"I think not," answered Jack.

"We will go look in a little while; just as soon as we see that you are all right," announced the professor.

"Oh, I am all right. Go now. I am anxious to know."

Having a.s.sured himself that the German was able to walk to the shop, Mr. Henderson an a.s.sent, and the two boys, Washington and two scientists started for the place where Annihilator was kept.

"How did you happen to see it, Washington?" asked Mark.

"I was out fixin' a loose board on mah chicken coop," explained the colored man, "when I seen dem two rapscallions come runnin'

out ob de place. I knowed dey hadn't no right dere, an' I hollered at 'em. But dey didn't stop, an' de nextest t'ing I knowed dere was a big bang. I run in, an' I seed Mistah Roumann all blowed to pieces."

"Hardly as bad as that," said the German with a smile.

"Well, almost," insisted Washington.

They reached the machine shop. The smoke had all cleared away, but the fumes from the bomb were still noticeable.

"I wonder what their object could have been?" said Jack.

"I believe they are urged on by some of my enemies," was the German's reply. "But let us see what damage has been done. I hope it is not much."

Pieces of broken machinery, twisted wheels, bent levers, shattered cogs and smashed plates were all about one corner of the shop. But the great projectile was still in place. It had not even been jarred.

Mr. Roumann went to an opening in the side that led to the engine-room. No sooner had he entered than he uttered a cry.

"The Etherium motor is damaged!" he exclaimed, and with fear in their hearts the others followed him inside the Annihilator.

CHAPTER XIII

AN ALARMING THREAT

The main machines in the engine-room were the two motors, one designed to send the projectile through the atmosphere, the other intended to propel it through the s.p.a.ce filled with what is called ether.

It was to these two ma.s.sive machines that the eyes of all were now directed. The smaller one, the atmospheric motor, did not appear to have been damaged, but several wheels and pipes of the other were broken and twisted.

"Is it ruined?" asked Professor Henderson.

Mr. Roumann was anxiously looking at the apparatus to see what damage had been done by the bomb.

"Can't we go to Mars?" inquired Jack.

"I think so," was the rea.s.suring reply of the scientist. "It is not damaged so much as I feared. The wheels and pipes are easily replaced, and as long as the generator and the distributing plates are not disturbed, I can easily repair the rest. But it was a fortunate chance that the bomb did not explode nearer the projectile. Otherwise we would have had to give up our journey."

"And we would have had to if you had been killed," remarked the professor. "I thought the secret of the power was going to die with you!"

"It will," replied Mr. Roumann, "but not just yet. I shall never disclose the source of the power until I reach Mars, get what I am after, and come back. Then I may bequeath it to you, Professor Henderson, in return for the kindness of yourself and your young a.s.sistants."

"I will appreciate that. But you had better go to the house now and let me doctor you up."

"No, I feel well. I want to get right to work repairing the damage. It will delay us several days, but we cannot avoid it.

I wish I could catch the men responsible for this outrage."

"Have you any idea who they were?"

"No; but I suspect they were in the enemy of mine. A man who used to work for me, but whom I discharged because of dishonetesty.

His name was Zeb Forker."

"One of the men who threw the bomb was same one who was at the window one night," said Mark. "Do you suppose he could be Forker, Mr. Roumann?"

"No, I do not believe so. But we will not discuss that now. I fancy the men will not bother us again."

"I'll tell Andy to keep a better watch," said Mr. Henderson.

"And we'll help him," added Mark. "There is little for us to do on the projectile now, and we can do guard duty, Jack and I together."

It took Mr. Roumann several days to repair the damage done to the Etherium motor by the bomb. During that time Andy and the boys were constantly on guard about the shop, but the crazy machinist and his companion did not return.

Washington White agreed to stand guard part of one night, and, as the others were tired, they agreed to it. But a fox or some animal got in among the colored man's chickens, and at the first sound of alarm from his favorite fowls, Washington deserted his post and rushed for the coop. Jack, who was awakened by the noise, looked out of the window.

"It is some one trying to get in, Wash?" he asked.

"Dat's what, Ma.s.sa Jack."

Jack awakened Mark, and the two hurried down with their guns.

They found the colored maw making a circuit of his coop.

"I thought you said some one was trying to get in," observed Jack.

"So dey was, Ma.s.sa Jack. I done heard de most, tremendousness conglomeration of disturbances in de direction ob my domesticoryian orinthological specimens, an' I runned ober to see what it were."

"You mean that something was after your chickens?" asked Mark.

"Dat's de impression I done endeavored to prognostigate to yo', but seems laik I ain't understood," replied Washington with an injured air.

"Oh, I understand you, all right," said Jack, "but I thought you meant some one was gettin in the machine shop."

"No, dere ain't been no one dere, but I was skeered dat somebody was after mah chickens, but I guess it were only a rat. I'll go back an stay on guard now."

"No, you'd better go to bed," decided Jack. "Mark and I will finish out the night."

"All right," agreed Washington, who, to tell the truth, was getting sleepy.

There were no further disturbances, and Mark and Jack found their tour of duty rather lonesome.