CHAPTER V
THE WORK OF AN ENEMY
Jack's first act, on arising from amid a mass of tools, into which hehad been tossed by the explosion, was to run to where Professor Roumannlay in a semi-conscious condition. An instant later Mark slowly arose,and made his way to where Professor Henderson was rubbing his foreheadin a dazed fashion.
"Are you hurt?" asked Mark, of his aged friend.
"I think not," answered Mr. Henderson slowly, "but I fear Mr. Roumannis. See to him; I'm all right."
"He's breathing," cried Jack, who had bent over the German. "He isn'tdead, at any rate."
"But he may be, unless he gets attention," said Professor Henderson."Get my medicine chest, Mark, and we'll see what we can do for him."
Jack had raised the head of the injured man on his arm, and was givinghim some water from a glass. This partially revived the German, and heopened his eyes. He looked around, into the faces of his friends, as ifscarcely comprehending what had happened, and then, as his gazewandered toward the disabled Cardite motor, he exclaimed:
"Some enemy has done this! The motor was tampered with. The resistanceblock was loosened, and that caused the force of the Cardite to shootout at the rear. We must watch out for the work of this enemy!"
"Don't distress yourself about that now," urged Mr. Henderson. "Are youbadly hurt? Do you need a doctor?"
The German slowly drank the rest of the water which Jack gave him, andthen gradually arose to a standing position.
"I am all right," he said faintly, "except that I feel a trifle dizzy.Something hit me on the head, and the fumes from the Cardite took awaymy breath for a moment. I think I shall be all right soon."
"Here is the medicine chest!" exclaimed Mark, coming back into theengine room. Mr. Henderson poured out some aromatic spirits of ammoniainto a graduated glass, added a little water, and gave it to hisfellow, inventor, who, after drinking it, declared that he felt muchbetter. There was a cut on his forehead, where a piece of the brokenmotor had struck him, but, otherwise, he did not seem injuredexternally.
As for the boys, they were only stunned, nor was Mr. Henderson morethan momentarily shocked. In a few minutes the German professor wasalmost himself again.
"We must try to discover who our enemy is," he said earnestly, as helooked over the disabled motor. "He might have blown up the wholeprojectile by tampering as he did with the machinery. Had I beentesting the large, instead of the small motor, there would have beennothing left of the _Annihilator_, or us, either. Who could have donethis? If that crazy machinist is around again----"
"I don't believe he could get here from Mars," interrupted Jack, with asmile.
"Hardly," added Mark.
"No, I guess he is still on the Red Planet, so it couldn't have beenhim," went on Mr. Roumann. "But it was some one."
Jack and Mark at once thought of the odd man who had sent Mark thenote, and then had run away.
"Could it have been him?" suggested Jack.
"It's possible," remarked Professor Henderson. "We must be on ourguard. I wonder if Washington----"
At that moment there sounded a violent pounding on the exterior of theprojectile, and the voice of the colored man could be heard calling:
"Am anything de mattah? Andy Sudds an' I is out heah, an' we heardsuffin goin' on in dere. Am anybody hurted?"
"It's all over now, Wash," replied Jack, for the two boys, and the twoprofessors, had shut themselves up in the projectile while theyconducted the experiment. Jack opened the door of the _Annihilator_ andstepped out, being met by the colored man and the old hunter.
"You haven't seen any suspicious characters around, have you, Wash?"asked Mark. "Some one has been tampering with a motor, and it exploded."
"Nobody's been around since I've been here," announced Andy Sudds, witha significant glance at his gun.
"Maybe it's some ob dem moon-men, what don't laik de idea ob us goin'dere arter dere diamonds," volunteered the colored man.
"Perhaps," admitted Jack, with a smile. "But certainly some one hasbeen around here who had no business to be, and we must find out who itwas. Better take a look around, Wash."
"I'll help him," said Andy, and, with his rifle in readiness for anyintruders, the old hunter followed the colored man outside the big shed.
Meanwhile Professor Roumann and Mr. Henderson were carefully examiningthe exploded motor.
"I should have looked at the breech plug before turning on the power,"said the German, "but I had no reason to suspect that anything waswrong." He went on to explain that the explosion was something likethat which occurs when the breech-block of a big navy gun is notproperly in place. The force of the Cardite, instead of being directedagainst the piston-heads of the motor, shot out backward, and almostinto the face of the professor, who was operating the machine.
"But what could be their object?" asked Mark. "Who would want to injureus, or damage the projectile?"
"Some enemy, of course," declared Jack. "But who? The crazy machinistis out of it, and as for that man who sent the note to you, he seemedtoo big a coward to attempt anything like this."
"Some one evidently sneaked in here and loosened the breech-plug," wenton Mark, "and it was evidently done with the idea of delaying us. Theenemy could not have desired to utterly disable the projectile, or elsehe would have tampered with the large motor, instead of the small one."
"Yes, the object seems to have been to delay us," admitted ProfessorHenderson; "yet, I can't understand why. Whoever did it evidently knowssomething about machinery."
"I hope they did not discover the secret of my Cardite motor," saidProfessor Roumann quickly.
"They hardly had time," declared Mark. "We have been in or around theprojectile nearly every minute of the day, and whoever it was, musthave watched his chance, slipped in, stayed a few seconds, and thenslipped out again."
They went carefully over the entire projectile, but could find nofurther damage done. Nor were there any traces of the person who had sonearly caused a tragedy. Washington and Andy, after a careful searchoutside the shed, had to admit that they had no clews.
"Well, the only thing to do is to go to work and build a new smallmotor," announced Professor Roumann, after once more looking over the_debris_ of the one that had exploded.
"Will it take long?" asked Jack.
"About two weeks. Fortunately, I can use some of the parts of this one,or we would be delayed longer."
"Still two weeks is quite a while," suggested Mark. "Perhaps there'llbe no diamonds left on the moon when we get there, Jack," and he smiledjokingly.
"Oh, I fancy there will. The article in the paper from Mars says therewas a whole field of them."
"This brings up another matter," said Professor Henderson. "What willhappen if we bring back bushels and bushels of diamonds?--which, inview of what the paper says, may be possible. We will swamp the market,and the value of diamonds will drop."
"Then we must not throw them upon the market," decided ProfessorRoumann. "The scarcity of an article determines its value. If we dofind plenty of diamonds, it will give me a chance to conduct someexperiments I have long postponed because of a lack of the preciousstones. We can use them for laboratory purposes, and need not sellthem. In fact, with the Cardite we brought back from Mars, we have nolack of money, so we really do not need the diamonds."
It was decided, in view of the shock and upset caused by the explosion,that no further work would be done that day, and so, after carefullylocking the shed, and posting Andy on guard with his gun, the boys andthe professor went into the house to discuss matters, and plan for workthe next day.
"Mark," said Jack in a low voice, as they followed the two scientists,"I think it's up to us to try to find that mysterious man who sent thenote. I think he did this mean trick!"
"So do I, and we'll have a hunt for him. Let's go now."