THE GREAT ALKALI
"And so this is the great Nevada desert!"
Peggy Prescott wrinkled her nose rather disdainfully as she gazed
from the open window of the car out over the white, glittering
expanse--dotted here and there with gloomy-looking clumps of sage
brush--through which they had been traveling for some little time
past.
"This is it," nodded her brother Roy; "what do you think of it,
sis?"
"Um--er, I shall have to wait a while before I answer that,"
rejoined Peggy judicially.
"Well, here's Jimsy; let's ask him," cried Roy, as a lad of his own
age, accompanied by a slender, graceful girl, came down the aisle of
the car and approached the section in which the two young Prescotts
were sitting.
"Jimsy Bancroft," demanded Roy, "we are now on the great Nevada
desert, or on the edge of it. Does it meet with your approval?"
"There's plenty of it anyhow," laughed Jimsy, "and really it's very
much like what I expected it would be."
"I feel like a regular cowgirl or--a--er--well, what the newspapers
call a typical Westerner already," said Jess Bancroft, Jimsy's
sister.
"Only typical Westerners don't protect their delicate complexions
from dust with cold cream," laughed Peggy, holding up a finger
reprovingly. "As if any beauty magazine won't tell you it's a
woman's duty to take the greatest care of her complexion," parried
Jess. "Roy and I have been sitting out on the observation platform
on the last coach--that is, we sat there till the dust drove us in."
She shook the folds of a long, light pongee automobile coat she wore
and a little cloud of dust arose. They all coughed as the pungent
stuff circulated.
"Ugh," cried Roy, "it makes your eyes smart."
"That's the alkali in it," quoth Jimsy sagely, "alkali is--"
"Very unpleasant," coughed Peggy.
"But as we are likely to have to endure it for the next few weeks,"
struck in Roy, "we might as well lose no time in getting accustomed
to it."
"Well girls and boys," came a deep, pleasant voice behind them, "we
shall be in Blue Creek in a short time now, so gather up your
belongings. I'll take care of the aeroplane outfits and the other
stuff in the baggage car," he went on, "and here comes Miss Prescott
now."
The lady referred to was a sweet-faced woman of some fifty years of
age, though it was easy to see that the years had dealt kindly with
her during her placid life in the village of Sandy Beach, on Long
Island, New York, where she had made, her home. Miss Prescott was
the aunt of the two Prescott children, and since their father's
death some time before had been both mother and father to them--their
own mother having passed away when they were but small children.
As readers of the first volume of this series know, Mr. Prescott had
been an inventor of some distinction. Dying, he had confided to his
son and daughter his plans for a non-capsizable aeroplane of great
power. His son had promised to carry on the work, and had devoted
his legacy to this purpose.
In that volume, which was called "The Girl Aviators and the Phantom
Airship," it will be recalled, it was told how Peggy had been of
material aid to her brother in his plans and hopes, and had, in
reality, "saved the day" for him when he fell into the hands of some
enemies. This occurred on the eve of a great aeroplane contest in
which Roy had entered in the hopes of winning the first prize. With
the money thus obtained he planned to pay off a mortgage held on
Miss Prescott's home by an unscrupulous old banker, whose son was
the prime mover in the plots against Roy.
One of the means adopted to force him to sell his secrets was the
manipulation of a phantom aeroplane which, for a time, sadly puzzled
the lad and his sister. The mystery was solved in a strange way,
however, and almost at the same time, the baffling problem of what
had become of Mrs. Bancroft's jewels was also unraveled. All this
did not take place without many adventures being encountered by the
four chums. Among these was the encounter with the old hermit, Peter
Bell, who, through Peggy's agency, was restored to his brother,
James Bell, the millionaire western mining man.
