Around the World in Ten Days Part 27

because there is only one representative of the law in the Galapagos).

The owner of San Cristobal informed the flyers in excellent French,--which all of them except Oliver Torrey could speak,--that he was delighted to welcome the first airplane crew to his little domain; that weeks ago the s.h.i.+p had brought gasoline and oil, which was now awaiting their pleasure in the little nearby shanty; that he and his police officer and the peons were eager to serve them in any way they could; and would the brave American aviators favor him and his police officer by joining them at the hacienda for dinner that evening?

Our friends graciously accepted this invitation, upon finding that their host would appoint a watch for the airplane. They then went with him to his pretty hacienda in the valley--a green, undulating country, dotted with grazing cattle and horses, patches of sugar-cane, coffee bushes, and lime trees, stretching away to a cloud-capped range of mountains.

Situated upon a hillock, in the midst of this entrancing valley, and surrounded by the peons' gra.s.s houses, was the owner's home. Here the flyers partook of an excellent repast, garnished with the best the island could afford, including tender wild duck from the surrounding lagoons and savory turtle soup. Then followed songs by their host, and jolly college melodies by themselves, accompanied by the sweet strains of a guitar in the hands of the police officer.

Out in the compound, the peons also celebrated the occasion. There were great oil flares, thrummings of guitars, gyrating dancers in bright-hued ponchos, merry cries, the laughing of children, the barking of dogs.

Everybody seemed thoroughly happy and contented. And, after all, what else matters? That is the Ecuadorean point of view, and who shall say it is a bad one?

It was difficult for the boys to remind themselves that here they were precisely on the equator, so positively chilly was it. And yet they were. It was the third time which they had touched that imaginary girdle of the earth in the past week or so; and it was to be their last crossing. How inspiring the thought that they were now within one hop of their goal; that sometime on the morrow they would probably reach Panama well within their time limit of ten days!

The fact is, they had only 650 miles ahead of them--a distance which could easily be covered, barring accidents, inside of five hours, and they had until one o'clock the following day in which to reach their destination. When they realized this, and were pressed most insistently by the owner of the island to spend the night, under the shelter of his roof, where there were two spare beds, the tired, bed-hungry flyers decided to remain over, Oliver Torrey going to the house of the police "chief." Torrey was really in no physical condition, as it was, to continue the flight immediately, for he had suffered a chill as the result of his exposure, and felt very weak.

Next morning they were up at the break of day, and at once began the task of refilling the tanks of the Sky-Bird and giving her machinery a general overhauling. Torrey felt much better, and a.s.sisted in these operations. His grat.i.tude to the boys for deciding not to divulge the duplicity of the unfortunate crew with whom he had been connected was very great, and he spared no effort to help them on toward success--which goes to show that this fellow was not at all bad at heart but had simply gotten in with a bad crowd.

It was a good thing that the flyers went over their engines. John found a loose coupling in one, and a stretched fan belt in the other.

Had they gone on in this condition trouble would have been sure to visit them. It was small wonder, however, that something should not be out of good working order, for these faithful pieces of mechanism had been given the hardest kind of usage day in and day out, each in its turn, and sometimes working together, in this long flight around the earth. Their final test had been the storm. More than once the boys had marveled at the remarkable efficiency of their motive power. What a tribute to the mechanical genius of modern man had these engines paid! They were almost human in intelligence, more than human in their untiring zeal.

The repairs were not difficult to make; the belt was cut and fastened again with a leather lace borrowed from the police "chief's" shoe, and the careful use of a wrench and other tools out of their kit finally fixed the loose coupling. But these operations had consumed unlooked-for valuable time, and when they had had breakfast with their friends and were ready at last to go, they found that the watch of their host indicated the hour of nine.

Setting their own watches to this local time, as had been their custom in all towns upon arriving or leaving, our flyers once more thanked their entertainers for courtesies extended, wished them good-bye, and got in their machine.

As they taxied swiftly down the course, the rush of wind from the big propeller sent more than one Ecuadorean's wide-brimmed hat flying from his head, and to the enjoyment of all, a native who was perched precariously upon an up-ended cask was blown heels-over-head backwards.

No sooner had they straightened out upon their northeasterly course than Bob sat down to his instruments and called up the Panama wireless station. In about ten minutes he got it, and told of their position and the accident to the _Clarion_. They all knew that when the news of this catastrophe reached the American newspapers there would be the greatest excitement, and that Mr. Wrenn would not only be grievously disappointed but horrified at the fate of the three members of his crew.

They now had just four hours in which to reach their goal. That meant they must travel at an average rate of better than 160 miles an hour.

Since they had gone considerably faster than this when the occasion had warranted it in the past, they felt no anxieties now. John, who was at the throttle, opened the Sky-Bird up to 165, and at this gait they skimmed swiftly along over the blue-green waters of the big Pacific.

"This speed ought to bring us in by twelve-thirty--a good half-hour ahead of our limit,--so there's no need of rus.h.i.+ng matters," said John, to which sentiment his comrades agreed.

By eleven o'clock all were keenly on the look-out. Each flyer coveted the honor of being the first one to see the coastline of Central America, the resting-place of Panama.

Paul, with the binoculars to his eyes, was the one to win. It was just exactly 11:25 when he shouted in true mariner's style: "Land ho, my hearties!"

Taking the gla.s.s, one by one his comrades gladly echoed the announcement.

But suddenly Bob's face turned chalky. "Jiminy, fellows," he cried, "what boneheads we are! We have been figuring on San Cristobal time all the while. Panama's close to an hour ahead!"

"And we've only got thirty-five minutes in which to land!" said Tom.

