“My specimens!” shouted the professor, making a dive for his room, where he kept the boxes.
Jerry rushed out on deck, and looked down over the rail. The airship was now stationary, though the propellers were buzzing around, and the tall lad soon saw the reason for the sudden halt.
They were over a farmyard, and the anchor rope, to which was attached a grapple, with several prongs, had caught under the cornice of a large barn, holding the Comet securely. And, strewn on the earth, at one side of the structure, were splintered boards and pieces of timber that had been ripped off, as the dangling, sharp-pointed anchor had caught in the eaves and tore along, ripping off part of the roof. Then the craft, as the anchor met a solid timber, had come to a stop.
As Jerry looked down, there rushed out from the farmhouse an angry farmer. In his hands he held a gun, which he pointed at the airship.
“Don’t ye dare t’ move!” he yelled. “Don’t ye stir! I’ve got th’ drop on ye, an’ I’m goin’ t’ keep it! [Ye don’t stir a step till ye come down an’ settle fer th’ damage.] Ye well-nigh ripped my barn apart, an’ I jest had it fixed. Come down, ye rapscallions! Don’t ye stir a step till ye pay me!”
[“YE DON’T STIR A STEP TILL YE COME DOWN AN’ SETTLE FER TH’ DAMAGE.”]
He shook his gun menacingly.
“I guess we’re not likely to stir, until we get the anchor loose, at any rate,” remarked Jerry coolly, for he had gotten over his fright when he saw that the airship was not damaged.
Then, as the craft had no longer any forward motion, and as this is vitally necessary to every aeroplane, the Comet began to settle down rapidly, almost on the roof of the barn.