CHAPTER XIX

A DESPERATE RACE

From Denver to that part of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona where Snake Island might be located, the distance is about five hundred miles. Jerry had calculated this before starting, and he had told his chums that there was a chance of catching Noddy before the latter could reach the great gash in the earth that represented the canyon.

“For I don’t believe Noddy is going to be very expert in managing our _Comet_,” commented the tall lad. “He may know how to run an ordinary aeroplane, but when he gets mixed up with our dirigible balloon he’ll come a cropper, sooner or later.”

“Make it later,” advised Bob. “We don’t want him smashing our airship with any croppers.”

“Oh, I don’t know that he’ll take a tumble,” went on Jerry, “only he won’t know how to run her so as to get the best speed out of her. That means that he’ll be longer than he thinks he’ll be in getting to the canyon, and we’ll have a chance to catch up to him, even if he has a good start.”

“I wonder what he’ll do, if he does get to the canyon?” asked Ned, as, in response to a sign from Jerry, he adjusted the carburetor so as to give the engine a richer mixture.

“Why, he’ll hover over it, the same as we would, I suppose,” replied the tall lad, “and try to pick out Snake Island. He doesn’t know exactly where it is, any more than we do, but I guess there aren’t many islands in that part of the river, and so he won’t have much trouble picking it out. The only thing for us to do is to get there first.”

“Can we do it with this machine?” asked Ned.

“Well, it’s a pretty good craft,” replied Jerry, as he turned on more power, and did various evolutions in the air to ascertain how the _Chaser_ responded to the helm. “Of course she isn’t as speedy as the _Comet_, but she might be, with Noddy tinkering with our machinery, and not getting the best out of it. We’ve got to take our chance.”

The _Chaser_ was indeed a fine craft of her class, and soon the motor boys were high in the air, sailing in an almost direct south-western direction from Denver, to reach the Colorado.

For several miles they proceeded in a straight line, at a height of about a mile, as this gave them a good view ahead, unobstructed by any clouds which would have hampered them had they gone higher. But the clear air held not a speck that might be taken for the missing _Comet_. The boys strained their eyes in vain. They were making good time, and the wind cut into their faces, for there was no protection as in the comfortable cabin of their own craft.

“Don’t you think you might slow up a bit?” suggested Bob after a while.

“Why?” inquired Jerry.

“Because it’s ’most lunch time, and--er--well, you know you can hardly breathe if you open your mouth going at this speed, and if we try to eat any sandwiches we may get choked. So if you slowed up----”

“All right, Chunky, enough said!” cried Ned. “Slow up, Jerry, I’m hungry too.”

Accordingly the _Chaser_ was brought down to a speed that just kept her afloat, and Bob opened the lunch basket. It was no novelty for the boys to dine while high in the air, but it was rather more inconvenient in an open aeroplane than in the _Comet_. Still they managed.

They spent the afternoon going straight on, or circling about at times to cover a wider area, but with all their looking, and peering through powerful binoculars, they had no glimpse of the craft they sought. It was beginning to get dusk, and Jerry suggested that they had better go down, and seek a resting place for the night.

“There’s no use flying after dark,” he said, “and we can pick out a better landing place if we do it now, than if we wait until later.”

They were flying over a rather lonesome section of the country just then, and no houses were in sight. But, a little later, Jerry picked out a small cabin in the midst of a clearing in the woods, and said:

“I guess this will do as well as anything. It doesn’t look very big, but we can sleep out-doors if we have to.”

Jerry tilted the deflecting rudder, and the craft gracefully swooped down toward the earth. While yet a little distance from the ground the boys were surprised to see a tall, lank man, followed by a woman and several children, rush from the cabin, and take refuge behind a pile of wood. Then, as the airship came to a stop, after running across the ground on the bicycle wheels, a rifle was poked over the top of the logs, held unwaveringly on the three lads, while a voice drawled out:

“Hold on, strangers! I may not be able to manage one of them consarned flippity-flop shebangs, but I’m a tolerable good shot with this gun, and she goes off on a hair trigger. So if you don’t want to be made into coffee strainers, git!”

“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Jerry. “We don’t mean anything, we only want----”

“Ye can’t fool me!” cried the voice of the man who held the gun. As for himself he was hidden by the wood. “Ye can’t come none of them games on me. Keep hid, ’Mandy, an’ don’t let the children stick their heads up. I’ll drive these pirates off.”

“What do you take us for?” asked Jerry, in surprise.

“Kidnappers--that’s what! I’ve read about ye in the papers. Kidnappers, an’ bomb throwers, that’s what ye be. They had a exhibition over in Denver, an’ the papers told how they dropped bombs from them airships, an’ how they took children up in ’em. Ye can’t do that here. I’ve got nine, an’ I want every one. Keep hid, ’Mandy.”

