"Neber yo' mind my teeth," said Washington. "Golly! What's de matter now?"
The Monarch was darting from side to side like a kite that has lost its tail in a high wind.
"It's only the professor trying the steering apparatus," said Jack, looking forward toward the conning tower. This proved to be true, for, in a moment, the airship resumed a straight path, and the professor, coming back to the engine room, cried:
"She answers her helm perfectly. It certainly is a success in every way! But now, since the machinery is working well, and I have the Monarch headed due north, in which direction she will sail alone for a while, I want you boys to come into the dining room, while we talk over matters with our unexpected visitors. We must lay plans and divide up the work of running the ship."
Jack and Mark went with the old man into the middle room of the craft. There they found the old hunter and the two farm hands. None of the three had quite gotten over his fright at being suddenly carried off through the air.
"Everything has turned out for the best," the inventor began. "I feared my forced start would spoil my plans, but you see I got a crew almost at the last moment. Now we will—"
He was interrupted by a sudden cry from the engine room.
"Help! Help!" rang out the voice of the colored man. "Hurry up an' help, Perfessor. I'm caught in some cantankerous conglomeration an' I'm bein' killed! Help! Help!"
Followed by the boys and the three men the old inventor hastened aft, alarm showing on his face.