“Quick, Ned!” cried Tom.  “Shut off all the power!  Stop the pump!  I’ve got to bolt it fast.  Start the gas machine, Mr. Damon.  You know how to do it.  It works independent of the motor.  You can let go in a minute, Koku!”

It took but a few seconds to do all this.  Ned stopped the main motor, which had the effect of causing the propellers to cease revolving.  Then the airship would have gone down but for the fact that she was now a balloon, Mr. Damon having started the generating machine which sent the powerful lifting gas into the big bag over head.

“Now you can let go, Koku,” said Tom, for with the stooping of the motor the air pump ceased plunging, and there was no danger of it tearing loose.

“Bless my court plaster!” cried Mr. Damon.  “What happened, Tom?”

As the giant arose from his kneeling position the cause of the accident could easily be seen.  Two of the big belts that held down one end of the pump bed-plate to the floor of the airship, had cracked off, probably through some defect, or because of the long and constant vibration on them.

This caused a great strain on the two forward bolts, and the pump starter! to tear itself loose.  Had it done so there would have been a serious accident, for there would have been a tangle in the machinery that might never have been repairable.  But Koku, who, it seems, had been watching the pump, saw the accident as soon as it occurred.  He knew that the pump must be held down, and kept rigid, and he took the only way open to him to accomplish this.

He pressed his big hands down over the place where the bolts had broken off, and by main strength of muscle he held the bed-plate in place until the power was shut off.

“Koku, my boy, you did a great thing!” cried Tom, when he realized what had happened.  “You saved all our lives, and the airship as well.”

“Koku glad,” was the simple reply of the giant.

“But, bless my witch hazel!” cried Mr. Damon.  “There’s blood on your hands, Koku!”

They looked at the giant’s palms.  They were raw and bleeding.

“How did it happen?” asked Ned.

“Where belts break off, iron rough-like,” explained Koku.

“Rough!  I should say it was!” cried Tom.  “Why, he just pressed with all his might on the jagged end of the belts.  Koku you’re a hero!”

“Hero same as giant?” asked Koku, curiously.

“No, it’s a heap sight better,” spoke Tom, and there was a trace of tears in his eyes.

“Bless my vaseline!” exclaimed Mr. Damon, blowing his nose harder than seemed necessary.  “Come over here, Koku, and I’ll bandage up your hands.  Poor fellow, it must hurt a lot!”

“Oh, not so bad,” was the simple reply.

While Mr. Damon gave first aid to the injured, Tom and Ned put new bolts in place of the broken ones on the bed-plate, and they tested them to see that they were perfect.  New ones were also substituted for the two that had been strained, and in the course of an hour the repairs were made.