Bob rushed to the window and threw it open. The rain blew in fiercely, but he did not mind that as he lifted his face upward and scanned the skies.
Against the lowering clouds he could at first see nothing. Then his eyes discerned what seemed to him a long cigar-shaped object hovering a few hundred feet above the earth.
He dashed the raindrops from his eyes and looked again. This time the shape seemed to be nearer, and he could see more clearly.
“I think I see it!” he cried, and his comrades and the captain crowded about him to get a look.
“That’s it!” proclaimed the captain. “I saw her more than once while she was making her trial tests. But I can just see the stern now. She’s passing directly over the house.”
“Let’s go to the attic!” cried Joe. “We can see through the skylight.”
They all hurried up the stairs, and through the skylight could plainly see the mammoth airship, which was now so close that she could be discerned very distinctly.
“She’s dangerously close!” cried the captain. “Closer to the ground than her pilot knows. He ought to be told. But you have only a receiving set.”
“I’ll ’phone to Doctor Dale,” cried Bob. “He has a strong transmitter, and knows how to use it.”
He rushed downstairs and got Doctor Dale on the telephone. The latter’s quick intelligence grasped the situation instantly.