"We"ll follow it through its length," said Joe, now at the helm. "See!
We are seven thousand feet up, and one can perceive a huge portion of the ca.n.a.l, severed here and there by the bitter lakes through which it runs. Ah! There"s a ship. Let"s drop down close to her."
The vessel plunged. One who was ignorant of her powers would have imagined that she was about to crash to the ground. But she was merely descending at her fastest pace, and plunging brought her within hailing distance of the ship then pa.s.sing through the ca.n.a.l, even before Mr.
Reitberg had quite recovered his nerve or his equilibrium.
"_Himmel!_" he shrieked, as the vessel headed downward and shot toward the sand. "Hold her! She is falling! We shall all be killed."
He formed the mad resolution of rushing to the engine-room, and stepped in that direction. But, as we have said, the inclination of the decks considerably upset his equilibrium. The magnate indeed took a header, slithered along the smooth platform beneath the gas chambers, and landed up against one of the part.i.tions with a bang which shook his eyegla.s.s from its holding. By then the vessel was within a hundred feet of the ca.n.a.l, sailing along directly over it, and just ahead of the ship ploughing her way through the water.
What cheers there were! How the pa.s.sengers on that eastward-bound vessel crowded the decks and shouted! And then the liner hoisted her Union Jack, and dipped it formally. At once the watchful Hawkins responded from the deck above, while again cheers came to the ears of d.i.c.k and his friends.
"And just contrast the two ships," said Alec, when they had progressed in this fashion for perhaps an hour. "Look! You can see the airship"s reflection in the water, and, my! ain"t she a whopper!"
Yes, she was huge, vast, incredibly enormous. And yet how smoothly she sailed along, and with what little effort! It was a fascinating picture to behold. d.i.c.k found himself following the giant outline, picking out the various points till then invisible from the deck above, or from the platforms below. For instance, four huge attachments puzzled him immensely, for they hung from the framework and seemed without purpose.
"All the same they"re meant for business," Joe told him, with that quiet, half-cynical smile for which he was notorious. "Oh yes, d.i.c.ky, we don"t have useless attachments on this ship, unless--ahem! it"s amongst the crew. I ain"t, of course, referring to midshipmen."
But he was. He was teasing the gallant Mr. Midshipman Hamshaw, and had he been Alec there would have been a rumpus.
"Seriously, though," he went on when he had had his laugh, "they"re for landing. You see, it don"t do to b.u.mp a ship of this description. We want to reach terra firma gently. Now, if you were to jump from a height you"d land on your toes if possible, come down on to your heels, and then bend your knees, all by stages as it were, quickly enough you understand, but offering such graduated resistance that there would be no shock at all. That"s what happens with those attachments. Each one is thirty feet in length, and hinged inside the frame of the airship at its upper and forward end. Now, watch us. We"ll b.u.mp to the ground. How"s that?"
It really was remarkable, and so thought the people on board the liner.
For Joe"s practised hand arrested the engines. The ship came to a standstill. Then she fell as if she were a dead weight, was arrested within twenty feet of the ground merely by touching a single lever, and then descended sharply. But there was no shock. Those four antennae hinged upward beneath the weight, gradually met it, and then held her firmly suspended. Even the gla.s.sware on the saloon table was not shaken.
"And now for a trip on terra firma if only to stretch our legs," cried Joe. "We"ll take it by turns, half at a time."
It was singular how everyone fell in with the views of the young inventor; and, in fact, it was to be observed aboard the airship that though there was no recognized captain, no officers, and no regular crew, yet the work aboard progressed with a smoothness which was remarkable. There were rules, naturally enough, and all aboard had been a.s.signed duties. But the simplicity of the whole contrivance, and above all, the efficiency of the engines, called for the smallest attention.
"Merely see that the lubricators are working, and that the fuel feed is right, and things go along merrily," said Andrew, who was becoming quite an engineer.
This opportunity of a trip ash.o.r.e was seized upon by all in turn, and long walks over the sandhills were indulged in. Then the airship picked up pa.s.sengers and crew once more, and rising from the sand steered a course east and north, swooping over the deserts of Arabia. All the following night she sped on without a halt, and when the lively d.i.c.k again trod the deck he looked down upon the Arabian Sea. But it was merely a corner of that vast ocean, for within a few hours the vessel was sweeping over Persia.
"A spa.r.s.ely inhabited country, and therefore one where we may venture to halt for a while without fear of interruption," said Joe. "Our water supply is running short, and if we are to continue our regular baths every morning we must fill our tanks again."
Whoever heard of an airship carrying baths and water tanks of big capacity? But this one did, and bore the weight as if it were nothing.
And the completeness of her equipment was again demonstrated, for, having sighted a huge lake in the heart of Persia, and made sure that there was not a town or a village in sight, Joe dropped the ship directly on the water, setting her elevators to work so gently that they held the giant framework but six feet above the surface.
"Now we drop our pumps, set the motors going, and in a jiffy fill the tanks," he said. "Watch the whole performance."
