CHAPTER VII.
THE END OF THE WAY
"Buddy, this can't be real. We must be asleep, or I must be having anightmare," exclaimed Bob in horror as they saw the massive stonecompletely obliterate the dwarf.
"Old Man," Jim said shakily. "Let's call it a day and get out of here asfast as we can, but keep a grip on yourself; watch your step."
"How are we going to manage it?"
"Search me, but the thing to hang on to is the fact that we are going tomake it somehow."
Bob tried to grin but it was a sickly effort, and again they glanceddown at the scene below. They could see the tall Indian walkingindifferently across the terrace while Mills was just getting the heavylid off the box which had been dragged from the foundation of ancientstones. It was doubtless the removal of this support which had causedthe huge thing to fall and destroy the dwarf; but the lone white man inpossession of the treasure appeared to be absolutely unaffected by thetragedy. He finally succeeded in removing the cover and when it wastossed aside the sun shone brightly upon what appeared to be a wonderfulcollection of glittering jewels. Greedily he plunged in his hands,tossing the trinkets up as a miser might, and then he danced about themarvelous find.
"Come along," Jim caught the younger boy's sleeve and the pair turnedaway from the scene.
They made no comment as they climbed back to the terrace, walkedthoughtfully toward the natural stairway, and at last began to climbagain. On reaching the top they proceeded to the last elevation andarriving there found that it was a huge plateau which had been leveledcarefully. There were several streams which ran as if they had beenguided around some gardens and then the water tumbled over the edge in asparkling fall whose spray leaped back fully twenty feet.
Taking a careful survey of their surroundings, the boys saw that totheir left was a strip of woods and through the tops of the trees whichwere not very tall ones they could see a second clear space beyond.Between them and the clearing there was a shallow ravine which theycould see grew deeper and wider as it twisted toward the ruins of theancient city. In one place they saw a wall which had evidently beenbuilt to re-enforce the land and prevent the soil from being washedaway, but in places the stone work had fallen and the action of waterhad left a deep, gravel wash. There was little dry timber on the sitewhere they were making their observations and for some unexplainablereason neither of them cared to build their signal fire so near theruined temple and its tragedies.
"Let's go a bit further back, set a course through those woods, and geton that bare place," Jim suggested.
"Suits me fine," Bob agreed. "It looks lower than this."
Without further ado they started toward the rocky ledge which rosetoward the back, then, facing about prepared to make their way acrossthe ravine through the woods. Being first class pilots they made acareful reckoning, noted several easily followed marks by which to set acourse, then with a final glance around at the scene made ready tostart, but before they took a step they heard a scrambling and a momentlater were surprised to see Mills, laden with the heavy box, comestumbling toward them. If the man knew they were there, he made no sign,but came half stumbling along bent almost double with the weight hecarried.
The boys paused uncertainly, both ready to defend themselves should theinsane man attack them, but he might have been blind for all theattention he paid to them. As he drew nearer they could see his lipsmoving, and soon they could hear his mutterings, which were punctuatedby queer crackling chuckles as if his throat was parched and dry.
"I'm awake, awake," he declared over and over. "Awake, and I have itall, every piece, millions of treasure." At that he laughed harshly,then his foot struck against a bit of projecting rock and it took allhis strength to keep from falling, but he managed it, although in thebalancing maneuver, the box tipped and teetered precariously. Millsjerked it tight and then a mass of the shining contents was spilled andwent tumbling to the ground. "Riches, riches, and I am awake. Let itstay, let it stay--I have it all. I have it all, the others have none--Iam awake and rich--rich--" The words trailed off into incoherent sounds.He made his way weakly past the boys, pieces of the treasure fallinglike a trail over the route, and five minutes later he disappeared in athick grove which fringed the cliff.
"Gosh," Bob said softly when at last Mills was out of sight, "he has thetreasure."
"Whew, surely." Jim stooped and picked up a handful of the fallentrinkets and as he let them fall again through his fingers, the Buddies'eyes met. Mechanically they turned their faces toward the trees whichconcealed their former companion.
"A box full of shells--" said Bob. "Worth four bits a ton," Jim added."Whew, speaking of nightmares, if the sandman can beat all thisadventure he's going some. Seven dead men, a crazy man, besides a bandof Indians and dressed-up robbers carried away before a brokendam--whew--"
"Let's get going."
Bob kicked a cluster of the shells near his feet, then facing aboutresolutely, started to lead the way across the plateau, into the stripof wood, down the narrowest point of the ravine, up the other side,which was quite steep, and finally they were standing on the clear spacethey had picked out from the terrace. The site was bare except for acouple of rather large growths more than half way across, and the SkyBuddies noticed that it seemed to be fringed with a dense timber andlong trailing vines. In every way it was an ideal location for theirpurpose and now they were actually away from the depressing ruins, theysighed with relief.
