THE "DEVIL-BIRD."
"Yes, Puss Carberry and his crony, Sandy Hollingshead!" declared Frank,
positively.
"But, it seems impossible! All these hundreds and hundreds of miles away
from old Bloomsbury and Puss Carberry floating over us! Sure I must be
dreaming, Frank!" stammered the other, still gaping up at the rapidly
passing aircraft.
"No, you're just as wideawake as ever you were in all your sweet life,"
said Frank. "Take a better look, Andy; don't you see now that it's the
same biplane we raced with the day Sandy dropped that bag of sand,
hoping to break our winning streak in the dash for Old Thunder Top?"
"Anyhow it's a ringer for it, I give you my word!" muttered the stunned
boy.
Frank, with an exclamation of impatience, sprang forward and snatched
something up that had just caught his attention. This proved to be the
fine field glasses that had been brought along on the adventure.
These he clapped to his eye, and as they were already fitted and adapted
to his sight, he lost not a second in covering the passing aeroplane.
"Look for yourself, my boy!" he cried, handing the binoculars over to
Andy, who hastily raised them.
"Well, I declare, that settles it!" ejaculated that individual
immediately.
"You recognize them, then?" asked Frank.
"It's Puss as sure as thunder. I can see him plain. The other is just
out of line, but there's something about his figure that makes me ready
to say it's our old friend, Sandy," Andy replied, amazement still
gripping him tightly.
"Well," Frank observed, "after all, the only queer thing about it is our
glimpsing them so soon. We knew they were headed down this way
somewhere, but they made quicker time than our best. And just to think
that they're the first to fly an aeroplane along the region of the
Magdalena."
"Huh! they beat us up in the air that other time, yet when it came to a
showdown, we left 'em at the stake!"
Andy was beginning to recover his breath, and with it came renewed
confidence.
"Do you see anything in the actions of Puss that would indicate he had
recognized us aboard this boat?" asked Frank, for the other still kept
the glasses glued to his eyes.
"No, I don't," replied Andy, presently. "You see they're awful high
right now, and without glasses they could never make us out down here."
"I guess you're right," was Frank's decision. "Perhaps it's just as
well, for there's never any telling what mean trick those fellows have
got up their sleeve."
Andy suddenly removed the glasses and a sudden pallor seemed to cross
his face.
"Oh, Frank!" he cried, "you don't believe they'd ever be so wicked as to
try and stop us from searching for my father, do you? Bad as Puss
Carberry is, I can't just believe he'd ever do that."
"Well, I hope not," returned the other, but there was a trifling vein of
doubt in his voice, for he had long ago ceased trying to figure to what
depth of depravity those two schemers might descend.
"But where do you suppose they came from right now, Frank?"
"That would be hard to tell," Frank replied. "The first you saw of them
they were sailing up over yonder. Then the chances are they have
quartered themselves at some town, perhaps on the river, and that this
is just their first flight--a sort of look over the country."
"Yes," said Andy, "they're circling right now as though they mean to
head back again."
"Well, you can't blame them much," Frank ventured, watching the actions
of the aviators above with keenest interest. "Night isn't so very far
away, and I should think a fellow would hardly feel like being caught
out after dark down here in an airship."
"Well, hardly," Andy smiled. "Curfew must ring for us every time. Fancy
dropping plump in the middle of such a jumble of forest as that is
yonder, and I bet you it's just cram full of snakes, jaguars and
everything else that would want to snuggle up to a poor birdboy dropped
out of the clouds. Me for daylight when I go sailing down in this
blessed region."
"Look, the men are beginning to recover from their fright," remarked
Frank in low tones. "There's old Quito sitting up now and commencing his
everlasting jabbering with the others. See him point to the biplane and
then to us, Andy."
"Say, the sharp old coon is getting a pointer on us. He's telling his
chums right now that the thing we've got stored away in the lazerette is
just such a big bird as that going away over yonder. Am I right, Frank?"
"You never said a truer thing. But they were certainly a badly rattled
crowd for a time. And we can hardly blame the poor fellows, for what
could they think but that it was a tremendous bird of prey, looking them
over with an eye to grub?"
Frank laughed a little as though the recollection of the fright of the
crew would always seem more or less ludicrous.
They sat there and watched until the mysterious biplane had completely
disappeared in the hazy distance that marked the coming of evening.
"You don't think then," asked Andy, when it had vanished from view,
"that Puss and his biplane could have fallen into the hands of the
Colombia authorities and that they're using it for scouting to learn the
movements of these ragged revolutionists?"
"No, I don't," was Frank's quick response. "You said you could
positively make out Puss at the wheel, and I'm almost sure it was Sandy
with him. They must have slipped into the country without giving their
secret away. Trust sly Puss for knowing how to do that sort of
thing. He never goes around with a brass band, telling what big things
he has on tap."
"That's right. Why, just think, not a soul knew about his old biplane
until he had it about done. We were working in the open almost, telling
much of our plans, but Puss pretended to be mighty envious and asked
questions, when all the time he was meaning to beat us out. Of course,
he could get into Colombia without giving his secret away. You don't
need to tell me, Frank, you're surprised at that."
