A SHORT TERM IN JAIL.
If the truth must be told, both Ben and Carl experienced a sudden
lifting of the hair as the _Ann_ and the _Bertha_ plunged toward the
precipice hanging below the summit. It seemed for a time as if the
wheels would never lift, but finally, at the last instant, they did so,
and the level surface of rock was left below. The Japs who had been so
neatly tricked seemed to the boys to be running around in circles and
shooting useless bullets into the air up to the time the flying machine
to which they had beckoned reached their side.
The third machine, however, did not remain long on the summit. The Japs,
and the aviator conferred together for only a moment, and then, with the
Japs watching, the planes were in the air again in swift pursuit of the
_Ann_ and the _Bertha_.
From the very first the boys saw that the pursuing machine was by no
means fit for the race. In fact, she limped along at a pace not
calculated to hold her own with a very ordinary aeroplane while both the
_Bertha_ and the _Ann_ were very speedy machines.
Under these conditions the race could end in only one way. The _Ann_ and
_Bertha_ passed swiftly toward Monterey, while the third machine
returned to the summit where the two Japs had been left, to take them
off, one at a time. The last the boys saw of her at that time she was
settling limply down as if injured in a vital spot.
After the pursuit had ceased the boys dropped their machines to a
government roadway which showed through the timber in a valley below.
The gasoline supplied by the Japs to the _Bertha_ was insufficient for a
long run, and the idea in dropping down was to transfer fuel from the
tanks of the _Ann_. Besides, the boys thought it best to consult
together.
“The good old _Ann_!” shouted Carl, patting the great aeroplane as he
would have petted a dog.
“I wish you could tell us exactly what has taken place in your vicinity
since we last saw you in Westchester county,” said Ben, petting the
_Ann_.
“I reckon she’d have some story to tell,” Carl suggested.
“You bet she would!” declared Ben. “The chances are that Mr. Havens
started away from New York with her, and got sidetracked in some way,”
he went on. “I hope he hasn’t been seriously injured.”
“I think we ought to go to Monterey,” Carl suggested, “and find out if
there is any story going round of a lost aviator. If anything serious
has taken place in this part of the country, we’ll certainly learn all
about it there. Besides,” he went on, “we ought to buy more gasoline,
and I want to eat. It seems to me something like a hundred years since I
sat down to a square meal in a hotel or restaurant.”
“And we have to buy provisions for the other boys, too,” Ben agreed.
While the boys talked over the situation a man in the uniform of a
forest ranger, mounted on a little brown pony, came galloping down the
road. He drew up when he saw the machines blocking the highway and
called out:
“Hello, strangers! It’s a wonder you wouldn’t take possession of the
whole road! How long have you been in this part of the country?”
“Just lit!” answered Ben. “Come on in,” he added with a chuckle. “We’ll
make way for you. We don’t own this road.”
Indeed it was necessary to shift the great planes of the _Ann_ before
the ranger could ride up to where the boys stood.
“You’ve got some fine machines there!” the ranger commented.
“You bet we have!” answered Ben.
“Are those the machines that have been racing about in the air all day?”
asked the ranger.
“We haven’t been in the air all day,” replied Carl, “but I reckon the
_Bertha_ and the _Ann_ have been doing considerable flying.”
“And there’s been something of a ruction over at Monterey about a
machine, too,” said the ranger.
The boys were all attention in an instant.
“Whose machine was it?” asked Carl.
“That’s what they don’t know,” answered the ranger. “A man who claimed
to come from New York dropped in a big machine early this morning and
went to bed at a hotel. In an hour or two a couple of Japs claimed the
machine and induced an officer to help them get it away.”
“Did you hear any of the names?” asked Ben.
“Havens, the man’s name was,” replied the ranger.
“Well,” Ben said, “that’s the name of the man who owns this big
machine.”
“Where is Havens now?” asked Carl.
“My informant stated that he was in jail!” replied the ranger.
“Jail?” demanded Ben. “What for?”
“It seems that this man Havens and a friend of his beat up a deputy
sheriff, and the hotel detective, and shook up a hotel clerk like a
rat.”
“Then why didn’t they give him a chance to pay a fine and let him go?”
demanded Carl.
“Perhaps he hasn’t got money enough with him to pay the fines which may
be imposed.”
“Money enough with him!” shouted Carl scornfully. “Louis Havens could
buy the whole town of Monterey, and then have money enough left to make
your state debt look like thirty cents!”
“Is this Havens the noted millionaire aviator?” asked the ranger.
“That’s the man!” Carl declared. “And he’ll do something to those folks
back there in Monterey before he gets done with them, too!”
“I hope he will!” replied the ranger heartily.
The boys now turned their attention to the machines, and were soon ready
for flight.
“Where are you going?” asked the ranger.
“Where should we be going but to Monterey?” asked Carl.
“Look here, boys,” the ranger began, “my name is Gilmore. I’m chief
ranger of this district, and I know the officers at Monterey are not the
kind of people you seem to think they are. Now, if you don’t mind
carrying me, I’ll leave my pony in a little shack over the hill and go
with you to Monterey.”
“Will you?” shouted Ben eagerly.
“That’ll be fine!” declared Carl.
“Of course you can get Havens out of jail?” asked Ben.
