CHAPTER XVI.--OFF ON THE "AIR ROUTE."
In the meantime indignation was at white heat on Brig Island. Mr.Sterrett was for advertising the disappearance of Duval, and offering areward for his apprehension. He confessed that he had not liked theman's looks, but had shipped him as help was hard to get at the time.Dr. Perkins agreed that it might not be a bad idea to communicate atonce with the authorities and try to have the rascal captured.
"But," he added, "I am afraid he is too clever a scamp to fall into theclutches of the law very easily."
"I am of that opinion, too," frankly admitted Mr. Sterrett, "but it willdo no harm to do all we can to place him where he belongs."
To get ashore Frank had first to swim off to the motor boat, for theskiff, as we know, had vanished. He then ran the engine-driven craft inalongside some rocks that sloped down into deep water, and from thatelevation the party embarked. A quick run was made to Motthaven, fromwhence a description of Duval was wired to the metropolitan police, andthe local authorities urged out of their usual lethargy by promises of areward if Duval was found. Late that afternoon the search yieldedresults in the finding of the abandoned skiff, and the discovery of thehut in which the Daniels had been living since the boys had institutedproceedings against them.
Some evidences of a hasty departure were found, but no clews that wouldgive any idea of whither the fugitives had proceeded. In fact it wasonly by piecing together some scraps of torn paper that it wasdiscovered that the hut had been used by the Daniels as a refuge.
"Well," said Dr. Perkins that evening, after they had bidden good-by toMr. Sterrett and his friend, who had returned to New York, "well, in myopinion the less time we lose in getting to Black Bayou the better itwill be, for, to my mind, there is little doubt that Duval means toforestall our friend, Ben Stubbs, in ransacking the wreck."
The others agreed that this seemed highly probable, and Dr. Perkins madeimmediate arrangements for a caretaker to occupy quarters on Brig Islandduring their absence. This done, a return was made to the littlesettlement, and the next day final preparations were made for theadventurous trip through the air. The _Sea Eagle_ was provisioned, and alight wireless apparatus installed, the stay wires being used asaerials. Of course the instruments were not so strong as those used atthe shore station, but it was calculated that they had a capacity ofabout twenty miles over land, and forty above the sea, depending, ofcourse, a good deal on the wave adjustment and the weather conditions.
Twenty-four hours after the adventurers had started work on the _SeaEagle_, the craft was ready for her dash. Ben Stubbs, Pudge Perkins andBilly Barnes were to go to New Orleans, there to await the arrival ofthe party. Their departure took place amid regretful wails from Pudge,who loudly declaimed:
"Aerials and ant-hills! I don't see why we can't go by the _Sea Eagle_."
But Dr. Perkins' word was law and he had decided that the fewer personswho took part in the test the better the chance of success would be, andas Frank and Harry were both experienced aviators he placed greatreliance in their aid. The morning after the departure of the NewOrleans-bound passengers the caretaker and his family arrived. They werehonest folk from the shore, who could be trusted to look after the manyvaluable devices on the island, and keep curiosity seekers off till theparty returned. For Dr. Perkins had decided to use Brig Island as apermanent workshop, and expected, if the _Sea Eagle_ proved a success,to build many craft like her and dispose of them at good prices. Theworking of the electric fence was explained to the caretaker; but hedeclared:
"I reckon my old gun will do more to keep undesirables off than any ofthem electric didoes."
There was now nothing more to do, the caretaker being duly installed,but to take to the air, in what was, at that date, the most uniqueaerial craft in existence. For the voyage, beside the provisions andextra fuel and oil, life belts had been provided, and not a detail hadbeen overlooked. It was seven o'clock on a fine, breathless morning whenDr. Perkins gave the order, "Start up the engines!"
A thrill shot through both Frank and Harry at the words. Experienced inaerial adventure as were both boys, they could not but feel that theywere embarking on the most adventurous undertaking of their lives.
"We're off!" cried Harry, as a quiver ran through the craft, and themotor roared from its exhausts, emitting clouds of mingled flame andblue smoke.
