THE TRAMP MONOPLANE
Instantly Hiram leaped from the machine, Elmer following him. The woman
had waded to a rocky reef coming up out of the water. There she had
sunk, throwing her apron over her head and clasping her babe close to
her breast.
She had not seen the airship. In fact, it was all the boys could do to
keep their eyes clear from smoke and cinders. Hiram ran straight out
into the water.
“Get up, lady, quick,” he cried, touching her arm. “We have come to get
you out of here.”
The woman shrieked in alarm, but dropped the covering from her face. Her
brain was reeling, it seemed, and her senses were benumbed by all the
strange happenings about her.
“Help me, Elmer,” directed Hiram, and together they drew her out of the
water and led her up to the biplane. She stared at it blankly.
“I—I don’t understand,” she said, and swayed in a lost manner, as if she
was about to swoon.
“Get her in, quick!” ordered Dave, with a glance ahead of them as a rain
of sparks flew over and past the machine.
The woman was now almost passive in the hands of her helpers. They got
her into the seat Elmer usually occupied, while he climbed over into the
space to its rear. Hiram got aboard. Then the _Comet_ shot up into the
air.
The woman turned pale and shrank back. She clung to her little child and
stared wildly about her.
“Don’t be afraid, lady,” spoke Hiram, soothingly. “It’s all right. There
is no one else around here; is there?”
“Not a soul,” gasped the woman, faintly. “I was alone—all alone,” she
continued in a dreary tone. “Oh, it was awful, awful! I feared I would
never see my husband again.”
“May I ask where he is?” pressed Hiram.
“He went to Doubleday to get some winter supplies,” explained the woman.
“It takes three days. I hope he got there safely.”
The pilot of the _Comet_ and Elmer were able to hear all that was said
as their comrade patiently drew out her story. The burned cabin was the
only habitation in the wilderness district.
“How far away is this Doubleday?” inquired Hiram.
“It is about a hundred miles,” she explained; “nearly south of here.
There’s a sort of trail to follow through the valleys, but I guess it’s
all burned over.”
“Of course we will take the lady to Doubleday, Dave?” suggested Hiram.
“Yes, we must do that,” replied the young airman.
Twenty miles covered, the _Comet_ passed the extreme southern limit of
the fire. There was a full moon, and as darkness came on Dave was able
to still keep track of the landscape.
It was not quite nine o’clock in the evening when some scattering land
lights showed in the distance.
“That must be Doubleday,” spoke Hiram.
“I think it is,” said the woman. “I have been there only once or twice
with my husband. That little cluster of lights, I think, is the town
tavern.”
It was in the center of a vacant square back of this rambling old
frontier building, that Dave brought the _Comet_ to a halt. He left
Hiram and Elmer with the machine. The woman took leave of them with
grateful tears in her eyes.
“I hope my husband has not started back for home,” she said,
anxiously—“I hope he wasn’t caught in the fire.”
When they got around to the front of the inn, Dave inquired for her of
the landlord as to her husband. Abel Lyme, she said, his name was. The
tavern keeper said he was stopping there, but was probably just then at
the general store. His wife was so anxious, she could not wait for his
return. The young airman wished to secure some supplies to make up for
what they had been obliged to throw out of the _Comet_. Both went over
to the store.
It took Dave half an hour to get through with his business, ordering the
goods he bought sent at once up to the tavern. It took him half an hour
longer to get rid of the husband of the woman they had rescued. The
grateful fellow, poor as he was, paid hardly any attention to the loss
of his home. He was so thankful that the lives of his wife and child
were saved, so overcome with admiration of the daring exploit of Dave
and his comrades, that he overwhelmed the young aviator with offers of
reward clear down to his last dollar. On his return to the inn Dave
found his faithful assistants guarding the biplane and waiting for
orders.
“What’s the programme?” inquired Hiram briskly, but stretching himself
as if a good nap would not be unwelcome.
“It’s a fine night for traveling,” remarked the pilot of the _Comet_;
“but it has been rather a hard day for us. Every hour counts, of course,
but I think we may do all the better work for a little rest. Three or
four hours sleep will make us fresh for a non-stop moonlight run about
midnight.”
“That haymow over there strikes my fancy,” announced Elmer.
“All right,” replied our hero. “Take your turn. You, too, Hiram. I’ll
stay on guard duty till you spell me. I expect some supplies from the
general store here.”
“I reckon they’re coming now,” said Hiram. “I’ll stay and help you get
them aboard.”
A man with a loaded pushcart came into view from the front of the
tavern. He was noticed by the landlord, who talked with him and then
kept up with him until they neared the two young aviators.
“Why,” exclaimed the tavern keeper, with a stare at the _Comet_, “came
back, did you?”
“Eh?” spoke Hiram—“came back from where?”
“S-st!” warned Dave, in an instant making a broad guess, at least
canvassing a quick suspicion that came into his mind. Then he addressed
the landlord with the words: “We need some store supplies, and we’ll be
very much obliged if you will allow us to anchor here for a few hours.”
