lly
flurries of snow. Tom's airship was well above the snow line on the
mountains. The young inventor and Ned sat in the pilot house, taking
observations through a spyglass of the mountain chain below them.

Suddenly Ned, who had the glass focused on a mighty peak, cried out:

"There she is, Tom!"

"What?"

"The avalanche! The snow is beginning to slide down the mountain! Say,
it's going to be a big one, too. Got your camera ready?"

"Sure! I've had it ready for the last three days. Put me over there,
Ned. You look after the airship, and I'll take the pictures!"

Tom sprang to get his apparatus, while his chum hurried to the levers,
wheels and handles that controlled the Flyer. As they approached the
avalanche they could see the great mass of ice, snow, big stones, and
earth sliding down the mountain side, carrying tall trees with it.

"This is just what I wanted!" cried Tom, as he set his camera working.
"Put me closer, Ned."

Ned obeyed, and the airship was now hovering directly over the
avalanche, and right in its path. The big landslide, as it would have
been called in this country, met no village in its path, fortunately,
or it would have wiped it out completely. It was in a wild and desolate
region that it occurred.

"I want to get a real close view!" cried Tom, as he got some pictures
showing a whole grove of giant trees uprooted and carried off. "Get
closer Ned, and--"

Tom was interrupted by a cry of alarm from his chum.

"We're falling!" yelled Ned. "Something has gone wrong. We're going
down into the avalanche!".

CHAPTER XVI

TELEGRAPH ORDERS

There was confusion aboard the airship. Tom, hearing Ned's cry, left
his camera, to rush to the engine room, but not before he had set the
picture apparatus to working automatically. Mr. Damon, Mr. Nestor and
Koku, alarmed by Ned's cries, ran back from the forward part of the
craft, where they had been watching the mighty mass of ice and earth as
it rushed down the side of the mountain.

"What's wrong, Ned?" cried Tom excitedly.

"I don't know! The propellers have stopped! We were running as an
aeroplane you know. Now we're going down!"

"Bless my suspenders!" shouted Mr. Damon. "If we land in the midst of
that conglomeration of ice it will be the end of us."

"But we're not going to land there!" cried Tom.

"How are you going to stop it?" demanded Mr. Nestor.

"By the gas machine!" answered Tom. "That will stop us from falling.
Start