"We've been doing a lot of mooning around," Jim remarked cheerfully."Let's make up for lost time."
"There's plenty of dry brush for the fire." Bob glanced into the sky,then scrutinized the heavens closely, while Jim devoted himself togetting acquainted with the vicinity. "Not a wing--" But he wasinterrupted by a hearty laugh which rang merrily from his step-brother'sthroat.
"What in the name of cat-soup and fish is the matter with you?" hedemanded, but he stared at this pal anxiously. "You didn't catchanything from Mills, did you?"
"No," Jim answered, then went off again into gales of laughter. It wasso loud and hearty that a sleepy echo caught it up and passed it aroundexperimentally until it seemed as if the top of the world was indulgingin a grand ha-ha-ha.
"Hey, Old Sour-dough, can it! We'll never get anything done if youindulge in hi-strikes--"
"Ha, ha, ha-ah-haa," roared Jim. Tears began to roll down his cheeks andhe doubled up helplessly as he laughed.
"Ha-ha-ha," Bob repeated mechanically.
"Ha-ha-ha--" Jim kept it up and it came from his very boots.
"Say, am I so funny?" demanded Bob. He was becoming convinced that Jim'smind was badly affected by the strain of the past twenty-four hours, andhe didn't wonder. "Come on, Pal, snap out of it--that won't do you anygood--not a bit. Why, you are acting worse than if some one was ticklingthe soles of your feet--"
"I'm tickled all over," Jim gasped merrily.
"At what--be yourself or tell me what has set you off--I don't seeanything to laugh at--"
"No?"
"Not a thing. This is a serious business, Old Man, we've got to keep ourheads to get out of it."
"Ha-ha haaahahhhaaa," shouted Jim, then he made a slight gesture whichseemed to include the entire world. "Ha-ha--"
"Ha--" Bob started to mimic him, then his eyes swept swiftly over theplace. He turned himself about to look more closely, then, he too openedhis mouth and roared with genuine amusement. "Ha-ha-ha-ha." It was asoul-satisfying bellow which shook him from head to foot for severalminutes, then he pulled himself together. "We don't want to make anymistake." With that he ran to the nearest green pile and began to pullon it. After a moment Austin joined him, and although they continued tochuckle as they worked, they had control of themselves.
"Behold the Helicopter," Jim cried as the plane began to stand out fromthe covering of foliage the bandits had put on it.
"No wonder you laughed," grinned Bob.
"When I first saw it I thoug
ht I had gone crazy, then I was sure and mygiggling apparatus went wide open. Gee, to think, after all thattraveling--millions of miles it seemed--then to come right back to theplace we started from. Gosh all Friday, it's like finding an everlastingcream puff. Whew--aint it a grand and glorious feeling!"
"I'll say! If we had built our signal fire over there on the top of theruin and Bradshaw had found us--the plane almost under our noses,howling catnip but he would have had a laugh on us. It was a close shaveall right."
"Suppose I go over the machine and you take a look at the other one.Shall we leave it here, or one of us fly it?" Jim asked.
"Don't know that I'm so crazy about going in separate planes, Buddy, butthey would surely think us nuts to leave one."
"That's what I was thinking. I'll pilot one and you take the other. Wecan mark this section on the chart and have a doctor or someone sentback to get Mills. He'll be all right for a few hours and it ought notto be hard to locate him, they can follow his trail of shells. He'llprobably spill the whole lot as he goes."
"No sense in either of us trying to get him to civilization in one ofthe planes. If we leave him here, he might come out, just get enoughsense to go up in it, then come down in a smash or run into some othermachine."
"Yes. Let's get going."
Whistling and chuckling spasmodically the Flying Buddies set to work andpresently they had the foliage screen out of the way, had wiped thesticky bodies of dead butterflies off the propellers and other parts,examined the control boards, the gas tanks, and then made a tryout testto be sure that everything was as it should be.
"Oh, gee, this is great. All set, Old Man?"
"Contact," Bob responded.
"Fore," bellowed Jim.
Presently they were in the cockpits, the engines roared merrily, it wasgreat to hear them singing smoothly after the long silence and theBuddies waved at each other. The helicopter started first, ran a fewrods, then lifted almost vertically and when it was off the ground,Bob's machine started taxiing swiftly, curved, its nose went upgracefully, then it began to climb, zooming swiftly until it reached theelevation Jim had attained. That done the boys smiled with satisfaction,circled about the spot in wide turns only climbing slightly. They tookin the entire location, including the site of the ancient ruin, andafter several minutes, Austin caught sight of Mills standing near thefallen stone. They saw the man stare up at them as if their presence inthe sky puzzled him, then he bent over the ground and crouched out ofsight, as if afraid.
