CHAPTER IV
THE ARMY AVIATORS
Dick, Paul and Innis set off at a quick pace toward the stream whichflowed at the foot of the broad expanse of green campus and paradeground. As they hurried on they were joined by other cadets in likehaste.
"What is it?" asked the young millionaire.
"Don't know," was the answer. "Something happened on the river, that'sall I heard."
Dick and his chums were soon in a position to see for themselves, andwhat they beheld was a curious sort of raft, with torn sails, or so atleast it seemed, floating down with the current. Then, as the watersswirled about the odd craft, a piece, like the tail of some great fish,arose for a moment.
"What in the name of Gatling guns is it?" asked Paul, wonderingly.
"It's the airship!" cried Innis. "My cousin's wrecked airship! Itmust have been stuck in the mud, or held by some snag, and now it'scome to the surface. We ought to get it. He'll want to save it. Maybehe can use part of the engine again, and he's out of funds to buy a newone, I know."
"Besides, he wants to see if it had been tampered with by someone so asto bring about an accident," suggested Paul.
"We'll get it!" cried Dick. "Come on! In my motor-boat!"
The speedy watercraft was in readiness for a run, and the three cadets,racing down to her, soon had the motor started and the bow of the boatpointed to the floating airship. The latter was moving slowly from theforce of the current, which was not rapid here. The affair of wings,struts, planes and machinery floated, half submerged, and probablywould not have sunk when the accident occurred except that the greatspeed at which it was travelling forced it below the surface, even asone can force under a piece of wood.
But the wood rises, and the buoyant airship would have done the same,perhaps, save for the fact that it had become caught. Now it was freed.
"Make this rope fast to it," directed Dick, as he guided his motor-boatclose to the airship. "We'll tow it to the dock."
Paul and Innis undertook this part of the work, and in a few momentsthe Mabel, Dick's boat, was headed toward shore, towing the wreckedairship. A crowd of the cadets awaited with interest the arrival.
When the Mabel had been made fast to the dock, other ropes wereattached to the aircraft that floated at her stern, and the wreckedbiplane was slowly hauled up the sloping bank of the stream.
"Some smash, that!"
"Look at the planes, all bent and twisted!"
"But the motor is all there!"
"Say, she's bigger than I thought she was!"
Thus the young cadets commented on the appearance of the craft as itwas hauled out. Word had been sent to Mr. Vardon and his helper tocome and look at the salvaged wreck, and they were goon on the scene,together with Larry Dexter, who, as usual, was always on hand whenthere was a chance to get an item of news.
"I'll get another scoop out of this for my paper!" he exclaimed toDick. "Then I guess I'd better be getting back to New York. They maywant to send me on some other assignment, for it doesn't look as thoughI'd do any more flying through the air in that machine."
"Say, don't be in too much of a hurry to go away," remarked Dick, as heceased from pulling on the rope attached to the wrecked airship.
"Why not?" asked Larry. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you're not on any regular news stunt just now; are you?"inquired Dick, of the young reporter. "That is, you don't have toreport back to the office at any special time."
"No," replied Larry. "I'm a sort of free lance. I'm supposed to belearning how to run an airship so I can qualify, and get a license, andbe able to help out the paper on such a stunt if they need me. Theyassigned me to this Mr. Vardon because it looked as though he had agood thing. Now that it's busted I suppose I'll be sent out with someother aviator, and I'd better be getting back to New York and find outwhat the paper wants me to do."
"Well, as I said, don't be in too much of a hurry," went on Dick with asmile.
"You talk and act as though there was something in the wind," remarkedLarry.
"There is, and there's going to be something more in the wind soon, or,rather, in the air," said Dick. "I might as well tell you, I'm going tohave an airship, and--"
"You are!" interrupted Larry. "Good for you! I'll give you a goodwrite-up when you make your first flight."
"I wasn't thinking so much of that," proceeded the young millionaire."But when I do get my airship I'd like to have you make some flightswith me. That might serve your end as well as going with some otheraviator, and you could be getting in the practice that your paper wantsfor you."
