“I know about ’em—I ran one for two summers,” answered Jim Pally. “I’ll leave ’em behind if it’s in the boat to do it.”
“Oh, please let me go!” cried Mrs. Stanhope, almost tearfully. “Mr. Crabtree, I do not want to go with you another step! Please let me go!”
“Keep quiet, Mrs. Stanhope, don’t excite yourself,” he answered, trying to soothe her. But he was so nervous his voice trembled as he spoke. He had not dreamed that the pursuit would become so swift and sure.
Closer and closer drew the steam tug, until those on board could plainly see all that was taking place on the motor boat.
“I command you to stop!” yelled Captain Wells. “Stop, or we’ll run you down.”
“No, no, don’t you do that!” screamed Josiah Crabtree, in fright.
“Save me! Oh, save me!” screamed Mrs. Stanhope, and then, of a sudden, she sprang to her feet, leaped to the stern deck of the motor boat, and cast herself headlong into the waters of the bay.
The movement was so unexpected by the others on the Magnet that not a hand was raised to detain her. She went down, directly in the path of the oncoming tug.
“Stop! Back her!” screamed Dick, in horror, and Tom and Sam also yelled out a warning. There was a quick jangling of a bell, and the engine was stopped. Then the power was reversed, and the steam tug was steered to one side.
“There she is!” cried Tom, pointing with his hand, and the next instant came a splash, as Dick made a dive overboard. He, too, had seen Mrs. Stanhope floating near, and soon he had her in his arms and was supporting her.
The engine of the tug was now stopped, and a rope was thrown to the eldest Rover boy, and he and Mrs. Stanhope were hauled on board. As the lady was brought on deck, she fainted away, but in a few minutes she recovered.
“Thank heaven, she is safe!” murmured Dick.
“I’m thankful we didn’t run her down!” added Captain Wells. “It was a close shave! We had to reverse like lightning.”
“It was well done, sir,” answered Sam.
“Couldn’t have been better,” came from Tom.
“But, say, aren’t we going after those rascals? Remember, even though we have rescued Mrs. Stanhope, they still have the fortune!”
“Sure, we are going after ’em!” cried Dick. “Go ahead!”
The order to proceed was given, but, much to the captain’s chagrin, the tug refused to get up any speed. Then came a report from the engineer that the sudden reversing of the engine had broken some of the machinery. They could run, but it would have to be slowly.
“Then they’ll get away after all!” groaned Sam. “And with that fortune, too!”
“Fortune?” came from Mrs. Stanhope, who was standing near the boiler, trying to dry her wet garments. “What about the fortune, boys?”
“Haven’t they got that fortune with them?” questioned Tom, quickly.
“Oh, no, they buried it, in the cave on the island,” was the answer. “They didn’t know I saw them, but I did. Tad Sobber and Mr. Crabtree said they would come back, after—after—” And here she blushed deeply.
“After old Crabtree had forced you to marry him, I suppose,” whispered Dick.
“Yes, Dick. But, oh! I didn’t want to do it! He tried to hypnotize me, just as he tried to do years ago—but I fought him off as best I could!” answered Mrs. Stanhope, earnestly.
“He ought to be in prison again!” muttered Dick.
“If the fortune is on the island, let us go and get it,” cried Sam. “We can’t catch that motor boat anyway!” For the craft was now all but out of sight.
The steam tug was headed for Chesoque Island, and slowly made her way to the old dock. There the engineer and his assistant set to work to make the necessary repairs, while the three Rover boys and Mrs. Stanhope visited the cave. Once in the underground opening, the lady pointed out the spot where the valise containing the fortune had been secreted between the rocks.
“Here it is!” cried Tom, and dragged the valise to light.
“Open it and see if the fortune is safe!” came from Sam, in a voice he tried in vain to steady.
The key to the valise was missing, so the lock to the bag had to be broken open. Inside were the gold and precious stones.
“All here—or at least the greater portion of it,” was Dick’s comment, and he was right. Only about five hundred dollars in gold was missing, and two small diamonds—hardly worth mentioning beside the total value of the treasure.
“Hurrah!” shouted Tom. “We’ve beaten them after all! We’ve got the treasure!”
