CHAPTER VII.
A PAIR OF PLANS
“That other machine,” Jimmie observed glancing hastily in the direction pointed out by Sam, “looks to me like the Bertha.”
“Can you identify an aeroplane at that distance in the night-time?” asked Sam. “I’m sure I couldn’t do anything of the kind!”
“I don’t know as I can express it,” Jimmie replied, “but to me every flying machine has a method and manner of its own. There is something in the way an aeroplane carries itself in the sky which reminds me somewhat of the manner of a man in walking. In the case of the man, you know who it is long before you can see his face, and in the case of the flying machine, you know her long before the details of construction are in view. I’m sure that is the Bertha!”
“It is the Bertha, all right!” Carl cut in. “And she isn’t being handled by one of our boys, either!”
“It isn’t possible, is it, that that fellow Doran found the nerve to chase us up?” asked Jimmie. “If he did, he’s a poor aviator, all right!”
“It’s a wonder to me he doesn’t tip the machine over,” Sam suggested.
“He may tip it over yet!” exclaimed Carl. “Just see, how it sways and sags every time it comes to one of the little currents of air sweeping out of the gorges. I anticipate a quick tumble there!”
“That’s a nice thing,” exclaimed Jimmie, “for some one to steal the machine and break it up! If the Bertha goes to pieces now, we’ll have to delay our trip until another aeroplane can be bought, and the chances are that we can never buy one as reliable as the Bertha.”
“She isn’t smashed yet!” grinned the tramp. “She’s headed straight for the camp now, and may get here safely. The aviator seems to understand how to control the levers, but he doesn’t know how to meet air currents. If he had known the country well enough, he might have followed an almost direct river level to this point.”
“We didn’t know enough to do that!” Carl exclaimed. “We came over mountains, gorges, and all kinds of dangerous precipices.”
“That was unnecessary,” laughed the tramp, still keeping his eyes fixed on the slowly-approaching flying machine. “The south branch of the Esmeraldas river rises in the volcano country somewhere south of Quito. The east branch of the same river rises something like a hundred miles east and north of Quito. These two branches meet down there in front of the camp. You can almost see the junction from here.”
“Could a boat sail down either branch of the river?” asked Carl.
“I don’t know about that,” was the reply, “but there must be a continuous valley from Quito to the junction. If yonder aviator had followed that, or if you had followed it, there would have been no trouble with gorge winds or gusty drafts circling around mountain tops.”
“Is there a road through the valley?” asked Jimmie. “A wagon road, I mean. It seems that there ought to be.”
“There are a succession of rough trails used by teamsters,” was the reply. “I came down that way myself. The trails climb over ridges and dip down into canyons, but it seems to me that the roadbed is remarkably smooth. In fact, there seems to be a notion in the minds of the natives that a very important commercial highway followed the line of the river a good many centuries ago. I don’t know whether this is correct or not, but I do know that the highway is virtually unknown to most of the people living at Quito. I blundered on it by mistake.”
“We’ll go back that way,” Carl suggested, “and, as we can fly low down, there will be no risk in taking you along with us.”
The flying machine which had been discovered approaching the camp a few minutes before was now near enough so that two figures could be distinguished on the seats. The machine was still reeling uncertainly, the aviator undoubtedly seeking a place to land.
“You see,” Carl explained, “the fellow is a stranger so far as this camp is concerned. If he had ever been here before, he would now know exactly what to do. Either Ben or Glenn could lay the machine within six inches of the Louise without half trying.”
“Then you are certain that it is not one of your friends in control of the aeroplane?” asked Sam.
“I am sure of that!” replied Jimmie. “Neither one of the boys would handle a machine the way that one is being handled.”
“When she gets a little nearer we can tell whether that man Doran is on board or not,” suggested Carl rather anxiously.
“If you are certain that the machine has been stolen from the field where she was left,” Sam went on, “you ought to decide without delay what course to take when she lands. The man having her in charge may have followed you here with hostile intentions.”
“That’s very true!” Carl agreed.
“We have two automatics apiece,” Jimmie grinned, “and we know how to use them, so we’ll be able to take care of ourselves, whatever happens!”
