Chapter XI: The "meteor."

WHITTINGHAME conducted his companion to the open air by a different route from that by which they had gained the subterranean workshops. It was a fairly broad way, of quite recent construction, and sloping gently for quite eighty yards and finishing, up by a steep incline.

Dacres found himself in the midst of a thick wood, an avenue the width of the passage terminating at the rear of a large shed. But instead of entering the building, Whittinghame broke away to the left by a narrow footpath, which by a circuitous route gained the open space where Dacres had obtained his first glimpse of the returning airship.

At first he was puzzled. There was the circular clearing with its closely-mown grass, but no signs of the five airship-sheds.

Pulling out a whistle Whittinghame gave two sharp blasts. This signal was almost immediately followed by the appearance of three men clad in dungaree suits.

"Open up No I. shed, Parsons," ordered the "Meteor's" owner, then turning to his companion he observed: "That's my chief engineer. He is absolutely part and parcel of the 'Meteor's' machinery. What he doesn't know about motors is hardly worth troubling about. Now watch."

The engineer and his two assistants disappeared behind a clump of trees. Then, even as Dacres looked, a number of lofty pines moved bodily sideways with regimental precision, disclosing the end of one of the sheds that he had seen overnight.

"We have to disguise our sheds as much as possible," said Whittinghame. "Those trees are dummies set in a base that travels on wheels on a pair of rails. They would defy detection unless anyone were warned as to their nature. The roof too, is covered with artificial tree-tops. An airman passing overhead would have no idea that there were five sheds each two hundred and forty feet in length, forty-five feet in height and forty in breadth hidden in this comparatively small wood. Now, this is the bow section of the 'Meteor.' A noble craft, I think you'll admit."

As soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the semi-gloom Dacres saw that the pointed bow was facing him, while on either side of the main fabric was a smaller cylinder open at each end.

"Those contain the propellers," explained his guide. "The airship has four cylinders with two propellers in each. The foremost propeller works at 1,200 revolutions per minute, and the backdraught is taken up by the rear propeller, which runs at twice that speed. The cylinders form a partial silencer, so that, except through an arc of about eleven degrees, its centre parallel to the major axis of the airship, the whirr of the blades is practically inaudible when at a height of two hundred or more feet above the ground. Do you notice those plates of metal lying against the outer envelope?"

"One above and one underneath the propeller covering?"

"Yes, those are the elevating planes and rudders, 'housed' for the time being to allow the craft to enter her shed. The motors are in the centre of the body, the propeller shafting being chain-driven." "What do you use--petrol?" asked Dacres.

Whittinghame shook his head.

"Too dangerous," he replied. "We use cordite."

"Eh?" ejaculated Dacres incredulously.

"Yes, cordite: the ideal fuel for internal combustion engines. You must be perfectly aware of the properties of cordite. In the open air and not under pressure it burns slowly; but under pressure its explosive capabilities are enormous. Our motors are actuated by introducing small charges of cordite into the cylinders and exploding them by electricity. The principle is similar to that of a maxim gun, only of course we don't use cartridges on a belt. The cylinder chamber itself acts as a cartridge case. Suppose we go aboard?"

Whittinghame indicated a wire rope-ladder running from a doorway about twenty feet from the ground.

"The whole of the underbody of the outer envelope is watertight," he remarked. "The 'Meteor' can float on the sea if necessary. Of course there are observation scuttles and bomb-dropping ports, but these can be hermetically sealed."

Agilely Dacres swarmed up the swinging ladder and passed through the doorway. He found himself in a room twenty feet square, and ten in height, with circular ports on one side and doors on the transverse bulkheads. In the floor were two rectangular openings furnished with plate-glass, but for the time being shuttered on the outside by closely-fitting slides.

"This is our forward bomb-dropping compartment," continued Whittinghame as he regained his companion. "The devices for that purpose are behind that partition. All the ammunition is stored in the 'midship or No. 3 section and transported along these rails as required. We also keep stores here, the idea being that should the various sections of the airship have to part company each will be self-supporting in a double sense.

"The next compartment for'ard contains the mechanism for actuating the vertical rudders. Above that are the motor-rooms, while right for'ard are the twin navigation-rooms. We'll have a look at the motor-rooms first of all. By the by, those are the cylinders for storing the ultra-hydrogen under pressure. At the present moment the dead weight of this section is less than fifty pounds."

"But we weigh more than that," observed Dacres.

"Quite so; but the buoyancy is automatically maintained. As you crossed the threshold of the doorway you stepped upon a plate resembling the floor of aweigh-bridge. At once a sufficient quantity of ultra-hydrogen is introduced into the ballonettes to counteract your weight, and, in fact, the weight of any person or article brought on board."

