Aeroplane Boys on the Wing

by John Luther Langworthy

  CHAPTER XX.

  THE AEROPLANE BOYS ONCE MORE AFLOAT.

  "Frank! Oh! Frank!"

  More than a few times had it fallen to Frank Bird to drag his cousin andchum, Andy, back from some impending danger. Now the shoe seemed to beon the other foot.

  Even as he looked hastily up, startled by these sudden cries, Frank felthis arm seized in a frenzied clutch, and himself jerked backward.

  "What is it, Andy? Here, hold on, let my arm free, and tell me!" heexclaimed.

  "Look there; and you were going to walk right up against it! Oh! Frank,what a horrible monster!" Andy replied, in trembling tones, as he stroveto point toward something that he had seen just in the nick of time.

  "Whew! I should say you were right! Ain't he a dandy, though? And if Isaw him at all, I thought it was a great big vine hanging from thattree! Ugh! look at him stretch his mouth, would you? Andy, thanks toyour sharp eyes I'm here, instead of in his slimy folds. I guess hecould crush an ox. They say nothing can stand the pressure, once theyget a couple of folds around."

  "Is it a python?" gasped Andy, his horrified eyes glued on the spectacleof the slightly swaying ten feet of snake that hung from the limb of agreat tree, in part as thick as Frank's thigh.

  "About the same thing," replied Frank. "Down here they call themanacondas, and in other parts of the world they're boa-constrictors. Iguess the whole bunch belongs to the same family of squeezers. But thatfellow is in our way."

  "Well, yes, if you're still determined to run the aeroplane across lotstoward this side of the opening," Andy remarked with a shudder. "Why,perhaps that old chap might get gay, and grab hold, just when weexpected to go sailing off. That would be a calamity, not only for him,but the Bird boys in the bargain."

  "All right. Then he's got to get his," Frank observed.

  "What are you going to do?" demanded the other, nervously.

  "Take a crack at his head," came the reply. "Once let a flat-nosedbullet from this little Marlin hard shooter smack him on the coco, andthere'll be a funeral in the anaconda family."

  "But for goodness' sake make sure work of it, Frank. What if you justwounded the monster? He'd come whirling along at us like ahurricane. And I'm sure he must be thirty feet long, if he's adozen. Look at the thickness of his neck, would you? Be mighty careful,for his head's swinging a bit, you notice. That was what made me getsight of him. Say, Frank!"

  "Well, hurry up. He may take a notion to move off, and I'd lose mychance, Andy."

  "How'd it do for me to get some fire, and shoo him away?" suggested hiscousin.

  "Don't know how it would work," replied Frank, smiling a little,however, at the faith Andy seemed to have in a blazing brand, now thathe could look back to his late experience with the jaguar. "Never heardthat snakes were afraid of fire. And besides, there's no need. Now keepquiet, and watch. You'll see something worth while; but be ready to jumpclear."

  He had already dropped down on one knee. The Marlin stock restedagainst his cheek, and his eyes sighted along the barrel. Andy fairlyheld his breath, his startled eyes glued on that swaying head of themonster.

  Then came the sharp report as Frank pulled the trigger. He instantlyjumped back, and by a rapid motion of his hand sent another cartridgeinto the chamber, the clever mechanism of the gun proving that it wasbuilt so as never to fail in an emergency.

  Andy had accompanied his chum in that backward movement; but never foran instant did he remove his eyes from the strange spectacle that wastaking place there in front of them both.

  Undoubtedly the well aimed bullet had crashed through the fearful headof the suspended anaconda. Instantly it released its many coils above,and a tremendous length of writhing snake could be seen whipping overthe ground. Nothing in the way of small vegetation could stand in thepath of those powerful springy coils, as they shot this way and that.

  "Oh! my!" gasped the astounded Andy, as he moved farther back, so as toavoid any chance contact with the flying destructive force that wasleveling everything in the glade for twenty feet around. "Did you eversee anything to equal that? Talk to me about your harvesting machines,here's one that's got 'em all beat to a frazzle. Ain't he ever going togive up the ghost, Frank? Guess these anacondas must have the nine livesof a cat!"

  "Well," remarked Frank, "you must have forgotten that among boys it'ssaid that a snake won't die till sundown. I've seen one's tail wigglehours after we thought the thing was stone dead. There, he's moving offinto the forest, and a good riddance. While I'd like to measure theserpent just from curiosity, we've got no time to waste waiting for himto kick the bucket."

  "That's right," assented Andy. "And as for going anywhere near such awhirlwind, you'd have to excuse me."

  They watched the dying anaconda gradually vanish in the depth of theforest; and both boys were glad that it had turned out that way, sincethey were anxious to depart from the place.

  "Don't I wish I'd had my little camera along, so I could have snapped ashot at that dandy chap! The fellows would believe me then, when I toldabout what happened to us here. And anyway, Frank, I don't think we'llforget this camp, do you?"

  "Well, hardly," replied his chum, smiling broadly. "Because we've surehad enough happen to us here to make us remember. But I'm glad to findthere's going to be more space for the run than I thought at first."

  "We'll need every inch of it," declared Andy, as he looked dubiously atthe tops of the lower trees about the place where the snake had heldforth. "Don't I wish we'd brought a few sticks of dynamite along,though."

