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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest
+by Captain Wilbur Lawton
+(pseudonym for John Henry Goldfrap)
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest
+
+Author: Captain Wilbur Lawton
+(pseudonym for John Henry Goldfrap)
+
+Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6149]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 19, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Hollander, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST
+
+Or, The Golden Galleon
+
+
+
+By
+
+Captain Wilbur Lawton
+(pseudonym for John Henry Goldfrap)
+
+Author Of "The Boy Aviators In Nicaragua." "The Boy Aviators On
+Secret Service," "The Boy Aviators In Africa," etc.
+
+
+
+
+Boy Aviators' Series
+
+By Captain Wilbur Lawton
+
+Six Titles. Cloth Bound. Price 50c
+
+Uniform With This Volume
+
+1 THE BOY AVIATORS IN NICARAGUA;
+or, In League with the Insurgents.
+
+2 THE BOY AVIATORS ON SECRET SERVICE;
+or, Working with Wireless.
+
+3 THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA;
+or, An Aerial Ivory Trail.
+
+4 THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST;
+or, The Golden Galleon.
+
+5 THE BOY AVIATORS IN RECORD FLIGHT;
+or, The Rival Aeroplane.
+
+6 THE BOY AVIATORS' POLAR DASH;
+or, Facing Death in the Antarctic.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+Chapter
+I. The Eagle and the Buzzard
+II. Billy's Strange Tale
+III. A Trial Flight
+IV. Eben Joyce Appears
+V. A Strange Story
+VI. The Golden Galleon
+VII. A Fire Alarm By Aeroplane
+VIII. Nearly Out of the Race
+IX. The Grasshopper's Mishap
+X. The Aero Race
+XI. Lost in the Fog
+XII. Billy Hears an Interesting Conversation
+XIII. Luther Barr's Trap
+XIV. Mr. "L. B.'s" Dirigible
+XV. Off for the Sargasso
+XVI. In Dire Peril
+XVII. Billy's Narrow Escape
+XVIII. Into the Sargasso
+XIX. The Rat Ship
+XX. The Golden Galleon
+XXI. Dirigible vs. Aeroplane
+XXII. On Board Barr's Ship
+XXIII. Prisoners in Dire Peril
+XXIV. The Inventor's Treachery
+XXV. The Fight on the Island
+XXVI. The Boys Win Out
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE EAGLE AND THE BUZZARD.
+
+
+"Hurrah!"
+
+The shout went upward in a swelling volume of sound as a thousand
+voices took up the cry.
+
+"Say, those boys can fly!"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"Did you see that swoop!"
+
+"Did I? I thought they were goners sure."
+
+"They handle that sky-clipper like a bicycle."
+
+These admiring exclamations came in a perfect hailstorm as the big
+biplane air-craft, which had called them forth, swept earthward,
+bearing her two young occupants downward in a long graceful glide, and
+landing them at the door of their red aerodrome with the precision of
+an automobile being driven up to its owner's front steps.
+
+The drone of the engine ceased and little spurts of dust shot up from
+the landing wheels as the young aviator at the helm of the beautiful
+craft applied his brakes, threw out the spark and cut off the engine.
+The plane ran about one hundred feet on its wheels and then came to a
+standstill.
+
+"Hurrah for the Golden Eagle!" shouted a voice. The enthusiasm was
+echoed all over the crowded field. From the long rows of autos, parked
+at the edge of the field and crowded with applauding men and women,
+came the "honk! honk!" of horns in a deafening clamor.
+
+Smilingly making their way through the enthusiasts who swept down on
+them, Frank and Harry Chester, the Boy Aviators, who had just
+concluded a tuning up flight for the Hempstead Plains Cup--the contest
+for which was to take place in a week's time--entered the shed and,
+making their way to a screened-off room in the corner, shed their
+leather coats and woolen caps and removed the grime from their hands
+and faces. Their mechanics, in the meantime, had shoved the Eagle into
+the shed and closed the doors on the horde of the inquisitive.
+
+The boys' flight had taken place above the aviation grounds of the
+Aeronautic Society, situated at Mineola, on Long Island, a few miles
+outside New York city. For several days they, and several others who
+had announced their intention of competing for the coveted Hempstead
+Plains Cup, had been making flights that had attracted vast crowds
+from the metropolis and filled the papers with air-ship news. The city
+was aviation mad.
+
+The wide sweep of green flats was dotted at the end where the town
+encroached upon it with the sheds in which were housed the different
+aerial craft that were to take part in the great contest. Some of them
+had tents snuggled closely up to them in which the machinists, and
+others employed on them, made their temporary homes. Some were
+elaborate structures of galvanized iron, carefully fireproofed and
+covered with notices warning against smoking; others, again, were
+plain, hastily erected wooden structures. The Boy Aviators' shed was
+one of the latter, for they had returned from their adventures in
+Africa only a short time before this story opens.
+
+In that far-off country, as told in "The Boy Aviators in Africa; or,
+an Aerial Ivory Trail," they had outwitted a wicked old man named
+Luther Barr, who tried to steal from them the ivory that they had
+recovered from the grip of an Arab slave-dealer. In Luther Barr's
+yacht, which they had acquired in a surprising manner, they had
+brought the ivory back to America and saved Mr. Beasley, the father of
+their chum, Lathrop Beasley, from financial ruin. After a short rest,
+they had announced that they would contest for the Hempstead Plains
+Cup. There was an interval of impatient waiting and then the freight
+steamer, which carried the Golden Eagle II from Africa, arrived safely
+and the work of setting the biplane up for the great contest had been
+at once begun.
+
+The boys' first craft, The Golden Eagle, had been destroyed in a
+tropical storm in which they were blown to sea, as described in Volume
+One of this series: "The Boy Aviators in Nicaragua; or, Leagued With
+The Insurgents." The Golden Eagle II was the same craft in which,
+besides their African adventures, they had accomplished the dangerous
+mission for the Government, with the details of which our readers
+became conversant in "The Boy Aviators on Secret Service; or, Working
+with Wireless."
+
+Their hasty toilet completed, the boys donned street clothes of neat
+fit and pattern and hastened to an automobile, halted at the roadside,
+in which their father and mother were seated. The two lads, as they
+leaned against the side of the car and chatted, made a pleasant
+picture of vigorous, adventurous youth. The eldest, Frank, was a
+little over sixteen, Harry, the younger boy, was about two years his
+junior. Both lads had crisp, curly hair and frank, blue eyes. Their
+faces were tanned to a dark tinge by their African trip.
+
+Mrs. Chester looked eagerly about her at the shifting, colorful scene.
+There was certainly plenty to be seen and every minute held its own
+bit of interest. As they watched, another 'plane soared into view,
+black as a crow against the evening sky; it showed first as a mere
+speck, rapidly grew larger, and dropped to earth like a tired bird,
+while the crowd applauded once more.
+
+"Whose 'plane is that?" asked Mr. Chester, as the machine was trundled
+into its shed--a pretentious affair built of corrugated iron and
+painted dark blue.
+
+"Why, that's a mystery," laughed Frank, "but it's a dandy flyer. In
+fact it's about the only rival we really fear."
+
+"What do you mean by 'a mystery,' Frank?" asked his mother.
+
+"Well, mother, nobody knows who owns it. Its black-covered planes have
+earned it the name of The Buzzard and it can glide like one too, but
+as to its owner we are all in ignorance, though we should like to
+know."
+
+"Whoever he may be he has made a lot of money," chimed in Harry.
+"Several enthusiasts who have watched the Buzzard fly have placed
+orders for similar machines."
+
+"How much does such a craft cost?" asked his father.
+
+"Oh, ones patterned after the Buzzard sell for $25,000," was the
+reply; "and if that machine wins this race, of course, it will give
+the mysterious manufacturer a tremendous prestige. But I think at
+that," he broke off with a merry smile, "that the Golden Eagle II is
+going to prove more than the Buzzard's match."
+
+"Did you go over the whole course this afternoon?" asked his father.
+
+"Yes, and the Eagle handled like a race-horse," replied Frank; "if she
+makes a like performance on the day of the race I think we have the
+cup as good as won."
+
+"Don't be too sure, my boy," warned his father. "There's many a slip
+'twixt the cup and the lip--or rather the aeroplane, you know."
+
+"That's so, father," replied the lad, somewhat abashed, "it doesn't do
+to be overconfident. There's only one thing I don't like about the
+course."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Why, the 'take off' at the Harrowbrook Club links."
+
+"What do you mean by 'take off'?" inquired his mother.
+
+"I mean the space in which an aeroplane makes its preliminary run, as
+you might call it, before it takes the air," rejoined the boy. "You
+see the rules of the race are that we fly from here to the Harrowbrook
+Club--a distance of twenty miles, alight there and refill our gasolene
+tanks, drink a cup of coffee in the club-house and then rise up once
+more and fly back."
+
+"You mean that you are afraid that there will be difficulty in
+starting back from the Club grounds?" asked his father.
+
+"Yes, father. You see, while we did it all right this afternoon, on
+the day of the race there will be a lot of 'planes all on the ground
+at the same time, and it's going to make it more difficult. However, I
+daresay we shall be able to manage it all right."
+
+"Oh, Frank, do be careful," cautioned his mother.
+
+"Of course I will, mother," the lad reassured her. "If I thought there
+was any serious risk I would not cause you anxiety by competing."
+
+After a little more talk the elder Chesters drove off, as the boys had
+decided to sleep in their aerodrome that night, on the two camp cots
+they had provided for such emergencies. They intended to get an early
+start in the morning, on another practice sail, as at that hour there
+was usually little wind.
+
+As they strolled across the grounds which were now rapidly being
+deserted, as all the aeroplanes were housed for the night, they
+encountered Armand Malvoise, the French driver of the mysterious
+Buzzard. He was a heavy-set, blue-chinned man with eyebrows that met
+in a black band, lending his face a perpetual scowl.
+
+"You made a fine flight this evening," cried Harry cheerfully.
+
+"You think so?" replied the Frenchman. "I shall make a better one on
+the day of the race. I mean to win that cup."
+
+"Well, give us at least a look-in," laughed Frank good-naturedly.
+
+"Bah, you are boys. I am a seasoned aviator. I have flown at Rheims
+and Vienna and in the south. It is absurd for you to compete with me."
+
+"Personally I should like to see an American carry off the trophy, but
+if the best flyer wins I shall be quite satisfied," was Frank's quiet
+reply.
+
+"You will see the colors of La Belle France floating over my aerodrome
+after the race," was the rejoinder.
+
+"We shall see," was Frank's quiet answer, as the Frenchman strode off
+toward the village, where he usually remained gossiping in the hotel
+and complacently receiving the adulations of his admirers till late at
+night.
+
+"Ach, he is as goot-natured as a caged lion, dot feller!" came a
+sudden exclamation behind the boys.
+
+They turned about and faced old August Schmidt, the German aviator,
+who had started his career as a builder and operator of dirigibles,
+but was entered in the Hempstead Cup race as the flyer of a monoplane
+of his own design; and which, on account of its peculiar appearance,
+the crowds had already nicknamed the Grasshopper. As if in furtherance
+of this idea the German had painted his queer craft a bright green.
+
+"Vell, you boys have a good chance for der cup got," the old man went
+on, between puffs at an enormous pipe with a china bowl that formed
+his inseparable companion when he was not in the air.
+
+"Do you think so?" asked Frank.
+
+"Ches, I do. Der Grasshopper is a goot leedle monoplane, but I am
+afraid dat some of der principles I have worked oud in her iss all
+wrong. Some day I break mein neck by der outside I am afraid much."
+
+"Why you've done some good flying in the Grasshopper," consoled Harry.
+
+"Ches, she is a goot leedle ship, bud she vont vin dees race, I dink.
+By der vay, boys, I have been meaning to warn you aboud dot
+Frenchman."
+
+"How do you mean--'warn us'?" asked Frank.
+
+"Vell he means to win dis race. I know dot he has bet a lot of money
+on himself. Den also the manufacturers of der Buzzard will make a lot
+of money already if der Buzzard wins der cup. If she does not--abend,
+dey lose. Yah, der is a lot to vin and much to lose for der Buzzard,
+and dot Frenchman vill do anything to make sure of vinning."
+
+"Well, I guess we can take care of ourselves," laughed Frank, as he
+and his brother bade the queer old man good-night and entered their
+shed. It was filled with the appetizing odor of frying steak. On the
+top of the blue flame stove in a screened-off corner, Le Blanc, one of
+their mechanics, was cooking the simple meal with the loving care of a
+ten-thousand-dollar chef.
+
+"Smells good!" remarked Harry sniffing. "Where's Sanborn?"
+
+Sanborn was the other machinist and had been taken on in the place of
+their faithful old Schultz, who had fallen heir to a large sum of
+money in Germany, and gone home to spend his days in a cottage on the
+outskirts of Berlin.
+
+"He has gone down to the village," replied Le Blanc, vigorously
+shaking the pan of sizzling potatoes.
+
+"He seems to spend a lot of time down there lately," remarked Frank.
+
+"I'd rather see him about the aerodome," put in Harry; "we don't want
+everybody to know all the details of our trials."
+
+"That's so," assented his brother, "I'll speak to him about it when he
+comes in to-night."
+
+The two lads fell to with keen appetites on their supper, which was
+served on tin plates and washed down with coffee out of tin mugs. Not
+a very aristocratic service, but the boys rather liked roughing it
+than otherwise, and you may be sure that the "dinner set" off which
+they ate did not engross a fraction of their attention. The meal
+disposed of, Le Blanc and the boys fixed up the folding camp cots and
+spread their blankets. There was still no sign of Sanborn. Frank was
+still struggling to keep awake in order to read the man a sharp
+lecture when he returned when drowsiness overcame him and he dropped
+off to sleep.
+
+It was an hour later, and not far from midnight, when two dark figures
+crossed the deserted aviation field and threaded their way among the
+various aerodromes. They paused in front of the one in which the boys
+were asleep. Had the lads been onlookers they would have seen that one
+of the men was Sanborn, the new machinist, and the other was Malvoise,
+the driver of the sable Buzzard.
+
+"You won't lose your nerve?" said the Frenchman.
+
+"Not me. I'm sore at those kids, anyhow," was the reply. "The eldest
+one undertakes to call me down for going out at night all the time."
+
+"Well, you have a good chance to get back at him and make some money
+at the same time," was the other's rejoinder.
+
+"You are sure the money will be forthcoming?"
+
+"Well, I should say! Old man Barr, who bought the patent of the
+Buzzard dirt cheap from her inventor, has a pile of it. He's going to
+manufacture the Buzzards to make money out of 'em and he'll stop at
+nothing to gain the prestige of winning this Hempstead Plains Cup."
+
+"I've heard of old Barr before. He's a regular skinflint, but I
+suppose, if you say it will be all right about the money, I'll have to
+take your word for it. I need some coin too badly to stick at
+anything."
+
+"That's the way to talk. By the way, talking of the inventor of the
+Buzzard, I saw a piece in the paper about him to-night."
+
+"What was it?"
+
+"Why it seems that the poor beggar applied for shelter at the
+Municipal lodging-house in New York and told them a long tale of Barr
+having robbed him of his invention. They sized him up as being just
+another of those inventor bugs and so sent him to the booby hatch in
+Bellevue."
+
+"A good place for him," was the rejoinder, "these inventors are all
+crazy."
+
+"Well, Luther Barr's found a way to make this particular crank pay,"
+was the reply.
+
+"That's so. Well, good-night. Oh, say what was the name of the man who
+planned the Buzzard?"
+
+"Oh, Eben something--let's see--Eben--it began with a J. I've got
+it--Eben Joyce, that's it--Eben Joyce."
+
+"Queer name that--Eben Joyce," was Sanborn's comment. "Well,
+good-night."
+
+"Good-night. You won't fail us."
+
+"Not I," responded the machinist, as he slipped into the aerodrome and
+was soon wrapped in slumber as profound as if the thought of
+committing a treacherous act had never entered his mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+BILLY'S STRANGE TALE.
+
+
+The next morning, as soon as the alarm clock rang out its summons at
+four-thirty, the boys were up and stirring, dashing the sleep out of
+their eyes with plenty of cold water. Le Blanc and Sanborn soon joined
+them, the latter heavy-eyed and sleepy-looking from the late hours of
+the night before. He was smoking a cigarette.
+
+"Look here, Sanborn, I don't want to be too strict, but you know
+there's too much gasolene around here for it to be safe to smoke in
+the shed," said Frank, with some irritation, as he spied him.
+
+Sanborn threw the cigarette away with an ill-tempered exclamation.
+
+"Gee! It's a wonder you don't start a Sunday-school in here," he said.
+
+"Well, I don't think it would do you any harm to attend one for a
+while," answered Frank, "and by the way, can't you make it possible to
+come in a little earlier? You are a valuable man to us and you can't
+do your best work if you are sitting up till all hours at the village
+hotel."
+
+"You ain't got no complaint about my work, have you?" was the surly
+rejoinder.
+
+"No, I think that you are a very capable mechanic but I hate to see
+you wasting your time and opportunities this way," replied Frank. The
+boy was in some doubt as to the wisdom or the utility of calling
+Sanborn's attention to the latter's bad habits, but having embarked on
+his admonition he was not going to quit just because the man was
+surly.
+
+"When are you going to go up?" asked Sanborn, changing the subject
+abruptly.
+
+"Right after breakfast," was the boy's reply, as he looked out of the
+big sliding doors and surveyed the cloudless sky. "There doesn't seem
+to be a breath of wind and it's ideal weather for a good long flight."
+
+But if the boys were up early they were not the only ones astir.
+Gladwin, who was an experimenter and who, although he had only been up
+a few times, meant to compete in the big race, was already busy
+outside his aerodrome, lovingly adjusting the engine of his
+queer-looking monoplane which had already been wheeled out. Malvoise,
+his hands in his pockets and a red sash about his waist, was also
+studying the sky. As Frank gazed about in the crisp morning air a
+dozen other aviators opened up their sheds and the day-life of the
+aviation camp began.
+
+After breakfast had been despatched the boys at once went to work on
+their engine, a hundred horse-powered, eight-cylindered machine which
+was capable of driving their twin-screwed craft through the air at a
+rate of sixty miles an hour. One of the cylinders needed a new gasket
+and they were engaged on the task of fitting it when a sudden hail
+outside the shed made them look up inquiringly. A short, fat youth
+with a pair of spectacles bestriding his round good-natured face stood
+in the doorway. The boys recognized him instantly.
+
+"Why, hullo, Billy Barnes!" they cried, "come on in."
+
+"Hullo, Frank, hullo, Harry," grinned the newcomer, frantically
+shaking hands. "I'm an early caller, but I slept at the village hotel
+last night and the beds there are as hard as a miser's heart. So I
+decided to get out early and take a chance on finding you fellows up
+and about."
+
+After the first hearty greetings between the boys and the young
+reporter--with whom the readers of the other volumes in this series
+have already formed an acquaintanceship--the boys started asking
+questions.
+
+"What are you doing here anyhow?" demanded Frank.
+
+"Yes, you mysterious scribe, tell us what you are after--a scoop or a
+story of how it feels to ride in an aeroplane?"
+
+"Well," laughed Billy in response, "I've had so many flights in the
+Golden Eagles--both one and two--that I really believe I've had too
+much experience to write a story about it from the novice's
+standpoint. No, the fact is that I am down here on a story--a good one
+too."
+
+"You can't keep away from the newspaper field, can you?" laughed
+Frank.
+
+"No, that's a fact," agreed Billy ruefully; "I've tried to, but it's
+no good."
+
+"Well, you ought to be 'a man of independent fortune' now, as the
+papers say," cried Harry.
+
+"You mean with the percentage I got of the recovered ivory?"
+
+The others nodded.
+
+"I always felt I didn't really deserve that money," urged Billy. "You
+fellows did most of the work in Africa, I just trailed along."
+
+"Oh, get out, Billy Barnes!" cried Frank. "You did as much as any of
+us in overreaching old Barr."
+
+"Go ahead and tell us about this story of yours," demanded Harry.
+
+"Well, it sounds like a weird dream and perhaps you fellows will laugh
+at me for taking it seriously, but a few days ago an old fellow in a
+tattered blue suit called at the Planet offices and said he wanted to
+see the city editor. Of course nobody ever does see the city editor,
+so I was sent out to ascertain what the visitor wanted. I saw at once
+he had been a seafaring man. He told me his name was Bill Hendricks,
+known better as Bluewater Bill. He beat about the bush a good while
+before he would tell me what he was after, and finally he unfolded the
+wildest tale about buried treasure you ever heard--that is, I don't
+mean buried treasure--floating would be a better word to describe it.
+He told me that he had been one of the crew of a sailing vessel that
+had drifted, after being dismasted in a storm, into the Sargasso Sea."
+
+"You might tell us where the Sargasso Sea is," struck in Harry. "I
+never heard of it."
+
+"Why, it's a vast expanse of floating seaweed brought together by
+circling ocean currents," explained Billy. "There are hundreds of
+miles of seaweed in it and from the name of the weed it gets its title
+of Sargasso. It is in the north Atlantic, just about off the Gulf of
+Mexico roughly speaking, though many hundred miles from land. It is
+shifting all the time though, I understand, and a ship that once gets
+into it never gets out. The weed just holds her in its grip till she
+rots. Bluewater Bill told me that, after his ship drifted into it, he
+counted ten steamers and four sailing vessels drifting idly about on
+the brown expanse that spread like a desert on all sides. But the most
+remarkable of all, according to his story, was a high-pooped,
+castle-bowed affair with three masts that the tattered sails still
+hung to. According to him she was a real, sure-enough galleon. One of
+the old treasure vessels that used to ply the Spanish Main."
+
+"Oh, I say, Billy, you don't believe such a yarn as that, do you?"
+burst out Frank and Harry, both at once.
+
+"Well, I don't know," replied Billy, "the fellow seemed serious enough
+and I am half inclined to believe he was telling the truth. He wanted
+to get somebody to finance an expedition to go down there and prove
+that he was not falsifying, and give him a small share of the treasure
+he is sure the vessel is laden with, in return for his information."
+
+"In other words he is seeking a backer for an enterprise that looks
+ridiculous on the face of it," commented Frank.
+
+"I'm not so certain of that," went on Billy. "Look here," and with the
+air of a conjurer producing a card from the empty air, he dived into
+his pocket and then, after a moment's fumbling, held out a round gold
+coin for the boys' inspection.
+
+"A Spanish pistole!" exclaimed Frank, as his eyes fell on the dull
+yellow metal of the golden coin.
+
+"That's right," said Billy. "I took it to a coin-dealer and had him
+give it a name. Of course the paper laughed at the story, so I'm after
+it now on my own hook. I got a leave of absence to dig it up.
+Bluewater Bill lives in Mineola and I'm going to see him later to-day
+and get more details from him. The more I think it over the more I
+think it's worth looking into."
+
+The boys, whose opinion of the old sailor's story had been much
+altered by Billy's production of the indisputable evidence of the gold
+coin, agreed with him that it was indeed worth investigating further.
+
+"But you haven't told us half the story, Billy," objected Frank. "How
+did Bluewater Bill escape? What became of the other men on the ship?
+How did he get aboard the galleon and get the coin? Oh, and heaps of
+other hows? and whys?" he broke off, laughing at Billy's serious face.
+
+"I haven't got time to tell you all that now, and besides I am not
+clear on many of those points myself," replied Billy. "Suppose, if you
+are not doing anything this evening, you come round with me to
+Bluewater Bill's home and talk to him about it yourselves."
+
+"Say, are you trying to lure us into any fresh adventures?" said Frank
+with mock seriousness. "Didn't we have enough of them in Africa?"
+
+"I don't see how we could get at the galleon, supposing there is one
+there, even if we did go after it," chimed in Harry, whose active mind
+had already jumped ahead of the boys' conversation.
+
+"Why not?" demanded Billy.
+
+"Why, you chump, if ships get in there and can't get out, how are we
+going to sail in there--get the treasure--always supposing there is
+any--and then return to civilization?"
+
+"Do you mean to say that your gigantic brain can't grasp that?"
+demanded the reporter.
+
+"No, my brilliant literary friend, it cannot--can yours?"
+
+"It can."
+
+"Well, let us have it."
+
+"Well, in the first place," began Billy, "if--I only say if--the
+galleon is there and--if--please remark I say 'if' once more--if we
+should decide to go after the treasure--if (useful word that) we did
+do so, we wouldn't have to sail INTO the Sargasso Sea at all."
+
+"No?"
+
+"No. We could sail OVER it."
+
+"By George! that's so, isn't it?"
+
+"Of course it is," concluded the young reporter; and he artfully
+added, "it would be a great chance to demonstrate Frank's pet theory
+that an aeroplane that can float on the water on pontoons would be as
+easy to construct as one that will fly in the air."
+
+"What if a storm came up?"
+
+"It is always calm in the Sargasso Sea, so Bluewater Bill told me. The
+great mass of tangled weed prevents the waves breaking while the
+severest storm may be raging all about. Nothing more alarming than a
+gentle swell ever disturbs its repose."
+
+Frank, the mechanical-minded, already had fished out an envelope, and
+on its back was scribbling the rough outlines of the aluminum
+pontoons, he had frequently made a mental resolve to attach to the
+aeroplane, so as to render it safe on the water as well as over the
+land. He had no intention then of embarking on the enterprise that
+Billy had outlined--at least he didn't think he had--but any
+suggestion of aeroplane improvement always interested the boy keenly
+and set his inventive mind at work.
+
+While the three boys had been discussing Bluewater Bill's strange tale
+there had been a fourth auditor whose presence, had they known it,
+would have caused them to talk in lowered voices. Sanborn, the
+mechanic, from behind the canvas screen where he was supposed to have
+been eating his breakfast, had been listening greedily to every word
+the young reporter said. His eyes fairly burned in his head as he
+listened and a half-formed resolve entered his mind.
+
+There might be other persons who would be interested in learning of
+the treasure ship which Sanborn's greedy mind already had regarded as
+a reality.
+
+"Guess I'll take a run down to Bluewater Bill's myself to-night," he
+said to himself as he prepared to go to work on the aeroplane, at
+which Le Blanc had been busy tinkering during the boys' talk.
+
+"Well, Frank," said Billy at length, "what do you think of it?"
+
+"I'll reserve decision till we see Bluewater Bill to-night," quietly
+rejoined the other, rising from the box on which he had been sitting
+and slipping into his leather coat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A TRIAL FLIGHT.
+
+
+When the boys wheeled the Golden Eagle II out of its shed, the green
+plains which stretched in an apparently limitless level on all sides
+were flooded with bright sunshine. They had delayed longer than they
+had intended to in making their start and already most of the other
+prospective contestants had concluded testing their engines or giving
+a final look over to brace wires and turn-buckles. A sparse sprinkling
+of spectators from the village was already on the grounds, early as
+was the hour.
+
+The Golden Eagle's fuel and lubricating tanks were quickly filled, and
+every bit of metal about her shone and glistened in the sunlight,
+making a score of bright points of light. Her great planes, with their
+covering of yellow vulcanized silk, were in marked contrast to the
+inky hue of the Buzzard's surfaces, whose driver, Malvoise, was just
+settling into his seat, his inevitable cigarette still in his mouth.
+The Buzzard was even larger than the Golden Eagle, but her lifting
+capacity was a good deal less, as she was not so well designed.
+Malvoise, however, was a reckless driver, and had already had several
+narrow escapes from upsets.
+
+The other air men bustled about and from their engines came an
+occasional gatling-gun-like rattle and roar, as they tried their
+motors out. In the air was the raw smell of gasolene and the odor of
+trampled grass. Clouds of blue smoke arose from where the proprietor
+of a small biplane had drenched his cylinders with too much oil.
+Occasionally an auto or a motor cycle chugged up, and the early comers
+watched with intense interest the flying men preparing for their trial
+flights.
+
+Frank and Harry paid little attention to the others as they drew on
+their gloves, and carefully inspected their propellers. A man had been
+almost killed on the grounds a few days before, when a propeller blade
+had torn loose under the terrific strain of its 1200 revolutions a
+minute, and the boys were not anxious for anything like that to happen
+to their machine.
+
+At last, everything seemed to be in order and the Chester boys
+scrambled into their chassis. The Golden Eagle had been stripped of
+all the appliances she usually carried as a passenger craft. Her
+searchlight and wireless were missing. Her transom seats were gone.
+Several braces had been taken out also, as the removal of her
+passenger accommodations had rendered the strain on her framework much
+less.
+
+"I'd hardly know her," remarked Billy, watching the boys, as they took
+their places on two small seats with slender steel arm rests. Harry's
+seat was by the engine and Frank sat at the steering wheel, which
+manipulated the dipping and diving rudders as well as the rearward
+steering surface. One of his feet was on the brake--an automatic
+contrivance that cut off the spark. The other reposed on the foot pump
+which was used in case anything went wrong with the force-feed
+lubrication.
+
+"All right," said Frank, twisting the valve that sent the gasolene
+flowing to the carburetor and adjusting the switch.
+
+Billy could stand it no longer. He had been watching with anxious eyes
+the preparations and apparently the boys were going to fly without
+him.
+
+"Say, Frank," he began hesitatingly, "I don't suppose you could--"
+
+Frank turned and saw the wistful look in the young reporter's eyes.
+
+"Take you up?" he said, with a laugh at Billy's downcast appearance.
+
+Billy nodded.
+
+"Well, there's not much room for passengers the way she is fixed at
+present," laughed Harry catching Frank's mirth, "but if you want to
+squeeze in by me here, you can. Here, Le Blanc, bring out that spare
+seat."
+
+A few seconds later the delighted reporter was sitting on a small
+aluminum seat fitted with clamps to screw to the framework, and
+handles to grasp hold of tightly when the craft was in mid-air.
+
+"Let her go," cried Frank, as soon as the delighted Billy had taken
+his place.
+
+Sanford and Le Blanc, one at each of the propellers, gave them a few
+twists, and after about the third silent revolution there came the
+startling roar of the exhaust that told the boys that all the
+cylinders were getting down to work. Blue flames and smoke belched out
+of the vents and the mechanics sprang back, as the propellers whirled
+round at a pace that made them seem blurred shadows.
+
+"Hang on till I get up speed," shouted Frank to the two mechanics,
+who, with several volunteer helpers, seized hold of the rear framework
+and held the struggling aeroplane back with all their might. Her frame
+shook as if it was being swept by some mighty convulsion. The racket
+was terrific, ear-splitting. The wind from the propellers blew hats in
+every direction and streamed out the hair of the men holding the
+aeroplane back, as if they had been poking their faces into an
+electric fan.
+
+Faster and faster the propellers revolved, as Frank increased the
+power of his mixture and advanced the spark. At last, when the men
+holding the craft were shouting that they couldn't hang on much
+longer, Frank dropped his hand, the signal that the craft was to be
+released.
+
+Like a scared jack-rabbit, the big-winged craft shot forward over the
+uneven ground at race-horse speed. Several boys on bicycles, who
+started after the air-ship, were speedily distanced.
+
+After a short run, Frank jerked forward his control wheel, and the
+Golden Eagle, amid a cheer that was of course inaudible to the boys
+above the uproar of the engine, shot upward into the blue.
+
+A few seconds later there was another roar of applause as the black
+Buzzard darted forward, and was soon soaring upward in pursuit of the
+speedy Golden Eagle. Old Schmidt in his monoplane was the next
+off--the crowd howling with mirth as the queer green contrivance
+scuttled over the ground in a series of spasmodic hops, just like its
+grasshopper namesake. Then came Gladwin, the novice, and a half dozen
+others. Presently the air above the plains was full of ambitious air
+craft, but with the exception of old Schmidt, who rose to a height of
+about a hundred feet and contented himself with circling about the
+grounds, none of them made any but the shortest of flights.
+
+The attention of the crowd, therefore, naturally centered on the two
+rivals--as they were universally conceded to be--the Golden Eagle and
+the Buzzard. There was no difficulty in telling the craft apart, as
+they circled about high above the now crowded grounds. The spirit of
+emulation seemed to have seized on Malvoise. He followed the boys
+closely, and every feat they performed he attempted to imitate.
+
+Frank at first contented himself with practicing swoops and glides,
+but after a while, tiring of this, he headed his craft due east and
+the Golden Eagle was soon a diminishing speck against the sky. The
+crowd watched till the big 'plane became a pin point and then vanished
+altogether. The Buzzard was off after them in a flash and the crowd
+cheered her just as impartially as they had the boys, as the graceful,
+black flyer stopped her soaring and headed off in the direction in
+which the Golden Eagle had rapidly vanished.
+
+Before she had gone a mile, though, it was apparent to the watchers
+that something was wrong. A cloud of black smoke enveloped her engine
+and she wobbled badly. A rush across the field began. Suddenly the
+black aeroplane made a dash downward at a speed that seemed as if her
+driver had lost control of her altogether.
+
+"He'll be dashed to death," cried the crowd, as they saw the craft
+shoot downward.
+
+Indeed it seemed so.
+
+But Malvoise was too experienced an aviator to be caught napping. As
+soon as his engine began to miss fire and to smoke, he had set his
+guiding planes at a sharp angle and dropped in the manner described.
+
+Had the Buzzard not been fitted with air-cushion buffers on her
+landing wheels and steel springs on the skids that supported her
+stern, a serious accident must have inevitably occurred. But, as it
+was, the Frenchman only received a severe jarring and was scowling
+over his engine when the crowd rushed down on him.
