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The Aeroplane Boys Series
A Cruise In The Sky
OR
The Legend of the Great Pink Pearl
The Aeroplane Boys Series
By ASHTON LAMAR
I IN THE CLOUDS FOR UNCLE SAM
Or, Morey Marshall of the Signal Corps.
II THE STOLEN AEROPLANE
Or, How Bud Wilson Made Good.
III THE AEROPLANE EXPRESS
Or, The Boy Aeronaut’s Grit.
IV THE BOY AERONAUTS’ CLUB
Or, Flying For Fun.
V A CRUISE IN THE SKY
Or, The Legend of the Great Pink Pearl.
VI BATTLING THE BIG HORN
Or, The Aeroplane in the Rockies.
OTHER TITLES TO FOLLOW
These stories are the newest and most up-to-date. All aeroplane details
are correct. Fully illustrated. Colored frontispiece. Cloth, 12mos.
Price, 60 cents each.
The Airship Boys Series
By H. L. SAYLER
I THE AIRSHIP BOYS
Or, The Quest of the Aztec Treasure.
II THE AIRSHIP BOYS ADRIFT
Or, Saved by an Aeroplane.
III THE AIRSHIP BOYS DUE NORTH
Or, By Balloon to the Pole.
IV THE AIRSHIP BOYS IN THE BARREN LANDS
Or, The Secret of the White Eskimos.
V THE AIRSHIP BOYS IN FINANCE
Or, The Flight of the Flying Cow.
VI THE AIRSHIP BOYS’ OCEAN FLYER
Or, New York to London in Twelve Hours.
These thrilling stories deal with the wonderful new science of aerial
navigation. Every boy will be interested and instructed by reading
them. Illustrated. Cloth binding. Price, $1.00 each.
The above books are sold everywhere or will be sent postpaid on receipt
of price by the
Publishers The Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago
_Complete catalog sent, postpaid on request_
[Illustration: HE TOOK THE TILLER AT TIMES.]
A
Cruise In The Sky
OR
The Legend of the Great Pink Pearl
BY
ASHTON LAMAR
[Illustration: _The
AEROPLANE
BOYS
SERIES_
REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.]
Illustrated by S. H. Riesenberg
Chicago
The Reilly & Britton Co.
Publishers
COPYRIGHT 1911
by
THE REILLY & BRITTON CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A CRUISE IN THE SKY
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I A FLORIDA METROPOLIS 9
II THE STRANGE WORK OF A WILDERNESS EXILE 20
III A BOAT WITHOUT SAILS, SCREW OR OARS 31
IV THE SEQUEL OF THE AERO-CATAMARAN 41
V THE HOME OF THE ECCENTRIC EXPERIMENTER 52
VI AN UNFINISHED LETTER SOLVES A MYSTERY 65
VII THE FIRM OF LEIGHTON & ANDERSON IS FORMED 75
VIII ANDY FIRST HEARS OF KING CAJOU 86
IX A NEW IDEA IN AEROPLANES 97
X DESPERATE NEEDS AND A BOLD APPEAL 109
XI ROY OSBORNE REACHES VALKARIA 121
XII THE PELICAN MAKES ITS FIRST FLIGHT 133
XIII BA, THE BAHAMAN, TALKS AT LAST 145
XIV ANDY TAKES A DARING CHANCE 157
XV TIMBADO KEY AND CAPTAIN MONCKTON BASSETT 171
XVI THE CANNIBAL KING AND THE PINK PEARL 186
XVII THE BIRD OF DEATH 202
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
He took the tiller at times _Frontispiece_
“Nothing much doing!” 57
“Jump in,” said Andy 183
“Come, Bird of Death!” 209
A Cruise in the Sky
OR
The Legend of the Great Pink Pearl
CHAPTER I
A FLORIDA METROPOLIS
All afternoon the train had been following the picturesque shore of
the Indian River, in Florida. The snow and ice of the north had long
since disappeared. Summer heat increased as the train sped southward.
Most of the seats in the car were filled with tourists on their way to
Palm Beach. Two persons, both from their looks and actions, were not
destined to that aristocratic winter resort.
In one of the sections were a woman and a boy. The latter, about
sixteen years old, was begrimed with dust and smoke, but there was a
snap in his eyes. In the fast gathering dusk, he sat, his nose mashed
against the window and his eyes shaded by his hands, as if anxious to
catch every detail of the strange land through which the train was
flying.
The woman glanced out of the window now and then in a nervous manner,
and, at last, when it was almost wholly dark and the porter had begun
to turn on the electric lights, she touched the boy on the shoulder.
“Look at your watch again, Andrew. We must be almost there.”
As the boy drew out a watch (his father’s, lent to him as a safeguard
on the long trip), his lips puckered.
