The Sheriff On Board
The announcement of Mr. Damon came as a great surprise to Tom and Mr.
Sharp. They had supposed that the reference to Shagmon was to a person,
and never dreamed that it was to a locality. But Mr. Damon's knowledge
of geography stood them in good stead.
"Well, what's the first thing to do?" asked Tom, after a pause.
"The first thing would be to go to Shagmon, or close to it, I should
say," remarked Mr. Sharp. "In what direction is it, Mr. Damon?"
"Northwest from where we were. It's a county seat, and that will suit
our plans admirably, for we can call on the sheriff for help."
"That is if we locate the gang," put in Tom. "I fancy it will be no
easy job, though. How are we going about it?"
"Let's first get to Shagmon," suggested the balloonist. "We'll select
some quiet spot for a landing, and then talk matters over. We may
stumble on the gang, just as you did, Tom, on the men in the office."
"No such good luck, I'm afraid."
"Well, I think we'll all be better for a little sleep," declared the
eccentric man. "Bless my eyelids but I'm tired out."
As there was no necessity for standing watch, when the airship was so
high up as to be almost invisible, they all turned in, and were soon
sleeping soundly, though Tom had hard work at first to compose himself,
for he was excited at the prospect of capturing the scoundrels,
recovering the money for the bank, and clearing his good name, as well
as those of his friends.
In the morning careful calculations were made to enable the travelers
to tell when they had reached a point directly over the small city of
Shagmon, and, with the skill of the veteran balloonist to aid them,
this was accomplished. The airship was headed in the proper direction,
and, about ten o'clock, having made out by using telescopes, that there
was plenty of uninhabited land about the city, the craft was sent aloft
again, out of a large crowd that had caught sight of it. For it was
the intention of the travelers not to land until after dark, as they
wanted to keep their arrival quiet. There were two reasons for this.
One was that the whole country was eager to arrest them, to claim the
reward offered by the bank, and they did not want this to happen. The
other reason was that they wanted to go quietly into town, tell the
sheriff their story, and enlist his aid.
All that day the Red Cloud consorted with the masses of fleecy vapor,
several miles above the earth, a position being maintained, as nearly
as could be judged by instruments, over a patch of woodland where Mr.
Sharp had decided to land, as there were several large clearings in it.
Back and forth above the clouds, out of sight, the airship drifted
lazily to and fro; sometimes, when she got too far off her course,
being brought back to the right spot by means of the propellers.
It was tedious waiting, but they felt it was the only thing to do. Mr.
Sharp and Tom busied themselves making adjustments to several parts of
apparatus that needed it. Nothing could be done toward repairing the
hole in the aluminum container until a shop or shed was reached, but
the ship really did not need these repairs to enable it to be used.
Mr. Damon was fretful, and "blessed" so many things during the course
of the day that there seemed to be nothing left. Dinner and supper took
up some time, really good meals being served by Tom, who was
temporarily acting as cook. Then they anxiously waited for darkness,
when they could descend.
"I hope the moon isn't too bright," remarked Mr. Sharp, as he went
carefully over the motor once more, for he did not want it to balk
again. "If it shines too much it will discover us."
"But a little light would be a fine thing, and show us a good place to
land," argued Tom.
Fortune seemed to favor the adventurers. There was a hazy light from
the moon, which was covered by swiftly moving dark clouds, now and
then, a most effective screen for the airship, as its great, moving
shape, viewed from the earth, resembled nothing so much as one of the
clouds.
They made a good landing in a little forest glade, the craft, under the
skillful guidance of Mr. Sharp and Tom, coming down nicely.
"Now for a trip to town to notify the sheriff," said Mr. Sharp. "Tom, I
think you had better go alone. You can explain matters, and Mr. Damon
and I will remain here until you come back. I should say what you had
best do, would be to get the sheriff to help you locate the gang of
bank robbers. They're in this vicinity and he ought to be able, with
his deputies, to find them."
"I'll ask him," replied Tom, as he set off.
It was rather a lonely walk into the city, from the woods where the
airship had landed, but Tom did not mind it, and, reaching Shagmon, he
inquired his way to the home of the sheriff, for it was long after
office hours. He heard, as he walked along the streets, many persons
discussing the appearance of the airship that morning, and he was glad
they had planned to land after dark, for more than one citizen was
regretting that he had not had a chance to get the five thousand
dollars reward offered for the arrest of the passengers in the Red
Cloud.
Tom found the sheriff, Mr. Durkin by name, a genial personage. At the
mention of the airship the official grew somewhat excited.
"Are you one of the fellows that looted the bank?" he inquired, when
Tom told him how he and his friends had arrived at Shagmon.
The young inventor denied the impeachment, and told his story. He ended
up with a request for the sheriff's aid, at the same time asking if the
officer knew where such a gang as the Happy Harry one might be in
hiding.
"You've come just at the right time, young man," was the answer of
Sheriff Durkin, when he was assured of the honesty of Tom's statements.
"I've been on the point, for the last week, of raiding a camp of men,
who have settled at a disused summer resort about ten miles from here.
I think they're running a gambling game. But I haven't been able to get
any evidence, and every time I sent out a posse some one warns the men,
and we can find nothing wrong. I believe these men are the very ones
you want. If we could only get to them without their suspecting it, I
think I'd have them right."
"We can do that, Sheriff."
"How?"
"Go in our airship! You come with us, and we'll put you right over
their camp, where you can drop down on their heads."
"Good land, I never rode in an automobile even, let alone an airship!"
went on the officer. "I'd be scared out of my wits, and so would my
deputies."
"Send the deputies on ahead," suggested Tom.
The sheriff hesitated. Then he slapped his thigh with his big hand.
"By golly! I'll go with you!" he declared. "I'll try capturing criminals in
an airship for the first time in my life! Lead the way, young man!"
An hour later Sheriff Durkin was aboard the Red Cloud, and plans were
being talked of for the capture of the bank robbers, or at least for
raiding the camp where the men were supposed to be.