AGAINST HEAVY ODDS
"Any sign of them yet, Roy?"
Peggy leaned forward and gently touched her brother's arm.
"I can't see a solitary speck that even remotely resembles them," he
said. "It looks bad," he added with considerable anxiety in his
tones.
Peggy took a peep at the plan which was spread out before Roy on a
little shelf designed to hold aerial charts. Then she glanced at
the compass and the distance indicator.
"We must be close to the place now," she said; "it's somewhere off
there, isn't it?"
"There" was a range of low hills cut and slashed by steep-walled
gullies and canyons. In some of these canyons there appeared to be
traces of vegetation, giving rise to the suspicion that water might
be obtained there by digging.
Roy nodded.
"That's the place, and there's that high cone shaped hill that the
plan indicates as the location of the mine."
"But there's not a trace of them-oh, Jimsy!"
Jess's tones were vibrant with cruel anxiety. Her face was pale and
troubled. As for Peggy, her heart began to beat uncomfortably fast.
But she wisely gave no outer sign.
"Don't worry, girlie," she said in as cheerful and brisk a tone as
she could call up on the spur of the moment, "it will be all right.
I'm sure of it."
Circling high above the range of barren hills they took a thorough
survey of them. There was no sign of the missing aeroplane or her
occupants, but all at once beneath them they saw something that
caused them all to utter an astonished shout.
In one of the shallower gullies there was suddenly revealed the
forms of an immense pack of animals of a gray color and not unlike
dogs.
"Wolves!" cried Peggy.
"No, they are coyotes," declared Roy; "I recollect now hearing Mr.
Bell say that these hills were frequented by them."
While they still hovered above the strange sight, a sudden swing
brought another angle of the gully into view, and there, hidden
hitherto by a huge rock, was the missing aeroplane.
But of its occupants there was not a trace.
"We must descend at once," decided Roy.
"But, Roy, the coyotes!"
It was Jess who spoke. The sight of the immense pack of the brutes
thoroughly unnerved her. As they swung lower, too, they could hear
the yappings and howlings of the savage band.
"I don't think they will bother us," said Roy. "I've heard Mr. Bell
say that they are cowardly creatures."
"If they do we'll have to fly up again," said Peggy; "but we simply
must examine that aeroplane for some clue of the others'
whereabouts. Besides we have our revolvers."
"And can use them, too," said Roy with decision. "Now look out and
hold tight, for I'm going to make a quick drop."
The gully seemed to rush upward at the aeroplane as it swooped down,
coming to rest finally, almost alongside its companion machine.
Luckily, the big rock before mentioned concealed the new arrivals
from the view of the pack gathered further up the gully.
No time was lost in alighting and examining the machine, but beyond
the fact that none of the food or water had been disturbed there was
no clue there. Another puzzling fact was that the rifles Mr. Bell
and Jimsy had brought with them still lay in the chassis. This
seemed to dispose of the theory that they had been attacked. But
what could have become of them? Was it possible that the coyotes--?
Roy gave an involuntary shiver as a thought he did not dare allow
himself to retain flashed across his mind. And yet it was odd the
presence of that numerous pack all steadily centered about one spot.
"I'm going to try firing a shot into the air," said Roy suddenly;
"if they are in the vicinity they will hear it and answer if they
can."
"Oh, yes, do that, Roy," begged Jess. "Oh, I'm almost crazy with
worry! What can have happened?"
The sharp bark of Roy's pistol cut short her half hysterical
outbreak. Following the report they listened intently and then:
"Hark!" exclaimed Peggy, her eyes round and her pulses beating
wildly. "Wasn't that a shout? Listen, there it is again!"
"I heard it that time, too," exclaimed Roy.
"And I!" cried Jess.
"It came from down the canyon where those coyotes are," went on
Peggy.
"That's right, sis, and it complicates our search," said Roy, "but
we've got to go on now. You girls wait here for me while I
investigate, and--and you'd better take those rifles out of the
other aeroplane."
"Oh, Roy, you're not going alone?" Peggy appealed.
"I'm not going to let you girls take a chance till I see what's
ahead, that's one sure thing," was the rejoinder.
Before another word could be said the boy, revolver in hand,
vanished round the big rock. Hardly had he done so, when there was
borne to the girls' ears the most appalling confusion of sounds they
had ever heard. The bedlam was, punctuated by several sharp shots,
and Roy appeared running from round the rock. His hat was off, and
as he approached he shouted:
"Get back to the aeroplanes! The pack's after us!"
At the same instant there appeared the leaders of the onrush.
Great, half-famished looking brutes, whose red mouths gaped open
ferociously and whose eyes burned wickedly.
