“We didn’t make the engine,” explained Norman. “It represents all the money Moulton and I have ever saved, some we haven’t saved but expect to save, and all that we could borrow of our fathers. It’s eighty horse power, came all the way from France, and if anything happens to it, we’re bankrupt for life.”
The stranger smiled with a curious sparkle in his eyes, rubbed his chin, and without direct answer, remarked:
“It doesn’t seem an ordinary machine—looks more substantial than most of ’em.”
Roy had secured a box, and placing it alongside the car he motioned their guest to mount.
“There is a difference,” he began at once with new enthusiasm. “This machine is made for wind and weather. If any airship can make its way through blizzards, the Gitchie Manitou can. If it doesn’t, it’s a rank failure.”
The guest gave a look at each boy, as if this was what he suspected.
“Look!” went on Roy. Springing into the cockpit, the two boys caught the sides of the cockpit framework and in a moment had drawn above their heads four light but strong frames of wood. When these met above their heads, they formed a curved and tightly-jointed canopy. The four frames were filled with small panes of glasslike mica. Within the canopy the inmates were as well protected from the elements as if they had been under a roof.
While the stranger’s face flushed and his eyes grew wider, the boys unsnapped the frames and they fell back into place, disappearing within the sides of the cockpit.
“That isn’t all,” exclaimed Norman, and he pointed to two small, dark, metal boxes just in the rear of the two seats. “Look,” he went on, as he also pointed to a small dynamo mounted just in the rear of the circular engine. “As long as the car’s moving, these two little car heaters will not only keep us from getting frost bites but, in a pinch, we can cook on ’em.”
“And here,” added Roy, as he tapped a chestlike object on which the seats were mounted, “is where we get the stuff to do the trick. We can put gas enough in there to carry us three hundred miles. Back here,” he went on, pointing to a nest of skeleton shelves adjoining the rear of the cockpit, “we can carry extra supplies of oil, gas, and food to carry us five hundred miles, if we ever get that far from home.”