AS our readers are fully acquainted with Frank's adventure it would only
tedious to relate all that took place at the breakfast. It may be said,
however, that both Captain Carney and his mate received a substantial
recognition of their services, from Dr. Perkins, in the form of a check.
At first the bluff fishermen were by no means willing to take pay for
what they had done, but were finally prevailed upon to accept the
present, which, as Captain Carney owned, "would come in mighty handy."
After the conclusion of the meal all hands adjourned to the wharf, and a
thorough examination was made once more of the _Sea Eagle_, with the
object of detecting any damage which the Daniels and Duval might have
done her, and which might have been overlooked in the lamplight
investigation made by Dr. Perkins and Harry. A bright spot was found on
one of the metal braces. Undeniably it had been done by the teeth of a
file, but it was only a superficial damage, which did not affect the
strength of the _Sea Eagle_ in any way.
"I guess Frank scared them away before they had time to do any more
harm," was Dr. Perkins' conclusion; but later on he was to have a
different opinion.
As things were at present, however, Dr. Perkins felt no hesitation in
declaring the _Sea Eagle_ fit to resume her voyage without further
delay. The fresh provisions being on board, and there being nothing to
prevent an immediate start, the voyagers at once made ready for a
continuance of the trip which, so far, had proved so packed with
adventure.
The gasolene tank was refilled, and the emergency receptacles for the
liquid fuel seen to. Plumbo Boggs was paid and instructions left to
telegraph Dr. Perkins in New Orleans in case any trace was found of the
miscreants, who undoubtedly had intended to injure the _Sea Eagle_, and
who had played such a dastardly trick on Frank.
"You'll fly from the sea far up to the sky; good-by! good-by! good-by!
good-by!" cried Plumbo Boggs as the ropes that held the _Sea Eagle_ to
the wharf were cast off and, amidst a loud cheer from the crowd, the
engine was started.
It was a fine summer morning with a glassy sea and a sky that was
cloudless, except in the east, where a great mass of castellated white
clouds were piled up.
"You'd best hug the shore," were Captain Carney's parting words of
advice. "To my mind we'll have a storm of some sort before the day's
out."
But in the noise and excitement of the departure his words were unheard
and the _Sea Eagle_ started off down the coast with the warning
unheeded. Dr. Perkins ran the craft over the water till the mouth of the
harbor was reached, easily outdistancing some fast launches that tried
to keep up with them. When they got "outside," the _Sea Eagle_ was
driven ahead at top speed, and with her rising planes set at a sharp
angle she was driven upward till a height of some five hundred and fifty
feet had been obtained. Her course was due south.
They were flying over a small island not far from the shore when Frank,
who was looking over the side, noticed a dory ashore on the beach. He
had hardly noticed this before three figures came running down to the
beach and pointed upward. One of them jerked a rifle up to his shoulder,
and a minute later a puff of smoke came from the barrel. Simultaneously
a bullet sang through the rigging of the _Sea Eagle_, boring a small
hole in one of the upper planes, but, fortunately, not striking any
vital part of the craft or doing injury to her passengers.
"That's those rascals now!" exclaimed Frank indignantly. "They must have
rowed down to that island and are waiting there for a chance to get
ashore quietly. Shall we go down and attack them?"
Dr. Perkins shook his head.
"Nothing much would be gained by it," he said, "and it would only delay
our trip."
The _Sea Eagle_ was flying fast, and the rascals on the island, who, as
Frank had rightly guessed, were the two Daniels and Duval, had no chance
to try a second shot. At noon, after a steady flight all the morning,
the voyagers found themselves off Martha's Vineyard. A hasty lunch was
eaten in midair, with the _Sea Eagle_ still winging her way like a
grayhound of the sky.
The shore swam by below them like a panorama, but they only viewed it
indistinctly, as the course was kept about five miles off shore. In the
afternoon they saw, off to the right, a stretch of mammoth hotels and
amusement resorts.
"Atlantic City!" cried Frank. "I'll bet there are hundreds of glasses
leveled at us from the boardwalk right now."
"I guess so," rejoined Harry. "We must look funny way out here at sea."
It was half an hour later that Frank's attention was attracted to the
sky by the sudden blotting out of the sun, which had been shining
brightly. He gave a cry of alarm as he looked upward. A vast bank of
black clouds had come rolling up, like a sable curtain, blotting out the
blue sky. The sea below was leaden and angry in hue, and its surface was
flecked with white caps.
"We're in for some bad weather, I'm afraid," declared Dr. Perkins, when
Frank called his attention to it.
Hardly had he spoken before, from the cloud bank, a red, jagged flash of
lightning blazed. It was followed almost instantly by a sharp clap of
thunder, and some heavy rain drops began to patter on the broad upper
planes of the _Sea Eagle_.
"I'll make for shore," declared Dr. Perkins; "we must be about off Cape
May now. We can lie there in shelter till this blows itself out."
"That will be the best idea," said Frank. "This is going to be a hummer.
Wow! Look at that!"
A flash of lightning, that seemed as if the whole curtain of clouds had
been split from top to bottom, had caused his exclamation. So brilliant
was the glare that it caused them all to blink involuntarily.
"Put on full speed, Frank!" shouted Dr. Perkins above the deafening peal
of thunder that followed.
Frank needed no second bidding. He opened both gasolene and spark levers
to their full capacity. Dr. Perkins had already headed the _Sea Eagle_
for the distant low-lying shore. This caused the craft to plunge almost
as much as if she were "bucking" into a heavy sea. For the wind was off
shore, and the thunder storm, as such storms frequently do, was coming
up against it.
Suddenly, in the midst of the fight with the wind, Frank noticed an
ominous sound from the motor. It gave a sort of spluttering, coughing
exhaust and slowed down perceptibly.
"What's wrong now?" he exclaimed anxiously. "Gracious, if the motor
should go out of business now!"
He did not say this aloud, but bent over the laboring machine to try and
ascertain what was the matter with it.
"More speed!" cried Dr. Perkins from the forward part of the air ship;
"we can't fight this wind at this pace."
"There's something the matter with the motor," shouted Frank above the
now almost continuous rolling of the thunder. "I can't make out what----"
A sudden loud report, like a pistol shot, came from the engine--a
back-fire, as it is called--and the next instant the motor stopped dead.
The _Sea Eagle_ was at that moment some 750 feet above the angry sea,
with the storm raging about her furiously. Before Dr. Perkins could
realize what had happened, the big craft began to drop downward with
sickening velocity, while her occupants clung on to whatever was handy,
with the desperate clutch of drowning men.
Frank had just time to shout:
"The life preservers! Quick, quick! for heaven's sake!"
But there was no time to obey the order before the _Sea Eagle_ struck
the waves, hurling spray and wind-driven foam in a great cloud all about
her wings and substructure.