But he discovered two little dents on the edge, one on
each side, which had evidently been caused by the pressure of the rope.
"If I could get those dents out," he thought, "the machine might work."
He first tried to pry out the edges with his pocket knife, but the
attempt resulted in failure, Then, as the sides seemed a little
bulged outward by the dents, he placed the machine between two flat
stones and pressed them together until the little instrument was
nearly round again. The dents remained, to be sure, but he hoped he
had removed the pressure upon the works.
There was just one way to discover how well he had succeeded,
so he fastened the machine to his wrist and turned the indicator
to the word "up."
Slowly he ascended, this time to a height of nearly twenty feet. Then
his progress became slower and finally ceased altogether.
"That's a little better," he thought. "Now let's see if it will
go sidewise."
He put the indicator to "north-west,"--the direction of home--and very
slowly the machine obeyed and carried him away from the plateau and
across the island.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66