“Oh, just look about,” replied Alice. “We only came on the noon train, and we haven’t seen anything yet. Have you?”
“I should say we had,” replied Ned. “We saw Noddy Nixon try to fly, and we saw a man try out his aeroplane.”
“Did Noddy really fly?” asked Mollie.
“Well, not so’s you could notice it,” replied Ned with grim humor, and the other boys laughed.
“There is going to be an exhibition of dirigible balloons this afternoon,” announced Andy Rush, consulting his program. “We ought to take that in.”
“We sure will,” declared Jerry. “Now, what will we do until it’s time for them?”
“Let’s go for a spin in the car and cool off after dinner,” proposed Bob, and his idea was voted a good one. There was room, with a little squeezing, for all of them, and they went out in the suburbs for several miles, returning in time to see several big balloons in process of inflation.
Hydrogen gas, manufactured on the grounds by means of sulphuric acid and iron filings, was the lifting power of the balloons. There were several of them, built in different shapes and sizes, but on the same principle.
That is, they depended on the lifting power of the gas to get them up in the air. Once elevated there were motors, working propeller blades, to send them along, a box-kite arrangement for slanting up higher or descending, and a rudder to steer to right or left. These attachments were contained in a light framework car, which was fastened to the gas bag by means of a network of cords. All the gas bags were cigar-shaped, none of the old-fashioned globular ones being used.
“This will be worth watching,” prophesied Jerry. “There will be no danger to us, and we can see several in the air at once. There’ll probably be a race. Let’s get a place where there isn’t such a crowd.”