CHAPTER XI.
A BATTLE IN THE AIR.
To raise an alarm throughout the ship was the work of a few minutesand the watchman, whose carelessness had allowed the professor to slipaway unnoticed, aroused the indignation of Captain Hazzard, who blamedhim bitterly for his oversight. Several shots followed the one theboys had heard and more cries, but they grew rapidly fainter and atthe same time the sound of horses galloping away in the distance washeard.
"They have carried him off," cried Captain Hazzard.
"Can we not chase them and rescue him?" asked Billy, "we've got plentyof men and arms."
"That would be of little use to us," was the reply, "the Patagoniansare mounted and by this time they have got such a start on us that wecould never hope to catch up to them on foot."
"Not on foot," put in Frank quietly, "but there is another way."
"What do you mean, boy?"
"That we can assemble the Golden Eagle in a couple of hours if youwill give us the men to help."
Captain Hazzard thought a minute.
"It seems to be the only chance," he said at last, "but I don't knowthat I ought to let you assume such responsibility."
"We will be in no greater danger than the professor is; much less, infact," urged Frank. "Please let us go. If we can save his life it isworth running the risk."
"Perhaps you are right, my boy," said Captain Hazzard at length, "atany rate, promise me to run no unnecessary danger."
The promise was readily given and with a cheer the men set to work tohoist the cases containing the sections of the aeroplane over the sideand row them ashore. The work was carried on under the glare of thesearchlights of the two ships. In two hours' time the Golden Eagle wasready for an engine test which showed her machinery to be in perfectlygood trim.
"She is fit for the flight of her life," declared Frank, as he stoppedthe engine.
"Is everything ready?" asked Captain Hazzard.
"Yes," was the reply, "except for two canteens of water, somecondensed soup tablets and two tins of biscuit."
"You have your weapons?"
"I have sent to the ship for two 'Express' rifles, each carrying aheavy charge and explosive bullets. In addition we have our revolversand some dynamite bombs--the ones that were designed to be used inblasting polar ice," said Frank.
"One moment," said Captain Hazzard. He turned and hailed the ship:"Bring over six of the naval rockets from the armory!" he ordered.
"If you should need help," he said, in explanation of his order, "sendup a rocket. They are made so that they are visible by day as well asnight. In the daylight their explosion produces a dense cloud of blacksmoke visible at several miles. They also make a terrific report thatis audible for a long distance."
The same boat that brought the boys' weapons carried the rockets andtheir provisions and at about four a. m. they were ready for theirdash through the air. At the last minute it was decided to take BillyBarnes along as he knew something about handling an aeroplane and in apinch could make himself useful.
"Good-bye and good luck," said Captain Hazzard fervently as the enginewas once more started, with a roar like the discharge of a battery ofgatling guns. From the exhausts blue flames shot out and the air wasfilled with the pungent odor of exploding gasolene.
With a wave of the hand and amid a cheer that seemed to rend the skythe Golden Eagle shot forward as Frank set the starting lever andrushed along over the level plane like a thing of life. After a shortrun she rose skyward in a long level sweep, just as the daylight beganto show in a faint glow in the east.
It rapidly grew lighter as the boys rose and as they attained a heightof 1,500 feet and flew forward at sixty miles an hour above the vastlevel tract of gravelly desert, by looking backward they could see theforms of the two ships, like tiny toys, far behind and below them. Onand on they flew, without seeing a trace of the professor or the bandthat had undoubtedly made him prisoner.
"We must have overshot the mark," said Frank, as he set a lever so asto swing the aeroplane round. "We shall have to fly in circles till wecan locate the spot where the Patagonians have taken him."
They flew in this manner for some time, sometimes above rugged brokenland with great sun-baked clefts in it, and sometimes above levelplains overgrown with the same dull colored brush they had noticedfringing the coast.
Suddenly Billy called attention to a strange thing. All about themwere circling the forms of huge birds. Some of them measured fully tenfeet from wing tip to wing tip. They had bald, evil-looking heads andhuge, hooked beaks.
"They are South American condors, the largest birds in existence,"cried Harry, as the monstrous fowls, of which fully a hundred were nowcircling about the invaders of their realm, seemed to grow bolder andclosed in about the aeroplane.
"They mean to attack us," cried Frank, suddenly.
"They Mean to Attack Us."]
As he spoke one immense condor drove full at him, its evil headoutstretched as if it meant to tear him with its hooked beak. The boystruck at it with one arm while he controlled the aeroplane with theother and the monstrous bird seemed nonplussed for a moment. With ascream of rage it rejoined its mates and they continued to circleabout the aeroplane, every minute growing, it seemed, more numerousand bold.
"We shall have to fire at them," cried Frank at last. "If they keep onincreasing in numbers they may attack us all at once and wreck ourairship."
