CHAPTER XXIII.--OFF ONCE MORE.
AS our readers are fully acquainted with Frank's adventure it would onlytedious to relate all that took place at the breakfast. It may be said,however, that both Captain Carney and his mate received a substantialrecognition of their services, from Dr. Perkins, in the form of a check.At first the bluff fishermen were by no means willing to take pay forwhat they had done, but were finally prevailed upon to accept thepresent, which, as Captain Carney owned, "would come in mighty handy."
After the conclusion of the meal all hands adjourned to the wharf, and athorough examination was made once more of the _Sea Eagle_, with theobject of detecting any damage which the Daniels and Duval might havedone her, and which might have been overlooked in the lamplightinvestigation made by Dr. Perkins and Harry. A bright spot was found onone of the metal braces. Undeniably it had been done by the teeth of afile, but it was only a superficial damage, which did not affect thestrength of the _Sea Eagle_ in any way.
"I guess Frank scared them away before they had time to do any moreharm," was Dr. Perkins' conclusion; but later on he was to have adifferent opinion.
As things were at present, however, Dr. Perkins felt no hesitation indeclaring the _Sea Eagle_ fit to resume her voyage without furtherdelay. The fresh provisions being on board, and there being nothing toprevent an immediate start, the voyagers at once made ready for acontinuance of the trip which, so far, had proved so packed withadventure.
The gasolene tank was refilled, and the emergency receptacles for theliquid fuel seen to. Plumbo Boggs was paid and instructions left totelegraph Dr. Perkins in New Orleans in case any trace was found of themiscreants, who undoubtedly had intended to injure the _Sea Eagle_, andwho had played such a dastardly trick on Frank.
"You'll fly from the sea far up to the sky; good-by! good-by! good-by!good-by!" cried Plumbo Boggs as the ropes that held the _Sea Eagle_ tothe wharf were cast off and, amidst a loud cheer from the crowd, theengine was started.
It was a fine summer morning with a glassy sea and a sky that wascloudless, except in the east, where a great mass of castellated whiteclouds were piled up.
"You'd best hug the shore," were Captain Carney's parting words ofadvice. "To my mind we'll have a storm of some sort before the day'sout."
But in the noise and excitement of the departure his words were unheardand the _Sea Eagle_ started off down the coast with the warningunheeded. Dr. Perkins ran the craft over the water till the mouth of theharbor was reached, easily outdistancing some fast launches that triedto keep up with them. When they got "outside," the _Sea Eagle_ wasdriven ahead at top speed, and with her rising planes set at a sharpangle she was driven upward till a height of some five hundred and fiftyfeet had been obtained. Her course was due south.
They were flying over a small island not far from the shore when Frank,who was looking over the side, noticed a dory ashore on the beach. Hehad hardly noticed this before three figures came running down to thebeach and pointed upward. One of them jerked a rifle up to his shoulder,and a minute later a puff of smoke came from the barrel. Simultaneouslya bullet sang through the rigging of the _Sea Eagle_, boring a smallhole in one of the upper planes, but, fortunately, not striking anyvital part of the craft or doing injury to her passengers.
"That's those rascals now!" exclaimed Frank indignantly. "They must haverowed down to that island and are waiting there for a chance to getashore quietly. Shall we go down and attack them?"
Dr. Perkins shook his head.
"Nothing much would be gained by it," he said, "and it would only delayour trip."
The _Sea Eagle_ was flying fast, and the rascals on the island, who, asFrank had rightly guessed, were the two Daniels and Duval, had no chanceto try a second shot. At noon, after a steady flight all the morning,the voyagers found themselves off Martha's Vineyard. A hasty lunch waseaten in midair, with the _Sea Eagle_ still winging her way like agrayhound of the sky.
The shore swam by below them like a panorama, but they only viewed itindistinctly, as the course was kept about five miles off shore. In theafternoon they saw, off to the right, a stretch of mammoth hotels andamusement resorts.
"Atlantic City!" cried Frank. "I'll bet there are hundreds of glassesleveled at us from the boardwalk right now."
"I guess so," rejoined Harry. "We must look funny way out here at sea."
It was half an hour later that Frank's attention was attracted to thesky by the sudden blotting out of the sun, which had been shiningbrightly. He gave a cry of alarm as he looked upward. A vast bank ofblack clouds had come rolling up, like a sable curtain, blotting out theblue sky. The sea below was leaden and angry in hue, and its surface wasflecked with white caps.
"We're in for some bad weather, I'm afraid," declared Dr. Perkins, whenFrank called his attention to it.
Hardly had he spoken before, from the cloud bank, a red, jagged flash oflightning blazed. It was followed almost instantly by a sharp clap ofthunder, and some heavy rain drops began to patter on the broad upperplanes of the _Sea Eagle_.
"I'll make for shore," declared Dr. Perkins; "we must be about off CapeMay now. We can lie there in shelter till this blows itself out."
"That will be the best idea," said Frank. "This is going to be a hummer.Wow! Look at that!"
A flash of lightning, that seemed as if the whole curtain of clouds hadbeen split from top to bottom, had caused his exclamation. So brilliantwas the glare that it caused them all to blink involuntarily.
"Put on full speed, Frank!" shouted Dr. Perkins above the deafening pealof thunder that followed.
Frank needed no second bidding. He opened both gasolene and spark leversto their full capacity. Dr. Perkins had already headed the _Sea Eagle_for the distant low-lying shore. This caused the craft to plunge almostas much as if she were "bucking" into a heavy sea. For the wind was offshore, and the thunder storm, as such storms frequently do, was comingup against it.
Suddenly, in the midst of the fight with the wind, Frank noticed anominous sound from the motor. It gave a sort of spluttering, coughingexhaust and slowed down perceptibly.
"What's wrong now?" he exclaimed anxiously. "Gracious, if the motorshould go out of business now!"
He did not say this aloud, but bent over the laboring machine to try andascertain what was the matter with it.
"More speed!" cried Dr. Perkins from the forward part of the air ship;"we can't fight this wind at this pace."
"There's something the matter with the motor," shouted Frank above thenow almost continuous rolling of the thunder. "I can't make out what----"
A sudden loud report, like a pistol shot, came from the engine--aback-fire, as it is called--and the next instant the motor stopped dead.
The _Sea Eagle_ was at that moment some 750 feet above the angry sea,with the storm raging about her furiously. Before Dr. Perkins couldrealize what had happened, the big craft began to drop downward withsickening velocity, while her occupants clung on to whatever was handy,with the desperate clutch of drowning men.
Frank had just time to shout:
"The life preservers! Quick, quick! for heaven's sake!"
But there was no time to obey the order before the _Sea Eagle_ struckthe waves, hurling spray and wind-driven foam in a great cloud all abouther wings and substructure.
Boy Aviators' Flight for a Fortune Page 23