“And Mrs. Stanhope,” added Dick. “We must send word to Dora and the others just as soon as we can!”
“It’s a pity we didn’t catch those rascals,” murmured Sam.
“Oh, we’ll get them some time!” said Dick. How they fell in with their enemies again will be related in another volume of this series, to be entitled, “The Rover Boys in the Air; or, From College Campus to the Clouds,” a tale telling the particulars of several happenings far out of the ordinary.
While the steam tug was laid up for repairs, several of the party took a walk and looked for Koswell, Larkspur and Darkingham. But they looked in vain, for those rascals were thoroughly frightened, and kept themselves well hidden in the woods.
That evening found the Rover boys and Mrs. Stanhope in Portland, where they put up at one of the leading hotels. Messages were sent to Dora, the Lanings, and the Rovers at home, telling of the rescue of Mrs. Stanhope, and of the recovery of the fortune. Then Mrs. Stanhope told how she had been lured from her home and abducted, and then placed in the care of Mrs. Sobber, and how she had managed to mail the postal card.
“They treated me kindly enough,” she said. “But they would not let me have my liberty, and I think they told outsiders that I was insane.”
“That is just what they did,” answered Dick.
A general alarm was sent out for Sobber, Crabtree and the others. But they kept in the dark and were not captured.
“Oh, how glad I shall be to get back home!” murmured Mrs. Stanhope, when the return was begun. “It seems an age since I went away!”
“Dora will be glad to see you,” answered Dick.
“I owe you and your brothers a great deal, Dick!” she went on earnestly. “You are all noble young men!” And this earnest praise made all of the Rover boys blush.
The return to Cedarville was a great event. Dora clasped her mother in her arms and laughed and wept by turns, and then threw herself into Dick’s embrace.
“Oh, Dick! It was splendid!” she cried. “Oh, I shall never forget it, never!” And then she kissed him right in front of everybody.
The Lanings were equally pleased, and Nellie and Grace were proud of the parts Tom and Sam had played in the affair.
“You are a regular hero!” said Nellie to Tom, and gave him a glance that thrilled him through and through.
“And we shall always remember what you did!” added Grace, to Sam.
“You did better than the authorities,” was Mr. Anderson Rover’s comment.
“The authorities did nothing,” added Mr. Laning. “If it hadn’t been for your boys—” And then he bobbed his head enthusiastically. “Great lads! fine lads!” he added.
“Whoop!” cried Tom, in sudden high spirits, and catching Sam by the arms and whirling him around. “Say, I suppose now we can go back and finish that vacation, eh?”
“Sure thing, Tom!” cried Sam.
And then both set up a merry whistle; and here let us take our leave and say good-bye.
THE ROVER BOYS IN THE AIR
CHAPTER I
THE BOYS AND THE BIPLANE
“Fo’ de land sakes, Massa Dick, wot am dat contraption yo’ boys dun put togedder back ob de bahn yesterday?”
“Why, Aleck, don’t you know what
that is?” returned Dick Rover, with a smile at the colored man. “That’s a biplane.”
“A biplane, eh?” repeated Alexander Pop, the colored helper around the Rover homestead. He scratched his woolly head thoughtfully. “Yo’ don’t mean to say it am lak a plane a carpenter man uses, does yo’, Massa Dick? ’Pears lak to me it was moah lak some ship sails layin’ down,—somethin’ lak dem ships we see over in Africy, when we went into dem jungles to find yo’ fadder.”
“No, it has nothing to do with a carpenter’s plane, Aleck,” answered Dick, with a laugh. “A biplane is a certain kind of a flying machine.”
“Wat’s dat? A flyin’ machine? Shorely, Massa Dick, yo’ ain’t gwine to try to fly?” exclaimed Aleck, in horror.
“That is just what I am going to do, Aleck, after I have had a few lessons. I hope to fly right over the house, just like a bird.”
“No! no! Don’t you try dat, Massa Dick! You’ll break yo’ neck suah! Don’t yo’ try it! I—I can’t allow it nohow—an’ yo’ aunt won’t allow it neither!” And the colored man shook his head most emphatically.
