The telegrams, with a note of explanation, had been encased in light wooden cylinders, with ribbons attached. As the motor ship passed over the center of the city the boys dropped their messages. They could see the people running after them, waving their hands, and shouting, but they could distinguish no words.
“We’ll go up now,” observed the inventor; and while a vast concourse of people gazed upward at the strange sight, the Comet was headed upward.
A little later it was sailing over the broad Mississippi River, and the travelers in the air crossed from the State of Mississippi to that of Louisiana.
They continued to go up for some time, and then Mr. Glassford, desiring to make as long a flight as possible, now that it was impossible to land at New Orleans, steered due west, intending to cross over into Texas if possible.
“We must make as long a flight as we can,” he explained, “and if we go much farther south we’ll be over the Gulf. Our ship is behaving admirably, and there is no reason why we cannot cover part of Texas.”
“Have we gasolene enough?” asked Jerry.
“Enough for about six hundred miles yet, and that will just about do it,” said the inventor.