Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE ARCTIC RESCUE miracle-of all Nature's wonders is the birth of a-thonght. ~ “The whale would make a good-balloon! Would it?” I spoke half aloud, while my thoughts flew feverishly on to consider- details of lifting gas, motive power, and navigating Yes, it might really be possible. Here at last was hope! I was. conscious of a great glow of excitement. My heart was beating furiously, and I felt the hot blood rushing up my netk to my brain. I was spurred to action. The first thing was to tell my com- rades about it. I snatched up my gun and ran for the ship, trailing the owl behind me. Presently I slowed down to-a brisk walk; for Isaw the ship in- the distance, and sa. tie deck I thought I could make out the forms of Willard and the Captain looking at me through the glasses. It struck me that I must present rather an incon- gruous spectacle. What would they think of me, capering along-and dragging the bird behind me? ‘Would they think me demented? Really, if they did it would be deuced awkward; especially since the idea which I had to propose‘to them was at best quite extraordinary, It would=be an awkward: situation indeed if they should become convinced that I was mentally deranged, and that my. brilliant plan was only-the ravings of a maniac, I went back over the happenings of the last few days, scru- tinizing my actions to see if there could have been anything about my conduct that could have seemed queer. Happily I could think-of nothing, out of the ordinary. However, I resolved that I would not-spring my idea upon them: until any false impressions that they might have received should have had time to pass off. At least it would be best to wait a day or two and‘ think it over, 80 as to prepare a logical presentation of the subject. In the meantime perhaps I could lead the talk to dirigibles and maybe suggest the thought without actually putting it into words. T decided thatthe best course for the present would be to evince a great enthusiasm for my rare specimen of owl, and indulge in a bit of good humor ‘and high spirits as a sort of celebration of my good luck. / CHAPTER V The Launching of the Idea O oy relief upon arriving 1 found both the Captain and Willard intensely interested in the bird; after laughing good-nattredly at my unique method of transportation. Willard, true to his naturalistic-instincts, was interested in the catch asa specimen of the fauna of the far North. And the “Captain was interested in its possibilities-as fresh meat. Willard and I set-to work to remove the skin and portions of use to the taxidermist; while the Captain put the pot-on to boil with a pinch of cooking: soda in the water, The following day as we sat at dinner,-the conversation was about dirigible balloons, How high they could fly, how much wind. they ‘could stand, and so on. ‘Do you know,” I observed, “that the ideal shape for a balloon would be to. copy the form of a whale? In fact, I believe that if they would cover a whale’s body with balloon cloth, in order to get the pattern, and then take it off and insert. the framework and divide it into several compartments they would have the most manageable craft possible to construct.” “How would it ‘be to just inflate a whale with gas?” the Captain asked, Jaughing. . I did not laugh at the joke. I was observing Willard. His ties lit with a fleeting smile, Then suddenly he became: sober and preoccupied. He stared at his plate. He seemed to be swallowing with effort. “Got a bone in your. throat?” asked the Captain, “No,” said- Willard at length, “but I was just thinking. There might be some sense to this idea of using a whale for a dirigible.” The: Captain looked puzzled, : “You don’t really mean that seriously, do you?” he queried. “Well, why not?” said Willard. “We-have a whaleskin for a bag; boat motors and gasoline for power, plenty of whale- bone for the what-you-may-call-its—” — “T believe it’s an idea! What do you think of it?” the Cap- tain asked; looking at -me. “T have understood that a large quantity of gas was one of the prime-essentials for balloon operation,” I replied without any seeming enthusiasm. The captain seemed not altogether incredulous, “You scien- tists ought to be able to‘ make gas out.of something on board,” he observed. And so the venture was launched. Not that we actually began work. But we began to study, to-plan and experiment. FEW days later we went out with shovels and uncov- ered: the portion of the whale’s carcass that was above the ice, and took measurements to determine the cubic feet of gas space that could be-made available. Our deductions were quite satisfactory and encouraging. There was surely room for a tremendous volume of gas. But the work of removing the-whale’s interior bulk seemed a task of such colossal proportions that the captain demurred. Tt would take the three of us years, working every day, to do that job, he argued, “Well, how. much-is our time worth?” asked Willard;."so far as we know, we have nothing else of importance to do during the rest of our natural lives. And-a job like this will at least give us something to occupy our minds, and perhaps preserve our sanity,” Tt was not the first time that.one of us had spoken of the preservation of our mental equilibrium; and I felt that we were all more or Jess conscious that there was danger of our sharing the fate that often overtakes marooned sailors and explorers, But the next thing to consider, before we let our hopes soar too high, was, could we find a way to produce hydrogen gas? We set to work in earnest to discover a way of producing the necessary gas. Willard and I had had a vague notion from the first that by electrolysis of sea water something might-be accomplished. We had the dynamo for generating electricity-for our light-— ing system, and-for the motor to our high-speed. winch; but our chemical equipment was. discouragingly meagre. Fortunately among Willard’s books was one entitled, “The , Chemistry. of Industry.” Here we found a short article on “Hydrogen from Electrolysis of Water.” From this we gathered that an electric current passed. through a solution of water and salt, by the aid of a trace of some acid catalytic agent, such as hydrochloric acid, would produce hydrogen in getierous amounts. For our purpose it was necessary to have a large, U-shaped container, in order to. get the proper circulation of the electric current; and«this container had to be impervious to the acid used. Willard and the Captain set about building such a container from sheets of metal carried in-stock for repairing and renew- ing blubber reducing vats; insulating it with several coats of high grade varnish, which I had brought along for preserving specimens, : As for hydrochloric acid, we had recourse to the huge bottle that a fortunate error had bestowed upon ws, The: Work Goes On NW the meantime T proceeded to dig-a well. I will venture ] to say that when if was completed it was the only wel! in