_ CHAPTER X. WASHINGTON IS AFRAID
"Here! Here! Stop him! Grab that man!" cried Mr. Roumann, as he rushed toward Axtell, who was hammering away madly.
Jack and Mark started for the fellow.
"Keep away!" cried the machinist, swinging the sledge toward the boys. "I want to work on an airship, and I'm going to do it. I'll make some dents in it, and then I'll straighten them out! Whoop!"
Mr. Henderson hastened forward. He took in the situation at a glance.
"That man is insane!" the professor whispered to the German scientist. "Let me deal with him."
"Do something quickly," pleaded Mr. Roumann, "or he will damage the projectile."
"This is the way I work!" cried the insane man, and he brought down the hammer with great force on the rounded sides of the Annihilator. He made quite a dent in it.
"Stop him!" begged Mr. Ronan.
Mark and Jack had retreated out of reach of the big hammer, the professor and the German were consulting together, and in the door of the shop appeared Andy Sudds with his gun. He had gone away for a moment, in which interval the crazy machinist had appeared.
"Andy will scare him with his gun," whispered Jack to Mark.
Just then Mr. Henderson called out:
"If you want work, I can give it to you."
Axtell stopped his pounding of the projectile, laid his hammer down, and asked in a mild voice:
"Can you give me work now?"
"Of course," answered the professor, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to give work to insane persons. His calm manner and soothing words had a quieting effect on the lunatic. The glare died out of his eyes.
"Come with me," went on Mr. Henderson. "I have some work outside."
"What is it?" asked Axtell suspiciously.
"I want you to dig a hole so we can put this airship in it," whispered the professor. "Come outside."
He wanted to get the man out of the machine shop, where he could better deal with the fellow.
"That's just the kind of work I want," declared the unfortunate person. "I love to dig holes in the ground. I once dug one clear through to China. Get me a shovel."
He seemed to have forgotten all about the projectile, and meekly followed Mr. Henderson. The latter led him some distance from the shop, talking soothingly to the man, and promising that he should soon have a shovel. But there was no necessity for going to these measures.
Axtell suddenly caught sight of Washington coming toward him, and he exhibited the greatest fear.
"Hide me!" he exclaimed to the professor. "Hide me in the airship! Here comes the king of the cannibal islands!" And away he ran at top speed and disappeared in the woods behind the Henderson place. A search was at once made, but he could not be located.
Andy was rather worried lest he be blamed for not remaining on guard, but no one thought of censuring him, as he was such a faithful watchman and had only left the shop in answer to a call from Washington, who thought he heard some strange animal after his chickens.
"But I'll not desert my post again," declared the old hunter, as he looked to the loading of his gun.
"If any other crazy men get inside, they'll have to answer to me."
Work on the projectile was resumed, and for a week went on uninterruptedly. It was nearing completion, though there were many details yet to look after. Mr. Roumann was having more trouble with his Etherium motor than he anticipated.
"The atmospheric motor is all right," he declared, "and it works to perfection," which was indeed true, for in tests they made they found that the motor, the force of which was only less powerful and complicated than the secret power that was to hurl them through space, would easily send the projectile through the comparatively thin atmosphere of the earth. They did not actually move the Annihilator, since to do so would mean they would have to take it out of the shed. But they made tests and experiments with heavy objects, applying the force to them, and, by calculation, Mr. Roumann and the professor found that the force would actually send the projectile on the start of its journey.
"But there is one point about my Etherium motor that still bothers me," said the German.
"Can I help you solve it?" asked Mr. Henderson.
"No, thank you. I think I am on the right track. I will have it perfected in a few days, and then we will be off for Mars. I can scarcely wait until I get to that wonderful planet, thirty-five millions of miles away, where I hope to get possession of a most wonderful substance. Once we are on Mars--"
"'Scuse me, Mistah Roumann," interrupted Washington White, who happened to be in the machine shop at that moment, and overheard what the scientist said, "'scuse me, but did I done heah yo' promulgate de ostentatious fact dat yo' is gwine to de planet Mars?"
"That's where we're going, Wash," replied Jack, for it had been decided that the colored man could now be told of their destination.
"Yo' means dat red star what shines in de sky?"
"That's the one, Washington."
"An' how far did yo' say it was from heah?" was the question directed at Mr. Henderson.
"Well, it's about thirty-five millions of miles from the earth."
"And is yo' all goin'?"
"Yes, we expect to."
"Is dis heah contraption yo' done been buildin'?"
"Yes."
"And is I gwine, too, perfesser?"
"I calculated on taking you, Washington. You went north and south with me, and down into the center of the earth. I thought you'd like to go on this trip."
Washington laid down the hammer he had come in to borrow to fix the chicken coop. He looked around on the circle of smiling faces.
"I--I 'spects I'd bettah be lookin' fo' annudder place, perfesser," he said quietly.
"Why, you aren't afraid to go to Mars, when you went with us in the Flying Mermaid down into the earth, are you?" asked Jack.
"'Scuse me, Massa Jack," said the colored man solemnly, "dis trip am wuss dan any ob de udders. It suah am. Good land a' massy! T' t'ink ob being projected transmigatorially in de obverse tangent ob de parallelism circumdelegated on de inverse side ob a duodecimo. It's too altogether imparipinated fo' dis chile! I'se afraid dat's what I is! I'se too much afraid t' go," and Washington started to run from the shop, as if he feared that the big projectile would take after him. _