“Now, don’t get excited, Aleck,” said Dick, calmly. “I won’t go up until I am sure of what I am doing. Why, don’t you know that flying in the air is getting to be a common thing these days? Tom and Sam and I bought that biplane in New York last week, and a man who knows all about flying is coming out to the farm to teach us how to run it. After we know how to sail through the air we’ll take you up with us.”
“Me!” ejaculated the colored man, and rolled his eyes wildly. “Not in a thousand years, Massa Dick, an’ not fo’ all dat treasure yo’ dun brung home from Treasure Isle! No, sah, de ground am good enough fo’ Aleck Pop!” And he backed away, as if afraid Dick Rover might carry him off then and there.
“Hello, Aleck!” cried a merry voice at this moment, and Tom Rover came into view. “Want to take a sail through the clouds for a change?”
“Massa Tom, am yo’ really thinking ob goin’ up in dat contraption?” demanded the colored man, earnestly.
“Sure thing, Aleck. And you’ll want to go, too, before long. Think of flying along like a bird!” And Tom Rover spread out his arms and moved them slowly up and down. “Oh, it’s grand!”
“Yo’ won’t be no bird when yo’ come down ker-flop!” murmured Aleck, soberly. “Yo’ will be all busted up, dat’s wot yo’ll be!”
“We won’t fall, don’t you worry,” continued Tom. “This biplane is a first-class machine, warranted in all kinds of weather.”
“If it am a flyin’ machine wot fo’ you call it a biplane?” asked the colored man curiously.
“Bi stands for two,” explained Dick. “A bicycle means two cycles, or two wheels. A biplane means two planes, or two surfaces of canvas. This biplane of ours, as you can see, has two surfaces, or decks, an upper and a lower. A monoplane has only one plane, and a triplane has three. Now you understand, don’t you, Aleck?”
“I dun reckon I do, Massa Dick. But look yeah, boys, yo’ take my advice an’ don’t yo’ try to sail frough de air in dat bicycleplane, or wot yo’ call it. ’Tain’t safe nohow! Yo’ stick to de hosses, an’ dat autermobile, an’ de boat on de ribber. A boy wasn’t meant to be a bird nohow!”
“How about being an angel, Aleck?” asked Tom, slyly.
“Huh! An angel, eh? Well, if yo’ go up in dat bicycleplane maybe yo’ will be an angel after yo’ fall out, even if yo’ ain’t one when yo’ starts.” And with this remark Aleck Pop hurried away to his work in the house.
“That’s one on you, Tom,” cried Dick, with a broad smile. “Poor Aleck! he evidently has no use for flying machines.”
“Well, Dick, now the machine is together, it does look rather scary,” answered Tom Rover, slowly. “I want to see that aviator try it out pretty well before I risk my neck going up.”
“Oh, so do I. And we’ll have to have a good many lessons in running the engine, and in steering, and all that. I begin to think running a flying machine is a good deal harder than running an auto, or a motor boat.”
“Yes, I guess it is. Come on down and let us see how the engine works. We can do that easily enough, for it’s a good deal like the engine of an auto, or a motor boat,” went on Tom.
“Where is Sam?”
“He took the auto and went down to the Corners on an errand for Aunt Martha. He said he’d be back as soon as possible. He’s as crazy to get at the biplane as either of us.”
The two boys walked to where the biplane had been put together, in a large open wagon shed attached to the rear of the big barn. The biplane has a stretch from side to side of over thirty feet, and the shed had been cleaned out from end to end to make room for it. There was a rudder in front and another behind, and in the centre was a broad cane seat, with a steering wheel, and several levers for controlling the craft. Back of the seat was the engine, lightly built but powerful, and above was a good-sized tank of gasoline. The framework of the biplane was of bamboo, held together by stays of piano wire, and the planes themselves were of canvas, especially prepared so as to be almost if not quite air proof. All told, the machine was a fine one, thoroughly up-to-date, and had cost considerable money.
“We’ll have to get a name for this machine,” remarked Tom. “Have you any in mind?”
“Well, I—er—thought we might call her the—er—” And then his big brother stopped short and grew slightly red in the face.
