Tom Swift and His Airship
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Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift and His Airship
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"There she is!" cried the shrill voices of the boys in the meadow, and
the hoarser tones of the men mingled with them.
"Hurrah!" called Tom softly to the balloonist. "We're off!" and he
waved his hand to his father and Garret.
"I told you so," spoke Mr. Sharp confidently. "I'm going to start the
propellers in a minute."
"Oh, dear me, goodness sakes alive!" cried Mrs. Baggert, the
housekeeper, running from the house and wringing her hands. "I'm sure
they'll fall!"
She looked up apprehensively, but Tom only waved his hand to her, and
threw her a kiss. Clearly he had no fears, though it was the first
time he had ever been in an airship. Mr. Sharp was as calm and
collected as an ocean captain making his hundredth trip across the
Atlantic.
"Throw on the main switch," he called to our hero, and Tom, moving to
amidships in the car, did as directed. Mr. Sharp pulled several
levers, adjusted some valves, and then, with a rattle and bang, the
huge, twenty-cylinder motor started.
Waiting a moment to see that it was running smoothly, Mr. Sharp
grasped the steering wheel. Then, with a quick motion he threw the two
propellers in gear. They began to whirl around rapidly.
"Here we go!" cried Tom, and, sure enough, the Red Cloud, now five
hundred feet in the air, shot forward, like a boat on the water, only
with such a smooth, gliding, easy motion, that it seemed like being
borne along on a cloud.
"She works! She works!" cried the balloonist. "Now to try our
elevation rudder," and, as the Red Cloud gathered speed, he tilted the
small planes which sent the craft up or down, according to the manner
in which they were tilted. The next instant the airship was pointed at
an angle toward the clouds, and shooting along at swift speed, while,
from below came the admiring cheers of the crowd of boys and men.
Chapter 5 - Colliding With A Tower
"She seems to work," observed Tom, looking from where he was stationed
near some electrical switches, toward Mr. Sharp.
"Of course she does," replied the aeronaut. "I knew it would, but I
wasn't so sure that it would scoot along in this fashion. We're making
pretty good speed, but we'll do better when the motor gets to running
smoother."
"How high up are we?" asked Tom.
The balloonist glanced at several gauges near the steering wheel.
"A little short of three thousand feet," he answered. "Do you want to
go higher?"
"No-no-I-I guess not," was Tom's answer. He halted over the works, and
his breath came in gasps.
"Don't get alarmed," called Mr. Sharp quickly, noting that his
companion was in distress because of the high altitude. "That always
happens to persons who go into a thin air for the first time; just as
if you had climbed a high mountain. Breathe as slowly as you can, and
swallow frequently. That will relieve the pressure on your ear drums.
I'll send the ship lower."
Tom did as he was advised, and the aeronaut, deflecting the rudder,
sent the Red Cloud on a downward slant. Tom at once felt relieved,
both because the action of swallowing equalized the pressure on the
ear drums, and because the airship was soon in a more dense
atmosphere, more like that of the earth.
"How are you now?" asked the man of the lad, as the craft was again on
an even keel.
"All right," replied Tom, briskly. "I didn't know what ailed me at
first."
"I was troubled the same way when I first went up in a balloon,"
commented Mr. Sharp. "We'll run along for a few miles, at an elevation
of about five hundred feet, and then we'll go to within a hundred feet
of the earth, and see how the Red Cloud behaves under different
conditions. Take a look below and see what you think of it."
Tom looked low, through one of several plate glass windows in the
floor of the car. He gave a gasp of astonishment.
"Why! We're right over Lake Carlopa!" he gasped.
"Of course," admitted Mr. Sharp with a laugh. "And I'm glad to say
that we're better off than when I was last in the air over this same
body of water," and he could scarcely repress a shudder as he thought
of his perilous position in the blazing balloon, as related in detail
in "Tom Swift and His Motor-Boat."
The lake was spread out below the navigators of the air like some
mirror of silver in a setting of green fields. Tom could see a winding
river, that flowed into the lake, and he noted towns, villages, and
even distant cities, interspersed here and there with broad farms or
patches of woodlands, like a bird's-eye view of a stretch of country.
"This is great!" he exclaimed, with enthusiasm. "I wouldn't miss this
for the world!"
"Oh, you haven't begun to see things yet," replied Mr. Sharp. "Wait
until we take a long trip, which we'll do soon, as this ship is
behaving much better than I dared to hope. Well, we're five hundred
feet high now, and I'll run along at that elevation for a while."
