diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-04 23:15:12 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-04 23:15:12 -0800 |
| commit | eaa47ed268296539aabdb4a6576aef77d02ba2de (patch) | |
| tree | f15e80b48b952582d7c6ccb1c389d08c739d72d3 /old/50165-h/50165-h.htm | |
| parent | 5f841742a1d6dafe62e6f5addd2646e2337b357b (diff) | |
Diffstat (limited to 'old/50165-h/50165-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/50165-h/50165-h.htm | 8911 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 8911 deletions
diff --git a/old/50165-h/50165-h.htm b/old/50165-h/50165-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index f24cc2a..0000000 --- a/old/50165-h/50165-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8911 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Flying Machine Boys on Duty, by Frank Walton</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:10%; } - h1 { text-align:center;font-weight:normal;font-size:1.4em; } - h2 { text-align:center;font-weight:normal;font-size:1.2em; } - .pageno { right:1%;font-size:x-small;background-color:inherit;color:silver; - text-indent:0em;text-align:right;position:absolute; - border:1px solid silver;padding:1px 3px;font-style:normal; - font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none; } - /* .pageno:after { color: silver; content: attr(title); } */ - p { text-indent:0;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;text-align:justify; } - .sc { font-variant:small-caps; } - .large { font-size:large; } - .xlarge { font-size:x-large; } - .small { font-size:small; } - .xsmall { font-size:x-small; } - div.pbb { page-break-before:always; } - hr.pb { border:none;border-bottom:1px solid; margin-bottom:1em; } - @media handheld { hr.pb { display:none; }} - .chapter { clear:both; page-break-before: always;} - .figcenter { clear:both; max-width:100%; margin:2em auto; text-align:center; } - div.figcenter p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; } - .figcenter img { max-width:100%; height:auto; } - .id001 { width:493px; } - .id002 { width:446px; } - .id003 { width:400px; } - @media handheld { .id001 { margin-left:19%; width:61%; }} - @media handheld { .id002 { margin-left:22%; width:55%; }} - @media handheld { .id003 { margin-left:25%; width:50%; }} - .ic002 { width:100%; } - .ig001 { width:100%; } - .nf-center { text-align:center; } - .nf-center-c0 { text-align:left;margin:0.5em 0; } - .nf-center-c1 { text-align:left;margin:1em 0; } - .c000 { margin-top:1em; } - .c001 { page-break-before:auto;margin-top:4em; } - .c002 { margin-top:1em; } - .c003 { margin-top:1em } - .c004 { margin-top:2em } - .c005 { margin-top:4em; } - .c006 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top:4em; } - .c007 { margin-top:2em; } - .c008 { margin-top:2em;text-indent:1em;margin-bottom:0.0em; } - .c009 { text-indent:1em;margin-top:0.0em;margin-bottom:0.0em; } - .c010 { margin-left:5.56%;margin-top:4em; } - .c011 { margin-left:5.56%;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em; } - .c012 { margin-left:5.56%;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.5em; } - div.figcenter p { font-size: 85%; } - .pageno {border-style: none} - div#fig00 img {padding:5px; border:1px solid black;} - div#fig01 img {padding:5px; border:1px solid black;} - div#fig02 img {padding:5px; border:1px solid black;} - .nobreak {page-break-before: avoid} - - h1.pg { font-weight: bold; - font-size: 190%; } - h2.pg { font-weight: bold; - font-size: 135%; } - h3 { text-align: center; - clear: both; } - hr.full { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Flying Machine Boys on Duty, by Frank -Walton</h1> -<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States -and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: The Flying Machine Boys on Duty</p> -<p> The Clue Above the Clouds</p> -<p>Author: Frank Walton</p> -<p>Release Date: October 9, 2015 [eBook #50165]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING MACHINE BOYS ON DUTY***</p> -<p> </p> -<h3>E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Rick Morris,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div id='fig00' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div id='fig01' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/p001.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>Descending from his seat, the aviator was greeted by two boys not far from his own age.<br /><i>The Flying Machine Boys on Duty.</i> <i>Page 4.</i></p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div> - <h1 class='c001' title='The Flying Machine Boys on Duty'><span class='xlarge'>The Flying Machine Boys <br /> on Duty</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='small'>OR</span></div> - <div class='c003'>The Clue Above the Clouds</div> - <div class='c004'>By FRANK WALTON</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div> - <div><span class='xsmall'>“The Flying Machine Boys on Secret Service”</span></div> - <div><span class='xsmall'>“The Flying Machine Boys in the Wilds”</span></div> - <div><span class='xsmall'>“The Flying Machine Boys in Mexico”</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='fig02' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/title-illustration.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>A. L. BURT COMPANY</div> - <div>NEW YORK.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div>Copyright 1913</div> - <div><span class='sc'>By A. L. Burt Company</span></div> - <div class='c003'>THE FLYING MACHINE BOYS ON DUTY</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c005'> - <div><span class='pageno' title='3' id='Page_3'>[3]</span><span class='large'>THE FLYING MACHINE BOYS</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>ON DUTY</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <h2 id='chapI.' class='c006 nobreak'>CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>ABOVE NEW YORK BAY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>An aviator, swinging northward in a June twilight, -found himself constantly annoyed by the -driver of a machine whose only motive in life -seemed to be to get in the way. Turn as he might to -right or left, sail high or low, the obstinate and impertinent -pursuer was always at hand to threaten -him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>To the west, lay Bedloe’s island, showing the -Statue of Liberty, ruddy in the sunlight. To the -east, Governor’s island presented the battlements of -Fort Columbus and Castle William. To the north, -or to the northeast, to be more exact, lay Battery -park, a smear of green at the lower end of Manhattan -island.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='4' id='Page_4'>[4]</span>For a time people on ferryboats traversing New -York bay looked upward in momentary expectation - of a battle in the air. Then the two flying machines -passed north along the line of Broadway, crossed -over Bronx park, and came to the vicinity of Pelham -bay, in Westchester county.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Here the aviator who had shown such pugnacity -in his dashes and swirls at the other, and who had -been repulsed only by the finest skill and tact, -wheeled straight to the west and was soon lost to -sight in the gathering darkness.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a moment it seemed that the aviator who had -thus far acted only on the defensive was about to -become the aggressor and follow in the wake of his -persecutor. In fact, he was about to swing away in -pursuit when the ringing of a bell at a hangar below -attracted his attention. Then, with a frown -showing on a boyish face, he swung to the north a -short distance and volplaned to a level space in front -of the hangar.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Descending from his seat, the aviator was greeted, -rather anxiously it seemed, by two boys not far -from his own age. Very little was said until the -flying machine had been run into the great shed, and -then the three turned away to a rather elaborate -office building which stood in a grove of trees at -the entrance to the grounds.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A chill wind was blowing off Long Island sound, -and the boys found a grate fire burning brightly in -a private room at the rear of the structure. They -seated themselves before the leaping flames and -looked expectantly into each other’s faces for a -moment before speaking.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='5' id='Page_5'>[5]</span>Those who have read the opening volume of this -series will need little introduction to James Stuart, -Ben Whitcomb and Carl Nichols. Street boys of -sixteen, they had, some months before, met Louis -Havens, the famous millionaire aviator, and accompanied -him on a trip to Mexico which had brought -both fame and fortune to every member of the -party.</p> - -<p class='c009'>On their return to New York from the “Burning -Mountain” the boys had planned a course in -college, but, at the request of Mr. Havens, they had -promised to undertake a daring commission from -the New York chief of police. A short time before -their return to the city the night-watchman of the -Buyers’ Bank had been murdered, the monster safe -dynamited, and thousands of dollars in currency and -securities taken.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was believed by the chief of police that the -burglars—two of the craftiest and most desperate -criminals on the continent—were in hiding in the -wild and mountainous region south of Monterey -bay, on the Pacific coast.</p> - -<p class='c009'>On the theory that the Flying Machine Boys -would be able to visit every nook and corner of the -region where the criminals were supposed to be, -with comparative ease, in their new and up-to-date -machines, and, also, that the appearance of the lads -<span class='pageno' title='6' id='Page_6'>[6]</span>in that section would not be apt to arouse the suspicions -of the hunted men, the chief of police had -proposed the journey to Havens, and he had induced -the boys to accept the almost princely offer -made by the official.</p> - -<p class='c009'>On account of the hazardous nature of the proposed -trip, and because of the long distances to be -traveled, special attention had been given to the -<i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>, the two aeroplanes ordered -made by the boys immediately upon their arrival at -New York. These machines had been completed -the previous day, and the trip over New York bay -made by Jimmie Stuart that afternoon had been the -first tryout for the <i>Louise</i>, a very strong aeroplane, -capable of carrying, when necessity required, two -passengers and at least a hundred pounds of camp -equipage and provisions.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who’s your friend?” asked Carl Nichols, short, -fat, blue of eyes and pink of skin, as the three boys -sat before the open grate fire in the private room in -the office building at Havens’ hangar.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’s no friend of mine!” Jimmie Stuart, red-headed -and freckled-faced, declared. “He picked -me up down on the Jersey coast and did his best to -get me into a mix-up. I dodged him all the way to -Bronx park because, you see, I was not quite sure -of my machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'>[7]</span>“Did you get a good look at the fellow?” asked -Ben Whitcomb, grave-faced, athletic, and inclined -to worry over troubles which had not yet materialized. -“It looked to me as if you might have slapped -his face, he was so near to you when you passed -over Battery park.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, yes!” Jimmie answered. “I got a view -of his face from almost every angle! He’s a low-browed -brute, with ears like wings, and a hunch in -his shoulders which makes you think of one of the -muckers at Croton dam.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He certainly can run a machine, though!” Carl -Nichols declared, “and he has an aeroplane that can -go some, too!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But what’s the idea?” asked Ben. “Why -should he be chasing you around in that impudent -way?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve got a notion,” Jimmie replied, “that he -wanted to try out the <i>Louise</i>. He resorted to every -trick known to airmen to induce me to make some -kind of an error in handling the machine. He’s an -expert himself, and he evidently wanted to know -whether I am capable of operating a peach of a flying-machine -like the <i>Louise</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t believe it was just idle curiosity that -made the fellow stick to you in that way,” Carl interrupted. -“I’ve been thinking that the purpose of -our trip to the Pacific coast may have become known -to friends of Phillips and Mendosa, the men who -are believed to have dynamited the safe of the -Buyers’ Bank and murdered the night-watchman. -The crooks may have men on guard here!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='8' id='Page_8'>[8]</span>“That seems hardly probable,” Ben suggested. -“The police have a pretty good case against Phillips -and Mendosa, and, so far as my knowledge goes, a -crook who stands in the shadow of the electric chair -has few friends willing to interest themselves in his -behalf.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, but look here,” Jimmie argued, “Phillips -and Mendosa lifted thousands of dollars in currency. -So far as the officers know they still have -the entire proceeds of the robbery in their possession. -Even murderers with so many dollars in their -possession are not likely to lack capable friends.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess that’s right,” Carl put in, “and the two -murderers will of course scatter money like water in -order to keep out of the clutches of the law!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” Ben suggested, “the clues point so directly -to Phillips and Mendosa that they would naturally -spend every dollar they stole in order to keep -away from the New York officers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys talked, the door to the private -office opened softly. Mr. Havens stood for a moment -on the threshold and then stepped up to the -fire. The young man was tall, slender and supple, -with a dusky complexion and black hair and eyes. -He was twenty-four years of age, but looked much -younger. The millions he possessed had been inherited -from his father, and instead of spending -them along the Great White Way, he was devoting -his entire attention to aviation.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='9' id='Page_9'>[9]</span>“What’s the argument, boys?” he asked, standing -before the grate with a smile on his face. “Machines -working all right?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Finely!” replied Jimmie. “I had a fine ride -over the bay this afternoon. The <i>Louise</i> motor -runs like a watch!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I saw you from Battery park,” Havens answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then you must have seen the gink chasing me -up?” Jimmie asked, tentatively.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I noticed that,” Havens replied. “What was -the occasion of it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s just what we were discussing,” Jimmie -said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we had about concluded,” Ben interrupted, -“that our plans regarding the visit to the Pacific -coast must have leaked out.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That doesn’t seem possible!” exclaimed -Havens. “Why,” he went on, “even the intimates -of the chief of police at headquarters know nothing -whatever of the matter. There must be some other -explanation of what took place this afternoon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I have known crooks to have friends among the -men higher up!” laughed Jimmie. “It may be -so in this case.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'>[10]</span>“There is one sure thing about it,” Havens went -on, “and that is that if any hint regarding your -proposed trip in quest of the murderers has by any -chance become known to the friends of the crooks, -the exact tactics shown this afternoon would be -likely to be resorted to.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” Ben agreed, “it does seem that the first -thing the crooks would do would be to prevent our -departure for the Pacific Coast. A group of flying -machine boys certainly represents a new element in -secret service work! We must watch our machines -after this!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If the fresh aviator really belongs to the crowd -of crooks connected with the murderers,” Carl broke -in, “we’ll hear from him again. He’ll follow us to -the coast! He wouldn’t cease his efforts after chasing -the <i>Louise</i> up New York bay.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He will have to chase us up if he continues his -surveillance, for he won’t have long to spy on us -here,” Jimmie declared. “We’re to leave for the -Pacific coast day after to-morrow, as I understand -it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How about to-night?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys sprang to their feet excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“To-night!” shouted Carl. “That will be -fine!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That appears to me to be a good way of dodging -trouble,” Ben acknowledged.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’d like to go to-night, all right,” Jimmie broke -in, “but I’d like to form the acquaintance of that -impudent aviator before I go!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='11' id='Page_11'>[11]</span>“I have an idea that you’ll meet him before you -reach Monterey bay!” Havens replied. “You -would know him again?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course!” replied the boy. “He’s a low-browed -brute with wing ears and a hunch in his -shoulders. I’d know him anywhere.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you really think he’ll chase us up?” asked -Carl hopefully.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I certainly do!” answered Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That will be great!” exclaimed Jimmie. “A -flying machine race across the continent surely appeals -to me. Are you going along with us, Mr. -Havens?” he asked, then.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I hope so,” was the reply, “although I’m not -quite sure of getting through with several business -deals now under way. However,” he went on, “you -boys can go on with the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i> to-night, -and I can catch you somewhere on the way -over with the <i>Mary Ann</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not me!” Jimmie laughed. “You can’t catch -me with the <i>Mary Ann</i> as long as I’m on board the -<i>Louise</i>!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We’ll decide that point on the way across!” -Havens replied.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Ben suggested, “if we’re going to start -to-night, we ought to be getting our camp equipment -ready.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='12' id='Page_12'>[12]</span>“Aw, never mind the camp equipment!” exclaimed -Jimmie. “We don’t want to carry a load -of stuff across the continent. We can carry one light -silk tent, like we had in Mexico, and a few provisions, -and buy all the mountain outfit after we get -in Monterey.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That listens good to me!” Carl put in. “If -Mr. Havens is going to race us for three thousand -miles in the <i>Mary Ann</i>, we don’t want to carry much -excess baggage.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How soon can you get ready, boys?” asked -Havens. “My idea is,” he went on, “that you -ought to get out of the hangar as soon as possible. -We may be over-anxious regarding the matter, but -it is my belief that you’ll be followed unless you get -away secretly. Now, you boys all go to bed in the -bunks in the hangar and I’ll attend to the details. -When the tent and provisions are on board, with -plenty of gasoline, I’ll let you know. Then you can -get away at once.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys objected to going to bed, declaring that -they were too excited to sleep, but at last, in deference -to the wishes of Mr. Havens, they sought their -bunks. An hour later Jimmie awoke to a sense of -suffocation. Ben and Carl were sleeping soundly -not far away and the great shed was very still.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the boy sat up and sniffed the air a burst of -flame showed at the front, sweeping fast toward -the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='13' id='Page_13'>[13]</span> - <h2 id='chapII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A SHOT IN THE NIGHT.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>There was a fairly efficient fire department at the -Havens’ hangar, and by the time Jimmie was out of -his bunk, rolling his chums out on the floor, two -streams of water were playing upon the flames.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Contrary to the expectation of the incendiaries, -there had been several workmen busy about the -office building packing provisions into the smallest -space possible and tying oiled silk tents and clothing -for transportation on the flying machines. Consequently -when the fire burst out at the hangar there -was little delay in getting out the firemen.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There were thousands of dollars’ worth of property -in and about the office building and hangar, -and Mr. Havens not only maintained an efficient -corps of fire fighters but also kept his possessions -there well insured. The fire was extinguished before -any damage had been done except to one wall -of the hangar.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='14' id='Page_14'>[14]</span>After the danger was entirely over Mr. Havens -and the three boys gathered in the private room of -the office building for the purpose of discussing the -situation. It was easy to see that the boys were all -greatly excited, and that Mr. Havens was decidedly -angry.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You see how it is, boys,” the latter said, “you’ll -have to fight the Phillips and Mendosa gang from -now until the two murderers are placed in the electric -chair. I fully believe that it was the intention -of their accomplices to not only destroy the aeroplanes -but to cause your death. It is a desperate -gang to battle with.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys talked, laying plans for their -guidance while journeying across the continent, -Hilton, one of the night-watchmen, knocked softly -on the door and then looked in with a frightened -face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What is it?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I presume, sir,” the night-watchman answered, -“that you heard the shot? It might have been -heard a mile, I think, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We heard nothing of the kind,” replied Mr. -Havens, rather anxiously. “Tell us something -about it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='15' id='Page_15'>[15]</span>“It was just after the fire was extinguished,” -Hilton replied. “We were standing by the door of -the little fire-apparatus house when we saw a man -sneaking through the shrubbery to the west of the -hangar. He turned and ran the minute he saw that -he was discovered, but we caught him—a measly -little dried up kind of a man, with a face like a -monkey.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where is he now?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, that’s what I came in to tell you about,” -Hilton continued, fumbling with his hat, which he -held in front of him with both hands. “When we -caught him, we took him back to the engine-house -and began asking him questions, believing, of course, -that it was he who had made all the trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And what did he say?” demanded Havens, excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a moment it seemed that the solution of the -fire mystery was at hand. It was probable that the -man caught sneaking about the hangar had either -been responsible for the blaze or had witnessed the -act of incendiarism. They all waited anxiously for -Hilton’s reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='16' id='Page_16'>[16]</span>“Well, sir,” continued the night-watchman, “we -stood him up agin’ the wall by the engine-house -door and tried to frighten him into answering our -questions. He was scared all right!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But what did he say?” repeated Havens, impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He didn’t say anything,” was the reply, “and -I’ll tell you why he didn’t say anything. He was -under the strong light of the electric in the ceiling -of the engine-house. We were all gathered about -him, but none of us stood in front. Before he could -say a word in answer to our questions, a shot came -from out of the darkness and he just crumpled down -on the floor. We thought he was dead.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did one of my men shoot him?” asked Havens, -angrily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, sir,” replied Hilton. “Your men were all -gathered in the engine-house. The shot came from -a point south of the hangar.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is the man dead?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what we can’t exactly make out, sir,” the -night-watchman answered. “He lies perfectly still, -but sometimes we think we can detect a flutter of -breath at his lips. No, sir, you may be sure that -none of your men shot the fellow.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who did shoot him, then?” demanded Jimmie, -excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='17' id='Page_17'>[17]</span>“Wait a moment,” said Havens addressing the -night-watchman. “Don’t offer any theories. Tell -us the facts in the case, and then go and see that the -man is not permitted to escape.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I have told you all I know, sir,” answered Hilton. -“It’s just as I tell you. He was in the strong -light near the engine-room door, and a shot came -out of the darkness and he dropped. Your men -were all in the engine-room at the time it happened.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s all!” Havens said, abruptly. “See that -the fellow is given every attention, and also that he -does not escape. Perhaps you would better summon -a surgeon. Use the ’phone in the engine-house.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Hilton bowed and turned away, grumbling that -workmen were always blamed for everything that -took place, whether they were guilty or not. Mr. -Havens and the boys sat watching each other with -astonishment showing in their eyes for at least a -minute after the departure of the night-watchman. -Havens was the first to speak.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you make of that, boys?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It seems to me to be a problem easy of solution,” -Ben answered. “The men who planned the destruction -of the building and the death of those -sleeping in it employed this man to do their dirty -<span class='pageno' title='18' id='Page_18'>[18]</span>work. He set fire to the building, but didn’t get -away in time. The captured man is undoubtedly a -fellow not to be trusted, so the chief incendiary -shot him in order to close his lips.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It strikes me,” Mr. Havens said, with a laugh, -“that you ought to make a pretty good detective. -In my opinion, you have grasped the situation exactly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, Ben is the only original Sherlock Holmes,” -laughed Jimmie. “Give him a piece of rock and a -blade of grass and he’ll tell you how the world was -made! He’s got the deduction stunt down to -cases!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet he has!” laughed Carl. “Don’t you -remember how he figured out the Devil’s Pool down -in Mexico?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess you all had a hand in that Devil’s Pool -proposition,” laughed Ben. “But, honest, now,” he -continued, “don’t you think the man was shot in -order to prevent his snitching on his friends?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He certainly was!” answered Mr. Havens. -“And now,” he continued, rising from his chair and -moving toward the door, “it remains for us to determine -whether he is dead. If he is dead, that settles -the matter so far as we’re concerned. If he -isn’t, he may be induced by the use of the third -degree to betray his accomplices.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='19' id='Page_19'>[19]</span>“Huh!” laughed Jimmie. “I wouldn’t put a -sheep-stealing dog through the third degree! They -tried it on me once,” he continued, “when they -found me sleeping in a dry goods box in an alley -near where a burglary had been committed. They -kept me without sleep or food for two days and two -nights, though they had all I knew about the case -the first minute.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re right about the cops,” Carl laughed. -“When I write a book descriptive of the criminal -classes in the United States, I’m going to give the -police the place of honor in the book. If anybody -should ask you, you just say that the leading criminal -class in the United States revolves around -police headquarters.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens smiled at the natural enmity of street boys -for the police and opened the door. As he did so -Hilton again made his appearance in the outer -office.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The surgeon will be here directly,” he reported.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How’s the patient?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'>[20]</span>“Still unconscious,” was the reply, “though he -seems to be breathing a little easier. He’s bleeding -pretty badly, though.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You remain here and watch the office until we -come back,” directed Havens, and in company with -the three boys he turned toward the building where -the fire-fighting apparatus was stored.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When they reached the place they found the figure -of an undersized, wrinkled-faced man of fifty -or more lying on the brick floor of the room. There -was a pool of blood in view, and a wound in the -head showed its source.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Half a dozen men were gathered about the still -figure, all looking excited and anxious. Havens bent -down and lifted the head from the floor.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That wound,” he decided, “is by no means a -fatal one. In fact, I can’t understand why he should -lie for such a long time in this condition. The bullet -merely cut the scalp, it seems to me. Any of -you people ever see him before?” he asked in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The men shook their heads.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Have you examined his clothing for marks of -identification?” asked Havens, then. “He may -have letters or something about him which will disclose -his name and address.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='21' id='Page_21'>[21]</span>“No, sir,” one of the men answered. “We never -thought of that. At least,” he went on with a -shamefaced grin, “I thought of it just as you came -in but, to tell you the truth, I didn’t care to touch -him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie bent down and ran his fingers hastily -through the pockets in the clothing of the unconscious -man.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not a thing!” he said presently. “Not even a -lead pencil or a pocket knife! The fellow probably -left his card case at home,” he added with a chuckle. -“We’ll have to get his number in some other way.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While they stood talking at the door of the engine-house, -a surgeon residing at a village not far -away came hastily into the circle of light. After -speaking most respectfully to the millionaire and -nodding carelessly to the boys, he proceeded to make -an examination of the injured man. Havens and -the lads stood by waiting anxiously for his decision.</p> - -<p class='c009'>If the man was really likely to die from his -wound, that would end all hope of learning from -him the names of those associated with him in the -crime. If the fellow would soon recover, then a -clue to the whole chain forged by the friends of the -murderers for the destruction of the boys might be -discovered.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='22' id='Page_22'>[22]</span>“Well?” asked Havens as the surgeon lifted his -face in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Instead of answering directly, the surgeon sniffed -the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ve had a fire here?” he questioned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Never mind the fire now,” said Havens, impatiently. -“Give me your opinion of this man’s -condition. Is his wound fatal?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is my duty,” said the surgeon, with assumed -dignity, “to report this case to the police instantly. -But,” he continued, with a subservient bow in the -direction of the millionaire, “I’ll give you all the -information I can before sending word to the county -authorities.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Holy smoke!” shouted Jimmie. “Why don’t -you give it, then?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, why don’t you give it?” added Carl. -“What are you waiting for?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The surgeon regarded the two boys with a glance -cold enough to crack the lenses in his eye glasses -and turned back to the millionaire.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='23' id='Page_23'>[23]</span>“The man is not fatally injured,” he announced, -with a great deal of added dignity. “In fact, I -can’t understand why he lies so long in this condition. -It can be accounted for, however, on the -theory that the bullet in passing along the surface -of the skull drove a splinter of bone into the brain. -In that case, no recovery can reasonably be expected -until after a delicate operation has been -performed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Havens decided in a moment, “do you -know where there is a hospital to which the man -may be taken immediately?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There are plenty in New York city, of course,” -suggested the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But,” returned Havens, “I don’t want him -taken to New York city, or even placed in the custody -of the officers of Westchester county. My desire -is that you have him placed in a private hospital -and make him your special charge until you -receive different instructions. I have reasons of my -own, of course, for taking this course, all of which -you shall know in due time. Will you do it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The surgeon replied that he should be most happy -to oblige the millionaire, and in a short time the -wounded man was reposing on a cot in a private -room in a private hospital not far from Long Island -sound.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='24' id='Page_24'>[24]</span>“And now, boys,” Mr. Havens said after a short -time, “the machines are packed, it only remains for -you to take your seats and beat the friends of -Phillips and Mendosa to the Pacific coast.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='25' id='Page_25'>[25]</span> - <h2 id='chapIII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“We can beat ’em to the Pacific coast, all right!” -Jimmie laughed. “Look here,” he went on, pointing -to the <i>Louise</i>, now being run out of the hangar -by the workmen. “There’s a flying machine that’s -going to be a world-beater. I ran fifty miles an hour -this afternoon, and didn’t put on full power, at that! -She’s a bird, is <i>Louise</i>!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It isn’t always the speed that counts in a flying -machine,” smiled Havens. “The perfect flying machine -is one that is constructed for endurance—one -which will fly for days and nights without breaking -down—one which can be trusted in the air as you -trust a faithful horse on a country road.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” laughed Jimmie, “I think the <i>Louise</i> has -had plenty of endurance tests, that is so far as her -separate parts are concerned. Every piece in her, -down to the last screw, has been tested time and -again, and the run yesterday afternoon showed that -she worked like a full-jeweled watch.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='26' id='Page_26'>[26]</span>“And what about the <i>Bertha</i>,” laughed Havens, -turning to Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Aw, the <i>Bertha</i> isn’t in it with the <i>Louise</i>!” -shouted Jimmie. “I’ll race the <i>Bertha</i> to Monterey -bay for a thousand dollars,” he added with a grin. -“And I’ll win the money, too.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That will never do, boys,” Havens advised. -“You’ve got to keep together and work together -all the way across.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And now,” asked Ben, as they all turned toward -the machines, glistening now in the brilliant moonlight, -“where are we going to land?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid I haven’t explained the details of the -trip as thoroughly as I should,” answered Havens, -“for the reason that I expected to go with you from -the start. However, I’ll be along before you get -to the Mississippi river and post you fully.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But suppose anything should happen that you -should be delayed,” suggested Jimmie. “What -then?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Havens went on, “south of the bay of -Monterey, in Southern California, close to the -Pacific coast, lies the Sierra de Santa Lucia mountains. -On one side the rock runs almost vertically -<span class='pageno' title='27' id='Page_27'>[27]</span>to the ocean, from three to five thousand feet below. -On the other side there is a slope of oak and pine -and sycamore to a great canyon which stretches -between the mountains and the foothills to the line -of the Southern Pacific railroad, sixty or seventy -miles away.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This is said by men whom I have consulted to -be the wildest and most lawless region in all California. -There is a government reservation there, -but the forest rangers have hard work keeping -fires out of the forest and cattle off the slopes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is believed that Phillips and Mendosa sought -this region immediately after the burglary in New -York. In fact, the chief of police reports that they -are known to have left San Francisco in a steamer -bound south ten days after the commission of the -crime.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now,” Havens continued, “these men are beyond -the reach of telegraphic or mail service. They -can be warned of the approach of officers only by -messenger from Monterey, or by messengers sent -through the gulches across from the Southern Pacific -line.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'>[28]</span>“This situation compels us to beat the aeroplane -we saw yesterday afternoon to the Pacific -coast,” Havens explained.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But,” interposed Jimmie, “the murderers’ -friends might telegraph to Monterey, or to some -point on the railroad, and a messenger might be -despatched into the mountains. An arrangement of -this sort would certainly inform the murderers in -advance of our coming.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But there is the danger of discovery if messages -and messengers are resorted to,” Havens continued. -“Besides, it is very doubtful if accomplices -have been stationed at any station in the vicinity -of the mountains. It is more than likely that -Phillips and Mendosa entered that wild region with -the intention of cutting themselves off from all -human kind, leaving friends in New York to look -out for their interests here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then,” laughed Jimmie, “let Phillips and Mendosa -watch out for a freckled-faced boy with red -hair, for he’s going to cross their life line the first -thing they know!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why don’t you put out a sign and tell fortunes?” -asked Carl, with a grin. “You ought to -be able to do that!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='29' id='Page_29'>[29]</span>“Ain’t I telling the fortunes of these two murderers -now?” demanded Jimmie. “The clairvoyants -tell you to look out for tall, dark complected -men with fierce eyes, if you go to them, and I’m telling -these outlaws to look out for a freckled-faced -boy with red hair who’s going to get their number -directly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now there’s one more thing I want to tell -you for your information in case my departure -should be delayed,” Havens went on. “It appears -that this man Mendosa is a sort of a crank in the -matter of diamonds. He is known to possess several -stones of considerable value, in addition to -small trinkets set with the precious stones. On the -morning following the robbery and murder, a small -diamond and a tiny, triangular piece of gold were -found on the rug in front of the office desk which -the burglars cheekily used during the examination -of the securities.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is believed by the officers that this stone and -this piece of gold became detached from a ring -worn by Mendosa on that night. The stone looks -like one of a cluster, and the triangular piece of -gold is unquestionably part of a claw originally used -to keep the diamonds in the setting. These two -constitute the only clues.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='30' id='Page_30'>[30]</span>“Are you going to take them with you?” asked -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Certainly,” replied Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then you want to hustle along with them,” -laughed Carl, “for we’re going to sail right out -of the air and light down on top of the two murderers! -So we’ll need the stone and the triangular -piece of gold for comparison. We’re going to do -this up quick!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And now, one last word,” the millionaire concluded. -“In case I should not reach you before -you gain the Pacific coast, my advice is that you -approach the mountains from the east during the -night time. Then you ought to land on one of the -high summits and work out from that point, using -your flying machines only for long distance work.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course,” laughed Ben, “we can’t go sailing -over the mountains with our machines in broad -daylight, whistling for the outlaws to come out of -their hiding-places and be taken back to electric -chairs in New York!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, there’ll be quite a lot of mountain climbing,” -advised Havens. “And now,” he continued, -“that everything is understood and the provisions -and tents are snugly packed on the flying machines, -<span class='pageno' title='31' id='Page_31'>[31]</span>you would better be on your way. It is quite possible -that the aviator who chased Jimmie up New -York bay yesterday afternoon headed for the west -immediately after leaving this vicinity.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“In that case, we’ll have to catch him!” Jimmie -grinned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If we can!” Carl exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Aw, of course we can!” Jimmie returned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How fast ought we to travel?” asked Ben of -Mr. Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I think,” returned the millionaire, “that you -ought to travel about fifty miles an hour for sixteen -hours a day. That will give you eight hundred -or a thousand miles a day, and also eight hours each -night for sleep. That ought to be enough.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys all insisted that that would be more -than enough, and moved toward their machines.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Wait a minute!” Ben cried, as he climbed into -the seat on the <i>Bertha</i>, “who’s going to ride with -me?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ve got most of the equipage and provisions,” -Havens suggested. “You know,” the millionaire -continued, “that we couldn’t trust Jimmie -with the provisions! He’d be stopping in the top -of every tall tree to take a snack, and that would -never answer!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='32' id='Page_32'>[32]</span>“And you know, too,” Carl put in, “that we -never could trust Jimmie alone in a flying machine! -That’s why it’s been planned that I ride with him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“All right, you fellows,” grinned Jimmie, “I’ll -show you who makes the winning in this murder -case! Great Scott!” he added with a wrinkling of -the nose, “isn’t this a wonder? Who’d ever think -of sending us boys off into the mountains to do -secret service work?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens took out a pencil and began figuring on -the back of a letter taken from a pocket.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“According to this schedule,” he said in a moment, -“you boys ought to reach the bay of Monterey -in four or five days. This is Monday. By Saturday -morning, then, you ought to have your machines -stowed away in one of the gorges facing the -Pacific ocean. Can you do it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet we can do it!” declared Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And when you need provisions,” Havens advised, -“get one of the machines out at night and -proceed to Monterey, but don’t take the aeroplanes -into the town; don’t attract any attention if you -can avoid it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='33' id='Page_33'>[33]</span>“Where’re you going to meet us?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Probably at St. Louis,” was the reply. “At -the post-office. Look for me there when you arrive.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In a moment the purr of the motors cut the air. -The machines ran swiftly, steadily, down the field -and swept upward. Havens stood watching them -for a long time. The planes glistened like silver in -the moonlight, and the song of the motors came to -his ears like sweet music. The millionaire loved a -flying machine as track-men love a swift and beautiful -horse. He finally turned away to find a uniformed -messenger boy standing by his side, presenting -a yellow envelope.