When the plane had settled again, he loosened the last strap, then began with the utmost caution to drag himself to the surface of the plane above him.
Once a vivid flash of lightning showed him the dizzy depths beneath him. He was at that moment clinging to a rod with both hands. His legs were twined about a second. Thus he hung suspended out over two thousand feet of air and as many fathoms of water.
For a moment a dizzy sickness overcame him, but this passed away. Again he struggled to gain the platform above. This time he was successful.
Even here he did not abandon caution. The straps were still about his waist. One of these he fastened to a rod. Then with one hand he clung to the framework before him, while with the other he worked at the task of adjusting instruments.
"Slow business," he murmured. "Maybe it won't work when I get through. Maybe too damp. Maybe it—"
Suddenly he found himself floating in air, like the tail of a kite. Only the strap and his viselike grip saved him. The plane had struck another pocket.
He was at last thrown back upon the platform with such force as dashed the air from his lungs and a large part of his senses from his brain.
After a moment of mental struggle he resumed his task. He worked feverishly now. The fear that he might be seriously injured before he had completed it had seized him.
"Now," he breathed at last, "now we'll see!"
His hand touched a switch. The motor buzzed.