“Twenty minutes!” he exclaimed, almost in alarm. “We’re due at Valkaria
at 8:15. It’s five minutes of eight now.”
“O, dear, I hope they won’t forget to stop,” said the woman, with
increasing nervousness. “Hadn’t you better speak to the conductor
again? I don’t know what we’d do if we were carried past our station.”
“I know,” answered the boy, with a laugh. “If they forgot us, they’d
have to bring us back for nothing. But the conductor won’t forget. I’ve
pestered him so often about it that I guess he’ll be glad to get rid of
us.”
“I never thought about it being dark when we got there,” the woman went
on, as the lights in the car turned the outside world into blackness.
“I suppose we’d better not try to open up your uncle’s house to-night.”
She looked out into the deep shadows of the palmettos. “We’ll go to a
hotel or boarding house to-night.”
“What’s the use?” argued the boy. “That is, unless you are too tired.
It’ll be a useless expense. I’d like to find the house to-night, if we
can. Someone can show us. Every one in the town’ll know where Uncle
Abner lived.”
“We must go to Captain Anderson first,” replied the woman at once. “He
is the one who wrote to us of your uncle’s death, and sent the body to
us for burial. He has the key to the house, and he was your uncle’s
friend.”
“Maybe their homes were near together,” suggested the boy hopefully. “I
guess it isn’t a very big town, and it won’t be very late. We can go
to a restaurant and get our supper and then find Captain Anderson. He
can take us right to the house to-night. It’ll be kind o’ like campin’
out――”
“Camping out?” interrupted the woman. “I hope not, although,” and she
smiled faintly, “that would just suit you.”
The boy only laughed and again tried to make out the landscape.
“Well,” he said at last, “even if it’s on the main street of Valkaria,
it won’t be far to the river, and that’ll be something.”
“What do you think it will be like?” asked the woman as she gathered
her bag and wraps together.
“I don’t care much,” replied the boy, dragging his suitcase from
beneath the seat, “just so it isn’t too fancy――I don’t want to be
mowing lawns all the time, ’specially in January.”
Just then there was the hoarse sound of the locomotive whistle, and,
almost with it, the grinding of the quick set brakes. As the woman and
the boy sprang to their feet, the train conductor hurried into the car
and the porter sprang forward to help with the baggage of the anxious
travelers. As the other passengers aroused themselves in surprise at
the unexpected stop, the woman and the boy were hurried to the platform
and, the long train scarcely coming to a stop, assisted precipitately
from the car.
Instead of landing upon a depot platform, the two suddenly disembarked
passengers found themselves on a sandy incline, slipping slowly
downward into a dry ditch. They were conscious that their bag,
suitcase and wraps had lodged somewhere near their feet. Scrambling to
upright positions, they both turned only to see two fading green lights
marking the fast disappearing Lake Worth express.
“Andrew!” exclaimed the woman, clasping the boy’s arm.
“Looks like they’ve dumped us into nothin’, mother.”
“It’s gone!” the woman almost shouted.
“Gone?” repeated the boy. “You bet she’s gone, and gettin’ goner about
a mile a minute.”
“What’ll we do?”
The boy laid his hands on his mother’s arms.
“Looks like a mistake. But don’t get scared. Let’s look about. If this
is Valkaria, I reckon it must be the outskirts of the town.”
“The trunks,” cried the boy’s mother. “And they’ve taken our trunks.
What are we to do? Something awful is sure to happen to us.”
“It hasn’t happened yet, mother. And I can begin to see something.
What’s this?”
On the far side of the ditch, a dark mass outlined itself in the night.
While his mother protested, the boy clambered up the bank. Then a peal
of boyish laughter sounded in the still night.
“It’s all right, mother. We’re right in town. This is the union depot.
It’s an old box car. And here’s the sign on it――‘Valkaria.’”
There was a half hysterical sob, and the boy rushed back to his
frightened parent.
“Don’t be scared, mother. It’s all right. This is the place. There’s
bound to be someone near. Brace up.”
Just then the hoarse croak of a frog sounded, and the woman broke into
tears. The boy, attempting to pacify her, began another survey of his
surroundings.
“Look, mother. It’ll be moonlight in a little while. See!”
As he pointed to the east, they could make out the glowing rim of the
full moon just silvering the waxen tops of the encircling palmettos.
Composing herself somewhat, the frightened woman allowed the boy to
help her through the loose sand to the makeshift depot.
Along the front of it ran a rude, tramp-hacked bench. On this, the two
seated themselves. The depot-car was doorless. As the boy observed
this, he laughed again.
“Why, this isn’t bad, mother. We can sleep in here――”
“In there?” protested his mother. “There are insects there, I know.
I’m not going to move from this bench till daylight. Then we’ll take
the first train back to the north.”
