THE AEROPLANE BOYS ON THE WING
or,
Aeroplane Chums in the Tropics
BY
JOHN LUTHER LANGWORTHY
1912
The further trials and triumphs of the venturesome aeroplane lads are
set forth in a particularly thrilling manner in the third volume of this
series, now on sale everywhere, and which is entitled, "The Bird Boys
Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in a Wreck."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. ON THE WAY BACK FROM THE GAME
II. FRANK'S WAY
III. SOMETHING ABOUT THE BIRD BOYS
IV. A STARTLING DISCOVERY
V. A WARM FIVE MINUTES
VI. IN SEARCH OF A CLUE
VII. ANDY RECEIVES A SHOCK
VIII. THE MESSAGE
IX. UNDER TROUBLED SKIES
X. NIPPED IN THE BUD
XI. OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE
XII. A GREAT SURPRISE
XIII. THE "DEVIL-BIRD"
XIV. THE AIRSHIP LAUNCHED AT LAST
XV. AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
XVI. THE AIR CHASE
XVII. THE CAMP IN THE TROPICAL JUNGLE
XVIII. WHEN FRANK STOOD GUARD
XIX. FIREBRANDS AND JAGUARS
XX. THE AEROPLANE BOYS ONCE MORE AFLOAT
XXI. THE LAST LITTLE HOT AIR BALLOON
XXII. RESCUED
XXIII. HOMEWARD BOUND--CONCLUSION
THE AEROPLANE BOYS ON THE WING
or, Aeroplane Chums in The Tropics
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
ON THE WAY BACK FROM THE GAME.
"But the Bird boys won the prize of a silver cup!"
"What if they did? It was by a hair's breadth, Mr. Smarty!"
"And their monoplane was proven to be faster than the big biplane you
built, Puss Carberry!"
"Oh! was it? Don't you be too sure of that, Larry!"
"Didn't it land on the summit of Old Thunder Top ahead of you and Sandy,
in the race that afternoon? Tell me that!" and Larry Geohegan bristled
up to the recognized bully of Bloomsbury, while a dozen fellows
clustered around on the deck of the big power boat, listening eagerly to
this war of words.
They were on their way home from a very exciting game of baseball that
had been played at Cranford, across the lake. And after ten innings of
hot work the nine from Bloomsbury had won. But not until they had
changed pitchers, upon tying the score in the ninth, after coming up
from behind.
Puss and Larry both wore the uniform of the home players, and there were
others on the boat who also belonged to the team. In fact, the staunch
vessel had been placed at the disposal of the baseball club for this
day, by Commodore Elliott, the rich owner.
Larry had never been one of the adherents whom Puss could call upon to
back him up when he tried conclusions with a hostile faction; in fact,
Larry had always been an admirer of Frank Bird, who was recognized as
the most persistent rival the bully had ever encountered in his whole
career since coming to Bloomsbury.
Puss allowed a contemptuous expression to take possession of his face,
and even shrugged his broad shoulders, after a nasty fashion he had,
that often angered the one he was arguing with more than words could
have done.
"Aw! rats!" he said, in a disagreeable, rasping voice. "Everybody knows
that I'd won that same race only for trouble with my engine. Frank was
lucky, just like he generally is when he goes in for anything. Look at
him today, being called in to pitch in the tenth! We had 'em badly
rattled, and they were on the toboggan sure. Yet Frank, the great hero,
gets credit for winning that game. Didn't the Bloomsbury crowd cheer
him to the echo, though, and want to ride him on their shoulders? Wow!
it makes me sick, to see such toadyism!"
"What's all this big noise about, fellows? Didn't I hear my name
mentioned?" asked a tall lad with a frank face and clear brown eyes, as
he pushed forward.
It was Frank Bird himself, who had been talking with his cousin Andy,
and several other fellows, in the bow of the launch, and by accident
heard the voices that were raised in dispute.
Percy Carberry, known among his comrades simply as "Puss," did not
flinch when he found himself face to face with the boy he detested so
thoroughly. They had never as yet actually come to blows; but Puss
believed that his muscular powers were far superior to those of his more
slender rival, and just now he was in a particularly bitter frame of
mind.
