The Airplane Boys among the Clouds

by John Luther Langworthy

  CHAPTER XV

  THE AWAKENING

  "What is it, Frank?" shouted Larry, as he scrambled to his feet, andbegan clawing around in the dark for the one he called upon.

  "We've got him!" sang out Andy, gleefully. "Frank, it worked fine anddandy. My! what a noise he kicks up!"

  "Where's Elephant?" asked Frank, suspiciously.

  "Sleeping through it all. An earthquake wouldn't wake him up, once hegets to going," snorted Larry.

  "Keep quiet; I'm going to light a lamp!" Frank went on, as he reachedout to a spot where he knew he had left a box of matches handy for justsuch an emergency.

  "Ouch! somebody kicked me then!" Larry shouted. "Frank, there's more'none of 'em, and they're inside here, feeling around for us. Go slow,Frank! Have your gun ready when you light up. Pepper 'em good, now!Who's afraid?"

  "Wait! don't shoot, Frank! It's only me!" shrilled a voice as thespeaker managed to get his head out from the muffling folds of theblanket.

  Then came the scratch of the match in Frank's hand. He held it upfirst in order to see what was going on; and then with a burst oflaughter began to apply the flickering flame to the wick of the readylamp.

  And as the light filled the interior of the shed the boys saw a sightthat sent them off into spasms of uproarious merriment. Yes, it wasElephant all right, just as he had so wildly declared when he heard allthat threatening talk about guns and "peppering" and such dire things.

  He had evidently fallen out of the canoe as he tossed about during somedream that excited his mind. In tumbling to the floor his heels hadupset the entire outfit of tin kettles and pans that Andy had fetchedfrom the house. Such a clattering as they had made upon being dashedto the floor. And as if that were not enough Elephant had managed toturn a chair over with the lot, adding to the confusion liberally.

  Larry helped him up, for as he was swathed from head to foot in hisflaming red horse blanket the other was quite unable to manage alone.Poor Elephant rubbed his eyes and stared around him as if looking forthe blue dragons that had filled his dreams.

  "What d'ye mean by scaring us all half to death, Elephant?" demandedAndy, when he could in some measure command his voice.

  "My goodness gracious! you don't think I did that a-purpose, do you?"exclaimed the small boy, rubbing his elbows as though they tingledafter coming in such rough contact with the floor. "What d'ye take mefor? And Larry, didn't I tell you that rarebit would make me dream?You just made me eat it; and now see what happened! Oh! but I thoughtthe whole house had blown up, and I was heading for the stars. It wasa fierce experience. Talk about your rarebits, never more for me!"

  "Listen! somebody's coming, sure!" exclaimed Larry.

  "Oh! what if it's Jules, after all? Where's the gun, Frank? Get itready, won't you? There, he's pounding at the door. Where's my club?Somebody took my club!" and Elephant scrambled around, looking for thelost weapon which he had placed within reach before retiring.

  Bang! bang! bang!

  "Here, open up, and let me get at the rascals! Frank, Andy, have theymurdered you all? Why don't somebody answer? Why don't you open thisdoor before I smash it in with my crutch?" came a roar from without.

  "It's Colonel Josiah!" cried Andy. "Hold on, Colonel; we're all righthere. Nobody hurt! All a mistake! Frank, open the door, will you?Nothing doing, Colonel, you see!"

  The aged veteran stalked inside, using his crutch once more to assisthis locomotion. In his other hand he gripped a tremendous horsepistol, the very size of which must have sent a shiver through anynocturnal prowler.

  "It was Elephant who raised the rumpus, Colonel!" explained Andy. "Hehad a dream and fell out of his hammock, knocking over all the tin pansand a chair. We were all scared, thinking it might be Jules come totown."

  The grim old traveler turned upon Elephant, trying to hide the twinklein his eyes by pretending to assume a heavy frown.

  "I won't do it again, I assure you, sir!" faltered Elephant, trying tohide behind Frank. "It was an accident, indeed it was. And I bruisedboth my elbows just fierce. After this I'm going to tie that swingingcanoe down, so it won't kick me out again."

  "H'm! you'd better," was all the old man said as he turned away; butFrank was of the opinion he wished to hurry off, so that he couldchuckle over the ridiculous picture presented by the interior of thatshop, without being seen by the boys, and his dignity impaired.

