“We couldn’t part with you, Michael,” Billy lisped. “No indeed. We love you too well.”
“We have known you long enough, Michael,” Epworth explained, “to know that you are a good sort, and I will tell you what we are doing. My sister has been put aboard this airship, and is now a prisoner in the room adjoining the wareroom. We are staying to see that she is not mistreated.”
“Toplinsky is a dirty scrub,” Michael burst out, angrily “and his people would not stand for this—not after he had given his word. Anyway I am not going to stand for it. Let me up—I am with you. I’ll drop aboard and leave here, and get together a bunch of men who will force Toplinsky to leave the girl here. I am sure——”
The airship trembled from stem to stem, a muffled explosion was heard on the outside; there came a sudden upward jerk, and then a smooth, even motion of acceleration.
“Too late,” Michael groaned nervously. “We are off, and Toplinsky will boss you for several years longer unless we are lost in space.” He paused and added. “Do you know, Americans,” he spoke very plain English, “that I have always thought that man was crazy. He may have been hitting the moon with his cylinder projectiles but I’ve always doubted it, and I don’t feel good starting out to explore space. It gives me the shakes.”
“Were it not for the fact that my sister is aboard this plane I would feel the same way,” Epworth said. “But with her future unsettled I am not thinking of what is in front of me.”
CHAPTER X
Toplinsky Calls the Bluff
The two Americans released Michael, and when he got to his feet the three stood gazing at each other in silence for several moments. Presently the air began to get extremely cold.
“S-say, fellows,” Billy grated with his lips trembling, “I don’t like this. If the weather continues like this much longer I’ll become a little snowball.”
Michael bounded up and slammed the hatch down. The atmosphere became slightly warmer.