The other was a stranger, but he had been employed in
a large aeroplane factory, and brought good recommendations.
There followed busy days at the Swift plant, and work was
pushed on the aerial warship. The hardest task was the mounting
of the guns, and equipping them with the recoil check, without
which it would be impossible to fire them with the craft sailing
through the air.
But finally one of the big guns, and two of the smaller ones
were in place, with the apparatus designed to reduce the recoil
shock, and then Tom decided to have a test of the Mars.
"Up in the air, do you mean?" asked Ned, who was spending all
his spare time with his chum.
"Well, a little way up in the air, at least," Tom answered.
"I'll make a sort of captive balloon of my craft, and see how she
behaves. I don't want to take too many chances with that new
recoil check, though it seems to work perfectly in theory."
The day came when, for the first time, the Mars was to come out
of the big shed where she had been constructed. The craft was not
completed for a flight as yet, but could be made so in a few
days, with rush work. The roof of the great shed slid back, and
the big envelope containing the buoyant gas rose slowly upward.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95