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diff --git a/old/53302-h/53302-h.htm b/old/53302-h/53302-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 73c6cdb..0000000 --- a/old/53302-h/53302-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4617 +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" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> - <title>The Boy Inventor’s Wireless Triumph by Richard Bonner</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; } - p { text-indent: 1.2em; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-align: justify; } - hr.page { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; } - .cb-container { text-align:center; margin: 0.5em auto; } - .cb { display:inline-block; text-align:left; } - .c { text-align:center; } - .figcenter { clear:both; max-width:100%; margin:2em auto; text-align:center; } - .figcenter img { max-width:100%; height:auto; } - .caption { text-align:center; text-indent:0; width:100%; } - .id01 { width:60%; } - .id02 { width:60%; } - .fs0r8em { font-size:0.8em; } - .fs1r2em { font-size:1.2em; } - .fs1r4em { font-size:1.4em; } - .fs1r6em { font-size:1.6em; } - .mb10px { margin-bottom:10px; } - .mb1em { margin-bottom:1em; } - .mt1r5em { margin-top:1.5em; } - .mt20px { margin-top:20px; } - .mt2em { margin-top:2em; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Inventor's Wireless Triumph, by -Richard Bonner and Charles L. Wrenn - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Boy Inventor's Wireless Triumph - -Author: Richard Bonner - -Illustrator: Charles L. Wrenn - -Release Date: October 17, 2016 [EBook #53302] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY INVENTOR'S WIRELESS *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='page'> <!-- start of page div --> -<div class='figcenter id01'> - <img id='illus-fpc' src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' style='width:100%;' alt=''/> - <div class='caption'> - Each clasped the gas-gun ready for instant use. - </div> -</div> -</div> <!-- end of page div --> -<hr class='page'/> -<div class='page'> <!-- start of page div --> -<div class='c'> -<h1 class='mt20px fs1r6em'>The Boy Inventor’s Wireless Triumph</h1> -<div class='mt20px'>By</div> -<div>RICHARD BONNER</div> -<div class='mt20px fs0r8em'>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY</div> -<div class='fs0r8em'>CHARLES L. WRENN</div> -<div class='mt20px'>M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY</div> -<div>CHICAGO NEW YORK</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- end of page div --> -<hr class='page'/> -<div class='page'> <!-- start of page div --> -<div class='c'> -<div class='mt20px'>Copyright 1929</div> -<div>by</div> -<div>M. A. Donohue & Company</div> -<div class='mt20px fs0r8em'>Made in the U. S. A.</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- end of page div --> -<hr class='page'/> -<div class='page'> <!-- start of page div --> -<div class='c'> -<div class='mb10px'>TABLE OF CONTENTS</div> -</div> -<div class='cb-container'><div class='cb'> -<div><a href='#chapter-ithe-wireless-at-lone-island'>CHAPTER I—THE WIRELESS AT LONE ISLAND</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-iithe-mysterious-x.y.z.'>CHAPTER II—THE MYSTERIOUS X. Y. Z.</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-iiithe-cipher-code'>CHAPTER III—THE CIPHER CODE</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-iva-marine-game-of-blind-mans-buff'>CHAPTER IV—A MARINE GAME OF BLIND-MAN’S BUFF</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-va-shot-in-the-night'>CHAPTER V—A SHOT IN THE NIGHT</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-vined-bangs-story'>CHAPTER VI—NED BANGS’ STORY</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-viithe-three-colored-gems'>CHAPTER VII—THE THREE COLORED GEMS</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-viiion-board-the-tarantula'>CHAPTER VIII—ON BOARD “THE TARANTULA”</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-ixthe-chadwick-gas-guns'>CHAPTER IX—THE CHADWICK GAS GUNS</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xdrawing-a-rascals-fangs'>CHAPTER X—DRAWING A RASCAL’S FANGS</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xithe-flying-road-racer'>CHAPTER XI—THE “FLYING ROAD RACER”</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xiiherrera-is-not-caught-napping'>CHAPTER XII—HERRERA IS NOT CAUGHT NAPPING</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xiiia-daring-plan'>CHAPTER XIII—A DARING PLAN</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xiva-message-from-the-air'>CHAPTER XIV—A MESSAGE FROM THE AIR</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xva-dash-aloft'>CHAPTER XV—A DASH ALOFT</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xviinto-the-enemys-camp'>CHAPTER XVI—INTO THE ENEMY’S CAMP</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xviidadits-jack'>CHAPTER XVII—“DAD!—IT’S JACK!”</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xviiihemmed-in-by-flames'>CHAPTER XVIII—HEMMED IN BY FLAMES</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xixstand-by-for-a-rope'>CHAPTER XIX—“STAND BY FOR A ROPE!”</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxa-rescue-by-airship'>CHAPTER XX—A RESCUE BY AIRSHIP</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxialoft-in-the-storm'>CHAPTER XXI—ALOFT IN THE STORM</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxiia-voyage-of-terror'>CHAPTER XXII—A VOYAGE OF TERROR</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxiiithe-boy-inventors-solve-a-problem'>CHAPTER XXIII—THE BOY INVENTORS SOLVE A PROBLEM</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxivan-appeal-for-help'>CHAPTER XXIV—AN APPEAL FOR HELP</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxvits-death-to-remain-here'>CHAPTER XXV—“IT’S DEATH TO REMAIN HERE!”</a></div> -<div><a href='#chapter-xxvian-astounding-discovery'>CHAPTER XXVI—AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY</a></div> -</div></div> -</div> <!-- end of page div --> -<hr class='page'/> -<div class='page'> <!-- start of page div --> -<div class='c'> -<div class='fs1r4em'>The Boy Inventor’s Wireless Triumph</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- end of page div --> -<div id='chapter-ithe-wireless-at-lone-island'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER I—THE WIRELESS AT LONE ISLAND</h2> -</div> -<p>The book Jack Chadwick had been reading,—a volume dealing with some rather -dry experimental work,—slipped from his fingers and fell with a crash on the -floor of the veranda. At the sudden interruption to the sleepy, breathless calm -of Lone Island on a July noon, his cousin Tom Jesson, sixteen, and more than a -year Jack’s junior, looked up from the steamer chair in which he, too, was -extended, with one of his quiet smiles.</p> -<p>Suspending his task of wrapping some new condenser plates with glittering -tin-foil, he gazed about him. In front of the bungalow was a strip of dazzling -white sand,—the beach. Beyond shimmered the cobalt-blue waters of the Gulf of -Mexico. At a small wharf lay a capable-looking motor cruiser, painted white and -about forty-five feet in length. She had been moored thus for the past seven -days—ever since Jack and his cousin and their colored attendant, Jupe, had -landed on the island after an uneventful passage from Galveston.</p> -<p>“Dozed off,” chuckled Tom, regarding Jack as the latter’s eyelids closed -drowsily; “well, I don’t know that I blame him. Waiting on Lone Island with -nothing to do but read, eat and sleep, does get monotonous after a week of -it.”</p> -<p>Suddenly a gong, affixed to the freshly painted wall above their heads, broke -forth in a wild, insistent clamor.</p> -<p>“Clang! C-l-a-n-g! Clang! Clang!—Clang! Clang!”</p> -<p>The effect on Tom was electrical.</p> -<p>“L-I in the Continental Code!” he exclaimed springing to his feet. “Hurray, -Jack, old boy! Wake up! It’s our call at last!”</p> -<p>Jack Chadwick galvanized from his nap into vibrant action with hardly less -suddenness than had marked Tom’s arousing. Three times the gong, connected by an -ingenious arrangement of Jack’s with his detector, beat out brazenly the call of -Lone Island. Then came the signature:</p> -<p>“S-K.”</p> -<p>“Whoop! It really is the <i>Sea King</i> at last!” exclaimed Jack, his blue -eyes dancing. The lees of sleep had cleared from them as if by magic.</p> -<p>“Race you to the wireless station, Tom!” he shot out, jumping from the -veranda without bothering about the steps.</p> -<p>“You’re on!” was the instant response. Like a flash Tom was at his side.</p> -<p>The few dozen yards between the bungalow and the shed of raw, resinous-smelling -pine lumber that housed the wireless was covered in less time than it -takes to tell it. Panting from their dash through the heavy sand the two lads -flung themselves, shoulder to shoulder, at the door.</p> -<p>“Dead heat!” laughingly proclaimed Jack, as he opened the portal and hastened -to the array of shining instruments which occupied most of the space within.</p> -<p>All this time, behind them, the bell had kept up its insistent tocsin. With a -quick movement Jack “threw” a “knife-blade” switch. Instantly the resonant drone -of a dynamo filled the small sun-heated shack. Bending forward. Jack depressed -the sending key.</p> -<p>Flash! C-r-a-s-h!</p> -<p>A wriggling snake of blue flame leaped, like a live thing, between the -polished sparking points.</p> -<p>Alternately pressing and releasing his key. Jack sent an answer to the -message. With nimble fingers he directed the powerful electric impulses, which -were winging into space from the lofty aerials stretched between their masts -above the shed.</p> -<p>While he did this with one hand, with the other he deftly adjusted the bright -metal head band with its twin receivers that fitted over each ear. This -accomplished, he drew toward him a pencil and a pad of paper.</p> -<p>“L-I! L-I! L-I!”</p> -<p>Crackling and squealing the powerful spark volleyed across the gap, and -rushing into the aerials went flashing hundreds of miles through the ether.</p> -<p>Then came a pause. Tom, his hand on Jack’s shoulder, leaned eagerly forward -and over him, watching for the first words of the message from space to be -written on the pad.</p> -<p>All at once Jack began to write. His fingers flew fast in response to the -flood of dots and dashes that came beating against his ear drums, transmitted by -the sensitive diaphragms of the receivers.</p> -<p>To an untrained ear the soft tappings would have sounded as vague and -undefined as the footsteps of a fly on a sheet of sensitive matter. But to Jack, -the whisperings winging their way in three hundred meter waves through space -were as clear as a story read aloud.</p> -<p>As he wrote, shoving his pencil over the sheets as fast as he could, Tom -began to gasp.</p> -<p>“Great ginger-snaps!” he choked out, and then, “Well, we were sighing for -action, and it looks as if we’ll get it in big, juicy chunks before we’re much -older.”</p> -<p>While the message, destined to have such an important effect on their -immediate future, is still pulsing through the air, we will take the opportunity -to place the reader in closer touch, so to speak, with our two lads. Jack -Chadwick, then, was the only son of Professor Chester Chadwick, an inventor, -whose various discoveries in many mechanical fields had resulted in gaining him -a handsome fortune. Jack’s mother had died when he was a tiny lad, and, as he -was an only son, he had been brought up in constant association with his father. -Almost as soon as he had mastered his earliest lessons Jack was familiar with -his parent’s laboratory and workshop, and Mr. Chadwick, delighted at the -interest the boy displayed in science, had made him a close companion.</p> -<p>When Jack was twelve years old a new interest entered his life. His cousin, -Tom Jesson, came to live with them at Mr. Chadwick’s handsome home on the -outskirts of Boston. Tom was the son of Jasper Jesson, the noted traveler, and, -like Jack, he was motherless. Mr. Jesson had, some time before, accepted a -commission from a scientific institute to travel and collect antiquities in the -then little-known territory of Yucatan. From this expedition he did not return -within the year allotted him to complete his researches.</p> -<p>Time went on and no word came from him, and at length he was given up for -lost even by the most hopeful of his friends. And thus it was that his son Tom, -then ten years old, came to High Towers, Mr. Chadwick’s estate, even then known -as the home of a famous inventor.</p> -<p>And so Jack and Tom had practically grown up together in close association -and with kindred interests.</p> -<p>To two lads of inventive mind, no more delightful field for their experiments -could have been imagined than High Towers. A park of some fifty or sixty acres -surrounded the house, which, among other features of a country estate, possessed -a small lake. On this sheet of water Jack and Tom tried out models of a dozen -different kinds of craft before they were fourteen. Professor Chadwick gave them -practically “the run” of his workshops and experimental sheds, besides -instructing them in scientific investigations.</p> -<p>Among other things, the lads had constructed a complete miniature railroad on -the grounds, and had also built gliders of various types. But their most recent -“craze” had been wireless telegraphy. With a dozen lads of their own age they -had formed a “Wireless Club,” which met at High Towers every month. But, with -the summer vacation, the members of the body had scattered, leaving only Jack -and Tom to carry on the work. As Professor Chadwick stinted his son in nothing -pertaining to his chosen pursuits, the two lads had assembled as complete an -amateur station as could be found in the country.</p> -<p>In addition to the latest instruments and appliances, their natural ingenuity -had enabled them to invent several additional features, some of them -patentable,—as, for instance, the call-bell which tapped out the mysterious -summons to the island station.</p> -<p>Which brings us back to Lone Island and to an explanation of how the two lads -and Jupe, their faithful colored attendant, happened to be quartered on this -low-lying, sandy, rather desolate patch of land off the coast of Texas, not far -from the mouth of the Rio Grande. The islet belonged to Professor Chadwick, -being part of an estate which had been owned by his wife, the daughter of a -Texas cattle man. The lads had already camped there a winter, and knew the -vicinity well.</p> -<p>About two months before this story opens, Professor Chadwick had left home, -bound, so he informed the lads, on a biological investigation cruise among the -Florida Keys and the West Indies. The lads had heard nothing more of him, or of -his steam yacht, the <i>Sea King</i>, with the exception of a letter from Key -West, and another from the island of Jamaica, stating that all was going -well.</p> -<p>Imagine their bewildered astonishment and excitement therefore, when, two -weeks before, a brief letter came to High Towers telling them to proceed, with -Jupe, to Galveston, where the motor cruiser <i>Vagrant</i> would be awaiting -them. Their instructions continued to inform them that they were to equip the -<i>Vagrant</i> with wireless, and also purchase a portable bungalow and shed, -with which to establish a wireless station on Lone Island. The letter, signed by -Professor Chadwick, closed in his customary abrupt manner, without vouchsafing -any explanation of his orders.</p> -<p>But Jack and Tom hardly needed any. The letter opened up before them a -delightful vista of fun and adventure.</p> -<p>“Just fancy, a wireless island all to ourselves!” Jack had exclaimed as the -boys joined hands in a wild war dance of delight. They had pleasant -recollections of former jolly days in camp on the Gulf.</p> -<p>The letter enclosed a liberal draft on Professor Chadwick’s bank, and within -forty-eight hours after receiving the missive which was to mean so much to them, -the two cousins and chums, with the faithful Jupe attending them like a black -shadow, were off for Galveston. On arrival there they went to the boatyard -mentioned in the Professor’s letter, where they found the <i>Vagrant</i>,—the -smart craft already mentioned as lying at the Lone Island wharf,—already -equipped for sea, awaiting them.</p> -<p>To install a wireless plant on board did not take long. The most difficult -part of their task lay in finding a suitable mast for the support of the -aerials. Jack solved this problem by constructing a telescopic staff of steel -tubing which, when not in use, could be lowered to a height of twelve feet. In -use it could be raised to an altitude of sixty feet, giving a very fair radius -of scope.</p> -<p>The materials for the wireless on the island, like those for the floating -plant, had been brought from Boston. But the portable shack and bungalow were -purchased in Galveston.</p> -<p>The Professor’s letter had instructed the lads to wait on the island for a -message by wireless. Now it had come; come, too, with a startling suddenness -that might be likened to a jolt. Tom, watching Jack’s fingers with burning eyes, -finally saw this message inscribed on the receiving pad:</p> -<p>“Lone Island Station.—Proceed with all speed to Long. 96° W. by Lat. 27° N. -Urgent. We are in dire peril.—Bangs, operator <i>Sea King</i>.”</p> -<p>The patter of the electric waves against the receivers ceased. No further -word came, and Jack, after a brief interval, took off the headpiece and laid it -down beside him on the table. For an instant the message, so utterly, wildly -different from any they had expected, almost deprived him of speech.</p> -<p>Now his faculties rushed back, but he did not speak. Instead, he grounded the -aerials by throwing the switch, and leaped to his feet with such impulsiveness -that the stool on which he had been sitting went careering to the floor.</p> -<p>“Come on, Tom,” he cried, darting for the door.</p> -<p>As he ran he stuffed the message into the pocket of his linen jacket. Tom -shot out of the shack after him.</p> -<p>“You’d better lock——” he began.</p> -<p>“Send Jupe to do it,” was the backward flung rejoinder, as Jack sprinted for -the bungalow, “we’ve got to get grub on board and fill the water tanks within -fifteen minutes.”</p> -<p>“And then what?”</p> -<p>“To sea—at top speed! The best the <i>Vagrant</i> can do will be none too -quick! They need us out there,” he flung his arm seaward in an embracing -gesture, “need us mighty bad, and it’s up to us to make a record run to the -rescue.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-iithe-mysterious-x.y.z.'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER II—THE MYSTERIOUS X. Y. Z.</h2> -</div> -<p>“They said nothing as to what was the matter?”</p> -<p>Tom propounded the question ten minutes later as the two lads busied -themselves in the after cabin of the <i>Vagrant</i>, stowing provisions -hastily. “No, not a word. If only I could have got in communication with them -again I might——”</p> -<p>At this point a very black, very round, very good-natured negro countenance -appeared in the companion way above them.</p> -<p>“Ah’se done locked up, Marse Tom. Anyfing else yo’ all might be requirmentin’ -ob?”</p> -<p>“No, Jupe. I guess we’re about ready for a start. Let’s see,” and Jack -rapidly ran over a mental list of what they had on board.</p> -<p>“Yes, we’ve got everything. The water tanks are full, plenty of -gasolene,—it’s a good thing we brought that extra stock from Galveston,—grub, O. -K., and—better get forward and start the motor up, Tom.”</p> -<p>Tom needed no second bidding. He shot up the companion way three steps at a -time, almost upsetting Jupe, who stood at the summit on deck. He scurried to a -hatchway forward of amidships and dived below. A hasty glance over the forty -horse-power, four-cylindered, four-cycle engine showed him that everything was -in working order. An adjustment of the force-feed lubricator, a swift -examination of the magneto, a few turns of the starting apparatus, and a -rhythmic series of explosions as the crank shaft began to revolve, and the -<i>Vagrant</i> was ready, so far as her machinery was concerned, to begin her -dash across the Gulf.</p> -<p>In the meantime, Jupe had been hustled ashore by Jack, who had taken up his -position at the wheel, and in a very few seconds the lines that held the motor -cruiser to the wharf were cast off. Jupe made a flying leap aboard as the tide -swung the <i>Vagrant</i> from her resting place.</p> -<p>At the same instant Jack jerked the bell pull, which signaled Tom in the -engine-room below to throw in the clutch, and as the propeller began to revolve -the <i>Vagrant</i> backed slowly out. In a few minutes Jack rang in the “Go-ahead” -signal, and swinging the doughty little craft in a short semicircle, the -young captain headed her almost due S. E.</p> -<p>Tom emerged on deck wiping his hands on a bit of waste.</p> -<p>“Everything all right below?” inquired Jack as his cousin took up a position -beside him.</p> -<p>“Running like a dollar watch,” was the response.</p> -<p>“How much speed can we get?”</p> -<p>“Well, twelve knots is her registered gait, but I might coax a bit more out -of her.”</p> -<p>“Try and get all you can.”</p> -<p>“I will. What time do you think we ought to reach the vicinity of the <i>Sea -King</i>?”</p> -<p>“It’s a trifle over a hundred miles to the spot at which she gave her -bearings,” was the response, with a glance at the chart which lay exposed in the -uncovered case in front of the wheel. “It’s now just one o’clock. Say, about -midnight.”</p> -<p>“Phew! You propose to pick up a yacht, whose location you know only vaguely, -in the <i>dark</i>?”</p> -<p>“Not so dark, either. There’ll be a moon at ten-thirty. Anyhow, if we keep -right on this course we’re bound to come within a few miles of the given -bearings.”</p> -<p>“I guess that’s so. Well, I’m off below to watch the engines.”</p> -<p>“Better start the dynamo and get some ‘juice’ into the storage batteries. I -mean to try the wireless again before long.”</p> -<p>Tom nodded, and vanished below once more. Jupe came forward from the stern, -where he had been coiling lines and generally setting things to rights.</p> -<p>“Marse Tom,” he said, with some hesitation, “is dere any objection to -informationing me concerning de percise objec’ ob dis here penguination?”</p> -<p>“Why, no, Jupe,” rejoined Jack, with a smile at the old negro’s remarkable -choice of what he himself would have called “highfaluting” words, “the <i>Sea -King</i>, with my father on board, as you know, is in some sort of trouble, and -we are going to the rescue as fast as we can.”</p> -<p>“How you find out dat, Marse Jack?” asked the old man, with a tinge of -suspicion in his voice.</p> -<p>“By wireless, Jupe.”</p> -<p>“What!” in a tone of frank unbelief, “yo’ all mean ter tell me dat dat -birdcage rigamarole ob yo’s done tell yo’ all dat?”</p> -<p>“That’s right, Jupe.”</p> -<p>“Sho’ now! Yo’ ain’t foolin’ de ole man, Marse Jack? Dat conjo’ wire done -tell yo’ all dat?”</p> -<p>“Of course. I should have thought that you’d seen enough of it at High Towers -to know what it could do.”</p> -<p>“Humph!” the old negro scratched his head in a puzzled way, “yo mean dose -eccentrical wabes, as yo’ call ’em, done come all de way frum Marse Chadwick’s -boat to de island?”</p> -<p>“Just what I do, Jupe. It’s the same thing as chucking a stone in a pond. You -know how the waves and ripples spread out and out in circles that get bigger and -bigger?”</p> -<p>“Ya’as, sah.”</p> -<p>“Well, it’s the same thing in wireless. Instead of a pond you’ve got the air, -or the atmosphere; instead of a stone, you’ve got an electric impulse from the -antenna.”</p> -<p>“An’ when dat eccentric ’pulse go ’way from dose—dose—aunties, it jes’ spread -and spread like de ripples on a pond?”</p> -<p>“Yes. The waves spread till they strike another wireless apparatus ‘in tune’ -with them.”</p> -<p>“An’ yo’ birdcage fiddle was tuned to de same pitch as de <i>Sea -King’s</i>?”</p> -<p>“That’s right, Jupe. You’re catching on fast We both use three hundred meter -waves. That was agreed upon. Thus, you see, our station caught the message from -the disabled yacht.”</p> -<p>“Humph! But s’pose dere was some odder station dat had its fiddle tuned de -percise same way?”</p> -<p>“Why, then they’d have caught the message, too.”</p> -<p>“An’ dey’d know, too, dat de po’ <i>Sea King</i> done busted?”</p> -<p>“I suppose so,—yes. But why do you ask?”</p> -<p>“Fo’ jes dis reason, Marse Jack,—if any ob dem ole wreckers dat used ter hang -about dese parts got dat message, maybe dey gwine ter go out dere, too.”</p> -<p>“I guess not, Jupe. I never heard of any such rascals who had a wireless -equipment.”</p> -<p>“Den how ’bout dat po’ful mysterious X. Y. Z. I done heard yo’ an’ Marse Tom -talkin’ ’bout at supper de odder night?”</p> -<p>“Oh, X. Y. Z.!” exclaimed Jack with a laugh; “well, he <i>is</i> a mystery -for a fact. Some amateur on shore or some place, I suppose, who just happened to -get tangled up with our slaves when we were practicing.”</p> -<p>The “X. Y. Z.” referred to had made himself manifest three days before, while -Jack and Tom were conducting some experiments with their sending apparatus. In -the midst of their work a confused sound had broken in upon them, and Jack, on -tuning his apparatus to catch the “stranger” waves, had intercepted an -apparently meaningless message signed X. Y. Z. The message consisted of a jumble -of numerals which, the two lads had little difficulty in deciding, was a code of -some sort. The catching of such messages being common enough in the north, they -gave the matter little more thought and, in fact, till Jupe mentioned it. Jack -had not recollected the occurrence at all. Now, however, as Jupe moved off -forward to complete his work, he caught himself wondering who X. Y. Z. might be. -He wished that they had taken down the intercepted message and devoted some of -their leisure time to deciphering it; but the urgent business now in hand soon -drove such thoughts out of the young navigator’s head.</p> -<p>Tom reappeared on deck, the inevitable bit of waste in his hands.</p> -<p>“I’ve adjusted the magneto,” he announced, “and I guess we’re turning over a -bit faster than ordinary.”</p> -<p>“Good for you,” nodded Jack approvingly, “every minute counts on a job like -this.”</p> -<p>At every turn of the shaft Jack’s heart was bounding with keen anxiety. The -same might be said of Tom’s condition. The very vagueness of the message from -the air, fraught as it was with the sense of disaster, added to their -mystification and eagerness to reach the scene.</p> -<p>But mingled with all this, as the two lads stood side by side on the -miniature bridge of their speedy little cruiser, was a fierce sort of pleasure -as they sped through the rolling swells of the gulf, hurling white masses of -foam aside from the sharp “cutwater.”</p> -<p>Behind them the coast line lay like a dim gray scarf stretched along the blue -horizon. The keen, ozone-laden wind struck their faces with an invigorating -tang. It was great, glorious, exciting to be out here on the broad bosom of the -gulf, guiding a speedy motor craft toward unknown adventures. The zest of -achievement, the glory of grappling with obstacles as yet unseen and hardly -guessed at, ran hot in both boys’ veins. Fast as the <i>Vagrant</i> was, she -seemed to them to crawl, and yet, thanks to Tom’s skill as an engineer, she was -reeling off her thirteen knots with the regularity of a sleeping infant’s -breathing.</p> -<p>“Jupe!” called Jack presently, “come aft and spell me at the wheel for a -while. I’m going to send a few questions into the air,” he added to Tom.</p> -<p>“Good. We’ve got plenty of ‘juice.’ Shall I go below and send up the -mast?”</p> -<p>“Yes. Better run it up to its full height. It won’t hurt in this light -breeze, and I want all the radius I can get.”</p> -<p>“Right you are.”</p> -<p>Tom descended once more. The base of the telescoping aerial mast was in the -forepart of the engine-room. A hand winch operated it much in the same manner -that a fire department’s extension ladders are sent aloft. It did not take Tom -long to extend the slender, yet pliant and strong steel spar heavenward to its -fullest length.</p> -<p>At its truck, or summit, was a pulley, through which halyards attached to the -aerials had been rove. Jack had gotten these out while Tom had been busy below, -and in a remarkably short time the slender antenna, or aerials, were strung from -mast tip to deck. There were four separate wires of stranded phosphor bronze -attached to wooden spreads, and properly insulated. From them a wire led back to -the instruments attached to a table in the forepart of the cabin.</p> -<p>The aerials being up Jack, after satisfying himself that everything was -shipshape, made for the cabin. Seating himself at the wireless table he sent a -signal crashing out into space.</p> -<p>“S-K! S-K! S-K!”</p> -<p>Then, after a pause:—</p> -<p>“L-I.”</p> -<p>There followed a period of listenings with the receiving switch over and the -“watch-case” receivers closely clamped to the young operator’s ears. But no -answer came.</p> -<p>A worried look crept over Jack’s countenance. This silence was ominous. Once -more he manipulated the key with nimble fingers. The spark squealing and -crackling shot bluely hither and thither.</p> -<p>But to the electrical appeals sent broadcast into the atmosphere, space -vouchsafed no answer.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-iiithe-cipher-code'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER III—THE CIPHER CODE</h2> -</div> -<p>A sudden break in the rhythmic pulse of the engine reached Tom’s alert ears -at this instant. Without speaking he hastened from the cabin to the engine-room, -using, for this purpose, a door cut in the forward bulkhead. He found that one -of the cylinders was missing fire and traced the trouble to a badly sooted -plug.</p> -<p>While he was adjusting the trouble Jack stuck to his key. He would pound out -his “S-K” call furiously for an interval, and then listen intently for even the -faintest indication of a response. The lad tried various adjustments, of the -potentiometer, which regulates the voltage and current supplied to the detector, -and operated his receiving tuning coil in various ways. But though he tried for -wave lengths from two hundred meters up to fifteen hundred, not a whisper came -out of the void of silence about them.</p> -<p>“I’ll call once more,” said the lad to himself in a determined voice, “it’s -our duty to do all we can and keep at it all the time. Of course, if the <i>Sea -King</i> has met with a really serious disaster her wireless may be out of -order and—Hullo! Here’s something coming now!”</p> -<p>Something was coming, sure enough!</p> -<p>As Jack clamped the receivers to his ears a hail of dots and dashes beat -against his organs of hearing. Somebody was transmitting a message at a furious -rate. Expert as the lad was, it was all he could do to make head or tail of it. -His pencil fairly flew over the recording pad, and when he got through he had -nothing for his pains but a sheet covered with figures, and again that -annoyingly mysterious signature X. Y. Z.</p> -<p>Tom had returned to the cabin while Jack’s pencil was scurrying across the -paper. He leaned over, the other lad’s shoulder and watched intently. When Jack -stopped and affixed the signature X. Y. Z., he looked up at his cousin -wonderingly.</p> -<p>“It’s X. Y. Z. again. He was sending like blue blazes, too. What do you make -of it?”</p> -<p>“Blessed if I know. Using his cipher again, too, isn’t he? Say, Jack! See -here,—X. Y. Z.,—whoever he is,—is within our radius right now—at this instant. -Call him, and see if you can find out who or what he is and where his station -is. If the <i>Sea King</i> is badly off he may be of great assistance to -us.”</p> -<p>Jack switched his current over for sending out a call. With a puzzled frown -on his face he adopted Tom’s suggestion.</p> -<p>“X-Y-Z! X-Y-Z! X-Y-Z!” he flashed out, and then added the signature “L-I.”</p> -<p>“Now to see if we get any result,” he said, adjusting the receivers to his -ears and throwing the switch for the detection of a reply. He had not long to -wait.</p> -<p>“L-I! L-I! L-I!—X-Y-Z!” came billowing through the ether, “what do you -want?”</p> -<p>“We are proceeding to rescue of disabled yacht <i>Sea King</i>,” flashed -back Jack. “Where are you? Can we rely on you for help?”</p> -<p>A long silence followed. Then the Continental code began to throb and beat in -the receivers, once more.</p> -<p>But it was another question that came.</p> -<p>“Where is yacht <i>Sea King</i>?”</p> -<p>Jack flashed the bearings as he had received them earlier in the day, and -then repeated his former question. But no reply came. For an instant the lad -thought he had got out of tune with the wireless mystery, but although he ran -the gamut of the tuning coil, nothing more came. For all that was further heard -of him, X. Y. Z. might have been as intangible as the atmosphere out of which he -had projected his questions.</p> -<p>For half an hour or more Jack persisted in his endeavors to reach X. Y. Z. -again, but finally gave it up as a bad job. Grounding his current, he laid down -his head band and swung in his chair.</p> -<p>“Lost him?” inquired Tom.</p> -<p>“I’d rather say that he lost us,” responded Jack, “it must have been a -deliberate cut-out. One second he was coming strong and then—silence. How do you -figure it, Tom?”</p> -<p>“I don’t attempt to. I give it up, unless X. Y. Z. is some sort of a wireless -lunatic.”</p> -<p>Jack gave a rather mirthless laugh.</p> -<p>“Hardly. Or, if so, I begin to fear there is some method in his madness. You -notice that he only seemed to want to find out the exact position of the <i>Sea -King</i>?”