"Give me a hand!" he called to Ned, but even the strength of the two lads was not sufficient to shift it.
"Call Koku!" gasped Tom. "If anybody can budge it the giant can!"
Meanwhile the airship was being carried onward in the grip of a mighty wind, so strong that its pressure on the surface of the deflecting rudder prevented it from being shifted.
CHAPTER XV
SNAPPING AN AVALANCHE
"Bless my thermometer!" gasped Mr. Damon. "This is terrible!" The airship was plunging and swaying about in the awful gale. "Can't something be done, Tom?"
"What has happened?" cried Mr. Nestor. "We were on a level keel before. What is it?"
"It's the automatic balancing rudder!" answered Tom. "Something has happened to it. The wind may have broken it! Come on, Ned!" and he led the way to the engine room.
"What are you going to do? Don't you want Koku to shift the deflecting rudder? Here he is," Ned added, as the giant came forward, in response to a signal bell that Tom's chum had rung.