CHAPTER XIX
A DESPERATE CHANCE
"Tell us the worst, Tom!" cried Beverly hoarsely.
Jack tried to echo the words, but his tongue seemed to stick to theroof of his mouth. He knew his chum well enough to feel assured thatno ordinary hovering peril could cause the other to look so ashenpale. It must be a frightful catastrophe by which they werethreatened, Jack realized.
"The feed pipe! It must be choking up! Latterly I've more than suspectedthe motors were doing poorer work than before!"
The others understood. Under ordinary conditions they would decide ondropping to the ground for repairs; a task that might be carried out in abrief time, or consume hours, everything depending on the condition inwhich they found things.
But how utterly impossible to dream of doing anything like that now! Jacklooked down to where, in the declining light of the sun, he could seethat limitless sea of billowy water. How different indeed all might bewere their airship a seaplane, capable of floating on the surface of thewater and making a successful launch from it, just as a gull would do.
"I'll take a look, Tom!" Lieutenant Beverly called out. "Not that I doubtwhat you say, but all of us will have to put our heads together; we shallneed all our wits if what you fear proves to be a fact."
Tom was more than willing, in fact he would have himself insisted on thelieutenant or Jack doing this very thing. Pilots differ in plenty ofways; and, as Beverly had said, one might hit on an answer to the problemthat had entirely escaped the others.
Jack said not a word, but almost held his breath while Beverly was makinghis eager examination. The plane was not more than a thousand feet abovethe sea at most, and going very slowly now.
A short time elapsed. Then Beverly completed his task. The flightlieutenant looked more serious than ever, which told the story evenbefore he uttered a single word.
Apparently the worst had come, and they were up against a question on theanswer to which everything, even life itself, depended.
"I'm sorry to say it's a positive fact, boys!" called out Beverly, andas both the others were straining their ears to catch what he said, theyhad no difficulty in hearing every word.
"It's the supply pipe clogging then?" Tom asked.
"Yes," came the quick answer. "And while under some conditions I've beenable to get along for a short time without dropping down, as a rule I'vefound it wise to look for a landing-place before things got to the pointof desperation and avoid a fall, possibly in the midst of a Germanbattalion."
"No chance of our getting at it while afloat, is there?" Jack asked,although he knew what Beverly was bound to say.
"Not the slightest," the other shot back. "It might keep going forsomething like an hour, and then shut off the gas entirely. Of coursethere's always a possibility of a miracle happening, such as theobstruction being suddenly overcome; but I'm afraid that's one chance ina million."
"But can't something be done, boys? Must we just fold our hands, and meetour fate?" demanded Jack. "What are you thinking about, Tom, for I cansee a look in your face that we ought to know? Have you an idea--is thereyet a hope that we can get a grip on this danger, and choke it?"
Tom's face was still colorless, but there was a gleam in his eye, whichJack had discovered. Perhaps after all it might be only the light ofdesperation, a determination to die game if a cruel fortune decreed thattheir time had come. Jack could not tell.
"Yes, I have a plan," said Tom quickly. "Perhaps you'll both call it awild idea, and think I'm crazy; but desperate cases call for equallydesperate remedies, and at the worst we'll have a chance."
"Good boy, Tom!" cried Jack. "Just like you to hit on a plan! Haven'tI known you to come to the front many times when things looked veryblack for us?"
"Tom, tell your scheme!" demanded Beverly. "Things may develop fasterthan we suspect now, and if there's any way to get around this troublethe sooner we start the better."
"Of course," Tom replied, "we'll be taking the risk of smashing the noseof our craft when we strike, unless luck favors us. I've landed on everysort of ground, from smooth velvety turf to bumpy stuff that almostjoggled me to pieces; but I never before tried dropping on an ice-floe!"
Beverly and Jack stared hard at each other. Apparently the idea struckthem like a sudden blow, showing that neither had as yet contemplatedsuch a thing.
Then they turned and stared down at the wide field of floating ice thatwas attached to the towering bulk of the mighty berg, as though weighingthe possibility of Tom's amazing suggestion in their minds.
Jack gave a shout.
"Tom, you're a genius, that's what you are!" he almost shrieked in theintensity of his emotion. "I honestly believe it can be donesuccessfully."
"We'd have to drop a whole lot lower, so as to take a closer survey, andlearn just how smooth the surface of the floe is," Tom continued.
"I've looked through the glasses," replied Jack. "And as far as I couldmake out it seemed fairly decent. I know we've landed on worse groundmany a time, and without being wrecked."
"Look again then, while I'm dropping down," urged Tom.
All of them were tremendously excited, as may readily be believed. Andwho would not have been under similar conditions? Although army airpilots are accustomed to taking great risks, and seldom go up without thethought flitting through their minds that their hour may be close athand, still they are human, and when the dreadful crisis springs uponthem they can feel the chilly hand that seems to clutch the heart.
Jack soon made his report.
"Yes, it looks good to me!" he cried, with a hopeful ring to his voice."I can see a crack or two that would be bad for us to run into; butthere's a clear field over on the north side of the floe. I'm sure wecould make it without getting badly shaken up. Then it's our only chance;if we miss this what else could we do?"
"Nothing," Tom replied quietly. "But I'm going to circle the berg, andsee what lies on the other side."
"Whatever we decide to do," remarked Beverly, who seemed to haverecovered to a great extent from his first perturbation, "we must lose notime about carrying it out. That feed pipe might become fully clogged atany minute, you know. Then besides, the sun is ready to dip down behindthe sea horizon, when we'll soon be plunged into darkness."
"Yes," agreed Tom, "we mustn't fool away our time. It's going to be noeasy job to make a safe landing on the ice, something none of us has everpracticed. But it'd be still worse to go at it haphazard."
The others knew what was in Tom's mind. Should they seriously injure thebig bombing plane there would be no way of making repairs. On land itcould be turned over to the repair-shop, and inside of a week perhapsemerge once more in as good shape as ever. No such convenience could belooked for out there in mid-Atlantic!
In a short time they had circled the great mass of ice. They all fullyrealized now how cold it was, and why the sea water must be affected fora mile or more all around such a tremendous bit of the Arctic regions.
They found that most of the floe lay on the north side of the berg; anddecided that their best chance for landing must be in that quarter.
"The old berg looks top-heavy," Jack at one time called out. "You can seethat it leans toward the north; and sometimes I've thought it wobbledconsiderably, though that may have been the plane waving up and down."
"No, you were right, Jack," said Beverly. "Its leaning that way tellsthat the warmer sea water has begun to eat at its base. Before a greatwhile the berg will roll over, and smash all that floe into bits."
"I hope not when we're on it, working at our motor!" Jack could not keepfrom exclaiming, looking with more interest than ever at the monster bergthat had come all this distance from some glacier a thousand miles away,perhaps several times that distance, and would sooner or later loseitself in sub-tropical waters.
Lower still Tom took them. All eyes continued to survey the field ofice, particularly in that extreme northern sector where Jack had reportedlay the best place for landing.
"Once
more in a circle so as to face the wind," said Tom, "and then Imean to put it to the test."
"Good luck to you, Tom!" said Jack. "If ever you dropped as if you werefalling on eggs, let it be now. I'm going to hold my breath when westrike the ice, and only hope we don't keep gliding along until we shootoff the edge into the sea!"
"Leave that to me, Jack," came the assurance of the pilot.
After that no one said a word, for both Lieutenant Beverly and JackParmly realized that it would be dangerous to distract Tom's attentionfrom his work just at the most critical moment.
The sun had reached the horizon, and inside of a few minutes mustvanish from view. At that moment Tom shut off the engine, and madeready to alight!