CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SANDSTORM.
His companion produced a tiny mirror, part of a pocket toilet set hecarried. Lieut. Sancho took it and held it over Jack’s lips.
“Praise the saints, there is still life in him. See!”
He held up the mirror for his companion’s inspection. It was blurredfaintly, showing that the boy was still breathing.
“Get the emergency outfit,” was the next order of the young Mexicanofficer, and his companion soon produced the required kit from a boxunder the seat of the military biplane.
The kit was the same as used by the armies of most civilized nations.It contained, besides bandages and antiseptics for wounds, stimulantsand other drugs. Forcing Jack’s lips open, the lieutenant gave himsome stimulant, and was rewarded before long by a faint stirring on thepart of the boy.
He redoubled his efforts to revive him, and soon had the satisfactionof seeing the boy’s eyes open and stare wildly about him. Not morethan ten minutes later Jack was sipping a cup of water and explaining,between gulps, how he came to be in such a predicament. The officerslistened with interest and nodded appreciatively as the boy told hisstory.
“This Alvarez is one of the most dangerous of the revolutionaries,”declared Lieut. Sancho. “Since President Madero’s accession he has keptthings in the province stirred up in constant turmoil.”
“His presence in this part of the country shows that the rebel troopscannot be far off,” struck in Lieut. Diaz, “so that we have to thankour young friend here for some valuable information.”
“And I have to thank you for my life,” exclaimed Jack warmly. “I don’tknow how to thank you.”
“By consenting, if you feel strong enough, to take a ride with us inour aeroplane. What you told us about Alvarez makes me anxious to beoff as soon as possible. If he is still in that valley we can capturehim, and that will be a crushing blow to the revolutionaries.”
Jack had seen aeroplanes before, but never at as close range as thismilitary one. It was painted a dark olive, with wings of a dull graycolor, the object being to make it as inconspicuous as possible. It hada powerful six–cylinder motor and was driven by twin propellers. It wasbuilt to carry two, but there was room on a folding seat for a thirdpassenger. Jack was told to occupy this extra seat and then Lieut.Sancho and his comrade climbed on board.
“Hold tight!” cried Lieut. Sancho as he started his engine.
Steady as Jack’s nerves usually were, he felt rather alarmed at theuproar that ensued. From the exhaust pipes of the motor smoke and flameshot viciously. The slender fabric of the aeroplane shook tremulouslyas the pulsations of the mighty engine racked its frame.
But suddenly another sound broke in—a sound that Jack had heard toooften before not to recognize it instantly.
It was the song of a bullet—the long drawn ze–e–e–ee of a rifleprojectile.
The two officers were as swift to hear the sound as Jack. Glancing up,the three beheld simultaneously a body of horsemen sweeping down onthem from a range of barren–looking hills in the distance. As they rodethey fired till a perfect fusilade of bullets was whistling around theaeroplane.
They were a wild–looking body of men. Most of them wore the sugar loafor cone–peaked hat of the Mestizo, and their serapes streamed out inthe breeze behind them. Dust and sweat covered their ponies, and agreat cloud of gray dust enveloped them.
“_Viva Alvarez!_” they cried as they swept on.
Lieut. Sancho saw that to resist them would be hopeless. Instead hedevoted all his efforts to starting his motor. At last, just as theforemost of the horsemen were upon them, the aeroplane gave a jumpforward and scudded off like a live thing over the crowd.
This sudden motion of the great winged man–made bird so terrified theponies of the rebels, for a detachment of the revolutionists they were,that the little creatures became uncontrollable and dashed off in everydirection. All the shouts and curses of their owners failed to rallythem, and after running a few hundred feet the aeroplane soared aloft,unharmed except for a few bullet holes in her planes.
The sensation was a delightful one. As the bumping motion caused bythe run over the ground ceased, it felt to Jack as if he was ridingon billows of the softest cloud fabric. He had not the slightestfear and watched Lieut. Sancho with interest while he manipulatedthe various levers and wheels. As they flew the officer showed Jackjust how the air craft worked. He even let him take the wheel foran instant, and declared that the boy acquitted himself like a bornairman. The aeroplane being fitted with stability devices of automaticconstruction, it was, of course, possible to do this, where in anothersort of air machine it might have been dangerous to allow a novice tohandle the control wheel.
As they rose higher Jack cast a look back. The country was stretchedout like a panorama beneath him. On the plain he could see thedetachment of revolutionaries galloping about trying in vain to reformtheir disorganized ranks.
“See if you can point out this wonderful valley of yours,” said Lieut.Diaz presently.
Before long Jack sighted the hidden valley which had been the scene ofhis thrilling climb. He recognized it by the tumbling cascade of waterthat thundered whitely into the Pool of Death.
“There! There it is yonder!” he cried.
“It is indeed a wonderful place,” commented Lieut. Sancho as theyhovered like a huge eagle above the cliff–walled valley. “If one didnot know of it, it would be impossible to discover it.”
“Except by airship or by the Pool of Death,” said Jack.
Lieut. Sancho finally spied a good place to land and the aeroplane wasdropped rapidly into the valley. It settled with hardly a jar or aquiver, much to Jack’s astonishment, who had feared it would collidewith the ground with considerable force.
“Well, I don’t see anything of your friend Alvarez,” commented Lieut.Sancho, looking about him after they had left the aeroplane.
“Nor do I,” commented Jack in a rather astonished tone, “what can havebecome of him?”
“Possibly he has escaped in some way. He is as cunning a fox as thereis in the country,” declared Lieut. Diaz.
