A DESPERATE RACE
From Denver to that part of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona
where Snake Island might be located, the distance is about five hundred
miles. Jerry had calculated this before starting, and he had told his
chums that there was a chance of catching Noddy before the latter could
reach the great gash in the earth that represented the canyon.
“For I don’t believe Noddy is going to be very expert in managing our
_Comet_,” commented the tall lad. “He may know how to run an ordinary
aeroplane, but when he gets mixed up with our dirigible balloon he’ll
come a cropper, sooner or later.”
“Make it later,” advised Bob. “We don’t want him smashing our airship
with any croppers.”
“Oh, I don’t know that he’ll take a tumble,” went on Jerry, “only he
won’t know how to run her so as to get the best speed out of her. That
means that he’ll be longer than he thinks he’ll be in getting to the
canyon, and we’ll have a chance to catch up to him, even if he has a
good start.”
“I wonder what he’ll do, if he does get to the canyon?” asked Ned, as,
in response to a sign from Jerry, he adjusted the carburetor so as to
give the engine a richer mixture.
“Why, he’ll hover over it, the same as we would, I suppose,” replied
the tall lad, “and try to pick out Snake Island. He doesn’t know
exactly where it is, any more than we do, but I guess there aren’t many
islands in that part of the river, and so he won’t have much trouble
picking it out. The only thing for us to do is to get there first.”
“Can we do it with this machine?” asked Ned.
“Well, it’s a pretty good craft,” replied Jerry, as he turned on more
power, and did various evolutions in the air to ascertain how the
_Chaser_ responded to the helm. “Of course she isn’t as speedy as the
_Comet_, but she might be, with Noddy tinkering with our machinery, and
not getting the best out of it. We’ve got to take our chance.”
The _Chaser_ was indeed a fine craft of her class, and soon the motor
boys were high in the air, sailing in an almost direct south-western
direction from Denver, to reach the Colorado.
For several miles they proceeded in a straight line, at a height of
about a mile, as this gave them a good view ahead, unobstructed by any
clouds which would have hampered them had they gone higher. But the
clear air held not a speck that might be taken for the missing _Comet_.
The boys strained their eyes in vain. They were making good time, and
the wind cut into their faces, for there was no protection as in the
comfortable cabin of their own craft.
“Don’t you think you might slow up a bit?” suggested Bob after a while.
“Why?” inquired Jerry.
“Because it’s ’most lunch time, and--er--well, you know you can hardly
breathe if you open your mouth going at this speed, and if we try to
eat any sandwiches we may get choked. So if you slowed up----”
“All right, Chunky, enough said!” cried Ned. “Slow up, Jerry, I’m
hungry too.”
Accordingly the _Chaser_ was brought down to a speed that just kept her
afloat, and Bob opened the lunch basket. It was no novelty for the boys
to dine while high in the air, but it was rather more inconvenient in
an open aeroplane than in the _Comet_. Still they managed.
They spent the afternoon going straight on, or circling about at times
to cover a wider area, but with all their looking, and peering through
powerful binoculars, they had no glimpse of the craft they sought. It
was beginning to get dusk, and Jerry suggested that they had better go
down, and seek a resting place for the night.
“There’s no use flying after dark,” he said, “and we can pick out a
better landing place if we do it now, than if we wait until later.”
They were flying over a rather lonesome section of the country just
then, and no houses were in sight. But, a little later, Jerry picked
out a small cabin in the midst of a clearing in the woods, and said:
“I guess this will do as well as anything. It doesn’t look very big,
but we can sleep out-doors if we have to.”
Jerry tilted the deflecting rudder, and the craft gracefully swooped
down toward the earth. While yet a little distance from the ground the
boys were surprised to see a tall, lank man, followed by a woman and
several children, rush from the cabin, and take refuge behind a pile
of wood. Then, as the airship came to a stop, after running across the
ground on the bicycle wheels, a rifle was poked over the top of the
logs, held unwaveringly on the three lads, while a voice drawled out:
“Hold on, strangers! I may not be able to manage one of them consarned
flippity-flop shebangs, but I’m a tolerable good shot with this gun,
and she goes off on a hair trigger. So if you don’t want to be made
into coffee strainers, git!”
“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Jerry. “We don’t mean anything, we only
want----”
“Ye can’t fool me!” cried the voice of the man who held the gun. As for
himself he was hidden by the wood. “Ye can’t come none of them games on
me. Keep hid, ’Mandy, an’ don’t let the children stick their heads up.
I’ll drive these pirates off.”
“What do you take us for?” asked Jerry, in surprise.
“Kidnappers--that’s what! I’ve read about ye in the papers. Kidnappers,
an’ bomb throwers, that’s what ye be. They had a exhibition over in
Denver, an’ the papers told how they dropped bombs from them airships,
an’ how they took children up in ’em. Ye can’t do that here. I’ve got
nine, an’ I want every one. Keep hid, ’Mandy.”
