In the meantime indignation was at white heat on Brig Island. Mr.
Sterrett was for advertising the disappearance of Duval, and offering a
reward for his apprehension. He confessed that he had not liked the
man's looks, but had shipped him as help was hard to get at the time.
Dr. Perkins agreed that it might not be a bad idea to communicate at
once with the authorities and try to have the rascal captured.
"But," he added, "I am afraid he is too clever a scamp to fall into the
clutches of the law very easily."
"I am of that opinion, too," frankly admitted Mr. Sterrett, "but it will
do no harm to do all we can to place him where he belongs."
To get ashore Frank had first to swim off to the motor boat, for the
skiff, as we know, had vanished. He then ran the engine-driven craft in
alongside some rocks that sloped down into deep water, and from that
elevation the party embarked. A quick run was made to Motthaven, from
whence a description of Duval was wired to the metropolitan police, and
the local authorities urged out of their usual lethargy by promises of a
reward if Duval was found. Late that afternoon the search yielded
results in the finding of the abandoned skiff, and the discovery of the
hut in which the Daniels had been living since the boys had instituted
proceedings against them.
Some evidences of a hasty departure were found, but no clews that would
give any idea of whither the fugitives had proceeded. In fact it was
only by piecing together some scraps of torn paper that it was
discovered that the hut had been used by the Daniels as a refuge.
"Well," said Dr. Perkins that evening, after they had bidden good-by to
Mr. Sterrett and his friend, who had returned to New York, "well, in my
opinion the less time we lose in getting to Black Bayou the better it
will be, for, to my mind, there is little doubt that Duval means to
forestall our friend, Ben Stubbs, in ransacking the wreck."
The others agreed that this seemed highly probable, and Dr. Perkins made
immediate arrangements for a caretaker to occupy quarters on Brig Island
during their absence. This done, a return was made to the little
settlement, and the next day final preparations were made for the
adventurous trip through the air. The _Sea Eagle_ was provisioned, and a
light wireless apparatus installed, the stay wires being used as
aerials. Of course the instruments were not so strong as those used at
the shore station, but it was calculated that they had a capacity of
about twenty miles over land, and forty above the sea, depending, of
course, a good deal on the wave adjustment and the weather conditions.
Twenty-four hours after the adventurers had started work on the _Sea
Eagle_, the craft was ready for her dash. Ben Stubbs, Pudge Perkins and
Billy Barnes were to go to New Orleans, there to await the arrival of
the party. Their departure took place amid regretful wails from Pudge,
who loudly declaimed:
"Aerials and ant-hills! I don't see why we can't go by the _Sea Eagle_."
But Dr. Perkins' word was law and he had decided that the fewer persons
who took part in the test the better the chance of success would be, and
as Frank and Harry were both experienced aviators he placed great
reliance in their aid. The morning after the departure of the New
Orleans-bound passengers the caretaker and his family arrived. They were
honest folk from the shore, who could be trusted to look after the many
valuable devices on the island, and keep curiosity seekers off till the
party returned. For Dr. Perkins had decided to use Brig Island as a
permanent workshop, and expected, if the _Sea Eagle_ proved a success,
to build many craft like her and dispose of them at good prices. The
working of the electric fence was explained to the caretaker; but he
declared:
"I reckon my old gun will do more to keep undesirables off than any of
them electric didoes."
There was now nothing more to do, the caretaker being duly installed,
but to take to the air, in what was, at that date, the most unique
aerial craft in existence. For the voyage, beside the provisions and
extra fuel and oil, life belts had been provided, and not a detail had
been overlooked. It was seven o'clock on a fine, breathless morning when
Dr. Perkins gave the order, "Start up the engines!"
A thrill shot through both Frank and Harry at the words. Experienced in
aerial adventure as were both boys, they could not but feel that they
were embarking on the most adventurous undertaking of their lives.
"We're off!" cried Harry, as a quiver ran through the craft, and the
motor roared from its exhausts, emitting clouds of mingled flame and
blue smoke.
