"Do you think you can pull us through, Tom?" asked Ned Newton, who,
not having had much experience in airships had yet to learn Tom's
skill in manipulating them.
The young inventor alone seemed to keep his nerve. Coolly and calmly
he stood at his post of duty, shifting the wing planes from moment
to moment, managing the elevation rudder, and, at the same time,
keeping his eye on the registering dial of the gas-generating
machine.
"It's all right," said Tom, more easily than he felt. "We are going
up slowly. You might see if you can induce the gas machine to do any
better, Mr. Damon. We are wasting some of the vapor because of the
leak in the bag, but we can manufacture it faster than it escapes,
so I guess we'll be all right."
"Mr. Parker, may I ask you to oil the main motor? You will see the
places marked where the oil is to go in. Ned, you help him. Here,
Abe, come over here and give me a hand. This wind makes the rudders
hard to twist."
The young inventor could not have chosen a better method of
relieving the fears of his friends than by giving them something to
do to take their minds off their own troubles. They hurried to the
tasks he had assigned to them, and, in a few minutes, there were no
more doubts expressed.
Not that the RED CLOUD was out of danger, Far from it.
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