CHAPTER XIV.--THE BATTLE IN THE AIR.
The smoke was driving fiercely through the green trees on the slope, andthe line of fire was not far in the rear. Every moment the wind gainedforce, every minute the flames leaped higher and faster.
The foresters felling trees and clearing a space at an advantageouspoint some distance in advance of the flames were working blindly,mechanically. The heat was intense, the smoke suffocating, irritating,blinding. The shirts of the workers were open at the throat, their coatshad long ago been lost as they had been beaten back from one stand toanother.
Now and then a worker dropped senseless in his tracks, his lips crackedwith the heat, his face blistered, his tongue lolling from his smartingmouth like that of an overworked horse. Then the men who were able tomove and understand would carry him back to a spot of supposed safetyand return to re-engage in the almost hopeless fight, the battle whichthe flames were winning in every charge and sally.
The aeroplane, after a narrow escape from destruction, landed on alittle rise of ground back of the working line when the wind lulled foran instant, and hope shone in the faces of the astonished men whogathered about to greet the unexpected arrivals.
"We can master it," Green, the leader, said, after many questions hadbeen asked and answered, "if we can be supplied with water. We wastedour supply wetting our clothes a long time ago, and are suffering."
"Get us water," shouted another, "and we'll win yet."
"There's a spring three miles away," Green went on, speaking in Ned'sear, for the roaring of the flames drowned all ordinary conversation."If you can take our water bottles there and fill them we can beat thisblaze. If you can't we've got to retreat and let the whole district burnover."
"I have very little gasoline," Ned replied, "but I'll try."
"We sent two men out not long ago," Green continued, thrusting hisscorched face close to the boy's. "We sent them out with water bags, butthere are no trails, and It will take them hours to make the spring andreturn. With your aeroplane you ought to do it within half an hour."
"Fire fighters marooned without a supply of water, or a trail cut to aspring!" shouted Frank, scornfully. "Great head some one in authorityhas!"
"There are no trails, no telephones, no horses!" cried Green. "It looksas if the government sent us here to die. Hurry up with that water."
"If the gasoline holds out," Ned said, loading a dozen water bags on themachine, "I'll be back here in less than half an hour, bar accidents."
"There is plenty of gasoline back there in the shanty," cried Green. "Wehave been using it lately in starting back fires, but the wind is nowtoo strong for that. Get a move on, and take all you want."
In a short space of time, but not without great risk, the tanks of theaeroplane were filled, and then Ned took in the general situation in thesky. The wind was blowing in puffs, but it was certain that a miniaturetornado was at hand. He thought he could reach the spring, which hadbeen described as lying to the southeast, but was not certain that hecould make his way back.
He believed, however, that by flying either very low or very high up, soas to get all the protection possible from the mountain, or escape thesweep of wind just above the fire, he might be able to bring in one loadof water before the worst of the wind storm came. He knew that it was analmost unheard of thing to even try to navigate the air in such a gale,but human lives were at stake, and he decided to try.
"You'll have to help me up against this wind," Ned said to Green. "If Istart with the air current I'll be carried too far to the east before mypower begins to become effective. If I can hold my own against the winduntil I get above the smoke I think I can win the game."
It was a desperate expedient, but it appeared to be the only possibleone. If the men had water they might succeed in stopping the fire andsaving millions of dollars worth of timber. If the fire gained the upperhand they might lose their lives. The men cleared and smoothed a pathfor the run of the wheels, by great exertion sent the machine along atgood speed, and then stood and watched it with anxiety depicted in theirfaces.
The great white bird quivered in the face of the wind, but the motorswere true to their duty and the rudder held. To turn about in the faceof that rush would be impossible, so Ned worked his levers guardedly andkept the wings as level as he could. Now and then a swirl of heated airwould shake the hopes of those watching below, but in the end theaeroplane drifted slowly ahead, up, higher up, and was lost in thesmoke.
"The lad is worth his weight in gold!" shouted Green. "He'll do it! Iknow he'll do it!"
"Powerful motor," one of the foresters said. "When we saw the machinelast she was actually holding her own against the wind."
This was, indeed, the fact, but the wind was not as strong in the higherlevels as at the upper limit of the heat from the fires. A great fireusually brings a great wind, as those who witnessed the burning ofChicago and San Francisco well know. The hot air rises, forming apartial vacuum, and the colder air rushes in.
Ned and Frank gained the spring, filled their water bags and startedback. It was no easy task to land near the spring in that whirl of wind,nor yet an easy task to get the aeroplane into the air again, but thefeats were accomplished. Often after that exciting day the boys declaredthat they had no idea how they ever did it.
"We were excited," Frank would say, "and took chances, everything workedin our favor, and we loaded the water. We knew that lives were at stake,and it seemed that we had the strength of a score of men, and the coolheads of men far beyond all excitement. I never saw anything like theway Ned handled the levers. The wings and the rudders seemed to me towork on a brain suggestion rather than on a movement of the levers."
But the most difficult part of the journey still remained to beaccomplished after the water had been secured. The 'plane was muchheavier and did not respond so readily to the hand of the driver, andthe return course was quartering against the wind. Ned, however, did notattempt to move directly toward the destination he sought.
Instead he sailed off to the south, working west as much as possible. Hetacked as a yacht tacks in the wind and came near upsetting severaltimes. He found it impossible to sail low on account of the eddies andcurrents created by the heat, and so lifted the machine far up into theair. It was better sailing there, and he managed to get as far west ashe thought necessary.