  "For goodness' sake, what would we want with dynamite? Think you couldhave blown up that snake, do you?" asked Frank, as they started to crossthe glade toward the waiting monoplane.

  "Oh! shucks, no. I was thinking how we could plant 'em under a bunch ofthose trees and enlarge the gap!" declared Andy.

  At that Frank burst out into a hearty laugh.

  "What a fellow you are for wild notions. Think of us blowing up theforest to make an aviation field! I reckon, however, seeing that youhaven't got the dynamite, Andy, we'll have to do the best we can. Takehold here and we'll push the machine just as far back as it willgo. Perhaps we can gain a few yards at this end that will count in thelong run."

  Frank was particularly careful about every little detail. He knew justwhat he had to depend on. In the past he had made it a pet hobby to risein as short a space as possible; and now this faculty seemed destined toprove a valuable asset in their speedy climbing up.

  "All ready?" he asked, grimly.

  Andy took one last look at the face of his chum. He saw that Frank'smouth was compressed in that firm way that stood for so much; andsomehow Andy's wavering confidence returned in full measure. When FrankBird looked like that, things always had gone according to his will; andthey must now!

  "Yes, I'm fit, Frank," he said, quietly. "Let her go when you're ready!"

  In the many times that the two boys had made ascents, Andy could neverremember that his pulses throbbed with one-half the suspense they didnow. Not even on that never to be forgotten initial performance, whenfor the first time they felt the strange sensation of leaving the solidground in a flying machine, had he been so excited, so nervous, sofilled with alternate hope and fear.

  Frank had taken every possible precaution. He had thoroughly studiedthe ground, and made sure that no obstacle would be apt to cause therunning gear of the aeroplane to swerve, and thus throw them off theircourse.

  All he could do was to start the machinery, get a rise at the quickestpossible second, and be ready to shut off power if he realized that thefeat they were about to attempt were impossible, so as to avoid smashingthe planes against a tree.

  "Then here goes!" he said, calmly.

  Andy held his breath as he heard the engine start off at a tremendousspeed. He felt as though a giant hand had plucked them from the spotwhere the aeroplane had been planted for the start. Across the gladethey went speeding. His heart almost jumped into his mouth he believed,as he felt the little craft start
to leave the ground, as Frankmanipulated the planes, and elevated them so as to catch the air underthe broad blades.

  They were rising rapidly now! Would they manage to clear those terribletreetops that stood like a grim barrier in their path?

  Higher yet did Frank throw the planes, so that they actually seemed tobe climbing straight upward, according to the vivid imagination of Andy;who, clutching the upright at his side, waited for what was going tohappen.

  It was too late now to retreat! They had gone too far to stop, and tryagain! No matter whether for good or ill, their kite had been tossed tothe winds of heaven, and they must abide by the consequences.

  Andy gave one little squeal, for it could not be termed anything elseunder the sun. This was when they shot past the most prominent branch ofthe tree that happened to stand directly in the way of the risingaeroplane. Andy believed that the wheels below must have actuallybrushed through the foliage, for he always declared that he heard afierce "swish" as they passed.

  Had they caught even one little bit, something dreadful might havehappened, and the precious aeroplane, on which everything depended, meetits sad fate; not to speak of the nasty fall the Bird boys would havesuffered.

  But Fortune was once more kind to the young adventurers. They passedsafely through the peril, and were speedily fully launched upon the wideopen expanse of space!

  "Hurrah!" shouted the exultant Andy; but it might be noticed that hisvoice was a bit husky, even as his face seemed chalky white.

  "A close shave," remarked Frank; who himself had been rigid while theywere thus taking such desperate chances; "but we made it, thankgoodness! I hope that will be a lucky token of what the day has in storefor us."

  "Amen!" echoed his chum; and there was no levity in his tones, either.

  The sun was just rising. Below them lay the dense foliage of the almostimpenetrable forests, from which they had just made this almostmiraculous escape. And both young aviators, as if by common consent,started to sweep the horizon around with their eyes.

  "See anything of it?" asked Andy, eagerly.

  "I thought I did away over yonder toward the mountains; but I guess itmust be a big bird hovering high up, a condor perhaps," Frank replied.

  "Well, there isn't any sign of the biplane, that's sure," Andy went onin a relieved voice. "Perhaps they didn't have as good luck in landingas we did, and had a nasty spill. Don't I hope they busted some of theplanes, or part of the little old Gnome engine, so we won't have to bebothered with 'em again?"

  Frank made no remark. While as a rule he refused to let anything likebitterness dwell in his heart, still, this was a case where everythingwas at stake; and if the bothersome revolutionists kept chasing them inthe biplane they were apt to give a great deal of trouble. And secretlyhe could echo Andy's wish that the biplane might be temporarilycrippled, so as to be unfit for flying.

  "Now, what's the programme?" asked Andy, when they had covered severalmiles.

  "We've just got to head for the mountains yonder," replied hischum. "You know, he declared it was a valley that lay among themountains; and it must be, to be surrounded by high cliffs. Once we getamong the hills, we'll sail back and forth, combing the whole region,and hoping sooner or later to discover his queer prison."

  Andy lapsed into a state of silence; but he kept watching ahead as theydrew gradually nearer the uplifts. Doubtless but one thought helddominion in his mind, and this was that somewhere amidst those samemountains the father whom he loved so dearly was waiting, and hoping foran answer to his appeals for aid.