THROWING OFF THE MASK
"Do you think he saw us, Frank?" asked Andy, after they had found a place where they could peep around a corner, without being discovered.
"Well, that's more than I can say," the other replied. "We took every precaution, and unless he has mighty sharp eyes he couldn't have glimpsed us."
"And you think it's safe for us to stay here, eh, Frank?"
"Certainly," replied the other. "We're in a position to make a move any old way from here. There isn't one chance in ten of his coming around the corner; and if he does make a show of doing that, why we can be sitting here, playing mumble-de-peg, or something like that, just as if we didn't care whether school kept or not."
"Bully for that; who cares for expenses? Look, Frank, I was right, you see, for it was the little profess after all."
"Yes, sure enough. Careful now, Andy, and don't let him see you peeping. That'd give the whole thing away quicker than anything else."
They had both selected positions where they could see without attracting attention. And it was with considerable eagerness that they fastened their eyes on the figure of the small, wiry man who was sauntering along toward the farmhouse, carrying a butterfly-net across one shoulder, while with his other hand he held a queer-shaped black case, which, as Sallie said, contained his more recent captures in the way of beautiful and rare moths and insects.
"That's his stiff arm, Frank; see how he moves it—the one hanging down, I mean, with black box—good gracious! now, I wonder—"
"H'sh!" whispered Frank, "not so loud; he might hear you."
"Not with the roosters crowing like they are," said Andy confidently. "But just glimpse the black box would you, Frank?"
"I am looking," returned the other.
"He calls it the receiver for his new butterflies, but looks more like a kodak to me," Andy went on. "But d'ye know what I thought, Frank?"
"Tell me," whispered the other, still watching the professor, who had come to a stop at some little distance away, and seemed to be busily engaged looking back of him, as though laying out plans for an afternoon campaign among the bright winged butterflies.
"Why, how easy for him to tear out the inside works of a camera box like that, and make use of it for a better purpose, see?" Andy went on to say.
"Oh! now you've got a bright thought for a fact," Frank sent back, careful not to raise his voice above that cautious pitch.
"Well, it could be done; and I guess that little black box'd hold about all the money and securities that the bank lost. They say the thieves only picked out the papers they could dispose of, and left all the rest, which would indicate that the second yegg must have been in the banking line, some time or other, and knew what was what."
"H'sh! he's coming on again! Lie low, now; Andy!"
Accordingly both of them remained perfectly motionless as the professor advanced toward the house. Had he shown any disposition to head toward that particular corner Frank was ready to assume an attitude of indifference and appear to be engaged in some boyish game with his jack knife, tossing it up in the air, and causing the point of the long blade to stick upright in the ground.
But the small man with the brown glasses and the butterfly net made straight for the front porch of the house, and passed in at the door, just as though he felt perfectly at home there.
"Well, what next?" remarked Andy.
For reply the other beckoned, and started hurriedly to gain the shelter of the woodshed near by.
"What's this for?" questioned Andy, when they were once more crouched down, in a position where they could not be easily seen.
"Stop and think," answered the other; "if he just happened to look out of a window on this side of the house he'd see us easily and our suspicious actions would tell him we were on to his game. Now even if he looks he won't see anything."
"Huh! and do we stay here all afternoon just doing nothing; while p'raps he's taking a nap indoors?" grumbled the other, who wanted to be moving, and was never satisfied when not in action.
"Wait!" was all Frank would say.
Perhaps he could see further ahead than his cousin, and guessed something of what was likely to occur. They had not taken pains to warn Sallie or her mother to keep from mentioning the fact of their happening around; and chances were, that as soon as Casper Blue heard that the Bird boys had dropped in, he would become immediately suspicious.
On questioning the girl he would be apt to learn how curious Frank and Andy had seemed about him; and Sallie might even admit that they had asked to see his wonderful collection of rare and costly butterflies.
Well, if such a thing did occur, of course the keen-witted man would immediately know that the cat was out of the bag. Realizing that there must be a great hue and cry throughout the entire county just then, with reference to the yeggs who had looted the bank, he could easily imagine what had brought these boys here.
Through association with Todd Pemberton, Casper must have learned a whole lot with regard to Frank and his cousin. Being an aviator himself he would naturally take an immediate interest in boys who had given such a good account of themselves in the field of aeronautics. The attempt to steal the hydroplane in the first place before they turned to Percy Carberry's biplane proved that they knew all about the Bird boys. And so, learning of their presence would immediately give Casper warning that his hideout was no longer a secret, but that the net of the law must be closing around him.
