Vardon. "Dick, you take charge of
the wheel--you and any of your friends you want. I'll look over
the motor, and make repairs if I can."
"And they'll have to be made pretty soon, called out Innis from the
pilot-house. "We're falling fast."
"Throw her nose up," cried Dick. "That's what we've got to do to
save ourselves. We'll volplane down, and maybe we can keep up long
enough to have Mr. Vardon put in new wires in place of the
burned-out ones. If he can do that, and if we can start the
motor--"
"It sounds too good to be true," said Innis. "But get in here,
Dick, and see what you can do. You've got to volplane as you never
did before."
"And I'm going to do it!" cried the young millionaire.
The motor-room was now free from smoke, and the fire was out. A
pile of charred waste in one corner showed where it had started.
"That's the trouble--insulation burned off!" cried Mr. Vardon, as
he made a quick inspection. "I think I can fix it, Dick, if you
can keep her up long enough. Take long glides. We're up a good
height, and that will help solve."
Then began a curious battle against fate, and, not only a struggle
against adverse circumstances, but against gravitation. For, now
that there was no forward impulse in the airship, she could not
overcome the law that Sir Isaac Newton discovered, which law is as
immutable as death. Nothing can remain aloft unless it is either
lighter than the air itself, or unless it keeps in motion with
enough force to overcome the pull of the magnet earth, which draws
all things to itself.
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