THE BATTLE AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
Air sickness! With the words there flashed through Jack’s mind a
recollection of having read somewhere about that strange malady of the
upper regions which sometimes seizes airmen, paralyzing temporarily
their every faculty.
While the thought was still in his mind he had seized the wheel and
awaited the next orders from Lieut. Sancho, who was holding the
unconscious form of Lieut. Diaz in the machine.
“Push that lever forward—so! Now a twist of your wheel to the left.
_Bueno!_ You are a born airman.”
Jack wished he could think so, too. From sheer nervousness the sweat
stood out upon him, his hands shook and his pulses throbbed.
But the consciousness that all their lives depended upon his keeping
cool and obeying orders steadied him. By a supreme effort he mastered
his jumping nerves and obeyed the lieutenant’s orders implicitly.
To his actual surprise, for he did not think it would have been so
easy to handle an air craft, the winged machine righted itself as he
manipulated the lever and wheel. Before many seconds it was driving
along on an even keel once more. But in its fall it had entered
the region of driving sand again. Pitilessly, like needle–pointed
hailstones, the sharp grains drove about them, pricking their flesh.
“Up! We must go up higher!” cried Lieut. Sancho. “Pull back that lever.
Now your wheel to the right—that sets the rising warping appliances!
There! That’s it! Now your foot on the engine accelerator! Good! You
are an aviator already.”
As Jack put the lieutenant’s commands into execution one after another
the desired effect was procured. The aeroplane began to rise, fighting
its way up through that inferno of yellow sand. Jack feared that at any
moment his eyes would be rendered useless, but he stuck to his task
without flinching.
At last in the upper regions, they winged along free from the ordeal of
the whirling sand spouts, but still in the grasp of the furious wind.
“Can we not land?” asked Jack after a time. “Surely it would be safer.”
“Safer, doubtless, once we could get to earth; but it would be madness
to attempt a landing in this wind.”
“Then we must stay up here till the wind subsides?”
“Yes, or at least until the sand thins out. We should be blinded if we
got into the thick of it, let alone the danger to our engine.”
“What speed are we making?” was Jack’s next question.
“About fifty miles an hour, possibly more.”
“Then we may be driven miles out of our way?”
“I fear that is possible. But see, Lieut. Diaz appears to be reviving.
Can you reach me that medical kit?”
Jack, not without being fearful of the consequences of his taking one
hand from the controlling devices, did so. Luckily, as we know, the
aeroplane was equipped with the latest stability devices, making her
comparatively steady compared to the older fashioned craft of the air.
Jack’s maneuver, therefore, was not so risky as might have been thought.
While the aeroplane bucked and plunged its way through the storm Lieut.
Sancho administered stimulants to Lieut. Diaz, who presently began to
recover from his spell of air sickness almost as rapidly as he had been
“taken down” with it. It is a peculiarity of such seizures, in fact,
that they are not of long duration. Some authorities have held that
there are poisoned strata in the air which cause the sickness and on
emerging from them the victim becomes well again. However that may be,
Lieut. Diaz was soon himself, and Jack was relieved at the wheel by
Lieut. Sancho.
“How far do you imagine we have been driven?” he asked as the officer
took the wheel.
“That is impossible to say, _amigo_ Jack. I directed you while you were
in control of the ship so that as far as possible we should maneuver in
circles. Judging by that, we ought not to be much more than fifty miles
or so out of our way.”
This was cheering news to Jack, who had begun to imagine that they had
been driven half way to the Gulf of Mexico at least. As this would
have meant a lot of delay in rejoining his comrades, he was naturally
worried. For an hour or so more they swung in circles above the storm,
and then the furious gale began to lessen.
As the wind fell the sand “fog” below began to melt away just as if it
had actually been mist. Its dissolving brought a view of a stretch of
country not unlike that in which the Rangers had been camped when Jack
had last seen them.
Below them shone the river between its precipitous banks, and on one
side of it Jack could see a small, rough–looking settlement. On the
outskirts was a low red building, the shape and form of which at once
showed it to be a schoolhouse, even if the Stars and Stripes had not
been floating on a pole before the door. The aeroplane was still
hovering in the air above the little settlement when the schoolhouse
door opened and out rushed teacher and pupils in evident excitement.
They gazed upward at the winged man–bird in a state of the greatest
wonderment.
Suddenly from across the river came a perfect tempest of shots and
yells. Looking down, Jack saw that a body of horsemen was galloping
for dear life toward the ford at the river. Close behind them came
some more mounted men, although the latter were dressed in uniforms,
suggesting that they were regulars. Evidently they were in pursuit of
the ragged–looking Mestizos who were making for the ford.