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What is it, kid?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Message from the hospital,” was the answer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who sent it?” asked the millionaire, taking the -envelope into his hands and tearing off the end.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The night matron,” was the reply. “She said -I had to hump myself.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s wrong!” laughed Havens. “She -shouldn’t expect a messenger boy to hump himself! -In fact,” he went on, whimsically, “the only time -a messenger boy is permitted to make haste is when -he is on his way to a baseball game. That’s right, -sonny!” he continued.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='34' id='Page_34'>[34]</span>The boy grinned and made trenches in the smooth -earth of the field with the toe of a broken shoe.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens glanced casually at the message at first, -thinking that perhaps the surgeon might have taken -it into his head to report progress in the case -of the man so recently placed in his charge. He -knew very well that the surgeon would manage to -prevent the escape of the prisoner should he regain -consciousness, so he had put that phase of the case -entirely from his mind. However, his eyes widened -and an exclamation of astonishment came from -his lips as he read the note which had been written -by the night matron, and not by the surgeon at -all.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Mason, the injured man recently sent here on -your order,” the note read, “has most mysteriously -disappeared from the hospital. Doctor Bolt, the -surgeon detailed, at your request, to take charge -of the case, decided to watch the man for the night, -and so my attendants were withdrawn. The surgeon -must have fallen asleep, for in half an hour’s -time he came running to my door shouting that -Mason had escaped. As soon as possible I visited -the room from which the man had disappeared and -found the window sash raised.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='35' id='Page_35'>[35]</span>“There were many footprints in the soft earth -under the window—the footprints of men in coarse -shoes—and a smear of blood on the window casing -disclosed the fact that the injured man had been -drawn through the opening. It is quite evident to -me, therefore, that the man was carried from the -room by some one interested in the case, to which -Doctor Bolt only indirectly referred when talking -with me. Your presence at the hospital is earnestly -requested.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The note was signed, as stated, by the night -matron. Scarcely had Havens finished the reading -of it when he heard some one stumbling through -the darkness, and the next moment Surgeon Bolt, -looking crestfallen and excited, stood before him, -like a schoolboy anticipating censure.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well?” asked Havens rather angrily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s the strangest thing I ever saw!” exclaimed -the surgeon. “Mindful of your interest in -the man, I decided not to trust him to the care of -any of the hospital attendants to-night. After doing -what I could for him, I sat down by the side -of his bed to read and smoke. My mind was never -clearer or farther from drowsiness than it was at -that time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='36' id='Page_36'>[36]</span>“Yes,” Havens said, in a sarcastic tone, “the result -seems to indicate that you were wide awake!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I tell you,” almost shouted Bolt, “that I was -stupefied by the injection of chloroform or some -other anesthetic into the room!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How could that be possible?” demanded -Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t know!” wailed Bolt. “I certainly do -not know! The window was closed when I looked -at it last, just before I became unconscious. When -I came to my senses to find the bed empty, a cold -wind was blowing on my face. That is undoubtedly -what awakened me. Only for that I might -have slept myself to death!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the two talked together a watchman from -the office building approached and informed Havens -that a lady was waiting there to see him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That, probably,” suggested Bolt, “is the night -matron from the hospital. She was making investigations -when I left, and promised to come here -at once on the discovery of anything new in the -case.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='37' id='Page_37'>[37]</span>Havens hastened to the office building and there, -as the surgeon had predicted, found the night -matron waiting for him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I can’t understand,” she said addressing the -millionaire abruptly, without waiting for him to -speak, “what is going on at the hospital to-night! -Immediately after the departure of Doctor Bolt I -sent word for every person, man or woman, connected -with my service to appear in the reception -room. In five minutes’ time I discovered that two -men employed only three days ago were not present.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“After waiting a few moments for their appearance, -I sent a messenger to their rooms. They were -not there! Their beds had not been slept in, and -every article of wearing apparel belonging to them -had been taken from their closets.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“One question,” Doctor Bolt said, addressing -the matron. “Was any one on watch outside the -door of the room in which I was so mysteriously -put to sleep?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There was no one on watch there,” was the -reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='38' id='Page_38'>[38]</span>“Then,” declared Bolt, “the two attendants -who have disappeared injected the anesthetic I have -already referred to through the keyhole of the door. -After I became unconscious they entered and removed -the prisoner. It is all the fault of the hospital!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The night matron turned up her nose at the surgeon.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'>[39]</span> - <h2 id='chapIV.' class='c006'>CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE DIGNITY OF THE LAW.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The two flying machines, the <i>Louise</i>, with Jimmie -and Carl on board, and the <i>Bertha</i>, with Ben -in charge, flew swiftly over the great city, lying before -them with its lights stretching out like strings -of beads, crossed the North river with its fleets of -vessels, and passed on over New Jersey, heading directly -for the west.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At first Jimmie and Carl tried to carry on a conversation, -but the snapping of the motors and the -rush of the wind in their faces effectually prevented -anything of the kind. The moon was well down in -the west, yet its light lay over the landscape below -in a silvery radiance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now and then as they swept over a city or a -cluster of houses far out on a country road, lights -flashed about, and voices were heard calling from -below. Ignoring all invitations to descend and explain -their presence there, the boys swept on steadily -until the moon disappeared under the rim of -the sky.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='40' id='Page_40'>[40]</span>At first there was the light of the stars, but this -was soon shut out by a bank of clouds moving in -from the ocean. By this time the boys were perhaps -two hundred miles from New York. They -were anxious to be on their way, yet the country -was entirely new to them, and they knew that a -chain of hills extended across the interior farther -on, so at last Ben, who was in the lead, decided to -drop down and make inquiries as to the country to -the west.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Of course the boys might have lifted their machines -higher into the air and proceeded on their -course regardless of any undulations of the surface, -but they were still comparatively new in the -business of handling machines, and did not care to -take high risks in the darkness.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie followed Ben’s lead, and the two machines -groped their way along a tolerably smooth -country road and finally came to a stop only a few -feet from a rough and weather-beaten barn which -stood close to the side of the road.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='41' id='Page_41'>[41]</span>The clatter of the motors almost immediately -brought two husky farmers into the illumination -caused by the aeroplane lamps.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What you doing here?” one of the men asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Came down to rest our wings,” Jimmie replied, -saucily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where you from?” asked the other farmer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“New York,” answered Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We’re carrying government despatches to -Japan,” Carl added, with a grin. “We’re in the -secret service!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben gave the two boys a jab in the back, warning -them to be more civil, and, stepping forward, -began asking questions of the farmer regarding the -country to the west. The two men looked at each -other suspiciously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is this him?” one of them asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The other shook his head.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Might be, though!” insisted the first speaker.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No,” replied the other, “this is not the man!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben looked at his chums significantly for a moment. -He was thinking that the farmers might be -referring to an aviator who had passed that way not -long before. He was thinking, too, that that aviator -might be the identical one who had started out -to beat the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i> to the Pacific -coast.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'>[42]</span>“When did you boys leave New York?” one -of the men asked, in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“About midnight,” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And you’ve come two hundred miles in three -hours?” asked the man, incredulously. “I don’t -believe it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Our machines,” Ben answered, very civilly indeed, -“are capable of making the distance in two -hours.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” the farmer went on, “the other fellow -said he left New York about dark, and he didn’t -get here until something like an hour ago. He lit -right about where you are now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where is he now?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, he went on just as soon as he tinkered up -his machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys glanced at each other significantly, and -then Ben asked:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What kind of a looking man was he?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He looked like a pickpocket!” burst out the -farmer, “with his little black face, and big ears, -and hunched up shoulders. And he was, I guess,” -he continued, “for we heard him sneaking around -the barn before we came out of the house.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='43' id='Page_43'>[43]</span>“What did he say for himself?” asked Ben, -now satisfied that the man described was the one -who had pursued the <i>Louise</i> on the previous afternoon.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The two farmers looked at each other a moment -and broke into hearty laughter. The boys regarded -them in wonder.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He said,” one of the men explained, in a moment, -“that he was a messenger of the government, -taking despatches to the Pacific coast. If he didn’t -say almost the same thing you said, you may have -my head for a pumpkin.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And that,” added the other man, “is what -makes us suspect that you chaps are in cahoots. -Mighty funny about you fellows both landing down -here by our barn, and both telling the same story! -I’m a constable,” he went on, “and I’ve a good -mind to arrest you all and take you before the -squire as suspicious persons. I really ought to.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What are we doing that looks suspicious?” -demanded Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='44' id='Page_44'>[44]</span>“You’re wandering about in the night time in -them consarned contraptions!” declared the other. -“That looks suspicious!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Daylight was now showing in the east, and the -sun would be up in a little more than an hour. The -boys were positive, from information received from -the farmer, that the aviator who had made his appearance -on New York bay the previous afternoon -was only an hour or so in advance of them. By -following on at once they might be able to pass him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was their intention now to wheel farther to -the south, and so keep out of the path taken by the -other. It was their idea to reach the coast, if possible, -without the man who was winging his way -toward the murderers knowing anything about -it.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Of course the fellow would suspect. There was -no doubt that he fully understood that the <i>Louise</i> -and the <i>Bertha</i> were to be used in a race to the Pacific. -Had he been entirely ignorant regarding the -plans of the boys, he would never have found it -necessary to follow the <i>Louise</i> over New York bay -and Manhattan island for the purpose of ascertaining -her capability as a flier.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='45' id='Page_45'>[45]</span>“Well,” Jimmie said, after a moment, “We may -as well be on our way. We stopped here because -we were afraid of butting into some wrinkle in the -old earth if we proceeded in the darkness.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t know about letting you go on!” broke -in the constable.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There was greed in the man’s eyes. There was -also an assumption of official severity as he glanced -over the three youngsters. The machines were -standing in the middle of a fairly smooth road running -directly east and west.</p> - -<p class='c009'>To the right of the thoroughfare stood the -shabby barns referred to before. To the left ran -a ditch which had been cut through a bit of swamp -lying on the other side of the road. As the farmer -concluded his threatening sentence, Jimmie and -Carl sprang to the <i>Louise</i> and pressed the button -which set the motors in motion. For a moment -the farmers were too dazed to do more than follow -the swiftly departing machine with their eyes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When they did recover their understanding of -the situation, they both sprang at Ben in order to -prevent his departure. This, doubtless, on the -theory that one boy was better than none. If they -couldn’t get three prisoners, they did not intend to -lose the opportunity of taking one.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='46' id='Page_46'>[46]</span>In carrying out this resolve, the men made a -serious mistake in not seizing the machine. Had -they thrown their muscular arms across the planes -at one end it would have been impossible for the -machine to have proceeded down the road in a -straight course.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Instead of doing this, they both made an effort -to seize Ben. Now Ben had been in many a rough-and-tumble -skirmish on the lower East Side, and -knew how to protect himself against such clumsy -assaults. One of the farmers cut a circle over the -shoulder of the boy as he fell from a hip-lock, and -the other went down from as neat a jolt on the jaw, -as was ever delivered in the prize ring.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While this remarkable contest was in progress, -Jimmie was whirling the machine, he had mounted, -into the air. When he saw one of the farmers -land in the ditch he came swiftly about with a jeer -of defiance and thrust an insulting face toward the -ground.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Say, you feller!” he shouted. “That’s Billy -Burley, the Bruiser. Don’t you go to getting into -a mix-up with him!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The man who had tumbled into the soft muck -of the trench clambered slowly out and shook his -fist at the freckled, scornful face bent above him.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='47' id='Page_47'>[47]</span>“I’ll show you!” he shouted. “I’ll show you!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>By this time Ben had taken possession of the -<i>Bertha</i>, and the motors were clattering down the -road. In a second almost the flying machine was -in the air, and the boys were off on their journey, -leaving the two farmers chasing down the road -after them, shouting and waving pitchforks desperately -in the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was now almost broad daylight, and the boys -sent their machines up so as to attract as little attention -as possible from the country below. A few -miles from the scene of their encounter they shot -off straight to the south, resolved to reach the -Pacific coast by way of Kansas and lower California. -It seemed to them that the aviator who had -preceded them had purposely lingered in order -that they might come up with him. This looked -like trouble.</p> - -<p class='c009'>If it meant anything at all, it meant that if possible -they were to be interfered with on their way -across the continent. This prospect was not at all -to their liking. They wanted to the get to the Pacific -coast as soon as possible and begin the quest -in the mountains.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='48' id='Page_48'>[48]</span>Shortly after five o’clock they saw the city of -Baltimore stretched out below them. Deciding that -it would be much better to land some distance from -the city and prepare breakfast out in the open country -than to attract universal attention by dropping -down in the city, Ben volplaned down on a macadamized -highway some distance out of the town. -Jimmie followed his example at once, and before -long a small alcohol stove was in action, sending -the fragrance of bubbling coffee out into the fresh -morning air. Even at that early hour half a dozen -loungers gathered about the machines, gazing with -wondering eyes at the youthful aviators.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys explained the object of their journey in -the first words which came to their lips, which, it -is unnecessary to state, were highly imaginative, -and the loungers stood about watching the boys eat -and drink and asking questions concerning the -mechanism of the motors.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After eating and inspecting the machines the boys -started away again. At the time of their departure -there was at least half a hundred people standing -around, hands in pockets, mouths half open.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys passed over Washington in a short time -and glanced down at the great dome of the capitol -and at the towering shaft of the Washington monument. -The machines, however, were going at a -swift pace, and the many points of interest at the -capital of the nation soon faded from view.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='49' id='Page_49'>[49]</span>About every two hours all through the day and -early evening the boys came to the surface at some -convenient point and rested and examined their machines. -The motors were working splendidly, and -the lads were certain that if it should become necessary -they could make five hundred miles without -a halt. This was at least encouraging.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When night fell they found themselves not far -from St. Louis. They dropped down in a lonely -field about sunset and built a roaring camp-fire. -There was not a house in sight, and the field where -the machines lay was surrounded by a fringe of -small trees. Ten or fifteen miles to the west rolled -the Mississippi river and beyond lay the paved -streets of St. Louis, where they were to meet -Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The day’s journey had been a most successful -one. Jimmie was certain that at times the <i>Louise</i> -had traveled at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. -There had been no accidents of any kind.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='50' id='Page_50'>[50]</span>“From New York to the Mississippi in one day -appears to me to be going some!” declared Jimmie, -“and I never was so tired in my life. We can’t go -on to-night if we are to meet Havens in St. Louis -to-morrow, and so I’m going to get out one of the -oiled silk shelter tents and go to bed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys planned a long night’s rest the -whirr of motors came dully from the sky off to -the north.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='51' id='Page_51'>[51]</span> - <h2 id='chapV.' class='c006'>CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A CHANGE OF SCENE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“What we ought to do now,” Doctor Bolt declared, -as the night matron, indignant chin in air, -turned toward the door of the private room, “is to -notify the officers of Westchester county.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t see the necessity for that,” Havens replied. -“One may as well look for a pearl in a train-load -of oysters as to look for that fellow in Westchester -county to-night. Depend upon it, the men -who sought employment at the hospital a few days -ago were sent here because the hospital happened -to be near my home.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The night matron shrugged her shoulders and -passed a scornful glance at the surgeon. The surgeon -turned angrily away.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That relieves me of a great responsibility,” she -said. “Ordinarily one becomes responsible for the -actions of employes, but when men are sent into -your service by a criminal gang for a criminal purpose, -responsibility ought to end there.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='52' id='Page_52'>[52]</span>“I don’t agree with your reasoning at all!” declared -the surgeon. “One should know better than -to employ strangers in positions of trust.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And when,” continued the night matron, glaring -at the surgeon, “a country doctor takes it upon -himself to override the rules of a hospital and keeps -watch beside a patient to the exclusion of the -regular attendants, one certainly should not be held -accountable for the safety of that patient. And -that’s all I have to say,” she added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Settle the responsibility as you will,” Havens -broke in. “I have nothing to do with that. What -I want now is a promise from each of you that nothing -whatever shall be said regarding the matter -until private detectives shall have an opportunity to -recapture the escaped prisoner.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But why the secrecy?” asked the night matron.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is my duty as a surgeon to report the entire -matter to the police,” shouted Bolt. “I shall do so -at once.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens argued with the two for a long time, and -finally secured a promise that nothing would be said -either of the capture or the escape for three days. -<span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'>[53]</span>The millionaire’s idea was to get the prisoner into -his own hands if possible. He knew that the fellow -would have a hundred chances of escaping without -ever revealing the story of the crime he had committed -that night with the police, where he would -have not one if guarded by private detectives.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He was well satisfied from the incidents of the -night that some person high up in the councils of -the police department had leaked in the matter of -the employment of the boys on the murder case. He -believed, too, that the same influence which had -been able to secure the carefully guarded information -would be powerful enough to protect the -escaped prisoner in case he should regain consciousness -and, on promise of immunity, threaten to disclose -the names of his accomplices in the incendiary -act.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After exacting the promise from the surgeon and -the night matron, Havens ordered every workman -about the place to remain on guard until morning -and, calling his chauffeur, departed for New York -in a high-powered touring car. Worn out with the -anxiety and exertions of the night, he fell asleep on -the soft cushions of the machine, and awoke only -when the chauffeur shook him gently by the shoulder -and announced that they were at the Grand Central -station.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='54' id='Page_54'>[54]</span>“And I’d like to ask you a question, sir,” the -chauffeur said, as Havens stepped out of the car. -“It’s about what took place on the way down.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What took place on the way down!” laughed -the young millionaire. “It has all been a blank to -me. I must have slept very soundly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Indeed you did, sir,” replied the chauffeur, “and -that’s why I didn’t wake you. You seemed to need -the sleep very much, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, tell me what happened?” Havens said -impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, sir,” the chauffeur went on, “a big car -picked us up half a mile this side of the hangar and -followed on down to within three blocks of this -place. When I drove fast, they drove fast; when I -slowed up, they slowed up, too. Very strange, sir.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why didn’t you investigate?” asked Havens -angrily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You see that marble column at the corner of the -building,” declared the chauffeur, pointing. “Well, -I stopped once to ask questions of the chauffeur in -the other car, and that marble column I’m pointing -out, sir, would be just as communicative as that -other chauffeur was. He only grunted when I asked -questions and kept right on as before.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='55' id='Page_55'>[55]</span>Havens thanked the man for the information and -went on about the business which had brought him -to the city. He was busy all day with lawyers and -brokers and real estate managers, and was very tired -and sleepy when night fell. It had been his intention -to take an afternoon train for St. Louis, but his business -had not permitted of so sudden a departure -from the city.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He regretted extremely that he had not arranged -with the boys to wire their address in the Missouri -city. However, he thought, the boys would wait at -least twenty-four hours at the point selected, and -this delay would enable him to overtake them by -train at Denver. He was positive that he could do -so if he could catch the Overland Limited at -Chicago.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Eight o’clock found him sound asleep in the stateroom -of a Pullman car due to start for the west in -an hour. He was so tired that the noises of the -station; the arrival and departure of trains; the calls -of the train starters; the rattling of the couplings -under vestibules, soon died away into a dull blur, -and then he passed into a dreamless sleep.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='56' id='Page_56'>[56]</span>His last memory was of a powerful light shining -through a slender crack in the drawn blind of a -stateroom window. When he awoke again the -slender finger of light had become a deep red glow -the size of a pail, and the perfumed air of the stateroom -had, somehow, taken on the close and unsavory -smell of a riverside basement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens made an effort to lift his hands to his -head, but found that he was unable to do so. The -great red light was staring viciously into his smarting -eyes so he closed them, turned his head aside, -and lay for a moment in silent thought.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had no idea as to where he was, or how, or -how long ago he had been transported to that -villainous place. He knew that violence had been -used, for there was a trickle of moisture on his forehead -which could not be the result of heat or exertion. -There was a smart there, too, and so the -moisture must be blood.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The air was thick and damp, bearing the odor of -long confinement in filthy quarters. Opening his -eyes, directly, he saw that the walls were dark, but -not with paint or paper. They were stained with -the mold and unsavory accumulations of many -years.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='57' id='Page_57'>[57]</span>The light which shone in his face came from an -electric contrivance which seemed at that moment to -be a long distance off. Finally, after much study -and many smarting examinations, he saw that it was -a light nodding and swaying on a mast, and that it -shone through the dirty panes of a window before -entering the gloom where he lay.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was plain to the millionaire, then, that, in some -mysterious manner, he had been taken from the -stateroom and conveyed to one of the disreputable -resorts on the river front. He had no idea as to -whether he was looking out on the East river or the -North river. All he knew was that his hands and -feet were tied; that his head ached furiously, and -that his lips and tongue were parched with thirst. -In a moment he heard a door open and then an old -woman, toothless and shrunken of shoulders, stood -before him, bearing in her hand a smoking kerosene -lamp.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, dearie,” she said with a wicked leer in her -watery old eyes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens indicated by motions of his lips and -tongue that he needed a drink of water. The old -woman had undoubtedly been prepared for this, for -she drew a flask of spirits from a capacious pocket -in her clothing and held it exultantly before the eyes -of the captive.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='58' id='Page_58'>[58]</span>Havens shook his head.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It will give you strength,” pleaded the hag. -“Strength for what you’ve got to endure. Better -take a drop or two!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In a moment the young millionaire managed to -say that he wanted water, and the old hag, with the -air of one who considered that a weak-minded man -was turning away a blessed boon, restored the bottle -to her pocket and brought water in as filthy a tin -cup as Havens had ever set eyes on.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The woman eyed him curiously as she held the -cup to his lips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After draining the cup Havens found strength to -ask:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How did I come here?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boys brought you,” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boys?” repeated Havens. “What boys?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boys always will be having their sport!” -the old woman answered indefinitely. “Very bad -boys, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why?” demanded the millionaire.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='59' id='Page_59'>[59]</span>“Oh, my, oh, my!” exclaimed the old hag. -“You mustn’t ask so many questions. I’m not here -to answer questions.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How much do they want?” demanded Havens, -coming at once to the point, as there was no doubt -whatever in his mind that he had been abducted -purely as a financial speculation. “How much?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The old hag shook her head gravely.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“After a few days,” she said, “the boys will -listen to talk of money. Just now,” she went on, -“your society is what they desire.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then, for the first time since his rude awakening, -the events of the night before flashed across the -brain of the millionaire. He remembered the pursuit -of the <i>Louise</i>, the act of arson at the hangar, -the shooting of the stranger, and the escape from -the hospital. To his mind, also, came with double -force and meaning of the story the chauffeur had -told of the pursuing car. With all these memories -in his mind he had little difficulty in associating his -present situation with the efforts which had been -made to prevent the departure of the boys for the -Pacific coast.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How long do you intend to keep me here?” he -asked in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Again the old woman shook her head.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='60' id='Page_60'>[60]</span>“I’ll give you ten thousand dollars,” he said, “if -you’ll set me down at the Grand Central station in -an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not near enough, dearie,” the old hag replied, -a greedy gleam coming into her watery eyes. “Not -near enough, dearie!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Twenty thousand!” exclaimed Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The old woman glanced about the apartment -cautiously.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'>[61]</span> - <h2 id='chapVI.' class='c006'>CHAPTER VI.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A SMALL EXPLOSION.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Now,” suggested Ben as the purr of the motors -came softly on the evening air, “do you suppose -Havens has really caught up with us?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Impossible!” cried Jimmie, “we’ve stopped a -good many times on the route, but he couldn’t overtake -us, for all that, for the reason that he wouldn’t -leave New York before afternoon. According to -that we would have at least ten hours the start of -him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s right!” Ben agreed. “Perhaps the -motors we hear belong to the flying machine of some -sport out for a twilight ride. There are a good -many aeroplanes passing between St. Louis and the -east at this time of the year. We may hear other -machines before morning.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Suppose,” Carl suggested, with a startled expression -in his eyes, “that the clatter in the sky is -caused by the flying machine operated by the fellow -who chased Jimmie up New York bay?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='62' id='Page_62'>[62]</span>“Then that would mean trouble,” Jimmie -grinned. “But, say!” he went on in a moment. “I -wouldn’t mind meeting that fellow where the going -was good. I’d show him that his machine is a back -number.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys searched the sky eagerly for a light -which would indicate the position of the aeroplane. -After a long time they saw a faint gleam almost -directly overhead. The airship seemed to be descending.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish we hadn’t built this fire,” Ben suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Suppose we put it out!” Carl advised.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No use now,” Ben put in. “The fellow knows -exactly where we are. Besides,” he went on, “if we -should attempt to leave our present location, the -clatter of the motors would show him exactly where -we landed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then all we’ve got to do,” Jimmie explained, -“is to remain right here and watch our machines all -night. That’s what I call a downright shame!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We don’t have to all watch at the same time,” -Ben advised. “You boys go to sleep after we get -our supper and I’ll stick around until midnight. -<span class='pageno' title='63' id='Page_63'>[63]</span>Then one of you can go on guard until four in the -morning and the other watch until we get ready to -leave.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s about the way we’ll have to do it,” -Jimmie responded, “only,” he went on, “if the -fellow makes his appearance at the camp and tries -any funny business, the one on watch must wake -the rest of us.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>This being agreed to, the boys ate a hearty supper -and Jimmie and Carl crawled into a hastily set up -shelter-tent and were soon sound asleep. Ben did -not remain by the camp-fire after that. Instead, he -took a position beyond the circle of light, from -which the machines were in full view, and watched -and listened for the appearance of the mysterious -aviator.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Directly the whirr of the motors came louder, and -the boy saw the bulk of an aeroplane outlined against -the field of stars above.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was quite evident that the stranger was seeking -a place to land, and Ben, resolving to take the -initiative, hastened out into the field swinging an -electric searchlight.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='64' id='Page_64'>[64]</span>“Now,” he thought, “we’ll see if this fellow -wants to meet us face to face, or whether he wants -to sneak about in the darkness in order to work mischief -to our machines.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>After the boy had waved his searchlight for a -moment a shout came from above, and a machine -every bit as large and as finely finished as the <i>Louise</i> -came volplaning down to the field.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The rubber-tired wheels had scarcely ceased revolving -in the soft earth when Ben stood by the side -of the machine, from which a man of about thirty -years—a tall, slender man, with very blue eyes and a -very blond head—was alighting.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello, son!” the man exclaimed, as he came up -to where the boy was standing, “are you out on a -trip for your health, too?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s about the size of it,” answered Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where from?” was the next question asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“New York city,” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Good old town!” exclaimed the stranger, walking -toward the fire as if inclined to make himself -quite at home.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet it is!” answered Ben, following along -close by his side and watching his every move with -suspicion.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='65' id='Page_65'>[65]</span>The boy regretted now that he had not awakened -his chums before giving the signal to the stranger. -There was no knowing what the man might attempt -to do. Ben did not fear physical violence for he considered -himself more than a match for the intruder. -But he knew that a stick of dynamite or some other -destructive explosive tossed into the mechanism of -the machines would render them absolutely useless.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For this reason he watched the visitor closely, -never taking his eyes from the rather large and -ham-like hands which swung pendulously at his -sides. The stranger did not appear to notice the attention -he was receiving.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What I came down for,” he said as he approached -the camp-fire and stood warming his hands -before the blaze, “was to ask questions.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>He smiled brightly as he spoke and gave a searching -glance at the shelter-tent where Jimmie and Carl -were sleeping.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s easy enough to ask questions,” suggested -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Easier than to get them answered,” responded -the other. “I found that out this afternoon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben eyed the stranger in wonder but asked no -questions.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='66' id='Page_66'>[66]</span>“About the middle of the afternoon,” the man -went on, “I came upon a machine lying in a little -dell back in Indiana. I shot down with something -like the nerve I exercised in visiting you, and began -talking with the aviator. He certainly was about -the most insignificant looking specimen of humanity -I ever saw.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Wait a minute,” smiled Ben. “He had a small, -weazened face, large, wing-like ears, and hunchy -shoulders—shoulders which give one the impression -that he has spent the most of his life at the end of -a mucker’s shovel in the subway. Is that a good -description?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A better one than I could have given!” answered -the stranger. “You must have seen him -somewhere. I hope your experience with him was -not so unfortunate as mine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He made you trouble, did he?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He stole a pocketful of spark plugs,” was the -reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yet you seem to be traveling all right,” suggested -the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, he didn’t get all I had,” was the answer. -“I volplaned down to him, and he invited me to partake -of a lunch he was serving himself on the grass. -Just for form’s sake, I sat down with him. Then -he began asking questions. He wanted to know -<span class='pageno' title='67' id='Page_67'>[67]</span>where I came from, if I had seen any other machines -in the air that afternoon, and if I had heard -anything of two aeroplanes starting out on a journey -across continent to the Pacific coast. After a -time his questions became personal.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And you answered them, I suppose!” laughed -the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, I didn’t,” returned the stranger. “I closed -up like a clam in a short time, and then he arose -and, without my permission, began examining my -machine. To make a long story short, he got the -spark plugs out of a box under the seat without my -knowing it. I never discovered the loss until I was -some distance away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You left him there in the dell you speak of?” -asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, I left him there in a little hollow between -two hills.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why didn’t you go back after you had discovered -your loss?” asked Ben, suspiciously. “You -might have caught him if you had gone back.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The firelight was uncertain, and the visitor’s face -was turned half away, but Ben was almost certain -that he saw the red blood mounting to his temples. -The man also seemed embarrassed by the question.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='68' id='Page_68'>[68]</span>“I did go back,” he answered after a moment’s -hesitation, “but the fellow had disappeared. I -thought this might be his fire.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>There was a short silence, during which Ben -poked aimlessly at the burning brands and the -stranger looked critically around the camp. In a -moment, with a complimentary remark regarding -the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>, the intruder arose from -the ground where he had been sitting and walked -carelessly toward the machines. Ben followed him, -watching every movement as if his life depended -upon the scrutiny.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The two machines stood quite close together, and -as the stranger approached them Ben stepped a -pace in advance and whirled about. The stranger -started back with an exclamation of surprise.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We don’t permit strangers to inspect our aeroplanes,” -Ben said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Pardon me,” the other smiled, “I really didn’t -mean any harm. It is quite natural that one should -desire to inspect a beautiful machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The stranger kept pushing on, and at last brought -his thin body into contact with the boy’s sturdy -one. There was no doubt in the mind of the boy -now that the fellow was there for mischief. He -<span class='pageno' title='69' id='Page_69'>[69]</span>struck out swiftly from the shoulder, but the intruder -dodged the blow neatly and, taking a package -from the right-hand pocket of his coat, hurled -it toward the aeroplanes. Ben’s clenched fist caught -the other’s arm as the throw was released, and the -missile, whatever it was, went wide of the mark.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben saw the glitter of a shining surface in the -firelight, and the next instant an explosion which -seemed to shake the earth sounded in his ears. -Without waiting to see the effect of the explosion, -the stranger faced about and ran at full speed -toward the spot where he had left his aeroplane.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben followed him a few paces and then, deciding -that it would be unsafe to leave the machines, turned -back toward the camp-fire to see Jimmie and Carl -come tumbling out of the shelter tent, rubbing their -sleepy eyes. What Ben feared was that a second -person had landed from the stranger’s machine before -it had shown above the camp-fire.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s coming off here?” demanded Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Gee!” exclaimed Carl, “I thought that was the -crack of doom!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Get down to the machines, quick, you boys!” -Ben cried out. “There may be some one trying to -work them an injury.