Having ascertained his whereabouts, the two planes climbed again andwhen they were well in the ceiling, they leveled off, pointed theirnoses toward the sea, and with courses set, raced at high speed towardtheir goal. Mills' plane proved to be a faster machine than the CanadianMountie's, but it gave a very good account of itself.
They had been flying nearly fifteen minutes when suddenly Jim spied aplane circling high in the distance. It banked, dipped, turned and camerushing toward them, the British insignia showing plainly on thefuselage. Soon it drew close and the Flying Buddies could see two men inher, one with a glass to his eyes, and in a moment the man waved; itseemed as if he were jumping up and down in the cock-pit, and the boysgrinned widely as they realized that he was probably some airman who hadspent long anxious hours in search of them. With a wave of his hand thepilot circled about them, then zoomed up, and shot forward at top speedtoward the barracks airdrome.
"He's taking word in," Jim said to himself. It was wonderful to be goingback to them, those kindly Britishers whose tongue and ideals werenearly like the Americans.
The little plane quickly outdistanced the boys and presently was only aspeck on the horizon, but it seemed to Austin, even though the machinewas swallowed up in the afternoon sunlight, there remained a bit of thenation's color in the heavens to signify that its fine men were ready tolend a hand, take a fair share of dangers, and understand. Jim felt asif it had been years since he and Bob had taken off from the smoothrun-way, watched the soldiers and people of the town wave after them,the cheers carrying on even above the roar of the machine. Since thenthe Flying Buddies had contacted with an entirely different sort ofcreature; it was rather like being dragged through miles of clinging,slimy mud, and what he wanted most of all at that moment was a goodbath, but he didn't expect there was water enough in the world to ridthem of the unwholesome association of Lang and his gang. Then he sawBob pointing west of them and glanced in that direction. There were twoother tiny specks which also zipped about and came rushing toward themswiftly as an arrow shot from a strong shaft. The boys slackened theirown speed, and presently the two planes were racing along beside them,and then Bob guessed that the man at the controls was Bradshaw and hiscompanion was Allen Ruhel. With a slight wave of the hand and a briefacknowledgement the three machines roared through the heavens. They werejoined by one other plane, and an hour after leaving Mills at theancient ruin, they were gliding down gracefully, while it looked to theboys as if everyone in the province had assembled to welcome them andlearn what had happened. Soon the helicopter's wheels hit the ground,ran a short distance and stopped. Dozens of men came rushing to the sideof the cockpit.
"Where have you been--"
"Are you hurt?"
"What happened to you?"
"Did you get blown off--"
"The whole country has been looking for you--"
"It's great that you are back safe--"
"Thank God you didn't have a smash-up." The queries and exclamationswere hurled so fast it was impossible to answer, but in a moment, beforeJim could loosen his strap, Allen Ruhel was beside him.
"Glad to see you, Old Top. Like to hop inside and freshen up a bit?" heasked casually as if the boys had not been gone more than a few hours.
"Like it better than anything else in the world," Jim answered, andBradshaw looked at him narrowly.
"Anything we can do, just sing out--"
"I'd like to know about Mom," Bob announced a bit chokily, for he hopedhard that she had not been terrified by the news of the strangedisappearance.
"Mrs. Austin is quite top hole, you know." Ruhel answered.
"She wasn't given all the particulars and a cable is off now to let themknow that you came in under your own power," Bradshaw added. "The firstman who sighted you sent it."
"Thanks a lot," Bob grinned. If his family was not suffering the agonyof suspense, the rest did not matter, he thought.
"Come along," Captain Seaman invited.
It was a difficult task to get through the crowd which pressed abouteagerly, and hundreds of hands, men's, women's and children's, touchedthose of the American boys who had come back. In the meantime they weresafe, but they must be hungry and worn, although they did not look sobad--certainly not nearly so bad as if some airman had found thembeneath the remains of a wrecked or burned machine. Thank God for that!Thank Him especially for the sake of their mother and father--after all,the world was pretty fine. Someone began to sing a medley of songs lovedby Americans, and the Sky Buddies could hardly keep back the tears. Itwas wonderful having people who were so jolly to a fellow.
"Here are my quarters," Seaman smiled cordially. "You know them. Makeyourselves at home--"
"Thanks a lot," Jim said chokily.
"Er, ah, the doctor is just across the way. By George, he's coming now.Decent sort of old sawbones. Let him give you the once over, it willperk him up no end, you know--"
"We're not hurt at all," Jim assured his host.
"To be sure, I didn't think you were, but you may as well be a goodsport and give the old fellow something to do. Er, if you could dig ascratch, no matter how little, just enough to make him think you may bein danger of blood poisoning. We're such a bloody healthy bunch--I'llsend him in, do what you can for him."
"All right," the boys agreed.