Kitabı oku: «The Banner Boy Scouts in the Air», sayfa 10

CHAPTER XX

Battle In The Sky

While those on the ground were so occupied with the fight they did not notice a battle going on above their heads; a battle between two planes.

When the plane landed with the smugglers, Jack was with Paul and Wallace. As soon as the first shot was fired, his first thought was that the crooks might use the plane to escape in. So he whispered to his two companions that he would return to his former station and watch the road; possibly, others of the gang might drive up and it would be best to spy them before they had a chance of becoming acquainted with the situation. Paul thought it was an excellent idea and he permitted Jack to carry out his plan.

As Jack moved noiselessly away, Wallace wanted to enter the conflict and Paul restrained him. Then Paul went away and left Wallace by himself. The latter immediately moved into position and was going to fire when his attention was attracted by a creeping shadow at the farther end of the field. By the form and outline of the moving figure, he guessed it was Jack. And for that reason, he withheld his fire—so that the attention of the smugglers might not be attracted to the figure moving toward the machine.

Jack was a short distance away from the plane when he became aware that someone else—almost at a right angle to him—was also creeping toward the machine. He flattened out in the grass to wait and see who the other creeping figure was. For a short while he lay there hugging the earth, not daring to move or lift his head even slightly to see who the creeping figure might be. After about five minutes, a pebble fell near him and Jack flattened out still more. In a minute another pebble fell near him, followed by a hissing sound. He lifted his head very slightly and out of the corner of his eye saw the other person wave a finger at him. He decided that it must be one of the boys and he continued dragging himself across the earth toward the plane.

Jack and William crept up to the under-carriage of the plane almost simultaneously. William whispered, “Inside.”

Without any further hesitation, William swung himself up and into the plane. Jack waited. A hissing sound came to his ears and he knew it was the signal for him to follow. Up he went and into the plane. Both boys heaved a sigh of relief. William got into the pilot’s seat. “Now to take her up into the air,” he muttered.

“You think you can fly her? She’s a pretty large ship, you know.”

“I can try. In the meanwhile, you go in the back and look around.”

Jack nodded and proceeded to obey. William studied the dashboard as well as all the other gadgets everywhere around him. Though he had never flown this type of ship, he was sure he knew how. Major McCarthy had explained it to him in detail and he now knew exactly what to do. He only hoped that the motor wouldn’t falter or need warming up, because that would necessitate the loss of precious time. But he didn’t think so because the motor was still warm from its previous trip. He was right. Everything went off beautifully. Every single gadget responded to his slightest touch. The motor roared, the ship turned into the wind and giving the ship a sufficient run, it took off like a great bird winging into the sky.

William was thrilled and exhilarated. He felt the power flowing into him through his finger tips which rested lightly on the joystick. Jack came forward “How is she flying?” he asked.

“Beautifully. What did you find back there?”

“Nothing much. Some boxes, a couple of small wooden cases, two revolvers in one of the lockers, and also two boxes of cartridges.”

“You had better bring the revolvers and cartridges here. Most likely we’ll have no opportunity of using them but we might as well be prepared.”

“I thought so too,” answered Jack. “I have them right here.”

“Good.”

They were climbing. When they reached an altitude of about four thousand feet, William guided the machine away so that his companions and all the others below would not see the plane and would think that he had flown away. He flew in an extended circle and kept circling around and around. Jack asked, “What are we going to do now?”

“I don’t know myself. What do you suggest?”

“How about flying to the airport and getting Major McCarthy and maybe the police?”

“I don’t know whether that would be of any help.” responded William. “By the time we come back, their help would be of no use. On the other hand, if we stick around here and watch how the situation below unfolds itself, we may be of some help. They may need our revolvers and ammunition and we might drop them. Or they might need us for something else.”

“That’s true. But then again, if we should land, perhaps those smugglers will get the ship again and make their escape.”

“I can fix that very easily,” explained William. “I’ll cut the ignition.”

“That’s right. Never thought of it.”

The boys continued their circling flight. Some five minutes elapsed when William caught sight of another plane making its appearance on the eastern horizon. Coming nearer, they saw that the machine was heading directly towards them. “You think he’s coming at us?” asked Jack.

