"Dinner am served in de dining car!" interrupted Washington White, his
black face grinning cheerfully. He used to be a waiter in a Pullman,
and he was proud of it. "First call fo' dinner!" he went on. "Part ob
it am boiled, part am roasted, laik I done heah yo' talkin' 'bout jest
now, an' part am frozed--dat's de ice cream," he added hastily, lest
there be a mistake about it.

"Well, that sounds good," observed Mark. "Come on, everybody," and he
led the way to the dining cabin.

They had not been at the table more than a few minutes, and had begun
on the "boiled" part of the meal, which was the soup, when from the
engine room there came a curious, whining noise, as when an electric
motor slows up.

"What's that?" cried Professor Henderson, jumping up from his seat in
alarm.

"Something wrong in the engine room," cried Mr. Roumann.

The two scientists, followed by the boys, hurried to where the various
pieces of apparatus were sending the projectile forward through space.
Already there was an appreciable slackening of speed.

"The Cardite motor has stopped!" cried Mr. Roumann. "Something has
happened to it!"

"Can it be the result of the damage which that lunatic did?" asked Mr.
Henderson.