CHAPTER XIII
WITHIN THE SILVERY HULL
The Nardak was coining into her hangar--not drifting through the air,but rolling in on wheels. From far down the track line that entered thecovered dock came a heavy rumbling. Then a long line of trucks appeared,running smoothly over the docking rails. Anchored to these was the vast,silvery shape of the Nardak, an aeronautical leviathan nearly eighthundred feet long by a hundred and forty feet high.
"The Nardak on wheels! I thought it was a ship of the air!" gaspedRenaud.
"So it is," laughed Captain Bartlot, "but this is the simplest way ofgetting her into her hangar. Even with these rolling doors opened tomake an enormous entrance, there is always the danger that the crosswinds and gusts that sweep into the hangar will batter thislighter-than-air craft against the walls or roof. She's been on a testflight. Her crew landed her out on the unobstructed field, then anchoredher on wheels for the trip indoors."
After the Nardak was in the hangar, the ground crew stepped forward andfastened her ropes through the iron rings in concrete pillars thatstudded the floor here and there on either side of the docking rails.
"We won't have all this assistance and landing paraphernalia to help uswhen we get up into the ice country," said Bartlot. "But we are countingon another landing method that we are going to try out when the needcomes. All right, young man," motioning Lee to follow, "want to see this'cigar' of mine at close quarters?"
The huge dirigible in its sheen of silvery paint did look like amammoth, tinfoil wrapped cigar--a cigar eight hundred feet long!
As Lee Renaud went up the little set of drop-steps and entered the hull,he was overwhelmed at the amazing intricacy of the interior. Seen fromwithout, the simple lines of the dirigible would seem to indicate thatit was nothing more than a great gas bag. But within that silvery casingwas a structure as complicated as that of a steel skyscraper. Threethousand metal struts criss-crossed in a maze of latticed girders.
"Tons, and thousands of tons of weight!" thought Lee. "How can this loadeven lift, much less fly!"
As if in answer to the thought, Bartlot spoke. "These struts--duralumin,an alloy metal, that's what they are made of. There, laid on the floorof the runway, is a discarded girder that's just been taken out. Liftit."
Lee took a long breath, got a grip on the thing, gave a great tug--andalmost fell backwards. Sixteen feet of girder, and it weighed next tonothing! He could almost lift it with a finger!
"And yet the weight of six men couldn't bend it!" Bartlot remarked inanswer to Lee's questioning look.
They passed on down the catwalk, or metal promenade plank that ran thewhole length of the hull. On either side were arranged the great tanksof gasoline that furnished the motive power for the dirigible, and thetwenty separate balloonets or gas bags that contained helium, which wasthe lifting power of the ship.
"Here's a case where _a la_ the old rhyme, the cow will jump over themoon." Captain Jan pointed to the gas bags. "These remarkable gas-tightcontainers are made of thousands upon thousands of portions ofgold-beater's skin, which is the small tough section of the intestine ofa steer. More than 1,500,000 cattle from the various stockyardscontributed to the making of these helium bags--so in the name ofscience, the cow is going to soar pretty high."
One marvel after another aroused Lee Renaud's admiration as his capableguide took him from end to end of the ship, and down through theladderways that connected with the outside gondolas that housed theengines, the navigating room, the quarters for the crew. There was thegreat rudder to guide her through the ocean of air, the flippers forelevation, the keel corridor for storage, the laboratory, thephotographic room, the instruments for recording speed, height, weather.
Wonderful equipment, on a wonderful craft. Yet Lee Renaud found his eyesstraying here and there, searching for something more.
"The radio-room, eh? I'll bet a ton of duralumin, you're on pins to setyour eyes on it. Well, I've saved radio for the climax--saved the bestfor the last, and I know that's a truth, so far as Lee Renaud'sconcerned." Captain Jan exploded into his big laugh as he led the wayforward toward a compartment in the navigating section of the ship whichwas built at the bow, just under the nose. This navigating section wasarranged with the control-room set first, the chart-house immediatelybehind, and behind this again the radio-room with its completebroadcasting and receiving equipment.
As Lee Renaud got his first eyeful of the Nardak's radio equipment, hisbreath seemed to cut off and his hair fairly stand on end forexcitement. Here was radio--real radio!
Into wall panels, from floor to ceiling, were set elaborate mechanismsof grills and tubes and coils. In the center of the compartment was adesk and chair, as though this were some secretarial room in askyscraper office building. But instead of housing pen and ink andpaper, this desk housed the marvelous apparatus that could send word byair, instead of by ink.
A man in shirt sleeves, and with head phones adjusted, sat humped overthe radio desk, working at a dial. This was Jack Simms, radio chief ofthe Nardak. As Captain Bartlot made the introductions, a ferociousscowl, emphasized by a great scar across the left cheek, seem to draw upSimms' face, and he spoke shortly, "Howdy, youngster!" with whatappeared to Lee unnecessary emphasis on the "youngster." All theseveterans seemed to have it in for the youngest member of the crew, andto resent his being thrust in among them.
While Simms rather perfunctorily explained to his newly arrivedassistant the various parts of this very modern and powerful radio unit,Lee couldn't keep his eyes off the scar across the man's cheek. What Leedid not know, at that time, was that Simms had gained that perpetualdecoration by sticking to his radio post aboard a rammed and sinkingocean liner--a post that he held till he had put wireless through toother ships that answered the call and rescued every man jack aboard thewreck.