Objects on the earth became more distinct now, and Tom could observe
excited throngs running along and pointing upward. They were several
miles from Shopton, and the machinery was running smoothly; the motor,
with its many cylinders purring like a big cat.
"We could have lunch, if we'd brought along anything to eat," observed
Tom.
"Yes," assented his companion. "But I think we'll go back now. Your
father may be anxious. Just come here, Tom, and I'll show you how to
steer. I'm going down a short distance."
He depressed the rudder, and the Red Cloud shot earthward. Then, as
the airship was turned about, the young inventor was allowed to try
his hand at managing it. He said, afterward, that it was like guiding
a fleecy cloud.
"Point her straight for Shopton,". counseled Mr. Sharp, when he had
explained the various wheels and levers to the lad.
"Straight she is," answered the lad, imitating a sailor's reply. "Oh,
but this is great! It beats even my motor-boat!"
"It goes considerably faster, at all events," remarked Mr. Sharp.
"Keep her steady now, while I take a look at the engine. I want to be
sure it doesn't run hot."
He went aft, where all the machinery in the car was located, and Tom
was left alone in the small pilot house. He felt a thrill as he looked
down at the earth beneath him, and saw the crowds of wonder-gazers
pointing at the great, red airship flying high over their heads.
Rapidly the open fields slipped along, giving place to a large city.
"Rocksmond," murmured Tom, as he noted it. "We're about fifty miles
from home, but we'll soon be back in the shed at this rate. We
certainly are slipping along. A hundred and fifty feet elevation," he
went on, as he looked at a gauge. I wonder if I'll ever get used to
going several miles up in the air?"
He shifted the rudder a bit, to go to the left. The Red Cloud obeyed
promptly, but, the next instant something snapped. Tom, with a
startled air, looked around. He could see nothing wrong, but a moment
later, the airship dipped suddenly toward the earth. Then it seemed to
increase its forward speed, and, a few seconds later, was rushing
straight at a tall, ornamental tower that rose from one corner of a
large building.
"Mr. Sharp! Mr. Sharp!" cried the lad. "Something has happened! We're
heading for that tower!"
"Steer to one side!" called the balloonist.
Tom tried, but found that the helm had become jammed. The horizontal
rudder would not work, and the craft was rushing nearer and nearer,
every minute, to the pile of brick and mortar.
"We're going to have a collision!" shouted Tom. "Better shut off the
power!"
The two propellers were whirling around so swiftly that they looked
like blurs of light. Mr. Sharp came rushing forward, and Tom
relinquished the steering wheel to him. In vain did the aeronaut try
to change the course of the airship. Then, with a shout to Tom to
disconnect the electric switch, the man turned off the power from the
motor.
But it was too late. Straight at the tower rushed the Red Cloud, and,
a moment later had hit it a glancing blow, smashing the forward
propeller, and breaking off both blades. The nose of the aluminum gas
container knocked off a few bricks from the tower, and then, the ship
losing way, slowly settled to the flat roof of the building.
"We're smashed!" cried Tom, with something like despair in his voice.
"That's nothing! Don't worry! It might be worse! Not the first time
I've had an accident. It's only one propeller, and I can easily make
another," said Mr. Sharp, in his quick, jerky sentences. He had
allowed some of the gas to escape from the container, making the ship
less buoyant, so that it remained on the roof.
The aeronaut and Tom looked from the windows of the car, to note if
any further damage had been done. They were just congratulating
themselves that the rudder marked the extent, when, from a scuttle in
the roof there came a procession of young ladies, led by an elderly
matron, wearing spectacles and having a very determined, bristling
air.
"Well, I must say, this is a very unceremonious proceeding!" exclaimed
the spectacled woman. "Pray, gentlemen, to what are we indebted for
this honor?"
"It was an accident, ma'am," replied Mr. Sharp, removing his hat, and
bowing. A mere accident!"
"Humph! I suppose it was an accident that the tower of this building
was damaged, if not absolutely loosened at the foundations. You will
have to pay the damages!" Then turning, and seeing about two score of
young ladies behind her on the flat roof, each young lady eying with
astonishment, not unmixed with admiration, the airship, the elderly
one added: "Pupils! To your rooms at once! How dare you leave without
permission?"
"Oh, Miss Perkman!" exclaimed a voice, at the sound of which Tom
started. "Mayn't we see the airship? It will be useful in our natural
philosophy study!"
Tom looked at the young lady who had spoken. "Mary Nestor!" he
exclaimed.
"Tom-I mean Mr. Swift!" she rejoined. "How in the world did you get
here?"
