CHAPTER XVIII

A PERILOUS TRIP

It did not take long to repair the propeller damaged by Professor Snodgrass, but Mr. Glassford, though the boys asked him to do so, did not make a trip the next day. He said he wanted to make some slight changes in the elevation rudder, and there were also some other small parts of the _Comet_ that needed adjusting.

In the meanwhile, however, Andy Rush had found the paper in which he had read an account of the coming carnival at Park Haven, and the boys eagerly went over the details.

“Why, there are two main prizes,” announced Jerry.

“Two? How’s that?” asked Ned.

“One for the motor ship making the longest flight, and the other for the one remaining in the air the longest time.”

“Maybe we can win both!” exclaimed Bob.

“Go on, don’t be greedy!” was Ned’s rebuke. “But what are the conditions? Can dirigible balloons and aeroplanes enter?”

“It seems so from this,” replied Jerry as he went over the conditions of the race. “Any kind of an airship, lighter or heavier than air, can compete. There are also prizes for the largest ship, and for the smallest, and for the oddest one.”

“Noddy ought to have saved his _Firefly_ for this exhibit,” commented Professor Snodgrass, who had been told of the happenings at Broadlands.

“There’s one machine queerer than his,” said Ned. “That is Mr. Abernot’s flying grasshopper. Maybe that will be out there.”

“Well, let’s get busy and see if we can enter our ship,” proposed Jerry. “I’ll write to the secretary of the committee that is in charge, and get some entry blanks.”

“Good idea,” remarked Bob. “I think I’ll go home and get some lunch,” for the boys were in the airship tent, where they spent most of their time.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard Chunky mention eating since we got the motor ship fever,” said Ned. “You must be getting tired of the _Comet_, Bob.”

“I am not, but can’t a fellow get hungry once in a while? I noticed you filling up on two ice cream sodas this morning, all right and ditto.”

“Well, it was hot,” pleaded Ned.

“Here, you two stop scrapping,” commanded Jerry. “We don’t want any hot air where there’s so much hydrogen gas around.”

A few days later, one or two successful flights having been made in the meanwhile, Jerry received an answer from the secretary of the Park Haven Aero Club, enclosing entry blanks. The motor boys, finding the conditions to their liking, lost no time in entering the _Comet_ in the coming races.

“Now, if we’re going in them,” stipulated Mr. Glassford, “we want to win one prize, at least. I think we had better have a longer and higher experimental flight than any we have yet undertaken. What do you say?”

“Me for an all-day sojourn in the clouds!” cried Bob. “We’ll take our dinner along, though,” he added hastily, while his two chums laughed.

“Yes, I think it would be a good idea to take lunch with us,” said Mr. Glassford. “We’ll imagine we are on a long trip to win a prize, and we’ll have a good chance to see how our ship behaves.”

Two days later, having taken aboard what Ned and Jerry considered was entirely too much food, but which Bob declared was barely a sufficiency, the _Comet_ made another ascension. Some changes had been made in the planes and rudder, and the good effect was at once noticeable. The ship could more readily be sent aloft or deflected toward the earth.

“I think I’ve got her pretty nearly right now,” said Mr. Glassford. “She goes better than ever, for I have made improvements in my plans. Well, I’ll send her up about a mile.”

This was higher than the boys had ever been, and at first they experienced some difficulty in breathing. But they soon became used to the rarefied atmosphere, and then Mr. Glassford tilted the rudder still more.

“Going higher?” inquired Jerry.

“We might as well. I’d like to get above the clouds and see how she works in very thin air. There’s a low stratum of vapor over there,” and he pointed ahead of them. “Are you boys in any distress?”

“No, we can stand it,” declared Bob. “Go ahead.”

A little later the _Comet_ was above the clouds, and looking down from the cabin windows the motor boys saw below them a fleecy mass of vapor that rolled and twisted this way and that, as the ship sped across its upper expanse.

“There’s a bug!” suddenly exclaimed the professor, making a hasty grab for his net. He succeeded in extending it without accident, and a moment later he had captured a curious insect which seemed to give him great pleasure.

