CHAPTER V
Final Preparations
On the tenth day of June, Dr. Anderwelt had written me as follows:
"Please catch the 7.25 train on the Lake Shore for Whiting this evening. I will take the same train, and we will walk from Whiting to a deserted railway siding two miles further on, where the projectile has been shipped. We will unload it from the flat car and take it into a grove of scrub oaks on the shore of Lake Michigan, near by. This will be enough to demonstrate to you our control of gravity. The experimental model is there also, and we will send it off on a trip if you like. Everything will be ready for the start to Mars to-morrow night."
I dined early and caught the train specified at Twenty-Second Street.The doctor was looking for me from the rear platform of a car. It was alocal train, and crept slowly out through the smoky blackness of SouthChicago, illuminated here and there by the flaming chimneys of her greatiron furnaces, to the little city of pungent smells, of petroleum tanksand oil refineries, in Northern Indiana. The doctor was explaining thedifficulties he had experienced in getting a companion for the trip.
"Men whom I could hire for mere wages are not intelligent enough tounderstand the workings of the projectile, or to comprehend the risksthey may run. Besides, their companionship and assistance during thetrip through space and on a new planet is worth nothing. On the otherhand, I could not afford to go about explaining the workings of soimportant an invention miscellaneously to people capable ofunderstanding it in an experimental search for a companion. I might notfind one among twenty, and I would be tossing my secrets to the winds,and inviting all the daily papers to send their representatives toreport the start. My reputation as a scientist, on the other side, istoo dear to me to risk a public failure. If the projectile acts, as I amconfident it must, on our return we shall take out letters patent andform our company to exploit the business features. But primarily, thisis a test of the projectile and a journey of exploration and research.Business afterward."
Naturally on this point we had disagreed. My motto had always been"Business first!" and I had desired to have the patents securedimmediately. But the doctor would not consent to the filing of therequired specifications and claims, lest his secrets should be learnedbefore success was demonstrated. As a compromise, the doctor had agreedto leave the necessary descriptions and data in a sealed envelope withme, which I was to be at liberty to open and place on record at any timeduring the doctor's absence that I might deem it necessary in order toprotect our rights.
"Whom have you finally secured to go with you, then?" I asked.
"I will tell you that after we have finished to-night's work," said thedoctor, and then abruptly changed the subject.
The walk from Whiting was inspiriting. It was a beautiful night. Therewas not a cloud in the sky and no Moon, which made the stars all thebrighter. Everything was still, save the constant lapping of the greatlake on the sandy shore, but a short way off.
"Yonder is the mustard seed planted in the heavens, which shall growinto a whole new world for us!" exclaimed the doctor, pointing out aparticularly bright star. "That is Mars rushing on to opposition. In sixweeks he will be nearest to the Earth; so for that time he will beflying to meet us. To-morrow is our last day on Earth; to-morrow nightthe ether! And in six weeks, diminutive but mighty man will have knowntwo worlds!"
"There you go, soaring again!" I cried. "Let us keep on practicalsubjects. What have the foundry people who built this thing, and therailroad people who brought it down here, thought about its probableuse? Have they not guessed something?"
"You may trust the popular mind not to guess flying unless it seeswings! They have imagined this is a new sort of torpedo, sent down herefor a private trial in the lake. In fact, the conductor of the freighttrain, who switched the car off here, asked me in a confidential way ifhe should get teams and men and help me to launch her? I have fosteredthis idea, and really had the projectile sent here to carry out thatimpression."
A more fitting place for an unobserved start could not have beenselected, however. All this part of the country is a sandy waste, with asparse growth of scrub oaks and but little vegetation. There are nofarms, and the nearest houses are at Whiting. No one could see our work,except, possibly, the passengers from occasional trains, which rushed bywithout stopping, and were infrequent at this time of day.
As we were arriving, I stood off at some distance to observe the blackobject on the open car. It was five feet through, and twenty feet long,not counting the rudder, which was now entirely drawn into the rear end.
"Looks exactly like a cigar," I said. "Sharp and pointed in front,slightly swelled in the middle, and cut squarely off behind. Only it istoo thick for its length, of course."
But the doctor already had the rear port-hole open. This was two feet indiameter, and permitted a rather awkward entrance to the rearcompartment. The interior was crowded with boxes, as yet unpacked,containing scientific instruments, tinned foods, biscuits, meatextracts, condensed milk and coffee, bottled fruits, vegetables, and thelike. Over these the doctor worked his way to the forward compartment,while I followed him, anxious to explore the interior.
"I will unpack all these goods and put them in their places to-morrowforenoon," explained the doctor. "Here, in my compartment on the left, Ihave my gravity apparatus, battery cells and the like, and a small tablefor writing and other work. On the right is the bunk on which I sleep,and under it is the big telescope, neatly fitted and swinging up easilyinto place before the mica window."
"Has the compressed air been put in yet?" I inquired.
"Oh, yes, that had to be done in the city, where they have powerful aircompressors. I would have preferred this purer air out here, but it wasimpossible. The air we put in only increased the weight of theprojectile eighteen pounds, but it will be sufficient for two of us forsix months. We were obliged to make the most careful and thorough testsfor leaks in the air-chambers; for if there were any of these, our lifewould leak out with the air."
"And such airless satellites as the Moon will make the most desperateefforts to steal your atmosphere, too!" I added.
