Victor Appleton Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice

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.""Mr.Parker, may I ask you to oil the main motor? You will see the placesmarked where the oil is to go in.Ned, you help him.Here, Abe, come over here and give me a hand.This windmakes the rudders hard to twist."The young inventor could not have chosen a better method of relieving thefears of his friends than by giving them something to do to take their mindsoff their own troubles.They hurried to the tasks he had assigned to them,and, in a few minutes, there were no more doubts expressed.Not that the RED CLOUD was out of danger, Far from it.The storm wasincreasing in violence, and the hailstones seemed to double in number.Then,too, being forced upward as she was, the airship's bag was pelted all thePage 39ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlharder, for the speed of the craft, added to the velocity of the fallingchunks of hail, made them strike on the surface of the ship with greaterviolence.Tom was anxiously watching the barograph, to note their height.The RED CLOUDwas now about two and a half miles high, and slowly mounting upward.The gasmachine was working to its fullest capacity, and the fact that they did notrise more quickly told Tom, more plainly than words could have done, thatthere were several additional leaks in the gasbag."I'll take her up another thousand feet," he announced grimly."Then, ifwe're not above the storm it will be useless to go higher.""Why?" asked Ned, who had come back to stand beside his chum."Because we can't possibly get above the storm without tearing the ship topieces.I had rather descend.""But won't that be just as bad?"Tom Swift in the Caves of IceCHAPTER XIII.A FRIGHTENED INDIAN45"Not necessarily.There are often storms in the upper regions which do notget down to the surface of the earth, snow and hail storms particularly.Hail, you know, is supposed to be formed by drops of rain being hurled up anddown in a sort of circular, spiral motion through alternate strata ofairfirst freezing and then warm, which accounts for the onionlike layers seenwhen a hailstone is cut in half.""That is right," broke in Mr.Parker, who was listening to the younginventor."By going down this hail storm may change into a harmless rainstorm.But, in spite of that fact, we are in a dangerous climate, where wemust expect all sorts of queer happenings.""Nice, comfortable sort of a companion to have along on a gold huntingexpedition, isn't He?" asked Tom ofNed, making a wry face as Mr.Parker moved away."But I haven't any time tothink of that.Say, this is getting fierce!"Well might he say so.The wind had further increased in violence, and whilethe storm of hailstones seemed to be about the same, the missiles had nearlydoubled in size."Better go down," advised Ned."We may fall if you don't.""Guess I will," assented Tom."There's no use going higher.I doubt if Icould, anyhow, with all this wind pressure, and with the gas bag leaking.Down she is!"As he spoke he shifted the levers, and changed the valve wheels.In aninstant the RED CLOUD began to shoot toward the earth."What's happened? What in th' name of Bloody Gulch are we up ag'in'?"demanded the old miner, springing to his feet."We're going downthat's all," answered Tom, calmly, but he was far fromfeeling that way, and he had grave fears for the safety of himself and hiscompanions.Down, down, down went the RED CLOUD, in the midst of the hail storm.But ifthe goldseekers had hoped to escape the pelting of the frozen globules theywere mistaken.The stones still seemed to increase in size and number.Thegas machine register showed a sudden lack of pressure, not due to theshutting off of the apparatus."Look!" cried Ned, pointing to the dial."Yesmore punctures," said Tom, grimly."What's to be done?" asked Mr.Damon, who had finished the task Tom allottedto him."Bless my handkerchief! what's to be done?""Seek shelter if the storm doesn't stop when we get to the earth level,"answered Tom."Shelter? What sort of shelter? There are no airship sheds in this desolateregion."Page 40ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I may be able to send the ship under some overhanging mountain crag,"answered the young inventor, "and that will keep off the hailstones."Eagerly Tom and Ned, who stood together in the pilothouse peered forwardthrough the storm.Tom Swift in the Caves of IceCHAPTER XIII.A FRIGHTENED INDIAN46The wind was less violent now that they were in the lower currents of air,but the hail had not ceased.Suddenly Tom gave a cry.Ned looked at him anxiously.Had some new calamitybefallen them? But Tom's voice sounded more in relief than in alarm.The nextinstant he called:"Look ahead there, Ned, and tell me what you see.""I see something big and black," answered the other lad, after a moment'shesitation."Why, it's a big black hole!" he added."That's what I made it out to be," went on Tom, "but I wanted to be sure.It's the opening to a cave or hole in the side of the mountain.I take it.""You're right," agreed Ned."Then we're safe," declared Tom."Safe? How?""I'm going to take the RED CLOUD in there out of the storm.""Can you do it? Is the opening big enough?""Plenty.It's larger than my shed at home, Jove! but I'm glad I saw that intime, or there would have been nothing left of the gasbag!"With skilful hands Tom turned the rudders and sent the airship down on aslant toward the earth, aiming for the entrance to the cave, which loomed upin the storm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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