"Well, I set a limit of seventy-five miles an hour," the young
inventor replied, as he shifted various levers and handles, to
change the speed of the mechanism. "But I'm afraid we won't quite
equal that with all our guns on board. But I'm safe in saying
sixty, I think."
"That will more than satisfy the government requirements," the
officer said. "But, of course, your craft will have to come up to
expectations and requirements in the matter of armament."
"I'll give you every test you want," declared Tom, with a
smile. "And now we'll see what the Mars can do when put to it."
Up and up went the big dirigible aerial warship. Had you been
fortunate enough to have seen her you would have observed a craft
not unlike, in shape, the German Zeppelins. But it differed from
those war balloons in several important particulars.
Tom's craft was about six hundred feet long, and the diameter
of the gas bag, amidships, was sixty feet, slightly larger than
the largest Zeppelin. Below the bag, which, as I have explained,
was made up of a number of gas-tight compartments, hung from wire
cables three cabins. The forward one was a sort of pilot-house,
containing various instruments for navigating the ship of the
air, observation rooms, gauges for calculating firing ranges, and
the steering apparatus.
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