"No more I am. But there goes the sun. How quick it seems to drop out
of sight down here," Frank remarked.
"Sure," laughed his cousin, "but all the same I fail to hear any
bang. You remember the Irish immigrant who heard the sunset gun at a
military post in America for the first time and on being told that it
denoted sunset, innocently exclaimed, 'Sure, the sun niver goes down in
Ould Ireland wid a bang like thot!" But already the dusk is creeping
out of the dense woods on to the river. And I'm getting hungry. It must
be near supper time. I wonder what the folks up home are doing right
now?"
"Just what we are, likely--waiting to hear a welcome sound that will
call them in to feed. And there comes little Pepito to blow the conch
shell that he uses for a dinner bell. Come, Andy, get a move on
you. Another night and then we are going to do business at the old
stand. It will be just fine to soar above this strange country and see
for miles and miles--mountains, valleys, rivers, tropical forests, and
everything that we've never looked down on before."
The two young aviators went into the cabin for supper. They fared very
well insofar as food was concerned. Of course, both of them missed the
home cookery. The native who attended to this part of the program did
his level best to please, and he certainly had plenty to work with. But
his Spanish style of serving even the most ordinary dishes of tinned
meats with a dash of garlic was beginning to pall upon the taste of the
American lads.
Frank had even started to show him other ways of cooking, and they had
hopes of converting the cook by slow degrees.
The night was in one sense a repetition of the preceding one. True, they
would not have to consider being halted by a gathering army of the
revolutionists, and that was a comfort all around. At the same time
Frank deemed it necessary that he and his cousin keep watch. And Andy
was perfectly willing to sacrifice some of his personal comfort for the
sake of insuring the safety of the precious aeroplane.
It proved just as well that they had so determined. During Frank's
second term on guard and somewhere around four o'clock, while darkness
covered the land, he thought he caught a glimpse of a shadow crossing
the deck, headed in the direction of the lazerette.
He had been lazily reclining on a soft cushion made of several blankets
and looking up at the silvery stars, but immediately he became fully
aroused. This might mean danger in some shape toward the aeroplane. And
no matter, it behooved him to investigate.
So he softly arose to his knees and crept after the shadowy figure.
Cautiously he approached the place where the door belonging to the
storeroom was to be found. As he advanced thus he could occasionally
catch a peculiar clicking sound, which he believed must be made by some
one trying to pick the lock!
The engine of the boat kept up considerable of a racket as it steadily
worked along without the dreaded hitch. Besides, there was always more
or less splashing of water against the sides, as they pushed against the
swift current of the Magdalena. All these things combined to muffle the
clicking sound frequently, yet during little lulls Frank could catch it
again.
The tumult also served to deaden any shuffling he may have made while
creeping toward the lazerette door, and for this Frank was thankful.
It was very gloomy here. A hanging lantern some distance away only
served to accentuate the gloom apparently. Still, by straining his eyes,
Frank believed he could just manage to make out a stooping figure at the
door. Yes, he was certain that it had just moved, and now the peculiar
clicking was much plainer.
When it stopped he remained perfectly motionless, nor did he again
commence his creeping forward progress until it started once more.
Frank no longer had the slightest doubt concerning the cause of that
suspicious clicking. One of the crew was endeavoring to force an
entrance into the locked lazerette, doubtless with the intention of
destroying the valuable aeroplane. He might be in league with the
revolutionists and in this way hoped to prevent the government from
eventually securing possession of the machine which would put the
insurrectos out of the running.
But Frank had conceived another idea. He now believed that his fellow
might have been sent by the crew to destroy the "devil-bird," as they
undoubtedly considered a contraption that could soar through space as
fast as the fleetest condor.
No matter. It was his business to put a sudden stop to the action. And
while doing so he must not be too rough in his dealing with the fellow,
lest the entire crew rise in revolt.
When he had reached a point that allowed of a leap, Frank suddenly
sprang forward. He did not know just what he might be up against and had
even taken from his pocket the splendid new pistol which Colonel Josiah,
himself a world traveler, had insisted upon giving each of his boys
before they started on their trip south.
"Surrender!" cried Frank, believing that the very sound of his voice
would do much toward frightening the would-be traitor.
But he hardly expected such a tremendous upheaval as followed. The man,
believing that possibly the "devil-bird" had broken out of its cage and
was about to carry him off in its gigantic beak, gave a shrill scream of
terror, and bouncing up, broke the slender hold Frank had secured upon
his person.
Not to be outdone, Frank, recovering, chased after him. He believed it
his duty to at least learn the identity of the rogue, so that he might
understand just how deeply the conspiracy had taken root in the crew.
Between himself and the hanging lantern he could make out the fleeing
figure of the fellow, and hot in pursuit he followed as fast as his feet
would let him. The man undoubtedly heard him coming, for, if anything,
his fright increased. Out upon the open deck they flew, Frank just a few
feet in the rear. He had even stretched out his arm and touched the
garments of the runner, when with a screech the fellow made a furious
plunge straight over the side of the boat.
He evidently chose to take chances in the swift current of the Magdalena
rather than trust himself in the power of the unknown pursuer, which
doubtless he believed to be the dreaded "devil-bird" that had been
confined in the box cage!