“It may be our mistake, mother. Maybe Valkaria isn’t a town at all. I
reckon it isn’t, judgin’ by the depot.”
“Why should they call an old car ‘Valkaria?’” exclaimed the woman.
“Cars don’t have names. They have numbers.”
“I give it up,” answered the boy, with some cheerfulness. “But I don’t
see that it’s so bad. The weather is fine. I’ll bet it’s dandy around
here in the daytime. That moon’s makin’ things kind o’ great, now.”
“What’s that?” exclaimed the woman, suddenly catching her son by the
arm and pointing in the direction in which the train disappeared.
“There! Across the railroad!”
The boy had seen it too. A broad, ribbon-like band of chalky-white
extended from the black shadow of the palmettos on the left, crossed
the track, and lost itself in the blackness beyond. As the boy looked
he caught sight of similar thin strips along the track.
“It’s sand, mother. Looks like a ghost, but it’s white Florida sand.
And I’ll bet it’s a road. Let’s try it. If it’s a road, it goes
somewhere.”
Anything was better than the black, noisome box car. The boy made his
way into the now half illuminated ditch and collected the scattered
baggage. Laden with it, the marooned travelers set forward. As the
boy surmised, the white strip was a road. When they reached it, they
discovered, to their relief, safely lying in the gully beyond the
crossing, their two trunks.
“Better get ’em out o’ the ditch, in case o’ rain,” said the boy, and,
despite his years, the well-muscled lad tackled the job. It was not
an easy one, but, by rolling and sliding, the heavy parcels were soon
landed on the edge of the soft roadway. The moon was now shining so
brightly that the lad could make out the time. It was 8:35 P.M.
“Now,” said the lad, mopping his face, “we can go toward the river or
away from it.”
“Perhaps the town is on the river,” suggested his mother, more
composed. “We’ll try――there’s a light,” she added excitedly.
Far down the white strip of road was certainly a light. From its low,
regular swing, the boy at once concluded that it was a lantern. He so
informed his mother, who immediately became newly panic-stricken.
“It may be robbers,” she gasped, clutching her son’s arm again.
“Robbers don’t carry lanterns, mother. Let’s hope it’s the hotel runner
or transfer man.”
“Or tramps,” added the woman in a frightened whisper.
“Look here, mother,” answered the boy soberly. “You know the only way
for us to get out of this mess is to find someone to tell us where we
are and what we’ve got to do. There is certainly someone coming toward
us. Do you want to meet whomever it is, or run away and hide in the
bushes?”
“I suppose we ought to wait,” answered his mother meekly.
“Wait nothin’,” exclaimed the boy. “We’ll march right up to the relief
party.”
Leaving their baggage in the road, the boy took his mother by the
hand and, despite her alarm, marched her forward along the road. The
suspense was soon over. In a few moments, a figure emerged from the
shadows. While it was yet a hundred yards away, the anxious boy, partly
to keep up his courage, sang out a bold “Hello!”
“You folks get off that train?” was the response in a man’s voice.
“We did,” answered the boy. “Where’s Valkaria?”
“Valkaria?” repeated the approaching stranger good-naturedly. “Why,
you’re right on the main street now.”
The man, who by this time had reached them, was unquestionably neither
robber nor tramp. He was past middle age, well but roughly dressed,
and wore a yachting cap on top of a good growth of silvery white hair,
which lay above a face bronzed by the sun and wind.
“We are from the north,” hastily explained the woman, “and we are
looking for the place where my brother-in-law, Mr. Abner Leighton,
lived――”
“Then you must be――”
“Mrs. Howard Leighton, of St. Paul. And this is my son, Andrew. We have
come――”
“I understand,” interrupted the man quickly. “I wrote to your husband.
My name is Anderson――Captain Anderson. Why didn’t you let me know? We’d
have met you. I heard the train stop, and I wondered what it meant. So
I came up to see. I’m glad to meet you.”
“And you live here?” began Mrs. Leighton, as Captain Anderson shook
hands with her and Andy. “You can’t imagine how relieved I am. But are
there any buildings――a hotel or boarding house?”
“Yes,” continued Andy. “We’ve got all this stuff scattered along Main
Street, and haven’t had any supper, and as for sleepin’――”
Captain Anderson laughed and picked up his lantern.
“As for your baggage, we’ll take care of that in short order. Your
uncle and I were friends for many years. His house is over on the other
side of the railroad. You can’t go there to-night. My place is down
here on the river――”
“But, Captain――” began Mrs. Leighton.
“Young man,” interrupted the captain, ignoring Mrs. Leighton’s protest,
“take this lantern and start right down the road with your mother.
I’ll be after you as soon as I find those grips. You’ll eat and
sleep to-night in the Anderson house. There isn’t any Valkaria but a
signboard.”