</p> -<p>He indicated the writing pad on which the entire conversation was recorded, -as was the young inventor’s wont.</p> -<p>Tom nodded.</p> -<p>“I see that plain enough. I am inclined to think. Jack, that you made a big -mistake in giving that chap the location of the <i>Sea King</i>.”</p> -<p>“You do? Why?”</p> -<p>But as he spoke there came into Jack’s mind an uncomfortable recollection of -what Jupe had said about wreckers.</p> -<p>“I don’t know just why,” was Tom’s frank response; “didn’t you ever have a -feeling that somehow something you had done had been,—quite unintentionally,—a -bad blunder?”</p> -<p>“I know what you mean. I wish to goodness we knew who this X. Y. Z. was,—or -is.”</p> -<p>“Easy to find out.”</p> -<p>“Easy to find out!” echoed Jack with a fine note of scorn, “about as easy -as—as——”</p> -<p>“Translating that cipher,” broke in Tom. “If we can read it we may have a -good clew to Mister X. Y. Z. and his doings.”</p> -<p>Jack laughed aloud.</p> -<p>“Yes, ‘if,’” he said mockingly, “and if——”</p> -<p>“I think I can do it,” said Tom quietly.</p> -<p>“You do! Well, tackle it at once, then. I’m kind of worried, I don’t mind -telling you, about that chap and his questions.”</p> -<p>Tom picked up the sheet of paper with the numbers inscribed on it in a -seemingly hopeless jumble.</p> -<p>“I’ll take it to the engine-room with me and try to work it out and keep an -eye on the motor at the same time. I like tackling propositions of this -kind.”</p> -<p>“Yes, you always were a nutcracker at school; but I fancy you’ll find that -the toughest yet.”</p> -<p>“I’m not so sure about that. Ciphers divide themselves up into groups pretty -well, and I’ve half an idea that this is a very common one. Suppose you take a -look at Jupe and take the wheel while he gets supper.”</p> -<p>“By ginger, I’d forgotten all about that till this moment.”</p> -<p>Jack glanced up at the clock affixed to the bulkhead.</p> -<p>“Almost five o’clock. Time has flown certainly. Well, good luck, Tom, with -that mess of figures, and if you find out anything from them about X. Y. Z. -you’re entitled to a big hunk of credit on a silver platter.”</p> -<p>Jupe, so Jack found, had kept the <i>Vagrant</i> on her course to a hair’s -breadth. The old fellow had been a sailor in his younger days, and the waters -they were now traversing were not unfamiliar to him. He hailed the news that he -was to get supper with pleasure, however.</p> -<p>“Ah’ll cook yo’ boys as fine a meal as yo’ ebber sat down to,” he promised, -as with a broad grin he surrendered the wheel and made aft to the galley, which -was a small room forward of the cabin and between it and the engine-room.</p> -<p>It was an hour later that Tom appeared on deck with a knitted brow, and -several sheets of paper covered closely with cabalistic figuring.</p> -<p>“Well?” said Jack.</p> -<p>“Well, I’ve worked it out, and——”</p> -<p>“You know who X. Y. Z. is, I hope?”</p> -<p>“Why, no,” was the response in a puzzled tone, “I don’t know who he is, but -I’ve learned considerable of what he is,—and I don’t much like it.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-iva-marine-game-of-blind-mans-buff'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER IV—A MARINE GAME OF BLIND-MAN’S BUFF</h2> -</div> -<p>Jupe’s summons to supper ended the talk for the time being, and the two lads -went below to eat a hearty meal while the colored man took a spell at the wheel. -After supper they emerged on deck again, and as Jack took the helm Tom drew up a -camp stool beside him, and seating himself, spread the figure-covered sheet of -paper out on the chart case. He then switched on the shaded light, which caused -a soft glow to reveal the cabalistic scribbling clearly.</p> -<p>“Now then,” he began, “in figuring out a cipher of this sort the first thing -to do is to note what figure appears most frequently. Having ascertained this, -it is safe to assume that such a figure stands for the most frequently occurring -letter in the language,—always provided, of course, the message is in -English.”</p> -<p>“Well?” interrogated Jack.</p> -<p>“We know that the most frequently used vowel in English is <i>E</i>. And, -by the way, this translation proved fairly easy, because the transmitter of the -message made a gap between each of his groups of figures, showing that each -collection stood for a separate word.”</p> -<p>“I noticed that,—go ahead.”</p> -<p>“I was trying to show you something of the method; but I guess you’ve about -grasped it. In figuring out the cipher I made groups of all the numerals -occurring in your transcript of the message, and found that the number ‘five’ -appeared most often. I assumed, then, that it stood for H. Working in this way, -I found that the first word of the message was <i>The</i>. That <i>Th</i> -stuck for some time, till I saw that the figures ‘twenty-five’ had been used to -express the phonetic sound of <i>Th</i>.</p> -<p>“This gave me a valuable clew. I wrote down <i>The</i> and then passed on -to the next words. Figuring as before, I assigned the number ‘three,’ which -appeared alone, to the letter <i>C</i>. I was puzzled for a minute. ‘<i>The -C</i>’ didn’t seem to mean a whole lot, but I let it go and passed on to the -next word. Using my system I spelled out <i>King</i>, and then, of course, I -realized that the <i>C</i> was a phonetic rendering for the first part of the -yacht <i>Sea King’s</i> name.”</p> -<p>“Great guns!” gasped Jack, “then they are interested in dad’s craft -and——”</p> -<p>“Wait a while; let me get the rest of it off my chest. I’m not going to tire -your patience out by going through every step. I’ve told you enough to show you -my method. As I got further combinations it became more and more simple till I -finally had this message figured out:</p> -<p>“‘The <i>Sea King</i> is disabled. Trying to get bearings from you know -who. <i>Vagrant</i> left Lone Island this P. M. going to rescue. You had -better make all speed or they will beat you out. Am proceeding. X. Y. Z.’”</p> -<p>Jack’s lips emitted an amazed whistle.</p> -<p>“What sort of a maze have we blundered into?” he exclaimed. “This X. Y. Z., -who is he? Who was he talking to? What are they after?”</p> -<p>“All of which questions will be answered by the time we arrive at the scene -of the wreck, I imagine,” quoth Tom with a dry intonation; “in the meantime, it -looks as if we are ‘it’ in this marine game of blind-man’s buff.”</p> -<p>“That’s the name for it, all right,” assented Jack, peering at his compass -card. “Tom, old lad, I’ve a presentiment that we are going to blunder into -something that will call for every bit of ingenuity and courage we possess.”</p> -<p>“And in the meantime,” said Tom, “it’s up to me to keep that motor turning -over as she never turned before.”</p> -<p>“Um,—well, beyond knowing that X. Y. Z. is a dangerous factor, or seemingly -so,” mused Jack, “we are about as far off as ever from knowing just where he -fits into the problem.”</p> -<p>The night wore on, and still the <i>Vagrant</i> churned her way steadily -across the dark waters of the gulf under the brilliant white stars of the -southern sky. The phosphorescence slid by her in fiery green streaks as she cut -her way along, and from time to time Tom emerged from below and “spelled” his -cousin, and comrade, at the wheel. At ten o’clock Jupe served coffee and -biscuits on the bridge, and shortly thereafter Jack had another try with the -wireless. But space, as before, was mute as the Sphinx. From out of the darkness -came no whisper as to the nature of the enigma into which the situation, evolved -by that first message from the air, had developed itself.</p> -<p>Eleven o’clock came, and both boys commenced to strain their eyes into the -velvety blackness ahead.</p> -<p>“We ought to be picking something up before long,” observed Jack, -“unless—unless——”</p> -<p>His voice shook a bit. Between this lad and his father there was a deep bond -of affection. Their close association had riveted the lad’s love for his parent -even more strongly than is the case with most boys. As they neared the location -where the yacht ought to be discovered, a feeling of painful suspense clutched -coldly at his heart. Nor was Tom’s agitation much less. But the younger lad was -more accustomed to suppress his feelings than Jack. He stood by his cousin’s -side with tightly closed lips, as the <i>Vagrant</i> throbbed onward, but -through his brain, like fires in a blast furnace, a constant succession of -anxious thoughts flashed and agitated.</p> -<p>“Unless what. Jack?” said Tom at length.</p> -<p>“Unless—gracious, Tom, suppose—suppose that the <i>Sea King</i> has——”</p> -<p>There was no need for him to conclude the sentence. Tom knew well enough what -the other dreaded. The ominous silence after that first message, the lack of any -signals from the disabled craft whose vicinity they must be close to now if she -were still afloat—all these things induced a gloomy presentiment of evil which -Tom, no more than Jack, was able to shake off.</p> -<p>“It isn’t possible that she has proceeded?” mused Tom.</p> -<p>“Not likely. As I understood that message the location was given us so that -we could make direct for her. If she had been capable of proceeding under her -own steam, surely she would have made for Lone Island.”</p> -<p>“If only we knew something of the object of Uncle Chester’s mission, we might -form a clearer idea of what has happened out here,” ventured Tom. “One thing is -certain, the <i>Sea King</i> hasn’t struck a rock——”</p> -<p>Jack laughed mirthlessly.</p> -<p>“There isn’t a reef or a shoal within a hundred miles of her bearings, as -given to us,” he said; “that’s what makes the whole thing such a baffling -puzzle. Her boilers and machinery were new. I don’t see what can have happened -to them, and surely if the accident had been of that nature, the despatch would -have said so. It’s just the vagueness of the whole thing that worries me.”</p> -<p>“Complicated by Mister X. Y. Z., whoever he may be,” supplemented Tom. “Do -you know, Jack, I’ve got a hunch that we, are destined to see that individual -before very long?”</p> -<p>A sudden yell from Jupe, who was at the bow keeping a keen lookout according -to instructions, cut the night.</p> -<p>“Marse Jack! Marse Tom! Look! Look dere, yondah!”</p> -<p>There was no need for Jupe to explain himself. Dead ahead, and directly on -the <i>Vagrant’s</i> course, a bright streamer of flame slashed the sky like a -scimitar of fire.</p> -<p>“A rocket!” exploded Jack.</p> -<p>As he uttered the exclamation the skyward end of the flaming ribbon burst -into a diadem of brilliant scarlet stars.</p> -<p>“Here, take the wheel,” choked out Jack, seizing Tom by the shoulder and -shoving him into the helmsman’s place.</p> -<p>With nimble fingers he unlaced the canvas covering of the <i>Vagrant’s</i> -searchlight, snapped the switch on with a tiny sputter of green sparks. and the -next instant a pencil of white light was sweeping the darkness ahead.</p> -<p>Back and forth it swept and suddenly steadied. As it did so the boys uttered -a simultaneous exclamation of amazement. Into the field of light had suddenly -swung, not the expected outlines of the <i>Sea King</i>, but the form of a low -craft without masts or funnels, rushing, at what appeared to be terrific speed, -toward the northeast.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-va-shot-in-the-night'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER V—A SHOT IN THE NIGHT</h2> -</div> -<p>“Jove!” burst from Jack’s lips, “what on earth is this fresh -complication?”</p> -<p>He had hardly spoken before there came a crash of glass close to his hand, -and something flew whistling by him. At the same instant the searchlight was -extinguished, and from seaward, where they had last seen the speeding craft, -came a dull “B-o-o-m!”</p> -<p>“Knocked that searchlight into smithereens,” was Tom’s exclamation as old -Jupe, with an alarmed cry, came running forward at the sound of the screaming -projectile and the splintering glass.</p> -<p>“At any rate,” was Jack’s grim retort, “they’ve shown us their hands. Tom, -old chap, this thing is going to be bigger than we thought.”</p> -<p>“You think then——”</p> -<p>“That we are not the only persons interested in the <i>Sea King</i>. If I -don’t make a big mistake, that shot was a message from our friend X. Y. Z.”</p> -<p>“It looks like it,” admitted Tom; “oh, if we could only glimpse the <i>Sea -King</i>!”</p> -<p>“The rocket cattle from her. I’m sure of it. She must have mistaken the -lights of that marine raceabout for our signals.”</p> -<p>“Let’s try an answering rocket,” suggested Tom.</p> -<p>“Won’t do any harm. Jupe, quit shivering like a jellyfish and get the rockets -out. Two will be enough. Tom, you rig the tube.”</p> -<p>The firing apparatus, a cylinder of galvanized iron, was speedily rigged in -place, and by that time Jupe, whose face was an ashen gray tinge, reappeared -with the rockets, two powerful signaling instruments, two feet or more in -length.</p> -<p>“All right, Tom, touch them off,” came from Jack, as the younger lad -proclaimed that all was ready.</p> -<p>There was the sputter of a match, a burst of yellow flame and then, almost -instantly, a roar and a shriek as the first of the signals shot aloft, trailing -a long tail of golden fire. At two hundred feet it exploded in a shower of blue -stars. Almost simultaneously, it seemed, another cluster of red stars were -spattered over the sky.</p> -<p>“Hurray! That’s the <i>Sea King</i>, sure enough!” cried Jack; “see, -they’ve answered us. Crowd her as much as you can, Tom, it’s a race for all -we’re worth now.”</p> -<p>“I can get a bit more speed, but it means overheating the engines,” warned -Tom.</p> -<p>“Never mind that. Put us alongside the <i>Sea King</i> ahead of that other -chap, and I don’t care if you blow the engines up,” was the curt rejoinder.</p> -<p>Tom shrugged his shoulders as he went below, but a few seconds later the dial -hand of the patent log crept up a notch.</p> -<p>“Fourteen knots!” exclaimed Jack, with a note of satisfaction, “we’ll beat -her out yet.”</p> -<p>All at once, from out of the obscurity, a grim possibility materialized. -Rushing straight for the <i>Vagrant</i> came a sharp bow, with a wave of white -phosphorescent foam curling away from it on each side as it cleaved the -swells.</p> -<p>“Great guns! They’re trying to ram us!” gasped out Jack as he sensed the -meaning of this new peril.</p> -<p>He seized up the speaking tube and bellowed down to Tom with all the force of -his lungs.</p> -<p>“Back! Back her for our lives!”</p> -<p>Round spun the spokes of the wheel fast as a revolving squirrel’s cage. The -<i>Vagrant’s</i> forward way was checked, but not wholly. To Jack’s horror it -seemed impossible that the other vessel could fail in her evident object of -ramming the smaller craft.</p> -<p>Less than a few score of feet separated them now. He could hear the hiss of -the other craft’s cutwater as it rushed down on them.</p> -<p>“Golly to goodness, Marse Jack, dey sink us fo’ sho’,” wailed Jupe, dropping -to his knees in terror on the bridge.</p> -<p>Jack vouchsafed no reply. But the next instant he felt like giving a shout of -joy. The backward revolving propeller of the <i>Vagrant</i> was “biting” the -water. The motor craft’s forward impulse was checked. She hesitated, stopped, -and slowly her bow began to swing. It was not a second too soon. As the -<i>Vagrant</i> swung off, the other craft tore by at a vicious speed, and Jack -saw that her bow was shaped like a man-of-war’s “ram.” So closely did she race -across the <i>Vagrant’s</i> bow that he could see dim figures on her bridge, -and could catch a torrent of maledictions, as those in command of the strange -vessel saw that their evident purpose had been frustrated.</p> -<p>At the pace she was going. Jack realized that it would be some moments before -she could be put on another tack for a fresh onslaught.</p> -<p>“Ahead! Come ahead!” he shouted down the tube, and the propeller of the -<i>Vagrant</i> began to churn in a forward direction once more. The lads’ -craft forged forward, crossing the troubled wake of the vindictive stranger.</p> -<p>“Glory be!” breathed old Jupe fervently; “ah could heah de angels’ harps dat -time, Marse Jack.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know that I wasn’t in the same mental condition myself,” rejoined -Jack, with a nervous laugh. His hands shook and his heart beat thickly. The -escape had been narrow enough to unnerve older and more experienced persons than -this boyish captain.</p> -<p>“Ahoy!” came a sudden voice out of the darkness ahead, “what craft’s -that?”</p> -<p>“The <i>Vagrant</i>!” hailed back Jack, with a glad ring in his tones; “is -that the <i>Sky King</i>?”</p> -<p>“Aye! aye! Thank heaven, you’ve come—in time,” was the answering hail from -the yacht.</p> -<p>A moment later, against the stars. Jack could trace the spidery outlines of -the larger vessel’s spars and wireless aerials and rigging.</p> -<p>“This is Jack Chadwick,” he shouted, not giving a thought to the stranger -craft now, but in a torment of anxiety to know what it all portended, “is my -father on board?”</p> -<p>There was a pause. Across the water there came a confused murmur of voices, -but what they said was not audible.</p> -<p>“<i>Sea King</i>, ahoy!” hailed Jack impatiently, “is my father on board -and well?”</p> -<p>“Your father is well, we hope, but he’s not on board,” came back the reply in -somewhat hesitating tones.</p> -<p>“Not on board!” stammered Jack, feeling for an instant as if he had been -struck a heavy blow, “then where is he?”</p> -<p>“Come alongside. Master Jack,” was the response, “there’s a lot to be -told.”</p> -<p>The black hulk of the <i>Sea King</i> was plainly visible now, and Jack, -steering carefully, with one hand on the engine-room signaling device, -skillfully maneuvered the <i>Vagrant</i> alongside of the bigger craft. As he -did so an accommodation ladder was lowered, and several heads appeared along the -yacht’s rail.</p> -<p>“Stop her,” chimed the signal.</p> -<p>Then came the order to reverse and then “stop” once more. Jupe, with a line -in his hand, leaped for the accommodation ladder. Tom, emerging on deck, took in -the situation in a glance and made for the stern. He hurled another line, which -was caught from above. In as short a time as it takes to tell it, the -<i>Vagrant</i> was snugly moored alongside her larger consort.</p> -<p>Jack, with his head in a whirl, stepped from the bridge. Tom was at his side -in an instant.</p> -<p>“Is all well with Uncle Chester?” he demanded impatiently. “Is he on -board?”</p> -<p>“No, he isn’t,” came the staggering reply, in a voice that was half a sob. It -was a bolt from the blue that had assailed the lad, and who will blame him for -being utterly unnerved by the blow fate had just dealt him.</p> -<p>Tom was silent for an instant. Tidings that stun have a way of sinking in -slowly. Then, as the two lads stood at the foot of the ladder, he flung his arm -around Jack’s shoulder, and from his gritted teeth came speech:</p> -<p>“If harm has come to him. Jack, those who have caused it will have to -pay—<i>and pay big!</i>”</p> -<p>And so the two lads ascended the ladder to the <i>Sea King’s</i> deck, -followed by the awe-struck Jupe.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-vined-bangs-story'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER VI—NED BANGS’ STORY</h2> -</div> -<p>It was Ned Bang’s, the boyish wireless operator of the <i>Sea King</i>, who -met them at the head of the ladder. Behind him pressed a ring of curious faces, -the bronzed countenances of seamen. Some incandescents had been switched on as -the newcomers gained the deck, and in the yellow light Jack saw that all the -faces that gazed into his bore the unmistakable stamp of agitation.</p> -<p>Bangs, besides being the wireless operator of the <i>Sea King</i>, was -something more. He had been a pupil of Professor Chadwick’s and a school fellow -of Jack’s, and was quite a scientific adept along the lines he had chosen to -follow.</p> -<p>But Jack and Tom exchanged merely hasty words of greeting with the youngster -who stood facing them, pallid-faced under his coat of tan and shaken evidently -by some recent shock.</p> -<p>“What is it, Ned? What has happened?” demanded Jack eagerly, as soon as the -boys had clasped hands. “Where is father? Why are you out here alone?”</p> -<p>“It’s—it’s a long story. Jack,” half-stammered Ned. “I—I’m afraid that we who -are here on board don’t show up to very good advantage in it. But you must be -the judge of that. Shall we go below, where we can talk?”</p> -<p>There was a reticence, a hesitancy in his tones that irritated Jack, -overwrought as he already was.</p> -<p>“I asked you a question, Ned,” he said in sharp tones, very unlike his usual -affable ones, “where is my father?”</p> -<p>“I saw him last near Yucatan,” burst forth Ned miserably.</p> -<p>The reply was so utterly unexpected that it fairly took Jack and Tom off -their feet. Ned had not seen fit to supplement his statement, but stood there -with that same shamefaced expression playing over his visage.</p> -<p>“And you—you left him behind there?” broke out Jack, guessing part of the -truth.</p> -<p>“We couldn’t help it,” wailed Ned wretchedly. “Wait till I tell you about -it.”</p> -<p>Jack’s head swam. Behind the vague words he sensed a tragedy of some sort in -that mysterious country which had already, so it was thought, claimed the life -of Tom’s father, Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“How did the <i>Sea King</i> come to be off Yucatan?” inquired Jack, “her -course, as laid out, was far to the east of that country.”</p> -<p>“I know that,” replied Ned; “but a gale blew us off our reckonings, and into -as strange and terrible a series of adventures as you ever heard of in the -wildest fiction.”</p> -<p>“Tell us about it,” demanded Tom crisply, cutting short Ned’s rather -hysterical outburst. “Come below, into the cabin. It is important that we should -know everything as soon as possible.”</p> -<p>“This way,” said Ned, stepping toward the stern.</p> -<p>But Jack paused.</p> -<p>“An attempt was made to ram the <i>Vagrant</i> to-night,” he said, “by a -queer, but extremely speedy craft. Do you know anything about her, Ned?”</p> -<p>“Do I know anything about her?”</p> -<p>A quaver of indignation injected itself into Ned’s voice.</p> -<p>“Well, I should say so,” he went on; “that’s the vessel of that scoundrel -Herrera, the cousin of the governor of Yucatan, which, as you know, is at -present a province of Mexico, but, so far as civilization is concerned, parts of -it might as well be in the wilds of Africa.”</p> -<p>Tom had been fidgeting excitedly. The name of Yucatan had called up a -swarming crowd of memories of his father, the long missing explorer.</p> -<p>“Had my uncle’s visit to Yucatan anything to do with my father’s -disappearance?” he asked.</p> -<p>“Everything,” was the rejoinder, in steadier tones than Ned Bangs had yet -assumed. The presence of the self-possessed cousins, and their infectious manner -of quiet ability, had braced the unstrung lad up wonderfully.</p> -<p>“It was to rescue your father from——”</p> -<p>“Then he is alive?” burst in Tom, aglow at the wonderful news.</p> -<p>“So there is every reason to suppose,” was Ned’s reply.</p> -<p>Without giving him time to say more, the cousins, having ordered the crew to -keep a keen lookout for the speedy “ram” craft and notify them instantly of its -appearance, half dragged Ned below, and shoved him into a chair in the -comfortably furnished main cabin of the <i>Sea King</i>.</p> -<p>“Now then,” said Jack, “tell us everything, Ned, from the beginning. But -first you are reasonably certain that both my father and my uncle are -alive?”</p> -<p>“There is practically no doubt of that,” was Ned’s response.</p> -<p>“Then fire away,” ordered Tom, seating himself beside Jack, opposite the -still badly shaken Ned Bangs.</p> -<p>“We left New York at the time you know,” commenced Ned, “and cruised for some -time in the West Indies, your father. Jack, making stacks of observations and -records. We met many interesting adventures, but I’m not going to detail all -those now. But, although your father seemed to be immersed in his scientific -observations, there were several things unexplained about the <i>Sea -King’s</i> equipment.</p> -<p>“In a sort of well amidships was stored the aero-auto with which you had been -experimenting before he left High Towers.”</p> -<p>Jack nodded. He knew the wonderful craft had been placed aboard, but had -understood it had been taken along for private demonstration purposes.</p> -<p>“You mean the air and land craft driven by the gas generated from radolite -crystals?” he asked. “The Flying Road Racer, as we called it.”</p> -<p>“Yes,” rejoined Ned, “I guess that’s it. But I reckon you know more about -that than I do since you invented it. Anyhow, the aero-auto, as Professor -Chadwick called it, was installed in this well, or pit, amidships, which had -evidently been prepared for its reception in advance.”</p> -<p>“And it’s still there?” inquired Tom sharply.</p> -<p>“Still there. Whatever Professor Chadwick intended to use it for, he had no -opportunity to try it out before—before what I’m going to tell you occurred. -Then, too, I noticed that several chests containing articles whose nature was a -mystery to me were stored in a sort of lazaretto under the cabin floor. Whatever -their contents, they were evidently too precious for Professor Chadwick to let -them out of his sight.”</p> -<p>“Wait a second,” interrupted Tom, “I want to take a look outside.”</p> -<p>In a moment he was back, anti dropped into his place with an “All’s -well!”</p> -<p>“Never mind details now. Get ahead to Yucatan,” exclaimed Jack -impatiently.</p> -<p>“I’m getting there,” protested Ned, a look of what was almost horror passing -over his face at the mere mention of the name. “The storm I referred to before, -struck us when we were off the southernmost point of Florida. It was a terror of -a rip-roaring hurricane. All we could do was to head up into the mountainous -seas and run the engines at a quarter speed. We battled with the hurricane thus -for four days, and then MacDuffy, the engineer, came on deck one morning with a -white face and the news that the main shaft was cracked. It had been unable to -withstand the pressure of the racing propeller every time the <i>Sea -King’s</i> stern lifted out of the seas.</p> -<p>“Luckily, the wind had moderated a bit by that time, and we set the try -sails. Under these we staggered along at a four-knot gait for what seemed an -eternity of time. In reality it was about five days. One morning, when the storm -had about blown itself out, the lookout shouted that land lay ahead. Sure enough -it did. A strip of gray on the horizon; and I can tell you it was a mighty -welcome sight.</p> -<p>“Captain Andrews, our sailing master, announced that the coast was, in all -probability, that of Yucatan, and from what he told us of it we could not well -have struck a more useless stretch of country to us, situated as we were. But -it’s ‘any port in a storm’ said the skipper, and we made for the land, staggering -along under our clumsy rig.</p> -<p>“That night we anchored off a wild, desolate-looking coast, without a trace -of human habitations being visible anywhere. However, we found a bay which, -after careful soundings from the boats, proved to have sufficient depth of water -to harbor the <i>Sea King</i> snugly. Here we dropped anchor, and mighty glad -we were to have struck a haven at last, I can tell you.</p> -<p>“Next day the chief came to your father and told him that he thought he could -clamp a metal collar round the break in the shaft and make it practically as -good as new. To our astonishment, Professor Chadwick did not greet the news with -any special enthusiasm.</p> -<p>“‘You may as well take your time, Mr. MacDuffy,’ says he, ‘for it is probable -that we shall remain here for quite a considerable period.’</p> -<p>“‘A considerable period, sir!’ exclaimed MacDuffy in some surprise. ‘Do you -mean to explore yon forsaken land in the interests of science?’</p> -<p>“‘It seems to me, MacDuffy,’ answered Professor Chadwick (MacDuffy told me -all this later), ‘that fate has brought me here. A very dear and a very near -relative of mine vanished in this part of Yucatan many years ago. When we set -out on this cruise I had an idea that perhaps I might undertake to go in search -of him, or, at least, to discover some trace of his fate. That accounts for the -aero-auto which, as you know, my son Jack and I invented, and also explains -those chests which contain several more of our inventions suitable to such an -expedition.’</p> -<p>“The Professor went on to say that now that he found himself off the very -land which held the secret of Mr. Jesson’s fate, he didn’t mean to leave without -making an attempt to solve it. From this determination he was not to be swayed, -and the next day one of the boats set him and three of the crew, Abner Jennings, -the boatswain; Jack Allworthy, the second engineer; and Ezra Kettle, a Maine man -and a staunch seaman, ashore. We watched them from the <i>Sea King</i> as they -dragged the boat up on the beach and set off into the jungle, beyond which lay -the misty blue outline of a range of huge hills.</p> -<p>“Without the slightest warning, and just as they were about to plunge into -the thick brush, the mangroves and scrub vegetation parted, and a score of -savage-looking Indians rushed out. We saw your father and the others try to -parley with them, and then, before we could even train a gun on the scene, the -thing happened.”</p> -<p>He paused for an instant, overcome by the recollection of that tragedy on the -Yucatan beach. Immediately Jack jumped to his feet.</p> -<p>“I’ve forgotten the ‘enemy’ outside. Hold on a minute,” he called as he -dashed away to the deck. “The watch may be all right,” he continued, when he -returned, “but there’s nothing like one’s own eyes. Go on, Ned.”</p> -<p>“Poor Kettle went down, transfixed by a spear in the first few seconds after -the encounter. Professor Chadwick’s intention had merely been to reconnoitre in -preparation for an expedition later on. Not expecting trouble, none of the party -was armed. Allworthy dashed back to the boat and seized up an oar. He did -valiant service with it before he, too, was felled by a spear-thrust. In the -meantime, Professor Chadwick and Abner Jennings had been captured, -notwithstanding their stout resistance. Then they were dragged off into the -jungle, while we stood half-paralyzed with horror at the suddenness and -disastrous consequences of the attack.</p> -<p>“The last we saw of your father. Jack, he was motioning back to us to put out -to sea. Brave to the last, he thought of us before himself.”</p> -<p>Ned stooped and placed his hands over his eyes as if to shut out the picture -his words called up. Jack Chadwick sat staring vacantly at the paneling of the -cabin, not daring to trust his voice to speech. Tom, not less affected, gripped -his cousin’s hand.</p> -<p>“Remember, old chap,” he murmured, “that Ned told us some time ago that there -was reason to believe that your father was still alive.”</p> -<p>“I’m coming to that,” said Ned, raising his head and proceeding with his -narrative.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-viithe-three-colored-gems'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER VII—THE THREE COLORED GEMS</h2> -</div> -<p>“It was MacDuffy,” continued the lad, “who organized an expedition to go to -your father’s rescue. There was MacDuffy, Captain Andrews, four seamen and -myself. The rest were left in charge of the <i>Sea King</i>, the engine-room -force having instructions to proceed with the repairs to the shaft, which were -really simple enough, consisting only of bolting a collar of metal around the -split.</p> -<p>“We were heavily armed, as you may imagine, and after we had landed in the -light boat, we stowed it in the brush where it would not be likely to be -discovered by marauders. The other boat, the one in which your father landed, -had been stove in by those rascally natives. Our first task after this, was to -bury poor Kettle as decently as we could. This done, we took up the trail, which -was plain enough to follow. In fact, we learned afterward, it was a regular path -that the natives followed when they came to the coast after turtles and -fish.</p> -<p>“Danger? Well, we knew we were going into a desperate game, but, as MacDuffy -said, we couldn’t do otherwise than our best to rescue your father. As we made -our way through the jungle we discussed the situation. It looked black and no -mistake. In the first place, as Captain Andrews pointed out, the revolution was -raging in northern Mexico, and Diaz, in his last desperate stand, had withdrawn -troops from every province in Mexico. Captain Andrews told us that the -descendants of the Mayas, who inhabited this part of Yucatan, were endowed with -a fierce hatred of Mexicans and white men in general, and that they had been -kept in subjugation solely by the presence of large bodies of troops. With this -menace to their warlike ideas withdrawn, the Mayas were probably ripe for any -mischief.</p> -<p>“All this, as you can imagine, didn’t tend to raise our spirits, and the -prospect of rescuing your father began to seem remote indeed. Well, to cut a -long story short, we followed the trail for two days till we began to arrive in -the foothills of the range we had seen. Occasionally we came across what were -evidently the sites of recent camps, so we knew that we were on the track all -right.</p> -<p>“The third day, about noon, we marched right out of a canyon, threaded by a -swift river, into an Indian settlement. Before we could say ‘knife,’ or raise a -weapon, we were surrounded and made captives. We were thrown into a -palm-thatched hut and placed under strict guard, and we faced the prospect of a -speedy death. But at the moment we thought little of these matters, for the hut -already contained three other captives, and they were Professor Chadwick, Abner -Jennings and Jack Allworthy, the last wounded in the shoulder by the spear -thrust that had knocked him down, but luckily not seriously.