"Yes; off on a fight for fame and fortune!" cried Frank, as Dr. Perkins
threw in the clutch; and, with her propellers beating the air so rapidly
that they were a mere blur, the _Sea Eagle_ shot skyward.
In half an hour's time, to the watchers on the island, the aerial craft
had dwindled to a mere dot in the distant sky, and five minutes later
she vanished from view. The boys gave many backward looks as they winged
away from Brig Island. Despite their adventures, they had spent many
pleasant days there, and it appeared to them to be almost a second home.
Of all that they were to experience before returning to the island they
little dreamed at the moment, but their hearts beat high with exultation
as the _Sea Eagle_ winged her way southward at forty miles an hour, and
about five hundred feet above the ocean.
They had been in the air about an hour when they encountered a situation
which may become common enough before many years have passed, but which
was an exciting novelty to them. Off on the horizon a liner was sighted,
steaming toward the American coast. Before long they made her out to be
a big, two-funneled craft, painted black, and with numerous decks rising
above her shapely hull.
"One of the transatlantic liners that make Portland their terminal,"
decided Dr. Perkins.
"Shall I wireless them?" said Harry.
"Yes, do so. It will be an interesting experiment, and besides will show
how the apparatus will work."
Harry lost no time in getting to work. After a brief interval he
"raised" the operator on the liner, Dr. Perkins keeping the _Sea Eagle_
swinging in big, lazy circles while he did so.
"We sighted you from the bridge half an hour ago," flashed the operator,
"who and what are you?"
"The hydro-aeroplane _Sea Eagle_, bound from Maine for New Orleans. Who
are you?" flashed back Harry.
"The _Ultonia_, of the Portland and Liverpool line, eight days out from
England," was the rejoinder; "have you got any American newspapers on
board?"
Now it happened that Dr. Perkins had brought some papers of the day
before along in his pockets, and at Harry's request he handed them to
him.
"What are you going to do?" asked Frank.
"I was going to suggest that we dive across the _Ultonia_ and deliver
the papers," said Harry; "can we do it, doctor?"
"By all means," rejoined Dr. Perkins, deeply interested; "flash them a
message of what we intend to do so that they may be prepared."
Harry sent out the message and the operator flashed back a quick
"Thanks," adding the next moment: "Good-by. I'm going to beat it out on
deck and watch you."
Frank, in the meantime, had done the papers up in a compact bundle and
weighted them with an empty beef can.
"All ready?" cried Dr. Perkins.
"All ready, sir," was the prompt reply from the boys.
"Then hold tight. I'm going to make a swift dive."
The liner was now almost directly underneath the soaring _Sea Eagle_.
Her rails were black with passengers craning their necks upward at the
great, man-made bird. From her funnels poured clouds of inky smoke,
while her sharp prow cut the water on each side of her bow into
sparkling foam. On the bridge were uniformed officers, pointing
binoculars and spy glasses aloft, for the operator had communicated the
news of what the _Sea Eagle_ was about to do.
Suddenly the watching throngs of ocean travelers saw the _Sea Eagle_
poise in air like a hawk about to pounce. Then down she came, cleaving
the air like a falling stone.
A great cry went up from the packed decks. It seemed as if the air craft
must perish, that nothing could check her fall, and that she was doomed
to plunge headlong into the sea. But in a flash the cry changed to a
mighty cheer.
Less than forty feet from the water the _Sea Eagle_ was seen to shoot
upward and straight toward the steamer. Like an arrow from a bow the
great aerial craft shot whizzing above the liner's bridge, and under the
wireless aerials extending from mast to mast. Just as she roared by
above the officers' heads, like some antedeluvian thunder-lizard,
something was seen to fall downward and land on the top of the
charthouse. It was the bundle of papers thrown by Harry. A sailor
scrambled up and got them, while the crowded decks yelled themselves
hoarse.
Then the _Sea Eagle_ soared up high above the mast tips, and Harry
seated himself at the wireless once more. Presently to his ears came a
message from the speeding liner far below.
"Captain Seabury wishes to congratulate you on the most wonderful feat
of the century."