What then?
Would he, like a desperate man, attempt to capture these venturesome lads, so as to keep them from informing the authorities at Bloomsbury? Either that, or else he would think that, since the game was up, and they could no longer loiter in the neighborhood of the aroused district in order to carry out the second part of the great scheme, they had better take to the aeroplane and vanish from view, leaving no trail behind by means of which they could be followed.
Frank had said all this in his mind when he lay there and waited to see what would turn up. He felt that they could surely afford to linger for some time, if there was any chance of learning whether the yeggmen meant to change their plans, or proceed to carry out their original scheme.
All seemed quiet at the farmhouse.
Sallie had come out on the porch, and looked rather disappointed to find that the two boys had strangely vanished. She stood there glancing around in a puzzled manner for several minutes, and then with a pretty shrug of her shoulders, and a pout of her lips whirled about and went back into the house again.
"Wow!" said Andy in a low tone, "she's got it in for you, Frank, because you dropped out of sight without even so much as saying goodbye."
But the other was thinking of weightier matters than the humor of a little coquette. He wondered whether Sallie would run across the professor and ask him if he had met two boys down the lane; which remark would excite his suspicions, and lead to other questions, now on his part.
If nothing happened inside of half an hour. Frank was of a mind to try the plan that had come to him—sending Andy off to try and reach some other farm where they would have a telephone; while he himself remained to keep watch.
That might necessitate taking Sallie into their confidence, for they would need to ask questions, and perhaps borrow a horse. On second thought Frank was now a little sorry he had not seen fit to tell the girl all. She seemed to be fairly clever, and could possibly keep a secret. At any rate, the chances of discovery would not be nearly so serious as now, when in her ignorance she was likely to blurt out all about the boys having been there, without knowing that in so doing she might be assisting clever yeggmen to avoid arrest.
The seconds moved along and changed into minutes.
If the professor had come to a window on that side of the house to look anxiously around, he must have been careful not to expose himself, for though Frank had kept a keen lookout he had failed to see anything of him.
It was getting very much of a bore to Andy. He changed his position restlessly several times, as though he wished Frank would make some sort of a move, he hardly cared what its nature so long as it meant action.
But although Andy could not see it at that moment, there were lively enough times ahead of them to please even his impetuous nature. And the passage of every minute brought the crisis closer and closer.
Once Frank believed he heard loud voices inside the farmhouse; and at the same time some one was certainly hurrying back and forth. But then possibly that might be only Sallie, obeying another call from the kitchen, where the good woman was so busily engaged with her canning operations.
Something like twenty minutes must have passed since the boys made their change of base. To Andy it was much longer, for he felt the time pass as though it had leaden wings.
Then Frank, watching, saw some one come hastily out of the front door, pass quickly down to the path, and move away in the direction of the lane.
"He's going off, Frank!" exclaimed Andy, all excitement, just as though he half expected that his companion would give the word that meant an immediate pursuit.
"Yes; keep quiet, Andy!"
"But he'll give us the slip, don't you see?" persisted the other.
"Let him, then; we can't help it. You can see that he's made quite a change in his looks, as though he's thrown the mask off, and doesn't expect to play the part of a collegeman and a bug collector any more," Frank whispered.
"That's so, he hasn't got the brown glasses on, and that old butterfly net is missing; but Frank, just notice, won't you, how he hangs to that little camera-like black box. Say, perhaps I was right after all; perhaps Casper Blue is carrying all that stuff cribbed from the Bloomsbury bank, inside the same."
The two boys crouched there behind the woodshed and by cautiously peeping around the corner could watch the late boarder of the Hoskins hurrying down the lane, as though he had received a hasty summons from the president of his college demanding an immediate return.
He seemed uneasy and suspicious, for several times he turned his head and looked this way and that, as though half expecting to discover some person ready to dispute his departure. And Frank also noted the way one of his hands had of keeping in the pocket of his short coat; just for all the world as though he might be grasping some sort of pistol that was concealed there.
SALLIE RIDES BAREBACK
"And now what's our next move?" demanded Andy, who generally found it very nice to let Frank do all the planning, though capable of taking hold himself when forced to do it.
