CHAPTER IX

A RACE IN THE AIR

Andy’s excitement was shared not only by the motor boys and their girl friends, but by the vast throng gathered on the carnival grounds. There was something inspiring in the sight of the vast bulks of the balloons, skimming along through the air like gigantic birds. They seemed to demonstrate man’s conquest of the upper regions, even as the locomotive, the automobile and motor boats have shown what they can do to annihilate space on the earth and in the water.

As the balloons rose in the air they seemed to become smaller, and then they all headed in the same direction, for, as Andy had said, there was to be a race of the dirigible machines.

The motors of the balloons, banging away, sounded like a battle in the air, and the propellers whirled about so swiftly that they could not be seen from the earth.

The airships went up perhaps two hundred feet, all of them remaining near one another. Then, in a graceful sweep, they headed for a distant church steeple, about three miles away, in the city of Broadlands.

The conditions of the race, Andy told his friends, was that the first dirigible to circle the steeple and return to the grounds was to win a valuable prize. In order to distinguish the airships they had large numerals, from one to five, painted on strips of muslin and fastened to them.

“They’re off!” cried Bob as the balloons, lining up, started away toward the goal. They were so far distant now that the explosions of the motors could only be faintly heard.

“I’m for number three!” cried Mollie Horton. “That looks as if it would win. Don’t you think so, Jerry?”

“I don’t like to differ from a young lady, and a pretty one at that,” replied Jerry, bowing to Mollie, “but I think number five will win.”

This was the balloon with planes attached to it, which had last made its appearance. It was not so large, nor seemingly as powerful as any of the others, but Jerry had reasons of his own for choosing that one, in what was only a sort of friendly guessing contest among the young folks.

“If we were in the auto now, we could follow them,” said Ned. “See, some of the people are doing that.”

“We’re just as well off here,” declared Jerry. “We can see the finish. Besides, they’ll come back quicker than they are going on this trip, and they may beat the autos.”

“What makes you think they’ll return more quickly?” asked Ned.

“Because they’ll come back with the wind. You see they beat out against the breeze, and then, if an accident happens, and their motor stops, they can drift back with the wind to their sheds or tents. A fellow who is helping one of the owners of a dirigible told me that. It’s one of the tricks of contests like this. You see, the wind will blow them back, and if they don’t have an accident, with the power of their motors to help the breeze, they’re bound to come back in a hurry.”

“Smart lad!” exclaimed Bob. “You are getting ready for our motor ship, I see.”

“Are you boys going to have a motor ship?” asked Alice Vines with great interest.

“We might; you never can tell,” returned Ned. “Stranger things have happened.”

“I think strange things are always happening to you boys,” commented Helen. “But I never, never would go in an airship.”

“Maybe you will in ours,” said Bob.

“No, I’ll not,” she said. “I’m afraid to even go up on a high ladder to pick cherries, and I know I’d faint if I was ever as high as those men are. I don’t see how they dare do it.”

She motioned to the operators of the dirigible balloons, which were now only small specks in the blue sky.

“Who’s ahead?” asked Andy.

“You can’t tell at this distance,” said Jerry. “But they’ll soon be coming back.”

It was so interesting, watching the race in the air, even though it was some distance off, that the time passed quickly. Almost before the young people realized it the balloons seemed to be getting larger.

“They’re coming back!” cried Ned.

“That’s what!” declared Jerry. “Now we can see which one will win. None of them seems to have had any accidents.”

On the wind there were now borne to the ears of the waiting crowd the sounds of the motor explosions. Every moment they became louder.

“Number two is going to win!” cried Andy. “It’s ahead!”

“Yes, Jerry, I think you selected the wrong one,” remarked Mollie.

“Wait,” was all Jerry said.

As they watched they saw number five balloon suddenly shoot up into the air. The operator had shifted his elevation rudder.

“What’s he doing that for?” asked Mollie.

“He probably wants to get into a swifter current of air,” said Jerry. “He knows I want him to win, and he’s very obliging.”

“Number four will take the prize,” declared Andy, changing his mind. “See, it’s running away from the others.”

Indeed, it did look as if that balloon, which was the longest one of the five, would come in ahead. It was rapidly shooting forward, and was only about half a mile from where the start had been made.

But there are tricks and surprises in ballooning as in everything else, as the motor boys and their friends soon learned. Number five balloon, which had ascended to a considerable height, was suddenly seen to descend. So rapidly did it shoot down that there were cries of alarm from the throng.

“He’s had an accident! His motor has stopped! The gas is leaking out! He’ll fall!”

But the man in the balloon, who could now be seen as a small black object, did not seem to be alarmed. He was calmly shifting several handles and ropes.

“He’s going to win,” said Jerry quietly.

“Don’t be too sure,” cautioned Ned.

“You’ll see,” was Jerry’s reply.

Hardly had he spoken when the descent of number five was further quickened. Like an eagle swooping down from the heights it fell toward the earth, and a little later it had assumed an even keel and shot over the finishing line, a winner by several lengths.

What a shout went up then! Not only at the success of the daring navigator of the air, but at the whole spectacle, for presently all the other ships of the clouds had finished the course, and were hovering in the air above the heads of the throng, while the aeronauts were throwing out ropes, that they and their machines might be pulled back to the earth.

“Do you see how he did it?” asked Jerry of his chums.

“Not exactly, but he evidently won,” replied Ned. “How did he manage to get ahead of the others?”

“Why, he practically slid down a hillside of air. He went up until he struck a current that would carry him a little faster than the air strata would on which the others were shooting along. Then, when he was near enough to the line, he pointed the nose of his balloon downward by shifting the elevation rudder, and he came slanting down, just as we slide down a hill on our bob-sled. He had his motor to help him, and he acquired a speed that the others could not.”

“Say, you know something about ballooning,” remarked Andy admiringly.

“You bet he does. It will come in handy when we get our motor ship,” commented Bob. “I do wish we had one like that dirigible, with the planes on either side of it. Let’s go over and take a look at it. It’s down now. I wonder if we could ever build one like that, Jerry?”

“I could--and a better one, too,” suddenly said a man standing near the motor boys.

They turned and regarded him curiously. He was rather young-looking, but he had gray hair, and he seemed respectable.

“Could you build a balloon like that?” asked Ned.

“I could--and a better one--one that would go farther and stay up longer--but I’d need considerable money to do it.”

Jerry looked at the man critically. A daring plan had come into his mind.