CHAPTER XXITHE HAUNTED AIRSHIP
“Say, fellows, this is life on the ocean wave worth seeing, isn’t it?”
Hiram Dobbs spoke the words, and his auditors and jolly companions were the young aviator and Elmer Brackett. It was the second evening out of sight of land. TheAlbatrosshad made splendid speed, and the machinery had acted like a charm. Just about dusk, however, Professor Leblance had ordered a drop to lower level.
“There is a low barometric pressure,” Dave Dashaway had heard him say to Mr. King. “There is bound to be a change in the air currents shortly, and I want to determine our course from the way they act. There are some repairs to make, also, and we will slow down for at least two hours.”
The boys were immensely interested in the manœuvers of their craft under the direct manipulation of the professor. TheAlbatrosswas brought to the surface of the water, resting on itsfloats as easily and gracefully as the great ocean bird it was named after. A hint from the cook sat Hiram thinking. Fresh fish would come in very acceptably for breakfast next morning, he told Dave, and the trio decided to take the lighter of the two boats and see what they could catch.
Mr. King warned them to keep within hailing range of the airship and provided them with trolling lines. The young aviator and Elmer plied the oars and Hiram did the fishing. He was gloating over the occasion with satisfaction, and made the enthusiastic remark which heads the chapter as he deposited a final catch, a fat codfish, in the bottom of the boat.
“That will do, Hiram,” directed Dave. “We have got more fish already than we can use in a week, and some of them look as if they were not in the eating class. The cook will know.”
“Yes, and see, we are quite a distance from theAlbatross,” put in Elmer.
A weird warning wind sang about them just then. The boys had been so engrossed in their sport they had failed to notice that some scudding clouds had obliterated the stars.
“Get to work, Elmer,” ordered Dave, picking up the oars. “We must be a full mile from theAlbatross.”
“Yes, and maybe that storm Professor Leblance told about is going to catch us,” remarked Elmer, he too getting in shape for a row back to the airship.
The minor headlight of theAlbatrossguided them, and for this, a dim spark in the distance, the little yawl was headed. The water had become choppy, but the oarsmen felt equal to the task of the moment.
“Just see that!” shouted Hiram, as a phosphorescent streak crossed their course. “It’s like a streak of fire.”
“There’s another one ahead,” said Elmer.
“Yes, and look! look!” exclaimed Hiram. “It’s a shoal of fishes. Big fellows, too. Say, see them leap out of the water.”
It was a stimulating sight and a novel one to the boys. They were now within less than a quarter of a mile of the airship. As Hiram spoke, the big searchlight of theAlbatrosssuddenly flared up. It signalled the boys to return, as Dave understood it.
“Say, I’m going to make a throw for one of those big fellows,” declared Hiram.
“Don’t do it. Whew!” exclaimed Elmer. “They are big fellows. Did you feel that?”
Some object had landed against the side of the yawl, nearly tipping it.
“It’s a big fish, almost as big as a shark!” shouted Hiram. “They’re chasing the smaller ones. Whoop! I’ve caught something. Hurrah! Slow down! Oh, the mischief!”
All in a fleeting second the excited lad shouted out, tugged at the trolling line, bracing his feet against the bottom of the boat, and then—flop! splash!
“Stop the boat!” rang out the voice of the young aviator, sharply, for Hiram, his hand tangled in the trolling line, had been pulled clear over the end of the yawl. His startled comrades saw him disappear, and strove staunchly to put the boat about. As the craft half turned, there was a shock and a crash.
A giant fish, perhaps a shark, had struck the boat amidships. The craft was splintered in half as quick as a flash. The next minute the young aviator and his companion were struggling in the water.
The big marine monster had apparently gone straight on its way in pursuit of a disappearing phosphorescent mass. Dave grabbed out at the one floating half of the wrecked yawl.
“This way—Hiram! Elmer!” he shouted at the top of his voice.
“I’m here,” panted Elmer, as he reached Dave’s side and grasped the edge of the floating wreck.
“Where’s Hiram?”
“U-um! Thunder!” puffed the individual in question. “I’m safe, but my big catch got away, line and all.”
“Never mind that now,” replied Dave. “We’re in a serious fix, fellows.”
“And all the fish in the boat gone, too,” mourned Hiram, dolefully.
“See here, both of you,” ordered Dave, decisively, “don’t waste any time. We don’t know what kind of danger hovers about us. Yell!”
“Good and loud!” agreed Hiram, letting out a terrific warwhoop. The others chorused in. Dave believed that their forlorn hail might have some effect.
“They’ve heard us,” cried Hiram, joyfully.
“Yes, here she comes,” added Elmer, in a relieved tone.
The searchlight on theAlbatrosswas suddenly shifted. Its broad, groping rays were focussed on the sea, searching for the castaways. The glowing pencils of light came nearer and nearer. Finally the full dazzling gleam swept the wreck and those clinging to it, and rested on it.
“They have seen us,” declared the young aviator, as the searchlight maintained a full focus directly upon them.
