Chapter 17
"Wanted For Robbery!"
Choking and gasping for breath, feeling as if they could not stand theintense heat more than a moment longer, the young inventor and hiscompanions looked at each other. Death seemed ready to reach out andgrasp them. The mass of heated air was so powerful that it swung andtossed the Red Cloud about as if it were a wisp of paper.
"We must do something!" cried Mr. Damon, beginning to take off hiscollar and vest. "I'm choking!"
"Lie down in the bottom of the car," suggested Mr. Sharp. "The smokewon't trouble you so much there."
The eccentric man, too startled, now, to use any of his "blessing"expressions, did so.
"Can't you start the motor?" asked Tom frantically, as he stuck to hispost, with his hand on the steering wheel, the elevation lever jammedback as far as it would go.
"I've done my best," answered the balloonist, gasping as he swallowedsome smoke. "I'm afraid--afraid it's all up with us. We should havesteered clear of this from the first. My, how it roars!"
The crackling and snapping of the flames below them, as they fed on thedry wood, which no rain had wet for weeks, was like the rush of somegreat cataract. Up swirled the dark smoke-clouds, growing hotter andhotter all the while as the craft came nearer and nearer to the centerof the conflagration.
"We must rise higher!" cried Tom. "It's our only chance. Turn on thegas machine full power, and fill the container. That will carry us up!"
"Yes, it's our only hope," muttered Mr. Sharp. "We must go up, but thetrouble is the gas doesn't generate so fast when there's too much heat.We're bound to have to stay over this fiery pit for some time yet."
"We're going up a little!" spoke Tom hopefully, as he glanced at agauge near him. "We're fifteen hundred feet now, and we were onlytwelve a while ago."
"Good! Keep the elevation rudder as it is, and I'll see what I can dowith the gas," advised the balloonist. "It's our only hope," and hehurried into the engine room, which, like the other parts of the cabin,was now murky with choking vapor and soot.
Suddenly the elevation gauge showed that they were falling. The airshipwas going down.
"What's the matter?" called Mr. Damon, from the cabin floor.
"I don't know," answered Tom, "unless the rudder has broken."
He peered through the haze. No, the big elevation rudder was still inplace, but it seemed to have no effect on the shim.
"It's a down draught!" cried Mr. Sharp. "We're being sucked down. Itwon't last but a few seconds. I've been in 'em before."
He seemed to have guessed rightly, for, the next instant the airshipwas shooting upward again, and relief came to the aeronauts, though itwas not much, for the heat was almost unbearable, and they had takenoff nearly all their clothing.
"Lighten ship!" sung out Mr. Sharp. "Toss over all the things you thinkwe can spare, Tom. Some of the cases of provisions--we can get more--ifwe need 'em. We must rise, and the gas isn't generating fast enough!"
There was no need for the young inventor at the steering wheel now, forthe craft simply could not be guided. It was swirled about, now thisway, now that, by the currents of heated air. At times it would rise aconsiderable distance, only to be pulled down again, and, just beforeTom began to toss overboard some boxes of food, it seemed that the endhad come, for the craft went down so low that the upward leapingtongues of flame almost reached the lower frame.
"I'll help you," gasped Mr. Damon, and while he and Tom tossed from thecabin windows some of their stores, Mr. Sharp was franticallyendeavoring to make the gas generate faster.
It was slow work, but with the lightening of the ship their situationimproved. Slowly, so slowly that it seemed an age, the elevationpointer went higher and higher on the dial.
"Sixteen hundred feet!" sung out Tom, pausing for a look at the gauge."That's the best yet!"
The heat was felt less, now, and every minute was improving theirsituation. Slowly the hand moved. The gas was being made in largerquantities now that the heat was less. Ten minutes more of agony, andtheir danger was over. They were still above the burning area, butsufficiently high so that only stray wisps of smoke enveloped them.
"Whew! But that was the worst ever!" cried Tom, as he sank exhausted ona bench, and wiped his perspiring face. "We sure were in a bad way!"
"I should say so," agreed Mr. Sharp. "And if we don't get a breeze wemay have to stay here for some time."
"Why, can't you get that motor to work yet?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless mygaiters, but I'm all in, as the boys say."
"I'll have another try at the machine now," replied Mr. Sharp."Probably it will work now, after we're out of danger without the aidof it."
His guess proved correct, for, in a few minutes, with the aid of Tom,the motor started, the propellers revolved, and the Red Cloud was sentswiftly out of the fire zone.