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='70' id='Page_70'>[70]</span>The two boys darted away, stopping only to secure -electric flashlights, and were soon seen examining -the aeroplanes. Ben waited a moment for -some indications that the boys had met with a -lurking enemy, and then started away in pursuit of -the treacherous aviator.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He was not in time, however, to stop the fellow -before his machine launched into the air. As his -aeroplane rose, Ben saw that he swung his face for -an instant toward the camp. For only a moment -the light of the fire shone on the face so turned back. -Ben thought he had never seen a more villainous -expression on any human countenance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy returned to the machines and joined his -chums with an angry scowl on his face. He was -angry at himself for having for a minute regarded -the stranger in a friendly spirit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where’s the artillery?” asked Jimmie, flashing -his light about the aeroplanes. “I thought I -heard cannonading.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As briefly as possible, Ben explained what had -taken place, and the three walked over to the spot -where the missile had struck and exploded. There -was a great hole in the ground, and tiny fragments -of a tin can lay scattered about, lying at some distance -from the hole.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='71' id='Page_71'>[71]</span>“Nitroglycerine!” exclaimed Ben, picking up -one of the fragments.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That only goes to show,” Jimmie answered, -wrinkling his freckled nose, “that this trip of ours -is not at all like a Sunday School picnic. I wish -we had caught him before he mounted his machine,” -he went on. “I’d like to fill him so full of holes -that he could go away and play that he was a Swiss -cheese.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>There was very little sleep in the camp that night. -The boys were away at daylight, and a couple of -hours later saw the machines snugly tucked away in -a hangar not far from the aviation field near Forest -Park.</p> - -<p class='c009'>They waited about the post-office, taking turns -watching at the general delivery window, until -nearly noon but, as the reader well understands, -Havens did not make his appearance. Their vigil -during the afternoon produced no better results. -Toward evening they tried to reach Havens by -wire in New York, but their dispatches met with -no response for a long time. At last a message -came from the millionaire’s private office at the -hangar in Westchester county.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'>[72]</span>It was very brief, and gave only the information -that Havens had taken a stateroom for St. Louis -the previous evening, and that he had mysteriously -disappeared before the train had left the city.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a knock-out!” exclaimed Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And now,” asked Ben with a puzzled look, -“shall we go back to New York and help find -Havens, or shall we cross the continent in quest of -the burglars?”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='73' id='Page_73'>[73]</span> - <h2 id='chapVII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER VII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE SIGNAL FIRE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“I’ll tell you what it is,” Jimmie said, as the -boys sat in a little restaurant on Fourth street, discussing -the situation, “if we turn back to New York -now, we’ll be off the beat. Havens told us to go -out to Monterey, didn’t he?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He certainly did!” answered Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well then,” continued Jimmie, “we ought to go -on to Monterey. Look here, kids,” he went on, -“we don’t know what took place in New York -after we left. We don’t know that Havens didn’t -disappear from that stateroom for the sole purpose -of getting out of the way of the fellows who tried -to burn his hangar. What do you think of that -idea?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It appears to me to be a sound one,” Ben responded. -“Mr. Havens may have met with members -of the gang we are fighting. In that case it -<span class='pageno' title='74' id='Page_74'>[74]</span>would be nothing strange if he managed a mysterious -disappearance for his own protection. -Would it, now?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>And so, after canvassing the subject thoroughly, -the boys decided to go on to the Pacific coast. It -was decided, too, that they should leave that very -night and travel at an altitude which would render -collisions with uplifting summits impossible. They -were on their way in an hour from the time the decision -was reached.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys speak to-day with reverence when referring -to that all-night ride. At first the clouds -hung low, and they seemed sailing through great -fields of mist with neither top nor bottom. Then a -brisk wind scattered the moisture in the air, and -they sailed for a time under the stars. Later, there -was a moon, and under its light they sailed lower, -watching with excited interest the lights in the towns -they passed, the shimmer on the water they crossed, -and the incomparable light reflecting on the smooth -green leaves of the forests they shot by.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At daylight they came down on an eminence -from which the landscape for miles around could be -seen. Below the slope of the hill lay a verdant valley -in which nestled a small settlement. At the summit -where the machines lay there were great wide -stretches indicating the action of waves at some far-distant, -prehistoric time.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='75' id='Page_75'>[75]</span>The boys were well-nigh exhausted with their -long ride. As is well known, the endurance record -is not much longer than the time the boys had spent -in the air. Besides being cramped in limb and heavy -from lack of sleep, the boys shivered because of the -altitude at which they had traveled.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When the sun rose it shone with generous warmth -upon the ridge where the boys lay, and they basked -in its light with many expressions of joy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Here’s the place where we sleep!” exclaimed -Carl. “We can watch the sky and the surface of -the earth for miles around,” he added, “and can -finish any ordinary sized nap in peace.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll watch,” promised Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ll not!” exclaimed Jimmie. “You watched -night before last.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And came near getting the machines blown up, -too,” Ben commented.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was finally arranged that Jimmie and Carl -should remain awake for a couple of hours each, -after which a hasty breakfast was prepared and the -boys settled down for a long rest. Ben and Jimmie -<span class='pageno' title='76' id='Page_76'>[76]</span>were soon asleep, and Carl, sitting on the ground -near the <i>Louise</i> was feeling like going to bed himself -when a small red head was poked over the edge -of the summit and a shrill voice cried out:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello, Mister!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello, yourself!” answered Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy, a mite of a fellow not more than ten -years of age, fully as freckled-faced and as red-headed -as Jimmie, now approached the aeroplanes -cautiously, his wide mouth breaking into a grin as -he advanced.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Them your machines?” he asked, pointing with -a dirty finger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure they are!” answered Carl. “Ever see -one before?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy shook his head while his eyes sparkled -with excitement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Give me a ride!” he demanded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not yet,” replied Carl with a laugh. “We’re -going to remain here for some little time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If I stay, can I go with you?” the boy asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I should say not!” replied Carl. “What -would your folks say if we should take you away in -a flying machine?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I ain’t got no folks!” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='77' id='Page_77'>[77]</span>“Where do you live?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy pointed down toward the little settlement -in the valley.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do your parents live there, too?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I done told you I ain’t got no folks!” insisted -the youngster.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, where do you sleep and get your eatings, -then?” demanded Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sleep in barns!” was the reply. “And don’t -get many eatings. That’s what makes me so little -and thin!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do they sell gasoline down there?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yessir!” was the short reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” Carl proposed. -“If you’ll go back to the store where they sell it, -and get the boss to bring us a sixty gallon barrel, I’ll -give you a dollar.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Quit your kiddin’!” exclaimed the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure, I’ll give you a dollar,” promised Carl, -“and I’ll give it to you in advance. Can they get up -on this hog’s-back with a wagon?” he added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They sure can,” was the reply. “There’s a road -that climbs the hill out of the valley, and I guess -they can gee-haw their old delivery wagon along -the ridge, all right.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='78' id='Page_78'>[78]</span>“Well, go on, now,” Carl exclaimed. “Go on -and order the gasoline.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where’s the dollar?” demanded the youngster.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl tossed him a silver dollar with a laugh, and -saw the boy’s bare feet twinkle as he disappeared -down the slope. As a matter of fact, he had little -hope of ever seeing the boy again, or of having the -message delivered. Still, the little fellow looked so -ragged, and forlorn, and hungry, that he would -have given him the dollar if he had known that the -boy would neither deliver the message nor return.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In an hour or so, however, the boy poked his red -head over the summit again and came bounding up -to where Carl sat.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s coming!” he cried. “The wagon left the -store at the same time I did, and I beat ’em to it! -Say,” he added with a chuckle, “the driver made an -awful row about coming along this ridge, and I told -him you’d be apt to give him a dollar extra. Goin’ -to do it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course!” laughed Carl. “Anything you say -goes. For the time being, you are the purchasing -agent for this outfit.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='79' id='Page_79'>[79]</span>When at last the delivery wagon with the barrel -of gasoline came bumping along the surface of the -hill, the driver leading the horse, the boy began a -knowing inspection of the flying machines, as if determined -to give the delivery boy the impression -that he had already become a member in good standing -of the party. This was very amusing to Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The driver unloaded the barrel of gasoline, received -his pay and his tip and then stood with his -hands on his hips surveying the two aeroplanes -critically.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s one of them things lying busted on the -other side of town,” he said directly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Some one have an accident?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I dunno,” was the reply. “Sol Stevens drove -in to sell his hogs, a little while ago, and he said he -saw one o’ them busted airships lyin’ busted by the -road out near the Run.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How far is that from here?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The delivery boy looked over the landscape, as if -estimating distances, and at the same time establishing -his own importance, and answered that it was -not far from ten miles.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben and Jimmie, awakened by the rattle of the -rickety wagon wheels, now came out of the shelter -tent and joined in the conversation. They looked -curiously at the boy for a moment, and then turned -their attention to the driver, listening intently to his -repetition of the brief story of the wrecked aeroplane.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='80' id='Page_80'>[80]</span>“Well,” the driver said presently, beckoning to -the boy, “we may as well be going, Kit.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m going with the machines!” answered the -boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben and Jimmie looked from Kit to Carl but said -nothing.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Ain’t I going with the machines?” demanded -the youngster of Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What would your folks say?” demanded Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Huh!” said the delivery boy. “He hain’t got -no folks. He just sleeps around and gets his meals -wherever he can.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I sent him after the gasoline,” Carl explained, -“and paid him in advance. He came back all right.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did you think I wouldn’t come back?” asked -Kit, indignantly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Before the question was answered, Jimmie pulled -Ben lustily by the sleeve. Carl saw what was in the -boy’s mind and remained silent.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Come on, let’s take him!” Jimmie urged. -“He’s all right.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'>[81]</span>“I’m willing,” replied Ben. “In fact, I’m getting -tired of riding alone in the <i>Bertha</i>. The little -fellow will be good company.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The delivery boy departed quickly, and Kit at -once began making himself useful, assisting Jimmie -in the preparation of dinner.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t you ever think I can’t cook!” Kit exclaimed, -as he sat by the fire watching the skillet of -ham and eggs. “Don’t you think I don’t know -how to get up a square meal. I’ve helped cook -lunches many a time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps we’d better make you chef of the expedition!” -laughed Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There seemed to be something on the boy’s mind -as he gave his attention to potatoes roasting in the -hot ashes, and after a time he turned to Carl with -a puzzled face. His brows were puckered as he -asked:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why didn’t you ask the delivery boy about -that smashed machine?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I did ask him about it,” replied Carl. “You -heard me.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well you didn’t ask him about the man that got -smashed up in it,” continued Kit. “The man who -got smashed up in it,” the boy went on, “hid in -Robinson’s barn, where I slept last night, and lay -<span class='pageno' title='82' id='Page_82'>[82]</span>groaning and whining with a broken arm so that he -kept me awake. This morning, when he saw me, -he gave me a dollar to get a doctor there without -telling anybody, and I went and got Doctor Sloan. -I promised not to say a word about it, but you boys -have been mighty good to me, and I think you ought -to know.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What kind of a looking fellow is he?” asked -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A monkey-looking fellow, with hunched shoulders -and ears like cabbage leaves,” replied the boy. -“He don’t look good to me.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys heard the description of the wrecked -aviator with undisguised pleasure. At least one of -their pursuers had been put out of the running, for -the time being. This, they thought, increased their -chances of reaching the Pacific coast in advance of -any friends of the outlaws.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where did the man go after Doctor Sloan set -his arm?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He said he was going to the nearest railway -station and return to Denver,” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Machine quite busted up?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='83' id='Page_83'>[83]</span>“That’s what he told the doctor,” replied Kit. -“He swore awfully while he was talking about it. -And look here,” the boy went on, “after he left I -picked up a letter which fell from a pocket of his -coat when he took it off to have his arm set.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy presented a yellow envelope, sealed but -not stamped, as he spoke. Ben took the letter and, -without any compunctions of conscience whatever, -opened it. It contained a sheet of paper, blank with -the exception of four words. Ben studied the writing -for a moment and passed the sheet to Jimmie. -The boy in turn handed it to Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“At Two Sisters canyon!” Carl read.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now what does that mean?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, you boy,” Carl explained, “it means that -this busted aviator was headed for a canyon in the -mountains known as the Two Sisters. Do you get -that? What else would he have this letter for?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the first bit of luck we’ve struck since -we started out on this journey!” declared Ben. “I -guess, Kit,” he went on, “that you must be a -mascot. What do you know about that?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, I’m a mascot all right!” grinned the -youngster.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When the boys started away to the west again -Kit occupied a seat on the <i>Bertha</i>. Satisfied that -they had distanced at least one of their pursuers, -<span class='pageno' title='84' id='Page_84'>[84]</span>and encouraged by the thought that their way might -now be clear, the boys made few stops of any length -on their way to the Pacific.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Three days later Sierra de Santa Lucia loomed up -before them. It was then twilight, and against the -darkness rose the flames of a signal fire!</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='85' id='Page_85'>[85]</span> - <h2 id='chapVIII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE LOSS OF A BOY!</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“They seem to be celebrating our arrival,” Ben -said, looking down on the signal fire with a grin, -“only I don’t hear any bands,” he continued, as the -flames streamed up and cast a red light over the -waters of the Pacific ocean.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s about the strangest proposition I ever -came across,” Carl said, looking down on the dark -canyons, laying like black lines in a drawing, on the -landscape below. “I’d like to know what it means.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t you ever think,” Jimmie went on, “that -Phillips and Mendoza have anything to do with that -fire! That beacon light was put there for some purpose -by an entirely different set of outlaws.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But why ‘outlaws’?” asked Carl. “The people -we see about the fire may be fishermen, and -there are lime quarries and kilns somewhere in this -section, and these men may be signaling to -schooners.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='86' id='Page_86'>[86]</span>Below the aeroplanes lay a great peak extending -four thousand feet above the level of the sea. To -the west the Pacific beat fiercely against its side. -To the south the Sierra raised its lofty crags, apparently, -straight out of the ocean. To the north a -succession of summits lifted above the range. Off -to the east lay a faint trail connecting, by devious -turns and twists through the mountain wilderness, -with the Southern Pacific railroad.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The beacon fire rose straight from a headland -which jutted for some distance out into the ocean. -The beat of the waves against the breakers at the -foot of the headland came dimly up to the boys like -the stir and rustle of a crowded street.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There had been a fog, but it was lifting now, and -here and there traces of green might be seen wherever -the flames revealed the surface of the ground. -After a time Ben turned back with the <i>Bertha</i> and -signaled to the others to help in the search for a -safe landing-place.</p> - -<p class='c009'>This was by no means an easy task, as it was deep -twilight now on the lower stretches of the mountain, -and most of the canyons seemed mere yawning -pits whose open mouths gaped eagerly for the prey -in the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys turned to north and south in their machines -and, sailing low, scrutinized the dim country -in the hope of discovering some level spot where the -flying machines could be brought to the ground with -safety.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='87' id='Page_87'>[87]</span>At last, perhaps two miles to the south of the -headland, where the beacon light still sent its red -flames into the air, Ben came upon a canyon or gully -which had evidently once been the bed of a rushing -mountain torrent. The wash of water from the -steep surfaces, however, had, in distant years, filled -the narrow slit between the summits with fine white -sand.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was by no means a large place, but was quite -sufficient for the purpose. Ben felt his way carefully -down, dropping into what seemed to him to be -a fathomless pit between peaks until the white, hard -floor below came faintly into view. After examining -the place as thoroughly as possible with an -electric searchlight, he volplaned down, much to -Kit’s amazement, and soon had the satisfaction of -feeling the rubber-tired wheels beneath the machine -running evenly over a smooth surface.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It had been a great risk, however, this dropping -down into the darkness between two mountain peaks, -and Ben was not certain, even after landing, that -he had done the correct thing. His light showed a -level surface for only a short distance. The opening -of the canyon faced the Pacific. To left and -right were almost perpendicular walls. To the east -a great crag was worn far under a shelving side by -the action of the waves which at some distant time -must have forced their way through the split in the -mountains.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='88' id='Page_88'>[88]</span>One thing which troubled the boy not a little was -the question as to whether the space into which he -had brought his flying machine was sufficient in size -for both the <i>Bertha</i> and the <i>Louise</i>. They might be -packed into the canyon, without doubt, but there was -always the matter of room for the flight outward. -Still, the place was ideal in that it appeared to be -secure from observation from any position except -the open sea.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The mountain summits to the north and south -seemed entirely inaccessible, while the crag to the -east, under which the cave-like excavation showed, -looked more like the sharp blade of an upturned -knife at the top than a surface capable of being ascended.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben waved his light back and forth, indicating -to Jimmie and Carl that they should approach the -canyon cautiously and from the east. He held an -eye of flame to the summit of the crag to show that -the drop must not come too suddenly in that direction.</p> - -<p class='c009'>His idea, of course, was to bring the <i>Louise</i> in -so that her outward flight would be toward the sea. -His own machine had come in from the west, and -he knew that it would have to be lifted and wheeled -about before she could be sent into the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Besides offering a comparatively safe hiding-place -for the machines, the canyon also seemed to offer -protection from the weather for the boys. Ben did -not fully investigate the excavations under the crag -<span class='pageno' title='89' id='Page_89'>[89]</span>at that time, but he knew that the soft lime-rock had -been washed away to a considerable extent, and that -the face of the cliff was honeycombed with small -caves.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie circled about the canyon for a moment, -caught sight of the crag under the flashlight, and -passed its sharp edge with only a foot to spare. In -a moment more, directed by the light in Ben’s hand, -he drove the <i>Louise</i> along the hard floor until she -stood at rest by the side of the <i>Bertha</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie and Carl hastened to make themselves acquainted -with the situation in the canyon by means -of their electric searchlights. They ran here and -there glancing up at the almost vertical walls to the -north and south and throwing long fingers of light -into the depressions in the crag. By this time Kit -was asleep on the sand!</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Looks like one of the East-Side apartment -houses,” grinned Jimmie, flashing his light upward. -“See, there’s a row of windows, and there’s something -that looks like a fire-escape!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Your row of windows,” laughed Ben, “consists -of holes where lime-rocks have been worn away -by the action of the water, and your fire-escape is -only a long seam in the granite, with frequent cross -sections.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Aw, what’s the use of busting up illusions,” -asked Jimmie. “I was having a pleasant dream of -the East Side. And the East Side made me think -<span class='pageno' title='90' id='Page_90'>[90]</span>of the little old restaurant on Fourteenth street, near -Tammany Hall. And the thought of the restaurant -reminded me that I hadn’t had anything to eat since -noon. Why didn’t you let me dream?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Any old time, it takes Tammany Hall, and -Fourteenth street, and a fire-escape on a rock, to -make Jimmie remember that he’s hungry!” laughed -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, if you’re hungry,” Ben suggested, “why -don’t you go on and get supper? You’re the cook -to-day, anyway.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is it safe to build a fire?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben shook his head and pointed to the walls on -either side.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The flame might not be seen,” he said, “but the -reflection might, so I presume we’d better do our -cooking on the alcohol stove.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Jerusalem!” exclaimed Jimmie. “I don’t want -any cafeteria, Y. M. C. A., luncheon to-night. I -want to get out about a dozen cans of beans, and -tinned roast beef, and four or five pounds of ham, -and a couple dozen eggs, and have a square meal. -We’ve been sailing over the country for five or six -days now eating wind sandwiches and drinking -brook water.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps,” Carl observed pointing to the openings -to the east, “we can find a place in there where -a fire may safely be built.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='91' id='Page_91'>[91]</span>“Where’s your wood?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s always driftwood in a place like this,” -Jimmie asserted. “There’s always trees falling -down from the timber line and rotting in the canyons. -I’ll find wood, all right, if we can find a place -where it’s safe to build a fire,” he added with a -chuckle of delight at the thought of a large meal. -“What I need right now is plenty of sustenance!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Go to it!” laughed Ben. “Mr. Havens advised -us to camp out in some spot about like this, and -make excursions over the mountains in search of -Phillips and Mendosa, so I don’t see why we’ll have -to move our camp at all. Therefore, a neat little -kitchen won’t come amiss.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie started for the cliff with a chuckle. For -some minutes his flashlight was seen dodging in and -out of the water-worn caverns, and then it disappeared -entirely. Carl, who was gathering driftwood, -paused at Ben’s side and pointed toward the -spot where Jimmie’s light had last been seen. His -face was a trifle anxious as he said:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You don’t suppose he’s gone and got into -trouble, do you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“My guess is that he has found a deep cavern,” -said Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I hope so,” Carl answered. “Say!” the boy -went on, in a moment, “your speaking of Mr. -Havens just now reminded me of the fact that he -<span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'>[92]</span>hasn’t communicated with us in any way since we -started. I’m getting worried about that man! He -might have overtaken us by fast train if he had seen -fit to do so, but he didn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t see how he could have communicated -with us in any way,” replied Ben. “We have never -left an address, and always his people at the hangar -declared in answer to our messages that he had -not been heard from since the night he had so -mysteriously left the stateroom of the Pullman -car. They’re getting anxious about him in New -York.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s one thing,” Carl went on, “and that is -that the only clue which connects Mendosa and -Phillips with the burglary of the Buyers’ Bank, and -with the murder of the night-watchman, is in the -possession of Mr. Havens. We can’t do very much -until Havens comes.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We can locate the men, can’t we?” asked Ben. -“So far as the clue is concerned, that will be needed -only at the trial. What the New York chief of -police wants is for us to locate the murderers and -turn our information over to the California officers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Anyway,” Carl insisted, “Mr. Havens was -carrying a stone and a gold claw broken from a ring -believed to have been worn by Mendosa on the -night of the murder. The outlaws would go a long -ways in order to secure possession of those articles. -I’m getting frightened over Havens’ absence.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='93' id='Page_93'>[93]</span>“Suppose Mendosa should destroy the ring?” -asked Ben. “That would render the clue valueless, -wouldn’t it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Indeed it wouldn’t!” answered Carl. “Mendosa -is well-known to the police, and that ring was -as well known to New York detectives as was the -man’s face. I understand, too, that there are witnesses -who saw Mendosa on the day following the -burglary who noticed that one stone had disappeared -from the ring, and that a claw had been broken off. -Besides,” continued Carl, “Mendosa wouldn’t destroy -that ring, or sell it, or give it away. He would -lay it aside in some secure place until he could have -the damage repaired. Mendosa is said to be foolish -in the head like a fox!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re some detective, I reckon!” laughed Ben. -“What you ought to do is to connect with some -newspaper reporter and write stories for the magazines. -Perhaps you could get one printed!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“All right,” grinned Carl, “you can’t figure it out -any other way. If the right steps are taken, and the -stone and the claw are not stolen from Havens by -agents of the outlaws, that ring will eventually convict -the murderers of the night-watchman!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys talked for some moments, sitting on the -hard, white sand at the side of the machines. They -had collected quite a quantity of dry driftwood, and -were now waiting for Jimmie to return from his excursion -in search of a safe and convenient cook-room.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='94' id='Page_94'>[94]</span>“Look here, Ben,” Carl said in a moment, “we -don’t want to go away and leave the machines, not -even for a minute, not even if we are in a lonely -spot, but some one ought to go and look for Jimmie. -You know there’s a lot of places a boy might fall -into in these mountain caverns!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“All right,” Ben said, rising from the ground, -“I’ll go and wake Kit. He was so sleepy when I -brought the <i>Bertha</i> down that I lifted him out of -the seat and laid him away against a wall! I don’t -think he ever knew when I took him off the machine. -I’ll give him a searchlight and send him to -look after Jimmie.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where did you put him?” asked Carl, “I’ll go -and wake him up.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“On a bed of nice hard, white sand close to the -south wall,” replied Ben. “There’s an old coat -which I had to wrap around my shoulders in the -higher altitudes under his head. Bring that along, -too; we’ll need it later.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl went away whistling with his hands in his -pockets, taking great breaths of fresh mountain air -into his lungs, and believing that he was about the -happiest boy on the face of the earth. It was all -so different from the crowded streets of New York! -In a moment Ben heard him calling.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='95' id='Page_95'>[95]</span>“You must have mislaid him!” the boy said. -“Here’s the coat, but the kid isn’t here! It looks -like there’d been a scrap here on the sand. Perhaps -a mountain lion carried him off.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben sprang to his feet and rushed out to Carl.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='96' id='Page_96'>[96]</span> - <h2 id='chapIX.' class='c006'>CHAPTER IX.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>JUST A CLEVER GAME.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>When the old hag glanced cautiously about the -disreputable apartment, Havens began to hope that -the bribe of twenty thousand dollars which he had -offered her might secure his release. It seemed to -him that the old woman was strongly tempted to -accept the money.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You can do it easy enough,” the young millionaire -said, as the woman helped herself to a drink of -liquor and restored the bottle to a pocket. “You -can get me out of here without danger to yourself, -and then you can disappear with the money. No -one will ever know.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens had been born and reared in New York. -Well he knew the law of club and fang which governed -the underworld on the East Side. He knew -that death follows betrayal as surely as night follows -day. He understood that the old woman was -taking long chances in even considering his release.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It ain’t enough!” the hag declared in a moment, -her vicious eyes showing both greed and terror. -“It ain’t enough for a poor old woman like -me. I’d have to leave New York forever!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='97' id='Page_97'>[97]</span>“I don’t doubt it!” Havens replied. “Still,” he -went on, “judging from appearances, your life here -hasn’t been one to be much mourned. You haven’t -had many of the comforts of life,” he continued, -“and possibly none of its pleasures.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m an old, old woman to leave the East Side,” -wailed the hag. “Besides,” she went on, “how do -I know that you would play fair with me? Once -out of this place, you’d be likely to hand me over to -the police instead of handing the money over to me! -I don’t think I can trust you!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Tell me this,” asked Havens, “by whose orders -was I brought here?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The old woman hesitated and then shook her -head.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Tim brought you here,” she said in a moment, -“and that’s all I know about it. He told me to keep -you safe and sound.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who’s Tim?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“One of the boys,” was the indefinite reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What else did he say?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not much!” was the sullen reply. “Nothing -at all!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The hag was becoming more reticent now. She -appealed for consolation to her bottle at regular -intervals, and finally drew out a black old clay pipe, -filled it by poking a scrawny finger into the bowl, -<span class='pageno' title='98' id='Page_98'>[98]</span>and sat down on the edge of the bunk upon which -Havens lay to send the rank fumes of villainous, -adulterated tobacco into the already nauseating air -of the room.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How long are they going to keep me?” asked -the millionaire.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The hag mumbled over her pipe stem and shook -her head silently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now let me give you my last offer,” Havens -went on. “If you’ll get me out of this place without -any further inconvenience to myself, I’ll go directly -to a bank and get you twenty-five thousand dollars! -You may go with me if you like, after making -yourself presentable.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The old woman hesitated, mumbling over her -bottle and her pipe for what seemed to Havens to -be a long time. Once or twice he was on the point -of asking her if his abduction had been brought -about by friends of Phillips and Mendosa.</p> - -<p class='c009'>However, he was uncertain as to the wisdom of -this, for he was in doubt as to whether the old woman -knew anything concerning the interest which -had brought him into his present unpleasant situation, -so he remained silent on that point.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He knew very well that if the old woman did not -already know that she was serving the interests of -the murderers in keeping him there, her terror of -punishment for any assistance she might give him -would be increased tenfold. For years the Phillips -<span class='pageno' title='99' id='Page_99'>[99]</span>and Mendosa gang had ruled the East Side, not exactly -with a rod of iron, but with revolvers and -bung-starters. He knew that the very mention of -the gang would bring additional horror to the old -woman’s mind.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I believe,” the old woman said, in a moment, -“that you really would do it, dearie. I really believe -you would!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I surely would!” replied Havens. “I have -many business interests at stake, and might lose -much more than twenty-five thousand dollars by remaining -in this place, to say nothing of the objectionable -features of the apartment. I’ll play fair -with you, mother.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>At the word “mother” the old woman turned her -rheumy eyes toward the captive and let them rest -upon his face in earnest amazement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what I’m called here,” she said in a moment, -“they all call me ‘mother’ in this place. -How did you know?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You seemed to me to deserve the title,” answered -Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>No more was said for some moments, then the -old woman arose and went to the window, through -which the red light still shone from the vessel’s -mast, and looked out. She shook her head vigorously -as she turned back.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Can you swim?” she said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I certainly can,” answered Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='100' id='Page_100'>[100]</span>“And climb up the side of a vessel on a rope?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That is an old trick of mine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And you can strike a hard blow?” she then -asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I am noted among my friends as having the -punch,” answered Havens with a slight smile.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then,” said the old woman, “I want you to -saw the cords from your wrists over a nail in the -wall until they come apart. Then I want you to -strike me a knock-out blow on the head, cut the -cords on your ankles, make your way through this -window, and cross the street to the pier. Then you -must drop into the water, softly so as not to attract -the attention of the police, and climb a rope -leading to the deck of the vessel showing the red -light. Do you understand all this?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perfectly!” replied Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And after you are aboard the vessel,” the old -woman went on, “you must pretend to have fallen -into the water by mistake. You are never to mention -being in this apartment at all. When they put -you ashore, go on about your business until you receive -a note from me. Then we can settle the matter -of the money. It will be signed ‘Mother DeMott’.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s all very well,” Havens remarked, sawing -away at the cords on his wrists, “but I can’t give -the blow you ask for, mother.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='101' id='Page_101'>[101]</span>“If you don’t,” the old woman insisted, “I shall -be murdered before morning!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll compromise by tying you up,” Havens said. -“I’ll tie you good and tight, and put a handkerchief -over your mouth, and they will never suspect.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The young millionaire thought he detected a -queer smile on the face of the old lady as he tied the -cords with which he had been bound about her -withered old wrists and ankles!</p> - -<p class='c009'>The window was not barred or protected in any -way, so the sash was easily lifted. It opened to a -paved street, the bottom of the sash running on a -level with the stones, for the apartment in which he -had been confined was a half basement. It was -perhaps two o’clock in the morning, and only the -skulkers of the night were abroad.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Here and there men slouched by with their chins -low down on their breasts and their greasy hats -hiding furtive eyes. Now and then a policeman, -swinging a heavy night-stick, passed along the -street, mumbling imprecations at the waifs who refused -to go to bed for the very good reason that -they had no beds to go to!</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens passed out of the window unobserved. -He saw a man standing at the entrance to a sailor’s -boarding house, next door, and there were several -moving about at the head of the pier. However, no -one seemed to pay any attention to him as he crossed -the street and sat down on the pier with his legs -hanging over the side.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='102' id='Page_102'>[102]</span>While he waited for those nearest to him to go -about their business, if they had any to go to, the -man standing in the boarding-house door, lit a cigar -and waved the still flaming match up and down in -the quiet air, as if for the purpose of extinguishing -the flame.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At that time Havens thought nothing at all of the -incident, but later on he remembered with self-reproach -that he ought to have been warned by it.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Presently he dropped into the chill waters of the -river and struck out for the boat, not very far away, -which displayed the red light from the mast. Not -one rope, but a dozen hung from the chains at the -prow, and the millionaire had little difficulty in making -his way to the deck.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a moment he saw no one about the vessel, -then a bushy head was lifted above a hatchway and -a pair of surly eyes turned toward the intruder. -Havens stepped forward and spoke.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Good-evening,” he said in his best society -manner.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The head was followed out of the hatchway by -a short, broad, hulking figure. The face of the man -was short and broad like his body. The jaw, which -was set like that of a bulldog, was outlined against -a rim of red whiskers growing down on his neck.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='103' id='Page_103'>[103]</span>“What do you want?” the fellow demanded in -an angry tone.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why,” Havens replied, “I was mooning about -the pier and fell into the river. I shall want to be -set ashore presently.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ll go ashore the way you came on board!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The man flashed ugly eyes at the millionaire. -Havens felt the necessity at that time of propitiating -the man, for the reason that he wanted to remain -hidden on board the vessel until daylight. He believed -that a search all through that section would -be made for him as soon as his escape had been discovered. -He knew, too, that the attempt to pass -through that section of the city in the middle of the -night would be dangerous to any person having the -appearance of wealth.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Havens said, presently, “I’d like a drink -of water, if you have such a thing on board, and I’m -willing to pay liberally for your trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Water cold, eh?” snarled the other.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Decidedly,” answered Havens with a slight -shiver.