CHAPTER XXII.
UNDER THE MOONLIGHT.
UNDER THE MOONLIGHT.
UNDER THE MOONLIGHT.
“Now there goes the loss of a lot of endeavor!” Jimmie exclaimed, as theLouiselifted into the air.
“What’s the answer?” asked Kit with a grin.
“Do you know who’s aboard of that machine?” Jimmie demanded in a sarcastic tone.
“Two outlaws who’re carrying away our good bear meat!” replied Kit.
“And do you know who’s doing the aviation stunt?” continued Jimmie.
“Answer in two weeks!” replied the boy with a snicker.
“Well, I’ll tell you who it is,” almost shouted Jimmie. “It’s probably that blond brute we spent so much time amusing to-day.”
“How do you know that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes?” asked Kit.
“Didn’t we see his machine staggering over the summit some time ago?” demanded Jimmie. “You know we did.”
“But that was a long ways from here,” Kit advised.
“Oh, what’s the use?” exclaimed Jimmie. “His machine fluttered down into some hole not far away from here, and he saw our fire and came forward to get something to eat.”
“I half believe you’re right,” Kit admitted.
“Of course, I’m right!” insisted Jimmie. “The blond brute is the only aviator in this section that I know of who would have taken the outlaws away. That’s the duck, all right.”
“Then we lose?” asked Kit.
“We lose if the outlaws are sharp enough to get away before morning,” Jimmie went on. “They certainly know now what we’re here for.”
“Yes, and the information we’ve been trying to keep from them all this time is now in their possession,” added Jimmie in a disgusted tone.
“It’s a good thing they didn’t have it before they left us asleep in the shelter tent,” Kit suggested.
“Why do you say that?” asked Jimmie.
“Because, if they had known, we wouldn’t be here now.”
“What next?” asked Kit in a minute. “What are we going to do about it? We ought to do something right away.”
“I suggest,” Jimmie answered, “that we take our searchlights and our guns and go out and find that third machine.”
“And chase up the outlaws?” demanded Kit.
“That’s the idea,” Jimmie answered.
“Chase theLouisein that slow old ice wagon that we went by this afternoon like it was anchored?” demanded the boy.
“The machine is all right if properly handled,” Jimmie insisted.
“But you saw how it staggered around the summit,” argued Kit. “I don’t want to trust my bones in any such old contraption.”
“It’s oranges to oats,” Jimmie exclaimed, “that a new spark plug will put that machine in pretty good shape. Of course we can’t hope to keep up with theLouiseon a long chase, but I don’t believe there’ll be any long chase to-night. The outlaws will settle down in some nook and remain there until morning. All we’ll have to do to-night will be to locate them. We ought to be able to do that.”
“Say,” said Kit with a grin, “I wish you’d find an air boat somewhere and row me back to Robinson’s barn. I used to have a good flop now and then when I lived there, but since I’ve been with you boys, it’s been a night and day job.”
“You’re getting fat over it,” Jimmie insisted.
“Sailing up in the air after a bunch like that won’t put fat on any one’s ribs,” Kit continued. “They’ll see our lights, and we might as well try to sleuth out a moonshiner with a brass band.”
“Come on, you little monkey,” urged Jimmie. “We’ll go and find the machine anyhow. We’ll see what shape she’s in before we decide.”
Throwing more wood on the fire in order to illuminate the bowl as much as possible, the boys started away. Before they had proceeded far a glimmer of light in a thicket almost at the lip of the bowl attracted their attention. It was a very brilliant light, but seemed to be shining through a small aperture.
“Acetylene!” exclaimed Jimmie as the boys drew nearer. “That’s the acetylene lamp on that old machine. Our blond friend forgot to turn it off. Now wasn’t that kind of him!”
“I guess he was about all in,” Kit advised. “We gave him a mighty swift chase, and he seems to have kept in the air a long time after we quit. They probably fed him up on some of our good provisions so he felt better before he went away.”
“Of course they did!” laughed Jimmie. “Did you notice how those fellows laid into our bread and butter?”
Jimmie began a systematic examination of the machine. He found the gasoline tanks nearly full, which indicated that the blond aviator had traveled to some filling station after the conclusion of the race.
So far as Jimmie could see, the aeroplane was in perfect condition except that the spark plugs were badly worn and cracked.
“Can we use them?” asked Kit. “The spark plugs, I mean.”
