CHAPTER XVII
TURNING TURTLE
Together Mark and Jack leaped for the engine room. Their faces showedthe fear they felt. Even before they reached it, they realized that, atthe awful speed at which they were travelling, and the fearful velocityof the meteor, there might be a crash in mid-air which would destroythe projectile and end their lives.
"I wonder if we can steer clear of it?" gasped Jack.
"If it's possible the professor will do it," responded his chum.
The next instant they were in the engine room, where Mr. Roumann wasbending over the Cardite motor.
"Shut off the power!" yelled Jack.
"We are going to hit a meteor!" gasped Mark.
The German looked up with a startled glance.
"Slow down?" he repeated. "It is impossible to slow down at once! Weare going ninety miles a second!" He pointed to the speed gauge.
"Then there's going to be a fearful collision!" cried Jack, and heblurted out the fact of the nearness of the heavenly wanderer.
"So!" exclaimed Professor Roumann. "Dot is bat! ferry bat!" and helapsed into the broken language that seldom marked his almost perfectEnglish. Then, murmuring something in his own tongue, he leaped awayfrom the motor, calling to the boys:
"Slow it down gradually! Keep pulling the speed lever toward you! Iwill set in motion the repelling apparatus and go to help ProfessorHenderson steer out of the way. It is our only chance!"
Mark and Jack took their places beside the Cardite motor, which wasstill keeping up a fearful speed, though not so fast as at first. Tostop it suddenly would mean that the cessation of strain could not allbe diffused at once, and serious damage might result.
The only way was to come gradually down to the former speed, and, whileMark kept his eyes on the indicator, Jack pulled the lever toward him,notch by notch.
"She's down to seventy-five miles a second," whispered Mark. They wereas anxious now to reduce speed as they had been before to increase it.
Meanwhile Professor Roumann had set in motion a curious bit ofapparatus, designed to repel stray meteors or detached bits of comets.As is well known, bodies floating in space, away from the attraction ofgravitation, attract or repel each other as does a magnet or anelectrically charged object.
Acting on this law of nature, Professor Roumann had, with the aid ofMr. Henderson, constructed a machine which, when a negative current ofelectricity was sent into it, would force away any object that wasapproaching the _Annihilator_. In a few moments the boys at the Carditemotor heard the hum, the throb and crackling that told them that therepelling apparatus was at work.
But would it act in time? Or would the meteor prove too powerful forit? And, if it did, would the two scientists be able to steer theswiftly moving projectile out of the way of the big, black stone, asthe old hunter called it?
These were questions that showed on the faces of the two lads as theybent over the motor.
"We're only going fifty miles a second now," whispered Jack.
Mark nodded his head. "Can't you pull the lever over faster?" he asked.
"I don't dare," replied his chum. There was nothing to do but to waitand gradually slow up the projectile as much as possible. The boyscould hear the professors in the pilothouse shifting gears, valves andlevers to change the course of the projectile. Andy Sudds andWashington White, with fear on their faces, looked into the engineroom, waiting anxiously for the outcome.
"Hab--hab we hit it yet?" asked Washington, moving his hands nervously.
"I reckon not, or we'd know it," said the hunter.
"No, not yet," answered Jack, in a low voice. "How much are we makingnow, Mark?"
"Only thirty a second."
"Good! She's coming down."
Hardly had he spoken than there sounded a noise like thunder, or therushing of some mighty wind. The projectile, which was tremblingthroughout her length from the force of the motor, shivered as thoughshe had plunged into the unknown depths of some mighty sea. The roaringincreased. Mark and Jack looked at each other. Washington White fellupon his knees and began praying in a loud voice. Old Andy grasped hisgun, as though to say that, even though on the brink of eternity, hewas ready.
Then, with a scream as of some gigantic shell from a thousand-inchrifle, something passed over the _Annihilator_; something that shookthe great projectile like a leaf in the wind. And then the scream diedaway, and there was silence. For a moment no one spoke, and then Jackwhispered hoarsely:
"We've passed it."
"Yes," added Mark, "we're safe now."
"By golly! I knowed we would!" fairly yelled Washington, leaping to hisfeet. "I knowed dat no old meteor could kerflumox us! PerfesserHenderson he done jumped our boat ober it laik a hunter jumps his bossober a fence. Golly! I'se feelin' better now!"