"Now we'd better take account of ourselves, our provisions, and theship," said Mr. Sharp, when they had flown about twenty miles, and weremuch refreshed by the cooler atmosphere. "I don't believe the craft isdamaged any, except some of the braces may be warped by the heat. Asfor the provisions, you threw over a lot; didn't you, Tom?"
"Well, I had to."
"Yes, I guess you did. Well, we'll make a landing."
"Do you think it will be safe?" asked Mr. Damon anxiously. "We might befired upon again."
"Oh, there's no danger of that. But I'll take precautions. I don't wanta big crowd around when we come down, so we'll pick out a secludedplace and land just at dusk. Then in the morning we can look over theship, and go to the nearest town to buy provisions. After that we cancontinue our journey, and we'll steer clear of forest fires after this."
"And people who shoot at us," added Mr. Damon.
"Yes. I wish I knew what that was done for," and once again came thatpuzzled look to the face of the balloonist.
The airship gently descended that evening in a large level field, agood landing being made. Just before the descent Tom took anobservation and located, about two miles from the spot they selectedfor an "anchorage," a good-sized village.
"We can get provisions there," he announced.
"Yes, but we must not let it be known what they are for," said Mr.Sharp, "or we'll have the whole population out here. I think this willbe a good plan: Tom, you and Mr. Damon go into town and buy the thingswe need. I'll stay here with the airship, and look it all over. You canarrange to have the stuff carted out here in the morning, and left at apoint say about a quarter of a mile away. Then we can carry it to theship. In that way no one will discover us, and we'll not be botheredwith curiosity-seekers."
This was voted a good idea, and, when the landing had been made, and ahasty examination showed that the ship had suffered no great damagefrom the passage over the fire, the young inventor and Mr. Damonstarted off.
They soon found a good road, leading to town, and tramped along it inthe early evening. The few persons they met paid little attention tothem, save to bow in a friendly fashion, and, occasionally wish themgood evening.
"I wonder where we are?" asked Tom, as they hurried along.
"In some southern town, to judge by the voices of the people, and thenumber of colored individuals we've met," answered Mr. Damon.
"Let's ask," suggested Tom.
"No, if you do they'll know we're strangers, and they may ask a lot ofquestions."
"Oh, I guess if it's a small place they'll know we're strangers soonenough," commented Tom. "But when we get to the village itself we canread the name on the store windows."
A few minutes later found them in the midst of a typical southern town.It was Berneau, North Carolina, according to the signs, they saw.
"Here's a restaurant," called Tom, as they passed a neat-appearing one."Let's go inside and get some supper before we buy our supplies."
"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Bless my flapjacks, but I am beginning tofeel hungry."
The eating place was a good one, and Tom's predictions about theirbeing taken for strangers w
as verified, for, no sooner had they giventheir orders than the pretty, white girl, who waited on the tableremarked:
"Ah reckon yo' all are from th' no'th; aren't yo'?" She smiled, as shespoke, and Tom smiled back as he acknowledged it.
"Have you a paper--a newspaper I could look at?" he asked.
"Ah guess Ah can find one," went on the girl. "Ah reckon yo' all arefrom N' York. N' Yorkers are so desperant bent on readin' th' news."Her tones were almost like those of a colored person.
"Yes, we're from a part of New York," was Tom's reply.
When a newspaper was brought to him, after they had nearly finishedtheir meal, the young inventor rapidly scanned the pages. Something onthe front sheet, under a heading of big, black type caught his eye. Hestarted as he read it.
WANTED FOR ROBBERY! BANK LOOTERS ESCAPE IN RED AIRSHIP--FIRED AT BUT DISAPPEAR
"Great Jehosophat!" exclaimed Tom, in a low voice. "What on earth canthis mean?"
"What?" inquired Mr. Damon. "Has anything happened?"
"Happened? I should say there had," was the answer. "Why, we're accusedof having robbed the Shopton Bank of seventy-five thousand dollars thenight before we left, and to have taken it away in the Red Cloud.There's a general alarm out for us! Why this is awful!"
"It's preposterous!" burst out Mr. Damon. "I'll have my lawyers suethis paper. Bless my stocks and bonds, I!"
"Hush! Not so loud," cautioned Tom, for the pretty waitress waswatching them curiously. "Here, read this, and then we'll decide whatto do. But one thing is certain, we must go back to Shopton at once toclear ourselves of this accusation."
"Ha!" murmured Mr. Damon, as he read the article rapidly. "Now I knowwhy they fired at us. They hoped to bring us down, capture us, and getthe five thousand dollars reward!"