SAVING THE GREAT SEAPLANE.
"Gee whillikins! that sounds like a serious proposition, Frank!"
exclaimed Billy Barnes, when he heard the opinion of his companion.
"It looks as though we're up against something," admitted the other
grimly. "They've evidently set out to capture this seaplane, and mean to
do it, no matter at what cost."
"A compliment from the Kaiser to the ingenuity of Yankee inventors, I'd
call it," said Billy; "but all the same I don't feel like throwing up my
hands and letting them raid our shop here. It's a good thing we made
that discovery, thanks to Pudge and his sharp eyes."
"Yes, and that you thought to use the wire, which showed us how somebody
had been meddling so as to cut us off from the city," Frank remarked.
"What if they come in force, knowing we're here, Frank?"
"That door would not be able to stand much of an attack if they carried
axes along with them, I'm afraid," Billy was told.
"My stars! do you think they'd be apt to do that sort of thing?"
demanded the astonished assistant, as he looked around for some sort of
weapon with which he might defend the passage of the doorway, should it
come to a question of fighting.
"If they want this plane as badly as we think they do," said Frank,
"there is little that desperate men might attempt that they would not
try."
"And still there's no sign of poor Pudge!" ventured Billy, putting
considerable emphasis on the adjective, as though he could almost
imagine the happy-go-lucky Pudge lying on his back somewhere along the
road, groaning in pain after having been struck down by a cowardly blow.
"I'm sorry to agree with you," Frank admitted slowly, "but at the worst
we'll hope they're only detaining our chum, and that he hasn't been
hurt."
"How about my slipping out and trying to go for help, Frank? If they
only knew at Headquarters about this, they would send a whole regiment
of British Tommies on the run to patrol our works here. Say the word and
I'm off."
Frank, however, shook his head as though the idea did not appeal to him.
"The chances are they would be on the lookout for something like that,
Billy."
"And lay for me, you mean, don't you, Frank? Well, then, if it wasn't so
cold I'd propose slipping down to the water and doing a little swimming
stunt. Too bad we didn't think to have a boat of some kind with us."
"I was just thinking," ventured Frank, "that only on account of our
being rushed for time we would have installed a wireless plant here, as
we've often done before. Then we could send all the messages we wanted,
and these spies wouldn't be able to bother with them."
"Yes, if we had only thought we'd run against a snag like this, Frank,
we could have done that as easy as falling off a log. But it's too late
now to bother. The question is, what can we do about it?"
"There's always one last resort that I know of, Billy."
"Glad to know it, but please inform me as to its nature, won't you,
Frank? I would give half of my year's salary just to be able to snap my
fingers in the faces of these smart secret agents of the envious Germans
who want to steal our thunder."
Frank turned and pointed straight at the big seaplane.
"There's the answer, Billy!" he said shortly.
At first the other simply stared as though unable to grasp the meaning
of Frank's words. Then a sudden gleam of gathering intelligence began to
show itself in his eyes; he emphatically brought down his fist in the
open palm of his other hand.
"Wow! that's sure the ticket, Frank!" he burst out with, his enthusiasm
spreading until his face was one solid grin. "We've got a way of escape
right in our grip, and I was so blind as not to see it. Run off in the
plane, of course, and leave the smarties to bite their fingernails.
Great head, Frank! These German spies may think themselves wide-awake,
but they'll have to get up bright and early in the morning to catch two
Yankee boys napping, believe me!"
"Listen, Billy!"
"Did you think you heard something then, Frank?"
"There's someone at the door yonder; I saw it move, but the bar kept it
from giving way," Frank went on in a low tone. "Don't act as though you
suspected anything out of the way. They may be watching us through some
peep-holes that have been bored in the walls. It would be foolish for us
to give our plan away."
