“Well, we can’t land here, that’s sure. We’ve got to take a chance. Me to the engines—we start dropping in five minutes.”
The floor of the cabin was nearly level; then it began to rock violently. From the alternate hum and silence of the engines, the others knew that Ned had begun the descent. Aside from that, the airship was as steady as ever.
In the meantime Buck busied himself in the cook’s galley, and when he finally emerged carrying steaming hot pots of coffee and savory-smelling victuals, you may well believe that the half frozen boys greeted him with enthusiasm. They shouted up to Ned through the speaking-tube:
“Lash the plane gears fast where they are and come on down. Buck’s got ready a fine lot of stuff for us to eat.”
“You boys go ahead and enjoy it without me for a little while,” Ned answered from his place in the pilot house. “I’m going to have just one more try at that broken lever.”
CHAPTER XVI
NED SAVES THE “FLYER’S” CREW
Dull despair gripped even the ordinarily cheerful Ned’s heart as he stared at the broken lever, flush with the metal work around the socket where it had defied all efforts to pry it up and loose. If only there were a half inch or so of the lever still projecting above the metal frame so that one might get a purchase on it with pincers, or—
“Silly that I am!” shouted Ned. “Here we have all been wasting our time and effort trying to pry the lever up, when we can just as easily rip off the metal top casing around the socket. That will certainly leave at least three-quarters of an inch of the lever sticking up where we can get at it. Boys! Oh, boys! Come here, quick, and bring some screw drivers, a cold chisel, a hammer, and a pair of good strong plyers with you!”
The other lads came running with the desired tools and Ned explained his idea in a few words. All looked at each other sheepishly, but with vast relief they began at once to carry out Ned’s instructions.