“Let’s wait and see.”

The plane was soon upon them. The boys recognized it as a Bristol, a small craft but possessing a powerful motor, modeled after army pursuit planes. The Bristol flanked the boys on their right side and flew along. The pilot was making signs to William which the latter could not understand; besides he was too intent on piloting his plane to pay any attention to him. He called to his companion, “Can you make out what he wants, Jack?”

Jack was already at the window and watching the other craft. “No,” he answered. “He holds his fist up and moves it in a circular motion and then points down. I can’t understand what that means. Can you?”

“Perhaps he wants to land and is asking us about a safe place to land.”

“I doubt it,” answered Jack. “He doesn’t seem to be in any trouble. And coming from the direction he did, he must have passed the Stanhope airport.” There was a pause while Jack continued to watch. “I think he’s using his wireless,” he called out. “See if you can pick him up.”

William inserted a plug and turned a disc on the dashboard. Half a minute later, William nosed his plane into a dive and was off. But the Bristol was right on its tail. “That guy is a confederate of those smugglers,” hissed William. “He was asking if the stuff was on board and we were ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“He didn’t say. Just asked if we were ready.”

The next moment they heard a sharp sound and knew that the pilot of the Bristol had fired at them, the bullet burying itself in some part of the fuselage or wings. William brought the nose up and began to climb. Simultaneously he cried, “Load the revolvers, Jack, and see if you can fire back.”

William wondered what he could do to get the pursuing plane off his trail. He banked and dived again and came up climbing. Jack broke a window, stuck his hand out and fired point blank at the nose of the Bristol. He pulled the trigger fast and emptied his revolver. A bullet must have struck close to the pilot, for the next instant the Bristol dived.

The Bristol was a much faster plane, easier to manoeuver than the craft the boys were in. “What are you going to do now?” queried Jack anxiously.

“I’m going up into the clouds and try to shake him.”

But the next instant Jack cried out, “He’s coming right up and it looks as though he intends to hit you amidships.”

“Fire when he comes close enough, and when I hear you fire the first shot I’ll bank right and dive.”

Jack pulled the trigger and William performed a half arc and dived; the Bristol zoomed past so close that Jack held his breath. William levelled out and began to climb again, hoping this time to reach the clouds. But again the Bristol was upon them and sending bullets into the fuselage and wings. William, however, kept on climbing and Jack frustrated the other fellow’s getting on their tail by firing point blank at the nose of the Bristol. For a moment the enemy craft disappeared and then William discovered it overhead. They heard the muffled thud of bullets sinking into their craft but doing no harm. The next instant William cried, “He’s flying away.”

“You think he has given up?”

“Maybe he—” William left off in the middle of the sentence and gasped as he watched the Bristol execute an Immelmann turn. He intended to fly straight into the craft, firing as he did so and hoping to hit the gas tank, and dive just in time to avoid a crash. William was aware of the manoeuver. “You better lay low, Jack,” he cried.

The two machines flew against each other. Just as soon as the enemy fired the first shot he banked and pulled the nose of the ship up. He still had to climb a thousand feet to get among the clouds. He decided to risk it even if the Bristol got on his tail. “The other pilot certainly must be a clever one,” he thought. Besides, the Bristol was a lighter and faster craft and with the other fellow’s obvious experience, he couldn’t help being out-manoeuvered. His safety depended upon getting into the clouds and shaking the enemy. “Jack,” cried William, “is he following?”

“Yes,” was the reply, “but he doesn’t seem to be decided what to do next. He has stopped firing.”

“Perhaps he has run out of ammunition.”

“Perhaps. But he also seems to be aware of your effort to get among the clouds. He is following closely though.”

William glanced and saw that he was rapidly approaching an altitude of eight thousand feet. Seeing a cloud which appeared like a mountain of cotton wool in front of him, he headed for it. Billow upon billow of clouds rose for thousands of feet above them. In a minute the machine plunged into the cloud mass and they saw nothing but white all around them. They flew into the mouth of a deep cloud valley. Directly below them they saw the snowy floor rolling away. On either side were white walls that rose upwards to the blue ceiling of the sky. In a few moments, the machine plunged nose first into another mountainous cloud. William executed a left bank.

