CHAPTER XVI
"WILL IT HIT US?"
"Well, for a trouble-maker, give me a rooster every time," spoke Jack,as, after an examination of the machinery, it was found that nothingwas out of order. "How do you think it happened, Professor Henderson?"
"It never could have happened except in just that way," was the replyof Mr. Roumann. "Underneath the motor, where they are supposed to beout of all reach, are several self-adjusting levers. They control thespeed, and also, by being moved in a certain direction, they will shutdown the apparatus. The rooster crawled beneath the machine, an actthat I never figured on, for I knew it was too small for any of us toreach with our hands or arms, even had we so desired. But theShanghai's feathers must have brushed against the levers, and thatstopped the action of the Cardite motor. However, I'm glad it was noworse."
"Yes, let's finish dinner now, if everything is all right," proposedMark.
"How did the rooster get in here?" asked Jack.
"I 'spects dat's my fault," answered Washington. "I took him out ob hiscoop fo' a little exercise dis mawnin', an' he run in heah."
"That explains it, I think," said Mr. Roumann. "Well, Washington, don'tlet it happen again. We don't want to be dashed downward through spaceall on account of a rooster."
"No, indeedy; I'll lock him up good an' tight arter dis," promised thecolored man.
They resumed the interrupted dinner, discussing the possibility of whatmight have happened, and congratulating themselves that it did not takeplace.
"It certainly seems like old times to be eating while travelling alonglike a cannon-ball," remarked Jack. "I declare, it gives me anappetite!"
"You didn't need any," retorted his chum. "But say! maybe things don'ttaste good to me, after what I got while that fellow Axtell had me aprisoner! Jack, I'll have a little more of that cocoanut pie, if youdon't mind."
Jack passed over the pastry, and Mark took a liberal piece. ThenWashington brought in the ice cream, which was frozen on board by meansof an ammonia gas apparatus, the invention of Professor Henderson. Thenovelty of dining as comfortably as at home, yet being thousands ofmiles above the earth, and, at the same time, speeding along like acannon-ball, did not impress our friends as much as it had during theirtrip to Mars.
"Well, we're making a little better time now," observed Mark, as he andthe others rose from the table and went to the engine room. "The gaugeshows that we're making twenty-five miles a second."
"We will soon go much faster," announced Professor Roumann. "I have notyet had a chance to test my Cardite motor to its fullest speed, and Ithink I will do so. I wish to see if it will equal my Etherium machine.I'll turn on the power gradually now, and we'll see what happens."
"How fast do you think it ought to send us along?" asked Jack.
"Oh, perhaps one hundred and twenty-five miles a second. You know wewent a hundred miles a second when we headed for Mars. I would not besurprised if we made even one hundred and thirty miles a second withthe Cardite."
"Whew! If we ever hit anything going like that!" exclaimed old AndySudds.
"We'd go right through it," finished Jack fervently. The professor wassoon ready for the test. Slowly he shoved over the controlling lever.The Cardite motor hummed more loudly, like some great cat purring.Louder snapped the electrical waves. The air vibrated with the enormousspeed of the valve wheels, and there was a prickling sensation as thepower flowed into the positive and negative plates, by which theprojectile was moved through space.
"Watch the hand of the speed indicator, boys," directed ProfessorRoumann, "while Professor Henderson and I manipulate the motor. Callout the figures to us, for we must keep our eyes on the valves." Slowlythe speed indicator hand, which was like that of an automobilespeedometer, swept over the dial.
"Fifty miles a second," read off Mark. The two professors shoved thelevers over still more.
"Seventy-five," called Jack.
"Give it a little more of the positive current," directed Mr. Roumann.
"Ninety miles a second," read Mark a few moments later.
"We are creeping up, but we have not yet equalled our former speed,"spoke Mr. Henderson. The motor was fairly whining now, as if in protest.
"One hundred and five miles," announced Jack.
"Ha! That's some better!" ejaculated the German. "I think we shall doit." Once more he advanced the speed lever a notch.
"One hundred and thirty!" fairly shouted Mark. "We are beating allrecords!"
"And we will go still farther beyond them!" cried Mr. Roumann. "Watchthe gauge, boys!"
To the last notch went the speed handle. There was a sharp crackling,snapping sound, as if the metal of which the motor was composed wasstrained to the utmost. Yet it held together.
The hand of the dial quivered. It hung on the one hundred and thirtymark for a second, as if not wanting to leave it, and then the steelpointer swept slowly on in a circle, past point after point.
"One hundred and thirty-five--one hundred and forty," whispered Jack,as if afraid to speak aloud. The two professors did not look up fromthe motor. They looked at the oil and lubricating cups. Already themain shaft was smoking with the heat of friction.
"Look! look!" whispered Mark hoarsely.
"One hundred and fifty-three miles a second!" exclaimed Jack. "You'vedone it, Professor Roumann!"
"Yes, I have," spoke the German, with a sigh of satisfaction. "That isfaster than mortal man ever travelled before, and I think no one willever equal our speed. We have broken all records--even our own. Now Iwill slow down, but we must do it gradually, so as not to strain themachinery."
He slipped back the speed lever, notch by notch. The hand of the dialbegan receding, but it still marked one hundred and twenty miles asecond.
Suddenly, above the roar and hum of the motor, there sounded the voiceof Andy.
"Professor!" he shouted. "We're heading right toward a big, blackstone! Is that the moon?"
"The moon? No, we are not half way there," said Mr. Henderson. "Are yousure, Andy?"
"Sure? Yes! I saw it from the window in the pilot-house. We areshooting right toward it."
"Look to the motor, and I'll see what it is," directed Mr. Henderson tohis friend. Followed by the boys, he hurried to the steering tower. Hisworst fears were confirmed.
Speeding along with a swiftness unrivalled even by some stars, theprojectile was lurching toward a great, black heavenly body. "It's ameteor! An immense meteor!" cried Professor Henderson, "and it's comingright toward us."
"Will it hit us?" gasped Mark and Jack together.
"I don't know. We must try to avoid it. Boys, notify Professor Roumannat once. We are in grave danger!"