CHAPTER XXVII
PAUL VERSUS PETE
There was a wild scamper of natives as our flyers came down upon thesmooth, hard sands of the beach. In this operation they had to use theutmost care to avoid striking the machine of their contemporaries, butit was accomplished without mishap, and the Sky-Bird came to a stopabout seventy feet from the _Clarion_.
They were immediately surrounded, at a very respectable distance,by a cordon of Samoans. These were splendid-looking fellows.Their dusky bodies were strong and stalwart, and their faces wereintelligent-looking. It was plain to be seen that they had not theslightest hostile intentions toward the aviators. On the contrarytheir features expressed clear friendliness, although it was obviousthat their experience with the _Clarion_ was still too fresh toeradicate their natural timidity of such a strange thing as an airplane.
Our friends were very stiff and cramped from their long ride from PortDarwin. It seemed so good now to be able to stretch their limbs, tofeel solid ground once more under their feet, and to see the blue skyall around their heads!
The morning was hot, but a cool breeze blew inshore, giving adelightful freshness to the air. Near at hand were rows of nativehuts, made of poles and bark, and back of these loomed fine groves ofcocoanut trees and other tropical vegetation in the richest profusion.Even the elevations of this volcanic island had their barrennessalleviated by growths of greenery which seemed entirely to cover them.
No sooner had the boys sprung out of the machine than three white menapproached them. These introduced themselves as Mr. Plusson, in chargeof the local mission; Mr. Hart, a British trader; and Mr. Shoreman, theAmerican trader who had been engaged to look after their fuel at thisairport. These gentlemen expressed the liveliest cordiality in theirwelcome, and Mr. Plusson plead so hard for them to accompany him to hishome and join him and his wife at breakfast that they consented.
They learned that their rivals had arrived about twenty minutes before.Ever since the dastardly attempt of Pete Deveaux and his crowd to wreckthe Sky-Bird in the Indian Ocean, our flyers had been greatly incensedat them, or rather at Pete Deveaux himself, for they had no doubt butthat it was he who had instigated the attack. Paul Ross wasparticularly inflamed at the French aviator's act, and had more thanonce declared since, that the first time they met Deveaux again he wasgoing to thrash him until he begged for mercy. This was rather a boldstatement for Paul to make, since he was but a youth of eighteen whilePete Deveaux must have been close to thirty; but the lad was strong andskillful with his fists, in addition to which his resentment was just.When justice is on one's side it goes a long way toward giving thatperson staying powers in any contest against wrong.
For these reasons, when Paul now declared that he could not bear towait another minute before taking Pete Deveaux to account, his chumsmade no attempt to dissuade him, except in the matter of time. Johnpulled him aside, so that explanations would not have to be made totheir new acquaintances, and asked him to defer the matter until afterthey should have had breakfast, to which Paul reluctantly agreed.
When they once more reached the field, it was to see their rivals alsojust arriving. Without further ado, Paul walked straight up to PeteDeveaux and said; "Deveaux, why did you drop those rocks down on usback there when we were overhauling you between Colombo and Singapore?"
The Frenchman's face paled visibly. He did not like the look in Paul'seye, nor the stern countenances of his friends. But he hoped to bluffhis way through.
"Why accuse me of anything like this?" said he, trying to looksurprised and hurt. "We had nothing to do with those stones falling.Their weight broke the catch off of the glass trap, and they wentthrough before we could stop them; didn't they, guys?" He turned tohis three flyers for support.
Crossman, Torrey, and Lane nodded their heads.
"Sure," averred Crossman.
"What did you have those stones on board for?" demanded John.
The _Clarion_ men were silent. Their leader was the first to reply.
"We got some kola nuts from the natives at one of our stops, and wantedthe stones to crack them with," stated Deveaux.
"It's a lie!" accused Paul. "Stones do not accidentally fall asstraight as those did. Pete Deveaux, you and your crowd did the bestyou could to wreck us, and I'm going to take it out of your hide rightnow!"
"Oh, you are, are you?" sneered the French aviator. "It seems to meI'll have something to say about that, you young whippersnapper! Ifthese friends of yours will keep out of this, I'll promise my boys willkeep out, and I'll give you all the show you want."
"Fair play; that's right!" cried Mr. Shoreman, stepping forward. Hehad heard enough to convince him that nothing but a fistic settlementof the controversy would be adequate, and, with the help of severalwhite traders and sailors, he formed a ring.
Like lightning the word went out, and scores of natives came running upto see the encounter. An affair of this kind just suited theirprimitive instincts; it was even a greater treat than seeing anairplane land upon their fair island.
