Page:Dick Hamilton's Fortune.djvu/274

262 the frail airship tremble. There was a moment's hesitation, as if the craft hated to leave the earth, and then, with a little jerk, it soared aloft.

"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd.

"She works! She works!" cried Dick, capering about in delight. He thought the prize already won. Even Colonel Claflin looked pleased.

Herr Doodlebrod deflected one of the rudders and the airship went up at a sharp angle. In a few seconds it was several hundred feet high. Then it started to move about in a circle.

"Wonderful!" murmured several.

"He seems to know his business," remarked Mr. Hamilton. "I didn't believe it would work. I haven't much faith in airships."

"Well, it has gone, so far," replied Colonel Claflin. "But the test is not completed. Let's watch him."

In a great circle Herr Doodlebrod sent his ship around. He turned and twisted this way and that. Then he set off in a straight line, as called for by the government requirements.

But suddenly something happened. There was a sharp sound, like an explosion, up on the airship. The big propeller was seen to fly to pieces and come fluttering down, a mass of twisted wire and cloth.

Then came another ominous sound. It was a louder explosion, and a sheet of fire was seen to envelop the ship.