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The man, who appeared to be master of the vessel, -which was a small coast-wise trading schooner, -walked to the rail and looked out over the street -Havens had so recently crossed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While standing there he took a foul old briar pipe -from his pocket, filled it with cut plug tobacco, and -touched a match to the ill-smelling heap. Havens -<span class='pageno' title='104' id='Page_104'>[104]</span>noticed that as he did so he shook the match viciously -in the air, as if trying to extinguish the -flame.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Again the millionaire was entirely deceived by the -apparently innocent action. Feeling comparatively -at peace with himself, he stood waiting for the -captain’s decision.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Presently the squat of a man returned to where -the millionaire was standing and pointed toward the -hatchway.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wouldn’t send a cat ashore if he was wet and -thirsty,” commented the captain. “If you’ll step -down the hatchway, I’ll give you something to offset -the chill of the water.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens followed the pointing finger, and soon -stood in a small cabin which lay completely under -the one deck of the schooner. It was a large room, -evidently long used for the storage of such goods as -the vessel carried, but one corner was partitioned off -by a screen, and here a faded and worn rug, a -broken couch, a table, and a couple of chairs proclaimed -the home of the master of the craft. -Havens took one of the chairs and waited for his -host to speak. A clock on the wall showed the hour -of half-past two.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Directly the captain opened a cupboard and -brought forth a bottle of spirits and two glasses.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Help yourself!” he said to Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='105' id='Page_105'>[105]</span>Now Havens had not the slightest notion of taking -a drink of liquor. He was a total abstainer, and -even had he been in the habit of using intoxicating -liquors, he would never have indulged under such -circumstances. His watch and money had been -taken from him before he had regained consciousness, -but his general appearance was that of a man -who would be apt to pay roundly for his release in -case he was temporarily removed from the society -of his friends.</p> - -<p class='c009'>However, he poured out a small portion of whiskey -and waited for an opportunity to toss it away. -The captain of the schooner eyed him maliciously, -his undershot jaw set like that of a bulldog.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“So you don’t drink, eh?” the captain said, with -a snarl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You may be mistaken!” answered Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sometimes I do.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Mistaken, yourself!” shouted the captain. -“You thought you’d bribed Mother DeMott, didn’t -you? You thought you’d be dropping off the <i>Nancy</i> -in the morning and turning us all over to the police, -didn’t you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens eyed the man for a moment, too dazed -to speak.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“In the morning,” the captain sneered, “we set -sail for South America with one very prominent -passenger on board.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'>[106]</span> - <h2 id='chapX.' class='c006'>CHAPTER X.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A QUEER DISCOVERY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>When Ben reached the place where he had left -Kit asleep, Carl stood with a searchlight in his -hand, examining footprints on the ground.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He wandered away, of course!” Carl said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He must have done so,” was the puzzled reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Because,” Carl went on, “there was no one here -to lug him off.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the supposition!” replied Ben anxiously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But why should the little customer sneak off -without saying a word to us?” demanded Carl. -“That isn’t at all like him!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps he saw Jimmie’s light in the cavern -and went in there,” suggested Ben. “He’s an inquisitive -little chap.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys went to the western extremity of the -canyon and looked down an almost perpendicular -wall, nearly a thousand feet in height, to the surging -waters of the Pacific ocean. They looked up -the vertical walls to the summits outlined against -the stars. They threw their lights over the crags -at the head of the canyon.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='107' id='Page_107'>[107]</span>“He’s still in here somewhere!” Ben asserted. -“I don’t believe any one could get out without using -a flying machine!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course, he’s here!” Carl answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys walked closer to the face of the crag -and turned their lights on the broken walls.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It would be just like him to follow Jimmie in -there,” Carl observed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure it would!” replied Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But what gets me,” Carl went on, “is that he -went away without asking for anything to eat! -The kid is second only to Jimmie in the capacity -of his stomach. He’s always hungry, especially -after a short sleep.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is a wonder he didn’t demand a square meal, -as Jimmie calls it, before wandering away,” Ben -admitted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Here’s an opening which seems to be the only -one Jimmie could enter far enough to shut the light -of his electric from the canyon,” Carl said, in a -moment. “If you’ll go back to the machines, I’ll -go on in and get Jimmie. I may find Kit with him, -you know.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t think there’s any doubt of it,” Ben answered -hopefully, at the same moment knowing -very well that there might be a good deal of doubt -about finding the boy in the cavern.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='108' id='Page_108'>[108]</span>To tell the truth, Ben at that time felt a premonition -of approaching evil which he could by no -means resist. It seemed to him impossible that Kit -could have wandered out of the canyon.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The only solution of the mystery which came to -his mind lay in the recognition of the fact that the -canyon had been occupied by some one—perhaps by -the murderers themselves—at the moment of his -entrance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He disliked very much to give way to this reasoning, -but saw no way out of it. The disappearance -of both Jimmie and Kit led him to believe that -whoever had occupied the canyon at the time of his -arrival—if any one had—had represented a hostile -interest.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Suppose,” he proposed to Carl, “that you -hurry to the machines while I go into the cavern. -Or you might, if you see fit, pass in a short distance -with me and stand where you can watch the -machines, and at the same time follow my course -into the underground passage.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea!” cried Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ten feet in the passage turned abruptly to the -north and there the boys drew up. Ben pointed -straight ahead.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s a light!” he said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl glanced eagerly in the direction indicated -but saw nothing.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A ghost light!” he laughed.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='109' id='Page_109'>[109]</span>“No, but there is an illumination!” insisted Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Point it out, then,” chuckled Carl. “It is as -dark in there as a stack of black cats!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben looked amazed for an instant and then -started forward.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I did see a light!” he insisted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl laughed and stood at the angle of the passage -where he could see the machines, lighted by -one small acetylene lamp, and also follow the progress -of his chum into the interior.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps you did see a light,” he called after -the boy, “but if you did it got out of sight handily.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Directly Ben turned in the passage and waved -his light to attract Carl’s attention.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s another turn here,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Shall I come on in?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Watch the machines!” was the answer that -came back.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Still standing where he could see any light or -hear any noise proceeding from the cavern, Carl -kept his eyes fixed on the machines, rather dimly -outlined by the rays of the single lamp.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had remained in this position only a short -time when a cry of alarm came from the passage -down which Ben had proceeded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Swinging his light and answering the call by a -shrill whistle, the boy rushed forward.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='110' id='Page_110'>[110]</span>At the turning point he saw Ben, Jimmie and Kit -standing huddled about a figure lying on the stone -floor of the cavern.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Seeing his light, they beckoned him to approach.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You see,” Jimmie said with a chuckle as Carl -came up, “that we can’t visit any part of the world, -in the air or underground, that doesn’t yield an adventure. -Look what I found here!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What is it?” asked Carl, bending forward.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Chinaman!” was the short answer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys stood looking into each other’s faces -with wondering glances for a moment, and then -Ben bent closer over the figure lying on the stone -floor.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’s still alive!” he said, in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And tied up like a chicken!” Jimmie added, -pointing to the cords which bound the Chinaman’s -wrists and ankles.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Any old time we don’t go and find some one -tied up!” Carl laughed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where did you find him, Jimmie?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Wait a moment, boys!” Ben advised. “We’d -better get back to the machines before listening to -any long stories.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And I was just thinking,” Jimmie cut in, “that -I haven’t had any supper! I’m just about starved -to death!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps that’s what’s the matter with the -Chinaman,” observed Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='111' id='Page_111'>[111]</span>“Anyway, we’d better carry him out to the machines -and see how he acts when presented with a -square meal,” advised Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s all right!” Jimmie declared. “It’s all -right to rescue the perishing, and all that, but if -some forest ranger should come along here and -find us mixed up with a Chinaman, we’d all be -pinched!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do they smuggle on this coast?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course they do!” replied Jimmie scornfully.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Smuggle what?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Chinks and opium!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then I see myself owning the Night and Day -bank when I get back to New York!” Carl exclaimed. -“There’s a government reward for the -capture of men who run in Chinks and smuggle -opium!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, we may as well be getting back to the -machines,” urged Ben. “I’ll run on ahead and see -if they’re all right, and you boys may bring the -Chinaman along if you think best.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We’ll bring him along all right!” Jimmie answered. -“We can’t leave him lying here unconscious.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben found that the machines had not been molested, -and in a short time his chums returned -carrying the light form of the Chinaman with -them.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='112' id='Page_112'>[112]</span>The Celestial had regained consciousness and sat -gazing about with inquisitive eyes as soon as placed -on the ground.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who trussed you up?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The Chinaman shook his head until his queue -rattled about like a rope’s end in the wind.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He can’t talk United States,” Carl explained.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What are we going to do with him?” asked -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Keep him to do our laundry work!” chuckled -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you know about laundry work?” -asked Ben turning to the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I used to work in the laundry,” returned Kit. -“I had to do all the hard work and the big fat girls -got all the money.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Are you going to build a fire in that Devil’s -Kitchen we discovered?” asked Ben of Jimmie, as -the boy began bringing out provisions.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I should say not!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we can’t have any square meals!” Carl -exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What did you see in there?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“When I first went in,” Jimmie explained, “I -got a whiff which made me think of Pell street, in -little old New York. It was opium, all right, and -I began to understand what I’d stumbled into.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Could you see a light?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='113' id='Page_113'>[113]</span>“No light! There was only the smell and a -jabber which sounded to me like the chin-chin in -the back room of a laundry on Doyers street.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then there are more Chinamen in there?” exclaimed -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There were more in there!” replied Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where did they go?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit sat back against Ben’s leg and let out a roar -of laughter which for a moment prevented the question -being answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Ask Kit!” Jimmie suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you leave it to me,” Kit went on, still half -choking with laughter, “they slid into the ragged -little slashes between the rocks! One minute they -were scampering along in their soft slippers, and -the next they were out of sight just like they had -gone up in smoke.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess we’ve struck it!” Jimmie said in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t we always strike it?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet we do!” returned Jimmie. “But we -never struck a nest of Chinks before! What do -you suppose they’re doing here, anyway?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Waiting to get into Frisco,” answered Ben. -“They pay from four to eight hundred dollars -apiece for being smuggled into the country.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie sprang to his feet, almost overturning a -can of tomatoes from which he had been feeding.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But how did they get here?” insisted Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='114' id='Page_114'>[114]</span>“I know!” cried Jimmie all excitement. “I -know all about it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Wise little boy!” laughed Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now you just hold on!” Jimmie continued. -“You just wait until I unload a little of Solomon’s -wisdom on you boys.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Go ahead,” grinned Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You remember the light we saw when we came -to the coast line?” Jimmie demanded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course,” answered Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Jimmie went on, “that beacon was put -there for the purpose of directing some schooner -loaded with Chinks to this place. Now what do -you think of us stumbling right into a mess like -that?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess that’s right,” mused Ben. “The fire -was built on a headland to direct smugglers in. -Now, I wonder why we didn’t think of that before -and get farther away?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But we are at least two miles away from the -headland!” suggested Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course,” Ben returned, “for there is no -cove where a vessel might cast anchor along this -rocky wall. The Chinks are undoubtedly unloaded -near the headland where we saw the fire and brought -here to be kept until they can be set into the country.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='115' id='Page_115'>[115]</span>“That’s all right!” exclaimed Jimmie. “That’s -all right, so far as it goes, but what about our finding -this fellow all tied up?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a thing no fellow can find out!” grinned -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“When I followed Jimmie into the cave,” Kit -replied, “there wasn’t no Chinaman lying where -this fellow was found.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We can’t solve the mystery if we talk here all -night,” Ben observed, directly, “so we’d better get -our suppers and make up our minds what we’re -going to do through the night.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I want to sleep!” cried Jimmie and this sentiment -was echoed by all the others.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This is a nice, quiet place to sleep,” Ben said, -in a sarcastic tone, “especially,” he added, “as -there’s another beacon fire burning not far south of -us. If you look closely, you’ll see its reflection -lighting up the north wall of the canyon!”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'>[116]</span> - <h2 id='chapXI.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XI.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A DANGEROUS GAME.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“I’ll tell you my idea of the situation in about -one minute!” Jimmie broke in. “If you follow -my advice, you’ll get into the aeroplanes and get -away from this old smuggler’s den. I want to get -somewhere where I can lay down and sleep, and -get up and eat, and go back and sleep, and get up -and eat again, without being interrupted!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Does the young man express the sentiments of -the meeting?” asked Carl with a laugh.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He expresses mine!” answered Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And mine, too,” replied Ben, “only——”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Only, what?” demanded Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Only it strikes me,” Ben continued, “that -we’ve stumbled on a streak of luck.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t see how!” Jimmie argued.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here,” explained Ben, “if Phillips and -Mendoza are in this vicinity they are familiar with -the stir of outlaw life about this place. It is quite -probable that they know exactly what is going on, -and it is also quite probable that they have not -made their presence here known to the smugglers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='117' id='Page_117'>[117]</span>“Do you get the idea?” asked Carl turning to -Jimmie. “I’ll tell you right now that I don’t.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“So, you see,” Ben went on with a tolerant -smile, “the outlaws will credit any rumpus that -takes place here to the smugglers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s all right, so far as we’re concerned,” replied -Jimmie, “but what will the smugglers say to -our nesting down here and cuddling up to them?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I can answer that question!” Carl cut in. -“The first time we leave camp they’ll smash our -machines and consume our provisions!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m not so sure about that,” Ben mused. “I -have an idea that they’ll just naturally get their -imported Chinamen out of the way and abandon -the camp!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That beacon fire to the south may be shouting -a warning to the skies right now!” Jimmie exclaimed. -“They may be sending a mob up here, -right now, to steal our machines and give us decent -burial.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish Mr. Havens could drop out of the sky -just about now!” suggested Carl. “Perhaps he -could tell us what we ought to do.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I think I know what we ought to do now,” Ben -interrupted. “We ought to go down to the end of -the canyon and see if there are any steamers gathering -about that beacon light. We wouldn’t exactly -like to have a mob of cutthroats rushing in here -with another cargo of Chinks.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='118' id='Page_118'>[118]</span>“That’s a fact!” Carl agreed. “We ought to -be finding out what that beacon means!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys walked down to the end of the canyon -and looked almost straight below into the tumbling -surf of the Pacific ocean. The second beacon was -on a headland a little more than a quarter of a -mile to the south.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Its flames leaped high in the comparatively still -air, and a wide area of mountain and sea was disclosed. -Standing out a short distance, pitching -heavily in the swell of the ocean, lay two coast -steamers of fair size.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There they are!” Carl exclaimed. “Just -watch, and you’ll see boats loaded with Chinks making -their way to some cove in the coast not far distant.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, what are we going to do?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We just can’t stay here!” shouted Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course not!” Jimmie added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What about it, Kit?” Ben asked, turning to -the boy with a laugh.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t care where you take me, so long as -there’s something to eat there!” the lad answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After a long consultation, it was decided to take -the machines out of the canyon that night. The -boys knew that in time the unlawful acts of the -smugglers would bring them to punishment. Their -arrest might take place within one day, or within -one year, but, whenever it was, the lads decided -<span class='pageno' title='119' id='Page_119'>[119]</span>that they could not afford to be in any way implicated -by knowledge of the smuggling, or by being -in a position to be suspected of knowing more than -they really did.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After a hastily-eaten supper, the boys ran the -<i>Bertha</i> around so as to face the sea and stowed on -board of her the packages of provisions which had -been removed and opened.</p> - -<p class='c009'>This done, Ben ran both machines back to the -crag and paced the distance to the abrupt drop into -the sea.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How far is it?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Something less than a hundred paces!” was the -reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The machines will rise in that distance, all -right!” Carl cut in.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If they do, it’s all right,” Ben answered, “and -if they don’t, we’ll all be dumped into the Pacific -ocean.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” chuckled Jimmie, “we came clear -across the continent to get to the Pacific ocean, -didn’t we?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Couldn’t we swim out?” asked Kit innocently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Probably,” grinned Carl, “with a surf washing -twenty feet up on the rocks! Why,” he continued, -“there wouldn’t be enough of us left in a -minute to wad a gun.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='120' id='Page_120'>[120]</span>“The <i>Louise</i> will make it all right!” Jimmie insisted. -“I’ve pulled her into the air in less than two -hundred feet!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The <i>Bertha</i> can make anything the <i>Louise</i> can,” -Ben answered rather impatiently. “I’ll go first -with Kit and see what the prospects are,” he continued. -“If I’m not killed, you can follow.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit shivered as he stepped into the seat.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish right now,” he grumbled, “that I was -asleep in Robinson’s barn.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Steady now, hold her right!” Jimmie called -out, as Ben pressed the starter and the wheels under -the aeroplane began to revolve. “Hold her tight -and steady, and push on the bottom of the seat when -you get over the ocean. If you drop, whistle!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Cut it out, you little idiot!” stormed Carl. -“That’s no fool of a trick Ben’s trying to do! The -air massed before and under the machine as it -moves along over the ground will push over the precipice, -and then the aeroplane will shoot downward, -no matter if the wheels do leave the surface before -she comes to the edge.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That will be all right, if she comes up again!” -Jimmie grinned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps you wouldn’t feel so merry over the -proposition if you were going in the first machine,” -Carl said, impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Huh!” grunted Jimmie with an exasperating -smile, “we’ve got to go over the precipice, too, -haven’t we?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='121' id='Page_121'>[121]</span>The <i>Bertha</i> wheeled slowly and steadily down -the slight incline toward the line of demarcation between -the white sand and the open air, the Pacific -pounding upon the rocks a thousand feet below. -Watching the flying machine at the critical moment, -Jimmie’s red hair almost lifted his cap from his -head as the great planes swept for a moment below -the level of the canyon floor.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The planes rose again in a second, however, and -lifted almost instantly into the red light of the -beacon fire gleaming from the headland below. It -seemed to the anxious boys that she must drop -down again, but, instead, the planes lifted higher -and higher until she sailed like a bird out of the -limited circle of illumination.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now for it, Carl!” shouted Jimmie, and together -they sprang to their seats and started the -<i>Louise</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Notwithstanding the fact that the <i>Bertha</i> had -made the trip into the air in safety, the young -aviators felt shivers navigating their backs as they -dropped down at the edge of the precipice.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For an instant it seemed as if the motors would -never lift the planes in time to prevent a tumble into -the ocean, but at last the <i>Louise</i> leaped upward and -onward, past the light of the signal fire, and into -the semi-darkness which lay over the scenery.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='122' id='Page_122'>[122]</span>By this time Ben was some distance away with -the <i>Bertha</i>. Jimmie turned the <i>Louise</i> in his direction -and the two flying machines were soon side -by side. For a moment the boys tried to converse -together, but the clatter of the motors and the rush -of air prevented the spoken words from reaching -the ears of the others.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Failing to communicate to Jimmie and Carl the -thing which was on his mind, Ben lifted a hand and -quickly pointed to the north.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The headland in that direction still flamed red -with the signal which had been observed at twilight.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Although the distance was nearly two miles, the -boys saw that people were moving about the fire. -Straight west from the headland a second schooner -lay rocking on the pulse of the waves.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a wonder the government wouldn’t send -gunboats down here!” shouted Jimmie in his -chum’s ear. “It’s bananas to beams that both those -steamers are carrying contraband goods in the -shape of Chinks and opium.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They can carry anything they like, so long as -they let us alone!” Carl answered back.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a time both machines passed straight out to -the west, rising slightly as they advanced. Then -Ben turned away to the south, evidently with the -intention of passing above the deck of the steamer -which lay in front of the second beacon.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='123' id='Page_123'>[123]</span>Jimmie, of course, followed his example, and directly -both flying machines dipped down to within -a hundred yards of the deck. There was no longer -any doubt concerning the mission of the vessel. At -least a score of Chinamen were in sight.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The appearance of the flying machines naturally -created great excitement on the deck below. Hairy-faced -sailors shook their fists violently upward, and -the Chinamen were driven like cattle into a hatchway -and passed out of sight.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We haven’t got a line on the bank burglars -yet!” Jimmie shouted into Carl’s ear, “but we’ve -butted in on a mighty prosperous game just the -same!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben, of course, was beyond the reach of his -chum’s voice, but he expressed his acknowledgment -of the situation by turning in his seat and waving -an arm in the direction of the <i>Louise</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As soon as the two aeroplanes passed beyond the -beacon on the headland, they turned to the sea again -and moved out some distance from the shore. It -was the intention, of course, to pass down the coast -in quest of another landing-place, and they swung -out to sea in order that their movements might not -be observed in case they were watched from the -mountain.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Perhaps three miles from the second beacon and -schooner they turned sharply to the east and lifted -to an altitude sufficient to enable them to cross the -line of summits which guarded the coast.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='124' id='Page_124'>[124]</span>They proceeded in this direction for a short time -passing over what seemed to them to be the highest -peak of the Sierra de Santa Lucia, and then -dropped down into what appeared, in the dim light -of the stars, to be a round bowl of a valley between -two parallel ridges.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was desperate and creepy work, settling down -to earth, but the usual luck of the boys prevailed, -and before long they found themselves in a grassy -valley some two thousand feet below the summit. -They all shivered as they stepped out of their seats -and gathered in a group.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What did you see when you crossed the summit?” -asked Ben, turning to Jimmie. “Anything -particular attract your attention?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“To tell you the truth,” the boy replied, “I was -so frightened, and so busy following your lead, that -I saw only the neck-breaking places below and the -stars above.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Ben went on, “if you had taken a good -look to the north, you would have seen a flying machine -hovering over the headland where we saw the -first signal.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A flying machine?” repeated Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what I said!” insisted Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And that means,” Jimmie argued, “that the -blond brute who tried to blow up our aeroplanes -not far from St. Louis reached the ocean about the -time of our arrival.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the way it looks to me,” Ben agreed.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='125' id='Page_125'>[125]</span>“Have you any idea he saw us?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve been thinking about that,” Ben answered, -“and I can’t quite make up my mind. You see,” he -went on, “it’s just this way: If he crossed the -range while our machines were reflecting the light -of the lower beacon, he undoubtedly saw us. If he -crossed after we passed out to sea and turned back -to the east, he probably doesn’t know that we’re -here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’ll find out quick enough!” suggested Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, the fellows who were sneaking the -Chinamen across the Mexican border will tell him -all right!” was the answer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t you ever think they’ll tell him,” Ben -broke in. “He won’t give them a chance to tell -him anything! He’ll dodge them as if they had the -small-pox.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s about right,” Jimmie agreed. “He’ll -head straight for Phillips and Mendosa and tell -them that there’s a red-headed boy who will cross -their life-lines in about twenty-four hours!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I hope he doesn’t know where to find them!” -Ben observed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He probably does,” Ben suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Say,” cried Jimmie dancing about on his toes, -“I don’t believe he knows where they are any more -than we do—nor half so much.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s the answer?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='126' id='Page_126'>[126]</span>“Do you remember the note Kit found in the -barn where that monkey-faced aviator had his arm -set?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a fact!” exclaimed Ben. “Who’s got -the note now?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I have!” shouted Jimmie. “I have it at this -moment secreted about my person, but it isn’t necessary -for me to read it again to tell what it says. -It gives an address and the address is Two Sisters -canyon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This blond cruiser may have a copy of it,” suggested -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course, he may,” returned Jimmie, “but I -don’t believe it. This monkey-faced fellow seems -to me to be the big squeeze in this game, and thieves -don’t trust each other a little bit.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys talked, the aeroplane which had -been observed in the light of the north beacon came -sailing over the summit to the west and dipped -down toward the surface only a short distance away -from where the boys were sitting.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There!” Ben observed, “he either saw and -followed us, or he knows where Two Sisters canyon -is and is heading for it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“As the Bureau of Forecasts would say,” -chuckled Jimmie, “threatening weather may be expected -about this time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It looks to me like I never would get any more -sleep!” wailed Kit.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='127' id='Page_127'>[127]</span> - <h2 id='chapXII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE FIGHT IN THE CABIN.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“It strikes me,” Havens observed, as he sat at -the little table in the screened-off corner of the -<i>Nancy’s</i> cabin, gazing at the brutal features of Captain -DeMott, the son of the old hag who had so deceived -him. “It strikes me,” he repeated, “that -you people have some strong motive for getting me -out of the way.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sartin, sure,” answered Captain DeMott.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I must give you credit for capable management,” -Havens went on, with a smile. “How did -you ever get me out of the stateroom?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>DeMott chuckled, shaking his broad shoulders, -but did not answer the question. Then his wicked -face hardened.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Fishing for millionaires in New York,” he -commented, “is about the surest and safest sport -a-going at this time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The old fellow poured himself a liberal portion -of whiskey from the bottle and drank it greedily, -smacking his lips heartily.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='128' id='Page_128'>[128]</span>“We had trouble getting you to the house,” he -finally said, “and were afraid to carry you from -there on board the <i>Nancy</i>. So the old woman says -to me that if we would leave you to her care for a -short time, she’d send you into the cabin of this -here vessel of your own accord.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Very cleverly done!” commented Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The man took another drink out of the bottle -and refilled his foul briar pipe. Havens sat in -a brown study during the latter operation. Captain -DeMott seemed to be the only person besides -himself on board the boat, and he was wondering -if it would be possible to overcome the fellow and -secure his freedom.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Once out of the boat and into the river, he would -be safe from pursuit, for a police barge would undoubtedly -spring into motion at the splash.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Desperate as the situation was, the young millionaire -decided that he ought at least to make the -attempt.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Presently DeMott, probably entering upon a -small celebration in honor of an adventure so -craftily carried out, stepped to the cupboard and -brought forth another bottle of liquor.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You needn’t mind inspecting the fastenings of -the hatch or the windows,” leered the captain as -he seated himself again. “I saw you doing of it -while I was at the cupboard, so I’ll tell you for -your own information that the hatch is locked down -hard and fast, and that the windows are likewise -fastened.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'>[129]</span>Havens smiled grimly but made no reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Likewise,” continued the captain, his voice -growing slightly unsteady, “I hold in these here -pockets of mine two automatic revolvers which I -have a habit of using in case anything unpleasant -turns up.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I presume,” Havens said after a time, “that -the offer I made to Mother DeMott would be rejected -by you.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I haven’t seen Mother DeMott,” was the answer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I offered her twenty-five thousand dollars,” -said Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That is a tidy sum, too,” the captain mumbled. -“And yet,” he went on, “what would twenty-five -thousand bucks amount to if one got a knife in his -back for the taking of ’em?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You seem to be connected with a cheerful sort -of a gang,” Havens suggested. “I don’t think -I’d like such associates.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a gang that meets treachery with cold -steel!” said the captain savagely. “Always cold -steel for traitors!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve heard,” Havens observed in a moment, -“that Phillips and Mendoza regard human life very -lightly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Captain DeMott sprang to his feet with an oath.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='130' id='Page_130'>[130]</span>“I said nothing about Phillips and Mendoza,” he -shouted, shaking his fist in the millionaire’s face. -“I never saw either one of them!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Notwithstanding the emphatic denial of the captain, -Havens knew then where to look for accessories -after the fact in the case of the two murderers. -There was no longer any doubt as to the -interest which had connived at his abduction.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The clock on the cabin wall denoted the hour of -three, and Havens knew that whatever was done -must be done at once.</p> - -<p class='c009'>With the morning others would undoubtedly -make their appearance on board the <i>Nancy</i>, and -then escape would be practically impossible. The -captain sat at the table for some moments, now, in -gloomy silence, occasionally lifting a pair of bloodshot -eyes to the face of his captive. At last, however, -the millionaire’s opportunity came.</p> - -<p class='c009'>DeMott, swinging sullenly about in his swivel -chair, brought his broad back against the edge of -the table, on the other side of which Havens sat.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens lifted suddenly in his chair, seized the -brawny neck with both muscular hands and drew -the fellow back upon the table. The furniture was -old and creaky, but it held under the added weight. -DeMott naturally threw his great hands to his -throat to remove the pressure which was shutting -the air out of his lungs, but Havens held fast.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='131' id='Page_131'>[131]</span>The man struggled fiercely, desperately, but the -nervous fingers never left his throat. Finally the -captain managed to throw himself to the floor, and -then he almost succeeded in gripping the throat of -his opponent. But Havens was an athlete, and an -expert at the wrestling game, so the fellow’s effort -failed of success.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After what seemed to the millionaire to be an -infinite number of hours, DeMott lay unconscious -on the cabin floor. Possessing himself of one of -the fallen man’s automatic revolvers, Havens -looked about for the key to the cabin hatch. It was -not in the captain’s pocket, but he found it in a -drawer of the desk.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When he opened the hatch there was a pearly -light in the east, and already the river was astir -with moving craft. After a moment’s thought, he -got softly into the water and moved toward the -pier. He heard a shout and saw a police boat moving -toward him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Uttering a cry for assistance, he remained stationary -until he was picked up by the guardians of -the river. Very fortunately the man in charge of -the squad was an intelligent and observing officer -of long experience in river work. He knew the -shady reputation of the <i>Nancy</i>, and remembered, -also, that her captain was in great demand at Sing -Sing, from which place he had taken his departure -without the formality of a permit. This being the -case, Havens had little difficulty in explaining the -situation. He was permitted to depart after disclosing -his identity.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='132' id='Page_132'>[132]</span>When he turned back to the pier and looked at -the <i>Nancy</i> in the growing light of day, he saw half -a dozen blue-coated officials swarming over the -sides. Shivering from his bath in the river, faint -from the excitement and exertion of the night, the -millionaire waited at the head of the pier on the -chance of seeing a taxicab.</p> - -<p class='c009'>None appeared, however, and he was obliged to -walk some distance before seeing one of the nighthawks -which prowl the streets of New York between -midnight and morning. Without stopping a -moment for refreshment, he ordered the chauffeur -to drive with all speed to his city garage. His own -chauffeur was awakened with difficulty, but finally -the journey to the hangar in Westchester county -was fairly begun.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In five minutes after the arrival of the master the -whole place was illuminated and a dozen men were -at work.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here, Hilton,” Havens said to the night-watchman, -“I want the <i>Ann</i> put in shape for a -long journey, and I want the trick turned in less -than an hour. I want provisions and gasoline sufficient -for two days, and I don’t want a word spoken -concerning the departure of the flying machine. -Do you understand?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, sir,” answered Hilton.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='133' id='Page_133'>[133]</span>“If any of the people ask about the departure of -the <i>Ann</i>,” the millionaire went on, “tell them that -she has gone out on a trial trip. They will presume, -of course, that she was taken out by an aviator.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, sir,” replied Hilton.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And, another thing,” commanded Havens, “if -any telegrams arrive here for me, the reply is to be -made that I took a sleeper for the west last night. -It may be also said if the messages are pressing that -I unaccountably left the sleeper before the departure -of the train, and since that time have not been -seen.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You expect telegrams, sir?” asked Hilton.