CHAPTER VIII
THE DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS
The platform, which was none too solidly built, began to shake andtremble from the efforts of those on it trying to find some means ofescape. They rushed about, pushing and shoving, endeavored to reach thestairs, which were so choked and jammed as to render passage down themimpossible.
The aeroplane was now within ten feet of the platform, and was only afew feet above it. It had resumed a level keel, but the wind and itsmomentum were urging it forward, since the man in charge had stoppedhis motor and the propellers no longer revolved.
"What shall we do?" cried Andy.
"Stoop down! Stoop down!" shouted Jerry. "It may pass over our heads."
"It's too low now to do that," said Ned in a low voice to Jerry. "Iguess we're in for it."
The excitement was now at its height. Scores were sliding and climbingdown the crossed uprights of the platform, getting their hands andclothes full of splinters, but this they did not mind, only so theyescaped being swept from the dizzy height.
But suddenly a new danger was presented. The aeroplane dropped in itscourse and now seemed about to strike the platform at a point belowthe flooring on which the most of the throng still stood or crouched.Coming on as it was at great speed the airship would probably demolishthe frail support, causing the death and injury of many.
Then, with the same suddenness that it had sprung up, the freakishwind shifted and blew at right angles to the course of the plane, and,catching under the broad stretch of muslin and canvas, swerved the shipto one side.
And it was only just in time, for as it rushed past the tower andplatform one of the edges of the big box-kite arrangement brushed theguard rail of the structure.
"We're safe! We're safe!" cried Andy Rush.
"Yes, I guess there's no more danger," admitted Jerry. "But no more ofthis for mine."
"Same here," echoed Ned.
Seeing that the danger was past, the crowd calmed down. They lookedfor the aeroplane and saw it glide gently to the ground.
"Well, he made a good landing, anyhow," remarked Bob.
"As long as he didn't land on us we're all right," observed Ned. "My,but that was a close shave! After this I'm going to watch the trialsfrom down below."
From the standpoint of an aeroplanist the flight was a great success,for the inventor had been in the air for some time, and had coveredconsiderable space. Professor Dundlass did not appear much put out onaccount of what had happened.
"It vos great! Vunderful!" he exclaimed as the people gathered abouthim. "Ven I gets me my motor fixed up a bit I dinks I vin der prize.Oh, it vos a great flight."
Owing to the very evident danger of allowing spectators on the highplatform orders were issued soon afterward by the management that nopersons, except inventors and their helpers, were to be allowed on itwhen the aeroplanes were sent off.
"Well, we've seen enough for one morning," remarked Ned, when they hadreached the ground and taken another look at the aeroplane. "Let's getsome lunch."
"Good idea," declared Jerry. "Come on."
There were several hastily-constructed restaurants on the carnivalgrounds, some in wooden buildings and some under tents. The boys votedfor a tent, and made their way toward a large one. When they neared itJerry heard a girl's voice exclaim:
"There are the motor boys!"
He turned to behold Mollie Horton, one of the girls of Cresville, withwhom he and his chums were on friendly terms.
"Hello, Mollie!" called Jerry. "Come and have lunch with us."
"You'd better wait until you see who's with me," she replied. "Perhapsyou will wish to recall your invitation. Alice Vines and Helen Gale areright over here."
"Bring them along," invited Ned. "That'll be one apiece for us, andAndy can be chaperon."
"One what apiece?" asked Bob, who was looking at a man sellingbox-kites.
"Girls, of course, you chump. Don't you want a nice girl to take todinner?"
"Sure!" replied Chunky, looking around. Mollie motioned for Alice andHelen to join her, and soon the merry party were seated at a tablebeneath a cool tent.
Jerry ordered a substantial lunch, much to Bob's delight, and finishedit off with plates of ice cream.
"What are you girls going to do this afternoon?" asked Jerry as theyleft the table.
"Oh, just look about," replied Alice. "We only came on the noon train,and we haven't seen anything yet. Have you?"
"I should say we had," replied Ned. "We saw Noddy Nixon try to fly, andwe saw a man try out his aeroplane."
"Did Noddy really fly?" asked Mollie.
"Well, not so's you could notice it," replied Ned with grim humor, andthe other boys laughed.
"There is going to be an exhibition of dirigible balloons thisafternoon," announced Andy Rush, consulting his program. "We ought totake that in."
"We sure will," declared Jerry. "Now, what will we do until it's timefor them?"
"Let's go for a spin in the car and cool off after dinner," proposedBob, and his idea was voted a good one. There was room, with a littlesqueezing, for all of them, and they went out in the suburbs forseveral miles, returning in time to see several big balloons in processof inflation.
Hydrogen gas, manufactured on the grounds by means of sulphuric acidand iron filings, was the lifting power of the balloons. There wereseveral of them, built in different shapes and sizes, but on the sameprinciple.
That is, they depended on the lifting power of the gas to get them upin the air. Once elevated there were motors, working propeller blades,to send them along, a box-kite arrangement for slanting up higher ordescending, and a rudder to steer to right or left. These attachmentswere contained in a light framework car, which was fastened to the gasbag by means of a network of cords. All the gas bags were cigar-shaped,none of the old-fashioned globular ones being used.
"This will be worth watching," prophesied Jerry. "There will be nodanger to us, and we can see several in the air at once. There'llprobably be a race. Let's get a place where there isn't such a crowd."
They moved off to one side, where they could get a good view. Therewere four dirigible balloons in process of inflation. Slowly the oiledsilk gas containers filled, as the light hydrogen vapor poured intothem. Men were busy about them, straightening out the cords, attachingbags of ballast or adjusting the motors.
The wind had died out to a gentle breeze, and there was every prospectof a successful ascension. On all sides could be heard commentsconcerning what was about to take place.
"There, they seem to be all ready. All the balloons are filled,"remarked Mollie. "I almost wish I was going up in one."
"Oh, I wouldn't! Not for the whole world!" exclaimed Alice.
"Me either. Not for two worlds!" added Helen.
"Hello, there's another," remarked Bob as he saw a tent being opened,and the pointed nose of a fifth balloon was poked out.
"So it is," admitted Jerry. "Say, that's a queer one. It's a balloonand aeroplane combined. That's the stuff. That ought to do all sorts ofstunts."
"That's the kind I want," declared Bob. "You wouldn't run much risk inthat. If the gas gave out or the bag busted you could depend on theplanes, and if they broke, why, you would be held up by the balloon."
"Suppose they both broke?" asked Helen.
"Then--oh, then--well, of course----"
But Bob was spared the trouble of finding an answer by a shout from thecrowd, which told that something had happened.
An instant later five big bodies shot into the air, as the men holdingthe balloons to the earth let go of them.
"There they go! There they go!" cried Andy Rush. "It's a race--thedirigible balloon race! Whoop la!"