CHAPTER XVI
READY TO "LET GO ALL"
In the confusion that followed the sudden extinction of the candle,while Ned was freeing Alan and Jack Jellup was uttering heartrendinggroans, the marshal's confederate lost his nerve and made hisescape. When a lantern had been procured, immediate attention wasgiven to the stricken man.
Ned hastened to secure a bucket of water. Wrapping the corner of ablanket about the handle of a tin dipper he ladled out a spoonful ofthe liquid hydrogen and, although the numbing chill ran through hisfingers and up his arm, he managed to pour the hydrogen into thecontents of the bucket.
The pail of lukewarm water became almost instantly a cake of solidice. As Ned dropped the tin dipper to the hard adobe floor it flewinto a hundred pieces. The inconceivable cold had crystallized themetal until the slightest shock was sufficient to break it intopieces.
At the sound of the crashing tin Ned instantly thought of the beltof gold yet in the hydrogen jar. But a human being was in pain, andhe gave his first attention to the suffering marshal. He had madethe ice to use in drawing the frost out of Jellup's frozen arm. Ina few moments he had mashed a portion of the ice into small bits,and using a blanket to make a pack, he soon had Jellup's rigid armencased in the fine ice. This he applied for the same reason thatsnow and ice water are applied to frozen ears and noses. But histreatment was of no avail.
The rain was now falling steadily and it was dark, but Ned foundthat it was nearly day--a little after four o'clock. Jellup'ssuffering was so extreme that the boys had given him a hypodermicinsertion of morphine, using their "snake-bite" outfit, and in a fewminutes the man's ravings ceased and he quieted into a deep sleep.
While awaiting this, attention was given the gold. Feeling free toapproach the now open jars with a light it was seen that a portionof, the belt protruded above the liquid. A cord with a sailor slipknot was lowered over the extended bit of leather, drawn taut with ajerk and the belt was slowly lifted out. A folded blanket had beenplaced on the floor to receive it. As Ned expected, the leathercrumbled and broke like glass as the belt fell on the soft blanket.
"If you want change for a twenty-dollar gold piece just tap one ofthose with a stick." said Ned, laughing and pointing to the goldpieces scattered among the broken fragments of the belt.
"Not I," exclaimed Alan, "not after what happened to the tindipper."
Leaving Alan to watch over the unconscious Jellup and the frozengold, Ned dressed himself, and in spite of the rain hastened out inthe just perceptible dawn to carry out a plan he and Alan had agreedupon. An hour later, with the assistance of Mayor Bradley, themarshal, now somewhat easier, was placed in a bed in his own home.Unless the silent Mexican told it no soul in all Clarkeville otherthan Mayor Bradley and the air ship boys knew why Jellup was absentfrom his haunts and his post of duty that day. Nor did many of themever know, when Jellup reappeared on the streets after weeks ofsuffering, how he had been injured. They only knew that his rightarm was gone and that he was no longer marshal.
The rain ceased with the coming of the day.
"If we don't get away pretty soon," suggested Alan, as Ned wasgetting into dry clothing preparatory to tackling another of Mrs.Buck's meals, "this thing will be getting on my nerves."
"Well," answered Ned philosophically, "there is mighty little worthhaving in this world that isn't hard to get."
If all went well that day the boys hoped to be ready to make theirdeparture that night or the next morning. Therefore they went towork with a vim. Both felt more comfortable when, after findingthat the gold coins had returned to their normal condition, they hadagain concealed them. The propeller, rudder and aeroplane guideswere now put in place and tested.
As the engine, with a speed of 1,400 revolutions but geared down to800, began to turn the shaft and the twelve-foot propeller began torevolve, Ned swung his hat in the air. Without a break the speedincreased to 500, 600, and then 700 revolutions a minute.
"Shut her off," exclaimed Alan joyously, as the white arms flewround and round and the air shot backwards on both sides of the longcar. At 750 revolutions the car was rocking and lurching as if itwould soar birdlike into the air. At 800 the powerful pullingpropeller began to overcome the rigidity of the framework on whichthe car rested and as Alan caught and held the car, fearful that itwas about to fly away under the propeller power alone, Ned shut offthe engine.
The next instant the two boys, with clasped hands, were doing anIndian war dance in their glee.
It was not long until the rudder wires and the aeroplane shafts hadbeen attached to their proper guide wheels in the lookout or pilotportion of the engine cabin. Then came the preparation of theballoon bag itself. Here again Ned showed what he had accomplishedin the six weeks he had spent in the East.
Clearing a space near the generating tanks, they placed the onehundred sand bags, weighing forty pounds each, in parallel rows.These sacks, with convenient loops on each for attaching the riggingof the bag as it was being filled, had already been prepared by the"greaser" laborers, but the placing of the two tons of dead weightwas not a joke, and the boys regretted that they had not kept a fewmen around. But by noon this was done, and then the greatwaterproof fiber trunk containing the silk bag was rolled outbetween the retaining bags. The boys could not carry it, as theballoon itself weighed seven hundred and twenty pounds, but theyimprovised rollers and with many a laughing "yo he ho" finallyaccomplished the task.
The bag had been made by one of the leading aeronautical engineersof America, whose factory, strangely enough, was in one of the smallinland towns of New York State. In a spirit of humor themanufactory had been termed the "Balloon Farm," and so famous was itthat Ned had even planned to spend a part of his summer vacationvisiting it. When Major Honeywell gave him the opportunity, Ned wasat once determined to utilize every advanced idea of the skilledowner, whatever the cost.
The result was a machine-varnished and, as nearly as such a thingwas possible, hydrogen gas-proof bag. In the construction of thisthe experienced manufacturer and engineer, who was no other thanProfessor Carl E. Meyers, the hero of hundreds of ascents, had useda new machine which applied simultaneously to both sides of the bagfabric several thin films of elastic varnish. The bag itselfconsisted of two layers of Japan silk between which was a layer ofrubber, all being sewed together and then vulcanized.
But the balloon trunk was not opened at once. The pipe to conveythe gas from the cooler and purifying tank had been brought infour-foot lengths of light wood, cemented and shellacked. Eightlengths of these were laid to the center of the cleared place andthen the joints were wound with binding cement tape. When thesethings had been satisfactorily adjusted it was mid-afternoon.Everything now seemed ready for the filling up of the generatingtanks, the inflation, the flight, and "good-bye."
Therefore, a final consultation was held. Wind tests conducted eachday had shown the prevailing breezes favorable, or at least notagainst the aeronauts. The inflation would require approximatelyten hours. If begun at once this would make the departure possibleabout midnight. This was not undesirable as the absence of the hotsouthwestern sun would make the gas easier to control. But anotherthing had to be taken into consideration. Only four days hadelapsed since Elmer and Bob and Buck had started. Were they yet atthe rendezvous?
"I don't see what difference that makes," said Alan. "We expect tosail directly north and east of the foothills. If they have notreached their camp they must be nearly there and on the way. We'vegot to locate them with our glasses anyway. Let's start and pickthem up where we find them."
"True enough," answered Ned. "The way the engine is working, inthis light favoring wind, we ought to make eighteen miles an houranyway. If we leave at midnight, by five o'clock in the morning wecan be ninety miles north. The only trouble is in the handling ofthe bag. It's going to take at least twenty men to move theinflated bag from the retaining weights to the car and we can't makethe rigging fast in the dark. We'd better
begin work at fouro'clock to-morrow morning, as soon as it begins to be light, and getaway about two in the afternoon. I think we'll see our friendsabout seven or just at dark, if we do."