"I was going to ask you the same question," retorted the lad. "We flew
here."
"Young ladies! Silence!" cried Miss Perkman, who was evidently the
principal of the school. "The idea of any one of you daring to speak
to these-these persons-without my permission, and without an
introduction! I shall make them pay heavily for damaging my seminary,"
she added, as she strode toward Mr. Sharp, who, by this time, was out
of the car. "To your rooms at once!" Miss Perkman ordered again, but
not a young lady moved. The airship was too much of an attraction for
them.
Chapter 6 - Getting Off The Roof
For a few minutes Mr. Sharp was so engrossed with looking underneath
the craft, to ascertain in what condition the various planes and
braces were, that he paid little attention to the old maid school
principal, after his first greeting. But Miss Perkman was not a person
to be ignored.
"I want pay for the damage to the tower of my school," she went on. "I
could also demand damages for trespassing on my roof, but I will
refrain in this case. Young ladies, will you go to your rooms?" she
demanded.
"Oh, please, let us stay," pleaded Mary Nestor, beside whom Tom now
stood. "Perhaps Professor Swift will lecture on clouds and air
currents and-and such things as that," the girl went on slyly, smiling
at the somewhat embarrassed lad.
"Ahem! If there is a professor present, perhaps it might be a good
idea to absorb some knowledge," admitted the old maid, and,
unconsciously, she smoothed her hair, and settled her gold spectacles
straighter on her nose. "Professor, I will delay collecting damages on
behalf of the Rocksmond Young Ladies Seminary, while you deliver a
lecture on air currents," she went on, addressing herself to Mr.
Sharp.
"Oh, I'm not a professor," he said quickly. "I'm a professional
balloonist, parachute jumper. Give exhibitions at county fairs. Leap
for life, and all that sort of thing. I guess you mean my friend. He's
smart enough for a professor. Invented a lot of things. How much is
the damage?"
"No professor?" cried Miss Perkman indignantly. "Why I understood from
Miss Nestor that she called some one professor."
"I was referring to my friend, Mr. Swift," said Mary. "His father's a
professor, anyhow, isn't he, Tom? I mean Mr. Swift!"
"I believe he has a degree, but he never uses it," was the lad's
answer.
"Ha! Then I have been deceived! There is no professor present!" and
the old maid drew herself up as though desirous of punishing some one.
"Young ladies, for the last time, I order you to your rooms," and,
with a dramatic gesture she pointed to the scuttle through which the
procession had come.
"Say something, Tom--I mean Mr. Swift," appealed Mary Nestor, in a
whisper, to our hero. "Can't you give some sort of a lecture? The
girls are just crazy to hear about the airship, and this ogress won't
let us. Say something!"
"I-I don't know what to say," stammered Tom.
But he was saved the necessity for just then several women, evidently
other teachers, came out on the roof.
"Oh, an airship!" exclaimed one. "How lovely! We thought it was an
earthquake, and we were afraid to come up for quite a while. But an
airship! I've always wanted to see one, and now I have an opportunity.
It will be just the thing for my physical geography and natural
history class. Young ladies, attention, and I will explain certain
things to you."
"Miss Delafield, do you understand enough about an airship to lecture
on one?" asked Miss Perkman smartly.
"Enough so that my class may benefit," answered the other teacher, who
was quite pretty.
"Ahem! That is sufficient, and a different matter," conceded Miss
Perkman. "Young ladies, give your undivided attention to Miss
Delafield, and I trust you will profit by what she tells you.
Meanwhile I wish to have some conversation concerning damages with the
persons who so unceremoniously visited us. It is a shame that the
pupils of the Rocksmond Seminary should be disturbed at their studies.
Sir, I wish to talk with you," and the principal pointed a long,
straight finger at Mr. Sharp.
"Young ladies, attention!" called Miss Delafield. "You will observe
the large red body at the top, that is-"
"I'd rather have you explain it," whispered Mary Nestor to Tom. "Come
on, slip around to the other side. May I bring a few of my friends
with me? I can't bear Miss Delafield. She thinks she knows everything.
She won't see us if we slip around."
"I shall be delighted," replied Tom, "only I fear I may have to help
Mr. Sharp out of this trouble."
"Don't worry about me, Tom," said the balloonist, who overheard him.
"Let me do the explaining. I'm an old hand at it. Been in trouble
before. Many a time I've had to pay damages for coming down in a
farmer's corn field. I'll attend to the lady principal, and you can
explain things to the young ones," and, with a wink, the jolly
aeronaut stepped over to where Miss Perkman, in spite of her prejudice
against the airship, was observing it curiously.
