Swift and Sure: The Story of a Hydroplane

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER VIII--A RACE AGAINST TIME

  Dark though it was, Jose led the way with complete confidence. But Willnoticed that in a few minutes he left the heart of the wood and returnedto the edge, where it bordered the plain. General Carabano's camp wasnow behind them.

  "We might tread on a snake or stumble on a tiger, senor," said the boy."It is not safe to go through the wood at night."

  These were perils which had scarcely occurred to Will, but he recognizedthat the negro was right. Progress along the edge of the wood, however,was hardly easier than it had been in the wood itself, for long grass,bushes, and briars obstructed them at every few steps. After coveringrather more than a mile, as Will guessed, it struck him that they wouldget along faster if they mounted the railway embankment and walked alongthe straight track. It was unlikely that pursuit would be carried farthat night, since the direction of their flight could not be traced inthe darkness. But there would be danger if the old camp was stilloccupied, or if any guards had been posted along the railway. He askedhis companions whether they had any information on these points. Bothassured him that the camp was deserted, and that no sentinels wereposted on the railway, at any rate between their present position andthe junction. Will remembered that the signalman at the junction was inthe pay of General Carabano, so that the omission of what wouldotherwise have been an essential precaution was explicable.

  The coast being clear, the travellers struck to the left, and came inten minutes to the embankment.

  "Creep up and look along the line," said Will to Azito. "You can seebetter in the dark than I."

  The man returned after a few minutes and said that he saw the lights ofthe new camp twinkling among the trees, but nothing else was in sight ineither direction. The rim of the moon which was just showing above thehorizon would assist their march, but at the same time reveal theirmoving forms to any one who might be in the neighbourhood.

  "Where are all the peons from the old camp?" asked Will.

  "All run away, senor," replied Azito.

  "We ran away too, senor," added Jose, "but came back to find ourmaster."

  "Have you had anything to eat lately, either of you?" asked Will, athought striking him.

  Jose had eaten nothing all the previous day; Azito nothing but somefruit he had picked in the garden of the house after nightfall.

  "We must get some food to-morrow, or we shall be fit for nothing," saidWill, "though I don't know where it is to come from."

  They were now walking along the railway track, stepping from sleeper tosleeper. Every now and then they stopped to look behind, but thoughthey could see farther as the moon rose, nothing was visible along theline. As they marched along in silence, Will thought over theconversation he had heard in the house. An attack was to be made onBolivar at noon next day, from two quarters simultaneously. Machado'sconfederate in the telegraph office had invented a telegram from Caracasdemanding the instant dispatch of reinforcements, so that the garrisonat Bolivar would be much reduced, and the Jefe would be at adisadvantage. If Will could only get the hydroplane and bring it safelypast the enemy, he would have time at least to warn the Jefe. Thedistance by water was about a hundred and sixty miles, thirty miles morethan by rail; but General Carabano did not intend to start before eighto'clock, by which time, all being well, the hydroplane would be aconsiderable distance on the way to Bolivar. As soon as he got to SantaMarta, a little station twenty miles beyond the junction, he couldtelegraph a warning to the Jefe, the signalman being loyal. Everythingdepended on his reaching Santa Marta undetected.

  They came at length to the site of the old camp. It was a picture ofdesolation. The tents had been removed to the new camp near thehacienda. A great quantity of debris was littered all over theenclosure. Tools, barrows, fragments of boxes that had been brokenopen; the Chief's safe, which, having been rifled, had been leftstanding as too cumbersome for removal: these relics of the raid filledWill with indignation. He had returned the knife to Azito, and beingunarmed, he picked up a crowbar to serve as a weapon in case ofemergency, and told Jose to do the same. Then, descending theembankment, all three hurried towards the river.

  Just before they reached it, Will suddenly remembered that the supply ofpetrol on board was running short when he made his last trip. This wasa very serious matter. There was no chance of his carrying out his planwithout an adequate quantity of petrol. There had been plenty in agodown in the camp, it having been used for driving a small electricengine as well as the hydroplane. Had the cans been carried off withthe other stores to the new camp? If so, the game was up. But Willhoped that the rebels had not thought them worth removing. The petrolwould be of no use to an army in the field; they were not near a townwhere it might be turned into money: the chief danger was that Machado,who had clearly thought of making use of the hydroplane, would not haveneglected to furnish himself with the necessary fuel. Will wished thathe had thought of reassuring himself on this all-important point beforeleaving the camp; but being now so near the recess in which thehydroplane was laid up, he decided to make sure first that the vesselwas still where he had left it.