“They’re no good,” replied Jimmie, “but we’ve got plenty at the camp. Ben wanted to keep them stored in the boxes under the seats, but I sneaked some out when we landed in the green bowl and put them away by the pile of tenting. Good thing I did, too.”
“If you hadn’t, they would be on board theLouiseright now,” Kit said, “and we would be without any.”
“You chase back to camp and bring the plugs,” Jimmie directed, “and I’ll stay here and look the machine over once more. Hurry back, for we want to get up in the air in time to see the lights of theLouise.”
“They must be pretty far away by this time,” suggested Kit.
“Yes, we can go up far enough to see for fifty miles on each side!” Jimmie said. “They can’t be fifty miles away by this time.”
Kit hastened away to the camp, and soon returned with the spark plugs. In a very short time the machine was pulled out of the little depression in which the wheels lay and drawn down to a level which would permit of a flight. It was by no means as large as either theLouiseor theBerthabut a strong aeroplane for all that.
“Now,” Jimmie suggested. “We ought to go and see if there’s anything left to eat here, and take it away with us if there is.”
“You can’t get the smell of that bear steak out of your nostrils, can you?” laughed Kit.
“But just think who gave it to us?” Jimmie grinned.
After packing away provisions enough for a meal or two the boys put the machine into the air and lifted slowly out of the bowl.
The air was comparatively still, and a mass of clouds hung low over the mountains. Looking out into the darkness, the boys could see no sign of light anywhere. Their own lights were sheltered as much as possible, but they knew that they might be seen a great distance. Kit proposed putting out the acetylene lights entirely, but Jimmie insisted that it was so dark they might bump into a mountain without seeing it!
“Much good that short space of light would do us,” Kit replied. “We’d be into the rocks almost before the light struck them.”
“Then we’ll go slower and higher up,” Jimmie declared.
The machine continued to rise until a faint radiance began to seep through the heavy clouds with which the boys were surrounded. In another minute the stars shone down upon them, and the field of mist lay far below.
Jimmie had frequently looked out upon such scenes before, but to Kit it was all very wonderful. The clouds below looked like waves rolling and tossing on a summer sea. As far as the eye could reach there were only the white undulations which shut out the light of the stars from below.
The boys were going very slowly now, lifting with every yard traveled and watching intently for the lights of theLouise.
Presently they came to a break in the field of clouds below and looked down upon the surging waters of the Pacific ocean. They had no idea that they were so far to the west, but Jimmie took advantage of the incident to look down upon the southern promontory off which the schooner had stood on the previous night.
The beacon was still there and the schooner was still there. In a moment the clouds closed in again and the boys moved away to the east.
The boys circled about for an hour or more, and then, weary of remaining so long in one position, dropped down to a peak which, far above the clouds, glimmered in the light of the rising moon.
“We can see from here just as well as from the seats,” Kit suggested, “and we may as well get all the rest we can.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Jimmie answered, “that we ought to go to the south, but I’m going to break this for once and stay right here. We’re not far from the home of the smugglers, and, on the theory that thieves flock together, our outlaws ought to be in the vicinity.”
“That suits me,” Kit answered. “I’m dead tired.”
“If we hadn’t gone to sleep to-night,” mourned Jimmie, “We wouldn’t be here now. That nap just spoiled everything.”
“What could we have done if we had remained awake?” Kit demanded. “When that blond brute arrived, we’d have got our heads knocked off and that’s about all.”
“In just a little while now,” Jimmie declared, “I’m going to trail over to Monterey and see if I can find any trace of Mr. Havens or the boys. It’s just rotten the way Ben and Carl are staying away!”
As soon as the boy finished speaking, Kit grabbed him by the arm and pointed to the west.
“There’s your light!” he said.
The light referred to sat on a peak some distance to the west, very near to the sheer descent into the Pacific, in fact, and was slightly lower than the one upon which the boys had rested. It was, however, above the clouds and the moon, pushing her way through the mists, shone full upon the shining planes of a flying machine.
Only one artificial light was in sight, and that appeared to come from the aeroplane lamp stationed just above the seats.
“That’s theLouise, all right enough!” exclaimed Jimmie. “Now I wonder what they are staying there for! It seems to me that they ought to be getting out of this country just as fast as gasoline can carry them.”
“There’s something exciting going on over there!” Kit exclaimed.