THE START
By eleven o'clock the tanks of the Sky-Bird II had been filled with
gasoline and oil, and the radiator of each engine supplied with twelve
gallons of water. In addition to this, its crew had carefully gone
over every brace, control, bolt, and nut to make sure that everything
was tight, the engines had been run detached from the propeller for a
few minutes to warm them up, and every bearing not reached by the
lubricating system was well oiled by hand.
Mr. Giddings had appeared about an hour earlier, bringing with him the
two special correspondents of the _Daily Independent_, as well as
several other newspaper men representing various prominent foreign
publications. As soon as our boys had finished shaking hands with
these, they were introduced to a number of well-known Government
officials and aviation representatives, who added their good wishes for
the success of the big undertaking. Then came Mr. Wrenn with a party
of his own distinguished friends, which called for more hand-shaking.
At twelve-fifteen the rival machines were pushed out of the hangar and
took up positions in the field, ready for the signal to "hop." At
twelve-fifty both crews, with the exception of their respective
crankers-up, entered their machines, and a heavy hush fell over the
great crowd which had assembled to see the start of the first race
around the world's circumference. It was without denial an auspicious
moment, and as they stood there and looked at the two big mechanical
birds which were to attempt this prodigious feat, embracing almost
25,000 miles, threading every mile of the distance through the air in
the astounding time of ten days, the situation was so fraught with awe,
particularly to the native Panamanians, that now at the last moment all
were practically voiceless.
The rival publishers gave their parting instructions as their crews
climbed into the cabins, and these were to the same effect: "Don't
forget, boys, to report to us at every stop, and mail us all the
pictures you can. Between stops use your wireless for reports whenever
possible. Good-bye, and the best of luck!"
Lieutenant-Colonel Warren J. Hess, a gentleman prominent in American
aviation circles, had been selected as judge of the contest. He was
not only to give the signal to start off the flyers, but with Mr.
Giddings, was to await in Panama their return, and demand from each
crew upon arrival a document containing the signature of the port
official at each scheduled landing.
Colonel Hess, looking at his watch, now raised his hand, and
instinctively those in the front of each of the long lines of
spectators flanking the run-way crowded back so that the airplanes
would not strike them as they dashed down the field for the take-off.
Tom Meeks and Chuck Crossman spun the propellers, sprang back to escape
their vicious whirr as the respective engines fired, and quickly
clambered into their machines.
It was exactly one o'clock. Both airplanes taxied down the runway side
by side. They also arose together, amid a great cheering, some ninety
feet apart, shooting grandly up into the air above the heads of the
people in the lower end of the field. At a height of a thousand feet,
the gray _Clarion_ bent eastward. At fifteen hundred feet, the
Sky-Bird did likewise. From the open windows of each of the cabins
fluttered white handkerchiefs in a final farewell, and many a
broad-brimmed hat in the hands of the excited populace below was waved
in answer.
Flying low, the _Clarion_ started away in the lead, while her rival had
been mounting to her own preferred higher level. By the time the
Sky-Bird had straightened out, her contemporary was well in advance.
"We're losing ground," said Bob Giddings anxiously.
"Don't worry about that," said Paul Ross, who was at the throttle; "we
can catch them when we're ready. We'll get a better current of air up
here."
Paul's maneuver had been due to the fact that heavy head-winds were
blowing, and he was quite sure if he went higher he would get above the
worst of these.
As they now shot along on an even keel, it seemed hard to realize that
they had at last started out on the important flight for which they had
been planning and working so long; and as Paul watched his instruments
and the scudding rival machine ahead, he could not help wondering what
the issue of it all might be--if the fates would be so kind as to smile
enough on the Sky-Bird to bring her in ahead of the _Clarion_ and
within schedule time. Many weary miles must be covered before they
would see Panama again. And when they would land in that air-drome
again--if in truth they ever did!--would it be as victors, or as
listeners to the jeers of the rough crew of the other plane?
It was not an ideal day for the start from a weather standpoint. In
fact, a consultation of the weather reports at the Panama Bureau before
they left had shown a prophecy of strong northeasterly winds and
possible showers. The sun was almost shut out by patches of cloud,
glinting through only occasionally; but neither crew had felt like
postponing the start, so eager were they to be off and so confident
were they in the capabilities of their respective machines to meet
almost any sort of bad weather.