“My first specimen of insect life above the clouds!” he cried. “I shall devote a whole chapter to it in my new book, with a full-page drawing of it. This seems a very rare specimen. I never saw one like it down on the earth. It is most fortunate that you boys have this motor ship. It is destined to be a great help to the cause of science.”

“Here are a lot more bugs,” cried Ned, pointing to a cloud of insects that were hovering on his side of the ship.

“Where--where? Let me get at them!” cried the professor, putting away the first one he had caught. He extended his net and caught hundreds of specimens, for there was a small cloud of the things. He drew them close to him and peered at them through his large spectacles.

“Mosquitoes!” he exclaimed in great disgust. “Ordinary, common mosquitoes!”

“Kill them!” cried Bob. “If they’re like any that bit me last night they’ll bore a hole through the gas bag. Kill them, professor!”

But the scientist reversed his net and let the little pests go. He was more successful a little later, capturing what he said were some rare insects, but which the boys thought were the most common bugs. But, then, you see, they were not scientists.

The earth was now out of sight, and all that could be seen were masses of cloudy vapor. On and on sped the ship, the great propellers pulling it ahead at swift speed. Nor did a stiff breeze which they encountered high in the air serve to turn the _Comet_ from her course. The ship was proceeding most successfully.

Several hours passed, and after a glance at the recording instruments, of which there were several in the pilot house, Mr. Glassford announced that they had traveled seventy-five miles.

“And in about two hours,” added Bob. “That’s great sailing.”

“We’ll do better than that,” prophesied Mr. Glassford. “Here, Jerry, suppose you take charge a while. I’ll come back in the cabin.”

Not without a little feeling of nervousness did Jerry take his place in the pilot house. But he had profited by the lessons of the inventor, and soon, to show his control of the ship, he sent her up and down, and to right and left.

“Fine!” cried Mr. Glassford. “You’ll do.”

In turn Ned and Bob steered, but when it was suggested that Professor Snodgrass try his hand he balked.

“My business is to catch insects for science,” he said. “I did enough damage when I disarranged the propeller. I’m not going to risk it again.”

They had lunch high in the air, a most novel experience for them, though Bob was not affected by it and ate as heartily as if he was on the earth, according to his two chums.

“Well, we’ve made a hundred and fifty miles since we started,” announced Mr. Glassford a little later. “I think that demonstrates what we can do. Suppose we turn back?”

“That suits me,” said Jerry. “The folks may be worried about us.”

Accordingly, the _Comet_ was put about and headed for Cresville. The speed at once increased, as she had the benefit of a stiff breeze to aid her.

They had sped along for perhaps fifty miles when the billowy, white mass of clouds above which they were sailing gave place to a broad expanse of clear atmosphere. The brightly shining sun struck full upon them, and they could see the green earth spread out below.

“Ah, this is something like!” cried Bob. “This is fine! Eh, fellows?”

He had hardly spoken when they were all aware that the _Comet_, which had been proceeding along on the level, was shooting upward very swiftly. At the same moment Mr. Glassford uttered a cry, and the boys saw him rapidly turning a wheel valve.

“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry.

“The heat of the sun is expanding our gas and causing us to rise,” explained the inventor. “I must let some out, as I don’t want to go any higher.”

But something seemed to be the matter. Mr. Glassford could not open the gas valve, and the motor ship continued to rise.

“I must try the deflecting rudder,” he murmured. “Jerry, come and give me a hand.”

Jerry hurried forward. The pressure on the oblong planes which constituted the deflecting rudder was very great. It required the combined strength of the inventor and Jerry to move the lever a slight distance. And it was only a slight distance that they could move it.

“Something is jammed!” exclaimed Mr. Glassford. “We can’t move the rudder!”

“And we can’t let the gas out,” said Jerry in a low voice. “What’s going to happen?”

“We’ll have to go on up--until--until----”

Mr. Glassford did not finish.

“My head feels queer!” cried Bob, staggering about the cabin. “I feel dizzy.” And before Ned, who was standing near him, could grasp his chum, Bob had fallen upon the floor of the car.