“What are you doing?” questioned Jack.

“Doubling back on my track.”

“What for? He may be out there waiting for you.”

“Let him. If he is I’ll dive for the clouds again. If he is not there and we have lost him, then all the better. We want to be as close to the cave as possible.”

William timed himself. After seven or eight minutes of flying he called out, “I’m getting out of the clouds.”

And the next instant they dived. Out in the open again, both boys looked everywhere for the enemy plane but there wasn’t a speck in sight. Both boys heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at each other. “You did it this time,” asserted Jack.

“There’s the clearing,” announced William and pointed.

“That’s right. Are you going to land now?”

“I’ll first circle the field a couple of times.”

He proceeded to do so. Some moments later, William cried, “Look they are waving.”

“Yes, it’s the boys. I can recognize Paul, Wallace, Mr. Woods. They all seem to be there.”

“I’m going to land,” announced William.

“All right.”

William fixed his attention on the field and prepared. Jack remarked, “Wonder why they are hiding?”

“Perhaps because they are not sure we are the ones flying this ship.”

“Very probable.”

William made a perfect landing and Jack and he jumped out of the plane waving their handkerchiefs. The boys ran out of their hiding places and cheered the two young aviators. Tom Woods looked on benignly and laughed. Funny, but he had gotten to like these boys a great deal; it’ll be tough, he mused, to leave them when the whole mess was finally cleared up.

CHAPTER XXI

Night Encounter

The boys and Tom Woods squatted on the ground in a circle. They were pretty well satisfied with their day’s accomplishments. There were a few things yet left to be done. Paul, addressing the government agent, said, “I guess it’s up to you now to decide what’s to be done next.”

Tom fingered his bearded chin, smiled, and replied, “Well I don’t know about that. It seems to me that you fellows have done more to capture and annihilate this gang of smugglers than I have.” He paused and mused for a moment. “I want to tell you boys,” he added, “that I’m mighty pleased with you. I’ve never come across a more lively, energetic and smart bunch of boys than you are.”

There was an embarrassing silence. Wallace spoke up and remarked, “It’s very nice of you to say that, but I don’t think we are any different than other boys. We are about the average, and the average boy, if you give him a chance, is a pretty lively chap and a nice person to have around.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” said Mr. Woods. “Though, of course, I don’t know whether you’re right or not. I hope you are. However, this has nothing to do with the matter at hand. Paul, what do you think we ought to do now. It’s getting dark and we have to work fast.”

Paul hesitated. “I suppose all those wooden cases and boxes in the cave have to be removed?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. That’s very important.”

“In that case, we couldn’t do it tonight. In half an hour, it’ll be pitch dark, and it would take more time than that to load the stuff on the plane. Once it gets dark, you can’t take the plane off the ground.”

“Well, what’s your suggestion?”

“That we camp here overnight, keep careful watch and do everything in the morning.”

“How about that fellow in the Bristol? You think he may come back here for any reason?”

Most of the boys were undecided and Tom Woods did not express his opinion but waited for the others to say something first. William said, “I don’t think he will come back. He must realize that something happened to his companions and that he will be awaited with open arms, so to speak, if he returns.”

Tom asked, “Any more suggestions?” Pause. Silence. “I want you to express your opinions because it’s very important. Although I have already decided on what to do, you may bring to my attention something I had forgotten to consider.”

Paul said, “Suppose you tell us your plan and if any one of us thinks that it should be altered we will speak up.”

“That’s well said. My plan is to take my prisoner and the dead man in the car and go down to the farm house. There I will pick up the other prisoner, who is hurt and requires medical attention, and the other dead gangster, and have the town police care for them. All of that shouldn’t take me more than about an hour and a half to two hours. Then I’ll return, spend the night here with you and tomorrow morning we will finish our job.”

Ken said, “You can’t go alone. You will have two prisoners and—”

“I didn’t expect to,” interrupted Tom. “I was considering taking one of you boys along.”

“The plan sounds all right,” spoke up Paul.

“You think you could hold the fort until I return?” the government agent asked.

