CHAPTER XIX.
THE BATTLE AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
Air sickness! With the words there flashed through Jack’s mind arecollection of having read somewhere about that strange malady of theupper regions which sometimes seizes airmen, paralyzing temporarilytheir every faculty.
While the thought was still in his mind he had seized the wheel andawaited the next orders from Lieut. Sancho, who was holding theunconscious form of Lieut. Diaz in the machine.
“Push that lever forward—so! Now a twist of your wheel to the left._Bueno!_ You are a born airman.”
Jack wished he could think so, too. From sheer nervousness the sweatstood out upon him, his hands shook and his pulses throbbed.
But the consciousness that all their lives depended upon his keepingcool and obeying orders steadied him. By a supreme effort he masteredhis jumping nerves and obeyed the lieutenant’s orders implicitly.
To his actual surprise, for he did not think it would have been soeasy to handle an air craft, the winged machine righted itself as hemanipulated the lever and wheel. Before many seconds it was drivingalong on an even keel once more. But in its fall it had enteredthe region of driving sand again. Pitilessly, like needle–pointedhailstones, the sharp grains drove about them, pricking their flesh.
“Up! We must go up higher!” cried Lieut. Sancho. “Pull back that lever.Now your wheel to the right—that sets the rising warping appliances!There! That’s it! Now your foot on the engine accelerator! Good! Youare an aviator already.”
As Jack put the lieutenant’s commands into execution one after anotherthe desired effect was procured. The aeroplane began to rise, fightingits way up through that inferno of yellow sand. Jack feared that at anymoment his eyes would be rendered useless, but he stuck to his taskwithout flinching.
At last in the upper regions, they winged along free from the ordeal ofthe whirling sand spouts, but still in the grasp of the furious wind.
“Can we not land?” asked Jack after a time. “Surely it would be safer.”
“Safer, doubtless, once we could get to earth; but it would be madnessto attempt a landing in this wind.”
“Then we must stay up here till the wind subsides?”
“Yes, or at least until the sand thins out. We should be blinded if wegot into the thick of it, let alone the danger to our engine.”
“What speed are we making?” was Jack’s next question.
“About fifty miles an hour, possibly more.”
“Then we may be driven miles out of our way?”
“I fear that is possible. But see, Lieut. Diaz appears to be reviving.Can you reach me that medical kit?”
Jack, not without being fearful of the consequences of his taking onehand from the controlling devices, did so. Luckily, as we know, theaeroplane was equipped with the latest stability devices, making hercomparatively steady compared to the older fashioned craft of the air.Jack’s maneuver, therefore, was not so risky as might have been thought.
While the aeroplane bucked and plunged its way through the storm Lieut.Sancho administered stimulants to Lieut. Diaz, who presently began torecover from his spell of air sickness almost as rapidly as he had been“taken down” with it. It is a peculiarity of such seizures, in fact,that they are not of long duration. Some authorities have held thatthere are poisoned strata in the air which cause the sickness and onemerging from them the victim becomes well again. However that may be,Lieut. Diaz was soon himself, and Jack was relieved at the wheel byLieut. Sancho.
“How far do you imagine we have been driven?” he asked as the officertook the wheel.
“That is impossible to say, _amigo_ Jack. I directed you while you werein control of the ship so that as far as possible we should maneuver incircles. Judging by that, we ought not to be much more than fifty milesor so out of our way.”
This was cheering news to Jack, who had begun to imagine that they hadbeen driven half way to the Gulf of Mexico at least. As this wouldhave meant a lot of delay in rejoining his comrades, he was naturallyworried. For an hour or so more they swung in circles above the storm,and then the furious gale began to lessen.
As the wind fell the sand “fog” below began to melt away just as if ithad actually been mist. Its dissolving brought a view of a stretch ofcountry not unlike that in which the Rangers had been camped when Jackhad last seen them.
Below them shone the river between its precipitous banks, and on oneside of it Jack could see a small, rough–looking settlement. On theoutskirts was a low red building, the shape and form of which at onceshowed it to be a schoolhouse, even if the Stars and Stripes had notbeen floating on a pole before the door. The aeroplane was stillhovering in the air above the little settlement when the schoolhousedoor opened and out rushed teacher and pupils in evident excitement.They gazed upward at the winged man–bird in a state of the greatestwonderment.
Suddenly from across the river came a perfect tempest of shots andyells. Looking down, Jack saw that a body of horsemen was gallopingfor dear life toward the ford at the river. Close behind them camesome more mounted men, although the latter were dressed in uniforms,suggesting that they were regulars. Evidently they were in pursuit ofthe ragged–looking Mestizos who were making for the ford.
