glad to arrest somebody."
"Let them look out that this fellow doesn't drug them and carry them
away," cautioned Mark.
"Oh, I guess my constables can look out for theirselves," spoke the
chief proudly.
Once more the trailers sallied forth to renew their search. They
thought perhaps they might find their man lingering in the town, but a
search through the principal streets did not disclose him, and Mark
proposed that they return to their home for the night, as he was tired
and weary from his experience in the deserted house.
As they were turning out of the town, their attention was attracted by
a disturbance on the street just ahead of them. A woman screamed, and
men's voices were heard. Then came cries of: "Police! Police!"
"Some one's in trouble!" exclaimed Jack. "Let's go see what it is."
They broke into a run, and, as they approached, they saw a crowd
quickly collect. It seemed to center about a man who was being held by
two others, though he struggled to get away.
"Here, what's the trouble?" the boys heard a constable ask as he
shouldered his way into the throng.
"This fellow tried to snatch this lady's purse and run away with it,"
explained one of the men who had grabbed the scoundrel. "Stand still,
you brute!" he shouted at him, "or I'll shake you to pieces! Such
fellows as you ought to go to the whipping-post!"
"I'll take charge of him," announced the officer. "Who is he? Does any
one know?"
"Stranger in town, I guess," volunteered the other man, who had helped
capture him. "Need any help, officer?"
"No, I guess I can manage him. Come along now, and behave yourself, or
I'll use my club. It hasn't been tried on any one yet."
"That's one of the new constables, I guess," said Mark, and Jack nodded.
The crowd separated to allow the officer to take out his prisoner. As
the latter walked forward in the grip of the constable, he remarked in
a mild voice totally at variance with his bold act:
"Why, I only wanted a little change to pay my fare to the moon. I'm
going there to look for my brother."
"Crazy as a loon," said one of the men.
"Or pretending that he is," added the officer.
"Mark!" cried Jack, pointing at the prisoner, "look!"
"The man who held me captive!" gasped Mark. "And he's wearing my
clothes yet! But he's in custody now, and we needn't fear any more from
him."
"Unless he gets away," said Jack.
"We'll go tell the chief who he is, and he'll keep him safe," suggested
Mark, and they hurried to headquarters, reaching there just before the
prisoner was brought in. The boys were assured by the chief that the
man, who was evidently a dangerous lunatic, would be kept where he
could do no harm. He would be arraigned later on the serious charge of
attempted highway robbery, as well as of being a dangerous lunatic at
large. When the boys and Andy got back, they found the two professors
and Washington still going over the machinery in detail.
"Find anything wrong?" asked Jack, after they had told of the arrest of
Axtell.
"No, but we will have another look in the morning," said Mr. Henderson.
"Then, if we find nothing out of order, I think we will take a chance
and start."
A thorough inspection by all hands the next day did not disclose
anything wrong, and, a test of the motors and other machinery having
shown that it was in good working shape, it was decided to leave the
earth.
"At last, I think, we are really going to get under way to the moon,"
said Jack, as he closed the big main door. This time it was not
reopened. All the stores and supplies were in place. The two professors
were in the engine room. Washington White was in his galley, getting
ready to serve the first meal in the air. Jack and Mark were in the
pilot house, ready to do whatever was necessary and anxious to feel the
thrill that would tell them the projectile had left the earth.
"All ready?" asked Professor Henderson.
"All ready," replied his German assistant.
"Then here we go!" announced the aged scientist.
He pulled toward him the main starting lever of the Cardite motor,
while Professor Roumann opened the valve which admitted to the plates
and cylinders the mysterious force that was to send them on their way.
"Elevate the bow!" called Professor Henderson.
"Elevated it is," answered the German, as he turned a wheel which
directed the negative gravity force against the surface of the ground
and tilted up the nose of the _Annihilator_, as a skyrocket is slanted
in a trough before the fuse is ignited.
"Throw over the switch," directed Mr. Henderson, and the other
scientist, with a quick motion, snapped it into place, amid a shower of
vicious electric sparks that hissed as when hot iron is thrust into
water.
"Steer straight ahead!" called Professor Henderson to Mark and Jack,
who were in the pilot house. "We'll head for the moon later."
"Straight ahead it is," answered Jack.
There was a trembling to the great projectile. Up rose her
sharp-pointed bow. She swayed slightly in the air. The trembling
increased. The great Cardite motor hummed and throbbed. There was a
crackling as from a wireless apparatus.
Then, with a rush and a roar, the big steel car, resembling an enormous
cigar, soared away from the earth, like some gigantic piece of
fireworks, and shot toward the sky.
"We're off!" shouted Mark.
"For the moon!" added Jack.
And the _Annihilator_ soared upward and onward, while those in her
never dreamed of the fearful adventures that were to befall them ere
they would again be headed toward the earth.