"Huckleberry pie! Boneheads we are! Boneheads, boneheads! I repeat it--boneheads, boneheads! It's all off now."

Tom actually wrung his hands in his misery, and the others felt just about as humiliated and disgusted with themselves.

"Here's where our prize goes a-flickering," groaned Paul. "We never can make Panama in thirty-five minutes!"

"I don't know about that," declared his brother grimly. "Here goes for the effort, anyhow. I'll make the Sky-Bird fly as she has never flown before!"

With that he brought the throttle wide open, and two minutes later threw the second engine into commission.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

THE FINISH

They were not beaten yet! The wind whistled, shrieked, and roared as it swept aft along the smooth body of the Sky-Bird. The propeller whirred, and the engines purred like two huge twin cats. So great were the noises combined that the voice was completely overwhelmed, and no effort was made by the flyers to talk with one another.

With their pulses beating wildly and hearts thumping in accord, they watched the hazy streak on the horizon line ahead rapidly develop into the unmistakable rugged form of land. As they drew closer, they could even see the glint of water on the other side, and knew without the shadow of doubt that what they were looking at was the long belt of earth connecting the two Americas--the Isthmus of Panama itself. And down their backs ran a new thrill at the recognition.

Larger and larger loomed the brown and green strip in advance.

Presently, amid the checker-board of nature's colorations, they could make out a bay and on a tongue of land a considerable collection of buildings. It was Panama City! Five minutes later they could even distinguish the American flag--how glorious the sight!--fluttering at the staffhead of the courthouse, and could see the streets and s.h.i.+ps in the harbor thronged with people who were evidently waiting to welcome them.

The excitement of the throngs increased as the airplane drew closer.

People jumped up and down, yelled, and waved their hats. It had been only a few minutes before that Bob had received the radio admonition from the Panama station; "Town gone wild; but hurry in. You only have six minutes left!"

Now they were circling high over the heads of the populace, with one engine shut off and the speed of the other much reduced. In graceful, pretty circles the Sky-Bird began to spiral her way downward, John's eyes fastened upon the big white T of the familiar airdrome. As they came down, people in the outlying districts rushed madly toward the field, and the streets everywhere were choked with the concourse pouring toward the center of attraction.

Scores of others had previously posted themselves in the airdrome; but all were kept back by a cordon of ropes and a guard of Zone policemen.

Inside of the barrier were a favored few Government officials and distinguished personages, newspaper men, photographers, and Mr.

Giddings and Mr. Wrenn themselves. Colonel Hess, the judge of the contest, was also present, ready to receive the flyers' affidavits of stops.

As the flyers stepped out of their machine many a camera clicked, and the air was filled with the cheers of the mult.i.tude.

Colonel Hess stepped quickly up. In one hand was a watch; the other was extended.

"My heartiest congratulations, boys!" he exclaimed, as he received their paper. "You have arrived just in the nick of time. Panama time, it is now exactly fifty-nine minutes after twelve!"

They had won by one minute! The flyers were so tickled that they also felt like cheering. But they were sobered instantly when Mr. Wrenn came forward and they saw how sorrowful he looked in spite of the brave smile with which he greeted them.

"Young men," said the publisher of the Clarion, "as the loser in this contest I also wish to congratulate you. We have suffered a heavy blow ourselves, but you deserve full credit for the good work you have done, and I am not the kind of a contemporary to withhold compliments so fairly earned. I trust my men conducted themselves as true sportsmen, poor fellows."

Noticing that Oliver Torrey was on the point of making reply, John gave him a warning look, and a moment later pulled him aside and said in a low voice: "Mr. Wrenn should not know that you fellows did not conduct yourselves otherwise than fair in this race. That would make him feel all the worse. Keep mum to _everybody_ about this, and we'll do the same."

Oliver Torrey nodded--tears in his eyes as he saw how desirous the Sky-Bird's crew were of protecting his own interests as well as the good name of his former a.s.sociates. What fine fellows they were! How he wished he could have been allied with them on this cruise, instead of with Pete Deveaux and his bunch!

The hards.h.i.+ps and perils of the past ten days were forgotten in the excitement of the present. Our flyers hardly knew what they were doing, so great was their joy. They shook hands with scores, hearts swelling with those emotions invoked by achievement and the glamor of the moment. It was--and always will be, perhaps,--the supreme hour of their lives.

Almost reverently they looked over the Sky-Bird. Through every possible climatic rigor the airplane had pa.s.sed, and practically without any attention. Not once, from the time they had left this very airdrome until they had reached it again, after traversing close to 25,000 miles, had she been under shelter or sulked on them through deficient construction. Given a few days to overhaul her engines, they felt they would be quite capable of repeating their world record-breaking achievement, if it were necessary.

These reflections were of brief duration, however; for the crowd, having forced its way past the barriers, and having satisfied its curiosity over the machine, directed their attention to the flyers.

Br.i.m.m.i.n.g with enthusiasm, they lifted every one of them shoulder high, laughing and cheering, and conveyed them to an extemporized platform made from a large box. From this elevation, each flyer in his turn was called upon for a speech. The boys made these quite brief, but were vociferously applauded; and then the two famous publishers were asked to contribute. Following came the governor of the Zone, who very eloquently expressed the pride the little Republic felt in starting off and witnessing the finish of this memorable event, and he said the keys of Panama were at the disposal of the young aviators until they should feel it inc.u.mbent upon them to leave for the States.

For three days our friends remained, and during that time they were the almost constant recipients of honors from civic clubs and a.s.sociations of the city, as well as from the English-speaking citizenry in general.

They were entertained at dinners, at the theater, and at sporting events out-of-doors--and not a penny were they allowed to spend themselves.