“And I have two which I found lying with the provision packages in one of the tents,” said Sam. “Perhaps I shall be able now to pay for my dinner. I’m always glad to do that whenever I can.”
The oncoming machine was now circling over the valley, and it seemed that a landing would be made in a few minutes. The boys moved back to where the Louise lay, then stood waiting and watching anxiously.
“Do you think the men on the machine saw you?” asked Jimmie, in a moment, turning to Sam. “It doesn’t seem possible that they did!”
“Certainly not!” answered Sam. “You must remember that it is dark down here, and that they are virtually looking into a black hole in the hills. The way they approach the valley indicates that. Only for the remnants of the fire, I don’t believe they could have found the valley at all!”
“Perhaps they haven’t seen us, either!” Carl suggested.
“I don’t think they have,” Sam answered.
“Then I’ll tell you what we’ll do!” Jimmie exclaimed. “We’ll scatter and hide in three different places, in three different directions. Then, when they land, we’ll perform the Jesse James act and order them to throw up their hands! With six automatics pointing in their direction, they’ll probably obey orders without argument.”
“I should think they would!” laughed Carl.
“What’s the idea after that?” Sam questioned.
“I don’t know,” Jimmie returned. “Anyway, we’ll get the machine and leave them to walk back to Quito. By the time they have accomplished that stunt, we’ll be on our way to the haunted temples of Peru. I’m getting sick of this old country, anyway.”
Bending low in the darkness so as to avoid being seen from above, the three scattered, in accordance with this arrangement, and lay, securely hidden, in the tall grass when the Bertha came wavering down. Owing to the inexperience of the aviator, she struck the earth with a good deal of a bump, and exclamations of rage were heard from the seats when the motors were switched into silence.
“This must be the place,” Jimmie heard one of the men saying, as the two leaped to the ground. “There’s been a fire here not long ago, and there are the tents, just as described by the boys.”
“Yes,” another voice said, “and there is the Louise back in the shadows. It’s a wonder we didn’t see her before.”
“But where are the boys?” the first speaker said.
“We don’t care where the boys are,” a voice which Jimmie recognized as that of Doran exclaimed. “The boys can do nothing without these machines. It seems a pity to break them up.”
“We won’t break them up until we have to!” the other declared.
“I was thinking of that,” Doran answered. “Suppose we pack up the tents and provisions and such other things as we can use and take everything away into some valley where we can hide the machines and all the rest until this little excitement blows over.”
“That’s just the idea!” the other answered. “When things quiet down a little we can get a good big price for these machines.”
“And in the meantime,” Doran continued, “we’ll have to catch the boys if they interfere with our work. If they don’t, we’ll just pack up the stuff and fly away in the machines.”
“And the two lads at Quito?” asked the other.
“Oh,” Doran replied with a coarse laugh, “it will take them three or four days to find out where their friends are, and a couple of weeks more to get new machines, and by that time everything will be all lovely down in Peru. It seems to be working out all right!”
Jimmie felt the touch of a hand upon his shoulder and in a moment, Carl whispered in his ear:
“Do you mind the beautiful little plans they’re laying?” the boy asked.
“Cunning little plans, so far as we’re concerned!” whispered Jimmie.
“What do they mean by everything being lovely down in Peru after a couple of weeks?” asked Carl. “That sounds mysterious!”
“You may search me!” answered Jimmie. “It looks to me, though, as if the trouble started here might be merely the advance agent of the trouble supposed to exist across the Peruvian boundary.”
“I suppose,” Carl went on, “that we’re going to lie right here and let them pack up our stuff and fly away in our machines?”
“Yes, we are!” replied Jimmie. “What we’re going to do is to give those fellows a little healthy exercise walking back to Quito.”
Directly Doran and his companion found a few sticks of dry wood which had been brought in by the boys and began building up the fire, for the double purpose of warmth and light. Then they both began tumbling the tinned goods out of the tents and rolling the blankets which the boys had used for bedding.
“Ain’t it about time to call a halt?” asked Jimmie.
“It certainly is!” Carl answered. “I wonder where our friend Sam is by this time? He wouldn’t light out and leave us, would he?”
“I don’t think he would,” was the reply. “I have a notion that this mix-up is just about to his taste!”
