Around the World in Ten Days

by Albert Bigelow Paine

  CHAPTER XVI

  TRICKED BY RIVALS

  Correcting their watches with Georgetown time, as given to them by Mr.Whiteshore, the Englishman in charge of the field, the boys found totheir joy that they had arrived five minutes ahead of schedule. Thiswould give them, if they wished to take it, a trifle more than threehours to spend in Georgetown.

  But first must come business; they must go over the machine verycarefully and see if the long, hard run from Panama had done anydamage; and they must replenish their fuel, oil, and water supply.They were happy to find both engines in fine shape, thanks to thepossibility of alternating them in transit, and beyond a number ofscratches and the cracked glass made by the condors in their attack incrossing the Andes the airplane was in perfect shape. Paul climbed upand examined the helium-gas valves, of which there were three in eachwing, one for each of three compartments, and announced that thepressure showed only an insignificant decrease. At the rate ofescapage indicated, they would have plenty to last them for the wholetrip. This was reassuring knowledge, for no envelope can be made soimpervious that light gases will not escape at all. The bodycompartment also showed good pressure.

  It took them an hour and fifteen minutes to replenish the fuel tanksand water radiator and put everything in shape. Just as they werefinishing up, a cry from the curious crowd around them called theirattention to the western sky, and they saw an airplane approaching.This developed rapidly into the unmistakable outlines of the _Clarion_,and in a few minutes the rival crew landed in the field.

  Pete Deveaux sauntered over to the crew of the Sky-Bird II.

  "Well, fellows," he said, with the sneer which seemed to be on hisleathery countenance most of the time, "I notice you got in a littleahead of us. Congratulations! I suppose you're tickled to death."

  "We're not quite that far gone; just a little bit alive," grinned TomMeeks. "What made your crew so slow, Deveaux? Did you get wet in thatrain last night and have to stop off and dry out your clothes?"

  "Aw, cut it out; talk sense!" snarled the French flyer. He turned onhis heel, fearing more of Tom's sharp thrusts if he lingered longer,and shot back: "You guys will have another laugh coming one of thesedays, mark my words!" With that he rejoined his companions.

  Not at all worried at such a prophecy, our friends secured a native boyto guide them into the town, a quarter of a mile distant, leaving theirairplane under guard of two Chinese out in the open, the field boastingno such thing as a hangar. At the little telegraph office of the town,John dispatched their report to the _Daily Independent_, also mailed atthe local postoffice the promised films of the encounter with thecondors.

  They then purchased some breakfast and began to look about them. Whileit was still early, the narrow streets were quite well crowded withpeople, so much so that it looked to the visitors as if the inhabitantsnever slept. What they saw almost made them rub their eyes to makesure they were not in Asia instead of South America. There were dozensof almond-eyed Chinese within sight, dozens of black Hindoos in turbansand flowing garments, dozens of Parsees wearing long black coats andhats like inverted coal-scuttles; to say nothing of numerous Portugueseand English, the latter mostly merchants and plantation owners.

  The roofs of the buildings were slanting, with wooden or galvanizediron walls. Some of the more important of them, such as stores,warehouses, government buildings, etc., were quite large, and stoodupon piles to keep them out of the way of floods which often sweep thelowlands in the rainy season. In many of the streets ran canals, whichtheir small guide told them, in pidgeon-English, were drains for thefloods. And he also said that the long embankments which the boys sawstretching along the sea front were dykes built at great expense by thesugar planters to keep these same floods from washing the rich soil oftheir fields out into the ocean.

  After purchasing some fresh fruit and groceries for their aeriallarder, the little party betook themselves back to the landing-field,on the way passing numbers of pretty little houses which stood in themidst of beautiful gardens filled with tropical plants.

  As they neared the field, they saw that quite a crowd had collectedsince their departure. Pushing their way through the concourse abouttheir own airplane, they were surprised to find Pete Deveaux and ChuckCrossman just jumping down from the wings. These flyers hurried awaythrough a gap in the circle of onlookers toward their own machinebefore our friends could accost them.

  The Sky-Bird crew were considerably put out at noting this situation,for they had particularly told the Chinese guards to let no one meddlewith the Sky-Bird. The Celestials were squatting unconcernedly uponthe ground, one on either side of the airplane, as John rushed up andsaid to one of them; "Didn't I tell you not to let any strangers aroundthis machine?"

  "No lettum stranger lound," protested the fellow. "Him both flylersalla samee you. Like-um see, you see; like-um see, he see."

  "Oh, ginger!" exclaimed John, turning to his comrades, in cleardisgust, "the stupid dunce thinks those fellows belong to us and we tothem, just because we all wear the same sort of flying clothes! Didyou ever see the like?"

  Paul now took up the questioning. "What were those fellows doing upthere?" he asked of the Chinaman.