+
+As the crowd of curious onlookers swept down on the disabled aeroplane
+and her furious driver, a loud "honk-honk" was heard and a big touring
+car came dashing across the plain. The people scattered right and left
+as soon as it was apparent that the car's destination was the stranded
+Buzzard.
+
+Beside its driver, the car had only a single occupant, an old man it
+seemed by the tuft of gray hair that was projected from his chin, and
+which was all that could be seen of his face. The rest of his features
+were covered by a motoring mask with large glass eye-holes that made
+him look not unlike a goggle-eyed frog.
+
+"Come here, Malvoise," croaked the newcomer, in a voice strangely like
+that of the creature he remotely resembled.
+
+The Frenchman instantly left his engine and hurried to the side of the
+automobile. The two conversed in low tones, though it was easy to see
+that the old man was in a violent rage.
+
+"I tell you the Buzzard must win," he concluded, after storming at
+Malvoise for an accident that had really been no fault of his. "I've
+put up a $50,000 plant for the manufacture of aeroplanes of her type
+and I've got to have that cup in order to sell them."
+
+"I told you, Mr. Barr," rejoined the Frenchman, "that I had found a
+man who would do what we want. I told you that over the 'phone last
+night, you recollect."
+
+"Oh, yes, I recollect," croaked the old man impatiently, "but he
+doesn't seem to have done much. You are sure we have no other
+dangerous rivals?"
+
+"Quite," was the reply. "Old Schmidt's monoplane is the only other one
+that comes near us and we can easily outdistance her."
+
+"Good! that only leaves the Golden Eagle to contest for the cup with
+us."
+
+"Yes, and she is never going to get it," grinned the Frenchman.
+
+"She must not," said the old man, earnestly, "I owe those boys a
+grudge for the way they robbed me of my ivory. I never found the other
+tusks they said they had left behind either. I believe that
+ill-favored black rascal, Sikaso, got them."
+
+"You leave it to me," was the rejoinder of the Frenchman, to whom the
+latter part of this speech had been incomprehensible of course, "the
+Buzzard will win the cup, never fear."
+
+At this moment, the heavy-set figure of Sanborn was seen shouldering
+its way through the crowd.
+
+"Why here's our man now," whispered Malvoise to old Barr. "This is the
+mechanic of the Chester boys of whom I spoke to you."
+
+Old Barr greeted Sanborn graciously, but he seemed somewhat surprised
+when the mechanic, after some talk, suddenly said:
+
+"I have something important to tell you, Mr. Barr."
+
+"What is it?" demanded the magnate, not without impatience.
+
+"I cannot tell you here, somebody might overhear us. I'll take a ride
+with you in your car."
+
+"But it won't do for the Chester boys to see us together."
+
+"They won't be back for some time. They are off on a long flight. I
+can tell you my proposition and be back at the aerodrome by the time
+they return."
+
+"Very well, I will hear what you have to say."
+
+As the car moved slowly off, the chauffeur steering it carefully among
+the scattered crowd, the two occupants of the tonneau were engaged in
+a conversation that must have been deeply interesting, judging from
+old Barr's gestures and exclamations. If one could have penetrated
+behind his mask they would have seen his thin lips curled in a
+delighted smile and his eyes glisten with cupidity at the proposition
+Sanborn was craftily unfolding.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+EBEN JOYCE APPEARS.
+
+
+Hardly had the automobile containing the old man and the machinist
+vanished down the road in a cloud of dust before a shout from the
+crowd proclaimed that the Golden Eagle was once more in sight. At
+first a mere speck against the blue, she rapidly assumed shape and was
+soon circling above the heads of the onlookers, her engine droning
+steadily, as if she had been some gigantic beetle.
+
+"I say, Frank, this is glorious. How much better she flies than when
+she was laden down with her cabin and fittings."
+
+Billy shouted this comment at the top of his voice, so as to be heard
+by the others above the roar of the engine.
+
+Far below them--spread out like the figures on a carpet--they could
+see the plain; with its big crowd massed in one corner and dozens of
+tiny figures scuttling about so as to get a better view of the
+air-craft by getting right underneath it.
+
+"Watch, I'm going to give them a scare."
+
+It was Frank who spoke, and, as he did so, he shoved forward his
+control-wheel post till the front elevating planes were dropped at an
+acute angle. There was a sharp snap as he opened the circuit and the
+roar of the propellers came to a sudden stop.
+
+"Good Lord, Frank, what are you going to do?" gasped Billy, to whom
+floating in the air with the engine cut out was a new and somewhat
+terrifying sensation.
+
+"Glide," was the reply.
+
+"Hold on tight now!"
+
+Suddenly the great craft began to descend in a quick dropping rush
+that sent the air tingling against Billy's cheeks as though they had
+been plunging through a hailstorm. There was a mighty buzzing in his
+ears, and every stay and wire on the big craft sang its own song, as
+the wind rushed through them as if the Golden Eagle had been converted
+into a monster Aeolian harp.
+
+Down and down they dropped.
+
+A sudden fear shot into Billy's mind.
+
+What if Frank couldn't start the engine again?
+
+They would be dashed to death to a certainty.
+
+And now it seemed that instead of the aeroplane gliding down on the
+earth that the earth was rushing upward with terrific velocity to meet
+them.
+
+Just as Billy was about to shout aloud in actual terror at the
+disaster that seemed unavoidable, there was a sharp "click" as Frank
+closed the circuit with his emergency foot pedal and the engine began
+to revolve once more.
+
+Her two propellers shoving her ahead with a mighty push, the big
+aeroplane began to shoot upwards again in a long swinging arc. She had
+dropped to within twenty feet of the ground.
+
+It was a hair-raising feat and the crowd that had scattered in terror,
+as the monster craft bore down on them, quickly reassembled and sent
+up a cheer.
+
+There was an even heavier scowl than his habitual frown on the face of
+Malvoise as, having completed his repairs on the engine that had
+caused him to make such an abrupt descent, he prepared to go up once
+more.
+
+"Sacre!" he muttered, "those pigs of American boys would certainly get
+the cup if it wasn't for my foresight in providing against such an
+emergency."
+
+The crowd scampered across the field to the Frenchman's side as it was
+seen he was about to take the air again, and a dozen volunteers laid
+on to the rear frames of his craft and held her back while he started
+the engine. The Frenchman took his seat with deliberation and adjusted
+his gloves with care. It was easy to see that he fairly reveled in the
+admiration he excited.
+
+Just as the Frenchman was about to start his engine, preparatory to
+giving the word to let go, there was a shout from the crowd and cries
+of:
+
+"Let him through."
+
+"No, keep him out."
+
+"Who is he, anyhow?"
+
+"Aw, he's an old man; let him get through."
+
+"He's crazy."
+
+"No, he isn't."
+
+"I am not crazy," came in a shrill, cracked voice, "unless it is with
+my wrongs."
+
+Malvoise looked up quickly.
+
+He saw an old man with long, flowing gray hair and clothes of the
+shabbiest making his way toward him. Close behind followed a young
+woman of unusual beauty, who seemed to be endeavoring to stop the aged
+man from going further. But he was not to be restrained. In a few
+strides he was at the side of the Buzzard, and gazing with piercing
+eyes into the French aviator's face.
+
+"Well, what do you want, old man?" asked Malvoise sharply.
+
+"I want the world to know that the Buzzard is my invention, my design,
+the child of my brain from her top-plane to her landing wheels;"
+shrilled the old man, who seemed beside himself with excitement.
+
+"Father, do be calm, I beg of you," entreated the young woman.
+
+"Calm, child! how can I be calm when I realize that I have been robbed
+of the work of years by the craftiness of this old man, Barr?"
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed the Frenchman, as the old man voiced the name of his
+employer, "don't talk so loud. I know who you are now. You are Eben
+Joyce, the inventor."
+
+"Yes, I am," replied the old man in a lower voice, for he too saw that
+the more curious members of the crowd were pressing so close to them
+that every word of their conversation must have been audible. "I am
+indeed Eben Joyce, the unfortunate inventor from whom Luther Barr by
+trickery secured my working drawings and specifications for the
+Buzzard. For a paltry five hundred I sold them all to him on the
+understanding that I was to have a share in the business. There will
+be millions in it--millions in it for him, but not a cent for me; for
+the agreement that I foolishly signed contains a clause that resigns
+all my interest in the Buzzards. Fool that I was, in my lack of
+knowledge of business trickery, I did not realize what the
+cunningly-worded sentence meant till it was too late. The five hundred
+went to pay my debts, and my daughter and I now face starvation."
+
+"Well, that's none of my business," was the brutal reply. "I simply am
+here to drive the Buzzards, not to talk about them."
+
+"What!" stammered the old man, "will you have no pity on us nor even
+direct where we may find Luther Barr if he is on the grounds?"
+
+"I can't waste any time on you, I tell you," cried the Frenchman, his
+eye scanning the sky, where the Golden Eagle was maneuvering in
+circles and swoops.
+
+"Moreover," went on Malvoise, "I should not advise you to mention
+Barr's name as the manufacturer of the Buzzards. He has a business
+deal on in which it is important he should not be known as an
+aeroplane speculator. If he learns that you are giving his secrets
+away, he will make it hot for you, I can tell you. You were sent to
+Bellevue yesterday, were you not?"
+
+"I was--yes," pitifully cried the old man, "but I was at once
+released, and it was with money given me by one of the doctors who
+heard my story and pitied me that I came down here to-day to find
+Luther Barr and see whether--although in law he owes me
+nothing--whether I could not persuade him to at least give me
+something to keep the wolf from the door till I have perfected my new
+automatic balancing device for air-craft."
+
+As he spoke, the old man's eyes kindled with pride at the achievement
+he hoped to accomplish. He shook off the touch of his daughter's hand
+on his ragged coat-sleeve. In his kindling enthusiasm he seemed to
+have forgotten his cares and anxieties.
+
+"Oh, sir," he went on eagerly, "it would take very little money now
+before the invention is ready and if Mr. Barr could find it in his
+heart to help me I would gladly share the proceeds with him. It is the
+most needed improvement of the age for air-craft and--"
+
+"Oh, you are like all crazy inventors," brutally blurted out Malvoise,
+"every idea that enters your cracked brain you think is the greatest
+improvement of the age, as you say. What good would your inventions be
+anyway without money to back them up--they'd only be junk for the
+scrap pile."
+
+The old man's eyes filled with tears as the Frenchman began his rough
+speech, but the look in them changed rapidly to one of amazed anger as
+the aviator continued. Drawing himself up to his full height the old
+man seemed about to launch a terrific denunciation at the other when
+his daughter once more intervened.
+
+"Come, father," she said gently, "we shall gain nothing by remaining
+here. You have been robbed of your invention and it is evident that
+Mr. Barr means to adhere closely to what he and his like call business
+methods. Come, let us get back to the city and--"
+
+Her words were cut short by a shout from Malvoise. He started up his
+engine suddenly and before the old man could step back out of the way,
+the helpers, taken by surprise, let go of the rear structure to which
+they had been clinging.
+
+"Out of my way!" yelled Malvoise, as like some huge juggernaut the
+black aeroplane bore down on old Eben Joyce. But the warning came too
+late.
+
+A horrified cry of:
+
+"He's killed!" went up from the crowd, as the end of one of the planes
+struck the old man and knocked him on to the grass with crashing
+force.
+
+His daughter shrieked aloud as she saw the accident and rushed to her
+father's side as the Buzzard swept on.
+
+Old Mr. Joyce lay very still. There was a deep gash in his head where
+the aeroplane had struck him.
+
+In the midst of the excitement there fell over the crowd a dark
+shadow. Everybody looked up to see what had caused it, and there,
+right above them, was the Golden Eagle. Frank had seen the crowd and
+driven the aeroplane above it to see what was the matter.
+
+The next minute the great aeroplane glided groundward and landed
+within a few feet of the crowd. The press made way as the Eagle's
+occupants hastened to the side of the wounded man.
+
+"Here, Harry, here, Billy, carry him to our shed and lay him on one of
+the cots," commanded Frank. "I'll tell Le Blanc to get on his motor
+cycle and hurry back with a doctor."
+
+The boys picked the unconscious man up and carried him to the Golden
+Eagle's shed. His pitiful emaciation made their task an easy one. The
+unfortunate old man was reduced almost to a skeleton.
+
+"Oh, thank you so much, sir," exclaimed Eben Joyce's daughter,
+clasping her hands gratefully, you--you don't think that he is badly
+hurt, do you?"
+
+"Why, he has a nasty cut," replied Frank, who had hastily examined it,
+"but I think it is only a flesh wound. He'll pull through, never fear.
+You are a relative of his, miss?"
+
+"I am his daughter," exclaimed the girl.
+
+At this moment, Malvoise, who had checked the Buzzard and dismounted,
+hastened up. His face was livid and his hands shook as though with
+palsy.
+
+"It was an accident--it was all an accident," he cried. "I didn't mean
+to. Is--is he dead?"
+
+"He is not,--and he is not likely to die," sternly replied Frank,
+looking full into the Frenchman's cringing face, "do you know who he
+is?"
+
+"Do I know who he is?" repeated the Frenchman slowly, "why, no,
+monsieur, I never saw him before in my life."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A STRANGE STORY.
+
+
+It was not long before, under the friendly administrations of the
+boys, Old Eben Joyce opened his eyes on a cot in their aerodrome and
+gave a long sigh. It was several minutes, however, before he realized
+what had happened.
+
+"How can I thank you--?" he concluded, after he had informed the boys
+of his name and profession.
+
+"Hush," said Frank, "you must not exhaust yourself by talking now,"
+and the aged inventor remained silent therefore, till Le Blanc
+returned with a doctor from Mineola.
+
+The physician, after a brief examination, pronounced that the wound in
+the old man's head was not at all serious, but recommended his removal
+to the hospital notwithstanding.
+
+"It is nothing more than a flesh wound," he said, "but at the hospital
+he can get better treatment than at home."
+
+And so it was arranged that for the present old Eben Joyce was to go
+to the hospital,--being driven thither in Dr. Telfair's rig,--and that
+his daughter would return to New York and make her home with relatives
+till such time as her father had recovered. These arrangements made,
+and the inventor's daughter having being driven to the train, it was
+time to think of accompanying Billy Barnes to Bluewater Bill's
+cottage, on the outskirts of the little town.
+
+Just as the lads were about to take their departure, leaving Le Blanc
+in charge of the aeroplane, Sanborn made his way into the tent shed.
+He had heard from loungers about the grounds of the plight of aged
+Eben Joyce as he returned from his ride in Luther Barr's car. He was
+somewhat perturbed as he entered the shed for fear that he would have
+to face the inventor, fresh as he was from an interview with the man
+that had practically robbed the aerial genius of his life-work. But
+Eben Joyce and his daughter had both left and he had no more of an
+ordeal to undergo than Frank's searching glance.
+
+Knowing as he did what he had been talking to old Luther Barr about,
+Sanborn's eyes dropped as he met Frank's gaze.
+
+"I--I have been to the village for a little tobacco," he stammered, "I
+hope you have not needed me. I did not think you would be back so
+soon."
+
+"You had better help Le Blanc bring in the Golden Eagle," rejoined
+Frank shortly. He felt no wish to enter into an argument with the man
+whom he had already made up his mind to discharge at the first
+opportunity.
+
+The two mechanics therefore were soon at work, wheeling in the
+aeroplane, as the boys trudged off down the road to the village.
+Half-way there they were startled to hear the loud "honk-honk" of a
+rapidly approaching auto behind them and to be hailed in an imperious
+voice that shouted:
+
+"Get off the road!"
+
+The boys had no choice but to step nimbly aside as the car whizzed by
+in a cloud of dust, but quick as had been its passing, Frank and Harry
+gave a simultaneous sharp exclamation as they both recognized the face
+of its occupant. Luther Barr, once clear of the grounds, had removed
+his uncomfortably warm autoing mask and the two lads, as the car
+vanished in a cloud of yellow dust, both cried out his name in sharp
+astonishment.
+
+"Whatever can he be doing here?" exclaimed Billy.
+
+"I don't know; but you can depend on it he is up to no good," was
+Frank's reply.
+
+"The old fox,--I wonder if he recognized us?" cried Harry.
+
+"If his eyes are as keen as they used to be, he did, without a
+question," rejoined Frank.
+
+The boy was right. Old Barr had recognized them, and knew them all the
+more readily indeed for the reason that at that very moment his mind
+was bent on frustrating a plan that Sanborn had informed him the boys
+had in mind, and which they were on their way to culminate.
+
+"I'll bet, if he knew what we are on our way to talk over, he'd give a
+few dollars to be present at the conversation," remarked Billy.
+
+"You may well say that," laughed Frank, "anything that there seems to
+be a dollar in, is old Luther Barr's highest ideal."
+
+By this time they had passed through the village and, after walking
+about half a mile down a country road, they emerged on a green,
+park-like meadow, at the further side of which stood a neat cottage.
+Portions of a whale's huge bones dotted either side of the path as
+ornaments, and in front of the cottage stood a flagpole from which
+fluttered the Stars and Stripes. The cottage was painted white and was
+as neat and ship-shape as the quarterdeck of a man-of-war.
+
+As they walked up the path the door opened and a grizzled face, set in
+a perfect forest of white whiskers, protruded itself with a smile of
+welcome.
+
+"Hello, boys--welcome to my cuddy," cried Blue-water Bill's hearty
+voice. "I've a fine dish of lobscouse, a raisin pie and some cider
+from Farmer Goggins's press all ready for you. Come in--come in."
+
+He ushered them into a small sitting-room, furnished with all sorts of
+sea curiosities, and, after explaining several of the curios to the
+boys, he announced, following an interval of visiting in the kitchen,
+from whence proceeded an appetizing odor, that the meal was ready. The
+boys were nothing loath to fall to on the sea banquet the old salt
+spread before them, and so busy were they despatching the sailor's
+cooking, that it was not till after they concluded the meal and
+Bluewater Bill had his old brier pipe going that they came down to the
+discussion of what each of the boys had uppermost in his mind--namely,
+the history of Bluewater Bill's discovery of the lost treasure galleon
+of the Sargasso Sea.
+
+As for Bluewater Bill he was delighted to spin his yarn to such
+sympathetic listeners and told it with so much embroidery and
+discursive oratory that to repeat it in his words would be tedious. We
+shall therefore condense it as follows:
+
+Bluewater Bill had been mate on the Bath, Me., barque, Eleanor Jones.
+They were bound for South America with a cargo of chemicals and
+assorted canned stuffs. From the first day out misfortune assailed the
+vessel. She encountered heavy weather and, during a towering climax of
+the storm, part of her deck load of American lumber fetched away and
+carried with it three of her crew of ten men. Shortly after that the
+cook's big copper boiler ripped loose and fell on him, scalding him so
+badly that when the ship finally emerged from her storm-battering he
+died and was buried at sea.
+
+The captain of the craft, however, was what Bluewater Bill termed "a
+masterful man." Despite the urgent entreaties of his depleted crew to
+put into some port and refit, he kept on, with favoring breezes, and
+soon entered what are called the "doldrums" in which fierce hurricanes
+alternate with periods of dead flat calm in which a ship will float on
+a rippleless sea "as idle as a painted craft upon a painted ocean."
+The Eleanor Jones drifted about in one of these flat, hopeless calms
+till the pitch boiled in her seams and the sails seemed dried to
+tinder.
+
+After a week of this, without the slightest warning, one of the sudden
+storms, that are common to the region in which she was navigating,
+came up.
+
+"Caught aback," as they were, with all canvas set in the hope of
+catching what breeze might come to disturb the flat calm, the Eleanor
+Jones' main and fore masts were ripped out of her as if by a giant's
+hand. The crew managed to cut the wreckage away before it had pounded
+a hole in her side, and with what canvas they could set on the mizzen
+the captain attempted to drive her before the wind. But naturally
+enough the ship had no steerage-way and simply revolved in the huge
+seas.
+
+Every time a comber caught her broadside, the water swept over her
+decks in tons of overwhelming fluid. As they fought desperately to
+retain footing, under the constant assaults of the waves, there came a
+sudden cry of:
+
+"Heaven help us!"
+
+More from instinct than anything else Bluewater Bill cast himself flat
+on his face, clinging to a ring-bolt in the deck. Dazed and almost
+senseless, he felt the mighty onslaught of the wave, which, strong as
+was his grip, plucked him from his hold and sent him tumbling and half
+drowned into the lee scuppers. Fortunately he managed to get a firm
+grip on the mizzen shrouds and clung there till the wave had passed.
+As he staggered to his feet he gazed about him on the seemingly doomed
+ship.
+
+He was alone.
+
+Every soul on board but himself had been swept from the deck by that
+mighty mass of water.
+
+For two days the storm tossed the ship about like a plaything. Her
+lone voyager had no means of knowing whither he was being driven. He
+ate at times mechanically and scarcely emerged on deck at all. The
+fear of sharing the fate of his comrades possessed him and he remained
+in the cabin, not knowing from one minute to the next whether the
+succeeding instant would not prove his last. At last, however, the
+storm blew itself out and Bluewater Bill ventured on deck.
+
+What a sight met his gaze!
+
+At first he thought he was dreaming.
+
+All about him for miles--as far as he could see in fact--stretched a
+gently-heaving, brown expanse. It looked like a vast prairie. From it
+rose the sharp, pungent odor peculiar to seaweed and the old mariner
+had no difficulty in recognizing the stunning fact that he was adrift
+in the Sargasso Sea of which he had heard so many ominous tales.
+
+The realization was a shocking one. It meant, as he knew, that he was
+to all intents and purposes a doomed man. Despairingly he gazed about
+him and almost uttered a shout as at a distance of not more than a
+mile or two he made out the outlines of a queer-looking three-masted
+ship. Here at least was company. Obtaining the glasses, which the
+ill-fated skipper had left in his cabin, the mate of the Eleanor Jones
+scanned the neighbor vessel eagerly. She was as motionless under the
+cloudless blue dome of the sky as the ship on which he stood.
+
+But she seemed to have men on board of her.
+
+At least there were figures leaning against her rail.
+
+The castaway lost no time in lowering the one boat that had not been
+smashed and sliding down the "falls" into her. Then he sculled, not
+without difficulty, through tangled weed to the side of the strange
+vessel. But a strange sight met his eyes as he drew nearer. His
+neighbor in the vast entangling expanse was a high-sided craft with
+great ports, of which one or two had fallen away, revealing the
+grinning muzzles of great guns. Her sails hung in torn fragments from
+her square yards, and on her lofty poop the gilding had faded from
+three big battle-lanterns and the carved scroll work surrounded her
+name, El Buena Ventura. (The Fortunate Venture.)
+
+But the men leaning over the side?
+
+Alas for poor Bluewater Bill's hopes of human companionship.
+
+It was many long years since they had been men, and it was a dozen or
+more grinning skeletons in time-tattered garments that gazed over the
+galleon's faded side at the lone castaway in his cockle-shell. How
+they had died, the sailor, even after he had clambered on board, could
+make no guess; but there they stood, a ghastly row of dead sailors,
+held upright, as they had died, between the big gun-carriages of the
+lost galleon's deck carronades.
+
+Whatever Bluewater Bill's failings might have been, he was no faint
+heart, and despite the shock of the gruesome discovery he continued
+his investigation of the silent ship. Apparently some attempt had been
+made when first the Buena Ventura was caught in the deadly embrace of
+the Sargasso to convey her treasure to the boats, for, at the head of
+the main companion-way, Bluewater Bill found a chest of antique
+pattern, the lid of which he ripped open without much opposition from
+the moldering lock.
+
+He staggered back at the sight that greeted him as the lid fell open.
+Within the chest were gold pieces, jeweled candlesticks and other
+costly articles. A score of other chests examined by the castaway, in
+what had evidently been the officers' cabin, yielded like discoveries.
+
+The galleon was a veritable treasure ship.
+
+The castaway was examining a marine candlestick that fairly blazed
+with its setting of precious stones when he dropped it with a crash.
+
+A hoarse cry from outside the cabin had caused his scalp to tighten
+and his heart to start pounding like a trip-hammer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE GOLDEN GALLEON.
+
+
+With his seaman's knife drawn ready for action--the badly-scared
+sailor rushed out on to the deck prepared to sell his existence
+dearly. To his amazement the deck was empty of all life, however.
+
+Suddenly the hoarse cry sounded again, and this time he located its
+source correctly. Seated on the crumbling maintop of the ship was a
+huge, evil-looking bird of the kind called "Gallinazos" in South
+America. The carrion creature eyed the newcomer with a red malevolent
+eye and again gave voice to its harsh croak--the sound that had so
+startled him at its first utterance.
+
+"Ah, you old death bird, so you think you are going to get me, do
+you?" shouted the indignant castaway, as the bird looked at him with
+unpleasant anticipation.
+
+"Well, you're not. Not if I have to shoot you."
+
+With a heavy flop of its wings the carrion bird soared slowly away
+toward the west as the sailor fairly shouted his defiance.
+
+"Ah, my fine fellow," cried Bill to himself, "you have given me
+renewed hope. I know that birds of your feather are good strong
+flyers, but you've got to light somewhere. I judge from the fact that
+you came visiting here that I can't be more than two hundred miles
+from land--maybe not so much."
+
+The thought was a cheering one and as the sailor, having filled his
+pockets with doubloons and other coins, and given the dead men a
+sea-burial by consigning them to the deep, sculled slowly back to the
+Eleanor Jones, his mind was busy with plans of escape.
+
+Now it chanced that among the cargo carried by the barque was a small
+launch intended for the use of a plantation owner in South America.
+Bill recollected it with peculiar vividness on account of the peculiar
+shape of its propeller, which he could see through the crate that
+surrounded it when it was hoisted on board. He had asked the
+manufacturer's representative, who had superintended the loading of
+the motorboat at Bath, why the wheel was shaped in such a queer way.
+He recollected the answer now with joy, for he had conceived a daring
+plan.
+
+"Why, Mr. Mate," the manufacturer's representative had replied to his
+query, "that's what we call a weedless wheel. That is, it is specially
+designed for service in South American rivers of shallow draught where
+an ordinary propeller would soon get entangled in the weeds and water
+plants and stop. We guarantee this wheel to go through any tangle,
+just as an eel would."
+
+"To go through any tangle."
+
+The words sang in Bill's brain.
+
+Why couldn't he get out of the Sargasso seaweed tangle in the little
+sixteen-foot craft?
+
+"At least, it is better than waiting here for a horrible death," he
+reasoned to himself.
+
+After a hasty meal in the lonely galley, Bluewater Bill set to work to
+uncrate the little launch. Fortunately for his purpose the Eleanor
+Jones had been fitted, in common with many modern sailing vessels,
+with a "donkey engine" for trimming the heavy sails and hoisting
+cargo, which was operated by a gasolene engine. Several cans of
+gasolene formed part of the engine's equipment. This solved the
+problem of fuel and for the rest--though Bill had never run a
+launch--the manufacturer's directions seemed explicit enough. These
+directions Bill discovered stored away in a locker of the tiny craft.
+He spent the rest of the day reading them carefully and going over
+every part of the engine till he had familiarized himself with the
+function of each.
+
+After a good night's rest, the next day he set about laying in a stock
+of provisions and filling several kegs with water from the ship's
+tanks. This done, and the little vessel's gasolene receptacle filled
+and her lubricating devices furnished from the supply intended for
+oiling the "donkey engine" of the Jones, Bill was ready to start.
+Ready, that is, except for the fact that as yet he had not considered
+how he was going to get the launch over the side.
+
+For a time this seemed an insurmountable problem, but Bill had all the
+ingenuity of a sailor. With a small "jack" he tilted first one end of
+the launch and then the other and passed slings under it. Then he
+rigged a block and tackle to the mizzen-mast, and heaved on it till he
+had dragged the launch along the deck on rollers, made by sawing a
+spare spar into lengths, and hoisted it up on the poop deck. Then,
+detaching his tackle from the mast, he swung the boom overside with
+his tackle attached to its outer end. The end of the tackle was once
+more made fast to the slings supporting the launch and Bill attached
+another rope to her which was then belayed around the mast, in order
+to prevent the little craft swinging out to the end of the boom as
+soon as he raised her a few feet from the deck. This done, he hauled
+away on his tackle till the tiny motor-boat swung free. Then he made
+fast his tackle on a belaying-pin and gently paid out the restraining
+rope he had fastened round the mast till the launch swung at the end
+of the boom suspended twenty feet in the air. It was then an easy task
+to lower her with the block and tackle till she floated on the water.
+
+Bill swarmed out on the boom and cut loose the tackles, and soon had
+the launch snuggled alongside the Eleanor Jones. He then proceeded to
+stock her with food and water he had made ready, and in addition
+strapped round his waist the captain's revolver which he had found in
+the cabin. These preparations concluded he was ready to cast off. His
+eye had taken in, during the brief period he had been in the Sargasso,
+that while it appeared to be at a casual glance simply a wide expanse
+of weed, in reality there were "water-lanes" in it which were clear of
+the entanglement. Bill resolved to follow these passages wherever
+practicable.
+
+"The longest way round may be the shortest way out," he told himself.
+
+He soon had the small three-horse engine going, following to the
+letter the instructions set forth in the book of directions he had
+found.
+
+It was with a light heart that he steered his tiny craft from the side
+of the imprisoned Eleanor Jones,
+
+"Good-bye, old ship," he exclaimed, as he headed his craft toward the
+west--the direction in which the gallinazo had flown and in which he
+judged land must lie.
+
+To his delight the patent wheel worked perfectly. Occasionally, it is
+true, Bill was compelled to stop the engine and, leaning over the
+stern, clear it of the few weeds that clung to it with a boat-hook he
+had brought for the purpose, but otherwise it answered every claim of
+its makers, that it could not be checked by even the densest tangle.
+
+As the sun set and darkness closed in, Bill noticed, to his
+gratification, that the weed seemed to be thinning out and that the
+water-lanes grew more and more frequent.
+
+He made a hasty meal off the provisions he had brought with him and,
+after a long period spent in trying to keep his eyes open, he was fain
+to lie down on the bottom of the launch and, with the engine shutoff,
+drift through the blackness till daylight. He awoke with a start. The
+launch was tossing about wildly and an occasional shower of spray flew
+over her side.
+
+She had cleared the Sargasso and was in the open sea at last.
+
+Bill started up the engine as soon as he got the sleep out of his
+eyes, and tossing the spume from her bow the little craft fairly
+leaped through the tumbling waters. But Bill soon saw that if she was
+to handle in such a sea he would have to reduce speed or risk getting
+swamped. He therefore throttled down the engine and rigged a tarpaulin
+over the bow to keep out the wave crests, part of which came tumbling
+aboard.
+
+"If it freshens I don't stand much of a chance to get out alive,"
+mused the sailor, as he sat in the stern of his cockle-shell, with
+only a frail bottom of half-inch planking between him and the floor of
+the sea.
+
+The launch in fact, while a staunch little craft, was better adapted
+for lake or river navigation than as a sea-goer.
+
+"However, I might as well keep on as stay still," mused the
+philosophical Bill, baling out the water that now came tumbling aboard
+in far too great quantities to render the situation a pleasant one. So
+the day passed and it was not till the next morning, after an
+exhausting night of constant terror that the launch was about to sink,
+that Bill saw the smoke of a distant steamer as he rose on a wave
+crest.
+
+Would her officers see him?
+
+That was the question that agitated his mind as he waved frantically
+while she drew nearer and he saw that she was one of the crack liners
+of the Central American Trading Company. As she raced through the
+water a great "Bone" of white spray was sent out from each side of her
+keen cutwater. A volume of thick black smoke rolled from her yellow
+funnels. She would have made a fine sight to any one less in fear of
+his life than Bluewater Bill.
+
+Till she was within half-a-mile of him it seemed the big craft was
+going to pass him by, but suddenly, to his joy, Bill saw her change
+her course and bear down for him. As she drew nearer, rolling mightily
+in the high sea, a man on the bridge hailed him in stentorian tones
+through a megaphone.
+
+"Ahoy! what lunatic are you?"
+
+"Bluewater Bill of the Eleanor Jones of Bath,--castaway," yelled back
+the drifter in the launch, who had by this time shut off his engine.
+
+"We'll stand by and lower a boat," was the next hail and soon Bill was
+on his way aboard the Yucatan--for that was the vessel's name--and the
+tiny launch, which had been the means of saving his life and almost of
+his losing it, was tossing far astern.
+
+But Bill, perilous as his position was until he was actually in the
+Yucatan's lifeboat, had not lost his presence of mind. He realized in
+a flash that a castway with a pocket full of gold would be an object
+of suspicion and he had his own reasons for not wanting to tell how he
+had obtained it, so, before the ship's boat reached the launch the old
+mariner emptied his pockets of their golden freight and sent the coins
+tumbling into the sea. He retained only the one piece that he had
+loaned to Billy Barnes as an evidence of his good faith.
+
+"And now, boys," concluded the old mariner, "what do you think of my
+story?"
+
+"Why, it's the most marvelous thing I ever heard of!" exclaimed Frank.
+
+"But do you think it is TRUE? You believe me?"
+
+"We certainly do," chorused both the boys, much impressed by the old
+salt's narration.
+
+"Well, the only problem is to get to the galleon," resumed Bill.
+
+"That would be easy in the Golden Eagle," was Frank's quiet rejoinder.
+"She could be fitted with aluminum pontoons, and, with a propeller
+device installed, we could start her upward from the water as easily
+as from the land."