Fortunately Frank had a great way of figuring out what he would do under certain conditions. This gave some sort of assurance when difficulties arose; for there was little time lost in fixing things up so as to have a programme.
"No use trying to follow after him, to begin with," he declared.
"Why do you say that?" his cousin wanted to know.
"First of all, it would be a bad business, because he's on his guard, and a desperate man," Frank went on to explain. "You can see that he's ready to pull out a weapon of some sort at the first warning. And we settled that we didn't want to fall into the hands of these two bad men. So we'll have to arrange things along a different line. And anyhow there's no terrible hurry, because I rather guess they've got the biplane hidden some distance away from here. It would take half an hour, perhaps much more, before they could get out. And we can reach our craft in a few minutes, if pushed."
"Yes, that's all so, Frank; but go on, and tell me the rest."
"I was thinking that we ought to try and let our folks know how things are going with us, so that if we have to cut out after these yegg aviators they'll know where we've gone. Suppose, now, you hunt Sallie up, and try to explain it all to her just as fast as you can."
"Who, me? Oh! well, I guess I can do it, if I have to. But what will you be doing all that time, Frank?"
"I want to write a message to either your father, or else Judge Lawson, whichever she can get on the phone," replied the other, immediately hunting in his pockets for pencil and paper, which he made it a habit to carry around with him always.
"She—say, do you mean Sallie, Frank?"
"No other. You must coax her to saddle up a horse, and make for the nearest neighbor where they've got a phone; get that, Andy?"
"But do you think she will?" asked the other, dubiously.
"I'm dead sure of it," came the confident reply. "Sallie has a touch of romance in her make-up; and besides, shell be so mad to think of that man deceiving her mother that she'll want to have him caught. Get along with you, now, Andy, and fix it all up inside of ten minutes. I'll have the message written out by that time, so she can start, if there's such a thing as any kind of a horse around this wreck of a farm."
And so Andy, glad at least to have something to do, hurried toward the house to look for the country girl.
Left alone, Frank continued to write as plainly as he could what he wanted those in Bloomsbury to know about matters in general. He used as few words to cover the case as possible, but gave the leading points, even to stating his fear that the scoundrels who had robbed the bank, and were plotting to also make a descent on the pay-car of the railroad that night, had now taken the alarm, and would be off in the stolen biplane.
In that event Frank wanted the police in Bloomsbury to know that he and Andy had started in pursuit; though what they could do to apprehend the rogues of course he was in no position to declare.
By the time he had this finished to his satisfaction he heard voices near by, and was glad to see his cousin coming, accompanied by Sallie.
The girl looked duly excited, just as Frank had expected. There were a thousand questions in her eyes, but he cut all this short.
"We can't stop to tell you any more now, Sallie, but we promise to drop in again after it's over, and explain all that seems queer to you now. Here's the message that we want to get to Bloomsbury the worst kind, and as quick as you could get on a horse and ride to the nearest neighbor who has a phone in the house. You'll do this for us, won't you, Sallie?"
Few people could say no to Frank once he wore that winning smile, and Sallie immediately declared that she was ready to do anything he suggested.
"To think of that little scoundrel fooling us all, and pretending to be a college professor!" she remarked, indignation flashing from her black eyes.
"I hope you've got a horse," said Frank, sticking to the business in hand.
"Oh! yes; we have one left that might do," Sallie answered.
"Then let's get him saddled right away," Frank went on.
"Can't," she snapped back, "ain't such a thing as a saddle around here any more. But I'm a country girl, you know, and I can ride bareback all right. A halter's the only bridle I want, Frank. Give me the message, and I'll see that it gets to somebody in Bloomsbury."
"And here's some money, Sallie," the other went on.
"What! do you think—"
"There might be something to pay, you know, and we can't afford to take chances when there's so much at stake. Thank you a thousand times for helping us out, Sallie. Now, please get the horse. I'd like to see you started before we pull out, because we may have to chase after these fellows in our aeroplane, if they take a notion to fly away."
The girl hastened to lead the way into the stable where they did find an apology for a horse, which she immediately unhitched, and led outside.
"Hope she doesn't happen to run across that man on the way, because he might wonder what was taking her off like that, and do something to turn her back. What if he found your message on her, Frank?" and Andy, as he said this, turned an anxious gaze upon his cousin.
But Frank shook his head.