But there was little to see, though d.i.c.k and Alec, ever the most curious of those aboard, strained their necks to watch all that was pa.s.sing. Two snake-like, flexible metal pipes were pa.s.sed from the engine-room through apertures specially constructed for the purpose. Then the motor hummed a little louder, while one of the pump attachments was set going; the gurgle of water splashing into the tanks was the only indication that the operation was being performed with success. An hour, indeed, sufficed to replenish their supplies, when the ship shot upward once more till some six thousand feet of pure, sun-lit air lay beneath her.
"And now for the north-west frontier of India, where our soldiers are ever on the watch," said Joe. "Come, Major, you feel no nervousness? You have no fears, I hope, lest our gas should run short and land us in the arms of some of those gentry who look upon an Englishman as a dog, to be slaughtered on any and every occasion?"
"You may take me where you will, in chains if you wish," was the smiling response. "After the things that I have seen I have the utmost confidence in both the leader of this expedition and on the ship his hands have constructed. There! I cannot say more."
It may be stated that only one person aboard the airship had a doubt as to her capacity and his own security, and, as may be guessed, that individual was Carl Reitberg. But then he was always nervous for his own skin.
"The north-west!" he gasped, when Joe told him of their immediate destination. "But--but that"s where there are always little wars and skirmishes."
"Precisely," observed the Major, with cutting abruptness. "Our best soldiers are bred there. I"ve had a dose of the north-west myself. Keeps you alive, sir. And if you aren"t lively, why----"
"Ahem!" lisped d.i.c.k. "You"re dead, dead as a herring."
"And you go there?" stuttered the magnate, his face paling, his fat cheeks trembling.
"Certainly!" declared Joe.
"But supposing something happened, supposing----"
"It won"t, I hope," came the answer.
"But it might," chimed in d.i.c.k, grinning. "Then there"d be a ruction.
Say, Mr. Andrew, ain"t they fond of torturing folks first?"
It was too bad to tease the wretched and craven Mr. Reitberg. But there was no suppressing d.i.c.ky or his boon companion Alec. While in their secret heart of hearts the Major and perhaps Joe and Mr. Andrew were not altogether sorry. Nor did they say much to comfort the unhappy magnate.
Indeed, that stout and crafty gentleman was thrown into a violent flutter two days later. For the wireless apparatus aboard suddenly picked up a message.
"Someone calling, sir," reported the operator. "Calling with an apparatus of low power. I can"t quite tap the message, though it has been getting stronger."
"Then we"re moving towards it; we"ll send her ahead. Wonder what it is?"
said Joe. "There are few wireless instruments in this part of the world, and those there are belong to the British forces. Report again when you can read the message."
At once the ship was sent ahead at her fastest pace, while the wireless operator returned to his instruments. Nor was it long when he appeared with a report.
"A force of Gurkha soldiers held up in the hills, sir," he told Joe.
"Calling for help, but not yet in touch with the instruments of their main party. Urgently require relief. Ammunition almost run out. I told them to expect us."
"Certainly!" cried Joe. "We"ll do our utmost to relieve them. Major, kindly see that arms are served to the men. Sergeant Evans has the keys of the magazines."
"But--you will never venture to attack whoever is hemming in these British soldiers," cried Mr. Reitberg, aghast.
"Then you"d let "em be shot down, eh?" asked Andrew angrily.
"Er--well, how can we help it? It is their own business. Why should we rush into danger?"
The magnate was positively shaking. He could scarcely stand, so violently were his knees knocking. As for Joe, he turned on his heel and went straightway to the engine-room, while the Major hurried off to issue weapons to the men. Andrew regarded his guest grimly, and with difficulty smothered his rising anger.
"Sir," he said with dignity, "those men are British soldiers. This ship is British also. If there is a call for help we take it, whatever the risk. Remember that you yourself owe to our country a debt which a service such as this is will only partially help you to repay. There, sir, if you are nervous retire to your cabin."
But Mr. Reitberg"s anxiety would not allow him to do that. He paced the broad deck of the ship a prey to terrible forebodings. Then, driven from the open by the fierce rush of air there, he slid off to his cabin.
"Shall I, now?" he asked himself, as he handled that box with its seals still adhering. "Shall I set the clockwork going and so put a stop to the course these fools are taking? Ah! No! That would not do here. But later. Yes, later I will punish them for incurring this danger."
Love for his own security forbade his taking the rash step he had for the moment contemplated, for the consequences, he reflected, would be disastrous to himself as well as to his fellows. But later; yes, he would open that box; that is, if he were still living. For the ship was plunging furiously onward, and every few minutes the wireless operator telephoned his news of an impending British disaster. There were a thousand dusky natives hemming in but fifty Gurkha soldiers and one British officer. Their ammunition was almost spent. The enemy were within charging distance of them.
"Tell "em we"re coming fast," was Joe"s curt answer. "And, Major, just make all ready for action."