Bert realized the danger to men working on the top of the 225 foot, 600 ton door, and he nodded grimly. There was something decidedly wrong, for specific orders had been issued that the doors were never to be opened unless Andy or Capt. Harkins were at the controls of the motors which moved the giant doors.
“Come on,” cried Andy. “We’ve got to stop that door.”
They left the office and jumped into Andy’s roadster which was parked nearby. With a clashing of hastily shifted gears, they roared along the outside of the hangar. While they dashed toward the end, the door continued its slow, relentless movement. At the top they could see a half dozen men clinging to the girders. The control room for the doors was on the other side and Andy whipped his roadster around the end of the hangar. He was out of the machine before it stopped and raced toward the motor room with Bert at his heels.
There was no one at the control board and the powerful motors were humming softly. With one swift movement Andy shut off the power and the great door stopped.
“Run outside and tell that crew on top of the door to hang on for another five minutes,” Andy told Bert. “Warn them to hold on tight when I start rolling the door in.”
The radio operator departed on the run and Andy, looking through a window, saw Bert megaphone with his hands and shout the warning to the desperate crew clinging on top of the door.
Andy threw over the controls and turned on the motors. He let the clutch which operated the door mechanism in easily and the great “orange peel” moved slowly back into place.
While the motors sang at their task, Andy’s mind was busy over this near tragedy. It could not have been an accident by the furthest stretch of the imagination for motors do not start all by themselves and clutches do not jump into place without a guiding hand. In the last two weeks there had been one minor accident after another. It had been maddening. The Goliath was scheduled to make its trial flights in two more months and there wast much remaining to be done. Each little delay meant valuable time lost and Andy had about come to the conclusion that a deliberate attempt was being made to delay the construction of the great ship. He promised himself that there would be a thorough investigation of this latest incident.
The door finally rolled into place and the half dozen men who had been in danger of their lives quickly climbed down to a place of safety.
Andy disengaged the clutch and shut off the motors. Bert returned and they made a thorough inspection of the little room but found nothing which would identify the man who had started the motors.