CHAPTER III
SAM BRINGS NEWS
As Tom ran over to his brother's side he could not help but give aglance at the flying machine, which was rising higher and higher in theair, with a noise from the engine that sounded like a battery of gattlingguns in action.
"Hi! hi! Wot's that?" came in a startled voice from the other side ofthe barn, and Jack Ness, the Rovers hired man, came running into view."By gum, if them boys ain't gone an' flew without waitin' fer that manto show 'em! Who's doin' it? I don't see nobuddy." And the hired manblinked in amazement at the sight before him. "Is Sam in there?"
"Nobody is in the machine," answered Tom, who was kneeling beside hisbrother. "Oh, gracious! Look at that!" he exclaimed.
"There goes the chimbley!" roared Jack Ness, as the biplane swooped justhigh enough to clear the roof of the Rover homestead. One of the wheelsunderneath struck a chimney a glancing blow, hurling the bricks in alldirections. As they came clattering down, from the house out ran Mrs.Rover, followed by her husband and the hired help. Anderson Rover wasaway on business.
"What is the matter--is it a--er--a cyclone?" gasped Randolph Rover.
"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Mrs. Rover. "But it's a terriblenoise."
"Look! look!" shrieked the cook, pointing upward. "Saints preserve us!"she moaned. "'Tis the end of the world!"
"A flying machine!" murmured Randolph Rover. He gazed around hurriedly."Can it be the boys?"
"Oh, those boys! They will surely kill themselves!" groaned Mrs. Rover."They know nothing about airships!"
"Say, dar ain't nobuddy in dat contraption!" came suddenly from AleckPop. "It am flyin' all by itself!"
"By itself?" repeated Randolph Rover. "Impossible, Alexander! A flyingmachine cannot run itself. There must be somebody to steer, andmanipulate the engine, and----"
"Oh, maybe whoever was in it fell out!" screamed Mrs. Rover, and now shelooked ready to faint.
"We must find out about this!" returned her husband quickly. "They hadthe machine in the shed back of the barn." And he ran in that direction,followed by the colored man, and then by his wife and the cook. In themeantime the biplane soared on and on, ever rising in the air and movingoff in the direction of the river.
When the others arrived they found that Tom had carried poor Dick to thewagon shed and placed him on a pile of horse blankets, and was washinghis wounded head with water. At the sight of her nephew lying there sostill Mrs. Rover gave a scream.
"Oh, Tom, is he--is he----" she could not go on.
"He's only stunned, I guess, Aunt Martha," was the reply. "But he got apretty good crack."
"Did the flying machine do it?" queried Randolph Rover.
"Yes. We had it tied fast, but when we started the engine and thepropellers it broke loose and ran right over Dick."
"I dun tole you boys to be careful," burst out Aleck. "It's a suahwondah yo' ain't bof killed. Wot kin I do, Massa Tom?" And he got downon his knees beside Dick, for he loved these lads, who had done so muchfor him in the past.
"He's only stunned, I think--and he's coming around now," answered Tom,and at that moment Dick commenced to stir. Then he gave a gasp, openedhis eyes, and suddenly sat up.
"Stop her! Stop her, Tom!" he murmured.
"Dick! Dick, my poor, dear boy!" burst out Mrs. Rover, and got downbeside him. "Oh, I am so thankful that you weren't killed!"
"Why--er--why!" stammered the oldest Rover boy. "Say, what's happened?"he went on, looking from one to another of the group. "Where's thebiplane?"
"Flew away," answered Tom. "You got struck and knocked down, don't youremember?"
"Ah!" Dick drew a deep breath. "Yes, I remember now. Oh, how my headaches!" He put up his hand and noticed the blood. "Got a pretty goodrap, didn't I? What did the machine do, Tom; go to smash?"
"I don't know. The last I saw of her she was sailing over the house."
"She kept right on a-sailin'," answered Aleck. "Went on right ober dewoods along de ribber."
"You don't say! Then we'll have a time of it getting her back." Dickgritted his teeth. "Phew! how my head hurts!"
"Bring him to the house, and we'll bind his head up," said Mrs. Rover."I'll wash the wound first and we can put on some witch hazel."
"Yes, that or some peroxide of hydrogen," added Randolph Rover, who wasa scientific farmer and something of a chemist. "That will kill anygerms that may lodge there."
Dick was half led and half carried to the house and placed on a couch inthe sitting room, and then his aunt went to work to make himcomfortable. The cut was not a deep one, and the youth was sufferingmore from shock than from anything else.
"I'll be all right by to-morrow," he assured his Aunt Martha. "I onlygot a knock-down blow, that's all."
"The machine didn't fight fairly," added Tom, who had to have his littlejoke. "It hit Dick before he was ready."
"Well, I am thankful it was no worse," answered Mrs. Rover. "But it isbad enough."
"And we'll have to have a mason here to mend the chimney," addedRandolph Rover.
"I'll get a man from the Corners to-morrow," said Tom. "But say, I'dlike to know where the biplane went to," he continued anxiously.
"Maybe it landed on some other house," mused Randolph. "If it did youmay have more to pay for than a dismantled chimney."
