"Lowell Howard Morrow - Islands in the Air" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrow Lowell Howard)

smile and maintaining an air of the utmost friendliness. And at length he wormed the main secret from the
Professor--the momentous admission that the latter was striving to overcome the laws of gravitation.

CHAPTER III Into the Air!
IT WAS not long afterward that the location of our plant became known to the public. A strange plane,
flying low, circled the field and took its own time getting away. People eagerly responded to its news.
During the next week automobiles by the thousand braved the rocky trails leading to the plant, and folks
by the hundreds peered curiously through the wire fence at the manifold and mysterious preparations to
harness nature's mighty forces.

The newspapers of the entire country teemed with conjectures and declarations as wild and fantastic as
the Professor's scheme itself.

Airplanes began to circle and maneuver above us during every hour of the day and night. But we spread
canvasses over the most important machinery where the men worked unobserved.

By the fifteenth of November everything was at last complete. I shall never forget the day, the crazy
delight of the Professor as he went about testing the intricate machines, the air of awe and mystery that
kept the workmen silent, and my own wonder, enthusiasm and yet doubt that the experiment would
succeed. Thus far the project had cost me a mint of money which I did not begrudge, if the thing only
proved a success. But how could such a thing succeed?

I roamed about over the great artificial island, looking over the wonderful oscillators, condensers,
transformers, and so on. I knew their office but vaguely, knowing only that they transmitted the power to
operate the gravity deflector. Their number and size were bewildering surrounded as they were by
diverse other machinery whose nature I could not guess.

At each corner and in its center the island rested on a solid copper pier ten feet in height and about a foot
in diameter, and at the points of contact on the island itself were magnet-like apparatus. On the ground
near each pier was a dynamo whose current was supplied by a central power-house. There were also
many amplifiers and projectors of peculiar construction. The whole fabric beneath my feet with its
network of wires and steel and machinery was so heavy that the idea of projecting it into the sky and
holding it there suspended like a great captive balloon without the aid of gas or lifting wings appalled me.
Only my faith in the Professor's uncanny power made me hope it might succeed.

Not a plane was to be seen in the sky save Greta's which kept diving and circling far above us, and it
was still too early for the curious crowds from town. Except the workmen, the Professor and myself
there was not a soul in sight. The Professor confided to me that he was glad we were alone. I
understood. If the thing should fail he would save himself from the ridicule of the world.

When all was in readiness the Professor, looking very grave and a little pale, beckoned to me silently,
and I followed him up the ladder on board the island. He had just been over the whole thing thoroughly
and had given last minute instructions to his engineers.

"If anything happens, Bob," he said quietly, "Greta will pick us up with the plane. But I don't look for
anything untoward to happen," he added confidently.

We paused near the center of the island. The Professor gave a final look around and over this marvelous
child of his brain.