“And what next?” inquired Hiram.
“We will have to wait and see,” replied Dave.
Relief and rescue came almost magically quick. The larger yawl of theAlbatrossglided across the broad path of light, the veteran airman, the anxious Grimshaw and two others its occupants.
“This ends all experiments in the fishing line,” declared Mr. King. “It is a wonder some of those sharks did not attack you.”
“The searchlight probably scared them away,” suggested Grimshaw.
The adventure furnished a fruitful theme for discussion when the boys were once more back in the comfortable cabin of the airship. Hiram, however, continued to expatiate on his great catch and greater loss.
“I’ll bet it was a dolphin pulled me out of the boat,” he declared. “Just think of it, fellows—catching a dolphin! That’s something to brag about.”
A storm set in within the hour and theAlbatrossspeedily sought a higher level. All the boys knew about it was what Mr. King told them the next morning. The pleasing swaying motion of the giant craft had lulled them to sound and refreshing slumber.
It was again after dark the next evening when the cook came into the cabin, and looked at Mr. King in a manner that made the airman inquire curiously:
“What’s on your mind, Demys?”
“Why, I found a window broken in the room just beyond the larder,” reported the cook.
“Hailstone, maybe,” said Mr. King, casually; “you know we had some last night.”
“Yes, I know that,” replied the man. “Later to-day I noticed two more panes of glass cracked right across.”
“Perhaps the big strain of the wind in the storm last night weakened them,” suggested the airman.
“Maybe,” assented the cook, vaguely. “Funny thing, though. I set a pan of beans in the room to cool before supper. When I went after them just now I found nearly half of them gone.”
“Is that so, now?” questioned Mr. King, beginning to get interested.
“Say, don’t you suppose it was rats?” propounded the quick-thinking Hiram.
“No, sir!” declared the cook definitely. “I have never noticed a trace of rats in theAlbatross.”
“Then I’ll bet it’s another stowaway—say, just like Elmer here was.”
All hands laughed abruptly at this unique piece of guesswork.
“I reckon I was the only intruder aboard, Hiram,” remarked Elmer, good-naturedly.
“Well, the beans are gone and somebody ate them,” said the cook. “It couldn’t be anybody of the crew, for no one has passed through the galley but myself, and the room I speak of is beyond it.”
“Suppose we investigate?” suggested the young aviator.
“That’s it,” agreed the impetuous Hiram. “Come on, fellows.”
All hands followed the cook to his quarters. They inspected the galley and then entered the room beyond it. Sure enough, there was the dish of beans, nearly half its original contents missing.
Hiram and Elmer explored every nook and corner of the place where there was the least opportunity for a stowaway to hide. Their search was without results.
“It’s certainly something of a mystery,” decided the young aviator. “Those cracked windows, too. Why,” he added, examining them closely, “it looks as though some one had deliberately hammered on them until they gave way, as you see.”
There was another sensation the next evening. The cook came rushing into the cabin. Mr. King happened to be on hand.
“I’m getting superstitious and scared,” declared the cook.
“What’s up now?” interrogated the airman.
“Enough for anybody’s nerves,” reported the man. “Sounds, scrapings, sort of low groans. I’m beginning to believe the airship is haunted.”
“Nonsense!” said Mr. King. “When did you hear these strange noises you describe?”
“Just now. See here, some of you come with me and see if you can figure this thing out.”
The boys were ready enough for the investigation. The cook led them to the galley, and they sat down as he put out all the lights.
“Now keep perfectly quiet and listen patiently,” directed the young aviator.
“There’s something,” spoke Hiram in a hoarse whisper, as a queer cooing sound came from the watched room. “Gently, now,” he added and crept through the doorway.
There was a fluttering sound. Dave traced it to a corner of the room where there were some boxes. The noise came from behind them. He groped with his hand, and his fingers finally grazed a feathery, shrinking object.
“Flare a light,” he called out instantly. “I’ve caught the stowaway.”
“Who is it? what is it?” cried Hiram, rushing forward as the electric lights were turned on.
“Why, it’s a bird—a pigeon,” announced Dave, dragging into view a ruffled, timid dove. “Here’s your mystery explained. The bird must have been driven through the broken window during that storm the other night. The poorthing was famished and ate the beans. Then it cracked the window panes trying to get out again.”
“You’ve got it, Dave,” declared Hiram, “only, say, what is that fastened under its wing?”
“Why, sure enough,” said Dave, observing what looked like an oilskin package fastened with silk cord under the wing of the bird. “Fellows, this must be a carrier dove. We must see Mr. King about this.”
The airman inspected the oilskin package. He read a written enclosure it contained.
“This is a trained passenger pigeon,” he said. “Started from Rio de Janeiro and carrying a message to its former home in Washington. Feed up the bird, boys, and we’ll send the brave little thing again on its journey.”
The next morning when the carrier pigeon was set free, started landwards, it bore a second message. This told the world that the giant airship was eight hundred miles on its trip across the broad Atlantic.