+
+"By the Lord High Admiral's slippers!--do you think you could, lads?"
+exclaimed the old mariner in great excitement.
+
+"I am certain of it," was the quiet rejoinder.
+
+"Boys, there's enough gold there to make us all millionaires."
+
+"Hardly enough for that, I should think," smiled Frank, "but at least
+it is worth trying for. What do you say, boys, shall we make a dash
+for the golden galleon?"
+
+"Will we? Why, Frank, if you'll lead the way we'll follow all right,"
+cried Billy, wild with excitement at the notion.
+
+Hastily the eager group sketched out the rough details of the
+expedition and it was agreed that the boys should start on their
+treasure quest immediately after the cup race--provided they could
+obtain their father's permission.
+
+"Hurray for the treasure of the Sargasso!" shouted Billy, throwing up
+his hat and catching it again and almost upsetting the lamp in his
+enthusiasm.
+
+But his excitement received a sudden check.
+
+A man was racing by the house on a galloping horse and as he tore
+along he shouted the alarming cry of:
+
+"Fire! fire! fire!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A FIRE ALARM BY AEROPLANE.
+
+
+They all raced out of the house and soon saw that the fire was some
+distance off. The glare of the flames spread redly on the sky and
+illuminated the low hanging clouds till they glowed like red-hot
+coals. It was evidently a fierce blaze.
+
+"It's Farmer Goggins's place!" announced Bluewater Bill as he noted
+the direction of the glow.
+
+"That's just beyond the aviation grounds," cried Harry. "I know,
+because old Schmidt fell into a field, with a bull in it there, one
+afternoon and his Green Grasshopper was nearly broken up."
+
+"Come on, boys; I'll get out my little mare and we'll drive over
+there," shouted Bill.
+
+In a few minutes the horse was hitched to Bill's old carryall and, the
+boys piling in, they drove rapidly off. As they passed through the
+gate in Bill's neat fence, the carriage lamp they carried suddenly
+flashed on a dark figure that the next minute was obliterated in the
+darkness.
+
+"Hello, somebody skulking around here," shouted Bill, drawing up his
+horse almost on her haunches.
+
+"Hey there, come out and show yourself!"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"I'll make it hot for you, my hearty, if I find you," shouted Bill. He
+leaped out of the rig and after entering the house returned with a
+revolver.
+
+"Go on, boys, you drive to the fire and then send the buggy back by a
+boy. I'm going to find who that fellow was."
+
+"Somehow, even in the second I saw him, he seemed a familiar figure to
+me," exclaimed Harry.
+
+"Who could it have been?" wondered Frank.
+
+"Oh, some no-good hobo," replied Bill. "If I catch him, I'll teach him
+to come snooping around folks' houses this Way."
+
+"I hope he didn't overhear our conversation about the galleon,"
+suddenly exclaimed Frank, who had been struck by a sudden apprehension
+that perhaps this was no ordinary loafer or burglar, but some man who
+had got wind of Bill's discovery and meant to turn his find to
+advantage.
+
+"By jumping rat-tailed land-sharks, I never thought of that,"
+exclaimed Bill. "Why, any one that knew our secret could sell it for a
+large sum."
+
+"That's so," agreed the boys; "but perhaps it was only a tramp and we
+are scaring ourselves unnecessarily."
+
+"I hope so, I'm sure," rejoined the old sailor, "but now, boys, you
+drive on. You may manage to be of help at the fire."
+
+"Won't you come, Bill?" asked Frank.
+
+"No, thank you, lad, I'll stay here and guard my shanty. That feller
+may hev been after some of my dried shark or stuffed land-crabs. I
+wouldn't put it by him to steal that picture of the schooner, Boston
+Girl, in a heavy blow off Hatteras. That's a real work of art, boys."
+
+As the boys drove off they heard the old man grunting and grumbling
+and poking about among the bushes in search for the intruder.
+
+"I don't envy that fellow whoever he is, if Bill catches him,"
+remarked Frank, as he urged the old sailor's little horse along.
+
+"Nor I," laughed Billy; "but depend upon it he is a long way off by
+this time."
+
+As they drew near the aviation grounds, the boys saw that the fire was
+indeed a serious one.
+
+Everything in the vicinity was lit up as bright as day by the glow,
+and they passed scores of men, women and children from the village,
+all hastening along the road to the scene of the conflagration.
+
+Farmer Goggins's place was a large one, and as they reached the
+orchard which surrounded the house the boys saw that a big barn at the
+rear of the dwelling-house was in flames and that two smaller
+structures had already gone. Men and boys were leading out horses and
+driving cows from adjoining sheds.
+
+"The whole place is going!" the boys heard a man say as they drove up.
+
+And indeed it looked so.
+
+The flames, fanned by a brisk breeze, were roaring through the ancient
+timbers, devouring them eagerly. Farmer Goggins and his family,
+wringing their hands despairingly, gazed at the scene.
+
+"Where is the fire brigade?" shouted some one.
+
+"They started out but they've broken down on the road," came back the
+reply. "They won't get here before the entire farm is destroyed."
+
+"What's that?" cried Farmer Goggins, near whom the speaker had been
+standing. "The fire department's broken down. Then I am a ruined man.
+The barns that are burned I used for hay and though my loss is heavy I
+can stand it, but if the fire spreads it will burn down my dairy plant
+and destroy my home."
+
+"Is there no other fire department near?" asked Frank.
+
+"No, none nearer than Westbury," was the reply.
+
+"Why don't you telephone for them?"
+
+"We have tried to but, as luck would have it, there is something the
+matter with the wire and we cannot raise the Westbury exchange at
+all."
+
+"If only the Westbury department could be notified they might still
+get here in time to save the house," cried another onlooker, "they've
+got an automobile fire-engine that just eats up the road."
+
+"That's so, but how are you going to get them. It's fifteen miles away
+and a horse couldn't do it in less than an hour and a quarter."
+
+"How about an auto?"
+
+"Even if they was one handy, the roads are too bad, except for a
+high-powered car."
+
+"I have it," shouted Frank suddenly. "I'll get the engines and try to
+hurry them here in time to save the house at least."
+
+"How's that, young feller?" asked Farmer Goggins, who had stepped up.
+"Say that again."
+
+"I said I'll get the engines for you and in jig time too," cried the
+boy.
+
+"Don't see how."
+
+"Well I do; watch me."
+
+Leaving the horse in charge of a lad and calling on the others to
+"come on," Frank, with his brother and Billy, raced toward the Golden
+Eagle's shed.
+
+Most of the crowd followed them.
+
+"He's one of them flying kids," shouted a man.
+
+"He's never goin' ter fly ter Westbury ter-night. It's as black as yer
+hat."
+
+"Looks like he's going ter try," was the answer as the boys trundled
+the Golden Eagle out of her stable.
+
+And this was indeed the lad's intention.
+
+It was the work of a minute to test the gasolene tank and rapidly see
+that the engine was in running order.
+
+"How can we tell when we strike Westbury?" asked Frank, as he and his
+brother clambered into the machine. Billy Barnes, it had been settled,
+was to wait at the aerodrome in order to save weight.
+
+"Why, there's two red lights at the railroad crossing there and the
+village is just beyond," cried Farmer Goggins; "but, boys, don't risk
+your necks on my account."
+
+"Oh, we are not risking our necks," laughed Frank reassuringly; "but,
+tell me, is there a good meadow or a bit of flat land there to light
+on?"
+
+"The whole ground just beyond the red lights at the crossing is as
+flat as the back of your hand and unfenced," was the reassuring reply,
+"it is used for a circus and show ground. It will make a good place
+for you to light."
+
+"All right," cried Frank, "that's all I wanted to know. Now then,
+Harry, are you ready?"
+
+"All right here," answered the boy.
+
+"Then let her go."
+
+The propeller roared and as the craft sped forward, with a warning
+shout from Frank that scattered the crowd like chaff, the lad threw on
+the searchlight which had been rapidly adjusted as the plane was
+wheeled out.
+
+A dazzling shaft of white light cut the darkness ahead of the Golden
+Eagle, as on her wings, tinted crimson by the glare of the fire, she
+rose into the night.
+
+Frank headed her for the direction in which he knew Westbury lay, and
+gradually increased the speed till the craft, her great single eye
+shining like some strange star, was skimming above the sleeping
+countryside.
+
+Far behind them, the cheer that had greeted the boys' rising died out
+and the glow, too, faded as they dashed along.
+
+It seemed almost no time at all before beneath them they heard the
+roar of a train, and as it dashed by far below the two red lights of
+the crossing were sighted.
+
+"Now for taking a chance," laughed Frank, as he set the descending
+blades and the Golden Eagle glided downward. It was "taking a chance,"
+indeed, and the slightest mishap might have resulted in a catastrophe.
+
+However, Farmer Goggins's directions turned out to be quite correct
+and the aeroplane landed perfectly in a big field, as smooth as a
+board, only a few minutes after she had left the scene of the fire.
+
+As she struck the ground there was a wild yell from down by the
+railroad tracks and the boys saw the old switchman on watch there dart
+out of his tiny hut and dash down the road shrieking:
+
+"Robbers! Murder! Ghosts!" at the top of his voice.
+
+"Hi, there! come back," shouted Frank, "we won't hurt you."
+
+At the sound of a human voice the old man checked his mad career and
+tremblingly approached.
+
+"Gee! you 'most scared me to death," he said, as the boys stepped
+forward into the glare cast by the searchlight and stood revealed as
+two human boys and no spirits of the air, such as the old man had
+imagined they were, when they first alighted.
+
+"Say, who are ye, anyway, and what are ye doing round here in that
+sky-buggy?"
+
+"We have come to summon help from the Westbury fire department," said
+Frank, "can you direct us to the headquarters?"
+
+"Sure, right up the street about six blocks."
+
+"Good. Is there any one on watch?"
+
+"Sure, some of the boys sleep there every night."
+
+"Is it a good engine?"
+
+"None better. She's an automobile engine. Goes sky-hooting 'long like
+a joy-rider. Just got her two weeks ago. Cost ten thousand dollars."
+
+Leaving the garrulous old man to examine the Golden Eagle with
+timorous interest, the two boys ran at top speed down the street till
+they reached a building surmounted by a high tower and with a small
+red light burning over the door.
+
+Frank seized the rope that dangled at one side of the portal and,
+rightly surmising that it was placed there to summon the firemen on
+duty, gave it a tug. The clamor that followed was startling. The rope
+was connected with a big bell in the tower, and as its clamor rang out
+several heads were poked out of an upper window.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried a voice.
+
+"Big fire--Goggins's farm--Mineola fire department bust up--hurry,"
+cried Frank all in a breath.
+
+"All right, we'll be on the job in ten minutes," cried the voice, and
+in a short time the big doors of the fire-house were flung open and
+lights switched on.
+
+The Westbury fire-engine was the cause of just pride to its operators.
+It was a new type auto-engine and capable of making a speed of fifty
+miles an hour. While several men and boys, aroused by the clamor of
+the big bell, summoned the men who were sleeping away from the
+fire-house, the others got the engine going. Soon puffing and chugging
+like some fiery-eyed monster, the racing fire-fighter was ready to
+start.
+
+"You know the road?" asked Frank.
+
+"As well as I do my own face," was the merry reply of the chief.
+
+"Suppose you fellers will follow in your buggy," yelled the chief as
+the auto-engine started on its dash.
+
+"We didn't come in a buggy," shouted back Frank.
+
+"Auto then?"
+
+"No."
+
+"S'pose you flew," sarcastically cried the man on the engine.
+
+"That's what."
+
+"Gee-whiz," was all that was audible of the amazed fireman's reply as
+the big engine whizzed off.
+
+Frank's assertion called for some explanation to the crowd of
+bystanders, and after he had given an account of their trip most of
+the crowd that had got out of bed at the summons of the fire-bell
+accompanied them to the meadow where the old watchman was still eyeing
+the Golden Eagle with suspicion. So closely did the curious crowd
+press about that it was some time before the boys were once more
+aboard their craft and in the air.
+
+Fifteen minutes later they were receiving the congratulations and
+thanks of the crowd and Farmer Goggins, for, thanks to the timely
+summons of the air-ship, the auto fire-engine had made the run in time
+to save the most valuable of the buildings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+NEARLY OUT OF THE RACE.
+
+
+The day of the big race in which the various air-craft had been
+entered dawned fair and cloudless. There was not a breath of wind and
+the conditions seemed propitious for making ideal flights.
+
+The big crowds that early thronged the grounds thought so too. They
+strolled about, poking their heads into various sheds and making
+conditions almost unbearable for the various flying-men who were
+busily preparing their machines within.
+
+A band had been engaged and was blaring away at popular tunes. All the
+aerodromes were draped with flags, and bunting of all kinds made the
+grounds gay indeed.
+
+But the gayety did not extend inside the boys' aerodrome where, in
+fact, dismay reigned.
+
+To explain its cause we must go back a little and recount some
+happenings of the preceding night.
+
+While the boys and Le Blanc had been sound asleep, the figure of
+Sanborn had upraised itself from his cot and quietly sneaked over to
+the aeroplane. Softly he worked with a wrench and screw-driver for
+some time, and then with an exclamation of:
+
+"That will fix you," he had softly tiptoed out of the tent carrying
+the detached main guiding lever of the ship. He rapidly traversed the
+deserted aviation grounds and flung the important part of the
+air-craft's mechanism into a clump of bushes. Thus did Sanborn carry
+out his promise to Malvoise and Luther Barr to cripple the Golden
+Eagle.
+
+"There, that's done," he said, with an evil sneer, "and now I'll make
+myself scarce. I came too near to being caught by that whiskered old
+Apache, Bluewater Bill, the other night, to make it healthy for me
+round here when it is discovered that the lever is gone. However, I
+managed to overhear all the details of the treasure galleon and if old
+man Barr doesn't make the knowledge worth my while he's not so greedy
+after gold as I thought he was."
+
+Thus musing, Sanford walked rapidly off in the direction of the
+village.
+
+When the boys awoke on the eventful day, naturally their first
+thoughts were of the machine in which they hoped so ardently to win
+the aviation trophy. Their dismay may be better imagined than put into
+words when they discovered their loss.
+
+"It puts us out of the race," was Harry's despairing cry.
+
+"We can never replace it by two o'clock, the time set for the start,"
+was Frank's despairing exclamation.
+
+Suddenly they realized that Sanborn also was missing. Like a flash
+Frank realized that it must have been their mechanic who had done the
+damage. It would have been impossible for any one to enter the shed
+from the outside without leaving traces, as the lock was on the
+interior of the door.
+
+Le Blanc raged round the shed like a wild man. It would have fared ill
+with Sanborn had he fallen into the hands of the Frenchman just then.
+Le Blanc regarded the Golden Eagle like his own child and his rage
+would have been comic from the antics it made him perform if the
+situation had not been so serious.
+
+What was to be done?
+
+Frank tried device after device in his anxiety to provide a substitute
+lever, but they all proved too frail. It was impossible to get a
+duplicate at such short notice, as the levers were especially made for
+the Golden Eagle.
+
+"Well, boys, it looks as if we will have to disqualify," finally
+pronounced Frank, after his fifth endeavor at a substitute lever had
+broken off short when a strain was placed on it.
+
+"I wish I could get hold of that fellow for just five minutes,"
+groaned Harry.
+
+"I was foolish not to discharge him when I made up my mind to do so,"
+rejoined Frank. "I felt all along that the fellow was a scoundrel."
+
+Bluewater Bill had entered the shed while the boys were discussing the
+situation and Le Blanc was tearing his hair. He was soon made
+acquainted with what had happened.
+
+"Say," he said finally after due consideration, "that was a pretty
+heavy lever, wasn't it, boys?"
+
+"Yes," was the reply.
+
+"Then he didn't carry it very fur. This fellow Sandboy, I mean."
+
+"I don't suppose so," rejoined Frank.
+
+"In that case he must have hidden it somewhere."
+
+"That's true, but that doesn't put us any nearer to finding it."
+
+"Have you tried?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, then, here's what you do. Announce your loss on the grounds by
+posting a notice and offering a reward. Maybe someone will show up who
+has found it."
+
+"That's a pretty slim chance," despairingly said Frank.
+
+"Worth trying. I had a pretty slim chance when I was in that launch.
+It's slim chances that win out lots of times."
+
+"Well, perhaps, as you say, it is worth trying. Anyhow I'll write out
+a notice and post it on the outside of the shed."
+
+Frank rapidly wrote out a description of the missing aeroplane lever
+and soon it was tacked up on the door of the shed. An eager crowd
+surrounded it at once and soon a score of men and boys were searching
+over the grounds in the hope of being able to claim the reward.
+
+As the time wore on and there seemed to be no chance of their
+contesting in the race, the boys grew more and more angry at the
+thought of Sanborn's treachery.
+
+"We ought to have him locked up if we can get hold of him," was
+Harry's indignant exclamation.
+
+"That's just the trouble, that little 'if,'" put in Billy Barnes.
+"I'll bet he's a long way off by this time. What motive can he have
+had in removing the lever?"
+
+"Somebody must have put him up to the job, that's certain to my mind,"
+said Frank.
+
+"I think so, too," agreed Harry, "I have it," he cried suddenly. "I'll
+bet that fellow Malvoise is in this some way. He'd do anything to see
+us lose."
+
+"I wish we could prove it on him," sighed Frank.
+
+At this point a gray head stuck itself into the shed and the boys, as
+they recognized its possessor, shouted:
+
+"Come in, Mr. Joyce."
+
+A rapidly healing scar was all that remained of the injury that had
+sent the old man to the hospital. He had found work on the grounds and
+was fast recovering his health.
+
+"Well, I suppose you boys are going to win the cup," he said,
+smilingly, as he came in. "I had a letter from my daughter to-day in
+which she asked to be remembered to you and to convey to you her best
+wishes for your success."
+
+"Thank you," politely answered Frank, "but I am afraid we are out of
+the race."
+
+He hastily explained the loss of the lever and the old man shook his
+head sympathizingly. He examined the aeroplane carefully but was
+unable to suggest a substitute for the missing lever.
+
+"If you had been able to race, I had some advice for you," he said.
+"As I told you when you visited me at the hospital, I am the inventor
+of the Buzzard and the plans and patents were wrongfully obtained from
+me by a trick. I know the Buzzard's strong points but I also know her
+weak ones. When going at full speed she cannot steer round into the
+wind which is, I hear, one of your aeroplane's good features. Now, if
+you had gone into the race to-day, with the direction in which the
+wind is blowing, you could have outgeneraled Malvoise by forcing him
+to make such a maneuver. I would give anything to see the man who
+robbed me of my designs robbed, in his turn, of the cup."
+
+The old man clenched his fists as he spoke and his eyes shone.
+
+"If only we had the lever we might still defeat his attempt to put us
+out of the race, for I am now certain that Sanborn was bribed by him
+to deprive us of it," exclaimed Frank.
+
+At this moment a sound was heard that brought them all to their feet.
+It was a shout from the crowd which grew nearer every minute. As the
+boys ran to the door to see what could be the matter, and if the
+uproar had been induced by an accident to one of their competitors,
+they saw a sight that made their eyes dance.
+
+A small boy was laboriously dragging toward the shed the missing lever
+while the crowd pressed about him enthusiastically.
+
+"Hurray!" shouted the boys. "We'll be in the race after all."
+
+The small boy soon told of his discovery of the lever in a clump of
+bushes into which he had crawled in search of a missing ball he had
+been playing with. He did not know what it was he had found, till one
+of the crowd who had read the "Lost" notice, recollected it and told
+the lad to take his find to the Golden Eagle shed. There certainly was
+one happy soul in Mineola that day as the little fellow pranced off
+with the easiest money he had ever earned.
+
+But happier still were our young heroes, as they rapidly adjusted the
+lever and fitted their craft for the race, the starting moment for
+which was now only a brief time away.
+
+"You have never told us who that man was, Mr. Joyce," reminded Frank.
+
+"No, I have not," replied the old inventor, his excitement rising,
+"but I will tell you now. It was Luther Barr, the--"
+
+He got no further.
+
+"Luther Barr," amazedly echoed the boys, "has he gone into the
+aeroplane business?"
+
+"He has, with the fruits of my industry," exclaimed Mr. Joyce. "Do you
+know him? I imagine from your expressions that you do?"
+
+"Do we know him?" repeated Billy. "I should say we do."
+
+Frank soon appeased old Mr. Joyce's curiosity and told him of their
+experiences in Africa with Luther Barr pitted against them.
+
+"If Luther Barr intends making money out of duplicates of the Buzzard,
+that explains a whole lot of things," cried Harry, as Frank concluded.
+
+"That's right," cried Frank. "I shouldn't wonder if he's at the bottom
+of this whole business. I only wish we had the evidence against him."
+
+"Don't I too?" rejoined Harry; "but he covers up his tracks too
+cleverly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE GRASSHOPPER'S MISHAP.
+
+
+The grounds by noon were fairly alive with crowds of curious men,
+women and children, and every train brought more. They swarmed about
+the aerodromes and almost drove the mechanics and aviators crazy with
+the ridiculous questions they asked.
+
+"Oh, mister, what's that flapper for?" inquired a woman with a green
+dress and a red parasol of old Schmidt, the owner of the eccentric
+Green Grasshopper, indicating that machine's propeller.
+
+"That's to keep the flies off, madam," gravely rejoined Billy Barnes,
+who happened to be standing by, assisting Schmidt to adjust his
+planes.
+
+In the boys' aerodrome they were hard at work putting the finishing
+touches on the Golden Eagle and adjusting the lever.
+
+"I wish I knew where that fellow was. I would certainly have him
+arrested and locked where he would be out of further mischief, for the
+time being anyway," angrily exclaimed Frank, as they worked.
+
+At last all was ready and the sudden call of a bugle caused the folks
+who had brought lunches with them to hastily quit their meals in the
+shade of the trees that bordered the road and hurry out on to the
+field. They swarmed in such numbers that the judges of the course
+found it impossible to keep them back of the rows of red flags, that
+had been planted as a boundary mark, and therefore restraining ropes
+were stretched on stakes that had been hastily driven into the ground.
+This kept the throngs back effectually and gave the aviators clear
+space for their starting maneuvers.
+
+"Ta-ra-ta--Ta-ra-ta-tara--ta!"
+
+The bugle rang out once more.
+
+It was the signal for the competitors to make their appearance.
+
+From every shed on the grounds there issued strange birdlike air-craft
+of different designs--in fact only a few of the machines were
+practicable at all. The others were destined for the scrap-heap. Their
+owners, however, all fairly beamed with pride, as their various
+masterpieces were trundled forth and took the places assigned them by
+the judges of the Aero Club.
+
+The Golden Eagle, of course, received a burst of applause, for the Boy
+Aviators were by this time quite well known. The Buzzard, too, as her
+inkhued shape loomed up, came in for a buzz of admiration. Malvoise,
+in a leathern jacket of black, with black leggings, gauntlets and
+goggles, instantly set to work on a final inspection, looking like
+some species of sable imp as he dodged in and out among the intricate
+wires.
+
+As for Frank, he contented himself with sending the Golden Eagle
+engine up and down the speed scale from 100 to 1500 revolutions a
+minute. All her cylinders worked perfectly and the steady drone,
+rising in intensity as her young owner speeded the mechanism up,
+showed that the motor of the big craft meant to get down to work
+without a skip or a break.
+
+Inasmuch as most of the other contestants were testing their engines
+at the same time the uproar was deafening. The sweep of the propellers
+created back draughts that swept off the spectators' hats and gave the
+men who were holding on to the struggling machines all they could do
+to keep them from getting away. They were like so many restive
+race-horses breathing blue flames and spouting smoke.
+
+Suddenly there was a loud shout, half of derision, half of fear, from
+the onlookers.
+
+"He's off!" yelled the crowd.
+
+The boys gazed round to ascertain what could have caused the sudden
+outcry.
+
+To their amazement they saw the Green Grasshopper leaping and bounding
+across the field--scudding along like a scared kangaroo.
+
+On his little seat clung old Schmidt, frantically endeavoring to
+manipulate his stopping levers and to cut out his engine. But
+something was wrong and he only scudded along faster than ever, for
+all his frantic efforts.
+
+What had happened soon became apparent. The men engaged to hold back
+the Grasshopper while her engine was being tested had clung on well
+enough till old Schmidt insisted on getting on board his queer craft
+and speeding the engine to the limit. Then as the propeller reached
+its maximum velocity the terrific strain caused the holding-back grips
+to part and the machine had instantly darted away. The crowd, shouting
+and halloing at Schmidt, broke all bounds and dashed off over the
+field after the bounding Grasshopper, but it sped along far in advance
+like a wild thing with eager hounds in pursuit.
+
+About half a mile to the right of the aviation grounds was a small
+farm occupied by a dealer in hogs. Straight for this little estate the
+Grasshopper headed, driven as it seemed by some perverse instinct.
+Schmidt, seeing evidently that he couldn't steer his craft, tried to
+avoid a collision as he neared the outbuildings by manipulating his
+elevating planes.
+
+The move was successful, or at least was so for a brief space of time.
+The Grasshopper rose with convulsive leap, like that of a bucking
+bronco. She shot into the air to a height of about twenty feet and
+then suddenly, without the slightest warning, she gave a crazy swoop
+down and caught in some trees, landing her unfortunate navigator full
+and fair into a sty occupied by an old sow and her numerous progeny.
+
+Such a chorus of squeals from the pigs and roars of fear and pain from
+Schmidt went up that the crowd, among whom were the boys, feared at
+first that several persons had been hurt instead of the luckless
+aviator. All at once, as they neared the pen, the figure of Schmidt
+appeared covered with mud and dirt--a sorry sight indeed.
+
+He attempted to scramble over the fence surrounding the pen and had
+just reached the top rail when the old sow, in whom fear at the sudden
+appearance of the Grasshopper's owner had given way to wrath at his
+invasion, suddenly charged at him. She caught him, just as he was
+striving to maintain his balance, and the unlucky inventor for the
+second time that day was hurled to the ground.
+
+[Illustration: The Luckless Aviator and the Pig.]
+
+"Are you hurt?" yelled the crowd.
+
+"Am I hurt--aber I am dead, I dink!" shouted back the badly rumpled
+Schmidt. "Ach himmel! der Grasshopper is a pig-pen-hopper, ain't it?"
+
+He hastened over to where the Grasshopper, her engine still going and
+her propeller still beating the air, lay like a dismal wreck in the
+trees on the other side of the pig-pen.
+
+"Donner und blitzen, you Grasshobber, you my neck brek yet, I dink,"
+roared Schmidt, gazing at the disaster. "Vos iss los mit you, any
+vay, you bad Grasshobber. Himmel! dot propeller almost takes my nose
+off. Aber nicht, I am a dunderhead. I forget to turn der switch; dot's
+vy I can't stob der Grasshobber ven she hobs avay."
+
+Rapidly muttering these remarks in an undertone the old man finally
+turned off the switch and the engine, with a grunt and a sigh, came to
+a standstill.
+
+"Vell, I am oud of der race," announced philosophical Schmidt, as the
+propeller came to a stop. "Aber maybe dot's chust as vell. If I ged
+into der race maybe I be by der cemetery already to-morrow."
+
+As he was consoling himself with this thought a rough-looking man in
+overalls hastened up. He carried a shotgun.
+
+"Get off my turnip land," he shouted to the crowd, "or I'll fill some
+one full of birdshot."
+
+The crowd scattered, and old Schmidt among them; but the man with the
+shotgun was on him in two jumps.
+
+"See here, you bumble-bee," he bellowed; "you and I have got an
+account to settle before you get away from me. What do you mean by
+coming flopping on to my farm and breaking my pig-pen?"
+
+"Aber, I didn't come, der Grasshobber bring me--" expostulated
+Schmidt, "I vould much rather have been somevere else. I don't like
+pork except mit sauerkraut."
+
+"Well, you've scared my prize sow out of a year's growth, smashed two
+rails of my pig-pen and brought a lot of folks, who ought to be at
+home instead of fooling around a lot of crazy flyers, traipsing all
+over my young turnips. Now, the question is-how much do you owe me?"
+
+"How much do I owe you?" spluttered the German. "Ach, ve are quits, I
+dink. I spoil your pig-pen, but your pig-pen spoil my suit and your
+sow scare me oud of TWO years' growth."
+
+"Now, don't get funny. Fork over fifty dollars or you go to the
+constable."
+
+Old Schmidt's face was a study. Finally, however, he produced a fat
+wallet, and peeling off two twenty-dollar bills and a ten, he handed
+them over with a sigh.
+
+"Ach, you leedle Grasshobber, fifty dollars for your trip, and then
+you don't fly excepd in mit der hogs," he exclaimed, shaking his fist
+at the inanimate wreck of his craft.
+
+A loud report of a gun brought the crowd's attention from this scene,
+which they had watched from a respectful distance, back to the
+aviation grounds.
+
+It was the warning gun.
+
+In ten minutes the big race would start.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE AERO RACE.
+
+
+"Bang!"
+
+As the echoes of the starting gun sounded, and women screamed at the
+loud report, a dozen air-craft shot forward like horses leaping from
+the barrier at a race-track.
+
+Off over the ground they scudded--faster--faster--faster.
+
+From their wheels arose clouds of dust and a trail of gasolene-tainted
+blue smoke spread behind them, like the tail of a comet. After a run
+of about five hundred feet a shout arose from the crowd as the Buzzard
+left the ground and suddenly shot upward. The next minute she was
+followed closely by the Golden Eagle.
+
+A thrill of excitement swept through the throng as the two aeroplanes
+almost simultaneously rose.
+
+Another air-craft, and then another, closely followed by a third, took
+off after the first two. It was a magnificent spectacle and the roar
+of the crowd showed their appreciation of the marvel of witnessing
+five aeroplanes in the air at once.
+
+Of the other starters two came to grief with engine troubles and yet
+two others crashed together in collision. A third, a queer freak craft
+with flopping wings instead of a propeller, piled on top of them and
+they were soon tangled in an inextricable mass of wires, torn canvas,
+twisted braces, levers and angry aviators. This accident left the
+field--or rather the air--clear for the other five contestants.
+
+Almost in a line the quintette swept along, heading straight as homing
+pigeons for the Harrowbrook Country Club, where a big delegation of
+enthusiasts awaited to watch the contestants alight, drink the
+prescribed cup of coffee, take on gasolene and start back.
+
+"Steady as she goes, old boy," said Frank, as Harry excitedly cried to
+him to put on more power, "we are doing very nicely."
+
+"But look at the Buzzard" cried the younger boy, "she's ahead of us!"
+
+It was true their chief rival--on a lower course than the Golden
+Eagle--had indeed forged about half a mile to the fore. From time to
+time the boys could see the black figure of her operator turn about
+and gaze back to gauge the distance he was ahead.
+
+The roar of the crowd had died out several minutes before and the only
+sound to be heard now, as the Golden Eagle swept along at a height of
+five hundred feet or more, was the drone of the engines of their own
+and the other contestants' craft.
+
+Of the other starters, Gladwin was the nearest to the boys. He was
+driving ahead at a forty-mile clip about fifty feet below them and a
+little to the west. Owing to the construction of his machine, the wind
+was sweeping him more and more off his course as he rose, and the boys
+saw they had little to fear from him. The others were in a bunch, a
+quarter of a mile to the rear, and, even as they glanced back, the
+boys saw one of the aviators dive downward and land. Evidently
+something had gone wrong with his engine.
+
+The wind was freshening and this, while good for the boys, evidently
+meant trouble for the Buzzard; for the black craft, swiftly as she was
+going, was now giving occasional giddy careens. Malvoise apparently
+had a hard time to keep her on an even keel.
+
+The ground below them, a vast level plain, was dotted all over its
+flat surface with automobiles, men and women on horseback, and boys
+and men on motorcycles, but fast as the people following the
+aeroplanes drove their various means of progression, the sky clippers
+flew along even faster.
+
+The Golden Eagle was capable of making seventy miles an hour and, as
+her engine warmed up and Frank speeded up the spark and found a
+favorable air current, she gradually picked up speed till she found
+her full capacity.
+
+Through powerful binoculars Harry scrutinized the landscape ahead. It
+didn't take him long to make out the low white buildings, with their
+red roofs that marked the half-way point of the race--namely, the
+Harrowbrook Club. So swiftly were they going that it seemed as if the
+buildings rushed at them instead of their dashing toward the
+buildings.
+
+Ten minutes later the Buzzard, amid a perfect scream of frenzied
+welcome, dropped on to the wide sweep of green lawn in front of the
+club-house, followed almost in the same breath by the Golden Eagle.
+Rapidly the other four craft left in the race descended also.
+
+The coffee tables and the gasolene cans were placed on the club-house
+veranda, about five hundred yards from where the machines had
+alighted. As they scrambled from their seats, the aviators made a rush
+for the spot. Frank and Harry had the only 'plane in the race occupied
+by two; but of course they could not both go to the veranda. Frank,
+therefore, dashed off, leaving Harry standing by the Golden Eagle. He
+was kept busy explaining its points to the admiring throng. To save
+all the time possible the engine had not been cut out, but was merely
+disconnected from the propellers and throttled down. A brief
+examination showed that it was almost as cool as when they had started
+on the race.
+
+And now Frank was back with the gasolene, his mouth scorched with the
+almost boiling coffee he had hastily poured into it. Malvoise had been
+scalded worse than the boy aviator, but he had manfully choked down
+the hot fluid and arrived at the side of the Buzzard at practically
+the same moment as Frank.
