CHAPTER XIII.
THE "DEVIL-BIRD."
"Yes, Puss Carberry and his crony, Sandy Hollingshead!" declared Frank,positively.
"But, it seems impossible! All these hundreds and hundreds of miles awayfrom old Bloomsbury and Puss Carberry floating over us! Sure I must bedreaming, Frank!" stammered the other, still gaping up at the rapidlypassing aircraft.
"No, you're just as wideawake as ever you were in all your sweet life,"said Frank. "Take a better look, Andy; don't you see now that it's thesame biplane we raced with the day Sandy dropped that bag of sand,hoping to break our winning streak in the dash for Old Thunder Top?"
"Anyhow it's a ringer for it, I give you my word!" muttered the stunnedboy.
Frank, with an exclamation of impatience, sprang forward and snatchedsomething up that had just caught his attention. This proved to be thefine field glasses that had been brought along on the adventure.
These he clapped to his eye, and as they were already fitted and adaptedto his sight, he lost not a second in covering the passing aeroplane.
"Look for yourself, my boy!" he cried, handing the binoculars over toAndy, who hastily raised them.
"Well, I declare, that settles it!" ejaculated that individualimmediately.
"You recognize them, then?" asked Frank.
"It's Puss as sure as thunder. I can see him plain. The other is justout of line, but there's something about his figure that makes me readyto say it's our old friend, Sandy," Andy replied, amazement stillgripping him tightly.
"Well," Frank observed, "after all, the only queer thing about it is ourglimpsing them so soon. We knew they were headed down this waysomewhere, but they made quicker time than our best. And just to thinkthat they're the first to fly an aeroplane along the region of theMagdalena."
"Huh! they beat us up in the air that other time, yet when it came to ashowdown, we left 'em at the stake!"
Andy was beginning to recover his breath, and with it came renewedconfidence.
"Do you see anything in the actions of Puss that would indicate he hadrecognized us aboard this boat?" asked Frank, for the other still keptthe glasses glued to his eyes.
"No, I don't," replied Andy, presently. "You see they're awful highright now, and without glasses they could never make us out down here."
"I guess you're right," was Frank's decision. "Perhaps it's just aswell, for there's never any telling what mean trick those fellows havegot up their sleeve."
Andy suddenly removed the glasses and a sudden pallor seemed to crosshis face.
"Oh, Frank!" he cried, "you don't believe they'd ever be so wicked as totry and stop us from searching for my father, do you? Bad as PussCarberry is, I can't just believe he'd ever do that."
"Well, I hope not," returned the other, but there was a trifling vein ofdoubt in his voice, for he had long ago ceased trying to figure to whatdepth of depravity those two schemers might descend.
"But where do you suppose they came from right now, Frank?"
"That would be hard to tell," Frank replied. "The first you saw of themthey were sailing up over yonder. Then the chances are they havequartered themselves at some town, perhaps on the river, and that thisis just their first flight--a sort of look over the country."
"Yes," said Andy, "they're circling right now as though they mean tohead back again."
"Well, you can't blame them much," Frank ventured, watching the actionsof the aviators above with keenest interest. "Night isn't so very faraway, and I should think a fellow would hardly feel like being caughtout after dark down here in an airship."
"Well, hardly," Andy smiled. "Curfew must ring for us every time. Fancydropping plump in the middle of such a jumble of forest as that isyonder, and I bet you it's just cram full of snakes, jaguars andeverything else that would want to snuggle up to a poor birdboy droppedout of the clouds. Me for daylight when I go sailing down in thisblessed region."
"Look, the men are beginning to recover from their fright," remarkedFrank in low tones. "There's old Quito sitting up now and commencing hiseverlasting jabbering with the others. See him point to the biplane andthen to us, Andy."
"Say, the sharp old coon is getting a pointer on us. He's telling hischums right now that the thing we've got stored away in the lazerette isjust such a big bird as that going away over yonder. Am I right, Frank?"
"You never said a truer thing. But they were certainly a badly rattledcrowd for a time. And we can hardly blame the poor fellows, for whatcould they think but that it was a tremendous bird of prey, looking themover with an eye to grub?"
Frank laughed a little as though the recollection of the fright of thecrew would always seem more or less ludicrous.
They sat there and watched until the mysterious biplane had completelydisappeared in the hazy distance that marked the coming of evening.
"You don't think then," asked Andy, when it had vanished from view,"that Puss and his biplane could have fallen into the hands of theColombia authorities and that they're using it for scouting to learn themovements of these ragged revolutionists?"
"No, I don't," was Frank's quick response. "You said you couldpositively make out Puss at the wheel, and I'm almost sure it was Sandywith him. They must have slipped into the country without giving theirsecret away. Trust sly Puss for knowing how to do that sort ofthing. He never goes around with a brass band, telling what big thingshe has on tap."
"That's right. Why, just think, not a soul knew about his old biplaneuntil he had it about done. We were working in the open almost, tellingmuch of our plans, but Puss pretended to be mighty envious and askedquestions, when all the time he was meaning to beat us out. Of course,he could get into Colombia without giving his secret away. You don'tneed to tell me, Frank, you're surprised at that."
"No more I am. But there goes the sun. How quick it seems to drop outof sight down here," Frank remarked.
