LOOKING DOWN INTO SPACE.
“Not so much as you would think. And, besides, the loss is of no moment. We carry an immense quantity of the gas compressed in tubes at a pressure of many thousand pounds to the square inch. What loss there is can therefore always be made good at intervals. You will have a chance of watching our procedure very shortly, as we ‘sand up’ and replenish three or four gas-reservoirs at a sand-dune not very far distant.”
We passed through the gaily-lit passage back to the well, where for fifty feet above us the long stair curled upward to the citadel.
“These side walls,” observed Hartmann, “with those constituting the outer skin of the Attila, bound the huge gas compartments I mentioned. They are independent, so that serious accidents are impossible. In the cavities and corridors between them lie the cabins and quarters of the crew, the courts enclosed by which you must have noticed from the upper deck. All these courts open on to the outer gallery, and communicate by the deck with the common room. To the centre divisions of the ship, the engine-room, and the conning-tower, no one has access except with my leave. This,” and he opened a small carefully guarded door, “is the magazine.”
He pressed a button, and the gleam of a vacuum lamp pierced the darkness. Half awestruck I stepped within.
“There is nothing to see now. We have to be so cautious. Stay! look here.” He seized a ring and lifted a trap in the floor. I started back, for it opened into a well some three feet deep and then into the aërial abyss below!
“That well will vomit disaster one day.”
He let down the trap, and we left the gloomy chamber.
“The Attila, you see, Mr. Stanley, combines the advantages of the bird and the balloon, of the aëronef and the aërostat. It has been my dream from boyhood, and at last, after infinite pains, it is realized. Still, even for me it is but a means to an end. But you will admit it is not a bad one.”
We ascended the stairway and stepped on to the upper deck. Some twenty men were assembled, and they respectfully saluted my companion.