Straight along the Isthmus both machines proceeded, making a bee-line
for Georgetown, which it was hoped to reach at daylight. The coastline
was low along here and very uneven, with numerous pretty little islands
on the Pacific side, the waters surrounding them sparkling like jewels
when the sun's rays would struggle through the clouds and strike the
tossing waves.
In the northern part of the Republic of Colombia they passed just to
the right of the western terminal range of the great Andes Mountains,
and within an hour's time were sailing through Quindiu Pass of the
central arm of the same mountains. At this time they were over twelve
thousand feet above sea-level. Then came the table-lands of western
Venezuela, open in places and covered with thick growths of tropical
forests in others.
As they approached the foothills of the eastern chain or arm of the
mountains, Paul took the throttle, and they steadily arose in order to
clear the high pinnacles facing them, and finally, at a height of
fifteen thousand feet--the greatest height they had yet attained--they
went over them. The airplane encountered several "air pockets" in this
process, which might have been disastrous to them except for the
stabilizing effect of the automatic-pilot. As it was, the machine
pitched rather roughly in surviving them.
In sweeping past the last crag they had come very near to striking,
owing to a cloud which enwrapped it. Just in time Paul's sharp eyes
had seen the white bank of snow on the crag ahead, and he elevated his
craft enough to pass over. It was so cold up here, even in the cabin,
that the boys had to don their heavy coats.
Just as they turned the nose of their machine toward a lower level,
running at reduced speed, a huge bird with curving beak, which John
said was a condor, dashed from the crags after the airplane. It was
followed a moment later by five or six others. The great birds seemed
to resent the appearance of so strange a giant in the mountain
fastnesses where they had always held the supremacy of the air, all the
time darting angrily at it, flapping their long, black and white wings,
some of which had the immense span of fourteen feet, and croaking
hoarsely.
The boys laughed at first, but when the creatures commenced to come
closer, frequently hitting the windows with their sharp beaks, and
cracking two of them, they began to get really alarmed. Once the
propeller struck the tail of one bold and incautious condor, and
feathers flew in all directions; but after a quick circle he was back
again, madder than ever.
"Say, fellows," cried Paul; "we've got to do something with these birds
right away! First thing we know, one of them will get hit a squarer
blow with the propeller and smash it. Then we'll crash as sure as I'm
sitting here."
This peril was very imminent, as all could see.
John seized the shot-gun from its rack, and Tom one of the rifles.
These were loaded. Stationing themselves on either side of the cabin,
the young men drew down the windows in front of them, poked out their
weapons and watched for a chance to use them.
Tom's gun was the first to blaze away, but it is difficult to hit a
bird on the wing with a rifle, and he missed. A moment later, as a
condor dashed viciously toward his window, John fired, and the great
bird, mortally stricken, tumbled into the mists below.
Tom was more fortunate the next time. A condor, with a fluttering of
his immense wings, had settled right on the tail of the machine, where
he clung with his sturdy talons, threatening to prevent Paul from
manipulating the rudder. When Bob called Tom's attention to this
alarming situation, the latter joined him at the rear window of the
cabin. Tom took careful aim, pulled the trigger, and the condor fell
with a broken wing, uttering hoarse cries until the clouds below
swallowed him up.
Two more of the fierce creatures were killed before the remaining birds
were frightened off. It was with a sigh of relief that Paul now
resumed his descent to lower levels.
When presently they emerged out of the last cloud, and could see the
green earth below them once more, they were across the last chain of
mountain they would encounter in South America. They gazed with their
glasses on all sides, and checked up their position on the chart,
although in doing this they had great difficulty on account of a
curtain of thin fog which hung over the land, and only a very low
altitude of about five hundred feet would allow of it at all.
As soon as they were sure of their bearings they again took a searching
observation in quest of the rival airplane, but no sign of it could
they see.
"They're probably quite a bit ahead of us by this time," observed John;
"but now that we're through the last chain of the Andes we can make
better speed. Shoot her up to two thousand feet, Buddy. We'll set our
course for Georgetown by compass."
