CHAPTER XXV.--A RACE TO CLOUDLAND.
Scudding before the wind, for the half gale that was blowing had shiftedduring their battle with the waves, the aerial voyagers made fast timebeneath the storm wrack racing by overhead. In fact, it appeared to theboys that they actually outflew the wind. At any rate, it was not longbefore the thunder of the great breakers on a low, sandy beach told themthat they were close to the shore.
An instant later houses and streets came into view, and Dr. Perkinsbegan looking anxiously about beneath for a place to land. He soon spieda spot,--a large ball-ground, or at least it appeared to be one, not farfrom the center of the city. Calling to Frank to "stand by" the engines,he began to descend in a series of circles.
Coming to earth in a high wind is a risky bit of business for the airman, about as dangerous a maneuver, in fact, as can be imagined. But inthis case there was no choice for Dr. Perkins and his young friends,unless they wanted to be carried clear across the cape and into DelawareBay.
Below them they could now see excited crowds racing toward theball-ground, as soon as it became evident that that was the spot wherethe air men intended to alight. This did not please Dr. Perkins at all.A crowd was the last thing that he wished to have about when he made hisdrop earthward. But there was no help for it, and he kept on descending,trusting to the good sense of the throngs below to get out of the waywhen the time came.
But crowds have never been remarkable for their common sense, and thisone was no exception. The last "bank" had been made with safety, and the_Sea Eagle_ was making a clean-cut swoop to earth, when the crowd rushedin right below her. To have kept the craft on its course would havemeant much injury, and possible loss of life. On the other hand, Dr.Perkins knew that in the wind that was blowing it would be dangerous inthe extreme to the air craft to change her course.
"Get out of the way!" he shouted.
"Out of the way unless you want to get hurt!" yelled Frank and Harry.
But the crowd, like foolish sheep, only stared and gaped, and made notthe slightest effort to avoid the on-driving _Sea Eagle_.
There was only one thing to do, and Dr. Perkins did it. There was aquick twist of his steering wheel, and the _Sea Eagle_, instantlyobeying her helm, darted off in an opposite direction to the one inwhich she had been advancing. Like a flash Dr. Perkins pulled the risinglever, at the same time shouting to Frank to stop the enginesmomentarily. He thought that the _Sea Eagle_ would rise of her ownvolition, and knew that if the engines kept driving at top speed thathis craft would be plunged prow first into the earth.
So he chose the lesser of the two evils, and the maneuver might havebeen successful but for one thing. There was not room in which toexecute it.
The _Sea Eagle_ hesitated, half rose, and then crashed down to theground, landing heavily on one wing tip and smashing it to bits. Frankand Harry were pitched clean out of the hydroplane substructure when theimpact came, and a cry of alarm went up from the crowd. But Dr. Perkinsclung to his seat and brought the big craft to a stop.
Fortunately neither Frank nor Harry had been much injured, beyond beingbadly shaken up and bruised, and they were both on their feet again in ajiffy after the accident. The crowd, as if realizing that its actionshad had a good deal to do with the accident, forebore to press in, andthey made their way to Dr. Perkins' side without difficulty.
"Is she much injured?" was Frank's first question.
"By good luck I think we have escaped serious damage," rejoined Dr.Perkins, "but only an examination can tell."
At this moment a well-dressed, prosperous-looking man came elbowingthrough the crowd. He came straight up to Dr. Perkins with handextended.
"Well, Perkins!" he exclaimed. "I always told you you'd have a tumblesome time, and now you've had it; right in my back yard, too. But I'msincerely glad to see that neither you nor your machine appears to bemuch injured."
The newcomer was Mr. James Studley, an old acquaintance of theinventor's, who was summering at Cape May. The doctor was very glad tosee him and accepted his cordial invitation to spend the night at hishouse, the boys, of course, being included in the invitation.
In the meantime, a squadron of police had arrived, who drove back thecrowds, and arrangements were made to keep a guard on duty all nighttill an examination of the wrecked machine could be made.
"The accident, if it had to happen, could not have occurred moreconveniently, so to speak," Dr. Perkins confided to his companions asthey followed Mr. Studley to a handsome house not far away. "Mr. Studleyis a manufacturer of aeroplanes, and has started a factory here, so thatvery probably we can get material to repair our damages without muchtrouble."
