Chapter XV
RUN TO COVER
Dorothy reached beneath her seat, brought forth a pair of field-glassesand clapped them to her goggles. Focussed through the powerful lenses,there was no mistaking the Mystery Plane. And although at this distanceit was impossible to see the pilot's face, she could plainly distinguishthe barrel of a machine gun that poked its wicked muzzle over thecockpit's cowling.
"So the bearded aviator means mischief!" She returned the glasses totheir case. "That guy must be a cold-blooded dog to try anything likethat over a populated township. He's likely to bite off more than he canchew if Bill and I have any luck. If he cracks up, I shan't weep."
At first sight of the smuggler's plane, she brought Will-o'-the-Wispback on an even keel, but now in order to get an unimpeded view directlybelow, she sent the plane into a steep bank.
Bill, in the Ryan, with an altitude of some twenty-five hundred feet andits nose slightly raised was streaking toward the smuggler.
Most air battles are fought in the higher ether, because combat flyingoften necessitates acrobatics and the ordinary pilot wants plenty of airbelow for such work. The smuggler being the aggressor in this case,naturally started to climb when he spotted the Ryan. He hoped, no doubt,not only to increase his altitude but to gain greater ascendency overBill before diving at the monoplane with his machine gun going fullblast.
It was time for Dorothy to act. As the smuggler's plane began to ascend,she sent her amphibian diving toward him at a tremendous spurt of speed.The Mystery Plane nosed over and dove in turn at the Ryan, some fivehundred feet below.
"Ha-ha!" Dorothy shut off her motor and brought Will-o'-the-Wisp's nosegradually back to the horizontal. "Our scheme worked! That bird eitherdoesn't know his business or he's lost his nerve!"
A fighting plane attacking has as its objective a position directlybehind the hostile plane at close range. A position either above orbelow the tail is equally good. From these positions the enemy isdirectly in the line of fire, and in sighting no deflection isnecessary.
The smuggler's maneuver showed Dorothy that he was a novice; for insteadof going into a climbing spiral which would have eluded her dive andmade it possible for him to attain a superior position over both planes,he dove at the Ryan. This might have been a proper fighting maneuver ifBill's plane had not been nosing upward toward him; and had the Ryan notbeen the faster of the two.
By this blunder he put himself in the direct line of fire from Bill'smachine gun. And had that young man been minded to use it the battlewould have been over--almost before it started.
Seeing his mistake almost immediately, the bearded aviator broke hisdive by zooming upward. Again Dorothy's plane dove for his tail andright there he made his second error.
Instead of gaining altitude and position by making an Immelman turn,which consists of a half-roll on the top of a loop, he pulled back hisstick sharply, simultaneously giving the Mystery Plane full rightrudder. The result was an abrupt stall and a fall off, and his amphibianemerged from the resultant dive headed in the direction from which hehad first appeared.
Dorothy sent her bus spiralling downward, while Bill simply nosed hisRyan into a steeper climb. By the time the Mystery Plane levelled offfrom its split-S turn it had lost over a thousand feet. Granted he washeaded for home, if that had been his intention; now he was placed inthe worst possible situation with regard to his opponents. For insteadof one, both planes had attained positions above him.
For the next few minutes the man in the smuggler's plane did his best toout-maneuver the elusive pair whose motors roared above his head likegiant bees attacking an enemy. Never was he given a chance to better hisposition or to gain altitude. Every time he maneuvered to place one ofthe planes within line of fire from his machine gun, the other wouldeffectually block the move; the menacing plane would sheer off at atangent and its partner, crowding down upon his tail, would hurl forth asmoke bomb. By the time he floundered through the cloud, his antagonistswould be back in their relative positions, again, the one directly abovehis tail plane, the other slightly behind him to the right.
The bearded aviator knew that he was being outclassed at every move,that gradually they were forcing him down to a point where he must landor crash.
Both Dorothy and Bill knew exactly when the man in the plane belowguessed their purpose. For with a sudden burst of speed he shot ahead,streaking in the direction of North Stamford like a ghost in torment.
"We've got every advantage but one," mused Dorothy, widening herthrottle in pursuit. "He knows where he's going--and we don't. He's upto some trick, I'll bet."
That her thoughts were prophetic was made apparent almost immediately.By shutting off his engine and by kicking his rudder alternately rightand left with comparatively slow and heavy movements, the smuggler pilotsent his plane's nose swinging from side to side. This evolution, knownas fish-tailing, he executed without banking or dropping the nose to asteeper angle. Its purpose is to cut down speed and to do so as rapidlyas possible.
The Mystery Plane slowed down as though a brake had been applied,sideslipped to the left over a line of trees and leveled off above afield enclosed by a dilapidated stone fence.
"Confound!" exclaimed Dorothy, with a glance behind. "He's going to landand both Bill and I have overshot the field!"