+
+Hurriedly the cap of the fuel tank was unscrewed and the contents of
+the gasolene can poured in. Amid a murmur of excitement, the boys
+climbed back into their seats. At the same instant Malvoise prepared
+to start. There was not a second between them in the making of this
+action, but the watches of the timers at the Harrowbrook showed the
+Frenchman to be a minute ahead of the Boy Aviators.
+
+With a quick movement Frank threw his engine first into neutral, then
+medium, and then up to third speed.
+
+"Let go," he shouted with a sweep of his hand to the volunteers
+holding back the big 'plane, and the next instant they were off once
+more and on the home stretch.
+
+Simultaneously a rush of wings sounded close beside them and the black
+aeroplane swept by them, seemingly gathering velocity at every
+revolution of its engine.
+
+"That's a great machine," exclaimed Frank admiringly.
+
+"But ours is a better one," expostulated Harry.
+
+"That's to be seen, Harry," rejoined his brother, "he's a minute ahead
+of us now, you know."
+
+"I hope he breaks down," exclaimed the younger lad.
+
+"No, if we beat him, we want to do it fairly and squarely," replied
+Frank. "I think we have a better machine, and the only way to prove it
+is to beat the Buzzard at its best."
+
+No more words were exchanged as the two machines tore onward back
+toward the starting-point.
+
+The others had lost so much time getting into the air at the
+Harrowbrook grounds that they were practically out of the race. The
+contest lay between the Buzzard and the Golden Eagle.
+
+Suddenly, as they were racing high above a road that showed far below
+them like a bit of white ribbon. Harry uttered an exclamation and
+pointed downward.
+
+Directly beneath them an automobile was moving along, and as Frank
+gazed downward for a fraction of a second he saw a man, seated in the
+tonneau, place a glittering object to his shoulder.
+
+"Zi-i-i-p!"
+
+Something that sounded like a big bee sang by the boys' ears.
+
+"A bullet!" cried Harry.
+
+"They are shooting at us!" exclaimed Frank.
+
+"I know that automobile," suddenly cried Harry, "it's Luther Barr's."
+
+"So it is."
+
+"And," shouted Harry, bringing his glasses to bear on the car, "the
+man with the rifle is that sneak Sanborn."
+
+Before Frank could reply another bullet sang by them.
+
+This one ripped a hole in the upper plane, but fortunately a hole of
+such size did not affect the machine.
+
+"They are trying to hit the engine," cried Harry the next minute as a
+third bullet whistled unpleasantly near.
+
+"Or more likely the fuel tank," corrected Frank.
+
+"The cowards," cried the indignant Harry.
+
+Whatever the intentions of the men in the auto had been, however, they
+came to nothing, for a sudden turn in the road compelled them to turn
+off almost at right angles from the course taken by the air-craft. As
+a last farewell bullet whizzed harmlessly by, Harry, through the
+glasses, saw a familiar figure spring upright in the tonneau and shake
+his fist upward in impotent rage.
+
+It was Luther Barr.
+
+His features swam in the field of the glasses as clear as if he had
+been standing ten feet away. His lean, mean face was convulsed and
+gray with rage. He seemed to be furiously berating Sanborn, whose
+rifle, Harry now observed, was equipped with a silencer. With this
+appliance bullets can be fired from an ordinary rifle without even as
+much sound as an air-gun. It is a murderous device.
+
+But now the boys' attention was imperatively centered on the rival
+aeroplane. The wind had suddenly become gusty and the Buzzard was
+behaving in a most eccentric manner. To the boys several times it
+looked as if Malvoise had lost entire control of her.
+
+The tents and aeroplane sheds of Mineola were now plainly in view, and
+the boys could see the black mass of the crowd as it raced out to meet
+them.
+
+"It will be bad for a landing if they don't keep them back," exclaimed
+Frank, as he saw this. "Someone will get hurt."
+
+Suddenly, as a sharper puff than usual came, the Buzzard gave a lurch
+that Malvoise in vain tried to counteract by using his ailerons. These
+balancing devices are almost automatic in their control, and usually
+can be depended on to control an airship to keep an even keel, but
+this time not even Malvoise's skill could save the Buzzard.
+
+Down she sped, straight as a plummet, for fully fifty feet.
+
+Desperately her driver strove with levers and guiding wheel. But his
+efforts were of no more avail than if he had idly surrendered to
+disaster.
+
+Like a stricken bird the Buzzard dropped downward. All her occupant
+could do was to check the awful speed of her fall by spreading his
+ailerons to their fullest extent.
+
+Luckily for Malvoise a clump of willows, about a shallow pond, were
+directly below him in his fall and the Buzzard crashed into these,
+throwing him out into the soft pond mud in which he received a
+ducking, but no great harm.
+
+It was the end of the great race.
+
+A few minutes later the Golden Eagle swept to the ground almost at the
+very door of her aerodrome, and Billy Barnes, Le Blanc, old Eben Joyce
+and Bluewater Bill rushed excitedly forward to greet the young
+aviators. Madly the excited crowd pressed about them, among them many
+reporters from New York and Philadelphia papers, who had been sent to
+report the details of the great race.
+
+It was an hour or more before a wagon arrived with the remains of the
+Buzzard, and Malvoise followed, mud-covered and angry clear through.
+He cast a malevolent scowl at the boys as he passed their aerodrome,
+in front of which the crowd still lingered, unable to gaze enough at
+the victorious Golden Eagle and her young drivers.
+
+While Frank and Harry were still trying to tear themselves away, a
+blue-garbed messenger boy pushed his way through the crowd and
+extended a yellow envelope.
+
+"Message for you," he grinned, "Mr. Chester." Frank took the envelope
+in wonderment. He had no idea whom it could be from. The look of
+astonishment on his face froze into one of amazement as he perused the
+contents of the message, which read:
+
+  You have beaten me once more. Next time you will not be so
+  fortunate. I'll drive you cubs off the earth yet.
+
+                                               Luther Barr.
+
+"Well, what do you know about that?" exclaimed the slangy Billy
+Barnes, as he in his turn conned the remarkable document from the old
+man, who seemed destined to be checked at every point by the boys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+LOST IN THE FOG.
+
+
+It is a week after the race and the Hempstead Plains cup proudly
+reposes in a place of state in the Chester boys' home. On the morning
+in question the boys and their chums are getting ready for a test of
+Frank's pontoons, which, as our readers know, he had already begun to
+figure on as soon as Bluewater Bill had unfolded his strange tale of
+the Golden Galleon of the Sargasso.
+
+In a quiet bay on the north shore of Long Island the tests were to be
+made, and a launch had been engaged for the occasion. At the
+commencement of this chapter our readers are to imagine the boys on a
+train speeding toward Lone Cove, where they plan to embark. In the
+baggage car are the "pontoons," which in reality are two cylinders of
+aluminum, about twenty feet in length by three in diameter and capable
+of sustaining a weight of almost a ton. To the bottom of each, Frank
+had riveted a thin "keel" of manganese bronze with a heavy fin of lead
+affixed to it. This was to give stability in the rough waters they ran
+a chance of encountering on the outskirts of the Sargasso.
+
+A space of about two feet at each end of the pontoons had been
+partitioned off, so as to form four tanks in which water and gasolene
+could be stored. Caps screwed over vent-holes provided opportunity to
+insert a small pump when it was necessary to draw on the emergency
+supplies or water ballast thus carried.
+
+Lone Cove, a small sand-bordered inlet off the Sound, was reached
+after a run of about two hours and the tanks--boxed in long wooden
+cases so as to avoid the scrutiny of any villagers who might prove too
+curious--were transferred to a wagon and carried to the small wharf
+where the Ocean Spray, the launch the boys had chartered for their
+experiments, lay at anchor.
+
+Her owner, an old beachman, at once turned the craft over to the party
+and expressed a lot of curiosity, which was not gratified, as the boys
+knocked the cases off the "pontoons" and then floated them. With the
+boards from the cases, a sort of platform was then constructed between
+the floating tanks and lashed to them with stout wire. The wonderment
+of the old waterman was in no wise decreased when he saw the boys then
+fall feverishly to work and load the dinghy, attached to the launch,
+with large stones. When they had her piled to the water line, they
+pulled out to where they had anchored the tanks with their bridge-like
+platform, and commenced to place the rocks on board till Frank
+estimated that there was as much weight reposing on the pontoons as
+they would be called upon to bear when the Golden Eagle was
+super-imposed on them.
+
+As Frank had figured, the tanks were immersed for about a third of
+their depth under the weight, and when the burden of the boys and
+Bluewater Bill was added, they sank till about half their
+circumference was above and half below the water. The whole
+contrivance was then taken in tow of the Ocean Spray, in order to
+ascertain just how she would behave under the speed at which it was
+hoped the propellers of the Golden Eagle would drive her when the
+contrivance was affixed to her bed plates.
+
+It was a perfect day, and as the boys emerged from the mouth of the
+inlet and the blue expanse of the Sound spread before them, they
+fairly shouted with delight at the sparkling water and invigorating
+air.
+
+"How long are you going to stay out?" asked Bluewater Bill, as the
+Ocean Spray plunged bravely forward and the sharp-nosed pontoons, to
+the boys' delight, clove the water behind without making any
+noticeable resistance.
+
+"The Golden Eagle will drive over any seaweed that ever floated on
+these," shouted Billy excitedly as he gazed back.
+
+"How long are we going to stay out?" repeated Frank, in reply to
+Bluewater Bill's question. "Oh, not more than an hour or so, but it's
+such a glorious day I'd like to keep on going for a while."
+
+"So would we," chorused the others.
+
+"Wall," was the old-sailor's rejoinder, "I don't want to be a
+spoil-sport, boys, but do you see that haze yonder?"
+
+Frank nodded.
+
+Over on the Connecticut shore, which lay a low, blue line on the
+opposite horizon, a sort of haze, floating like a silken scarf, was
+indeed quite observable when attention was called to it.
+
+"What is it?" asked Frank.
+
+"It looks to me like fog," said Bluewater Bill, slowly, "but it may be
+nothing. Anyhow we've got time for a cruise afore it comes up, I
+reckon."
+
+"Oh, lots of time," rejoined Frank confidently, as he gave the wheel a
+twist and sent the little Ocean Spray, a twenty-five foot craft,
+dancing clear into the sparkling seas that came tumbling along. As her
+sharp bow encountered them, the speedy little craft tossed the water
+in glittering cascades back over her foredeck. The pleasantly stinging
+spray blew in a moist cloud back in the young voyagers' faces.
+
+"Say, Frank," exclaimed Billy, suddenly, "let me take a cruise on
+those pontoons, will you? I've read about rafts ever since I was
+knee-high to a bicycle pump, but I never rode on one."
+
+"All right, Billy," laughed Frank, and after the queer craft astern
+had been drawn up by the tow-line the young reporter jumped aboard.
+
+"Let out lots of rope," he cried, as the stone-laden contrivance
+bobbed about on the waves, "this is bully. A regular private yacht.
+
+  "Oh, a sailor's life is the life for me,
+  Out on the ocean, out on the sea;
+  Out with the whales, out with the shark,
+  If a cat-fish mews does a dog-fish bark?"
+
+The Ocean Spray once more forged ahead, and so absorbed were the boys
+in putting the little ship through her paces that not one of them
+noticed a curious change that was gradually taking place in the
+weather. The air had grown more chilly and an almost imperceptible
+film of mist was creeping over the sun-warmed waters. If Bluewater
+Bill had not dropped into the little cabin for a snooze he would have
+warned the boys of their peril, but, as it was, their first
+realization of the fact that the fog was upon them was their complete
+envelopment in a dense blanket of dripping mist.
+
+If a curtain had rolled down all about them they could not have been
+more completely blotted out from their surroundings.
+
+Everywhere the soft white mist baffled sight. From the stern of the
+Ocean Spray it was impossible to make out the tiny vessel's bow.
+
+The smothering blanket of pearly-gray vapor had enwrapped them so
+completely that in their first excitement they lost all sense of their
+bearings, and as they had no compass they were in a bad fix indeed.
+
+Hastily Frank awoke Bluewater Bill.
+
+The old sailor uttered a sharp exclamation as he emerged from the
+cubby hole in which he had been sleeping and gazed about him. The fog
+settled in glittering masses on his bushy eyebrows and whiskers, as he
+scanned the impenetrable mist in every direction.
+
+"Whereabouts was you when the fog came up?" he asked suddenly.
+
+"About in the middle of the Sound," announced Frank.
+
+"Couldn't be in a worse place," commented Bill, "right in the track of
+the Fall River steamers and any other craft that happens to come up or
+down the Sound."
+
+Even as he spoke there came the long melancholy boom of a steamer's
+whistle from somewhere in the obscurity.
+
+Bill hastily searched the Ocean Spray's cabin.
+
+"Well, we are in a fix, boys," was his comment as he concluded his
+examination of the lockers and cupboards.
+
+The boys looked their questions.
+
+"Ain't a fog-horn nor a bell aboard this craft," was Bill's alarming
+intelligence, "we may get run down any minute."
+
+Again through the fog came the roar of the approaching steamer's
+whistle.
+
+Ominous, full of sinister possibilities, the voice of the nearing
+peril roared through the fog.
+
+Suddenly there was a shout from astern.
+
+"Hey there, I don't want to squeal, but I'm getting nervous. Have you
+forgotten me or am I adrift?"
+
+"Billy Barnes!" cried Frank, "I had clean forgotten about him. Come
+on, boys, lay a hand on the tow-rope and we'll get him aboard."
+
+The engine of the Ocean Spray had been cut off by Bill, when he first
+discovered that the little craft was as helpless to aid herself as a
+drifting log in the dense smother. She now rode the swells silently
+and powerless.
+
+In response to Billy's hail, the boys shouted back:
+
+"All right, Billy, we'll have you aboard in a minute."
+
+"Hurry up, it's awful lonesome out here," came back Billy's cheerful
+hail through the fog.
+
+Frank and Harry laid on to the rope and started to haul the pontoons
+and their freight inboard, but even as their hands closed on the rope
+the booming roar of the menacing steamer's whistle permeated the fog
+once more.
+
+It seemed as if this time it was directly over them.
+
+"Start the engine," cried Harry, as the full sense of their peril was
+borne in on him.
+
+The shriek of the large vessel's whistle was now sounding almost in
+their ear-drums. Frank expected every minute to see the obscurity
+pierced by a huge black prow.
+
+But as this thought flashed across him there came a sudden diversion.
+The tow-rope they were hauling on suddenly was torn from their hands,
+almost dragging them overboard, and though they could hardly see it
+they could "feel" the presence of a huge vessel going past not twenty
+feet astern.
+
+"Billy!" shouted Frank as the tow-rope was jerked from his grasp.
+
+The only reply was a grinding, rasping crash as if some great object
+were brushing resistlessly past a smaller one, and then the whistle
+boomed out again.
+
+This time, however, its sound came in diminishing form and as the
+Ocean Spray cruised round blindly in the fog, searching in vain for
+any trace of the raft, it grew fainter and fainter and finally died
+away into the distance.
+
+Half an hour later a breeze sprang up, the fog lifted almost as
+suddenly as it had closed in and the Sound once more shone in the
+sparkling rays of the afternoon sun.
+
+The boys uttered a shout as they perceived not a mile from them the
+raft bobbing about on the waves as buoyant as a cork. It had, then,
+evidently survived the collision, but in the same glance they saw that
+it had no occupant.
+
+Billy Barnes had vanished.
+
+They spent the rest of the day till sunset circling about in the vain
+hope of coming across some trace of the missing lad; but in vain.
+
+If the sea had indeed, as the boys now feared with sinking hearts,
+swallowed their young companion, he could not have vanished more
+completely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BILLY HEARS AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION.
+
+
+When Billy Barnes opened his eyes, he found himself lying in a white
+and gold stateroom that seemed luxurious enough in its furnishings to
+be the cabin on some millionaire's yacht. Where he was, he had not the
+slightest idea. All that he recollected of the events preceding his
+awakening was his shout to the boys to be taken aboard after the fog
+closed down. Then came the sudden appearance above his head of what
+seemed a mountainous black steamer bow, a terrific crash, that hurled
+him from the pontoon raft into the water, and then a frenzied grip for
+a trailing rope.
+
+As he reflected on these events and wondered where on earth he could
+be, the door opened and a white-coated steward stepped in. He seemed
+surprised to see Billy's eyes opened.
+
+"You came to pretty quick after your ducking," he remarked. "I'll go
+call the doctor."
+
+In a few minutes he was back with a pleasant-faced, gray-whiskered man
+who informed Billy that the ship that had run him down was the Sound
+steamer, Princeton, bound from Boston for New York. The instant the
+lookout had reported an object dead ahead, ropes and life-buoys had
+been thrown overboard, one of which Billy had managed to grasp and
+hold on to till a sailor could be lowered and the half-drowned
+reporter dragged on board.
+
+"You held so tight to the rope even after you became insensible,"
+commented the physician, "that we had a hard time to break your grip.
+How did you come to be out on the Sound in such a fog?"
+
+Billy hastily related to him the events that had led up to his
+presence on the raft, only omitting, of course, the object of the
+experiments. The doctor was very curious on this point, but his
+inquisitiveness was destined to go unsatisfied. Billy had no intention
+of betraying the boys' confidence in so important a matter as the
+proposed recovery of the golden galleon. The secret was theirs alone,
+he reflected. What was his amazement, then, about half an hour after
+the doctor had left him, with orders to sleep if he could, to hear in
+the next stateroom a voice, which he had no difficulty in recognizing
+as Luther Barr's, utter the following words:
+
+"Then we start for the Sargasso Sea as soon as possible. You have done
+very well, Sanborn, and you, Malvoise. You need not be afraid I shall
+not reward you."
+
+"Thank you," the listening boy heard Malvoise reply, in his smooth
+tones. "We have indeed done all that we could to hasten the scheme. It
+was lucky that we were able to purchase that dirigible of Constantio's
+at Boston, for if we had had to construct one of our own we should
+have been in a hard fix to beat the Boy Aviators in getting to the
+golden galleon. As it is we will be there first and when they arrive
+they will find an empty shell of a ship for their pains."
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" Billy heard old Luther Barr laugh in his thin piping
+tones, "it will be as good as a feast to see their faces when they
+find that we have forestalled them. What is the best part of it is
+that they will never guess who gave us the secret of the lost
+galleon's location."
+
+"I look to you to make that information worth my while," put in
+Sanborn's rasping tones.
+
+"And I will," cried old Barr, clapping his withered hands together.
+"You shall be well rewarded, never fear. But now about your purchase
+in Boston--how much did she cost?"
+
+"Twelve thousand dollars," was the cool reply of the speaker, whose
+voice Billy had recognized as being that of Malvoise.
+
+"Twelve thousand dollars!" almost screamed old Luther Barr, "why you
+mean to ruin me."
+
+"What, you grudge twelve thousand dollars when there are millions,
+perhaps, at stake?" demanded Malvoise's calm tones.
+
+"No, no," old Barr corrected himself, "it's not that, but twelve
+thousand dollars is a lot of money. However, I'd gladly give twice
+that sum to get first to the lost galleon and her golden cargo."
+
+"It's well worth it," commented Sanborn.
+
+"Anyway, she is exactly the kind of air-ship we need for the recovery
+of the treasure," put in Malvoise. "Originally intended for Government
+use, she was turned back to her owner on account of a defect in the
+machinery which has since been rectified. She carries a fine cabin and
+a pilot house on her substructure, and is fitted up with sleeping
+quarters. Best of all, she is capable of lifting five tons beside her
+own weight. The hydrogen gas to inflate her with, we can carry down in
+tubes on your yacht and fill the bag when we get to the borders of the
+Sargasso, although Constantio, her inventor, who will go with us, has
+ideas of his own about hydrogen."
+
+"But how are you to float her while we are rifling the galleon of her
+treasure?" demanded old Barr.
+
+"Very simple," was the reply, "merely tether her to the galleon as you
+would a horse and when we are ready to load, haul her to a level with
+the deck and then with a full cargo of treasure--hurray for New York!"
+
+"Splendid," cried old Barr, catching the enthusiasm of the other, "we
+will sail then, shortly?"
+
+"As soon as everything is ready" was the reply of Malvoise, "we need
+one more man and I have advertised for him--now let us drink to the
+treasure of the Buena Ventura and may we soon have our hands in the
+sack."
+
+There was a clinking of glasses as the toast was drunk, and then the
+trio conversed in lower tones. Billy had heard enough, however, to
+convince him that by some strange fate he had been rescued from death
+in the Sound to become the instrument of the discovery of a plot to
+beat the boys to the Sargasso and the treasure ship. Gritting his
+teeth he resolved to do all he could to frustrate the man who had
+tried to outwit the Boy Aviators in Africa and steal their hard-won
+ivory.
+
+Two hours later, the Princeton docked at New York, and Billy hastened
+to despatch a telegram to Lone Cove, telling the others of his safety
+and that he had important news to communicate.
+
+With what delight the chums received news of their comrade's safety
+may be imagined and they boarded the first available train to meet him
+at the Astor House in New York, where Billy had agreed to be at the
+appointed time.
+
+As the young reporter hastened from the wharf, taking good care--as he
+thought--not to let old Barr and his two accomplices see him, he
+almost collided with a seafaring man who was hurrying down the wharf
+to board a Boston steamer that was about to pull out. The next instant
+his hand was caught in a mighty grasp that almost wrung it off.
+
+"Wal, I'll be hornswoggled, Billy Barnes!" was the exclamation of the
+stranger.
+
+"Ben Stubbs!" exclaimed the amazed Billy, almost knocked off his feet
+at the sudden encounter with the brave adventurer who had shared the
+boys' perils in Nicaragua, the Everglades and in Africa. "What are you
+doing here?"
+
+"I might ax the same question of you," was the reply, "but one at a
+time as the feller said when they all wanted to shoot him at once for
+stealing a horse. I've got time and I can wait."
+
+"You are the same old Ben, I see," laughed Billy; "but seriously, what
+are you doing here?"
+
+"Why I was just on my way to Boston," was the rejoinder. "I seen this
+'ad' in the paper where it said, 'Wanted, brave man, ex-sailor
+preferred, to assume dangerous mission--Big pay. Apply No. 46,
+Charlton Street, Boston.'" And Ben flourished a clipping.
+
+"But, Ben," remonstrated Billy, "you have plenty of money from your
+share of the ivory. I thought you had invested it in a rubber
+plantation in Central America."
+
+"That's right," said Ben, with a sorrowful air. "I invested it all
+right--sunk it, maybe would be a better word, fer when I gets down
+there to start in developing my plantation, I finds that you couldn't
+see my noble estate fer the water that happened to cover it."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Billy, "you had been swindled?"
+
+"Ay, ay, lad, that's about it. Some of these here land-sharks had
+trimmed me from top-gallant mast to bilge keel. They cleaned me out
+and left me high and dry. So when I see that 'ad' I says to myself,
+says, I, there's just the thing for me."
+
+"Say, Ben," exclaimed Billy, suddenly, "Let me have a look at that
+'ad' again, will you?"
+
+"Sure," said the old adventurer, handing him the clipping from which
+he had taken the address, "here you are."
+
+"Why!" exclaimed Billy suddenly, "L. B. are the initials of Luther
+Barr."
+
+"What! that old cat-a-mount?" cried Ben, "is he still alive?"
+
+"He certainty is and up to fresh mischief," was the rejoinder. "Of
+course there are lots of L. B.'s in Boston, but coupled with a
+conversation I overheard, it looks to me as if the man who inserted
+this 'ad' is Barr himself."
+
+"What makes you think so, youngster?"
+
+Billy launched into a narration of what he had overheard on the
+steamer after his rescue.
+
+"Ph-e-e-w!" whistled Ben, as the young reporter concluded, "so the old
+varmint is up to his tricks again, is he? Well now, sonny, if this L.
+B. in the 'ad' should be the same as Luther Barr, it won't do no harm
+for me to be along with him. But first, I'll get my whiskers shaved
+off and that will make me look a heap different. Then I'll dress in a
+different rig and he won't know me any more than I'd know the old
+clipper North Star after they turned her into a coal barge."
+
+"You really mean that, Ben?"
+
+"Do I really mean it," echoed Ben, "well, watch me. Hullo!" he
+exclaimed suddenly, "there goes the last whistle. Well, good-by for
+the present and give me your address and I'll let you know as soon as
+I find out anything. Whoop-ee! it's good to see you lads again."
+
+So saying, after a hearty clasp of the hand the former mariner ran up
+the wharf and was pulled aboard clinging to one end of the gang-plank
+like a fly.
+
+As Billy started for the hotel to meet the others, he was musing
+deeply over what he had overheard. So engrossed was he in his
+thoughts, in fact that when a rather roughly-dressed man stepped in
+front of him and peered into his face once or twice, as if to make
+certain he was the lad he sought, Billy gave an involuntary start. He
+was walking beside the gloomy arches of Brooklyn Bridge, some of which
+are used for refrigerating plants and others to store all kinds of
+goods, from hides to tin articles. It is a little frequented part of
+town except by persons walking across town from East River steamers.
+
+"What do you want?" he demanded.
+
+"Your name Barnes, young feller?" was the response.
+
+"It is--what do you want?"
+
+"Old man named Eben Joyce was just run over. They carried him into my
+house and he sent me to look for you."
+
+"How did you come to recognize me in the street?" demanded Billy,
+feeling a strong distrust of the stranger, who had little rat-like
+eyes and a furtive manner.
+
+"I was on my way ter yer noospaper office, guv'ner," rejoined the
+other, "but you see I had such a good description of yer handsome face
+that I couldn't miss but rec'ernize yer when I ran inter yer in the
+street."
+
+Now if Billy had thought this explanation over he would have seen that
+it would not hold water for a minute, but he was excited by the events
+of the day and in no mood for reflection.
+
+"Well," he demanded, "what does Mr. Joyce want?"
+
+"I don't know, guv'ner. I didn't ask him that, you know. We always
+mind our own business, we folks on Vanderwater Street do. Come on,
+guv'ner, I'll take you there. It's only a few blocks. The old man does
+want to see you awful bad."
+
+"As a matter of fact I had an important engagement," cried Billy, "but
+still if the poor old man is injured and wants me, I'll go with you."
+
+"All right, guv'ner, I'll take yer there," promised his guide with a
+grin, "follow me and you can't go wrong. You've got a good heart,
+guv'ner."
+
+So saying he dived into the shadow of one of the great arches and
+Billy the next instant followed him into the gloom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LUTHER BARR'S TRAP.
+
+
+Billy's guide conducted him under the bridge and along a
+gloomy-looking street of poor houses, huddled together like the cages
+of animals. The windows of many of them were broken and they were
+otherwise tumbledown, and the young reporter realized that he was in
+one of the most squalid parts of New York. He grew suspicious and was
+about to halt his guide and ask him some questions when the
+ill-favored conductor suddenly stopped in front of a particularly
+dark, gloomy-looking brick tenement, and beckoning to Billy, urged the
+lad to follow.
+
+In spite of his misgivings, Billy entered the place and followed his
+guide up four flights of steep, unlighted stairs.
+
+"Here is Mr. Joyce's room," he announced, flinging open a door. Billy
+stepped forward through the portal, and found himself in an apartment
+in which the paper was peeling off the wall from long neglect, and the
+light only streaked in through cracks in the closed shutters. Save for
+a rickety chair and a broken-down table, it was empty.
+
+"Where is Mr. Joyce?" Billy was about to ask, when he felt himself
+seized from behind and a voice hissed in his ear:
+
+"Well, Master Barnes, we've got you where we want you."
+
+At the same instant a stout rope was drawn about him, pinioning his
+arms to his sides.
+
+In his captor, as he stepped forward, Billy had no difficulty in
+recognizing Sanborn, the treacherous mechanic, and while he gazed in
+astonishment at the man there appeared from an inner room Luther Barr
+and Malvoise, the French aviator.
+
+"You'd better let me go at once," cried Billy angrily. "What do you
+want with me?"
+
+"Nothing very much," piped old Barr, "nothing very much, my dear lad.
+You are in a position to do us a great service, that is all, and I am
+sure, after your providential rescue from the waters of the Sound, you
+ought to be grateful enough to try to benefit your fellow man by
+imparting a little information. You see, we saw your rescue and had a
+messenger track you from the wharf and bring you here."
+
+Billy was puzzled, but nevertheless somewhat relieved. He had thought
+at first that his capture was due to the fact that the boys' enemies
+knew that he had overheard their conversation in the stateroom of the
+Princeton, but it was now evident that they had some other motive in
+luring him to their obscure meeting place, and had no idea that he had
+played eavesdropper on their plan to forestall the boys in their
+treasure quest.
+
+"Tell me first what it is you want to know," said he stoutly, "I
+cannot say whether I will tell you anything or not till I learn that."
+
+"Well, we won't occupy much of your valuable time then," put in
+Malvoise; "what we want to know is this: "How soon are those young
+whelps, the Boy Aviators, going to start for the Sargasso Sea?"
+
+"Suppose I won't tell you," retorted Billy, bravely sparring for time.
+
+"Then we shall find a means to make you."
+
+"Well, I will not tell you one single thing about our plans, and you
+might as well make up your minds to that right now."
+
+"What, you won't?"
+
+"No, I won't."
+
+Malvoise crouched as if he was about to spring on the boy, but old
+Barr interfered.
+
+"No violence now, Malvoise," he croaked; "we can use other means. I
+really think we shall have to use another method to bring this young
+man to his senses. First of all, however, search him, he may have
+papers on him that concern our project."
+
+But a search of Billy's clothes revealed no paper that threw any light
+on the Boy Aviators' plans, and the baffled plotters looked their
+rage.
+
+"Lock him in the inner room," ordered old Barr, "it's a nice warm
+place for a young man to sit and meditate on his stubbornness, and
+perhaps to-morrow he will have come to his senses."
+
+Without more ado Malvoise and Sanborn picked Billy up in their arms
+and carried him through the door from which Barr and the Frenchman had
+emerged and thrust him forward into a small room without windows. It
+was really more like a large cupboard than a room, and most probably
+at one time or another had been used as a clothes closet in the days
+when the old house was a mansion and stood in a fashionable part of
+the town.
+
+Billy heard the key click in the lock and found himself in total
+darkness. From outside came to him the mocking voice of old Barr.
+
+"We shall be back at the same time to-morrow, Master Barnes; please be
+ready to tell us what we want to know at that time."
+
+The others laughed; but Billy, angry and somewhat scared as he was,
+made no reply. Then he heard their footsteps die away and he was alone
+in the darkness in the deserted tenement.
+
+He threw himself against the door with all his force several times,
+till his body was bruised and sore in fact, but it was of stout wood
+and yielded no more than if it had been the portal of a steel vault.
+
+Seeing the futility of hoping to escape that way, Billy fell to trying
+to work himself out of his rope bonds. To his great joy after several
+minutes of wriggling he succeeded in loosening the not very securely
+tied knot and was soon free; so far as the rope was concerned. This
+accomplished he felt far more cheerful and set about trying some means
+of opening the door of his prison.
+
+But without tools this was difficult--in fact, an impossible feat--as
+Billy, after a long period of wasted effort, found out. If only he had
+some kind of tool, however, he might be able to make some impression
+on the lock, he thought.
+
+It was quite by accident that he encountered what he wanted. He was
+leaning back against the wall, after a long period of vain effort on
+the door, when his hand encountered what his sense of touch told him
+was a clothes hook, formed of bent wire--a relic of the days when
+Billy's dungeon was used as a cupboard evidently. With eager fingers
+the young reporter unscrewed the hook from the wall and then went to
+work to straighten it out till he should have a serviceable bit of
+wire with which to pick the lock. In his capacity as a reporter, Billy
+had some knowledge of the methods used by burglars; but he never
+thought, at the time the subject had interested him, that he would
+ever have occasion to put his knowledge to practical use.
+
+Now, however, with his clumsy skeleton key he set to work poking about
+in the lock as eagerly as any marauder trying to effect an illicit
+entrance to a rich trove.
+
+Just as it seemed that he would have to give up in despair, the lad's
+wire encountered a "tumbler" of the lock that yielded to its pressure.
+
+Billy with a beating heart pressed and the lock, which in spite of its
+age seemed to have been recently oiled, probably by Barr, responded.
+The next instant with a click, the lock slid open and Billy walked out
+of the stifling air of the coop--free.
+
+It was the work of only a few minutes for him to reach the street, as
+Barr and his accomplices had not taken the precaution to lock the
+outer door in their hurry. Probably they didn't think it necessary,
+anyhow, as it could never have occurred to them that Billy would be
+able to effect an escape from the locked closet, except by working a
+miracle.
+
+Swiftly the boy threaded his way through the streets and finally
+reached the Astor House. He found that the boys had preceded him there
+and had gone away, after leaving a message with the clerk for Billy to
+call up the Chesters' Madison Avenue home in case he should happen to
+arrive after they had left.
+
+Billy at once made his way to the 'phone booths and was soon in
+communication with Frank at the other end of the wire.
+
+"This is the second time to-day you've worried the life out of us,"
+exclaimed Frank, much relieved as he heard Billy's voice. "When you
+didn't appear at the Astor we were badly puzzled, I can tell you. We
+thought something had happened to you."
+
+"And it nearly did," retorted Billy indignantly, "I've got a long
+story to tell you, Frank."
+
+"Get right on a car and come up," was the rejoinder.