Just as Jimmie was about to show himself, revolvers in hand, preparatory to sailing away in the machines and leaving the intruders with their hands held well up, a murmur which seemed to come from a myriad of human voices vibrated on the air and the tall grass all about the place where the tents had been pitched seemed to be imbued with life.
“Savages!” exclaimed Jimmie.
“Gee!” whispered Carl, excitedly. “This location seems to be attracting attention to-night! What are we going to do?”
“If those outlaws were away,” explained Jimmie, “we’d know well enough what we ought to do! We’d make a rush for the machines and get aboard, just as we did before.”
“I wonder if Doran and his companion will have sense enough to try that?” asked Carl. “If they do, we’ll have to stop them, for we can’t lose the machines. They ought to be shot, anyway.”
While the boys whispered together the savages, evidently in large numbers, crept toward the aeroplanes in an ever-narrowing circle. As luck would have it, the place where Jimmie and Carl were hidden was permitted by the savages to make a break in the circle because of the depression in which they lay, their heads on a level with the surface of the earth.
The savages swept almost over them, and in a moment, by lifting their heads above the grass in the rear of the dusky line, they saw the attacking party swarming around the tents and the machines. Doran and his companion were seized, disarmed, and tied up with stout fiber woven from the bark of a tree. Directly a scouting party brought Sam into the group.
The tramp had apparently surrendered without any attempt at defence, and the boys wondered a little at that until they found themselves facing lithe spears which waved significantly to and fro within six inches of their heads! Then they, too, laid down their automatics, for they understood very well that there was horrible death in the poisoned shafts.
They, too, were marched to the center of the group, now gathered about the machines. Doran and his companion gazed at them with terror showing in their faces, and the tramp seemed to consider the situation as too serious for comment. He moved closer to the two boys, but was almost immediately forced back by the savages.
In a moment the war chants and ejaculations of victory died out while two savages who seemed to be in charge of the party spoke together.
During this silence, tense with excitement, the distant chug, chug, chug of motors beat the air. The boys looked aloft for an aeroplane, yet did not understand how one could possibly be there!
CHAPTER VIII.
A SPRING FOR LIBERTY
The savages heard the clamor of the motors, too, and turned quick faces of alarm toward their white prisoners, as if they alone could explain what was coming to pass. Doran and his companion, also, turned questioning glances toward the two boys, while a slow smile of comprehension flitted over the face of the tramp.
As the welcome sounds came nearer the savages gathered closer and moved a short distance toward the thicket, their spears extended as if to repel attack. Sam now approached the two boys without opposition.
“Do you know what that is?” he asked with a positive grin.
“Sounds like an aeroplane!” suggested Jimmie.
“Or like an automobile!” Carl put in.
“Aw, how could an automobile get up here?” demanded Jimmie.
“Don’t you remember the river road Sam was telling us about not long ago?” asked Carl. “I guess an automobile could run along that, all right!”
“Is that so?” asked Jimmie turning to Sam.
“A superior machine driven by a superior chauffeur might,” was the reply. “Anyway, that’s a motor-car coming, and there’s no other way to get in here. We’ll see the lights in a moment.”
“Gee!” Jimmie exclaimed. “Do you think our friends chased the men who stole the Bertha up in a high-power automobile?”
“That’s just what I do think!” exclaimed Carl.
“And that is undoubtedly the fact,” Sam agreed.
Doran and his companion seemed to share in the pleasant anticipations the boys were now sensing, for they approached them in a friendly manner and began asking questions regarding the oncoming machine.
The savages were still drawing farther away, and Sam occupied his time during the next moment in finding his way back to the tents and procuring another automatic revolver which had not been discovered by the outlaws. He held it so that the two boys caught sight of the brown barrel and nodded significantly toward Doran and his friend.
“He doesn’t mean to let them get away,” said Jimmie to Carl, in a low aside. “He seems to be next to his job!”
The savages, with their eyes fixed upon the jungle near the river bank, kept crowding farther away from the machines. The clamor of the motors came louder every instant, and directly two powerful acetylene lamps looked out of the tall grass like great blazing eyes.
