The Flight of the Silver Ship: Around the World Aboard a Giant Dirgible

into the galley, the chef could be heard calling down curses on the day he had left home. Mr. Hamilton was silent but stoical, while his secretary was near collapse. Wally's verbosity was

that he was going to send down

ast message, I take it, if we are i

coffee, and try some of that souffle. What mortal could possibly ant

Your mental attitude, Martin, always inclines to the flippant and dicacious.

rather unnecessarily, as he held his own glass

teadily. He went to his cabin to get dry clot

sweet?" sa

iven me a new thought," he said seriously. "A

at the windows to watch the void beyond. Intervals of calm, as they passed the space between

uffeted the ship, while flashes of lightning were continuous and so vivid that the control room was bathed in an intense, livid glare. Here,

of the sea. Mr. Hammond came staggering into the c

up as though to block their path. Rain continued to fall in torrents

e. Doctor Sims calmly watched the unbelievable panorama, jotting down an occasional note by the intense glare of the lightning. Dulcie

hing. At times she was lifted more than three hundred feet above her course, then plunged in a delirious drop of nearly a thousand feet toward the sea, before she could be steadied. She seemed wrapped in solid

hey had been tossed upward, he had found that a worse condition, if possible, existed in the upper altitudes. They were still about a mile above the sea. The din was so great that speech had become impossible. Mr. Hammond,

buckled on a parachute and decided to jump as soon as the ship turned nose down. Suddenly he fel

as upon him, circling him with thin wiry arms and legs. Together they rolled on the floor, and Doctor Sims slapped him

amed Doctor Sims. "You congenital mor

coat. In the din, a wild burst of laughter became nothing but a series

first cold prick of fear to the abandon of

h it. He found that it was the haven which might save them, and carefully maneuvered her down into the whirling pit. The storm-t

torm-tossed clouds had become a roof, from which hung wisps and threads of mist. A cold, clean, steady

were

d looked at his watch. "Only f

!" groaned

y of time as we divide it," s

r Sims, glaring at Wall

rambling

ctor Trigg, chuckling, "but don't be too hard on the poo

r-r-r-r!" he retorted,

arcely realize that the danger was

" said Van Arden's

ake it?" D

"I really am all right again, but you must

ack coffee is what you need," he

y had gripped the wheel so long. Dulcie, calm and collected, appeared from the galley, a

p into the plump, worried face. "Now, hero, don't talk. Just relax, and get

d David. "A little stiff, but that wi

, wasn't that storm a whiz-bang? I

e you?" as

Trigg," replied Dulcie.

said David, admiringl

feels pretty glum about the way he butted in and ordered you to make altitude. He says that he had put you in charge, and that it was up t

one bit. It only proved the stability and strength of the dirigible. My! By the time

or using my own judgment," said David, a relieve

's going to tell you so," said Dulcie. "Oh,

nocent, pretty masses that looked as though they had been assembled for purely decorative purp

er sent three puffs of smoke from her funnels in greeting. No other craft was in sight. As the sun rose, the sparkle and brilliance increase

ushed through the salon. Dulcie buttoned her sweat

look happy

was awakened by his newly-acquired sense of responsibility, a sense ingrained in the minds of mast

was sitting

a little rest and quiet, myself. You can't hear yourself think out there in the

take on someone there to fill Captain Fraine's place but, David, I am convinced that you can do it. After your performance last night, I am positive that you are capable

taring into l

ispered; "ar

yre, and long radiograms were sent to the news syndicates of New York, Berlin, Petr

ad passed the ancient city at ab

David remarked to Dulcie, who wander

of German air raids. They were able to make the city practically invisible, but they could not hide the river Thames. That always gave them away, because the bombers had plans of every

ce he had paid for the war, a price paid by million

rt. He could almost feel himself flying with his young and gallant father, as he told her about him, his

vely patted his arm. "Your poor, poo

ied him. She h

st that I'm his son until I can d

ady, you nice modest David! But

id, giving the wheel a t

ll! No one is to know. Just you and

e just picked it out of the air. His Irish shrewd

im, don't y

tside, but he's nobody's fool, and smart as a whip, and as loy

Wally! He's in his stat

?" demand

ath, Dr. Forsythe told daddy. I heard him, and daddy shooed me a

ed a hair, did

I have no mother, and daddy was

friends?" asked David,

ends?" she inqu

, ungrammaticall

d pinched David's finger. "Well, Funn

d they both laughed. But somehow a ne

ring in the doorwa

ain sail the ship. I'd put you in chains wher

the ship and Friedrichshafen. All was in readiness there for the welcome of the

opes and, spreading fanwise, brought the ship down. Mr. Hammond had expected to be moore

ed officers waiting to receive them. Great crowds, held back in orderly masses by soldiers, roared the deep German salute, "Hoch, Hoch," and m

as by representative officers from the German army and navy, air service, and government. He found him

to the ship. Expert hands bore out two stretchers with their swathed forms. Florsheim, sensing the sympathy, got his arm from under the blanket and waved it with a pale grin, while a cheer burst out again

ing at Mr. Hammond's side, felt the good fellowship and sportsmanship which permeated the welcome. T

he Air Corps stared hard at David as he walked a

and pilot, general," s

ust a poy! Do you Americans set c

field. We lost the services of our captain and first pilot on the way over. The captain went-well, he became very il

He handled the ship like a veteran. I am convinced that his cleverness and good judgment saved it

tily. "I congratulate you. Good bilots