Jack shook his head, however.
“There is no chance that he could have gotten out unless he followed mypath and I think he was not active enough for that.”
“Which way did you get out?” inquired Lieut. Diaz. “Where is that cliffyou told us about?”
Jack pointed to the frowning precipice he had scaled. The officers,who could hardly be blamed for doubting him, gazed at the boy sharply.But his frank, honest countenance and modest manner of telling hisstory soon put their suspicions to rout, although Lieut. Diaz franklyconfessed:
“Señor, you are an American boy, and therefore tell the truth; but fromanyone else we should have laughed at the story.”
“It was nothing to laugh at, I assure you,” said Jack.
“I should imagine not,” agreed Lieut. Sancho, “one would hardly think afly could find footing on that place.”
“Looking up at it now,” said Jack with a laugh, “I myself begin todoubt that I did it.”
A systematic search of the valley was begun, and of course endedwithout result. One thing only was certain, Alvarez had gone. It wasa good thing possibly that Jack did not know then the manner of hisgoing, or what part the boy’s own friends had played in it. Had he doneso, he would have felt very downcast over the thought of by how narrowa margin he had missed being reunited to them.
“Well,” declared Lieut. Diaz as they came to a halt near the Pool ofDeath, “one thing is as certain as daylight, and that is that in somemanner Alvarez has escaped.”
“Not a doubt of it. But how?” rejoined his companion. “I confess I amat a complete loss to understand how he effected his release.”
“Maybe another aeroplane came along and took him,” suggested Jack.“That is the only thing I can think of.”
Entirely mystified, the two officers made arrangements for flight oncemore. It had been agreed th
at Jack was to be landed in the Rangers’camp, or, at any rate, close to it. The prospect of rejoining hisfriends safe and sound rejoiced the boy, and he was in high spiritswhen they sat down to partake of lunch before resuming flight.
They had concluded their meal when Jack noticed that there was apeculiar look about the sky. From blue it had turned to a yellowishtinge, and the sun glowed through it like a fiery copper ball. He drewthe attention of Lieut. Sancho to this, and the young officer andhis comrade in arms held a long consultation about the state of theweather.
At its conclusion Lieut. Sancho announced that, although the weatherappeared threatening, yet they would go up. He explained that he andhis companion had to be back at their headquarters in time to reportthe rebel attack and the near approach of the reactionary forces. Ifthey were to drop Jack on the way, there was no time to be lost.
The aeroplane was swiftly tuned up, and when all were on board Lieut.Diaz, who had relieved Lieut. Sancho at the wheel, sent the big craftup with a velocity that made Jack lose his breath. At a height of abouttwo hundred feet a sudden gust struck the air craft, causing it tocareen in a most alarming manner. For one dread instant it appeared toJack that the whole affair was doomed to turn turtle in mid–air; butthe stability devices worked just in time.
With a clicking and sliding sound the parts that composed the balancingpower of the machine slipped into their places and it resumed an evenkeel.
As if to show his perfect mastery of the military dirigible, Lieut.Diaz drove it straight up toward the overcast sky. A fairly stiff windwas now beginning to blow, and to Jack the maneuver appeared riskyin the extreme. But, of course, he said nothing, although, lookingdownward, earth looked fearfully remote. But to the two Mexicanofficers all this was evidently part of the day’s work. At all events,neither of them displayed the least anxiety; on the contrary, Lieut.Sancho was busy noting the action of the barograph and barometer, andjotting down the results of his observations in a small notebook.
All at once Jack, on glancing down, discovered that the earth had beenobliterated. A yellow fog, or it seemed to be fog, hid the surface ofthe country from them. All at once something stinging struck the boy’sface. It was sand.
With a gasp of alarm Jack realized that a sandstorm was raging belowthem. He recalled the one near La Hacheta, in which the lads had seenthe flight of the ghostly camels. Seriously alarmed, he drew theattention of his companions to what was going on. By this time, sorapidly had the velocity of the wind increased that it was blowinghalf a gale, great clouds of sand swept bewilderingly round them. Theaeroplane pitched and swayed like a ship in an angry sea. Jack held ontight, thinking that every moment would be likely to be his last.
“We did wrong to come up so high,” admitted Lieut. Diaz.
“But you are going higher?” objected Jack.
“Yes. We must avoid that sand at all hazards. It won’t be so bad higherup, I hope.”
“Why not drop to earth right now? It’s all flat country hereabouts,”said Jack.
“In the first place, the sand would blind us and we would crash toearth and be wrecked, in all probability. In the second place, ifeven a little sand got into our engine it would ruin it,” rejoined theofficer.
Jack said no more. He felt rather ashamed, in fact, of having showedhis agitation so plainly. After all, the officers knew far more aboutaeroplanes than he did, and perhaps there was a chance that they wouldget through safely yet, He fervently prayed that they might.
Lieut. Diaz sat grimly at the wheel, driving the aeroplane ever upward.Jack watched him admiringly. Not a trace of fear or of any otheremotion had flickered across his steadfast countenance since the battlewith the storm had begun.
They had driven their way far above the yellow sand fog and werebattling with the wind at an altitude of almost seven thousand feet,when Lieut. Diaz gave a sudden gasp. He turned deadly pale and lurchedforward in his seat. Had not Lieut. Sancho caught him, he would havetoppled off into space. The aeroplane, released from a controllinghand, gave a sickening dash downward.
“Wha–what has happened?” gasped Jack, genuinely alarmed now.
“It’s air sickness! Seize that controlling handle and do just as I tellyou. All our lives may depend on it!”