_ CHAPTER XIV. OFF FOR MARS
It was dark outside, and coming from the lighted room, the searchers at first could discern nothing. Then, as their eyes became accustomed to the gloom, they could make out objects with greater distinctness.
A movement in a tree, just outside the broken window, attracted the attention of Andy.
"Here's something!" he cried.
He raised his gun, which he had caught up as he rushed from the house, and fired high enough in the air, so as not to hurt whoever was in hiding. The flash of the weapon showed a man in the act of sliding down the trunk.
"Catch him!" cried Jack.
They all made a rush for the tree, but the flash of Andy's gun, while it revealed the man to them, also had the effect of momentarily blinding the men and boys. For an instant they could see nothing, and when the effect of the flash passed away the man was not in sight in the semi-gloom. They could hear him running through the underbrush outside of the garden, however, and took after him.
But the crazy machinist, if indeed it was he, got away, and after a vain search through the garden and about the machine shed, they all returned to the house, Mr. Roumann and the professor having joined in the hunt.
"What do you suppose he did it for?" asked Mark, when they were again gathered in the dining-room, examining the strange message.
"He wanted to scare us," suggested Jack.
"No, I really think he means to do us an injury," said Mr. Roumann. "He has some fancied grievance against us, or he is being used as a tool by Zeb Forker. Perhaps the man who stole the plates was with him, and he hoped to get some more during the confusion. I think we had better take a look at the machine shop."
They acted on this suggestion, but an examination there showed that nothing had been disturbed. No one had been in the place.
"I'm going to sleep here to-night," said German scientist. "I'm not going to take chances at the last moment. I'll stay here."
"So will I," decided Andy, and with his gun he mounted guard outside, while Mr. Roumann made up a bed in the projectile. They were not disturbed, however, any more that night.
"Now for Mars!" cried Jack, as the sun rose the next morning, and he jumped out of bed. "Hurry up, Mark! One would think you didn't care about going!"
"Well, I guess I do, but I don't see what good it does to get up so early. We aren't going to start until ten o'clock."
"No; but I couldn't sleep any longer," declared Jack. "I'm going out to take a look at the Annihilator."
He quickly dressed, and was on his way down stairs when there arose quite a commotion out of the garden. Washington's voice was heard crying:
"Come back heah, yo' unregenerated specimen ob a ungrateful bipedical ornithology! What fo' yo' want t' distress mah longanimity fo'? Come back heah!"
"What's the matter, Wash?" asked Jack.
"Oh, dat Shanghai rooster got away jest as I were shuttin' him up in de cage, an' I'se been runnin' all ober de garden after him. 'Pears laik he doan't want t' go t' Mars."
"Wait a minute and I'll help you," volunteered Jack. "Come on, Mark," he added. "Washington's pet has got away."
The two boys went below, and, with their aid, the colored man succeeded in catching the rooster, which, crowing a loud protest, was shut up in a wooden cage and taken to the shop, ready to be placed in the projectile.
There was little to do at the last moment. Professor Henderson had arranged for a relative to come and live in the house during the time of the journey to Mars, and this gentleman arrived about nine o'clock.
Meanwhile, the last of the stores and supplies had been put in the Annihilator, a final inspection had been given the machinery, and all the scientific instruments were in place.
Washington carried the cage containing his rooster into the storeroom, where there was a large quantity of provisions, sufficient to last for a year, in case, after reaching Mars, the travelers should find on the planet no food which they could cat.
There was a plentiful supply of water, and machinery for distilling more out of the atmosphere. The gas that occupied the space between what might be termed the two skins of the projectile had already been pumped in, and nothing remained to, do but for the adventurers to enter the great airship, as it might be designated, seal up the ports, turn on the power and start.
Mr. Roumann looked critically to the bracing up of the Annihilator, to see that it was slanted just right. Then he went carefully over every inch of the great machine, to make sure that there were no openings which were not closed. As he reached the port that communicated with the storeroom, he found it only partly shut.
"Did any one of you open this?" he asked suddenly.
"I didn't," replied Jack. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I was sure I closed and locked it from the inside early this morning," was the answer. "Washington, did you open it when you put your rooster in there?"
"No, sah. I went in de inside way. I didn't tetch it."
"That's very strange," murmured Mr. Roumann, as he locked the port, and each one, in turn, had denied meddling with it. "I was sure I locked it."
The matter appeared to give him a little uneasiness, but, as he had much to do to get the projectile ready for the flight, he had to leave the solution of the matter until another time.
The great doors of the machine shed were thrown open. They were designed to allow such large bodies as airships to pass out, as Professor Henderson had, in years previous, constructed a number of aeroplanes and dirigible balloons. So there would be no trouble in speeding the projectile directly out of the shop.
The great question, now that all was finished, was whether or not the projectile would move, and in the manner and with the speed necessary to get to Mars. There had been no chance for a trial flight, and it all depended on whether or not Mr. Roumann had correctly estimated the powers of his motors.
He was sure he was right, and, from calculations made, Professor Henderson was also positive. But it yet remained to prove this.
"Well, we may as well get in," said Mr. Roumann at length. "Everything is done that can be done. The next thing is to start the motors, and--then we'll see what happens."
It was a nervous moment. Once they were in, side the great projectile, sealed up, would they ever be able to emerge again? It was a momentous question.
"Well, here goes!" exclaimed Jack with a jerky laugh as he stepped into the Annihilator.
"I'm with You," added Mark as he followed his chum.
"Come on, Washington!" cried Jack from within.
"Wait till I take one mo' look at terra cotta!" said the colored man.
"You mean terra firma, I guess," spoke the professor.
"Yes, sah. Dat's hit. Terra flirma--de earth. I wants t' bid it good-by."
Andy Sudds, still carrying his gun, went in next. Then followed Amos Henderson, and finally the German scientist. The latter clamped fast the cover of the opening by which they had entered. The interior of the Annihilator was brilliant with electric lights.
Mr. Roumann made his way to the pilot house, to see that all the levers and wheels that controlled the engines were in working order. Then he went to the engine-room, where he adjusted the two motors.
"Well," he said a bit nervously, "we are all ready to start."
"Let her go!" cried Jack gaily.
There was no crowd on hand to see them off. Professor Henderson's relative was the only spectator.
Mr. Roumann and Mr. Henderson went to pilot house again. They held a brief consultation.
"Come here, boys, if you want to see us start the motors going," called the professor.
Jack and Mark stood in the doorway. Mr. Roumann grasped a lever. He threw it over. There was a spark as the electrical contact was made.
"The atmospheric motor is now ready to start!" he remarked. "Push that knob, Professor Henderson."
The professor pushed in a small, shiny knob. Mr. Roumann turned a small wheel, and closed another electrical switch.
Instantly there was a trembling through t whole length of the projectile. Would it move? Would it leave the earth and go to Mars?
There was a moment of hesitancy, as if the great machine had not quite decided.
Then came a more violent vibration. There was a humming, throbbing, hissing sound. Suddenly the boys, and all within the projectile, felt it swaying. A moment later it began to shoot through space like a great rocket.
"Hurrah!" cried Jack. "We're off!"
"Yes," added Mr. Roumann joyfully, "we are on our way to Mars!" and he grasped the steering wheel and peered through the thick plate-glass windows of the pilot house into the vast space before them. _