+
+Billy was soon speeding uptown to the Chester boys' home. He found all
+the adventurers there in the room over the garage which had been given
+up to the lads as a workshop and experimental laboratory. With what
+wonderment the boys listened to Billy's tale may be imagined.
+
+"I'd like to see the rascals' faces when they open that closet
+to-morrow morning," cried Lathrop Beasley, who had joined the boys'
+party at Frank's urgent invitation.
+
+"It will be a case of 'gone, but not forgotten,'" grinned Billy. "But
+seriously, fellows, this shows the necessity of starting as soon as
+possible. It means a race between us and old Luther Barr."
+
+"And we mean to win it," put in Frank in a determined voice. "It will
+not take long to adjust the pontoons to the Golden Eagle's frames, and
+that done we are practically ready."
+
+"Where do you intend to start from?" asked Billy.
+
+"We were talking that over on our way up to the city," was Frank's
+reply. "My plan was to charter a large cabin motor-boat at some point
+on the Gulf coast--say Galveston--and then round the point of Florida
+and keep on east across the Caribbean. Once we have arrived on the
+outskirts of the Sargasso we can erect the Golden Eagle on her
+pontoons and make a flight for the galleon."
+
+"A good idea," cried Billy, eagerly, "we ought to have no difficulty
+in getting a good boat at Galveston."
+
+"I have one already," was Frank's astonishing reply. Frank loved to
+spring surprises.
+
+"What?" shouted the amazed young reporter.
+
+Frank drew out a telegram.
+
+"I got this to-night in response to a wire I sent a yacht broker there
+some days ago," he said.
+
+"Read it out, Frank," urged Billy.
+
+"Have what you want in gasolene yacht, Bolo. Fifty feet over all,
+twenty-five horsepower engine, auxiliary sails and fine cabin. Will
+charter reasonably. Wire at once if you want her."
+
+"Sounds good," commented Harry.
+
+"So I thought," said Frank, "and as we've no time to lose, it would be
+a good idea to telegraph them to get her ready for sea at once. I will
+also instruct the agent to get a ship chandler to stock her with
+provisions for a cruise of two months."
+
+Billy threw his hat in the air.
+
+"Hurray for the BOY AVIATORS afloat!" he shouted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+MR. "L. B.'s" DIRIGIBLE
+
+
+The next morning Ben Stubbs arrived in Boston, and waiting till
+evening made his way to No. 46 Charlton Street. During the day he had
+had his whiskers shaved off which entirely altered his appearance.
+
+The house bearing the number he sought was a five-story structure of
+gray stone, and had evidently once been a home of wealth; but the
+manufacturing district had long since encroached on the region and it
+now was the only residence remaining in the midst of monotonous blocks
+of houses of industry. In fact, at dusk--the time at which Ben Stubbs
+paid his first visit to it--the neighborhood was practically deserted,
+as the factory hands who worked there during the day had all gone home
+and they lived in another part of the city.
+
+Ben "took his bearings," as he would have termed it, before he mounted
+the flight of steps leading to the front door of the house. He noticed
+that the windows were all shuttered, and to the casual observer it
+would have seemed that the house was unoccupied. The sailor's sharp
+eye, however, noticed that a cloud of smoke was proceeding from a
+chimney and that numerous electric wires were strung from the street
+poles into the house.
+
+As he stood there gazing at it an old watchman, who had been sitting
+in a shanty in front of one of the factories, approached him.
+
+"A gloomy-looking place that, eh?" said the garrulous old man,
+addressing Ben.
+
+"Ay, ay, shipmate, you may well say that," was the reply, "a
+melancholer looking craft I never see. Do you know anything about the
+folks as lives there?"
+
+"Very little," replied the old man in his quavering tones, "but that
+little I don't like. I've seen wagons drive up there with big carboys
+of acid on 'em, and sometimes in the night, when it's all still, I
+hear a great noise of hammering and strange lights gleam through the
+chinks of the shutters--ah, there's something queer about it I can
+tell you. All's not right in that house."
+
+"Hum," said Ben, for lack of anything better to say.
+
+"And for the last week," went on the old man, "things has been queerer
+than ever. I don't like it, I tell you, when at midnight you see a
+great dark thing come flying off the roof with a gleaming eye on it
+and a buzzing voice like a big fly. I leave it to you if that ain't
+enough to scare any Christian, let alone an old man watching a factory
+in this lonesome part of town."
+
+Ben agreed; but to tell the truth, his attention had been distracted
+by the old man's description of the night-terror he had seen. In the
+old sailor's mind there was little doubt that the object that had so
+scared the old watchman was the dirigible that Luther Barr had
+purchased and which the crafty old millionaire was trying out by night
+so as to avoid attracting any attention.
+
+"Well," said Ben lightly, "I've got a little business in that there
+house, shipmate, and if so be as I finds out anything about what kind
+of folks they are, I'll let you know."
+
+"Thank you," rejoined the old watchman earnestly, "I'm getting an old
+man to have such scares thrown into me--it's really too bad."
+
+Ben lightly ran up the steps, having nodded farewell to the old
+watchman, and the next minute pressed the electric bell. Somewhere in
+the far interior of the gloomy mansion he could hear the tinkle of the
+answering summons. The sailor, as he waited for the door to open on he
+knew not what, reached back with his weather-beaten hand to his hip
+pocket. He nodded with satisfaction as his fingers encountered the
+butt of a revolver of heavy caliber.
+
+"All right, old bark-and-bite," muttered Ben to himself, "I feel
+better now we've shaken hands."
+
+At that moment there came a great clanking from inside the door, as if
+heavy bolts and chains were being removed, and the next instant the
+portal swung open and Ben found himself face to face with a thickset
+man, who seemed, by his complexion and general appearance, to be of
+Spanish origin. His heavy eyebrows and thin, cruel lips gave him a
+singularly sinister appearance.
+
+"What do you wish?" he demanded of Ben, with a foreign accent that
+agreed with his general makeup.
+
+"Is Mr. L. B. at home?" inquired Ben, "'cos if he is, I want to see
+him particular. You see, I'm in need of a job and--"
+
+"Oh" said the other, with what seemed to be relief in his tones, "you
+come in answer to the advertisement. Come in. I am glad you have
+called. We were sadly in need of a hand, and you seem stout and strong
+enough for any work we may call on you to do."
+
+"That's as it may be," cautiously replied Ben. "I ain't delicate
+exactly, but I'd like to know just what my dooties are to be, afore I
+signs on for this cruise."
+
+By this time the man with the heavy eyebrows had ushered Ben into a
+parlor furnished with what had once been great splendor; but now the
+hangings were faded, the furniture warped and aged and over all hung a
+musty aroma as if the place had been closed for ages.
+
+"Sit down," ordered Ben's guide, "now then, first, where do you come
+from?"
+
+"Right here in Boston," rejoined Ben, "that is, when I'm at home; but
+Hank Hardtack don't get a shore cruise very often. I follow the sea,
+guv'ner, from year's end to year's end mostly; but tiring of the
+foc'sle I thought I'd like a land job for a spell, and seeing your
+'ad' in a New York paper, I happened to get a hold of, I made bold to
+call."
+
+"What did you say your name was?" inquired the other.
+
+"Hardtack--Mr. Hank Hardtack, sometimes called 'Skilly,'" said the
+unblushing Ben. "I'm a homely craft, but seaworthy, guv'ner."
+
+"So I see," said the other, with a slight smile. "Well, Mr. Luther
+Barr, who is L. B., is not at home now. In fact, he is in New York;
+but I venture to say that you will suit him down to the ground."
+
+Ben could scarcely suppress a grin of delight at the mention of old
+Barr's name. He was then on the right track. How lucky that the crafty
+old wolf was in New York, he thought.
+
+"As for your duties," went on the other, "they will be novel to you. I
+do not suppose you are at all acquainted with air-craft?"
+
+Ben shook his head, inwardly thinking, "If you knew what I know, my
+hearty."
+
+"Well, this job is to help run a dirigible balloon," went on the
+other. "We advertised for a sailor so that we would be sure of getting
+a man who would not lose his head at a height and who would be an all
+round handy man. We have an engineer and a pilot and Mr. Barnes and
+myself at present complete the crew. If you will follow me I will show
+you the vessel."
+
+Hardly able to conceal his satisfaction, Ben, with all the
+indifference he could assume, replied that he would be very glad to
+see the air-ship, and followed his guide to the roof of the house. The
+factories about them were mostly two- and three-story structures, so
+that the roof of the deserted mansion formed a fine workshop for those
+who did not want their movements spied upon or overlooked.
+
+Housed under a protecting shed of canvas, stretched in a wooden
+framework, was a large dirigible balloon, its partially filled bag of
+yellow silk wrinkled and lopsided under its network of stout cord.
+Suspended below the bag was a framework, in the center of which was
+built a pilot house with a short "deckhouse," so to speak, extended
+astern of it. A runway extended fore and aft on the platform and was
+railed, clearly indicating its purpose as a sort of promenade deck, or
+perhaps a navigating bridge.
+
+Ben's guide beckoned to the amazed adventurer to follow, and led the
+way through a small door, kept closed with a powerful spring, into
+what seemed to be the engine-room of the craft.
+
+"A hundred horsepower here," said the black-browed man, touching the
+glittering cylinder tops of the gasolene engine. "The tanks are
+carried below and have a large capacity. We have a cruising radius of
+more than fifteen hundred miles on one filling."
+
+Ben nodded and his guide, after indicating the various gauges, height
+and speed indicators and other instruments in the engine-room, led the
+way through another spring-closed door into a comfortably fitted up
+main cabin. Touching a switch he flooded the cabin with a soft light
+that glowed from a ground glass shade affixed to the engine-room
+bulkhead. The place was decorated in white and gold, and divans,
+covered with crimson velvet cushions, extended along each side of the
+chamber. In the center was a swinging table, and above it, in neat
+racks, were numerous charts and mathematical instruments, each in its
+own place. Six large portholes, three on a side, admitted daylight
+when the ship was out of the shed, and there was a window of plate
+glass in the floor, through which occupants of the cabin could gaze
+down to the landscape below if so inclined. Small staterooms opened
+off it.
+
+The next part of the ship to be visited was the pilot-house, which was
+reached by a short flight of steps from the main cabin. In this part
+of Luther Barr's dirigible were placed the steering wheel, engine
+controls and wind and weather gauges. Large portholes, that could be
+opened if required, gave a view out on every side, and through two
+affixed at the rear of the pilot-house, which was raised about three
+feet above the cabin roof, it was possible to command a view of the
+stern of the ship. From the pilot-house, doors opened on to the
+navigating deck. Ben's attention was caught by an object shrouded in
+heavy tarpaulin on the deck immediately forward of the pilot-house.
+
+"A rapid-firing gun," explained his guide, "you see we are going on a
+cruise that may be dangerous and so we are going armed. In the cabin,
+beneath the divans, are lockers in which ammunition and rifles are
+kept."
+
+"Well, shipmate, I don't want to go on no cruise that threatens
+danger," cried Ben, hoping in this way to elicit something as to the
+nature of Barr's plans, but he was unsuccessful. The other merely
+shrugged his shoulders and replied:
+
+"I did not say there WAS danger. There is none in fact--to us that is,
+but--"
+
+He paused and checked himself as if he realized he was saying too
+much, nor could Ben elicit anything more from him.
+
+"Well, you've got a good-looking ship here," was Ben's next remark,
+"but are you sure she can fly?"
+
+"Fly!" indignantly cried the other, "like a seagull, man. We have
+tested her several nights from this roof. She is as safe as a street
+car. This wonderful craft, senor, is my invention--mine, the child of
+the brain of Alfredo Constantio."
+
+He struck an attitude.
+
+"Well, Mr. Constantio, you're all right," replied Ben," and now if
+you'll excuse me I'll just go round to my sumptuous apartments and get
+my ditty bag."
+
+"Very well, I will come with you," rejoined Constantio, "you see, you
+have seen the secrets of the ship now, and I don't want you out of my
+sight till we are ready to sail on our venture."
+
+This was an unexpected complication.
+
+Ben had figured on getting out of the house on the excuse of packing
+his things and then taking a train to New York and apprising his young
+friends of his discoveries. Senor Constantio, it seemed, was too
+crafty for this, however.
+
+"Well," thought Ben, "there is no help for it. I shall have to trust
+to luck to give him the slip I suppose."
+
+Thus hoping the old sailor sallied forth with the redoubtable Don
+Constantio, who, for his part, was very garrulous and confided to Ben
+that he had sold his invention to Luther Barr for a big price, because
+the old millionaire needed a good dirigible in a hurry.
+
+"But," he went on, "while I have a great ship, my main secret is in
+the gas. I have discovered a powder which can be easily carried and
+which when mixed with the proper ingredients forms the pure hydrogen
+gas. I make it in cylinders that will withstand a pressure of two
+thousand pounds. Hydrogen cylinders weigh, it is true, three hundred
+pounds each, they are of such enormous thickness, and are made of
+special steel--like a gun, but, Senor Hardtack, my powder occupies so
+little space that I can carry enough for several inflations in
+receptacles which combined do not weigh more than one hundred and
+fifty pounds."
+
+Talking thus the black-browed inventor walked beside Ben, occasionally
+asking:
+
+"How much further, Senor Hardtack, to your lodgings?"
+
+"Not much further now," Ben always replied, wondering when an
+opportunity would present itself to escape. Suddenly one came.
+
+As they turned a corner a small boy with a bundle of papers almost ran
+into them, and thrusting his papers up almost in Senor Constantio's
+face, shouted:
+
+"Wuxtry, wuxtry!" with deafening lung power.
+
+All at once he darted off, and at the same moment the inventor cried:
+
+"My watch! he has taken my watch! While he thrust his papers in my
+face he stole my watch!"
+
+Shouting "Stop thief" at the top of his voice he raced off in the
+direction the newsboy had run, and Ben lost no time in taking to his
+heels in the opposite direction.
+
+After doubling round several corners and then doubling on his own
+trail round another block he felt reasonably secure he had given the
+inventor the slip and, hailing a cab, was driven to the station. He
+was fortunate in securing a train to New York without having to wait
+more than five minutes, and late that night the Chester boys and the
+others of their party were in full possession of the details of the
+air-ship in which Luther Barr meant to overreach them if it lay within
+his power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+OFF FOR THE SARGASSO.
+
+
+The knowledge that Luther Barr's air-ship was so nearly ready to start
+on the expedition which Sanborn's treachery had suggested to the old
+millionaire, acted as a spur to the boys in making their final
+arrangements. By starting from Galveston itself they saved the
+necessity of laying in a large stock of supplies in New York, so that
+when two days later "good-byes" having been said and last parental
+warnings issued--their only equipment beside their personal belongings
+were the boxes containing the sections of the Golden Eagle and the
+pontoons. The coverings had not been removed from the aeroplane's
+surfaces, but they had been packed, covered as they were. There was a
+reason for this, as lacing on the coverings at sea, even with the
+additional stability the boys hoped to secure by the use of the
+pontoons, would have been a tedious or even perhaps an impossible
+task. The wings, therefore, which joined at the center of the
+aeroplane, above the chassis, were packed in four sections measuring
+twenty-eight feet each. These sections Frank planned to carry in the
+cabin of the Bolo where they would be out of harm's way.
+
+Five days later the adventurers reached the flat, uninteresting city
+of Galveston and lost no time in making immediate preparations for a
+start. Frank found that the agent had followed his instructions to the
+letter, and the galley shelves of the Bolo were filled with small
+articles to be used in cooking, and that flour bins, sugar and other
+receptacles had been well stocked. Besides all this there was a
+plentiful supply of such staples as beans, onions, potatoes, bacon,
+coffee, tea and a big stock of canned meats and vegetables. Their
+weapons were the boys' own armory, and Harry put in the best part of a
+day constructing neat racks in the cabin, which, when the various
+rifles and shotguns were hung in place, gave the little chamber a very
+businesslike appearance. The cabin was twenty-nine feet long, and the
+wings of the Golden Eagle were therefore a snug fit when suspended on
+slings from the cabin roof. The aeroplane engine was also placed in
+the cabin. The framework and other less perishable parts of the Golden
+Eagle, as well as the pontoons, were placed outside on the cabin roof,
+securely lashed down and covered with waterproof tarpaulin.
+
+In the space under the cabin floor was stored an extra heavy anchor
+for use in emergency, in addition to the two fifty-pound mud-hooks the
+Bolo regularly carried. The boys noted with satisfaction that the
+booms on which the Bolo spread her auxiliary sails were lengthy
+affairs and would readily lend themselves to use as derricks when the
+time came to hoist the various parts on the Golden Eagle overboard
+into the floating erection base. The Bolo also carried a twelve-foot,
+high-sided dory, almost as seaworthy, despite her diminutive size, as
+the larger vessel. Under the cockpit seats were reserve tanks for
+gasolene and water, and beneath the cabin floor and in the bow were
+additional receptacles for fuel. Besides this supply the boys laid in
+a stock of five-gallon cans of gasolene, which were distributed
+wherever they would fit in on the little craft; some even being lashed
+on deck alongside the cabin.
+
+The transportation of so much inflammable matter naturally called for
+the greatest caution, and, much to the disappointment of Ben Stubbs,
+who had insisted on joining the expedition, and Bluewater Bill, Frank
+absolutely forbade smoking aboard the craft. Nor was anybody allowed
+to carry matches. The only lucifers aboard were locked in the galley
+under Frank's sole charge. However, they all agreed that no
+precautions could be too stringent on a craft so laden with
+inflammables and explosives as was the Bolo.
+
+The night before they were to sail, the boys slept on board. The
+Bolo's cabin was equipped with folding Pullman berths and also with
+transoms. Each berth held two, and the transoms accommodated the same
+number, so that eight could sleep comfortably aboard the little craft.
+Early the next morning, while the appetizing aroma of coffee and
+frizzling bacon filled the cabin from Ben's galley, a youthful news
+peddler wandered on to the dock and took up his place with other
+curious persons; for the equipping of the Bolo had made quite a stir
+among the water-front loungers of Galveston. The lad insisted on
+throwing a paper on board for "good luck," he said. Frank, who was out
+in the cockpit at the time re-stowing some cases of gasolene, threw
+the boy a coin and thought no more of the paper till, as they were
+discussing Ben's breakfast, he idly glanced over its front page.
+
+"Mysterious Air-ship," was the heading that instantly caught his eye
+and caused him to set down his cup of coffee untasted. Reading the
+article he found even more matter to hold his attention. The item was
+dated Miami, Fla., and read as follows:
+
+"Much curiosity has been excited here by the sudden appearance of a
+tent housing a huge air-ship. The aerial camp is located at a point
+several miles south of town. The tent is guarded by men armed with
+shotguns and no one is allowed to approach anywhere near it. The
+air-ship, however, has been seen at night taking flights seaward. So
+far, no explanation of the object of the air-ship's presence here has
+been vouchsafed by those interested in it. They are all strangers here
+and will not impart any information."
+
+A few paragraphs further down another Miami despatch caught the eye.
+It was to the effect that "the Brigand, the yacht of Luther Barr, the
+New York and Newport millionaire, arrived here yesterday and anchored
+off shore. Mr. Barr is not a guest of any of our hotels, but is making
+his home aboard his palatial craft."
+
+"Well, here's some news as is news," laughed Frank, handing the paper
+to the others. "It just goes to show that we are not any too previous
+in making a start. Now, if everybody's finished breakfast, I propose
+that we send our good-bye letters ashore and cast off for the
+Sargasso."
+
+"The sooner the better," cried Harry, diving into his locker for a
+letter he had written the night before. The others also had their
+correspondence ready, so no time was lost in entrusting the mail to
+the same gamin who had thrown the paper on board and making final
+preparations for the start.
+
+With the exception of the loafers on the wharf there was no one to
+look on, as the Bolo, with the Stars and Stripes bravely flying from
+her staff astern and the Golden Eagle's pennant attached to her bow,
+chugged out of the harbor and into the open Gulf.
+
+"Off at last!" shouted Billy Barnes, from his seat on the top of the
+piled up cabin roof, as the shores of Galveston rapidly receded and
+finally became a mere blot. "If we don't have some dandy adventures
+before we get back call me a doodle bug."
+
+All that day and the next the Bolo forged steadily onward over the
+purple waters of the Gulf. The boys set regular watches and things
+moved aboard the little craft man-of-war fashion from the start. Every
+night at sundown "colors" were made, that is, the flags were hauled
+down and the sunset gun fired with the tiny saluting cannon the little
+craft boasted. Then the red and green side-lights and the white
+bow-light were set in position. After supper in the cockpit under the
+awning--for it was far too warm to eat in the cabin--there would be
+songs and stories by Ben Stubbs and Bluewater Bill, who had been
+appointed navigating officer and first mate respectively, of the good
+ship Bolo.
+
+On the morning of the second day out the boys were treated to a rare
+sea spectacle. There was a fair seaway, and the Bolo was plunging
+along through it as if she enjoyed it as much as the boys, when a cry
+from Billy, who had the lookout, aroused them all.
+
+"Sail ho!--or rather, steamer ho!" hailed the amateur A. B.
+
+"Where away?" thundered Bluewater Bill, who had the wheel, in true
+nautical style.
+
+Billy was up a stump. What to reply he had no idea.
+
+"It's off our bow," he hailed back; "but I don't know if you call it
+port or starboard."
+
+Steadying himself by one of the foremast stays, Ben Stubbs sprang on
+to the cabin roof.
+
+"Steamer on the port bow," he hailed, "looks like a Mallory liner."
+
+And a Mallory liner it was.
+
+As the boys drew nearer they gazed entranced at the fine spectacle the
+huge black hull made as she rushed through the rolling Gulf waters,
+her bow piling up a huge creamy wave as she cut her way. Her
+passengers lined her rail and waved madly at the tiny Bolo, rolling
+and plunging about in the waves that did not even rock the big liner.
+The boys for their part waved with all their might and Billy blew a
+blast on the foghorn.
+
+"Aft there--aft and dip your colors!" shouted Bluewater Bill.
+
+Ben Stubbs scrambled to the stern and dipped the flag again and again
+as the big black craft rushed on, without, however, noticing the
+courtesy of the small boat. As she sped by the boys spied her name,
+Brazos, in big gilt letters on her stern.
+
+"I wish we could go as fast as that," remarked Billy, as the big
+steamer rapidly dwindled and finally passed out of sight, leaving only
+a black pall of smoke to show that she had passed.
+
+"We are doing well enough," remarked Bluewater Bill, gazing back at
+the Bolo's wake.
+
+"What are we making, do you judge?" asked Frank.
+
+"Ten knots easily," replied the sailor, squinting at the white line of
+foam astern.
+
+"Pretty good for this little craft," remarked Ben Stubbs, "though you
+can't always judge by the wake. I remember when I was on the old
+Dolphin brigantine in the China Sea. One morning we all of a sudden
+noticed a most termendous wake ahind us. It was running like a
+mill-race. I peeked over the side and it was fair whooping along.
+
+"Why, we must be going twenty miles an hour," says the skipper; "queer
+we can't feel any motion."
+
+"Well, boys, to make a long story short, we was that way for three
+days and never moved a foot. You see, it was one of them queer
+currents, and the pace it streaked by made it look as though we was
+going ahead when, shiver my top-gallants, if we wasn't standing still,
+the wind being just strong enough to keep us going forward at the same
+pace the current drew us back--what do you think of that?"
+
+The boys didn't know what to think, and said so, but Bluewater Bill
+winked at them with a portentous eye and merely said:
+
+"That reminds me, shipmate, of what happened when I was aboard the
+Flying Scud off Madagascar. If so be you don't mind, I'll spin you the
+yarn.
+
+"One night it comes on to blow most tremenjous, and by morning we
+finds we was in one of them circular storms. Wall, mates, the wind
+blew all around us, but we didn't move at all. At eight bells the
+pig-pen fetched loose and them porkers got caught in the wind and
+whisked off the deck by the hurricane. As I've said, it was a circular
+storm and them poor porkers jest kep a goin' roun' and roun' and roun'
+the ship all that day. It was night afore the wind died down, and
+then, by a freak, it reversed and blew 'em all back again; but they
+was so dizzy that for a week they ran round the deck in circles and
+when we wanted pork it was no trick at all to catch a hog. All you had
+to do was to find out how he was revolving and then get in his
+way,--what do you think of that?"
+
+"That you are exaggerating, William," said Ben, in a tone of reproof.
+
+"Wall, if wind and tide can hold a ship still; wind alone can give a
+bunch of hogs a merry-go-round, can't it?" rejoined Bill.
+
+"It can, but it don't," was Ben's reply.
+
+"Ah, but you never sailed off the coast of Madagascar, did yer?"
+demanded Bill.
+
+"No, I can't say as I ever did," replied Ben.
+
+"Wall, then," triumphantly cried Bill, "you don't know what a pesky
+wind that Madagascar one is."
+
+How long this argument, which the boys listened to with some
+amusement, might have gone on is hard to say, probably all night, if
+Ben had not suddenly cut it short by springing to his feet with an
+exclamation:
+
+"Come on, shipmates!" he exclaimed, "stop gamming and get a move on
+and snug down this yer awning if you don't want to lose it. Billy, you
+open the self-baling scuppers in the cockpit, my lad, and Lathrop and
+Harry, you get out forward and double lash all that top hamper."
+
+"Why, Ben, what's the matter?" asked Frank, "the sea is just as smooth
+as it has been all day and the sun is shining."
+
+"Well, it won't be in a half an hour," replied the old salt, pointing
+southward. "See that cloud?"
+
+He indicated a tiny purplish bit of vapor floating against the distant
+blue like an argosy. "There's wind in that cloud or my name's not Ben
+Stubbs," he concluded.
+
+Bluewater Bill nodded his assent.
+
+"Mor'n a capful, too," he said grimly.
+
+Even as the two old salts exchanged glances the cloud seemed to grow,
+as if by magic, and by the time the awning was snugged home and lashed
+and everything had been hauled taut in preparation for the blow, the
+whole heavens were overcast with a sullen gray veil, and the sea began
+to rise with a low moaning sound that presaged what Ben Stubbs termed
+"a bad blow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+IN DIRE PERIL.
+
+
+"Get that thar dory aboard," was Ben's next order to the boys, who
+began to feel quite tired, what with their exertions and the
+oppressive weather. As he spoke, a livid streak of lightning tore
+across the overcast sky, followed by a long roll of thunder that made
+the boat vibrate.
+
+"Come on, bear a hand, there's no time to lose," he insisted, "tumble
+aft there--tumble aft."
+
+It was quite a task to get the dory aboard, even with the aid of the
+Bolo's stern davits. The sea was rising every minute and even when
+they had the "falls," as they are called, secured to the little
+dinghy, she threatened to stave either herself or the Bolo while she
+was being hoisted and lashed. At last, however, even that task was
+accomplished and the boys began to anticipate a rest. But the
+indefatigable Ben would not let them loaf, even then.
+
+"I want her to set more by the stern," he said, "shift those gasolene
+cans aft here, and we will trim her down in good shape."
+
+"You see," he explained to Frank, "when the sea gets real high she's
+going to lift her propeller out of the water if she isn't well down by
+the stern, and that would make the engine 'race,' and that we don't
+want it to do, as it is likely to put it out of business."
+
+The boy nodded.
+
+"I suppose it's a good thing to have all the freeboard at the bow you
+can, also," he said.
+
+"That's the idea," was Ben's reply.
+
+And now the storm was upon them in its full fury.
+
+The wind seemed like a wild beast filled with furious instincts and
+bent on the destruction of the Bolo. Half buried in the giant waves
+that the sudden hurricane whipped up, the little craft bravely
+struggled along. Bluewater Bill kept her nose pointed right into the
+big combers.
+
+Her engine was cut down to half and then a quarter speed, but she was
+rolling so badly that Ben Stubbs was considering the advisability of
+putting a rag of sail on her to steady her. She wallowed in the big
+seas like an empty bottle, and every lurch threatened to start some of
+her seams.
+
+While not exactly scared, the boys were certainly worried.
+
+"Do you think she'll last out?" asked Billy of Ben, poking his head
+out of the cabin companion--for all the boys but Frank had been
+ordered below by Ben that there might be plenty of room for working
+the Bolo in case of a sudden emergency.
+
+"Last out?" roared Ben, the wind whipping the words from his lips as
+fast as he framed them, "why of course she will, my boy. I've seen as
+bad seas as this lived out by a craft no bigger than our dory."
+
+But although Ben spoke so confidently he was, none the less, worried.
+As long as the engine kept at its work he knew they were all right,
+but, like most old "tar hands," he mistrusted gasolene "contraptions,"
+as he called them, and in this instance his mistrust seemed well
+founded, for, as he stood in the after part of the cockpit looking
+anxiously astern at the mountainous green combers that raced after the
+Bolo, as if determined to drag her down to "Davy Jones' locker," the
+old sailor noticed something peculiar about the motion of the boat.
+
+She seemed to be falling off into the trough of the waves.
+
+"Keep her up!" yelled Ben to Bluewater Bill, who sat grimly at the
+wheel affixed to the cabin bulkhead.
+
+"I can't!" roared back Bill against the fury of the wind.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"The engine's broke down, I guess; anyhow, she don't answer her helm,
+I can't get steerageway on her."
+
+As he spoke a huge sea crashed broadside on against the Bolo, shaking
+her as an angry mother shakes a child, and sending a great volume of
+green water tumbling aboard.
+
+"We've got to do something and do it quick or we'll be swamped,"
+thought Ben to himself.
+
+He banged on the top of the closed companion slide.
+
+It was drawn back from inside and Harry's head appeared.
+
+"Did we strike anything, Ben?" he asked.
+
+"No, youngster, but a wave struck us and that's near as bad. What's
+the matter with the engine?"
+
+"I don't know," answered the boy, "I'm trying to fix it, but the
+boat's rolling so that I can't seem to get at anything. I'm doing the
+best I can."
+
+"Well, fix it as quick as you can," was Ben's reply.
+
+"Why--are we in danger?" demanded Harry, struck by Ben's anxious tone.
+
+"Well, I don't want to say that YET, but we've got to get out of the
+trough of the sea or--"
+
+A huge wave came toppling aboard, drenching the speaker from top to
+toe, and almost washing him overboard. A brass handhold saved him. The
+cockpit was instantly flooded, but thanks to the patent self-baling
+scuppers, she cleared herself without much water getting into the
+cabin.
+
+But it had been a narrow escape for all three of the adventurers in
+the open part of the boat. As the mass of water struck him, Frank had
+grabbed an awning stanchion, more from instinct than anything else,
+and thus saved himself from being swept overboard.
+
+Bill had laid hold of the wheel, and although he was lifted from the
+helmsman's seat and forcibly banged down again, he was safe.
+
+"We've got to rig a sea anchor," declared Ben, "but in the first
+place, Frank, get below and empty your canvas clothes bags, stuff 'em
+with oakum and pour all the lubricating oil you can spare in on top of
+the oakum and then make a lot of holes in the side with your knife."
+
+Frank did not ask any questions, although he had no idea what the old
+sailor meant to do. He entered the cabin, through the slide, and was
+soon at work on his assigned task, although the motion of the Bolo,
+which seemed first to stand on her bow and then on her stern and
+varied this with a plunge sideways till it seemed as if she was going
+to the bottom, made its accomplishment difficult.
+
+In the meantime, Ben had taken the oars and spare spar out of the dory
+and lashed them all together with a long rope. Carrying this bundle
+forward he attached it to a line and dropped it overboard. The Bolo
+instantly began to drift away from it as it seemed. Soon there was a
+distance of fifty feet or more between the struggling vessel's bow and
+this improvised "sea-anchor." Ben made the line fast to a Samson post
+and crawled aft along the cabin roof; pausing several times when an
+extra hard blast of wind made it dangerous to proceed.
+
+Primitive as the device was, it answered.
+
+The Bolo's head was drawn round toward the wind by this "drag," as
+sailors call it, and she no longer shipped cross seas. A few minutes
+later, Frank had two of the oil bags ordered by Ben ready. Once more
+the sailor crawled on to the plunging bow and made one of the devices
+fast on either side.
+
+To Frank's amazement the seas at once began to subside--that is, in
+the immediate vicinity of the Bolo.
+
+"That's what oil will do," commented Ben, gazing about him with a
+satisfied look. "It spreads a thin scum on the waves and prevents them
+breaking. Now we shall do nicely for awhile, though now the worst is
+about over, I don't mind admitting that I did think once or twice that
+we were bound for Davy Jones' locker."
+
+After a lot of searching the cause of the engine's sudden stoppage was
+located. One of the bearings had become so heated in the struggle
+against the storm that the machine had ceased working. The cause was
+evidently that the violent "tumblefication" that the Bolo had gone
+through had hindered the proper operation of the force-feed
+lubrication. After giving the bearing time to cool off, Frank affixed
+a regular grease cup to it and no difficulty was then experienced in
+starting up the engine once more.
+
+"No use in laying to," said Ben, after he had been consulted as to the
+advisability of going ahead. "The blow's as bad now as it will get,
+and we are being driven back every minute we aren't going forward.
+There's no such thing at sea as standing still."
+
+The drag was accordingly hauled aboard, at no small risk; but the oil
+bags were left to drip their calming lubricant alongside. This done,
+the Bolo was put on her course again and slowly forced her way through
+and over the angry waves that seemed determined to prevent her
+progress. Owing to the heavy clouds that overhung the sky, ever and
+anon ripped open by a lightning flash, it grew dark at four o'clock,
+or eight bells, as Ben called it, and Bluewater Bill was sent forward
+with the lights. But they had hardly been placed in position when a
+huge sea swept the Bolo from stem to stern, extinguishing them
+instantly.
