"Don't get out!" cried Dr. Bird.
He looked around the cabin and picked up a coil of bare antenna wire which hung near the radio set. He wrapped one end of the wire around the frame of the plane. To the other end, he attached his pack 'chute.
"Open the door!" he cried.
As the door swung open, he threw the 'chute out toward the ground. As it touched, there was a blinding flash, followed by a report which shook the plane. A strong odor of garlic permeated the air.
"All right!" cried the doctor cheerfully. "All out for Aberdeen. The danger is past."
He set the example by jumping lightly from the plane. General Merton followed more slowly, his face white and his hands shaking.
"What was it, Doctor," he asked. "I have been flying since 1912, yet I have never seen or heard of anything like that."
"Just a heavy charge of static electricity," replied the doctor. "That was what magnetized your cylinder walls and your piston rings and slowed your motors down. It was the same thing that wrecked those two ships. Unless it leaks off, the men of some of your other ships are due to get a nasty shock when they land to-night. I discharged the charge we had collected through a ground wire. Here comes a car, we'll go up to Colonel Wesley's office. Carnes, you have these maps?"
"Surely, Doctor."