CHAPTER XIVLOST
“It’s no use, Dave.”
“Why not?”
“We’ve shouted ourselves hoarse, and in this still air and the way we have kept up the hollering, anyone could hear us five miles away, it seems to me.”
“Then there is only one conclusion to arrive at,” observed the young aviator quite seriously.
“What’s that, Dave?”
“We are lost.”
“I reckon you’re right,” assented Hiram ruefully, dropping to the ground and reclining on the grass.
His companion followed his example. It was six o’clock in the afternoon, the sun was descending, and at the end of ten hours spent in persistent search of a town or settlement, this had been the result of their hard travel and laborious investigations.
The trio who had left theAlbatrosshad kept together until about noon. Not a wagon track or even a footpath had they come across, much less a human habitation. The landscape seemed as wild and untenanted as if it were a primeval wilderness.
“I hardly know what to do,” said the old aviator, about the middle of the afternoon, as they concluded a rest and a lunch.
“Yes, we may go on for miles and miles and not run across a human being,” returned Hiram, who was tired out.
“I have half a mind to return to theAlbatrosswhile we are pretty sure to find our way,” remarked Mr. King; “and advise that we make an air flight for civilized territory.”
“We might try as far as the other side of that big hill,” suggested Dave, pointing to a lofty eminence in the distance.
“That may not be a bad idea,” replied Mr. King. “See here, we’ll make a circuit. It can’t be over a few miles. I’ll trail the valley this way; you boys take the other direction, and we’ll meet on the other side of the hill.”
“That’s a good arrangement,” declared Hiram; and the divided journey was begun.
It proved a very unwise experiment, the way things turned out. The circuit was not so easy to follow as it had seemed. Pursuing a ravine and its branches, at the end of three hours the boys found themselves inextricably mixed up as to location or direction, with so many hills in view that they could not tell which was the one they had had in view when they separated from the aviator.
“Yes,” observed Hiram now, looking rather hopelessly about them; “we’re lost, that’s sure.”
“Then the thing is to find ourselves,” said Dave, cheerily.
“Worst of all, Mr. King has got all the lunch,” mourned Hiram. “See here, Dave, when are you going to make a start from here?”
“Why, when we get rested we’ll press right forward and get to a town or back to theAlbatross.”
“That’s easily said; but not done.”
“Well, we can try; can’t we?”
“I suppose so.”
Hiram was out of sorts. His gloom somewhat abated, however, and finally walking on, they came across a big patch of wild raspberries. When, a little later, Dave discovered a pecan tree, Hiram quite recovered his spirits.
“I hardly hope to rejoin Mr. King,” said Dave. “I think I can keep the general direction of theAlbatrossin view. What I say is to brace up and keep steadily ahead for a few hours, and see if we don’t come across something encouraging. There’s a full moon, you know. Besides, at night we could make out lights at a distance. You see, even if we fail, we can surely get back to the airship.”
“Not if we lose our reckoning.”
“Yes, even then,” persisted Dave.
“How can we?”
“Why, I heard Professor Leblance tell Mr. King that if we did not return by midnight, he would have the big searchlight on theAlbatrossat work.”
“That’s grand!” cried Hiram, bracing up magically. “We can see the searchlight for a good many miles, you know.”
The wayfarers threaded several tortuous valleys. They reasoned that if they could get out of the mountains they were sure to come upon some little farm. It was near dusk when Hiram, who was a little in advance of Dave, shouted suddenly:
“Here’s something!”
“What is it?” questioned our hero, hurrying up to where he stood.
His companion held up what looked like a broken tree branch, only the bark had been peeled off from it, and one end had evidently been fashioned into a handle with a pocket knife.
“Someone driving live stock has been here—lately, too,” declared Hiram, inspecting the whip. “It broke, and he threw it away. Hold on. I was long enough on a farm to trail a cattle track, if there’s one around here. Yes, there is,” and the speaker’s tone rose in volume as he bent over and, running along, inspected the ground keenly.
“Found it?” asked the young aviator, pressing close after his comrade.
“Yes. It’s plain enough, now. Come on, Dave; we’re in luck, sure.”
They could now make out a beaten track, and tell the irregularities in the ground made by the trampling of many feet. The track finally ended at the edge of a small stream.
“Here’s where they forded the brook,” explained Hiram. “We’ll take off our shoes and stockings and wade over.”
This they did. The opposite bank gained, they saw through a fringe of bushes what looked like a level field. They could hear occasional bleatings.
“Oh, say, we’re all right now,” declared the sanguine Hiram.
They hurried on their shoes, eager to pursue their investigations.
“The sheep are over yonder,” said Hiram, pointing to a corner of the field. “We’re surely near some farm now. I shouldn’t wonder if we found some one guarding the sheep, too, for—hear that!”
It was the echo of distant yelping and barking to which Hiram called attention.
“Wolves?” asked Dave, guessing quickly.
“That’s what; I know them. Saw lots of them when I was out West. Come ahead. We’re going to find somebody right away, I’m sure.”
The boys now noticed a little knoll. The bleating sounds seemed to echo from behind it. As they started up the incline, Hiram grabbed his companion in some affright and dismay, and both fell back startled.
A sudden flash split the air. It started a sweep in a perfect circle, like a revolving searchlight. Its bright rays sent out a glare a hundred yards from its base. Then, the circle complete, as suddenly it died out.
“Now what do you think of that?” gasped the bewildered Hiram. “Worse, and more of it!”
Bang!
From the same spot, just as abruptly, some gun or cannon belched out a sheet of flame, followed by a report that awoke the echoes for miles in every direction.
Facing a mystery they could not explain, the two young aviators stood staring mutely towards the spot from which flash and report had so unaccountably come.