CHAPTER XXI
THE DOUBLE LOOP
For a moment or two John and Bob stared at Paul blankly, unable tocomprehend the import of his announcement. Tom was at the throttle,and while he had heard the startling words, he was too occupied inguiding the Sky-Bird to do anything except take a quick glance backward.
"A snake?" repeated Bob.
"Not on the machine?" cried John.
"Yes," Paul said, with a seriousness which left no further doubt as tothe truth of his statement. "He's a whopper--must be twelve orfourteen feet long and as thick as my leg. He's there on the fuselagejust outside of the window, hanging on for dear life. If I hadn't shutthat window just as I did, I believe he would have crawled in here in aminute."
John and Bob now hurried to the window and looked out. In themoonlight they could distinctly see a huge reptile, either a python ora boa-constrictor, coiled up in the angle formed by the juncture of theairplane body and the broad base of the left wing. The creature was solong that its tail passed up over the rounded fuselage and out upon theother wing. Bob flashed his electric pocket lamp upon it, and by theyellow and brown mottled spots upon its body and the double plates ofwhitish scale at its tale, and the wicked-looking triangular head, theywere sure it must really be a python, one of the most dreaded ofAfrican snakes. These creatures think a monkey a very choice morsel offood, and undoubtedly it had been attracted to the airplane, while itstood in the grass, by the appearance of Grandpa in the open cabinwindow, but had been frustrated in its designs by the return of theflyers and the sudden rising of the machine.
Now, with the window shut, the boys seemed safe enough for the present.They could see that the big snake was extremely uneasy. As the windwhistled by him, his great tail twisted and untwisted, and he seemed tobe trying to get a better hold on the smooth surface, while his beadyeyes glared at them only a moment in the glow of the flashlight, andthen he transferred his attention to the landscape below them. Hisforked fangs darted in and out during this time with the angriestlightning-like movement.
Paul relieved Tom at the throttle for a few minutes, so that the lattercould have a look at the reptile.
When Tom came back again to his post, he said, with plain uneasiness:"I never saw such a big snake before, Paul. Between the rush of windand the roar of the engine and propeller, he seems scared out of hiswits."
"We've got to get him off of there somehow--and mighty soon, too," putin John, with decision. "Tom, if that monster should begin to slip alittle most likely he will coil his tail around some of our controlwires,--and then what?"
Their faces blanched at this prospect. They knew what that would mean.It would mean that the great creature would either operate theairplane's rudders when they should not be operated, or would preventTom from moving them when they must be moved. In either event, theresult would be disaster to machine and crew.
"Good heavens, boys!" said Tom, so nervous his voice shook, "get rid ofthat snake as quick as you can!" He fancied he could see the rearcontrol levers moving at that instant.
The other three flyers knew the importance of these instructions, buthow were they to carry them out? The reptile was too large to beshoved off with a stick or pole, and would probably squirm through thewindow while they were attempting it. And they were afraid to use agun, as, in the case of a miss or a little lurch of the airplane at themoment of firing, the bullet might puncture the hollow wing or rearfuselage and let helium escape.
It was Bob who solved the puzzle.
"Why not try a loop or two?" he asked.
Their hearts jumped with hope at this. So everything was made tight inthe cabin, with the straps and fastenings which had been provided whenthe machine was made. Even Grandpa had to submit to being roped up inone of the swinging hammocks. When the boys had buckled themselvesdown to their seats, John gave Tom the word, and he began to riseslowly. At close to two thousand feet he brought the Sky-Bird quicklyand smoothly upward until she stood almost on her tail end.
Then Tom threw the elevators and ailerons hard up, and held them there.They were going at a rate of close to a hundred miles an hour at themoment, and their velocity brought them around in a pretty loop. Therewas no way for them to tell if the serpent had been dislodged, so, tomake as sure as he could of accomplishing his purpose, Tom kept hiscontrols as set, and they made another or double loop.
This time he straightened out his controls as he came up to thehorizontal, and they ran swiftly ahead again on a level keel.
