CHAPTER XV
BOMBARDED WITH ROCKETS
"Grab his legs!" cried Jerry. "I'll take one, and you the other, Ned!Bob, you stand by to help! He's almost overboard!"
"Hadn't you better slow up the engine?" asked Ned.
"No, we've only got headway enough on now to keep us afloat! No time toslow up!"
"Then go down!" advised Bob. "He won't fall so far."
"No, we've got to pull him back right away!" declared the tall lad."Come on now. He must have fainted, and has very nearly fallen off.Grab his legs! Quick!"
Cautiously the three lads advanced toward the edge of the platform,over which the professor's head and shoulders were hanging.
Jerry made a grab for the left leg, Ned for the right, while the stoutlad stood ready to lend whatever assistance might be needed.
No sooner, however, had Ned and Jerry gotten a good hold, and wereabout to haul in, than the professor, with a combination wiggle andsquirm turned over, hitched himself along the deck, sat upright andyelled:
"I've got it! I've got it! Oh, you little beauty! Oh, you prize! Ithought you'd never come near enough but you did, and now you're mine!"
Over his head he swung his large butterfly net, with a long handle,and before the astonished boys could ask what was the meaning of hisconduct, the scientist gathered into a small space in a pocket in thebottom of the net, a tiny insect, something like a dragon-fly. Then,having insured the safety of his specimen, Mr. Snodgrass looked calmlyat the boys who stood regarding him with amazement and fear mingled ontheir faces.
"Well, I got it," said the scientist coolly.
"Got what?" asked Jerry, a little provoked at the scare they hadreceived.
"This high-flying June bug. That's not the scientific name for it, butthe Latin one is so long you wouldn't understand it. I've got him!" andthe professor eagerly peered at his prize.
"We thought we had lost you," spoke Ned significantly.
"Lost me--how?"
"Why, when we saw you lying over the edge of the deck we were afraidyou had nearly fallen overboard."
"I'm sorry you had such a scare on my account," remarked the professormore soberly. "You see I had no idea that I was causing you worry. Iwas sitting on the back of the airship, wishing I could catch somespecimen, when I heard a buzzing sound. I looked, and there, followingus was one of these rare insects.
"I at once got my longest-handled net, but when I tried to catch thelittle beauty it dodged me. Finally it went down just below us, and theonly way I could reach it was to lie on my face, reach out and down asfar as I could, and swoop for it."
"A mighty risky thing to do," commented Jerry, for in some matters theprofessor was like a child.
"I know it," the scientist agreed cheerfully. "Once I thought sure Iwas going to fall."
"How did it make you feel?" asked Bob, curious to know.
"Well, all I remember thinking is that the high-flying June bug wouldget away, or that some other scientist would capture him. Then Imanaged to get it in my net, and just at that moment you boys camealong, and grabbed me by the legs."
"Well, please don't do it again," begged Jerry, trying not to smile.
"I won't," promised the professor.
"Supper's getting cold," observed Bob ruefully. "Come on, I'm hungry!"
"Same old tune!" mocked Jerry, and there was a laugh that somewhatrelieved the strain under which they were.
The professor did not seem to think he had taken any unusual risk, andhe was so overjoyed at the capture of the rare insect, which was worthat least seventy-five dollars, according to his estimate, that the boysdid not have the heart to speak of the great fright he had caused them.
After supper, when several matters had been looked to, the lamps werelighted, and the great search-lantern gotten in readiness. Soon itspowerful glow was cutting the gathering darkness as the big airshipglided forward through space.
"Well, morning will see us within a few miles of our destination,"remarked Jerry, as he and his chums sat about the table in the maincabin. "Then we can make a quick run out to the aviation grounds, havea talk with Mr. Jackson, if he's there, and if not we'll wait for him.Then, after we've seen him, we'll----"
"Start for the ocean, I hope," put in the professor, who was busyjotting notes down in his books. "I am very anxious to get after thesinging fish."
"Yes, I think we'll chance an ocean trip," agreed Jerry. "But I guessI'd better go now and see how nearly we are keeping on our course," headded, for he had set the automatic steering apparatus, and, as theywere flying rather low, he did not dare trust altogether to it, withoutan occasional adjustment.
He found, however, that they were within a point and a half of the wayin which the nose of the craft should have been pointed, and, aftercorrecting the error, which was caused by the lack of smoothness of thenew machinery, Jerry was about to return to the cabin where the otherswere.
As he turned to leave the motor room, he noted that the height gaugeindicated less than a quarter of a mile.
"It's pretty low," mused the youth, "but I guess we won't hit anything.To get higher I've got to increase the speed, and I don't want to dothat and strain the machinery. I guess this will do. In the morning----"
Jerry paused in the midst of his sentence. From somewhere outside therecame a rushing, roaring sound, followed by a loud explosion.
"The gas bag!" was the first thought of the tall lad. "It's burst!"
"What's the matter?" he heard Ned and Bob crying from the cabin.
Jerry rushed out on deck, and, as he emerged a glare of light caughthis eye. A fear of fire entered his mind, but, as he watched it, theglow seemed to die away. Not before, however, Jerry had noted that thegas bag, which was partly inflated, was intact. Nothing had happened toit.
"What was that?" demanded Ned, emerging from the main cabin, followedby Bob and the professor.
"Just what I'm trying to discover," replied the widow's son. "Itsounded like----"
"There it goes again!" yelled Bob, as, with a whizz and a roar,a streak of fire passed by the airship, and burst into balls ofvari-colored light just beyond the craft.
"Meteors!" shouted Ned.
"Falling stars, perhaps," agreed the professor.
Jerry looked down, over the edge of the rail. Below him there was agreat illumination.
"Look!" he cried to his companions. "We're over some city."
"And they're having a celebration," added Ned.
"And bombarding us with rockets," came from Bob. "Look out, here comesa sheaf of them," and, as he spoke, from somewhere down below on theearth there shot upward a fiery volcano of pyrotechnics, that seemed tobe aimed directly at the motor-ship.
"They _are_ shooting at us!" cried Jerry. "Quick! Out with the lights,or they'll set us on fire! Douse every glim!"
He rushed for the electric switches, followed by his companions, whilethe _Comet_ forged slowly ahead through the rain of fire, the sparksfrom the rockets shooting all about her.