  Having come now into the wood, the natives were again afraid ofencountering danger in the shape of reptiles or wild beasts. FortunatelyWill had some matches in his pocket. He got Azito and Jose to collectsome dry grass and twist it up into a couple of rough torches, andsetting light to one of these they hurried to the bank above the recess.The wood was so thick and the enemy's camp so far away that there was nodanger of the light being seen. Kindling the second torch, Will droppedthe first into the water. The glare caused a great commotion among theinhabitants; he saw frogs hopping about in all directions, and eelsdarting away towards the river. At the further end of the recess, justbeyond the stern of the hydroplane, a cayman slipped off the bank intothe water and swam away. A cursory inspection of the vessel assuredWill that it had not been tampered with. Relieved on this score, hedetermined to return at once to the old camp and make a search for thepetrol.

  They lighted their way back through the wood, but extinguished the torchbefore emerging into the open. Then, aided by the rays of the risingmoon, they groped towards the godown, a temporary wooden hut, in whichthe petrol with other stores had been kept. Just in front of the doorwas a petrol can, which Will proved by shaking it to be half empty.Apparently the rebels had been examining the contents and left it asworthless to them. Within the hut stood two cans which had not beentouched. All cause for anxiety was removed.

  Will ordered the two men to carry the cans down to the hydroplane. Onthe Orinoco petrol was a commodity hard to come by, and though he wouldrather not have loaded his light craft with more than was immediatelyneeded, he thought it advisable to take all that he had while there wasopportunity. The cans were so heavy that only one could be carried at atime. When they came to the wood Will preceded the two men with atorch, at a safe distance. On his second return to the camp he soughteverywhere in the hope of finding food; but all the useful stores hadbeen removed, and he had to resign himself to the prospect of fastinguntil he reached Santa Marta.

  It was three o'clock in the morning before Will had overhauled and oiledthe machinery and got the hydroplane ready for starting. He had fivehours before the train conveying General Carabano and his troops wouldleave, and since the hydroplane at full speed would travel faster thanthe train, he would have had no anxiety about reaching Santa Marta firstif he could have gone at full speed all the way. But the distance tothe junction was not only twenty miles farther by water than by rail:for the first seven or eight miles he would have to go very slowly,because it would be impossible to make pace in the darkness on thenarrow, shallow stream that ran past the hacienda. There would be thedanger of striking snags, and the further danger of the throbbing of theengine being heard in the camp. The second danger was so serious thatWill decided to trust to the current alone until he was safely past therebel army. As soon as he should come into the broader stream, whichran into th
e Orinoco near the railway junction, he might make full useof his motor; but the rate of the current was probably not more thanthree miles an hour, so that it might be full daylight before he emergedinto the tributary. He would then be only about an hour and a half inadvance of the train, a rather narrow margin when the windings of thestream were considered.

  At last all was ready. Will had given careful instructions to hiscompanions as to what they were to do. Jose would remain with him inthe stern of the vessel; Azito was to stand as far forward as possible,holding a pole in readiness to fend off obstructions. While they weregoing slowly he could take up his position at the extreme forepart ofthe screen, but when it was necessary to make the vessel "plane"--thatis, rise out of the water and skim along the surface, which was itsspecial function--he would have to draw back, so that his weight shouldnot interfere with the planing. Jose was to be ready to oil the enginewhenever his master gave the word.

  They went on board. Will poled the vessel out of the recess into thelittle stream, turned her head towards the hacienda, and let her floaton the current. For hundreds of yards at a time she moved in inkydarkness. The trees on both banks, growing far over the narrow channel,sometimes indeed meeting and forming a tunnel so low that Azito had tostoop, shut out all light of moon and stars. Now and then they cameinto a bright patch where a gap in the foliage let the moonlightthrough. At such points Will more than once saw the snout of a cayman;but there was no fear of molestation from any of the wild denizens ofthe stream: the passage of so strange a monster would imbue them with awholesome terror.

  As they floated slowly down, Will became possessed with a new anxiety.Would Machado suspect that he had got out the hydroplane and be on thewatch for him where the canal entered the stream? If that should proveto be the case he might have to run the gauntlet of hundreds of rifles,with the smallest chance of getting through alive. Two considerationsgave him hope that he might be spared this ordeal. In the first place,Machado could not know that he had overheard the conversation withGeneral Carabano, and might suppose that his first move would be anattempt to release his friends. In the second place the Venezuelans arenot early risers, and Machado would hardly expect to see the hydroplanebefore daylight. Of course, with a momentous expedition afoot, theSpanish sluggishness might be temporarily overcome: Will could only hopefor the best. If he should be discovered, he determined to set thevessel going at full speed and take his chance.