</p> -<p>“You can guess how delighted we were in the first few moments, and then how -depressed we all became as we began to realize that so far as an escape was -concerned we might as well have been imprisoned in an iron-walled dungeon. We -were deprived of nothing in the way of food, and were not bound in any way, but -the hut was surrounded by too strong a guard to make any idea of escape -practicable. So the night passed, a night that we spent in discussing and -rejecting a hundred plans of escape, for each, in turn, was discarded as -hopeless.</p> -<p>“But, although we did not realize it, freedom for some of us was close at -hand. Shortly before noon the sky became black as night. A screaming sort of -wind arose, and suddenly we felt the ground under our feet beginning to rock. It -didn’t take us long to catch on that the disturbance was caused by an earthquake -of uncommon severity. The natives began to howl and yell, and rushed about like -madmen. That wind suddenly picked up our prison and whisked it off, just as it -might have dealt with an umbrella. And there we stood, in the middle of all this -commotion, unbound and practically free to go where we would, for the natives -were far too busy attending to their own affairs to worry about us.</p> -<p>“In the middle of the uproar and the convulsions of the earth, a whole -section of the cliff which upreared itself at the back of the settlement, slid -down with a roar like a hundred Niagaras. It caught that village, just as a big -rock would smash an anthill. We escaped by the skin of our teeth, but, as it -was, we were showered with flying rocks and earth. Luckily, none of us was -injured.</p> -<p>“But those poor natives fared otherwise. Of the scores that had been rushing -about an instant before hardly twenty remained. One of these was a big fellow, -with a beautiful copper-colored skin, clad in a sort of garment made out of -jaguar hide. He separated from the rest, and we saw that he carried under his -arm a large box, or case, which gleamed dully in the gloom.</p> -<p>“‘He’s making for the canoes!’ shouted MacDuffy suddenly, and then, sure -enough, we saw what we hadn’t noticed before in all that hurly-burly, namely, -that several dugouts were moored to the river bank. I guess we all caught the -inspiration at the same instant. Anyhow, we began running for the bank at top -speed. But suddenly that copper-colored giant faced about, and we now saw that -he carried a whole quiver full of those poisoned darts that the Maya tribes use -with deadly effect.</p> -<p>“Before he could aim one, or shout to the rest of the villagers, who hadn’t -noted our escape, Abner Jennings flew at him like a wildcat. Down he went, -bowled over like a ninepin, under a crashing blow from Jennings’ fist.</p> -<p>“‘Hurray, lads! Now for the boats!’ shouted Allworthy, and we scampered after -him toward them. But at that instant a queer thing happened. A man came racing -toward us from amidst the ruins of the village.</p> -<p>“‘Get him!’ yelled Allworthy savagely, as Jennings stooped and picked up a -big rock.</p> -<p>“But the next instant his hand dropped to his side. The man was white! In -spite of his half-naked condition and sun-browned skin, it was clear enough that -he was as much of a Caucasian as any of us, and then came the wonderful part of -it all.</p> -<p>“‘In the name of heaven, white men, stop!’ he shouted, ‘take me with you. I -am——’”</p> -<p>“Jasper Jesson!”</p> -<p>It was Tom Jesson who had uttered the exclamation. In a flash of intuition he -had seen what was coming before Ned uttered it. The lad literally quivered with -excitement as he spoke.</p> -<p>“Right. It was your father, Tom,” rejoined Ned. “Professor Chadwick stopped, -ran back and embraced him. For a minute we all stood stock still, rooted there -by sheer amazement, I guess. Well, we got to the canoes and set out down the -river. There were four dugouts, and the way they dashed down that stretch of -water was a caution. No need to paddle. The current just tore along for several -miles. I don’t see how it was we didn’t upset, but the fact remains that we -didn’t. Pretty soon we reached a part of the stream where another flowed into -it, and it broadened out and grew calmer.</p> -<p>“Then, for the first time, we felt free to talk. We hauled the canoes ashore -and camped while we discussed plans. But first, you may imagine, we heard Mr. -Jesson’s story. He had been captured by the tribe who had trapped us, soon after -his arrival in the country. And their prisoner he had remained since. -Undoubtedly he would have been put to death, but he had by great good luck -managed to translate some cryptograms carved in the marble stones of some ruins -in the mountains, and after that they looked on him as a sort of god. At any -rate, he was well treated, but given no chance to escape. The earthquake that -had set us loose had proved his opportunity, too. Of course, it’s no use my -trying to give you any idea of his delight and astonishment at finding his -brother-in-law and getting news of you, Tom, and of the old home.</p> -<p>“He had just about concluded his story, when Mr. Chadwick drew from under his -coat that same metal box that we had seen the big copper-colored fellow -skedaddling with. He had taken it from the chap as he lay stunned, rightly -guessing that it was of immense value. But he was far from surmising what it was -he had really discovered, till a few moments later.</p> -<p>“‘Maybe, Jesson,’ he said, ‘you can tell me what kind of a box this is. It’s -silver, all right, for one thing, but it’s covered with some sort of picture -writing, too, and——’</p> -<p>“But Tom’s father interrupted him with a shout.</p> -<p>“‘Good heavens, man!’ he exclaimed, ‘you’ve got hold of the holy of holies of -the Zakaks,’——that’s the name of the tribe that had hooked us.</p> -<p>“While we all looked on with open mouths, Mr. Jesson broke a long thorn off a -prickly bush growing near at hand and shoved it into a small hole in the front -of the box. The lid flew open, and there inside was something that made us blink -our eyes,—a blood-red stone, a blue one, and a gorgeous green gem.</p> -<p>“We all caught our breath, I can tell you. Each stone was as big as a -pigeon’s egg, and it didn’t take an expert to tell that we had before us a ruby, -a turquoise and an emerald that had, probably, not their equals in the -world.</p> -<p>“Then Mr. Jesson told us how the tribe had a legend that those stones were -brought from some, mysterious land beyond the seas by their fore-runners, and -that if they were stolen or lost disaster would overtake them. At certain phases -of the moon, he said, the stones were worshiped with all sorts of queer rites -that he had not been permitted to witness.</p> -<p>“We, none of us, could guess what they were worth, but it was a safe estimate -that they represented a snug fortune. As for the box itself, it was, as I said, -of dull silver, with three sort of oval bosses or bumps on its cover. These were -of a reddish color, and were evidently of no value except as ornaments. After -some more talk it was decided to make for the Texan coast, and as soon as we had -regained the yacht, get into wireless communication with you lads.</p> -<p>“Professor Chadwick explained that he had had a half-formed intention of -attempting to find Mr. Jesson before he left America, and for that reason had -sent you boys to Lone Island so that he might notify you of his success by -wireless as soon as possible, without letting the general public know, and also -have you handy in case of an emergency.”</p> -<p>“So that explains Lone Island,” struck in Jack, “but go on, Ned. I can hardly -wait for the rest of your story.”</p> -<p>“Neither can I,” added Tom; “but aren’t you fellows surprised that we don’t -hear anything from outside?”</p> -<p>“It is strange,” agreed Jack. “I’ll run up again soon.”</p> -<p>“Well,” continued Ned, “we knew that by following the river we must emerge on -the coast, probably near to the spot where the yacht was anchored. We therefore -lost no time in re-embarking and getting on our way once more. Luckily, there -was some food, bananas and dried flesh of some animal,—deer, most likely,—in the -canoes, which must have been provisioned for a trip. So that night, when we -camped, we had a good supper, with something left over for the next day.</p> -<p>“We slept under the canoes, turning them keel up to form a protection from -the dews, and also from any prowling animals. The spot we had chosen was well -back in the brush, so that in case of pursuit we had a good hiding place. But we -slept without interruption, taking watch in turn. The next morning, before it -was well light, we set out down the river again, and that afternoon we had -reason to think we were close to the coast. The character of the jungle on -either side of the river changed and the stream grew wider and more -sluggish.</p> -<p>“So far we had had no indication that we were not the only human beings in -that part of the country, so you can imagine our astonishment when, about -mid-afternoon, on rounding a bend in the stream, we beheld a squat, drab-colored -craft, without spars or funnel, moored to the bank. It didn’t need a second -glance to tell us that she was a fighting craft of some kind. On her decks were -the outlines of several rapid-fire guns shrouded under canvas covers. Her bow -was shaped like a ram, and we could see by the rows of rivets along her sides -that she was built of steel.</p> -<p>“‘That’s one of the new shoal-draft, gasolene gunboats, built for the Diaz -government at the Vulcan yards in Charlestown,’ declared Professor Chadwick at -once.</p> -<p>“He had hardly spoken when several of the crew, who had been lounging about -the decks, saw us coming. There was an instant stir on board the ugly-looking -craft, and presently the figure of a small, dark-skinned man, with a black, -pointed beard and moustache, and heavy, sinister eyebrows, appeared on the -bridge, which was just forward of a sort of conning tower.</p> -<p>“He wore white garments and a broad-brimmed Panama hat. As soon as he -appeared he hailed us.</p> -<p>“‘Come alongside, gentlemen,’ he said, using almost perfect English. ‘I -welcome you to <i>El Tarantula</i>.’”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-viiion-board-the-tarantula'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER VIII—ON BOARD “THE TARANTULA”</h2> -</div> -<p>“A few moments later,” continued Ned, “we were standing on the deck of the -sinister-looking craft, confronted by her equally sinister-looking owner, for -such we soon found he was, in fact, if not in name. From him we speedily learned -that not only was he the governor of that part of the province of Yucatan, but -that he also controlled large plantations near the mouth of the river. The -principal produce of these was sisal hemp, a well-known and valuable product of -the country.</p> -<p>“Naturally, we supposed that as soon as we had told our story, the first act -of Ramon Herrera, for such he informed us was his name, would be to aid us in -reaching our yacht. But the event proved exactly to the contrary.</p> -<p>“‘You will take up quarters for the present on my yacht, gentlemen,’ he said, -in a tone almost of command.</p> -<div class='figcenter id02'> - <img id='illus-001' src='images/illus-001.jpg' style='width:100%;' alt=''/> - <div class='caption'> - General Herrera, commander of <i>El Tarantula</i>, the Mexican gasolene gunboat. - </div> -</div> -<p>“Professor Chadwick started to protest, but met with a stern -interruption.</p> -<p>“‘My country is in the throes of a revolution,’ Herrera said, ‘and at the -present time it is unknown to me whether your United States of North America is -involved in the trouble or not. It is my belief, and that of many of my -countrymen, that the massing of troops on the Texan border, by orders of your -President Taft, is a menace to the Diaz government, and an encouragement to the -revolutionaries. This being so, you must regard yourselves as my guests,—I will -not use an uglier word,—till such time as I receive further advices. -Furthermore, I do not mean to make any secret of my dislike for meddling -Yankees.’</p> -<p>“‘Sir,’ exclaimed Professor Chadwick, ‘you are deliberately insulting.’</p> -<p>“‘Senor Yankee,’ was the calm reply, ‘you have deliberately intruded yourself -into a country where you and your inquisitive countrymen are not wanted.’</p> -<p>“‘I am not aware by what right you dare to assume such an attitude toward -us,’ resumed Professor Chadwick, now thoroughly aroused, and, indeed, we were -all at the boiling-point, as you can imagine. Herrera’s every word seemed to be -a deliberate taunt.</p> -<p>“‘I assume my attitude, as you call it, by right of might,’ was the cold -reply, ‘my ancestor. General Jose de Guzman Herrera, was slain by your Yankee -soldiers in the Mexican war. Judge, then, if I have any reason to favor -Yankees.’</p> -<p>“‘You are likely to pay dearly for this forcible detention of peaceful -citizens of a republic at peace with your country,’ warned Allworthy.</p> -<p>“Herrera shrugged his shoulders.</p> -<p>“‘I’ll take my chance of that,’ he said, ‘besides, as I remarked before, I am -not so certain that my country and your country are not by this time at -war.’</p> -<p>“Well, there was nothing more to be said, and determined to make the best of -our situation we went docilely enough to the quarters that Herrera had provided -for us, which consisted of three cabins in the extreme stern of the ship. -Captain Andrews, MacDuffy and I were thrust into one cabin, your father and Mr. -Jesson into the next compartment, and Abner Jennings and the two sailors into a -third stateroom.</p> -<p>“Here was a pretty kettle of fish, and a fine ending to our hopes of reaching -the coast, which, we were confident, was not far distant. From scraps of -conversation we overheard, for there were gratings above each stateroom door, we -learned that the <i>Tarantula</i> was tied up to the shore bordering on one of -Herrera’s plantations. We heard later that the slaves,—most of them Mosquito -Coast negroes illegally impressed as slaves,—had made some trouble, and that -Herrera was here with his armed craft to suppress the uprising by stern means. -What these means were we found out later, and without going into detail, we -heard enough to know that the monster,—as we subsequently found him to -be,—spared no form of cruelty to browbeat his luckless servitors into -submission. All this was translated for us by Captain Andrews, who spoke Spanish -fluently.</p> -<p>“We might have been confined in our narrow quarters for an hour, or it might -have been longer, when we heard the door of the adjoining stateroom unlocked, -and presently voices came to us through the grating. It was easy to recognize -Herrera’s tones as he cross-examined Professor Chadwick. One of the Mexican -sailors had noticed that when the professor came on board he had slipped a -silver chest—the treasure box—under his coat. The fellow had informed Herrera, -and now that arch-scoundrel was demanding that Professor Chadwick and Mr. Jesson -submit to being searched.</p> -<p>“I can tell you we exchanged blank glances when we overheard this. It seemed -pretty tough that, after all we had gone through, we were to be robbed of what -was bound to prove a substantial reward, for Professor Chadwick had insisted -that we agree to take an equal share with him having participated in his -dangers.</p> -<p>“But to our astonishment the search evidently resulted in nothing being -found. For before long we heard Herrera bursting out into Spanish oaths. He -wanted to know what had become of the box.</p> -<p>“‘If you had asked me before,’ Professor Chadwick replied, ‘I would have told -you. I threw it overboard rather than let it fall into your hands.’</p> -<p>“We listened for an outburst or worse right then. But none came. The rascal, -in whose power we were, evidently didn’t know the value of the silver box, for -he merely remarked that Professor Chadwick’s act would not improve our -situation, and left the cabin. But we, in the adjoining stateroom, again -exchanged blank glances. It was no joke to think of that fortune in magnificent -stones being consigned to the muddy depths of that Yucatan stream.</p> -<p>“A short time after Herrera left the cabin, however. Professor Chadwick -climbed up on a bunk in his stateroom, and placing his lips to the grating -informed us that he had not, in reality, hurled the box overboard, but that it -was suspended outside the porthole of his cabin by a fine bit of cord which he -had happened to have in his pockets. The porthole was beneath the overhang of -the stern of the gunboat, and unless any sailor went prying about under the -vessel’s counter there was not much likelihood of its being discovered. The -Professor informed us also that he was determined not to purchase our liberty at -the price of the precious stones.</p> -<p>“‘This is the twentieth century,’ he said, ‘and I refuse to believe that this -rascal, for such Herrera has shown himself to be, will dare to hold captive free -American citizens for any length of time.’</p> -<p>“We agreed with him in this, but MacDuffy, who, as an engineer, possessed -with an investigating turn of mind, still busied himself, as he had since the -moment of our imprisonment, with trying to find some means of escape. There was -a nine-inch porthole in our stateroom, and also in the other two. But, of -course, this offered no opportunity for escape. By peeping out through it, -however, we could see that our dugouts had been attached to the stern of the -<i>Tarantula</i> by a line. If we could only reach them we might be able to -attain freedom.</p> -<p>“All at once MacDuffy uttered an exclamation. He had discovered that under -the porthole was a square plate, bolted into the stern frames, and seemingly -devised, when removed, to permit of a gun being thrust through the opening. The -nuts which held the bolts in place were inside the cabin, and MacDuffy produced -from his pockets a serviceable-looking monkey wrench, which was the engineer’s -constant companion.</p> -<p>“‘I’ll undertake to have those nuts unscrewed in half an hour,’ said he in a -low, excited tone, ‘and then what’s to prevent us dropping through the stern -to-night, hooking the dugouts and floating down to the coast?’</p> -<p>“What indeed? we thought. The plan looked feasible enough. But, naturally, we -did not, for a minute, countenance the idea of making good our own escape and -leaving the rest to their fate. But Professor Chadwick, when we communicated our -plan, decided at once that we must make the attempt that night, and, if we -succeeded in reaching the coast and the <i>Sea King</i>, must summon help.</p> -<p>“After a lot of persuasion we agreed to do this. Then we waited, with as much -patience as we could muster, for the night to fall. Food and drink was brought -us at dusk, and we ate all we could, knowing that we might have strenuous work -before us. After dark MacDuffy fell to work on the bolts. It took scarcely an -hour to loosen them. This much accomplished, we waited till all grew quiet about -the <i>Tarantula</i>, which was not before midnight.</p> -<p>“Whispering a good-by to Professor Chadwick and Mr. Jesson, we dropped -through the opening, after MacDuffy had removed the plate which left a hole some -four feet square. The rope by which the dugouts trailed astern was just above -our heads. Captain Andrews seized it and pulled the first of the frail craft -toward the <i>Tarantula</i> till it was under the opening we had made. Then -they told me to drop down as silently as possible. When I was on board MacDuffy -followed, stuffing his wrench into his hip pocket, and last came Captain -Andrews. Before we cut loose we, according to Professor Chadwick’s instructions, -cut the string by which the jewel casket was suspended, and stowed it safely on -board the dugout.</p> -<p>“This done, I cut the painter with a slash of my knife, and the dugout -drifted silently off down the current into the darkness. Our escape had been -made in safety. We reached the coast, and after paddling northward for half a -day, sighted the <i>Sea King</i>. All was as we had left it, and mighty glad -every one was to see us. I can tell you. But the plight of Professor Chadwick, -Mr. Jesson and the rest, cast a gloom over us all.”</p> -<p>“Tell me,” begged Tom, interrupting again, “are they still on the -<i>Tarantula</i>?”</p> -<p>“I don’t know,” replied Ned.</p> -<p>“Well, hurry your story,” exclaimed Jack. “We must go to their rescue -wherever they are!”</p> -<p>“Captain Andrews lost no time in ordering me to the wireless,” continued Ned -hastily, “and as we steamed northward I kept pumping away at my key. At length, -as you know, I got into communication with you. But as I did so there was a -sharp and sudden shock through the <i>Sea King</i>, and she came to an abrupt -stop. That shaft had parted again. There was nothing for us to do but to anchor. -At almost the same time one of the crew shouted that a craft resembling the -<i>Tarantula</i> was on the southern horizon and overhauling us fast. It -didn’t need a second look to show us that the strange vessel was indeed the -<i>Tarantula</i>. As she drew close to us there was a flash and a puff of -smoke from her bow, and ‘crash!’ our aerials parted,—shot through at the -foremast.</p> -<p>“There we were, crippled and helpless, and I didn’t even know for sure if my -message to you was clear or no.”</p> -<p>“One question,” put in Jack, “has the <i>Tarantula</i> a wireless?”</p> -<p>“Yes; I meant to tell you about that. She is fitted with a collapsible -military mast, and, from what we overheard, Herrera has a complete plant at his -plantation ashore likewise.”</p> -<p>“That disposes of X. Y. Z.,” said Jack, glancing at Tom. “It’s plain enough -now that some one ashore intercepted our message, just as we caught theirs, and -flashed it to Herrera.”</p> -<p>“Guess you’re right,” agreed Tom gloomily, “and we are responsible for giving -away the exact location of the <i>Sea King</i>.”</p> -<p>“How’s that?” asked Ned, in a wondering tone.</p> -<p>“I’ll explain all about it later,” said Jack, “the thing is now to formulate -some sort of plan to get out of this tangle. Is Captain Andrews or Chief -MacDuffy about?”</p> -<p>“MacDuffy is below, trying to fix the break in the shaft,” was the response. -“Captain Andrews is asleep in his cabin. He was worn out, and I didn’t wake him -when our rocket signals were answered by you.”</p> -<p>“Well, I think we’d better rouse him now,” Jack was beginning, when the cabin -door was flung open and a sailor, whose face was chalky beneath his tan, burst -in. The group at the table looked up, startled and alert. Ned’s narration had -taken almost an hour, and although they had not forgotten the dangerous -proximity of the <i>Tarantula</i>, they had had no way of guessing in what way -their enemy would next become active.</p> -<p>“That yaller-faced Greaser’s craft is bearing down on us. Mister Bangs!” -exclaimed the man. “She looks as if——”</p> -<p>There was a sharp crash overhead, and the booming detonation of a gun -resounded an instant later. The boys sprang to their feet and scrambled up the -companion way, headed for the deck.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-ixthe-chadwick-gas-guns'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER IX—THE CHADWICK GAS GUNS</h2> -</div> -<p>As they went Jack flashed a swift word to Ned.</p> -<p>“You say that the chests my father took such care of are still in the -cabin?”</p> -<p>“Yes; in the Professor’s stateroom.”</p> -<p>“Good. I’ve a notion they contain something that may prove valuable to us -right now. Open them up and see if one of them contains some queer-looking guns. -If it does, bring the weapons on deck right away, and—summon Captain -Andrews.”</p> -<p>Ned retraced his steps and Jack ran swiftly up after Tom. On deck they found -the sailors running about distractedly. The shot they had heard had carried away -part of the foremast of the <i>Sea King</i>. The wreckage lay in a tangle, -about which the seamen hovered confusedly.</p> -<p>While the boys still stood regarding the scene, hardly knowing for the moment -what to do, a stoutly-built man, with an overcoat hastily thrown on over a suit -of pajamas, joined them. It was Captain Andrews. The light from the -incandescents fell on his bronzed, blonde-bearded face, and Jack felt, as he -clasped the newcomer’s hand, that here was a man who could be relied on to the -last ditch.</p> -<p>“Ned Bangs told me I would find you here,” he said. “I hastened on deck right -away. I should have been out and about long ago; but——”</p> -<p>“That’s all right, captain,” spoke Jack swiftly, “you had earned your rest -and no mistake. The thing is, what are we going to do now?”</p> -<p>“The rascal Herrera has attacked us, Ned told me.”</p> -<p>“Yes. His craft is in the offing now. He has shot away part of the foremast. -The riding-light on it must have acted as a target for him.”</p> -<p>As the lad spoke a voice came cut of the darkness:</p> -<p>“We want that silver casket. Are you going to give it up peaceably, or do we -have to blow your vessel out of the water?”</p> -<p>“You infernal scoundrels!” shouted Andrews, before Jack could check him.</p> -<p>The captain bounded forward to a machine gun. With quick, nervous fingers he -was ripping off its cover when Jack laid a hand on his arm.</p> -<p>“Hold on a minute, captain,” he said, “I’ve another plan. We shall know in a -few seconds now if it will succeed.”</p> -<p>The captain looked at him wonderingly.</p> -<p>“They outnumber and outarm us,” he began. But Jack broke in:</p> -<p>“I’ve an idea that one of those chests in my father’s cabin contains some -novel weapons,” he said, “a new kind of gun, the invention of Tom and myself. -They contain a magazine of shells loaded with a gas which will paralyze any form -of animal life with which they come in contact.”</p> -<p>The captain gasped.</p> -<p>“Well,” he said, “I’d heard that you kids were inventive wonders, but -this——”</p> -<p>“Oh, we didn’t invent the gas,” interposed Tom, who had been an interested -listener to Jack’s last words, “Professor Chadwick did that. But we applied it -to use in the guns.”</p> -<p>“And they work?”</p> -<p>“Well, we’ve tried them on rabbits and small game, and brought down whatever -we aimed at. You see, the shells are loaded with this gas in a semi-solid form. -When the gun is fired a fuse is lighted, which releases the gases, and they fill -the atmosphere, surrounding anything they strike with a vapor that causes -temporary helplessness.”</p> -<p>As Jack spoke there came another hail out of the darkness.</p> -<p>“We are waiting. Resistance is useless. We know you have that casket with -you. What is your answer?”</p> -<p>“Will you give us a few moments to consider?” shouted back Jack.</p> -<p>A pause followed.</p> -<p>“I wonder how on earth they know that Ned and the rest secured the casket?” -wondered Tom.</p> -<p>This was a poser. It was not till long afterward that they found out that, -following the discovery of their escape from the <i>Tarantula</i>, a sailor -had noticed the severed string hanging from the porthole of the Professor’s -cabin prison. Herrera’s keen mind at once guessed the purpose it had served, and -also surmised that the casket must be very valuable. Professor Chadwick, on -being questioned, admitted,—thinking of course that the <i>Sea King</i> was by -that time out of danger of pursuit,—the manner in which he had tricked the -Mexican and the contents of the box.</p> -<p>Suddenly, out of the darkness, ranged the ghostly outlines of <i>El -Tarantula</i>. Hardly twenty-five yards separated her from the <i>Sea -King</i>. She was moving slowly, far below her usual swift motion. Her dash -from the mainland had resulted in overheated engines, which accounted for the -space of time those on board the <i>Sea King</i> had been free from her -presence.</p> -<p>“We’ll give you five minutes and no more,” came a voice from her -midships.</p> -<p>“Good,” murmured Jack, as he heard the terms of the armistice, “that ought to -be plenty of time and—Oh, glory be!”</p> -<p>Ned had come on deck while the young leader was speaking. In his arms he -carried a collection of as strange-looking weapons as were ever seen outside of -a museum. Yet they represented a type of gun destined to become famous.</p> -<p>“Hurray!” muttered Tom under his breath, “they’re the gas-guns, sure -enough.”</p> -<p>While Captain Andrews’ eyes fairly bulged. Jack took one of the guns. They -were of a dull colored metal, allowing no light to glint from any bright -surfaces. A barrel about three and a half feet in length, terminated in a -cylinder of greater diameter than the barrel itself. This was a muffler, which -effectually silenced the sound of the spring that was used to send the gas -globes on their way and snap the fuses. The stocks of these odd firearms, if -such they could be called, were large, and contained sixteen “gas -globes”—spheres of a tough and glutinous kind of gelatine, filled with the -destructive gas—a compound of ammonium nitrate,—in a semi-liquid form.</p> -<p>“How do you fire them?” asked Captain Andrews.</p> -<p>“Handle them just as you would an ordinary gun,” rejoined Jack. “The globes -will burst when they strike the <i>Tarantula</i> and spread the gas they -contain broadcast. Luckily, the craft is to leeward of us, or we might be in -danger of getting a dose of our own medicine when the gas globes detonate.”</p> -<p>“Will the gas kill them?” asked Captain Andrews, in such a vindictive tone -that Jack couldn’t help smiling.</p> -<p>“Hardly,” he said; “but it will take the fight out of them for a while, I -imagine.”</p> -<p>Acting under the lad’s instructions. Captain Andrews summoned some of the -interested sailors to him. There were twelve of the guns “and a chest full of -ammunition below,” whispered Ned.</p> -<p>Eight of the men were given a gas-gun each. Their faces expanded in grins as -they learned the nature of the novel weapons.</p> -<p>“First time I ever heard of knocking a feller out with a gas pill,” said one -of them in an undertone.</p> -<p>The serving out of the gas-guns had hardly been completed when the voice from -the <i>Tarantula</i> hailed them again:</p> -<p>“Five minutes is up,” it said; “we’re going to board you.”</p> -<p>At the same instant the <i>Tarantula</i> began to range in alongside. -Evidently those on board her did not fear resistance, for as she drew closer her -decks blazed with light, and those on board the <i>Sea King</i> could see that -her machine guns were trained full on the yacht.</p> -<p>Under Jack’s orders the armed portion of the <i>Sea King’s</i> company had -dropped behind the bulwarks, aiming their guns through scupper holes. Thus, of -course, all that was revealed to the enemy was a group of flurried-looking -sailors standing about the wreckage of the mast forward. Hardly ten yards -separated the two vessels when Jack gave the whispered command: “Fire!”</p> -<p>What followed, so Tom described it afterward to the author, “was like -watching a moving picture.”</p> -<p>There was no sound as the triggers on the gas-guns were pulled, but as the -collapsible globes struck the <i>Tarantula’s</i> decks and superstructure and -burst with a soft, pattering sound, her crew began to roll about like drunken -men.</p> -<p>As the stupefying vapors impregnated the air with their fumes, one after -another the men began to drop like flies. The resistance of the stoutest didn’t -endure for more than a space of five minutes. Herrera himself, the last to -succumb, fell beside the wheel house as he was shouting at the helmsman to -withdraw from the infected air.</p> -<p>The young inventors’ wonderful gas-guns had received their first real test, -and had surely not been found wanting in efficiency. The <i>Tarantula</i>, a -few moments since the scene of feverish activity, now lay a drifting hulk. Her -engines were still slowly revolving, but there was no hand to govern them. -Several of the gas globes had been aimed at the engine-room hatches, which were -open. Deflecting thence they had burst into the machinery space, stupefying the -force at work there.</p> -<p>The victory was complete and sweeping.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xdrawing-a-rascals-fangs'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER X—DRAWING A RASCAL’S FANGS</h2> -</div> -<p>“Well, what next?”</p> -<p>It was Tom who spoke, and his voice broke the spell that had held all hands -as they gazed at the silent craft drifting away from them into the darkness.</p> -<p>“We must overhaul the <i>Tarantula</i> and set my father and yours free, -Tom, if they are still there,” came from Jack.</p> -<p>“A good suggestion; but how are we to do it?” inquired Captain Andrews, who -was not aware of the readiness of the <i>Vagrant</i> to be placed in active -service at once.</p> -<p>“We’ll board the <i>Vagrant</i>. At the pace that spider-craft is going it -won’t take long to lay alongside her,” decided Jack.</p> -<p>Before many minutes had passed Jack, Tom Jesson and Ned were on board the -<i>Vagrant</i>. Jupe, much against his wishes, was left behind on the <i>Sea -King</i>.</p> -<p>“Ah’d hev liked jes ter hev one good, big kick at dat Mexican tamale,” he -argued; but it was decided to go without him.</p> -<p>The <i>Vagrant’s</i> engines, despite the recent strain placed on them, -were found to be working perfectly. Amidst a shower of good wishes from those -left on board the <i>Sea King</i>, she moved off into the darkness in pursuit -of their recently vindictive enemy. As Jack had foretold, it did not take long -to overhaul the craft with which Herrera had hoped to intimidate those on board -Professor Chadwick’s yacht.