"Sure," laughed his cousin, "but all the same I fail to hear anybang. You remember the Irish immigrant who heard the sunset gun at amilitary post in America for the first time and on being told that itdenoted sunset, innocently exclaimed, 'Sure, the sun niver goes down inOuld Ireland wid a bang like thot!" But already the dusk is creepingout of the dense woods on to the river. And I'm getting hungry. It mustbe near supper time. I wonder what the folks up home are doing rightnow?"
"Just what we are, likely--waiting to hear a welcome sound that willcall them in to feed. And there comes little Pepito to blow the conchshell that he uses for a dinner bell. Come, Andy, get a move onyou. Another night and then we are going to do business at the oldstand. It will be just fine to soar above this strange country and seefor miles and miles--mountains, valleys, rivers, tropical forests, andeverything that we've never looked down on before."
The two young aviators went into the cabin for supper. They fared verywell insofar as food was concerned. Of course, both of them missed thehome cookery. The native who attended to this part of the program didhis level best to please, and he certainly had plenty to work with. Buthis Spanish style of serving even the most ordinary dishes of tinnedmeats with a dash of garlic was beginning to pall upon the taste of theAmerican lads.
Frank had even started to show him other ways of cooking, and they hadhopes of converting the cook by slow degrees.
The night was in one sense a repetition of the preceding one. True, theywould not have to consider being halted by a gathering army of therevolutionists, and that was a comfort all around. At the same timeFrank deemed it necessary that he and his cousin keep watch. And Andywas perfectly willing to sacrifice some of his personal comfort for thesake of insuring the safety of the precious aeroplane.
It proved just as well that they had so determined. During Frank'ssecond term on guard and somewhere around four o'clock, while darknesscovered the land, he thought he caught a glimpse of a shadow crossingthe deck, headed in the direction of the lazerette.
He had been lazily reclining on a soft cushion made of several blanketsand looking up at the silvery stars,
but immediately he became fullyaroused. This might mean danger in some shape toward the aeroplane. Andno matter, it behooved him to investigate.
So he softly arose to his knees and crept after the shadowy figure.
Cautiously he approached the place where the door belonging to thestoreroom was to be found. As he advanced thus he could occasionallycatch a peculiar clicking sound, which he believed must be made by someone trying to pick the lock!
The engine of the boat kept up considerable of a racket as it steadilyworked along without the dreaded hitch. Besides, there was always moreor less splashing of water against the sides, as they pushed against theswift current of the Magdalena. All these things combined to muffle theclicking sound frequently, yet during little lulls Frank could catch itagain.
The tumult also served to deaden any shuffling he may have made whilecreeping toward the lazerette door, and for this Frank was thankful.
It was very gloomy here. A hanging lantern some distance away onlyserved to accentuate the gloom apparently. Still, by straining his eyes,Frank believed he could just manage to make out a stooping figure at thedoor. Yes, he was certain that it had just moved, and now the peculiarclicking was much plainer.
When it stopped he remained perfectly motionless, nor did he againcommence his creeping forward progress until it started once more.
Frank no longer had the slightest doubt concerning the cause of thatsuspicious clicking. One of the crew was endeavoring to force anentrance into the locked lazerette, doubtless with the intention ofdestroying the valuable aeroplane. He might be in league with therevolutionists and in this way hoped to prevent the government fromeventually securing possession of the machine which would put theinsurrectos out of the running.
But Frank had conceived another idea. He now believed that his fellowmight have been sent by the crew to destroy the "devil-bird," as theyundoubtedly considered a contraption that could soar through space asfast as the fleetest condor.
No matter. It was his business to put a sudden stop to the action. Andwhile doing so he must not be too rough in his dealing with the fellow,lest the entire crew rise in revolt.
When he had reached a point that allowed of a leap, Frank suddenlysprang forward. He did not know just what he might be up against and hadeven taken from his pocket the splendid new pistol which Colonel Josiah,himself a world traveler, had insisted upon giving each of his boysbefore they started on their trip south.
"Surrender!" cried Frank, believing that the very sound of his voicewould do much toward frightening the would-be traitor.
But he hardly expected such a tremendous upheaval as followed. The man,believing that possibly the "devil-bird" had broken out of its cage andwas about to carry him off in its gigantic beak, gave a shrill scream ofterror, and bouncing up, broke the slender hold Frank had secured uponhis person.
Not to be outdone, Frank, recovering, chased after him. He believed ithis duty to at least learn the identity of the rogue, so that he mightunderstand just how deeply the conspiracy had taken root in the crew.
Between himself and the hanging lantern he could make out the fleeingfigure of the fellow, and hot in pursuit he followed as fast as his feetwould let him. The man undoubtedly heard him coming, for, if anything,his fright increased. Out upon the open deck they flew, Frank just a fewfeet in the rear. He had even stretched out his arm and touched thegarments of the runner, when with a screech the fellow made a furiousplunge straight over the side of the boat.
He evidently chose to take chances in the swift current of the Magdalenarather than trust himself in the power of the unknown pursuer, whichdoubtless he believed to be the dreaded "devil-bird" that had beenconfined in the box cage!
Aeroplane Boys on the Wing Page 13