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There may be several,” answered the millionaire.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In an hour, as per orders, the <i>Ann</i> was ready for -flight, fully provisioned for a long voyage and with -tanks well loaded with gasoline. After giving Hilton -positive instructions to inform his secretary -that all inquiries should be answered as stated -above, Havens stepped into the seat and whirled -away.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At that hour, it will be remembered, the boys -were watching their machines in the open field a -short distance east of the Mississippi river. All -that day, while the lads waited in and about the -St. Louis post-office, telegraphing to the hangar at -frequent intervals, the millionaire was speeding -swiftly in their direction. At the Forest Park -hangar Havens secured his first news of the -boys.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='134' id='Page_134'>[134]</span>However, the superintendent knew nothing whatever -of the destination of the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>. -The boys, he reported, had been non-communicative. -The millionaire, however, was glad -to learn that the lads had proceeded thus far on -their way without serious accident. After filling his -tanks and taking a short rest at one of the leading -hotels, Havens continued his way.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As will be seen by the reader, he was only a -short distance in the rear of the <i>Louise</i> and the -<i>Bertha</i>. The <i>Ann</i> was a much more powerful machine -than either of the ones owned by the boys, -and Havens was noted for his reckless driving, so -it is quite possible that he would have caught a -glimpse of the two flying machines at some stage of -the journey if the latter had kept farther to the -north as had been agreed upon.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As Havens swept rapidly over the country he -was more than satisfied with the steps he had taken -to prevent pursuit. But he was out of touch with -the boys as well as with his business associates! -He still considered the situation a desirable one for -the reason that he was also out of touch with the -mercenaries who had given him such a bad night -on the water front!</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='135' id='Page_135'>[135]</span>And so, flying swiftly, stopping only to rest for -a few hours at time, and for gasoline and provisions, -Havens crossed the continent in his powerful -machine, and, one morning, caught sight of the -pretty little city of Monterey, nestling on the border -of the bay of the same name. His next task -would be to locate the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='136' id='Page_136'>[136]</span> - <h2 id='chapXIII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>IN RANGER UNIFORM.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Speaking about sleep,” Ben observed, as Kit -made the remark that he never expected to get any -more, “reminds me that we can’t go on like this -forever. It will soon be daylight, now, and the -chances are that the fellow in the other flying machine -will lie low for a time for the same reason -that we shall. In other words, he won’t want to -attract undue attention by hovering over the mountains -in plain sight of forest rangers and tourists.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a mighty pleasant conclusion!” laughed -Jimmie. “It means that all we’ve got to do now is -to leave one man to guard the machines and sleep -all day!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll do the watching stunt,” offered Kit. “I had -a great sleep back there in the other canyon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You might have had a longer one if you hadn’t -followed Jimmie into the cavern,” suggested Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='137' id='Page_137'>[137]</span>“Well,” replied Kit, “you fellows made so much -noise that I couldn’t sleep, and I saw Jimmie’s light -disappearing in the cave, and so I just naturally -sneaked in after him! I got there just in time, too,” -he went on, “for I believe those Chinks would have -devoured Jimmie if they hadn’t seen some one else -coming!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Speaking of Chinks,” laughed Carl, “I wonder -what that Chink thought when he saw us heading -our machines directly for the precipice.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a good bet that he didn’t stop long enough -to think,” Ben suggested. “The chances are that -he flew back to his companions in the cave at a pace -that set his pigtail straight out in the air.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You found him tied up, didn’t you?” asked -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We sure did,” replied Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then why should he go back to the people who -served him a trick like that?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a fact,” Jimmie replied, “I never thought -of that.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, I’d give a dollar to know what they were -doing to him, anyway,” Carl put in. “I can’t -understand why they should tie up one of their own -crowd in that way.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He was a queer-looking fellow,” suggested Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Just washee-washee!” Jimmie insisted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Kit went on, “when I held the light in -his face and bent down over him, it seemed to me -that he drew a grin that meant something more -than amazement. And, then, did you notice how he -chuckled when we turned him loose?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='138' id='Page_138'>[138]</span>“I only noticed that he smelled like a Chinese -laundry!” Jimmie answered. “I never did like a -Chink.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, if we sit around here talking all day, we -won’t any of us get any sleep,” Carl exclaimed, after -a while. “We’ll give Jimmie a chance to get up -one of his square meals, and then all flop in this -nice soft grass and wake up when we hear the sun -going down.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’ll suit me!” Kit said. “I wouldn’t sleep -if I had a chance! You fellows go to it, and I’ll -watch the machines.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The breakfast was not so elaborate as the boys -desired, but there was plenty of it, and in a short -time the three were stretched out on the grass -sound asleep, their faces protected by a rude awning -hastily constructed out of a shelter tent.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit wandered about the little valley aimlessly for -a long time. The whole situation was new to him, -and he was filled with wonder at the things he had -seen since leaving the little settlement where the -boys had found him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The valley where the flying machines had landed -has been called a little bowl between two parallel -ridges. The word bowl describes it exactly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='139' id='Page_139'>[139]</span>It was as round as if dug out by the hand of man. -The bottom was covered with lush grass, and -through the center a small stream trickled from -ridge to ridge. Where the rivulet started and -where it ended no one knew. For years the valley -had been known as the Place of the Lost Brook.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The sides were heavily timbered to the very summits -which shut in the bowl. Through some freak -of nature, however, there was no undergrowth or -trees at the very bottom. Perhaps the soil, being a -wash from the rocks around in prehistoric days, provided -only sufficient nourishment for the grass which -grew there.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After walking around the grassy bowl, and crossing -the stream at least a dozen times, Kit turned his -face toward the wooded slope to the west. He was -soon in the heart of a forest, the trees of which -interlaced their boughs far above his head. The sun -shone warmly on the softly swaying tops, and there -was a stir of insect life in the air. He knew that -the summit of the ridge he was climbing was merely -a convex wrinkle in the side of the lofty mountains.</p> - -<p class='c009'>His idea as he climbed steadily upward, always -keeping his eye on the little valley where the machines -lay, was to reach the top and look into the -next canyon in the hope of seeing the flying machine -which had been observed during the dark hours of -the night. Wearied from his long climb, he finally -sat down and leaned against the bole of a sprawling -sycamore tree.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'>[140]</span>Birds were winging their way among the branches -of the trees, and the drone of insect life was in his -ears. In fact, the boy would have been asleep in -another moment if an unexpected thing had not -occurred.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The bushes directly in front of him parted, and, -with a grunt like that of an overfed hog, a gigantic -grizzly bear lumbered into the little clearing under -the boughs of the tree.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit had never seen a grizzly bear before. In -fact, his knowledge concerning all wild animals was -limited. At that moment, however, instinct told -him that the bear was not friendly to his species.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At first it seemed that the animal was equally -surprised with the boy, for he drew hastily back, -his pig-like eyes glaring viciously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The fellow was evidently not very hungry, but at -the same time he did not propose to overlook a -feast of boy. The next thing Kit saw was a figure -advancing toward him on a pair of hind legs which -seemed to him to be larger than the trunk of the -tree against which he leaned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>With a shout which he now declares must have -been heard in San Francisco, he sprang for an -overhanging limb and drew himself up. A person -less agile and, perhaps, less frightened, would have -been unable to escape the sweep of the bear’s paw -which followed his spring.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='141' id='Page_141'>[141]</span>The bough bent low under the weight of the boy, -but he seized another just above it, and in a short -time was walking up the tree like one passing from -one rung of a ladder to another. Bruin sat down -under the sheltering branches, evidently intending -to remain there until his dinner should be served. -Kit looked down upon him scornfully.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Come on up, bear!” he shouted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Bruin growled out a refusal.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here, bear,” Kit explained, talking to the -animal as if he understood every word that was -said, “you ought to go on your way immediately, -for I have two flying machines to watch, and consequently -have no time to visit with you. Go on -away, now!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Bruin uttered a series of vicious growls at the -sound of the boy’s voice, but refused to honor the -request.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m in a nice box, now!” wailed Kit. “If I -only had a gun, I could fill this wild animal full of -lead, but I haven’t got any gun, and I guess I’ve got -to stay here until some of the boys wake up and -come to the rescue. I’m in a bad fix!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The bear did not seem to agree with the boy in his -estimate of the situation, for he appeared to be contented -as he shambled around under the tree, looking -up into the branches with greedy eyes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now,” thought Kit after the situation had held -for at least half an hour, “I wonder how I’m going -to shake this brute. If I let out a yell, people we -<span class='pageno' title='142' id='Page_142'>[142]</span>don’t want to know anything about our presence -here may follow the sound of my voice and make -trouble with the machines before the boys get up.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>An hour passed and the bear showed no signs of -impatience.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If I had a good round rock about the size of a -hen’s egg,” declared Kit, “I believe I could raise a -welt on his nose that would put him on a fluid diet -for a month! But I haven’t got any rock, and I -haven’t got any gun,” wailed the boy. “All I’ve -got left is my voice, and I’m going to use that right -now!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In accordance with this decision, Kit threw back -his chest and let out a shout which, as he believed, -must have been heard far beyond the camp. Indeed -it was heard at a point more distant than the -place where the machines were standing. The boy -listened in suspense for an answer to his call, and -was soon gratified to see a motion in the undergrowth -to the right.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello!” a voice cried in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look out!” Kit answered. “There’s about a -ton of bear under this tree! He’s waiting for his -dinner!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Bruin sniffed in the direction of the newcomer, -but continued to give the most of his attention to -the tree and the boy it held.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why don’t you shoot him?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Got no gun!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='143' id='Page_143'>[143]</span>“Jump down and run, then,” suggested the other.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not me!” replied Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Almost before the words were out of his mouth, -the whizz of a bullet cut the air, and the bear -dropped, floundering and gasping, to the ground.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You can come down now!” said the stranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Holy Smoke!” shouted Kit. “How did you -shoot that bear without firing a gun? Is he really -dead?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’s as dead as he ever will be!” was the -reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did you throw something at him?” asked Kit, -still wondering.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy heard a chuckle in the bushes but saw no -one.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I have a silencer on my gun,” the voice said directly. -“I don’t care to advertise every bullet I -send out.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy dropped down from the tree and stood -for a moment over the bear, still twitching spasmodically, -but undoubtedly dead.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then a man in the uniform of a forest ranger -stepped out and looked the boy over curiously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re a little mite of a fellow to be in a mix-up -like this,” the ranger said. “Where are your -friends?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Down in the valley,” replied the boy. “We -came across in flying machines and we’re taking a -little rest.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='144' id='Page_144'>[144]</span>“Rather a dangerous locality to take a little rest -in,” smiled the other. “You ought not to remain -here long.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why don’t you go down and talk to the boys?” -asked Kit. “I left them asleep by the machines.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” the visitor said, after a moment’s hesitation, -“I may give you a call this evening, if you are -still in the valley. Just now I have an important -engagement.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We’ll be glad to see you,” replied Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“So you came over in flying machines, did you?” -asked the man in ranger’s uniform.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what we did,” replied the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you call the machines?” asked the -other.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“From New York, eh?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, from New York,” replied the unsuspecting -boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” said the man after a moment’s thought, -“I’ll probably call on your friends to-night. I never -fail to have a good time in the company of flying -machine boys. By the way,” he added as he turned -away, “have you seen anything of a third machine -in this vicinity?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the man spoke he lifted his left hand to brush -a twig out of his path and Kit saw that the little -finger was missing at the first joint.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='145' id='Page_145'>[145]</span>“No,” the boy replied in a moment, making a -mental note of the crippled hand. “I don’t think -there’s any other machine here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>For the first time during that interview the boy -realized that he had been talking too much. Therefore, -he denied any knowledge of the aeroplane -which had crossed the mountains during the night.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The ranger departed, and Kit hastened to the -camp to find the boys awake and anxious concerning -his absence. Of course he was all excitement -over the encounter with the bear, but he told of -his conversation with the ranger hesitatingly, for -he disliked to admit that he had been too talkative -with an entire stranger. He explained the good -turn the ranger had served him and added that they -might have company that night.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Forest ranger, is he?” asked Ben as the boy -concluded his story.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He wore a ranger’s uniform, anyway!” replied -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And he asked you all about us, didn’t he?” -Jimmie quizzed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, he asked a few questions, yes.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And you told him all about our coming from -New York, and the names of our machines, and -everything else you could think of, didn’t you?” -questioned Carl. “You were so glad he saved your -life that you told him all you knew?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='146' id='Page_146'>[146]</span>“I told him about New York, and about the -machines,” was the hesitating reply. “He didn’t -seem to care much about details.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What sort of a looking man is he?” asked -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, he looks all right,” Kit replied. “I couldn’t -describe him. When he lifted his left hand I saw -that the little finger was off at the first joint. That’s -all I know about him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s enough!” Ben exclaimed. “We don’t -have to know any more about him! Phillips has -a frank, pleasant manner, and his little finger on -the left hand is off at the first joint, too, but perhaps -that is only a coincidence!” he added with -a scornful smile.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit actually turned pale under all his freckles.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is that one of the men you boys have been telling -me about?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I haven’t a doubt of it!” replied Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit, very much ashamed of himself, crawled -under the shelter-tent where the boys had been -sleeping and refused to be comforted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s just this way, boys,” Ben said as they stood -looking into each other’s faces, questioningly. “It -looks like we’ll have to get out of this cosy little -valley right away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='147' id='Page_147'>[147]</span>“Phillips doesn’t know what we’re here for yet, -because he was inquiring for the third flying machine,” -Jimmie replied. “If he wants to come to -the camp to-night, let him trot right along. If he -isn’t warned in time we may be able to tie him up -like a pig for market.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='148' id='Page_148'>[148]</span> - <h2 id='chapXIV.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A GAME OF TAG STARTED.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Carl walked over to where Kit lay under the -shelter-tent and, seizing him by one leg, drew him -forth into the sunlight.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s all right, Kit!” he exclaimed. “We’ve -decided that you did a mighty good thing in locating -Phillips. We know where he is now, and so -it will be all the easier to catch him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit rubbed his eyes sheepishly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I thought I’d given the whole snap away,” he -said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You couldn’t have done a better job,” Carl insisted. -“You see it’s this way,” he continued. -“Phillips and Mendoza are still unaware that they -have been followed to this locality. At least, we -judge so because this alleged ranger asked you concerning -a third machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I begin to understand,” said Kit brightening.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='149' id='Page_149'>[149]</span>“This third machine,” continued Carl, “is evidently -operated by the man who tried to destroy -the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i> near St. Louis. He -came on from New York, the way we have it figured -out, to warn the two murderers of the steps -which were being taken for their capture.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we beat him to it!” cried Kit exultantly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, we beat him to it,” replied Carl. “And -here’s another reason,” the boy went on, “why we -think the outlaws have not yet communicated with -the messenger sent on from the east.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If Phillips had known all the messenger will -be able to tell him when they meet, he never would -have shown himself to you.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Jiminy!” exclaimed Kit. “Then I’d be up in -that bear tree yet!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You might be!” grinned Carl. “Anyhow, you -did a good job in locating the outlaws for us. We -know now that they’re in this section, and that is a -whole lot.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we must be somewhere near Two Sisters -canyon?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl replied that he believed that they must be, -and Kit tumbled back into the shelter-tent in a -more cheerful frame of mind.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s one thing about this situation that I’m -not at all pleased with,” Ben remarked, as the boys -began working over their machines, oiling, polishing -and giving them a more respectable appearance -generally. “We saw this third machine cross the -range and settle down somewhere off to the south. -<span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'>[150]</span>My idea is that it can’t be very far away at this -time, and I’m wondering whether the outlaw who -talked with Kit won’t find it before night.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet he will!” exclaimed Jimmie. “That -blond aviator who tried to blow up our machines -will find some way of letting the murderers know -that he has news for them.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then why don’t we go and drive this blond -aviator away?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’d like to know how we can do that?” asked -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We might get up in the air and drop a few -sticks of dynamite down on him!” suggested Carl. -“You know we always carry dynamite in small -quantities. He ought to be blown off the earth, -anyway!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s no doubt about that,” Ben cut in, “but -we ought not to be the ones to do it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, we ought to do something!” insisted Jimmie. -“If that blond brute gets to Phillips and -Mendosa, we may as well trek back to little old -New York! We never can find them in all this -mess of hills if they know we’re doing the detective -stunt.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys discussed the problem for a long time -without reaching any decision. At last Ben and -Carl went to the shelter-tent and fell asleep. There -had been very few hours of uninterrupted rest -since leaving New York, and the boys were really -“about all in” as Carl expressed it.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='151' id='Page_151'>[151]</span>Jimmie, thus left alone, climbed into one of the -seats of the <i>Louise</i> and sat for a long time in deep -thought, his freckled chin resting heavily in the -palm of his right hand.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t know what the boys would say,” the lad -finally mused, “but I’ve a great notion to try it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>He leaped to the ground and began a careful inspection -of the <i>Louise</i>, looking to every detail of -the mechanism.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish I knew whether he would or not,” the -boy thought, a slight smile coming to his face. “I -just wish I knew whether he’d be fool enough to do -it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Next, Jimmie went to the convenience box under -the seat and drew out two automatic revolvers and -a searchlight. He saw that the light was in good -working order and that the revolvers were loaded. -After that he drew on a belt stuffed with cartridges -and again took his place on the seat of the machine.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Looking about cautiously, almost furtively, at the -shelter tent and the <i>Bertha</i>, he saw Kit making his -way toward him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Come on, Kit!” Jimmie called out softly, so as -not to waken the others. “I was just wishing you’d -wake up. I want you to be a good little boy, now, -and watch the camp, and not associate with any -more grizzly bears until I come back.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='152' id='Page_152'>[152]</span>Kit looked into the boy’s face questioningly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And another thing,” Jimmie went on, “when -Ben and Carl wake up, advise them to go out and -get a haunch of bear. You can show them where -it is. Bear steak sounds mighty good to me! Only -for our excitement over the discovery you made, I -would have been out there long ago.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where are you going?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why,” replied Jimmie, “I’m just going out to -exercise my horse. She seems to be getting a little -lame standing in the stable.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why can’t I go?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ll have to watch the camp,” Jimmie answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit stood by the machine when Jimmie pressed -the starter. Instead of dropping back and clearing -away, the lad bounded nimbly into the seat and -looked up at Jimmie with a twisted smile on his -face. By this time the <i>Louise</i> was well under motion, -the wheels humming softly over the grass of -the green bowl in which she lay.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Jump!” cried Jimmie. “You’ve got to watch -the camp, you know!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit hung on tighter. The wheels of the aeroplane -left the earth and the propellers whirled softly -in the upper air.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='153' id='Page_153'>[153]</span>“Now you’ve gone and done it!” Jimmie exclaimed -half-angrily. “Now I’ve got to turn back -and let you out!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m going with you!” insisted Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re likely to get your neck broken!” advised -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess I can stand it if you can!” responded -the boy. “Anyway, my neck is long enough to tie.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie remained thoughtful for a moment, and -then turned to his chum.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Come to think of it,” he said, “I guess I would -better take you along. You always do seem to blunder -into the right procession. You located the outlaws -for us, and now you’re going out to be the -candy boy in the sleuth game. You’re all right, -Kit!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What are you going to do?” demanded the -boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here,” Jimmie declared. “We came out -here to do some flying machine stunts, didn’t we?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea!” answered Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, we haven’t done any stunts yet,” Jimmie -went on. “We just plugged across the continent, -half asleep all the time, like an old horse pulling a -cross-town car in New York. We’ve exercised our -machines good and plenty, but we haven’t had any -real lively fun yet.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s kept us awake, anyhow,” suggested Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='154' id='Page_154'>[154]</span>“Well,” Jimmie went on, “the machine that followed -us from New York is in one of the canyons -over to the south. You remember that we saw it -settling down in the darkness.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And it isn’t very far away, either,” suggested -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea!” returned Jimmie. “It is so -near at hand that this imitation ranger you saw is -likely to find it at any minute. If he does, it’s all -off with us!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“So you’re going to bump into this crooked -aviator yourself?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I aim to keep him busy all day!” Jimmie answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Up in the air, I presume?” queried Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Exactly,” replied Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then I ought to have stayed behind to watch -the camp,” Kit mused, regretfully. “The boys may -sleep for hours, and some one may wreck or steal -the <i>Bertha</i>. You see,” the boy continued, “I -thought you were only out for a short spin, so I -had the nerve to jump aboard.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s all right to have company,” laughed Jimmie, -“and now,” he added, turning on more power, -“we’ll have to quit talking, for I’m going to give -the motor a tip to get a move on, and her conversation -will drown anything we have to say. But -before I do this,” the boy went on, “I want to pass -you this automatic revolver, and tell you that if anything -happens to me I want you to catch hold of the -steering apparatus as you’ve been taught and keep -going toward the camp.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='155' id='Page_155'>[155]</span>“I couldn’t run a machine on a bet!” replied Kit -sorrowfully.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie laughed and turned on full speed. Just -as the <i>Louise</i> swung over the edge of the cup which -formed the round valley below, the boy saw Ben and -Carl, doubtless awakened by the starting of the -motors, rush out of the shelter-tent and wave toward -them. It was evident that the two boys left -in camp did not think much of Jimmie’s unannounced -excursion into the air, for their greeting -seemed to be more of a command to return than -anything else.</p> - -<p class='c009'>A mile away, Jimmie slowed down and, with a -field glass, began a close examination of every -gully, canyon, and valley which he passed. Finally -the glistening planes of an aeroplane came to view, -lying on a level stretch of rock only a short distance -from the main ridge.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Here we are, now!” thought the boy. “Here’s -the other machine! Now, if I can only coax him -out of his nest, and keep him amused through the -day, I’d like to know how he’s going to get time to -deliver the message sent by the underworld of New -York to Phillips and Mendosa?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the boy slowed down again, he saw a figure -running wildly around the aeroplane below. He -circled the little shelf, dropping lower at each swing. -<span class='pageno' title='156' id='Page_156'>[156]</span>Presently he darted away, as if satisfied with his -scrutiny, and the machine below lifted instantly and -gave chase.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And here,” mused Jimmie with a grin, “you’ll -see the liveliest game of tag ever pulled off in the -air!”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='157' id='Page_157'>[157]</span> - <h2 id='chapXV.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XV.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A CRIPPLED AEROPLANE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Left together in the camp, astonished and angry -at the sudden departure of Jimmie, Ben and Carl -saw the <i>Louise</i> disappearing with varying emotions.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now what did he do that for?” demanded Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’s always up to some mischief!” growled -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, if he’s going sailing around over the -mountains in broad daylight,” Carl suggested, “we -may as well go up to San Francisco and bring down -a band. A brass band wouldn’t give us any more -prominence in the community, and it might be more -amusing.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, the boy always has some fairly good reason -for what he does,” defended Ben, chuckling inwardly -at the daring of his chum, “but I wish he’d -tell us a little more about his plans before he -makes such breaks. It would take the strain off a -little!” he added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>From the valley in which the <i>Bertha</i> lay the boys -could not, of course, see what was taking place until -the <i>Louise</i> was high up above the lower summits, -with the third aeroplane in full pursuit.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='158' id='Page_158'>[158]</span>“Now, what do you think of that?” demanded -Carl. “That fool boy has found the crook’s machine, -and the chances are that he’ll be sorry he did -it before the day is over!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, well,” Ben replied, “we’ll have to wait and -see what comes of this absurd trip. Perhaps we’d -better be getting something to eat, so as to be ready -for a flight if the boy should need assistance.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the two were eating a hastily prepared -meal, an exclamation of astonishment came from -the vicinity of the <i>Bertha</i>, and they both sprang to -their feet and chased off in that direction.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At first no one could be seen, then a figure crawled -slowly out from under the planes and stood upright.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The Chink!” exclaimed Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, I wonder how he found his way here?” -Carl questioned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the fellow we released from captivity -over at the first stopping-place, isn’t it?” asked -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You may search me!” replied Carl. “Negroes -and horses and Chinamen all look alike, so far as -I’m concerned.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Me savvee you!” exclaimed the Chinaman, in -most outrageous pidgin English. “Me savvee you, -alle same.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='159' id='Page_159'>[159]</span>“Where’d you come from?” demanded Ben impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The Chinaman put a finger to his lips and looked -puzzled.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No can do!” he said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here!” Ben exclaimed. “How did you -ever find this place, anyway? If a Chink fresh -from the odorous Orient can walk in on us like -this, I’d like to know what an outlaw who really -meant business could do!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No can do!” repeated the Chinaman.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re the fellow we found tied up, aren’t -you?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Me savvee you!” was the only reply, the words -being accompanied by a foolish grin. “Me savvee -you, alle same.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben pointed to the provisions spread on a cloth -lying on the turf.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hungry?” he asked. “You seem to me to -look rather lank!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I bet you don’t shake your head at that, and -chatter out that everlasting ‘No can do’,” Carl -laughed. “Fall to, friend!” he added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The Chinaman quickly accepted this invitation, -and was soon devouring bread and butter, tinned -meats, and vegetables, as if he had eaten nothing before -for a week. The boys watched laughingly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='160' id='Page_160'>[160]</span>“We’re next to you!” Carl cried. “You came -to visit on purpose to get a good feed! Look here!” -he added as the Chinaman looked up with a submissive -grin, “what did those fellows tie you up -for?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No can do!” answered the Chinaman. “No -can do.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Go to it!” exclaimed Ben. “Put a couple of -pounds of groceries under your belt at our expense -and then you may be able to talk United -States.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No can do,” was the only answer received to -this suggestion.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Watching the man critically as he ate the provisions -with all the gusto of one near to the point of -starvation, Ben thought he saw indications of a -different sort of a life in his manner of handling -his food.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The fellow’s face expressed only stupidity. His -eyes were dull and staring, but the manner in which -he brought the food to his mouth was not that of -a man who had been trained to eat with chopsticks.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In a moment Ben drew his chum to one side.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s something strange about that Chink,” -he said, when they were out of hearing of their -strange guest. “He’s not as stupid or as ignorant -as he would have us believe. And he never -stumbled on us by chance, either! How does the -idea strike you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='161' id='Page_161'>[161]</span>“There is no doubt in my mind that the fellow -is disguised in manner and speech if not in person,” -Carl replied. “For all we know, he may be -one of the leaders of the smuggling gang.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then why should the bunch we found in the -cavern tie him up?” asked Ben. “You remember -the shape in which he was found?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess we’ll have to decide that we don’t know -anything about it!” Carl replied. “We only know -that we stirred up a nest of Chinamen, and that -they ran away from us like rats. We don’t know -where they went to either, although we may have -time to find out later on.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We might have learned something more concerning -the combination right there,” Ben grumbled, -“only for the second beacon light and the schooner. -Of course we couldn’t remain there with a new -bunch of smuggled Celestials swarming about our -ears.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We don’t know yet whether that schooner -landed any Chinamen or not!” suggested Carl. -“We had to duck away so fast that we couldn’t -see what took place. I wish we’d kept in the air -long enough to find out!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t wish anything of the kind!” Ben declared. -“Daylight was coming on and Mr. Havens -told us to keep out of the air except during the -night. After we round up Phillips and Mendoza, -we may take a throw at the smugglers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='162' id='Page_162'>[162]</span>“Perhaps Jimmie has gone over to the coast -now,” suggested Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Much good it will do him!” grumbled Ben, -“with that outlaw machine chasing him up! I’m -afraid the boy has got us into serious trouble,” he -added, “though I’m sure he meant everything for -the best!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>During this conversation the strange visitor had -been busy with the provisions. He now drew back -and regarded his hosts through half-open eyes. -The two boys approached the place where he sat.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Me savvee you, alle same!” the Chinaman said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As he spoke he drew one yellow finger across -a wrist and an ankle, thus indicating that he remembered -them as friends because they had released -him. Then he arose to his feet and looked about.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Savvee him,” he exclaimed pointing to the -<i>Bertha</i>. “Savvee mate, alle same!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The Chinaman pointed straight to the east as he -spoke.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you mean,” asked Ben, “that you saw a -machine like that in that direction? How long -ago was it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No can do!” replied the Chinaman shaking -his head vigorously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I believe he understands well enough,” exclaimed -Carl. “I believe he knows what we’re -talking about!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='163' id='Page_163'>[163]</span>The Chinaman gazed stupidly from one boy to the -other and then turned away. The lads gazed after -him in amazement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where are you going?” asked Ben, and the -Chinaman turned back.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Savvee you, alle same!” he replied and pointed -off to the north. “Savvee you, alle same,” he -repeated. “No can do.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Go to it!” shouted Carl. “Trot along and -play you’re in a Chinese laundry on Pell street. -We love to see you eat, but we don’t like the exuberance -of your conversation!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In ten minutes’ time the Chinaman, climbing the -steep dip of the bowl toward the north, disappeared -from view in a thicket.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, of all the consarned, everlasting, inscrutable -combinations I ever saw in my life!” exclaimed -Carl, “this combination of Chinaman and -ignorance and hunger is about the worst! Now, -what do you suppose he came in here for, and -then went away in broad daylight?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He probably came here to fill up!” answered -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you understand he meant by pointing -to the <i>Bertha</i> and then pointing east? It -seemed to me that he wanted to inform us that he -had seen a machine like that in that direction.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='164' id='Page_164'>[164]</span>“It might have been the outlaw machine now -chasing Jimmie,” suggested Ben. “He might have -seen it before it passed over to the coast. It’s a -wonder to me that he wouldn’t get out of the country -after being trussed up by his own people.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s just one of the mysteries of the case,” -laughed Carl. “We don’t know anything about -the Chinaman, or of Jimmie’s motive in going -away, or of the smugglers!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys gathered up the remnants of the meal -and sat down to wait for the return of their chum. -They had remained seated only a short time when -Carl called the other’s attention to the glistening -planes of a flying machine away to the north and -east.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s the Chink’s machine!” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Both boys sprang to their feet and Ben rushed -to the <i>Bertha</i> for a field glass. He looked steadily -at the machine for a moment before speaking, then -he handed the glass to Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s certainly one of the largest aeroplanes -I ever saw!” he cried. “I’ve seen big ones, but -I never saw anything like that before! What do -you make of it?” he continued as Carl lowered the -glass.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve been thinking,” the latter replied, “that -it might be the <i>Ann</i>!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If it is,” Ben answered, “she will miss us, for -there she goes straight off toward San Francisco. -She’ll miss us sure!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='165' id='Page_165'>[165]</span>“Why don’t we get up in the air and chase her -up?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I was just thinking of that,” answered Ben, -“but, you see, there’s Jimmie and Kit away, and -they’d never be able to find us!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t you ever think they won’t be able to find -us!” exclaimed Carl. “You can’t hide a flying -machine the size of the <i>Bertha</i> by taking it up in -the air. First thing we know,” he continued, “we’ll -have all four machines bunched. And then there’s -likely to be a mix-up!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Ben said, “if we’re going to start after -that flying machine, we may as well be getting under -way.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As will be remembered, the <i>Bertha</i> had been overhauled -early that very morning, and now it took -only a moment to get her into the air. When she -came to the lip of the valley the boys saw the large -aeroplane sailing northward at great speed. Before -Ben put on full power he turned to Carl with an -anxious look on his face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I shall have all I can attend to at the levers,” -he said, “so you’ll have to keep watch for Jimmie -and his outlaw escort. Keep your eye on the sky -every minute of the time, and if you see two flying -machines doing a Marathon, just give me a poke -in the ribs with your elbow.