"I saw him dodge out of the lane and take to the woods," he remarked, "as though he knew of a short-cut across lots to the place where his friend and the biplane were hidden. No danger of his seeing Sallie, so don't mention it to her. Wait, I'll give you my hand to help you up, Sallie!"
But the country girl had led the horse alongside the drinking trough, and was on his back in a jiffy, long before Frank could come across.
"Goodbye, and good luck, boys!" she called back, as she gave the horse a switch with the end of the halter, and was off at a lumbering pace.
They stood there a minute or so watching the girl flying down the lane. She turned around once, and waved her hand at them, while her long hair blew behind in a cloud. Frank would not soon forget the sight of Sallie Hoskins going to carry the news to a point where it could be telephoned in to town—news that would cause a tremendous wave of excitement to pass over the whole of Bloomsbury.
"Hurrah! that's done, and well done too, Frank, I say!" exclaimed Andy, turning on his cousin with a face that plainly said, "What's next on our programme?"
"Before we pull out I guess we owe it to the good woman to tell her something of the truth, for I don't believe she knows a single thing about it from Sallie or the professor. So come along to the kitchen with me, Andy. Then we'll chase off to where we left our aeroplane, and stand ready for anything that may happen."
The two of them quickly reached the kitchen door. Inside they found Mrs. Hoskins, tired looking and red of face, still busily engaged with her canning operations; for peaches were ripe, and tomatoes needing immediate attention if she hoped to lay away her customary stock for the coming winter.
She came to the door where it was cooler, a look of rising curiosity on her patient face. And Frank started in to tell what he thought necessary. She was at first much worried to learn that she had been innocently harboring a criminal under her humble roof; but Frank soon allayed her fears on that account.
He also told her how Sallie had consented to ride over to a neighbor to send a telephone message for him, so that the good woman might not be worried over her absence.
And now, having done what he considered his duty, Frank began to think it might be the part of wisdom for himself and his cousin to consider their own affairs, and make for the spot where their hydro-aeroplane lay in the field.
"Oh! I do hope they are caught," said the farmer's wife. "Just to think of that easy talking little man being a desperate criminal! I shall be afraid to stay all alone in the house after this."
"Listen, Frank; somebody's shouting out there. What if both of those yeggs are coming back to get us?"
Andy had clutched the sleeve of his cousin's coat when saying this; but Frank did not need to be told that something like excitement was bearing down upon them.
"Oh! it's Jerry, my husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Hoskins just then, "and he seems to be dreadfully excited, too. Listen to him calling to me! I wonder what could have happened. What if he's gone and cut himself badly, always digging and making holes in the ground, since that silly old fortune teller said he would find a mine on the farm. And here he comes too!"
Just then a figure came staggering around the corner of the house. It was the old farmer, plainly tremendously excited, and although weak and almost out of breath from running, trying to tell her something.
"It's there, Jennie—found it, wife—ain't had all my work for nothin' I tell you! A vein of hard coal, think, enough to make us all rich! D'ye hear that, Jennie, girl, rich! Gimme a drink of water, for I'm nigh dead from runnin' to tell you the great news. Who's these boys, wife? Where's Sallie at?"
Frank would have liked very much to remain and hear the particulars of the farmer's good luck in locating a vein of coal on his property; but time would not permit. He only hoped Hoskins was not mistaken, for traces of coal had been known to exist around that neighborhood for some time, though up to now none had been found in paying quantities for mining purposes.
"Come on, Andy, we'll have to be skipping out. Please tell your husband all you know about what's happened, Mrs. Hoskins. Hope you have struck it rich, sir."
With that Frank hurried off, Andy trailing behind. The farmer stared after them as though hardly knowing what to make of it all; but they could hear the good woman begin to explain, and had no doubt she would be able to satisfy his reasonable curiosity.
For the time being the Bird boys must forget all about what lay in the past, because it was the future that should interest them wholly. They had reached a point in the hunt where perhaps a sudden change of plans would be necessary; particularly if those they followed had taken the alarm, and were ready to shake the dust of this section of the country from their shoes.
Away from the farmhouse hurried the two young aviators, making as near a bee line for the field where they had left their aeroplane as they could possibly manage, and all the while searching the sky for signs of the other flying machine.
AN AEROPLANE CHASE
"Here it is, and everything seems all right!" remarked Andy as they reached the field, and found the hydro-aeroplane just where they had left it.