Hastily Harry and Billy unslung their heavy "Express" rifles and beganfiring. Ordinarily it is no easy task to hit a bird on the wing with arifle, but so large a target did the huge bodies present that fourfell at the first volley. As they dropped some of their cannibalcompanions fell on them and tore them to ribbons in midair. It was ahorrible sight, but the boys had little time to observe it. Theirattention was now fully occupied with beating off the infuriated matesof the dead birds, who beat the air about the aeroplane with theirhuge wings until the air-storm created threatened to overbalance it.
Again and again the boys fired, but failed to hit any more of thebirds, although feathers flew from some of the great bodies as thebullets whizzed past them.
All at once the condors seemed to come to a decision unanimously.Uttering their harsh, screaming cries they rushed at the aeroplane,tearing and snapping with beak and claws. The machine yawed undertheir attack till it seemed it must turn over. Still, so far, Frankmanaged to keep it on an even keel.
"Bang! bang!" cracked the rifles again and again, but the loud angrycries of the birds almost drowned the sharp sound of the artillery.
It was a battle in the clouds between a man-made bird and nature'sfliers.
Suddenly Frank gave a shout.
"The dynamite bombs!"
Swiftly and cautiously Harry got one of the deadly explosives ready.They were provided with a cap that set them off when they encounteredany solid substance, as, for instance, when they struck the earth, buta small, mechanical contrivance enabled them to be adjusted also sothat they could be exploded in midair.
"Isn't there danger of upsetting the aeroplane?" gasped Billy, as hesaw the preparations.
"We'll have to chance that," was Harry's brisk response, "the birdsare too much for us."
As he spoke he leaned out from the chassis and hurled the bomb high inthe air. As he cast it out there was a slight click as the automaticexploder set itself.
"Hold tight," shouted Frank, setting the sinking planes.
The aeroplane rushed downward like a stone. Suddenly a terrific roarfilled the air and the boys felt as if their ear drums would befractured. The aeroplane swayed dizzily and Frank worked desperatelyat his levers and adjusters.
For one terrible moment it seemed that the Golden Eagle was doomed todestruction, but the brave craft righted herself and soared on.
The bomb had done its work.
Of the huge flock of condors that had attacked the Golden Eagle only abare dozen or so remained. The rest had been killed or wounded by thebomb. The survivors were far too terrifi
ed to think of pursuing theboys and their craft further.
"Thank goodness we have escaped that peril," exclaimed Harry, as theysailed onward through the air; "who would ever have thought that suchbirds would have attacked an aeroplane."
"They frequently, so naturalists say, carry off babies and smallanimals to their rocky nests," was Frank's response, "and birds asbold as that I suppose resented the appearance of what seemed anotherand larger bird in their realm."
For an hour more the aeroplane soared and wheeled above the baking hotplains intersected by their deep gullies, but without result. The boyswith sinking hearts were beginning to conclude that the professor hadbeen carried off and hidden beyond hope of recovery, when Harry, whohad been peering ahead through the glasses, indicated a distant spotbehind a ridge with much excitement.
"I can see a horse tethered there," he cried.
The aeroplane was at once shot off in that direction and soon alldoubt that they were in the vicinity of a band of Patagoniansvanished. As the air craft rushed forward several tethered horsesbecame visible and a column of smoke was seen rising from a deep gullybehind the ridge. No doubt the Patagonians thought themselves wellhid.
So secure did they feel, seemingly, that not even a sentry wasvisible.
"Do you think they are the same band that kidnapped the professor?"asked Billy.
"There's not much doubt of it," said Frank.
"At any rate we shall soon see," concluded Harry, as the aeroplaneshot directly above the encampment of the giant Patagonians. Gazingdownward the boys could see one of the savages, a huge figure morethan six feet tall, in a feather mantle and armed with a formidablelooking spear, pacing up and down, as if he were a chief of some kind.This belief was confirmed when one of the other tribesmen approachedthe man in the long cloak and addressed something to him with a lowobeisance. Frank had by this time put the muffler in operation andthrottled down the engine so that the aeroplane swung in lazy circlesabove the Patagonians, entirely unnoticed by them.
While they gazed the boys saw a figure led from a rude tent by severalof the Patagonians, of whom there seemed to be two or three hundred inthe camp. Instantly a loud yelling went up and several of the nativesbegan a sort of dance, shaking their spears menacingly and wrappingtheir feather cloaks tightly about their tall figures.
"It's the professor!" shouted Frank, indicating the captive who hadbeen taken from the tent.
"They are going to burn him alive!" shouted Harry in a voice of horrorthe next moment, pointing to the fire.
Indeed, it seemed so. The Patagonians began piling fresh bundles ofwood on their fire, the smoke of which the boys had seen from far off.Their savage yells and cries filled the air.
Boy Aviators' Polar Dash; or, Facing Death in the Antarctic Page 11