A SURPRISE FOR THE JANISSARIES.
As, flying over the rugged mountain country, they whirled back toward
Korakum, Roy Stone bethought him of Jack. Thereupon he opened
communication, and Bob himself announced to his other chum the tale of
his own rescue.
From Jack the party in the plane learned that the attack on Korakum via
the subterranean river had begun fifteen minutes before, and was
proceeding fiercely so far as Jack could tell from the distant sounds of
rifle fire. His anxiety regarding the fate of his father and of the
small band of Athensian rebels and Arabs communicated itself to them.
Instead of flying straight out to the desert and landing, it was decided
to follow a route which would bring them over the scene of conflict, if
for no other reason than to learn how affairs progressed. Should the
revolutionists be forced to flee, it would not be safe for the airplane
to land on the desert near the Great Road, inasmuch as, with damaged
wheels, it would not be able to re-ascend and would be captured, even if
they escaped.
Besides, as Roy Stone pointed out, there was the bare possibility that
they might be able to render help. Four gas bombs remained. If the
Janissaries had managed to effect a landing and were in considerable
force, dropping of the gas bombs amongst them would wreak havoc.
Accordingly, under Amrath’s guidance, Frank altered his course and
presently, after scaling the mountain range blocking the upper end of
Korakum valley, dropped down spiralling above the plain.
Amrath had glasses to his eyes and was studying the scene below.
Evidently, the fight had gone against the revolutionists. No longer did
they hold the earth works at the tunnel mouth, although heaps of bodies
entangled among the stakes in the river and lying thick along the river
bank and up to the top of the ramparts showed they had wreaked deadly
execution before retiring.
Retiring now they were, however, but in good order. The horses of the
revolutionists and the camels of Mr. Hampton and his party had been
brought up in readiness for a quick retreat, and mounted upon them the
defenders were fleeing down the valley, well in advance of the
Janissaries. The latter, afoot, were rapidly being outdistanced.
That there had been losses amongst the defenders was only too sadly
apparent. Of the gallant little band of eighteen, ten Athensians and Mr.
Hampton, Ali and their six Arabs, only a dozen were left. But Amrath’s
glasses showed him bundles being borne away with them by the living, and
he knew them for the bodies of those who either had been wounded or
slain. Perhaps, they had only been wounded.
Where the walls of the pass through which ran the Great Road out from
ancient Korakum to the desert drew close together, the revolutionists,
anticipating the necessity for falling back in case of attack, had
thrown up a strong barricade across the pass from wall to wall. For this
they were making and even as he watched, Amrath saw them pass in single
file through a breach left for that purpose. He knew that they would
drop into place a sheath of timbers and prepare for a final stand.
Rapidly the result of his observations were communicated to his
companions, and Roy Stone radioed them to Jack. The latter was wild with
anxiety for his father, and announced he would take his rifle and go to
the barricade to offer his assistance. He explained a messenger had left
for the other pass on receipt of the warning from the airplane of
impending attack, but that so far help had not arrived.
“Tell the fellows at the barricade to keep up their courage,” was
Stone’s last message to Jack, before the latter abandoned the radio
station. “Tell them to watch. I’m going to drop our gas bombs among the
Janissaries. They’re marching bunched up and we ought to put a lot of
them to sleep. Although we saw only three boatloads on their way here,
there must have been a lot more, because there’s a thousand at least on
the march below us. Well, here goes.”
Jack did not stay to hear Roy Stone’s closing words, however, for at the
report of the danger to the revolutionists he was off to see about his
father, and Roy spoke to the empty air.
Frank swooped low above the close-packed mass of the Janissaries,
streaming down the Great Road. High in the air he shut off his engine,
and not many had warning of his approach. Even those who did merely
gaped at the strange and terrifying sight instead of scattering.
Straight down the line of the Great Road flew Frank, and in succession
Roy Stone released and dropped the gas bombs. Into the crowded ranks
they fell. Not one missed the road. And, as they struck, the clouds of
vapor were released.
The airplane passed on and Frank, switching on the engine, mounted and
then turned to go back over their course and observe what effect their
bombs had caused.
Deadly, indeed, the execution wrought. Where a few minutes before the
Great Road had been alive with marching men, now it was a chaos of
writhing forms strangling in the powerful fumes. Many already lay still.
