“Look,” said Purple. “Isn’t it obvious? He is making electrissy.”
I looked. All I saw was a complicated arrangement of cranks and belts and pulleys making a spinning thing turn as fast as it could. Two wires led from the spinning thing to Purple’s battery.
“He is restoring its power?” I asked.
“Oh yes — he could never restore all of it,” said Purple, “but he can make enough electrissy so that it will not run out on the journey.”
We trudged farther up the slope. We found Trone and half a dozen other men, working with some giant frameworks of iron and copper. I had never seen so much metal in my life. “Where did you get so much?” I asked.
“We practically had to ransack every smith on the island,” he grunted. Apparently he wasn’t too happy about it, but then Trone was rarely happy about anything.
“When will the bicycle frames be ready?” he asked.
Purple groaned. “Oh, no — I knew I forgot something.” He looked at me. “Your sons have been building bicycles and bicycles — all without wheels. They have built them to power the airship, and to make electrissy for my battery — now they will have to build more, many more. As many as possible to power these spinning things.”
“How many will you need ?”
“At least ten or more for each spinning thing. If we have more, we can turn them faster.”
“And how many spinning things are you hoping to build?”
“At least four — but we won’t have to wait until they are all through before we can use them. As each one is finished we will put it to work storing power in the battery.”
I nodded. I was doing some figuring, “But, Purple, you are asking for forty bicycle frames — without wheels. That’s a lot of bicycles. It takes time to build that many machines.”
“I know, I know. We had better go back down and talk to the boys. We may have to start another put-it- together line. This time for bicycles.”
As we trudged downslope, I noticed that a different apprentice was on the bicycle now. The first was resting. “It is very tiring work,” explained Purple.
“Oh, come now,” I said, “I’ve ridden bicycles —”
“It’s not the bicycle,” said Purple. “It’s the generator. Try turning that crank on its other side.”
“All right I took the handle in both hands. I waited while the apprentice dismounted from the bicycle. He was panting heavily.
The crank did not look that hard to turn. I pushed on it.
The crank turned easily when I moved it slowly, but the faster I moved it, the more it fought me. An invisible spirit was pushing back. I felt my fur trying to stand on end.
I let go of the handle and backed away slowly. The crank whirred to a stop.
“There — now you see why we need a boy on a bicycle. Legs are stronger than arms. Even so, they still get tired. Can you imagine how hard it will be to make a big machine spin?”
I nodded my head. “I can see, I can see. You will need more than ten bicycles to a machine.”
“Right,” said Purple.
When we explained the problem to my sons, they nodded understandingly. “We may have to recruit every free man in the village to make a bicycle put-it-together line.”
“Do it,” said Purple. He turned to me, “You will have to make some more spell tokens, won’t you ?”
I nodded.
Wilville and Orbur did not seem as depressed as I had thought they would be when Purple told them of the number of bicycles they would have to build. Apparently they had been talking about their bicycle put-it-together line for some time. This would give them a chance to try it out sooner.
Purple began talking over the details with them, “Of course, we will want to fill all the airbags at one time — that means we won’t launch the flying boat until all four generators are working. But as each one is finished we’ll put it to work storing power. My battery will hold as much electrissy as any of these machines can turn out. The best part about it is that we can use it to supplement the power from the generators when we are ready to launch the boat and fill the airbags that much sooner.”
“Won’t you run the risk of making it dead again?” I asked.
“Not really. It has a power meter on it. That tells me how much power I have left. I have figured out how much we will need to be sure of making the trip north safely. As long as there is that much in the battery, we are okay. Anything over it we can use for the launching. I can regulate the outflow of the power, Lant, so as to fill the balloons as fast as I can on launch day.”
I nodded knowingly. I hadn’t understood a word he had said — but I felt he needed the reassurance.
The waters continued to rise. The surf crashed higher on the slope every day. The tides came in — and in and in and in, until most of the people of the Lower Village were forced to move up the slope. Only the tops of the housetrees marked where the major portion of the village had been. Occasionally a nest would break free, and be seen floating away.
The Upper Village was fairly crowded, but we were able to manage with a minimum of doubling up. Wilville and Orbur were able to recruit quite a few men for their bicycle put-it-together line. It gave many of the villagers something to do while waiting for the waters to recede, and there were those who were eager to earn extra spell chips.
By the time the first twelve bicycle frames were finished, Trone had finished the first of the big spinning things — generators he called them. The boys connected up the bicycles that same day.
Shoogar had recruited twelve good men for the first test. They stood nervously to one side and grumbled to themselves. They were unhappy about the prospect of making electrissy. Shoogar kept fumbling with his magic kit, and every time he did, the men twitched in response.
No matter. As long as we could perform the test.
Purple checked over the wires that led across the hill to the water-filled trench. When he was ready he signaled Shoogar with a wave of his hand. Shoogar bade the men mount the bicycles.
At another command they began pedaling. The generator began spinning, slowly at first, then faster and faster — it was making electrissy. Sure enough, down by the trench there was activity — other men were clustering around the wires.
I left the generator crew and approached the water trench. From one end, oxygen bubbled steadily upward. At the other, Purple was just fitting a clay spout over a water-immersed wire. To this he attached a small airbag. Within a few minutes it was full.
He tied it at the neck and released it. It drifted gently upward. This time though, there was no panic — only a cheer. We were becoming more and more used to this spell. indeed, it was almost commonplace by now.
Purple was delighted. He signaled Shoogar to stop the pedaling. He then trudged halfway up the hill and connected his battery to the leads from the generator.
“All right, Shoogar,” he called, “start them up again.”
Shoogar growled an order and the twelve men began pumping again. It looked strange to see them pedaling as hard as they could and getting nowhere — but it was only a foretaste of things to come. Purple wanted a whole army of men up on the hill, pedaling wildly.
The smaller generator — the one powered by one apprentice on a bicycle — was dismantled then, and its parts cannibalized for the larger generators. It was one less bike frame to build and that much more wire that could be used.
Wilville and Orbur were pleased at the success. That the twelve bicycle frames had been built so quickly testified to the efficiency of their put-it-together line. “I figure we could have at least fifty bicycles before another hand of days is up, said Orbur.
We started trudging up the slope to where the airboat waited. Wilville replied, “I think only part of it is the put-it-together line, Orbur — remember, we have an awful lot of people working for us too.”
“Yes, but we had to teach them.”
When we got to the Crag the boys pointed out what still needed to be done on the airboat. Some of the rigging structures to hold the ropes for the balloons had not been secured yet, and Wilville wanted to add at least
