With a suddenness that was almost startling the incandescent lights on the Comet went out. The airship shot forward through the darkness shrouded in gloom—no, not completely, for the great search light still glowed, and that offered a mark for the hissing rockets and aerial bombs.
“Quick! Out with the search lantern!” yelled Jerry. “You put that out, Bob, while Ned and I get to work on the engine and send the ship up. Start the gas machine, Ned!”
“Will it be safe, with all this fire around us? It might explode.”
“That’s so. We’ll have to depend on the planes to take us higher. I’ll speed up the motor!”
“But why in the world are they firing at us?” cried Ned. “Hurry, Chunky, haven’t you got that search light out yet? They can see to aim at us as long as it’s going.”
“I can’t seem to shut it off!” cried the stout youth. “The lever is jammed.”
“Give him a hand, Ned,” called the tall lad. “I can manage the motor all right.”
“Look!” suddenly cried Ned, pointing to the rear as he and his chum managed to put out the light. “There is another airship following us!”
They all glanced to where he pointed. In the darkness they could see a long, illuminated shape whizzing swiftly through the air.
“It’s some sort of an aerial craft, all right,” murmured Jerry. “I wonder if Noddy Nixon——?”
“See! They’re firing rockets at her now,” yelled Bob. “Say, the people down below must have some big objection to airships. First they fire at us, and then at the next aeroplane that comes along.”
Jerry, who had set the motor at higher speed to take them out of the zone of rockets, uttered an exclamation.
“I have it!” he cried. “I see through it now.”
“What is it?” asked Ned.
“They took us for part of the illumination,” went on the tall lad. “They fired at us to see if they could hit us, and——”
“They’ve hit that other airship!” shouted Bob, pointing to it. “See! They’ve set it on fire! Oh, what an awful death those poor fellows aboard it will have!”
“Let’s save them!” suggested the professor.
“There’s no one aboard her,” put in Jerry more calmly than any of the others.
“No one aboard her? Do you mean she’s a runaway airship?” asked Ned.
“No, it isn’t an airship at all. I’ll tell you,” and Jerry went to the engine-room, where he slowed down the motor, for the plan of putting out the lights had been effective, and no more rockets were shot at them.
“They took us for part of the celebration,” went on Jerry when he returned. “They probably arranged to have some sort of a miniature, automatic airship sent up, aimed to go across the place above where the fireworks were being set off, but high in the air. Then it was the game to try and hit it with rockets.”
This later was found to be the case.
“We came along, and they took us for the miniature craft and fired at us,” Jerry continued. “It was all a mistake, but it was lucky they didn’t hit us. They must be puzzled, though, to see the second airship coming along.”
“Well, they’ve done for that one, anyhow!” cried Bob. “See, it’s all afire!”
It was blazing fiercely, and beginning to descend, while a shower of rockets, and aerial bombs shot all around it. Our friends were now out of reach of the pyrotechnics, and ventured to turn on their lights again. Down below could be seen the place of the celebration, brilliantly illuminated, but the glow soon died out, and it was evident that the destruction of the miniature airship brought the affair to a close.
They did not get to sleep early, on account of the excitement, but finally Jerry suggested that they take turns going on duty in the motor room.
“For,” said the tall lad, “we’re flying low, and the machinery is so new that we can’t altogether depend on the automatic steering gear. So, to avoid accidents, some one will have to be on watch all night.”
Morning came, with nothing having happened, and Bob was about early, bustling here and there getting breakfast. They were eating it, taking occasional glimpses down at the country over which they were passing, and speculating on when they would arrive at the balloon meet, and what would happen when they got there, when, with a suddenness that was terrifying, the Comet was jerked backward.
The big aircraft trembled from end to end, and shivered throughout her length. Next followed a series of jerks, and then came a ripping, rending, tearing and splintering sound, hearing which, Jerry, with fear on his face, leaped to his feet.
“What’s the matter?” cried Ned.
“Have we blown up?” demanded Bob.
“My specimens!” shouted the professor, making a dive for his room, where he kept the boxes.
Jerry rushed out on deck, and looked down over the rail. The airship was now stationary, though the propellers were buzzing around, and the tall lad soon saw the reason for the sudden halt.
They were over a farmyard, and the anchor rope, to which was attached a grapple, with several prongs, had caught under the cornice of a large barn, holding the Comet securely. And, strewn on the earth, at one side of the structure, were splintered boards and pieces of timber that had been ripped off, as the dangling, sharp-pointed anchor had caught in the eaves and tore along, ripping off part of the roof. Then the craft, as the anchor met a solid timber, had come to a stop.
As Jerry looked down, there rushed out from the farmhouse an angry farmer. In his hands he held a gun, which he pointed at the airship.
“Don’t ye dare t’ move!” he yelled. “Don’t ye stir! I’ve got th’ drop on ye, an’ I’m goin’ t’ keep it! Ye don’t stir a step till ye come down an’ settle fer th’ damage. Ye well-nigh ripped my barn apart, an’ I jest had it fixed. Come down, ye rapscallions! Don’t ye stir a step till ye pay me!”
He shook his gun menacingly.
“I guess we’re not likely to stir, until we get the anchor loose, at any rate,” remarked Jerry coolly, for he had gotten over his fright when he saw that the airship was not damaged.
Then, as the craft had no longer any forward motion, and as this is vitally necessary to every aeroplane, the Comet began to settle down rapidly, almost on the roof of the barn.