The Flight of the Silver Ship: Around the World Aboard a Giant Dirgible Read online

  Produced by Roger Frank and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  THE FLIGHT OF THE SILVER SHIP

  Around the World Aboard a Giant Dirigible

  by

  HUGH MCALISTER

  Author of "A VIKING OF THE SKY," "FLAMING RIVER," "STEVE HOLWORTH OF THE OLDHAM WORKS," "CONQUEROR OF THE HIGHROAD," "STAND BY"

  THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK

  Made in U. S. A.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  THE FLIGHT OF THE SILVER SHIP Copyright, MCMXXX by The Saalfield Publishing Company

  Printed in the United States of America

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  CONTENTS

  I DAVID CHOOSES II LORD CRAM III THE SILVER SHIP IV ASSISTANT PILOT V A STOWAWAY VI THE CONTROL ROOM VII THROUGH THE STORM VIII THE CRADLE OF THE ZEPPELIN IX EASTWARD X BANZAI! XI A STUDENT PRINCE XII CUSTOMS AND COSTUMES XIII AN EAVESDROPPER XIV ON THE OBSERVER'S PLATFORM XV MORE SPEED XVI PARTNERS

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The Flight of the Silver Ship

  CHAPTER I

  DAVID CHOOSES

  David Ellison would never forget his last night at prep school. He hadhad a hard time explaining to his three best friends that his plans forcollege had failed. Lolling on the grass in the pleasant June dusk,enjoying the comfortable relaxation after the hectic hours ofCommencement Day, he had put off the evil moment as long as he possiblycould. Finally he exploded his bomb.

  "Well, fellows," he said, "I am not going to college after all."

  There was a silence. Three pairs of eyes regarded the speaker blankly.

  "The heat," said a tall boy in a hushed tone, laying a hand on David'sunruly hair.

  "It's that little girl he danced with four times yesterday at the tea,"a second remarked mournfully.

  "It's because he leads the Honor Roll. He thinks he knows it all now,"jeered the third; then, "Kidding aside, Davie," he said, "what's up?"

  David hesitated, then took the plunge.

  "Darn it!" he said. "Of course I owe it to you three fellows to give youall the dope, but I certainly hate to drag my affairs in. Still, afterall our planning I can't leave you without an explanation. You know Ilive in Denver with my mother and two sisters. Boys, I've got the finestmother, and the sweetest kid sisters. Mother works. She never gets avacation; couldn't even come to my Commencement. Gosh! It made me sick.And my older sister (she's sixteen) has heard me tell all about youfellows, and she was so crazy to see you, and the school, andeverything. But they couldn't make it. Too much car fare."

  "Why, you big stiff!" cried the tall boy angrily. "Why didn't you saysomething? Mother and father came right through Denver. All your folkscould have come on with them in the car."

  "Yes," said David, "I know, and I certainly appreciate it, but theycouldn't very well--"

  "But what about college, Dave?" asked the tall boy impatiently.

  "I'll have to start away back," said David. "My father was an armyofficer--a captain in the Air Corps. He went through the war without ascratch until the day before the Armistice. There was a big raid,and--well, dad crashed. Shot down. He had nothing but his pay, and onlyten thousand dollars war risk insurance. We were in Washington when ithappened. Mother took us back to Denver, where she had some relatives,and invested the insurance money in a little business. She has a shopwhere she sells things for women--a Specialty Shop, they call it. Shemakes enough to keep herself and the girls and give me just a littlehelp once in a while. I don't know when I haven't worked at something tohelp pay my way and, as you know, I've been lucky enough to meet all myown expenses here."

  David chuckled as his memory took him back over the past four years.What hadn't he tackled! Band man, coach, bookkeeper, tutor, telephoneoperator, handy man around the house--anything and everything. He hadmade his tuition and clothes, and hadn't cost his mother a cent. Ofcourse, he had worked summers too, but he had always found a job nearhome so he could be near the family.

  "Now as you know," he continued, "I was all set for college, with jobsenough cinched to get me through all right, especially as I was to shareyour quarters, but I have just found out that the girls have given uptheir plans for college, so that I can go! I had a letter from my littlesister, and she spilled the beans. Poor kid, she didn't know it! I'mgoing to work; going to earn real money. There's a wholesale grocer inDenver who will give me a job, I think."

  "But the big balloons, David; what about them?"

  "They will have to fly without yours truly. Gosh! Well, I can alwaysread about 'em; that will be some comfort. And it takes quite a knack tocount bags of sugar." He smiled wryly.

  "Well, we are all darned sorry," said the tall boy. "Guess you knowthat, Dave, without our blubbering."

  David got up.

