Chapter XIV
The Ruined Factory
Only too true were the words Ned Newton shouted to his chum. Tank A wasreally capsizing. She had advanced to the edge of the gully and starteddown it, moving slowly on the caterpillar bands of steel. Then had comea sudden lurch, caused, as they learned afterward, by the slipping offof a great quantity of shale from an underlying shelf of rock.
This made unstable footing for the tank. One side sank lower than theother, and before Tom could neutralize this by speeding up one motorand slowing down the other the tank slowly turned over on its side.
"But she isn't going to stop here!" cried Ned, as he found himselfthrown about like a pill in a box. "We're going all the way over!"
"Let her go over!" cried Tom, not that he could stop the tank now. "Itwon't hurt her. She's built for just this sort of thing!"
And over Tank A did go. Over and over she rolled, sidewise, tumblingand sliding down the shale sides of the great gully.
"Hold fast! Grab the rings!" cried Tom to his two companions in thetower with him. "That's what they're for!"
Ned and Mr. Damon understood. In fact, the latter had already done asTom suggested. The young inventor had read that the British tanksfrequently turned turtle, and he had this in mind when he madeprovision in his own for the safety of passengers and crew.
As soon as he felt the tank careening, Tom had pressed the signalordering the motors stopped, and now only the force of gravity wasoperating. But that was sufficient to carry the big machine to thebottom of the gulch, whither she slid with a great cloud of sand, shaleand dust.
"Bless my--bless my--" Mr. Damon was murmuring, but he was so floppedabout, tossed from one side to the other, and it took so much of hisattention and strength to hold on to the safety ring, that he could notproperly give vent; to one of his favorite expressions.
But there comes an end to all things, even to the descent of a tank,and Tom's big machine soon stopped rolling, sliding, and turningimprovised somersaults, and rested in a pile of soft shale at thebottom of the gully. And the tank was resting on her back!
"We've turned turtle!" cried Ned, as he noted that he was standing onwhat, before, had been the ceiling of the observation tower. But aseverything was of steel, and as there was no movable furniture, nogreat harm was done. In fact, one could as well walk on the ceiling ofthe tank as on the floor.
"But how are you going to get her right side up?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Oh, turning upside down is only one of the stunts of the game. I canright her," was the answer.
"How?" asked Ned.
"Well, she'll right herself if there's ground enough for the steelbelts to get a grip on.
"But can the motors work upside down?"
"They surely can!" responded Tom. "I made 'em that way on purpose. Thegasolene feeds by air pressure, and that works standing on its head, aswell as any other way. It's going to be a bit awkward for the men tooperate the controls, but we won't be this way long. Before I start toright her, though, I want to make sure nothing is broken."
Tom signaled to the engine room, and, as the power was off and thespeaking tube could be used, he called through it:
"How are you down there?"
"Right-o!" came back the answer from a little Englishman Tom had hiredbecause he knew something about the British tanks. "'Twas a bit ofnastiness for a while, but it won't take us long to get up ag'in."
"That's good!" commented Tom. "I'll come down and have a look at you."
It was no easy matter, with the tank capsized, to get to the mainengine room, but Tom Swift managed it. To his delight, aside from asmall break in one of the minor machines, which would not interferewith the operation or motive force of the monster war engine,everything was in good shape. There was no leak from the gasolenetanks, which was one of the contingencies Tom feared, and, as he hadsaid, the motors would work upside down as well as right side up, afact he had proved more than once in his Hawk.
"Well, we'll make a start," he told his chief engineer. "Stand by whenI give the signal, and we'll try to crawl out of this right side up."
"How are you going to do it?" asked Ned, as his chum crawled back intothe observation tower.
"Well, I'm going to run her part way up the very steepest part of theravine I can find--the side of a house would do as well if it couldstand the strain. I'm going to stand the tank right up on her nose, soto speak, and tip her over so she'll come right again."
Slowly the tank started off, while Tom and his friends in theobservation tower anxiously awaited the result of the novel progress.Ned and Mr. Damon clung to the safety rings. Tom put his arm throughone and hung on grimly, while he used both hands on the steeringapparatus and the controls.
Of course the trailer wheels were useless in a case of this kind, andthe tank had to be guided by the two belts run at varying speeds.
"Here we go!" cried Tom, and the tank started. It was a queer sensationto be moving upside down, but it did not last very long. Tom steeredthe tank straight at the opposite wall of the ravine, where it rosesteeply. One of the broad belts ran up on that side. The other wasrevolved in the opposite direction. Up and up, at a sickening angle,went Tank A.
Slowly the tank careened, turning completely over on her longer axis,until, as Tom shut off the power, he and his friends once more foundthemselves standing where they belonged--on the floor of theobservation tower.
"Right side up with care!" quoted Ned, with a laugh. "Well, that wassome stunt--believe me!"
"Bless my corn plaster, I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon.
"Well, I'm glad it happened," commented Tom. "It showed what she can dowhen she's put to it. Now we'll get out of this ditch."
Slowly the tank lumbered along, proper side up now, the men in themotor room reporting that everything was all right, and that with theexception of a slight unimportant break, no damage had been done.
Straight for the opposite steep side of the gully Tom directed hisstrange craft, and at a point where the wall of the gulch gave a goodfooting for the steel belts, Tank A pulled herself out and up to levelground.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," remarked Ned, with a sigh of relief, asthe tank waddled along a straight stretch. "And to think of having todo that same thing under heavy fire!"
"That's part of the game," remarked Tom. "And don't forget that we canfire, too--or we'll be able to when I get the guns in place. They'llhelp to balance the machine better, too, and render her less likely tooverturn."
Tom considered the test a satisfactory one and, a little later, guidedhis tank back to the shop, where men were set to work repairing thelittle damage done and making some adjustments.
"What's next on the program?" asked Ned of his chum one day about aweek later. "Any more tests in view?"
"Yes," answered Tom. "I've got the machine guns in place now. We aregoing to try them out and also endeavor to demolish a building and somebarbed wire. Like to come along?"
"I would!" cried Ned.
A little later the tank was making her way over a field. Tom pointedtoward a deserted factory, which had long been partly in ruins, butsome of the walls of which still stood.
"I'm going to bombard that," he announced, and then try to batter itdown and roll over it like a Juggernaut. Are you game?"
"Do your worst!" laughed Ned. "Let me man one of the machine guns!"
"All right," agreed Tom. "Concentrate your fire. Make believe you'regoing against the Germans!"
Slowly, but with resistless energy, the tank approached the ruinedfactory.
"Are you sure there's no one in it, Tom?"
"Sure! Blaze away!"