The savages no longer hesitated as to how to meet this new situation. They dropped their spears and whatever else they had in their hands and broke for the thicket, uttering such cries of fright and terror as the boys had never imagined could issue forth from human lips. Doran and his companion sprang for the machines as the savages disappeared.
When Ben, Glenn and Mellen came bumping up in the automobile, a minute later, they saw the two fellows standing by the side of the Louise with their hands held high in the air. Before them stood Sam with a threatening revolver pushed to within six inches of their faces.
“Jerusalem!” exclaimed Ben, springing from the machine. “This looks like a scene in one of the fierce old dramas they used to put on at the Bowery theater! Are those the men who stole the Bertha?” he added nodding toward the two whose arms were still held out.
“They came here in the Bertha!” replied Carl.
“Mr. Mellen,” began Doran, “you know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t get mixed up in any such thieving scrape! These two boys came to the field and ran away with the Louise. I had orders not to let any one take the machines away, so I followed them in the Bertha.”
“And he merely employed me to go with him!” the other fellow cut in.
“They stole the machine!” insisted Jimmie. “I heard them talking about leaving us here to walk back to Quito and hiding the machines in some mountain valley until the search for them had died out. They were even packing up our provisions and tents to take with them when the savages came up!”
“So those were savages who took to the tall timber?” asked Glenn.
“The same kind of people who drove us out of the valley,” answered Jimmie. “They had the whole bunch pinched when your machine came dancing merrily out of the woods!”
“And the way the niggers took to the tall timber was a caution!” exclaimed Carl. “They must be going yet!”
“Mr. Mellen,” broke in Doran, “I insist on being released from this ridiculous position. I ask you to order this tramp to remove his revolver. I am not used to such indignities.”
“He is not subject to my orders,” replied Mellen.
The tramp looked at Doran with a humorous smile on his face.
“I don’t understand,” he said, “how you managed to reach this place in a road machine. It must have been awful going!”
“It certainly was!” answered Mellen. “Many a time I thought the machine incapable of making the grades, and on various occasions we nearly dropped over precipices.”
“I never was so scared in my life!” declared Ben.
“Riding an aeroplane is a picture of peace and safety in comparison to such a whirl as that!” declared Glenn. “I hung on with my toes most of the way! And,” he added, with a grin, “I saw Ben getting ready to jump several times.”
“We went so fast I couldn’t jump!” declared Ben.
“I must congratulate you on the trip,” Sam cut in in a manner intended to be friendly. “I don’t think any motor-car ever passed over that river trail before! You certainly have blazed the way for others!”
“Tell it to the chauffeur!” laughed Mellen. “And now, boys,” he went on, “seeing you have rescued your precious oiled-silk shelter-tents, we may as well be getting back to the city.”
“I want to travel back in the Bertha!” exclaimed Ben.
“And so do I!” Glenn cut in. “No more of that river ride for me!”
“That leaves me to the full command of the motor-car!” laughed Mellen. “I think one of you boys, at least, might ride back with me.”
“Why, if the boys take the machines,” Doran put in, “there’s nothing for us to do but ride back in the motor-car.”
“You’ll walk so far as I’m concerned!” exclaimed Mellen.
“Then I’ll act as first mate of the roadster,” suggested Sam, whereat Mellen looked at the boys inquiringly.
“He’s all right!” Jimmie exclaimed. “We found him here acting as custodian of the camp,” he continued with a grin. “And you can see for yourself how he pinched these two thieves.”
“Be careful boy!” almost shouted Doran. “You’ll have to answer for every word you say against me!”
“I said ‘thieves’!” insisted Jimmie. “I overheard what you said before the savages came up. You were going to make us walk back to Quito, and now we’ll give you a dose of your own medicine. You’re the rascals that’ll do the walking.”
Mellen called the boys aside and, after learning exactly what had taken place, both at the field and at the camp, fully agreed that the men ought to be obliged to walk back to Quito.
“It will teach them a lesson,” he said, “and, besides, it will keep them out of mischief for at least twenty-four hours!”
“Now,” Ben said, “Jimmie and I will go back in the Louise, and Glenn and Carl can take the Bertha. You, Mr. Mellen, and Sam can return in the automobile, and we’ll fly just above you along the river trail. If you tumble over a precipice,” he added, with a smile, “we may be able to pick you up, or you may be able to help us!”
