CHAPTER XI
A TOWN IN TROUBLE
For a few minutes after rising in the airship, the boys were busyadjusting machinery and looking at various gauges to see thateverything was running smoothly. The _Comet_ had never behaved better,and was sailing along like a bird.
"Some class to this, eh?" inquired Bob, who, in addition to hisappetite, had another failing--that of using slang occasionally.
"She's running as well as we could expect, and a little better,considering the treatment she had at the hands of Noddy Nixon,"responded Jerry. "I'll speed her a bit, now."
He adjusted the lever controlling the motor and propellers, and thebig blades, in front of the airship, that served to pull it forward,whizzed around so swiftly that they looked like blurs of light. Then,fastening the side rudder, so that the craft would head due west,Jerry left the pilot house, and joined his companions in the maincabin, where Professor Snodgrass was busy looking over his specimens,to ascertain if any had suffered harm when they escaped from the boxduring his rush through the crowd.
"How did you happen to hear we were going to make another trip, Mr.Snodgrass?" asked Bob.
"Why, your father mentioned it in a letter I had from him a few daysago," answered the scientist. "I wrote, as I do, once in a while, toinquire how you all were, and when he replied he stated that you weregoing on a trip West, but he did not say what for. As it happened,the museum with which I am now connected, and for which I travel,collecting specimens, needed a flying lizard. They are very scarce,and only one museum that I know of has a specimen. So I decided to getanother. These lizards are supposed to exist in certain parts of ourcountry, and I think the west is as likely to contain them as is anyother section. So as soon as I learned you were going there I hastilypacked up, and came along. But I very nearly missed you."
"Yes, a few minutes more and we would have been gone," observed Ned."But you didn't bring your trunk with you, Professor."
"No, I couldn't manage it with my box of specimens, spare cases inwhich to put new specimens I may get, my net and other things," and,truly, it did seem as if the professor could not have carried anotherthing, for every pocket bulged with something, and over his shouldersand around his waist were strapped boxes and cases, besides variousnets, and other instruments he used in his capture of insects andreptiles. "I will buy extra clothing at the first place we stop," wenton the scientist. "But you boys haven't yet told me why you are goingWest, and your father didn't mention it, Bob."
"We are going out to inspect our mine," spoke Jerry quickly, at thesame time guardedly motioning to Bob and Ned not to say anything aboutthe incident of Jackson Bell, the former hermit. "We have heard thatsome one may try to get possession of it and we want to stop him."Jerry decided it would be just as well, for the present, not to mentionthe trouble they had had with Noddy Nixon, and he also resolved to keepsilent regarding the strange mystery they hoped to solve.
"Well, your plans will not be interfered with by me," continued UriahSnodgrass. "I will go anywhere you do, and look for the flying lizard."The professor went on, and told of his hurried trip to Cresville, thathe might join his friends. They talked of former trips, of his pursuitof the wonderful butterfly in the everglades of Florida, and of hissearch for the horned toad in California.
All this while the airship kept on, increasing her distance from thehome of the boys. Jerry had sent the _Comet_ up about two thousandfeet, and finding favorable currents of air there kept her in thatposition. It was an easy matter to go higher or lower as they desired.
In about an hour, during which time many reminiscences had beenexchanged, Bob exhibited signs of uneasiness.
"What's the matter, Chunky?" inquired Ned. "Has one of the professor'spink fleas got inside your clothes?"
"I sincerely trust not," said the scientist in apprehension.
"No, it isn't that," replied the stout lad, somewhat awkwardly."I--er--that is--I was just wondering if I hadn't better go and seeabout getting dinner."
"Dinner? Why, you lobster, it's only ten o'clock!" cried Jerry.
"I know it," answered Bob, "but I'll have to start the gasolene stove,and it will take some time. I guess I'd better begin. I'll cook," headded, generously.
"Cook! I guess that's about all you _will_ do on this trip," remarkedNed with a laugh, as his fleshy chum disappeared in the galley. "Inever saw such a chap--never," he added.
"Well," remarked Professor Snodgrass, trying to think of some excusefor Bob, "we have to eat, you know. Even horned toads and flyinglizards eat. And--one moment I beg of you--don't move, please!" heexclaimed suddenly to Ned.
"Why not; am I going to fall overboard?" inquired the lad, in somealarm.
"No, but a new and rare kind of upper-air mosquito has just alighted onyour shoulder," spoke the professor, eagerly. "One moment and I willhave it!" He stretched out his hand, containing a tiny net, and thenext moment the insect was buzzing in it.
"Ah, I have you, little beauty!" exclaimed the bald-headed man,enthusiastically, and into a small bottle went the mosquito.
"I'm glad he didn't bite me," remarked Ned, who, just then saw Jerrybeckoning to him from the pilot house. When the two chums weretogether, Jerry cautioned Ned about speaking of the possible solutionof the mystery connected with Mr. Bell.
"Don't say anything about it to the professor," said Jerry. "We'll waituntil we get to the mine, and see how matters develop there. It may bethat there is nothing to this, and that we are on the wrong track aboutMr. Bell," but it was not long before Jerry was to learn that there waseven more in the mystery than he suspected. "Tell Bob," he went on toNed. "Then you can help him with grub. I'm beginning to feel a littlehungry myself."
The meal was served at noon, about a mile high in the air, with the_Comet_ shooting along at the rate of fifty miles an hour, for the windwas favorable.
"It doesn't seem so much of a novelty now," remarked Bob, munching asandwich, and looking down at the green earth spread out below him. "Iremember the first trip we made I was a little nervous."
"Well, I was the time when the professor nearly fell overboard tryingto capture a queer insect," said Jerry. "Don't do anything like thatagain, please, Mr. Snodgrass," he added.
"I'll not," agreed the scientist, who was trying to eat, and at thesame time enter in his note book some observations about insects of theupper air.
Until the middle of the afternoon, the travelers flew along, high inthe air. About three o'clock, when Ned was steering in the pilot house,there came a sudden gust of wind that heeled the airship over at asharp angle.
"Quick! Try the lower currents!" called Jerry, from the engine room."It may be quieter down near the earth."
Ned shifted the deflecting rudder, and the _Comet_ shot earthward on along slant. As Jerry had predicted, it was more quiet there, the windblowing gently.
Their course was now southwest, and, judging by the speed and thelength of time they had been in motion, they figured that the airshipwas over Pennsylvania. As it raced along, about five hundred feet abovethe surface, and over a rather sparsely settled country, Bob, who waslooking through a telescope, suddenly uttered a cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Jerry.
"Why there's a big crowd just ahead there," replied the fat lad. "Abouttwo thousand people on the bank of a river. It looks as if somethinghad happened."
"Maybe some one has fallen in," suggested Ned.
"Speed her up, and we'll soon find out," directed Jerry, and Ned yankedover the propeller lever.
As the airship came nearer, it could be seen that there were twogood-sized towns, one on either side of a swiftly flowing river, thatappeared to be swollen from floods. Gathered on the banks of the streamwere two large crowds, and they appeared to be signalling to each other.
"I wonder what's happened?" came from Ned.
"We'll soon find out," answered Jerry. "Go a bit slower."
"There's trouble of some kind; that's sure," was the opinion ofProfessor Snodgrass. "The people in
the larger town seem to be indistress."
Hardly had he spoken than from the midst of the larger crowd there camea flash of fire, and a volume of white smoke rolled out. Then came adull boom.
"They're firing! Firing a cannon!" cried Bob. "The people on one sideof the river are shooting at those on the other side! What can be thematter?"
The Motor Boys Over the Rockies; Or, A Mystery of the Air Page 12