“Of course I can,” replied Gilmore. “Unless there is a charge of murder
or some other felony against the man, something which will require the
action of the county court, I can get him out of that country pen in
about three minutes.”
“If you do,” laughed Carl, “Havens will fix you up all right! He’s got a
pull with the department at Washington, and he never forgets a friend.”
Gilmore rode his horse away to the little shack which he had mentioned
and then hastened back to the _Ann_. In five minutes all were aboard,
Gilmore riding on the Havens’ machine with Ben.
“Can you drive an aeroplane?” asked Ben.
“I surely can,” answered Gilmore, almost screaming the answer in the
boy’s ear. “I had a year’s experience at the game.”
Ben nodded in appreciation of the information and turned on full speed,
traveling in the direction of Monterey.
An hour later the _Ann_, accompanied by the _Bertha_, settled down on
the field at Monterey from which she had been so lawlessly abducted that
very morning. It was evident that the town was still excited over the
incidents of the day, for the minute the flying machines appeared in the
sky there was a rush for the open field.
Among the first to approach Gilmore and the boys as they stepped from
the machines was the red-faced deputy sheriff who had received Stroup’s
fistic attention earlier in the day. He approached the boys swaggeringly
but hesitated a moment when he saw Gilmore’s uniform. However, he kept
his ground and glared at the boys angrily.
“Where did you get this machine?” he demanded, pointing to the _Ann_.
“Where did you get those black eyes and that red nose?” returned Carl.
“You look as if somebody had been taking a punch at you!”
The deputy stroked the injured members sympathetically and took a step
toward the boy. Gilmore blocked his passage.
“Perhaps you can tell me!” shouted the deputy.
“Tell you what?” asked Gilmore.
“Where these school-boys got this machine. Only a few hours ago I
delivered it to the owners from whom it had been stolen.”
“Yes, you did!” replied Ben. “You delivered it to a couple of thieving
Japs! That’s what you did!”
“Where is the owner of the machine now?” asked Gilmore.
“You ought to know if you got the machine of him,” returned the deputy.
“I refer to the man who brought the machine to town,” said Gilmore,
coolly. “I asked about Louis Havens, the millionaire aviator.”
The deputy swung his fists wildly in the air and his face became, if
possible, redder than before.
“You can’t fool me with any stories about millionaire aviators!” he
shouted. “The ruffian who assaulted me and brought a stolen aeroplane to
town is in jail, where he ought to be.”
“Did Havens assault you?” asked the ranger.
“He caused it to be done,” was the hot answer. “I saw him wink at the
man, and then the man struck me on the nose.”
“And you’ve got a peach of a nose at that!” laughed Carl.
The deputy grabbed at the boy, but Gilmore stood in the way.
“If I had a nose like that,” yelled Ben, “I’d go off and sit in the dark
and let it rest.”
“Do you know these fresh boys, Mr. Gilmore?” asked the deputy.
“They came from New York with Louis Havens,” was the reply.
“I don’t believe that man we’ve got in jail is Louis Havens at all!”
yelled the deputy.
“Who is in jail with him?” asked Ben.
“Stroup the garage man,” was the reply. “He’s got four cases of assault
and battery against him, and the man you call Havens is charged with
stealing this machine.”
Just then a muscular, determined-looking man, trousers in boots and
wearing a cowboy hat, approached the group, now continually increasing
in size.
“Hello Sheriff Chase!” exclaimed Gilmore stepping forward.
“The sight of you sure is good for sore eyes!” returned the sheriff
shaking Gilmore warmly by the hand.
After the two officers had exchanged greetings and talked for a few
moments in low tones, the sheriff turned to his deputy.
“Pass over your badge and gun!” he said.
“I acted entirely within my rights,” whined the other, doing as
requested.
“You acted like a fool!” replied the sheriff. “You’ve rendered your
bondsmen and myself liable to heavy damages for your fool actions this
morning. How much did the Japs give you for what you did for them?”
The deputy mumbled out some indistinct reply and turned away, followed
by the jeers of the crowd.
“That settles that part of the case,” said Sheriff Chase with a smile.
“Now I’ll deputize half a dozen trusty men to look after the machines
while we go and have a talk with Havens.”
Half an hour later Havens and Stroup, trying to make the best of prison
life by repeating their experiences of the morning, saw Ben and Carl
come running toward the grated window.
“Ah, there!” Ben shouted seizing an upright bar in each hand and
pressing his nose in between the two. “I always had my suspicions about
you, Mr. Havens!”
“Doesn’t he look handsome in there!” shouted Carl, putting his hands on
Ben’s shoulders and leaping up so as to get a better view.
“Glad to see you, you little rascals,” said Havens. “Have you got a ship
I can ride in?” he asked. “I’ve gone and lost the _Ann_!”
“And we’ve found it!” yelled Ben. “And here’s Sheriff Chase and Ranger
Gilmore who’ll have you out of there in about a minute.”
In less than half an hour the details of release were all completed,
although Havens found it necessary to pay three pretty stiff fines for
Stroup. However, the sheriff immediately appointed the garage man as
deputy in place of the one removed, so his standing in the community was
not at all injured by the experiences of the morning.
“And now,” Ben said as they walked away toward the _Ann_, “we’ve still
got troubles of our own! Jimmie and Kit are lost in the air somewhere,
and the outlaws are after them—hot blocks.”