Part 10 (2/2)
”There they go!” cried Jack.
”Yes, but I fear too late to do us any good,” spoke the professor. ”The airs.h.i.+p is slowly settling.”
”Can't it be fixed?” asked Mark.
”I suppose I could let it down to earth and patch up the hole, but I fear to do so,” answered the inventor. ”The _Monarch_ is not under control, and if I attempt to make a landing I may smash her all to pieces. She may settle down until within a few hundred feet of the earth and then plunge like a meteor. We would all be killed then.”
”Is there no other way?” asked Jack.
”None, unless we could patch up the hole in the gas bag while we are up aloft. I can hold the s.h.i.+p there for a while yet. Another reason why I do not want to land is that we are over a thickly settled portion of the state now, and if I go down to earth we will be surrounded by a curious crowd that will delay us.”
”Is that netting strong?” asked Mark, suddenly, pointing to the cords that confined the gas bag.
”Two strands would support a man's weight,” said Mr. Henderson.
”And have you anything to mend the silk bag with?” went on the boy.
”Yes, but why do you ask?”
”Because,” answered Mark, ”if you'll let me I'll climb up and mend the hole the eagle made.”
”Dare you do it?” cried the old professor, hope s.h.i.+ning in his face.
”Try me and see.”
The professor quickly prepared a piece of silk, kept on hand to repair breaks in the bag. It was coated with a very strong and fresh cement.
The silk was to be inserted in the tear made by the eagles, when it would at once harden and prevent the further escape of gas.
Mark made ready for the perilous ascent. He took off his coat, and removed his shoes so his feet could better cling to the frail-looking though strong cords.
”Slow down the s.h.i.+p!” commanded the captain. ”Now, Mark, try! I hope you succeed! Move cautiously. You don't want to lose your life!”
Mark said nothing. He grasped the piece of oiled silk, coated with the cement, in his teeth, clinching it by a strip that was free from the sticky substance. Then he stood on the rail of the _Monarch_ and began his climb aloft. Surely few ascents were made under such fearful conditions. The airs.h.i.+p was now more than a mile above the earth. One false step and the boy would plunge into eternity. Nothing could save him.
Up and up he went, testing every cord and mesh before he trusted his weight to it. On and on he advanced. The frail gas bag swayed in the wind that was springing up. It seemed like a thing alive.
”Careful! Careful!” cautioned the professor in strained tones. Everyone on the s.h.i.+p held his breath. Up and up Mark went. At last he reached the place where the eagle's beak had torn the bag.
He braced himself in the meshes of the net. Then, leaning forward, he fixed the patch under the rent, and pressed it into place. The cement did not take hold at first. Mark pressed harder. Would the leak be stopped?
”Will he make it?” asked one.
”I don't think so.”
”He must make it!”
”If not we are lost!”
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