"Now here are our ten-meter transmitters for exploring ultra-shortwaves," Simms' cool voice went on. "With condensers adjusted for maximumplate current, sounds from quite a respectable distance can be broughtinto the clear. I'll demonstrate." He turned the tiny marking light onthe dial. "That ought to get us Station ZEAF at Brinton, two hundredmiles away."
As the dial light came to rest, a clear burst of beautiful music rolledthrough the little room.
"That's hitting it up pretty fine." Lee's face glowed. "I reached out totwo hundred once with an old battery, some barbed wire and the like. Gotthe sound, but it was distorted, like the singer was yelling out of theside of his mouth--"
"You've made radio, huh? Receiver, or transmitter?"
"Both."
As Lee, at Simms' prompting, told something of the various experimentshe had tried, Bartlot quietly left the room, to return later bearing theleather case containing the boy's portable model.
Without a word, the Captain opened back the leather and shoved thecontents up under Jack Simms' nose. The latter half arose, then settledback, and went over the little mechanism carefully. He gave a longwhistle. "Some points to that, kid!"
After that, there wasn't much in the way of radio that Jack Simms didn'tgo into minutely for Lee Renaud's benefit. Old Simms had found that heand Lee talked the same language--audio frequency, voltage, detectorgrid input, C3, filter, and the rest of the jargon.
* * * * *
For a fortnight longer, the preparation aboard the Nardak went forward.On former trips the Nardak had been a floating pleasure palace circlingthe globe with a crew of forty and with twenty passengers in luxuriousstaterooms. In view of her impending arduous flight into the barrenpolar wastes, all of this was being changed. Such luxurious features ofthe ship as the cabin de luxe and the magnificent passenger saloon werebeing discarded, and small plain cabins installed. This was done tolighten the load on the ship and increase the capacity for the usefulload of food and fuel necessities.
During this interim, on a special rush order, an Adron factory pushedforward the work of making six por
tables after Lee's little radio model.These were for field work on the Arctic barrens.
In the airship itself, several structural changes were made. There wasthe protecting of vital parts against the effects of low temperaturesand the preparation of certain special equipment for landing without anyhelp from the ground.
Then the great day came. The day for all aboard, and then off, adventurebound!
For the last time the huge ship came out of her hangar on wheels. Shewas ready now to be loosed, ready to take the air. To the high daring ofher mission the city of Adron did homage. Horns blared, great factorysirens roared their calls, bands played. Now a wedge of airplanes zoomedacross the sky, come to bid the expedition farewell in their ownparticular aerial style. For this departing mammoth of the air wasanswering the greatest challenge of them all--a prolonged explorationflight over the vast frozen Arctic.
On this exploration were going a wonderful picked crew of scientists,geologists, meteorologists--learned men of many professions had strivenfor a chance to face any hardship, if only they might go on thisexpedition to the "geologist's paradise," the fearful, mysterious frozenPolar Region with its lure of unrevealed secrets.
Out of the hundreds of applicants, only so few could go--some sixty men.Because this dangerous expedition could be no stronger than its weakestmember, its personnel had to be selected with an eye to strength, healthand disposition as well as scientific ability.
A large order in the way of exploration personnel! Yet Jan Bartlot'sgenius for leadership led him to pick an astonishingly capable, loyal,brave body of men to companion him into the wilds of the Arctic.
There was stocky, blond Norwegian Olaf Valchen who came fromSpitzbergen, that far northern settlement. He had long been a lone flyerof the icy wastes, a carrier of dynamite and other mining suppliesacross the Hudson Bay territory.
"Tornado" Harrison of the United States Weather Bureau was going alongto "get the weather" for the various undertakings.
A most important member of the crew was Sandy Sanderson, the cook.Sanderson was already well up on frigid zone cooking, having dished upseal steak patties and walrus goulash to whaling ships over half theoceans of the world.
On this flight, there were explorers who had already battled ice fieldswith various forms of polar locomotion, some with shaggy Siberianponies, some with sledge huskies, some with ships of the sea. But now,by ship of the air, by radio, by electricity, Commander Bartlot hopednot only to penetrate the Arctic, but also to explore it.
He would have need of all the aids of modern science, for the Arcticworld breeds the most fearful of storms, spews forth the most monstrousof grinding, treacherous icebergs, forever shifts its sky lights in astrange visibility that deceives and magnifies and lures with mirages.
As the great ship of adventure began to rise, the bands burst intomartial tunes. Shouts roared from the throngs below. Handkerchiefsfluttered. A little girl in a red dress held her doll aloft for herfather on board to see. Wives, mothers, sweethearts waved farewell.
Lee Renaud, looking over the side, felt suddenly engulfed in loneliness.In all that crowd there was not one to personally wish him God speed.
The last ropes were being cast off. The vessel rose higher.
There came a shout from below. A boy on a motorcycle was threading thecrowd. "Telegram! Drop a hook!" was bawled up through a megaphoneamplifier.
Then the little yellow envelope went fluttering up on the end of a line.
"Renaud,--Lee Renaud, it's for you!" Lee's hands trembled as he tore itopen. What did it mean? What had happened?
From Great-uncle Gem! Lee's eyes devoured the line of words on theyellow sheet. "God bless you, and keep you, and help you to show to theworld the stuff you're made out of, Lee Renaud. (Signed) G. Renaud."
Lee gulped. "G-gosh, I bet he sold a silver candlestick to get cash tosend this!" The boy was humble and exultant at the same time. Somebodybelieved in him.
The ship was riding the air now. It rose majestically, like a giganticsilvery bird, turned its prow into the north and was off.
Before the Nardak stretched uncharted wastes--the ocean of air.