THE DOUBLE LOOP
For a moment or two John and Bob stared at Paul blankly, unable to
comprehend the import of his announcement. Tom was at the throttle,
and while he had heard the startling words, he was too occupied in
guiding the Sky-Bird to do anything except take a quick glance backward.
"A snake?" repeated Bob.
"Not on the machine?" cried John.
"Yes," Paul said, with a seriousness which left no further doubt as to
the truth of his statement. "He's a whopper--must be twelve or
fourteen feet long and as thick as my leg. He's there on the fuselage
just outside of the window, hanging on for dear life. If I hadn't shut
that window just as I did, I believe he would have crawled in here in a
minute."
John and Bob now hurried to the window and looked out. In the
moonlight they could distinctly see a huge reptile, either a python or
a boa-constrictor, coiled up in the angle formed by the juncture of the
airplane body and the broad base of the left wing. The creature was so
long that its tail passed up over the rounded fuselage and out upon the
other wing. Bob flashed his electric pocket lamp upon it, and by the
yellow and brown mottled spots upon its body and the double plates of
whitish scale at its tale, and the wicked-looking triangular head, they
were sure it must really be a python, one of the most dreaded of
African snakes. These creatures think a monkey a very choice morsel of
food, and undoubtedly it had been attracted to the airplane, while it
stood in the grass, by the appearance of Grandpa in the open cabin
window, but had been frustrated in its designs by the return of the
flyers and the sudden rising of the machine.
Now, with the window shut, the boys seemed safe enough for the present.
They could see that the big snake was extremely uneasy. As the wind
whistled by him, his great tail twisted and untwisted, and he seemed to
be trying to get a better hold on the smooth surface, while his beady
eyes glared at them only a moment in the glow of the flashlight, and
then he transferred his attention to the landscape below them. His
forked fangs darted in and out during this time with the angriest
lightning-like movement.
Paul relieved Tom at the throttle for a few minutes, so that the latter
could have a look at the reptile.
When Tom came back again to his post, he said, with plain uneasiness:
"I never saw such a big snake before, Paul. Between the rush of wind
and the roar of the engine and propeller, he seems scared out of his
wits."
"We've got to get him off of there somehow--and mighty soon, too," put
in John, with decision. "Tom, if that monster should begin to slip a
little most likely he will coil his tail around some of our control
wires,--and then what?"
Their faces blanched at this prospect. They knew what that would mean.
It would mean that the great creature would either operate the
airplane's rudders when they should not be operated, or would prevent
Tom from moving them when they must be moved. In either event, the
result would be disaster to machine and crew.
"Good heavens, boys!" said Tom, so nervous his voice shook, "get rid of
that snake as quick as you can!" He fancied he could see the rear
control levers moving at that instant.
The other three flyers knew the importance of these instructions, but
how were they to carry them out? The reptile was too large to be
shoved off with a stick or pole, and would probably squirm through the
window while they were attempting it. And they were afraid to use a
gun, as, in the case of a miss or a little lurch of the airplane at the
moment of firing, the bullet might puncture the hollow wing or rear
fuselage and let helium escape.
It was Bob who solved the puzzle.
"Why not try a loop or two?" he asked.
Their hearts jumped with hope at this. So everything was made tight in
the cabin, with the straps and fastenings which had been provided when
the machine was made. Even Grandpa had to submit to being roped up in
one of the swinging hammocks. When the boys had buckled themselves
down to their seats, John gave Tom the word, and he began to rise
slowly. At close to two thousand feet he brought the Sky-Bird quickly
and smoothly upward until she stood almost on her tail end.
Then Tom threw the elevators and ailerons hard up, and held them there.
They were going at a rate of close to a hundred miles an hour at the
moment, and their velocity brought them around in a pretty loop. There
was no way for them to tell if the serpent had been dislodged, so, to
make as sure as he could of accomplishing his purpose, Tom kept his
controls as set, and they made another or double loop.
This time he straightened out his controls as he came up to the
horizontal, and they ran swiftly ahead again on a level keel.