"How did you avoid it?" asked Mark of the professor.
"With the help of the repelling machine and by changing our course. Butwe did it only just in time. It was an immense meteor, much larger thanat first appeared, and it was blazing hot. Had it struck us, therewould have been nothing left of us or the projectile either but stardust. But we managed to pass beneath it, and now we are safe."
They congratulated each other on their lucky escape, and then busiedthemselves about various duties aboard the air-craft. The rest of theday was spent in making minor adjustments to some of the machines,oiling others, and in planning what they would do when they reached themoon.
In this way three days and nights passed, mainly without incident. Theyslept well on board the _Annihilator_, which was speeding so swiftlythrough space--slept as comfortably as they had on earth. Each hourbrought them nearer the moon, and they figured on landing on thesurface of that wonderful and weird body in about three days more.
It was on the morning of the fourth day when, as Mark and Jack weretaking their shift in the engine room, that Jack happened to glancefrom the side observation window, which was near the Cardite motor.What he saw caused him to cry out in surprise.
"I say, Mark, look here! There's the moon over there. We're not headingfor it at all!"
"By Jove! You're right!" agreed his chum. "We're off our course!"
"We must tell Professor Henderson!" cried Jack. "I'll do it. You stayhere and watch things."
A few seconds later a very much alarmed youth was rapidly talking tothe two scientists, who were in the pilot-house.
"Some unknown force must have pulled us off our course," Jack wassaying. "The moon is away off to one side of us."
To his surprise, instead of being alarmed, Mr. Roumann only smiled.
"It's true," insisted Jack.
"Of course, it is," agreed Mr. Henderson. "We can see it from here,Jack," and he pointed to the observation window, from which could benoticed the moon floating in the sky at the same time the sun wasshining, a phenomenon which is often visible on the earth early in themorning at certain of the moon's phases.
"Will we ever get there?" asked Jack.
"Of course," replied Mr. Roumann. "You must remember, Jack, that themoon is moving at the same time we are. Had I headed the projectile forLuna, and kept it on that course, she would, by the time we reachedher, been in another part of the firmament, and we would have overshotour mark. So, instead, I aimed the _Annihilator_ at a spot in theheavens where I calculated the moon would be when we arrived there.And, if I am not mistaken, we will reach there at the same time, anddrop gently down on Luna."
"Oh, is that it?" asked the lad, much relieved.
"That's it," replied Mr. Henderson. "And that's why we seem to beheaded away from the moon. Her motion will bring her into the rightposition for us to land on when the time comes."
"Then I'd better go tell Mark," said the lad. "He's quite worried." Hesoon explained matters to his chum, and together they discussed themany things necessary to keep in mind when one navigates the heavens.
That day saw several thousand more miles reeled off on the journey tothe moon, and that evening (or rather what correspo
nded to evening, forit was perpetual daylight) they began to make their preparations forlanding. Their wonderful journey through space was nearing an end.
"I guess that crazy Axtell fellow was only joking when he said we'dnever reach the moon," ventured Jack. "Nothing has happened yet."
"Only the meteor," said Mark, "and he couldn't know about that. I guesshe didn't get a chance to damage any of the machinery."
"No, we seem to be making good time," went on his chum. "I think I'llgo and----"
Jack did not finish his sentence. Instead he stared at one of theinstruments hanging from the walls of the engine room. It was a sort ofbarometer to tell their distance from the earth, and it swung to andfro like a pendulum. Now the instrument was swinging out away from thewall to which it was attached. Further and further over it inclined.Jack felt a curious sensation. Mark put his hand to his head.
"I feel--feel dizzy!" he exclaimed. "What is the matter?"
"Something has happened," cried Jack.
The instrument swung over still more. Some tools fell from a workbench, and landed on the steel floor with a crash. The boys werestaggering about the engine room, unable to maintain their balance.
There came cries of fear from the galley, where Washington White wasrattling away amid his pots and pans. Andy Sudds was calling to someone, and from the pilot-house came the excited exclamations ofProfessors Henderson and Roumann.
"We're turning turtle!" suddenly yelled Jack. "The projectile isturning over in the air! Something has gone wrong! Perhaps this is therevenge of that crazy man!" and, as he spoke, he fell over backward,Mark following him, while the _Annihilator_ was turned completely overand seemed to be falling down into unfathomable depths.