This was good news indeed to the boys, who had begun to fear that thetrip might be abandoned.
They enjoyed a good dinner and a change into dry clothes as the guestsof Mr. Studley and his wife, and bright and early the next morningrepairs were made to the splintered wing tip, which was not so badlydamaged as had at first appeared. Mr. Studley, who had provided workmenand materials for the task from his aeroplane factory, refused to hearof any compensation.
"Such services should be rendered freely and gladly by one birdman toanother," he declared laughingly. "Who knows that some day I may notdrop in on you at your island, in more senses than one."
As every trace of the storm had vanished, and the morning was bright andclear, no obstacle opposed itself to the continuance of their journey assoon as the repairs had been completed. So fine was the weather, infact, that Mr. Studley declared his intention of accompanying them in alight "runabout" aeroplane of the monoplane class, for a short distance.
The machine, a pretty little affair of the Bleriot type, was soonwheeled out, and Mr. Studley declared all was ready for the start. As onthe evening before, a large crowd had gathered, but the police kept themback, and gave the two vastly different aeroplanes a clear field inwhich to rise. A greater contrast could not well be imagined than thatpresented by the heavy, rather cumbersome-looking _Sea Eagle_ with hersubstantial underbody and huge wing spread, and the trim, dainty littlemonoplane, which was named the _Green Firefly_.
"We're all ready when you are," exclaimed Dr. Perkins, turning to hisfriend, who was already seated in his long-bodied, gauzy-winged aircraft.
"All right! Clear the way!" cried Mr. Studley with a wave of his hands.
His mechanics gave the propeller of the monoplane a twirl, as it was notprovided with self-starting mechanism, and a moment later the roaringfusillade of the _Sea Eagle's_ motor was drowning the sharp, angry,hornet-like buzzing of the _Green Firefly_.
"Go!" yelled Mr. Studley, and simultaneously, as it seemed, the two skyships dashed forward over the smooth sward.
"Hooray!" shouted the crowd.
"They're off!" shouted others.
And then, a minute later:
"Look! They're going up!"
"So they are!" cried the spectators, as if there was any room for doubtabout the matter.
The light _Firefly_ was first, by the fraction of a second, to point hersharp nose up toward the tranquil blue dome of the sky. But the _SeaEagle_ was not tardy in following.
"Come on!" shouted Mr. Studley, casting a swift glance back over hisshoulder at his large comrade of the air. He appeared to think that hewould have little difficulty in distancing the huge machine.
"We haven't begun yet!" cried Dr. Perkins back to him, with an answeringwave of the hand.
Nor was the _Sea Eagle_ as yet making a quarter of the speed she wascapable of. On account of her great weight, and general size of her wingspread, it was not advisable to "open everything up" at once when shemade an ascent from the land.
The _Firefly_ darted ahead like some creature that rejoiced to besporting in its element. But close behind came a roar and whirr as Franklet out another notch on the _Sea Eagle_. Up and up they flew, while thecrowd below dwindled to pigmies, and the houses looked like so many toyNoah's Arks. It was plain enough that Mr. Studley was engaged in agood-natured effort to sh
ow his friend that the _Firefly_ was aninfinitely faster craft than her cumbersome rival. He darted this wayand that, making spirals and doing rocking-chair evolutions with theperfection of aerial grace.
Dr. Perkins attempted none of these stunts, but from time to time heturned back to Frank and nodded as a signal to give the craft a littlemore power.
By the time the twin propellers were developing their top push andspeed, the owner of the _Firefly_ realized that he had a tussle on hishands. He ceased his graceful evolutions and settled down to realflying. But he had not gone a mile over the aerial race track before the_Sea Eagle_ thundered past him like a "Limited" of the skies.
"Good-by and thank you!" Dr. Perkins found time to yell, as they flashedpast, bound due south once more.
"Good-by. Good luck to you!" came from Mr. Studley, as he waved his handin the realization that he was beaten.
There was no time to exchange more words. In a few minutes the boys,looking back, could only see a black speck like a shoe button againstthe sky to mark where the defeated _Firefly_ was turning about andheading for home.
As for the _Sea Eagle_, at sixty miles an hour, and with her motor goingfaster every minute, that staunch and speedy craft was winging her wayat top speed for her distant goal.
Boy Aviators' Flight for a Fortune Page 25