Before supper Ned had time to
go to the depot and send a telegram to Major Honeywell, who was yet
in Chicago. It read:
"Ready for inflation. All O. K. Sail at 2 P. M. to-morrow, August
11."
He then visited "Saloon Row" and arranged for twenty men to report
at four o'clock the next morning. No chances were to be taken that
night. Dividing the hours up to four A. M. into two watches, the
two boys had supper and Ned was soon fast asleep on the floor of the
car "trying it out."
At the first blush of dawn the corral gates were thrown open and in
a short time all the men engaged reported. Some of them were put to
work dumping the heavy iron filings into the big oak gas generators
and Ned and Alan began the delicate work of laying out the bag,
bottom side up the thin silken folds of the golden shell were slowly
lifted and laid on the ground. When the bottom filling valve had
been attached to the wooden gas conduits the mammoth sections of the
long gas receptacle were stretched out on top and then carefully
smoothed until an even inflation was assured.
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