"Oh! so you're there, are you?" he sneered "I was just telling your good
friend Larry here that I considered you a greatly overrated substitute
pitcher; and that luck had as much to do with our winning that game
today as anything you did."
Frank Bird laughed in his face.
"Sure," he declared, cheerily. "I was a mighty small factor in the
victory, for I only played in one short inning. If I'd faced those hard
hitters of Cranford nine times I reckon it'd be hard to tell what they'd
have done to my poor inshoots and curves."
"But you held them in that inning, Frank, you know you did!" cried
Larry.
"Mere accident, my boy. Happened to be the weak end of their batting
list!" observed Frank, as if determined to agree with his enemy, and
thus spike his guns.
"Is that so?" demanded "Elephant" Small, who did not happen to be on the
nine, because of his customary slow ways. "Perhaps you'll be saying that
dandy two-bagger you whanged out, that brought in the winning run, was
also an accident?"
"Well, I must have just shut my eyes, and struck. I seem to remember
hearing a sound like a shot, and then they all yelled to me to run; so I
did, going on to second in time to see Peterkin gallop home," and Frank
looked as sober as a judge as he said this. The others saw the joke,
however, and, led by Larry, burst out into a laugh that made Puss and
his loyal backers scowl.
"If that bingle was an accident, don't we wish we had a few more players
who could shut their eyes and meet Frazer's terrible speed balls and
curves in the same way!" one fellow exclaimed.
"So say we all of us!" another cried.
Puss realized that the majority on board the _Siren_ were against
him. But he was not given to taking water; even his enemies, and he had
many in Bloomsbury, could hardly say that Puss was lacking in a certain
kind of grit; while stubbornness he possessed in abundance.
So he just shut his white teeth hard together, and looked scowlingly
around the bunch of fellows. And many of them felt a little chill when
those cold gray eyes rested upon them; for they knew of old what
happened when Puss Carberry made up his mind to mark a boy for future
attention.
Frank still stood there by the side of the boat, smiling. Perhaps his
very apparent unconcern served to make the other still more angry. There
had been bad blood between these two lads for a long time, and more than
once it threatened an eruption, which somehow or other had up to now
been stayed.
Although some weeks had passed since the much-talked-of race between the
rival aeroplanes, piloted by these two boys, in which Frank took his
little craft up to the lofty summit of Old Thunder Top ahead of Puss in
his biplane, as narrated in the first volume of this series, entitled
"The Bird Boys; or, The Young Sky Pilot's First Air Voyage," the latter
had never ceased to feel ugly over his defeat.
As usual he had what he considered a good excuse for his arriving
second; but few persons ever knew how Puss and his helper Sandy had
tried to injure Frank's airship when it was directly beneath them, by
deliberately dropping a sand bag, taken along, singularly enough, as
"ballast," but with this very idea in view.
"Seems to me you've gotten the big head ever since you happened to drop
on that rocky plateau on top of the mountain just three little seconds
ahead of me, Frank Bird!" he said, with a steely glitter in his eyes
that those who knew him best understood to mean coming trouble.
"Oh! I hope not, Puss," replied the other, with a smile. "I give you my
word my hat fits me just as comfortably as ever. It was a close race,
and the one who got there first hadn't much to crow about, for a
fact. We happened to be lucky not to have any trouble with our new
little Kinkaid engine, that was all."
"Huh!" grunted his cousin Andy, shaking his head, and scowling at Puss
in turn. "But we had plenty of other sorts of trouble, all the same,
sand bags full of it, in fact. They just rained down on us; but then
Frank knows how to check up his engine suddenly, and the storm passed by
without any hurt!"
Some of the fellows, who happened to know what this sly reference on the
part of the hotheaded Andy meant, began to chuckle. Of course such a
thing would only serve to make Puss more angry. He chose to believe that
they were all only trying to bait him.
Frank in particular came in for his dark looks. And Larry, who had once
run in the same company as Puss, so that he knew his whims better than
many others, took occasion to give Frank Bird a sly nudge in the side,
as he whispered:
"Look out for him, Frank; he's getting near the danger point, sure!"
