The rope was loosened, and, increasing the speed of the engine, Tom signalled to the men to give a little momentum to the craft. She began running over the smooth ground. There was a cheer from the few spectators. Certainly the WHIZZER made good time on the earth.
Tom was anxiously watching the gages and other instruments. He wanted a little more speed, but could not seem to get it. He ran the motor to the utmost, and then, seeing the necessity of making an attempt to get up into the air, before the end of the speeding ground was reached, he pulled the elevating plane lever.
The front of the WHIZZER rose, and then settled down. Tom quickly shut off the power, and jammed on the brake, an arrangement of spikes that dug into the earth, for the high board fence loomed up before him.
"What"s the matter?" cried Mr. Fenwick, anxiously.
"Couldn"t get up speed enough," answered the young inventor. "We must have more momentum to make her rise."
"Can it be gotten?"
"I think so. I"ll gear the motor higher."
It took an hour to do this. Once more the scale test was applied. It registered a pull of fifteen hundred pounds now.
"We"ll go up," said Tom, grimly.
Once more the motors spit out fire, and the propellers whirled so that they looked like mere circles of light. Once more the WHIZZER shot over the ground, but this time, as she neared the fence, she rose up like a bird, cleared it like a trick horse, and soared off into the air!
The WHIZZER was flying!
CHAPTER X
OVER THE OCEAN
"Hurrah!" cried Mr. Fenwick in delight. "My machine is really flying at last!"
"Yes," answered Tom, as he adjusted various levers and gears, "she is going. It"s not as high as I"d like, but it is doing very well, considering the weight of the craft, and the fact that we have not used the gas bag. I"m going to let that fill now, and we"ll go up.
Don"t you want to steer, Mr. Fenwick?"
"No, you manage it, Tom, until it"s in good running shape. I don"t want to "hoodoo" it. I worked as hard as I could, and never got more than two feet off the ground. Now I"m really sailing. It"s great!"
He was very enthusiastic, and Tom himself was not a little pleased at his own success, for certainly the airship had looked to be a very dubious proposition at first.
"Bless my gaiters! But we are doing pretty well," remarked Mr.
Damon, looking down on the field where Mr. Fenwick"s friends and the machinists were gathered, cheering and waving their hands.
"We"ll do better," declared Tom.
He had already set the gas machine in operation, and was now looking over the electric apparatus, to see that it was working well. It needed some adjustments, which he made.
All this while the WHIZZER was moving about in a big circle, for the rudder had been automatically set to so swing the craft. It was about two hundred feet high, but soon after the gas began to enter the bag it rose until it was nearly five thousand feet high. This satisfied Tom that the airship could do better than he expected, and he decided to return nearer earth.
In going down, he put the craft through a number of evolutions designed to test her ability to answer the rudders promptly. The lad saw opportunity for making a number of changes, and suggested them to Mr. Fenwick.
"Are you going any farther?" asked the owner of the WHIZZER, as he saw that his craft was slowly settling.
"No, I think we"ve done enough for the first day," said Tom, "But I"d like you to handle her now, Mr. Fenwick. You can make the landing, while I watch the motor and other machines."
"Yes. I guess I can make a landing all right," a.s.sented the inventor. "I"m better at coming down than going up."
He did make a good descent, and received the congratulation of his friends as he stepped from the airship. Tom was also given much praise for his success in making the craft go at all, for Mr.
Fenwick and his acquaintances had about given up hope that she ever would rise.
"Well, what do you think of her?" Mr. Fenwick wanted to know of the young inventor, who replied that, as soon as some further changes had been made, they would attempt a long flight.
This promise was kept two days later. They were busy days for Tom, Mr. Fenwick and the latter"s a.s.sistants. Tom sent a short note to his father telling of the proposed long flight, and intimated that he might make a call in Shopton if all went well. He also sent a wire to Miss Nestor, hinting that she might have some apple turnovers ready for him.
But Tom never called for that particular pastry, though it was gotten ready for him when the girl received his message.
All was in readiness for the long flight, and a preliminary test had demonstrated that the WHIZZER had been wonderfully improved by the changes Tom made. The young inventor looked over the supply of food Mr. Fenwick had placed aboard, glanced at the other stores, and asked:
"How long do you expect to be gone, Mr. Fenwick?"
"Why, don"t you think we can stay out a week?"
"That"s quite a while," responded Tom. "We may be glad to return in two days, or less. But I think we"re all ready to start. Are any of your friends going?"
"I"ve tried to pursuade some of them to accompany me, but they are a bit timid," said the inventor. "I guess we three will make up the party this time, though if our trip is a successful one I"ll be overwhelmed with requests for rides, I suppose."
As before, a little crowd gathered to see the start. The day was warm, but there was a slight haziness which Tom did not like. He hoped, though, that it would pa.s.s over before they had gone far.
"Do you wish to head for any particular spot, Mr. Fenwick?" asked Tom, as they were entering the cabin.
"Yes, I would like to go down and circle Cape May, New Jersey, if we could. I have a friend who has a summer cottage there, and he was always laughing at my airship. I"d just like to drop down in front of his place now, and pay him a call."
"We"ll try it," a.s.sented Tom, with a smile.
An auspicious start was made, the WHIZZER taking the air after a short flight across the ground, and then, with the lifting gas aiding in pulling the craft upward, the airship started to sail high over the city of Philadelphia.
So swiftly did it rise that the cheers of the little crowd of Mr.
Fenwick"s friends were scarcely heard. Up and up it went, and then a little later, to the astonishment of the crowds in the streets, Tom put the airship twice in a circle around the statue of William Penn, on the top of the City Hall.
"Now you steer," the lad invited Mr. Fenwick. "Take her straight across the Delaware River, and over Camden, New Jersey, and then head south, for Cape May. We ought to make it in an hour, for we are getting up good speed."
Leaving the owner in charge of his craft, to that gentleman"s no small delight, Tom and Mr. Damon began an inspection of the electrical and other machinery. There was much that needed attention, but Tom soon had the automatic apparatus in working order, and then less attention need be given to it.
Several times the young investor looked out of the windows with which the cabin was fitted. Mr. Damon noticed this.
"Bless my shoe laces, Tom," he said. "What"s the matter?"
"I don"t like the looks of the weather," was the answer. "I think we"re in for a storm."
"Then let"s put back."