THE WRECKED AIRSHIP
Several hours passed, and it was only by the greatest skill that Jerry
and his companions were able to keep their craft on a level keel.
Several times she almost turned turtle, and they were in danger of
being hurled to earth as the unfortunate bank robbers had been.
Night was approaching, and still the _Comet_ hurled herself forward
through the heart of the storm. Finally Jerry, who had gone to the
motor room, while Ned steered, came back to the pilot house.
“We’ve got to go down,” he said. “We can’t stand this much longer.
It’s getting worse; and besides, we can’t look for the airship in the
darkness. We’ll have to make a landing.”
“But how can we--in that?” and Ned pointed to the vast expanse of black
forest below them. “We’ll be torn to pieces on the trees.”
“We’ll have to wait until we see a comparatively clear place, of
course. Even then it’s going to be risky; but we’ve got to do it. Tell
Bob to watch out for a clearing.”
Eagerly they all watched, while the darkness gathered more densely. The
storm had not abated a bit, and it was now raining again, the drops
whipping against the airship almost like hail, such was the force of
the wind.
Suddenly Bob, who had donned a rain coat, and a rubber hat with a flap
that came to his shoulders, uttered a cry, and pointed downward and to
the left.
“What is it?” called Jerry.
“A clearing--a big place--make for it!”
Ned sprang to his chum’s side.
“A clearing!” he shouted. “That’s a lake--a big lake! Good enough,
Jerry! Head for that. Our hydroplanes will come in useful now!”
It needed but a second to put the nose of the airship in the right
direction, and in a few moments our heroes found themselves over a
large body of water in the midst of the vast and uninhabited forest.
“Some waves there,” murmured Bob, and indeed the lake was covered with
whitecaps from the wind, which was whipping their crests into spray.
“Still it’s better than landing on the trees,” replied Jerry. “Stand by
to let the hydroplanes down, boys!”
Nearer and nearer to the foam-crested water came the gallant craft. The
waves could be seen to be larger now, and even Jerry, staunch-hearted
as he was, felt a momentary sense of fear. He had never dropped his
machine on water that was as rough as this.
But there was no help for it. They could not keep on, and they must
stop somewhere for the night. So, after a glance about in order to
pick out the most sheltered spot, the tall lad yanked the lever of the
deflecting rudder over still farther.
“Here we go!” he cried. “Look out, boys! Shoot the hydroplanes out when
I give the word!”
Jerry turned off the power. The great propellers ceased revolving. The
airship was now diving rapidly downward under her own momentum.
“Ready!” suddenly shouted Jerry; and Bob and Ned pulled on the
levers, folding up the bicycle wheels, and shunting into place on the
toggle-jointed arms the hydroplanes that would keep the _Comet_ afloat.
The boys were hardly prepared for what followed, for as soon as they
struck the water they were at once tossed about by the violence of the
waves, the airship being so buoyant that she was like a chip on the
lake. Up and down on the long swells, from side to side, she was thrown
most violently.
“We can’t stand this!” yelled Ned. “We’ll tear the motor from the
bed-plates.”
“Start the water propeller,” called Jerry to Ned and Bob, “and I’ll
head for shore. Be ready to jump out when I give the word, and haul her
up with ropes. I’ll let down the wheels as soon as we get in shallow
water.”
A moment later the craft was a little steadier, for Jerry had headed
her up into the eye of the wind, and her bow instead of the side was
taking the breaking waves. Then she moved forward toward the distant
shore.
It was a hard fight, and one the boys never forgot. Time and again they
were in danger of being swamped. But the gallant _Comet_ struggled on,
proving herself almost as good a water navigator as she was in the air.
Then, as they neared the shore, Bob and Ned leaped out and reached the
bank, holding long ropes attached to the airship. Jerry dropped the
bicycle wheels and a little later the craft was pulled out on land.
Fortunately this was during a lull in the gale, or even then she might
have been dashed against the trees and wrecked. But before the blast
could resume its howling the boys and the professor had rolled their
airship up into a little opening amid the trees, and soon it was well
lashed to the sturdy trunks, some of the wing planes being folded over
to offer less surface to the gale.
“Now I guess we’re pretty snug,” remarked Bob, as they sat in the
closed cabin, and listened to the howl of the wind and the dash of the
rain without. “I’ll get supper, and then we can sit and talk. It was a
lucky thing I saw the lake.”
“Indeed it was,” agreed Jerry. “For doing that we’ll forgive you for
mentioning something to eat.”
“Sure, go ahead and get two suppers,” urged Ned. “I’m hungry.”
The professor was observed to be putting on a rain coat and a pair of
rubber boots.
“Where are you going?” asked Jerry.
“Out to look for my flying frog,” he explained.
The boys persuaded him to wait until morning, and soon Bob served
supper. Then, being tired with their day in the storm, they turned in,
being almost as comfortable as if they were at home, save only that
the _Comet_ trembled now and then, as the blast shook her.
It stormed so all of the following day that they did not venture up in
the air, but remained anchored. It began to clear during the afternoon,
and the professor went searching for the flying frog, but came back at
dusk without it.
“We’ll start in the morning,” decided Jerry that night, “and I hope
we’ll soon find what we’re looking for.”
It was about noon of the next day, when they had covered many miles
over the trackless forest, that Ned, who was in the bow, looking
eagerly through the binoculars, uttered a joyful cry.
“What is it?” demanded Jerry.
“I’m not sure--but I see a big patch of white down there. It may be the
wrecked airship we’re looking for. See, right by that clump of pines?”
He pointed and handed the glasses to Jerry.
“It’s either her or a big white stone,” murmured the tall lad.
“It can’t be a stone, for it flutters in the wind,” declared Ned.
“Don’t be too sure,” advised Bob. “We’ve been fooled before.”
“We’ll soon see what it is,” said Jerry. “We’ll go down there.”
Eagerly they watched as the white patch became bigger, for they were
nearing it rapidly. Now they could make out that it was some kind of
cloth, caught on the limbs of a tree, for it flapped back and forth
like a signal of distress.
“I--I guess we’ve found it at last,” murmured Jerry hopefully.
“If only the treasure is there,” added Ned in a low voice.
In a few seconds more they were over the object. Just ahead of them was
a little clearing where Jerry was going to land. As the _Comet_ passed
over the white object the boys looked down. Then came a joyful cry.
“That’s her!” yelled Ned. “It’s their airship!”
For what he and the others saw, on the ground under the white cloth,
was the bent and twisted remains of a big biplane, the engine, wings
and frame being tossed together in an almost inextricable mass. It was
the wreck of the _Silver Star_.
But was the airship treasure there?