Several of the boys grinned and nodded. Tom laughed and muttered, “It’s foolish to ask, I guess, but—”

It was decided that they would pitch camp for the night a short distance above the cave. Ken went with Tom Woods, Bobolink was left behind to keep a watch at the cave while the others returned to camp to get their knapsacks and things. Just as soon as they returned, which was in a little over an hour, William got busy preparing supper for the boys, while the others went about attending to other things. Around the campfire, Nuthin’ said, “Now that this thing is over, what are we going to do next?”

“P-p-plenty of things,” answered Bluff.

“And this thing is not over yet,” added Wallace.

“You expect that guy to return?” queried Nuthin’.

“You can’t tell,” spoke up Paul. “He may or he may not. Most likely he won’t. But then we have quite a bit of work for tomorrow.”

“Do you think we will be able to load all those cases and boxes onto the plane?” asked Bobolink.

They all turned their heads in the direction of the plane but it was too dark for them to see it. Wallace assured them all with the assertion, “Of course it will.”

“It will be a mighty heavy load,” responded Bobolink. “Who will fly it?”

“Who do you think?” demanded Nuthin’. “There is only one fellow who is going to do it.”

They were all aware whom he meant, yet they were eager to hear the name mentioned. The question was on the lips of each one of them, but only Bobolink asked, “Who?”

“William, of course,” replied Nuthin’ with finality.

Soon Ken and Tom Woods returned. The boys hailed them and wanted to know how everything went. Ken burst out, “You should have seen Chief of Police Bates—I mean his face; it turned all colors as Mr. Woods told him who he was and what it was all about. And his eyes—they almost popped out of his head.”

“I can imagine,” interposed Jack.

“He wanted to send his whole police force to watch the cave over night,” added Ken.

The boys laughed quietly. The government agent sat down in front of the fire and stroked his beard as he laughed to himself. Ken continued, “Well, Mr Woods assured him that we didn’t need any police protection—”

“Ha, ha, ha,” laughed the boys. “Police protection! Ha, ha, ha,” laughed the youngsters and slapped each other on the back.

“—and,” continued Ken, “Tha we would take care of everything.”

“Absolutely!” exclaimed one of the boys.

“We most certainly will”—that from someone else.

Eventually the boys quieted down and they sprawled around the campfire and talked aimlessly. The conversation turned to the airplane and William was asked, “How does she fly?”

“Swell. Beautifully,” was the answer.

“If we only had a ship like that!” dreamed Bobolink.

Paul lay on his back and stared at the blue sky and the stars. “If!” he muttered. “If! It’s like asking for the moon. That plane is worth at least anywhere between twenty and twenty-five thousand dollars. More I think.”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars!” exclaimed Bobolink. “Paul, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why. You think it’s worth much more?”

“More? There isn’t so much money in the world.”

The boys laughed heartily; even Tom Woods enjoyed the humor of it. The agent remarked casually, “Why, Bobolink, twenty-five thousand dollars isn’t such an awful lot of money.”

“It’s plenty. Too much,” was the retort.

Again the boys laughed. The government agent said off-hand, “So you boys would like to have a plane like that, eh?”

The boys stopped laughing and all of them sat up and strained their ears. “What was that you said?” asked Jack.

Tom Woods smiled, “I merely asked whether you boys would like to own a plane like that?”

Some of the boys grinned at the very thought of possessing such a machine. William said, “We certainly would. It’s a beauty.”

“Well,” muttered the agent, “maybe I can fix that.”

Several of the boys cried out simultaneously, “How? How can you do it?”

“I don’t know myself,” replied the agent nonchalantly and rubbing his chin. “I didn’t say I could or that I would. I simply said maybe.”

“Oh!” sighed several of the boys.

They felt the wind taken out of their sails and their possessing such a machine remained a dream.

They lingered around the fire a while longer. Somebody remarked that it was time to turn in for the night. Addressing the agent, Paul asked, “Mr. Woods, do you think we ought to keep guard all through the night?”

“What do you think?”

“My opinion is that we should. We can designate now who is to be on the first, second, third shift and so on and change guard every hour.”