His companions quickly unloosened their straps, and ran for the rear
window. A feeling of the greatest thanksgiving filled their souls and
joy lit up their faces. The python was gone! He had hurtled through
the air during one or the other of the loops, and his long sinuous body
was probably at that moment lying crushed upon the hard ground, or
impaled upon the sharp stub of some forest tree, far below.
It had been a night of intense excitement. Now that they began to beat
through the air in the old tuneful way, and there was nothing more to
claim their attention until they should arrive at Aden sometime in the
morning, Bob and Paul took to their hammocks for sleep, but first Bob
got Khartum on the wireless and delivered their position and a brief
description of their adventures. As may be imagined, however, the two
youths did not shut their eyes immediately. There was much to think
about and to talk about before even fatigue could get the better of
them.
Tom put the Sky-Bird through on a straight course for Aden as fast as
he dared run the night engine, which was very close to its limit, now
that it had had a chance to cool off and was well supplied with water.
It was important that they should make speed, for in the stop for water
and the subsequent maneuvering to rid themselves of their unwelcome
passenger, the python, they had lost upwards of an hour's time.
Flying high, and depending entirely upon the compass for striking Aden,
they shot through the starlit tropical night like a meteor, showing no
lights except the two small ones on the dashboard in the cabin, by
means of which Tom could observe the instruments and the controlling
levers below. Thus they crossed the famous Nile, sweeping below
Khartum and across the plains of Kordofan, and when the first streaks
of daylight appeared ahead of them they were just entering the plateaus
of northern Abyssinia.
Paul and Bob now relieved Tom and John, and the latter young men took a
nap. It was their custom to work in pairs, the observer preparing food
for himself and the pilot during the course of flight. Sometimes the
observer took the throttle long enough to give his friend a chance to
eat, and sometimes the pilot retained his seat, allowing the automatic
arrangement to do the guiding for him while he munched his food.
Just before seven o'clock Paul and Bob saw two large bodies of water
ahead of them, one stretching to the right and the other to the left.
The chart told them that the northern body was the Red Sea and the
southern one the Gulf of Aden, which opens into the Indian Ocean.
Between these bodies lay a narrow belt of water, flanked on the western
or African side by rocky, wooded hills, and on the eastern side by low,
sandy shores dotted with palms. This was the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb,
and the country beyond was Persia.
Aden could not be more than fifteen minutes' run east now, and so Bob
awakened his sleeping comrades while Paul guided the airplane across
the strait. They flew a little higher, later, following the general
contour of the terraced slopes of the mountains along the Arabian coast.
As the Sky-Bird came leisurely over the hills surrounding this British
seaport of Aden, they could see that the town nestled in the crater of
an extinct volcano, as they had read. All around the low, white
buildings spread the rugged hillsides, and in declivities they passed
over numbers of the great brick tanks or reservoirs which catch and
store the scanty rainfall of the region and thus furnish Aden with its
only water supply.
The flyers saw many gowned figures, some on camels, pause to look
upward at them, as they began to circle the town in quest of their
landing field. Bob was the first to discern it--a fairly level stretch
in the southern end of the valley or basin, marked in the way agreed
upon, and containing two small buildings, neither of which was large
enough to admit the machine.
But they cared nothing for shelter for the Sky-Bird, as they did not
purpose staying any longer than necessary for fuel replenishment and
news dissemination by telegraph and letter. So they quickly settled
down in the midst of a wondering ring of Arabs.
Mr. Griggs, the American consul here, now came forward with a couple of
British military officers, and the flyers met with a hearty reception.
It seemed good to run upon one of their own countrymen again, after
seeing so many strange faces since leaving Panama. Mr. Griggs insisted
upon their going to his home with him for breakfast, and to this they
consented as soon as they found he had made full arrangements for
having some British workmen at the garrison refill the Sky-Bird's tanks.
They found that their rivals had arrived just after daylight, and had
departed for Colombo, Ceylon, less than twenty minutes before their own
appearance. This was cheering news. They had gained a lot on them in
crossing the African continent.