Robur-le-conquerant. English

by Jules Verne

  Chapter XXII

  THE GO-AHEAD IS LAUNCHED

  On the following 19th of April, seven months after the unexpectedreturn of Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, Philadelphia was in a stateof unwonted excitement. There were neither elections nor meetingsthis time. The aerostat "Go-Ahead," built by the Weldon Institute,was to take possession of her natural element.

  The celebrated Harry W. Tinder, whose name we mentioned at thebeginning of this story, had been engaged as aeronaut. He had noassistant, and the only passengers were to be the president andsecretary of the Weldon Institute.

  Did they not merit such an honor? Did it not come to themappropriately to rise in person to protest against any apparatus thatwas heavier than air?

  During the seven months, however, they had said nothing of theiradventures; and even Frycollin had not uttered a whisper of Robur andhis wonderful clipper. Probably Uncle Prudent and his friend desiredthat no question should arise as to the merits of the aeronef, or anyother flying machine.

  Although the "Go-Ahead" might not claim the first place among aeriallocomotives, they would have nothing to say about the inventions ofother aviators. They believed, and would always believe, that thetrue atmospheric vehicle was the aerostat, and that to it alonebelonged the future.

  Besides, he on whom they had been so terribly--and in their idea sojustly--avenged, existed no longer. None of those who accompaniedhim had survived. The secret of the "Albatross" was buried in thedepths of the Pacific!

  That Robur had a retreat, an island in the middle of that vast ocean,where he could put into port, was only a hypothesis; and thecolleagues reserved to themselves the right of making inquiries onthe subject later on. The grand experiment which the Weldon Institutehad been preparing for so long was at last to take place. The"Go-Ahead" was the most perfect type of what had up to then beeninvented in aerostatic art--she was what an "Inflexible" or a"Formidable" is in ships of war.

  She possessed all the qualities of a good aerostat. Her dimensionsallowed of her rising to the greatest height a balloon could attain;her impermeability enabled her to remain for an indefinite time inthe atmosphere; her solidity would defy any dilation of gas orviolence of wind or rain; her capacity gave her sufficientascensional force to lift with all their accessories an electricengine that would communicate to her propellers a power superior toanything yet obtained. The "Go-Ahead" was of elongated form, so as tofacilitate her horizontal displacement. Her car was a platformsomewhat like that of the balloon used by Krebs and Renard; and itcarried all the necessary outfit, instruments, cables, grapnels,guide-ropes, etc., and the piles and accumulators for the mechanicalpower. The car had a screw in front, and a screw and rudder behind.But probably the work done by the machines would be very much lessthan that done by the machines of the "Albatross."

  The "Go-Ahead" had been taken to the clearing in Fairmount Park, tothe very spot where the aeronef had landed for a few hours.

  Her ascensional power was due to the very lightest of gaseous bodies.Ordinary lighting gas possesses an elevating force of about 700 gramsfor every cubic meter. But hydrogen possesses an ascensional forceestimated at 1,100 grams per cubic meter. Pure hydrogen preparedaccording to the method of the celebrated Henry Gifford filled theenormous balloon. And as the capacity of the "Go-Ahead" was 40,000cubic meters, the ascensional power of the gas she contained was40,000 multiplied by 1,100 or 44,000 kilograms.

  On this 29th of April everything was ready. Since eleven o'clock theenormous aerostat had been floating a few feet from the ground readyto rise in mid-air. It was splendid weather and seemed to have beenmade specially for the experiment, although if the breeze had beenstronger the results might have been more conclusive. There had neverbeen any doubt that a balloon could be guided in a calm atmosphere;but to guide it when the atmosphere is in motion is quite anotherthing; and it is under such circumstances that the experiment shouldbe tried.

  But there was no wind today, nor any sign of any. Strange to say,North America on that day omitted to send on to Europe one of thosefirst-class storms which it seems to have in such inexhaustiblenumbers. A better day could not have been chosen for an aeronauticexperiment.

  The crowd was immense in Fairmount Park; trains had poured into thePennsylvania capital sightseers from the neighboring states;industrial and commercial life came to a standstill that the peoplemight troop to the show-master, workmen, women, old men, children,members of Congress, soldiers, magistrates, reporters, white nativesand black natives, all were there. We need not stop to describe theexcitement, the unaccountable movements, the sudden pushings, whichmade the mass heave and swell. Nor need we recount the number ofcheers which rose from all sides like fireworks when Uncle Prudentand Phil Evans appeared on the platform and hoisted the Americancolors. Need we say that the majority of the crowd had come from afarnot so much to see the "Go-Ahead" as to gaze on these extraordinarymen?