</p> -<p>It gave the boys a somewhat uncanny sensation as they stole silently -alongside the slowly moving <i>Tarantula</i>, and then made fast by throwing a -grappling iron on her decks. This feeling was not changed when, clambering on -board, they gazed on the decks strewn with senseless forms, lying as they had -fallen. They appeared to be wrapped in deep, dreamless slumber. The gas had -operated on them much as if they had been patients in a hospital under the -influence of an anæsthetic.</p> -<p>Stopping only to make sure that all on board were dead to outward impressions -for an hour at least,—after which time Jack calculated they would begin to -stir,—the trio of lads made no more delay about seeking out the stern cabins, in -which, they believed. Professor Chadwick and the rest were confined.</p> -<p>Jack was the first to make the alarming discovery that the staterooms which -had been the scene of their captivity were empty.</p> -<p>It was a bitter pill to swallow indeed. The boys, perhaps despite their -better judgment, had confidently calculated on finding and delivering their -friends. Now, however, it appeared that they were as far from accomplishing this -as ever.</p> -<p>“There’s only one conclusion to draw,” said Jack at length. “Herrera, for -reasons best known to himself, has left them some place ashore.”</p> -<p>“Unless he——” began Ned, but Jack cut him short.</p> -<p>“I guess even Herrera wouldn’t dare to go much further than that,” he -declared stoutly, “the question now is,—where has he left them?”</p> -<p>“Judging from the speed with which he overtook the <i>Sea King</i> he could -not have proceeded far from the spot where we first encountered the -<i>Tarantula</i>,” decided Ned, “according to my ideas then, our friends have -most probably been set ashore on his plantation.”</p> -<p>“Cracky! I believe you are right, Ned,” cried Tom in a jubilant tone.</p> -<p>His voice became more sober the next minute, though.</p> -<p>“In that case they will be under a strong guard,” he added despondently.</p> -<p>“I don’t see that that follows,” struck in Jack. “I’ve just been thinking -that Herrera, judging from his large crew, must have most of his fighting men -right here on board the <i>Tarantula</i>. In such a case, the ones left at the -plantation can’t be much more formidable than those slaves Ned told us about a -while back.”</p> -<p>“That does sound reasonable,” assented Tom, “so then it will be our best plan -to make for the coast at once. Do you think you could find the mouth of that -river again, Ned?”</p> -<p>“Captain Andrews has its exact bearings,” rejoined the “wireless” lad. “I -guess we could pick it up with no more trouble than we’d have in making any -other port.”</p> -<p>“That sounds good,” gleefully exclaimed Jack. “I reckon it will be our best -plan of action, too.”</p> -<p>“More especially as Herrera and company are going to have bad headaches when -they do wake up, and will take some time to get their wits together,” said Tom -with a grin. “By that time, if all goes well, we ought to have secured the -freedom of our party.”</p> -<p>“Jove! But there’s one thing we were almost forgetting,” cried Ned -suddenly.</p> -<p>“What’s that?”</p> -<p>The question proceeded from Tom.</p> -<p>“This craft has wireless. When the bunch comes back to life they can flash a -message to the plantation telling them to be on the lookout for us. That is, if -they guess where we’ve gone, and there isn’t much doubt that they will.”</p> -<p>“Right you are, Ned Bangs,” agreed Jack; “but I guess with what we know about -wireless it won’t take over and above long to fix the <i>Tarantula’s</i> -apparatus so that it won’t be any more good than a bunch of junk.”</p> -<p>“Seems a shame,” commented Tom.</p> -<p>Jack and Ned stared at him.</p> -<p>“Yes, and it would have been a shame if Herrera had sent the <i>Sea -King</i> to the bottom, as he fully intended to do,” indignantly exclaimed the -latter. “I don’t see where he comes in to be entitled to any more consideration -than a rattlesnake.”</p> -<p>“No more do I,” assented Jack. “Come on, let’s find the wireless room of this -craft and get busy with it.”</p> -<p>It took but a few minutes to locate the wireless room of the speedy gunboat. -It took still less time for Jack to sever the wires and render the condensers -and helix useless.</p> -<p>“There,” he said, with a deep breath, as he concluded his task, “I guess it -will be quite a while before any messages can be flashed from this craft.”</p> -<p>“Unless they have extra apparatus on board,” came from Tom.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz! That didn’t occur to me. Wonder if they have?”</p> -<p>“Well, we can’t waste time looking for it,” struck in Ned. “You said the -effects of that gas would wear off in about an hour, didn’t you. Jack?”</p> -<p>“Yes.”</p> -<p>“Then I suggest we get a move on.”</p> -<p>“Right you are,” agreed Jack, and then, looking around for Tom, he missed -him. The lad had slipped silently out of the place.</p> -<p>“What can have become of him?” gasped Jack, somewhat astounded at Tom’s quick -disappearance act.</p> -<p>It was not till they emerged on deck a few seconds later that they heard -sounds from the engine-room, and presently Tom showed up. He had a wrench in his -hand, and bore a well-satisfied grin on his round face.</p> -<p>“What on earth have you been up to?” asked Jack.</p> -<p>“I’ve been administering much the same treatment to the engines of this craft -that you have to the wireless,” chuckled Tom. “Gee whillikers! what an -astonished outfit of tamale-eaters there’s going to be on this ship when they -come to life!”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xithe-flying-road-racer'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XI—THE “FLYING ROAD RACER”</h2> -</div> -<p>Leaving the <i>Tarantula</i> to drift at her sweet will, all haste was made -by the youthful adventurers in regaining the side of the <i>Sea King</i>. When -they reascended to the deck of that craft, after making fast the -<i>Vagrant</i>, they found a newcomer among the crew to greet them,—namely, -MacDuffy, the engineer, who announced that he had made temporary repairs.</p> -<p>“But they willna be lastin’ lang, I’m thinkin’,” he said ruefully, “I dinna -ken if they will carry us a hundred miles.”</p> -<p>“And it’s a good three hundred or more back to that river mouth,” cried Ned -in dismay.</p> -<p>“Aye, lad, it wull be all of that,” agreed the Scotchman.</p> -<p>A sudden idea struck Jack.</p> -<p>“Is there any one on board who understands wireless besides Ned Bangs?” he -asked abruptly.</p> -<p>Sam Serviss, a youngish-looking seaman,—he was third officer of the <i>Sea -King</i>,—stepped forward.</p> -<p>“I can read Morse and Continental,” he said simply, “and I’ve taken lessons -from Ned Bangs here. I guess at a pinch I could operate a wireless all -right.”</p> -<p>“Good. That puts my plan on a feasible basis,” exclaimed Jack.</p> -<p>“What may the plan be?” asked Captain Andrews interestedly.</p> -<p>“Just this: The <i>Sea King</i> will proceed to Lone Island, navigated by -Mr. Serviss here. On the island, as you know, is a wireless plant. The generator -is not a very powerful one, but you can harness the island apparatus to the -generators of the <i>Sea King</i>, and obtain as much current as you want,—two -kilowatts if necessary. I have a plan to increase the power of the -<i>Vagrant’s</i> outfit, so that we can keep in touch with you.”</p> -<p>Captain Andrews and MacDuffy nodded. Jack went on, while they all listened -with deep attention.</p> -<p>“The <i>Sea King</i> carries a gasolene launch. On arrival at Lone Island -you can try to get into communication with us. In the meantime the launch can be -despatched to Galveston for the supplies and tools needful to mend that shaft -properly. This being done, Mr. Serviss will watch the wireless for further -instructions, or, in case of need, proceed to our rescue.”</p> -<p>“Then you mean to go back to Yucatan the noo?” inquired MacDuffy.</p> -<p>“Of course,” rejoined Jack, quick as a flash, and in a tone that showed he -had indeed arrived at a definite conclusion in the matter. “It’s my duty and -Tom’s to rescue our relatives, and that as soon as possible.”</p> -<p>“And you’ll no be countin’ on taking me?” asked MacDuffy, rather -piteously.</p> -<p>Jack shook his head.</p> -<p>“The capacity of the <i>Vagrant</i> is limited, Mr. MacDuffy,” he said, -“and we may have to adopt another means of transportation before we get -through—I mean the aero-auto.”</p> -<p>“Good. The very thing,” was Ned’s enthusiastic comment.</p> -<p>“I guess Captain Andrews, Tom, Ned, Jupe and myself will be a big enough -force to take along,” went on Jack; “of course, we’ll carry the gas-guns and a -supply of ordinary firearms and ammunition.”</p> -<p>The boy’s plans were so clear and well-defined that there was no opposition. -By this time the sky was streaked with gray and rose color in the east, and a -wan light overspread the sea. It showed them the faint and distant outlines of -the <i>Tarantula</i>, drifting seaward in the clutch of some strong ocean -current. Evidently, then, they had nothing to fear from that source.</p> -<p>The work of hoisting the aero-auto from its well on the <i>Sea King</i>, -and transferring the odd land-and-air traveler to the <i>Vagrant</i> was set -about at once. Blocks and tackles were reeved on the derrick boom of the after -mast of the <i>Sea King</i>, and with wondrously little effort, the vehicle -the Boy Inventors had evolved was transferred to the flush after deck of the -<i>Vagrant</i>, where it was lashed in place, the ropes that bound it being -affixed to ringbolts on the deck.</p> -<p>The Flying Road Racer must be described in some detail here, as it is -destined to figure largely in after events of the Boy Inventors’ lives. The auto -part of the wonderful machine, then, was a cigar-shaped affair of aluminum, with -four wheels of the “disc” type. It was fitted much like an ordinary auto, with -padded seats in front and in the tonneau, equipped with shock absorbers, and was -twelve feet in length.</p> -<p>In the front of the car the engine, a hundred horse-power, eight-cylinder, -four-cycle machine, was installed. The controls led to the steering wheel, just -as is the case in ordinary cars. The crank shaft, however, projected through the -front of the car, and was provided with a slotted terminal, by means of which an -eight-foot aerial propeller, carried in sections in the car itself, might be -affixed at will.</p> -<p>Above the main body of the car was a light, but strong, framework supporting -a balloon bag,—also cigar-shaped, and of the finest oiled silk,—of a capacity of -about fifty thousand cubic feet of gas, and with a theoretical lifting power of -forty-five hundred pounds. The method of inflating this bag at will, and thus -converting the auto into a practicable dirigible, was the most startling -innovation about the invention.</p> -<p>The body of the car, as has been said, was cylindrical, with sharp ends, like -a mammoth perfecto cigar. This cylinder was divided in half, longitudinally, by -a floor of aluminum alloy. The entire lower chamber thus formed was a big -generating tank for a gas having a lifting capacity exceeding hydrogen vapor by -a ratio of three to one. This gas was generated from brownish crystals formed of -a compound of hydrogen-saturated alum and another chemical akin to radium, which -the boys, for the present, kept a close secret.</p> -<p>Two pounds of these crystals, when forty gallons of water were added to them, -formed close to sixty thousand cubic feet of the powerful inflation gas. One -hundred pounds of the crystals were carried in a special compartment of the -aero-auto, and constituted an ample supply for all emergencies. To inflate the -bag, then, all that had to be done was to unbolt a metal hand-hole in the floor -of the front section of the car. Through this the crystals were dumped into the -tank beneath and the water added. The opening of the generator was then closed -and clamped down tight, hermetically sealing the tank. The gas, under -compression, was explosive, and was utilized to run the motor as well as for -inflation purposes.</p> -<p>Immediately in front of the operator of the car was a gauge showing at all -times the pressure in the tank, and when the gas bag was in operation the amount -of gas in that also was indicated. When sufficient gas was generated, the -operator turned a valve and the gas from the tank instantly began rushing into -the bag carried on the framework above him. The bag was so folded that it -inflated without necessitating much attention. Three broad bands of rubberized -fabric of great strength encircled the gas bag proper.</p> -<p>To these were attached wires of a tensile strength exceeding anything -hitherto known. The other ends of the wires, of course, were fastened to the -body of the aero-auto, so that when the bag was sufficiently buoyant the entire -car and its occupants were borne aloft. By means of an exhaust pump connected -with the motor, the volume of gas could be reduced at will, causing the entire -aero-auto to sink at the pleasure of those directing the machine.</p> -<p>“Astern” of this wonderful invention was a rudder of vulcanized silk and -vanadium steel framework, which, when the invention was in use as a land -vehicle, was folded. When it was desired to take the air the release of a simple -clutch caused the rudder to assume its proper position. At the same time, two -long planes could be attached to the sides of the car, to be used in ascending -or descending. The machine had two steering and governing devices. One wheel was -used for the auto control, and another “tiller” was put in use when it was -soaring through the air. The control of the aerial rudder, planes and engine, -all centered in this second wheel, thus putting the craft, at all times, under -one man—or boy—management. In conclusion, it may be mentioned that the craft was -equipped with speedometer, barometer, barograph and patent self-starting -devices, doing away with the old-fashioned “cranking” of the engine. The wheels -were fitted with semi-solid tires of great size and strength, and the -shock-absorbers before mentioned obviated any danger of a severe jar or jounce on -landing. The machine had been given several trials at High Towers and had been -found to work perfectly.</p> -<p>It is not necessary here to give a description of the loading of the aero-auto, -the leave takings, and the final instructions and messages that passed -between the <i>Vagrant</i> and the <i>Sea King</i>. Suffice it to say, that -at eight o’clock that morning all preparations on both sides were completed and -that at eight-ten precisely the two vessels parted company. The <i>Sea -King</i> steamed northward slowly, bound for Lone Island, and the -<i>Vagrant</i> headed for the mouth of the river on which the plantations of -the rascally Mexican were situated. At that time the <i>Tarantula</i> had -drifted out of the adventurers’ ken altogether, over the eastern horizon.</p> -<p>Leaving Captain Andrews and Jupe in charge of the <i>Vagrant</i>, the lads, -thoroughly exhausted now that the strain and care of the long night were over, -sought their bunks and were soon wrapped in slumber. In their dreams they flew -high above the plateaus and rugged ranges of the mysterious land for which they -were bound, questing the unknown in search of the lost ones.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xiiherrera-is-not-caught-napping'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XII—HERRERA IS NOT CAUGHT NAPPING</h2> -</div> -<p>It was noon of the next day when Captain Andrews announced that they were -still some two hundred miles from their destination. But, as the boys were all -three of them busy over the aero-auto, adjusting and examining every part of the -queer craft, the time flew swiftly. The dawn of the third day found them -anchored off the jungle-clad coast, while not a mile from them the waves were -breaking on the bar that marked the mouth of the shallow river, which, they -subsequently learned, was called the Apak.</p> -<p>It would be two hours, so Captain Andrews calculated, before the tide turned -and made the passage of the bar possible. In the meantime. Jack brought on deck -the silver chest, which he had, of course, taken possession of, pending the time -when he could deliver it to his father. The adventurers spread the three blazing -gems it contained out on the deck, and revelled in the glow of light and -wonderful inward fires the precious stones revealed as the bright sunlight -played upon them.</p> -<p>The <i>Vagrant</i> had once been used as a passenger craft at Galveston, -and her former owners had installed an iron safe in the cabin for the protection -of valuables. In this receptacle Jack replaced the silver casket after they had -examined the gems to their hearts content.</p> -<p>By this time Captain Andrews was ready to pronounce the crossing of the bar -at the river mouth feasible. The tide had risen till the tempestuous breakers -had subsided into long swells, with a narrow passage of smooth water marking the -channel. Carefully following this, the skipper of the <i>Sea King</i> piloted -the <i>Vagrant</i> through into the calm water of the estuary beyond.</p> -<p>The boys, grouped forward, gazing at the surroundings with eager eyes, beheld -a scene full of wild, tropic beauty. The white beach, blazingly radiant in the -strong light, was bordered by a dense jungle of dark, melancholy looking -mangroves. Beyond these came a tangle of brilliantly green jungle, in which the -broad fronds of the banana plant predominated, while here and there a tall palm -reared its feathery head.</p> -<p>Further back still the foliage changed again. Lordly groves of mahogany -trees, rosewood, and giant royal palms raised their crests. In the distant -background, far withdrawn, the misty blue outlines of a range of majestic, -rugged-looking mountains showed against the steely blue sky. They looked as if -they were hundreds of miles off at least; but Captain Andrews explained that the -distance from the shore to the foothills was not so considerable, by a great -deal, as it looked. The condition of the atmosphere, laden with the moisture of -the lowlands, lent them this appearance of tremendous remoteness.</p> -<p>“It is in those mountains,” said Captain Andrews, “that the remnants of the -most ancient of the Maya tribes still live. They tell stories up the coast, in -the civilized portions of Yucatan, about vast ruins and remains of splendid -cities to be found back there.”</p> -<p>The boys gazed up at him as he stood at the wheel. A magic world of romance -and adventure seemed suddenly opened before them by his words.</p> -<p>“I recall reading once,” said Tom, the studious, “that the Mayas were -civilized long before the Aztecs or Toltecs, and that their knowledge of the -building arts exceeded that of either of those races.”</p> -<p>“Sort of pioneer real-estate men,” chuckled Ned Bangs, who in moments when he -was not oppressed by trouble, as he had been recently, possessed a whimsical -vein of humor.</p> -<p>“Ho! ho! ho! ah reckon dat’s right, Marse Ned,” roared Jupe, opening his big -lips and exposing his ivories.</p> -<p>“Has any one ever penetrated into their country?” went on Tom, addressing -Captain Andrews.</p> -<p>“I guess your father went as far as anybody,” was the response, “and you know -how far he got. I have heard that the remnants of the ancient tribes have a law, -making it death for the man who dares to advance into their territory.”</p> -<p>“But the natives that caught you didn’t seem disposed to kill you,” objected -Jack.</p> -<p>“Oh, those fellows; they are of the inferior coast tribes,” was the -rejoinder. “The ancient races regarded them as dirt under their feet. I guess -they don’t know any more about the interior of those mountains than we do.”</p> -<p>The current of the river, discolored and yellow from the recent earthquake -back in the foothills, was so swift as they ascended that Captain Andrews found -no opportunity for further talk. It required all his attention to keep the -<i>Vagrant’s</i> bow pointed upstream. The river narrowed considerably after -passing its mouth. Its turbid current rolled seaward between two low and densely -wooded banks, not more than sixty feet apart.</p> -<p>“How far is it to the spot where that craft of Herrera’s was moored?” asked -Jack, when he found an opportunity.</p> -<p>“Fully fifteen or twenty miles, I should say,” was the response, “and if we -are making two miles an hour against this current we are doing well. This river -runs mighty near as fast as the Lachine Rapids back home.”</p> -<p>“You’re not far out on that, Cap,” remarked the volatile Ned Bang’s, who had -quite recovered his usual flow of spirits.</p> -<p>The lad had not as much at stake as Jack and Tom, and, moreover, he did not -quite realize the seriousness of the undertaking before them to the same extent -that they did.</p> -<p>Hour after hour they fought their way up the coffee-colored river. The -character of the vegetation on the banks had begun to change by this time. Here -and there stood a majestic clump of mahogany trees; but logwood, a valuable -article of commerce in the dyeing industry, formed the major part of the growth. -Once, as they rounded a bend, the flash of a lithe body was seen among the -trees, as a beautifully spotted jaguar slunk away from the overhanging limb -where it had been lying.</p> -<p>“Let’s try the gas-guns on the next one we see,” suggested Tom, and the lads -hastened below and returned armed with the odd weapons.</p> -<p>An opportunity to use them soon presented itself. From a thick mass of brake -there came a mighty squealing and grunting, as the <i>Vagrant</i> came slowly -around one of the numerous bends in the stream. All at once several small, -bristly animals, like miniature pigs, dashed out with a mighty commotion.</p> -<p>Three gas-guns flashed to three shoulders simultaneously. It was an odd and -rather uncanny sight to behold an instant later, six little wild piggies lying -with their toes turned up, “dead to the world,” as the slangy Ned Bangs put -it.</p> -<p>The boys were keen for going ashore and gathering in the victims of the -ammonium nitrate compound. But Captain Andrews vetoed the proposal as -impossible.</p> -<p>“There’s hardly a foot of water in shore there,” he said, “it’s a case of -‘keep in de middle ob de road’ in this river.”</p> -<p>Dinner was eaten at one o’clock. Jack “spelling” Captain Andrews at the wheel -while the skipper partook of a hearty meal, after which he indulged in a nap -while Tom, in his turn, relieved Jack.</p> -<p>The latter was still below enjoying Jupe’s cookery, when there came a sudden -hail from above:</p> -<p>“Say, Jack, hurry up on deck, won’t you? There’s something odd about the -water just ahead of us.”</p> -<p>Ned it was who uttered the summons, poking his head down the companion -way.</p> -<p>Jack finished his meal in a jiffy, and was on deck in another two seconds. He -found the <i>Vagrant’s</i> nose still pointed up stream, but Tom, using the -bridge controls, had slowed down the engines till the craft was almost -stationary in the swift current.</p> -<p>Right ahead of them lay the cause of Jack’s abrupt summons to the deck.</p> -<p>A chain, composed of huge iron links, was stretched from bank to bank of the -river, effectually barring further progress.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xiiia-daring-plan'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XIII—A DARING PLAN</h2> -</div> -<p>“Well,” said Jack, after a moment spent in surveying the obstruction, “we -might have expected something like that. The question is, what are we going to -do?”</p> -<p>“We might land and remove it,” hazarded Ned.</p> -<p>But Jack shook his head.</p> -<p>“Jupe, go below and call Captain Andrews,” he said, in as calm a voice as he -could muster. “We won’t risk landing and trying to lower the chain for two -reasons. One is, that Herrera, having been cunning enough to put up the barrier, -is not likely to have left it unguarded. There may be hidden eyes watching us -right now. The second reason is, that it has just occurred to me that a man who -is playing the game he is, may have placed other more dangerous obstacles in our -path.”</p> -<p>“For instance?” came from Tom.</p> -<p>“For instance,—mines.”</p> -<p>“By the holy poker! That’s so,” exclaimed Ned, “I guess we’d better turn back -and make our advance by land.”</p> -<p>“Here’s Captain Andrews now,” struck in Tom, as the skipper of the <i>Sea -King</i> came on deck, hastily adjusting his white pith helmet.</p> -<p>There was no need to tell that veteran seaman what had happened. He took in -the situation at a glance.</p> -<p>“It would have been funny if we hadn’t run up against something like this,” -he remarked, almost in Jack’s words.</p> -<p>“The point is,—what now?” said Tom.</p> -<p>Captain Andrews agreed with Jack that it would be a foolish risk to land and -try to remove the chain.</p> -<p>“I’ve quite a notion that there are some rifles in that brush, all ready for -use in case we try to proceed,” he said reflectively, “my advice is to drop back -down stream and hold a council of war.”</p> -<p>All agreed that this did seem about the only thing to do under the -circumstances, and accordingly Tom handed the wheel over to the sailor while he -went below to “stand by” the engines.</p> -<p>In that muddy stream, with its sand banks and shoals, the maneuver they were -going to try would call for some delicate seamanship and swift handling of the -motor.</p> -<p>Captain Andrews, with his lips grimly compressed, grasped the wheel and -sounded a signal. Slowly the <i>Vagrant</i>, which had been “hanging” -motionless, began to drop back with the current.</p> -<p>“Too bad we can’t turn around,” complained Jack.</p> -<p>“Wouldn’t dare to chance it,” rejoined the captain, “for all we know there -may be a sandbank on either side of us right now.”</p> -<p>A deathlike silence hung over the <i>Vagrant</i> as she drifted stern first -down the river. The wheel spun swiftly this way and that under the helmsman’s -muscular direction.</p> -<p>“She goes as well backward as she does forward,” Ned was beginning, when -there came a sudden shock that almost threw them off their feet. Jupe, in fact, -did fall sprawling on the bridge.</p> -<p>At almost precisely the same instant a shower of bullets whizzed above them, -singing a sinister song as they screeched about the motor craft. Dense brush -lined the banks, and the shooters were well concealed in it. Not even a puff of -smoke betrayed their exact whereabouts.</p> -<p>And, while this hailstorm of lead whistled about the adventurers, they -realized all too clearly that the <i>Vagrant</i> had run hard and fast on one -of the very sandbanks the captain had dreaded. One thing, however, speedily -became evident, and that was that the bullets had not harmed them, because they -were not intended to—yet. The shower of lead was aimed high above their heads. -Presently it ceased altogether.</p> -<p>“That was a warning,” decided Captain Andrews. “Boys, your folks are -certainly surrounded by a barb-wire fence.”</p> -<p>The lads did not answer. But as they sensed the nature of the obstacles that -were piling up in the way of their enterprise, a look of consternation came over -their faces. “The Chadwick Relief Expedition,” as they had christened it, -appeared to have run up against a stone wall.</p> -<p>“I guess we are not in any danger of another fusillade if we stay where we -are, or keep on dropping back,” said Captain Andrews after an interval of -thought, “but if we try to keep on going we’ve had a sample of what to -expect.”</p> -<p>The boys could not but agree with him. At length Jack spoke.</p> -<p>“Hadn’t we better try to get the <i>Vagrant</i> off whatever we’ve struck?” -he said. “I’ve got a plan in my head in that case; but I don’t think this is the -healthiest place to discuss it.”</p> -<p>“We can put out a light anchor and try to warp off,” said Captain -Andrews.</p> -<p>It was agreed to try this plan for rescuing the <i>Vagrant</i> from her -uncomfortable berth. The dinghy was lowered and manned by Jack and Tom, who took -with them the light anchor which was attached to two hundred feet of line. A -hundred feet down stream they dropped the mud-hook, and then rowed back to the -<i>Vagrant</i>.</p> -<p>When they were once more on board the winch was manned and, to their delight, -as the rope tightened the <i>Vagrant’s</i> stern began to swing.</p> -<p>“Keep at it, lads,” cried Captain Andrews to the perspiring laborers, “if -that anchor will only hold I believe we can get off.”</p> -<p>The anchor did hold, and after ten minutes more of back-breaking work the -craft’s bow slid out of the mud bank with a sucking sound, and she was once more -free. The anchor was hauled on board, and, without further mishap, the -<i>Vagrant</i> was set once more on her down-stream course.</p> -<p>The first attempt of the courageous little band to rescue their comrades had -met with a rather ignominious failure. Captain Andrews said as much that -evening, as they found themselves anchored near the mouth of the river they had -fruitlessly ascended with so much pains.</p> -<p>The skipper voiced this opinion after supper, while they sat on deck casting -anxious eyes to seaward now and again, for the recollection of the -<i>Tarantula</i> was strong upon them. Above all things, they dreaded the -reappearance of that drab-colored craft.</p> -<p>“You said you had a plan, Jack,” said Tom, as the skipper disconsolately drew -on his pipe, “Now’s the time to broach it. What is it?”</p> -<p>“Just this,” was the simple reply, “we’ve got the aero-auto. It looks as if -the time had come to use her.”</p> -<p>“And leave the <i>Vagrant</i> here to be destroyed when Herrera happens -along?” demanded Tom.</p> -<p>“That doesn’t follow. Did you notice that small creek almost overgrown with -brush that branches off about a mile above here?”</p> -<p>“Yes, lad,” came from Captain Andrews, whose tones gave evidence of his -intense interest, “you’re planning to hide the <i>Vagrant</i> there till we -come back again?”</p> -<p>“You’ve caught my idea exactly,” said the lad. “What do you think of it?”</p> -<p>“That it’s a dumb-gasted good one, and that I, for one, am willing to risk my -neck in that flying automobubble of yours any time you say the word.”</p> -<p>“Then I say it right now,” shot out Jack, with flashing eyes. “We can’t -ascend this river by water; we’ll try the air route.”</p> -<p>It was while they were still buzzing with the enthusiasm that Jack’s fiery -words had created that Tom uttered a sharp exclamation.</p> -<p>“Jupiter!” he exclaimed, pointing seaward. “Look yonder. We’re not playing a -lone hand in this thing now.”</p> -<p>Some distance off apparently, but rushing across the water at a swift pace, -was a bright white gleam,—the light of a vessel approaching the bar at top -speed.</p> -<p>“The <i>Tarantula</i>, for all I’m worth!” exploded Captain Andrews. -“Confound her, why couldn’t she have kept her hands off for twelve hours -longer?”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xiva-message-from-the-air'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XIV—A MESSAGE FROM THE AIR</h2> -</div> -<p>Fortunately, there was no ray of light visible about the <i>Vagrant</i>. -The incandescents had been switched off in every part of her, with the exception -of the engine room. In this compartment Tom, by some inspiration, had closed the -deadlights, and therefore not a gleam of light leaked out to betray the -whereabouts of the craft.</p> -<p>“Do you think the <i>Tarantula</i> will cross the bar to-night?” asked Jack -presently.</p> -<p>“I don’t imagine so,” was the rejoinder. “They wouldn’t be idiots enough to -take such a chance as that on this tide. No, if you ask me, we’ve got the night -ahead of us till the first streak of daylight.”</p> -<p>“Good enough,” said Jack, with much inward satisfaction; “and now, I’ve been -thinking, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to keep watch by the wireless. It’s -likely enough that Herrera will try to send a message to his plantation up the -river, provided he’s managed to get his apparatus repaired.”</p> -<p>“I’ve been thinking that, too,” said Tom. “I’ll go below and start up the -generator.”</p> -<p>“You might as well,” said Jack, “although I don’t think that we’ll send out -any messages to-night. Our job is to catch what we can from the air.”</p> -<p>While Tom hastened to the engine-room to start up the dynamo. Jack made his -way to the cabin, accompanied by Ned Bangs. Captain Andrews and Jupe remained on -watch on deck.</p> -<p>Seating himself at the wireless table. Jack adjusted the head band, placed -the receivers at his ears, and then threw the switch for receiving. Ned, in the -meantime, had run up the wireless mast with its slender antennæ, or aerials.</p> -<p>This done, Ned rejoined his chum, seating himself beside him. After an -interval he spoke.</p> -<p>“Anything yet?”</p> -<p>“No; silent as the grave. Suppose you go on deck and see what Captain Andrews -and Jupe have observed.”</p> -<p>Ned was back from his errand in a short space of time. His face bore a -well-pleased grin, as Jack could see in the light of the solitary incandescent which -illumined the cabin, the shades having, of course, been drawn across the -portholes before it was switched on.</p> -<p>“Well?” questioned Jack.</p> -<p>“Well,” echoed Ned, “everything is going famously. The light stopped moving -outside the bar, and presently Captain Andrews heard the rattle of her anchor -chains as she let go her mud-hooks. Everything has been quiet since.”