CHAPTER XX
OVER LAND AND SEA
"Are you joshing me, Frank?" demanded the other Bird boy, as he swungeagerly around, so as to fix his glasses upon the far off horizon aheadof them.
"I certainly am not, Andy; but please be more careful how you move. Yougave me a punch in the ribs just then that sent a cold shiver all overme. Don't forget that we're not stretched out on the ground under anapple tree taking an afternoon doze. Well, what do you see?"
"Frank, I do believe you're right about that lake business!" exclaimedAndy.
"Then you can see it?" asked the other, himself more than anxious,because of the fact that the fleeing bank robbers who had stolen thebiplane of Percy Carberry apparently intended to escape over the lineinto Canada, even if to accomplish their purpose they had to daringlycross Lake Ontario, many miles wide, a feat as yet only successfullydone by one or two bold fliers of national repute.
"I sure can; and the way we're heading it's a dead open-and-shut thingthat we're just going to swing out over the water before another hourpasses. Whew!"
Andy finished his sentence with this significant exclamation. It was asthough not only the novelty of the thing but its thrilling naturestaggered him. The Bird boys had flown under many strange conditions,but as yet they had not made a water flight.
There is and always must be a vast difference between passing over theland, with its forests, hills, valleys, plains, cities and villages, tostarting out over a wide stretch of inland sea, with only the tumblingwaves far below, and new as well as untried currents of air to meet andconquer.
More than a few times Andy Bird had expressed a wish to have just suchan experience. It would be a novelty, something entirely new in theirline, and which would give them possibly delightful thrills.
But now that the chance seemed opening up before them, he found himselfviewing it with considerable apprehension, as well as delight.
Of course it made considerable difference that they should be chasingafter a desperate pair of rascals, rather than simply trying toaccomplish a flight from United States territory to that belonging toCanada. There was always the chance that these men might turn upon them,and succeed in doing something to injure the hydroplane, causing it todrop into the midst of that inland sea.
Strange how small things often insist upon thrusting themselves forwardwhen some sort of peril threatens. The very first thing Andy seemed tothink about was the fact that they did not happen to have any lifepreservers aboard the craft. Not that there was one chance in a thousandthey would ever need such things around Bloomsbury, though there wasLake Sunrise to be reckoned with; but just then it struck the boy thatevery well equipped aeroplane ought always to carry a couple of rubberrings along, which, in moments of dire necessity could be blown full ofair, and would serve to sustain wrecked aviators until help came.
He even decided to mention this fact to his cousin, after this voyagewas concluded. It loomed up as large as the Rock of Gibralter just then,even as a dream may at the moment of awaking, but which later on beginsto lose its realistic effect until it seems next door to silly.
"They don't show the least sign of changing their course, do they,Frank?" Andy remarked after another spell of time had passed.
"Not that you could notice," replied the other, composedly.
Andy derived more or less comfort from this way his chum had of keepinghis head even under the most trying conditions. When his own nerves werefairly quivering with excitement, it always steadied Andy to turn andsee that Frank was as cool and calm as though nothing were amiss. Morethan a few times in the past it had caused the more hot-headed Bird boyto conquer his own weakness, and do himself credit in some difficultfeat that became necessary. Example is a splendid thing to lead any boyalong safe roads. Words may be forgotten in the trying moment; but whenhe actually sees the thing done before his very eyes, it is indeliblyimpressed upon his mind.
"About how long will it be before we get there?" Andy asked again; forhe was forever wanting to know, when he had any misgivings about his owncapacity for reaching a reasonable conclusion.
"Do you mean before we leave the land, and commence our voyage acrossthe lake?" Frank inquired.
"Yes, that's it--more than half an hour, at the speed we're going now?"continued the other.
"Just about, I should say," Frank replied, after carefully measuringdistances with his eye. "We are up pretty high, and can cover atremendous range, you know, so we first glimpsed the lake when we were along ways off. It may be all of forty miles away right now; and as wemust be clipping along at the rate of eighty, with the breeze favorablebehind us, why, half an hour ought to see us there."
Andy fell silent again.
Many times did his eyes travel from the distant water to the earth belowthem; and then follow this up with an uneasy stare at the otheraeroplane that was flying along far ahead of them. The whole solution ofthe problem of course lay in the hands of the man who controlled thedestinies of that stolen biplane. Would he really have the nerve toattempt a flight across that great body of fresh water, aiming to landon foreign shores, from which he could not easily be extradited?
Frank seemed to think that such was undoubtedly the intention of CasperBlue, the little man who had been actor, aviator, and yeggman in turn,during the course of his adventurous life.
He had already proven beyond any doubt that he was a capable airman,even though he did have a crippled arm. Never had the Bird boys seen anaeroplane handled with more extraordinary skill and dash than was theone that had been stolen from the hangar of Percy Carberry.
No, unless something unexpected happened to disturb the plans of thefugitive yeggmen inside the next half hour, they plainly meant to launchout on a voyage across the lake, possibly thousands of feet above itssurface, and perhaps among the very clouds.
Not once did Andy dream of asking his cousin whether in this event heconsidered it the part of wisdom for them to follow the men who weredoubly risking their lives in this mad effort to escape with theirbooty.
He knew Frank only too well to doubt his willingness to undertake such atrip as this. In times gone by, and especially when they were down inSouth America with their aeroplane, seeking Professor Bird, who had beenlost, with the balloon in which he was conducting experiments on theisthmus, they had bravely faced just as serious perils as this promisedto be; yes, and wrenched victory from the jaws of apparent defeat morethan once.