  Why two and not three? Why not Frycollin? Because Frycollin thoughthis campaign in the "Albatross" sufficient for his fame. He haddeclined the honor of accompanying his master, and he took no part inthe frenzied declamations that greeted the president and secretary ofthe Weldon Institute.

  Of the members of the illustrious assembly not one was absent fromthe reserved places within the ropes. There were Truck Milnor, Bat T.Fynn, and William T. Forbes with his two daughters on his arm. Allhad come to affirm by their presence that nothing could separate themfrom the partisans of "lighter than air."

  About twenty minutes past eleven a gun announced the end of the finalpreparations. The "Go-Ahead" only waited the signal to start. Attwenty-five minutes past eleven the second gun was fired.

  The "Go-Ahead" was about one hundred and fifty feet above theclearing, and was held by a rope. In this way the platform commandedthe excited crowd. Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans stood upright andplaced their left hands on their hearts, to signify how deeply theywere touched by their reception. Then they extended their right handstowards the zenith, to signify that the greatest of known balloonswas about to take possession of the supra-terrestrial domain.

  A hundred thousand hands were placed in answer on a hundred thousandhearts, and a hundred thousand other hands were lifted to the sky.

  The third gun was fired at half-past eleven. "Let go!" shouted UnclePrudent; and the "Go-Ahead" rose "majestically"--an adverbconsecrated by custom to all aerostatic ascents.

  It really was a superb spectacle. It seemed as if a vessel were justlaunched from the stocks. And was she not a vessel launched into theaerial sea? The "Go-Ahead" went up in a perfectly vertical line--aproof of the calmness of the atmosphere--and stopped at an altitudeof eight hundred feet.

  Then she began her horizontal maneuvering. With her screws going shemoved to the east at a speed of twelve yards a second. That is thespeed of the whale--not an inappropriate comparison, for the balloonwas somewhat of the shape of the giant of the northern seas.

  A salvo of cheers mounted towards the skillful aeronauts. Then underthe influence of her rudder, the "Go-Ahead" went through all theevolutions that her steersman could give her. She turned in a smallcircle; she moved forwards and backwards in a way to convince themost refractory disbeliever in the guiding of balloons. And if therehad been any disbeliever there he would have been simply annihilated.

  But why was there no wind to assist at this magnificent experiment?It was regrettable. Doubtless the spectators would have seen the"Go-Ahead" unhesitatingly execute all the movements of asailing-vessel in beating to windward, or of a steamer driving in thewind's eye.

  At this moment the aerostat rose a few hundred yards. The maneuverwas understood below. Uncle Prudent and his companions were going insearch of a breeze in the higher zones, so as to complete theexperiment. The system of cellular balloons--analogous to theswimming bladder in fishes--into which could be introduced a certainamount of air by pumping, had provided for this vertical motion.Without throwing out ballast or losing gas the aeronaut was able torise or sink at his will. Of course there wa
s a valve in the upperhemisphere which would permit of a rapid descent if found necessary.All these contrivances are well known, but they were here fitted inperfection.

  The "Go-Ahead" then rose vertically. Her enormous dimensionsgradually grew smaller to the eye, and the necks of the crowd werealmost cricked as they gazed into the air. Gradually the whale becamea porpoise, and the porpoise became a gudgeon. The ascensionalmovement did not cease until the "Go-Ahead" had reached a height offourteen thousand feet. But the air was so free from mist that sheremained clearly visible.

  However, she remained over the clearing as if she were a fixture. Animmense bell had imprisoned the atmosphere and deprived it ofmovement; not a breath of wind was there, high or low. The aerostatmaneuvered without encountering any resistance, seeming very smallowing to the distance, much as if she were being looked at throughthe wrong end of a telescope.

  Suddenly there was a shout among the crowd, a shout followed by ahundred thousand more. All hands were stretched towards a point on thehorizon. That point was the northwest. There in the deep azureappeared a moving body, which was approaching and growing larger. Wasit a bird beating with its wings the higher zones of space? Was it anaerolite shooting obliquely through the atmosphere? In any case, itsspeed was terrific, and it would soon be above the crowd. A suspicioncommunicated itself electrically to the brains of all on the clearing.

  But it seemed as though the "Go-Ahead" had sighted this strangeobject. Assuredly it seemed as though she feared some danger, for herspeed was increased, and she was going east as fast as she could.

  Yes, the crowd saw what it meant! A name uttered by one of themembers of the Weldon Institute was repeated by a hundred thousandmouths:

  "The "Albatross!" The "Albatross!""