CHAPTER IV
IN BAD COMPANY
“What’s that?” shouted young Brackett.
He made a spring forward as if he hoped to intimidate Dave. The youngaviator did not budge an inch, and his adversary contented himself withsimply glaring at him.
“You heard me,” said Dave, simply.
“Yes,” fired up the fellow named Vernon; “we heard you, and if I was inBrackett’s place you wouldn’t be heard much longer. Say, Elmer, whydon’t you wire your father and get some kind of an accommodating crowdaround here.”
“I’d soon show who was boss if I was near the old man,” grumbled youngBrackett.
“I am boss here, if that is what you want to call it,” said Dave. “Thisis private property, I am in charge, and you are trespassers. Outside ofyour not coming at me in the right way, I want to say to you that the_Gossamer_ is here for a specific purpose, and I have my orders andplans.”
“If my father was here, he’d soon order you to give us a spin in the_Gossamer_,” declared Brackett.
“I know who your father is, and respect him greatly,” replied Dave, “butI would have to have his written order to do any work outside ofroutine.”
“Oh, is that so!” sneered Brackett. “You seem to make no bones aboutgallivanting about in the _Gossamer_ as freely as you choose with yourown particular lady friends.”
Dave made no reply. He did not consider that his visitors had thefineness of mind to understand the pathetic circumstances of his effortsin behalf of the Winston family.
Vernon gave his companion a wink and a nudge. He whispered some quickwords to him that Dave did not catch. Young Brackett drew out a walletstuffed full of money.
“See here, Dashaway,” he spoke, in a tone meant to be friendly andwheedling; “be a good fellow. There are some girls down at the hotel Ipromised to show the _Gossamer_ to, and what she could do on the water.I’ll make it a twenty. Come, help us out.”
“I am sorry,” replied Dave, steadily.
“You won’t do it?”
“No.”
Again Vernon whispered to his companion. The latter nodded his head.Vernon shot a quick glance about the enclosure. Then, before Dave couldsurmise his purpose, the man made a spring at him.
The young aviator was athletic and strong, but he had to cope with afull grown man. Vernon had seized his arms from behind and Davestruggled in vain.
“Fetch those ropes over near the airship,” directed Vernon, with anunpleasant laugh. “I’ll show you how to do this thing.”
Young Brackett looked a trifle frightened.
“See here, Vernon,” he said, “I don’t know about this.”
“Well, I do,” retorted Vernon, securely twisting the rope about Dave’sarms and body. “You said you knew how to run the machine, didn’t you?”
“Why, I’ve been up in a biplane at the works several times,” saidBrackett, rather hesitatingly.
“What are you afraid of, then? Just because it’s a bigger machine? Lookhere, give it a try.”
“What are you going to do with Dashaway?”
“Take him along.”
“What!”
“Certainly, so if we make any blunders he’ll have to take the helm tohelp himself out of the fix.”
“I want to warn you,” cried Dave. “You are trying a dangerousexperiment.”
Vernon only laughed. Brackett put on a braggart air of over-confidence.The former lifted Dave into one of the seats and took his own behind thepilot post.
“All right,” announced Brackett, climbing into the forward seat. “Ithink I can manage the machine.”
Dave cast a hopeless look towards the gates of the enclosure. There wasno sign of Grimshaw or Hiram. He watched the bungling of Brackett overthe delicate mechanism, fearful as to the outcome of the resolution ofthe reckless fellow.
“Self-starter, eh?” he heard the presumptuous pilot say. “I know how tooperate that. What’s this little mirror for? Oh, yes, to index thecurves. Pshaw! I can’t go wrong if I watch that.”
“Can’t you? Oh, my!” muttered Dave.
Young Brackett was all right at the wheel. His brief biplane experiencecounted for enough to enable him to make a very pretty swoop aloft. Hewas so delighted at this that he chuckled:
“Say, I guess I’ll take a job at running the governor’s machine myself.Hey, what?”
