To
stop it suddenly would mean that the cessation of strain could not all
be diffused at once, and serious damage might result.
The only way was to come gradually down to the former speed, and, while
Mark kept his eyes on the indicator, Jack pulled the lever toward him,
notch by notch.
"She's down to seventy-five miles a second," whispered Mark. They were
as anxious now to reduce speed as they had been before to increase it.
Meanwhile Professor Roumann had set in motion a curious bit of
apparatus, designed to repel stray meteors or detached bits of comets.
As is well known, bodies floating in space, away from the attraction of
gravitation, attract or repel each other as does a magnet or an
electrically charged object.
Acting on this law of nature, Professor Roumann had, with the aid of
Mr. Henderson, constructed a machine which, when a negative current of
electricity was sent into it, would force away any object that was
approaching the _Annihilator_. In a few moments the boys at the
Cardite motor heard the hum, the throb and crackling that told them
that the repelling apparatus was at work.
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