Glad to have the chance to talk to his young lady friend, Tom slipped
to the opposite side of the car with her and a few of her intimate
friends, to whom she slyly beckoned. There Tom told how the Red Cloud
came to be built, and of his first trip in the air, while, on the
opposite side, Miss Delafield lectured to the entire school on
aeronautics, as she thought she knew them.
Mr. Sharp evidently did know how to "explain" matters to the irate
principal, for, in a short while, she was smiling. By this time Tom
had about finished his little lecture, and Miss Delafield was at the
end of hers. The entire school of girls was grouped about the Red
Cloud, curiously examining it, but Mary Nestor and her friends
probably learned more than any of the others. Tom was informed that
his friend had been attending the school in Rocksmond since the fall
term opened.
"I little thought, when I found we were going to smash into that
tower, that you were below there, studying," said the lad to the girl.
"I'm afraid I wasn't doing much studying," she confessed. "I had just
a glimpse of the airship through the window, and I was wondering who
was in it, when the crash came. Miss Perkman, who is nothing if not
brave, at once started for the roof, and we girls all followed her.
However, are you going to get the ship down?"
"I'm afraid it is going to be quite a job," admitted Tom ruefully.
"Something went wrong with the machinery, or this never would have
happened. As soon as Mr. Sharp has settled with your principal we'll
see what we can do."
"I guess he's settled now," observed Miss Nestor. "Here he comes."
The aeronaut and Miss Perkman were approaching together, and the old
maid did not seem half so angry as she had been.
"You see," Mr. Sharp was saying, "it will be a good advertisement for
your school. Think of having the distinction of having harbored the
powerful airship, Red Cloud, on your roof."
"I never thought of it in that light," admitted the principal.
"Perhaps you are right. I shall put it in my next catalog."
"And, as for damages to the tower, we will pay you fifty dollars,"
continued the balloonist. "Do you agree to that, Mr. Swift?" he asked
Tom. "I think your father, the professor, would call that fair."
"Oh, as long as this airship is partly the property of a professor,
perhaps I should only take thirty-five dollars," put in Miss Perkman.
"I am a great admirer of professors-I mean in a strictly educational
sense," she went on, as she detected a tendency on the part of some of
the young ladies to giggle.
"No, fifty dollars will be about right," went on Mr. Sharp, pulling
out a well-filled wallet. "I will pay you now."
"And if you will wait I will give you a receipt," continued the
principal, evidently as much appeased at the mention of a professor's
title, as she was by the money.
"We're getting off cheap," the balloonist whispered to Tom, as the
head of the seminary started down the scuttle to the class-rooms
below.
"Maybe it's easier getting out of that difficulty than it will be to
get off the roof," replied the lad.
"Don't worry. Leave that to me," the aeronaut said. It took
considerable to ruffle Mr. Sharp. .
With a receipt in full for the damage to the tower, and expressing the
hope that, some day, in the near future, Professor Swift would do the
seminary the honor of lecturing to the young lady pupils, Miss Perkman
bade Mr. Sharp and Tom good-by.
"Young ladies, to your rooms!" she commanded. "You have learned enough
of airships, and there may be some danger getting this one off the
roof."
"Wouldn't you like to stay and take a ride in it?" Tom asked Miss
Nestor.
"Indeed I would," she answered daringly. "It's better than a motor-
boat. May I?"
"Some day, when we get more expert in managing it," he replied, as he
shook hands with her.
"Now for some hard work," went on the young inventor to Mr. Sharp,
when the roof was cleared of the last of the teachers and pupils. But
the windows that gave a view of the airship in its odd position on the
roof were soon filled with eager faces, while in the streets below was
a great crowd, offering all manner of suggestions.
"Oh, it's not going to be such a task," said Mr. Sharp. "First we will
repair the rudder and the machinery, and then we'll generate some more
gas, rise and fly home."
"But the broken propeller?" objected Tom.
"We can fly with one, as well as we can with two, but not so swiftly.
Don't worry. We'll come out all right," and the balloonist assumed a
confident air.
It was not so difficult a problem as Tom had imagined to put the
machinery in order, a simple break having impaired the working of the
rudder. Then the smashed propeller was unshipped and the gas machine
started. With all the pupils watching from windows, and a crowd
observing from the streets and surrounding country, for word of the
happening had spread, Tom and his friend prepared to ascend.
