On a Torn-Away World | Page 5

one lever and then
another, while Professor Henderson and Jack could only cling with both hands to the
guys and stay-wires.
The sensation of being so high above the earth, and in imminent danger of being dashed
headlong to it, gripped Mark Sampson like a giant hand. He felt difficulty in breathing,
although it was not the height that gave him that choking sensation. There was a mist
before his eyes, still the sun was shining brightly. The startling gyrations of the flying
machine for some time shook the lad to the core.
But Jack's cheerful cry of "Hang on!" spurred Mark to a new activity--an activity of hand
as well as brain. He knew that something had fouled and that this accident was the cause
of the machine making such sickening bounds in the air. She was overbalanced in some
way.
With Jack's encouraging shout ringing in his ears, Mark came to himself. He would hang
on! His friends depended upon him to control the machine and to save them from
destruction, and he would not be found wanting.

One lever after another he gripped and tried. It was one controlling the rising power that
was fouled. He learned this in a moment. He sought to move it to and fro in its socket and
could not do so. He had overlooked this lever before.
Again the Snowbird dashed herself from a height of five hundred feet toward the earth.
They still flew over the forest. The tops of the trees intervened, and Mark managed to
counteract the plunge before the prow of the machine burst through the treetops. She rose
again, and using both hands, Mark jerked the wheel stick into place.
At once the flying machine responded to the change. She rode straight on, slightly rising
as he had pointed her, and Mark dared touch the motor switch again. Instantly the
machine speeded ahead.
"Hurrah for Mark!" shrieked Jack. "He's pulled us through."
"He has indeed," agreed the professor, and they settled into their seats and gave attention
to the working of the apparatus. Mark now had the Snowbird well under control.
Jack changed places with his chum and managed the Snowbird equally well. At his touch
she darted upward at a long slant until the altimeter registered two thousand feet above
the sea. And the sea was actually below them, for Jack had guided the flying machine
away out from the land.
"Boys," said Professor Henderson, quietly, "you have done well--remarkably well. I am
certainly proud of you. Some day the people of the United States will be proud of you. I
am sure that the inventor's instinct and the scientist's indefatigable energy are
characteristics you both possess."
"That's praise indeed!" exclaimed Jack, smiling at his chum. "When the professor says
we've won out, I don't care what anybody else says."
"Do you think the Snowbird is fit for long-distance travel?" asked Mark of Professor
Henderson, now displaying more eagerness than before.
"I do indeed. I think you have a most excellent flying machine. I would not hesitate to
start for San Francisco in her."
"Or farther?" asked Jack.
"Certainly."
"Across the ocean?" queried Mark, quickly.
"I do not see why any one could not take a trip to the other side of the Atlantic in your
'plane," replied the professor. "With proper precautions, of course."
They reached the land and came safely to rest before the hangar without further accident.

The professor was delighted with the working of his catapult and at once made ready to
call the attention of the Navy Department to his improvement in the means of launching
an airship from the deck of a vessel. Ere he had written to the Department, however, he
and his young friends were suddenly made interested in a scheme that was broached by
letter to Professor Henderson from a fellow-savant, Dr. Artemus Todd, of the West
Baden University.
Professor Henderson and Dr. Todd had often exchanged courtesies; but the university
doctor was mainly interested in medical subjects, while Mr. Henderson delved more in
the mysteries of astronomy and practical mechanics.
The doctor's letter to Professor Henderson read as follows:
"Dear Professor:
"I am urged to write to you again because of something that has recently come to my
knowledge regarding a subject we once discussed. As you know, for some years past I
have been investigating not the cause of aphasia and kindred mental troubles (for we
know the condition is brought about by a clot of blood upon the brain), but the means of
quickly and surely overcoming the condition and bringing the unfortunate victim of this
disorder back to his normal state. In our age, when mental and nervous diseases are so
rapidly increasing, aphasia victims are becoming more common. Scarcely a hospital in
the