The Mayor himself passed among the men with stern
injunctions to hold fast. As the last cord was loosed the great
tugging bag was held wholly by the scared men. Then, with slow and
measured steps, the double line of assistants advanced to the car
and along each side of it.
"All steady," commanded Ned when each man had been placed; "now hang
onto her."
Then he and Alan, springing into the car, began the work of making
it fast to the bag. There was a place marked for each of the
extension ropes, and the air ship builders, beginning at each end of
the car, carefully adjusted and tied the end of each rope to the
frame of the ship. As the cords were taken from the attendants the
men took hold of the lower framework of the car, and to make doubly
sure each man was cautioned to throw his entire weight into the
work.
At last the final rope was made fast, and three thousand pounds of
human flesh and muscle were holding the tugging balloon. Ned,
covered with perspiration, and nervous but happy, was hastily
connecting the compensating balloon tube with the hand blower on the
bridge, and Alan had run astern to tie the new national colors to
the halyards swinging from the end of the bag.
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