"See, there they go!"
He pointed to the other airship, which was now some distance away,
going on at good speed, straight for San Francisco. Both craft were
now high in the air, in spite of the drop made by the Abaris, and
they were about over some of the mountains of Colorado now; just
where they had not determined. They were about eight hundred miles
from San Francisco, as nearly as they could calculate.
"They're trying to get in first," said Dick. "Maybe, after all,
they just wanted to frighten us, and delay us."
"Well, if that was their game they've succeeded in delaying us,"
said Mr. Vardon, grimly. "We're reduced to half speed until we get
that propeller in commission again. There's work for all of us.
Reduce sped, Dick, or we may tear the one good blade off the axle."
With only half the resistance against it, the motor was now racing
hard. Dick slowed it down, and then the work of repairing the
broken sprocket chain and gear was undertaken.
It was not necessary to stop the airship to do this. In fact to
stop meant to descend, and they wanted to put that off as long as
possible. They still had the one permitted landing to their credit.
The propellers, as I have said, could be reached from the open deck,
and thither Mr. Vardon, Dick, and Lieutenant McBride took
themselves, while Paul, Innis and Larry would look after the
progress of the craft from the pilot-house and motor-room.
Slowly Dick's airship went along, just enough speed being maintained
to prevent her settling.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234