  "Yes, I know it. But I've got to face hard facts. Don't think I'msquealing. Honest, I'm glad to do it, even if it is disappointing." Hesquared his shoulders. "Well," he said reluctantly, "I'd better go by-bynow; my train leaves at six-thirty. I'll stick my head in your rooms onmy way off. So long!"

  An hour later, sitting by his open window, David listened to the strainsof the band over in the gymnasium and watched the stars. He had thefeeling that he was swinging in a void. Every task and duty connectedwith the school was finished. He had just jumped on his trunk and lockedit. It was ready to be dragged out into the hall for the expressman totake at dawn. Another boy was filling his place in the band. Football,basketball, tennis--they were all dreams, never to touch reality again,even when he should look at the team photographs cherished between stiffcardboards in his trunk.

  A small apologetic rap sounded on his door. No one ever knocked in thenatural course of events. Surprised, David opened it, snapping on thelight as he did so. The three boys stood there, leaning heavily on oneanother's shoulders.

  "Hello!" said the foremost. "'Fraid you would be in bed."

  "No, just picking up loose ends," said David. "Glad you happened along.Take an end of this trunk, will you, and let's heave it into the hall."

  "What's in it, bricks?" asked one, as they placed the trunk in thecorridor. They came in, and shut the door.

  "I suppose you want to go to bed," said the tall boy, "but we have aplan to put up to you, and we were afraid that there would be so muchconfusion in the morning that you might not see it straight. And I'mdoing the talking now, so you'll kindly shut up until I am all through.And be reasonable! Fact is, old man, we want you to borrow the cost ofyour college course from us. Now wait!" he demanded, as David shook hishead. "Try to listen, you blithering idiot! We all have plenty of money,and we want to stake you; jus
t as if you were our own brother, Dave.Listen! It's like this: take the money, and keep the jobs you haveplanned on. They will float you, and you can send the cash home, and thegirls can go to college, and everything will be jake. See?"

  "I can't take it," said David, touched and amused at the same time. "Ifthat is what brought you, just save your breath. You are the bestfriends a fellow ever had, and it is worth giving up more than I havegiven up to find it out. But I don't want your money. I can't takeanybody's money. I haven't a cent of my own beside my car fare and tendollars for meals, and I am going to start square with myself and thewhole world.

  "Get this, fellows; I am just as grateful as I can be, and I'll neverforget it. But I'm not going to be carried along by my friends. I won'tbe a sap, or a sucker, or a leech. I'll work my own way up, and boy!just watch my dust!" He shook each one by the hand and somehow, beforethey knew it, they were in the hall.

  Davie, ready for bed, tired with their kindly insistence, wondered ifthey would come in the night, and pin large checks on his pajama coat!

  "Well, I won't borrow, and I won't sponge on my mother," David declaredgrimly to himself. "I'll show what I can do. I won't be carried along.I'll arrive somewhere, some day, on my own two feet, and not on theshoulders of somebody else. I'll make those fellows darned proud of meyet!"

  Outside David's door lay his boyhood, his flaming hopes, his fondestmemories. All his life he had meant to be an aviator. He had thought ofit, studied for it, and concentrated on it; but his skies were emptynow. No majestic forms floated grandly across his horizon. Vanished werethe dream-ships which he had meant to make real. Gone were his shininghopes, his resolves to follow in his father's footsteps. Not for him, infuture days, to build ships such as the world had never seen. Hedetermined to destroy all the careful plans and experiments he had soneatly drawn. In the bottom of his trunk were a score of technical bookson dirigibles, past and present, bought at long intervals withhard-earned money. For it was the dirigible toward which David's heartyearned. The great majestic balloons held a charm for him that the busy,flitting airplanes were powerless to wield. But he knew that he had madethe right decision; and knowing it, slept well.

  Reaching home, it took much argument on David's part before his adoringfamily was resigned to his change of plans; but he was all the moredetermined when he saw how worn his mother's still lovely face hadgrown.

  His friend the wholesale grocer was away. However, the manager said thathe would be back in a few days and assured David that a good job waswaiting for him. On the long, tedious trolley ride home, David had timeto think. At school, he could always hop some fellow's car. Easy andpleasant. He'd never given it a thought, but that was sponging in a way.Well, never again; never! He made a wry face at a cat on a gatepost.Lord! he was slated to be poor--filthy poor, for many a long year. Itcouldn't be too many years, though.

  He must make money. His mother didn't look right. Of course, thewholesale groceries might give him a good break. Lots of fellows hadbegun at the very bottom and had soared up.

  Soared--that brought his mind to the ships again. It would always belike that, he knew. He'd go along, almost contented, working like thedevil and getting on in groceries, but underneath he'd always bethinking about the ships, the roar of the engines, the feel of therushing air. And he couldn't do that--not if he meant to make a goodgrocer. A good grocer! Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord! Something would have to bedone!

