Bang! Bang! it spoke, and two birds dropped toward the earth. Again the gun belched forth, and more of the eagles were killed. As fast as Andy could pull the trigger he fired.
"We must all get guns!" cried the professor. "It is the only way to save the ship! Come on, boys! You'll find weapons in the dining-room lockers!"
Mark and Jack hurried after the rifles. The professor was greatly excited. Bill and Tom came running forward. The inventor rapidly handed out the guns.
In the meanwhile the ship was slowly settling toward the ground. The captain hoped to get low enough to escape the onward rush of the big birds, but he had counted without the anger of the eagles. They thought the airship was a rival in the realms of space and were determined to destroy it.
On and on they came in spite of the number among them that were killed. Every one on the ship, except Washington, who had to attend to the engines, was firing. The birds never stopped or swerved from their course.
Then with a rush and roar, a flapping of wings that sounded like thunder, and shrill cries and screams that almost drowned the noise of the guns, the eagles surrounded the Monarch. They struck at it with their talons. They opened wide their sharp beaks and snapped at the wood and iron.
Some of the fierce birds even attacked the men, and boys, and were beaten off with the butts of the rifles. Others of the eagles rose higher in the air and struck at the oiled silk bag. At first the yielding surface offered no resistance and was not damaged. Then one fierce bird, with wide-opened beak, struck at the thin cloth and tore a hole in it as large as a man's hand.
The sudden settling of the airship told that something was wrong. Then the professor, glancing aloft, saw what had happened, and hastened to his helper.
"Quick, Washington!" he shouted. "Start the gas generator at full speed! We must pump lots of the gas in to keep us afloat! We are in great danger!"
"Why not try the machine gun on the eagles?" shouted Jack.