They arose as well as they had done at the shed at home, and in a
little while, were floating over the school. Tom fancied he could
observe a certain hand waving to him, as he peered from the window of
the car-a hand in one of the school casements, but where there were so
many pretty girls doing the same thing, I hardly see how Tom could
pick out any certain one, though he had extraordinarily good eyesight.
However, the airship was now afloat and, starting the motor, Mr. Sharp
found that even with one propeller the Red Cloud did fairly well,
making good speed.
"Now for home, to repair everything, and we'll be ready for a longer
trip," the aeronaut said to the young inventor, as they turned around,
and headed off before the wind, while hundreds below them cheered.
"We ought to carry spare propellers if we're going to smash into
school towers," remarked Tom. "I seem to be a sort of hoodoo."
"Nonsense! It wasn't your fault at all," commented Mr. Sharp warmly.
"It would have happened to me had I been steering. But we will take an
extra propeller along after this."
An hour later they arrived in front of the big shed and the Red Cloud
was safely housed. Mr. Swift was just beginning to get anxious about
his son and his friend, and was glad to welcome them back.
"Now for a big trip, in about a week!" exclaimed Mr. Sharp
enthusiastically. "You'll come with us, won't you, Mr. Swift?"
The inventor slowly shook his head.
"Not on a trip," he said. "I may go for a trial spin with you, but
I've got too important a matter under way to venture on a long trip,"
and he turned away without explaining what it was. But Tom and Mr.
Sharp were soon to learn.
Chapter 7 - Andy Tries a Trick
Without loss of time the young inventor and the aeronaut began to
repair the damage done to the Red Cloud by colliding with the tower.
The most important part to reconstruct was the propeller, and Mr.
Sharp decided to make two, instead of one, in order to have an extra
one in case of future accidents.
Tom's task was to arrange the mechanism so that, hereafter, the rudder
could not become jammed, and so prevent the airship from steering
properly. This the lad accomplished by a simple but effective device
which, when the balloonist saw it, caused him to compliment Tom.
"That's worth patenting," he declared. "I advise you to take out
papers on that."
"It seems such a simple thing," answered the youth. "And I don't see
much use of spending the money for a patent. Airships aren't likely to
be so numerous that I could make anything off that patent."
"You take my advice," insisted Mr. Sharp. "Airships are going to be
used more in the future than you have any idea of. You get that device
patented."
Tom did so, and, not many years afterward he was glad that he had, as
it brought him quite an income.
It required several days' work on the Red Cloud before it was in shape
for another trial. During the hours when he was engaged in the big
shed, helping Mr. Sharp, the young inventor spent many minutes calling
to mind the memory of a certain fair face, and I think I need not
mention any names to indicate whose face it was.
"She promised to go for a ride with me," mused the lad. "I hope she
doesn't back out. But I'll want to learn more about managing the ship
before I venture with her in it. It won't do to have any accidents
then. There's Ned Newton, too. I must take him for a skim in the
clouds. Guess I'll invite him over some afternoon, and give him a
private view of the machine, when we get it in shape again."
About a week after the accident at the school Mr. Sharp remarked to
Tom one afternoon
"If the weather is good to-morrow, we'll try another flight. Do you
suppose your father will come along?"
"I don't know," answered the lad. "He seems much engrossed in
something. It's unusual, too, for he most generally tells me what he
is engaged upon. However, I guess he will say something about it when
he gets ready."
"Well, if he doesn't feel just like coming, don't argue him. He might
be nervous, and, while the ship is new, I don't want any nervous
passengers aboard. I can't give them my attention and look after the
running of the machinery."
"I was going to propose bringing a friend of mine over to see us make
the trip to-morrow," went on the young inventor. "Ned Newton, you know
him. He'd like a ride."
"Oh, I guess Ned's all right. Let him come along. We won't go very
high to-morrow. After a trial rise by means of the gas, I'm going to
lower the ship to the ground, and try for an elevation by means of the
planes. Oh, yes, bring your friend along."
Ned Newton was delighted the next day to receive Tom's invitation,
and, though a little dubious about trusting himself in an airship for
the first time, finally consented to go with his chum. He got a half
holiday from the bank, and, shortly after dinner went to Tom's house.
"Come on out in the shed and take a look at the Red Cloud," proposed
the young inventor. "Mr. Sharp isn't quite ready to start yet, and
I'll explain some things to you."
The big shed was deserted when the lads entered, and went to the loft
where they were on a level with the big, red aluminum tank. Tom began
with a description of the machinery, and Ned followed him with
interest.
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