  By the time he reached home the pendulum had swung again. He couldn'tgive up his ships. Why, he was kin to every dirigible, every balloon,every little fat blimp that adventured into the upper tides! He couldn'tgive them up. As well ask a sailor to go inland and hoe turnips. As wellask a violinist to drive rivets for a living. Well, he'd hoe turnips,drive rivets; hoe fast and drive hard. He was no shirk.

  Quite simply and trustingly, David turned to that Great Source upon whomstrong hearts are not ashamed to call. "Help me to find a way!" hewhispered.

  After dinner, while turning the pages of a magazine David chanced on anarticle on dirigibles. He commenced to read it. Parts of it he reread,scarcely believing his eyes. He gave a whoop of delight.

  "The very thing!" he cried. "Mother, listen to this!"

  "What is it?" cried Mrs. Ellison and his older sister Lydia.

  "Something big! Just listen!" David's face glowed with excitement."Today I went over to Black & Black's to see about a job. They will takeme on at fifteen bucks a week, and a chance for a raise occasionally.But they wouldn't sign me on today because the Mr. Black who attends tosuch things is away, thank goodness!"

  "Why 'thank goodness'?" said Lydia.

  "This magazine says Goodlow & Company, at Ayre, Ohio, have expanded intothe largest dirigible works in the world; and owing to the necessity ofhaving expert pilots and mechanics, they are about to open a school fornovices. It is a four-year course, in four departments. First year,ground work; second year, construction and development; third year,balloon fabrics and gases; and fourth year, intensive piloting.

  "Some rich guy has already posted a big prize to be competed for by thestudents, for the best invention that will add to the safety ofdirigible navigation. And there is a prize in each department given atthe close of each year, for the student who has done the best work. Theywill accept only a limited number of students, and what do you knowabout this? They pay 'em real money, with bigger salaries, of course, asthey go along."

  "Why, they couldn't afford to do that, could they, David?" inquired hismother.

  "Yes, because the students are at first really laborers and thenmechanics in a small way--apprentices to the real big fellows until theyacquire skill themselves. Mother, if I can make it, it will fixeverything. The students have their quarters at the plant; dormitories,I suppose. It is rather like being in the army. Pretty stiff discipline,and all that. There won't be any expenses to speak of, and I can sendhome almost every cent they give me."

  "But flying, Davie!" said Mrs. Ellison, her beautiful soft eyes filledwith tears. "Flying! I have hoped so that you wouldn't fly."

  "Mother darling," said David gently, "I know how you must feel, but thisis not war time. It is peace that needs the dirigible. It is thegreatest invention; the greatest--Oh, I am crazy about it! Father wouldtell me to go on, wouldn't he, mother?"

  "Yes, he would indeed," Mrs. Ellison said proudly, with a tremuloussmile.

  "When do you have to start, Davie?" asked his younger sister, Patty.

  "Patty seems to have decided it," laughed Mrs. Ellison.

  "The examinations for enrollment are only four days from today," saidDavid ruefully.

  "At Ayre, Ohio!" cried Lydia. "My goodness! Dave, you will have to starttonight. And what will you start on? Has anybody got any money?"

  "I have the Liberty Bond father bought me," said David.

  Mrs. Ellison's eyes filled, but Lydia jumped up and danced around theroom.

  "The very thing!" she cried. "Oh, that's wonderful! Father would so loveto stake you in this. Come on, mother, get out his bond, and while youand David go out and get somebody to cash it, I will pack his things,and see to reservations."

  She looked at her mother, and sensed something wrong.

  "You approve, don't you, mother? You will let him fly? We will be soproud of him. Why, this is better than a dozen colleges."

  "A school for apprentices," mused Mrs. Ellison. "That really meansgreater safety for future ships, doesn't it? It is a wonderful thing."

  "It is not a new idea," said David. "They opened one in Friedrichshafen,Germany, during the war. It has been a great success. Friedrichshafen isthe cradle of the dirigible. We have army and navy schools here in thiscountry, but this school is to fit civilians for commercial flying, andis run on what you might call a co-operative basis. I wondered if wewould ever wake up over here to the necessity of schools like that. Andnow--well, I bet in three or four years there will be a dozen schoolsscattered all over the United States."

  "Dave, it's just great!" cried Lydia.

 
David looked anxiously toward his mother.

  "Well, what's the good word, mother? Do I go?"

  For a long moment Mrs. Ellison seemed lost in thought. This boy was heronly son. How much safer it would be to "measure coffee, and count sugarsacks." Her only son; but he was his father's son as well! Brave,intrepid Rick Ellison had a share in this boy. So she spoke for themboth, and smiled.

  "Go, of course, David," she said.