“There is one thing about it,” Carl suggested, “and that is that we won’t have to use the flying machines for freight wagons. The automobile can carry the tents and provisions and everything of that sort back to Quito. That will make it easier for us to duck about and watch the course of the automobile. You may need watching, you know,” he added turning to Mellen. “Especially,” he continued, “if you have Sam Weller with you!”
The boys mounted the machines and were soon in the air, while Mellen and Sam entered the motor-car, the latter keeping Doran and his companion covered with an automatic revolver until the car was ready to start. Both men sprang forward as the wheels began to revolve.
“Are you really going away and leave us to walk to Quito?” demanded Doran. “The savages will be here in an hour after you leave!”
This was an argument which Mellen could not resist. It was perfectly clear that the men would be murdered by the Indians if left there alone.
“Perhaps,” he said, after some hesitation, “we’d better carry you far enough to get you out of the Indian country.”
“Only five miles!” pleaded Doran.
“Jump in!” replied the manager.
The two men thanked Mellen effusively, but there was a crafty, scheming look in Doran’s eyes which told plainly enough that he intended to take advantage of the kindness of the manager at the very first opportunity.
Sam saw the evil expression and placed the automatic within easy reach of his hand. Doran saw the movement and snarled out an oath.
“There’s no need for you to make any gun-play!” he scowled.
“When I see a snake,” declared Sam, “I don’t take any chances on being bitten! I know pretty well the kind of a sneak you are.”
“Look here!” exclaimed Doran, appealing to Mellen, “why don’t you take us back to Quito and make complaint against us for stealing the machine? It seems to me that that is the correct thing for you to do!”
Mellen considered this proposition gravely for a moment. He believed now that Doran was in some way mixed up in a conspiracy against the boys. When considered in connection with Mr. Havens’ telegrams to Ben and himself, the actions of the two men seemed significant. In fact, the manager believed that the trouble referred to in Mr. Havens’ messages had already made its appearance, guided by the hand of Doran!
It seemed to him that the man’s plea was entirely reasonable, and yet he understood that the fellows ought to be kept out of Quito as long as possible. Even in jail, held only on a charge of grand larceny, Doran would have little difficulty in securing a lawyer and communicating with such other desperadoes as might be concerned in the conspiracy.
“The savages,” Doran went on, pleadingly, “are scattered all through this country, from the Colombia boundary line to Peru. It would be plain murder to leave us here at this time!”
“I half believe the man is right!” Sam agreed.
“You know I am right!” insisted Doran.
The matter was one which Mellen hesitated to decide. He believed that, by taking Doran to Quito, he would place the boys in some unknown peril; and he believed, too, that by leaving the two men in the mountains he might be contributing to their murder.
“What do you think about it?” he asked, turning to Sam.
“I wouldn’t turn a thieving dog over to those savages!” was the reply.
“No civilized human being would!” Doran exclaimed.
“Very well,” Mellen replied. “I’ll take you to the police office at Quito and ask to have you locked up on a charge of grand larceny.”
“That will be satisfactory,” answered Doran.
While entirely satisfied with the decision which had been reached, both Mellen and Sam did not fully trust the two prisoners. They believed that at some time during the return trip an attempt at escape would be made. The two pretended to be very much interested in the aeroplanes, which were almost constantly in sight, yet Mellen saw that they inspected the trail eagerly as if looking for some soft place to land.
Believing that the men would attempt to leave the motor-car only when within a short distance of Quito, the two did not watch them as closely as they might have done. The attempt came when the car had covered only about half the distance between the camp and the city.
The chauffeur was coasting down a very steep declivity with the brakes well in hand and Mellen and Sam were clinging tightly to the sides of the machine when Doran sprang to his feet and leaped.
His companion attempted to follow his example, but Sam’s hand was laid upon his shoulder at that instant, and the two tumbled into the bottom of the car. The struggle there was of short duration, for Sam was a muscular fellow and the other combatant was not inclined to put up much of a fight. Mellen watched the struggle with a smile.
It was impossible to stop the car on the steep grade, and so Mellen and Sam were obliged to remain inactive while Doran struggled to his feet and shook his fist at the car uttering as he did so threats of vengeance.