The Great Airship Part 31

"Certainly," came the prompt answer. "In the past many balloons have climbed to great heights, and I can instance a few such attempts.

c.o.xwell is said to have reached the enormous alt.i.tude of seven miles in the year 1862. He lost the use of his hands, but contrived to open the valve with the aid of his teeth. His companion, Mr. James Glaisher, was then insensible. Then Dr. Berson and Dr. Suring ascended from Berlin in 1901 to the height of thirty-four thousand feet, contriving to maintain their senses by inhaling oxygen. And lastly, there is the recorded ascent of the _Albatross_, which, in 1909, set out from Turin, and reached the stupendous height of thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifteen feet.

"And what is the record of dirigibles?" asked the Commander eagerly. "We must recollect that they are a different sort of craft, and do not ascend by heaving ballast overboard--that is, as a general rule. This s.h.i.+p, we know, is influenced by her vertical screws."

"And will contrive to climb with them almost unaided," answered Joe.

"But it may be that we shall attempt a record, in which case there is ample ballast to be thrown overboard. As to the height to which dirigibles have climbed, of that I am uncertain. But it is said that six thousand feet is the record for a Zeppelin, and we will allow that the Zeppelin is the last word in dirigibles."

"_Was_," Andrew corrected him quickly. "Was, Joe. The coming of this vessel annihilates the Zeppelin."

There was an air of suppressed excitement about the crew on the following afternoon, for the news of their coming attempt had leaked out. Moreover, the airs.h.i.+p had driven her way steadily onward during the night, and all through the morning she had been steering a course parallel to the gaunt Himalayas, within easy distance of the snow glistening on the numerous peaks of this giant range, and within sight already of Mount Everest. The lofty peak raised its white head some fifty miles to their left, its snow slopes s.h.i.+mmering in the sun's rays.

Its broad base also could be detected, merging imperceptibly with the ma.s.s of the range. But the centre portion was invisible, clad in a garment of white cloud, which seemed to warn all and sundry to leave that peak alone, and make no rash attempt upon it. But Joe Gresson was totally unaffected. He turned the s.h.i.+p's head directly for the mountain and waited at the tiller till those fifty miles were accomplished, till the airs.h.i.+p was within a short mile of the mountain, looking a mere dot when compared with the mighty ma.s.s of rock thrusting upward.

"At this moment we begin our attempt," he told his friends. "Kindly observe our height. We are resting precisely seven thousand feet above sea-level. Now, I will start the elevating motors. When we are twenty-nine thousand feet up we will steer for the top of the peak.

After that, if all are agreeable, we will ascend once more. I have a mind to accomplish a world's record. But we must take precautions. Let us don all the clothing we can find, and shut all windows and openings.

Sergeant Evans has already taken out of store our cylinders of oxygen.

You will find a mouthpiece attached to each one, and my advice is that you don them when we have reached a height of twenty thousand feet."

For a while there were bustling feet to be heard along the galleries of the airs.h.i.+p. Men hastened to and fro carrying oxygen cylinders, while others made a round of the vessel to close all apertures. Then Joe set the aerial screws in motion, and, watching closely, d.i.c.k was able to detect the fact that the s.h.i.+p was rising swiftly. Indeed, before many minutes had pa.s.sed they had plunged into the cold, white cloud surrounding the central part of the mountain. He strode off to the engine-room, to find Joe watching the barometer.

"Nineteen thousand feet," he read off. "Ah, we are mounting quickly!

Twenty thousand feet. Now we throw our cooling fan out of gear, and make ready to cover over a portion of our radiator. In that way we shall be able to keep up the temperature of our motor and of its fuel supply. Now for the oxygen."

They were still mounting, mounting quickly too. d.i.c.k felt a queer sensation overcoming him. He was gasping, endeavouring to imbibe more air, eager for a greater supply of oxygen.

"Put on your mouthpiece and turn on the tap of the cylinder," Joe ordered. "You're grunting, positively grunting. And look at yourself in that mirror."

There was a tiny square which the engineer had secured to the side of the engine-room, and looking in it, d.i.c.k was positively startled to discover that his usually vivid and fresh complexion had gone. He was a pale, dirty-blue colour.

"Ugh! Hideous!" he grinned. "Now, let's try oxygen."

It had an almost immediate effect, as was to be expected, for within ten minutes he had regained his normal colour. Meanwhile, the cold had become extreme. Even there, in the heated engine-room, one felt it, while Joe anxiously placed his hand on the cylinder tops.