But he could not see the landing place. Below was an ocean of smoke, thewaves heaving in the touch of the wind, the edges now and then tippedwith flame. Above the sun smiled at him, and the birds flew excitedlyabout, peering down at the threatening roll of clouds.
"I'm afraid," Frank said, grasping an upright and clinging to the waterbags.
"I never was so frightened in my life," Ned called back, lifting hisvoice so that it might be heard above the snapping of the motors.
"I didn't finish," Frank called back, his heart thumping loudly. "Iwanted to say that I was afraid we'd sweep past the workers when wedescended into the smoke and the swifter breeze near the earth."
"I said just what I wanted to say," Ned answered. "I never was half soscared in all my life."
Yet his hand on the lever was steady, his brain was as cool as if he hadbeen sitting in the Wolf Patrol club room in New York. He knew that thedip of a wing a foot lower than he intended might send them both intothe blazing forest below. He was afraid, but not with a shrinking,physical fear, but afraid because he understood the peril he wasin--because he knew that upon his efforts depended the lives of theheroes in the heated hell below.
"We've got to go into that mess of smoke, I suppose?" shouted Frank.
"There is no other way," Ned called back. "We've got to dip down lowenough to see the line of fire and take our chances on landing where thefighters are. You understand that they are farther to the east than whenwe left them?"
"Of course they have been driven back," Frank said. "I never thought ofthat. We may not be able to find them at all."
Ned shut his teeth and settled his jaw.
> "We've got to find them," he said.
A long, sullen roaring, like the beating of waves on a beach in a storm,now reached the boys' ears, even shutting out the chattering of themotors. It came from the west, and passed along, as it seemed, below thelevel held by the aeroplane, now high up in the air.
"If we don't get down there pretty soon," Ned said, shouting, "we willbe too late. That wind will join the different fires and make oneroaring mass of the whole northwest. I wish I knew just how far theforesters have been driven back."
"Do you know where to look for them, north or south?" asked Frank.
"There is a peak to the west and one to the east," was the reply. "Theyare on a line with the two. But the trouble is that we can't see thepeaks after we drop down into the smoke."
"There appears to be a little lull in the wind now," Frank said,shutting his lips tight, as a man does when about to make a suddenplunge into unknown waters.
The remark was suggestive. Ned knew by it that his chum had bracedhimself for the dash.
"Here we go, then," Ned replied. "Remember that we'll go about eightymiles an hour when I turn the motor on full head, and that we can't bemore than five miles from the spot where we left them, so keep your eyesout."
The aeroplane dipped gracefully as Ned touched the lever. In a minutethe boys were surrounded by smoke. It was hot smoke, too, and madebreathing difficult. Their eyes smarted until their faces were wet withnature's protest against such irritation of the organs of sight. Thechuck-chuck, snap-snap of the motors was in their ears, the seats theyoccupied--frail rests between life and death--shivered under thepulsations of the machine.
Now and then the aeroplane dipped frightfully, but the wings and therudders brought it back again.
"Can you see the earth yet?" asked Frank, In an awed tone, which soundedlike a whisper in that clatter.
"We seem to be over the fire," Ned returned.
And that was all. There was no need of conversation. In all their livesthey would never be so near to a frightful death as they were then.
First they caught sight of a rocky ridge. Ned knew where that was, andrealized that he was still in the direct line of the workers. Beyondthis ridge, he knew, was a valley, so he must drop down. The workerswere on a level beyond the valley, a great plain of fir and pine betweengigantic ranges of the Rocky Mountains.
The aeroplane trembled as she dropped, swiftly, apparently straightdown. Frank grasped his upright and prepared to spring out of thewreckage when it fell, if there was anything to fall from after thetrees had had their way with the frail machine.
The smoke was blinding. Nothing could be seen but smoke for a time. Thenthe dark gray clouds turned red, and Ned knew that he was nearing theadvance line of the fire, and that it was mounting to the very tops ofthe giant trees on the plain--or elevated plateau, rather, for, thoughcomparatively smooth of surface and heavily timbered, it was far abovesea level.
If you look on an enlarged map of northern Montana you will see that theRocky Mountains do not consist of one great, massive range. There areridges and valleys, and plateaus extending for hundreds of miles alongthe British frontier. There are peaks from which the snow neverdisappears, and there are timber lines which crawl almost to the summitof other peaks. There are fertile valleys where cattle grow fat, andgreat gorges where beasts of prey await their victims in thickets.
It is the timber on this great stretch of country that the United Statesgovernment is trying to save.
The heat was blistering now, and Ned feared for the safety of hisgasoline tanks. At a motion from him Frank removed his coat, carefully,for a slight movement in the air is sometimes productive of disastrousresults, placed it over the tanks, after a great effort, and managed tosaturate it with water from one of the bags.
Through the smoke a line of tree tops now came into view, low down, andthe boys knew that they had passed the fire line. Ned tried to slowdown, but found that he must keep the motors going in order to retaincontrol of the machine.
"There's a clear space ahead!" Frank shouted, and Ned dropped. Then agiant trunk obtruded itself, and the boy tried to dip and whirl so as tododge it, but the pressure of the wind was too strong.
The machine headed straight for the tree, which seemed to Frank to beabout a thousand feet high.
"Hang on to the first thing that comes to your hands if she strikes!"Ned shouted. "But stick to the 'plane as long as she is clear. There maybe a current of air which will sweep us away from that tree."
"Here's hoping!" Frank gasped back, and then the smoke shut out theview, making the situation doubly dangerous.