"Fine and dandy!" cried Larry. "I'm with you, Dick. I'll send off awire at once, and let the managing editor know I'm going to get righton the flying job again. This will be great!"
"I don't know that there'll be such an awful lot of news in it atfirst," went on Dick, "for I've got to learn this art of flying, and Idon't expect to do any hair-raising stunts right off the reel.
"But, Larry, there may be other news for you around this Academy soon."
"Real news?"
"Yes. You probably heard what Mr. Vardon said about his machine beingtampered with."
"I sure did. And I think the same thing myself. It worked toperfection the day before, and then, all at once, she turned turtle.The gyroscope equilibrizer must have broken."
"Well, you can see what happened, for we've got her out of the waternow," said Dick. "And there may be more news when the army aviatorsarrive."
"Are they coming here? I hadn't heard. I've been so busy gettingstraightened out after my plunge into the river."
"Yes, they're coming here to give us instructions, and there may be allsorts of stunts pulled off. So you'd better stick."
"I will, thanks. But I'm mostly interested in your airship. It surewill be great to take a flight with you. But there's Mr. Vardon. Iwant to hear what he says."
The aviator, and his helper, who had almost fully recovered from theirnarrow escape from death, were carefully examining the airship whichwas now hauled out on a level spot in the campus, just above the riverbank. Eagerly the cadets crowded around the machine.
"Come here, Grit!" called Dick to his prize bulldog. "First you knowsomeone will step on you, and you'll just naturally take a piece out ofhis leg. You don't belong in a crowd."
Grit came at the word of command, and Dick, slipping on the leash, gavethe animal in charge of one of the orderlies to be taken to the stable.Grit whined and barked in protest at being separated from his master,but Dick wanted no accidents.
"Do you find anything wrong?" asked Innis of his cousin, as the latterwent carefully over each part of the wrecked airship.
"Well, it's hard to say, on account of there being so many brokenplaces," was the answer. "The engine is not as badly smashed as Iexpected, but it will take some time to examine and test the gyroscopeattachment. I shall remove it and set it up separately."
"Well, it's my opinion that it was monkeyed with, and done on purpose,too!" declared Jack Butt. "And I could almost name the fellow who didit. He was--"
"Hush! No names, if you please," interrupted the aviator. "We willinvestigate first."
"All right, sir! Just as you say," grudgingly agreed the other. "Butif ever I get my hands on him--!"
Jack Butt looked rather vindictive, and probably with good reason. Forhad he not been near to death; and, as he thought, through the evilwork of some enemy.
The wrecked aircraft was hauled to one of the barrack sheds, which Mr.Vardon announced would be his temporary workshop for possible repairs.
The rest of that day, and all of the next, was spent by Mr. Vardon intaking his wrecked machine apart, saving that which could be usedagain, and looking particularly for defects in the gyroscopestabilizer, or equilibrizer. Larry and Jack Butt helped at this work,and Dick, and the other cadets, spent as much time as they could fromtheir lessons and drills watching the operations.
For the students were much i
nterested in aviation, and, now that it wasknown that the army aviators were to come to Kentfield, and that DickHamilton, one of the best liked of the cadets, was to have a bigairship of his own, many who had said they would never make a flight,were changing their minds.
It was one afternoon, about a week following the wrecking of Mr.Vardon's machine, that, as the cadets in their natty uniforms weregoing through the last drill of the day, a peculiar sound was heard inthe air over the parade ground.
There was a humming and popping, a throbbing moan, as it were, anddespite the fact that the orders were "eyes front!" most of the cadetslooked up.
And they saw, soaring downward toward the campus which made an ideallanding spot, two big aircraft.
"The army aviators!" someone cried, nor was there any rebuke from theofficers. "The army aviators!"
"At ease!" came the order, for the commandant realized that thestudents could hardly be expected to stand at attention when there wasthe chance to see an airship land.
Then a few seconds later, the two craft came gently down to the ground,undulating until they could drop as lightly as a boy's kite. And, asthey came to a stop with the application of the drag brake, afterrolling a short distance on the bicycle wheels, the craft weresurrounded by the eager cadets.