"Yes, no one has disturbed a thing, which I think is lucky for us," Frank went on to say, as he proceeded to put back the small part he had taken away with him, and thus place the machine in perfect condition for business.
Andy moved about, looking to see that all obstacles threatening to interfere with a successful launching were removed from in front of the waiting aeroplane.
So minutes passed, until at least ten had crept by since their coming. Frank had everything tuned up, and knew of not the least chance where he could improve the conditions of planes or motor, for all seemed to be as nearly perfect as they could be made.
Both boys cast frequent glances aloft, and as a rule toward that particular quarter where they presently expected to see something moving. They were keyed up to a pretty lively pitch of excitement, though Frank did not show it half as much as his younger cousin, who was always affected this way.
Then suddenly Andy called out:
"There she rises, Frank! Oh! look at them boring up, will you, in that corkscrew spiral way! Tell me that Casper Blue doesn't know his business; Perc will never get as much out of his biplane as that old and experienced aviator means to. Are we going to follow suit, Frank?"
"Get aboard!" came the prompt answer; and it was almost laughable to see how nimbly Andy obeyed this order.
Frank lost no time in starting, and they went away with a rush, passing over the abandoned field that was now given up pretty much to thistles and burdocks, with a sprinkling of iron-weeds.
It was rather rough sledding, to be sure, and as the bicycle wheels pounded over the turf the boys had to hold on to keep their seats.
But when sufficient momentum had been acquired, Frank elevated the fore plane, and immediately there was the greatest relief felt; for they began to rise in the air, and all that terrible bumping stopped for good. The change was wonderful, and it felt as though they were gliding on velvet.
"We're off!" exclaimed Andy, exultantly.
Frank said nothing. He did not possess quite the same sanguine nature that his cousin had. Andy seldom allowed thoughts of possible disaster to annoy him, but on the other hand Frank was always trying to head off trouble.
He realized that with this launching of their new hydro-aeroplane they would be entering upon an extra hazardous game, the outcome of which no one could foresee. The two men whom they expected to follow must be desperate fellows, who would resort to almost any hazard rather than allow themselves to be caught.
And it was not an amateur aviator like Percy Carberry who was opposed to them now, but one who had had long experience in the art of harnessing a flying machine to do his bidding.
Once they left the ground behind them, Frank started to spiral upward much in the same way the others had done. One thing he was glad of, and this was the presence of Andy alongside. Casper Blue might be a daring air pilot, but with his companion a perfect greenhorn in all that pertained to the art, he would be more or less handicapped. A sudden incautious movement on the part of the novice might prove the undoing of the precious pair.
Once they had risen to a certain height, and the aeroplane was turned so as to follow the other air craft, which was speeding away, headed directly into the north. Of course, those aboard must know that they were being chased. They could not have failed to see the hydroplane, (as it is generally called, though the true word to cover it would be hydro-aeroplane) even before it left the field, once they started to ascend.
"Well, we're off at last!" commented Andy, in a satisfied tone, when the course had been taken, and they were following directly after the fugitive air craft.
"And let's hope we'll come out of this adventure as luckily as we have on other occasions," remarked sober Frank.
"Wonder if Perc happens to be looking this way right now," Andy went on to say. "Chances are, that he's got his old field glass leveled, and is searching the heavens right along, in hopes of locating his lost machine. And say, if he does glimpse this fine parade right now, can't you see him turning green with envy to think of another glorious chance coming to the hated Bird boys. Oh! my, oh! me! but it would be gall and wormwood to Perc. Just as like as not he'd take a fit!"
But Frank was not giving any time to such thoughts as these. More serious affairs engaged his attention. When once he left the firm footing of the solid earth, and invaded the upper currents where up to lately man had never traveled, save in a drifting balloon, he always put levity aside, and paid strict attention to business.
The panorama below them was constantly changing, and the boys could not but admire the pictures thus presented to their gaze. No matter how often one may go up a thousand feet or more above the earth, it is next to impossible to weary of the wonderful scenes that keep passing constantly in review as the buzzing motor keeps carrying the aeroplane along over plain, valley, hills, forests, rivers, and villages or towns that chance to lie in the route.
To Andy it was all somewhat in the nature of a grand picnic, for his nature was not one to contemplate peril at a distance. Had he and Frank just come out for an hour's spin he could not have shown more delight, as they went whirling through space, with that rival flier a mile or two ahead.
