Five Thousand Miles Underground | Page 6

to see the cylinder leave the ground, carrying the weight with it. That would prove his long labors were crowned with success.
Faster and faster whirred the dynamo. The gas was being generated from the air. The secret chemical made a hissing which could be heard for some distance. The gage registered a heavy pressure. Anxiously the professor watched the cylinder.
"There!" he exclaimed at length. "It has all the gas it can hold. Now to see if it works!"
He disconnected the pipe leading from the generator. This left the cylinder free. It seemed to tremble slightly. There appeared to be a movement to the hundred pound weight which rested on the ground. It was as if it was tugging to get loose.
"There it goes! There it goes!" cried Mark, joyfully.
"Hurrah!" shouted Jack. "There she rises!"
"It suttinly am projectin' itself skyward!" yelled Washington, coming from the dynamo.
Sure enough the cylinder was slowly rising in the air, bearing the weight with it. It had lifted it clear from the ground and was approaching the roof of the big shed.
"It will work! It will work!" exclaimed the professor, strangely excited.
The next instant the cylinder, carrying the weight, sailed right out of an open skylight, and began drifting outside the shop, and across the fields.
"Quick! We must get it back!" cried Mr. Henderson. "If it gets away my secret may be discovered and I will lose all! We must secure it!"
But the cylinder was now two hundred feet in the air and being blown to the east, the weight dangling below it, making it look like a miniature airship.
"We can never catch that!" cried Mark.


CHAPTER III
WASHINGTON DECIDES
"WE must catch that cylinder!" the professor exclaimed. "Some one may find it when it comes down and analyze the gas. Then he would discover how to make it. The cylinder must come down!"
"Don't see how we can proximate ourselves inter th' vicinity of it lessen we delegate th' imperial functions of orinthological specimens t' some member of this here party," observed Washington.
"If you mean we can't catch that there contraption unless we turn into birds I'll show you that you're mistaken!" cried Andy Sudds. "I guess I have a trick or two up my sleeve," and the old hunter quickly threw open the breech of his gun and inserted a couple of cartridges.
He raised the piece to his shoulder and took quick aim. There was a sliver of flame, a puff of smoke and a sharp report. The professor and the boys who were watching the cylinder saw it vibrate up in the air. Then there came a whistling sound. An instant later the metal body began to descend, and it and the weight fell to the earth.
"I'm sorry I had to put a bullet through it, Professor," said old Andy with a queer smile, "but it was the only way I saw of bringing it down. Hope it isn't damaged much."
"It doesn't matter if it is," the scientist answered. "I can make more cylinders, but I don't want that secret of the gas to become known. Your bullet served a good turn, Andy, for it let the compressed vapor out just in time."
"Then we may consider the experiment a success," said Mark, as Washington went to where the cylinder had fallen, to detach it from the weight and bring both to the shed.
"It seems so," Mr. Henderson answered. "True, it was only an experiment. We have yet to test the ship itself."
"When can we do that?" asked Jack.
"I hope by Monday," the scientist answered.
"Will you try it in the water or air first?" asked Mark.
"I'm almost certain it will float in the water," the aged inventor said. "It does not require much work to make a ship which will do that. But the air proposition is another matter. However, since the cylinder rose, I am pretty sure the Flying Mermaid will.
"But we have done enough work to-day. Let's rest and have something to eat. Then, with Sunday to sit around and talk matters over, we will be ready for Monday's test."
Some of the game Andy had killed was soon on the table, for Washington, in addition to his other accomplishments, was an expert cook. During the evening the boys and their friends sat in the living room of the big shed and talked over the events of the day.
Sunday was spent in discussing what adventures might lie before them should they be able to descend into the big hole. Washington did not say, much, but it was easy to see he had no notion of going. He even began to pack his few belongings in readiness to leave the service of Mr. Henderson, for whom he had worked a good many years.
No one remained long abed Monday morning. Even Washington was up early in spite of the