CHAPTER XIX
A DESPERATE RACE
From Denver to that part of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizonawhere Snake Island might be located, the distance is about five hundredmiles. Jerry had calculated this before starting, and he had told hischums that there was a chance of catching Noddy before the latter couldreach the great gash in the earth that represented the canyon.
“For I don’t believe Noddy is going to be very expert in managing our_Comet_,” commented the tall lad. “He may know how to run an ordinaryaeroplane, but when he gets mixed up with our dirigible balloon he’llcome a cropper, sooner or later.”
“Make it later,” advised Bob. “We don’t want him smashing our airshipwith any croppers.”
“Oh, I don’t know that he’ll take a tumble,” went on Jerry, “only hewon’t know how to run her so as to get the best speed out of her. Thatmeans that he’ll be longer than he thinks he’ll be in getting to thecanyon, and we’ll have a chance to catch up to him, even if he has agood start.”
“I wonder what he’ll do, if he does get to the canyon?” asked Ned, as,in response to a sign from Jerry, he adjusted the carburetor so as togive the engine a richer mixture.
“Why, he’ll hover over it, the same as we would, I suppose,” repliedthe tall lad, “and try to pick out Snake Island. He doesn’t knowexactly where it is, any more than we do, but I guess there aren’t manyislands in that part of the river, and so he won’t have much troublepicking it out. The only thing for us to do is to get there first.”
“Can we do it with this machine?” asked Ned.
“Well, it’s a pretty good craft,” replied Jerry, as he turned on morepower, and did various evolutions in the air to ascertain how the_Chaser_ responded to the helm. “Of course she isn’t as speedy as the_Comet_, but she might be, with Noddy tinkering with our machinery, andnot getting the best out of it. We’ve got to take our chance.”
The _Chaser_ was indeed a fine craft of her class, and soon the motorboys were high in the air, sailing in an almost direct south-westerndirection from Denver, to reach the Colorado.
For several miles they proceeded in a straight line, at a height ofabout a mile, as this gave them a good view ahead, unobstructed by anyclouds which would have hampered them had they gone higher. But theclear air held not a speck that might be taken for the missing _Comet_.The boys strained their eyes in vain. They were making good time, andthe wind cut into their faces, for there was no protection as in thecomfortable cabin of their own craft.
“Don’t you think you might slow up a bit?” suggested Bob after a while.
“Why?” inquired Jerry.
“Because it’s ’most lunch time, and--er--well, you know you can hardlybreathe if you open your mouth going at this speed, and if we try toeat any sandwiches we may get choked. So if you slowed up----”
“All right, Chunky, enough said!” cried Ned. “Slow up, Jerry, I’mhungry too.”
Accordingly the _Chaser_ was brought down to a speed that just kept herafloat, and Bob opened the lunch basket. It was no novelty for the boysto dine while high in the air, but it was rather more inconvenient inan open aeroplane than in the _Comet_. Still they managed.
They spent the afternoon going straight on, or circling about at timesto cover a wider area, but with all their looking, and peering throughpowerful binoculars, they had no glimpse of the craft they sought. Itwas beginning to get dusk, and Jerry suggested that they had better godown, and seek a resting place for the night.
“There’s no use flying after dark,” he said, “and we can pick out abetter landing place if we do it now, than if we wait until later.”
They were flying over a rather lonesome section of the country justthen, and no houses were in sight. But, a little later, Jerry pickedout a small cabin in the midst of a clearing in the woods, and said:
“I guess this will do as well as anything. It doesn’t look very big,but we can sleep out-doors if we have to.”
Jerry tilted the deflecting rudder, and the craft gracefully swoopeddown toward the earth. While yet a little distance from the ground theboys were surprised to see a tall, lank man, followed by a woman andseveral children, rush from the cabin, and take refuge behind a pileof wood. Then, as the airship came to a stop, after running across theground on the bicycle wheels, a rifle was poked over the top of thelogs, held unwaveringly on the three lads, while a voice drawled out:
“Hold on, strangers! I may not be able to manage one of them consarnedflippity-flop shebangs, but I’m a tolerable good shot with this gun,and she goes off on a hair trigger. So if you don’t want to be madeinto coffee strainers, git!”
“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Jerry. “We don’t mean anything, we onlywant----”
“Ye can’t fool me!” cried the voice of the man who held the gun. As forhimself he was hidden by the wood. “Ye can’t come none of them games onme. Keep hid, ’Mandy, an’ don’t let the children stick their heads up.I’ll drive these pirates off.”
“What do you take us for?” asked Jerry, in surprise.