"I understand what you are aiming at, Frank," remarked the other, trying
hard to appear perfectly natural, immediately adding under his breath:
"There, I saw the door quiver again. They must wonder why it refuses to
give way. That bar is our salvation, because like as not there's a
number of them out there who would flock in with all sorts of weapons,
meaning to keep us quiet while their aviators examine the machine and
get ready for a launching. Whee! then good-by to our bully _Sea Eagle_
forever."
"That'll never happen as long as we can lift a hand to prevent it," said
Frank.
"Say, you don't think that could be Pudge trying the door?" suggested
Billy, as though struck by a sudden bright idea.
"Not very likely," came the reply; "but we can easily tell. If he hears
me give our old signal, Pudge will answer on the dot. Listen and see if
anything comes of it."
The whistle Frank emitted was of a peculiar character. It was
immediately imitated from without, and so exactly that one might think
it an echo. Frank shook his head on hearing this.
"Pudge isn't there," he said decisively. "If he was, as you very well
know, Billy, he would have sent back the other call, entirely different
from the one I gave."
"Then some fellow answered for Pudge, thinking we might open up, when
they could rush the place and get possession--is that the way it stands,
Frank?"
"As near as I can make out, it covers the ground," the young air pilot
replied. "Now I'm going to put out this light. We don't really need it
any longer, and if they are watching us through any peep-holes, it would
give our plan away."
"We ought to know every part of this coop, Frank. As for the machine
itself, I warrant you could find any stay or guy while it's pitch dark.
Let it go. There, they are trying the door again. Seems as if they can't
understand why it doesn't give way. If it keeps on shutting them out,
sooner or later they'll try to batter it down. Oh! if I only had a gun
here."
"I intended having one with the seaplane, but thought I wouldn't bother
until we meant to start on a trip," explained Frank, keen regret in his
voice.
"Seems to me it's always the unexpected that keeps cropping up with us,"
complained Billy. "I can look back to lots of times when things happened
just as suddenly and without warning as this has."
"But they didn't down us, you want to remember," advised the other, in
that confident way of his that always made his chums feel so much
better.
"Now they're starting to pry at the doors, Frank, which means business.
Hadn't we better be getting ready to make a start?"
"First of all I want you to stand by, and when I give the word fling
both the large doors wide open," Frank told him. "After that, as I
switch on the searchlight, so as to see what lies ahead, climb aboard to
your regular place. And, Billy, please don't have any hitch in the
program if you can help it!"
"Depend on me, Frank," said the other, slipping away in the darkness
that now filled the interior of the big hangar.
Frank mounted to his seat. As no flight of consequence was intended, he
did not bother donning the head shield he always carried with the
machine, his gloves alone being deemed necessary for the occasion,
though both of them had wisely secured their fleece-lined leather
jackets. Just as Billy had said, Frank was so familiar with every lever
and stay, as well as with the engine, that, with his eyes blindfolded,
he could have manipulated the intricate working parts.
Quickly he adjusted things to his liking with a deftness that left
nothing to be desired. The fact that those unseen parties on the other
side of the door were becoming more insistent with every passing second
did not seem to disturb Frank at all; for he knew very well they could
not stop his departure now.
When, presently, he had finished his simple preparations and everything
was ready for the grand finale, he gave the signal that Billy was
expectantly awaiting.
"Open up, Billy!"
Immediately both wide doors flew back, for the boys had arranged things
so that it required but a simple movement to accomplish this. Then Billy
hustled toward the seaplane, which no longer stood there like a black
shadow; for Frank had, with the pressure of his finger, caused the
powerful searchlight placed in the bow of the remarkable craft to flood
the space in front of the hangar down to and out on the water of the
harbor.
Billy swung himself aboard almost in the twinkling of an eye. Then a
lever was manipulated and with a rush the monster seaplane started. Even
as it left the shelter of the building, Billy, hanging on with nervous
hands, could see several figures in the dazzling flood of white light
spring wildly aside so as to avoid being crushed by the oncoming giant
seaplane as it tore down the inclined track leading to the water.