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl nodded and Ben put on full speed, after -which conversation was, of course, impossible.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='166' id='Page_166'>[166]</span>The machine ahead was going at terrific speed, -and the <i>Bertha</i> for a time had all she could do to -keep in sight of her. At that time it was not a question -of overhauling their quarry. The plucky little -<i>Bertha</i>, however, clung tightly to the chase, and -Ben saw crags, canyons, shelves of rock, and grassy -valleys go whirling under his feet as one watches a -swiftly flying landscape from the window of a -mile-a-minute train.</p> - -<p class='c009'>All through the exciting flight Carl kept his glass -in use. He searched the sea, now plainly visible to -the west, the green landscape to the east, and the -rocky summits to the north and south but for a -long time, caught no glimpse of what he sought. -After the chase had continued a couple of hours -the boys felt the machine sinking beneath them. -They both knew that there could be no good reason -for this, as everything had been in working order -only a short time before.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben examined the mechanism as carefully as he -could from his seat and Carl glanced apprehensively -at the tanks. Their judgment told them that everything -about the flying machine was exactly as it -should be, and yet she kept dropping down without -any apparent reason.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Straight ahead was a level summit comparatively -clear of rocks. Realizing that something -must be done at once, Ben shut off the motors and -volplaned down. The machine sank faster and -faster, and the boys looked at each other with -frightened eyes.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='167' id='Page_167'>[167]</span>It seemed as if the machine must fall short of the -summit!</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='168' id='Page_168'>[168]</span> - <h2 id='chapXVI.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE INSIDE OF A JAIL.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>As has been said, it was morning when Havens -caught sight of the pretty little city of Monterey on -the Pacific coast. He had traveled steadily all -night, and was very tired, so he decided to drop -down near the town and rest during the day. Remembering -the instructions he had given to the -boys, he had no thought of seeing either the <i>Louise</i> -or the <i>Bertha</i> in the air at that time.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The young millionaire had made a very swift -flight across the continent. It will be remembered -that he had left New York city something like -twenty-four hours after the departure of the boys. -The <i>Bertha</i> and the <i>Louise</i> had spent fully twenty-four -hours at St. Louis waiting for some news of -the <i>Ann</i>. On the morning when Havens alighted -a short distance from Monterey, the Flying Machine -Boys had been on the coast something like -twelve hours. It will be understood, therefore, that -the <i>Ann</i> had followed not far behind the <i>Louise</i> -and <i>Bertha</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='169' id='Page_169'>[169]</span>While the young millionaire was sleeping at a -neat hotel, after breakfast and a refreshing bath, -Ben and his chums were discussing the situation in -the little grass bowl into which they had dropped -the machines during the dark hours.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Before leaving the <i>Ann</i>, Havens had, as he -thought, taken extra precautions for her safety. -He had landed on a level surface in the outskirts -of the town, and had employed the man in charge -of the local garage to supply him with gasoline and -at the same time station guards about the machine.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While Havens slept a man who gave every indication -of having traveled over a long distance in -a short time dashed into the hotel office and up -to the counter. The clerk eyed him coolly, as became -a clerk having a proper respect for his own -dignity.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Havens!” panted the man. “Is Mr. Havens -here?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He is!” replied the clerk, readjusting the diamond -pin in his neck-scarf. “What do you want -of Mr. Havens?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I want to see him!” was the panting reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He left orders not to be disturbed!” growled -the clerk.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But he told me to let him know if anything -happened to his machine!” insisted the other. -“Will you send for him?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I will not!” answered the clerk impudently.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='170' id='Page_170'>[170]</span>“Then I shall have to go to his room!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I shall see that you don’t!” snarled the young -man behind the counter.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a serious matter!” almost shouted the man -in front of the desk.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Write out a message, explaining your errand,” -commanded the clerk, “and I’ll have a boy take it -to his room!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The panting man reached calmly and deliberately -over the counter, seized the obstreperous clerk by -the collar of his coat, and dragged him over the -obstruction. There he gave him such a shaking as -a dog might have given a rat, pitched him headlong -to the floor, and gaily mounted the stairs, taking -three at a jump.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When he reached the top step the hall was ringing -with his great bass voice, and a little crowd -was gathering below.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Havens! Havens! Havens!” called the man -who had assaulted the clerk.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was not necessary for him to call many times, -for the door of the millionaire’s room opened almost -instantly and his tired face looked out on -the man who was creating the disturbance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I thought I’d never get to you, Mr. Havens!” -declared the intruder.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You must have important information!” smiled -the millionaire.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='171' id='Page_171'>[171]</span>“I think,” the other went on, “that before we -stop to discuss possibilities, you’d better get your -clothing on and make a break for the field where -you left the airship!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In an instant Havens stood by the little heap of -clothing he had discarded not so very long before, -and he was soon dressed and ready for the street. -Then he turned to the red-faced man at his side.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What is it?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Rough-house!” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“At the flying machine?” asked Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” was the disgusted reply. “There’s a -man there claiming the machine as stolen property, -and there’s a crowd of yaps ready to back him up. -When I left, the two men I hired were standing -them off with loaded guns, but I don’t know how -long they can hold the fort,” he added with a smile. -“It looked pretty serious when I left.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a moment Havens was almost dazed by the -information. It meant that word of his departure, -and of that of the boys, had at last reached the -friends of Phillips and Mendoza on the Pacific -coast. In some manner the nature of his mission -was known there at Monterey, and the friends of -the two outlaws were already busy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The first to do,” Havens suggested, as they -passed down the stairway, “is to notify the officers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='172' id='Page_172'>[172]</span>“The fellow who claims the machine insists that -he is acting for the officers,” answered Stroup, the -garage man.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” continued Havens, “we’ll have to take -the sheriff and the chief of police out there, and -find out whether he does represent the officers or -not. We can soon settle his case.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid,” Stroup replied hesitatingly, “that -we won’t find any machine there when we get back. -It was just a riot!” he continued angrily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The machine not there!” shouted Havens leaping -for the door.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When he reached the porch in front of the little -hotel he missed Stroup and looked back. The garage -man stood in front of the clerk and the house -detective who were attempting to place him under -arrest for the assault recently committed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Enraged at the delay the young man hastened -back into the hotel office.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s the trouble here?” he demanded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The whiskey-faced man standing beside the clerk -tapped a brass badge on the lapel of his coat significantly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m the house detective!” he declared.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Glad to know you!” answered Havens. -“What’s up?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m arresting this man for assault and battery, -and for resisting an officer. He’s committed an -outrageous attack on the clerk.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='173' id='Page_173'>[173]</span>Stroup passed an inquiring glance at the millionaire, -and Havens quietly amused yet still anxious, -gave a slight nod.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The next instant the maul-like fist of the garage -man shot out with lightning rapidity, and the clerk -and the house detective tumbled over on the floor. -Before the clerk could straighten his necktie, or -the house detective staunch the flow of blood from -his nose, Havens and Stroup were well out of the -house and on their way toward the threatened flying -machine, both looking rather sober.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As luck would have it, the hotel ’bus was just -backing up to the walk a short distance away, and -the two fugitives immediately boarded her.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Drive to the aeroplane!” shouted Stroup.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Isn’t that rather indefinite?” asked Havens. -“We can’t afford to lose any time, you know.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Every man, woman, and child in town knows -where the flying machine is long before this!” answered -the driver with a smile. “I’ve sent three -loads out there this morning now,” he added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the ’bus lumbered away, half a dozen excited -individuals dashed out of the hotel door and -shouted for the driver to draw up. For a moment -the fellow hesitated and then began pulling on the -reins.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Get a move on! Get a move on!” shouted -Stroup.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But there seems to be other passengers,” argued -the driver.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='174' id='Page_174'>[174]</span>Havens hastily drew a ten-dollar bank-note from -his pocket and thrust it through the little opening -to the driver.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll charter the ’bus for the trip!” he said with -a smile. “Now run away from the whole bunch.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Are you the owner of the machine?” asked the -fellow.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He certainly is!” answered Stroup. “Go -faster!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll do that,” agreed the driver, “because I -think there’s something doing out there.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the lumbering old vehicle drew away, lurching -from side to side as the horses ran at full speed, -the crowd forming in front of the hotel took to -the middle of the street and followed on in hot -pursuit, shouting at the top of their lungs. Stroup -eyed the procession grimly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“At any rate,” he said, “we’re taking the right -course to bring all the officers in the city to the -field where the machine lies.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I hope they’ll get there before any mischief is -done,” said Havens. “But look here,” he went on, -“what was the trouble at the hotel? What was that -fellow arresting you for?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, he wouldn’t let me up to your room,” explained -Stroup, “and I shook him up a little. It -is funny, the way his bones rattled as I dumped him -over in a corner of the room.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='175' id='Page_175'>[175]</span>“You’ll probably have a fine to pay,” Havens -suggested, “but I’ll see that it doesn’t cost you anything.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s worth a ten-dollar note to get your clutches -on a puppy like that!” said Stroup angrily. “He -knew very well that my business was important, for -he had heard talk about trouble at the machine, and -yet he wanted to show his own importance at your -expense.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the ’bus rolled and swayed down the street, -it was followed by a motley procession of hacks, -delivery wagons, and private carriages. When at -last the aviator came in sight of the field where his -machine had been left he saw that it still lay on -the ground.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s there yet, all right!” shouted Stroup. “I -guess we didn’t get here any too soon, however!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Those at the machine, the ones endeavoring to -remove it under a fraudulent process of law, saw -the long line of vehicles trailing up the street with -the hotel ’bus at the head. Havens saw the crowd -parting and running in different directions, and -then the <i>Ann</i> lifted slowly into the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At that moment Stroup was by far the more excited -man of the two. He opened the ’bus door and -stood on the steps outside, waving one hand frantically, -his face glowing with excitement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Stop her, stop her!” he shouted.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='176' id='Page_176'>[176]</span>The only answer which came was a cheer from -the mob gathered below the now swiftly ascending -aeroplane.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When at last the ’bus reached the spot where the -flying machine had lain, it was at once surrounded -by a crowd of curious and impertinent spectators. -Havens sprang to the ground and opened a conversation -with the first man he saw.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I understand that the man who took the machine -claims to be an officer,” he said. “Will you -point him out to me?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I am the officer!” said the fellow sticking out -his chest.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where are your papers?” demanded Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A man don’t need no papers,” was the insulting -reply, “in order to take possession of stolen -property, wherever he can find it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Stroup now pushed his way through the crowd to -Havens’ side and looked the fellow over with -threatening eyes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Talk civil!” he advised in a moment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, Stroup,” said the officer, “don’t you go -to butting into this!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the man who let the thieves take my machine!” -said Havens with suppressed passion.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s too bad,” exclaimed Stroup moving -nearer to the officer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Before Havens could lift a finger or say a word -to prevent, Stroup shot out a great fist which landed -squarely between the eyes of the officer. The fellow -went down in a huddle on the ground, but the -<span class='pageno' title='177' id='Page_177'>[177]</span>next moment the posse he had gathered in order to -back him in taking possession of the machine gathered -about Havens and Stroup.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Here, here!” shouted a man in uniform pushing -through the crowd. “I arrest both of you fellows!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It strikes me,” Havens smiled, “that that really -is the best way out of it. This mob begins to look -ugly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The two men willingly entered the ’bus with the -officer and were hastily driven to the city prison. -When at last the door was closed and locked against -them, Havens turned to Stroup.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” he said, “for all long-distance, ready-for-action -bruisers I ever saw, you certainly take -the cake! You’ve assaulted three men and got us -both locked up! And yet,” he added, “I rather -like it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Stroup blushed and grinned and said not a word.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='178' id='Page_178'>[178]</span> - <h2 id='chapXVII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A MESSAGE FROM THE SKY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>For a time it looked as if the <i>Bertha</i> must fall -far short of the summit and drop to the jagged -rocks below. There was nothing whatever the boys -could do. The song of the motors had almost -ceased, and they understood that through some mischance -the gasoline tank had become empty. The -situation was a critical one.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The angle at which the flying machine was descending, -however, included the summit to which -the boys were directing her. In a few moments she -landed at the top, and almost rolled down the opposite -slope before the momentum could be checked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben instantly ran to the tanks and found them -empty. He called to Carl, and the two made a close -examination of other portions of the machine. -There was nothing wrong anywhere except that the -tanks were dry!</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben pointed to the drain cock at the bottom and -found that it had been turned about half-way. -That explained the situation.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='179' id='Page_179'>[179]</span>“What surprises me,” he said, “is that we never -noticed the leak. Why, we should have been able -to smell the wasting gasoline before we left the -camp. I don’t understand why we didn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s easy,” explained Carl. “We were cleaning -up the machines this morning, oiling and shifting -a little gasoline from one car to the other, and -so we never noted the additional evaporation.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m sure I never turned that cock when I was -working over the machine!” declared Ben. “And -I think I’m the only one who worked around the -tanks.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here,” exclaimed Carl, a sudden suspicion -coming into his face, “you remember the Chinaman -who came out from under the planes and consumed -about a dollar’s worth of groceries!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben stared at his chum for a moment and then -dropped down on the ground. His face was hard -and set.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s it!” he cried angrily. “That’s just it! -The Chink ran our perfectly good gasoline into the -ground and then sat down at our hospitable board. -I only wish I had him here right by the pigtail!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“In that case,” suggested Carl, “I don’t think -he’d want another square meal in about three -months. His greatest need would be a hospital.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s no doubt of that!” replied Ben. -“Why, it was actually murder to do what that -fellow did! I had an idea while he was eating that -<span class='pageno' title='180' id='Page_180'>[180]</span>he didn’t act exactly like a man accustomed to eating -with chopsticks. I’ve seen men at Sherry’s -who didn’t have any better table manners than he -had. That fellow was a fraud!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys were exclaiming over the loss of -their gasoline and wondering how they were ever -going to get the <i>Bertha</i> out of the position in which -she now lay, Carl threw a cushion from one of the -seats and sat down upon it, with the remark that it -made the rock some softer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben stepped forward and drew a folded slip of -paper from the under side of the cushion and held -it up.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did you leave that there?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Carl shook his head wonderingly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course not,” he replied. “I don’t drop -any letters in the post-office when I can communicate -verbally with the man I want to advise with. -Perhaps Jimmie or Kit left it there.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, the way to find out about it is to open -it,” suggested Ben, “so here goes! There certainly -isn’t much of it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy opened the note and read aloud for the -benefit of his chum, who stood by eager-eyed and -excited.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“‘Don’t leave this place with the machine. The -gasoline is out, or nearly so.’”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is it written in Chinese?” asked Carl with a -frown.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='181' id='Page_181'>[181]</span>“Chinese, nothing!” exclaimed Ben. “It’s good -honest English, and written in a pretty good hand -at that!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then that Chink wasn’t a Chink at all!” cried -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There are Chinamen who can read and write -English,” suggested Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But this fellow pretended that he couldn’t even -understand English.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’d give a heap to know something about this -puzzle,” Ben declared. “We find this fellow tied -up in a smugglers’ cave one night, and the next -morning we find him snooping about our camp, consuming -our provisions and wasting our gasoline. -That was a treacherous trick for him to play on -us! I hope we’ll come across him some other day.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The question before the house right now,” Carl -explained, “is how we’re going to get off this bald-headed -old peak. We might be able to tumble down -into one of the valleys below, but we wouldn’t be -any better off there than we are here. Besides,” -he went on, “our making our way down wouldn’t -help us any with the machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If Jimmie would only show up with the <i>Louise</i>, -now, we might borrow enough gasoline to get us -back to level ground again. And still,” Ben went -on, “we wouldn’t have fuel enough to do much racing -until the tanks were filled. It’s a rotten scrape -we’re in, and that’s no fairy tale.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='182' id='Page_182'>[182]</span>“Here’s a problem for you to solve when you -get through with all the others,” grinned Carl. “I -want you to tell me why that Chink wasted our -gasoline, and then warned us not to use the machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I give it up!” declared Ben. “There’s no use -of trying to guess it out! It’s just another little old -mystery!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And why did he pretend that he couldn’t understand -English?” persisted Carl. “Was that in -order that he might hear what we were talking about -without our suspecting that he was listening with -the intention of betraying us? It seems to me that -that must be it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I tell you I don’t know!” almost shouted Ben, -“and I’m not going to puzzle over the matter any -longer. Here we are up on a bald old peak without -any show of ever getting our machine down to -the ground again, and that’s enough for me to -brood over for the time being.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This is a beautiful view from this mountain!” -suggested Carl, with a grin. “Note the sunlight -on the valleys below.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Aw, dry up!” cried Ben. “What’s the use of -rubbing it in?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But,” urged Carl, “just think of the situation -Noah was in when he landed his Ark on top of -a mountain!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='183' id='Page_183'>[183]</span>Ben threw a pebble at his chum and turned moodily -away.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wouldn’t have your disposition for a barrel of -gasoline!” laughed Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish I could trade my disposition for a barrel -of gasoline,” grinned Ben. “That might help -some.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Carl said rather excitedly, in a moment, -“you may keep your precious disposition, for here -comes our barrel of gasoline!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You must have been reading a dream book!” -exclaimed Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Honest!” shouted Carl. “If you’ll take a -squint up there to the north, you’ll see the <i>Ann</i> -come poking back! If you don’t believe that is -the <i>Ann</i> with Havens on board, just observe the -signals in sight.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess that’s the <i>Ann</i> all right,” Ben returned. -“I hope she’s got full tanks of fuel. We need a -lot right now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The great flying machine came winging south -at a great rate of speed, and finally, after circling -the peak several times, volplaned down to the -<i>Bertha</i>. The boys sprang forward to greet Havens, -but drew back in a moment for the aviator was a -man they had never seen before.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='184' id='Page_184'>[184]</span>The machine was the <i>Ann</i>, sure enough but she -was in the hands of two men who were total -strangers to the boys. They were slender, dark -fellows, with oblong eyes and low foreheads.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The <i>Bertha</i>?” asked one of the men in almost -perfect English, stepping close to the machine. -“You seem to have met with an accident.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s the <i>Bertha</i> all right,” Ben answered, “and -we’re out of gasoline.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And where is the <i>Louise</i>?” asked the other.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Off on a scout somewhere,” was the indefinite -reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s unfortunate,” the other began, “for we -are instructed by Mr. Havens to notify you all to -turn back to New York at once.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s the meaning of that?” demanded Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Mr. Havens didn’t take me into his confidence -to any great extent,” was the reply, “but I understood -from what he said that you were no longer -needed in this section. Is there any way you can -signal to the <i>Louise</i>?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now Ben did not believe the man to be speaking -the truth. In the first place, Havens would never -have sent an entire stranger in the <i>Ann</i>. In the second -place, Phillips, one of the murderers, had been -seen at liberty in that district that very morning, so -the hunt was still on!</p> - -<p class='c009'>The natural result of this reasoning was the belief -on the part of the boy that the <i>Ann</i> had been -stolen.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='185' id='Page_185'>[185]</span>“We have no means of reaching the <i>Louise</i>,” -Ben replied after studying the matter over for a -moment. “In fact Jimmie went away with her -without our knowledge or consent. We don’t know -where he is.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>While answering in this manner, a third reason -for disbelieving the statement of the Japanese, for -such the men appeared to be, was that Jimmie had -been chased desperately by the machine which they -had seen on the coast during the night. The boy -drew away suspiciously.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you don’t mind,” the Japanese said then, -“we’ll loan you gasoline enough to keep you in -motion until the tanks can be filled.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s just what I was about to propose!” exclaimed -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where are you going in the <i>Ann</i>?” asked -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“After fitting you out,” was the reply, “we are -going to find the other machine, deliver our message, -and turn back east.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Supply us with fuel,” Ben suggested, “and -we’ll go with you in search of Jimmie. Perhaps -we can help you find him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The two men who had arrived in the <i>Ann</i> conferred -together for a few moments, and then one -of them began supplying the tanks of the <i>Bertha</i> -with gasoline. The boys stood by in a brown study -as to what they ought to do next. The Japanese -eyed them keenly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='186' id='Page_186'>[186]</span>“We want to stay right by the machine, so they -won’t hop up and run away!” Carl whispered to -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If they do, I’ll send a bullet after them!” Ben -whispered back.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys talked at one side of the <i>Bertha</i> -and the two Japs engaged in conversation on the -other side, an aeroplane shot into view, coming -swiftly from the west.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess that’s Jimmie now,” suggested Ben -turning to the Japs. “In that case you can deliver -your message, and we’ll all go east together.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As the reader will understand it was by no means -the intention of the boys to follow the instructions -given by the Japs. They had been supplied with -gasoline enough to last for several hours, and their -purpose now was to get out of the company of the -strangers as soon as possible.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There was an indefinite resolve at the back of -Ben’s brain to get out of the company of the Japs -by leaving them stranded on the summit! It was -a daring thought, but the boy was actually considering -the possibility of getting away in the <i>Ann</i> -while Carl navigated the <i>Bertha</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>If the aeroplane now approaching proved to be -the <i>Louise</i>, he thought, the trick might be turned -with the assistance of Jimmie and Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Presently Carl leaned forward and whispered in -his chum’s ear:</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='187' id='Page_187'>[187]</span>“That isn’t the <i>Louise</i> by a long shot!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How do you know?” demanded Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Because of the way she carries herself,” returned -Carl, speaking in a low whisper, thereby -bringing two pair of suspicious eyes in his direction. -“That’s what we call the third machine!” he -added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You can run the <i>Ann</i>, can’t you?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet I can!” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then get ready to make a jump for the seat!” -whispered Ben. “We’ve just got to recover the -stolen machine and get away from these Japs. And -we’ve got to do it before that other machine gets -here, too,” he went on, “because it’s pears to pumpkins -that the man aboard of her is the blond brute -who tried to blow up the <i>Louise</i> and the <i>Bertha</i> -near St. Louis!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’d like to know where Havens is!” whispered -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We haven’t got time to consider that,” suggested -Ben. “When that aeroplane gets a little closer, -these two fellows will be watching her and perhaps -signaling. That will be the time for us to act. -Jump on the <i>Ann</i> and press the button and I’ll do -the same with the <i>Bertha</i>. We may get dumped -down the mountainside, or we may catch a couple -of bullets, but anything is better than being tricked -by these Japs and losing our machine and Havens’, -too! Watch for the chance.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='188' id='Page_188'>[188]</span>The moment for action came almost immediately. -The Japs ran to the edge of the level space and -flung their arms wildly into the air. At the same -instant, the boys sprang to seats on the two machines -and pushed the levers which controlled the -starters.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='189' id='Page_189'>[189]</span> - <h2 id='chapXVIII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE RACE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Jimmie’s game of tag developed into such a flying -machine race as has rarely been witnessed. -The machines were in superb condition, and each -aviator was determined to end the contest satisfactorily -to himself. The driver of the third machine -sought only the capture or destruction of the -<i>Louise</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>On the other hand, Jimmie’s only motive was, -as he had expressed himself to Kit before leaving, -to keep his opponent amused so that he might not -communicate to the outlaws any information concerning -the net which had been set for their capture.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The fact that the third machine followed the -<i>Louise</i> so savagely, so persistently, convinced the -boys that the driver had not as yet communicated -with Phillips or Mendosa. In fact, one question -asked by Phillips of Kit that morning demonstrated -that the outlaws had not yet been found.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie headed at first straight for the ocean. -There was exhilaration in the swift passage over -the white-capped waves below. He swung over the -headland from which the first signal light had been -seen on the previous evening.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='190' id='Page_190'>[190]</span>Then he turned straight south and passed the -second promontory. He saw that the schooner -which had been seen the night before still lay at -anchor, and that her deck was crowded with humanity.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Chinks!” he thought. “Waiting to be taken -to the land of promise!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The same thought occurred to Kit, and the boy -pointed downward as they cut the air above the -deck.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Smugglers!” the boy said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie heard the word only faintly and nodded. -Back from the ocean, they swung almost to the -right of way of the Southern Pacific railroad. Below -them opened great gorges in which a city -might be hidden. There were immense forests -which seemed of sufficient size to furnish a world -in fuel for a thousand years. Here and there small -rivulets trickled down the rugged mountainsides and -joined larger streams, trailing off into the interior. -It was like viewing a magic panorama.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The exciting race continued until long after -noon. The <i>Louise</i> was by far the swifter machine -of the two, and so the pursuer was obliged to resort -to every trick known to aviators in order to -keep her in view.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The strain on the rear aeroplane was much greater -than that on the <i>Louise</i>. The result of this was -that the latter machine lasted longer in the swift -<span class='pageno' title='191' id='Page_191'>[191]</span>competition. About the middle of the afternoon, -she began moving away from her pursuer and soon -lost sight of her entirely.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then Jimmie, after dropping down behind a -summit, reduced speed in order to exchange ideas -with his companion.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did you see where she went, Kit?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“She just lagged behind!” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There may be some trick about it!” suggested -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you leave it to me,” Kit went on, “there’s -something the matter with her spark plug. I noticed -her limping along half an hour before we lost -sight of her.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“In that case,” Jimmie explained, “he’ll have to -make a landing in order to repair the damage, and, -if he hasn’t got an extra plug with him, he can’t repair -it at all.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What does the situation suggest to you?” -asked Kit with a laugh.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Dinner-time!” replied Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea!” Kit responded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we may as well go over into the valley we -left this morning,” Jimmie went on, “because the -boys will be wondering what has become of us.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It was a bad thing to do, running off like that!” -exclaimed Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='192' id='Page_192'>[192]</span>“Well,” Jimmie retorted, “we had to keep that -other fellow amused, didn’t we? That was one of -the outlaws we’re after who was walking around -in a forest ranger’s uniform, within a mile or two -of where the fellow lay, and there was the possibility -that he would blunder on the machine and -spoil our game. We just had to get the aeroplane -away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course the outlaw saw the chase,” suggested -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t doubt it,” answered Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Flying low so as not to be seen unless the pursuer -should rise at a great altitude, Jimmie made -his way to the little green bowl of a valley which -had been deserted by Ben and Carl only a short -time before.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Scarcely believing his senses, the boy brought the -<i>Louise</i> to the ground and anxiously looked for some -message, for it seemed highly improbable to him -that the boys would have gone away without indicating -their destination. Of course he found nothing -of the kind.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The only thing discovered about the little camp -which in any way accounted for the absence of the -<i>Bertha</i> was quite a large heap of table scraps. -Jimmie pointed to the pile with a grin.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They’ve had to go out after grub,” he explained. -“I’ll just bet they had company for dinner and ate -up everything we had. Then they went off to some -little town on the Southern Pacific railroad to buy -provisions. Wonder they wouldn’t leave some -word!” he added impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='193' id='Page_193'>[193]</span>“Leave some word just like you did!” taunted -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Jimmie said in an apologetic tone, “I -expected to be back right off and I didn’t want to -wake them up!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps they expected to be back right off, -too!” laughed Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll just tell you what I’m going to do right -now!” Jimmie exclaimed. “I’m going up in the -woods and get a bear steak. The meat will be all -right yet, won’t it?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I should say not!” replied Kit. “I know -enough about hunting to know that that bear meat -will be smelling like a slaughter house right now!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Anyhow,” Jimmie insisted, “I’m going up and -see about it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Leaving Kit sitting by the machine, the boy -hastened up to the place where the bear had been -shot and stopped beside a heap of fur which lay on -the ground at the foot of the tree. He gave the -bearskin a little kick with his foot and then turned -his eyes in the direction of the thicket. There was -no sign of the carcass. The skin had been deftly -removed, and nothing but such parts as were uneatable -remained.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Mournfully pressing his hands to the waistband -of his trousers, the boy set his face toward the camp -and sat down by Kit without a word.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='194' id='Page_194'>[194]</span>“Where’s your bear meat?” asked Kit with a -grin. “Why didn’t you bring back a lot of it? -You didn’t eat it raw, did you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s gone!” answered Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Gone stale?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Gone away!” grunted the other.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, who took it away?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Search me,” was the answer. “There’s about -a ton of perfectly good bear meat all gone to -waste!” he continued.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys discussed the chances of the meat -having been taken care of by their chums, the thicket -on the east wall of the bowl opened and the man -Kit had seen in the morning appeared. He approached -the camp openly and frankly, extending -in one hand a great slice of bear meat. Before he -reached the place where the boys sat gazing with -surprised glances in his direction, the thicket parted -again and a taller, slighter, darker man made his -appearance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The man in the uniform of a forest ranger -stooped for a moment, spoke to the other in low -tones, and then the two came on together. As -Jimmie afterwards described the situation, you -could have knocked his head off with a match at -that moment. Kit was equally excited, and Jimmie -declares to this day that the boy turned the color -of milk.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='195' id='Page_195'>[195]</span>The boys knew who their guests were. One was -Phillips and one was Mendosa! These were the -outlaws they had journeyed across the continent in -the currents of the air to bring to punishment!</p> - -<p class='c009'>If speech had been required of the two lads at -that moment it would have been impossible for them -to respond. The faces of the outlaws, however, -were friendly, and directly the nerve of the boys -began to assert itself. Jimmie half arose and then -dropped back again.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Never mind getting up,” Phillips said. “I saw -you up in the thicket a few moments ago, looking -after the bear I killed this morning. You seemed -to me to be hungry for steak, and so I brought you -down a few pounds.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s mighty good of you!” Jimmie managed -to say.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, we couldn’t eat a whole bear!” laughed -Mendosa.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I think I could, right this minute,” Jimmie -responded, more courageously. “I’ve been out all -day in the <i>Louise</i>, and I’m so empty that I’d collapse -if it wasn’t for the wind I brought down with -me.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I see no reason why you shouldn’t eat, then,” -Phillips answered. “You can build a fire and have -this steak broiling in a very short time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Will you stay and help us eat it?” asked -Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Phillips glanced toward Mendoza, and the latter -nodded.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='196' id='Page_196'>[196]</span>“We shall be glad to,” answered the outlaw. -“But where are the others?” he went on. “I -thought there were four of you and two machines.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The others have gone out for exercise!” -laughed Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie’s one purpose now was to keep the outlaws -in his company until the return of his chums. -They were desperate men, and he had no notion of -attempting their capture with only Kit to help.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It goes without saying, then, that he was remarkably -slow in gathering fuel for the fire, remarkably -slow in broiling the steak, and slower -still in preparing the coffee. It seemed to him that -the outlaws regarded his dilatory movements impatiently.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy rightly concluded that they were about -half starved for a warm meal. Hiding for days -as they had been in the mountains, it was more -than probable that they had not risked their liberty -by building a fire.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the steak was broiling, an idea came to -Jimmie which he was not slow to carry out. Glancing -at the ranger uniform of Phillips, he asked quite -innocently:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Are you after the fake ranger, too?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Phillips remained perfectly calm, but Mendosa -gave a quick start.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you mean by that?” the former asked, -easily.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='197' id='Page_197'>[197]</span>“Why,” Jimmie answered, drawing extensively -on his imagination, “we met a flying machine man -when we went out this morning and he chased us.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I saw something of the race,” Phillips smiled. -“I was just going to ask you about that. Why did -he chase you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess he thought we were trespassing on government -land,” the boy replied. “After he overtook -us he asked all sorts of questions about the -people we had met in the mountains. After a while, -he said that he was the chief ranger from San -Francisco, and that he was here in search of men -who are making trouble for the government by pretending -to be rangers. He said he had other machines -coming, and that the district would be patrolled -until the frauds were arrested.