“Good for you—doing finely,” commended Vernon. “Get over the lake,Brackett. If you can manage to sail the machine we’ll take the girls fora ride.”
Dave held his breath. Brackett had split half a circle abruptly, and the_Gossamer_ got ready for a dive. By some accident the frightened pilotbanked just in time to save a spill.
“Don’t change your course—don’t dare to!” fairly shouted the excitedDave, as he saw that any further attempt at a head change in novicehands meant sure destruction for the _Gossamer_.
Young Brackett was terribly frightened. In his fear and dismay he turnedon the full power, but let the machine run a perfectly straight course.It was, however, on an angle of about fifty degrees.
“What’s he to do?” chattered Vernon, himself growing pale and nerveless.
“I can’t tell—I can only show him. If the course is not changed, themachine will hit the earth going forty miles an hour,” declared Dave.
“Show him, then! show him!” gasped Vernon.
He reached over with trembling hands and began to loosen the ropes withwhich he had bound the young aviator. In some way they had becometangled, and in that circumscribed space he dared not move about freely.The _Gossamer_ tipped slightly, and its dismayed pilot let out a yell offear.
While Vernon was tugging breathlessly at the ropes, Dave noted that themachine was due to land with a terrific shock inside of two minutes. Itjust grazed the tops of some tall trees. Then it missed a flagpole inthe center of some private grounds.
“Shut off the power, or we are lost!” cried Dave.
Brackett had just enough sense left to obey him, but that did notprevent a catastrophe. They were just passing near some glass-coveredhothouses. The first one they skidded. At the second one the head of themachine ripped the top row of glasses out of place like a toboggan shoesplintering a stretch of thin ice. Then the under floats tangled in theframe work, and Dave bore company with the others in a dive into a bedof geraniums.
The shock of even that soft landing place was sufficient to half stunour hero for the moment. In a dim blur of vision he seemed to see twofigures limping away. He caught sight of the machine lying half-waythrough a frail trellis. Then he heard these startled words in anunfamiliar voice:
“Hello! I say, what’s this?”
Dave looked up to see a man in gardener’s garb staring in turn athimself, the _Gossamer_, and the havoc the machine had made.
“If you’ll help me up,” said Dave, rather faintly; “I’ll try toexplain.”
“You’ll have to!” cried the gardener. “Who ever heard of such a thing?Get up, but don’t you try to run away from all the mischief you’vedone.”
“Hardly,” promised Dave, as the man cut the ropes securing him. “Howbadly is the machine damaged?”
“How badly are my greenhouses damaged, you’d better say!” shouted theman. “Say, who’s to pay for all this wreck and ruin?”
“Don’t worry about that,” replied Dave. “The company will settle withyou.”
“I don’t know anything about your company,” retorted the man. “If you’reDashaway——”
“I am.”
“I’ve heard of you, and you look like a decent, honest fellow. But say,this is an awful fix for me. I’m only in charge here, and I don’t knowbut the boss will hold me responsible for what’s happened and take thedamage out of my small pay.”
“I will see that he doesn’t do that,” pledged Dave.
The man was almost crying in his fright and distress.
“You estimate what it will cost to
replace things as they were,”directed Dave, “and I’ll settle it right out of my own pocket before Ieven leave here.”
“You will?” cried the gardener, joyfully.
“You can depend upon it. Did you see anything of two fellows who were inthe machine with me?”
“Yes, I saw two young men running for that back fence yonder. They gotout of sight pretty quick.”
“I’m glad they weren’t hurt, anyway,” thought Dave.
The gardener went around, surveying the damage done to the greenhouses,while Dave examined the _Gossamer_. Our hero was agreeably surprised tofind that outside of the warping of one of the wings and a twistedpropeller, the machine had suffered very slight injury.
“A lucky escape,” he said to himself. “Those venturesome fellows werenever nearer death than fifteen minutes ago.”
“I say, what’s this, Dashaway!”
It was Grimshaw who spoke, pale and out of breath. Equally startled andanxious, Hiram Dobbs, following him, came rushing up to the spot.