“Your machine is so enormously heavy,” he said, “that I’m afraid it is going to be a difficult matter.”
“Not so heavy as it looks,” responded the inventor, tapping the plates; “these are not steel, as you may think, but a mixture of vanadium and aluminum. The machine is practically bomb-proof. Any explosive dropped from an aëroplane would have to be more deadly than any at present known to do it much harm.”
Jack inspected the driving motor, a six-cylinder affair located behind a bulkhead, which cut it off from the conning tower, although the motor controls and the steering apparatus led into that compartment. The young inventor made a thorough and careful examination of the motor, and of the means by which it was geared to the driving shaft.
Then he started it up. Sure enough, as Mr. Peregrine had said, it refused to move the driving wheels. Jack stopped it and made a further examination. Following this, he made some more tests and a series of calculations. Mr. Peregrine watched him with some anxiety. A good deal depended on the lad’s opinion. At length Jack spoke.
“I think we can overcome your difficulty,” he said.
Mr. Peregrine looked as if he would have liked to embrace him.
“You can?—Good!—Fine!—But how?”
“Well, for one thing, your gearing is wrong. We’ll have to change that. Then we shall have to put a carburetor on each cylinder instead of on one only, as at present. That alone will give you more power. Such a change, combined with the improved gearing I spoke of, should solve the trouble.”
“You think so—you really do?—Then my troubles are over!”
“Not just yet,” smiled Jack; “there is quite a lot of work ahead of us, but I think I can promise you that I can make it move at a fair speed.” After making a further examination, and noting down the changes he wished to make. Jack and Mr. Peregrine emerged from the queer machine. The others then took turns in examining it, although it is doubtful if Mr. Jesson or young Ralph understood its principles very clearly.