So by the time that Paul and Pete Deveaux had thrown off their coats, agreat ring of natives surrounded them, and in its front were numerouswhites from the ships in the harbor.
Pete Deveaux was inwardly very nervous, although he was careful not toshow it. Had Paul not been so much younger, Deveaux would probablyhave made some excuse to back out of the fight. As it was, he had asneaking hope of getting the better of Paul, now that the youth'sfriends had agreed not to interfere. He also hoped to injure the boyso badly in the encounter that he could not take his turn operating theSky-Bird for the rest of the journey; at least, cripple him enough todelay his party in getting away from the island.
With these evil intents the French flyer conceived still another. Hestepped aside and whispered something in Chuck Crossman's ear, thencame back and faced Paul.
Mr. Shoreman gave the signal, and Pete Deveaux feinted and shot hisother fist savagely at Paul's eye. But the boy was wary, dodged theblow, and struck his adversary a hard one in the chest. For a momentDeveaux was staggered; but he quickly recovered, and once more sprangforward.
Missing with his right, he succeeded in hitting Paul in the shoulderwith his left. Wheeling like a flash, Paul shot out a fist before theFrenchman could recover his guard, and struck him a smash under the earwhich sent him reeling back into his friends.
Pete Deveaux was now thoroughly alarmed. He had not expected suchscience, nor such force, on the part of his opponent. He approachedPaul with much more caution, amid the howls of the natives, and decidedto let him take the offensive.
Paul was willing. Encouraged by his success thus far, and bent uponending the fracas as soon as possible, he met his adversary with aheavy swing which just cleared the man's ear. Deveaux struck, butmissed also. Pressed backward, he clinched to save himself, and inthis position, where nobody could see his movements, he viciously triedto put some short jabs into Paul's abdomen.
Fortunately for himself Paul succeeded in breaking away before he wasdoubled up by the blows, one of which had landed with sufficient powerto make him utter an involuntary smothered exclamation of pain.
"No more of that, Mr. Deveaux!" warned the referee suspiciously, asPaul shoved his opponent back. "Keep out of the clinches! Fight fair!"
"Fair! Fair!" yelled the sailors; and the natives took up the cry intheir own language.
Paul now advanced, and Pete Deveaux retreated. The latter was reallyfrightened. Something was beginning to tell him that in this youth ofeighteen he had met his superior.
"I think we'd better quit, Ross, before we hurt each other," suggestedthe French flyer cravenly. "This flight business of ours won't standsuch delays as this. We can have this out when we land in Panama."
"No, we can't have it out in Panama!" cried Paul. "Stand up if you'rea man and settle this thing right now. Watch out; I'm coming!"
By this time Pete Deveaux had retreated to the lower end of theimprovised ring. He sa
w that he was cornered; that he must fight oncemore. Lunging forward like a trapped rat, he struck a wicked blow forhis opponent's head.
Paul parried it, and as swift as a stroke of lightning his right handstreaked out and caught Deveaux under the jaw. The Frenchman reeledbackward a few steps, and toppled over, full length upon the ground.What a cry went up from the onlookers! By this time the sympathies ofevery one, except Deveaux's own comrades, were with the youth. No one,even a half-civilized savage, at heart likes a coward.
For a few moments Pete Deveaux was dazed. But after his cronies hadhelped him to his feet, and started away with him, he still had enoughspite left to shout back, as he shook a fist: "We're not done with youfellows yet!"
Paul was now the recipient of congratulations from all sides.Everybody wished to slap him on the shoulder or shake hands with him,it seemed, and the native populace gave him so many cocoanuts, bananas,and pineapples that he was literally hemmed in with fruit, and John,Bob, and Tom had to open up a pathway before he could get out of hissweet-smelling barricade.
Our flyers put as much of the gifts in the cabin of the Sky-Bird asthey could find room for, including an abundance of nuts for the happyGrandpa, and then they turned their attention to the pressing businessof overhauling the engines and storing fuel.
While they were thus engaged, the _Clarion's_ motor was heard to start;and a few moments later she arose and took off to sea.
"Humph!" ejaculated Tom, "those fellows have beat us to it again."
"They ought to; didn't they arrive ahead of us?" asked Tom.
"We'll be out of here in fifteen minutes more," stated John.
But the words were no more than out of his mouth when Paul, who hadbeen inspecting the rear end of the machine came dashing excitedlyforward, crying:
"Fellows, hob is to pay! Those rascals have cut the wire braces thatsupport the tail-skid, and it's lopping away over!"