Around the World in Ten Days Part 21

The others expressed equal inability to discern the purpose of their rivals, and the incident was soon forgotten.

But twenty minutes later the familiar roar of a revolving airplane propeller greeted their ears, and they were surprised to observe the _Clarion_ rising up over the field. They watched the machine until it had disappeared in the cloud mists to the east. Then they awoke.

All saw the game of their rivals now. By making the Sky-Bird's crew believe they did not intend to leave until noon, the latecomers would be inclined to take their time fitting up for the next hop, and this would give the _Clarion's_ party a chance to make a sudden exit and gain a good lead before the others could get under way.

There was no getting around it--Pete Deveaux was clever, if he were a rascal. This our friends had to admit to themselves, despite their dislike of the fellow. His methods of getting the best of them seemed to have no limit; and yet thus far they had been able to cling, by the hardest kind of work, right at his heels. This last trick was more honest strategy than Deveaux had exhibited before, and they could therefore admire it in that sense. They hoped that from now on his maneuvers might be as free from maliciousness.

But their rivals had not fooled them as badly as they thought. Our flyers had lost no time upon landing in refitting, and when they saw the _Clarion_ take off, they speeded up operations so fast that they were able to depart only fifteen minutes later.

Almost straight eastward they headed, bearing just a little to the southward, so as to strike Singapore on a bee-line. They hoped to reach this stop some time before dark, which would give them approximately twelve hours' flying time. Under ideal weather conditions, they could make the journey in considerably less time, but it was the season for the well-known monsoons of the Indian Ocean, and it was quite unlikely that they would be able to wing their way across the fourteen hundred odd miles of sea without encountering some of these deterrent trade-winds.

It took them just an hour to cross the island of Ceylon, and flying at about fifteen hundred feet, they winged their way out over the whitecaps of the ocean. To their unspeakable pleasure they found the winds not at all bad, and made good speed. Bob was at the throttle, Paul was observing, and John and Tom were sleeping.

They had been flying thus for perhaps two hours, when Paul saw that for which he had been keenly watching for some time. It was a faint black speck, like a tiny bird, against the blue of the heavens ahead of them.

He continued to watch this silently, after calling his chum's attention to it, until, under an increase of speed, the Sky-Bird had drawn close enough for them to observe that it was what they suspected--an airplane.

In another hour they were near enough to recognize in it the unmistakable outlines of the _Clarion_. To all appearances their rivals had also observed them, and were crowding on power, for now they gained much slower. Yet they still continued to narrow the breach between them, steadily, rod by rod, and minute by minute. They could see that the _Clarion_ was not well handled, for she wavered in her flight considerably.

"They'd be wise if they'd throw those rocks out which they took aboard," commented Paul. "That might help them to fly steadier."

"They're flying all of a thousand feet higher than we are," said Bob.

"We're going to pa.s.s under them, I think, in the next half-hour."

That was the way matters looked. The _Clarion_ was riding high, and was so close by this time that the windows in her cabin could be made out. Against those panels of gla.s.s our friends felt sure some of the rival crew were even at that moment pressing anxious faces as they watched the Sky-Bird steadily creeping up on them.

It was such an auspicious moment that Paul went and aroused John and Tom, so that they could see the Sky-Bird overtake and pa.s.s her adversary. Those two worthies grumbled a whole lot for a few moments, being half asleep, but when they grasped the situation and saw the _Clarion_ just ahead, they were as much interested as anybody.

Slowly, surely the Sky-Bird overtook the rival machine. When it seemed her nose was almost up to the tail of the _Clarion_, they saw a movement in the bottom of the fuselage of the craft above them, where her trapdoor of gla.s.s was situated in the floor of the cabin. Then something gray streaked down through the air. It went whizzing by just in front of the Sky-Bird, and a few moments later plunged into the sea with a great splash.

"Huckleberry pie!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tom Meeks, "one of their rocks has burst through their floor trap. Say, that was a close call for us!"

"Watch out! Here comes another!" cried Paul, as a second gray missile went by them on the other side.

Barely had it struck the waters beneath, when a third rock came so close that they could feel the rush of air as it pa.s.sed downward. It was as if they were being bombarded by an enemy above, who used great stones instead of explosives. Their faces paled when the truth struck them like a thunderbolt. With calm deliberation, deadly intent, and a skill born of dropping bombs on targets during the war, some of the fellows in the machine above were trying to wreck the Sky-Bird with the rocks they had gathered in the field back in Ceylon!

"Quick, Bob!" cried John to their pilot. "Swerve out from under these devils as fast as you can! If another stone comes down here, it may--"

The words he intended to say never were uttered. At that very moment another gray object streaked its way down through the heavens, whirling uglily. They thought sure it would strike the cabin roof and crash through, and intuitively they cowered back in the corners for protection.

But their speed carried the stone farther to the rear. There was a tearing, rending sound.

Their faces blanched. And then Bob called out: "Hi, fellows, something's gone wrong! The Sky-Bird's bound to put her nose into the sea. The tail elevators don't work!"