Nose depressed below level, a lively flipper turn to left broughtWill-o'-the-Wisp sharply round facing the field again with its wingsalmost vertical. Immediate application of up aileron and opposite rudderquickly brought the amphibian to an even keel once more. Then Dorothynosed over, went into a forward slip, recovered and leveled off for alanding.
As the wheels of her plane touched the ground, she saw the Ryan come toa stop on the grass some yards to the right. Just ahead and between themwas the Mystery Plane. It lay drunkenly over on one side, resting on itstwisted landing gear and a crumpled lower wing section.
Dorothy stood up in her cockpit when Will-o'-the-Wisp stopped rollingand saw the smuggler-pilot vault the wall at the far corner of the fieldand disappear into a small wood. Bill was walking toward the disabledamphibian. She got out of her plane and hurried toward him.
"Pancaked!" she cried, pointing toward the wreck as she came withinspeaking distance.
"You said it--" concurred Bill. "That guy was in such a hurry he leveledoff too soon. Usually I don't wish anybody hard luck but that bird isthe great exception. Too bad he didn't break a leg along with his plane.Now he's beat it and--"
"We are just about where we were before," she broke in.
"Not quite, Dorothy. The Mystery Plane is out of commission.--I wonderwhere we are?"
"Somewhere in the North Stamford hills."
"I know--but whose property are we on?"
"Haven't the least idea."
"I can't see any houses around here. Did you notice any as you camedown?"
Dorothy shook her head and laughed.
"My eyes were glued on this field," she admitted. "I was too busy tryingto make a landing myself to take in much of the landscape. Wait aminute, though--seems to me I caught a glimpse of the Castle just beforeI put Wispy into that reverse control turn. Yes, I'm sure of it."
"The Castle?" Bill frowned. "What in the cock-eyed world is that?"
"A castle, silly!"
"Make sense out of that, please."
"Sorry. You're usually trying to mystify me--I just thought I'd turn thetables for a change."
"Oh, I know--I'll say I'm sorry or anything else you want. Only pleasetell me what you're talking about."
"Well, it seems that about fifteen or sixteen years ago, somebody builta castle about two or three miles from North Stamford village. It's lessthan five miles from where we live. Not being up on medievalarchitecture I can't describe it properly, but Dad says it is the kindthat German robber barons put up in the fourteenth century. Anyway, theCastle is built of stone with a steep, slate roof, which spouts pointedturrets all over the p
lace. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been builtby a German--it certainly looks as Heinie as sauerkraut!"
"Who lives there?" asked Bill.
"Nobody, now. During the war, Dad told me, the place was suspected to bea spy-hang-out or something like that. Anyway, there was a lot of talkabout it. What became of the owner, whoever he is, I don't know. Theplace has been rented several times during the past few years. It isquite near the road. I drove past it just the other day on my way to andfrom Nance Wilkins' tea and the old dump looked quite empty andforlorn."
"Well, that's that," said Bill. "This bearded guy may have been headingfor your Castle, but I doubt it. Fact is, he probably decided to land atthe first convenient place when he found we were too much for him, anddecided to trust to his legs for a getaway."
Dorothy had been swinging her helmet by its chin strap in anabsent-minded manner. Now she raised her eyes to his.
"What are we going to do about it?" she inquired. "We can't try to breakinto the Castle in broad daylight."
"Hardly. And after our experience with the bank gang, we'll do no moresnooping around strange houses on our own. I am going over to thatlittle wood where our friend ran to cover. Maybe I can find some traceof him. You stay here with the planes."
"Why can't I go with you, Bill?"
"Because that smuggler may simply be hiding in the woods in hopes thatwe'll come after him and that we'll leave these airbuses unguarded. Thenwhen we're gone, he'll come back here, grab one of them and fly quietlyhome."
"All right. I see."
"Have you got a gun?"
"That small Colt you gave me is in Wispy's cockpit."
"Get it and keep it on you--and if that guy shows up, don't be afraid touse it."
Dorothy shook her head. "I never shot at anybody in my life--"
"Don't shoot _at_ him--_shoot_ him. You might have to, you know."
"But surely, Bill--"
"Oh, I don't mean for you to kill the guy. Plunk him in the leg--disablehim. If you have any qualms about it, just remember that machine gun inhis bus here. The man is as deadly as a copperhead and twice astreacherous. Look out for him."
"I will. But su-suppose you get into trouble, Bill. How long do you wantme to wait here before I come after you?"
"My dear girl," Bill was becoming impatient. "I'm just going to try tofind out where that lad is headed. I won't be gone more than ten orfifteen minutes."
"Yes. But suppose you _don't_ come back here!"
"Wait for half an hour. Then fly back home and tell Dad what hashappened. He'll know what to do. Don't get nervous--I'll be all right.So long. See you in a few minutes."
With a wave of his hand, he ran across the field and Dorothy saw himhurdle the low wall and disappear between the trees of the wood wherethe bearded aviator had run to cover.
Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane Page 15