</p> -<p>“Too quiet. I wish——”</p> -<p>Jack broke off suddenly, holding up a hand to Ned to command silence. Out of -space the electric waves were beginning to break against the aerials above. The -<i>Tarantula</i> was talking to some one on shore in a rapid stream of dots -and dashes. Jack’s hand flew across the recording pad. As before, the paper was -soon covered with figures—the code which Tom had exploded.</p> -<p>After half an hour, during which his hand had frequently sought the tuning -apparatus. Jack’s labors ceased; but his face bore a radiant expression.</p> -<p>“The message had a lot in it about us, and my father and the rest,” he said. -“They did not codify our names, but spelled them right out. That’s how I know. -They——”</p> -<p>“Hadn’t you better listen in case there’s any more coming?” asked Ned.</p> -<p>“No; they’re through for to-night. They exchanged the good-bye signal. Now to -find Tom and get him to translate this jumble of figures.”</p> -<p>But Tom, after expending a lot of fruitless labor on the papers, declared he -could make nothing of them.</p> -<p>“Maybe they’ve changed the code, or maybe——”</p> -<p>“They’ve been using Spanish this time,” exclaimed Jack, struck by a happy -inspiration.</p> -<p>“Cracky! I’ll bet that’s just what they have been doing,” cried Ned. “Say, -fellows, you just copy out those messages while I get Captain Andrews below in -two shakes of a duck’s tail.”</p> -<p>He bounded off up the companion way, while Tom busily transcribed. So fast -did he work that he had a lot of words written out when the skipper -appeared.</p> -<p>“So you’ve been catching something out of the air, have you?” he asked as he -entered the cabin.</p> -<p>“Yes; and I guess it’s important, too,” declared Jack, “but you’ll have to -translate Tom’s notes. Captain, because it’s all in Spanish.”</p> -<p>“That will be simple enough,” said Captain Andrews, sitting down and drawing -toward him the scattered sheets which Tom had already rendered from the figures -of the code.</p> -<p>The veteran seaman began stolidly to con over the Spanish words, not all of -which, owing to Tom’s unfamiliarity with the language, were written in correct -form. But before long his composed attitude gave way to excitement.</p> -<p>“Jove, lads!” he exclaimed, “this wireless is a wonderful thing. It’s tipped -off that greaser’s hand to us in great shape. He——”</p> -<p>“Wait till you get the whole message and then you can read it out to us,” -suggested Jack.</p> -<p>Both the sailor and Tom worked like beavers at their task, and ere long -Captain Andrews leaned back in his chair and announced that he was ready to read -the messages as he had translated them.</p> -<p>As he had hinted, they caused a sensation. Herrera had wirelessed his -plantation, and after a short interval had received a reply. He,—or, rather, his -operator,—then proceeded to relate all that had occurred; and told,—the boys had -to smile at this,—how the accursed gringos had tricked them by some sort of -hypnotism!</p> -<p>However, so the message ran on, the capable Senor Herrera had managed to -rally his men on their recovery from the spell of witchcraft, and had speedily -organized a force to repair the damaged machinery and wireless apparatus. This -done, all speed had been made at once for the coast whither, as they guessed, -the gringos had preceded them.</p> -<p>“Well, Herrera’s, man ashore soon informed them on board the -<i>Tarantula</i> that such was the case,” continued Captain Andrews, “and gave -him a full, true and particular account of how they stopped us with that chain -and that fusillade. He told Herrera that he had confined the gringos in one of -the buildings used for the hemp crushers, and that they were as safe as if they -were in a safe deposit vault. Friend Herrera then congratulated him on his -astuteness, and said that he would run the bar first thing in the morning, only -stopping, by the way, to blow the <i>Vagrant</i> out of the water and send us -all to Kingdom Come.”</p> -<p>“Reckon he’s got another guess coming on that,” grinned Ned Bangs, looking at -Jack.</p> -<p>“I hope so,” said that lad; “but now that we are in possession of these facts -it’s up to us to move quickly. Captain, do you think we can find that branch -creek in the night?”</p> -<p>“We’ve got to,” was the grim response, “if we don’t want to part with the -good old <i>Vagrant</i>, and I’d hate to lose any ship I’ve trod the deck -of.”</p> -<p>“Then, let’s up anchor and get out of here,” said Jack.</p> -<p>“Intercepting that wireless,” he went on, “has taken one great load off my -mind. We know that those we are in search of are safe, and we know, in addition, -that they are confined in one of the hemp-making buildings.”</p> -<p>“And that’s a whole lot important to us right now,” supplemented Captain -Andrews. “Whole campaigns have been won with less knowledge of the enemy’s -country than we have.”</p> -<p>They went on deck. Outside the bar a light showed where the -<i>Tarantula</i> lay at anchor. Herrera must have been chuckling to himself at -that very instant. According to his knowledge of the situation, he had his foes -completely “bottled up.” All that remained for him to do was to capture them and -attain possession; of the coveted precious stones at his leisure.</p> -<p>While the Mexican was pondering such thoughts as these and nursing his -revenge, the company of the <i>Vagrant</i> were busy,—very busy.</p> -<p>It was too risky a thing to chance making the noise that raising the anchor -would have caused. So the cable was slashed and the engine started with the -underwater exhaust in operation. Noiselessly the little craft glided up the -stream and then turned her nose toward the bank. A break in the line of trees, -showing against the star-sprinkled sky, gave the location of the creek mouth, -and, feeling his way with the utmost caution, Captain Andrews drove his -temporary command into it. It was driving, in a literal sense, for the brush and -trees overhung the creek so densely that the <i>Vagrant</i> had to push her -way among them. When she had proceeded about a hundred yards up the stream she -was masked from the view of the river with complete effectiveness.</p> -<p>“Glory be!” sighed Jupe, in a voice of intense relief, when Captain Andrews -ordered the second anchor “let go.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xva-dash-aloft'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XV—A DASH ALOFT</h2> -</div> -<p>“It will be safe enough to light up now, I guess,” announced Captain Andrews, -when the anchorage had been accomplished. Jack had told him previously that they -would need deck lights to work by when it was possible to use them without -danger of detection.</p> -<p>When the incandescents on the after deck were switched on the boys at once -fell to work on their “Flying Road Racer,” as Jack and Tom had christened the -craft. There was much to be done, and they worked quickly. The tank was supplied -with crystals and water, and the gauge before long showed a pressure which the -lads knew was sufficient to inflate the bag when occasion arose.</p> -<p>This done. Jack determined to make a test of the engines. First, seeing that -the neutral clutch was in working order, he pressed a button which set the -self-starting apparatus,—run by electricity from a storage battery of great power and -lightness,—into action. With a buzz and a whirr the machinery started, and bit -by bit the lad speeded the motor up to its maximum number of revolutions per -minute,—namely, two thousand. While the crank shafts whirled round he carefully -examined the lubricating appliances. They worked as well as everything else, and -fully satisfied with his test, the young inventor shut down the engine, with the -announcement that so far as the machinery was concerned everything was in -readiness for an immediate flight, or ground cruise.</p> -<p>While this had been going on, Jupe had been placing a stock of provisions on -board, and Captain Andrews had assembled his navigating instruments and -chronometers, which he had brought with him from the <i>Sea King</i>. By -midnight Jack declared that it was time for the aero-auto’s passengers to get -aboard.</p> -<p>A thrill of excitement ran through the whole party at these words; but Tom -seemed suddenly to recollect something and stepped to Jack’s side, talking in a -low voice.</p> -<p>The young leader nodded his assent to Tom’s proposal, whatever it was, and -Tom vanished below, summoning Jupe to help him. When he returned, he had his -arms full of mechanical apparatus, and the same was true of Jupe, who grunted -under his burdens. All this impedimenta was placed in the tonneau, in lockers -under the seats.</p> -<p>It now only remained to bolt on the aerial propeller, adjust the side-planes -and fix the rudder. This was speedily done.</p> -<p>At twelve-thirty o’clock the party cast off the lashings which had bound the -Flying Road Racer to the <i>Vagrant’s</i> deck. Jack climbed into the driver’s -seat, taking his place at the aerial steering wheel. Tom sat beside him.</p> -<p>Captain Andrews, Ned Bangs and Jupe, whose eyes were almost popping out of -his head, seated themselves in the broad, roomy tonneau.</p> -<p>The lights had already been switched off on I board the <i>Vagrant</i> and -everything made snug. The silver casket, the gas-guns, the ammunition, and the -other accessories from the Professor’s cabin which had not yet been opened, -were, of course, on board the Flying Road Racer.</p> -<p>Jack bent forward and snapped a button switch. A hooded light above the -various gauges and instruments on the dashboard shone out, shedding a soft but -bright light on the appliances, but not striking up into the young leader’s -eyes.</p> -<p>“All ready?” queried the lad, giving a backward glance.</p> -<p>“Ready as we ever will be, old top,” quoth the slangy Mr. Bangs.</p> -<p>“Let her go,” said Tom in a tense voice.</p> -<p>Jack’s pulses throbbed, and his heart beat a bit quicker than was comfortable -as he turned the valve that admitted gas to the bag above them.</p> -<p>With a swishing sound, not unlike escaping steam, the folds of the great gas -container began to fill out. It gradually assumed shape, swelling till it -reached what appeared to be vast proportions. When Jack shut off the gas the -huge, cigar-shaped balloon above them looked like an immense dark cloud, -superimposed over their heads.</p> -<p>The bag took just fifteen minutes to inflate. During this time not a word was -spoken on board the Flying Road Racer. The tension was far too great for -speech.</p> -<p>As Jack shut off the gas a tremor ran all through the novel craft. She tugged -and swayed at the single rope, reeved through a ringbolt, that still bound her -to the deck. The suspension wires thrummed musically under the pressure.</p> -<p>“Let go!” yelled Jack suddenly.</p> -<p>Tom, who had been holding the end of the rope, dropped it. Instantly the -Flying Road Racer gave a bound upward.</p> -<p>“Bust my toplights!” bellowed Captain Andrews in excitement at the novel -sensation.</p> -<p>Jupe’s lips might have been seen to move. He appeared to be praying. Ned -Bangs’ hands were clenched tightly. He was very pale.</p> -<p>“Look out for the tree tops!” cried Tom suddenly.</p> -<p>The wonderful craft, with her precious freight, swayed drunkenly toward the -crests of a group of giant ceiba trees. For one instant disaster, at the very -outset of their voyage, appeared inevitable.</p> -<p>But suddenly there was a whirring sound, like the drone of a monstrous night -beetle. The engine was driving the propeller round at top speed.</p> -<p>Jack twisted the steering wheel over, and the Flying Road Racer, rising at -the rate of a hundred feet a minute, shot clear of the menacing tree tops.</p> -<p>Up and up into the night she rose, while her occupants, forgetting their -first alarm in their enthusiasm, gave a mighty cheer, careless, for the minute, -of who might hear it.</p> -<p>The voyage of the Flying Road Racer had begun under a fortunate star -indeed.</p> -<p>Directly the tree tops were cleared Jack set the planes at a rising angle, -and the upward course of the Flying Road Racer was more rapid. She seemed fairly -to shoot up into the ether.</p> -<p>“How do you like it?” asked Tom, turning his head-to speak to those in the -tonneau.</p> -<p>“Ah’d like it better, Marse Tom, ef I didn’t feel I done lef’ mah insides -behin’ me,” faltered Jupe.</p> -<p>“You’ll soon get over that feeling,” declared Tom confidently. “Just hark at -that engine! She’s running as true as a human heart.”</p> -<p>“She is that,” agreed Jack, enthusiastically, “Tom, old boy, we’ve got the -greatest land-and-air-craft ever put together.”</p> -<p>“And to think that you two lads, hardly more than schoolboys, invented her,” -struck in Captain Andrews admiringly.</p> -<p>“I guess my father had a whole lot to do with it,” rejoined Jack modestly; -“we could never have mastered a lot of knotty points without his aid.”</p> -<p>“Well, that doesn’t detract from what you’ve accomplished one bit,” declared -Ned with enthusiasm. “This is the mode of traveling of the future all -right.”</p> -<p>“We hope to make it so some day,” was Tom’s reply.</p> -<p>The night was almost windless, save for a slight puff now and then. But this -didn’t bother the Flying Road Racer once she was under control, and Jack had -managed to climb upward on an almost straight course.</p> -<p>Now he peered over the edge of the aluminum body. Beneath him he could see -the gleam of the river in the starlight.</p> -<p>“We’ll follow the stream,” he decided. “It is bound to bring us to Herrera’s -plantation.”</p> -<p>“Keep at a good height, though,” admonished Captain Andrews. “We know that -those fellows have high-powered rifles.”</p> -<p>“We are now twenty-five hundred feet above the earth,” said Jack, glancing at -the barograph. “We’ll go higher.”</p> -<p>He pulled a lever, setting the rising planes at a more acute angle. Up the -aerial staircase they climbed, till the barograph’s indicator pointed to the -figures five thousand.</p> -<p>Then Jack turned the prow of the craft in a westerly direction, while Tom, -through night glasses, watched the earth so far below them, following the course -of the river through the binoculars.</p> -<p>At forty miles an hour the Flying Road Racer swept through the air on her -momentous errand.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xviinto-the-enemys-camp'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XVI—INTO THE ENEMY’S CAMP</h2> -</div> -<p>When the Flying Road Racer took the air the weight that the craft carried was -distributed as follows:</p> -<p>Aluminum body, wheels, motor, suspension wires, etc. 900 pounds.</p> -<p>Five passengers. (approx.) 800 pounds.</p> -<p>Provisions, water, etc. 250 pounds.</p> -<p>(The provisions included canned goods, preserved butter, tea and cocoa, -flour, sugar, salt and a few delicacies.)</p> -<p>Radolite crystals, instruments, etc. 275 pounds.</p> -<p>Other articles,—including Ned’s last-minute contributions. 300 pounds.</p> -<p>Total 2,525 pounds.</p> -<p>This left lifting power to raise 2,475 lbs., which, however, could be -increased to a considerable extent by utilizing the reserve sections of the gas -bag.</p> -<p>Jack roughly estimated the combined weights of those they were to rescue,—his -father, his uncle, Abner Jennings and the two sailors,—at a little over one -thousand pounds. Thus, it will be seen, that there was no reason why the Flying -Road Racer should not be able to perform all that was required of her, with some -lifting power left over for emergencies.</p> -<p>The boy inventors’ craft had been in the air about an hour when Tom descried, -far below them, the gleam of a light. In that wild country it was not likely to -betoken anything else but the site of Herrera’s plantation houses.</p> -<p>They all agreed on this, and Jack, after a consultation with his comrades, -decided that the time had come to descend. The plan they arrived at, after -threshing the situation over in all its bearings, was to drop in the most -suitable place they could find, adjacent to the plantation buildings.</p> -<p>Then the gas bag was to be reinflated, ready for emergencies, and two of the -party were to reconnoiter the ground as carefully as possible. The remainder of -the rescue was to be left to circumstances. At one hour and ten minutes after -midnight. Jack started the exhaust engine up.</p> -<p>Instantly the Flying Road Racer began to drop downward through space with her -planes set at a slight angle, as Jack did not want to coast to earth too -rapidly. This course soon brought the craft above the summits of the forest -trees, at a safe distance from the light they had perceived from aloft. To make -assurance of being unnoticed doubly sure. Jack had shut off the motor. Silently -as a night bird the great bulk of the flying auto settled earthward.</p> -<p>All this time their eyes had been strained to sight an open space in which -they might land without risk of damaging the balloon bag. Tom was the first to -see, through the night glasses, such an area of cleared land amid the -forest.</p> -<p>It was a tract about ten acres in extent, and formed, as they surmised later, -one of the outlying fields of Herrera’s plantation. It had not yet been put into -cultivation, however, and afforded as fine a spot for an air craft to ground as -could be imagined. Half an hour after the descent had begun the Flying Road -Racer settled as lightly as a bit of breeze-blown down on earth once more.</p> -<p>Thanks to her shock absorbers, hardly a jar was felt by those on board as she -landed with her bag half deflated and limp and wrinkled. No time was lost in -alighting and throwing out the anchors, contrived by Jack, used for securing the -craft to earth in case of a sudden wind springing up. These anchors differed -considerably from the sea type of “mud hook.” They consisted, in fact, merely of -discs of iron shaped like an inverted mushroom. One edge of the disc was driven -into the ground, and the shape of the holding appliances was such that an upward -tug merely served to force them more deeply into the earth.</p> -<p>The adventurers figured that they were about half a mile to the west of the -spot where they had seen the light, which they believed marked the site of -Herrera’s plantation houses. They also estimated that there were left to them -about two hours and a half more of darkness. There was urgent necessity then for -immediate action.</p> -<p>Much to the chagrin of Tom and Ned, but to the huge delight of Jupe, who had -no great fancy for the work in hand. Jack and Captain Andrews were to be the -ones to do the reconnoitering. Tom and Ned were ordered to stand by the Flying -Road Racer and be ready for any sudden development that might occur.</p> -<p>While Captain Andrews and Jack were absent, it would be the others’ duty also -to refill the gas bag, so that the aero-auto might be ready for an instant -ascent in case of need.</p> -<p>These preparations completed, the two who were to assume the most risky part -of the night’s work each selected a fully loaded gas-gun. In addition. Captain -Andrews carried an automatic revolver; but it was on the former weapons that -they would largely depend.</p> -<p>There remained nothing more but the leave-takings, and the fervent wishes for -success in the daring enterprise, coming from the lads who were to be left -behind. These final ceremonies being disposed of, the grizzled old sailor and -his young companion set off. Tom and Ned watched them till the shadows of the -forest swallowed them up.</p> -<p>By good fortune, the two, upon whom so much depended, struck a trail almost -immediately after their first plunge into the blackness that prevailed under the -tropical trees. The path had evidently been used by the laborers who had made -the clearing beyond. It was a broad, well-defined track, and their progress was -rapid and almost noiseless.</p> -<p>Neither of them spoke as they made their way along the path. The situation -was too critical for words, and Jack crept along behind Captain Andrews, hardly -daring to breathe.</p> -<p>He was on the tip-toe of excitement and anxiety, as was natural. At the end -of the trail they were following’ lay either success or dire failure. There was -no middle ground. In the event of their failing in their mission. Jack could not -disguise from himself that the consequences would be awful indeed. He had come -in contact with Herrera only once, but that single occasion had amply sufficed -to show him the character of the man.</p> -<p>From time to time, as they advanced, they paused and listened intently. But, -except for the drone of the night insects of the jungle, and the occasional -scream of a nocturnal bird, there was no sound other than the sighing of the -breeze in the tree tops far above.</p> -<p>There is no place more mysterious than the jungle at night. The dense -thickets seem to the nervous traveler to hold all manner of hidden perils. Some -of these are not altogether imaginary, either. The cunning, cruel jaguar, the -huge serpents, and a score of other dangers lurk in the shadows.</p> -<p>Fortunately, neither of our friends was burdened with sensitive nerves, and -it was well they were not, for their errand was not one for timid folk to embark -upon.</p> -<p>They glided along after all these pauses, making as fast time as possible. -All at once Captain Andrews, who was in the lead, as we know, stopped -abruptly.</p> -<p>So abruptly, in fact, that Jack almost collided with him.</p> -<p>“What’s the——” began Jack.</p> -<p>But instantly the Captain clapped a hand over his mouth. He raised the other -in a gesture that Jack read instantly: “Silence!”</p> -<p>Just ahead of them. Jack now perceived, the path broadened and emerged on a -considerable clearing. The black outlines of several buildings, were scattered -about this open space.</p> -<p>From one of them hung a lantern, shedding a yellow patch of light all about -it. This, evidently, was the light they had seen from above.</p> -<p>As they stood, still as graven images in the protecting shadows of the -forest, a stalwart figure, with a rifle over its shoulder, paced into the circle -of light and then vanished again.</p> -<p>“A sentry!” huskily breathed Captain Andrews. “If we thought we’d catch them -napping we’ve been badly mistaken.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xviidadits-jack'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XVII—“DAD!—IT’S JACK!”</h2> -</div> -<p>Jack gave a step forward the better to survey the scene before them. As he -did so his right foot struck something, and the next instant there was a sudden -sharp jangling of a bell.</p> -<p>In a flash he realized what had happened. A wire connected with the bell had -been stretched across the path,—Herrera’s dead line. His forward step had given -the alarm, and might prove their undoing and cause the total failure of their -plans. Captain Andrews’ arm shot out and dragged the boy back into a clump of -brush. He made Jack lie down flat, doing so himself.</p> -<p>“The whole pack will be about our ears in a minute,” he whispered; but he did -not reproach Jack, whose face was burning with humiliation.</p> -<p>Sure enough, almost simultaneously there came from the direction of the -houses and sheds an excited clamor of voices. Lights flashed and figures could -be seen rushing about. Presently they gathered in a knot, and some one appeared -to be giving directions; then they scattered in a fan-shaped formation, and -moved toward the woods in which the two adventurers lay concealed.</p> -<p>Jack’s heart beat like a trip hammer. Beside him he could hear Captain -Andrews breathing heavily. Their discovery, within the next few minutes, -appeared inevitable. Flashing their lanterns hither and thither the searching -party, which they could now see was composed of negroes, from the Mosquito coast -in all probability, advanced toward the jungle.</p> -<p>There were a dozen or more of them, headed by the big fellow whom they had -noticed on sentry duty. Almost all of them carried the universal weapon of the -negro in the tropics, long, glittering-bladed machetes. Some of them took to the -path by which Captain Andrews and Jack had reached their present position. -Others plunged into the jungle, cutting away the thick growth with their steel -blades.</p> -<p>Their leader shouted something in Spanish. “He’s ordering them to search -every inch of the jungle hereabouts,” interpreted Captain Andrews in a whisper. -“The precious rascal! I’d like to have my hands on him.”</p> -<p>“It wouldn’t do much good,” was the mournful response; “the odds against us -are too heavy for us to do much in case of our discovery.”</p> -<p>“Well, we’ve got the gas-guns, and from what I’ve already seen of them I -reckon that they may prove mighty useful in a few minutes.”</p> -<p>As he spoke there came a crashing sound in the undergrowth a few feet from -them. The next moment they saw the form of a giant black looming up directly in -front of them. The fellow was grunting from his exertions in cutting his way -through the underwood, and paused for an instant to catch his breath.</p> -<p>It was a fatal pause for him. Jack gently drew his gas-gun toward him and -fired. The negro threw both his hands into the air and dropped with a loud -“Oof!”</p> -<p>But the shot had been at such close range that the powerful gas impregnated -the air that Captain Andrews and his young companion were breathing. The reek of -it stung their nostrils.</p> -<p>“We’ve got to get out of here,” whispered Jack, “or we’ll be as dead to the -world as that fellow is.”</p> -<p>Painfully they crept on their stomachs through the thick brush, moving as -silently as cats. A single mistake in their movements, the crack of a branch -snapped by carelessness might, as they both knew, prove fatal. But they managed -to gain a small clearing under some big trees without mishap.</p> -<p>It was at this moment that Jack had a sudden inspiration.</p> -<p>“See here,” he said excitedly, under his breath, “those chaps have worked -past us now, to judge by the sounds. They think that we have fled through the -woods. What’s the matter with our doubling back on our tracks and marching right -into the settlement?”</p> -<p>Captain Andrews, ungiven as he was to emotion, fairly gasped.</p> -<p>“By the beard of Neptune, boy!” he exclaimed, and then, in the same breath, -“but it’s not as mad a plan as it sounds. In all likelihood, almost the entire -force of guards from the plantation buildings are out after us, and we ought to -be more than a match for half a dozen with the gas-guns.”</p> -<p>“Then we’ll do it?” throbbed Jack, with a catch of his breath.</p> -<p>“Yes. We came here to rescue those poor chaps, and, by the Polar Star, we’ll -do it if it’s possible.”</p> -<p>Jack impulsively held out his hand. Captain Andrews clasped it warmly. The -next moment they were stealthily creeping through the undergrowth, but advancing -far more quickly than they had retreated a moment before.</p> -<p>When they once more gained the edge of the jungle. Jack perceived, to his -intense satisfaction, that everything was quiet about the handful of buildings -before them. So far as could be seen, there was no one about. Evidently then, -his surmise had been correct. The majority, if not all of the residents, were -abroad in search of the persons who had sounded the alarm bell.</p> -<p>“Which building do you think it likely they are in?” asked Jack, as they -paused an instant before plunging from the protection of the woods.</p> -<p>“The one that has that lantern hanging on it,</p> -<p>“I imagine,” was the response from the veteran seaman, “we’ll try that first, -anyway. Are you ready?”</p> -<p>Jack nodded. He did not speak, however. It was not a time for mere words. The -next moment they had passed from the dark shadows of the jungle into the open -space about the plantation buildings. Each clasped his gas-gun ready for instant -use. But nobody appeared to bar their progress.</p> -<p>When they gained the structure from which the lamp was hanging, they found -that it was a tall building of wood, and seemingly three stories in height.</p> -<p>It was used, though they did not know this at the time, as a drying house for -the hemp after it had been through the crushing and separating processes. The -door was secured on the outside by a weighty bar of wood. Captain Andrews lifted -this out of its sockets, and in a jiffy had flung the door open. Inside was -pitchy darkness, so black that it could almost be felt.</p> -<p>Jack had brought along his electric pocket lamp. He drew it out and switched -on the current. The rays revealed a large, bare chamber, empty, except for a -pile of dry hemp in one corner, and in another a few bales of the product -stacked ready for shipment.</p> -<p>“Nothing here,” said Captain Andrews briefly.</p> -<p>“No; but see, there’s a flight of steps in that corner. Let’s go higher and -find out what’s on the floor above.”</p> -<p>“It may be wasting precious time, lad.”</p> -<p>“On the other hand, this was the building that was guarded by the sentry. -It’s fair to assume, then, that it is in this structure that our friends are -confined.”</p> -<p>Captain Andrews had nothing to reply to this logic, and followed Jack up the -steps.</p> -<p>At the summit of the rickety staircase was another door, secured, as had been -the one below, by a stout bar of wood. Jack tackled this and wrenched it free. -As he did so a voice that thrilled him in every fiber came from within the -portal.</p> -<p>“Who is it?”</p> -<p>“Dad! It’s me—Jack—I’ve come to save you!” blurted out Jack, tears of sheer -gladness springing to his eyes. He flung the door open.</p> -<p>The next instant Jack was clasped in his father’s arms, while about him and -Captain Andrews, pressed the other captives, all well and unharmed and half wild -with delight as they greeted the lad whose pluck had conquered Herrera’s “deadline.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xviiihemmed-in-by-flames'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XVIII—HEMMED IN BY FLAMES</h2> -</div> -<p>Naturally, after the first greeting’s had been exchanged, Mr. Jesson’s -principal anxiety was for his son Tom. Jack soon set his mind at rest on this -subject.</p> -<p>“Tom and Ned Bangs are back on the other side of the woods, with the -aero-auto,” he explained.</p> -<p>“Ah, then it has proved a success?” eagerly interjected Mr. Chadwick.</p> -<p>“It is even better than we hoped it would be,” rejoined Jack -enthusiastically.</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t be scared to trust myself to that aerial wind-jammer for a voyage -to China,” stoutly declared Captain Andrews. “I reckon if Wellman had had a -craft like that he’d have crossed the Atlantic easy as shooting.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know but what you’re right,” said Jack; “but the thing to discuss -now is how to get out of here. Dad, do you know much about this place?”</p> -<p>“Nothing, except that there is a floor above this. We were confined there the -first day of our captivity. But the sheet iron roof used for drying hemp made it -so insufferably hot that we would have died if they hadn’t moved us down here,” -was the reply.</p> -<p>“Then, so far as you know, there is no way of getting out but by the door we -entered?”</p> -<p>“That’s the only way, I guess. We had better make good our escape while those -rascally hangers-on about the settlement are off hunting for the fellows who -rang their alarm bell.”</p> -<p>Professor Chadwick, to whom Jack had given a hasty outline of the events of -the night, moved toward the door as he spoke. But he had not taken more than two -steps toward the head of the stairs when he stopped abruptly.</p> -<p>“Hark!” he exclaimed, standing stock still in an attitude of close -attention.</p> -<p>The murmur of voices came toward the party. It didn’t take any of them long -to surmise what had happened. The searching party was coming back. In a few -moments their egress would be cut off and it would be impossible to escape -without a fight, the outcome of which was doubtful.</p> -<p>In this emergency Captain Andrews acted quickly. Gas-gun in hand, he ran down -the stairway, shouting to the others to “come on.”</p> -<p>They pressed close behind him, each with a grim determination to reach the -doorway before the guardians of the plantation noticed that it was open.</p> -<p>But in this they were disappointed. Hardly had Captain Andrews reached the -doorway before several forms blocked it. As the doughty sea captain sprang at -the foremost of them, at least a dozen of the husky henchmen of Herrera leaped -on him.</p> -<p>Before either he or Jack could use their gas-guns, Captain Andrews was borne -to the ground, while on top of him were piled half a dozen of the returned -search party.</p> -<p>“Back to the upper room,” ordered Jack, “I’m going to fire my gas-gun.”</p> -<p>The boy shouted this warning because he knew that in that narrow space the -fumes of the stupefying gas were likely to prove as disastrous to the white men -as to the brawny negroes. Professor Chadwick, who well knew the qualities of the -gas, retreated with the others. As he did so. Jack saw a rifle aimed at him by -one of the negroes who crowded the doorway.</p> -<p>In a moment he had the gas-gun at his shoulder. He pressed the trigger and -one of the sleep-laden globules shot out. It struck the armed negro in the -chest, and the fellow threw up his arms with a sharp exhalation of his breath. -Then he fell, as if his legs had been pulled from under him.</p> -<p>The fellows who were piled on top of Captain Andrews released him and dashed -toward their other foe. As they left him the skipper of the <i>Sea King</i> -sprang to his feet and discharged his weapon. The air became impregnated with -stifling fumes.</p> -<p>Through the reek the seaman struggled to Jack’s side, and before the dazed -negroes could realize what had occurred the two whites were shoulder to shoulder -on the stairway.