His companions quickly unloosened their straps, and ran for the rearwindow. A feeling of the greatest thanksgiving filled their souls andjoy lit up their faces. The python was gone! He had hurtled throughthe air during one or the other of the loops, and his long sinuous bodywas probably at that moment lying crushed upon the hard ground, orimpaled upon the sharp stub of some forest tree, far below.
It had been a night of intense excitement. Now that they began to beatthrough the air in the old tuneful way, and there was nothing more toclaim their attention until they should arrive at Aden sometime in themorning, Bob and Paul took to their hammocks for sleep, but first Bobgot Khartum on the wireless and delivered their position and a briefdescription of their adventures. As may be imagined, however, the twoyouths did not shut their eyes immediately. There was much to thinkabout and to talk about before even fatigue could get the better ofthem.
Tom put the Sky-Bird through on a straight course for Aden as fast ashe dared run the night engine, which was very close to its limit, nowthat it had had a chance to cool off and was well supplied with water.It was important that they should make speed, for in the stop for waterand the subsequent maneuvering to rid themselves of their unwelcomepassenger, the python, they had lost upwards of an hour's time.
Flying high, and depending entirely upon the compass for striking Aden,they shot through the starlit tropical night like a meteor, showing nolights except the two small ones on the dashboard in the cabin, bymeans of which Tom could observe the instruments and the controllinglevers below. Thus they crossed the famous Nile, sweeping belowKhartum and across the plains of Kordofan, and when the first streaksof daylight appeared ahead of them they were just entering the plateausof northern Abyssinia.
Paul and Bob now relieved Tom and John, and the latter young men took anap. It was their custom to work in pairs, the observer preparing foodfor himself and the pilot during the course of flight. Sometimes theobserver took the throttle long enough to give his friend a chance toeat, and sometimes the pilot retained his seat, allowing the automaticarrangement to do the guiding for him while he munched his food.
Just before seven o'clock Paul and Bob saw two large bodies of waterahead of them, one stretching to the right and the other to the left.The chart told them that the northern body was the Red Sea and thesouthern one the Gulf of Aden, which opens into the Indian Ocean.Between these bodies lay a narrow belt of water, flanked on the westernor African side by rocky, wooded hills, and on the eastern side by low,sandy shores dotted with palms. This was the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb,and the country beyond was Persia.
Aden could not be more than fifteen minutes' run east now, and so Bobawakened his sleeping comrades while Paul guided the airplane acrossthe strait. They flew a little higher, later, following the generalcontour of the terraced slopes of the mountains along the Arabian coast.
As the Sky-Bird came leisurely over the hills surrounding this Britishseaport of Aden, they could see that the town nestled in the crater ofan extinct volcano, as they had read. All around the low, whitebuildings spread the rugged hillsides, and in declivities they passedover numbers of the great brick tanks or reservoirs which catch andstore the scanty rainfall of the region and thus furnish Aden with itsonly water supply.
The flyers saw many gowned figures, some on camels, pause to lookupward at them, as they began to circle the town in quest of theirlanding field. Bob was the first to discern it--a fairly level stretchin the southern end of the valley or basin, mar
ked in the way agreedupon, and containing two small buildings, neither of which was largeenough to admit the machine.
But they cared nothing for shelter for the Sky-Bird, as they did notpurpose staying any longer than necessary for fuel replenishment andnews dissemination by telegraph and letter. So they quickly settleddown in the midst of a wondering ring of Arabs.
Mr. Griggs, the American consul here, now came forward with a couple ofBritish military officers, and the flyers met with a hearty reception.It seemed good to run upon one of their own countrymen again, afterseeing so many strange faces since leaving Panama. Mr. Griggs insistedupon their going to his home with him for breakfast, and to this theyconsented as soon as they found he had made full arrangements forhaving some British workmen at the garrison refill the Sky-Bird's tanks.
They found that their rivals had arrived just after daylight, and haddeparted for Colombo, Ceylon, less than twenty minutes before their ownappearance. This was cheering news. They had gained a lot on them incrossing the African continent.