IN THE HURRICANE
“Well, now we’re well started, I think I’ll go and----”
“See about dinner, or supper or breakfast, or something like that; eh,
Chunky?” interrupted Ned with a laugh.
“Hu? How’d you know?” asked the stout lad.
“Oh, I could tell by the expression of your face,” remarked the
merchant’s son. “Whenever you begin that way you can generally be
depended on, Bob, to say something about eating.”
“Aren’t you hungry, Jerry?” and the stout lad appealed for vindication
to his tall chum.
“Yes, I am,” he admitted. “Go ahead, Bob, and get something ready while
Ned and I take a look around the machinery and see if it’s working all
right.”
“I’ll wager Ned’s hungry, too, only he won’t admit it,” murmured the
fat lad as he started toward the galley.
They had been making good progress and it had been some time since
they had eaten, for the alarming message about the unmanageable
dirigible balloon, and the excitement that followed, had driven all
thoughts of meals from their minds. Now, however, in spite of Ned’s
joking, everyone was glad Bob had mentioned eating.
The _Comet_ was sailing along over the ocean, not making any great
speed, for Jerry and his chums had not yet decided what course to
follow. It was rather like searching in the dark, for they did not know
in which direction to look for the _Manhattan_. They could only cruise
about, trusting to chance to put them on the right path.
Jerry and Ned found that the machinery was working well, and the tall
lad, on his return to the pilot house, ventured to speed up the motor
slightly. Meanwhile Bob was busy with the meal, which would be a cross
between a late dinner and an early supper.
Professor Snodgrass had laid aside his note-books, and had put away his
specimen boxes. Now, with a small but powerful telescope he was seated
on the forward deck of the motor-ship, eagerly scanning the ocean below
him for a sight of the flying singing fish.
“Do you expect to find it so near land, Professor?” asked Ned.
“No, hardly, yet I must not let a chance escape me. Even if I don’t get
the fish I want right away, I may see some other specimen I need. You
can descend whenever you want to, can’t you?”
“I suppose so, but you’d better talk to Jerry about that part of it.”
The professor lost no time in interviewing the tall lad, for he wanted
to be ready to have the _Comet_ drop to the surface of the ocean at a
moment’s notice, in case he saw a specimen he desired to catch.
“Yes, we can go down almost any time except when it’s too rough,”
said Jerry. “In fact, I was thinking of going down shortly to see how
the hydroplanes worked on salt water. They ought to do better than in
fresh, as salt water is more buoyant. We’ll go down as soon as we have
something to eat.”
Perhaps the professor can be excused for hurrying through with his
meal, as he was anxious to get down to the surface of the sea. Jerry,
too, wondered how his new attachment would work when there was a swell
on, for, up to now, he had only tested the hydroplanes on comparatively
smooth water.
“Well, here we go,” he announced, when, after getting up from the
table, they had all gathered in the pilot house ready for the descent.
“Ned, you take charge of the air rudder, will you? And Bob, you stand
here ready to throw in the gears of the water propeller when I give the
word. I’m going to stand by the hydroplane lever.”
“Is there anything I can do?” asked the professor eagerly. “I’d like to
help.”
“Oh, I guess we can manage,” replied Jerry. “Pull the depressing
handle, Ned.”
The merchant’s son yanked the lever toward him. Almost instantly the
_Comet_ pointed her nose toward the ocean that rolled below them. The
boys were now practically out of sight of land.
Professor Snodgrass, seeing that he could be of no service, again took
up his telescope to scan the water for a possible sight of some fish
specimen, though he did not hope to so soon get the prize he sought.
“We’re almost down,” murmured Ned, who was keeping watch through a
glass window in the floor of the pilot house.
“Yes,” agreed Jerry. “Now, Ned, stand ready to haul up on the bicycle
wheels when I give the word.”
The three boys were on the alert. Would the new attachment work on the
ocean? They were all anxious to know.
“Now, Bob and Ned!” called Jerry suddenly.