</p> -<p>Almost simultaneously the contents of the gas spheres began to have their -effect. Man after man of those who remained, for several had fled, staggered and -fell, while Jack and the captain retreated up the stairway. They lost no time in -reaching the door at the head of the stairs and shutting it to keep out the -fumes. They were none too soon. The gas had already affected them, and their -heads throbbed and their eyelids felt leaden.</p> -<p>In the corner of the room was a big earthen pitcher of water. The Professor -threw the contents of this over his son and Captain Andrews, and though still -heavy from the effects of the gas, the shock revived them wonderfully.</p> -<p>“What now?” asked the Professor, after Jack and Captain Andrews had “come -back to life” a little.</p> -<p>“Wait till the fumes of the gas have evaporated through the open door -downstairs, and then make a dash for freedom,” said Captain Andrews.</p> -<p>“How long will it be before the air is good to breathe?” inquired Mr. -Jesson.</p> -<p>“About fifteen minutes,” said the Professor; “the gas is of a very volatile -nature, and the fumes will soon clear off. It will be an hour or so at least, -however, before the negroes recover.”</p> -<p>“I would suggest, then, that Jack gives us a more detailed account of what -occurred after he left Lone Island,” said Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>Falling in with this idea, they seated themselves about the lad, who at once -plunged into the details of the narrative, which, as may be imagined, proved of -engrossing interest to all who heard him.</p> -<p>He was interrupted several times by questions and requests for information -concerning the operation of the aero-auto, and the relation of his story took -longer than had been anticipated. However, even in their critical situation, no -one wanted to miss a word of it.</p> -<p>“And so the three gems are safe?” said Professor Chadwick, with a sigh of -relief, as the lad concluded.</p> -<p>“Yes. They are at this moment in the Flying Road Racer’s locker, in charge of -Tom and Ned,” was the reply.</p> -<p>As Jack spoke they all, by mutual consent, rose and made for the door.</p> -<p>“I shall be glad to get to the air,” remarked Professor Chadwick.</p> -<p>“Yes; it is insufferably hot in here,” agreed Mr. Jesson. “I had not noticed -the heat so much while Jack was talking; but now,—phew! It’s like a -furnace.”</p> -<p>As he spoke. Jack flung the door open. The next instant he staggered back, -the hot blood in his veins frozen with horror.</p> -<p>A rush of air, hot and arid as a blast from a coke oven, struck him in the -face. A great puff of smoke followed.</p> -<p>The room below was a vast furnace of red flame. In falling, one of the -negro’s lanterns had overturned and rolled against the bales of dried hemp. All -the time they had been talking the fire had been waxing more and more -furious.</p> -<p>By this time the lower part of the stairway was in flames, and, as Jack held -the door open, a tongue of fire, sucked upward by the draft, shot hungrily -toward him.</p> -<p>He slammed the door instantly. But the heat of the seething furnace below -rendered the air almost unbreathable.</p> -<p>It looked as if, in the very moment of their triumph, the adventurers were -doomed to death in the burning building. Trapped and helpless, for an instant -they were deprived of words. Was this to be their appalling destiny, their -fate,—to be roasted alive without a chance of escape?</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xixstand-by-for-a-rope'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XIX—“STAND BY FOR A ROPE!”</h2> -</div> -<p>There are some situations so overwhelming that the strongest and coolest may -well be temporarily stunned by them. The springs of action paralyze, while the -mind becomes a blank.</p> -<p>This was the case with our party of adventurers. Added to this, was the -horror of knowing that many of the negroes in the room below must have perished -in the flames. Jack felt a sickening feeling of panic clutching at his -heart.</p> -<p>In one corner of the room the two sailors crouched, stolidly awaiting death. -Professor Chadwick and Mr. Jesson alone remained calm. Even Captain Andrews and -Abner Jennings appeared dazed and helpless with the sickening sense of the -disaster that had overtaken them.</p> -<p>“We must leave this room at once.”</p> -<p>It was Professor Chadwick who spoke, in a voice that did not falter in its -resolute tones.</p> -<p>His calmness, in the face of death, restored Jack’s pluck and heartened -Captain Andrews and Abner Jennings. Even the two sailors appeared to be less -panic-stricken.</p> -<p>“We can only leave it for the room above,” objected one of them, however; -“the flames will reach there afore long. Might as well die now as an hour -later.”</p> -<p>“Shame on you for American seamen!” burst out Captain Andrews, “rouse up -there! While there’s life there’s hope.”</p> -<p>His words were effective. At any rate, no more grumbling was heard as the -beleaguered party ascended to the upper chamber. Like the one below it, the -place was bare, and Jack flashed his electric searchlight about without -discovering any loophole of escape. As was the case in the lower chamber, the -walls were unpierced by windows, and the timbers were too solid for it to be -feasible to knock them out, except with heavy sledges.</p> -<p>All at once, however, Jack noticed, as he flashed his light about, that in -one corner there seemed to be a sort of trap-door in the roof.</p> -<p>He hailed his discovery with a cry of delight. If they could only reach the -roof it might be possible for them to attract the attention of some one below -who could get a ladder.</p> -<p>Of course, in that event, they would be likely to be made captives, but -anything was preferable to a tomb in the flames.</p> -<p>Jack’s discovery acted like a tonic on the despairing feelings of the party. -The iron roof was two feet beyond the reach of the tallest of them, but this -difficulty was gotten over by Jack clambering to Captain Andrews’ shoulders, and -from that situation he was able to reach the trap-door and to open it, for his -first fear that it might be locked proved to be without foundation.</p> -<p>Having opened it. Jack clambered through, and lying flat on the roof extended -his hands to his father, who, in turn, used Captain Andrews as a ladder. Then -came Mr. Jesson, followed by the two sailors. Abner Jennings demurred to taking -precedence of the Captain. But,——</p> -<p>“The skipper’s the last to leave the ship, my lad,” declared Captain Andrews, -and Jennings, unwillingly enough, clambered on his back and was drawn up.</p> -<p>Then came the Captain’s turn. Abner Jennings, as the strongest of the party, -lay flat on his stomach and extended his arms down within the room. To his legs -clung the others, acting as anchors. With a mighty heave Captain Andrews, no -lightweight, was raised high enough for him to clutch the edge of the trap, -after which he completed the operation of getting through for himself.</p> -<p>As he gained the roof they heard a crash beneath them.</p> -<p>“The floor of your jail has fallen through, I reckon. Professor,” grimly -spoke the captain.</p> -<p>As Jack heard the angry roar and crackle of the flames beneath them he could -not repress a shudder. It was a drop of fifty feet or more to the ground, and -they were by no means out of danger.</p> -<p>“Let’s see if any of those black rascals are about,” said Captain Andrews, -“if they are we may be able to induce them to get a ladder.”</p> -<p>“Surely they wouldn’t be inhuman enough to let us remain here,” exclaimed the -Professor.</p> -<p>“I don’t know,” was the response, “like master, like man, you know; and this -might strike Herrera as a very neat way of disposing of us.”</p> -<p>Several forms could be seen flitting about below them. The flames were -pouring through the windows of the lower story of the hemp-drying building, -casting a ruddy glow in which near-by objects could be seen as plainly as if by -daylight.</p> -<p>But the negroes appeared to be giving no thought to the burning structure. -Instead, they could be seen dragging piled bales of hemp out of danger of flying -sparks. Nor did they pay the slightest attention to the frantic shouts of the -party marooned on the top of the blazing building.</p> -<p>“Great heavens! they mean to leave us here to roast to death,” groaned the -Professor.</p> -<p>As he spoke there came another crash below them, and the building -trembled.</p> -<p>“The floor of the second room has fallen!” cried Mr. Jesson, rightly guessing -the cause of the crash. “In a few seconds this roof will become red-hot, -and——”</p> -<p>He stopped short. There are some things that cannot be put into words.</p> -<p>The trap-door had been closed, but before long they could distinctly feel the -roof under their feet becoming warmer and warmer.</p> -<p>Suddenly Jack espied a great mass of green hemp piled off in one corner, -ready to be raked out on the iron roof for drying when the sun arose.</p> -<p>“We can put that under our feet,” he said, “and stick it out a while longer -that way.”</p> -<p>So tenacious is the instinct of clinging to life, that even though they knew -it would only avert the end by a very short time,—unless a miracle came to aid -them,—they adopted Jack’s idea.</p> -<p>But before long the hemp began to smoke and steam. The heat was rapidly -drying out the moisture, and then——</p> -<p>Suddenly one of the sailors gave a yell, and shouting,—“I’m going to end it -all right now,” made a plunge for the edge of the roof.</p> -<p>His evident intention was to hurl himself down to death.</p> -<p>But before the crazed man could carry out his plan Captain Andrews sprang at -the fellow and brought him down with a crash.</p> -<p>“If Providence means us to die, we’ll meet death like men,” he said stoutly; -“but it’s not like Americans to give up the ship while there’s a shred of -hope.”</p> -<p>The frenzied sailor fought and struggled on the pile of steaming hemp on -which the skipper held him. But Captain Andrews’ strong arms pinned him -down.</p> -<p>Jack felt his senses reeling. The hot breath of the fire had reached them by -this time. The roof gave off heat like the top of a stove. If it had not been -for the damp, green hemp they could not have held the situation for an eighth of -the space of time that they did.</p> -<p>Their throats grew parched and their tongues swelled till they were painful, -and they could shout for aid no longer. For all the attention the negroes below -paid to their cries, they might as well have remained silent. The blacks seemed -to consider the removal of the hemp to a safe place of far more importance than -the lives of the flame-marooned white men.</p> -<p>Just when Jack’s hope had flickered out and a sort of coma of despair was -creeping over him the miracle happened.</p> -<p>It was Professor Chadwick who saw it first.</p> -<p>Through the red glow that crimsoned the sky came a huge floating form.</p> -<p>The Professor shouted and pointed upward. Jack raised a pair of dimmed eyes; -but the next instant they cleared as if by magic.</p> -<p>“It’s the Flying Road Racer!” he shouted, yelling like a madman. “Hurray! -We’re saved! we’re saved!”</p> -<p>And then something in his head seemed to snap with a loud report. He swayed, -and would have fallen heavily on the hot roof if his father had not caught him -in his arms.</p> -<p>Then he was startled into alertness again by a sharp hail which came from -above them.</p> -<p>“Stand by for a rope. We’ll drop as low as we dare!”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxa-rescue-by-airship'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XX—A RESCUE BY AIRSHIP</h2> -</div> -<p>Just what happened in the moments that followed neither Jack nor any of his -companions has ever been able to describe in detail. It was a time in which -every second counted, while under their feet the flames roared and crackled -hungrily.</p> -<p>From the Flying Road Racer a rope came snaking down, and Professor Chadwick -caught it. At the corner of the roof in which the adventurers were huddled was a -stout post, used sometimes, apparently, for hoisting things from the ground, for -a pulley hung from it.</p> -<p>With a flash of inspiration the Professor, with Mr. Jesson and Jack aiding, -rove the rope through this pulley. Then, while Tom and Ned maneuvered the Flying -Road Racer so that her “bow” pointed downward, all of the marooned adventurers -who were able to do so heaved on the rope. In this way the air craft was brought -to within three feet of the roof.</p> -<p>Another length of rope was then looped over the side by Tom and made fast to -two of the stanchions of the balloon support. The first to test the loop was the -companion of the crazed sailor. Half dragged, he scrambled into the body of the -suspended car. Professor Chadwick followed, and then came Mr. Jesson, while a -delighted cry at his father’s safety came from Tom.</p> -<p>Abner Jennings was the next to be taken on board, and then came Jack. In the -meantime Captain Andrews had buckled his belt around the limbs of the crazed -sailor and had borrowed Jack’s for the purpose of confining his prisoner’s -arms.</p> -<p>Trussed up in this manner the poor fellow was handed up to those on the -Flying Road Racer, and then the gallant Captain Andrews made a spring for the -swaying loop.</p> -<p>He was in the nick of time. As he gained the tonneau and sank to the floor -almost exhausted, there was a deafening roar, and, as if it had suddenly melted -away, the entire building collapsed. Jack turned away shuddering as the flame -and sparks shot up above the ruins.</p> -<p>The ideas it suggested of the fate that might have been theirs if help had -not arrived in the very nick of time, were almost overwhelming.</p> -<p>Tom was at the helm, and Ned it was who had cast off the rope. Slowly, almost -Phoenix-like, from amidst the flames rose the Flying Road Racer with her heavy -burden.</p> -<p>There was danger in the situation, too. The gas in the bag was inflammable, -and the heat of the fire might expand it so that at any minute it might burst -the container, and cause an appalling catastrophe. This danger Tom and Ned had -willingly faced when they brought the Flying Road Racer to the rescue. But now, -all their desires were centered on getting as far away from the fire zone as was -possible.</p> -<p>Laden as she was, the great air craft had not the same buoyancy that had been -hers when she set out at midnight from the <i>Vagrant</i>. She rose slowly, -and although her propeller was whirring at top speed, and her rising planes were -set, she once or twice sagged dangerously.</p> -<p>While this behavior on the air craft’s part was worrying her navigators -seriously, there came a sudden fresh cause for disquiet. Bullets from the -negroes below began to whiz about them.</p> -<p>The fellows had luckily been too much astonished to fire while the task of -rescue was going on. The apparition of the sky-ship had taken them so much by -surprise that they had temporarily been unable to take any hostile action.</p> -<p>Now, however, they had recovered their senses and were doing all in their -power to render the escape of their late prisoners an impossibility. Luckily, -however, they did not have enough sense to fire at the balloon bag, or their -endeavors might have been crowned with success. Instead, they aimed at the -occupants of the suspended car, and what with bad marksmanship and excitement -failed to hit any of them. True, a few bullets pinged against the suspension -wires and struck the sides of the car; but none punctured the tank, as the boys -feared might be the case, or caused any serious injury.</p> -<p>A breeze springing up presently wafted the overladen airship into an upper -air current, and before long she was rising merrily. More gas had been turned -into the bag, increasing its buoyancy, and by the time the dawn began to show -grayly the adventurers were far from the scene of their fearfully narrow -escape.</p> -<p>Behind them, however, they could see, as the light grew stronger, a pillar of -dark smoke soaring heavenward and marking the site of what had almost proved -their funeral pyre.</p> -<p>What with the coming of daylight and the feeling that they had been saved -from their greatest peril, the adventurers’ spirits rose wonderfully as they -sailed along. Even the crazed sailor showed symptoms of returning sanity, and, -as Professor Chadwick expected, his mental disengagement soon passed away. Oddly -enough, though, he could never recall the events of that night. They had been -wiped from his recollection as an old sum is washed off a slate.</p> -<p>Jupe got out canned goods and made a fairly good breakfast, while they were -in mid-air. To some of the party it was the most novel meal they had ever eaten. -But neither their recent hardships nor unusual surroundings impaired their -appetites. All ate ravenously and felt much better after the meal, which -included hot coffee cooked on an electric radiator. This radiator was connected -with the dynamo that filled the storage batteries and provided engine ignition -and light.</p> -<p>During the meal, Tom told them how he and Ned and Jupe had waited beside the -Flying Road Racer after the departure of Tom and Captain Andrews on their -scouting expedition. For some time they stood their ground patiently enough, and -occupied their time, according to instructions, by reinflating the bag.</p> -<p>This done, there was nothing to do but await the progress of events. Of the -search in the jungle they knew nothing. But the sound of shots from the -direction of the plantation had first roused their fears that something was -wrong.</p> -<p>Then they had perceived the red glare of the fire on the night sky. Certain -then that something serious was wrong, Tom took it upon himself to get up the -anchors and fly to the rescue. Little did he imagine, however, he confessed, -what dire straits his friends were in.</p> -<p>“We owe you a great debt of gratitude, you and Ned Bangs, for your prompt and -brave action,” warmly declared Professor Chadwick.</p> -<p>That the others heartily seconded the motion may be imagined. In fact, as -they all realized to the full, they owed their lives directly to Tom Jesson’s -pluck and brains and his able assistant, Ned Bangs. Jupe, too, came in for his -share of praise, for the old colored man had behaved in the great emergency -through which they had passed, with remarkable coolness and ability.</p> -<p>As Tom concluded his story. Jack glanced at the barograph. They had risen to -three thousand feet, and were moving in a westerly direction. So engrossed had -they all been in discussing their wonderful escape, that they had really hardly -noticed in what course they were sailing.</p> -<p>“I think it’s time that we decided on a destination,” said Jack, as he noted -these things.</p> -<p>“Why not try for Lone Island?” said Mr. Jesson. “The <i>Sea King</i> should -be there, and——”</p> -<p>Jack shook his head.</p> -<p>“The Flying Road Racer couldn’t fly as far as that?” asked Captain Andrews, -who had been glancing about him at all points of the compass while this talk was -going on.</p> -<p>“She could fly as far as that under normal conditions,” was the reply; “but -not with such a load on board. We are using up fuel at twice the usual rate, and -might have to descend to make more gas for running purposes.”</p> -<p>“Can’t we refill the reservoir in mid-air?”</p> -<p>Mr. Jesson asked the question.</p> -<p>“Too dangerous, except in case of absolute necessity,” said Jack; “it could -be done, but there is a certain amount of risk.”</p> -<p>“I think, then, that we had better head about and make for the sea-coast -where the <i>Vagrant</i> is hidden,” said Professor Chadwick.</p> -<p>“I don’t agree with you there,” said Captain Andrews positively.</p> -<p>“Why not?”</p> -<p>“Well, in the first place, during the next few days Herrera is going to go -through all that vicinity with a fine-tooth comb. He won’t let the gems slip -through his fingers without some sort of a battle for them, you can bet.”</p> -<p>“What would your advice be, then?”</p> -<p>“To make for the mountains yonder with all speed. We can lie snugly hidden -there for a short time, and can form some definite plan. We are all too much -tired and overwrought now to discuss such things intelligently.”</p> -<p>“I think you are right. I know that, now that the strain is over, I feel like -taking a long sleep,” said Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“Then let us head right on as we are going,” suggested Jack. “That range of -hills doesn’t look so very far off. We ought to get there before afternoon. That -will give us time to make camp and get things snug for the night.”</p> -<p>And so it was arranged. But Captain Andrews still kept casting anxious -glances back toward the coast line.</p> -<p>“What’s the trouble. Captain?” asked Jack presently, noting a trace of -uneasiness on the old sailor’s countenance.</p> -<p>“Why, lad, I don’t much like the look of the weather yonder. See that gray -haze that’s spreading over the sky so quick? That means wind, and maybe worse, -or my name ain’t Sam Andrews.”</p> -<p>“Good gracious!” exclaimed Jack, “we’re in no fix to battle with a -storm.”</p> -<p>As he spoke a sharp puff of wind shook the Flying Road Racer.</p> -<p>“Could we land if anything very bad comes on?” asked Captain Andrews, with a -yet stronger tincture of anxiety in his tones.</p> -<p>Jack peered over the edge of the car.</p> -<p>“Nothing but dense forests are below us,” he said; “it would be courting -death to try to land among them.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxialoft-in-the-storm'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXI—ALOFT IN THE STORM</h2> -</div> -<p>In an almost unbelievably short time the wind had increased to a gale. It -shrieked and moaned among the wire supports of the car, and the great bag that -held it in mid-air swayed and tore furiously at its fastenings.</p> -<p>Jack kept a sharp lookout for a good spot to land, while Tom relieved Ned at -the wheel. Once they saw beneath them a big area of smooth, park-like land, -almost devoid of trees. It would have made an ideal landing place, but as they -tried to force the Flying Road Racer around to head for it the full force of the -wind struck them.</p> -<p>While traveling with the gale they had not noticed its full fury. Now, -however, it battered them viciously, tearing at the gas bag as if it had been -some monster bent on its destruction. The car swung wildly underneath its -support, and they had to cling on to avoid being hurled out into space.</p> -<p>Their intention of battling with the wind was quickly given up. Tom brought -the helm around and the Flying Road Racer hurtled off before the blast at a -speed the indicator showed to be sixty-five miles.</p> -<p>“Is there no possibility of turning around and landing?” asked Mr. Jesson -somewhat anxiously.</p> -<p>“It is out of the question,” declared Jack; “we’d rip this craft to pieces if -we even attempted to buffet the storm.”</p> -<p>“It’s a bad one, all right,” said Abner Jennings.</p> -<p>“And may be worse afore it’s better,” said Captain Andrews, casting an -anxious eye aloft at the scudding clouds among which they were sailing.</p> -<p>“The wind is blowing about sixty miles an hour,” said Jack, looking at the -anemometer. “That means practically a hurricane speed.”</p> -<p>“Are we in danger?” asked Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“Not as long as we can keep in the air,” said Jack; “but if anything should -go wrong it would be awkward, to say the least of it.”</p> -<p>“Then something may happen at any minute?”</p> -<p>“I didn’t say so. Uncle; but, as -Captain Andrews said, the wind may grow stronger.”</p> -<p>“It’s hard to tell what these tropical hurricanes will do, once they get -started,” said the burly captain. “I’ve seen ’em blow for a week and flatten out -whole groves of cocoanuts.”</p> -<p>It grew blacker and blacker. The Flying Road Racer was now scudding through -ragged white clouds that drove as fast as she did under a panoply of inky black. -The scream of the rigging as the wind rushed against the taut, straining wires, -sounded almost like the cries of some live thing in pain.</p> -<p>Every now and again there would come a sudden burst of vicious fury, and once -or twice it actually appeared as if the great air craft would be ripped in -pieces. But so far every wire and brace and turnbuckle in her construction had -held bravely.</p> -<p>Jack watched the engine anxiously, attending to the lubricating devices and -adjusting the gas mixers. The machine was behaving splendidly, and Jack felt -that if only the connections between the gas bag and the car would hold they -might still weather the fury of the gale.</p> -<p>He knew that these tropical hurricanes while furious are often not of very -long duration. He stuck to his post, keeping hope alive in his heart, while the -others pluckily enough endured the situation without flinching.</p> -<p>All at once, the wind stopped as suddenly as if it had been cut off at a -gigantic spigot.</p> -<p>The calm, after that raging, furious gale, was positively startling.</p> -<p>“Is the storm over?” asked Ned.</p> -<p>“No. It’s only just beginning,” was the alarming response from Captain -Andrews.</p> -<p>“I understand you now,” came from Mr. Jesson suddenly; “it’s a circular -storm.”</p> -<p>“That’s it, sir. In a few minutes it will be blowing just as hard out of the -west as a few minutes ago it was blowing from seaward.”</p> -<p>“We’d better put the craft about,” said Tom.</p> -<p>“Yes; bring her round as quick as you can,” said Jack. “Goodness! how queer -this sudden calm feels.”</p> -<p>It was indeed an uncanny feeling. So still had the air become that a candle -might have been lighted and its flame would hardly have flickered.</p> -<p>Through this stagnant atmosphere the Flying Road Racer was worked around till -her bow was pointing seaward.</p> -<p>“Gracious!” exclaimed Tom, “if the wind doesn’t come from the quarter Captain -Andrews expected we’ll be blown to bits.”</p> -<p>Jack said nothing. Any reply he might have made was, in fact, cut short at -this moment by a moaning sound from the direction of the mountains. It was -caused by the wind sweeping through the canyons and deep abysses that scared -them.</p> -<p>“Put on full speed, Tom,” urged Jack; “the faster we are going when that wind -strikes us the less chance there will be of our being ripped to bits.”</p> -<p>The greatest speed of which she was capable was placed on the Flying Road -Racer. The indicator showed in turn fifty, sixty, sixty-five and then seventy -miles!</p> -<p>Just as she attained this remarkable speed the wind struck the straining air -craft with its full velocity.</p> -<p>“Fo’ de Lawd’s sake!” shrilled out Jupe, “we done bin gone dis time fo’ -shoh.”</p> -<p>But he was wrong. The stout fabric of the wonderful craft withstood even the -terrific assault now made upon her. But her forward motion suddenly ceased. -Caught in the vortex created by the meeting point of the two conflicting storms, -she was whirled round and round as if she had been gripped in a maelstrom of the -winds.</p> -<p>The boys could do nothing to control this nauseating, dizzying, rotating -motion. Upward and forward the Flying Road Racer was forced, climbing at -terrifying speed the aerial circular staircase. One by one her occupants -succumbed to the effects of the rapid circling. It caused a helpless, miserable -feeling similar to seasickness and quite as prostrating.</p> -<p>“Back! back! Go down lower!” shouted Captain Andrews in Tom’s ear.</p> -<p>“We can’t,” yelled the lad; “we’re being dragged to the sky. We’ve lost all -control.”</p> -<p>“Oh, but this is fearful!” exclaimed Mr. Jesson. “Nothing made by human hands -can stand this much longer.”</p> -<p>Truly it seemed a marvel that the craft had held together as long as it had. -So fast were they being swung round and round by this time that the car was -suspended at quite a sharp angle, swinging outward from the gas bag by the force -of the centrifugal motion.</p> -<p>It was terrifying, awe-inspiring, prostrating. Not one of those clinging for -dear life to the dizzy car had ever had such an experience, and one or two among -them had faced death not a few times.</p> -<p>All at once there came a sharp snap from above them.</p> -<p>To their overstrung nerves it sounded like a pistol shot.</p> -<p>“One of the wires has parted!” cried Ned in a terror-stricken tone.</p> -<p>“It is the beginning of the end,” groaned Captain Andrews, sinking his head -in his hands.</p> -<p>“Can nothing be done?” gasped out Mr. Jesson, who alone of all that -pallid-faced crew could find his voice at that instant.</p> -<p>“Nothing,” was the reply. “In ten minutes or less every wire holding us to -that gas bag will have parted like that one.”</p> -<p>“And then?”</p> -<p>“And then, my friend, we shall be dropped five thousand feet through -space.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxiia-voyage-of-terror'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXII—A VOYAGE OF TERROR</h2> -</div> -<p>This dire prophecy was, however, not destined to be fulfilled. To the intense -joy of the air travelers, the circular motion ceased almost as suddenly as it -had begun, and the rest of the wires remained intact. Evidently, the Flying Road -Racer had encountered a cross current of wind at the great altitude she had now -attained, which brought her safely out of the aerial whirlpool.</p> -<p>It was an almost miraculous escape, and they were all duly thankful when once -more their voyage was resumed on an even keel.</p> -<p>But the wind still blew hard, and it was impossible for them to stem it -without running too grave a risk to attempt such a task.</p> -<p>In this way an hour or more passed, and then suddenly Jack, who had been -looking out ahead, gave a startled cry.</p> -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked his father.</p> -<p>“Matter? Good heavens, we are being blown out to sea!”</p> -<p>While he spoke the Flying Road Racer was being hurtled along at a dizzy sped -above bending tree tops and a storm-stressed expanse of country. Tom had brought -the craft much lower, and it was now not more than five hundred feet above the -earth. Beneath them the landscape whizzed by like a colored moving picture.</p> -<p>But the peril Jack had called attention to lay directly in front of them. -Beyond the trees came a strip of white beach, and beyond that again the vast -troubled expanse of the heaving ocean billows, lashed into fury by the -storm.</p> -<p>Their situation was indeed critical.</p> -<p>“We’re going from bad to worse,” exclaimed Mr. Jesson. “Is there no way of -landing?”</p> -<p>“Not without the risk of killing or injuring most of us,” rejoined Jack -soberly.</p> -<p>“Why—why, then we’ll be compelled to fly above the ocean?”</p> -<p>“It looks that way. I don’t see what else we can do.”</p> -<p>“But in that case we shall be in grave danger?”</p> -<p>“I don’t think the danger will be much greater than the one we have faced. We -have plenty of gas still, and can keep in the air for a long time if need -be.”</p> -<p>“A week?” asked Captain Andrews. “These hurricanes sometimes last as long as -that.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know that we could hold out for a week,” admitted Jack; “but I do -know that we cannot avoid being blown out to sea. If the storm does not abate we -are likely to be compelled to spend some time above the water.”</p> -<p>“Well, the wind is coming out of the southwest now. If we keep on this way we -ought to be blown clear across the Gulf of Mexico and on to the western shore of -Florida.”</p> -<p>It was Captain Andrews who vouchsafed this last remark.</p> -<p>“I don’t know that that would be a bad idea,” commented Professor -Chadwick.</p> -<p>“How long ought it to take us, going at this rate of speed?” inquired Abner -Jennings.</p> -<p>“Let’s see, the least distance across would be about fifteen hundred -miles.”</p> -<p>“Then, at the rate we are being driven, it would take about twenty-four hours -to make the passage,” calculated Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“About that time—yes,” agreed Jack. “I really think we had better try to do -that.”</p> -<p>All agreed that it appeared to be the best plan. While they had been -discussing this, they had passed over the last few miles of dry land. Looking -down now they saw beneath them a vast expanse of gray, tumbling billows, tossing -and rolling before the wind.</p> -<p>“If we ever took a tumble into the sea it would be all up with us,” commented -Jack in a low voice to Tom.</p> -<p>“Yes; even a ship could hardly live in such a storm, and yet—look. Jack, back -yonder,—isn’t that,—yes, surely it’s a craft of some sort!”</p> -<p>The lad indicated a point to the southward of them. Rising and falling in the -great trough of the billows was a small vessel of some sort. For an instant Jack -thought it was the <i>Tarantula</i>, but the next moment he made out that the -vessel they were looking at had two masts and a yellow funnel amidships.</p> -<p>But another shift of the wind gave them something else to think of right -then.</p> -<p>The blast “hauled round,” as mariners call it, and shifted to the south. The -Flying Road Racer’s head was twisted around to the north and she was deflected -from her course to the eastward and the hoped-for Florida coast.</p> -<p>“What shall we do now?” cried Ned Bangs, when he observed this.</p> -<p>“Keep on running before the wind. It’s all we can do,” rejoined Jack.</p> -<p>The storm-beaten air craft, with its heavy human freight, was now being -driven almost due north along the coast. Tom kept the prow pointed so as to -bring the course almost parallel with the coast. All the time both he and Jack -kept a keen lookout for a possible landing place.</p> -<p>But none appeared. The wind, instead of dying down, grew stronger as the day -went on.