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Phillips and Mendoza exchanged significant -glances.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” the former said, “I had advices three -days ago that the man was coming. That’s why I -asked the little fellow this morning if he had seen a -third machine. I hoped to see the chief ranger before -night.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie was so full of amusement at the ease with -which Phillips had fallen for the manufactured -story that it was with difficulty that he restrained -a chuckle. The success of the story surprised him -not a little.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='198' id='Page_198'>[198]</span>He believed now that the outlaws would shun -any man who might approach them in an aeroplane, -and that the chance for a meeting between the outlaws -and their allies was now nothing at all.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” Jimmie said shortly, keeping his face -straight by a great effort, “the chief said he expected -to meet every ranger in the forest within a -day or two. If you go a few miles farther south -you may run across him to-night. He said he had -failed to find any one in this region, and would not -return here for a couple of days.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, my, oh, my!” thought Kit, walking away -from the fire in order to conceal his amusement, -“if Jimmie isn’t fixing it so the outlaws will hang -right around here until we can get help.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Phillips and Mendosa conversed together for a -long time in low tones and then the former said:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We are pretty tired, so we won’t tramp after -the chief to-night. To-morrow, if you have no objections, -we’d like to have you take to the air and -locate him for us. We’ll camp here to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’ll be all right,” Jimmie answered, with -apparent frankness, but his thought at the moment -was that between that time and morning the outlaws -would attempt to steal the <i>Louise</i> and get -away.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Perhaps, also he might be forced to serve them -as aviator!</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='199' id='Page_199'>[199]</span> - <h2 id='chapXIX.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A SHORT TERM IN JAIL.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>If the truth must be told, both Ben and Carl experienced -a sudden lifting of the hair as the <i>Ann</i> -and the <i>Bertha</i> plunged toward the precipice hanging -below the summit. It seemed for a time as if -the wheels would never lift, but finally, at the last -instant, they did so, and the level surface of rock -was left below. The Japs who had been so neatly -tricked seemed to the boys to be running around in -circles and shooting useless bullets into the air up -to the time the flying machine to which they had -beckoned reached their side.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The third machine, however, did not remain long -on the summit. The Japs, and the aviator conferred -together for only a moment, and then, with the Japs -watching, the planes were in the air again in swift -pursuit of the <i>Ann</i> and the <i>Bertha</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>From the very first the boys saw that the pursuing -machine was by no means fit for the race. In -fact, she limped along at a pace not calculated to -hold her own with a very ordinary aeroplane while -both the <i>Bertha</i> and the <i>Ann</i> were very speedy -machines.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='200' id='Page_200'>[200]</span>Under these conditions the race could end in only -one way. The <i>Ann</i> and <i>Bertha</i> passed swiftly toward -Monterey, while the third machine returned -to the summit where the two Japs had been left, -to take them off, one at a time. The last the boys -saw of her at that time she was settling limply down -as if injured in a vital spot.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After the pursuit had ceased the boys dropped -their machines to a government roadway which -showed through the timber in a valley below. The -gasoline supplied by the Japs to the <i>Bertha</i> was insufficient -for a long run, and the idea in dropping -down was to transfer fuel from the tanks of the -<i>Ann</i>. Besides, the boys thought it best to consult -together.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The good old <i>Ann</i>!” shouted Carl, patting the -great aeroplane as he would have petted a dog.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wish you could tell us exactly what has taken -place in your vicinity since we last saw you in Westchester -county,” said Ben, petting the <i>Ann</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I reckon she’d have some story to tell,” Carl -suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet she would!” declared Ben. “The -chances are that Mr. Havens started away from -New York with her, and got sidetracked in some -way,” he went on. “I hope he hasn’t been seriously -injured.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='201' id='Page_201'>[201]</span>“I think we ought to go to Monterey,” Carl suggested, -“and find out if there is any story going -round of a lost aviator. If anything serious has -taken place in this part of the country, we’ll certainly -learn all about it there. Besides,” he went on, “we -ought to buy more gasoline, and I want to eat. It -seems to me something like a hundred years since -I sat down to a square meal in a hotel or restaurant.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we have to buy provisions for the other -boys, too,” Ben agreed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>While the boys talked over the situation a man in -the uniform of a forest ranger, mounted on a little -brown pony, came galloping down the road. He -drew up when he saw the machines blocking the -highway and called out:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello, strangers! It’s a wonder you wouldn’t -take possession of the whole road! How long have -you been in this part of the country?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Just lit!” answered Ben. “Come on in,” he -added with a chuckle. “We’ll make way for you. -We don’t own this road.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Indeed it was necessary to shift the great planes -of the <i>Ann</i> before the ranger could ride up to where -the boys stood.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ve got some fine machines there!” the -ranger commented.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You bet we have!” answered Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='202' id='Page_202'>[202]</span>“Are those the machines that have been racing -about in the air all day?” asked the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We haven’t been in the air all day,” replied -Carl, “but I reckon the <i>Bertha</i> and the <i>Ann</i> have -been doing considerable flying.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And there’s been something of a ruction over -at Monterey about a machine, too,” said the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys were all attention in an instant.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Whose machine was it?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what they don’t know,” answered the -ranger. “A man who claimed to come from New -York dropped in a big machine early this morning -and went to bed at a hotel. In an hour or two a -couple of Japs claimed the machine and induced -an officer to help them get it away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did you hear any of the names?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Havens, the man’s name was,” replied the -ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Ben said, “that’s the name of the man -who owns this big machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where is Havens now?” asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“My informant stated that he was in jail!” replied -the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Jail?” demanded Ben. “What for?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It seems that this man Havens and a friend of -his beat up a deputy sheriff, and the hotel detective, -and shook up a hotel clerk like a rat.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then why didn’t they give him a chance to pay -a fine and let him go?” demanded Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='203' id='Page_203'>[203]</span>“Perhaps he hasn’t got money enough with him -to pay the fines which may be imposed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Money enough with him!” shouted Carl scornfully. -“Louis Havens could buy the whole town of -Monterey, and then have money enough left to -make your state debt look like thirty cents!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is this Havens the noted millionaire aviator?” -asked the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the man!” Carl declared. “And he’ll -do something to those folks back there in Monterey -before he gets done with them, too!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I hope he will!” replied the ranger heartily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys now turned their attention to the machines, -and were soon ready for flight.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where are you going?” asked the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where should we be going but to Monterey?” -asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Look here, boys,” the ranger began, “my name -is Gilmore. I’m chief ranger of this district, and -I know the officers at Monterey are not the kind of -people you seem to think they are. Now, if you -don’t mind carrying me, I’ll leave my pony in a little -shack over the hill and go with you to Monterey.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Will you?” shouted Ben eagerly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’ll be fine!” declared Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course you can get Havens out of jail?” -asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='204' id='Page_204'>[204]</span>“Of course I can,” replied Gilmore. “Unless -there is a charge of murder or some other felony -against the man, something which will require the -action of the county court, I can get him out of -that country pen in about three minutes.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you do,” laughed Carl, “Havens will fix you -up all right! He’s got a pull with the department -at Washington, and he never forgets a friend.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Gilmore rode his horse away to the little shack -which he had mentioned and then hastened back to -the <i>Ann</i>. In five minutes all were aboard, Gilmore -riding on the Havens’ machine with Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Can you drive an aeroplane?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I surely can,” answered Gilmore, almost -screaming the answer in the boy’s ear. “I had a -year’s experience at the game.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben nodded in appreciation of the information -and turned on full speed, traveling in the direction -of Monterey.</p> - -<p class='c009'>An hour later the <i>Ann</i>, accompanied by the -<i>Bertha</i>, settled down on the field at Monterey from -which she had been so lawlessly abducted that very -morning. It was evident that the town was still -excited over the incidents of the day, for the minute -the flying machines appeared in the sky there was a -rush for the open field.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Among the first to approach Gilmore and the boys -as they stepped from the machines was the red-faced -deputy sheriff who had received Stroup’s -fistic attention earlier in the day. He approached -the boys swaggeringly but hesitated a moment when -he saw Gilmore’s uniform. However, he kept his -ground and glared at the boys angrily.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='205' id='Page_205'>[205]</span>“Where did you get this machine?” he demanded, -pointing to the <i>Ann</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where did you get those black eyes and that -red nose?” returned Carl. “You look as if somebody -had been taking a punch at you!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The deputy stroked the injured members sympathetically -and took a step toward the boy. Gilmore -blocked his passage.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps you can tell me!” shouted the deputy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Tell you what?” asked Gilmore.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where these school-boys got this machine. -Only a few hours ago I delivered it to the owners -from whom it had been stolen.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, you did!” replied Ben. “You delivered -it to a couple of thieving Japs! That’s what you -did!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Where is the owner of the machine now?” -asked Gilmore.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You ought to know if you got the machine of -him,” returned the deputy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I refer to the man who brought the machine to -town,” said Gilmore, coolly. “I asked about Louis -Havens, the millionaire aviator.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The deputy swung his fists wildly in the air and -his face became, if possible, redder than before.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='206' id='Page_206'>[206]</span>“You can’t fool me with any stories about millionaire -aviators!” he shouted. “The ruffian who -assaulted me and brought a stolen aeroplane to -town is in jail, where he ought to be.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Did Havens assault you?” asked the ranger.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He caused it to be done,” was the hot answer. -“I saw him wink at the man, and then the man -struck me on the nose.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And you’ve got a peach of a nose at that!” -laughed Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The deputy grabbed at the boy, but Gilmore stood -in the way.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If I had a nose like that,” yelled Ben, “I’d go -off and sit in the dark and let it rest.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you know these fresh boys, Mr. Gilmore?” -asked the deputy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They came from New York with Louis -Havens,” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t believe that man we’ve got in jail is -Louis Havens at all!” yelled the deputy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who is in jail with him?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Stroup the garage man,” was the reply. “He’s -got four cases of assault and battery against him, -and the man you call Havens is charged with stealing -this machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Just then a muscular, determined-looking man, -trousers in boots and wearing a cowboy hat, approached -the group, now continually increasing in -size.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hello Sheriff Chase!” exclaimed Gilmore stepping -forward.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='207' id='Page_207'>[207]</span>“The sight of you sure is good for sore eyes!” -returned the sheriff shaking Gilmore warmly by the -hand.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After the two officers had exchanged greetings -and talked for a few moments in low tones, the -sheriff turned to his deputy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Pass over your badge and gun!” he said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I acted entirely within my rights,” whined the -other, doing as requested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You acted like a fool!” replied the sheriff. -“You’ve rendered your bondsmen and myself liable -to heavy damages for your fool actions this morning. -How much did the Japs give you for what you -did for them?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The deputy mumbled out some indistinct reply -and turned away, followed by the jeers of the -crowd.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That settles that part of the case,” said Sheriff -Chase with a smile. “Now I’ll deputize half a -dozen trusty men to look after the machines while -we go and have a talk with Havens.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Half an hour later Havens and Stroup, trying -to make the best of prison life by repeating their -experiences of the morning, saw Ben and Carl come -running toward the grated window.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Ah, there!” Ben shouted seizing an upright -bar in each hand and pressing his nose in between -the two. “I always had my suspicions about you, -Mr. Havens!”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='208' id='Page_208'>[208]</span>“Doesn’t he look handsome in there!” shouted -Carl, putting his hands on Ben’s shoulders and -leaping up so as to get a better view.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Glad to see you, you little rascals,” said Havens. -“Have you got a ship I can ride in?” he asked. -“I’ve gone and lost the <i>Ann</i>!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we’ve found it!” yelled Ben. “And -here’s Sheriff Chase and Ranger Gilmore who’ll -have you out of there in about a minute.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In less than half an hour the details of release -were all completed, although Havens found it necessary -to pay three pretty stiff fines for Stroup. -However, the sheriff immediately appointed the -garage man as deputy in place of the one removed, -so his standing in the community was not at all -injured by the experiences of the morning.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And now,” Ben said as they walked away toward -the <i>Ann</i>, “we’ve still got troubles of our own! -Jimmie and Kit are lost in the air somewhere, and -the outlaws are after them—hot blocks.”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='209' id='Page_209'>[209]</span> - <h2 id='chapXX.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XX.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>STEALING AN AEROPLANE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>After a long time Jimmie had his bear steak, -potatoes and coffee set before the men whom he believed -to be the burglars who had been chased -across the continent. The two sat down and ate -with an appetite, while the boys were not at all -slow in consuming large sections of bear.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This is a queer world, ain’t it?” laughed Kit -after disposing of a large steak. “Mighty queer -world, ain’t it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s the Solomon, now?” asked Jimmie, -while Phillips and Mendosa looked up interestedly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” the boy answered, “not so very long ago -this bear was sitting under a Sycamore tree thinking -what a nice boy steak he was going to have for -dinner. Now, I’m sitting out here by a cosy little -fire thinking what a nice bear steak I’ve just had for -dinner.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t think the bear had much of a chance -of getting his boy dinner,” Phillips suggested. -“Your friends would have rescued you in a short -time if I had not put in my appearance.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='210' id='Page_210'>[210]</span>“Anyhow,” Kit went on, with boyish gravity, -notwithstanding the twinkle in his eyes, “the bear -and I have buried all hard feelings. At least I’ve -buried about two pounds of it right now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>During the remainder of the afternoon the two -guests devoted most of their time to talking to each -other in low asides, and to asking questions of the -two boys. They wanted to know exactly what the -aviator had said regarding the chief ranger, and -especially what had been said concerning a stay of -two or three days farther south.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was very plain to Jimmie that the outlaws had -not as yet been communicated with by either one of -the two desperadoes sent on from New York. In -fact, the pursuers seemed to have had uncommonly -hard luck.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The one referred to by the boys as the monkey-faced -man, the one who had chased Jimmie up New -York bay, had smashed his machine and broken his -arm, so he was entirely out of the race before -reaching the Rocky Mountains.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The other aviator, the one described as the blond -brute, had made successful progress across the continent -only to have his motor go wrong during the -chase of the afternoon. Jimmie was not much inclined -to throw bouquets at himself, but he chuckled -at the thought that only for his success in keeping -<span class='pageno' title='211' id='Page_211'>[211]</span>the blond aviator amused the two outlaws might at -that moment have been beyond the reach of the -officers.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And here they sit,” Jimmie chuckled to himself, -“waiting for Ben and Carl to come back, or -waiting for some officer to drop down and give -them the pinch!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>There is an old saying that one must not count -chickens before they are hatched, which Jimmie -at that moment seemed to have overlooked. While -he was complimenting himself on coaxing the outlaws -into their present danger, the outlaws themselves -were conferring as to what advantage they -could take of the situation in which they found -themselves.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s just this way,” Mendosa was saying in a -low tone to Phillips. “The whole country is astir -over the smuggling going on, and will be full of -officers in no time. Even if the police do not come -here to get us, it is not improbable that they will -blunder into our camp some night and lug us away -as suspicious characters.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What ought we to do then?” asked Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We ought to get out,” Mendosa replied. -“Why, even the forest rangers are coming down -here looking for you. I never did think it was -good sense for you to wear that uniform.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now don’t kick!” snarled Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='212' id='Page_212'>[212]</span>“It’s enough to make a man kick!” Mendosa -declared. “Here we thought we had a neat little -home for the next three months, with no one aware -of our presence here, and no danger of going hungry. -But just look what we’re up against at -this moment! I wish we could get one of the -steamers that come up here with smuggled Chinks.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Much good that would do!” sneered Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what you say to all my suggestions,” -Mendosa snarled.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then talk sense!” demanded Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How’s this for sense, then?” asked Mendosa. -“Suppose we disappear in that flying machine as -soon as it gets dark.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Can you run it?” asked Phillips, scornfully.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course not!” was the answer. “I can run -a faro lay-out, but I can’t run an aeroplane.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then where is the sense in the suggestion?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boy can run it!” declared Mendoza.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, but will he?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Will he?” repeated Mendoza. “Let me get a -knife next to his ribs and he’ll do anything I tell -him to do!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But will the machine carry us two and the -boys?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boys?” scorned Mendoza. “We don’t -have to take both boys with us! We can cut the -kid’s throat and leave him in the bushes!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I wouldn’t like to do that,” Phillips said, hesitatingly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='213' id='Page_213'>[213]</span>“You wouldn’t, eh?” demanded Mendoza. -“Who struck the watchman?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I didn’t!” replied Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, you did!” sneered the other. “Now, I’ll -tell you what we’ll do,” he went on. “Just as soon -as it becomes dark, we’ll settle the kid’s case and -mount the machine with the other one. There are -only two seats, but I’ll hold him in my lap, so I can -embroider his back with my knife if he don’t do exactly -as I tell him to. After he gets us out of the -country, way down into lower California, we’ll -drop the machine, boy and all into the ocean.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m a burglar but not a murderer!” insisted -Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Unless we do something,” Mendoza exclaimed, -“you won’t be either a burglar or a murderer. -You’ll be a corpse. For my part, I have no inclinations -toward New York and the electric chair.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It may not be necessary for us to injure the -boy,” Phillips suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“May not be necessary?” repeated Mendoza. -“If we go away and leave the kid here, he’ll chase -over the hills until he finds some one to tell what -we’ve done and which way we’ve gone. If we -leave this boy, Jimmie, flying about in his machine, -he’ll never rest until he tells the officers where he -left us, and all about us. In order to protect ourselves, -we’ve got to keep them quiet. Are you going -to weaken now?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='214' id='Page_214'>[214]</span>“I’ll do whatever is necessary when the time -comes,” replied Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Mendoza seemed satisfied with this, and the two -men walked back to the fire and, notwithstanding -the treachery in their hearts, engaged in friendly -conversation with the boys.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Between that time and dark they brought out -their bear steak again and clumsily broiled great -slices over the fire. They also cut large quantities -of bread into slices and made sandwiches. They -even made large quantities of coffee and bottled it -up in milk jars with patent tops in which the boys -had brought a supply of the lacteal fluid.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys regarded them curiously as these liberties -were taken with their provisions, but Phillips -explained that he had many miles to travel during -the next two days, and would not be within reach -of his base of supplies. Mendoza was not so careful -to quiet the suspicions of the lads, and his -brusqueness was one of the things which put them -on their guard.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Those fellows are getting ready to jump out!” -Jimmie insisted as he walked away from the fire -with his chum.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, we can’t help it if they do start away!” -Kit responded.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We might shoot,” Jimmie went on, “but that -is a game two can play at, and it might not be a -profitable one for us.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='215' id='Page_215'>[215]</span>“I wouldn’t like to do that, anyway,” said Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve got a notion,” Jimmie went on, “that -these fellows want to get away in the machine to-night. -They probably believe the story I told about -the chief ranger, but, still, they doubtless want to -beat it while the beating is good.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t believe they can run the machine,” argued -Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t believe they can, either,” answered -Jimmie. “But they know that I can,” he added -significantly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They wouldn’t take you along!” Kit replied.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They would take me along while they could use -me,” answered Jimmie, “and that would be the last -of yours truly. Those fellows are cold-blooded -murderers! I wish the other boys would come!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid something has happened to them,” -Kit replied soberly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Twilight fell as the outlaws planned murder and -the boys planned capture. As the latest finger of -light touched a summit to the southwest an aeroplane -was seen slowly moving toward the valley. -It was plain even to the outlaws that she was seriously -crippled. As for the boys, they watched her -interestedly until a mass of clouds from the ocean -settled down over the mountain top and shut her -from view.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the fellow that give us the run to-day!” -laughed Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='216' id='Page_216'>[216]</span>“You mean the man who told you about the -chief ranger?” asked Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The same,” answered the boy noticing at the -same time with deep satisfaction the alarm in the -other’s face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He couldn’t give any one a chase now,” Kit -exclaimed. “Because he’s limping along like an old -woman with a crutch!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He’s probably got a poor spark plug,” Jimmie -commented.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There were a good many furtive glances passed -by both parties as the outlaws began to prepare for -the night. They were given a shelter-tent by -Jimmie, and saw fit to place it within a short distance -of the <i>Louise</i>. The tent to be occupied by -the boys was put up not far away. More wood was -put on the fire as the darkness grew. The outlaws -understood that they would need light in order to -execute the wicked purpose in hand.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie and Kit promised each other that they -would not close their eyes in slumber even for a -minute, but the day had been a hard one and presently -Jimmie dozed off. Kit was still awake, but -was inclined to let his chum sleep as long as he -could keep his own eyes open.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s no use in both of us keeping awake,” -the small boy thought. “I can just as well watch -those fellows. Anyway, if Jimmie has the situation -sized up correctly, they won’t go away without -letting us know,” he continued with a grim -smile.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='217' id='Page_217'>[217]</span>This reasoning was all very well on the part of -the boy, but in five minutes he was sound asleep -himself.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was ten o’clock before the outlaws emerged -stealthily from their tent. There was no moon as -yet, although there would be one later on, but the -light of the stars was quite sufficient for them to -look over the entire valley in which the <i>Louise</i> lay.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Once beyond the circle of fire they could see quite -distinctly up to the rim of the thicket at the sides -of the bowl. They conferred together for a moment, -and then Mendoza crouched down on the -ground, drawing Phillips with him and drew a -revolver.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What is it?” asked Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There, at the edge of the thicket!” replied -Mendoza. “There is some one creeping along the -ground!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a dream!” declared Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At that moment the figure of a man left the underbrush -and crept cautiously down toward the fire. -The outlaws secreted themselves in the shadows and -watched him. He hesitated for a moment, just at -the rim of the firelight, apparently listening for -some indication of wakefulness in the tents, then he -moved straight to the collection of provisions which -had been prepared, and a portion of which had -been left in view.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='218' id='Page_218'>[218]</span>“Guess it’s some hungry tramp,” suggested -Phillips.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Is it?” replied Mendoza. “Just look again! -That’s Graybill from New York. Look at the big -shoulders and the blond head of him!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As Mendoza ceased speaking he gave a low -whistle which the approaching man seemed to -understand, for he straightened out of his stooping -position and approached the provisions with confidence. -In a moment he was greedily devouring -meat sandwiches and drinking cold coffee, while -Phillips and Mendoza were explaining the situation -to him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Who’s in the shelter-tents?” he asked in a moment, -and Phillips explained. “They’re nervy little -foxes!” was Graybill’s only comment.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The three men talked together for perhaps ten -minutes, during which the provisions were being -stored away on the <i>Louise</i>. Graybill stood looking -inquiringly into the air most of the time, while his -companions were so occupied.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It may be a bad night,” he said after a while, -“and yet it may be a good one; but I’m willing to -take the risk if you are. As I’ve told you, my machine -is pretty well smashed, but I think the <i>Louise</i> -will carry us all if we take good care of her.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“She’s got to carry us all!” insisted Mendoza.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='219' id='Page_219'>[219]</span>Graybill walked cautiously over to the shelter-tent -where Jimmie and Kit were still sound asleep -and looked in at the sleeping boys with a smile on -his hard face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The little scamps!” he exclaimed. “They’re -hardly larger than peanuts, yet they gave me a run -to-day that many a trained aviator wouldn’t be able -to manage.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Mendoza was thinking of quieting the boys for -good and all before leaving,” Phillips suggested, -rather suspecting what the answer of the aviator -would be.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Nothing doing!” said Graybill. “If he -touches the boys, I’ll duck him into the first canyon -we come to. They’re gritty little chaps, and I’m -not going to see them harmed!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I knew what your decision would be,” said -Phillips, “and that’s why I mentioned the matter -to you. I don’t want to see the boys injured.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They won’t be!” declared Graybill.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Mendoza now approached the two, declaring that -the provisions were all packed on the <i>Louise</i>, and -that they were ready to take their departure.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“All we’ve got to do now,” he went on, “is to -fix these boys so they won’t run out and tell tales -after we’re gone!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Nothing doing!” exclaimed Graybill, and -Mendoza turned away sullenly.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='220' id='Page_220'>[220]</span>A few moments later, when Jimmie and Kit were -awakened by the clatter of the <i>Louise’s</i> motors, -they crawled sleepily out of their shelter-tent and -looked up into the starry sky.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s a joke on us!” Jimmie said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” Kit admitted. “We didn’t understand -that they could operate the machine themselves, so -we went to sleep. Now we’ve lost the murderers -and what’s worse, we have lost the <i>Louise</i>!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And the <i>Bertha</i>,” added Jimmie, “and Ben, -and Carl, and Mr. Havens, and the whole bunch!”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='221' id='Page_221'>[221]</span> - <h2 id='chapXXI.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>STROUP’S INSTRUCTIONS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“How comes it that Jimmie and Kit are lost in -the air?” asked Havens, as, accompanied by the -sheriff and the forest ranger, Gilmore, the boys -walked away from the jail.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s the most unaccountable thing!” Ben exclaimed -almost impatiently. “We left Jimmie to -watch the machines while we slept, and the first -thing we knew he was up in the air, and Kit with -him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He may have returned to the camp by this -time,” suggested Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If he has, I hope he’ll guard the <i>Louise</i> better -than we guarded the <i>Bertha</i>!” Carl put in.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What happened to the <i>Bertha</i>?” the millionaire -asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then Ben told the story of the visit of the Chinaman -who had wasted their gasoline and eaten their -provisions so ravenously. He also told the story of -the landing on the summit, and of the visit of the -two Japs in the <i>Ann</i>. Havens looked grave.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='222' id='Page_222'>[222]</span>“Those Japs,” he exclaimed, “must have come -directly on from New York to Monterey. They are -well-known East Side crooks, and are using their -old tactics here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, they probably went away after Phillips -and Mendoza in that limping old machine,” Carl -said. “They can’t go far.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Gilmore and Sheriff Chase, who had listened intently -to the conversation, now began asking questions.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You spoke of a Chinaman coming to your -tent,” Gilmore began, “as if Mr. Havens already -knew of the existence of such a party. What about -that? When and where did you first see this -Chinaman?” he added turning to Ben. “Tell me -all about it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>At this time the little party was directly in front -of the hotel where Stroup had exhibited his -muscular ability. As Ben explained about the first -stopping-place, the two beacons, the schooner, the -caves, and the swarm of Celestials, Gilmore drew -him into the hotel and into the smoking room. -Here he seated the entire party notwithstanding the -frowns of the clerk, and closed and locked the door.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you know,” he asked, after a moment’s -thought, “that you boys have made a discovery -which is likely to bring you a large amount of -money?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='223' id='Page_223'>[223]</span>“I guess they can use it, all right,” laughed -Havens. “They want a new flying machine every -time they see a new model!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Tell us about it?” asked Ben eagerly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well,” Gilmore went on, “we have been after -those Chink smugglers a long time. The beacons -have been observed night after night, and schooners -have long been known to visit Monterey bay during -the dark hours, but,” he went on, “we have searched -the coast for a hundred miles and never found anything -like the canyon you blundered into the first -night of your arrival.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And we found it in the dark!” laughed Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Cheer up!” exclaimed Gilmore. “My men -couldn’t find it in the day-time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, you know where to get the Chinks now!” -the sheriff broke in.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But how about this Chink we were talking -about?” asked Ben. “We found him tied up like -a side roast of beef. We turned him loose, of -course, and then he comes and serves us a dirty -trick like that!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Gilmore sat back in his chair and laughed -heartily.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That Chinaman,” he said after a time, “is not -a Chinaman at all! That’s Sloan, the Washington -secret service man!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But he looks like a Chink!” insisted Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Certainly,” answered Gilmore. “That’s why -he has been assigned to this class of work.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='224' id='Page_224'>[224]</span>“Can he talk like a Chink?” asked Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“As natural as life!” was the reply.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, he don’t know much English,” grinned -Ben, “if you leave it to me. All he said was -‘Savvy you, alle same’ and ‘No can do!’”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Again Gilmore broke into a roar of laughter.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s one of his old tricks,” he said. “He’s -so stuck on his make-up and his pidgin English that -he seeks to keep up the deception when there’s no -need of it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we ought to know why they tied him -up!” Ben declared.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s easy enough to guess,” Gilmore answered. -“He tried to play in with the crowd of smugglers -and Chinks, and was detected and tied up.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>This from the sheriff, who was making notes in -a memorandum book as the talk went on:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a wonder they didn’t kill him!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They probably would have killed him in a very -short time,” Gilmore replied to the sheriff, “if the -boys hadn’t put in an appearance.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we saved one life, anyway!” laughed -Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But why did he come and waste our gasoline?” -demanded Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I can’t answer that,” replied Gilmore. “You -probably will see him before you get out of the -country, and then you can get the explanation from -him. He’ll tell you, easy enough.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='225' id='Page_225'>[225]</span>“I think I can give a pretty good guess at it -right now,” the sheriff broke in. “Sloan possibly -had his own idea as to what the boys were here for, -and that idea was undoubtedly incorrect.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve got it now!” cried Carl. “I know all -about it!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re the wise boy!” laughed Ben. “Go on -and tell it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why, don’t you see,” Carl went on, “Sloan -suspected us of coming here to butt in on his game -with the smugglers? He saw us in the cavern, and -of course believed that we were there working for -the immense rewards offered for the criminals. -He wanted to head us off!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That may be right,” replied Gilmore. “The -fellow is mercenary enough, when it comes down to -cases. Well,” the forest ranger went on, “what -else could the fellow think? He saw you there in -the cave, and knew that you knew the use it was -being put to. The only way that he could figure it -out was that you were there to interfere with a -game which he had almost won by playing a lone -hand.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And so he dumped our gasoline to keep us from -flying back to the canyon or flying over to Monterey -to tell what we’d discovered!” suggested Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That is undoubtedly correct,” Gilmore admitted, -“and if the <i>Louise</i> had been there, he doubtless -would have crippled her, too.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='226' id='Page_226'>[226]</span>“And now,” laughed Havens, “that you have -the whole thing settled, without Sloan knowing anything -about it, perhaps we’d better go somewhere -and have dinner, or supper, or whatever you may -call it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We probably can’t get anything here at this -time of day,” the sheriff interposed, “but I know -of a restaurant down the street where we can get -anything from a lobster to an elephant’s ear.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t care about spending any money in this -place, anyway,” said Havens. “Say, Sheriff,” he -went on, “I want to leave with you a little present -for your new deputy Stroup. Will you deliver it to -him just as I hand it to you without one word of -explanation?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Surely,” replied the official.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens took a note-book from his pocket, tore -out a blank leaf, wrote three words on it and signed -his name. Then he took a bank-note of the denomination -of one thousand dollars from his -pocket, folded it up in the paper, stuffed the whole -into a hotel envelope which he sealed and passed it -over to the sheriff, who took it with evident amazement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You don’t do things by halves,” the official -observed.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='227' id='Page_227'>[227]</span>“I try to do things according to my means,” -replied Havens. “I should have missed a lot of -satisfaction this morning if Stroup hadn’t shown -up with his capable fists!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What did you write on the sheet of paper?” -asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens looked at the sheriff and the forest -ranger with a smile.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You won’t arrest me for inciting a riot, will -you?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ve already paid too many fines in this -town,” laughed the sheriff.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, under promise of immunity, then,” -Havens went on, “the words were ‘Hit him again.’ -How does that strike you?