The airship rose rapidly. Washington had continued to operate the gas machine until there was a sufficient quantity of vapor¹ to overcome the contracting influence of the cold atmosphere.

 

"Forward once more!" cried the professor, hurrying to the engine room.

"This time we may reach the north pole!"

He and Washington soon started the motors, the dynamos and engines. The propeller² revolved³ rapidly. The adventurers were under way again.

 

"Jack⁴ and Mark, go into the conning⁵ tower and steer⁶!" called Mr. Henderson from the engine room. "Take her up about half a mile, and send her straight north by the compass. I have to adjust some of the machinery⁷."

 

Delighted at the prospect⁸ of running the airship, the two boys hurried forward. Mark went to the steering⁹ wheel, which was similar to the kind used on automobiles¹⁰. The Monarch¹¹ was heading to the west, having no one to guide her, but Mark soon brought her around until her bow was poked¹² directly for the north.

 

Under the guidance of the two boys, the airship rushed forward. They had become somewhat used to the queer feeling of being high up in the air, and now it did not seem wonderful to be sailing among the clouds, though two weeks before they would have laughed at the idea of such a thing. Andy and the two farmers had, likewise, become a little indifferent to the strange sensations, and, aside from being careful not to go too near the rail of the ship when it was sailing aloft, they took no more precautions than as if they were on the deck of a steamboat.

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