Five Thousand Miles Underground | Page 8

water.
"What is it?" asked Jack.
"I hope it is the lifting power of the gas making itself felt," the professor answered.
"Perhaps the Flying Mermaid is getting ready to try her wings."
The trembling became more pronounced. The gas was being generated faster than ever.

The whole ship was trembling. Tom and Bill came from the room, where they were
stationed, to inquire the meaning, but were reassured by the professor.
"Don't be alarmed if you find yourselves up in the air pretty soon," he remarked with a
smile. "Remember the Electric Monarch, and the flights she took. We may not go as high
as we did in her, but it will answer the same purpose."
The gas was hissing through the big tube as it rushed into the overhead holder. The gage
indicated a heavy pressure. The ship began to tremble more violently and to sway slightly
from side to side.
"I think we shall rise presently," said Mr. Henderson. His voice showed the pride he felt
at the seeming success with which his invention was about to meet.
Suddenly, with a little jerk, as though some one with a giant hand had plucked the Flying
Mermaid from the earth, the ship gave a little bound into the air, and was floating free.
"Here we go!" cried Mr. Henderson. "The ship is a success. Now we're off for the hole in
the earth!"
The Flying Mermaid was indeed rising in the air. True it did not go up so swiftly as had
the Monarch, but then it was a much heavier and stronger vessel, and flying was only one
of its accomplishments.
"It's a success! It's a success!" shouted Mark, capering about in his excitement.
"Now we'll see what the centre of the earth looks like," went on Jack. "I can hardly wait
for the time to come when we are to start on the voyage."
At that instant, when the ship was but a few feet from the ground, but slowly rising, the
boys and the professor heard a shouting below them.
"What's that?" asked the scientist. "Is any one hurt?"
Mark ran to a small window, something like a port hole in an ocean steamer, and looked
out.
"Quick!" he shouted. "Stop the ship! Washington will be killed!"
In fact from the agonized yells which proceeded from somewhere under the craft it
seemed that the accident was in process of happening.
"Save me! Save me!" cried the colored man. "I'm goin' to fall! Catch me, some one!"
"What is it?" asked the professor, making ready to shut off the power and let the ship
settle back to earth, from which it had moved about fifty feet.
"It's Washington," explained Mark. "He evidently tried to walk up the steps just as the
boat mounted skyward. He rolled down and managed to grab the end of the rope which

was left over after the steps were tied. Now he's swinging down there."
"Are you going to lower the ship?" asked Jack.
"Of course!" exclaimed the professor. "I only hope he hangs on until his feet touch the
earth."
"Keep a tight hold!" shouted Mark, from out of the small window.
"That's th' truest thing yo' ever said!" exclaimed Washington. "You bet I'm goin' to hold
on, and I'm comin' up too," which he proceeded to do, hand over hand, like a sailor.
The boys and the professor watched the colored man's upward progress. The ship had
hardly begun to settle as, in the excitement, not enough gas had been let out. Closer and
closer came Washington, until he was able to grasp the edge of the opening, to which the
steps were fastened.
"I thought you weren't coming with us," observed the professor, when he saw that his
helper was safe.
"I changed my mind," said the colored man. "It's jest luck. Seems like th' ship done
wanted me t' go 'long, an' I'm goin'. I'll take my chances on bein' buried alive. I ain't never
seen th' centre of th' earth, an' I want's to 'fore I die. I'm goin' 'long, Perfessor!"


CHAPTER IV
WHAT DID MARK SEE?
"WELL, I'm glad you've decided at last," the professor remarked. "Now come inside and
we'll see how the ship works."
Once over his fright, Washington made himself at home on the craft he had helped build.
He went from one room to another and observed the engine.
"She certainly am workin'" he observed with pride. "Are we still goin' up, Perfessor?"
"Still mounting," replied Mr. Henderson, "We are now three hundred feet above the
earth," he added as he glanced at a registering gage.
The great air pump was set going and soon from the after tube, a big stream of the
compressed vapor rushed. It acted on the