"Do you think we're gaining on them?" asked Andy, after some time had elapsed, and the country below began to get unfamiliar, proving that they had now come beyond the range of any previous trip taken to the northward of Bloomsbury.
"I don't know for sure," replied his cousin. "Sometimes I think we are, and then again I'm a little in doubt. Suppose you get the glass out, and see what they're doing, Andy?"
"Well, I'm a great one, forgetting all about that bully marine glass." As he said this Andy hastened to feel for the article in question, which was always kept handy, because there never could be any telling when they might want to use it in a hurry.
"Go slow; no use rocking the boat," sang out the pilot, who was forever cautioning his companion with regard to quick motions when seated in such a delicately balanced contraption as a biplane. "It's a good thing that we've got that new fool-proof contrivance that Mr. Wright invented, on this machine right now, because only for that you'd be giving me more than a few scares when you swing from one side to the other so quickly."
A minute later, and Andy, who had been looking through the glasses, spoke again.
"It's a little hard to cover them steadily, because they keep rising and dipping just like we are; but I can see that little Casper Blue, and the man alongside of him is a much larger chap."
"Of course it's Casper who's piloting the biplane?" remarked Frank.
"Yes, and he knows the ropes, let me tell you. I don't believe there are many professional birdmen today who can go ahead of that man. I only wish you could take a squint through here, and watch how he manipulates the levers, in spite of that stiff arm of his. Only for that, and he'd still be in the harness, and doing stunts that'd have Beachy left far behind."
"Either that, or else he'd be buried," remarked Frank, drily.
"Oh! well, the less we have to say about that the better I'll feel, Frank. If you're going in for aviation at all you've just got to forget all about being in constant danger; though I hope I'll never get so I'll be reckless like Perc Carberry. But Frank, sure we seem to be picking up a little on that crowd. And from the way they keep looking back all the while, I guess they know it too."
"Perhaps we are," Frank went on to say, "but if I really thought so I'd cut down a peg or two in our speed."
At that Andy set up a howl; at least he voiced his objection.
"Well, that's a queer stunt for you to do, I must say, Frank. Here we are chasing after our game, and the very first time we believe we're gaining some, you inform me you mean to cut down our speed. Is that the way to win the game, tell me?"
"But we don't want to come up with them while we're booming along like this, you understand," ventured Frank, as he gently moved a lever just a trifle; "this sort of racing is a lot different from what you'd do on the ground down there. Suppose we did come abreast of that biplane right now, what good would that do us? Could we put out a hand and arrest the yeggmen? Wouldn't it be more likely that such desperate men as these must be, would try some sort of game looking to disable our craft, and sending us tumbling down to our death? No, excuse me from coming to close quarters up here with such hard cases. Honest now, Andy, if they began to circle around as if they meant to turn on us, I'd think it my duty to run!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Andy, "you mean you'd coax 'em to follow us back to Bloomsbury, and then give themselves up, is that it, Frank? Oh! but you're a cunning chap, sure you are. But on the level now, what is our game, if it doesn't mean we're going to overtake 'em?"
"I'll tell you, Andy. We ought to keep following after them as far as we can, and in that way learn where they drop. If we get a chance to send down an occasional message to be sent on to Bloomsbury so much the better. I've written several such out, and have the cord to tie them to weights. Given a chance, when we're passing over some town perhaps we can get one such message sent on home. Even that would tell them where we were, and what the chances are."
"Great game, Frank! Suppose you let me have those messages, and I'll be amusing myself getting the same ready to heave, when you say the word. We c'n play that this is a war game, and we've been sent out to drop bombs on the fortifications of the enemy. We've done it with rocks, and we can throw pretty straight; so it seems to me we ought to get some sort of fun out of it all around."
Frank told him where he could find the written messages in his outer pocket; and for some time Andy was quiet, busying himself in fastening some sort of anchor to each piece of paper, sufficient to carry it earthward, despite the breeze that at the time might be blowing.
All at once Andy noticed that they were going quite slowly in comparison with the pace they had lately been "hitting up."
"What's happening, Frank?" he exclaimed, almost alarmed lest some accident had befallen the reliable little motor, which up to now had never failed them, no matter how great the call upon its resources. "Why are we slowing up? Is there something gone wrong, and must we own up to being beaten?"
"Look ahead at the biplane!" was all that Frank replied.
DROPPING A "BOMB!"