But Roy had hardly had time to shout his warning before an accident,
entirely unexpected, occurred. His foot caught on a stone and he
came down with a crash. The next moment the pack would have been
upon him, but Peggy jerked the rifle she had selected to her
shoulder and fired into the midst of the savage horde. With a howl
of anguish one of the creatures leaped high in a death agony and
came toppling down among his mates, a limp, inanimate mass. This
checked the surging onrush for an instant, and in that instant Roy
was on his feet and sprinting briskly toward the girls.
Straight for the aeroplanes they headed. Reaching them they
entrenched themselves in what they could not but feel was an
immensely insecure position.
"Thank you, sis," was all that Roy, with a bit of a choke in his
voice, was able to gasp out before the leaders of the pack were on
them.
More by instinct than with any definite idea, the young people began
desperately pumping lead into the seething confusion of gray backs
and red gaping mouths.
All at once poor Jess, half beside herself with terror, gave a
throaty little gasp.
"I think I'm going to faint," she exclaimed feebly.
Peggy gave her a sharp glance.
"You'll do no such thing, Jess Bancroft," she said sharply, although
the pity in her eyes belied the harshness of the words, "if you do
I'll--I'll never speak to you again!"
The words had their calculated effect, and Jess made a brave rally.
At almost the same instant a shot from Roy's rifle brought down the
largest of the creatures of the desert, a big hungry looking brute
with tawny, scraggy hair and bristling hackles. As he rolled over
with a howl of anguish and rage a sudden wavering passed through the
pack. It was like a wind-shadow sweeping over a field of summer
wheat.
"Hooray, we've got them beaten!" shouted Roy, enthusiastically.
The lad was right. Their leader fallen, the remainder of the pack
had seemingly no liking for keeping up the attack. Still snarling
they began to retreat slowly--a backward movement, which presently
changed into a mad, helter skelter rush. Panic seized on them, and
down the dry arroyo they fled, a dense cloud of yellow, pungent dust
rising behind them. In a few seconds all that remained to tell of
the battle in the gulch were the still bodies of the brutes that had
fallen before the boy and girl aviators' rifles.
They were contemplating the scene when, from further up the gully,
there came a sound that set all their pulses beating.
It was the shout of a human voice.
"Thank heaven you were not too late!"
While they were still standing stock still in startled immobility at
the recognition of Mr. Bell's voice, there came another hail.
"Hello, Jess! Hello, Peggy and Roy!"
Emerging from the cloud of dust which was still thick, there
staggered toward them two uncanny looking figures in which they had
at first some difficulty in recognizing Mr. Bell and Jimsy Bancroft.
But when they did what a shout went up!
It echoed about the dead hills and rang hollowly in the silent
gully. An instant later the reunited adventurers were busily
engaged in exchanging greetings of which my readers can guess the
tenor. Then came explanations.
"On arriving in the arroyo," said Mr. Bell, "Jimsy and I decided to
set out at once to examine the mine site, and lay if off for
purposes of proper location with the United States government. I
must tell you that the mine--or rather the site of it--is located in
that cavern yonder further up the arroyo."
"Why it was round the entrance to that that the coyotes were
gathered when we first dropped!" cried Peggy.
"Exactly. And very much to our discomfort, too, I can tell you,"
rejoined Mr. Bell dryly.
"They had you besieged!" exclaimed Roy.
"That's just it, my boy. They must have been famished, or they
never would have gathered up the courage to do it, for, as a rule,
one man can put a whole pack of the brutes to flight. I suppose,
however, they realized that they had us cornered, for, with a sort
of deadly deliberation, they seated themselves round the mouth of
the cavern, seemingly awaiting the proper time for us to be starved
out or driven forth by thirst. Luckily, however, we had canteens
with us and a scanty supply of food, otherwise it might have been
the last of us."
Jess shuddered and drew very close to Jimsy.
"And you had no weapons," volunteered Roy.
"Ah, I see you encountered our guns in the chassis of the aeroplane.
No, foolishly, I'll admit, we omitted to arm ourselves for such a
short excursion. Of course we never dreamed of any danger of that
sort in this lonely place, and least of all from the source from
which it came. But I can, tell you, it was an ugly feeling when, on
preparing to emerge with some specimens of the ore-bearing rocks, we
found ourselves facing a grim semi-circle, banked dozens deep, of
those famished coyotes. They greeted our appearance with a howl, and
when we tried to scare them off they just settled down on their
haunches to wait."
"Their silence was worse than their yapping and barking, I think,"
struck in Jimsy.
"It certainly was," agreed Mr. Bell; "both of us tried to keep up
good hearts, but when the night passed and morning still found the
brutes there, things began to look bad. Of course we knew that you
would set out to look for us when we did not return, but we did not
know if you would reach here in time."
"But you did," cried Jimsy, regarding the dead bodies of coyotes the
vanquished pack had left behind.
"And excellent work your rifles did, too," declared Mr. Bell warmly.
"Our rifles and--the Girl Aviators," said Roy, and proceeded to tell
the interested listeners from the cavern some incidents which caused
them to open their eyes and regard our girls with unconcealed
admiration.