Paul bore upward, and at the level mentioned he straightened the
machine with her nose once more pointed eastward, and the compass hand
pointing along the left wing of the machine.
It was now growing dark. Not knowing whether this was caused by the
closing in of the clouds or the natural declension of the sun, Bob
looked at his watch. To his surprise he found it was seven o'clock
Panama time, which would make it probably close to nine in their
present locality. Night should now be upon them.
As it had been decided to let John and Tom operate the night shift, at
least for the first few days, John now took his trick at the throttle,
changed to the fresh engine, and Bob and Paul turned into their
hammocks for the first sleep aboard the airplane. They were both
pretty tired, as each had spent several hours at the helm that
afternoon, and it was only a few minutes before the gentle rocking of
the plane on the billows of air had sent them into a sound oblivion.
Just before retiring, Bob had wirelessed Panama of their safe passage
through the mountains and fight with the condors, stating that several
snapshots of the birds had been secured and that these would be mailed
to the _Daily Independent_ upon reaching Georgetown.
Not long after the change of pilots a fine rain began to fall, covering
the windows of the cabin with a film of moisture; but as it was now too
dark to see anyhow, John did not care whether he could look outside or
not. However, for the good of the machine, as well as the betterment
of their speed, he decided to get out of the storm. So, switching on
the little dashboard electric lights to illuminate his instruments, he
turned the Sky-Bird upward again. Through the very clouds which were
expelling the rain, gathered from the warm Atlantic trade-winds, he
guided the machine. At nine thousand feet he was above them, in clear
dry air, with a blue, star-studded sky above his head and in the mellow
glow of a full moon.
"Well, John, this is more like night-flying," remarked Tom Meeks, who
sat just behind the pilot, ready to assist him at a moment's notice if
the need should appear.
"As long as I know there are no mountains ahead to smash into I'm not
worrying a bit," replied John, "and I guess we're all right on that
score. I'm going to let the old girl out now, Tom."
"Might as well," was the response.
Thereupon John threw on the gas by degrees until the indicator showed
them to be whizzing along at 150 miles. He easily could have gone
fifty more on the one engine had he chosen, but was afraid such a speed
would carry them beyond their destination and out into the Atlantic
before daylight could show them their position. Had they not
previously been running somewhat behind scheduled time, he would not
have accelerated even now.
Shortly after midnight Tom relieved him at the throttle, and running
slightly slower, to make sure they would not pass over Georgetown in
the darkness, Tom began to hum softly to himself as he kept a sharp
lookout upon his instruments. John settled back in the seat behind, as
alert for any sudden peril as his mate had been before.
But no mishap marred the night's run, which was as smooth up there
above the clouds as any veteran flyer could have wished. And when at
last the bright sun of another day chased the moon and its haze into
obscurity, it lighted up the flying craft some time before its orb had
peeped high enough over the Atlantic's horizon to shed its rays upon
the affairs of earth itself.
Gradually, as the sun arose in the heavens, Tom brought the Sky-Bird
lower, until presently he and John could see the ground, bathed in
glistening color from its recent wetting, far below them.
At this time Paul and Bob awoke, and washing their hands and faces,
came to the windows to look out. The first thing they all did was to
sweep the sky-line for some vision of the rival airplane, but without
success. Then they put their attention on the country below and around.
Just beneath was a pretty little blue lake, walled in with great forest
trees some of which must have been over a hundred feet high. A short
way beyond was an immense field covered with what they were sure must
be sugar-cane, and in which they could see dark-skinned men at work
with queer carts and clumsy oxen. At the right, a mere thread of
silver, was a river, hedged with tropical vegetation. This swept
around toward their front, enlarging as it came, and at what seemed no
farther than five miles away, poured its waters out into a great sea of
apparently limitless expanse.
The boys concluded at once that this great body of water must be the
Atlantic Ocean, and when they saw a fair-sized town nestling among the
trees at the point where the river joined the sea, their chart told
them that the stream was the Essequibo River, and the collection of
low-roofed buildings was none less than Georgetown!
A few minutes later, they were circling the town to locate their
landing-field which was to be marked with a large white letter T.
Seeing it on the second turn, they swept down amongst a curious and
half-frightened throng, and taxied to a stop.
To their relief and gratification, they found that their rivals had not
yet appeared.