</p> -<p>“What will be the end of this?” was the thought that crossed the minds of all -of them in one form or another.</p> -<p>The sun was obscured by scudding clouds, below them rolled the dismal, -desolate expanse of salt water, for by this time they had passed over the -peninsula of Yucatan and were out over the open gulf. In the distance to the -westward, however, lay a dim coast line, and Tom steered toward it.</p> -<p>Suddenly there came a loud, ripping, crashing sound.</p> -<p>As he heard it Jack gave a cry of dismay. It was echoed by Tom and Ned, who -both instantly guessed what had occurred.</p> -<p>The rudder had given way under the strain.</p> -<p>Looking over the side of the car they could see it being swept away by the -wind, while astern of the tonneau hung a mass of tangled wreckage.</p> -<p>“Good heavens! This is the worst yet,” groaned Captain Andrews. “Adrift in an -airship without a rudder! What under the starry dome can we do now?”</p> -<p>“Nothing but hope and pray for the best,” rejoined Jack. “We are helpless -indeed without the rudder.”</p> -<p>Fortunately, however, the propeller still worked, and Tom, abandoning the now -useless steering wheel, gave all his efforts to aiding Jack in attending to the -engines.</p> -<p>The aerial screw helped to keep the Flying Road Racer on a straight course, -and onward she flew, a disabled but still staunch craft.</p> -<p>“Is there anything that we can do to help you?” asked Professor Chadwick, -after a while.</p> -<p>“Dere ain’t nuffin’ would help now but about a squar’ mile ob good dry lan’,” -gloomily remarked Jupe.</p> -<p>Tom shook his head, and so did Jack.</p> -<p>“No, Father,” said the latter, “there isn’t a thing to be done. So long as we -can keep the engine going, though, we can manage, at least, to keep before the -wind.”</p> -<p>“We’re getting closer to the coast,” cried Mr. Jesson suddenly.</p> -<p>They were indeed. The forms of distant hills and forests could now be made -out, and hope began to revive that they might, after all, find a spot to make a -safe landing.</p> -<p>“The wind has shifted again,” announced Captain Andrews, glancing over Tom’s -shoulder at the compass. “It’s blowing out of the east now, and if it holds will -drive us upon the Mexican coast.”</p> -<p>Hardly had he made this announcement than there was an alarming cracking, -snapping sound from the bow of the Flying Road Racer.</p> -<p>A dark, sharp-pointed object whizzed through the air, and the next instant -there came a sudden sound of ripping fabric, followed by a hissing noise as of -escaping steam.</p> -<p>“Great jumping sea serpents, what’s happened now?” bellowed Captain -Andrews.</p> -<p>“A blade of the propeller has torn loose from its hub and pierced the gas -bag,” shouted Jack in an alarmed tone.</p> -<p>“We’re falling!” suddenly screamed out Abner Jennings.</p> -<p>“Bound for Davy Jones’ locker, sure as fate!” bawled one of the sailors.</p> -<p>“Get out the life jackets!” yelled Tom at the top of his voice. “They are in -that locker on the right-hand side of the tonneau.”</p> -<p>All this time the Flying Road Racer was slowly descending. The broken -propeller blade had ripped a big hole in the side of the gas bag, through which -the vapor was rushing forth.</p> -<p>“Isn’t it possible to repair it?” cried Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>Jack shook his head.</p> -<p>“Impossible,” he said. “We had better all get on life jackets as quickly as -possible. It’s lucky I had them put in that locker; but something I read about -an airship being blown out to sea some months ago made me think of it.”</p> -<p>As quickly as possible all of them invested themselves in the cork-lined -jackets, which were covered with stout canvas.</p> -<p>“Look! look!” cried Jack suddenly, “isn’t that an island ahead of us!”</p> -<p>Captain Andrews pierced the gloom with his keen eyes.</p> -<p>“It is! It’s an island, sure enough!” he cried joyfully. “If we can make it -we are saved.”</p> -<p>But the Flying Road Racer settled lower even as he spoke.</p> -<p>The angry sea beneath looked savage and cruel as it leaped upward toward -them, as if impatient for the end to come swiftly.</p> -<p>Ahead lay the island; a large one, with a sandy beach extending in their -direction. Could they reach it before the air craft sank into the waves?</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxiiithe-boy-inventors-solve-a-problem'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXIII—THE BOY INVENTORS SOLVE A PROBLEM</h2> -</div> -<p>The engine had been shut off, and amidst a dead silence, so far as any talk -was concerned, the Flying Road Racer drifted down toward the island.</p> -<p>But the gas had escaped so rapidly and the weight in the car was so great, -that the island was still a few hundred feet off when they first felt the -wind-driven spray dashing against their faces.</p> -<p>“Can we make it?” asked Mr. Jesson in a low, tense voice.</p> -<p>“I think so,” replied Jack; “at any rate, if we can’t, we have the cork -jackets on and must swim for it.”</p> -<p>As he spoke, though, the disabled flying craft settled suddenly downward. -Above her the collapsed gas envelope was wrinkled and flabby, and barely kept -her up.</p> -<p>All at once the crest of a huge wave dashed against the bottom of the -aluminum tank. The Flying Road Racer careened so far over that for a moment it -looked as if her end had come.</p> -<p>But at the same moment the wind blew stronger and caught the half-empty gas -bag. This raised the crippled craft a few feet and drove her forward. The -impetus thus given was sufficient to save the adventurers from a dangerous -swim.</p> -<p>With a crash that might have been audible at some distance had there been any -one to hear it the Flying Road Racer landed in the sand of the island beach at -precisely one-thirty on that day of stirring events in the young inventors -lives.</p> -<p>Thanks to the shock absorbers, the auto part was not harmed seriously. Five -minutes after they had landed the adventurers stood in a group surveying the -stranded craft.</p> -<p>“What a wreck!” exclaimed Mr. Jesson, gazing the flabby wrinkles of the gas -envelope and at the wound in its side.</p> -<p>The Flying Road Racer did, indeed, look different from the trim craft that -had arisen from the deck of the <i>Vagrant</i> not so very long before.</p> -<p>But how much had transpired in those few hours! If time might be reckoned by -events the boys could record that they had passed through years of experience -since Jack and Captain Andrews struck out on the forest path leading to the -plantation houses.</p> -<p>“What a mess!” breathed Abner Jennings, echoing in part Mr. Jesson’s -remark.</p> -<p>“It’s my opinion that we ought to thank Providence for getting off with our -lives,” said Captain Andrews stoutly. And to this sentiment they all heartily -agreed.</p> -<p>“Can you ever repair her. Jack, do you think?” asked his father -anxiously.</p> -<p>Jack, who had been surveying the wreck carefully, was not yet ready to give -an opinion, however.</p> -<p>“If we could fix that rip in the gas bag it might be possible to patch her -up,” he said dubiously. “There is,—or ought to be,—a spare propeller on board, -and if the engine is working, it might be feasible to put the craft in order -once more.”</p> -<p>“Well, we’d better run her up out of the reach of the waves anyhow,” said -Tom.</p> -<p>The air craft had grounded at the margin of the beach, and the spray of the -thunderous waves showered her as each broke.</p> -<p>The two sailors and the others came forward to lay hands on the Flying Road -Racer, and shove her up the beach. But Jack had a better plan in mind.</p> -<p>“If the motor is working. I’ll run her up under her own power,” he said.</p> -<p>He followed up these words by getting into the driver’s seat, and after Tom -had removed the wreck of the propeller, his cousin started up the engine and -threw in the clutch connecting it with the driving machinery.</p> -<p>The rear wheels flew round in the sand for a minute, but as the boy applied -more power they gripped the surface and the Flying Road Racer—an automobile -now—moved rapidly up the beach. Jack ran her in under a grove of trees and then -shut off the engine.</p> -<p>“If only we weren’t on an island,” he said, “we could run right through to -the city of Mexico!”</p> -<p>“Gee, I wish we could,” said Ned Bangs, “it’s a question of how long the grub -will hold out on this island, and we don’t know if any ships come this way.”</p> -<p>“Easy enough to find out,” said Tom rather carelessly.</p> -<p>“Easy enough?” echoed Ned. “Well, Tom Jesson, you’ll have to show me. Here -we are, cut off from all communication——”</p> -<p>Tom smiled and shook his head.</p> -<p>“Not while we’ve got the wireless,” he said.</p> -<p>“What do you mean, Tom?” asked Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“That when I left the <i>Vagrant</i> I brought her wireless apparatus with -me,” said Tom in a quiet tone. “That’s what those bundles were.”</p> -<p>“Good,” exclaimed Mr. Jesson. “We’ll have something to eat and some hot -coffee, and then we’ll try to get into communication with the shore, or some -vessel, and get them to take us off this desolate place.”</p> -<p>But Jack, who had been looking about the island in their vicinity, dampened -their enthusiasm by a sudden question.</p> -<p>“How are you going to fix an aerial?” he asked.</p> -<p>“Easy enough,” said Tom confidently; “some tree will do. Ned Bangs, here, can -climb it. Luckily I loaded a lot of copper wire with the other stuff. We can use -that for antenna.”</p> -<p>“Why, you monkey!” cried Jack, half laughing, “there isn’t a tree on the -island.”</p> -<p>This fact, which none of them had noticed before, was evidently so. The -island was covered with a scrub growth, but nowhere did the bushes exceed a -height of ten feet.</p> -<p>Professor Chadwick broke in on their dejection.</p> -<p>“Come,” he said, “it’s no use our discussing anything now. Let us have a good -meal and then, maybe, we’ll hit upon some plan.”</p> -<p>While Jupe made his preparations for a warm meal, selecting a spot sheltered -by brush not far from the remains of the Flying Road Racer, the boys gathered -driftwood, of which there seemed to be plenty on the beach, and made a big pile -of it. This was lighted, and the warmth of the blaze proved very comforting to -the chilled castaways.</p> -<p>As Professor Chadwick had predicted, the meal served to put new heart into -them. As they ate they discussed their situation in all its bearings, but -without arriving at any conclusion as to their future course.</p> -<p>If they could not get a wireless message to some station on land or ship, -their situation looked as if it might speedily become serious. They did not -dwell on this aspect of the case, however, but made a determined effort to be as -cheerful as possible.</p> -<p>After dinner, if such the meal could be called. Professor Chadwick and Mr. -Jesson set out to explore the island. The others, except Jack and Tom, lay down -to sleep, being’ thoroughly exhausted by what they had gone through.</p> -<p>The two lads, however, felt too excited to sleep. Instead, they fell to -figuring how it would be possible to send out a message telling of their plight, -without having a tall pole or tree to which to string their aerials.</p> -<p>The problem was perplexing, and they threshed it over and over for an hour -without arriving any nearer a plan for getting their wires into the air. It was -Jack who finally hit upon what was literally an inspiration.</p> -<p>Close to them, while they had been talking, lay the pile of life jackets they -had taken off when they landed.</p> -<p>“Is there any of that liquid rubber for repairing the tires in the Flying -Road Racer?” he inquired of Tom, with seeming meaningless curiosity.</p> -<p>“Why, yes; there’s a gallon can of it. But why?”</p> -<p>“You’ll see directly. Will you get it?”</p> -<p>“Yes, of course,” rejoined Tom, rising from his seat on the sand. “Anything -else?”</p> -<p>“That needle and stout thread in the gas bag tool kit and—well, I guess that -will be all for now.”</p> -<p>“I wish I knew what you are driving at,” said Tom, as he moved off to get the -things Jack had asked for.</p> -<p>“I’m driving at a way to get those aerials up,” rejoined the young inventor -briefly.</p> -<p>When Tom returned with the articles Jack had asked for, he found his cousin -busily engaged in taking the cork out of one of the life jackets. This was -easily done, as it was in granulated form.</p> -<p>Having emptied the jacket, the boy heated some of the liquid rubber over -Jupe’s fire till it was about the consistency of cream. This done, he proceeded -to coat the canvas of the empty life jacket with the compound. Before he did -this, however, he sewed a patch on over the hole he had made to drain the cork, -leaving a bit of rubber tube, also found in the supply locker of the Flying Road -Racer, sticking out.</p> -<p>Tom, after a few minutes, began to realize dimly what the ingenious lad was -doing; but he didn’t get the full understanding of Jack’s idea till the latter, -having allowed the rubber coating to dry, walked toward the Flying Road Racer -with it.</p> -<p>“I see what you’ve made now. Jack,” he cried. “It’s an airproof canvas bag, -and you’re——”</p> -<p>“Going to fill it with gas and see if it will rise,” said Jack.</p> -<p>As he spoke he placed the end of the rubber tube he had left protruding from -the canvas life jacket, over a small stop-cock on the gas tank of the Flying -Road Racer. When he turned the valve a hissing sound followed and the -rubber-coated life jacket began to fill, just as any air-tight envelope would have -done.</p> -<p>When it was half full a laughable thing occurred, giving abundant evidence of -the bag’s buoyancy. Jack, who was holding it, was suddenly lifted off his feet -as the bag began to rise, tearing the end of the rubber tube off the valve as it -did so. Just as he was lifted into the air, for he actually couldn’t make up his -mind to let go of his invention, Tom seized his feet and dragged him to the sand -again. A rope was secured and the bag lashed to a bush after the end of the tube -had been tied.</p> -<p>“By cracky!” cried Tom, “that’s the invention of the century. How on earth -did you come to think of it?”</p> -<p>“I suppose old Mother Necessity had something to do with it,” said Jack; “but -the fact that those life jackets lay right close to us helped a lot. I reasoned -it out that they would float on the water, and therefore, if they could be -emptied and made air-tight, they would rise when filled with gas equally -well.”</p> -<p>“And you’re going to hitch the aerials on to that one and send them up?”</p> -<p>“I’m not sure that one of them will be enough to raise such a weight of -copper wire. I guess we’ll make another one.”</p> -<p>“And I’ll help you,” cried Tom enthusiastically.</p> -<p>Half an hour later when Mr. Jesson and his brother-in-law returned from -exploring the island, which they had found to be a desolate spot some five miles -off shore, they found two busy lads.</p> -<p>The wires had been strung on “spreaders” cut from the brush. Then one of the -ends was connected to each of the buoyant “balloons” that were to carry the -antenna aloft.</p> -<p>In the lee of the Flying Road Racer the boys had arranged the wireless -equipment, and were now occupied in securing the lower end of the antenna and -adjusting the connecting wires from aerials to the instruments.</p> -<p>At last all was ready, and the two canvas “balloons” were cut loose. Slowly -but steadily they rose, carrying with them the strands of copper wire,—five of -them, each one hundred feet in length. The wind had died down quite a lot, and -there was not much strain on the wires as they were pulled skyward like the -string of a kite.</p> -<p>As the wires tightened and became extended to their full length the boys -broke into a cheer. Held by the captive “balloons,” the five parallel wires made -as effective an aerial as if they had been rigged to a lofty pole.</p> -<p>“Boys,” exclaimed Professor Chadwick proudly, “that’s what I call a real -wireless triumph!”</p> -<p>“Wait and see if it works first, father,” said Jack, with a happy smile. He -had not much doubt on this point, having solved the vexatious problem of getting -his wires aloft.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxivan-appeal-for-help'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXIV—AN APPEAL FOR HELP</h2> -</div> -<p>“What are you going to do now?” asked Tom of Jack, who, with the receivers -clamped over his ears, was seated at the wireless apparatus.</p> -<p>It was the middle of the afternoon, the storm had blown itself out and the -sun was shining cheerfully.</p> -<p>About the young inventors pressed the castaways,—for they had been -awakened,—Captain Andrews, so that he might make an observation and get their -exact position, and the rest to be on hand if need arose.</p> -<p>Jack had just flashed out the location of the island, and with it a fervent -appeal for help. From the balloon-supported wires above him, the message had -gone shooting forth into space.</p> -<p>But as yet no answer had come, though the lad sat with the transmitting -switch open, waiting for a reply.</p> -<p>“Maybe there are no ships in this part of the Gulf,” said Tom.</p> -<p>“Well, with the power we have from that dynamo we ought to have gotten into -communication with something before this,” said Jack impatiently. He turned his -head toward the dynamo of the Flying Road Racer, which had been connected with -the wireless apparatus and was whizzing away merrily. The motor, fed by a fresh -supply of gas obtained by dumping in a new lot of crystals, of course supplied -the motive power for the current maker.</p> -<p>“Try again,” suggested Professor Chadwick.</p> -<p>Jack threw over the switch to connect the transmitting appliances, and began -manipulating the key once more.</p> -<p>The message of distress crackled and flashed, like the snapping of a whip -lash,—or, more truly, a thousand of them.</p> -<p>Jack was utilizing every atom of power he could obtain. He calculated that he -had at least one hundred and ten volts of current, which should be ample to send -his messages for a great distance.</p> -<p>After sending for a while he stopped and listened. But no message came -beating against his ears, breathing a spirit of hope.</p> -<p>“Try sending out a C. Q. D.,” said Abner Jennings.</p> -<p>“You mean S. O. S.,” rejoined Jack. “C. Q. D. isn’t used as an urgent call -any more. Too many would-be jokers used to send it out and cause endless -confusion.”</p> -<p>He threw the switch again into a sending position, and began to flash out -another message.</p> -<p>“o o o —— —— —— o o o” “S. O. S.”</p> -<p>It was the most urgent call known to seamen. The despairing cry of the -wrecked the lost.</p> -<p>Again and again Jack volleyed it out, and the far-flung appeal went -skyrocketing off on the electric waves, spreading like the ripples on a pond -from the tightly stretched aerials. It was signed “The Chadwick Party.”</p> -<p>Then the lad tried listening again.</p> -<p>Suddenly a look of joy flashed over his face.</p> -<p>“He’s getting an answer!” yelled Tom in huge excitement. Ned Banks, hardly -less enthusiastic, capered about.</p> -<p>Jack’s pencil traced the message from space on a pad of paper placed on an -empty box before him.</p> -<p>“What is it? What’s the matter?”</p> -<p>Once more he began sending furiously.</p> -<p>“We have been driven on a desert island off the Mexican coast.”</p> -<p>“Where is it?” came the reply. “Give latitude and longitude.”</p> -<p>Jack swiftly flashed back the required information. Then he asked a -question.</p> -<p>“Who is this?”</p> -<p>“The <i>Sea King</i>,” was the astonishing reply.</p> -<p>“We are coming to your aid. Have you got the gems?”</p> -<p>“Yes. They are safe, and we are all well, but in need of help,” the lad sent -back with a joyous heart.</p> -<p>He listened for a reply, but none came. In fact, there was no need for more -communication. The castaways knew what they wanted to know most of all, namely, -that they would be taken off the island as soon as possible. In the meantime. -Professor Chadwick ordered Jupe to prepare a royal spread in celebration of the -event.</p> -<p>“We look like a lot of pirates,” commented Jack, as, after a hearty meal, -they lay stretched about the fire.</p> -<p>“I suppose that, like most boys, you have a sort of admiration for those -gentry?” inquired Captain Andrews.</p> -<p>“Well, he’s stuffed his head with enough books about them,” chuckled Tom.</p> -<p>“Guess that applies to you, too,” parried Jack, with a grin.</p> -<p>“I don’t suppose, though, that either of you ever saw a real pirate,” -commented the captain quietly. “I can tell you they are mighty different beings -from the red-sashed, romantic sort of chaps you read about.”</p> -<p>“Why, have you ever seen any?” asked Jack, sitting up eagerly.</p> -<p>“Yes, and fought with ’em, too. Care to hear the yarn?” responded the -seaman.</p> -<p>The boys’ prompt affirmative removed all doubts on this score and Captain -Andrews, without further preliminaries, struck into his tale.</p> -<p>“It was a good many years ago,” he said, “when I wasn’t much bigger than you -lads. But for all that I was acting as third mate on a sailing packet running -from Liverpool to the West Indies. The skipper, whose name was David Munson, was -a stern man, but kind enough. He had a curious way of keeping to himself, -though, and the men said that some time before he had been attacked by -sea-robbers, who had cut him down and captured his wife and child, who sailed with -him. But the rascals had not thought it worth while to take him and left him for -dead on his burning vessel. For they, according to their usual custom, had set -it on fire before they sailed away.</p> -<p>“Captain Munson recovered consciousness in the nick of time to stagger out of -the path of the flames. A boat lay astern of his craft and he had just strength -enough left to slide down a rope into this and cast off. Then he lost -consciousness once more.</p> -<p>“For three days he drifted in this way, lying all the time in a dead swoon. -On the third day he was picked up, more dead than alive, by a Bristol line -clipper, which brought him back to England.</p> -<p>“It was many a long day before he got about again and it was then found that -he had lost all recollection of the tragedy and appeared to think that his -vessel had perished in a storm. But, except for this, his mind was clear enough -and he found little difficulty in getting a new command. This was the West -Indiaman <i>Cambrian Hills</i>, of which I was third mate. Captain Munson’s -story was related to me by the first mate, a man named Sterling, a fine seaman -and a good fellow. This Sterling had been on board the ship that the pirates had -captured and had been made prisoner by them. But later he had managed to make -his escape from the South American city to which they had taken him to be sold -as a slave.</p> -<p>“Reaching England, he found that his former skipper, whom he had thought -dead, was alive and in good health, but that his mind was hopelessly clouded as -to the past. In fact, he did not recognize Sterling, and Sterling, fearing the -consequences of reminding him of what had occurred on the Spanish main, made no -move to awaken his slumbering memory. This was the strange story Mate Sterling -told me one stormy night on watch.</p> -<p>“Well, on this particular voyage the <i>Cambrian Hills</i> came in for the -buffeting of their life. Heavy gales, head seas, and violent squalls beat the -craft about day after day. And at last up came a terrific gale from the -northeast, which carried us away off our course and down off the coast of -Brazil.</p> -<p>“Now, as it so happened, this was the very worst place we could have been -driven to at this particular time. One of those little wars that were then -eternally harassing the South American republics had just come to an end and the -seas thereabouts were swarming with piratical craft. These gentry called -themselves privateers and carried government papers, but were, to all intents -and purposes, pirates and nothing more nor less.</p> -<p>“Following the gale, the weather fell into a regular condition of doldrums. -Sometimes it blew a light wind, but more often a dead calm till it seemed that -we were doomed to haunt the Brazilian coast for the rest of our lives. The men -grew restive. It was insufferably hot and the calking in the deck seams fairly -bubbled and boiled.</p> -<p>“Thus passed an entire week and the only man or board whose nerves were not on -edge was Captain Munson. He appeared not to worry or chafe over our situation in -the least. This was the more curious, inasmuch as Sterling had informed me that -the seas in which we lay were the very identical ones in which the fatal battle -with the pirates who had looted Captain Munson’s last command had taken -place.</p> -<p>“One morning just after breakfast I was standing against the taffrail, with -Sterling by my side, idly gazing horizonward for a sign of coming wind. All at -once I saw Sterling clap his telescope to his eye and gaze intently off into the -southeast.</p> -<p>“‘Wind?’ says I.</p> -<p>“‘No,’ says he.</p> -<p>“‘Well, what then?’ says I.</p> -<p>“‘A sail,’ says he.</p> -<p>“‘Then they must be getting more wind than we are,’ says I. ‘What do you make -her out to be?’</p> -<p>“‘Can’t tell yet; but somehow I don’t much like the look of her.’</p> -<p>“He handed me the glass.</p> -<p>“‘Take a look yourself,’ he said.</p> -<p>“I squinted through the telescope and at last made out the distant sail. She -was a black brigantine, low in the water and with a rakish sort of look about -her masts and spars. The water over around her was dark blue—of a deeper tinge -than the ocean surrounding us—showing that the wind was blowing off in that -direction.</p> -<p>“‘She doesn’t show any colors,’ says I, handing the glass back to Sterling. -‘What do you make her out to be?’</p> -<p>“He shrugged his shoulders.</p> -<p>“‘I don’t know, laddie,’ he said, ‘but she looks to me like a war vessel of -some sort. Maybe a Brazilian craft.’</p> -<p>“‘Well, whatever she is,’ says I, ‘she’s got the wind with her and it’ll hit -us in a minute.’</p> -<p>“‘That’s right,’ says he, coming out of a sort of a reverie. ‘Get your yards -squared and your courses braced up.’</p> -<p>“I hastened to put these orders into execution, and hardly had they been -completed when the long awaited wind struck us. The <i>Cambrian Hills</i> -heeled over and began to move through the water.</p> -<p>“The crew set up a cheer as we began to get under way and the noise brought -the skipper on deck. He looked more than usually grave and had a Bible, which he -had evidently been reading, in his hand.</p> -<p>“‘Wind at last, Mr. Sterling?’ he said quietly.</p> -<p>“‘Aye! aye, sir,’ said the mate. ‘I knew the luck was bound to turn,’ he -added.</p> -<p>“‘There is no such thing as luck, Mr. Sterling,’ said the captain in his -quiet, grave way. ‘All is the doings of Providence.’</p> -<p>“Then he turned and moved away, but Sterling was at his side in a minute.</p> -<p>“‘There’s a sail off there to windward, sir. Will you take a look at her and -tell us what you think of her? You know it pays to be suspicious in these -waters, and I don’t much like her looks.’</p> -<p>“In his usual serious manner the skipper took the glass and gazed through it -at the brigantine, which, to my eye, was sailing two feet to our one, and -overhauling us fast. He gazed at her a long time and when he set the glass down -his face was working curiously. He clapped his hand to his forehead as if -something there hurt him.</p> -<p>“‘I—I—There’s something strangely familiar about that craft, Mr. Sterling,’ -says he, ‘but, for the life of me, I can’t tell what it is.’</p> -<p>“‘Looks to me like a man-o’-war of some sort, sir,’ says Sterling.</p> -<p>“He took up the glass again and scrutinized the stranger. Then I saw the -color begin to die out of his red, good-natured face till it grew white as a -corpse.</p> -<p>“‘It’s an armed vessel, sir,’ he grated out through his clenched teeth, -‘and—and she’s just broken out the Black Flag,—the skull and cross bones, -sir!’</p> -<p>“‘A pirate, eh?’ said Munson quietly, and I noticed the same curious -expression pass across his face. It was the strained look of a man trying to -recall something that eludes him persistently. ‘Well, Mr. Sterling, she’s faster -than us. We must fight for it, sir,’ he said at length.</p> -<p>“‘Aye, sir,’ says Sterling gravely, ‘I’ll call the men aft and explain to -them. Andrews, my lad, you attend to distributing the weapons.’</p> -<p>“Every West Indiaman in those days carried a small arsenal of -weapons—blunderbusses and cutlasses—for attacks by roving bands of sea-robbers -were not infrequent. The men took the news well enough, although one or two of -them went white. But there were enough old veterans among them to keep them -steady and prevent a panic.</p> -<p>“I guess the resolute bearing of Captain Munson and Mr. Sterling had a good -deal to do with putting heart into them. As for myself, I was horribly scared -inside, but I trust that my alarm did not appear too conspicuously on my -countenance.</p> -<p>“The men gave a cheer as Captain Munson concluded his little speech and I -summoned three of them below to assist in the distribution of the arms. In the -meantime Mr. Sterling gave orders to the men to rig up as many dummies as -possible and station them along the bulwarks so that we might seem to be more in -number than we actually were. This was a common enough trick in those days.</p> -<p>“I have to smile even now when I think of it, but one good fellow in his zeal -even clapped a cap on top of the galley chimney, although what a man would have -been doing poking his head out of ‘Charley Noble’—as the cook-house stack is -called by seamen—is hard to say. By the time all our preparations were completed -the craft that was overhauling us was not more than half a mile astern.</p> -<p>“She was a handsome craft and a witch at sailing. The <i>Cambrian Hills</i> -was accounted a fast vessel; but we weren’t in it with our pursuer. If we had -had any doubt as to her intentions toward us till then she soon dispelled it. -From her bow came a flash and a puff of smoke and a ball screamed through our -rigging. It did no harm—wasn’t meant to, probably—but it showed us that they -‘meant business.’</p> -<p>“The <i>Cambrian Hills</i> carried an old brass cannon, more for saluting -purposes than anything else. But we had slugs on board and the piece of -artillery was loaded up. But the enemy, as we now rightfully regarded her, was -too far off for our carronade to be effective as yet. She, on the other hand, -appeared to have a serviceable heavy gun. All this was not encouraging, but the -prospect grew worse as we swept their decks with the glass. Fully forty men -lined her bulwarks and we numbered only twenty, including the cook, who was not -accounted a first class fighting man. Of him, however, more anon.</p> -<p>“I was a young fellow then and had always thought of pirates as being chaps -all covered with finery, gold lace and jewels and such. I was stricken with -astonishment to see that no such men appeared on the brigantine. They were all -filthy, wretched looking things, many of them being coal-black negroes. Among -them were even one or two Chinese. Such a mixture of races I never saw before or -since.</p> -<p>“Suddenly Captain Munson, to my astonishment, snatched up his speaking -trumpet and hailed the pirate, who was now almost alongside and to windward.</p> -<p>“‘Ship ahoy!’</p> -<p>“His voice was as bold as if he had been skipper of a man-o’-war hailing a -sea criminal. It was a bold move, but it was successful in producing some -confusion among the pirates. All at once a giant of a man with a black beard -stepped up on the pirate’s rail, holding on by the lee forestays.</p> -<p>“‘Hullo!’ he hailed in a foreign accent.</p> -<p>“‘What ship’s that?’ hailed Captain Munson again.</p> -<p>“‘None of your business. Heave to. I want to board you,’ was the reply in an -insolent voice.</p> -<p>“‘You go plumb to blazes!’ came from Sterling, who was a hot-tempered chap -and could contain himself no longer.</p> -<p>“At that very instant a puff of wind blew the man’s black beard aside. He -clutched at it desperately, but somehow he bungled the job, and to my utter -astonishment—it came off! He stood revealed as a man of huge frame with a brutal -bull-dog jaw and unmistakable Latin cast of features. But I had little time to -notice this, for a strange cry had broken from Captain Munson’s lips as the -man’s disguise blew off. He turned deathly pale and staggered like a drunken -man.</p> -<p>“Sterling and I rushed to his side. We thought for a minute that he was about -to faint. But he rallied and stared at us for a moment wildly.</p> -<p>“‘Good Lord!’ exclaimed Sterling, ‘it’s all come back to him!’</p> -<p>“Then I understood. That man who had hailed us was the captain of the same -piratical band that had attacked Captain Munson’s other ship and carried off his -wife and child. The next instant following Sterling’s exclamation was a dramatic -one.</p> -<p>“‘You know me, sir?’ asked the mate.</p> -<p>“‘Yes! Yes! You’re Robert Sterling,’ burst from the captain’s lips. ‘I recall -it all now. The fight! That ruffian struck me down. I woke up to find you all -gone. But, Sterling, how do you come to be here,—and—and where are Bess and the -baby?’</p> -<p>“I felt sorry for Sterling then. His face went as white as the captain’s -visage and he actually shook as if from cold. But he had to answer.</p> -<p>“‘Better off than if they were in the hands of those ruffians, sir,’ he -replied in a low voice which shook perilously, ‘they are——’</p> -<p>“‘Dead!’ burst out the captain, with a terrible cry.</p> -<p>“Sterling bowed his head.