+
+"No use putting out any more," said Ben, "we must trust to luck not to
+run across any vessels. I don't think that we are in the steamer track
+anyway."
+
+But how wrong Ben's words were they all realized when, at about
+midnight, Harry, who had the wheel, thundered on the cabin top and
+yelled at the top of his voice:
+
+"All hands on deck."
+
+They tumbled out without waiting to don any more clothes than they had
+turned in with. The cause of the boy's sudden summons was at once
+plain. Not half a mile from them were the red and green lights of an
+approaching steamer, and judging from the height they were out above
+the water, the vessel was a big one.
+
+"She's headed right for us," shouted Harry.
+
+"That's right, we can see both lights," exclaimed Frank.
+
+"Put your wheel over," yelled Ben.
+
+"I can't, something's the matter with it," rejoined Harry, as the Bolo
+rose on the crest of another big wave and they saw the steamer driving
+toward them right in their path.
+
+"Tiller rope's broken," pronounced Frank after a brief examination.
+
+"No time to fix it up now," announced Ben, "cut out the engine. We
+must trust to the wind to drift us off the steamer's course."
+
+Bluewater Bill dived into the cabin for the lantern, but the furious
+wind snuffed out the light in a second.
+
+And all the time the big steamer was driving closer and
+closer--straight for the helpless motor-boat.
+
+"The signal gun," suddenly shouted Frank. This was a small saluting
+cannon fixed to the after end of the cabin roof.
+
+Quick as thought Billy and Lathrop ripped off the waterproof cover and
+Frank jerked the lanyard. Luckily the gun had been loaded with the
+idea of firing salutes as they left Galveston, but the idea had been
+forgotten in the excitement.
+
+"Bang!"
+
+Even above the storm the report sounded loudly, and the flash at least
+was visible.
+
+Would the steamer notice their signal?
+
+There was a moment of agonizing suspense--in which the boys saw death
+at sea in its ugliest form loom up in front of them.
+
+[Illustration: "A moment of agonizing suspense."]
+
+The towering black bows seemed to be imminent above the Bolo when
+there was a sudden flashing of lights on the lofty foredeck, and a
+voice hailed through the night:
+
+"Motor-boat ahoy!"
+
+The adventurers shouted back at the top of their lungs.
+
+Suddenly the black form of the great vessel, pierced by scores of
+lighted portholes, seemed to glide away from the Bolo, and, with a
+rush and roar as the waves smashed against her lofty steel sides, the
+big vessel raced by.
+
+Gazing far above them the boys could see a uniformed figure on the
+bridge shouting questions through a megaphone. He was, no doubt,
+inquiring what sort of lunatics they were whom he had so narrowly
+escaped sending to the bottom.
+
+"A miss is as good as a mile," was Ben's comment when they all
+breathed more freely, "but no more misses like that, thank you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BILLY'S NARROW ESCAPE.
+
+
+By daybreak the fury of the hurricane had blown itself out and the sun
+rose on a sea that while still storm-tossed was moderate compared to
+the terrific upheaval of the preceding night; by noon, in fact, so
+suddenly did the wind drop, the Bolo was nosing her way along through
+what seemed a glittering, sunlit desert of almost perfectly smooth
+water.
+
+"Let's get the lines out and troll; we might catch a shark," was
+Billy's sudden suggestion.
+
+"Right you are," assented Bluewater Bill. "There's lots of them in
+these waters--savage critters, too. It's a charity to catch them."
+
+Suddenly he broke into song:
+
+  "Oh, sharks have teeth and whales have tails,
+  Cows have horns and so have snails,
+  But of all the fish in the ocean blue
+  The very worst is the green gaboo."
+
+"What on earth is a gaboo?" demanded Frank, who with the others was
+lolling about the cockpit under the awning, which had been re-rigged.
+
+"Why," said Bill, scratching his head, "a gaboo is--well now, let's
+see--ah, yes, a gaboo is a good rhyme for blue."
+
+"If you do anything like that again we shall have to hold a
+court-martial and have you thrown overboard to feed your gaboos,"
+laughed Frank.
+
+"Well, that's what you call poetic license," protested Bill.
+
+"From now on, yours is revoked," declared Frank, "but, seriously,
+Bill, do you know anything about shark fishing?"
+
+"Do I?" demanded the old shellback. "Well, when I was in these very
+waters in the Scaramouch we caught one with a bit of pork that
+weighed--the shark, I mean, not the pork--I forget just what, and
+wouldn't say, for fear you might think I was prevastigating, but it
+was twenty-four foot long."
+
+"Oh, come, Bill, not twenty-four," protested Harry.
+
+"That's what it was," stoutly asserted Bill, rummaging in a locker for
+a shark-hook.
+
+"Why, the biggest shark recorded is only eighteen feet in length,"
+protested Billy.
+
+"Don't know nothing 'bout records, Master Billy, but I do know that
+this yar varmint was twenty-four."
+
+"Did you measure him?" asked Frank.
+
+"Not much," snorted Bill, "he'd have measured us, and we'd have soon
+measured our length if we'd tried. But now if any one has a bit of fat
+pork, I wouldn't be a bit surprised but we can fish up one of them
+finny monsters."
+
+Accordingly a bit of pork was secured from the galley stores and
+placed on the shark-hook, a huge affair as big as the hook used to
+hang meat on in butcher shops. To its hank was shackled a bit of stout
+chain, about two feet long. To this, Bill affixed a stout rope, and
+let the line trail out astern about fifty feet.
+
+"Now, Billy Barnes, since you was so skeptical, you hold the line,
+and, when you feel a tug, take a turn around the cleat here or he'll
+yank you overboard."
+
+"Yank me overboard," cried Billy, incredulously. "Oh, get out, Bill!
+What do you think I am--an old woman?"
+
+Bill said nothing, but cut himself a big bit of chewing tobacco and
+stuffed it into his face. Frank would not have allowed such a habit on
+the Bolo, but he felt as he had deprived the old sailors of their
+pipes, he could not cut off every luxury, so Bill was allowed to chew
+in quiet content.
+
+"Isn't this bully, just going right ahead like this after all the
+terrible things that happened in the night!" exclaimed Harry, as the
+Bolo cut along through the placid waters.
+
+"Great," agreed Frank, "and yet I am glad in one way we ran into that
+blow. Ben Stubbs assured me that we were not likely to get anything
+worse in these latitudes, and the Bolo stood up to it as if she had
+been a clipper."
+
+"Yes; she certainly is a fine little ship," agreed the others.
+
+All at once there came a yell from Billy Barnes.
+
+The startled boys look up just in time to see him yanked bodily out of
+the cockpit, over the counter and into the sea. To their horror, when
+he struck the water he vanished; only to reappear a few seconds later,
+however, with his head above the surface, and moving through the water
+away from the boat at a terrific rate.
+
+"Good heavens, what has happened!" exclaimed Frank, horror-struck at
+the scene. The others were white and too unnerved at the sudden
+accident to speak.
+
+Only Bill and Ben Stubbs kept their heads.
+
+"Let go of the rope," they bellowed.
+
+Billy gave a despairing look back and then was rushed onward through
+the water at a greater speed than ever.
+
+"What is it--what has happened?" repeated Frank.
+
+"Matter enough," was Ben's rejoinder, "he has evidently got that shark
+line entangled in his clothing and when the monster gave a pull at the
+hook it yanked him overboard."
+
+"What are we to do?" cried Harry.
+
+"Put on full speed and go about," cried Ben, suiting the action to the
+word.
+
+At top speed the Bolo rushed through the water after poor Billy, who
+was still being borne along at a terrific rate by the hooked shark.
+
+"Get ready to shoot the shark when he comes up," yelled Ben.
+
+"But will he come up?" asked Frank.
+
+"He's got to," was Ben's brief reply, "with that hook in him, he's as
+good as dead. He won't keep under much longer now."
+
+"Hold up, Billy," shouted the boys to their imperiled companion, but
+the young reporter was too far gone and too choked with the water he
+had swallowed in trying to keep his head above water to reply.
+
+Frank dived into the cabin and reappeared with a heavy rifle. He
+slipped into it a cartridge carrying an explosive bullet. Trembling
+with eagerness, he took up his position on the bow of the speeding
+Bolo, anxiously scanning the waters ahead for any sign of the shark's
+reappearance.
+
+Suddenly an ugly black fin loomed up, cutting through the water like
+the conning tower of a submarine.
+
+"Crack!"
+
+The explosive bullet sped from the rifle, but either Frank's aim was
+bad from nervousness or the powder charge was too heavy, the ball
+struck the water fully a foot from the racing creature.
+
+"Try again," said Ben consolingly, "I'll slow down the boat."
+
+Luckily the shark had not dived and his fin still afforded a good
+mark. It was moving so rapidly, however, that it was going to be a
+difficult matter to hit the large body that moved beneath it.
+
+Once more Frank rested the rifle and drew a careful sight on the fin.
+He aimed a little ahead of it this time, with the result that there
+was a terrific disturbance of the waters as the bullet sped home and
+the wounded creature convulsed with the pain.
+
+"Another," cried Ben; "good work."
+
+Before Frank could fit another cartridge--his rifle was a
+single-chambered one--the shark had dived, leaving only a crimsoned
+pool on the smooth surface to bear testimony that he was wounded.
+
+The boys uttered a groan of dismay as they saw the thrashing form
+vanish and a second later saw Billy flash out of view.
+
+It seemed impossible that their chum could survive being dragged to
+the depths of the sea.
+
+The shark, however, did not remain down long. It soon reappeared on
+the surface, with Billy in tow, still thrashing the water into crimson
+fountains with its fins and tail. Sometimes it leaped clear out of the
+water in its agony.
+
+"Bang!"
+
+Another bullet sped from Frank's rifle, and this time the maddened
+animal seemed to sense from whence came the attack, for it suddenly
+charged furiously at the motor-boat.
+
+Quick as thought, Ben Stubbs, who had seen its coming, leaned over the
+side and with his seaman's knife in hand waited the moment when it
+dived under the boat.
+
+As it did so he gave a quick downward slash.
+
+The rope that seemed to be pulling Billy to his doom severed under the
+blade with a crack. The next minute the young reporter was able to
+swim feebly to the side of the Bolo.
+
+Badly weakened and unnerved by his experience he was pulled on board
+and laid on a bunk in the cabin, where restoratives were administered
+to him.
+
+It was late in the evening before he was himself again, and he then
+explained how he had been idly twisting the line in and out of a hook
+on his belt when there came a sudden tug. Before he knew what was
+happening he found himself rushing through the air and was then
+immersed. Fortunately, he was a good swimmer and kept his head or
+there might have been a more serious termination to his adventure.
+
+"How big do you think that shark was, Billy Barnes?" Frank could not
+help asking him mischievously later in the evening.
+
+"Oh, at least fifty feet," was the young reporter's reply, delivered
+in all seriousness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+INTO THE SARGASSO.
+
+
+The days slipped rapidly by until one fine morning, about a week after
+the events narrated in our last chapter, Ben Stubbs and Frank
+announced that their observations showed that they had doubled the
+southernmost cape of Florida (which had been the scene of some earlier
+thrilling adventures described in the second volume of this series,
+"The Boy Aviators on Secret Service"), and were now on a direct course
+for the mysterious region of the Sargasso Sea. For three days more
+they went steadily onward toward the rising sun, occasionally sighting
+a school of porpoises and scaring up whole legions of flying-fish with
+their sharp bow. The days were glorious--a trifle hot, perhaps, but
+none of the boys minded that; and at night the stars, "as big as
+lamps," Billy declared they looked in the far southern latitude they
+had now reached, gave almost as much light as the moon in our chilly
+northern clime.
+
+Every day, now, some one of the party took turns with the glasses
+under a small shelter erected with canvas and oars in the bow of the
+boat, and painstakingly scanned the horizon all about for any sight of
+the Brigand or Luther Barr's dirigible. But although once or twice
+they saw distant smoke, it always turned out to be a false alarm, and
+they hourly grew nearer the Sargasso without having made out a trace
+of the rival treasure-hunters. This fact put them all in high spirits,
+and each of the boys was already busy building lofty air-castles
+concerning what he would do with the treasure when he got it.
+
+Much of the time, too, was occupied in clearing away the lashings of
+the planes and other apparatus and parts of the Golden Eagle attached
+to the cabin top forward, and discussing plans to erect her at sea.
+Frank perhaps was the only one of the party who fully realized the
+extreme difficulties that confronted them. However, the water was at
+present smooth as glass almost and seemed likely to remain so, if
+Bluewater Bill and Ben Stubbs were to be relied on as weather
+prophets.
+
+"We are getting into the Doldrums now for fair," the old sailor
+announced one morning, pointing to the horizon, where a big,
+full-rigged vessel lay motionless in the breathless atmosphere. "That
+ship yonder may not get out of here for a week."
+
+The chart now showed that they were far out of the track of all ships
+and on a lonely sea, so that the becalmed wind-jammer had probably
+been driven off her course in the same hurricane that menaced them and
+was likely to be a long time before she got out of her melancholy
+predicament.
+
+One day Billy, who was leaning over the side, gave a sharp cry and
+drew back from the bulwarks.
+
+"Come here, fellows--ugh, what an awful-looking thing," he cried.
+
+He pointed down at the sea. The others rushed to his side, and as they
+gazed into the water, which was as clear as crystal for a considerable
+depth, they felt like echoing his exclamation of repulsion.
+
+Through the opalescent green overside could be seen a huge shadowy
+shape slowly settling downward, though from the depth two menacing
+eyes gleamed upward at the young watchers.
+
+From every side of the creature's round, barrel-like body stretched
+huge arms covered with myriads of suckers. It looked like some evil
+spirit of the deep, and the boys estimated the length of its arms as
+at least twenty-five feet. It slowly waved the long feelers as if in
+farewell as it sank.
+
+"That there's a devil-fish," proclaimed Ben, who had joined the group
+as the monster vanished, "some calls 'em octopus, but devil-fish is a
+better word, to my thinking."
+
+The boys agreed with him.
+
+"Surely that must have been an unusually large one, Ben?" exclaimed
+Frank, still with the feeling of repulsion with which the monster had
+imbued him strong upon him.
+
+"A big one," echoed Ben. "Oh, no, not so extra big--though he was
+sizeable, I'll admit. I've never seen such things myself, but I've
+heard crews of whalers tell of having been attacked by one of them
+critters, and sometimes they come back to the ship several men short.
+Them devil-fish are as ferocious as tigers and many's the poor
+sponge-diver they have gobbled up."
+
+"Are there any in Sargasso Sea?" asked Billy, who seemed fascinated by
+the subject.
+
+"I should say there are," put in Bluewater Bill, "and they grow there
+as big as elephants to a rabbit compared to this fellow. I don't doubt
+that some of them has lived there for hundreds of years, just like
+turtles. You see it's a fine place for feeding in, among all that
+seaweed, and when a ship gets in there and some poor chap goes crazy
+and jumps overboard, why, then they have an extra nice morsel to make
+'em get fat and live long."
+
+"Well, that's a nice prospect," said Billy. "I don't know but what I
+should prefer their room to their company."
+
+"Same here," chorused the others.
+
+Hour by hour now the seaweed began to get thicker. At first spread in
+isolated clumps and drifting prettily on the waves, it now became so
+dense as to be a menace.
+
+"We'll have to turn back," announced Frank, "we can't afford to risk
+snarling up the propeller."
+
+Accordingly the Bolo's head was put about and she was headed westward
+again. When the seaweed became so thin as to not offer any serious
+impediment to navigation, the Bolo's heavy anchor was dropped. Luckily
+she carried six hundred feet of one inch manila, but even this was
+hardly enough for the depth of water and had to be eked out with every
+bit of chain and cable that could be spared. Fortunately under the
+circumstances the Bolo carried a capstan which could be thrown into a
+gear with the engine, otherwise it would have been impossible for her
+to anchor in that depth of water, as her crew could never have got up
+the mud-hook by hand.
+
+The weather promised to be clear, and a consultation of the barometer
+showed the instrument to be absolutely steady. After breakfast the
+next day, therefore, the work of erecting the Golden Eagle at sea was
+begun. First the pontoons were lowered over the side and the boys,
+working from the Bolo's dory, connected them by the rigid vanadium
+steel framework provided for that purpose, and which fitted into
+brackets bolted to the sides of the tubes themselves. When connected
+up they formed a sort of catamaran with a space of about twenty-five
+feet intervening between them. The chassis of the Golden Eagle, which
+was in sections, was then erected on a framework previously built and
+which was attached to the floating pontoons. This work occupied the
+greater part of two days, and impatient as Frank was to be off, he
+would not allow it to be slighted.
+
+[Illustration: Erecting the Golden Eagle on the pontoons.]
+
+The wing-supporting framework rising from the chassis next engaged the
+young workmen's attention, each part being screwed to the other and
+fixed in place with nuts locked by a spring devised for the purpose by
+Frank. This was necessary, as the incessant jarring of an aeroplane's
+powerful engines will work loose the most tightly screwed on nut if it
+is not locked, and, of course, the working loose of even a minor part
+on an air craft is a serious proposition indeed. The vanadium steel
+quadrangle being in place, the next task was to adjust the wide
+stretching wing-frames of the big plane. This was a tough job, but the
+boys managed to overcome the tendency of the floating craft to capsize
+under the uneven burden by placing a raft made of boards from the
+cabin floor of the Bolo under each wing tip as it was screwed in
+place.
+
+Of course, as soon as the frames were bolted on on either side and the
+weight was equalized, the aeroplane balanced on her pontoons and there
+was no need for artificial support. Getting the engine in place came
+next, and for a time seemed to promise serious difficulties; but this
+problem was finally solved by towing the pontoon-supported air-ship
+alongside the Bolo, and then using her main boom as a derrick. Billy
+Lathrop and Ben Stubbs hauled on a tackle attached to the engine, and
+thence to the end of the boom, and the heavy bit of machinery swung
+outboard without a hitch. It was then an easy matter to lower the
+motor on to its bed, which had been previously set in place. It didn't
+take long to bolt the engine down, lay the propeller bearings and set
+the main shaft and its twin connections in place and "true" them up.
+The last work, before adjusting the tanks for gasolene and oil, was to
+affix the propellers themselves. This was accomplished by erecting a
+rough stand on a platform of the cabin floor boards.
+
+At last everything was pronounced ready for a start and the finishing
+touches were completed. Harry even lovingly touched up some scratched
+places about the frame with the contents of a paint-pot he had found
+in a locker.
+
+It was at this point that Billy Barnes made a great discovery.
+
+"But say, Frank," he exclaimed, "when you start the propellers she is
+going to fly even though you may want her to skim the water."
+
+"Is she, mister know-it-all?" laughed Frank, "that shows all you know.
+See this pump?" He indicated a small centrifugal affair geared to the
+main shaft.
+
+Billy nodded.
+
+"Well," explained Frank, "when we want to keep the Golden Eagle down
+on earth, or rather sea, we fill the pontoon tanks to the necessary
+weight with this pump. When I want to rise, I pump the water out
+again."
+
+"Gee, that's simple--like all your ideas, Frank," said the admiring
+Billy.
+
+"When are we going to try a trial trip?" demanded Lathrop.
+
+"No reason why we shouldn't start right away on one," declared Frank,
+"if you fellows will bear a hand and fill up the gasolene, radiator
+and lubricator tanks."
+
+The receptacles were quickly replenished with fuel, water and oil, and
+then the young aviators waited in a thrilling state of suspense while
+Frank tested the engine. After a few adjustments of the bed, the
+machine fell to work as evenly as it had at Mineola, and Frank
+announced that he was ready to cast off the lines that restrained the
+aeroplane to the side of the Bolo.
+
+With Frank in the driving seat, Harry at the engines and the others
+grouped in the chassis the start was made.
+
+At Harry's cry of "All right," the young leader started up the power
+and threw in the propeller clutch. A shout broke from the throats of
+the adventurers as the Golden Eagle began to move gracefully ahead in
+her new element.
+
+Soon she began to gather speed and skim rapidly over the water as
+Frank increased the power; but he soon came to a stop.
+
+"We'll have to put more water in the tanks," he announced, "she's
+trying to rise."
+
+More water was quickly pumped in by running the machine pump on the
+engine with the propellers cut out. As the ship settled lower and
+lower, Frank watched her carefully.
+
+"That's enough," he cried at length to Harry, who was filling the
+tanks. The pump was stopped and the automatic caps screwed on the
+valve opening of the pontoons.
+
+Once more Frank threw in the propeller clutch and started up the
+engine. This time he ran the motor to high speed without the aeroplane
+rising more than enough to just gracefully skim the top of the water,
+like a drinking swallow.
+
+"It's better than flying," enthusiastically cried Billy, hugging
+Lathrop in his excitement, "and you don't have to keep still either,"
+he added.
+
+"Wall, I've followed the water for a good many years, but I never went
+to sea on a water air-ship before," was Bluewater Bill's contribution.
+
+"You like it, don't you?" demanded Billy, almost fiercely.
+
+"You bet cher life, I do," was Bill's truthful, if vulgarly expressed,
+rejoinder.
+
+On and on skimmed the Golden Eagle, seemingly as much at home on the
+surface of the gently heaving South Atlantic as in the upper air
+currents. So exhilarating was the sensation, that Frank kept the
+winged craft straight on, holding her to her course with the air
+rudder, which worked as well on the water as in the clouds.
+
+Then swinging in a long circle, so that the strain on the long
+pontoons and their bracings would not be too great, he brought the
+ship about and headed her back for the Bolo, that lay, a tiny speck,
+on the far horizon, so far and fast had they traveled.
+
+They came back at the same swift gait as they had taken the outward
+spin, and all voted this new form of water riding as enjoyable as
+anything they had ever experienced.
+
+That night was spent in making final arrangements for the dash in
+search of the golden galleon. As the adventurers did not want to carry
+more weight than could be avoided, it was agreed that Bluewater Bill,
+Lathrop and Billy Barnes should remain on board the Bolo, while the
+Boy Aviators and Ben Stubbs started on the aerial search for the
+treasure ship.
+
+From the latitude and longitude in which they were then anchored,
+Bluewater Bill judged that the galleon could not lie much more than
+two hundred miles to the southeast, out across the wilderness of
+Sargasso. Of course she might have shifted, but from an aeroplane it
+is possible to survey a tremendous area, and the young adventurers
+were confident of being able to pick up the prize.
+
+Two more bitterly disappointed youths than Billy and Lathrop could
+hardly be imagined than they were when they learned that it would be
+impossible to take them on the scouting expedition. Frank, however,
+pointed out the utter foolishness of overloading the Golden
+Eagle--more especially as they might have to bring back a heavy load.
+Being sensible boys, both Billy and Lathrop, therefore, soon got over
+their gloom.
+
+Early the next morning, the final provisions were loaded into the
+aeroplane's chassis and her barometer, auto-clock and other
+instruments were adjusted by the Bolo's own and set in place. A
+careful note was then made of the Bolo's position and noted in Frank's
+pocket log-book. This done there only remained farewells to be said
+and these were necessarily brief.
+
+It was ten-thirty o'clock on a cloudless, breathless morning that the
+Golden Eagle, with her pontoons empty, except for a supply of drinking
+water carried in the small reserve tanks at either end, shot into the
+air from the glassy sea.
+
+Had any strangers been there to witness the start they could not have
+forborne to cheer at the sight the noble ship presented, soaring
+onward higher and higher, like a mighty sea-bird winging its way
+toward the unknown wastes of the mysterious Sargasso.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE RAT SHIP.
+
+
+Strong of wing and sound of engine, the Golden Eagle sped on through
+the clear, warm air, the rushing sensation of her flight sending the
+wind in a cooling stream against the faces of the occupants of her
+chassis. From time to time, Ben scanned the vast flats of ocean below
+them with the glasses, but for some time nothing appeared in the field
+of the binoculars to warrant them in changing their course. Seen from
+above, the mucilaginous character imparted to the Sargasso Sea by the
+vast acreage of flowing seaweed, inextricably entangled, was clearly
+perceptible, even though from the deck of a ship the shallow layer of
+water that overlies the seaweed imparts the blue hue of open water to
+it and makes its treacherous character.
+
+"It is like traveling over a water desert," declared Harry.
+
+Far on the horizon were piled castellated cloud masses, seemingly
+immoveable and changing in tint as the day lengthened. On all the vast
+stretch beneath them was not a sign of life. It was an ocean solitude
+indeed.
+
+Suddenly Ben who had the glasses in hand gave a shout.
+
+"I make out something!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Where?" cried Harry.
+
+"About two points to the starboard--change your course a bit, Frank,
+and we'll be bearing directly up for it."
+
+Frank gave the wheel a slight twist and the Golden Eagle obediently
+swerved off to the right.
+
+"What was it you saw?" asked Frank.
+
+"A ship, though whether it is the one we are after is doubtful," was
+Ben's reply. "I reckon there are enough ships drifting about in this
+tangle to stock up a dockyard."
+
+It was not long before all doubt on this point was resolved. The
+object Ben had sighted was indeed a ship.
+
+As the Golden Eagle soared nearer they perceived that the vessel was a
+small steamer--a craft of perhaps 2,000 tons, painted black with a
+yellow funnel. Except that no smoke curled upward from her stack and
+there was not a sign of life about her, she looked as if she might
+have just set out on a voyage. From her mainmast a flag hung, wrapped
+about the spar in the breathless atmosphere.
+
+"I'm going to drop," announced Frank.
+
+Instantly the Golden Eagle's steady, forward motion ceased and she
+began to descend with a rapidity that would have taken the breath away
+from less experienced aviators than her occupants.
+
+It was like going down in a rapidly falling elevator.
+
+She struck the water with a gentle gliding impact that hardly did more
+than ripple the surface, and a cheer broke from the boys as they
+perceived how perfectly the new pontoons worked.
+
+"As easy as lighting on a feather-bed," was the way Harry put it.
+
+The spot where they had settled was some little distance from the
+steamer, so, at a pace which would not raise the aeroplane from the
+water, Frank steered her toward the derelict.
+
+Viewed even in the cheerful sunlight she was a melancholy object.
+Although at a distance it was not perceptible that she was an
+abandoned craft, a near view showed that it must have been some time,
+perhaps even a period of years, since she had been trapped in the
+Sargasso.
+
+As she rose and fell in the gentle, heaving swell, the boys could see
+that long green weeds grew on her sides where the water laved them and
+her paint was blistered and flaked off in great patches, showing the
+rusty red of her iron plates beneath.
+
+In the presence of this mystery of the ocean the boys grew silent as
+Frank maneuvered the Golden Eagle alongside and stopped the clattering
+motor.
+
+The silence was profound.
+
+Except for the occasional creak of a block as the derelict slowly
+swung to and fro it was as still as noonday in the desert. Even the
+usually light-hearted Harry was awe-stricken in the presence of the
+silent derelict.
+
+Ben was the first to break the stillness.
+
+"I'm going aboard," he announced, singling out with his eye a dangling
+rope which depended from a davit.
+
+"Look, boys," he went on; "perhaps the poor fellows got away. See, the
+boats are gone."
+
+"Let's hope they did," replied Frank, making fast the Golden Eagle to
+another of the dangling "falls," and preparing to follow Ben's example
+and clamber aboard.
+
+Soon the boys stood on the main deck of the abandoned steamer, whose
+name they now saw was Durham Castle.
+
+"She was a Britisher," declared Ben.
+
+As he spoke there was a mighty noise like that of rushing water from
+the forecastle and the boys started back in affright. And well they
+might, for on the heels of the noise came a perfect torrent of rats.
+Gray rats, brown rats, young rats, old rats, thin rats, fat rats. They
+dashed directly at the boys, seeming mad with terror, or rendered
+ferocious from thirst or other causes.
+
+Their little beady black eyes gleamed wickedly and their sharp yellow
+teeth were exposed.
+
+The boys ran and Ben leaped into the main shrouds by which they had
+been standing, but the forerunners of this avalanche of crazed
+creatures was upon them. The rodents with squeaks and cries swarmed
+after the human beings as if they meant to devour them by sheer force
+of numbers.
+
+"Shoot--shoot," shouted Ben, as he dashed from his waist a big brown
+rat that left the imprint of its teeth in his hand as he struck at it.
+
+Frenziedly the boys emptied their magazine revolvers at the mass of
+swarming creatures and they fell dead in heaps at their feet. But
+still the onrush came and the lads shuddered with repulsion as they
+felt the tiny claws of the rodents fixed in their trousers as the
+creatures tried to swarm up them.
+
+They seemed to have a leader. An immense gray fellow almost as big as
+a rabbit. A sudden idea came into Frank's head, he did not know at the
+time whether he had been told it, or read of it somewhere, but it
+seemed to him if he could kill that old gray leader the rest might
+take fright.
+
+Hastily he fired, almost blowing the creature's head off, so close was
+it to him.
+
+As the others saw their leader killed they hesitated, and Ben and
+Harry took advantage of the pause to empty a fresh magazine full of
+bullets into the closely packed mass.
+
+It was the turning point.
+
+With shrill squeaks and cries the rats turned and dashed for the other
+rail. As they reached it they swarmed over it madly, unheeding of the
+water beneath. In whole battalions they plunged into the sea, most of
+them sinking immediately; but some of them swimming about in circles
+with piteous cries. The sea was discolored with their swarming heads
+for some distance about the ship.
+
+Suddenly there shot up from the seaweed a long fleshy arm covered with
+what seemed to be huge excrescences. It curved like a serpent and
+swept deftly within its grasp dozens of the struggling rodents. Other
+arms appeared waving and seizing on the rats as they swam desperately
+about.
+
+The boys knew that the arms were the tendons of giant devil-fish that
+had scented from afar the feast of rats.
+
+They shuddered as they thought of the fate of human beings who should
+be cast adrift in such waters. In a short time not a rat remained on
+the water and the arms too subsided and sank.
+
+White and shaky from the creepiness of the scene they had just
+witnessed the boys turned to Ben. The old mariner was mopping the
+sweat off his brow with a huge, red bandanna handkerchief.
+
+"Wall, boys, if that's one of the sights of the Sargasso," he said,
+"I'd prefer Africa or even the Everglades--oof."
+
+"How could such myriads of rats exist aboard a ship?" asked Frank.
+
+"Easy enough, boy. This ship was a sugar ship bound from New Orleans
+to England with raw sugar for refining I take it.--See the remains of
+the sugar bags scattered about where the rats dragged 'em?"
+
+The boys nodded.
+
+"Well, rats swarm aboard such ships if they are not kept down, and I
+suppose that when this craft drifted in here to the Sargasso, and her
+crew deserted her, that the rats just naturally multiplied till they
+ate the holds clean of sugar and gnawed into the water tanks. Then we
+come along and they figures on making a meal out of us. They're queer
+things are ship rats, look how they ran when their leader was killed,"
+went on the old sailor. "No sailor would go to sea on a ship that
+hasn't got any aboard though."
+
+"Why is that?" asked Frank.
+
+"Well, it's the old saying, 'rats leave a sinking ship,' you know,"
+rejoined Ben.
+
+"Let's explore the ship," said Frank, "that is, if there are no more
+rats about. Thank goodness, there is no chance of our meeting any
+devil-fish aboard here."
+
+"No, that's one good thing," put in Harry. "Ugh!--did you ever see
+such horrid looking things as those waving arms?"
+
+Peeping down into the deserted engine-room, where the machinery was
+rusting and rotting from long neglect, the boys made their way aft to
+what had evidently been the quarters of the vessel's captain.
+
+"Ah, here's his log-book!" exclaimed Ben, opening a volume which lay
+on a desk attached to a bulkhead, "but first let's look into the
+staterooms."
+
+There were four of these, opening off from the main cabin and in each
+there were evident signs of a hasty departure. Clothes, books and
+nautical instruments lay scattered about in confusion. The boys did
+not come across anything though to show them the fate of the crew of
+the ill-fated vessel.
+
+They therefore examined the log-book and found that, as Ben had
+surmised, the derelict had started on her last voyage from New Orleans
+to Liverpool laden with raw sugar. Her captain was Elias Goodall, and
+her first mate James Hooper. The day of her entrance into the fatal
+Sargasso was set down as June 21st, 1898. Previous to this date there
+had been several entries referring to a break-down in the engine-room,
+which caused the steamer to be driven miles off her course by heavy
+gales. It was undoubtedly in this way that she drifted into the fatal
+seaweed.
+
+"Have got the engine going again," read the entry, "but the sky for
+days has been overcast and have had no chance to make observations.
+Know we must be miles off our course, however."
+
+Below was the next record of the ship's fate.
+
+"Chief Engineer Maxwell just informed me that something seems the
+matter with propeller.--Later--Found the propeller matted with huge
+growths of seaweed. Cleared it with some difficulty by shifting some
+cargo forward and then revolving wheel till, blade by blade, we
+cleared it with axes from the small boats."
+
+June 22nd.--"Seaweed seems to be getting thicker. With difficulty we
+progress at all. Mate Hooper just suggested terrifying possibility.--Are
+we in the Sargasso?"
+
+June 25.--"Since the last entry in the log, have learned that our
+fears were only too well grounded. We are indeed in the Sargasso and
+there seems to be no escape. Engine stopped working long ago. The
+propeller so matted with seaweed that we could make no progress. What
+will become of us?"