“I don’t think it’s really necessary. I am pretty certain that that pilot won’t return or any other member of the gang. But—” he mused, “Of course,” he added, “we could do it just to be on the safe side.”

“I think we should,” spoke up Jack.

“How about it, fellows? Are you all agreed that we keep watch?”

“Yes, of course,” agreed Bobolink.

“S-s-sure,” stuttered Bluff.

“Certainly,”—that from Nuthin’.

“Who will take the first watch?” asked Paul.

“I will,” cried Nuthin’.

“The second?”

“I,”—that from Bluff.

And so on. As it finally turned out the boys were to go on guard as follows: Nuthin’, Bluff, William, Wallace, Paul, Ken, Bobolink and Jack.

“You left me out,” interrupted the government agent.

“You ought to rest, Mr. Woods,” explained Jack.

“Well,” drawled the agent, “I guess I should. But don’t any of you start shooting if I should come upon you to pay you a visit any time during the night.”

Nuthin’ went on guard and the boys turned in for the night. They were all rather tired and it didn’t take them long to fall asleep. Bluff muttered sleepily as he was awakened to go on watch next. As soon as he walked off, Tom Woods crept out from under his blankets, with the help of some rocks and such things he formed the outline of a person asleep and himself slinked out of camp so quietly that no one was any the wiser.

Everything went along nicely and quietly until it came to Paul’s watch. He sat on a stone and listened carefully to every sound, watching intently for any moving shadows. Suddenly the dull echo of a pistol shot shattered the stillness of the night. He jumped to his feet and grasped firmer hold of the automatic in his hand. For several seconds he debated what to do. He realized it would be foolhardy to do anything himself. The wisest course was to awaken the camp. He sprinted to camp but Ken and William were already up and pulling on their trousers. “What’s up?” demanded Ken.

“What was that shot?” William asked anxiously.

“Don’t know,” Paul replied hurriedly. “Awaken everybody.”

Ken cried, “Wake up Mr. Woods.”

Paul ran to do so but, naturally, he did not find the agent.

The discovery so shocked him that for a moment he couldn’t speak. Finally he regained his voice and shouted, “Mr. Woods isn’t here!”

By now all the boys were awakened and they came running up. They saw the stones and sticks that the agent had used to shape a form resembling a person. “Say,” cried Wallace, “what do you think this is about?”

“What do you think he is up to?” questioned Nuthin’.

“You don’t suspect him of doing anything wrong?” William wanted to know.

Paul interrupted the argument and called for silence. “Never mind quibbling, fellows,” he said. “Let’s see what we can do. We have to do something.”

“Let’s all spread out and make a thorough search,” asserted Bobolink.

“That’s no good,” countered Jack. “Whoever fired that shot might fire at any one of us in the dark.”

“Wait a minute, fellows,” called Paul. “Let’s first build a fire so that the camp will be illuminated. Everybody, however, keep in the background so that no one will be fired at. As for me, I have an automatic. I’ll take Jack with me and we will go down to the cave and investigate. Wallace, you have the only other revolver, haven’t you?” The latter nodded. “In that case you remain here and shoot any stranger who steps into the circle of the campfire. Everybody else stay out of sight.”

He wheeled around on his heel and was on the point of proceeding when he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Tom Woods and another man who was bound and gagged. The agent had the light of his flashlight shining upon himself and his companion. All of the boys were shocked into silence and rooted in their tracks. The government agent was quietly smiling. Breaking the silence, he said, “You need not bother, fellows.” Pause. “I am sorry I had to put one over on you.” Again a short pause. “I have a visitor here; I hope you don’t mind.”

“B-b-but,” someone stuttered, and it was not Bluff.

“Never mind. I’ll explain everything. I heard Paul suggest building a fire; I think it is a good idea.”

In a short while, the boys had built a roaring, blazing campfire. There was no sleep any more so all the boys formed a semi-circle before the spitting, burning logs. Tom Woods tied up his prisoner hand and foot and removed the handkerchief from his mouth. “Hungry?” the agent asked his prisoner.

The man shook his head and growled. Tom sat there placidly, his revolver in his lap. The boys waited but the latter did not offer to speak. Finally Paul ventured to say, “Do you, er, mind explaining the mystery?”