“Kidnappers--that’s what! I’ve read about ye in the papers. Kidnappers,an’ bomb throwers, that’s what ye be. They had a exhibition over inDenver, an’ the papers told how they dropped bombs from them airships,an’ how they took children up in ’em. Ye can’t do that here. I’ve gotnine, an’ I want every one. Keep hid, ’Mandy.”
“I guess you’re mistaken,” spoke Jerry with a laugh, which was a bitforced on account of the gun that seemed pointed directly at him.“We are neither bomb throwers nor kidnappers. I don’t know how thepapers could have said that anything like that was done at the Denverexhibition. Of course there may have been some bomb-dropping contests,but only harmless chalk balls were used, and, as for children, I neverheard of any being taken up in an aeroplane.”
“Ye know you didn’t read it yourse’f, pap,” interposed a woman’s voicefrom behind the wood pile.
“Well, Gabe Ralston were tellin’ me about it, an’ I reckon he canread,” declared the man.
“Now don’t be silly, pap!” went on the woman. “I’m sure them young menlook harmless.”
“I assure you we are!” cried Jerry, and he quickly told why they wereon the wing, and how they had happened to come down. “We’d like shelterand a meal, and are willing to pay for it,” he concluded.
At the mention of “pay,” the gun was at once withdrawn, and, after amoment of whispered conversation between the man and his wife, theformer came out, looking rather ashamed of his action. He left his gunbehind.
“Well, strangers,” he said, “I guess maybe it’s all right. I haveto be cautious, you know, livin’ all alone as I do, with a wife an’nine children t’ protect. Come out, ’Mandy,” he called, and a woman,followed by the nine youngsters, ranging in sizes like a “pair ofstairs,” came from behind the wood pile.
The children, once they saw that no immediate harm was intended,gathered about the airship, as did the man and his wife. Soon therewas a feeling of confidence and friendship, and the woman at once setabout getting a meal. Jerry and his chums told how the craft worked,and the solitary farmer was much interested. He admitted that all heknew about airships was what Gabe Ralston had told him.
“An’ Gabe can’t read over’n above well,” the man added.
There was hardly room for the boys to sleep in the small cabin, and so,after a generous supper, they were given blankets, and made their bedsout of doors. The night was a fine one, and they slept well. Jerry’sgenerous payment for the accommodation brought a storm of protest fromthe man and his wife the next morning. But the tall lad said:
“Oh, that’s not too much, but if you think it is----”
“Have ’em put us up a lunch,” suggested Bob in a hoarse whisper.
“Chunky suggests a lunch,” finished the tall lad with a smile, and thewoman hastened to fill the basket.
For the rest of that day the motor boys circled about, or advancedswiftly in straight lines, ever seeking the
_Comet_. But she was not insight.
At noon they descended to renew their supply of gasolene, and thenight was spent in a country village, where they created considerableexcitement and interest.
It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Bob hastily caught upthe binoculars, and directed them at a speck in the sky off to the left.
“See anything?” asked Jerry quickly.
“I’m not sure,” replied the fat lad, after an observation, “it’s eithera big bird or----”
He did not finish his sentence, but his hands trembled slightly as hepassed the glasses to Jerry. Ned reached over and managed the wheelwhile Jerry looked.
“It’s her all right!” suddenly cried the tall lad. “Now to catch him.”
“Is it Noddy?” asked Ned eagerly.
“It’s the _Comet_ all right,” was the answer, “and I guess Noddy’s onboard. Now to see what the _Chaser_ is made of!”
Jerry opened the motor full, and with a roar that fairly shook thecomparatively frail craft from end to end, she shot ahead, herpropellers beating the air relentlessly.
“It’s going to be a desperate race!” cried Ned.
“And we’re going to win!” declared Jerry grimly.
The race was on. Faster and faster flew the _Chaser_, until, evenwithout the glasses, it could be seen that she was drawing nearer tothe _Comet_. A view through the binoculars showed that those on boardthe stolen aircraft were rushing frantically about, doubtless trying todevelop as much speed as possible.
“Can you make it, Jerry?” asked Ned.
“We’ve _got_ to!” was the quick reply.
It was evident that the only hope the motor boys had of recoveringtheir craft lay in the inability of those on board her to get out ofher all the speed possible. With the machinery of the _Comet_ run tothe best advantage, no other airship could catch her. But Jerry countedon Noddy and his cronies not knowing enough to do the right thing atthe right time. Then, too, the _Chaser_ was very speedy when rightlyhandled.
Nearer and nearer crept the pursuing craft. She was directly in therear of the _Comet_ now. Suddenly Bob cried:
“Jerry, they’re going up!”
“Then we’ll go too!” was the answer. “We can hit as high an altitude asthey can.”
“And they’re flying as a dirigible, and not as an aeroplane at all!”added Ned. “They’re afraid to use the wing planes, Jerry! Maybe we canget ahead of ’em after all!”