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you had showed the paper to me before you -sealed it up,” the sheriff laughed, “I would have -added my name to yours at the bottom of the instructions.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you really think he will hit him again?” -asked Carl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hit him again?” repeated the sheriff, “He’ll -hit the clerk, and the ex-deputy, and the house detective, -until he drives them out of town, and pay -his fine out of the thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Don’t you let him do that,” advised Havens. -“If he just gives each of them a good licking once, -that’ll be sufficient. There are too many fresh hotel -clerks and deputy sheriffs in the world, also house -detectives, and if he reduced the list by three, that’ll -be enough.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='228' id='Page_228'>[228]</span>“Holy Smoke!” shouted Carl rising to his feet -and making for the door. “Are we going to talk -here all day without anything to eat?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m so empty right now,” Ben decided, “that -you could hold a Salvation Army meeting in my -system. Where’s this restaurant where you can get -an elephant’s ear?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll lead you to it,” laughed the sheriff, “and -while we’re eating, we can lay plans for the capture -of that gang of smugglers.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We didn’t come here after smugglers,” suggested -Ben.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Not so you could notice it,” Carl went on. -“We came here to find the burglars of the Buyers’ -Bank in New York. We haven’t found them yet.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But we know pretty well where they are,” Ben -insisted. “Kit saw Phillips in the woods this morning, -dressed in a ranger’s uniform.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The story of the bear was new to Havens and the -officers, and they enjoyed its relation immensely. -Both boys smacked their lips at thought of the bear -steak they didn’t get.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We can get the outlaws with little trouble now,” -Gilmore said, after a moment’s reflection. “I’ve -got men enough in this vicinity to put a line all -around the hills. So long as we know they are here, -we are all right.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='229' id='Page_229'>[229]</span>“After we eat dinner,” Ben suggested, “perhaps -we’d better go back to the green bowl and look up -Jimmie and Kit. There’s no knowing what they -may have discovered during the day.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Havens. “And -now for a good feed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Before the meal at the restaurant was finished an -interruption which materially changed the plans of -the whole party, took place. It was Sloan, the -secret service man, who blundered into the party -with a broken head who sidetracked the old plans.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='230' id='Page_230'>[230]</span> - <h2 id='chapXXII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>UNDER THE MOONLIGHT.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Now there goes the loss of a lot of endeavor!” -Jimmie exclaimed, as the <i>Louise</i> lifted into the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What’s the answer?” asked Kit with a grin.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you know who’s aboard of that machine?” -Jimmie demanded in a sarcastic tone.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Two outlaws who’re carrying away our good -bear meat!” replied Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And do you know who’s doing the aviation -stunt?” continued Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Answer in two weeks!” replied the boy with -a snicker.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, I’ll tell you who it is,” almost shouted -Jimmie. “It’s probably that blond brute we spent -so much time amusing to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How do you know that, Mr. Sherlock -Holmes?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Didn’t we see his machine staggering over the -summit some time ago?” demanded Jimmie. “You -know we did.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='231' id='Page_231'>[231]</span>“But that was a long ways from here,” Kit -advised.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, what’s the use?” exclaimed Jimmie. “His -machine fluttered down into some hole not far away -from here, and he saw our fire and came forward -to get something to eat.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I half believe you’re right,” Kit admitted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course, I’m right!” insisted Jimmie. “The -blond brute is the only aviator in this section that -I know of who would have taken the outlaws away. -That’s the duck, all right.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we lose?” asked Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We lose if the outlaws are sharp enough to get -away before morning,” Jimmie went on. “They -certainly know now what we’re here for.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, and the information we’ve been trying to -keep from them all this time is now in their possession,” -added Jimmie in a disgusted tone.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s a good thing they didn’t have it before they -left us asleep in the shelter tent,” Kit suggested.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Why do you say that?” asked Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Because, if they had known, we wouldn’t be -here now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What next?” asked Kit in a minute. “What -are we going to do about it? We ought to do -something right away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I suggest,” Jimmie answered, “that we take -our searchlights and our guns and go out and find -that third machine.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='232' id='Page_232'>[232]</span>“And chase up the outlaws?” demanded Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s the idea,” Jimmie answered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Chase the <i>Louise</i> in that slow old ice wagon -that we went by this afternoon like it was -anchored?” demanded the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The machine is all right if properly handled,” -Jimmie insisted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But you saw how it staggered around the summit,” -argued Kit. “I don’t want to trust my bones -in any such old contraption.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It’s oranges to oats,” Jimmie exclaimed, “that -a new spark plug will put that machine in pretty -good shape. Of course we can’t hope to keep -up with the <i>Louise</i> on a long chase, but I don’t believe -there’ll be any long chase to-night. The outlaws -will settle down in some nook and remain there -until morning. All we’ll have to do to-night will -be to locate them. We ought to be able to do that.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Say,” said Kit with a grin, “I wish you’d -find an air boat somewhere and row me back to -Robinson’s barn. I used to have a good flop now -and then when I lived there, but since I’ve been -with you boys, it’s been a night and day job.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’re getting fat over it,” Jimmie insisted.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sailing up in the air after a bunch like that -won’t put fat on any one’s ribs,” Kit continued. -“They’ll see our lights, and we might as well try -to sleuth out a moonshiner with a brass band.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='233' id='Page_233'>[233]</span>“Come on, you little monkey,” urged Jimmie. -“We’ll go and find the machine anyhow. We’ll see -what shape she’s in before we decide.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Throwing more wood on the fire in order to -illuminate the bowl as much as possible, the boys -started away. Before they had proceeded far a -glimmer of light in a thicket almost at the lip of -the bowl attracted their attention. It was a very -brilliant light, but seemed to be shining through a -small aperture.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Acetylene!” exclaimed Jimmie as the boys -drew nearer. “That’s the acetylene lamp on that -old machine. Our blond friend forgot to turn it -off. Now wasn’t that kind of him!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I guess he was about all in,” Kit advised. -“We gave him a mighty swift chase, and he seems -to have kept in the air a long time after we quit. -They probably fed him up on some of our good -provisions so he felt better before he went away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Of course they did!” laughed Jimmie. “Did -you notice how those fellows laid into our bread -and butter?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie began a systematic examination of the -machine. He found the gasoline tanks nearly full, -which indicated that the blond aviator had traveled -to some filling station after the conclusion of the -race.</p> - -<p class='c009'>So far as Jimmie could see, the aeroplane was in -perfect condition except that the spark plugs were -badly worn and cracked.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='234' id='Page_234'>[234]</span>“Can we use them?” asked Kit. “The spark -plugs, I mean.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They’re no good,” replied Jimmie, “but we’ve -got plenty at the camp. Ben wanted to keep them -stored in the boxes under the seats, but I sneaked -some out when we landed in the green bowl and put -them away by the pile of tenting. Good thing I -did, too.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you hadn’t, they would be on board the -<i>Louise</i> right now,” Kit said, “and we would be -without any.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You chase back to camp and bring the plugs,” -Jimmie directed, “and I’ll stay here and look the -machine over once more. Hurry back, for we want -to get up in the air in time to see the lights of the -<i>Louise</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They must be pretty far away by this time,” -suggested Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, we can go up far enough to see for fifty -miles on each side!” Jimmie said. “They can’t be -fifty miles away by this time.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit hastened away to the camp, and soon returned -with the spark plugs. In a very short time -the machine was pulled out of the little depression -in which the wheels lay and drawn down to a level -which would permit of a flight. It was by no means -as large as either the <i>Louise</i> or the <i>Bertha</i> but a -strong aeroplane for all that.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='235' id='Page_235'>[235]</span>“Now,” Jimmie suggested. “We ought to go -and see if there’s anything left to eat here, and take -it away with us if there is.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You can’t get the smell of that bear steak out -of your nostrils, can you?” laughed Kit.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But just think who gave it to us?” Jimmie -grinned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After packing away provisions enough for a -meal or two the boys put the machine into the air -and lifted slowly out of the bowl.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The air was comparatively still, and a mass of -clouds hung low over the mountains. Looking out -into the darkness, the boys could see no sign of -light anywhere. Their own lights were sheltered -as much as possible, but they knew that they might -be seen a great distance. Kit proposed putting out -the acetylene lights entirely, but Jimmie insisted -that it was so dark they might bump into a mountain -without seeing it!</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Much good that short space of light would do -us,” Kit replied. “We’d be into the rocks almost -before the light struck them.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then we’ll go slower and higher up,” Jimmie -declared.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The machine continued to rise until a faint -radiance began to seep through the heavy clouds -with which the boys were surrounded. In another -minute the stars shone down upon them, and the -field of mist lay far below.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='236' id='Page_236'>[236]</span>Jimmie had frequently looked out upon such -scenes before, but to Kit it was all very wonderful. -The clouds below looked like waves rolling and -tossing on a summer sea. As far as the eye could -reach there were only the white undulations which -shut out the light of the stars from below.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys were going very slowly now, lifting -with every yard traveled and watching intently for -the lights of the <i>Louise</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Presently they came to a break in the field of -clouds below and looked down upon the surging -waters of the Pacific ocean. They had no idea that -they were so far to the west, but Jimmie took -advantage of the incident to look down upon the -southern promontory off which the schooner had -stood on the previous night.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The beacon was still there and the schooner was -still there. In a moment the clouds closed in again -and the boys moved away to the east.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boys circled about for an hour or more, and -then, weary of remaining so long in one position, -dropped down to a peak which, far above the -clouds, glimmered in the light of the rising moon.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We can see from here just as well as from the -seats,” Kit suggested, “and we may as well get all -the rest we can.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ve got an idea,” Jimmie answered, “that we -ought to go to the south, but I’m going to break this -for once and stay right here. We’re not far from -the home of the smugglers, and, on the theory that -thieves flock together, our outlaws ought to be in -the vicinity.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='237' id='Page_237'>[237]</span>“That suits me,” Kit answered. “I’m dead -tired.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If we hadn’t gone to sleep to-night,” mourned -Jimmie, “We wouldn’t be here now. That nap -just spoiled everything.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What could we have done if we had remained -awake?” Kit demanded. “When that blond brute -arrived, we’d have got our heads knocked off and -that’s about all.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“In just a little while now,” Jimmie declared, -“I’m going to trail over to Monterey and see if I -can find any trace of Mr. Havens or the boys. It’s -just rotten the way Ben and Carl are staying -away!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>As soon as the boy finished speaking, Kit grabbed -him by the arm and pointed to the west.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s your light!” he said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The light referred to sat on a peak some distance -to the west, very near to the sheer descent into the -Pacific, in fact, and was slightly lower than the one -upon which the boys had rested. It was, however, -above the clouds and the moon, pushing her way -through the mists, shone full upon the shining -planes of a flying machine.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Only one artificial light was in sight, and that -appeared to come from the aeroplane lamp stationed -just above the seats.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='238' id='Page_238'>[238]</span>“That’s the <i>Louise</i>, all right enough!” exclaimed -Jimmie. “Now I wonder what they are staying -there for! It seems to me that they ought to be -getting out of this country just as fast as gasoline -can carry them.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s something exciting going on over -there!” Kit exclaimed.</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='239' id='Page_239'>[239]</span> - <h2 id='chapXXIII.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>A LOOK AT THE BOWL.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The interruption which came at the restaurant -during the meal Ben and Carl were having with Mr. -Havens and the two officers, was, to the boys at -least, a most astonishing one.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When Sloan entered the restaurant, his head -wrapped in a great bandage, the boys, of course, -recognized him as the man who had played the -part of a Chinaman so cleverly. After the explanations -made by the two officers, Sloan would have -been recognized in any event, but the boys would -have known him if they had had no information on -the subject.</p> - -<p class='c009'>His resemblance to a Chinaman was, indeed, -striking. Indeed, it was claimed by many who knew -and disliked him that he really was a Chinaman.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As he entered the restaurant Sloan beckoned to -Gilmore, and the two conferred together a short -time at a separate table.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='240' id='Page_240'>[240]</span>The boys saw that Gilmore was very much interested -in the revelations being made by Sloan, and -they also saw that the detective was very weak.</p> - -<p class='c009'>By the time the conference was ended the meal -had been completed, and Gilmore returned to his -friends while Sloan hastened away in the care of a -deputy sheriff who had been summoned to the -restaurant.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“This visit appears to make a change of plan -necessary,” Gilmore said, as the five walked away -from the restaurant. “We have some talking to -do, so we may as well go to my office, where we can -talk without danger of being overheard.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>All were, of course, very anxious to know the -result of the interview between the chief ranger -and the detective, but they asked no questions, and -Gilmore said nothing until they were seated in the -private office of a suite of rooms set aside for the -sheriff.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“As you all saw,” Gilmore began, “Sloan is all -in. He was attacked by a number of smugglers not -very long ago and barely escaped with his life.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Served him right!” muttered Ben. “He’s the -guy that spilled our gasoline! I wish they’d beaten -him up more.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now,” continued Gilmore, “the story told by -you boys concerning the smugglers’ headquarters -was repeated to me by Sloan with only a few variations. -He has located the place where the Chinks -are hidden until they can be safely run into the -<span class='pageno' title='241' id='Page_241'>[241]</span>cities, and has spotted several of the leaders, including -the captain of one of the schooners which -frequently appears off the south beacon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We came pretty near doing all that!” Carl -laughed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, what he wants us to do,” Gilmore continued, -“is to station a force of men around a summit -from which all that goes on below may be -watched. He says that if we reach the place between -midnight and morning we will see Chinks -rowed ashore from the schooner and passed into the -caves the boys penetrated.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That listens good to me!” said the sheriff. -“I’ve long been aching to get my hands on those -smugglers!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He says, too,” continued Gilmore, “that large -quantities of opium are stored in the caves. He -wants me to take a force large enough to surround -the whole district and do the job at one blow.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you think that a good idea?” asked the -sheriff.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I do not!” was Gilmore’s reply. “In the first -place, we can’t get men in there to-night. In the -next place, if we could, we couldn’t station them -without alarming the outlaws.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s just my idea,” the sheriff said.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps,” Mr. Havens suggested, “we might -reach that point in the airships. It isn’t a very -long journey, according to what Ben says.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='242' id='Page_242'>[242]</span>“That’s just what I was about to suggest,” -Gilmore explained. “How many people will the -two ships you have here carry?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They will carry six, on a pinch,” was the reply. -“The small persons would, of course, have to travel -on the <i>Bertha</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Havens stepped to the window and looked out.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We were thinking of looking up Jimmie and -Kit,” he said, “but it’s getting dark now, and we -never could find them in this tangle of hills unless -they were up in the air with lights burning.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you what we can do,” Ben observed. -“The sheriff and the ranger can go in the <i>Ann</i> -with you, Mr. Havens, and Carl and I can switch -around over the place where we had our camp and -see if there are any signs of the boys.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That will do nicely,” Mr. Havens replied.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Now, see here,” the sheriff interrupted. -“There are only two of you boys, both light -weights, and the machine, you say, will carry three. -Is that right? Why not take Stroup along with -us?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure!” Ben exclaimed. “I’d like to have that -fellow go with us. I’ve heard what he did to three -people here to-day, and I think he’d prove a pretty -good friend in a hot scrap!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll send out for him,” the sheriff promised, -“and in the meantime, we’ll all keep pretty close in -the office.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='243' id='Page_243'>[243]</span>“That’s a good idea,” suggested Gilmore. -“There’s no knowing how many friends the -smugglers have in this town. I would suggest, -however,” he went on, “that some one go out and -look over the two machines.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The machines are all right,” the sheriff assured -the others. “There are six deputies out there now -in charge of Stroup, and he sent in a report not -long ago. The crowd has been hustled off the field, -and everything out there is as quiet as a prohibition -convention.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What time ought we to start?” asked Ben, -like all boys, eager to be away. “I’m actually -getting anxious to be off.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We can make the distance in half an hour, if we -are obliged to,” replied Havens, “unless I’m greatly -mistaken in the location of the promontory. So we -ought not to leave here until about midnight.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It will be dark as a stack of black cats!” exclaimed -Carl looking out of the window at the sky.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s plenty of room above the clouds!” -smiled Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Never thought of that!” exclaimed Ben. “We -were above the clouds in Mexico once, but that -seems a long time ago now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And there will be a moon about midnight, too,” -Gilmore explained, “so we can see everything above -the clouds quite distinctly.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='244' id='Page_244'>[244]</span>“Huh!” grinned Carl, “we can’t look through -the clouds at the schooner and the Chinks, can -we?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Hardly!” laughed Gilmore. “Still, the cloudy -night will help us in this way—we can travel above -the clouds and not be observed from below. That -will help some.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And I presume that we can crawl down the -incline and get a glimpse of what’s going on below,” -the sheriff suggested. “At least, I’m willing -to try. The time to make the arrests is right now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Perhaps we ought to start a short time before -the <i>Ann</i> leaves the place,” Ben suggested, “because -we’ll have quite a few miles farther to travel if we -circle over to look after Jimmie and Kit.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s very true,” Havens replied. “Are you -sure that you know where the summit which has -been mentioned is?” he added.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If it’s the summit directly east of the south -headland where we saw the light, I know exactly -where it is,” answered Ben. “There are two peaks -there, and the one to the east and north is a trifle -higher than the one referred to now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s exactly correct,” announced Gilmore. -“The two peaks separate a great chasm in the -range which is known as Two Sisters canyon.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben sprang to his feet and drew a bit of white -paper from a pocket.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='245' id='Page_245'>[245]</span>“Look here!” he shouted, “This paper was -taken from the monkey-faced man who chased Jimmie -up New York bay! The fellow smashed his -machine and lay with a broken arm in Robinson’s -barn, away back east, until Kit found a doctor to -fix him up. This paper, enclosed in an envelope, -fell from his pocket when his coat was removed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Read it!” exclaimed Gilmore excitedly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It isn’t much to read,” Ben explained. “All it -says is: ‘In Two Sisters Canyon’.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There you are!” cried Carl, hopping about in -his enthusiasm. “That paper makes a date, not for -the meeting with the outlaws but for the meeting of -the men who traveled from New York to warn -them of their danger, and get them out of the country.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s just the idea!” the sheriff said with a -laugh. “Are all your New York boys like these?” -he added with a smile turning to Havens.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’m afraid not,” was the laughing reply. “The -wits of these boys were sharpened in the streets of -the East Side.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Shortly after midnight Ben and Carl, accompanied -by Stroup, departed in the <i>Bertha</i> for the -valley where the <i>Louise</i> had been left. The clouds -were thinning a little, and the darkness was not so -intense as it had been earlier in the evening. Stroup -knew every inch of the way, and so the machine -made good progress until it came over the little -green bowl which had been the scene of so many -adventures.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='246' id='Page_246'>[246]</span>“There’s no light there!” Ben said, with a -sigh, as they passed the lip of the pit. “I don’t believe -there’s any one here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There’s just a little flicker of light,” Stroup declared. -“And it looks to me like the embers of a -camp-fire.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We didn’t have any fire!” Ben explained.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Then Jimmie and Kit must have returned,” -Carl put in. “They may be there yet. Of course -we’re going down to see?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“That’s what we came here for,” Stroup answered. -“Only be careful, boy, how you bring her -down!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ben smiled at the big deputy’s timidity, and -brought the machine to within a few feet of the embers -which had been left by the fire built to cook the -outlaws’ steak.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As Kit and Jimmie had left the camp two or three -hours previous in the machine they had repaired, of -course no one was seen about the place. Ben and -Carl ran eagerly over the surface of the green bowl -with their flashlights, but no trace of their chums -could be found. Even the shelter tents had been -taken away by the boys.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Discouraged at last, the boys returned to the machine, -and the three mounted upward through the -clouds, now thinning fast. The moon was rising, -too, laying a silver floor over the upper surface of -the moving clouds.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='247' id='Page_247'>[247]</span>“Now there’s the peak!” Ben said, pointing. -“And there’s an aeroplane on it, too! And also a -scrap!”</p> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' title='248' id='Page_248'>[248]</span> - <h2 id='chapXXIV.' class='c006'>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - <div>THE CLUE ABOVE THE CLOUDS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“I’ll tell you what I think,” Jimmie exclaimed -as the boys gazed toward the peak. “I believe that -gink had busted up the <i>Louise</i>, not knowing how to -run her, and that they’ve abandoned her there.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Wouldn’t it be a joke if we could sail over and -pick her up again?” asked Kit with a grin.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure it would!” answered Jimmie. “Suppose -we try it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In a moment the impulsive and foolhardy boys -were starting the machine along an incline with the -motors going at full speed. When she lifted it was -within a few rods of the opposite peak.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Naturally the boys scrutinized the summit before -them very closely, as there was still time to lift again -should anything like peril appear. However, everything -seemed quiet and peaceful below.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Not a moving figure was to be seen. The one -light of the <i>Louise</i> burned dimly and appeared to -be cloaked with a covering which did not quite perform -its duty.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='249' id='Page_249'>[249]</span>“It’s all right!” Jimmie shouted to his companion. -“We’ll land close to the <i>Louise</i>, and you -jump down the first thing and see if she’s fit to run. -If she is, you climb aboard and push the starter. If -she isn’t, you jump back into your seat and I’ll duck -away.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The next minute the wheels of the flying machine -were rolling over the rough surface of the summit. -Kit sprang out as directed, but Jimmie retained his -seat. The instant the boy struck the ground a -sharp cry of terror reached Jimmie’s ears, and he -also prepared for a spring.</p> - -<p class='c009'>His idea was that his chum had been seized by -some one lying in wait beside the machine, and that -his assistance would enable the boy to get back into -his seat without injury.</p> - -<p class='c009'>However, before Jimmie could execute his purpose, -a rope was thrown over his head and shoulders -from behind, and he was dragged from the -machine. Then, as if in a daze, he saw gathered -about him three figures that he knew.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Phillips, Mendoza and the blond aviator were -gazing down upon him with triumph in their faces! -Behind them stood two slighter men, resembling -Japanese, and behind them, in turn, quite a collection -of Chinamen.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Brought my machine back, did you?” asked the -blond man.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes,” replied Jimmie struggling with the rope -that held his arms to his sides. “I thought you -might need it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='250' id='Page_250'>[250]</span>“That’s nice!” smiled the aviator.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And so you are the boys who left New York to -capture Phillips and myself are you?” demanded -Mendoza thrusting a savage face toward Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We came out here to try something in that -line,” replied the boy.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If I had known that, you would still be sleeping -in the shelter-tent,” the ruffian said with a significant -glance.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At this moment one of the Japs turned to Phillips -and asked:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How many more Chinks are there in Two Sisters -canyon?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Jimmie gave a quick start and turned to Kit:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Does that make you think of Robinson’s -barn?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Sure it does!” replied Kit. “It makes me -think of the note I found there. I suppose that’s -Two Sisters canyon that we just crossed.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Your suppose is all right, kid!” laughed the -blond man.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“How many more Chinks did you say there were -in Two Sisters canyon?” repeated the Jap.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t know,” replied Phillips. “We have -nothing to do with the smuggling end of this game. -We have known ever since we reached this part of -the country that smuggling was going on, but we -<span class='pageno' title='251' id='Page_251'>[251]</span>have kept away from those engaged in it. How -many Chinks were here when you landed from the -crippled machine this afternoon?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I don’t know,” was the Jap’s reply. “When the -machine failed us here and the aviator went away to -secure a spark plug from the boys, if possible, the -smugglers came up and told us a long story about -getting the Chinks out to-night, and they have been -about here ever since. I don’t know why they happened -to select this peak for their operations just -now.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I’ll tell you,” said a rough-bearded man, approaching -where the two stood. “We selected this -peak because in this kind of weather it is always -above the clouds, and because the country below is -being raked over with a fine-toothed comb by the -rangers. Under the circumstances, it appeared to -me that the best thing we could do was to hide the -fellows high up in the air.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I understand now,” the Jap replied. “And you -say the officers are below?” he questioned. “Aiming -for this peak, perhaps?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“They certainly are!” replied the smuggler. -“Listen a moment and you’ll hear shooting!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In the short silence which followed the report of -firearms could be heard from below. The smuggler -darted away, closely followed by the blond aviator, -and the two Japs and Phillips and Mendoza began -looking about for hiding-places in case a rush -<span class='pageno' title='252' id='Page_252'>[252]</span>should be made for the summit. They found hiding-places, -at last, at the edge of the canyon which -lay between the two peaks. Kit, forgotten in the -sudden excitement, hastily released Jimmie from -the rope which held him, and the two boys prepared -to mount their machines.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Shouts and cries of anger and alarm were now -heard coming up from the slope, still veiled by the -clouds, and the boys were under the impression that -they might be able to get the aeroplanes away before -the summit became a battle-ground. Just as -they were about to spring into the seats, however, a -sharp cry came from the place where the four men -had hidden, and the next moment a storm of bullets -swept down from above!</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Je—rusalem!” shouted Jimmie, stepping out -and throwing his arms up in token of surrender. -“That’s the <i>Ann</i>, and she must be loaded with pirates! -Quit shooting!” he yelled at the top of his -voice.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Kit was not slow in following the example of his -friend, and then the outlaws and the Japs rushed -from their hiding-places and also held up their -hands in token of submission.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The next instant the powerful aeroplane, <i>Ann</i>, -swept down upon the surface with a force which -almost sent her off on the other side! The sheriff, -the ranger and Havens sprang from their seats with -revolvers in their hands, and by this time Jimmie -and Kit had their own weapons out.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='253' id='Page_253'>[253]</span>Almost before the four men could catch their -breath, they were handcuffed by the sheriff.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And that,” exclaimed Havens, “is about the -neatest and slickest capture I ever heard of!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“If you fellows hadn’t mixed up with the smugglers,” -the sheriff said to Phillips, “you might have -chased about here a good many more days yet without -being taken.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“We didn’t mix up with the smugglers!” -growled Phillips. “They mixed up with us!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>By this time the firing below had in a measure -ceased, and Gilmore hastened down a break in the -clouds which looked to those above almost like a -trap door into a dark basement. He returned in a -few moments with a smile on his face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The boys we sent to make the attack from below,” -he said, “have captured a score of Chinamen -and all the smugglers, including a blond aviator -who says he came from New York.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, boys,” Mr. Havens said with a smile, -“we may as well get the machines ready for a visit -to Westchester county. It appears to me that the -case is closed. The sheriff will, of course, attend to -the extradition proceedings and deliver the prisoners -over to the New York officers. Our work is -finished.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='254' id='Page_254'>[254]</span>If looks of rage and hate could kill, then Havens -would certainly have been murdered at that instant, -for the four prisoners glared at him as if holding -him responsible for all their troubles.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“For your information, boys,” Havens said, -“I’ll tell you that the DeMotts and their crowd of -abductors and river thieves have all been captured -since the night they entertained me on board the -<i>Nancy</i>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“You’ve got nothing against us after you get us -to New York!” Mendosa declared. “You can’t -prove anything!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>This remark seemed to bring an idea to the mind -of the fellow, for he began cautiously feeling about -in his vest pockets with his manacled hands.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Watching him closely, Ben saw Mendoza take -something from his left-hand vest pocket, drop it -to the ground and move forward to crush it under -his foot. The boy sprang forward and rescued the -object, which was wrapped in thin tissue paper.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The boy tore the paper away and held a diamond -ring with four small diamond settings showing. -There was a place for the fifth setting, but it was -empty. Havens took the ring into his hand and -examined it carefully. Then he faced Mendoza -with a smile.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No proof against you?” he exclaimed. “This -is the ring you wore on the night you burglarized -the Buyers’ Bank and murdered the watchman. All -the criminal officers in New York know the ring as -well as they know your ugly face.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='255' id='Page_255'>[255]</span>“And what has the ring to do with it?” demanded -the prisoner.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And here,” Havens continued taking a slender -roll of tissue paper from his pocket, “are the stone -and the gold claw broken from the ring on the night -of the robbery and murder. They were found by -the police on the rug in front of the desk in the -bank where you divided the stolen securities. And -so,” continued the millionaire, “you are convicted -at last by the Clue Above the Clouds!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>For the purposes of this narrative the famous -murder case closed there. It is of little interest to -explain how the Flying Machine Boys returned to -New York, or how they received a goodly portion -of the reward offered for the capture of the smugglers. -In fact, the boys were so busy planning another -trip that they nearly lost interest in the murder -case as soon as they reached Havens’ hangar in -Westchester county!</p> - -<p class='c009'>They appeared as witnesses at the trial of the -man who had been shot on the night the destruction -of the hangar was attempted, and were well satisfied -when he received a sentence of five years at Sing -Sing.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' title='256' id='Page_256'>[256]</span>The man’s confession revealed the names of the -New York parties who had been concerned in the -attempt to prevent the Flying Machine Boys from -departing on their mission to the Pacific coast.</p> - -<p class='c009'>These criminals were all arrested and punished -with the DeMott gang, and, after the electrocution -of Phillips and Mendoza, the famous criminal -combination was heard of no more.</p> - -<p class='c009'>With all the cases settled, the boys pushed their -arrangements for another trip in their machines. -Kit, of course, assisted in all the preliminaries, and -the boys often declared that the finding of him was -worth the trip to the Pacific!</p> - -<p class='c009'>The next adventures of the boys will be recorded -in the next volume of this series entitled:</p> - -<p class='c009'>“The Flying Machine Boys in the Wilds; or, the -Mystery of the Andes.”</p> - - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c007'> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c010'> - <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note:</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> -<p class='c012'>Punctuation has been standardized. Minor spelling and typographic errors -have been corrected silently, -and hyphenated words have been retained as they appear in the original text.</p> -<p class='c012'>Alternate spellings of “Mendoza” versus “Mendosa” for the same character occur -throughout the book, and have been left as found.</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING MACHINE BOYS ON DUTY***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 50165-h.htm or 50165-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/0/1/6/50165">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/6/50165</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. -</p> - -<h2 class="pg">START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<br /> -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</h2> - -<p>To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license.</p> - -<h3>Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works</h3> - -<p>1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8.</p> - -<p>1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.</p> - -<p>1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others.</p> - -<p>1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States.</p> - -<p>1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:</p> - -<p>1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed:</p> - -<blockquote><p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United - States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost - no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use - it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with - this eBook or online - at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this - ebook.</p></blockquote> - -<p>1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.</p> - -<p>1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work.</p> - -<p>1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.</p> - -<p>1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License.</p> - -<p>1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.</p> - -<p>1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.</p> - -<p>1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that</p> - -<ul> -<li>You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation."</li> - -<li>You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works.</li> - -<li>You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work.</li> - -<li>You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.</li> -</ul> - -<p>1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.</p> - -<p>1.F.</p> - -<p>1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment.</p> - -<p>1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE.</p> - -<p>1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem.</p> - -<p>1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.</p> - -<p>1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions.</p> - -<p>1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. </p> - -<h3>Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm</h3> - -<p>Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life.</p> - -<p>Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org.</p> - -<h3>Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation</h3> - -<p>The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.</p> - -<p>The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact</p> - -<p>For additional contact information:</p> - -<p> Dr. Gregory B. Newby<br /> - Chief Executive and Director<br /> - gbnewby@pglaf.org</p> - -<h3>Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation</h3> - -<p>Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS.</p> - -<p>The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/donate">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.</p> - -<p>While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate.</p> - -<p>International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.</p> - -<p>Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate</p> - -<h3>Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.</h3> - -<p>Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support.</p> - -<p>Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition.</p> - -<p>Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org</p> - -<p>This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.</p> - -</body> -</html> - |