Page:Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight.djvu/111

Rh power! Stop the pump! I've got to bolt it fast. Start the gas machine, Mr. Damon. You know how to do it. It works independent of the motor. You can let go in a minute, Koku!"

It took but a few seconds to do all this. Ned stopped the main motor, which had the effect of causing the propellers to cease revolving. Then the airship would have gone down but for the fact that she was now a balloon, Mr. Damon having started the generating machine which sent the powerful lifting gas into the big bag over head.

"Now you can let go, Koku," said Tom, for with the stopping of the motor the air pump ceased plunging, and there was no danger of it tearing loose.

"Bless my court plaster!" cried Mr. Damon. "What happened, Tom?"

As the giant arose from his kneeling position the cause of the accident could easily be seen. Two of the big bolts that held down one end of the pump bed-plate to the floor of the airship, had cracked off, probably through some defect, or because of the long and constant vibration on them.

This caused a great strain on the two forward bolts, and the pump started to tear itself loose. Had it done so there would have been a serious accident, for there would have been a tangle in the machinery that might never have been