CHAPTER XXIII.
HOMEWARD BOUND--CONCLUSION.
As was his usual habit, Andy jumped before the monoplane hadstopped. Frank on his part had no sooner seen that everything was goingwell than he snatched the Marlin rifle from its fastenings. He realizedthat they were up against trouble of some sort, for those Spanishexclamations told him there must be one revolutionist at least close byready to do battle.
"Frank, look out, he's got a pistol!" cried a voice, which he recognizedas belonging to Puss Carberry.
Just then he caught sight of a figure rushing forward. It was the sameman no doubt whom they had seen with Puss in the biplane. They hadevidently broken some important parts in landing and ever since musthave been busy trying to mend the same.
"Stop!"
When the advancing revolutionist heard this sharp command and saw thathe was being covered by a rifle in the hands of the determined lookingpilot of the monoplane, he sized up the situation and then raised hishands in a way that meant he surrendered.
"Drop that gun then!" ordered Frank, and as he did so Puss seized uponit with a snarl of joy.
"Now we'll see how two can play at that game, you skunk!" gritted theother, as he snapped the pistol straight at the head of the man.
"Here, none of that, Puss. You leave him to us. He's our prisoner, notyours!" ordered Frank, horrified at the rage which the other had shown.
So Puss found that he did not have any authority in the matter, and thatif he wanted to get assistance from his old-time rivals in order tofinish mending his airship and get away from so dangerous a locality hemust do what they said.
He told about how he and Sandy had been out for a trial spin two daysbefore. That was when Frank and his chum had sighted them from theriver. But that very night some of the revolutionists had made a descenton the home of his uncle, who had a cocoa plantation not many miles awayfrom that of Mendoza, seized him and carried him away, as they also didthe little airship.
Threatened with dire things if he refused to obey, he had been compelledto go up in company with the man who was now their prisoner, a Spaniard,who had once sailed in a balloon and knew something about that type ofaviation, though having much to learn in connection with modernaeroplanes.
Sighting our two Bird boys, of course Puss had known who they were. Butthe man was positive that they must be spies sent out by the governmentto learn what the revolutionists might be doing up the Magdalena. And hehad threatened all sorts of things, Puss declared, unless a hot pursuitwere carried on. Secretly Frank was of the opinion that it wouldrequire very little urging to make Puss Carberry do his level best toovertake any aerial craft piloted by one Frank Bird, toward whom he hadalways felt the most bitter animosity.
After about an hour's hard work Frank managed to get the biplane indecent trim for a flight. He was also able to spare the other somegasoline.
Had he been allowed to have his own way Puss would have left theSpaniard in the forest, where he might have died, being unable to makehis way to civilization. But Frank would not hear of it. He obtained asolemn promise from the man that he would not make any further effort toobtain control of the biplane, and then Puss was made to take himaboard. Of course, Frank had made sure that the man carried no weaponand that his revolver was thrown away.
They left the glade in the forest soon after the biplane hadstarted. Puss managed to keep close to the others while they headed offtoward the northeast. He did not wholly trust the passenger he wascarrying and wanted to remain within call of the three who relied uponthe monoplane to carry them to safety.
They could even shout out to each other as they sailed along. Thus Pusswarned them when they were approaching a camp of the revolutionists asthey drew near the region of the river, and they were able to changetheir course, not wishing to again run the perilous gantlet of gun-fire.
When another descent was deemed necessary it was close to the Magdalena,though many miles south of the town where the cocoa planters lived.
There was no reason why Puss should also descend, save that he wished tobe rid of his unwelcome passenger. The revolutionist might now make hisway to camp and electrify his fellows with a stirring account of hisvarious adventures. And one could easily guess that they would lose noneof their zest in the telling.
Puss did not expect to halt again when the monoplane was broughtdown. He could make one flight of it now and reach the home of hisuncle, where doubtless Sandy was mourning him as lost.
Just as Frank had expected, Puss on saying good-bye tried to appear asthough something along the order of gratitude might be striving to gaina foothold in his crooked nature.
"Say, Frank, I'm sorry now I ever tried to do you dirt," he observed, ashe held out his hand. "Let's forget the past and start all over again."
"Sure," replied Frank, as he readily took the offered hand; but it laylike a cold toad in his grasp, as Andy afterward expressed it, for Pussinsisted on also bidding him good-bye ere he made a start in hisbiplane.
"Well, now, what d'ye think of that?" said Andy, as they stood andwatched the other mount upward and caught the wave of his hand ere hestarted down river, being fully five hundred feet high. "Did he mean it,Frank? Would you really want to go so far as to trust that snake if thechance ever came again for him to do you a bad turn?"