"Oh, houses are few and far between in that direction, Uncle Randolph.What I am afraid of is, that the biplane came down in the trees or onthe rocks and got smashed. That would be a big loss."
"That is true."
"I can send Jack Ness and Aleck Pop out to look for the machine," wenton Tom. "And I can go out myself with Sam, when he returns."
"Yes, you'd better do that," answered Dick. "And I'll go out with youto-morrow, if you can't locate the machine to-day."
"Better take it easy, Dick," cautioned his aunt.
"Oh, I'll be all right by to-morrow, Aunt Martha. A good night's sleepwill be sure to set me on my feet again. And I can fix this cut up witha bit of adhesive plaster."
"Did you have much gasoline on board?" queried Randolph Rover.
"The tank was full," answered Tom. "Oh, the _Dartaway_ could go a goodmany miles, if she wanted to," he added, dubiously.
"The _Dartaway_? Was that the name of the craft?"
"Yes, and she did _dart away_, didn't she?" and Tom grinned.
"For all we know, she may have gone fifty or a hundred miles," continuedDick. "But I doubt it. With nobody to steer she'd be bound to turnturtle or something before long."
"Well, if she's busted, she's busted, that's all," answered Tom,philosophically. Yet the thought of the beautiful biplane being a wreckcaused him to sigh.
A few minutes later the honk of an automobile horn was heard in the laneleading to the house, and Sam Rover appeared, driving the family car. Hewas alone on the front seat and in the tonneau had a variety of thingspurchased in the village for his aunt and the others.
"Hello! what does this mean?" cried Sam, as he came into the sittingroom and saw Dick with his head bound up. "What did you do? Did you getthat fussing with the biplane?"
"I did, Sam," was the answer.
"We both had a set-to with her ladyship," put in Tom. "And the biplanefloored us on the first round." And then he told his younger brother ofwhat had occurred.
"Humph! that's too bad!" murmured Sam. He took Dick's hand. "Not hurtmuch, really?" he asked in a lower voice.
"No, Sam, I'll soon be O. K."
"Jumping lobsters! But this beats all!" went on the youngest Rover. "Idon't know if I had better tell you or not." And he looked around, tosee if anybody but his brothers was present. The grown folks had leftthe room.
"Tell us what?" demanded Tom, who quickly saw that Sam had something onhis mind.
"Tell you the news."
"What news?" asked Dick.
"Maybe you can't stand it, Dick. It will keep till to-morrow."
"See here, Sam, I'm not a baby," retorted the oldest Rover boy. "Ifyou've got anything worth t
elling tell it."
"But it may make your head ache worse, Dick."
"No, it won't. Now, what's the news? Out with it."
Instead of answering at once, Sam Rover walked over to the door andclosed it carefully.
"No use of worrying the others about it," he half whispered.
"But what is it?" demanded Tom, and now he showed that he was asimpatient as was Dick.
"I got a letter from Grace Laning," went on Sam, slowly, and turned abit red. "She told me a piece of news that is bound to upset you, Dick."
"Is it about the Stanhopes--about Dora?" questioned Dick, half risingfrom the couch on which he rested.
"Yes,--and about some others, too. But don't get excited. Nothing verybad has happened, yet."
"What did happen, Sam? Hurry up and tell us,--don't keep us insuspense!" cried Dick.
"Well; then, if you want it in a few words, here goes. Grace wasvisiting the Stanhopes a few days ago and she and Dora went to Ithaca todo some shopping. While in that town, coming along the street leading tothe boat landing, they almost ran into Tad Sobber and old JosiahCrabtree."
"What! Those rascals in that town--so near to the Stanhope home!"exclaimed Dick. "And after what has happened! We must have themarrested!"
"I don't think you can do it, Dick--not from what Grace says in herletter."
"What does she say?"
"She says she and Dora were very much frightened, especially when theydiscovered that both Sobber and old Crabtree had been drinking freely.The two got right in front of the girls and commenced to threaten themand threaten us. Nobody else was near, and the girls didn't know what todo. But at last they got away and ran for the boat, and what became ofSobber and old Crabtree they don't know."
"What did the rascals say to them?" questioned Tom, who could see thathis brother had not told all of his tale.
"They said that they were going to square up with Dora and with Mrs.Stanhope, and said they would square up with us, too, and in a way welittle expected. Grace wrote that Sobber pulled a big roll of bank billsout of his pocket and flourished it in her face. 'Do you see that?' heasked. 'Well, I can get more where that came from, and I am going to usethat and more, too, just to get even with the Rovers. I'm getting mytrap set for them, and when they fall into it they'll wish they hadnever been born! I'll blow them and their whole family sky-high, that'swhat I'll do.'"
"Sobber said that?" asked Dick, slowly.
"So Grace writes. No wonder she and Dora were scared to death."
"Oh, maybe he was only blowing, especially if he had been drinking toomuch," came from Tom.
"I don't know about that," answered Dick, with a long sigh. "With such arascal at liberty,--and with money in his pocket--there is no tellingwhat will happen."
"What do you suppose he meant by blowing us sky-high?" asked Tom. Butthis question was not answered, for at that moment Mrs. Rover came intothe room, and the course of the conversation had to be changed,--thelads not wishing to worry her with their new troubles.