CHAPTER XXI.
“FEATHERED AEROPLANES.”
The professor’s observations that day showed that they were within twohundred miles of where the fabled city ought to lie, always supposingthat it really had an existence. But you may be sure that not one ofthe Motor Rangers doubted that fact.
The course was altered, and the _Discoverer’s_ bow turned toward someragged-looking peaks that cut the sky line to the northwest. Thecountry over which they were now passing was, as has been said,desolate in the extreme. It appeared to have been devastated byearthquakes or forest fires, and the vegetation was scanty, while thesurface of the ground was split, and scarred and hillocked like acrumpled bit of parchment. But toward afternoon the character of thescenery changed. The mountains grew in gloomy grandeur and were clothedwith dense tropical growth. Between the great masses and loftyelevations lay dark and unfathomable chasms, at whose depth only aguess could be made. It was wild and dismal scenery, and, viewed evenfrom above, oppressed the travelers with its sense of lonely vastness.
The _Discoverer_ was not making as good time as usual, owing to a stiffheadwind. Then, too, the engine had not developed its full power sinceits freezing up in the upper aerial regions. But the professorannounced himself as well satisfied with their progress. Matcogradually got over his first fear of the air travelers and talked tothe professor in his rough Spanish, which Nat could hardly understand,so besprinkled was it with mispronunciations and Indian words.
The old Indian was much interested in trying to find out what the whitemen,—for he no longer thought them gods,—were doing in that part of thecountry. But the professor deemed it wisest not to tell him. Ultimatelythey would have to set him free, and if he knew too much of theirexpedition he might make trouble for them with the other Indians.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and Nat was seated in the cabinreading a book on the Incas, when a hail from the pilot house broughthim to his feet. Joe, who was at the wheel, was calling him.
“Nat! Nat! Come out here—quick!”
Nat lost no time in obeying. As he joined Joe the latter excitedlypointed ahead of the _Discoverer’s_ bow.
“Look at those birds, Nat; they are the largest I have ever seen. Iwonder what they can be?”
The birds referred to were flying and wheeling in great circles above aravine some distance off, but far off as they were, it was easy to seethat they were of immense size.
“They are bigger than the biggest turkey buzzard I ever saw inCalifornia,” said Nat, gazing at them. “Let’s have a look through thefield glasses.”
He took the instruments out of their box near the helmsman’s wheel andapplied them to his eyes.
“Why, they look like small aeroplanes!” he exclaimed in astonishment.“Their wing spread must be ten or twelve feet, judging from here.”
“How many of them are there, anyhow?” demanded Joe.
“Easily fifty, I should say. Maybe more. It would be impossible tocount them accurately.”
“They are right on our course,” said Joe, glancing at the compass, “sothat we shall soon have a close view of them.”
“I’ll go and rouse the professor. He’s taking a nap; but I know he’dlike to see such a sight.”
And Nat hastened off on his errand.
By the time he returned with the professor, the _Discoverer_ was muchcloser to the giant birds. The man of science scrutinized them throughthe glasses.
“Condors,” he announced. “This is most interesting. These birds are thelargest birds of prey in existence. Humboldt, the famous traveler, saidthat Indians told him that they had been found measuring eighteen feetfrom wing tip to wing tip.”
“Well, I should say they _are_ aeroplanes,” exclaimed Nat. “Do theyever attack men?”
“Cases of it are not unknown,” said the professor, “and almost everyAndean village has a story about a condor flying off with a baby. As amatter of fact, though, I guess they confine their attentions mostly toyoung sheep or calves light enough for them to carry.”
As they drew closer to the soaring mass of birds, they could see thatif they were interested in the birds, the birds were quite as muchinterested in them. One or two began making long, wheeling arcs thatbrought them closer to the _Discoverer_.
“I guess they are wondering what sort of a bird we are, anyhow,”laughed Nat.
Indeed, it seemed so. Almost imperceptibly the birds gathered about the_Discoverer_, wheeling and screaming all about the craft. It could nowbe seen that they had sharp, large, hooked beaks, and a ruffle of darkflesh at the bottom of a flabby neck. Their wings were of a dull graycolor, with black tip feathers, and were of a sweep and size undreamedof hitherto by the boys.
“They look like the harpies we used to read about in school,” said Joe.
“They do, indeed,” said the professor. “One could readily imagine suchcreatures tearing unfortunate human beings to pieces.”