On they came at a furious gallop. Gazing from above, Lieut. Sanchoannounced that the band being pursued was a band of rebels, whilethe men in pursuit were part of the regular cavalry of the Mexicangovernment.
“But they are fleeing on to American soil!” exclaimed Jack.
“Si, señor Jack. Evidently the rascally rebels think that if they cangain the protection of the Stars and Stripes they will be safe.”
Jack could not help feeling sympathy for the ragged band that was beingso remorselessly pursued, even though he knew that the rebels hadwrought all sorts of outrages, both on American soil and in their owncountry. For instance, only a short time before a band of cattle hadbeen driven from an American ranch to feed the starving revolutionarytroops.
But such thoughts as these were soon interrupted by the boy’s absorbedinterest in the drama taking place far below them. From the town a fewmen had come running at the sound of the shooting, but as they saw thearmed men come sweeping through the ford they beat a hasty retreat.Only the school teacher, a pretty young girl, so far as Jack could see,and her little flock stood their ground.
Having crossed the ford the pursued Mestizos did not draw rein.Instead, they urged their ponies on still more furiously. The clatterof their hoofs even reached to the aeroplane, which was swinging aboutin the blue ether some thousands of feet above.
All at once Jack, with a quick intake of his breath, divined theirpurpose. The hounded band of revolutionaries was spurring and lashingfor the schoolhouse. Their evident purpose was to seek refuge withinit, under the protection of Old Glory.
But what of the children and their young teacher? In case there shouldbe firing, their position would be a terrible one. As the first of therebel band dashed into the schoolhouse enclosure and the teacher andher pupils fled within in terror, Jack begged Lieut. Sancho to descend.
“In case the Federals open fire on the schoolhouse many of thosechildren will be killed,” he cried anxiously.
Lieut. Sancho nodded.
“I doubt if we can be of much use,” he said, “but at any rate we willdrop down and see what can be done.”
The aeroplane instantly began to descend, but before it was half waydown the last of the refugees had dashed into the schoolhouse, and thedoor was slammed to and bolted. The Federals, close on the fugitives’heels, withdrew to a short distance for a parley when they perceivedthis. From the schoolhouse windows a few scattering shots followedthem, but none of them took effect.
But the men who had done the shooting had perceived the approach of theaeroplane, which was now quite close to the ground. It was probablythe first they had ever seen and they gazed at it with awe and somesuperstitious terror.
“What do you want?” called one of them.
“Wh
at shall we tell them?” Lieut. Sancho whispered to Jack.
“Tell them to let the teacher and her scholars out of there at once orwe will dynamite the place,” replied Jack without hesitation.
“I’ll tell them that if they don’t, we shall drop a bomb from theaeroplane,” whispered the lieutenant.
“That’s a good idea. Let’s hope it will scare them into releasing thechildren and their teacher.”
Lieut. Sancho shouted his ultimatum at the men at the schoolhousewindows, at the same time leaning down as if to pick up some sortof weapon. Doubtless the unfamiliarity of such a war machine as anaeroplane had something to do with it; but at any rate, after someanxious deliberation, during which the aeroplane hovered at closerrange, the door was opened and the teacher and her little flock emerged.
“Now run to the town. Run for your lives,” cried Jack as they came out,and the pretty girl and her pupils were not slow to obey the injunction.
In the meantime the Federals, withdrawn to a little distance, hadviewed the operations with amazement. They had been too much excited bythe chase to notice the aeroplane till it was at close range. Now theygazed at it with wonder and then broke into a cheer. At first Jack wasastonished at this enthusiasm, but then he suddenly recollected thatinscribed on the machine’s upper and lower planes were the arms of theMexican Republic.
“Viva! Viva, Madero!” yelled the regulars, as the aeroplane swung abovethem.
“What are you going to do with those rascals in the schoolhouse?”yelled down Lieut. Sancho to the officer in charge of the Federals asthe great winged machine sailed majestically by over their heads.
“Assault the place and capture it,” was the reply.
“You forget that it is on American territory and that our governmentwill be liable for any outrages inflicted on this side of the Border,”was the rejoinder. “I will guarantee to get them out of there in farmore peaceable fashion.”
“Very well, señor lieutenant, as you will,” was the reply of theofficer, given with a shrug of the shoulders.
“Well, I wonder what’s going to happen now?” thought Jack as theaeroplane was headed back at top speed for the schoolhouse.
“Diaz, will you do me the favor to get that round black bottle out ofthe medicine kit?” said Lieut. Sancho in calm tones as he guided theair craft toward the stronghold and retreat of the rebel force.
The Border Boys with the Texas Rangers Page 20
