CHAPTER XVII
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
Our friends looked at each other dismally when they had ascertained thecause of the Sky-Bird's sluggish flying. Paul and Tom even gave thecraft a tentative push, and found that the loss of her helium had madeher so much heavier to move over the ground that the difference wasmanifest at once.
"This looks kind of black for us, fellows," remarked Bob.
"And we've got those scoundrels to thank for it without the shadow of adoubt," put in Paul, with flashing eyes. "I'd give a year of my lifeto get my hands on that Pete Deveaux right now."
"It's lucky they got out ahead of us," added Tom significantly.
"Well, if they were here, and if we thrashed the stuffing out of theentire bunch, that wouldn't put back our lost helium and former speed,"said the practical John. "What we've got to do now is to try to remedymatters."
"Easier said than done, I'm thinking," Tom observed. "We can't get anymore helium here; in fact, not until we get back to Panama. Of coursethat will be too late."
"I don't know about that," hinted John.
"What's your remedy?" asked Bob.
"I know," said Paul. "The machine's out of balance now, because theyhave let more helium out of one wing than the other, and none at allout of the fuselage. By letting some out of our body tank, and enoughout of the lightest wing to bring it in equilibrium with its mate, wecan get a perfect balance again, and that ought to give us airsteadiness and more speed."
"Right you are, Buddy," declared John. "Good head! That's my ideaexactly."
"But won't that make us even heavier than we are now?" inquired Bob.
"Sure," responded John, "but balance is the main thing in an airplane,you know. When we get that, the old girl will act a whole lot betterthan she did coming here."
"Still, our rivals will have some advantage over us," argued Tom.
"That's true--in the way of a lighter machine. But we've shown wecould outspeed them when the Sky-Bird was all right, and now we oughtto be about an even match for them," said John.
"That means a nip-and-tuck race of it, then, the rest of the way,"commented Paul.
At this point a bright idea struck Bob. "Say, fellows," he cried, "whycan't we send a wire message from here to Mr. Giddings at Panama, andask him to have a fast vessel drop a tank of helium off at Nukahiva,Marquesas Islands, for us?"
His comrades slapped Bob so hard upon the back when he made thissuggestion that he had to stagger.
"Fine idea, Bob!" declared John. "A fast boat ought to reach Nukahivabefore we do, and that will give us a full load of helium again for thelast four or five thousand miles of the race. If it's a close contestup to that point, the new supply may save the day for us!"
They now set to work equalizing the gas supply in the wings of theSky-Bird and reducing that in the fuselage to the proper pressure forperfect equilibrium, which they were able to get by the use of thepressure-gauge and a little figuring. Then they went over all parts ofthe machine, put in gasoline and oil, and attended to watering theradiators, following which Paul and Bob departed for town.
As in Georgetown, they created a vast interest, and were considerablyannoyed by the crowds of natives which followed at their heels, many ofwhom carried baskets of fruit on their heads and constantly importunedthem to buy some of their wares. Even in the windows of the housesthey passed women holding naked babies, who stared out at them, and inthe doorways stood girls, some of them beautifully gowned in silks,their dark hair falling like a shower about their comely nut-brownfaces, while their eyes opened wide in wonder or dropped in abashmentwhen they saw one of the handsome young Americans look their way.
Para is directly on the equatorial line. It is also the metropolis ofthe mighty Amazon, the king of all the world's rivers, whose width hereat its mouth is close to two hundred miles, and which carries into theAtlantic so much mud from the interior of South America that it is saidthe waters of that ocean are stained yellow for five hundred milesoutward. This mighty stream is formed by countless mountain creeks andrivers draining practically the whole northern half of the continent,and these streams are formed in their turn by the heavy rains whichfall frequently from swiftly-gathered clouds. In fact, it rains nearlyevery afternoon in Para, and the air is always moist, so much so, thatarticles made of steel and iron quickly rust, and furniture must bepegged together rather than glued to keep it from coming apart.
Paul and Bob found Para quite a good-sized city, but on very lowground. Along the docks of the mighty river were many kinds of boatsand ships, from stately ocean-liners to the tub-like barges used tofloat down from Bolivia great cargoes of raw rubber. There werenumerous schooners unloading vegetables and fruit, and countlessdugouts paddled by natives. Cargadores, in their bare feet, werecarrying goods in and out of the various large craft, supporting theheaviest of bundles on their bare heads. Their faces were all shadesof white, brown, and black. Among them were negroes from Jamaica, andSpaniards, Portuguese, and mulattoes from all parts of Brazil.
The business buildings were three and four stories high, and builtclose to the sidewalks along narrow streets. Their walls, the boysnoticed as they crowded their way along, were of all colors, some beingfaced with blue, yellow, and green porcelain tiles.