Ned hauled up the bicycle wheels, which were on jointed arms. Bob threw
the gears of the water propeller into mesh, while Jerry lowered the
toggle-jointed arms to which were attached the hydroplanes.
Down upon the surface of the ocean settled the _Comet_, and then, as
Jerry started the motor which revolved the water propeller, the craft
darted forward with an easy motion like some graceful yacht.
“How about it?” asked Bob eagerly.
“Couldn’t be better,” declared Jerry. “The hydroplanes work as well on
the ocean as they did on the lake. Boys, it’s a great success. Now if
we find Mr. Jackson and his friends we can rescue them in the air or on
the water!”
They moved along for a mile or more upon the surface of the sea. Of
course their progress was not as smooth as in the air, for there was a
rolling, heaving motion to the ocean waves. But as our heroes were used
to travel in a big motor-boat, they did not mind the swell.
Professor Snodgrass did not see his singing fish, nor did he have
great hopes that he would. He used a small net which was sunk to some
little depth by means of weights, but he did not get any valuable
specimens. Only one small fish rewarded his efforts.
“I don’t care for it myself,” he said, “but I have a friend who will
like it for his collection,” and he put it into a jar of water to save
it.
As the afternoon was waning Jerry decided to ascend into the air again,
and so, starting the larger propellers, in order to get more speed,
they mounted upward, and once more were on their way, searching for the
disabled balloon.
But the welcome sight of the _Manhattan_ did not greet them, and
darkness was fast coming on. The great searchlight was kindled and with
the glowing beam shooting ahead of them they continued on through space.
All night they travelled, one or the other of the boys being on the
watch all the while, searching the heavens for a glimpse of a moving
light that would indicate the presence of the craft they sought. But
morning came with no success.
“Do you know what I think we ought to do,” spoke Bob, after breakfast.
“What; eat again?” asked Ned, with a wink at Jerry.
“No. Now cut out that joking, can’t you? I think we ought to go higher
up, say a couple of miles. The air will be clearer, and we can see
farther.”
“Good idea, Chunky!” declared Jerry. “We’ll do it. Maybe we can see the
balloon, then.”
The motor was speeded up, and in a short time, with her elevating
rudders tilted skyward, the _Comet_ was climbing higher into the air.
When the barograph measured fourteen thousand feet height Jerry sent
the craft along at that level, while all on board peered eagerly about
for the _Manhattan_.
They had been travelling on this way for perhaps two hours, and Jerry
was wondering how far they might venture out over the ocean, when Ned
asked:
“Why are you speeding up the motor? Aren’t we going fast enough?”
“I haven’t put on any more speed,” was the reply.
“Look at the tractometer,” was Ned’s reply, and glancing at the
instrument Jerry saw, with a start, that they were going about
seventy-five miles an hour.
“That’s odd,” he remarked, “the motor is only set for about forty.”
“What can be the matter?” asked Bob.
Even as he spoke they noticed that the needle of the dial on the
tractometer slowly swung around until it pointed to ninety miles. At
the same time they were aware that there was a curious humming sound in
the air outside.
“We must have struck a swiftly-moving current of air,” spoke Jerry.
Once more they looked at the tractometer. It now registered a hundred
miles an hour, and the sound outside increased to a roar.
Suddenly the _Comet_ gave a sickening dive, and almost turned turtle.
Only the new fin-keels Jerry had put on, and the automatic equilibrium
machine, saved them from being turned over.
“What’s the matter?” cried Professor Snodgrass, coming into the
steering tower.
“It must be an upper-air hurricane!” gasped Jerry. “The same kind that
caught the _Manhattan_! We’re in its power!”
The wind was now howling and roaring outside the motor-ship, which
plunged and careened in the air like a ship in a storm on the ocean.
Faster and faster she scudded along in the gale, more rapidly than her
motors could take her, even at top speed.
“We must go down!” gasped Jerry hoarsely. “Go down, or we may be ripped
all apart!” And he sprang to the lever of the depressing rudder.