Frank shrugged his shoulders.
"Say, ask me something easy, won't you?" he remarked. "Because you knowhow hard it is for a leopard to change its spots. Perhaps Puss _has_seen a light; but excuse me if I doubt it. Naturally he felt kind ofcheap, because we got him out of a bad hole and placed him underobligations. But that will wear off in a short time."
"Right it will," declared Andy. "I give you my word, Frank, that thenext time we see him he'll have a fine story all fixed about how he wasjust going to jump on that Spanish revolutionary fellow, and twistinghis gun out of his hand, shoot him down, and then fly away. Oh, don't Iknow Puss in Boots, though? He'll hate us both worse than ever justbecause he's beholden to us. Rats! him reform? Not much!"
By the middle of the afternoon they had advanced far enough to know thatanother lap ought to carry them to town, and of course all of them wereanxious to have the journey completed.
"If it could only be written up and sworn to," said Andy,enthusiastically, "I reckon it'd go down in the annals of aeroplaning asthe most wonderful stunt carried out up to date. But people won't takeour word for it."
"We've got the evidence of it, though, in the person of your good dad,and people may believe what Professor Bird says over his own honoredsignature, however much they might doubt the yarn of a couple of boys,"Frank remarked, as he took a last look, to see that both his passengerswere snugly settled, ere starting the motor.
"We're on the home stretch now!" declared Andy, after they had againmounted up into the realm of space and found their course northward.
"Yes," observed Frank, "we're homing pigeons now, if any kind of bird."
"At any rate," laughed the professor, "we're birds of passage, and oneof them is mighty glad of the opportunity to get back into the old worldagain."
In due time they sighted the town, and as before, the greatestexcitement followed as they headed across the place, looking to landwhere the journey had begun--in the yard of the cocoa planter's place.
Of course Senor Carlos was delighted with the success of themission. For two days the Bird boys were the center of an enthusiasticdemonstration. Frank was a little nervous lest they be visited by someof the revolutionists, but such did not turn out to be the case. And onthe third morning the little steam yacht once more headed down theturbulent Magdalena, with a heavy rain promising more water to add tothe flood, as wet weather had seemingly set in again.
They met with no difficulties on the way down. Apparently the camp ofthe revolutionists had been moved from its former position at thenarrows of the river. It might be those in charge had taken the alarmand feared lest a government force must be on the way to capture them,after being informed about the camp by
the spies they had sent up theriver.
And Barranquila was finally reached, where they halted only long enoughto chat a short time with Senor Jose, who met them as before on the quayand wanted to shake hands with the professor.
Knowing just how anxious the government was to get possession ofairships just then, Frank did not want to give them any further chanceto confiscate his neat little craft, under some pretense or other. Sothey left the city at the mouth of the Magdalena and steamed away, boundonce more for Maracaibo, where they meant to take steamer for New York,New Orleans or any port in the States.
The last glimpse they had of the river was the flood that was pouringout between the jaws of land marking one of the mouths of the Magdalenaand making a distinct yellow area in the salty waters of the tropicalocean.
The beloved little aeroplane had been safely boxed again and was makingthe homeward voyage in their company. What strange and wonderful thingsit had been through! Andy declared that they almost passed belief, andhe expressed his doubts as to their ever having an opportunity to pilotthat same aircraft through atmospheric seas as tempestuous as those theyhad experienced in the tropics while rescuing the prisoner of the cliffbordered valley. But then Andy was not gifted with second sight and hecould not foresee what the wonderful future might have in store for theBird boys.
They had by this time experienced enough of the fascinating new methodsof cruising in cloudland to want to continue. And it stands to reasonthat other adventures would be lying in wait for lads so constituted.
For the present it must be enough to say they arrived safely at good oldBloomsbury in due time and that the entire population was on hand togreet the party when they stepped from the train. Also, the wonderfullittle monoplane, the same that had been equal to the test in the racefor Old Thunder Top, had to be placed on public exhibition for severaldays in the town hall, where every man, woman and child in all thecountry around could examine and comment on the construction of theairship that had brought fame and happiness to Frank and Andy Bird.
In due time Puss and Sandy turned up, minus their biplane, which thegovernment of Colombia had seized on some plausible pretext, thoughpaying liberally for the same. But they were soon at work constructinganother, which they claimed would far exceed the one that had been lost.
Professor Bird by slow degrees recovered his health that had been sadlyshattered by his experience down in that country. But he declared thathis days were over so far as aviation went, and that in the future hemust be content to take a back seat and see the honors of the familycarried off by the younger generation--the Bird boys.
THE END.
Aeroplane Boys on the Wing Page 23