+
+June 26.--"Have tried to keep true state of affairs from the crew, but
+they learned of facts in some way, and made a demand to take to the
+boats. I told them that our duty was to stick by the ship till all
+possibility of aid was exhausted. They seemed ugly; but for the
+present at least there is no sign of mutiny. If only we had wireless
+we might signal our plight."
+
+June 28.--"The worst has happened. In attempting to drive the crew
+back from the boats, Chief Engineer Maxwell was instantly killed with
+a handspike, poor Hooper so badly wounded and beaten that he died
+half-an-hour ago and I myself wounded in the left arm. The crew have
+taken to the boats and two loads are now about half a mile from the
+vessel. The men are shouting. Something terrible must have happened--"
+
+June 29.--"I have not been able to nerve myself until to-day to record
+the frightful interruption that occurred while I was penning the last
+lines. I was interrupted by a fearful shriek and hastening on deck saw
+a sight that will not be blotted from my memory till I go to my death.
+The boats seemed to be in the grasp of what appeared at first glance
+gigantic snakes. The men, unfortunate fellows, were trying to beat the
+creatures off and pull back to the ship. Their vain cries for aid were
+pitiful. I got the glasses, the better to see what was happening. My
+horror at what I saw then was so great that I can hardly set it down.
+The creatures I had seen were not snakes at all but the arms of huge
+octopi. They enwrapped the boats in every direction. Even as I gazed
+one boat-load was drawn beneath the surface. In a few minutes more all
+was over."
+
+July 4.--"On this day, at home, all are celebrating and rejoicing, and
+here am I encircled with horrors, and adrift, as it seems, on a doomed
+ship. There is one boat left. I mean to lower it and try to reach the
+land or at least the open sea where I may fall in with a vessel. The
+rats are swarming everywhere. They have attacked the cargo in the
+forward hold and the noise of their fighting and struggling is
+terrible. Last night they killed my poor cat. I found her clean-picked
+bones on the fore-deck this morning. I can stay no longer on this
+horror ship.--God be with me."
+
+                                            Goodall,
+
+                                              Captain.
+
+Here the pathetic record ended abruptly and of the fate of the
+unfortunate captain the boys had of course no inkling. They, however,
+took the log-book with them for delivery in the future to the vessel's
+owners, and ten minutes later were back on board the Golden Eagle.
+
+"It feels good to be off that 'horror ship' as her captain called
+her," exclaimed Frank, as he started up the engine.
+
+"I should say so," was Harry's reply, in a sobered tone, "and I
+suppose scores of other ships have met the same fate."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said Ben, "every year vessels sail from the United
+States and foreign ports that are never heard of again. No accounts of
+storms are received during their voyages, yet they never reach port;
+undoubtedly many of them wind up in the graveyard of the Sargasso."
+
+"I'm glad we have a good stout air-ship to carry us," exclaimed Frank,
+as the Golden Eagle soared into the air and soon left the derelict far
+behind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE GOLDEN GALLEON.
+
+
+A sharp hail from Harry, who had the glasses, aroused Frank from a
+reverie into which he had fallen as the Golden Eagle skimmed along. It
+was some time since she had left the ill-fated Durham Castle.
+
+"Look, Frank,--here, take the glasses," the younger boy cried
+excitedly,--"there's a queer-looking ship dead ahead of us--can she be
+the Buena Ventura?"
+
+Frank surrendered the wheel to Harry and gave the object a prolonged
+scrutiny. Then he handed the glasses to Ben with a quiet:
+
+"What do you make of her, Ben."
+
+The old sailor held the glasses to his eyes for a space of ten seconds
+or more and then turned to the boys with an excited look on his face.
+
+"Whatever she is, she is no modern ship," he cried, "she's got a high
+stern on her like a castle, and her masts and rigging are like no ship
+that sails the sea to-day."
+
+"There's another ship over on the horizon," cried Harry, "looks like a
+wreck."
+
+Ben took the glasses once more.
+
+"It's the wreck of a barque," he announced. "Guess it's the one that
+Bluewater Bill was cast away on. If it is, that must be the galleon
+over yonder, 'cause Bill said she was close to his ship, and I guess
+vessels don't change their relative positions much in this place."
+
+As the Golden Eagle rapidly approached the ancient vessel the boys
+went nearly wild with excitement.
+
+The glasses were constantly trained on her and when Harry, who had
+kept the binoculars fixed on the vessel's stern, announced in a voice
+that quivered with suspense:
+
+"I can see her name--it's Buena Ventura all right," they all broke
+into a shout.
+
+[Illustration: "I can see her name--it's Buena Ventura all right."]
+
+The goal was reached at last then.
+
+Frank sent the Golden Eagle swinging in a long graceful circle round
+the galleon, from whose tall masts still hung fragments of rotting
+sails, and finally settled alongside her towering wooden sides, which
+still bore tracings of the gilding and paint with which the old
+Spaniards loved to decorate their vessels. Her lofty stern was a mass
+of splendid carving and gilt work. In its centre, in faded paint was
+the figure of a woman, surrounded by stars and other heavenly bodies.
+The vessel's stern cabin windows also were richly embossed and gilded.
+
+"If there's as much gold inside her as there is out we'll all be
+millionaires!" exclaimed Ben.
+
+"How are we going to get aboard?" questioned Frank, as he gazed at the
+high, smooth sides.
+
+"Yes, that's a problem. I don't see the rope Bluewater Bill used
+either. It must have rotted away," rejoined Ben.
+
+"Let's circle round her," he went on, "maybe I can see a foothold and
+then I can get aboard and let down a rope to you boys."
+
+Accordingly, the Golden Eagle was steered slowly round the great hull,
+and finally Ben selected a place to clamber up among the fretwork
+below the heel of the bowsprit. With a nimble leap he was soon
+clinging to the heavy carving, and rapidly swarming hand over hand to
+the galleon's deck. When he reached it, he flung down a rope with
+which the Golden Eagle was made fast to the galleon's side, and in a
+few minutes the boys stood by his side on the moldering deck.
+
+As it was getting dark, there was not time to do a great deal that
+night. All they found opportunity to accomplish, in fact, was a brief
+exploration of the main cabin, which was magnificently hung in silks
+and velvets once splendid, now mildewed and rotting. The decorations
+of the place had been sumptuous evidently.
+
+In the rear of the cabin was a pile of ancient-looking chests, heavily
+strapped with iron, and with great brass locks curiously carved
+affixed to them.
+
+"The treasure chests!" cried Harry, trembling with excitement.
+
+All three of the adventurers hurried across the cabin. In the
+afternoon-light that streamed through the stern-windows Frank fell on
+his knees and eagerly tried to wrench one of the locks off. Aged as it
+was, however, it resisted his exertions.
+
+"Hold on!" cried Ben. "I'll get it off." He raised his heavily booted
+foot, as Frank drew back, and brought it down with a crash on the
+massive brasswork. With a rending and tearing of the worm-eaten wood
+the lock ripped loose and the lid, operated by some concealed spring,
+flew open.
+
+The boys gave a shout of disappointment. Nothing in the way of
+treasure lay revealed--only a faded velvet cloak edged with tarnished
+lace.
+
+"Wait a bit," cried Ben tearing off the cloak. "Ah!--"
+
+A different sort of shout came from the boys' throats then. Beneath
+the cloak lay candle-sticks, gold and silver, great vases, gleaming
+dull yellow in the mellow light of the gloomy beamed cabin, bowls of
+the precious metal, splendidly carved, and small parchment bags
+bulging with the varied shapes of the coins they contained.
+
+The boys dragged the contents of the chest and spread it in a
+glittering pile.
+
+"So it was no dream of Bluewater Bill's after all," exclaimed Harry.
+
+So excited were they that the boys were anxious to go ahead with the
+work of breaking open more treasure chests that night; but they
+yielded to Ben's entreaties and agreed to have supper and a good
+night's rest before they proceeded to their task. After a meal of
+bacon, coffee, bread and preserved fruit, cooked on the gasolene stove
+of the Golden Eagle, the boys professed themselves ready for bed.
+
+"Better sleep aboard the galleon," said Ben.
+
+"Why?" asked Frank.
+
+"Why, we don't want any of those devil-fish coming snooping around in
+the night, do we?" asked the old sailor, "and they might, if we slept
+so near the water."
+
+"I should say not," exclaimed Harry, with a shudder at the bare idea.
+
+"Say Frank," exclaimed the younger lad, an hour later, when they were
+snuggled under blankets--for there is a heavy dew and night chill on
+the Sargasso--on the deck of the Buena Ventura, "what would you do if
+the door of the cabin yonder should suddenly open and an old don all
+in armor should come stalking out and say:
+
+"'Get hence, get hence, young marauders, and leave my treasure
+untroubled!'"
+
+"I'd offer him a ride in the Golden Eagle to clear the cobwebs out of
+his brain," said Frank sleepily.
+
+The treasure hunters were astir early the next day and immediately
+after breakfast--a hearty meal cooked on the Golden Eagle's
+stove,--had been despatched they were ready for work.
+
+It had been determined to go at the task systematically, so Frank in a
+notebook, checked off the articles as chest after chest of valuable
+gold and plate was dragged from the galleon's cabin. He soon had his
+book full and was compelled to borrow a small pocket diary from his
+brother.
+
+"I say, Frank!" exclaimed Harry, as he and Ben drew from the moldering
+chests piece after piece of dull golden ornaments, some of them
+studded with jewels that blazed as they caught the sun. "What should
+you say this stuff was worth, as far as we have gone?"
+
+"Every bit of $50,000 I should imagine," replied the elder boy,
+"although I'm not much of a judge in such matters."
+
+"Hurray, Ben! that will make us all rich," shouted Harry.
+
+"Say," remarked Ben, pausing in his task of emptying a squat chest,
+marked, Don Ramon De Guzman, Sevilla, "you don't think I'm going to
+touch any of this loot do you? It all belongs to you boys and
+Bluewater Bill, and I've no right to a cent's worth of it. The
+excitement is enough for old Ben Stubbs."
+
+"Well, you've got a nerve!" cried Frank, "to think that you are not
+going to get a share. Why we are all in on this, and, when we have all
+the stuff out and get it valued, we'll divide it up in fair
+proportion."
+
+"You won't get me to take any of it," grumbled old Ben obstinately,
+grubbing away in the treasure-filled box.
+
+"We shall see about that," said Frank, who knew it was useless to
+argue with the old sailor.
+
+As they worked feverishly, from time to time gazing at the sky in
+apprehension of the appearance of Luther Barr's dirigible, the
+adventurers had an illustration of the manner in which the old
+Spaniards guarded their treasure that came very near having a tragical
+termination.
+
+Ben Stubbs had hammered off the lock of a huge chest, with a
+semi-circular top, and was in the act of flinging back the lid, when
+he stopped short with an exclamation. It was fortunate for him that he
+paused, for as he did so, the lid, actuated by some hidden mechanism,
+swung back and a steel arm, tipped with sharp prongs, shot out. Had
+the sailor been less nimble the device would undoubtedly have caved
+his skull in. As it was, it missed him only by an inch.
+
+"Well, that's a nice murderous contrivance," gasped the astonished
+sailor.
+
+An examination showed the boys that the tips of the prongs were
+stained and they had little doubt, as they examined it, that the marks
+were those of human blood. The life fluid of some old-time marauder
+who had paid with his life for his attempt to rifle the chest. The
+death-bearing arm, they discovered, was actuated by levers and
+springs, connecting with the lifting mechanism of the lid. The boys
+were compelled to admit, as they examined the device, that fiendish as
+it was it had been designed by a master mechanic of his time.
+
+As they worked, you may imagine, the boys swept the sky for a sign of
+Luther Barr's dirigible, but not a trace of her did they discover that
+day.
+
+"It begins to look as if we had beaten Luther Barr this time," cried
+Harry, exultingly.
+
+"Don't be too sure," was Frank's cautious reply. "He is capable of
+going to any lengths to satisfy his lust for gold, and I am sure he
+would stop at nothing to get the treasure from us. We may have a lot
+of trouble on our hands yet."
+
+The treasure as it was catalogued was placed in canvas sacks brought
+for the purpose, and by supper time that night all the chests had been
+pretty well emptied and the sacks lay distributed in such a manner as
+not to interfere with her equilibrium on the Golden Eagle's deck.
+
+"It's going to make a heavy load," said Frank, shaking his head as he
+looked at the pile.
+
+"We've got to take it all out at once, however," said Ben, "or we
+would be pretty sure not to find any when we came back."
+
+"It's very certain that Barr cannot be far off," said Harry, gazing
+about at the opal sunset sky.
+
+"Well, if he comes to-morrow he'll come too late," said Frank, "for
+we'll be far away from here by then. I intend to sail at dawn."
+
+"That's the idea," was Ben's comment, "no use wasting time on a job of
+this sort. It's a good thing the weather has kept so clear, otherwise
+we might have had trouble; aside from old Barr's brand."
+
+"I must confess it was a surprise to me to find that he had not
+reached here ahead of us," went on Frank; "you know we lost a lot of
+time in that storm."
+
+"Maybe something went wrong with the dirigible before they started,"
+suggested Harry.
+
+"I guess that must be it," said Ben; "otherwise you can bet he'd have
+gotten on more of a hustle than this."
+
+"Well, I'm just as well content with things as they are," commented
+Harry, "in fact it would not grieve me much to hear that his old
+balloon had tumbled into the ocean, crew and all."
+
+Supper was soon despatched that evening, and the boys turned in early.
+They slept soundly, but toward midnight Frank had a queer dream. It
+seemed to him that he was on board the rat ship once more and that
+scores of the rodents they had battled with were again overwhelming
+him. He battled bravely with the hosts but they were too many for him.
+Just as it seemed that all was over, however, he heard a voice say,
+"Hold on there!"
+
+So startlingly clear was the voice that Frank awoke as it uttered the
+words and almost gave a cry, which he instantly checked, as he
+perceived that it was no dream-voice he had heard.
+
+As he listened intently he heard the voice once more.
+
+"Hold on there--this is it."
+
+The words seemed to come from overhead.
+
+Gazing upward, the boy saw, hovering between the deck of the galleon
+and the stars, a large black object.
+
+He instantly knew it for what it was.
+
+Luther Barr's air-ship!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+DIRIGIBLE VS. AEROPLANE.
+
+
+A galvanic shock passed through the boy at the discovery, and he
+silently crawled to where Harry and Ben lay and placing his hand over
+their mouths he in turn awoke them.
+
+"Don't utter a word," he whispered, "Luther Barr's air-ship is here."
+
+From the spot in which they crouched, keeping as closely in the shadow
+of the stout mast as they were able, the adventurers could hear
+distinctly the conversation of the men in the dirigible.
+
+"This must be the galleon," Frank heard a voice he recognized as
+Sanborn's saying, "it's lucky we decided to keep on."
+
+"Well, we might as well have turned back for all the good we can do
+now," came another voice--that of Malvoise. "I'm not going to run a
+chance of wrecking the ship by making a landing in the dark."
+
+"What, you are not going to descend?" came Sanborn's voice in a
+querulous tone.
+
+"Not much," was the rejoinder. "What's the use of risking our necks
+and taking a chance on smashing up the air-ship. If she is damaged we
+would be stranded here and leave our bones in the Sargasso in all
+probability."
+
+"That's so," chimed in another voice--that of the inventor Constantio.
+"It would be very dangerous, senor, to make a landing to-night. Let us
+go back to the island and start out to-morrow again."
+
+The boys exchanged glances. So the Barr party had encamped on an
+island; doubtless one of the numerous little keys that abound in those
+waters and which, had they water on them--which few have--are ideal
+spots.
+
+"That's my idea, Sanborn," went on Malvoise, "come, shall I put her
+about and sail back?"
+
+"Let's circle the ship first," exclaimed Sanborn. "So far as we know
+we are here ahead of those Boy Aviator cubs, but we can't tell
+positively unless we make an examination."
+
+Frank's heart stood still. If they circled the ship there was little
+doubt they would spy the Golden Eagle floating alongside; in black
+shadow though she was. His fingers closed on his revolver. But
+fortunately there was no need to use weapons then, for Sanborn's idea
+was overruled, and from the position in which the air-ship hovered she
+could not spy the aeroplane.
+
+"No; come on, let's get back," urged Malvoise; "there is something
+wrong with one of the cylinders and I want to fix it before we tackle
+the job of taking off the treasure."
+
+"Very well then," said Sanborn, yielding to the will of the majority.
+"We'll get back, but I want to be here first thing in the morning and
+make a thorough overhauling of the ship. There ought to be enough gold
+aboard her, from what I overheard Bluewater Bill say, to make us all
+kings."
+
+"Ah, then I can invent more dirigibles, large ones to carry passengers
+across the Atlantic," the boys heard Constantio say--though of course,
+till Ben told them, they were not aware of the speaker's identity.
+
+To their great relief the engine of the dirigible, which had hovered
+stationary above the galleon during the men's talk, was once more set
+in motion and the big air-ship drove off at a rapid pace.
+
+"Phew! that was a narrow escape," exclaimed Frank. "I don't want many
+more like that, I can tell you."
+
+"If they had only gone round the galleon they could not have escaped
+spying the Golden Eagle," said Harry.
+
+"Fortunate for them they didn't," said Ben grimly, fondling his blue
+magazine revolver; "they'd have got some indigestible leaden pills,
+I'm thinking."
+
+"Shooting is just what we want to avoid," said Frank. "I never want to
+have to fire on a human being."
+
+"Well, if they fire at you first, what are you going to do?" was Ben's
+incontrovertible argument.
+
+Naturally the Boy Aviators and their companion slept no more that
+night. The remaining hours before daybreak were occupied with getting
+everything in first-class shape aboard the Golden Eagle in readiness
+for what might prove a dash for life.
+
+"Are we faster than the dirigible?" asked Harry, who realized as well
+as his brother that there might be a chase between the two air-ships.
+
+"I don't know," was Frank's reply, "we ought to be; but from Ben's
+description, and what we saw of her, that dirigible must be at least a
+hundred and fifty feet long and she has a more powerful engine than we
+have."
+
+"But look at her weight," argued Harry.
+
+"That doesn't cut so much figure if you have a powerful enough engine
+to overcome it," was the reply; "some European dirigibles, bigger than
+Luther Barr's, have made eighty and even ninety miles."
+
+"Well, we wouldn't stand much chance with an affair like that and
+that's a fact," commented Harry.
+
+"We can only hope things won't come to such a pass," said Frank.
+
+Soon all was ready for a start and Frank, taking careful bearings,
+headed the Golden Eagle round on the course she had followed on her
+way to the galleon. As the sun poked his rim above the horizon the
+Golden Eagle shot into the air and rapidly the hulls of the galleon
+and Bluewater Bill's castaway hulk were mere specks behind them.
+
+The spirits of the boys rose. They breakfasted on cold stuff cooked
+before they started and coffee heated over the exhaust of the engine.
+Ben lit his pipe, and with Frank at the wheel and Harry on lookout,
+any one looking at the party in the Golden Eagle would have said that
+they were a trio of pleasure-makers instead of adventurers engaged on
+a daring dash for fortune.
+
+It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the danger they had
+feared loomed up out of the clear sky as suddenly as a tropic squall.
+
+Coming straight toward them, but a mere dot on the sky, though
+momentarily growing larger, was an air-ship that they could not doubt
+was Luther Barr's.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Harry, as Frank put the wheel over
+and brought the aeroplane on a course which would take her far to the
+westward of the dirigible.
+
+"Try to avoid her," was Frank's reply; "they are equipped with a
+rapid-firing gun and could make mince-meat of us in a short time."
+
+"We have rifles," said Harry.
+
+"They would be little use against such a weapon," replied Frank.
+
+But as the Golden Eagle shifted her course it became clear to those
+aboard her that the other air-ship did the same.
+
+"They have seen us," gasped Harry.
+
+"Yes, and mean to pursue us, too," was Frank's reply, through gritted
+teeth; "well, we'll give them a long chase of it."
+
+The Golden Eagle was speeded up to her full capacity, although with
+the heavy load she was carrying, she by no means attained the speed of
+which she was capable.
+
+In one thing, however, she had the advantage over the dirigible. She
+could maneuver with twice the speed and turn and twist like a snake,
+while the more cumbersome air-ship took a lot of handling to navigate
+in any intricate movements.
+
+As the dirigible drew nearer, the boys, critical as was the moment,
+could hardly restrain their admiration at the fine appearance she
+presented. Her distended gas-bag shone in the sunlight like silk and
+her cabin woodwork sparkled where brass handholds and plates were
+attached to it, like the main deck of a passenger liner.
+
+Suddenly, however, her sinister character became apparent.
+
+There was a puff of smoke from what, if she had been a "sea" ship,
+would have been her bow, and a projectile sang by the Golden Eagle.
+"That was a warning shot, Frank," cried Ben; "the next will come
+closer."
+
+"I am going to watch them get ready to fire and then drop suddenly,"
+said Frank, his face white, but with a set, determined look on it.
+
+The man at the lanyard of the dirigible's gun, who looked like
+Sanborn, bent low over the weapon once more and adjusted it carefully
+for a second shot, the helmsman of the air-ship at the same time
+swinging her so that she would be on a direct line with the Golden
+Eagle.
+
+Frank watched his every movement with a hawk-like intensity. Just as
+Sanborn stepped back, lanyard in hand, to fire a second shot, Frank
+dived like a sea-gull sweeping down on a fish and the missile whistled
+harmlessly overhead.
+
+At the same instant Ben Stubbs, unable to restrain himself any longer,
+snatched a rifle from one of the lockers and aimed at the pilot-house
+of Luther Barr's craft.
+
+A shower of splinters flew from the casing of a porthole as his bullet
+struck, but no further harm was done.
+
+The aeroplane was now far below the dirigible, which was soaring at a
+height of two thousand feet. At such an angle it was impossible for
+those on board to use their rapid-fire gun, and Frank, setting the
+Golden Eagle's rising planes, soared rapidly along at an elevation of
+about two hundred feet.
+
+By the time the men on the dirigible had got her round, the Golden
+Eagle was two miles ahead of the gas-suspended craft.
+
+"We've escaped them," cried Harry.
+
+"Not yet," said Frank; "don't holler till you are out of the woods.
+They know now we've got the treasure and they are not going to give up
+the chase as easily as all this."
+
+From time to time the dirigible, which was not gaining on the Golden
+Eagle, fired a shot from her forward gun, but the dipping, scudding
+aeroplane afforded a poor mark and, moreover, the deck of a dirigible
+at full speed is not the steadiest place in the world. So after a few
+attempts more to wing the swift aeroplane, the crew of the dirigible
+gave the effort up and turned all their attention to getting every
+ounce of speed out of their craft. With sinking hearts the boys
+realized that she was gaining on them.
+
+Hour after hour, above the glassy Sargasso Sea, the battle went on,
+the aeroplane ducking and diving and gliding and skimming whenever the
+dirigible got a good chance to send a fatal projectile into her.
+
+From time to time, also, Ben got a chance to send a bullet crashing
+into the dirigible's gas-bag, and from the actions of the men aboard
+her they were evidently badly worried by this. However, as Ben knew,
+the gas-bag of the dirigible was constructed in sections and the gas
+manufactured by Constantio was so buoyant that if even one section
+remained intact it would still serve to sustain the dirigible in the
+air.
+
+But no fight of such a character can endure long. Sooner or later one
+or the other of the combatants is bound to succumb, and so it was in
+this case.
+
+Just as Frank was making a dive to avoid, for the twentieth time,
+getting within range of the dirigible's gun, a skillfully aimed
+projectile came crashing through the Golden Eagle's gasolene tank. The
+fluid poured out in a flood.
+
+A few minutes later the engines ceased to revolve and the aeroplane
+was compelled to descend, Frank driving her down in a long arc that
+brought her to the surface of the water without accident.
+
+Crippled as she was, the Golden Eagle could not be set going again
+without repairs that would take hours.
+
+In the meantime their opponents had taken advantage of the aeroplane's
+plight to riddle her wings with bullets.
+
+Brave as the boys were, they were not foolhardy.
+
+Ten minutes after the fatal accident to the tank, Ben Stubbs, with
+bitter protests, waved a white shirt in token that the occupants of
+the Golden Eagle were driven to surrender.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ON BOARD BARR'S SHIP.
+
+
+"Do you surrender?" shouted a voice through a megaphone from the
+dirigible as it hovered above the stricken aeroplane.
+
+"Yes, hornswoggle you," roared Ben Stubbs, "but if it hadn't been for
+that gas-bag of yours you'd never have got us, and I can lick any man
+aboard yer with my fists or any other weapon."
+
+Luther Barr's men paid no attention to this outburst and the boys were
+too sick at heart at the complete failure of their venture even to
+hear Ben's words. Frank choked back his tears with difficulty and
+Harry gazed straight out over the sea.
+
+It was defeat final and complete.
+
+"Make fast the ladder and we'll board you," was the next hail as a
+trap in the under side of the dirigible was opened and a long rope
+ladder came snaking down.
+
+Ben, although he would cheerfully have slashed it to bits with his sea
+knife, had no recourse but to make the end of the apparatus fast to
+the Golden Eagle's framework, and a few seconds later Malvoise came
+rapidly down it. To guard against any attack on him the men on the
+dirigible leaned over the rail and kept their rifles covering the boys
+and Ben.
+
+"Hum, you saved us the trouble of packing up the treasure, I see,"
+said Malvoise, his eyes sparkling as they fell on the sacks of
+treasure.
+
+"If we'd only fixed you last night when you was in the air over the
+galleon we'd have done a good job," growled old Ben.
+
+"Ah, you think so," grinned the Frenchman. "I don't doubt that it
+feels bad to be the conquered, but you must not grudge us the
+treasure, my dear Mr. Stubbs--"
+
+The sneer on his face was unbearable and Ben started forward to fall
+upon him, but as he did so a bullet from above zipped down, narrowly
+missing his arm. In fact, it ploughed through his loose shirt-sleeve.
+
+"You see, I am well protected," grinned the Frenchman, as Ben started
+back.
+
+"Yes, I reckon we've got to give in with as good a grace as we can,"
+grumbled Ben; "though I'd give all the treasure in them sacks to get
+my hands on you for just five minutes," he muttered to himself.
+
+"Let down a tackle there, you," shouted Malvoise to the crew of the
+dirigible, "and you, Sanborn, come down aboard here. We must get the
+treasure on board before it starts to blow at all."
+
+Sanborn came hastily scrambling down the ladder, and a few seconds
+later a block and tackle were lowered. Malvoise and Sanborn, who
+greeted the boys with a scowling sneer, first deprived the boys of
+their weapons and forced Ben to give up his revolver and then made
+fast the block and tackle to the first of the treasure sacks.
+
+It was rapidly hauled up to the dirigible; the other treasure bags
+followed in the same manner. In half an hour the Golden Eagle was
+swept clean of the contents of the galleon's chests which the boys had
+loaded on her with such light hearts.
+
+"Now, then, I guess we are all ready for a start," said Malvoise, when
+the last of the sacks had been hauled into the dirigible's cabin. "As
+a matter of fact," he went on, "I suppose I ought to leave you here,
+as you only will make a lot more weight in the air-ship, but I am more
+humane than that and I'll allow you to come on board. Up the ladder
+with you, and briskly now."
+
+Ben went first, followed by the two boys; behind them came Malvoise.
+
+"Come on, Sanborn," shouted the Frenchman to his companion, who still
+lingered on board the aeroplane.
+
+"Wait a minute. I've got a job to do first. I want to sink the thing
+for all time," cried the other.
+
+The boys, who had by this time gained the swaying deck of the
+dirigible, saw the treacherous mechanic deliberately draw a pistol and
+prepare to fire a hole in the pontoons, which would inevitably have
+sunk the gallant craft.
+
+But as his finger pressed the trigger the man's foot slipped and he
+was dumped off the pontoon into the water.
+
+His companions, far from being alarmed, shouted with laughter at his
+mishap, as Sanborn, cursing, prepared to climb back on to the Golden
+Eagle. But even as the oaths left his lips a change came over his
+face. It turned an ashen gray.
+
+"Help!" he shouted.
+
+"What's the matter?" roared Malvoise.
+
+"Something is after me!" came the agonized cry of the man.
+
+As the words left his lips a cry of horror broke from all on the
+dirigible's deck who were watching Sanborn's struggles.
+
+A great arm, covered with mouths, like the ones the boys had seen
+absorb the rats, shot out of the sea. Another and another followed it,
+and hapless Sanborn, screaming in terror, was dragged from the
+structure of the aeroplane, to which he clung with a drowning man's
+clutch.
+
+"It's a devil-fish," shouted the boys.
+
+"Fire on the thing," shouted Malvoise, pouring the contents of his
+revolver down into the fleshy mass of the octopus.
+
+Instantly a great cloud of inky fluid spread over the waters and into
+the opaque waves the waving arms sank, dragging with them to the
+depths of the sea the treacherous mechanic.
+
+Shocked and sickened by the scene, the boys turned away and even
+Malvoise seemed powerfully affected. He hid his face in his hands as
+the wounded monster slowly sank without relinquishing its hold on its
+victim.
+
+As for Constantio and a red-headed bushy-whiskered man, whom the boys
+learned later on was Sam Wells, one of the three men who helped in
+working the dirigible, they seemed completely unnerved by the sight
+they had witnessed. Malvoise's sharp voice recalled them to
+themselves.
+
+"Come now, collect your wits," he shouted; "poor Sanborn's gone, and
+we can't save him. Cut loose from the aeroplane and haul up the
+rope-ladder. Constantio, you take the wheel. Wells, when you have got
+the ladder aboard, turn to and stow that stuff further aft."
+
+He indicated the pile of treasure sacks.
+
+Wells and two other men who had been standing about the deck instantly
+busied themselves obeying these orders. It was evident from their
+implicit obedience that Malvoise was master on the dirigible.
+
+As the engine was set going and the ship forged ahead, leaving behind
+it the wrecked aeroplane and the watery grave of Sanborn, Malvoise
+called the boys' attention, in a half-joking way, to the damage Ben
+Stubbs' bullets had done to the gas-bag.
+
+"However," he went on, "fortunately it does not make so much
+difference as it would in any other air-craft. After dinner I will
+send one of the crew aloft to put a patch on the hole and we can then
+re-inflate that section from one of the hydrogen tubes."
+
+Precarious as their situation was, the boys, whose interest in
+aeronautics was a sort of ruling passion with them, could not but help
+being interested with the perfect working out of all details aboard
+Luther Barr's craft. After an excellent dinner, in which fresh meat
+and vegetables from a well-stocked ice-box formed the staples, they
+watched with interest the red-headed sailor, Wells, scramble up into
+the network of the bag and sew a patch over the bullet hole made by
+Ben Stubbs' shot. The patch affixed, it was coated with a water and
+gas-proof solution the sailor carried in a small pot suspended round
+his waist. After an interval allowed for drying, a cylinder of gas was
+dragged out of the after storeroom where they were kept, and the
+section which had been injured was refilled by means of its own
+inflation hose, which was provided with a nozzle adjustable to the
+mouth of the gas receptacle.
+
+To the boys' surprise, when darkness fell the dirigible still forged
+ahead and no change of her course was observable. They had imagined
+that she was on her way to join Luther Barr at some nearby
+meeting-place, where the Brigand would take the treasure on board,
+but, so far, her navigators showed no intention of alighting.
+
+At ten o'clock Malvoise stepped up to the three adventurers and said:
+
+"It is a rule on board that all lights shall be extinguished at this
+hour. If you are ready for bed I will show you to your sleeping
+place."
+
+He led the way to a small cabin fitted with two bunks and lounge. The
+boys wanted to ask a score of questions, but knew it would be useless,
+so remained silent.
+
+"I wish you a good night's rest," said Malvoise as he switched on a
+tiny electric light with the warning that the dynamo would be cut off
+in ten minutes' time.
+
+As he closed the cabin door behind him there was a sharp click.
+
+The cabin door was fitted with a stout spring lock.
+
+The adventurers were prisoners a thousand feet in the air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+PRISONERS IN DIRE PERIL.
+
+
+"Locked in, by gosh!" exclaimed Ben Stubbs, as the lock clicked.
+
+"What can they mean to do with us?" wondered Frank.
+
+"So far we've been treated like lords, but I don't like the idea of
+being penned up in this cabin," said Harry.
+
+Much more speculation was indulged in by the boys, but without their
+arriving any further at an accurate idea of what was likely to be
+their ultimate fate at the hands of Luther Barr's men. While they were
+still talking the light went out, as Malvoise had warned them it
+would, and they were plunged in total darkness.
+
+Not being heroes of romance, but just healthy boys, the two lads were
+asleep a few minutes after they threw themselves in their bunks, which
+were provided with excellent springs, and bed-clothing of good
+material. As for Ben Stubbs, as he himself said, he could have slept
+on a whale's back so long as the animal didn't dive.
+
+How long he slept Frank had, of course, no means of estimating, as it
+was too pitchy black in the cabin for him to see the dial of his
+watch, but he opened his eyes with a start and soon found out that he
+had been aroused by what seemed an unusual disturbance aboard the
+dirigible.
+
+He heard the trampling of feet as the crew ran to and fro, and the
+shouting of orders in Malvoise's voice. The cabin port was closed and
+locked on the outside, although the cabin seemed perfectly ventilated
+by some other aperture; so it was impossible for Frank to distinguish
+what was said, but the tones of the Frenchman's voice conveyed intense
+excitement.