  "Now, get busy, Elephant, and tidy up the mess you made," said Larry,as he once more crawled under his blankets.

  "And remember," said Andy, severely, despite the grin on his face, "wedon't stand for any more of this foolishness."

  "Let me help you tie the canoe, so that it can't swing," Frankobserved, taking pity on the victim of the mishap; for Elephant wasstill rubbing his elbows, and making faces as though they hurt him.

  So after a little, peace once more fell upon the camp. The swingingcanoe had been so firmly secured that it could not "kick" as Elephantdeclared it had done before. Then the light was put out again, anddarkness reigned.

  Frank again sat there, engrossed in thought. And naturally his mindwent out in the direction of the recent event. If a false alarm couldcause such confusion and excitement it was probable that in case therecame a genuine one things would take on a still more brilliant color.

  He could hear Elephant turning from side to side. Perhaps his armspained him; and thinking thus Frank was sorry he had not insisted onswabbing them with some witch hazel which they kept handy in the shop,in case of bruises while working. But he did not think it good policyto disturb the entire bunch again in order to relieve the slight painof Elephant who must sooner or later grow used to hard knocks, if heever expected to face the world.

  Finally the boy in the canoe became quiet. Sleep had evidentlymastered him, for ere long Frank caught his heavy breathing at suchtimes as the wind stopped sighing around the eaves of the shed.

  It must be growing near one when he expected to hand over his duty assentry to Larry. All he waited for was to catch the stroke of thehour. He had the lay of things well in his mind, and could even havemoved about the shop in utter darkness without tumbling over anything;for he and Andy had spent uncounted hours under that roof during thelast year.

  Ah! there was the anticipated stroke, sounding quite clearly.

  "Frank!" came in a low tone, almost a whisper.

  "Hello!" answered the sentry, "that Larry?"

  "On deck. Must have been my call the wasn't it? Thought I heard onestrike," as Larry began to raise up alongside Frank, shedding hisblankets as he did so.

  "Have you been awake all the while?" whispered Frank, surprised.

  "Guess pretty much," chuckled Larry. "That thing just broke me all up.I've been laughing to myself under the blanket ever since."

  "Oh! is that so?" Frank replied. "Well, do you know I wondered whatthose queer noises were. Thought possibly you had an ache from eatingtoo much."

  "How's everything on deck, Frank?"

  "Fine and dandy. Nothing to cause alarm yet," came the answer.

  "All right, then. You just crawl in, and get a snooze started. I'lltake care of the camp up to three, when Andy comes on duty. How d'yekeep awake, Frank?" asked the new guard.

  "Keep thinking of the late unpleasantness, as you have been doing. Itdid the trick before, and may again. Good night! I'm off."

  Frank found no little difficulty himself in getting asleep.Unaccustomed to his strange bed, and with all the recent excitementadded, it was not strange that even Frank had to take himself severelyto task before he could lose his senses in slumber.

  He too dreamed, for had he not also partaken of the same tasty cheeseand toast, of which poor Elephant complained as the main cause for histroubles? Several times Frank woke up and was puzzled to understandjust where he could be. Then things would come back to again; and witha chuckle he would turn over, to once more lose himself in sleep.

  The third time this happened he lay there listen
ing. It seemed to himthat he had heard a slight rustling noise; and moreover, it had comefrom the far end of the shed!

  Could it be Larry; and if so what business had the sentry to bewandering about that section of the forbidden ground? Another fancystruck Frank, to the effect that it might be either Andy or StutteringNat, walking in their sleep. If that proved to be the case, then theawakening was likely to surprise somebody, unless he was very muchmistaken.

  He put out his hand and felt Andy in his accustomed place. Thenrising quietly he crawled over far enough to come in contact with Nat'sarm, thrust out from his blanket. This left only Elephant, whom hefound slumbering soundly in his canoe, and the sentry, who was alsofast asleep!

  Frank felt a thrill pass over him at this. Then the sound could nothave been made by any one of his comrades. Who then was prowlingaround that danger zone? Even as he asked himself this importantquestion he heard a sudden sharp "click!" that could only be made bythe trigger of his dead-fall trap; then came a heavy, sodden, crunchingsound, that told better than words what had happened. Frank jumped tohis feet, shouting:

  "Wake up! wake up! we've caught something, fellows. Wake up everybody!"