“I guess you’re mistaken,” spoke Jerry with a laugh, which was a bit
forced on account of the gun that seemed pointed directly at him.
“We are neither bomb throwers nor kidnappers. I don’t know how the
papers could have said that anything like that was done at the Denver
exhibition. Of course there may have been some bomb-dropping contests,
but only harmless chalk balls were used, and, as for children, I never
heard of any being taken up in an aeroplane.”
“Ye know you didn’t read it yourse’f, pap,” interposed a woman’s voice
from behind the wood pile.
“Well, Gabe Ralston were tellin’ me about it, an’ I reckon he can
read,” declared the man.
“Now don’t be silly, pap!” went on the woman. “I’m sure them young men
look harmless.”
“I assure you we are!” cried Jerry, and he quickly told why they were
on the wing, and how they had happened to come down. “We’d like shelter
and a meal, and are willing to pay for it,” he concluded.
At the mention of “pay,” the gun was at once withdrawn, and, after a
moment of whispered conversation between the man and his wife, the
former came out, looking rather ashamed of his action. He left his gun
behind.
“Well, strangers,” he said, “I guess maybe it’s all right. I have
to be cautious, you know, livin’ all alone as I do, with a wife an’
nine children t’ protect. Come out, ’Mandy,” he called, and a woman,
followed by the nine youngsters, ranging in sizes like a “pair of
stairs,” came from behind the wood pile.
The children, once they saw that no immediate harm was intended,
gathered about the airship, as did the man and his wife. Soon there
was a feeling of confidence and friendship, and the woman at once set
about getting a meal. Jerry and his chums told how the craft worked,
and the solitary farmer was much interested. He admitted that all he
knew about airships was what Gabe Ralston had told him.
“An’ Gabe can’t read over’n above well,” the man added.
There was hardly room for the boys to sleep in the small cabin, and so,
after a generous supper, they were given blankets, and made their beds
out of doors. The night was a fine one, and they slept well. Jerry’s
generous payment for the accommodation brought a storm of protest from
the man and his wife the next morning. But the tall lad said:
“Oh, that’s not too much, but if you think it is----”
“Have ’em put us up a lunch,” suggested Bob in a hoarse whisper.
“Chunky suggests a lunch,” finished the tall lad with a smile, and the
woman hastened to fill the basket.
For the rest of that day the motor boys circled about, or advanced
swiftly in straight lines, ever seeking the _Comet_. But she was not in
sight.
At noon they descended to renew their supply of gasolene, and the
night was spent in a country village, where they created considerable
excitement and interest.
It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Bob hastily caught up
the binoculars, and directed them at a speck in the sky off to the left.
“See anything?” asked Jerry quickly.
“I’m not sure,” replied the fat lad, after an observation, “it’s either
a big bird or----”
He did not finish his sentence, but his hands trembled slightly as he
passed the glasses to Jerry. Ned reached over and managed the wheel
while Jerry looked.
“It’s her all right!” suddenly cried the tall lad. “Now to catch him.”
“Is it Noddy?” asked Ned eagerly.
“It’s the _Comet_ all right,” was the answer, “and I guess Noddy’s on
board. Now to see what the _Chaser_ is made of!”
Jerry opened the motor full, and with a roar that fairly shook the
comparatively frail craft from end to end, she shot ahead, her
propellers beating the air relentlessly.
“It’s going to be a desperate race!” cried Ned.
“And we’re going to win!” declared Jerry grimly.
The race was on. Faster and faster flew the _Chaser_, until, even
without the glasses, it could be seen that she was drawing nearer to
the _Comet_. A view through the binoculars showed that those on board
the stolen aircraft were rushing frantically about, doubtless trying to
develop as much speed as possible.
“Can you make it, Jerry?” asked Ned.
“We’ve _got_ to!” was the quick reply.
It was evident that the only hope the motor boys had of recovering
their craft lay in the inability of those on board her to get out of
her all the speed possible. With the machinery of the _Comet_ run to
the best advantage, no other airship could catch her. But Jerry counted
on Noddy and his cronies not knowing enough to do the right thing at
the right time. Then, too, the _Chaser_ was very speedy when rightly
handled.
Nearer and nearer crept the pursuing craft. She was directly in the
rear of the _Comet_ now. Suddenly Bob cried:
“Jerry, they’re going up!”
“Then we’ll go too!” was the answer. “We can hit as high an altitude as
they can.”
“And they’re flying as a dirigible, and not as an aeroplane at all!”
added Ned. “They’re afraid to use the wing planes, Jerry! Maybe we can
get ahead of ’em after all!”