“They don’t seem afraid of us, anyhow,” said Nat suddenly, as one ofthe great condors swept by quite close to the _Discoverer_ and uttereda wild scream that sounded like a cry of defiance.
“No, they don’t. I—— Bless my soul, they are attacking us!” cried theprofessor as two or three of the birds flew at the gas bag with beakand claw.
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“Now, boys,” spoke the professor, “we must use our bestmarksmanship on these creatures.”]
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“Get out the rifles, quick!” cried Nat. “They’ll tear the bag open ifthey keep that up.”
“They will, indeed!” said the professor apprehensively. “Shoo!”
But he might as well have said “Shoo!” to a tiger as to the giant birdsof prey that now surrounded the _Discoverer_ on every side. Angryscreams and the rushing noise of huge wings filled the air.
Nat returned with the rifles, and with Ding-dong Bell, who had already,from his post at the engines, observed the great birds.
“Now, boys,” spoke the professor, “we must use our best marksmanship onthese creatures. They are a real menace to the ship.”
Nat took up his position at one side of the pilot house, Ding-dong Bellat the other, while the professor aimed from the centre window.
At the word “fire!” from the professor, all three rifles began to pumplead into the wheeling, circling, screaming flight of condors.
Several stopped abruptly in their soaring circles and fell to theearth, stricken to death. But others, that were only wounded, foughtwith more fury than ever. The attack by the adventurers appeared toenrage them. They flew furiously at the _Discoverer_, and one or twoeven dashed themselves at the pilot house.
But after ten minutes or more of steady firing their numbersdiminished. The ones that were left began to sheer off, and finallytook flight away from the invaders of their realm. The noise of thefiring brought Mr. Tubbs and Matco out of the cabin, and both watchedwith interest the effects of the fusillade.
When it was over, and the _Discoverer_ had left the last of the greatbirds behind, old Matco spoke excitedly in Spanish to the professor.
“What does he say?” asked Nat, when the old man had finished whatappeared to be a tirade against something or somebody.
“He says,” rejoined the professor, “that what we have done is verygood. That when he was a youngster he was carried off by one of thesebirds. His mother, who rushed out to save him, was attacked by thecondor’s mate and so seriously maimed and torn that she died.”
“But how did he escape?”
“His father shot the bird that was carrying him off, with one of thepoison arrow tubes,” rejoined the professor, “both the bird and theinfant fell to the earth, and Matco says that is the reason his leg isso twisted and that he walks with a limp.”
The boys found this very interesting. It explained, too, something thatthey had noticed
before, and that was that old Matco walked with adecided limp.
“Tell us something more about the condor, professor,” suggested Nat.
“As I think I said,” rejoined the professor, “it is one of the vulturefamily, and is found from the Isthmus of Panama clear down to theStraits of Magellan. They usually live in the mountains, but sometimesthey come down to the seashore to pick the flesh of dead whales. Infact, they have a preference for dead or decaying flesh.”
“Just like turkey buzzards,” said Joe.
“They are a first cousin of that bird,” said the professor. “A friendof mine, who had been a great traveler in South America, told me oncethat the Indians will catch them for two dollars each, and thatsometimes they do quite a lively trade.”
“I shouldn’t much care to have one for a pet,” spoke Joe; “but how dothey manage to get hold of such immense birds?”
“By a very simple and ingenious method. They build a pen around thecarcass of the first dead steer they can find on some cattle estancia,and then await the arrival of the condors to feast on the flesh.
“The condor, when he is gorged, cannot rise without taking a run——”
“Just like an aeroplane in that, too,” commented Nat.
“That is true,” said the professor. “Well, as I was saying, the birdcannot rise without this preliminary run, and, of course, the picketfence interferes with this. That is the condor catcher’s opportunity.He throws a lasso around the bird he has selected and lets the condorfight till he is exhausted. Then he throws another and another till Mr.Condor is tired out. That done, the bird is placed in a rough cage andconveyed to the customer.”
“That’s a lo-lo-lot of work for t-t-t-two d-d-d-dollars,” stutteredDing-dong Bell.
“Any kind of work would be hard for you,” grinned Joe, which almostprecipitated a fight. Nat checked it.
“Don’t roll overboard on this craft,” he said, “even if there aren’tany sharks about.”
“Humph! I don’t know that they are much worse than those condors,” wasJoe’s comment.
As for Mr. Tubbs he heaved a sigh.
“If only I’d got a moving picture of that fight with the condors,” hesaid regretfully.