"In the name of all that's good, Edmund," cried Jack, "at what rate are
we traveling, then?"
"Just at present," Edmund replied, glancing at an indicator, "we're
making twenty miles a second."
_Twenty miles a second!_ Our excited nerves had another shock.
"Why," I exclaimed, "that's faster than the earth moves in its orbit!"
"Yes, a trifle faster; but I'll probably have to work up to a little
better speed in order to get where I want to go before our goal begins to
run away from us."
"Ah, there you are," said Jack. "That's what I wanted to know. What is
our goal? Where are we going?"
Before Edmund could reply we all sprang to our feet in affright. A loud
grating noise had broken upon our ears. At the same instant the car gave
a lurch, and a blaze of the most vicious lightning streamed through a
window.
"Confound the things!" shouted Edmund, springing to the window, and then
darting to one of his knobs and beginning to twist it with all his force.
In a second we were sprawling on the floor--all except Edmund, who kept
his hold on the knob. Our course had been changed with amazing quickness,
and our startled eyes beheld a huge misshapen object darting past the
window.
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