CHAPTER XVII
THE BLACKFEET
With the airship rushing onward, those aboard it looked at the strangesight below them. In a few seconds they were fairly over the heads ofthe scampering populace, and, as the dim shadow of the aircraft fellon them, several women screamed with fright, and a number of men drewtheir big revolvers.
“This won’t do!” cried Jerry. “We don’t want a lot of bullet holes inthe gas bag,” for it was partly inflated. “Hi!” he yelled, leaning outof the pilot house window, as he shut off the motor to make his wordsheard. “You’re in no danger! Don’t be afraid! Don’t shoot! It’s allright, we’re going to land!”
“What is it? Oh, what is it?” cried one woman, clinging to her husband.
“Bless me if I know,” he replied. “Maybe it’s the end of the world.”
“This is an airship--an aeroplane--a balloon!” yelled Jerry, as hesignalled to Ned to volplane to earth. “You must have seen pictures of’em--read about ’em!” he went on. “We’re only an airship!”
This served, in a measure, to calm the fears of most of those who wereracing over the plain. They slowed up, and, as the _Comet_ came to reston the ground, rolling along on the wheels, the crowd saw that therewas no danger. Some even ventured to approach closer.
“I have seen pictures of the contraptions,” said one man, slowly; “butthey didn’t look nothin’ like this shebang!”
“Well, this is somewhat different,” explained Jerry, as he and hisparty alighted.
“I hadn’t no notion that they made as much racket as that, neither,”spoke another man.
“And they come on you lickity split,” spoke a third. “I thought hosseshad t’ pull ’em, or suthin’ like that.”
By this time the throng had approached still nearer and even the mosttimid now ventured to inspect the curious craft that had so suddenly,and strangely, appeared in their midst. Later the boys learned thatBolton was so remote from the ordinary line of travel, and that itsinhabitants had so few opportunities of looking at the newspapers ormagazines, that few, if any of them, had a real idea of what an airshipwas like. Consequently the sudden appearance of the _Comet_ was enoughto startle even the bravest.
But the boys were made welcome, and were asked to partake of thehospitality of the place. There was in Bolton what passed for a hotel,but Bob whispered:
“We can get better meals ourselves than they can serve. Let’s stick tothe ship.”
“I believe you’re right, Chunky,” assented Jerry. “We will.”
Once the first fright and curiosity was over, the minds of thevillagers naturally turned to the object that had brought the voyagersin their midst. By this time Professor Snodgrass had put aside hisnote books, and was stalking along through the crowd, looking for rareinsects. Approaching one burly miner the scientist exclaimed:
“Ha! Now I have him!”
“Hold on! No, you don’t! Hands up!” cried the miner, and the nextinstant the little professor was gazing unflinchingly down the muzzleof a big revolver. “Don’t you lay a hand on me!” went on the miner.“I’ve got the drop on you! Besides, you can’t extradite me for a crimelike that, anyhow. And, anyhow, I didn’t do it!”
“Do it? Do what?” asked the professor mildly. “Will you please put downthat gun. It’s in my way, and I want to catch a new specimen of a bluespotted lizard I see crawling on your coat.”
“A lizard!” gasped the man, as he lowered his weapon. “Aren’t you asheriff, looking for me?”
“Not at all,” said the professor, with a smile. “I am collectingspecimens for my college museum. Ah, there! I have it--just a moment,if you please,” and with a quick motion he captured the wrigglinglizard in a little net, and transferred it to one of his glass boxes.
“Is--is that what you’re after?” asked the man, backing away, whilethose near him laughed.
“That’s all,” said the professor, blandly.
“We’re a scientific expedition,” put in Jerry, thinking this a goodtime to explain the nature of the trip. “We are all with ProfessorSnodgrass, after specimens,” but he did not say what kind, and, afterall, the sixty nuggets were specimens of one sort.
“Huh!” ejaculated the man, as he put away his weapon. “I took you fora sheriff when you tackled me that way. It’s a good thing you aren’t,for I had the drop on you. But anyhow,” he added quickly, “I didn’t doanything. It was another fellow.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Mr. Snodgrass, as he made some notes aboutthe blue spotted lizard. “And now can you tell me where I can find someluminous snakes?”
“Luminous snakes?” ejaculated the man. “Say, let me out of this. Firstit’s blue lizards, and now it’s luminous snakes! I wonder if you’recrazy, or I am,” and he made his way through the throng.
The airship was now attracting much attention, and when Bob beganpreparing a meal in the galley the crowd was so great that theythreatened to overturn the craft in their eagerness. So Jerry and hischums stretched a rope about the _Comet_, and after that they had moreseclusion.
They did not intend to stay in Bolton long, merely to wait for the galeto subside, and to look over the craft for possible damage. None wasin evidence, and, while Jerry was ascertaining this, Jim Nestor andHarvey Brill went about the town. They saw no one they knew, for whichMr. Brill was glad, as he did not want to have to answer embarrassingquestions.
“And I don’t see any of the grub-stakers, either,” he said; “thoughsome of ’em who got on my trail did hang out here.”
It began to look as if they could start on their way to the Border, andtheir search for the golden valley, without being annoyed by men whowould stop at nothing to accomplish their ends. As for Noddy Nixon andhis cronies, nothing more had been seen of them.
“We’ll start for the Border to-morrow,” decided Jerry, after a dayspent in Bolton, during which the professor got many new specimens.The boys and the two men, in order to give color to their pretendedcharacters, assisted the scientist in getting specimens, though Mr.Snodgrass laughed at the varieties they brought in.
“I have them all--every one,” he said. “You must learn to look for newand rare kinds.”
The people of Bolton were sorry to see our friends leave, but as theweather was now good, Jerry decided that it was useless to remainlonger. Accordingly the _Comet_ was sent aloft, and steered for theCanadian Border.
“Keep watch for your landmarks,” Jerry cautioned the old prospector.“We’ll go down when you spot one and see if we can trace the valley inthat way.”
“All right,” was the answer.
They crossed the Border early that day, flying low enough to recognizethe stone posts that in places marked the Northern limits of the UnitedStates, and the Southern line of Canada.
“We’ve got to work more to the East, to my way of thinking,” said Mr.Brill, after several hours of coasting back and forth over the line.“The valley lies more to the East.”
Jerry accordingly changed the rudder. They were proceeding along at agood rate of speed, when there came a sudden snapping sound and the_Comet_ seemed to swing about almost in a circle.
“What is it?” cried Ned.
“Rudder control is broken!” cried Jerry. “We’ll have to go down. Shutoff the motor, Ned. Bob, start the gas machine!”
Below them was an almost unbroken wilderness, but Jerry managed to pickout a little clearing, and guided the craft to that as best he could.
As the _Comet_ settled down, and the boys and their companions leapedout to see the extent of the damage, there was a commotion in the woodssurrounding them. Then, to their surprise, there stalked into thelittle clearing a number of Indians, attired in their beads, feathersand blankets.
“Blackfeet!” exclaimed Harvey Brill, in a low voice. “They’re a partyof Blackfeet from the reservation! They must have taken French leave.Now there’ll be trouble!”
The Motor Boys on the Border; Or, Sixty Nuggets of Gold Page 18
