CHAPTER XV
THE RESCUE ON THE LAKE
For a time the Falcon shot onward through the storm and darkness,for Tom did not want to give up. With but a single shaded light inthe pilot house, so that he could see to read the gauges and dials,telling of the condition of the machinery in the motor room, hepushed his stanch craft ahead. At times she would be forced downwardtoward the angry waters of Lake Ontario, over which she was sailing,but the speed of her propellers and the buoyancy of the gas bag,would soon lift her again.
"How much longer are you going to stay?" called Ned in his chum'sear--called loudly, not to be heard above the noise of the airship,but above the racket of the gale.
"Oh, I guess we may as well start back," spoke Tom, after a look atthe clock on the wall. "We can just about make our camp by daylight,and they won't see us."
"It won't be light very early," observed Mr. Whitford, looking inthe pilot house from the cabin, just aft of it. "But there is no usewaiting around here any more, Tom. They gave us a false clew, allright."
"Bless my police badge!" cried Mr. Damon. "They must be gettingdesperate."
"I believe they are," went on the custom officer. "They are afraidof us, and that's a good sign. We'll keep right after 'em, too. Ifwe don't get 'em this week, we will next. Better put back."
"I will," decided the young inventor.
"It certainly is a gale," declared Ned, as he made his way along adim passage, as few lights had been set aglow, for fear of thesmugglers seeing the craft outlined in the air. Now, however, whenit was almost certain that they were on the wrong scent, Tomswitched on the incandescents, making the interior of the Falconmore pleasant.
The giant came into the pilot house to help Tom, and the airship wasturned about, and headed toward Logansville. The wind was nowsweeping from the north across Lake Ontario, and it was all thepowerful craft could do to make headway against it.
There came a terrific blast, which, in spite of all that Tom andKoku could do, forced the Falcon down, dangerously close to thedashing billows.
"Hard over, Koku!" called Tom to his giant.
As the airship began to respond to the power of her propellers, andthe up-tilted rudder, Tom heard, from somewhere below him, a seriesof shrill blasts on a whistle.
"What's that?" he cried.
"Sounds like a boat below us," answered Mr. Whitford.
"I guess it is," agreed the young inventor. "There she goes again."
Once more came the frantic tooting of a whistle, and mingled with itcould be heard voices shouting in fear, but it was only a confusedmurmur of sound. No words could be made out.
"That's a compressed air whistle!" decided Tom. "It must be somesort of a motor boat in distress. Quick, Mr. Whitford! Tell Ned toswitch on the searchlight, and play it right down on the lake. Ifthere's a boat in this storm it can't last long. Even an ocean linerwould have trouble. Get the light on quick, and we'll see what wecan do!"
It was the work of but an instant to convey the message to Ned. Thelatter called Mr. Damon to relieve him in the motor room, and, a fewseconds later, Ned had switched on the electricity. By means of thelazy-tongs, and the toggle joints, the bank clerk lifted the lanternover until the powerful beam from it was projected straight downinto the seething waters of the lake.
"Do you see anything?" asked Mr. Damon from the motor room, at oneside of which Ned stood to operate the lantern.
"Nothing but white-caps," was the answer. "It's a fearful storm."
Once more came the series of shrill whistles, and the confusedcalling of voices. Ned opened a window, in order to hear moreplainly. As the whistle tooted again he could locate the sound, and,by swinging the rays of the searchlight to and fro he finally pickedup the craft.
"There she is!" he cried, peering down through the plate glasswindow in the floor of the motor room. "It's a small gasolene boat,and there are several men in her! She's having a hard time."
"Can we rescue them?" asked Mr. Damon.
"If anybody can, Tom Swift will," was Ned's reply. Then came awhistle from the speaking tube, that led to the pilot house.
"What is it?" asked Ned, putting the tube to his ear.
"Stand by for a rescue!" ordered Tom, who had also, through a windowin the floor of the pilot house, seen the hapless motor boat. Themen in it were frantically waving their hands to those on theairship. "I'm going down as close as I dare," went on Tom. "Youwatch, and when it's time, have Koku drop from the stern a long,knotted rope. That will be a sort of ladder, and they can make itfast to their boat and climb up, hand over hand. It's the onlyplan."
"Good!" cried Ned. "Send Koku to me. Can you manage alone in thepilot house?"
"Yes," came back the answer through the tube.
Koku came back on the run, and was soon tying knots in a strongrope. Meanwhile Ned kept the light on the tossing boat, while Tom,through a megaphone had called to the men to stand by to be rescued.The whistle frantically tooted their thanks.
Koku went out on the after deck, and, having made the knotted ropefast, dropped the end overboard. Then began a difficult feature ofairship steering. Tom, looking down through the glass, watched theboat in the glare of the light. Now coming forward, now reversingagainst the rush of the wind; now going up, and now down, the younginventor so directed the course of his airship so that, finally, therope dragged squarely across the tossing boat.
In a trice the men grabbed it, and made it fast. Then Tom hadanother difficult task--that of not allowing the rope to becometaut, or the drag of the boat, and the uplift of the airship mighthave snapped it in twain. But he handled his delicate craft of theair as confidently as the captain of a big liner brings herskillfully to the deck against wind and tide.
"Climb up! Climb up!" yelled Tom, through the megaphone, and he saw,not a man, but a woman, ascending the knotted rope, hand over hand,toward the airship that hovered above her head.