He sprang to a lever controlling the gas and yanked it toward him. There was a shrill hissing sound, and a second later the Mermaid began to sink. The boys watching the gages on the wall of the tower, saw that the craft was falling rapidly.
But, with a rush and roar, the terrible wind was upon them. It caught the craft in its fearful grip and heeled it over as a ship careens to the ocean blast.
“It’s a storm in the upper regions! We’ll find it calm below!” cried the professor above the howling of the gale. He opened the gas outlet wider and the ship fell more rapidly.
“Are you sure we’re over the ocean?” asked Mark.
“Positive!” the professor called back. “We have been traveling straight south over the Atlantic for the last week. We will land in the midst of the waters and float safely.”
Lower and lower went the Mermaid. The wind was now blowing with the force of a tornado, and, as the craft had to slant in order to descend, it felt the power of the gale more than if it had scudded before it. But, by skilful use of the directing tube, the professor was able to keep the boat from turning over. As they came further down toward the earth the force of the wind was felt less and less, until, as they came within two hundred feet of the water which they saw below them in the gathering dusk, it died out altogether.
“Now we are free from it,” said the professor as the Mermaid came down on the waves like an immense swan.
“Are you going ahead or going to stop here?” asked Mark.
“We’ll keep right on,” Mr. Henderson answered. “No telling when the storm may strike down here. We’ll go as far as we can to-night.”