James Bell became much interested in the Prescotts and their
aeroplanes. Finally he made an advantageous proposal to Roy to
travel West and operate for him a line of aeroplanes from some
desert mines he had discovered on a trip which almost cost him his
life. As autos could not cross the alkali, and transportation of
the product by wagons would have been prohibitive in cost, as well
as almost impossible to achieve, Mr. Bell had hit on the happy idea
of conveying the precious product of his property by aeroplane.
At the same time, it so happened that Mr. Bancroft, the father of
Jess and Jimsy, was summoned West by an important railroad deal.
This being the case, Jess and Jimsy at once set to work plotting how
they could gain their father's consent to their accompanying Peggy
and Roy. It was finally gained, although Mrs. Bancroft shook her
head over the matter, and, at first, would by no means hear of such
a thing. But Mr. Bancroft urged that it would be a good thing for
the children to see the great West, and that as Miss Prescott was to
accompany the party, there would be no risk of their running wild.
But while the youngsters had all been so eager for the time to come
for starting on their long journey that they could hardly eat, much
less sleep, Miss Prescott had viewed with alarm the prospects ahead
of her. In her mind the West was a vague jumble of rough cowboys,
Indians, highwaymen and desperate characters in general. But there
was no help for it. In addition to feeling it was her duty to
accompany her young charges, her physician had also recommended her
to seek the dry, rarefied air of the great Nevada plateau.
"It will be the very thing for your lungs, my dear madame," he had
said; "they are by no means as strong as I could wish."
"Oh, but doctor, the Indians, the--the--" Miss Prescott had begun,
when the physician cut her short.
"The only Indians left in the West now are all busy working for Wild
West shows," he said, with a laugh; "and as for any other fancied
cause of alarm, I dare say you will find the Western men quite as
chivalrous and courteous as their Eastern brethren."
And so it happened that the dust-covered train was rolling across
the arid solitudes at the edge of the great alkali desert with our
party of friends on board. All were looking forward to adventures,
but how strange and unexpected some of the happenings that befell
them were to be not one of the party even dreamed.
The only member of the adventurous little band not now accounted for
is Peter Bell, the former recluse. Peter was forward in the smoking
car enjoying his old black pipe, which was his delight and solace
and Miss Prescott's particular abomination. Among Peter's other
peculiarities, acquired in a long and solitary life, was a habit he
had of sometimes making, his remarks in verse. He entered the car
just as the conversation we have recorded was in progress.
"Soon, my good friends, o'er the desert, so bold, we all shall be
flying with excellent gold."
A general laugh from the young folks greeted him, and Roy struck in
with:
"That's if we don't fall to the earth from the sky, and land up in a
smash on the white alkali."
The merriment that greeted this was cut short by the raucous voices
of the trainmen.
"Blue Creek! Blue Creek!"
Instantly the liveliest bustle prevailed. Belongings of all sorts
were hastily bundled together. So intent, in fact, was our party on
its preparations for its plunge into the unknown that not one of
them noticed two men who stood watching them intently from the
opposite end of the car.
"So we've run the old fox into the ground," remarked one of them, a
tall, heavily built fellow with a crop of short, reddish hair that
bristled like the remnants of an old tooth brush. He was clean-shaven
and had a weak, cruel mouth and a pair of narrow little eyes, through
which he could, however, shoot a penetrating glance when anything
interested him. Both he and his companion, a sallow, black-haired
personage with a drooping pair of moustaches, were just then, seemingly,
much engrossed.
"Yes, some place off thar'," rejoined the black-haired man with a
wave of his hand toward the west--in which the sun, a ball of red
fire, was now dropping, "some whar off thar, across that alkali, Jim
Bell has his golden-egged goose."
"Hush, not so loud, Sam; one of those kids is looking at us."
"Pshaw, they hain't got sense to suspect nuthin'," was the scornful
reply. "Wonder if Buck Bellew will be hyar ter meet us."
As he spoke the train wheels ceased to revolve and the cars came to
a standstill in Blue Creek, a sun-bitten outpost of the "Big
Alkali."