By asking questions they found the telegraph office, and there sent themessage to Mr. Giddings at Panama, requesting that the helium-gas besent to Nukahiva by fastest boat. They also wired a report of theirprogress. They had by this time another roll of exposed kodak films,and this was mailed to the _Daily Independent_.
No sooner had they reappeared from the post-office than they were oncemore besieged with peddlers asking them to make a purchase of theirwares. Paul and Bob stopped when they saw some particularlyluscious-looking oranges and bananas, and were surprised upon askingthe price to find that they could have a dozen of each kind for thevalue of five cents; and oh! how sweet and juicy they were when theysank a tooth into them.
They bought some baked goods in a little shop, and as they emerged anold man with a parrot on one shoulder and a small monkey on the otherblocked their pathway, and begged them to look at "nice parryote, nicemonk."
They shook their heads, when they saw other vendors crowding forward,and were about to push by when the monkey sprang nimbly upon Paul's ownshoulder, snatched off his cap, shook it in front of his eyes, and putit back in place again.
Paul and Bob both laughed, and harder yet as the bright little animalshot a paw into Paul's pocket and adroitly drew out a Brazilian goldcoin called a milreis, worth about fifty-four cents in American money.
"You give five milreis, me give monk," said the old mulatto.
Paul shook his head.
"You give four milreis, me give monk."
"No; that's more than I have of these coins."
"You give three milreis, me give--"
"Only have two of them left," said Paul.
"You give two milreis, take monk."
"It's a bargain," laughed Paul.
And he fished another of the coins out of his pocket, accepted the endof the rope tied to the monkey, and went off with Bob, hisnewly-acquired pet still contentedly occupying his shoulder.
"We'll surprise John and Tom when we get back to the field," chuckledPaul. "They won't be looking for this addition to the crew of theSky-Bird."
"I'd say not," declared Bob, also chuckling.
And indeed Paul's little hairy friend did create a lot of interest whenthey arrived beside the airplane, John and Tom both playing with him,for several minutes, and going into hilarious laughter at the funnyantics of the weazened-faced creature, which looked so much like thewrinkled old mulatto from whom he had been purchased, that Paul said heshould henceforth be called "Grandpa."
They put the monkey in the cabin, and climbed in themselves, since allwas in readiness for the departure. Night had fallen, but the sky wasclear and moonlit. So there was no trouble, by helping matters withtheir searchlight, in hop
ping off and turning their head across the bigAtlantic toward the shores of Africa.
As the trade-winds were blowing quite stiffly in their faces, John, whowas at the throttle, determined to mount high enough to overcome theirmost resistant effects. When at an altitude of about five thousandfeet, he brought the Sky-Bird out horizontally, with her nose set bycompass toward Freetown. Before they could reach this African seaportit would be necessary for them to travel considerably more than twothousand miles and meet whatever storms might develop. But all hadsuch confidence in the capabilities of the Sky-Bird that none had anyworries, fierce as some of the Atlantic storms were known to be.
As they could no longer see the sea beneath them, owing to the darknessand fog which lay between, John had to rely entirely upon intuition andhis compass to strike Freetown. Aerial navigation over immense bodiesof water is similar to navigation on the seas themselves, except thatthe indispensable sextant of the mariner is of little use in the air,owing to the high speed of travel and the fact that allowances have tobe made for the drift of the machine when side-winds are blowing--anextremely difficult factor to determine accurately.
In side-winds the machine makes leeway in addition to its forwardmovement, and it is the ratio of one to the other which the successfulpilot must work out correctly, especially when flying above clouds orwhen land features are unobserved. In this particular instance ourboys were supplied with charts indicating the trend of all normal windsin each locality and their approximate force at various altitudes.Thus, by consulting his speedometer, John was able to figure out with afair degree of certainty what allowances he should make from deadreckoning in order to strike their destination--or rather, we shouldsay that Tom, as John's aid, did most of this figuring, for a pilotgenerally has his hands full in guiding his steed.
The Sky-Bird was acting much better now, since her equalizing of weightback at Para. She lacked some of the speed of her old-time self, butrode smoothly and evenly in the hardest gusts. It was once more apleasure to sit in her cabin, even if the rival airplane was ahead ofthem.
"We'll give them the race of their lives yet," observed Tom, as hestudied the map and the speedometer alternately.
"We surely will," said his companion.
And both of them clicked their teeth in a way which boded no good forthe rival craft ahead.
Shortly before midnight they crossed the equator for the second timesince they had left Panama. But, rolled in their comfortable hammocksand sound asleep, with Grandpa, the monkey, blinking drowsily in acorner nearby, neither Bob nor Paul was conscious of the fact.