Ahead and behind the main body, others fled, stumbling, falling, rising,
dashing on, to get away from the unseen enemy that had laid their
comrades low. To either side fled still others.
Although Roy Stone had assured him in advance that the gas was not fatal
in its effects, the spectacle caused Frank to experience a sickish
feeling. How terrible it was, he thought, that men should thus be struck
down in masses. Even the fact that the Janissaries were atrociously
brutal, and richly deserved the worst of fates, was no comfort.
Abruptly, he turned and started to mount into the air, heading for the
desert. As they passed high above the barricade, Amrath through his
glasses could see the defenders busied closing the breach and preparing
for a last desperate stand. Not yet were they aware of what had occurred
in the valley, for the scene was hidden from them. A little figure,
speeding up the Great Road, was seen and was presumed to be that of
Jack. Well, he would let the defenders know in a moment that the
airplane had done its part, and that an attack in force from the
Janissaries need not be looked for, at least not for some time to come.
Now for a landing. Emerging from the pass, Frank mounted high and then,
with engine shut off, began to descend on a long gradual slide,
intending to pancake at the end and to drop as lightly as possible. With
the wheels torn loose, as they suspected, any other method of alighting
would be impossible. They would be shaken up, but would have to brace
themselves for the shock and take things as easily as possible.
While they were still in the air, they saw in the distance dashing along
the base of the Great Mountain Wall, a score of mounted revolutionists,
followed by a considerable number afoot, and knew that aid for the
defenders of the barricade was on the way. Well, thanks to Roy Stone’s
gas bombs, the effects of which had incapacitated a large portion of the
Janissaries, the re-inforcements would be in time.
In fact, sweeping into the valley of Korakum, they would be able to turn
the tables on the enemy. These thoughts rushed through the minds of all,
as Amrath communicated the meaning of the tiny figures which, as he
alone carried glasses, were plainest to him.
Then came the pancake, and the final drop. But in the end the plane
received little damage nor were its occupants much thrown about. The
carriage holding the wheels, torn loose in front when the wheels scraped
the upper edge of the Coliseum’s tiers of seats, was still firmly
fastened at the rear. Thus, the wheels hung slantwise. Had Frank,
ignorant of what had occurred, attempted the usual landing, the results
would have been disastrous. But by pancaking and dropping, the wheels
were pushed up against the bottom of the plane and held firmly in place,
instead of being torn entirely from the fastenings.
The result was that the plane, although racketted about a bit, suffered
no more than in a bumpy landing, and came to rest without burying nose
or wings in the sand as had been feared would be the case.
All climbed stiffly out, and the next minute Frank and Bob were hugging
each other like a couple of kids, and thumping each other on the back
with terrific whacks. In the meantime, Roy Stone and Amrath stood aside,
and it was not until Frank and he had pummelled each other to their
mutual satisfaction that Bob turned to the aviator.
“Haven’t had much chance for personal conversation with you up there in
the plane, Stone,” he said, as he wrung the other’s hand. “But I want to
tell you—Oh, shucks, what’s the use? I can’t sling language much. Only,
I will say I never got more benefit out of a fight in my life than out
of that one with you in the cave back in Old Mexico.”
Roy Stone grinned through the sun-wrinkles about his eyes. He knew Bob’s
reference was to the affray between the two parties in the lonely
mountains of Old Sonora, when the boys were striving to rescue Mr.
Hampton from the hands of the Mexican rebels. At that time, as recorded
in “The Radio Boys on the Mexican Border,” Stone had been in the rebel
forces. But later he changed his allegiance, and warm, indeed, had been
the friendship between him and the boys, particularly between him and
Bob, who had been his own individual opponent in the fight in the cave.
“You like fighting so much,” said Stone, “that it’s a wonder you
consented to let us take you away from the Coliseum back there in
Athensi.”
Bob shook his head and threw up his hands.
“A fellow can get too much of any good thing,” he said. “Well, let’s
snap into it and go back to this place where our friends are fighting.
Maybe we can help a little. But first I’m going to leave this hardware
here.”
Whereupon he stripped off the various pieces of heavy armor and tossed
them into the pit of the airplane, standing revealed in nothing but a G
string—a superb figure who caused Amrath, for one, to draw in a breath
of admiration.
“Monsieur would have been a hard man to beat in the Sacrificial Games,”
he said in French.
“Aw, forget it,” said Bob. “Come on. Got to give Jack and Mr. Hampton a
hand.”