“I’ll bet an apple you were going to say Dora,” cried Tom quickly.
“Humph,” murmured Dick. “Maybe you were going to suggest Nellie.”
“No, I wasn’t,” returned Tom, and now he got a little red also. “If I did that, Sam might come along and want to name it the Grace. We had better give the girls’ names a rest. Let’s call her the Dartaway, that is, if she really does dart away when she flies.”
“All right, Tom; that’s a first-class name,” responded Dick. “And Dartaway she shall become, if Sam is willing. Now then, we’ll fill that gasoline tank and let the engine warm up a bit. Probably it will need some adjusting.”
“Can we use the same gasoline as we use in the auto?”
“Yes, on ordinary occasions. In a race you can use a higher grade, so that aviator said. But then you’ll have to readjust the magneto and carburetor.”
“Gracious, Dick! You’re not thinking of an air race already, are you!”
“Oh, no! But we might get in a race some day,—and such things are good to know,” answered Dick, as he walked off to the garage, where there was a barrel of gasoline sunk in the ground, with a pipe connection. He got out a five-gallon can and filled it, and then poured the gasoline in the tank of the biplane.
“She’ll hold more than that,” said Tom, watching him. “Here, give me the can and I’ll fill the tank while we are at it. We’ll want plenty of gas when that aviator gets here.”
In a few minutes more the gasoline tank was full, and then the two lads busied themselves putting the engine in running order, and in filling up the lubricating oil box. They also oiled up the working parts, and oiled the propeller bearings and the steering gear.
“Now, I guess she is all ready to run,” remarked Dick, at length. “My, but isn’t she a beauty, Tom! Just think of sailing around in her!”
“I’d like to go up right now!” answered the brother. “If only I knew more about airships, hang me if I wouldn’t try it!”
“Don’t you dream of it, yet!” answered Dick. “We’ve got to learn the art of it, just like a baby has got to learn to walk. If you went up now you’d come down with a smash sure.”
“Maybe I would,” mused Tom. “Well, let us try the engine anyhow. And maybe we can try the propellers,” he added, with a longing glance at the smooth, wooden blades.
“One thing at a time,” answered Dick, with a laugh. “We’ll try the engine, but we’ll have to tie the biplane fast, or else i
t may run into something and get smashed.”
“Let us run her out into the field first. It’s too gloomy in the shed. I’ll hammer in some stakes and tie her.”
The biplane rested on three small rubber-tired wheels, placed in the form of a triangle. Thus it was an easy matter to roll the big machine from the shed to the level field beyond. Then Tom ran back and procured some stakes, several ropes, and a hammer, and soon he had the biplane staked fast to the ground, after the manner of a small circus tent.
“Now she can’t break loose, even if you do start the engine and the propellers,” said he, as he surveyed his work. “Go ahead, Dick, and turn on the juice!” he cried impatiently.
Dick Rover was just as anxious to see the engine work, and after another critical inspection he turned on the battery and then walked to one of the propellers.
“We’ll have to start the engine by turning these,” he said.
“All right!” cried Tom, catching hold of the other wooden blades. “Now then, all ready? Heave ahoy, my hearty!” he added, in sailor fashion.
Four times were the wooden blades “turned over” and still the engine refused to respond. It was hard work, and both of the lads perspired freely, for it was a hot day in early September.
“Got that spark connected all right?” panted Tom, as he stopped to catch his breath.
“Yes,” was the reply, after Dick had made an inspection. “The engine is cold, that’s all.”
“Humph, well I’m not! But come on, let us give her another twist.”
The brothers took hold again, and, at a word from Dick, each gave the wooden paddles of the propellers a vigorous turn. There came a sudden hiss, followed by a crack and a bang, and then off the engine started with the loudness of a gattling gun.
“Hurrah! she’s started!” yelled Tom, triumphantly. “Say, but she makes some noise, doesn’t she?” he added.
“I should say yes. That’s because airship engines don’t have mufflers, like autos,” yelled back Dick, to make himself heard above the explosions.
“And see those propellers go around!” went on Tom, in deep admiration. “All you can see is a whirr! We sure have a dandy engine in this craft, Dick!”
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 236