"Throwing the cooling fan out of gear will do it," he said, in tones of satisfaction. "I've still something in hand. Covering the radiator and so protecting it from cold will do the trick nicely."

"Twenty-seven thousand feet. Twenty-eight," he read out. "Are all feeling strong and well?"

They were gathered about the engine-room, some crowding in that chamber itself, some at the top of the ladder leading from it, grouped in the gallery of the airs.h.i.+p. And a queer collection they were, m.u.f.fled to the eyes, more than one already s.h.i.+vering with cold, for it must be recollected that this feat of clambering upward demanded no personal efforts from crew or pa.s.sengers. Had they been on the snow-clad slopes of Mount Everest, amidst its glaciers and its creva.s.ses, the path upward would have been one continual struggle, a struggle made all the more difficult by the increasing thinness of the air. Indeed this thinness of the air is one of the chief difficulties to be encountered by those who would ascend to huge heights above sea-level. Mountain sickness, the giddiness and nausea which attack people at great elevations, must also be overcome, though here, aboard the giant airs.h.i.+p, not one of the members aboard felt so much as lightness of the head. It was the cold which troubled them. Why, Private Larkin's nose was positively blue! It peeped out from above a huge m.u.f.fler which he had wound round his neck.

"I never!" Hurst remarked, grinning at him, and then taking another breath of oxygen. "You ain't handsome, not 'arf."

"'Ere," grunted Larkin, "none of yer lip! I'm 'avin'----"

But at that moment the need for more oxygen a.s.sailed him, and he buried his mouth in the apparatus affixed to each cylinder. Indeed, but for those cylinders this ascent would have been practically impossible. As it was, the s.h.i.+p climbed steadily, remorselessly upward. They were above the thick bank of wet cloud now. Of a sudden the cold became intense, while d.i.c.k found himself s.h.i.+elding his eyes from the glare. For the sun's rays were reflected from the virgin snow slopes with a brilliance he had never before experienced.

"Twenty-nine thousand feet. The summit of Mount Everest," called Joe, fingering the tops of his cylinders and the cooling surface of his radiator somewhat anxiously. "We will attempt a landing, and then we will ascend once more."

The big engine purred a little louder. Had an expert been there he would not have been able to detect a single alarming sound from the mechanism of the airs.h.i.+p. For there was, in fact, little to go wrong.

"Freezing up does not trouble me," Joe had explained as they were ascending, "for my radiator is cooled by paraffin, and you may expose that liquid to extremes of cold with little effect. Even if there were danger of its freezing, the explosions of the engine cause heat, which is absorbed by the paraffin, and I have taken steps, by throwing out of gear the cooling fan, to retain that heat. As for the rest, the same fluid pa.s.sing through those lines of steel tubes to the motors overhead is constantly in action. The pressure applied to it tends to add to its temperature, so that there again we can defy the cold."

The hum of the propeller told that the s.h.i.+p was in motion, for hitherto she had merely been ascending. Now the elevator screws were hardly rotating, while d.i.c.k and his friends could tell that they were advancing by the fact that the slopes of the mountain grew steadily nearer and nearer. The s.h.i.+p circled about the highest peak. She seemed to be looking for a landing-place. She even rested for a moment directly above the topmost pinnacle. And then Joe dropped her gently upon a smooth, level slope just beneath the summit.

"All explorers plant flags to show what they have done," he cried, laughing at those gathered about him. "We will do the same. Come, half a dozen of us will be sufficient."

They tore the door of the gallery open, for it was frozen fast, and struggled into the open, Joe and the Commander, with the Major, and d.i.c.k, and Alec, in close attendance. Bearing their oxygen cylinders strapped to their shoulders they trudged across the hard frozen snow, and within a few minutes had gained the summit. There they secured the staff of their Union Jack, pegged and roped it down, and promptly retraced their steps.

"And now for a record," cried Joe. "I advise all of you to don gloves if you have them and to keep moving about. I mean to rush the rest of the distance."

He covered more than half of his radiator, set the elevating motors buzzing, and then glanced anxiously at his barometer. They were rising, but very slowly. It seemed to take an endless age to get away from the peak they had just visited. The tiny Union Jack, looking forlorn amid the snow slopes, appeared as if it would keep them company for ever.

"Turn that lever there," Joe commanded, pointing to one close to d.i.c.k's hand, for the mids.h.i.+pman was again in the engine-room. "If the outlet of my tank is frozen we shall have to halt for a while and apply heat. Ah, that's fortunate! Listen."