  "No tellee me; no tellee Lee," was the response, as the fellow jerkedhis head in the direction of his comrade. "Just lookee over alla sameeyou do li'l bit ago."

  "Were they in the cabin?" demanded Paul.

  "No go in klabin."

  They walked around the machine giving it a cursory looking over, butcould find nothing out of the way, and every one of them feltconsiderable relief.

  "I guess they were only taking a look to see if our construction wasthe same as theirs," suggested Bob. This seemed a plausibleexplanation, and they accepted it, although with some misgivings.

  About ten minutes later they saw the crowd over in the other side ofthe field scattering, and then the _Clarion_ shot up into the air. Ina few minutes it was pointed down the coast and making good headway.

  Our friends were not quite ready, but when the other machine was a merespeck against the southwestern sky, they hopped off themselves, withPaul at the throttle. Not one of the party had any doubt but that theycould catch their rivals before the latter should arrive at Para, wherethey were due at six o'clock that evening. It needed only that firststage of the journey from Panama to Georgetown to show them that theyhad either the speediest craft or the most skillful crew.

  Paul mounted to a height of about two thousand feet, then let theSky-Bird straighten out in the direction of their next stop. He openedup the throttle little by little, and the machine rapidly gainedmomentum. But somehow the young pilot was dissatisfied. Finally hehitched the stick over to the notch which should have brought the craftinto a speed of 150 miles, and watched the speedometer closely.

  "Humph!" he ejaculated, after fifteen or twenty minutes.

  "Say, Paul," cried Bob just then, "we're losing on the _Clarion_.She's clear out of sight now."

  "Why don't you tell me something I don't know?" growled Paul in a tonevery queer for him.

  "What's the matter with you, Buddy?" demanded John, stepping up. "Youseem to have an awful grouch on, some way!"

  "Got a good reason for it," snapped Paul. "This is enough to make apreacher almost swear."

  "Don't talk, but speed her up a bit if you don't want them to getaway," advised John.

  "She doesn't act right, somehow," said Paul. "The Sky-Bird ought to behitting it up to a hundred and fifty right now, but she's only making ahundred and fifteen. She acts groggy; don't you notice it?"

  "I thought myself she was riding a little rocky--sort of out ofbalance," admitted John.

  "Take the stick and try her yourself," said his brother.

  John did so. For fifteen minutes he said nothing, but worked thethrottle and watched the speedometer. Then he called Paul again to theseat.

  "You might as well take her, Buddy," declared John with a puzzled shakeof his head; "I can't do any be
tter with her than you. She wallowsalong like a man with a load of buckshot in his pockets--heavy--andseems out of equilibrium, too!"

  "What do you suppose is the matter, John?" asked Tom Meeks.

  "I'll bet Pete Deveaux and that Chuck Crossman have been tampering withher, back there in Georgetown," declared Bob.

  "I don't know; it certainly looks kind of suspicious," admitted JohnRoss. He thought a moment. "Cattails and jewsharps!" he exclaimedvery suddenly.

  "What now?" asked Bob.

  "I believe I've hit the trouble," stated John, with his brown face ashade paler. "You know we saw those fellows monkeying around ourwings. It would be an easy matter to trip one or more of those valvesand let some of the helium out! That would make us heavier, and ifmore gas were let out from one wing than from the other, we would beout of balance in the bargain."

  This declaration of John's brought a startled and troubled look to thefaces of his companions. All knew that if Pete Deveaux had engineeredsuch a dastardly trick as John hinted at, a handicap would be in storefor the Sky-Bird's crew all through the remainder of the race, for itwould be impossible to get a renewal of their helium-gas supply beforereaching their own country again, and then it would be too late.

  "What shall we do?" came from Bob.

  "Do? There's nothing to do now, but to keep on flying at the best gaitwe can until we reach Para," decided John. "When we get there we'llhave a chance to find out what is really wrong."

  This seemed the wisest course to pursue. So Paul, vexed though he wasat the contrary actions of the airplane, buckled down to the job ofguiding the machine and complained no more. But he made up his mindthat if investigations proved the rival crew had been tampering withthe Sky-Bird II he, for one, would do his part in giving them a warmtime should they meet on the ground again.

  At noon while John and Tom slept, Bob relieved Paul, and for an hourthey made a little better time by working both engines; but, afraid ofoverheating the one they termed their "night engine", they went back toone motor for the rest of the journey into Para, where they arrived anhour late. And it was to find bad news awaiting them.

  The landing-field official announced that the _Clarion's_ flyers hadleft not fifteen minutes before for Freetown, Africa. And uponinvestigating the helium valves in the wings of the Sky-Bird, our boysfound to their dismay that fully a third of the pressure was gone,indicating that an equal quantity of gas had escaped in some manner.

  It may be added that there was very little doubt in their minds as tothis manner.