+
+The motion of the air-ship, too, seemed strange.
+
+When they had gone to sleep it seemed as if they were sleeping in a
+room ashore, so perfectly evenly did the ship rush ahead through the
+night; but now every portion of her frame seemed to be complaining in
+its own particular voice, and she groaned and strained like a ship in
+a storm.
+
+Frank aroused Harry, and a few minutes later Ben Stubbs, too, was
+awakened by the peculiar motion of the ship.
+
+"What's happening?" he demanded, as one of the air sailors ran heavily
+along the deck overhead.
+
+"I don't know," rejoined Frank; "but it seems to me that we are in a
+storm of some kind.--Hark!"
+
+As he spoke there was a blue glare of lightning outside, in which the
+ropes and stays of the ship, seen through the closed port, stood out
+as in an etching. Simultaneously there came a terrific crash of
+thunder. They were evidently in a bad storm.
+
+"I wish we were outside instead of cooped up in here," exclaimed Ben.
+"I like to be out on deck in bad weather and not penned up in a cubby
+hole."
+
+"Let's try the door," suggested Frank, "we might be able to force the
+lock."
+
+But the lock was evidently put on to stay, and tug and strain as they
+would, they could not budge it an inch.
+
+The motion of the ship by this time was so violent as to make them
+feel quite seasick. She swayed from side to side and now and then took
+long dips.
+
+"I know what they are doing," exclaimed Frank as the ship executed the
+latest of these diving maneuvers; "they are setting their aeroplanes
+low so as to try and find a smooth current of air."
+
+"They've got a fine chance to, if it's blowing as hard as it seems to
+be," was Harry's comment.
+
+The uproar on deck grew louder.
+
+They could now hear Malvoise's voice, directing the crew to strengthen
+this stay or lend a hand on that rudder brace.
+
+The ship was evidently passing through a crisis.
+
+It was hard for the boys to remain cooped up in their pen, but
+deliverance was near at hand.
+
+The door was suddenly flung open, and Malvoise himself stood framed in
+the square of light from the illuminated saloon behind him.
+
+"You had better come out of there," he said briefly, "we are in a bad
+storm."
+
+"Are we in danger?" asked Harry.
+
+"I don't know yet. If it doesn't blow any harder we may be able to
+weather it."
+
+"And if not?"
+
+"If not, we may go to the bottom."
+
+"Is anything wrong with the ship?" was Frank's next question.
+
+"Yes, the engine is not working right. It is not developing enough
+power to keep us driving against the storm. I am afraid it may strike
+us broadside on and tear the cabin and decks loose from the gas-bag,"
+replied the Frenchman.
+
+As the boys and Ben gained the deck, the storm struck them in its full
+fury. It was not cold, they were too far south for that, but the wind
+fairly drove their breath back down their throats.
+
+"Say, let's grab on to a stay or something," gasped Harry, "I don't
+want to get blown overboard."
+
+They fairly fought their way to the edge of the navigating deck, which
+was swaying in a sickening fashion, and clung to one of the stout
+mainstays of the stressed and storm-driven gas bag above them.
+
+Far below, the sea roared and its wave crests gleamed with
+phosphorescent light, as the furious wind ripped off their tops and
+sent them scurrying over the heaving waters.
+
+But, bad as the wind was, a far graver peril menaced the dirigible,
+and the boys knew it. The lightning was zipping and ripping across the
+sky in every direction, and, in the event of a bolt striking the craft
+to which they clung, the boys knew that they might as well be sitting
+on a keg of exploding dynamite. There would a blinding crash as the
+gas exploded, and then oblivion.
+
+As they hung on for dear life, Malvoise, his face gleaming white in
+the glare cast from one of the cabin ports, came up to them.
+
+"Do you think you can take the wheel for a while?" he asked Frank.
+"What with fear and exhaustion Constantio is almost unable to stand
+up."
+
+Frank agreed, and, followed by the others he entered the pilot-house.
+With the exception of the binnacle light above the compass and a small
+shaded incandescent that shed a glow on the height indicator, the
+place was as black as a well.
+
+"How is she doing now?" the boys heard Malvoise ask the inventor.
+
+"Ah, senor, poor thing, she is torn and strained in every direction.
+My heart bleeds for her!" exclaimed the Spaniard.
+
+"Yes--yes," broke in Malvoise impatiently; "but can she last out?"
+
+"I do not know," came the reply of the other. "It is much to ask of
+any dirigible to last out such a storm. See," he turned the light on
+to the wind-gauge--it showed a pressure of sixty miles an hour, "it is
+a wonder to me she has not been torn apart," he declared.
+
+"Well, you'd better go and get some sleep now," said Malvoise
+abruptly, "one of these boys here will take care of the ship while you
+nap."
+
+"Very well," said the Spaniard, "do not drive her too hard against the
+wind, senor, but rather let the wind drive her. Good-night."
+
+He staggered out on to the swaying, plunging deck and vanished. Frank
+had taken the wheel as the Spaniard relinquished it and he was
+astonished to find how, in spite of its gears, the wind-stressed
+rudder tore and tugged at the spokes.
+
+"The strain on the rudder must be terrific," he thought to himself;
+"it's a wonder it has held out as long as it has."
+
+Taking a casual glance at the height indicator, Frank gave a start. It
+indicated twelve thousand feet. It was higher than the boy had ever
+been before.
+
+For several minutes he was too busy easing the dirigible through a
+blast that seemed as if it would rip her apart to notice the gauge
+again. When he had an opportunity to do so, he gave a whistle of
+surprise.
+
+The dirigible had now climbed on the wings of the storm to an altitude
+of fourteen thousand feet.
+
+Glancing through the pilot-house window the young helmsman saw
+tattered shreds of storm clouds driven by at a terrific speed; but
+fast as they went, the dirigible was hurried along with them at an
+equal speed. The rapid motion had a tendency first to exhilarate and
+then to turn dizzy those who participated in it.
+
+All at once a sharp whistle sounded from a tube placed so that it was
+close to the helmsman's ear.
+
+"A signal from the engine-room," cried Malvoise, "answer it."
+
+"Hullo!" called Frank, turning back the whistler at the mouth of the
+tube. Then he placed his ear to it.
+
+"Two cylinders are missing fire," came the hail, "to make repairs we
+shall have to stop the engine."
+
+"Keep on with what power you have," shouted back Frank. "We've got to
+keep going."
+
+There was no need to explain to the others what the bad news from the
+engine-room was. They had guessed from his reply.
+
+And still the dirigible rose.
+
+She was now at an altitude of fifteen thousand feet, and even as Frank
+gazed at the indicator she soared higher.
+
+It grew bitterly cold.
+
+"Something will have to be done," he shouted to Malvoise, "if we keep
+on going higher the air will soon be so rarefied that we shall be
+unable to breathe."
+
+"Set your dropping planes," shouted Malvoise, above the turmoil.
+
+"I have tried to," yelled back Frank, "but she won't drop unless the
+engine forces her ahead faster. The wind is stronger than we are."
+
+"Let out the gas," suggested Harry.
+
+Frank shook his head.
+
+"I don't want to do that except in case of actual necessity," he said.
+"We may need all we have before long."
+
+"I can feel an awful pressure on my ear drums!" suddenly exclaimed
+Harry.
+
+"No wonder," was Frank's rejoinder; "look at that."
+
+He pointed to the gauge.
+
+The dirigible had now been driven to a height of eighteen thousand
+five hundred feet, and breathing was really becoming painful.
+
+Desperately Frank struggled to get the sinking planes to act, but the
+wind pressure on the bag counteracted all his efforts in this
+direction. So fast was the hurricane now driving the gas-bag ahead
+that the sub-structure lagged behind, straining at its confining stays
+and braces.
+
+All at once Harry gave a cry and sank to the floor of the pilot-house.
+Malvoise, the next instant, hastened to the deck and cried:
+
+"Air, air!"
+
+Frank felt a warm liquid streaming from his nose and ears. He put up
+his hand. It came away stained red. Even tough old Ben Stubbs felt the
+baleful effect of the high altitude.
+
+"I'll be hornswoggled if I can stand this much longer," he gasped out
+to Frank.
+
+"Can you take the wheel?" replied the young aviator. Ben nodded.
+
+"Then take it. I'm going to get this ship down."
+
+Frank reeled from the pilot-house on to the deck. He almost stumbled
+over the body of Malvoise as he did so. It lay as inanimate as in
+death where it had been thrown against the railing by the impact of
+the ship's wild swaying.
+
+"You'll go overboard if you're not careful," Frank found himself
+saying in a voice he hardly recognized as his own.
+
+Making his way aft the lad encountered the red-headed sailor, Wells.
+
+"Oh, sir, what is happening?" gasped the poor fellow.
+
+"We've gone too high," replied Frank, every word cutting his chest as
+if a knife had been plunged into it. "Where's the valve cord?"
+
+"Aft there, sir, it's belayed to the starboard rail."
+
+As he spoke the man pitched forward as if he had been shot and lay
+inanimate on his face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE INVENTOR'S TREACHERY.
+
+
+Weak almost as a baby, Frank made his way to the stern of the
+navigating deck, and with what seemed the last ounce of strength in
+his body he gave the cord a feeble yank.
+
+It resisted and the boy tugged once more.
+
+Still it stuck.
+
+Mustering his strength to keep on his feet a minute longer, the boy
+tied the cord to his wrist. Then, as he fell forward in the swoon that
+he knew must ensue, the cord tightened under the weight of his body
+and yielded.
+
+The dirigible with an unconscious crew aboard plunged on through the
+night, but every moment exhausted more gas from her bags and the craft
+gradually dropped till she had reached an altitude where the air was
+breathable.
+
+Frank was the first to stir. He discovered at once that the air-ship's
+drop must have been considerable and hastened to close the valve which
+connected by a tube with each one of the gas partitions. The
+dirigible's fall was checked in this way and the lad made his way
+forward.
+
+By this time a sickly dawn had arisen and although it was still
+blowing hard the full fury of the hurricane had distinctly moderated.
+The dirigible, however, was clearly beyond all control and Frank,
+after a glance into the engine-room, where the engineer lay insensible
+beside his machines, started for the pilot-house.
+
+At its threshold he stopped with a cry of surprise.
+
+The railing, against which he had left Malvoise lying, gaped open
+raggedly for a space of several feet, as if a heavy body had plunged
+through it. A brief examination showed the boy some bits of cloth
+still clinging to the rough ends of the shattered rail, indicating
+plainly enough that the doomed Frenchman had been hurled into empty
+space while the storm was at its height and they all lay senseless.
+
+Undoubtedly his body had been rolled by a lurch of the ship in toward
+the cabin and then been cast outward again by a reverse swing. The
+railing, none too strong at best, had evidently not been capable of
+withstanding the impact and the Frenchman's body had been hurled
+through into the void.
+
+Shuddering at the thought of such an end, Frank aroused his brother
+and Ben and then went aft to inspect the engine-room. He found that of
+the eight cylinders only five were doing their work, and a brief
+examination showed why. The insulation on three of the spark plugs had
+cracked and it was not before he had done a lot of rummaging around
+that the boy found spare ones stored in a locker.
+
+By this time the engineer, who seemed a decent enough fellow, and told
+Frank his name was Dick Richards, had recovered and helped the boy fit
+the new sparkers to the motor. First, however, Frank had hailed Harry
+through the tube leading to the pilot-house.
+
+"How high are we?" he asked.
+
+"A thousand feet," came back the reply.
+
+"All right," shouted Frank back. "I guess the wind has moderated
+enough now for us to drift for a while. I am going to stop the
+engine."
+
+The machinery accordingly was brought to a standstill and Frank and
+the engineer set busily to work placing the new sparkplugs and wiring
+them up.
+
+This completed, Frank hailed Harry once more.
+
+"I'm going to start up."
+
+"All right. I'm looking out," came the reply.
+
+The compressed air apparatus that started the engines was put in
+operation and the engine was soon working as if nothing had happened.
+
+"Say, you are an all right mechanic," was Dick Richards' admiring
+tribute to Frank's skill.
+
+By noon the last traces of the hurricane had died out and the
+dirigible was driving forward over a sparkling sea with a cloudless
+sky overhead. After breakfast, in which the now resuscitated members
+of the crew and Constantio took part, Frank called them forward and
+told them of the fate of Malvoise. None of them seemed particularly
+grieved, as the man had undoubtedly been a hard taskmaster.
+
+"You are captain of this ship now," said Constantio to Frank. "I am
+only her inventor and have already received from Luther Barr the full
+purchase price. I have deposited it in a bank in New York. In this
+treasure they are hunting I have no interest. All I want to do is to
+invent air-ships."
+
+Constantio had recognized Ben Stubbs as soon as he set eyes on him,
+and laughed with apparent good nature at the recollection of their
+meeting in Boston. He had recovered the watch the little gamin got
+away with, he told them, and had never mentioned to Luther Barr the
+fact that Ben had inspected the air-ship and then escaped, for fear of
+the grim old millionaire's wrath.
+
+"When he is mad he is like one volcano," he declared volubly.
+
+Breakfast over, they skimmed along through the air till noon, when
+Frank took an observation with the ill-fated Malvoise's instruments.
+
+"We ought to be falling in soon with one of the Bahama group of
+islands," he announced. "We were not driven so far as I thought, and
+if we can make a landing we ought to be able to effect repairs and
+then fly for land. We certainly cannot go much further on the supply
+of gas we now have, the ship is getting lower all the time."
+
+This was indeed the fact. With her heavy load and reduced supply of
+gas the air-ship was rapidly decreasing the space between herself and
+the sea.
+
+During the afternoon the water tanks were emptied, which lightened the
+ship considerably, but left the voyagers only a small supply of the
+fluid, which was likely to prove serious if they did not find land
+soon. By supper time it became necessary also to tear out some of the
+heavy cabin fittings and cast them away.
+
+By early the next day, after a restless night, the ship had settled so
+much, despite the lightening process, that she rode soggily along at
+not more than fifty feet above the level of the sea. The situation was
+indeed a serious one.
+
+Suddenly there came a hail from Ben, who was standing at the bow of
+the craft.
+
+"Land ho!"
+
+The adventurers crowded forward.
+
+There, sure enough, dead ahead of them, was what looked like a tiny
+blue cloud on the horizon, but which Ben's practiced eye had told him
+was land. With new heart the voyagers drove on and by mid-afternoon
+were in sight of the island, which on closer view proved to be one of
+those small palm-crowned atolls that are common enough in these
+waters.
+
+The dirigible had by this time settled so badly that she was barely
+twenty feet above the wave-tops.
+
+Some sacks of ballast still remained, kept by Frank for an emergency.
+He now was compelled reluctantly to give the order to cut these away
+and one by one they dropped overboard; but as they did so, the ship
+rose and an hour later they landed on a smooth beach.
+
+The island did not seem to be of great extent, but to the delight of
+the adventurers, from the midst of the cocoanut grove that crowned the
+islet there flowed a tiny stream of clear water. This was indeed a
+godsend, as they did not know how long they might have to remain
+there. With a spade, which formed part of the dirigible's outfit--"I
+suppose they figured on shoveling out the treasure," laughed Harry--a
+small basin was soon dug out for the water to settle in and make a
+sort of small well, from which it could be dipped out for cooking and
+drinking purposes.
+
+Fortunately the larder of the dirigible was well stocked, and as they
+were two mouths short they were not in any immediate fear of hunger.
+That evening, when arrangements for sleeping and keeping watch for any
+passing steamer or vessel had been made, Constantio beckoned to Frank
+and asked him to join him in a walk along the beach. The lad, nothing
+loath of a chance for exploration, started off with the Spanish
+inventor, who seemed to be anxious to confide something to him.
+
+"You are worried about getting away from the island?" he said.
+
+"I am--yes," rejoined Frank, "you see our gas is exhausted and I for
+one can't figure out but we shall stay here till some one comes along
+and picks us up. Unless we can build a raft out of the remains of the
+dirigible."
+
+"Oh, make yourself easy about that, my dear young friend," exclaimed
+the inventor. "I can refill the gas-bag and that without delay,
+but--but--well, to be frank with you, how much is it worth to you if I
+do so?"
+
+Frank was amazed at the sudden proposal and no less astonished at the
+Spaniard's boast that he could inflate the dirigible.
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked. "I confess I don't altogether understand
+you."
+
+"I thought I had made myself clear," was the reply. "I have changed my
+mind since I spoke to you last about the treasure, and now I feel that
+I am entitled to some of it if I can refill the dirigible."
+
+"Why, yes," said Frank, with a laugh; "of course you are IF you really
+can."
+
+"Would five thousand dollars' worth of ornaments or doubloons seem too
+much?" ventured the Spaniard.
+
+Frank broke into a loud laugh.
+
+"Why, no; you shall have that, and gladly, if you think you can help
+us to get out of this place."
+
+"Thank you," said the inventor, quite seriously, "I don't want more
+than my just dues, but I certainly am entitled to that."
+
+"Oh, certainly," laughed Frank, much amused at the man's deprecatory
+manner. "What is your plan?"
+
+"Well, senor," said the Spaniard, "I have a certain amount of my
+gas-producing powder left in my cabin. There is none too much, but
+enough, I think, to inflate the dirigible with--at any rate, to fit
+her for flight to the mainland, which cannot be so very far off."
+
+Frank nodded.
+
+"There are some empty cylinders on board," went on the inventor. "All
+that is necessary to do is to put equal parts of sand, water and my
+powder into the cylinders and then screw on the caps to produce almost
+pure hydrogen gas at tremendous pressure. You follow me?"
+
+"Yes," said Frank, "when can we do this?"
+
+"Why, to-morrow morning," was the reply. "The actual inflation will
+take but little time."
+
+As they returned to their camp they found it in a state of great
+excitement. Two of the men, in strolling about the island, had found
+lying up in a small cove, where it seemed to have drifted, a ship's
+boat.
+
+There was no clue as to how it had come there, but on its stern were
+painted the words "Falcon, New York."
+
+"I'll bet a lemon that it's one of the ship's boats of the Falcon that
+I read about been missing this year," exclaimed Ben; "it's got oars in
+it, too, they say. They are lashed under the seats, so that it must
+have broken loose from the ship when she went down and been washed
+ashore here. We can get away in the boat if nothing better offers."
+
+Frank drew him aside and explained to him Constantio's plan for
+reinflating the gas-bag.
+
+"We will try that, and if that plan fails then we can take to the
+boat," said the boy.
+
+Ben agreed that if the air-ship could be inflated it would be much
+better to fly to land in her than to set out under the tropical sun in
+an open boat, not knowing where they might land.
+
+The camp was so arranged that night that the treasure was placed near
+to the boys and Ben, while the three members of the dirigible's crew,
+her engineer and Constantio slept at some little distance.
+
+Had the boys seen the gleam that had come into the inventor's eyes at
+the discovery of the boat they would not have been so trustful of him
+when he volunteered to take the middle watch of the night. As it was,
+however, they little imagined the plot that had formed in the fellow's
+head. While the boys and Ben slumbered, however, he drew aside the
+engineer and Wells, the red-headed sailor, and the three rapidly
+stocked up the boat with water from the spring in kegs and jars taken
+from the dirigible and laid in a supply of provisions. Then they
+awakened the other two men and explained to them in low whispers the
+plan to escape from the island they had formed.
+
+"We will get all the treasure and divide it," whispered the cunning
+inventor. "If the boys wake while we are getting it to the boat, don't
+hesitate to attack them. We are stronger in numbers and can beat them
+off."
+
+The other two readily agreed, more particularly as the inventor told
+them that it was the boys' intention to keep all the treasure for
+themselves in the event of their getting ashore in the dirigible.
+Before the boat had been found the inventor had been willing enough to
+aid the boys, but with the discovery of that means of escape his plans
+had undergone a change. He saw a way to appropriate the entire mass of
+treasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE FIGHT ON THE ISLAND.
+
+
+Silently as cats the plotters approached the pile of treasure sacks
+when they judged that the time was ripe for their raid on the
+valuables. Constantio, who was a coward at heart, had taken his
+station by the boat so as to be the furthest away from danger should
+the boys be aroused.
+
+With a beating heart he waited the appearance of the first heavy bag
+of treasure. At last the engineer and one of the sailors came in sight
+dragging it over the top of a sand dune.
+
+"Phew, that's heavy," exclaimed the sailor, who was our red-headed
+friend, Wells, setting the bag down with a sigh. "How far is it from
+the camp to this boat, Mister Concertina?"
+
+"Not more than a few hundred yards," replied Constantio; "I don't see
+what a big strapping fellow like you is making so much fuss over
+packing a fortune that little distance."
+
+"It's a wonder you wouldn't tackle the job yourself," said Wells
+indignantly, as he and the engineer heaved the sack into the boat. "I
+guess you are scared though. I always knew that Spaniards were
+cowards."
+
+Infuriated as much by the truth of the insult as stung by the stigma
+it conveyed, Constantio, pale with fury, sprang at the sailor with his
+knife drawn. He sprang back again with the same agility and crouched
+on his haunches like a tiger-cat, as the sailor whipped out a revolver
+and leveled it at him.
+
+"Now you be careful what you are doing, Concertina," he said, "or I'll
+have to send you where you won't make no more trouble."
+
+As he spoke there came a loud report from the direction of the camp.
+
+It was followed by another and another.
+
+"They have discovered us!" cried Constantio, seizing hold of the boat
+and trying to drag it off.
+
+At the same instant the two sailors, who had been left behind to bring
+a second sack of the treasure, appeared, racing over the top of the
+sand dune.
+
+"They heard us as we were moving the sack," cried one of them;
+"something jangled, I guess, and--"
+
+"They awakened and fired at us,--see here," he held up a bleeding arm,
+"broke my elbow I guess."
+
+"Come on," shouted Wells, "we are playing for too big a stake to let
+two boys and an old man beat us off. Who is for coming back and
+driving them off?"
+
+Constantio turned white, fighting was not in his line, but the sailor
+stepped to his side and whispered something, at the same time pressing
+his revolver to the Spaniard's head, and the wretch, trembling in
+every limb, followed the others back. But the attacking party was
+doomed not to get any more treasure that night. As they approached the
+camp Frank called out in a clear voice:
+
+"We don't want to do you any harm, but don't come any closer or we
+shall fire."
+
+For reply Wells let fly a bullet at the boy's head, which, if the
+sailor had not been an indifferent shot, would have inflicted a
+serious wound. As it was, it flew wide and went whistling out to sea.
+
+Before Frank could check him, old Ben in a furious rage stood up and
+fired straight at Wells. He shattered the man's wrist and with a howl
+of pain he dropped his revolver.
+
+"Come on, men," shouted Constantio, as he saw the mainstay of the
+attackers rendered helpless; "we've got enough loot in that one sack
+to secure us all a good sum when we get ashore. Come on--I'm for the
+boat!"
+
+So saying he turned and ran at top speed for the boat, the others
+after him. The shore gained, they leaped to the sides of the craft,
+having first thrown in the wounded sailor Wells, and then shoved the
+boat off till they were waist-deep in water.
+
+The boys and Ben reached the spot just as they were clambering in and
+getting out the oars.
+
+"Shall I tell 'em to come back, or have a hole shot in their boat?"
+asked Ben.
+
+"No," decided Frank, "let them go. We are cheaply rid of the rascals
+at the cost of only one sack of valuables."
+
+The men fell to the oars with a will, and were soon out of sight in
+the darkness. Nothing more was ever heard of them by the boys, but as
+some time ago a sailor was arrested on the Bowery trying to pawn a
+candlestick of solid gold marked Buena Ventura, it is reasonable to
+suppose the men eventually got ashore. The prisoner gave the name of
+Jones, but as he had red hair it is not unreasonable to assume that he
+was none other than Wells. As nobody claimed the candlestick and the
+police had received no word of such an article being stolen, it was
+given back to the man and he was released.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE BOYS WIN OUT.
+
+
+"Now," said Frank briskly the next morning, "as that scoundrel
+Constantio tried to steal a march on us we shall have to try to
+discover his powder and make the gas by ourselves."
+
+"What," exclaimed Harry, "do you mean to say that you think it would
+be possible to do it?"
+
+"If he can, I don't see why we can't," rejoined the other. "The first
+thing to do is to find his powder. Then to mix it with equal parts of
+water and sand in the cylinders and screw the caps on."
+
+"Sounds easy," commented Harry.
+
+"I guess the hardest part will be to find the powder," put in Ben.
+"How are we to tell whether it's hydrogen gas powder or Seidlitz
+powder, I'd like to know."
+
+After a hasty breakfast a thorough rummaging of the cabin occupied by
+Constantio was begun.
+
+"Say, Frank," suddenly cried Ben, who was bending over a locker, "is
+this the stuff?"
+
+Frank hastened to his side and saw, ranged side by side, a number of
+wooden boxes about a foot square labeled "Dangerous."
+
+"I guess that's the stuff all right, Ben," he said, "bear a hand and
+we'll drag it out. Only be very careful of it. It is probably a high
+explosive if not handled delicately."
+
+One by one the boxes were transferred until two dozen of them stood on
+the beach, set in soft sand. Then a sudden difficulty flashed into
+Frank's mind. Constantio had said "equal parts of sand, water and the
+powder," but he had not said how much these equal parts were to be.
+The only thing to do was to experiment.
+
+Fortunately the massive steel cylinders, in which the gas was to be
+generated, were provided with gauges to register the pressure. One
+thousand pounds were marked as top measure, so Frank assumed that
+somewhere about 800 pounds would be enough.
+
+The first mixture they tried only registered three hundred pounds, but
+by gradually increasing the amount of powder they at last hit upon the
+required strength, and were ready to start on the work of inflation.
+
+They had six cylinders full of the gas. Not enough to fully inflate
+the bag, but enough, Frank calculated, to render it sufficiently
+buoyant to carry the reduced weight it would be called upon to convey
+now that the crew was gone.
+
+The inflation nozzle was connected with cylinder after cylinder, till
+the bag became so buoyant that it was necessary to weight the machine
+down with heavy stones. At last the cylinders were emptied and the
+great bag, expanded by the warm sun, swelled up till it seemed it must
+burst. The expansion of gas by the sun was one of the things Frank had
+counted on when filling the bag, and he was glad to see his theories
+work out right. The treasure bags were hastily laden on to the craft
+and then the boys, standing on the lower framework, one on each side,
+while Ben stood in the pilot-house, started to kick off the weights
+that restrained the ship from rising.
+
+They had not cast off more than half a dozen before the ship gave a
+mighty bound upward that threatened to throw them off her frames and
+before they could catch their breath they had shot up 1,200 feet or
+more. Hastily clambering aboard and laughing at the sudden jump, the
+boys got the engine going and shaped a course that would bring them
+over the spot where they had left the Bolo.
+
+They held steadily on their course that day and the next. Early in the
+morning of the second they encountered a surprising incident. Frank,
+who was on lookout, hailed "Air-ship ahead."
+
+And there, sure enough, heading northward, was a big red dirigible
+coming toward them like the wind.
+
+As they drew near, a man with a megaphone appeared on her bridge and
+signaled that he wanted to hail them. Frank shut down the engine and
+the two air-ships drew alongside.
+
+"What ship is that?" hailed the man on the bridge of the red air-ship,
+who wore yachting flannels as did his three companions.
+
+"The Luther Barr of New York," responded Frank for lack of a better
+name.
+
+"We are the Dos Hermanos, five days out from Cuba, bound for
+Jacksonville, Florida," was the response, "can you spare us any
+bread?"
+
+"Come alongside," responded Frank in a hearty tone, "and we'll give
+you some tins of pilot bread."
+
+"Bully for you," responded the red air-ship man.
+
+The two dirigibles drifted together and the boys handed over some tins
+of pilot bread or ship biscuit with which the larder of the Luther
+Barr, as Frank had called her, was well provided.
+
+"Thank-you," shouted the men on the red dirigible, as the lines were
+cast off, "good-bye and good luck."
+
+"Same to you," hailed the boys, as the engines were started. An hour
+later the red dirigible had vanished on its voyage to the north.
+
+"Well," said Frank, "that's the first time I've ever heard of 'ships
+that pass in air and speak to each other in passing.' I'm glad we were
+able to help a fellow voyager out."
+
+Frank's observations that day showed that they could not be far from
+the spot from where the Bolo had been left, but eager scrutiny failed
+to reveal her till almost sundown, when Ben's sharp eyes spied
+her--little more than a tiny black object on the horizon.
+
+"There she is," he hailed.
+
+Frank's binoculars soon confirmed the good tidings.
+
+But as they neared the Bolo an astonishing thing happened.
+
+Through the glasses they saw a form they recognized as Bluewater
+Bill's come out on the deck and gaze at them in amazement, to judge
+from the way he threw his arms about.
+
+Presently he was joined by two other figures that the boys recognized
+as Billy Barnes and Lathrop.
+
+Harry impetuously rushed to the rail, oblivious of the fact that at
+that distance the boys could not hear him, and shouted at the top of
+his voice.
+
+"Hullo, Billy, hullo, Lathrop, hullo, Bill!"
+
+It was then that the surprise was sprung. Frank through the glasses
+saw Bluewater Bill raise a rifle to his shoulder, and take deliberate
+aim at the dirigible. The bullet sang by the pilot-house chipping off
+a bit of molding.
+
+"What on earth is the matter with them, have they gone crazy?"
+exclaimed Harry.
+
+Frank was as puzzled as his brother for a minute, but suddenly the
+meaning of this inexplicable conduct burst upon him.
+
+"They think we are Luther Barr! The sight of the dirigible has
+deceived them," he cried.
+
+"I'll bet that's the right explanation," cried Harry, "how are we to
+undeceive them without getting our heads shot off?"
+
+"I have it," cried Frank, diving into his pocket and bringing out a
+rumpled bit of silk, "that's the old Golden Eagle flag. I saved it
+when we had to abandon her."
+
+Ben seized it from the boy's hand and ran to the rail with it, waving
+the bit of silk furiously. Evidently the occupants of the Bolo saw and
+recognized it, for they stopped their threatening demonstrations and
+began waving furiously.
+
+As they hovered above the Bolo, Frank shouted as much explanation as
+he could through the megaphone, and then told the Boloites to be ready
+to make fast a line. This done a tackle was rigged and one by one,
+amid great cheering on Billy Barnes' part, the sacks of treasure were
+lowered.
+
+This task accomplished, there remained but one thing for the boys on
+board the dirigible to do--namely to get on board the Bolo. The
+gas-bag was deflated by means of the escape valve till the big
+dirigible was but a few feet above the Bolo, and then the adventurers
+slid down the rope on to the smaller vessel's deck. There being no way
+of transporting the dirigible, she was allowed to drift away.
+
+What greetings, handshakings, dances and yarn spinning took place
+then, we will leave our readers to imagine. Early next day, after it
+had been agreed that two-thirds of the treasure was to be divided
+among Bluewater Bill, Frank and Harry, and the remainder in even parts
+to Billy Lathrop and Ben Stubbs, anchor was got up and the Bolo headed
+for the Florida coast. The young adventurers meant to head for St.
+Augustine and then take train to New York, sending the Bolo back to
+Galveston with a hired crew.
+
+They had but one regret--the loss of the gallant Golden Eagle. How she
+was recovered will be related in another volume, but restored to them
+she was.
+
+"I'm glad we came through with such flying colors," said Harry to
+Frank one evening, while the boys were all seated on the foredeck,
+"but I hate to think our adventures are all over."
+
+"I don't suppose we shall have any more for awhile," sighed Billy
+Barnes, "it seems to me we've done about all that's possible."
+
+Frank laughed.
+
+"With the money we can make from the sale of the treasure, we can
+build another aeroplane and have lots of good times," he said, "we
+might even try a transcontinental flight."
+
+"From New York to Frisco--bully," exclaimed Billy Barnes.
+
+"Do you think that you really could make such a flight, Frank?" asked
+Lathrop.
+
+To satisfy the curiosity of others like Lathrop, we will say that not
+only could the boys make the flight but that they did, and had a
+series of surprising adventures in connection with it.
+
+It now only remains to tell of the conclusion of Luther Barr's vain
+quest for the treasure. Perhaps an item from a New York newspaper best
+covers the ground. The clipping we have selected reads as follows:
+
+"Luther Barr's yacht, Brigand, returned to-day and thus cleared up
+some of the mystery connected with her long sojourn in Southern
+waters. Seen on board her, Mr. Barr declined to be interviewed or to
+tell anything about his absence, which has created some stir on Wall
+Street. Asked if he were still interested in aeronautics, he became
+furiously angry and threatened to have the reporter thrown overboard.
+Mr. Barr said he had not heard anything about the remarkable
+discoveries on a derelict Spanish galleon made by Frank and Harry
+Chester, the Boy Aviators, and a party of adventurers who accompanied
+them, and of which a full account was printed in these columns some
+days ago, on the safe arrival of the boys from St. Augustine, Fla.
+Frank Chester said yesterday that there was nothing to add to our
+article as printed, except that the valuables recovered had realized
+more than $500,000."
+
+And here for the present we will leave our young friends to renew our
+acquaintance with them in the next volume of this series, which will
+be called:
+
+THE BOY AVIATORS IN RECORD FLIGHT; OR, THE RIVAL AEROPLANE.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest
+by Captain Wilbur Lawton
+(pseudonym for John Henry Goldfrap)
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST ***
+
+This file should be named 6149.txt or 6149.zip
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