“Sure, sure,” answered the man readily. “This is an airship, really and
true; isn’t it now?” and the speaker walked clear around the machine,
inspecting it in open-mouthed wonder. “Well, well, what a contrivance.
I’ve seen pictures of these affairs. That’s how I knew what it was when
you flew over the town just after dusk.”
“H’m!” whispered Hiram, nudging his companion secretly. “I see.”
Dave “saw,” too. An airship had sailed over a few hours previous! As the
young aviator well knew, it was not the _Comet_. Naturally, it might be
some one of the other contestants in the great race around the world.
Thinking of his enemies, however, Dave was wise enough to remain wary
until he was sure of the identity of the machine referred to by the
inn-keeper.
“Where’s the man that came here about an hour ago?” questioned the
landlord, looking over the young airmen and beyond them.
Dave gave his hand a vague swing westward and skywards.
“Yes,” nodded the man, “I saw you go that way. Landed on Lookout Hill,
didn’t you? The man who came here to have his bottle filled said so. He
asked me if I had seen any other airships around here. There’s a good
many of you for such a light little machine as that of yours.”
The young airman let the landlord do most of the talking, replying
evasively. Some others, attracted by curiosity, approached the spot. It
was getting late, however, and nobody stayed long.
“Let’s see, where is Lookout Hill from here?” Dave asked carelessly of
the man with the pushcart, after the inn-keeper had gone away.
“That’s it,” said the man, pointing. “Where some one’s got a campfire,
it looks. See, right through the trees yonder, beyond the creek.”
“Oh, yes,” replied Dave. “Here’s a dollar for getting here so promptly
with those goods, and helping us.”
“Now then, Hiram,” said our hero, as the supplies were placed in the
biplane and they found themselves alone, “it is you and I for a council
of war.”
“I understand,” nodded his lively assistant—“you mean about the other
airship?”
“Just that. One arrived here to-night, as you know.”
“The landlord mistook our machine for the one he saw.”
“Yes, and spoke of a man who came here later from the machine that
passed over the town,” added Dave. “That light the other fellow showed
us is probably the campfire at the landing place of the airship. I am
going to find out who is in charge of it, friend or foe.”
“Supposing it’s the pirate tramp we saw at Winnipeg?” propounded Hiram.
“Then we know our danger. They evidently are not aware that we are here.
You stay on guard here. It can’t be more than two miles to that
campfire. I will be back soon.”
“Going to spy on them?” suggested Hiram.
“Yes. I will be back and report just as soon as I find out who these
airmen are,” responded Dave.
He gave his comrade definite orders to arouse Elmer if anything
suspicious occurred, and to give an alarm at the tavern if help was
necessary. Then Dave started out on his lonely expedition.
Our hero knew nothing of the traversed route leading to Lookout Hill.
Fortunately the fire glow in the distance continued.
Dave followed a regular road. A lateral path led in the direction of the
hill. Arrived at its base, he made his way up one side.
“There is the campfire,” mused the young airman, as he passed through a
thicket on a level with the glow ahead of him. “Ah, just in time.”
Dave caught hold of a bush and took a downward swing. He saved himself a
good hard fall, however, by clinging to the bush. The whole face of the
plateau he found was full of treacherous pits. He proceeded slowly and
cautiously now.
A fringe of bushes surrounded the spot where the campfire was. Dave
crept to their edge. One glance with the radius of the dying glow of the
fire showed him an interesting picture.
At one side stood a monoplane. Its dark color and a peculiar arrangement
of the planes enabled our hero to recognize it at once.
“It is Hiram’s pirate tramp machine, sure enough,” reflected Dave, “and
the men.”
One of these was walking up and down in something of a rage, it seemed.
Propped up against a tree trunk was a second man, clasping a bottle.
This latter person was swaying as he sat. His eyes blinked. There was a
vacant expression to his face.
“It’s all right,” he was saying, in a maudlin state. “Want to sleep.”
“It’s all wrong, you mean!” raved the other man. “I want to tell you one
thing! I shan’t lose a chance of a thousand dollars to humor a
worthless, irresponsible reprobate like you. I simply won’t stand it.”
“Then—he! he! sit down,” chuckled the other—“like I do.”
“I’m through with you,” cried his companion, in tones of positive fury,
and shaking his fist at the other. “I’ll get the _Comet_ alone. Sleep,
you loafer, and when you wake up find your way back to Winnipeg on foot
as best you can.”
The speaker seized the half-filled bottle and dashed it to pieces on the
nearest rock.
“All right,” mumbled the sitter. “Get some more.”
“Bah, you wretch!” shouted his comrade, and he gave the swaying,
helpless man a kick that sent him onto his side with a groan.
“I’ll make it alone,” Dave heard the man mutter.
The young aviator knew his bearings now. There was not the least doubt
in the world that these two men were new emissaries of Wise through the
villain, Vernon. They had been hired to locate and destroy the _Comet_.