And so we crawled back into the big machine and down into the lowest compartment, where the great vibrators and delicate mechanism were located. We worked hard for hours, under the most trying conditions, where heat and thirst were maddening, and feeling that every moment's delay brought us nearer the end of what we could stand. At last we effected what Torrence believed would be a temporary adjustment of the parts, for it was all we could do under the circumstances.
"With water and a cooler atmosphere I could make a perfect job," he declared; "but I am exhausted, and this must answer for the present."
We climbed up on deck again and touched the button and shoved over the lever. The glory of the next minute eclipsed every sensation of exultant joy, for the air ship rose like a Phoenix from the ashes and sailed. We dared not rise too high until better work should be done, but at fifty feet above the ground we again pressed ahead at twenty miles an hour. How long this would last we trembled to think, but more than forty minutes had elapsed before we observed any lessening of the speed; and then our hearts sank in proportion as we slowed down and dipped earthward.
The temperature had materially fallen, but there was still no water in sight, and our thirst was becoming unbearable, and at last the horrid thud, as we again touched the earth sickened us.
"Can we not patch her up again?" I asked.
"As a matter of fact, we can," said Torrence, "but the bearings won't hold as long as before, for the simple reason that I have not the physical strength to adjust them properly."
"Let us try it at all events, and for God's sake be quick about it." I felt that my thirst was overcoming me.
At the end of an hour we rose again, but this time not so high, nor could we go so fast, and at the expiration of twenty minutes we were again upon the ground.
And so all day long we repeated these terrible heart-breaking experiments, each time rising a little less, and falling a little sooner. I use the word day as a mere measure of time, as, of course, there was no darkness; and all daylong the blue mountains hung like a painting against the sky, and seemed to get no nearer. Our resources were nearly exhausted. We could not speak above a whisper. My throat ached, and the skin about my neck and cheeks felt like paper. But our salvation lay in the air ship; by no other possible means could we hope to escape the awful fate which threatened us.
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