“Fairly so. I can’t operate the gas valve, but I think by deflecting the rudder sufficiently and by waiting until after sundown, we can reach the earth. The gas is rapidly cooling off. The rudder was jammed. I released it, and now it works all right.”
“It’s getting late,” observed Bob. “Where are we?”
“About seventy miles from home,” announced the inventor. “I think we’ll get there some time to-night. I will speed up the motor as soon as we get a little lower.”
They were now below the clouds, and they could see that the sun had set. It rapidly became darker, but Mr. Glassford had a compass and a good sense of direction, so he kept on, confident that he would reach Cresville. The stars came out overhead, and all below the travelers was blackness, with here and there lights showing as they passed over some village or city.
“We’re about eight hundred feet above the earth now,” announced Mr. Glassford after a pause. “I think we’ll stay there until we get where we can make a landing.”
“We might as well eat, I suppose,” proposed Bob after a pause. “It’s supper time, anyhow.”
“I thought you were too frightened to eat,” said Jerry.
“I was, but I’m over it now. I’ll get the grub.”
Chunky set out what was left of the provisions they had brought, and the food was very acceptable, Jerry taking some in spite of the fun he made of Bob.
Mr. Glassford speeded up the motor, and the _Comet_ sailed along faster than before. It was about nine o’clock when they reached Cresville, and a landing was made without accident.
They found quite a crowd waiting for them, for it was known that they had gone off on a long trip, and when the ship was not back at the tent at dusk much alarm was felt. The boys found their parents in the throng, and though the lads made light of what had happened, they were very thankful to be safely back on earth again.
“Well, we’ve proved that we can make a long trip and get back in spite of accidents,” said Mr. Glassford. “We’ll soon be ready for the great race.”
The next two weeks were spent in making some changes to the motor ship, providing duplicate gas valves and taking all the precautions to prevent a recurrence of the former troubles. A large gasolene tank was put aboard, to hold the fluid necessary to run the engine for many hundreds of miles.