Above the gentle hum of the engine d.i.c.k could hear a gurgling, splas.h.i.+ng sound, and looking downward discovered that a spray of water was falling from the airs.h.i.+p, a spray which was caught by the breeze, whirled to one side, and transformed instantly into thin flakes of ice which went swimming through s.p.a.ce to find a resting-place on the slopes of the mountain.

"Throwing out ballast," Joe explained. "Now we're moving."

The s.h.i.+p was clambering upward at a rapid pace, thanks to the weight rapidly streaming from her tanks. Joe watched his barometer now with smiling eyes.

"Thirty thousand feet," he stated solemnly. "Thirty-five thousand feet, gentlemen. Almost a world's record. But five more feet and I shall be satisfied."

Had it not been for the mouthpieces which all were now compelled to keep constantly in use the crew would have cheered him. As it was they tramped the gallery, swinging their arms, beating their fingers, and m.u.f.fling their faces in the first article of clothing upon which they could come. The cold was too intense for words, in spite of the heating arrangements aboard the s.h.i.+p. Indeed, but for active movement many of the crew would not have been able to bear it. And steadily, relentlessly, the s.h.i.+p ascended, while d.i.c.k, at Joe's bidding, emptied first one and then the remaining tanks aboard the vessel. It was with a shout of triumph that Joe announced that they had ascended to forty thousand feet.

"Kindly observe the barometer," he called. "Kindly bear evidence to the fact that we have gained this record."

Then began the descent. Joe arrested the elevating motors, and at once the s.h.i.+p began to fall. Not rapidly, as one might have expected, but slowly, imperceptibly, so smoothly that but for the barometer none would have known that she was moving. And now, as they reached the level of thirty thousand feet, and that tiny Union Jack came into view once more, but a stone's throw to their right, the mercury ceased to move. In spite of accelerating his motors Joe could no longer force the s.h.i.+p to descend.

"Dropped all the weight out of her," he said cheerfully. "Must now let gas escape. That's merely a question of operating the escape valves.

See, they're all linked up to this lever."

He leaned over the engine, gripped a long handle and pulled upon it. It refused to move. It was firmly jammed, or rather, the linked mechanism beyond it was firmly frozen.

"Annoying," he exclaimed, though d.i.c.k could have sworn that an anxious expression crossed his face. "Try again."

He made several more attempts, but without success. d.i.c.k helped him without avail. Even the l.u.s.ty Hawkins and Hurst together could produce no effect, while the screws now thras.h.i.+ng the thin air in an endeavour to force the s.h.i.+p downward made not the smallest difference to the height of the mercury. And meanwhile the cold was even more intense. In spite of the oxygen cylinders men were gasping. Indeed, all of a sudden, when at the summit of their success the crew of the airs.h.i.+p found themselves face to face with disaster. They had climbed to this great height. They could not descend. Death from cold and exhaustion threatened them. Yes, death. For already Larkin lay inert in the gallery, blue from intense cold, his mouthpiece strapped to his face.

Mr. Andrew clutched at the doorpost, looking as if on the verge of unconsciousness, while both the Major and the Commander had the appearance of men more than half frozen. It looked indeed as if here, at this enormous alt.i.tude, within stone's throw of the summit of Mount Everest, the voyage of the huge airs.h.i.+p would be ended, and with it the lives of all aboard.

CHAPTER XVII

A Desperate Situation

A terrible five minutes followed the discovery that Joe Gresson had made, a period short enough as a general rule, but seeming almost unending under the tragic circ.u.mstances. For the great airs.h.i.+p lay helpless in the air, turning slowly as if on a pivot, and dangling a thousand feet above that tiny Union Jack which marked the summit of Mount Everest. Then a breeze caught her and wafted her to one side, so that d.i.c.k, looking desperately from the window of the engine-room, could gaze down into India. But a swirling current from the opposite direction gripped her a moment later, swayed the s.h.i.+p which was rocking like a vessel at sea, drove her round and launched her northward, till the opposite slopes of the Himalayas came into view.

"Tibet--the road to Lhasa, the forbidden city," d.i.c.k told himself. "And that s.h.i.+ning streak away over there must be the Brahmaputra. What's to be done? This is a nasty sort of hole in which to find ourselves. And I don't like the look of some of our friends. Larkin is as blue as blue, while Mr. Andrew don't appear much better. Where's Alec?"