CHAPTER XI.

OUTWITTING THE VILLAINS.

The attack was so sudden that Harding was taken off his guard.

He was instantly overpowered.

Barney let out a yell.

“Whurroo! Give it to the omadhouns! Blow ‘em to pieces, naygur! If yez don’t they will capture the air-ship!”

“Don’ yo’ fo’git dat dis chile will jes’ do dat!” cried Pomp. “Hi, dar! Look out fo’ dis coon!”

Then both discharged their Winchesters.

Two of the villains fell dead.

But the struggle now became close and hand to hand.

The two brave defenders were forced down the cabin stairs, and the gaucheros piled upon them.

They would have been killed in a twinkling, but the voice of the villain Vane rose above the fight:

“Don’t kill ‘em, boys! Capture ‘em alive! I’ve got use for ‘em!”

So Barney and Pomp were overwhelmed wholly by weight of numbers.

Thrown down, they were quickly bound and helpless.

Harding groaned in despair.

“It is all my stupidity!” he cried. “I should not have palavered so long with the dirty crew!”

“Och hone! an’ phwat will we iver do now?” bemoaned Barney. “Shure, the spalpeens have the best av us!”

“Massy sakes alibe!” wailed Pomp; “it was jes’ an unlucky day fo’ us when de air-ship struck dat are storm.”

As for Vane, he was elated.

Flushed with success, he came up to Harding’s prostrate form and gave it a kick.

“Well,” he cried, contemptuously, “the tables have turned, haven’t they? This time I’m on top. Do you know, why I spared the lives of all of you? That nigger and Irishman are to show me how to work the machinery of this air-ship. Then I shall take you up a cool thousand feet and let you drop gently to the earth. Will not that be pleasant?”

“Villain!” groaned Harding, helplessly.

Vane now went to Barney and Pomp.

He pleaded and threatened in turn, but the two faithful servitors were obdurate.

“The loikes av yez can’t fool me!” declared Barney.

Then from Harding Vane learned that the machinery was out of kilter.

Vane offered to allow Barney and Pomp to go on with their work of repairing, but they declined.

Thus the day passed.

The next morning found the crew of the Kite just as obdurate.

Another day wore away thus. Another night came and the second morning. Then an idea occurred to Harding.

They were confined in one of the staterooms. Vane himself held the cabin, and only a few of the gaucheros, who were dirty fellows, were allowed aboard.

“I will tell you, Barney,” said the young American in an undertone, “we don’t seem to be gaining anything in this way. Can we not work a sharp scheme upon the villains?”

“Shure, sor, av yez kin tell me——”

“I think I can!”

“All roight, sor!”

“Suppose you tell Vane that you have thought well of his proposition, and upon certain conditions will come to his terms?”

“Well, sor?”

“Repair the machinery and then tell him that the air-ship will only carry six people. That will be you and I and Pomp, with Vane and two of his men. You and Pomp can watch your chance after we get up in the air, rush down and cut my bonds, and we will make a fight.”

Barney’s eyes sparkled.

“Shure, sor,” he cried, “yez have hit the nail on the head, I’m shure.”

“Then you approve of the plan?”

“I do that, sor.”

“All right.”

A short while later Vane came into the stateroom.

Barney and Pomp affected exceedingly penitent attitudes. The villain noted this and at once said:

“Well, are you fellows going to come to terms?”

“Shure, sor, it’s av no use holding out any longer. If yez desire, we will upon some conditions do as ye say.”

“Good for you.”

Barney’s and Pomp’s bonds were quickly cut and they at once went to work upon the machinery.

In a very short time they had the electrical engines working all right.

Then Barney said:

“Now, sir, it’s all roight we are for the ascint.”

“Good!” cried Vane, eagerly. “I will take a dozen men on board and send the others overboard.”

“No, sir,” replied Barney, emphatically. “Yez can’t do that!”

“Why?”

“The air-ship will only carry up six people, sor. That is all.”

“Six!” said Vane, sharply.

Then he went to his men and conferred with them.

They rode away finally, all but two. These accompanied Vane on board the air-ship.

“Now,” said the villain, producing a couple of revolvers, “no treachery on the part of you rascals, or you die!”

The anchor was hauled in, and pressing the lever, the Kite sprang into space.

Up—up she went like a meteor.

The two gaucheros were for a moment terrified, and seemed anxious to jump overboard.

But Vane’s nerves were of steel, and he enjoyed the experience mightily.

Up, up went the Kite until objects upon the earth looked like mere specks.

At this juncture Barney appeared to be in much distress in the engine-room.

A heavy iron bar lay across a part of the machinery.

It was wedged between two cogs in such a fashion that one man could not pull it out.

Barney had purposely placed the bar in this position.

It was between some disused cogs of an extra engine, but nobody but the two, Barney and Pomp, knew this.

It did not in any measure affect the working of the engines, but Barney’s dodge was to pretend that it did.

“What’s the matter with you?” cried Vane, as he appeared in the engine-room. “What’s wrong?”

“Do yez see that bar, sor?” cried Barney.

“Yes.”

“Well, sor, it has fallen into the machinery an’ has been afther stoppin’ it. Shure, we kin niver stop the Kite from goin’ up av we don’t get it out.”

“You don’t mean it! Can’t you pull it out?”

“No, sor.”

“What difference does it make?”

“Shure, sor, the air-ship will go all av the way up to the ind of nowhere av we don’t get it out.”

The villain laughed.

“Shure, it’s no laughin’ matter,” declared Barney. “Afther we get up far enough we’ll all freeze to death.”

Vane began to wrench upon the bar.

It would not yield.

Vane stepped to the door.

“Gaspo! Miguel!” he cried. “Come here, you dogs!”

The two gaucheros came slinking into the engine-room. Vane put a hand upon the bar.

“Take hold of this with me, you rascals,” he cried, “and pull it out.”

The villains obeyed. All three lay back upon the bar.

It would have taken twenty men to have pulled it out.

Barney knew this, and stepped quickly to the keyboard.

It was a neat little trap which worked well. He pressed one of the electric keys.

The current from the dynamos shot into the cogs and thence into the bar instantly. The effect was thrilling.

The three villains clung to the bar yelling and writhing in pain. They were unable to let go.

Too late Vane saw the ruse, and fierce curses broke from his lips.

But Barney quickly put a stop to them. He shocked the villains into insensibility. All three hung limply from the bar.

Meanwhile Pomp had liberated Harding, and both came rushing into the engine-room.

“Bejabbers, I’ve got the three av thim!” cried Barney, triumphantly. “Shure, luck is wid us this trip.”

It was but a moment’s work to bind the three villains securely.

Then the question arose:

“What shall we do with them?”

The Kite was drifting over a vast lake many miles in extent, peopled with loathsome reptiles, alligators and snakes.

In the center of the lake was a small, barren island.

“Let us leave them down there,” said Harding. “They may get ashore the best way they can.”

Barney and Pomp were pleased with the plan, and the air-ship was allowed to descend. Just above the island it was brought to a stop.