"I'm afraid I'm curious," said Dacres, "but what will happen when we go 'ashore'? Will the volume of the gas in the ballonettes be correspondingly reduced?"

"Yes, but not wholly automatically. You will have to record your weight on an indicator, and the adjustment then takes place. That dial you see on the bulkhead gives the total lifting power of the whole of the ballonettes. That instrument to the left makes the necessary compensating adjustments to the airship according to the temperature, altitude, and amount of moisture in the air."

In the starboard engine-room Dacres noticed that each of the two motors had four cylinders of comparatively small bore considering the horsepower developed.

"These are not air-cooled?" he asked pointing to the motors.

"No, water-cooled. This system serves a dual purpose, for the water circulates throughout all the cabins of the section, and if necessary through Nos. 2 and 3 section as well, thus affording a warmth that is appreciated when we are flying at a great altitude. Ten to twelve thousand feet is our favourite height, for then we can command a field of vision--provided the atmosphere is clear--of anything up to one hundred and twenty miles. Now for the upper navigation-room--your future post."

This compartment was situated under the commencement of the tapering portion of the envelope, its roof and walls being formed by the rounded surface of the outer skin. Here there were several observation panes, so that a fairly extensive view could be obtained. It was impossible, however, to see immediately below, and on this account the necessity of a second navigation-room was apparent.

It reminded Dacres strongly of the conning-tower of a battleship, except that the scuttles were much larger than the slits in the armoured walls of the latter. A standard compass, chart-table, gauges, indicator, voice-tubes, and telephones left very little space unoccupied.

Professional habit prompted Dacres to unfasten a sextant case and critically examine the instrument. "Can't say I altogether like this chap," he observed bluntly. "If you don't mind I'll use my own sextant. It's with the rest of my luggage at Fenchurch Street Station."

"We'll send for it, by all means," said Whittinghame. "I frankly admit that I'm not much use at fixing positions, and one sextant is very much like another to me. The difficulty of getting hold of a competent navigator worried me considerably until you trespassed upon my property. I'm jolly glad you did."

"And so am I," said Dacres cordially.

"Now you've seen practically everything of importance in the foremost section," continued his companion. "The rest of the available space is taken up with ballonettes. No. 2 section is devoted to crew space, stores, and of course more ballonettes. No. 3 contains the wireless-room, the ammunition and reserve of cordite for propelling purposes, in No. 4 the officers are berthed, while the aftermost, or No. 5, is practically identical with No. 1."

"But how are the various divisions kept in position?" asked Dacres.

"By means of double-cam action bolts. The 'Meteor' is of a semi-rigid type. Her great length would be a positive danger if she were otherwise, while she would be most awkward to manoeuvre. As it is we can turn her in a radius equal to twice her length. In violent air-currents she 'whips' considerably; it's a weird experience until you get accustomed to it, but therein lies another proof of safety. It is analogous to the case of a tall chimney that sways in a gale. If it didn't it would snap like a carrot.

"The upper surface of the envelope is flattened, and we have a promenade deck exactly one thousand feet in length. Of course it is only available when we are running at a greatly reduced speed or are brought up. At a very high rate of speed you would be unable to keep your feet and run a great risk of having the air forced out of your lungs."

"A most marvellous craft!" exclaimed Dacres enthusiastically. "How I shall enjoy a cruise in her!"

"I hope you will," added Whittinghame gravely.

"Are you making another trip before you take her to Portsmouth?"

"I think not. I do not believe in purposeless flights. Her final trials have been successfully passed, and now nothing remains to be done until she is required to perform some task for the well-being of the British nation."

As the two men prepared to descend the ladder Whittinghame suddenly remarked:--

"You'll meet the rest of the officers to-night, Dacres. Hambrough, our doctor, turns up at five. You'll like him, I think. He's a real good sort, and as keen as anything on the voyage. I don't suppose he'll have much to do, for these high altitudes are so beastly healthy; but there's no telling. He hasn't seen the 'Meteor' yet; in fact, he's only just resigned his post as medical officer to a North of England hospital. Setchell, who will be next in seniority to you, is at present on leave. We dropped him near his home at Plymouth about three weeks ago. He had urgent domestic affairs to demand his attention, and our wireless man here got in touch with us as we were passing over the Pennines. We made a rattling good run down to Plymouth--rattling good--but cut it rather fine in getting back here. I was almost afraid that we should be spotted, but luckily we descended without being detected. Setchell will also be here at about the same time. Callaghan will pick the pair of them up at Holmsley Station. By Jove! It's close on five already. How time flies when you're busy. We had better get back to the house."