Hence, it was a foregone conclusion that if Casper Blue attempted thedifficult feat of flying across the lake, after being in the air severallong hours, the two Bird boys were determined to keep following afterhim. It seemed like a game of "conquer," which Andy remembered so well;where the rival aviator dared to go they must follow, or acknowledge hissuperiority as a bold airman, something neither of them felt like doing.
Frank had figured it all out while he was speeding along so smoothly.
So far as he could see everything was working as easily as could be; themotor never missed, and was running like a charm, just as though itcould keep this up everlastingly in an endurance test. And besides, thewind, what there was of it at present, seemed to favor them mostpositively, because it was at their backs.
So far as appearances went the conditions were ideal for the crossing ofthe great lake that was now showing up ahead most grandly.
Andy drew in big breaths, and tried to keep from quivering with delight,mingled with just a little nervousness. Here was a new experience aboutto come to them; and one that they were not apt to soon forget. As a boyAndy delighted in novel sensations; and as an ambitious aviator heyearned to experience all the glorious possibilities that open up to theone who has the pluck and the nerve to attempt them.
They could see a town in plain sight, though they had gradually ascendedsince Andy cast his bomb so successfully. Perhaps his little game ofopening communications with the earth below had been observed by one ofthose in the leading airship; and in order to prevent another attempt,this gradual ascent had been
immediately carried out.
But Frank fully expected to see the rival aeroplane begin to drop asthey drew near the border of the fresh water sea. Since just then therewas no squally wind near the surface of the water, which they wished toavoid by remaining thousands of feet high, the chances were that CasperBlue would soon commence to use his deflecting rudder, and begin todescend in wide spirals; or else, with the daring of an old and skilledair navigator, shut off power, and volplane down in a slant that wouldthrill any spectator as nothing else could, until the required distancehad been covered, when he would again bring the shooting aeroplane on alevel basis, and resume his forward progress.
Whatever he did Frank was ready to imitate.
He had the fullest confidence in his own ability to accomplish the mostdifficult feat that would be required.
"Steady yourself, now, Andy," he cautioned; "because they're going tochange the going pretty soon, I take it. Better put that glass away, andbe ready to give me a lift if I need it. Watch and see if they don'tdrop down closer to the water. It would be a wise thing to do, I takeit; for in case of accident the spill wouldn't be so bad."
"All right, Frank, just as you say," replied the other, accustomed tolooking to his cousin for the words of command when an emergency or acrisis came along.
He fastened the precious glasses in their rigid case, where they wouldbe safe so long as the aeroplane remained above the surface of thewater, or did not fall to the ground in a serious wreck.
Then Andy paid attention to a number of small but very important mattersthat had always been given over into his charge at times like this. TheBird boys had been comrades so long that they worked together like awell oiled machine. The ball team that has played in company for aseason can accomplish feats that would be utterly impossible to a ninethat had been brought from various clubs, even though each player mighthave been a star in his respective team.
So it was with Frank and Andy; they had grown to know each other'spoints so well that when the moment came it often seemed as though theyinstinctively formed a single unit, with that exceedingly bright brainpossessed by Frank doing all the piloting of the combination.
They were all ready for the business in hand long before the border ofthe big water was reached. Frank had looked around him several times,and his cousin seemed to know instinctively that he was endeavoring todecide as to whether the wind was apt to hold as it chanced to be at thetime; or increase in velocity, should they drop to lower levels.
It was rather awe inspiring to see that vast gulf of glistening waterstretching as far as the eye could reach in three directions, north,east and west. From the high altitude which they still occupied, theycould not tell whether the lake was calm, or waves rolling along itssurface. The westering sun glittered from its bosom as though it mightbe streaked with gold, and altogether it was a sight that neither of theboys would soon forget.
To Andy in particular it appealed with vigor. His nature was moreinclined to worship at the shrine of the romantic than would be the casewith the practical Frank. To Andy that vast sheet of water seemedmysterious, profound, filled with secrets of argosies that were launchedon its breast centuries ago, when only the bark canoes of the red menhad ever been wedded to its waters. In imagination the boy could eventhen see the barques of the early explorers, those bold men who hadpushed thither from across the ocean, and risked their lives in order tolearn what the New Country held for brave hearts.
Perhaps, had he still gripped the glass in his hands, and cared to lookearthward before leaving the shore for that adventurous cruise, Andymight have seen many a group of wondering people all watching the flightof those hurrying ships of the upper air currents, and even waving hatsand handkerchiefs in the endeavor to attract the attention of the boldnavigators, whom they supposed to be engaged in a race for a wager.
But there was now no longer time for anything like this, and all theirattention must be concentrated upon the one thing that meant so much tothem--the safety of the delicate craft in which they were now about toentrust their very lives for a voyage, the like of which few airmen hadever entered before.
Already had the other aeroplane sailed away, and was even now hangingover the inland sea, that lay fully four thousand feet below, itsfurther shore hidden in what seemed to be a cloud, though it might proveto be a rising fog, fated to engulf both pursuing and pursued air craftin its baffling folds, and turn the comedy of the race into a tragedy.
"Goodbye old land!" sang out Andy, when they seemed to suddenly pass outover the water, leaving the shore of New York behind.
Frank said not a word, but no doubt his feelings were just as strong asthose of his companion. And so they had now embarked on what seemed tobe the last leg of the strange chase, with the future lying before themas mystifying as that fog bank lying far away to the north.