The man grinned. “What do you want me to tell you?”

“You might start at the very beginning and save us asking you a lot of questions,” Jack said.

“Well,” he began, speaking low and lazily, “I really had no idea that he would show up. And by the way, this is the pilot.”

William and Jack nodded. They had suspected it, but were not quite sure.

“As I was saying,” continued the government agent, “I really had no suspicion that he would return. But I figured that if he did take it into his head to do so, what would be his object? He certainly would not take it upon himself to rescue his friends. That would be foolish and stupid. But if he still insisted on coming, he would have a good reason for doing so. For example, he might want to get something, something valuable. Then where would he go?”

He paused and waited for someone to answer. Jack did, saying, “To the cave.”

“Quite right,” responded the agent. “Therefore, not wanting to take any chances, I decided to guard the cave all night long. But I also didn’t want to scare you boys in case one of you should discover that I was gone. So I used the stones and sticks to give the impression that I was still here and fast asleep.”

“But why didn’t you tell us?” demanded Wallace.

“I didn’t want you boys to be uneasy.”

He waited for more questions but none were asked. Jack said, “Do you mind continuing?”

“There isn’t much left. He came and I nabbed him.”

Nuthin’ wagged his head. “But why should he come?” he asked. “Seems to me that only a fool would do that, under the circumstances.”

“Yes, that’s right,” added Bobolink.

The agent smiled. “He’s really no fool and he had a very good reason for coming.”

“What?” Several of the boys shot that question simultaneously.

“A big bunch of money. Maybe ten, fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. Perhaps more. I haven’t counted it yet.”

“Where is it?”

“In the cave. I guess it is perfectly safe until morning.”

There was silence, some of the boys, especially Bobolink, trying to imagine how much money twenty thousand dollars was. Jack asked, “But how do you know he came to get the money?”

“That’s simple. I watched him until he found what he was looking for and then I showed myself and told him who I was. And he very courteously and promptly surrendered.”

“What about the shot?” asked Paul.

“That was his fault,” and the agent nodded in the prisoner’s direction. “He accidentally discharged his gun.”

For some while the boys sat there humbly, silently thinking over Tom Woods’ story. Paul rose, stretched himself and yawned. “Some night!” he drawled. “I’m going back for some more sleep.”

All the other boys did likewise, except Bobolink whose watch it was. And after him, Jack.

In the morning, Tom Woods took his prisoner to town and returned in about an hour, carrying under his arm a small package. When asked what was in the package, he merely said that it contained several sticks of dynamite. But when pressed to tell what he was going to use it for, he laughed and replied, “Wait and see.”

Instead of loading all the cases of guns and boxes of ammunition onto the plane, the government agent had a truck come from town to transport the load. It took the truck driver and the boys several hours to cart all the cases and boxes from the cave to the truck. When it was at last done, the agent called the boys together and said, “Now you’ll see the purpose of the dynamite.”

He strung together the several pieces of dynamite, attached a fuse to it and buried the bundle of explosives at the mouth of the cave; then he laid out the fuse for about twenty feet and lit it. As he did so he and the boys retreated some distance. “Why are you doing that?” asked Jack.

“To shut up the mouth of the cave.”

“Yes, but what for?”

“To prevent anyone from using it again as those smugglers did.”

“But the rear exit of the cave will be available,” asserted Wallace.

“You boys stuffed it up, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but somebody is liable to find it.”

“They’ll have a hard time finding it.”

Jack asked, “It would be all right if we used the cave occasionally—that is, using the rear exit, and closing it up when we left, would that be all right?”

Tom Woods smiled. “As a matter of fact,” he drawled, “I had that in mind when I decided to close up the front entrance to the cave. Otherwise I would blow up the whole thing.”

Just then there was an explosion and the front part of the cave fell in. The boys sighed and walked to the plane. They all climbed in and William took the pilot’s seat. The agent relaxed in his seat and said casually, “Now show me what a good pilot you are, William.”

The motor roared. William taxied the plane across and then lifted it off the ground. Tom Woods leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes; a deep sigh escaped from between his lips and he relaxed utterly, all the tenseness and anxiety of these last days leaving him.