CHAPTER XIX
WRECKED ON THE DESERT
Though it was an exceedingly novel experience for both Jim Nestor andSledge Hammer Tod to ride in an airship, one would never have guessedit from their manner. They were as calm and collected as though thatwas their usual means of locomotion.
Tod looked down at the earth, which was fast receding and in a lowvoice remarked to Jim Nestor:
"There sits the deputy sheriff on guard."
"Yes," added Jim, equally calm, "as long as he stays there things willbe all right. Nixon and his gang won't get much gold out of that mine."
"How do you allow that the gang had the nerve to make a try for yourmine?" asked Tod, turning to Ned and Bob.
"Oh, Tom Dalsett planned it," replied Ned. "He has been in the Westfor some time now, and probably thought he saw a chance to make somemoney. He wrote to Noddy to come out here, as Jerry told you, andwe found the letter when he ran away. How Noddy managed to get Westafter he ran away from our airship we can only guess. Anyhow, he didget here, and met Dalsett. Then Bill Berry arrived, probably on somefreight train like one Jerry saw him board. Very likely he dropped offat a junction point, and came to Rockyford on a local. Then the threewent to court and made their claim."
Jerry came from the pilot house, having fixed the rudder stationary,after ascending to about five hundred feet.
"Well," inquired the tall lad, as he looked at the old miner and at JimNestor, "how do you like it? Is it what you thought it would be?" Herather expected to see more of astonishment depicted on the faces ofhis friends.
"Well, it is and it isn't," was the somewhat enigmatical answer of Jim.
"It might be different," added Tod, as carelessly as he could. "If itdoesn't act like a bucking bronco now and throw us off, it will be allright. Something of a distance to fall," he went on casually, as helooked down to the earth.
"Well, since we've made a good start, suppose we plan a little aboutwhat we are going to do," went on Jerry. "We will have to depend on youand Mr. Tod, Jim, to find the valley."
"We'll do our best. Have you got grub for a long prospect?"
"We can fly around in the upper air for two weeks if need be," answeredthe tall lad, for he had seen to it that an unusual supply of fuel andother needful articles had been placed in the ship.
"Well, we ought to find it in that time," said Tod. "I think, if wecruise back and forth along the Uncompahgre Mountain range, we may seejust what we are looking for. Of course, it's going to take some time,but we've got to expect that. If we could only meet Mr. Bell now, wewouldn't have any trouble."
"I certainly hope we shall be able to rescue these poor people," put inProfessor Snodgrass, looking up from his notebook. "I would very muchlike to see my cousin again. Just think of being held captive by theIndians all these years!"
"If they only _are_ captives," remarked Jim Nestor.
"What do you mean?" asked Ned quickly, detecting a strange note in theman's words.
"Well, I mean if they're still alive," went on the minesuperintendent. "If they are, I think we can dispose of the Indians allright."
They fell to talking of the strange quest on which they had started,the airship, meanwhile, continuing to fly ahead toward the unknowngoal. Jerry went back to the pilot house and adjusted the deflectionrudder to send the _Comet_ higher up, so that a better view of thesurrounding country could be had. Still, there was no hope yet ofobserving the mysterious valley, or even the mountain range in which itwas supposed to be located. They were several hundred miles away.
For two days they flew on, not making very rapid time, as Jerry and theboys decided it would be best to be sparing of their fuel, since theywere in a region where gasolene was not plentiful. They sailed now highand now low, and every minute a new view could be had of the earth, themountains and valleys below them.
Professor Snodgrass was kept busy catching and classifying manyinsects, but, though he kept a diligent lookout, he had not yet seenany winged lizards.
"I guess we're flying too high for them," observed Jim Nestor, who tooka curious interest in the fad of the naturalist. "When we get to thatmysterious valley we may find some. I'll help you hunt."
"Will you, really?" asked the delighted professor, for he did not oftenfind a kindred spirit.
They ate and slept in the airship almost with as much ease and comfortas they could have done on earth, and Tod and Nestor were soon at homeabove the clouds. Bob constituted himself the cook, as probably youhave already guessed, and he would have served five meals a day ifallowed.
"Well, we're getting there," announced Jerry, on the afternoon of thethird day, as the airship was traveling over a wide desert valley. "Wecould go faster, but there's no need. We'll soon be in Colorado, andover that mountain range; then----"
He was interrupted by a sudden move on the part of Professor Snodgrass.The scientist, who had been seated on a bench in the main cabin ofthe _Comet_, poring over a book, jumped up, grabbed a long-handledbutterfly net, and rushed aft, exclaiming:
"There! I just saw it! The flying lizard. Look out, everybody! I musthave it! The first specimen I've ever seen!"
Through the engine room he rushed to get to the after deck of thecraft. The boys saw a small insect winging its way past the airship,but whether it was a flying lizard or not was impossible to say.
"I must have it! I must have it!" cried the professor.
As he rushed through the engine room, the long handle of his netknocked from a shelf a large monkey wrench. It fell against one of thecylinders of the motor and rebounded into the large flywheel. The wheeltossed it back against the cylinder with great force. There was a soundof breaking metal, a loud explosion, and the engine suddenly stopped.
"Oh, dear!" cried the professor, as he paused in his hasty flight."What have I done?"
From the pilot house Jerry came on the run. He quickly shut off thegasolene, which was flooding the now stationary engine. Then, as he sawthe extent of the damage the scientist had unwittingly caused, the ladpulled a lever. There was a hissing sound, and the airship began tosettle.
"What's the matter?" cried Jim Nestor. "We're falling down to thedesert!" and he looked at the vast stretch of sand below them.
"Has the ship busted?" asked Sledge Hammer Tod.
"Part of the motor is," replied Jerry quietly. "I am letting someof the gas out of the bag, so that we will go down. We will have todescend to earth to repair the engine--if, indeed, we can fix it. Thebreak is a bad one," and he looked grave.
"It's all my fault," wailed the professor. "I should not have been insuch a hurry. I knocked the wrench down, and the flying lizard gotaway, after all."
Amid an ominous silence the _Comet_, badly damaged, settled to thesands, her first stop since leaving the mine.
The Motor Boys Over the Rockies; Or, A Mystery of the Air Page 20