  There were already signs of dawn when the hydroplane came silently tothe opening of the canal. The frogs had ceased to croak; but birds werepiping in the trees. From the house, too, and the adjacent camp, camesounds of bustle. Preparations were evidently being made for the raidon Bolivar. Will looked round anxiously, half expecting to see, throughthe haze, hundreds of rifles pointed at him from the bank. But hepassed the canal in safety; no one challenged him; and he felt awonderful relief and hopefulness in the knowledge that the first of theexpected dangers had turned out to be a chimera.

  Day broke when the vessel had reached a spot about a mile below thehacienda. It was possible now to increase the speed by punting, andWill ordered Azito to employ his pole in this way. After another milehe ventured to set the motor going, at first at low speed, since he wasstill anxious that the sound of the engine should not be carried to thecamp. If the train had started now, it would have reached a point wherefifty men with rifles, posted on the bank of the stream, could have madethe passage impossible. Will looked at his watch; he had still nearlyan hour to spare, unless General Carabano had altered his plans.

  In a few minutes he came into the stream which ran into the Orinoconearly fifty miles beyond. Now with a sense of gladness andexhilaration he set the motor at full speed, at the same time orderingAzito to withdraw a few feet towards the stern. In a few seconds theforepart of the vessel lifted; it skimmed along the surface of thestream; and the banks began to whizz past at twenty, thirty, andpresently forty miles an hour. At first Azito was somewhat scared atthe pace, but after a few minutes he became possessed by the excitementof it, and behaved as if he had been born on a hydroplane. The taskWill set him was to keep a good look-out ahead, and give warning by agesture of either hand of any obstruction in the river, so that Will,who from his position in the stern could not see so well, might steerthe vessel, and keep it going at a greater speed than would otherwisehave been possible. Will felt that he was running very considerablerisks, but speed was of the highest importance. If the train got aheadof him all would be lost: so he cheerfully took chances which he mighthave shrunk from at another time.

  To steer the vessel demanded the utmost watchfulness from both Will andAzito. The river, though broad in parts, was narrow and tortuous atothers, and was here and there intersected by rocks and islands, andsnags in the shape of waterlogged trees. It was these latter that gaveWill the most anxiety. But Azito, who like most Indians was expert incanoeing, and had keen eyesight and a perfect acquaintance with rivers,kept a sharp look-out and proved to have great judgment in detectingsnags. With a movement of the right hand or the left he indicated towhich side the hydroplane should be steered, and soon Will trusted hisguidance implicitly, putting the helm to port or starboard in responseto the slightest gesture. Once or twice also, when the rocks werenumerous, Azito cried that it would be dangerous to go so fast, and Willimmediately slowed down, loth though he was to lose a minute. Theengine worked magnificently. The greatest danger to be feared wasoverheating; but thanks to the ventilators and Jose's constant attentionin oiling, Will found that even after a good spell at full speed therewas no sign of a breakdown.

  For a long distance they were not in sight of the railway line, whichfollowed a more direct course than the river, and, even when itapproached it, was concealed by the thick vegetation on the banks. Butthey came at length to a more open stretch of country where the line ranfor miles at an average distance of less than a quarter-mile from thestream. Here Will, slowing down a little, looked anxiously down thetrack. There was no sign of the train, which, if it started at the timearranged, was certainly due to pass within half-an-hour or less. Againthe river wound away from the line, making a bend which involvedprobably an extra mile. When they again came in view of the track, Willcould see along it for two or three miles; still there was no sign ofthe train.

  For the next ten miles railway and river ran almost parallel; then theriver passed under the bridge carrying the main railway line and joinedthe Orinoco. Here the branch line saved two or three miles. When thehydroplane came into the broad stream of the Orinoco Will kept as closeas possible to the right bank. He was now able to steer a straightercourse than on the tributary, and had no need to slacken speed onaccount of bends. Although he believed that he must be stillconsiderably in advance of the train he kept up full speed for almost anhour more, and then arrived at a point where he could see the littlestation of Santa Marta nearly a mile away to his right. A narrow canal,just wide enough for the hydroplane, connected the station with theriver. It was used for carrying goods to the railway, and had beenfound very serviceable by Mr. Jackson in his work on the branch line,some of his material having been brought up the river and landed there,thus saving the heavy port dues that would have been demanded in Bolivaritself.

  Swinging round into the canal, Will saw that there was no barge eithercoming or going on it. If there had been, it would have been impossibleto run the hydroplane to the station. In a few minutes he brought thevessel to the side of the little wharf below the railway line, andleaving it in charge of the two natives, hurried on by himself.