Five Thousand Miles Underground | Page 8

voice showed the pride he felt at the seeming success with which his invention was about to meet.
Suddenly, with a little jerk, as though some one with a giant hand had plucked the Flying Mermaid from the earth, the ship gave a little bound into the air, and was floating free.
"Here we go!" cried Mr. Henderson. "The ship is a success. Now we're off for the hole in the earth!"
The Flying Mermaid was indeed rising in the air. True it did not go up so swiftly as had the Monarch, but then it was a much heavier and stronger vessel, and flying was only one of its accomplishments.
"It's a success! It's a success!" shouted Mark, capering about in his excitement.
"Now we'll see what the centre of the earth looks like," went on Jack. "I can hardly wait for the time to come when we are to start on the voyage."
At that instant, when the ship was but a few feet from the ground, but slowly rising, the boys and the professor heard a shouting below them.
"What's that?" asked the scientist. "Is any one hurt?"
Mark ran to a small window, something like a port hole in an ocean steamer, and looked out.
"Quick!" he shouted. "Stop the ship! Washington will be killed!"
In fact from the agonized yells which proceeded from somewhere under the craft it seemed that the accident was in process of happening.
"Save me! Save me!" cried the colored man. "I'm goin' to fall! Catch me, some one!"
"What is it?" asked the professor, making ready to shut off the power and let the ship settle back to earth, from which it had moved about fifty feet.
"It's Washington," explained Mark. "He evidently tried to walk up the steps just as the boat mounted skyward. He rolled down and managed to grab the end of the rope which was left over after the steps were tied. Now he's swinging down there."
"Are you going to lower the ship?" asked Jack.
"Of course!" exclaimed the professor. "I only hope he hangs on until his feet touch the earth."
"Keep a tight hold!" shouted Mark, from out of the small window.
"That's th' truest thing yo' ever said!" exclaimed Washington. "You bet I'm goin' to hold on, and I'm comin' up too," which he proceeded to do, hand over hand, like a sailor.
The boys and the professor watched the colored man's upward progress. The ship had hardly begun to settle as, in the excitement, not enough gas had been let out. Closer and closer came Washington, until he was able to grasp the edge of the opening, to which the steps were fastened.
"I thought you weren't coming with us," observed the professor, when he saw that his helper was safe.
"I changed my mind," said the colored man. "It's jest luck. Seems like th' ship done wanted me t' go 'long, an' I'm goin'. I'll take my chances on bein' buried alive. I ain't never seen th' centre of th' earth, an' I want's to 'fore I die. I'm goin' 'long, Perfessor!"


CHAPTER IV
WHAT DID MARK SEE?
"WELL, I'm glad you've decided at last," the professor remarked. "Now come inside and we'll see how the ship works."
Once over his fright, Washington made himself at home on the craft he had helped build. He went from one room to another and observed the engine.
"She certainly am workin'" he observed with pride. "Are we still goin' up, Perfessor?"
"Still mounting," replied Mr. Henderson, "We are now three hundred feet above the earth," he added as he glanced at a registering gage.
The great air pump was set going and soon from the after tube, a big stream of the compressed vapor rushed. It acted on the ship instantly and sent the craft ahead at a rapid rate. By elevating or depressing the tube the craft could be sent obliquely up or down. Then, by forcing the air from the forward tube, the Mermaid was reversed and scudded backward.
But it was more with the ship's ability to rise and descend that Professor Henderson was concerned, since on that depended their safety. So various tests were made, in generating the gas and using the negative gravity apparatus.
All worked to perfection. Obeying the slightest turn of the wheels and levers the Mermaid rose or fell. She stood still, suspended herself in the air, or rushed backward and forward.
Of course the machinery was new and did not operate as smoothly as it would later, but the professor and his friends were very well satisfied.
"Now we'll try something new," said the scientist to the two boys as they stood beside him in the tower. "I only hope this part succeeds, and we shall soon be off on our voyage."
He turned several levers. There was a hissing sound as the gas rushed from the container, and the ship began to settle down.
"What's