We were off!
The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full
minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial
desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging
seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer.
"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does the
distance meter read?"
That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I
turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering.
"Ten degrees rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug
frantically upon the steering wheel.
As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated
Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I
spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred
feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the
horizontal."
"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot
budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined
strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost."
I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that
the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young
and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always
had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for
that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended,
since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for
and develop my body and my muscles by every means within my power.
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