"Yes, but we will give them only our foul air as a small stock-in-tradewith which they may begin business. But I see my batteries arecommencing to work nicely. I think I can lift her now. You go outsideand make a hitch with that rope you saw just forward of the middle ofthe projectile. Then, when I have neutralized her weight, you tow herover beyond that clump of trees you saw near the shore. That will be outof the view of trains."
"Must I concentrate my mind or keep my thoughts fixed on anything?" Iasked quizzically.
"Rubbish! Concentrate it on this. If the projectile starts up, don't tryto hold her with your little rope. Let go quickly, or you may getuncomfortable holding on!"
I went outside, untied the coil of rope and threw one end over. Meantimethe doctor had opened the forward window, so that he might givedirections, and I said to him,--
"I can't get the rope under her; she is lying flat on the car."
"Wait a moment and I will lift her for you," he replied. The railroadties rose a little out of the sand, and there was a slight creaking ofthe woodwork of the car as the weight came off. Presently the forwardend of the projectile rose slowly an inch, two inches!
"That's enough!" I cried, thrusting the rope under, and she settled backgently. Having made my knot, I went out to the other end of the rope,about thirty feet distant. Forgetting the doctor's injunction about nothanging on, I wrapped the rope around my body, worked my feet firmlyinto the sand, and finally cried out, "All ready!"
There was a faint creaking of the car again, and soon the doctor said,"Pull away!" I threw all my force into the effort and gave a tremendousheave, and tumbled over backwards. Had I not done so, the projectilemust have hit me as it glided rapidly from the car, sinking very slowlyto the sand about fifty feet away. I scrambled to my feet, went in frontagain, and easily dragged it along on the sand to an open place justbeyond t
he trees. There the doctor allowed it to settle. It sank intothe loose sand about eight inches, remaining steady in this position.
"She works beautifully!" I cried. "How I would like to see her turnedloose for a real flight!"
"That will come to-morrow night," said the doctor, crawling out of theport-hole. "But if you will help me remove these boxes from theexperimental model, you shall see it lost in the sky." We uncovered anddragged out a small steel thing, about the same shape as the projectile,but less than a foot thick and four feet long. It had a lid opening intoits batteries from the top. The doctor entered his compartment tosecure some chemicals.
"If you have no further use for this model," I suggested, "why notcreate a very strong current and let it sail off into indefinite space?"
"Very well; I don't wish to leave it behind me for some one to discover,and I can't take it along. We will send it off for a long trip, and ifit falls back it will be into the lake."
"Wait a moment, then! Let's put a good-bye message in it;" and so sayingI took an old envelope from my pocket and wrote on the back of it with apencil in a bold hand: "Farewell to Earth for ever!" Laughing, I putthis inside and closed the lid.
Then the doctor turned down a thumb-screw upon a little wire whichconnected the poles, and stepped back quickly. Presently the forward endbegan to rise slowly, until it stood upright, but there it hesitated.The doctor stepped forward and gave the thumb-screw a hard turn down,and the model lifted immediately, rising at first gradually, but soonshooting off with the whizz of a rocket over the lake. We watched it aslong as we could distinguish its dark outline.
"It will go a long way," said the doctor. "I have never seen it make sogood a start. It will lose itself in the lake far from here."
We fastened up the front window and the port-hole, and started back toWhiting, where the doctor was to remain all night, so as to begin workearly in the morning. Presently, as we walked along, the doctor said,--
"Well, Isidor, now you have seen a practical demonstration of theelementary working of the projectile. You also have some idea of allthere is to be discovered up yonder in the red planet. You are the mostinterested in making and profiting by those discoveries. I want you toconsent to go along."
"Haven't you secured a companion, then?" I inquired.
"Yes, I have a friend, a countryman of mine here, who will go wherever Isay. He appreciates neither the risks nor the opportunities of the trip,still he will take my word for everything. Yet if I ask him to go I takethe responsibility of his life as well as my own. He is not a suitableman, however, and I have really relied on you to come," he insisted.
"My dear doctor, I have every faith in you and in the projectile, and Iprophesy a most successful trip. I should like nothing better than theadventure; but you must not count on me; I could not leave my business.There's a fever in my blood that thirsts for it!"
"Your business, indeed! You will never really amount to much till youhave left it. It's half a throw of dice and the other half a struggle ofcut-throats!"
"That is what people say who know nothing at all about it," I retorted."It occupies a large and important place in the world's commerce.Besides, I could not well leave Ruth and my uncle."
"Isn't it time you did something to make her proud of you, and to beworthy the education which he gave you? You have a chance now to begreat. Isn't that worth ten chances to be rich? What would you havethought of Galileo if he hadn't had time to use the telescope afterinventing it, but had devoted his time and talent to the maccaronimarket? You are one man in ten million; you have an opportunity Columbuswould have been proud of! Will you neglect it for mere gold-grubbing?Leave that to the rest of your race and to this money-mad Chicago. Youcome along with me. Let's make this work-a-day world of ours take timeto stop and shake hands with her heavenly neighbours!"
"You tempt me to do it, Doctor! Can you wait two or three days for me?"
"I can, but Mars won't," he answered laconically. "Besides, you must nottell any one that you are going."
"If there are any two things I love, it's a secret and a hurry! I willbe here to-morrow night," I exclaimed.
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