"Oh! we've started to swoop down on them! Honest to goodness, I don't believe they're more 'n half as far ahead as they were, Frank!" cried Andy, thrilled by the sight of the other biplane being so near.
"Just about that," said Frank, quietly, the busy motor having decreased its merry hum, so that they could talk without raising their voices very much.
"Then you must have let out an extra kink, did you, Frank, when I was busy with my bombs?" demanded the other.
"Oh! no," came the answer, "the fact of the matter is, Andy, they have dropped off a lot of their speed, and that's how we covered space quicker."
"Something gone wrong with Percy's new Gnome engine, then, has it; and he blew his horn so about what wonders it was going to do? Huh!" and Andy chuckled in his boyish delight.
"No, I don't believe that is the reason they've slackened their speed, Andy."
"Trying to save gasolene, then?" pursued the other.
"Hardly that, either, Andy."
"Oh! now I see what you mean, Frank; the poor old greenhorn's got cold feet, and is making Casper slow down. He thinks that there's less chance of a tumble if the speed is reduced; just as if that could make any particular difference."
"I reckon you're away off yet," persisted Frank.
"Then, for goodness' sake won't you tell me what they have cut notches out of their speed for; because I'm all balled up, and blessed if I can think of another thing! Oh! look at that, Frank! Sure as anything I saw a puff of smoke then. There must be something the matter with their engine, and they're getting scared. I wouldn't be surprised a mite to see them settle right away, and try to land."
"Well, you saw smoke all right, and if you'd listened sharp, you'd have heard a sassy little bark at the same time, Andy."
"A what, Frank?"
"Call it a snarl, then. Take up your glasses, Andy, and look; while I drop out even a little more of our speed, so we'll fall back further."
Hardly had Andy clapped the glasses to his eyes than he gave vent to an exclamation of mingled amazement and alarm.
"That greenhorn is looking this way, Frank, and as sure as goodness he's pointing at us right now. Oh! he did something then, for I saw another puff of smoke, and it came right from his hand. Why, he's shooting at us, Frank! That must be a gun he's got in his hand, and he's trying to hit us! If our motor didn't keep up such a constant whirl we might have heard the whine of that lead when it went singing past us!"
"Yes, perhaps we might," Frank went on to say, composedly.
"But what can we do?" demanded the other, nervously.
"Nothing more than decrease our own speed as often as they do, and play the game of tag backwards. If they get going it too strong, why, just as I said before, I'll turn tail, and head back toward Bloomsbury, daring them to follow, which you can be sure they won't, because our town is a mighty unhealthy place just now for Casper Blue and his pal. There! he fired again."
"That makes three times he's tried it, Frank!"
"And I guess he can try the other three without doing us any damage, Andy."
"You believe that, do you?" asked the one spoken to.
"Sure thing," Frank replied positively. "Why, it would be one chance in ten thousand that he could strike any part of our aeroplane at that distance, going as both of us are, and with only a revolver. I'd be willing to let him blaze away all day, without being a bit afraid. But I'm bound that the two air crafts must keep at least this distance apart."
The man in the other airship did fire three more times, but without any success whatever. And as though the rival navigator realized that Frank's tactics would effectually prevent his coming into closer contact with the pursuing craft, he no longer tried to close in, but increasing his speed, was quickly about the old distance away.
Whereupon Frank Bird also hit up the pace cautiously.
"That's the ticket!" cried out Andy, presently. "I guess we're holding our own again now. For a little while I began to be afraid that they were going to just make us take their dust, and give us the merry ha-ha, vanishing in the distance. But now I know you've got the twist of the thing down fine, Frank, and can haul up on the biplane, or drop back, just as you feel like."
For a long time they kept on, neither saying anything, for talking is always more or less of an effort when speeding along in an aeroplane, with the wind striking one in the face.
Frank had had no time to fully adjust the muffler which he usually wore about his neck when about to soar to a dizzy height, so he would have to do the best he could; and besides, there was little chance of the other aeroplane venturing to bore upward to any unusual degree, all the efforts of the bank thieves being directed toward making their escape.
He did have his goggles adjusted, however, which was a good thing, since his eyes must have watered very much from the cold air; and this is considered an ever present source of danger to one who manipulates the levers of a mile-a-minute aeroplane.
"We seem to have dropped a good deal lower, Frank," remarked Andy, after another space of time had elapsed.