</p> -<p>“‘Your wife leaped overboard rather than be sold down the coast as a slave,’ -he said slowly, ‘and—and she took the baby with her.’</p> -<p>“I did not dare to look at Captain Munson’s face. But I could hear his breath -come short and quick, just like a man breathes after a long, hard swim. But the -next instant we had other things to think of. A volley of small arms from the -pirate craft whistled about our ears. She was up to windward and evidently meant -to grapple and board us. What followed is hard to describe. I don’t know how -most men feel in a fight of that character, but it seemed to me that I was in a -dream. I fired and loaded, and fired and loaded, while all about me bullets were -flying and fallen men groaning. Splinters flew as the pirate’s volleys raked our -rails. I was suddenly conscious of being wounded, but I fought on, actually -hardly knowing what I was doing.</p> -<p>“Suddenly the pirate’s sails loomed close alongside. Our yardarms locked with -his. Grappling irons were thrown aboard us and the whole horde of ruffians tried -to board us by main force. But they met with such desperate resistance that they -were compelled to retreat for the time. Right here is where the cook figured. -Just as things looked most critical he turned the tide for us. Attached to a -huge boiler in his domain was a hose, used for washing stains out of the -decks.</p> -<p>“While we had been arming he had made up a roaring fire. By the time the -pirates boarded us there was enough boiling water in the boiler to make that -hose an effective weapon. Yelling like an Indian, the cook turned it on the -scrambling mass of rascals. The stream of boiling water was more effective than -bullets. With yells and cries they fell back, some of them scalded horribly.</p> -<p>“All this time I had lost sight of Captain Munson. Now I glimpsed him, just -in time to see him leap into the main chains and from thence on to the bulwarks -of the pirate ship. His face was fixed and terrible and held an expression of -desperate resolve. Cutlass in hand, he fought his way through the demoralized -pirates and at last I saw, in a flash of understanding, his purpose. His object -was to find out, and kill with his own hands, the pirate chief. Hardly had I -realized this before the men encountered each other. Apparently the pirate -recognized Munson instantly, for I saw him recoil as if he had seen a ghost. But -the next instant he had recovered and began to fight desperately for his -life.</p> -<p>“In the meantime some of our crew had cut the two vessels apart, and before -any of us recovered his wits and started to the captain’s rescue the two craft -had drifted so far asunder that it was impossible. With horrified fascination we -watched the fight, and if it held us spellbound it appeared to have the same -effect on the pirate crew; at any rate, none of them interfered.</p> -<p>“Such a furious fight could not, in the nature of things, last long, but it -came to an altogether unexpected conclusion. Captain Munson’s cutlass had broken -off short and he closed with his enemy, grasping him about the waist. They both -reeled backward—and suddenly vanished from sight. A hatchway had been left open, -and in their blind fury neither had noticed it. Tripping on the coaming, they -had plunged into it.</p> -<p>“Suddenly we heard a shot from the pirate craft, and then came a great cry. I -could not make out what all the yelling was about, and turned to Sterling who -seemed equally spellbound at the horror of the thing we had just witnessed.</p> -<p>“‘What is it? What are they saying?’ I demanded.</p> -<p>“‘They are shouting that the magazine is on fire!’ he exclaimed, ‘that a shot -fired by the Englishman has ignited the powder!’”</p> -<p>“The words had hardly left his lips before a hot blast rushed full at me. I -was knocked from my feet, saw a vast sheet of flame before me, and knew no more. -When I came to I discovered Sterling bending over me. His face was very grave -and serious.</p> -<p>“‘What has happened?’ I asked weakly.</p> -<p>“‘The pirate ship is blown up,’ he replied; ‘not a vestige of her is -left.’</p> -<p>“‘And Captain Munson?’ I demanded, although I knew what the reply would -be.</p> -<p>“Sterling removed his cap; a last tribute to a brave man.</p> -<p>”‘Has gone with her to Jones’ locker,’ he rejoined; ‘maybe it was better so. -It would be just about here that his wife and baby died.’”</p> -<p>Captain Andrews paused. So ended his story, which cast a gloom over the party -that was not to be dispelled. Soon after, therefore, they retired, with the -picture of the sea captain’s tragic death still vividly before their eyes.</p> -<p>Before joining the others. Jack tried to get into communication with the -<i>Sea King</i> by wireless once more. But he failed. However, this did not -worry them, as they knew that their friends must know where to find them.</p> -<p>“I wonder when they’ll arrive here,” said Professor Chadwick, as they -prepared to spend as comfortable a night as they could on the sand. “Those -repairs were surely effected quickly,” he added.</p> -<p>“Very quickly,” said Captain Andrews, who alone of the party had not been -almost wild with delight at the prospect of the rescue. “By the way. Jack, you -are quite sure that it was the <i>Sea King</i> that you were in communication -with?”</p> -<p>“Of course,” rejoined the lad rather impatiently, “who else could it have -been? Who would have had any object in trying to pass themselves off as the -<i>Sea King</i> unless they——”</p> -<p>He stopped short and looked rather blank all of a sudden. The idea of Herrera -had just crossed his mind. And then that ship that they had seen laboring in the -stormy sea that afternoon?</p> -<p>“Pshaw!” said the lad to himself; “she had two masts and a yellow funnel, -there’s no chance of that being the <i>Tarantula</i>.”</p> -<p>When he voiced this belief aloud later on, the others agreed with him. But -Captain Andrews, still suspicious, determined, he said, to keep watch. The -others, almost too tired to keep their eyes open, rather ridiculed this -precaution, and soon sleep enwrapped every one on that desolate island.</p> -<p>Every one? Yes; for tired nature had asserted herself and Captain Andrews, -after a hard struggle to keep awake, dozed off, woke with a start, dozed off -again and finally slumbered profoundly.</p> -<p>Had he kept his eyes open a while longer he would have seen something -approaching the island that would have caused him to keep awake with a -vengeance. This object was nothing more nor less than the <i>Tarantula</i>, -disguised cunningly by a canvas smokestack painted yellow, and two masts.</p> -<p>Herrera early that day had ascended the river and heard of the flight of the -prisoners and the destruction of his hemp-drying plant. Half crazy with fury he -kept a watch on the skies and saw the Flying Road Racer, high in air as she was -driven seaward after her perilous experience in the circular storm.</p> -<p>In defiance of the wild weather he at once prepared to put to sea disguising -his ship, as he had done on other occasions, as she dropped down the river.</p> -<p>Me had seen the storm-racked air craft as she flew above him. He had observed -her, in fact, at the very moment that the adventurers espied his tossing craft. -To his chagrin, however, she passed out of sight. But he held on in the -direction she had vanished determined not to give up the chase of those precious -stones till he had exhausted every means of trying to obtain them.</p> -<p>Just as he was despairing of ever hearing of the Flying Road Racer again. -Jack’s “S. O. S.” message had come winging across the sea. As soon as his -operator gave him the despatch the rascal conceived the daring plan of -impersonating the <i>Sea King</i> and in this guise he flashed back the -message inquiring the position of the castaways. He took care to ascertain that -the gems were safe.</p> -<p>While profound and peaceful sleep wrapped the party of adventurers, a boat -landed on the beach, crowded with men. It came from the <i>Tarantula</i>, -which had anchored about two hundred yards to seaward. Every man was armed and -among them was Herrera with one or two of his chosen aides.</p> -<p>Their plans had been formed before they landed and they silently sneaked up -on the castaways’ camp. They were agreeably surprised to find no sentries -posted.</p> -<p>According to previous plans, each man of the crew carried ropes and gags. The -sleeping party was surprised without warning and tied and gagged without a -chance of their presenting any opposition. Each of the Chadwick party, as they -awakened under the rough handling of the henchmen of Herrera, was given a strong -hint not to resist, in the form of a pistol barrel pressed to the nape of his -neck.</p> -<p>As resistance would have been worse than useless all submitted quietly to the -outrage, and Herrera’s triumph appeared to be complete. When they all had been -secured the marauders commenced a frantic search for the great silver jewel -casket. They found it without much difficulty under the professor’s coat which -he had used as a pillow. Not expecting any attack he had not taken much pains to -conceal it.</p> -<p>Herrera burst into a loud laugh as he opened the casket and took out the -three great flashing stones it contained.</p> -<p>“So you thought that you could trick Herrera, eh, you stupid Yankee,” he -snarled, “but I caught your message by wireless, you dogs of gringos. I spit on -you and despise you. The jewels you thought to steal are now mine. But -see—Herrera is generous. He leaves you the box!”</p> -<p>As he spoke the ruffian flung the silver casket to the sand and then, with -some gruff orders to his men, strode off across the beach. A few minutes later -the splash of oars informed the marooned castaways that their foe had departed -taking with him the gems they had gone through so much to save intact; and not -only that, he took with him also their hopes of being rescued. From what he had -said about the wireless, it was clear that he had intercepted the message for -aid, and thus been guided to the island. The <i>Sea King</i> had not received -word from them at all.</p> -<p>With what bitter feelings they reviewed the situation may be imagined. And it -did not relieve the misery of their present position, as they lay gagged and -helpless, to reflect that if they had kept a guard, the disaster might not have -happened. They had been trapped like so many unthinking children.</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxvits-death-to-remain-here'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXV—“IT’S DEATH TO REMAIN HERE!”</h2> -</div> -<p>Jack struggled and strained at his bonds, as, in fact, all the rest of the -party were doing. To his delight, after a brief period of struggling, he managed -to loosen them considerably. The work of tying up the party had been done -hastily, and, consequently, the knots were not very hard to loosen. In fact, all -that Herrera had wanted, was to keep them quiet till he had looted the treasure -of the gems.</p> -<p>When Jack had worked his hands free he pulled the gag out of his mouth, and -then, after undoing his ankle bonds, he drew out his knife and rapidly liberated -his companions.</p> -<p>“Well, a fine mess I’ve made of it,” grumbled out Captain Andrews, as soon as -he was free.</p> -<p>“I don’t see that you were any worse than the rest of us,” said Professor -Chadwick; “in fact, it was you who had a keen enough mind to guess that our -message might have been received and answered by another craft than the <i>Sea -King</i>.”</p> -<p>“Which it was,” put in Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“Yes; but I kept watch for a while,” contritely said the captain, “and—I’m -bitterly ashamed to say it,—I fell asleep at my post of duty.”</p> -<p>“For which we don’t attach a bit of blame to you,” said Professor Chadwick; -“what we had passed through was enough to exhaust a giant. To tell you the -truth, I almost feel relieved now that the gems are gone.”</p> -<p>“The natives had a legend that they brought bad luck,” said Mr. Jesson, “and -indeed they seemed to.”</p> -<p>“I hope they bring evil fortune to that greaser who has them now,” struck in -Abner Jennings.</p> -<p>The two sailors added their growling assent to this wish, nor could any of -the party refrain from echoing it.</p> -<p>[Illustration: Jack liberated Captain Andrews.]</p> -<p>“I suppose he’s got clear away,” hazarded Ned presently.</p> -<p>“Of course he has,” grunted Captain Andrews. “I’ll bet there’s twenty miles -between him and this island right now. And, incidentally, I’m ready to bet as to -his future.”</p> -<p>“What will it be?” asked Jack, with some curiosity.</p> -<p>“Why, he’ll throw up his governorship,—the Diaz government is on its last -legs, anyhow,—and skip out to Paris. He’ll sell those gems over there and—live -happy ever afterward.”</p> -<p>“Why Paris?” asked Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“Oh, all those scallywags go over there when they’ve made their graft,” -laughed Ned; “they won’t tolerate them any other place, I guess. When I was over -there with my folks two years ago we saw more princes and exiled presidents from -South America than you could shake a stick at. You couldn’t have thrown a brick -on the main boulevards without hitting some ruler who had left his country for -his country’s good.”</p> -<p>“All of which disquisition,” said Professor Chadwick dryly, “doesn’t solve -our problem.”</p> -<p>“No, indeed,” said Mr. Jesson; “we are as badly off as before.”</p> -<p>“Worse,” exclaimed Jack.</p> -<p>“How’s that?” asked Tom.</p> -<p>“Well, haven’t we lost those gems?”</p> -<p>“Oh, bother the old gems,” said Tom, “we’ve got the box, haven’t we? If any -one in the States doesn’t believe we ever had the three gems we can show them -the casket as proof that we really did have them once.”</p> -<p>As he spoke he picked up the box from the sand where Herrera had flung it, -and handed it to the Professor.</p> -<p>“It will make a handsome relic of our trip at all events,” said that -gentleman, with half a sigh. “I guess I’ll present it to some institute -interested in such things.”</p> -<p>“Pity those bumps on the cover aren’t precious stones,” said Ned, indicating -the three dull-colored knobs on the cover. “Wonder what they are there for?”</p> -<p>“To make the box look nobby,” ventured Tom, a pun which almost cost him a -clip on the side of the head.</p> -<p>But they were soon recalled to the seriousness of their situation. In the -east the day was beginning to dawn, and a return to sleep was out of the -question after all that had occurred.</p> -<p>“I guess I’ll get to work with the wireless,” said Jack, “it’s our only -hope.”</p> -<p>“Unless we could swim ashore,” said Captain Andrews. “It isn’t more than five -miles off.”</p> -<p>“True. But from what we could see yesterday it is a rugged, inhospitable -shore,” said Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“Most anything would be better than this, though, so long as it was the -mainland,” said Ned.</p> -<p>“Yes, if only the old Flying Road Racer would have kept in the air half an -hour longer,” groaned Tom, “we might have used her as an auto to reach some -civilized spot.”</p> -<p>“We could easily have done that,” struck in Jack. “The engine and running -gear are in perfect order. So far as that is concerned, she is ready for a road -trip of a thousand miles right now.”</p> -<p>“You ought to have fixed it so she could swim, while you were about it,” said -Ned.</p> -<p>He meant the remark as a joke; but Jack answered quite seriously.</p> -<p>“I’ve been thinking over such a plan,” he said; “maybe some day I’ll get to -work and invent something that will make the good old craft as capable in the -water as she is on land and in the air.”</p> -<p>“Wish you could invent it right now,” began Ned with a laugh. “I——”</p> -<p>He stopped short with a puzzled look, which, oddly enough, was reflected on -all their races the next moment.</p> -<p>“My legs are wobbly!” cried Tom.</p> -<p>“By the trident of Neptune,” roared Captain Andrews, “so are mine!”</p> -<p>“It’s not our legs!” cried Mr. Jesson, “it’s the ground that’s moving!”</p> -<p>“The whole island is quivering like jelly!” cried Ned.</p> -<p>“Good land, what ails de place? It’s done got chills and feber!” shouted Jupe -from his pots and pans, which were now rolling in every direction.</p> -<p>The tremor grew stronger. Accompanying it was a queer, moaning sort of sound. -All at once there came a violent convulsion, and they were all thrown flat. The -roaring noise increased till it was almost deafening.</p> -<p>“It’s an earthquake!” called out Professor Chadwick.</p> -<p>“An earthquake?” cried the others in terrified tones as they rolled -about.</p> -<p>Suddenly, not far from them, a great ragged fissure yawned in the earth and -almost instantly closed again. From that moment, for the ensuing ten minutes, -the castaways were in a condition bordering on panic. With the very earth under -their feet refusing them support they felt that they were, indeed, in a sorry -plight.</p> -<p>At the conclusion of the period of time mentioned, the shocks stopped as -suddenly as they had begun.</p> -<p>“Do you think there’ll be any more of them?” asked Tom in rather a quavery -voice.</p> -<p>“Impossible to say,” said Mr. Jesson. “I imagine that this is a continuation -of the one that caused that cliff to collapse, which resulted in my escape from -those Indians.”</p> -<p>“I suspect that is it,” said Professor Chadwick. “The great storm may have -also resulted from the generally disturbed conditions. We may have no more -shocks and we may have a dozen.”</p> -<p>“I’ve known cases of whole islands being swallowed in the South Seas——” began -Abner Jennings gloomily.</p> -<p>But Professor Chadwick stopped him.</p> -<p>“If you can’t talk of something more cheerful, my man, don’t talk at all,” he -said.</p> -<p>“And tidal waves, too, that wiped out whole cities like Galveston,” muttered -Jennings, in a low tone, however.</p> -<p>“There is no reason to expect that another shock will occur,” resumed the -Professor; “the very nature of these seismic disturbances results in——”</p> -<p>“Wow! Glory to Goshen, here comes annudder one!” bellowed Jupe, dropping a -frying pan with a clatter and throwing himself flat on his face.</p> -<p>The others followed his example. Indeed, it was impossible to remain on one’s -feet. The mighty earth waves undulated like the billows of the sea.</p> -<p>This shock lasted longer than the other, and was more severe. When it was -over they arose to their feet considerably unnerved by the convulsion of -nature.</p> -<p>“Do——do you think there is any danger of this island sinking. Professor?” -asked Ned in a shaky voice.</p> -<p>“I do not,” rejoined the other with a confidence that he was very far from -actually feeling, however. “I see no evidence of any volcanic formation -hereabouts.”</p> -<p>“Maybe de ole Mudder Earth done got a bad tummy ache,” hazarded Jupe.</p> -<p>“I wish she’d get it in her foot, then,” grumbled Ned. “I don’t—say, Jack,” -he broke off suddenly, “am I seeing things or is that beach narrower than it -was?”</p> -<p>A worried look passed over Jack’s face.</p> -<p>“I’m afraid your eyesight is all right, Ned,” he said. “The water is closer -than it was, beyond a doubt.”</p> -<p>“And that means?” gasped Captain Andrews. “That we are sinking,” calmly said -Professor Chadwick. “There is no use deceiving ourselves. Jack, send out a call -for aid. There may be a chance of some ship catching the message.”</p> -<p>Jack sent an appeal flashing forth from the wireless. Then he listened as -usual for an answer.</p> -<p>It came, but not in the way he had expected. He flung the receivers from his -ears with an angry expression.</p> -<p>“It’s that rascal Herrera,” he said. “He intercepted the call.”</p> -<p>“The villain! What did he say?” demanded Mr. Jesson.</p> -<p>“He said that we could stay here till the island sank, for all he cared, and -added that Diaz had been driven out of Mexico, and that he was off to Europe -with those gems.”</p> -<p>“Dat dere coffee-colored man is de worst no ’count trash I ebber done heard -of,” announced Jupe solemnly, while the others stood thunderstruck at such -pitiless behavior.</p> -<p>Before they could utter a word of comment, however, another shock struck the -island. And this time it caused an amazing thing to happen. The centre of the -isolated spot of land had been quite an elevation. During this spasm of the -earth, however, an astonishing change took place in the form of the island. The -“crown” of the sandy little place sank until it was depressed into a sort of -cup. On the outer rim of this odd subsidence of the island, were the adventurers -who looked with alarmed eyes on this freak of the earthquake. It mean only one -thing, and that was that if another shock occurred and the land sank any -further, that the sea must overwhelm it utterly.</p> -<p>While they were still looking over the altered scene. Captain Andrews gave a -shout.</p> -<p>“Shiver my timbers,” he cried, “look yonder, will you?”</p> -<p>The subsidence of the centre of the island, of course, gave them a clear view -of the distant shore and of the neck of water between it and the island.</p> -<p>An astounding thing had happened, as the adventurers could now see. Although -they had not known it, the island had once formed part of the mainland, and a -narrow neck still connected it at a depth of only a few feet at low water. It -was now low tide, and the earthquake, while it depressed the central part of the -island, had performed a still more astonishing freak.</p> -<p>It had raised this narrow neck linking it to the shore till it was quite a -few inches above the level of the water, making a causeway of wet sand between -the island and the mainland!</p> -<p>Jack was the first to grasp the significance of this. He gave a glad shout as -he did so.</p> -<p>“Hurrah! We are saved!” he cried. “The earthquake has saved us!”</p> -<p>“What?” demanded his hearers, not quite so quick-thinking as Jack.</p> -<p>“Don’t you see?” exclaimed the boy. “We can drive the Flying Road Racer -ashore over that neck of sand as easily as if we were taking a spin in the -park.”</p> -<p>“But suppose another shock causes the neck of sand to subside again?” asked -Mr. Jesson skeptically.</p> -<p>“We must take our chances of that,” Tom answered him. “In any case, it means -death to remain where we are.”</p> -</div> -<div id='chapter-xxvian-astounding-discovery'> -<div class='c'> -<h2 class='mt2em mb1em fs1r2em chapter'>CHAPTER XXVI—AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY</h2> -</div> -<p>As Jack spoke, the island gave another trembling shake. It was only a slight -one, but it warned them that, in all probability, there were to be more violent -shocks succeeding it.</p> -<p>It was plain enough that their escape, if it was to be made at all, must be -made quickly. Jack and Tom at once set about dismantling the wireless station -and packing the apparatus.</p> -<p>The hastily extemporized life jacket balloons were hauled down and the wires -coiled. When this had been done. Jack told everybody to take their seats in the -car, on the top of which the dismantled gas bag had been folded by the captain -and the two sailors, while Abner Jennings helped Jupe to pack up.</p> -<p>Jack took his seat last of all and started the engine going. It worked -without a hitch, and the auto,—a flying machine no longer,—moved off across the -sand, heavily laden as it was, without difficulty.</p> -<p>The rim about the submerged centre of the island was soon circumnavigated, -and the beginning of the narrow neck of land reached. Then Jack fairly “let the -car out.”</p> -<p>The newly formed isthmus was hard, and the car flew over it under the full -power of its engines.</p> -<p>“Mighty good t’ing dere ain’t no speed laws in dis part ob de world,” grunted -Jupe as they flew along.</p> -<p>The shore appeared to rush toward them, but if they had hoped to see any -signs of human habitation as they drew close to it they were mistaken. Nothing -but a mass of trees, backed by rising ground, appeared along the coast as far as -the eye could reach in either direction.</p> -<p>As they sped along they heard behind them a sudden mighty uproar. Gazing back -they saw the ocean heaving and boiling all about the island they had left, as if -it had been a witches’ caldron. Great jets of water shot up, and the surface of -the sea was flecked with foam and spume.</p> -<p>The sight fascinated every one of them but Jack, who had to be intent on his -driving.</p> -<p>“The whole island is going!” shouted the Professor.</p> -<p>He was right.</p> -<p>With a sudden booming roar and upheaval of the ocean, the entire mass of land -sank under the waves, which for a long time boiled and simmered above it. Just -as the last vestige of the island vanished, leaving only the newly created -peninsula projecting from the land, they reached the solid earth.</p> -<p>Their dash to the mainland had taken place only just in time. A little more -delay, they realized with shudders, would have meant their total -annihilation.</p> -<p>“I said the island would go,” cried Abner Jennings triumphantly. “I’ve ’em -vanish like that in the South Seas.”</p> -<p>No one had any comment to make. The horror of what they had just witnessed -struck them all dumb. The gratitude they felt to Divine Providence for their -lucky rescue filled their hearts to overflowing, and left no room for -speech.</p> -<p>The Flying Road Racer was stopped, and they silently gazed for a long time at -the bubbling, heaving waters.</p> -<p>The sight was impressive, even if it did cause a shiver and inspire a feeling -that bordered on fear.</p> -<p>After a while the Professor spoke. His tone was as solemn as his words.</p> -<p>“Boys,” he said, addressing his young friends, “we have just witnessed -something that many scientists would give a great deal to behold.”</p> -<p>“Well, candidly,” said Tom, “I’ve seen enough of it.”</p> -<p>So had they all, in fact, and the Flying Road Racer was soon turned north, -following a rough road that ran parallel with the sea-coast.</p> -<p>It was now late afternoon, and the shadows were lengthening apace. Before -long the swift tropic night would overtake them. Although they had arrived at a -determination to continue traveling north till they arrived at a large city, -where a telegraph wire could be found, they did not care to risk advancing over -the rough, half-formed road in the darkness, so a halt was made where a small -stream of fresh water ran down to the sea, and they prepared to spend the night -there.</p> -<p>It was somewhat chilly and a roaring fire was built around which they seated -themselves after the evening meal. All were rather silent and abstracted, and -there was no inclination for conversation. The Professor had brought out the -silver casket and was examining some queer marks like hieroglyphics on its -cover.</p> -<p>“I’m sure they have some sort of meaning,” he remarked to Mr. Jesson, “but -it’s beyond me to make out what it can be. See if you can do any better.”</p> -<p>He handed the box to his brother-in-law to examine. But in the transfer it -was fumbled, and before Mr. Jesson could save it the silver casket rolled toward -the fire, only stopping when it was embedded in a mass of embers.</p> -<p>It was raked out with a stick by Mr. Jesson before it was damaged. He set it -aside to cool before examining it, and in the meantime the boys took occasion to -observe it more narrowly than they had yet found opportunity to do.</p> -<p>“Say, I thought that those knobs on the top were dull-colored!” exclaimed -Jack Chadwick suddenly.</p> -<p>“Why, so they are!” rejoined Mr. Jesson. “Some sort of inferior stone, I -guess. They——”</p> -<p>“But they are not dull! Look!”</p> -<p>Risking burning his fingers. Jack seized the still warm casket and held it -toward his elders.</p> -<p>On the cover, embedded in the silver, flashed and winked in the firelight, -three magnificent gems, red, blue, green!</p> -<p>“Let me look at that a minute. Jack,” exclaimed Professor Chadwick in sharp, -excited tones.</p> -<p>He took the box from his son, and an instant later his head and Mr. Jesson’s -were close together over the rifled silver casket.</p> -<p>“Well, gentlemen?” said Ned after a while.</p> -<p>“Well,” echoed Professor Chadwick, “we have made a most astounding discovery. -These gems which Jack discovered,—for they are genuine, there’s not a doubt of -it,—must have been covered with wax of some sort. The heat of the fire, when the -box fell into it, melted this substance, and—well, here are three gems worth, -conservatively, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; probably a great deal -more.”</p> -<p>The listeners looked at him in amazement.</p> -<p>“But what were the gems that Herrera took out of the casket, then?” demanded -Jack, when he found his voice.</p> -<p>“Imitations, undoubtedly,” was the reply of Mr. Jesson. “The tribe that owned -the genuine stones adopted this cunning means of concealing the real ones by -coating them with wax of some sort. Then they placed inferior gems, or cunning -imitations, within the box, trusting to the cupidity of any one who stole them -not to investigate further.”</p> -<p>And so it proved afterward. The stones, which the strange and seemingly -trivial accident had revealed, turned out to be as fine specimens of their -respective kinds as there are in existence. They were appraised at six hundred -and eighty thousand dollars, but cryptic carvings on the back of them made them -of infinitely more value to science as specimens of the treasures of a vanished -race.</p> -<p>Despite their keen excitement over the discovery that, after all, Herrera had -not decamped with the precious stones, the adventurers slept soundly and -peacefully that night.</p> -<p>When they awakened the daylight was sparkling on land and sea, and Jupe was -filling the air with appetizing aromas proceeding from his cooking fire.</p> -<p>It was while they were in the midst of the morning meal that Jack sprang to -his feet with a shout.</p> -<p>“The <i>Sea King</i>! the <i>Sea King</i>!” he cried, pointing -seaward.</p> -<p>About half a mile off shore, steaming leisurely along, was a fine-looking -white yacht that the Professor speedily pronounced to be, indeed, the <i>Sea -King</i>.</p> -<p>“The wireless, Tom, as quick as you can,” called Jack, and the two lads at -once set about sending their life-jacket balloons aloft.</p> -<p>This time the message that Jack sent out reached the persons it was intended -for, and an hour later a boat came ashore and the castaways found themselves -among their friends.</p> -<p>Repairs had been effected in record time on the yacht, and those in charge of -her had determined not to wait longer at Lone Island, but proceed south at once. -They were urged to this course, also, by news from Mexico that the -revolutionists had triumphed, and that Diaz had abdicated.</p> -<p>We should like to chronicle more of the adventures of the Boy Inventors on -this trip, but the exigencies of space forbid it. Suffice it to say then, that -while the Professor, the rescued explorer and the rest, including Captain -Andrews, voyaged to Lone Island and thence home on the <i>Sea King</i>, the -boys drove the Flying Road Racer through Mexico, and reached home in that way by -the overland route. They had many exciting times, but none so filled with peril -and incident as their career on the gulf had been.</p> -<p>In due time the <i>Vagrant</i> was also recovered and sent home by the -newly formed Madero government. Of Herrera, all trace was lost for a time. But -ultimately he was heard from in Paris, whither, as had been prophesied, he had -fled when the Diaz government fell. But he is not leading the life of a -luxurious refugee there. Far from it. The gems he had stolen with the exercise -of so much villainy and planning, proved to be, as Professor Chadwick had -conjectured, mere cheap imitations worth very little except as specimens of Maya -workmanship. Herrera, when last heard from, was acting as a head waiter in an -humble Mexican restaurant in the Latin quarter of the French capital.</p> -<p>The genuine gems were sold to a New York millionaire, and when he dies will -be seen in his private museum, which will then be opened to the public. The -proceeds were shared, by the wishes of Professor Chadwick and Mr. Jesson, with -the faithful crew of the <i>Sea King</i>, each, from Captain Andrews down, -receiving a due portion. A handsome monument was also erected above the grave of -poor Kettle, who fell in the battle with the Mayas.</p> -<p>Professor Chadwick did not fulfill the object of his cruise in finding a new -form of biologic life; but he often says that he established something far more -precious,—namely, the safety of his long-lost brother-in-law, Tom Jesson’s -father.</p> -<p>One morning, not long after the household at High Towers had settled down to -its ordinary routine, a telegram came for Jack. It contained astonishing things, -things which were—though he didn’t guess it at the time,—to open up an entirely -new field of invention for him and his chums, Tom Jesson and Ned Bangs.</p> -<p>The message stated,—but positively, we must keep all that for another -telling. In our next volume we will relate further astonishing and stirring -occurrences in the lives of our ingenious, progressive young friends. The title -of the forthcoming book will be <i>The Boy Inventors and the Vanishing -Gun</i>,—a tale which promises to be of extraordinary interest to every -American boy, brimful and running over, as it will be, with experiment and -achievement along new and significant lines.</p> -<div class='c'> -<div class='mt1r5em'>THE END</div> -</div> -</div> -<!-- generated 2016-10-17 10:05:05 GMT using ppxh.py version 2016.07.07 --> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Inventor's Wireless Triumph, by -Richard Bonner and Charles L. 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