"Yes; off on a fight for fame and fortune!" cried Frank, as Dr. Perkinsthrew in the clutch; and, with her propellers beating the air so rapidlythat they were a mere blur, the _Sea Eagle_ shot skyward.
In half an hour's time, to the watchers on the island, the aerial crafthad dwindled to a mere dot in the distant sky, and five minutes latershe vanished from view. The boys gave many backward looks as they wingedaway from Brig Island. Despite their adventures, they had spent manypleasant days there, and it appeared to them to be almost a second home.Of all that they were to experience before returning to the island theylittle dreamed at the moment, but their hearts beat high with exultationas the _Sea Eagle_ winged her way southward at forty miles an hour, andabout five hundred feet above the ocean.
They had been in the air about an hour when they encountered a situationwhich may become common enough before many years have passed, but whichwas an exciting novelty to them. Off on the horizon a liner was sighted,steaming toward the American coast. Before long they made her out to bea big, two-funneled craft, painted black, and with numerous decks risingabove her shapely hull.
"One of the transatlantic liners that make Portland their terminal,"decided Dr. Perkins.
"Shall I wireless them?" said Harry.
"Yes, do so. It will be an interesting experiment, and besides will showhow the apparatus will work."
Harry lost no time in getting to work. After a brief interval he"raised" the operator on the liner, Dr. Perkins keeping the _Sea Eagle_swinging in big, lazy circles while he did so.
"We sighted you from the bridge half an hour ago," flashed the operator,"who and what are you?"
"The hydro-aeroplane _Sea Eagle_, bound from Maine for New Orleans. Whoare you?" flashed back Harry.
"The _Ultonia_, of the Portland and Liverpool line, eight days out fromEngland," was the rejoinder; "have you got any American newspapers onboard?"
Now it happened that Dr. Perkins had brought some papers of the daybefore along in his pockets, and at Harry's request he handed them tohim.
"What are you going to do?" asked Frank.
"I was going to suggest that we dive across the _Ultonia_ and deliverthe papers," said Harry; "can we do it, doctor?"
"By all means," rejoined Dr. Perkins, deeply interested; "flash them amessage of what we intend to do so that they may be prepared."
Harry sent out the message and the operator flashed back a quick"Thanks," adding the next moment: "Good-by. I'm going to beat it out ondeck and watch you."
Frank, in the meantime, had done the papers up in a compact bundle andweighted them with an empty beef can.
"All ready?" cried Dr. Perkins.
"All ready, sir," was the prompt reply from the boys.
"Then hold tight. I'm going to make a swift dive."
The liner was now almost directly underneath the soaring _Sea Eagle_.Her rails were black with passengers craning their necks upward at thegreat, man-made bird. From her funnels poured clouds of inky smoke,while her sharp prow cut the water on each side of her bow intosparkling foam. On the bridge were uniformed officers, pointingbinoculars and spy glasses aloft, for the operator had communicated thenews of what the _Sea Eagle_ was about to do.
Suddenly the watching throngs of ocean travelers saw the _Sea Eagle_poise in air like a hawk about to pounce. Then down she came, cleavingthe air like a falling stone.
A great cry went up from the packed decks. It seemed as if the air craftmust perish, that nothing could check her fall, and that she was doomedto plunge headlong into the sea. But in a flash the cry changed to amighty cheer.
Less than forty feet from the water the _Sea Eag
le_ was seen to shootupward and straight toward the steamer. Like an arrow from a bow thegreat aerial craft shot whizzing above the liner's bridge, and under thewireless aerials extending from mast to mast. Just as she roared byabove the officers' heads, like some antedeluvian thunder-lizard,something was seen to fall downward and land on the top of thecharthouse. It was the bundle of papers thrown by Harry. A sailorscrambled up and got them, while the crowded decks yelled themselveshoarse.
Then the _Sea Eagle_ soared up high above the mast tips, and Harryseated himself at the wireless once more. Presently to his ears came amessage from the speeding liner far below.
"Captain Seabury wishes to congratulate you on the most wonderful featof the century."