On they came at a furious gallop. Gazing from above, Lieut. Sancho
announced that the band being pursued was a band of rebels, while
the men in pursuit were part of the regular cavalry of the Mexican
government.
“But they are fleeing on to American soil!” exclaimed Jack.
“Si, señor Jack. Evidently the rascally rebels think that if they can
gain the protection of the Stars and Stripes they will be safe.”
Jack could not help feeling sympathy for the ragged band that was being
so remorselessly pursued, even though he knew that the rebels had
wrought all sorts of outrages, both on American soil and in their own
country. For instance, only a short time before a band of cattle had
been driven from an American ranch to feed the starving revolutionary
troops.
But such thoughts as these were soon interrupted by the boy’s absorbed
interest in the drama taking place far below them. From the town a few
men had come running at the sound of the shooting, but as they saw the
armed men come sweeping through the ford they beat a hasty retreat.
Only the school teacher, a pretty young girl, so far as Jack could see,
and her little flock stood their ground.
Having crossed the ford the pursued Mestizos did not draw rein.
Instead, they urged their ponies on still more furiously. The clatter
of their hoofs even reached to the aeroplane, which was swinging about
in the blue ether some thousands of feet above.
All at once Jack, with a quick intake of his breath, divined their
purpose. The hounded band of revolutionaries was spurring and lashing
for the schoolhouse. Their evident purpose was to seek refuge within
it, under the protection of Old Glory.
But what of the children and their young teacher? In case there should
be firing, their position would be a terrible one. As the first of the
rebel band dashed into the schoolhouse enclosure and the teacher and
her pupils fled within in terror, Jack begged Lieut. Sancho to descend.
“In case the Federals open fire on the schoolhouse many of those
children will be killed,” he cried anxiously.
Lieut. Sancho nodded.
“I doubt if we can be of much use,” he said, “but at any rate we will
drop down and see what can be done.”
The aeroplane instantly began to descend, but before it was half way
down the last of the refugees had dashed into the schoolhouse, and the
door was slammed to and bolted. The Federals, close on the fugitives’
heels, withdrew to a short distance for a parley when they perceived
this. From the schoolhouse windows a few scattering shots followed
them, but none of them took effect.
But the men who had done the shooting had perceived the approach of the
aeroplane, which was now quite close to the ground. It was probably
the first they had ever seen and they gazed at it with awe and some
superstitious terror.
“What do you want?” called one of them.
“What shall we tell them?” Lieut. Sancho whispered to Jack.
“Tell them to let the teacher and her scholars out of there at once or
we will dynamite the place,” replied Jack without hesitation.
“I’ll tell them that if they don’t, we shall drop a bomb from the
aeroplane,” whispered the lieutenant.
“That’s a good idea. Let’s hope it will scare them into releasing the
children and their teacher.”
Lieut. Sancho shouted his ultimatum at the men at the schoolhouse
windows, at the same time leaning down as if to pick up some sort
of weapon. Doubtless the unfamiliarity of such a war machine as an
aeroplane had something to do with it; but at any rate, after some
anxious deliberation, during which the aeroplane hovered at closer
range, the door was opened and the teacher and her little flock emerged.
“Now run to the town. Run for your lives,” cried Jack as they came out,
and the pretty girl and her pupils were not slow to obey the injunction.
In the meantime the Federals, withdrawn to a little distance, had
viewed the operations with amazement. They had been too much excited by
the chase to notice the aeroplane till it was at close range. Now they
gazed at it with wonder and then broke into a cheer. At first Jack was
astonished at this enthusiasm, but then he suddenly recollected that
inscribed on the machine’s upper and lower planes were the arms of the
Mexican Republic.
“Viva! Viva, Madero!” yelled the regulars, as the aeroplane swung above
them.
“What are you going to do with those rascals in the schoolhouse?”
yelled down Lieut. Sancho to the officer in charge of the Federals as
the great winged machine sailed majestically by over their heads.
“Assault the place and capture it,” was the reply.
“You forget that it is on American territory and that our government
will be liable for any outrages inflicted on this side of the Border,”
was the rejoinder. “I will guarantee to get them out of there in far
more peaceable fashion.”
“Very well, señor lieutenant, as you will,” was the reply of the
officer, given with a shrug of the shoulders.
“Well, I wonder what’s going to happen now?” thought Jack as the
aeroplane was headed back at top speed for the schoolhouse.
“Diaz, will you do me the favor to get that round black bottle out of
the medicine kit?” said Lieut. Sancho in calm tones as he guided the
air craft toward the stronghold and retreat of the rebel force.