But Frank did not have to be warned. He had grown tired of warding off
this ever threatening danger of a broil with Puss Carberry. Like his
cousin Andy, the other had no father; and his wealthy mother had long
since given up in despair the idea of controlling the headstrong lad. So
that Puss had his way, whenever he wanted to do anything out of the
ordinary.
Because Mrs. Carberry was one of his father's patients, and Dr. Bird
esteemed her very highly, Frank had postponed the reckoning just as long
as he could endure the insults of the bully. But he believed the last
ditch had been reached, and was determined to no longer raise a hand to
avert the threatening storm.
Puss had turned when Andy spoke, to flash a look in his direction. But
it had no effect upon the other, who could be as reckless at times as
the next one. Indeed, Frank often had to curb the impatience and daring
of his chum.
"Oh! that's what sticks in your craw, does it, Andy Bird?" demanded
Puss. "Just because Sandy happened to drop that ballast, thinking we
might make better time if we lightened ship, you choose to make all
sorts of nasty insinuations about us wanting to knock you out! Shows
where your mind is. Another fellow wouldn't ever let such a fool notion
get a grip on him. And you'd better put a reef in that tongue of yours,
my boy, unless you want to have it get you into trouble."
Andy flared up at once, and would have replied; but Frank calmly stepped
in between the two, as though he claimed first right.
"Neither of us have charged you with intentionally trying to disable our
aeroplane by dropping that sand bag, Puss," he remarked quietly. "All we
say is that it was a queer coincidence you wanted to get rid of your
ballast just when we were walking up on you hand over fist, and about to
pass under you, to take the lead. That's all!"
Again there was a low laugh from among the boys who stood around
listening. To them it was a rich treat to see the recognized bully of
Bloomsbury baited to his very face in this characteristic way; and they
were enjoying it hugely.
"Well, let me tell you it ain't all, not by a jugful!" exclaimed Puss,
his face taking on a purple hue, as it always did when he became
enraged. "Both of you fellows have got to stop speaking about that sand
bag dropping, or there's going to be a licking in store for you. See?"
and he thrust his face close to that of Frank as he said this. Larry
Geohegan fairly held his breath. "Now it's coming; don't I know the
signs?" he whispered to the boy next him.
Frank continued to stand there, close to the side of the speeding
launch. They were about half way across the deep lake at the time.
Evening was coming on, for the sun had just reached the distant rugged
horizon in the west.
"Do you refer to me when you say that, Puss?" he asked, with that same
queer little smile on his face--a look that mystified the other, who
could not understand what it meant.
"Yes, both you and that loud-mouthed cousin of yours. Just because luck
favored you, and you won that blooming race by a head, you think I can't
manage an aeroplane as well as you. Huh! perhaps you don't know that I'm
going to take my machine with me when I go down to the cocoa plantation
we own along the Amazon, and use it exploring where a white man has
seldom been seen. You can just stay here and grow up with the country,
while I'm doing great stunts. But as long as I stay here I'm going to
stop this talk about trickery and low-down dodges. You're responsible
for most of it, Frank Bird. I warn you what's coming to you."
"Perhaps," said Frank, pleasantly, "you would be kind enough to tell me
also when this awful punishment is going to fall on my poor devoted
neck?"
"Any time, hang you! Right now, if you say another word!" roared Puss,
doubling up his fists, and making ready for one of his well known and
feared bull rushes, that had brought him a speedy victory many a time.
"So? That's comforting; and with all these good fellows around to see
how you wipe up the deck with me. Suppose you begin the swabbing act,
Puss!" and Frank pretended to throw himself in a position of defense.
The other gave utterance to a hoarse cry of rage, and lowering his head
after the manner of a bull, jumped forward. But the agile Frank simply
stepped aside; and unable to check himself in time, Puss Carberry shot
over the side of the power boat, disappearing in the clear waters of
Sunrise Lake with a great splash.
"Oh!" shouted his crony, Sandy Hollingshead, standing there as if
petrified; "and Puss can't swim a single stroke, either!"