CHAPTER XXIV

RIDING AN AIRPLANE'S TAIL

Filled with the gravest fears for the safety of the Sky-Bird and themselves, all except Bob rushed to the rear windows of the cabin and looked out to see what had caused the ripping noise, and what could be wrong with the tail.

Paul reached a point of vantage first. One swift look showed him the trouble. The left elevator had a big hole through it, made by the stone, fragments of silk showing all round the ragged gap. But this could not have caused the derangement of the steering controls entirely, and looking for a reason, Paul saw that the impact had caused the wire running to the right elevator to become twisted around a bracket near the end of the fuselage. Under this condition neither elevator could be controlled. With the good one held downward, it was no wonder that the airplane had started a stubborn, slow dive toward the ocean in spite of Bob's frantic efforts to work the lever normally effecting it.

"Shut off your engine!" called Paul to Bob. "That will hold us back.

Three minutes of time I think will save us!"

With the words, Paul seized the end of a long coil of rope which lay near, and fastened it about his waist. Both Bob and John saw what he meant to do. He would crawl out upon the fuselage and attempt to untangle the inactive control wire, freeing the now useless right elevating plane!

It was a daring thing to do--a most perilous proceeding. But the older men knew that it was the only thing that could prevent them from plunging into the sea. So John threw open a window for his brother, the nimblest one of them, gave his hand a parting squeeze, and Paul climbed through.

Paul never had realized as he did now how smooth that rounded body of the machine was, nor how strong the wind shot back along it when the machine was in flight. Although he clutched it with both arms and legs, and lay as close to it as he could press, he thought two or three times, as he made his way out toward the tail, that he would be torn loose. He knew that his friends in the cabin, whom it might be he would never speak to again, were watching his progress with fear gripping their hearts, and were probably inwardly praying for his success with every breath.

Finally the boy reached the tail. He dare not look down at the sea to see how much closer they were now, for the sight might unnerve him and prove disastrous to his purpose. So, glazing his vision to all except his environs and intent, he wrapped his legs around the narrowing body of the machine, let go with his arms, and in a crouching posture seized the tangled wires. Two or three tugs and he had them free. He announced this fact with as loud a yell as he could.

Immediately afterward he heard his brother's voice. "Hang right there where you are, Paul! Don't try to come back until we get elevation again and I give you the word."

He realized what this meant and looked down as he once more wrapped his arms around the fuselage, with his shoulders against the rudder bracket. What he saw was the restless sea less than two hundred feet below! Had Bob waited for him to attempt to crawl back into the cabin with the tail elevated, the Sky-Bird would have buried herself in the waters before he was half-way to his objective. They must now rise, if that were possible, to a good height; then Bob would slowly spiral the airplane downward and afford him a declining surface to work back upon.

Luckily Paul's freeing of the right elevating plane, gave the pilot fairly good control over the machine, so Bob had no difficulty in bringing the Sky-Bird into a rising swoop, although none too soon.

Mounting at a good angle, but one which would not be likely to displace the youth clinging at the tail, he brought the airplane up to two thousand feet.

"Now, Paul! Slide for it!" cried John, as the machine began a slow descent in a great circle.

Paul then worked his way back like a crab, sliding a little, but not once allowing his tensioned limbs to relax to the danger point. Before the airplane had come within five hundred feet of the sea, he felt his legs grasped in the strong hands of John and Tom, and the next moment they had hauled him bodily through the window.

"Ginger, Buddy, that was a close call for us--and you, too!" exclaimed John. "I hope I never see you in such a ticklish place again!"

Paul sank into a seat. He was too exhausted to do anything but smile.

When at last he could find his voice he asked, anxiously: "Can Bob control her all right now?"

"Well enough to land us where we wish to go, he says," observed Tom.

"That's right," put in Bob himself, who had overheard the conversation.

"The Sky-Bird isn't what she was before that rock went through her, but if nothing worse happens we'll reach Singapore, though it will probably be somewhat later than our sweet friends in the other plane."

"We can land at Sumatra, I think, if we have to make repairs before,"

ventured John. "We ought to cross the northern end of that island in the course of an hour."

Searching the horizon for their rivals, they saw that, evidently satisfied with the mischief they had done, the _Clarion_ crew had gone on at full speed, for they were now far ahead.

"If I ever run onto Pete Deveaux again I believe I shall be angry enough to choke him till he's unable to speak his own name," declared Paul.

"I'm afraid I'll have to help you at that job, Paul," cried Tom. "He's the most unprincipled scoundrel that ever went unhung."

"You are right, Tom; Deveaux is a brute," said John. "His deviltry came near being the end of us. When we get home, we must see to it that he is punished as he deserves. But we must keep it out of the papers now, as it will look, in case we get beat, as if we wanted an excuse."

John and Tom now resumed their hammocks and broken sleep, for they saw that, although the shattered tail elevator caused the Sky-Bird to ride roughly and at reduced speed. Bob and Paul could probably handle her all right from now on. The cross winds of the monsoon also hindered their progress a good deal, blowing erratically from different directions, but they plugged along at a pace slow enough to keep themselves within the zone of safety.