"Yes," remarked the pilot, tersely.
"And I'm looking now for a good chance to make use of one of my bombs; don't you think it's about time to try the scheme out?" Andy continued.
"Just as you feel like," replied Frank.
"Then at the very next town, or place that looks like it had telephone connection with the outside world, I'm going to have a try. Might have done it when we passed over that last place where the people were all waving things up at us, and we could just hear a confused shouting. I bet you, Frank, they just thought this was a regular air contest, with a prize offered to the winner."
"Well, it is," observed the other. "If we win, we take back our prisoners; and on the other hand, if they come out first best they get away to Canada with their liberty and their plunder. Yes, it's a race, all right, Andy, a test of skill and endurance; and perhaps the best man will win."
"Then I know who that will be," declared Andy, enthusiastically.
"Don't be too sure," warned Frank, though it must have pleased him to know that he possessed the fullest confidence of his cousin and chum, who had been his constant companion on so many expeditions, and must understand him like a book.
"What if they keep everlastingly at it, and night comes on?" asked Andy, presently.
"Well, there's the moon, though I don't like chasing along this way after sundown; and if we're put to it, we've got our fine search-light, you must remember," Frank replied.
"There, I believe we're going to pass right over another town, Frank!"
"It does look that way, for a fact," admitted the other. "Casper doesn't see any reason why he should bother changing his set course due north because he happens to pass a few towns away up here in the northern end of the State. Let the people stare all they want to. He's been used to having crowds gape at him, you know, and rather likes it. Besides, if he gets away, what does it matter?"
Andy prepared himself for the little job he had on hand.
As he had practiced throwing stones from the aeroplane while at a great height, just to see how near he could come to hitting a certain place far below, so as to ascertain what chance aviators would have of making bombs tell in war times, the boy believed he would be able to drop his message pretty accurately in some open place, close to where the townspeople were clustered. And seeing it fall, some one would be sure to hurry over to secure the mysterious object.
"Here goes our old broken wrench, which has been hanging around so long!" declared Andy, as, leaning carefully over, he measured distances with his eye, and suddenly let the object slip, taking care to make all allowances for their speed.
This is more of a trick than most boys would suppose. The next time you are on a speeding electric car throw a stone at a telegraph pole just as you are passing it, and see how much beyond the missile will alight, because of the momentum it received because of the fact of its starting from the moving car.
Andy had this pretty well figured out, and knew just when to launch his weighted message. He turned his head, and tried to follow it downward as well as he was able because of the fluttering white paper.
"It's going straight there, Frank, I do believe!" he exclaimed, as he managed to get the powerful glasses up to his eyes, and fairly followed the progress of the message, though quickly losing it again. "Yes, and the crowd there on the green must see it coming, because already a bunch of boys has started to jump that way. They'll find it easy enough, Frank. Now, what d'ye think of that for a successful bomb throw?"
"Good enough for you, Andy," was the hearty response. "And we'll have to take it as a sign that we're going to come out of this scrape as we generally do, with our colors flying."
Frank usually allowed himself to feel the fullest belief in his own abilities; at the same time he always wished to avoid over-confidence.
Again time passed on, and the hum of the busy motor was the only sound that came to the ears of the two young aviators. They were again making nearly full speed; though Andy felt pretty confident that, had it been necessary for Frank to coax an additional unit or two of "hurry" from the gallant little Kinkaid engine, it would respond to his efforts.
"My! but we must have covered a lot of distance since we started," was the next remark from Andy. "How long do you suppose we've been going, Frank?"
"Look and see. It was just five minutes after one when we left the field on the Hoskins farm, Andy."
"Two hours, Frank; now, what d'ye think of that? Why, I never would have believed it if you'd told me. Do you think my watch has jumped on ahead?
"No, because we've been hustling right along all of that time, I guess, Andy."
"Keeping everlastingly at it, and headed due north all the while," said Andy.
"As straight as a die; they never varied their course even a little bit, as far as I could see," the pilot declared.
"But we've covered an awful lot of apace, Frank!"
"I guess you're right there," admitted the one addressed.
"And, Frank, if we keep on this way, and nothing happens, we ought to sight the big lake away; ahead there inside of 'half an hour more, I should think?" Andy ventured to say, and he was thrilled when his companion, turning toward him just at that moment, went on to say:
"Perhaps in less time than that, Andy; with the glasses you might glimpse it even now!"