“I guess you’re mistaken,” spoke Jerry with a laugh, which was a bit forced on account of the gun that seemed pointed directly at him. “We are neither bomb throwers nor kidnappers. I don’t know how the papers could have said that anything like that was done at the Denver exhibition. Of course there may have been some bomb-dropping contests, but only harmless chalk balls were used, and, as for children, I never heard of any being taken up in an aeroplane.”

“Ye know you didn’t read it yourse’f, pap,” interposed a woman’s voice from behind the wood pile.

“Well, Gabe Ralston were tellin’ me about it, an’ I reckon he can read,” declared the man.

“Now don’t be silly, pap!” went on the woman. “I’m sure them young men look harmless.”

“I assure you we are!” cried Jerry, and he quickly told why they were on the wing, and how they had happened to come down. “We’d like shelter and a meal, and are willing to pay for it,” he concluded.

At the mention of “pay,” the gun was at once withdrawn, and, after a moment of whispered conversation between the man and his wife, the former came out, looking rather ashamed of his action. He left his gun behind.

“Well, strangers,” he said, “I guess maybe it’s all right. I have to be cautious, you know, livin’ all alone as I do, with a wife an’ nine children t’ protect. Come out, ’Mandy,” he called, and a woman, followed by the nine youngsters, ranging in sizes like a “pair of stairs,” came from behind the wood pile.

The children, once they saw that no immediate harm was intended, gathered about the airship, as did the man and his wife. Soon there was a feeling of confidence and friendship, and the woman at once set about getting a meal. Jerry and his chums told how the craft worked, and the solitary farmer was much interested. He admitted that all he knew about airships was what Gabe Ralston had told him.

“An’ Gabe can’t read over’n above well,” the man added.

There was hardly room for the boys to sleep in the small cabin, and so, after a generous supper, they were given blankets, and made their beds out of doors. The night was a fine one, and they slept well. Jerry’s generous payment for the accommodation brought a storm of protest from the man and his wife the next morning. But the tall lad said:

“Oh, that’s not too much, but if you think it is----”

“Have ’em put us up a lunch,” suggested Bob in a hoarse whisper.

“Chunky suggests a lunch,” finished the tall lad with a smile, and the woman hastened to fill the basket.

For the rest of that day the motor boys circled about, or advanced swiftly in straight lines, ever seeking the _Comet_. But she was not in sight.

At noon they descended to renew their supply of gasolene, and the night was spent in a country village, where they created considerable excitement and interest.

It was about ten o’clock the next morning when Bob hastily caught up the binoculars, and directed them at a speck in the sky off to the left.

“See anything?” asked Jerry quickly.

“I’m not sure,” replied the fat lad, after an observation, “it’s either a big bird or----”

He did not finish his sentence, but his hands trembled slightly as he passed the glasses to Jerry. Ned reached over and managed the wheel while Jerry looked.

“It’s her all right!” suddenly cried the tall lad. “Now to catch him.”

“Is it Noddy?” asked Ned eagerly.

“It’s the _Comet_ all right,” was the answer, “and I guess Noddy’s on board. Now to see what the _Chaser_ is made of!”

Jerry opened the motor full, and with a roar that fairly shook the comparatively frail craft from end to end, she shot ahead, her propellers beating the air relentlessly.

“It’s going to be a desperate race!” cried Ned.

“And we’re going to win!” declared Jerry grimly.

The race was on. Faster and faster flew the _Chaser_, until, even without the glasses, it could be seen that she was drawing nearer to the _Comet_. A view through the binoculars showed that those on board the stolen aircraft were rushing frantically about, doubtless trying to develop as much speed as possible.

“Can you make it, Jerry?” asked Ned.

“We’ve _got_ to!” was the quick reply.

It was evident that the only hope the motor boys had of recovering their craft lay in the inability of those on board her to get out of her all the speed possible. With the machinery of the _Comet_ run to the best advantage, no other airship could catch her. But Jerry counted on Noddy and his cronies not knowing enough to do the right thing at the right time. Then, too, the _Chaser_ was very speedy when rightly handled.

Nearer and nearer crept the pursuing craft. She was directly in the rear of the _Comet_ now. Suddenly Bob cried:

“Jerry, they’re going up!”

“Then we’ll go too!” was the answer. “We can hit as high an altitude as they can.”

“And they’re flying as a dirigible, and not as an aeroplane at all!” added Ned. “They’re afraid to use the wing planes, Jerry! Maybe we can get ahead of ’em after all!”