There was intense excitement aboard theComet. So, for that matter, was there also on theWinner, for at first Noddy and Bill did not know but that their own craft had been damaged. But, as they kept on rising, in response to the uptilted rudder, Noddy was sure they were all right. He quickly brought his craft up on a level keel, and then swept around in a big circle to see what was happening to theComet.
“Lively, boys!” cried Jerry. “Turn on the machine at full speed, Ned, and that will check us until we can get under way,” for they were motionless when the accident occurred.
Ned had acted the instant he heard Jerry’s call, and now a double quantity of the lifting gas was pouring into the ripped bag.
Though the rent was a large one, the bag wasmade in a number of compartments, so that only the two that were ripped open by theWinnerlost their vapor. The others were more fully distended and served to check the downward rush of the airship.
After a sickening plunge theCometgradually slowed up in her descent, and when within a few hundred feet of the earth she glided ahead as an aeroplane, her propellers forcing her onward.
But there was not chance enough to get up much momentum, and, as they ran into an adverse current of air, which continued to force them earthward, and, as for some reason the main motor was not working well, Jerry concluded to make a full descent, so he could see what damage had been done, and then rise again.
“Stand by to make a landing!” he called to his chums; and a moment later theCometcame to rest on the level green meadow while above her theWinnerwinged her flight through the air.
“Well, wouldn’t that jar you!” exclaimed Ned in great disgust.
“I should say so,” remarked Bob. “It’s just like Noddy Nixon’s freshness. He ought to learn how to run an aeroplane in the kindergarten class before he comes out with the high school boys.”
“I’ll make him pay for our damaged bag!” declared Jerry firmly. “He ought to have known better than to try that stunt. I’ll make him soak up for it all right.”
The boys were standing beside their craft, and Jerry was peering upward trying to discover the extent of the tear in the gas bag.
“I’m afraid it was all my fault,” said Andy Rush, more quietly than he usually spoke. “If I hadn’t challenged Noddy the way I did it might not have happened.”
“Oh, well, you didn’t mean anything,” consoled Ned. “Besides, Noddy might have done it anyhow. Even if you did call to him he ought to have known better than to try to cross over us so close. I guess Bill Berry put him up to it. Don’t worry Andy. Is it very bad, Jerry?”
The tall lad had climbed up in the rigging that held the bag, and was critically examining it.
“Two of the compartments are all ripped to pieces, and there’s a small tear in a third one,” Jerry reported. “We’ll have to put on big patches. I’ll make Noddy pay for this.”
“Can we get home?” asked Bob.
“Of course. You forget that as an aeroplane we’re as good as ever,” responded Ned. “Say, look at Noddy though, he’s flying high.”
Indeed, the bully and his crony were making a successful flight, and were now but a mere speck in the sky.
“He’s doing better than I ever expected he would,” remarked Jerry. “I hope he steers clear of us after this. He needs half the upper region to navigate in. If he goes to the Colton meet we won’t enter any of the events he’s in.”
“I should say not!” exclaimed Ned earnestly.
There was nothing that could be done toward repairing theCometnow, so, after letting all the gas out of the bag, and seeing to the defect in the main motor, which was in the ignition system, the boys made ready to fly home as an aeroplane.
The propellers were started, and the motorship skimmed over the meadow. It was rather an uneven course, and the boys were pretty well jolted up, but they managed to acquire enough speed to lift their craft, and once in the air the machine soared high. In ten minutes they were in front of the hangar, and theComethad been wheeled inside.
“Are you really going to tackle Noddy about paying for the damage?” asked Ned, as he walked beside Jerry toward the latter’s house.
“I sure am! I’m going over there to-night, and if he won’t pay I’ll see his father. It’s time thatbully found out that he can’t have everything his own way.”
“Want Bob or me to come along?”
“No, I think I can do better alone, thanks. If we all go we might get into a quarrel. I’ll tackle him alone.”
In accordance with his plan, Jerry set off that evening, leaving Professor Snodgrass at home classifying some of the specimens he had caught that day. There were many lights in the Nixon mansion, which was set in the midst of extensive grounds, for Mr. Nixon was quite wealthy.
“Looks as if they had company,” mused Jerry. “I guess I’ll find Noddy home. He always is if there’s any eating going on—like Bob,” and he smiled in the darkness.
But Noddy was not at home—at least, that is what the maid said who answered Jerry’s ring. The tall lad was right in his surmise that something was going on at the Nixon home, for he could see many guests in the parlors, and he caught the strains of music.
“Is Mr. Nixon in?” he asked, determined to make an appeal to Noddy’s father.
“He is, but he’s very busy. I doubt if he’ll see you,” was the reply, and, after thinking it over Jerry concluded that it was an inopportune time to make his demand.
“I’ll see him to-morrow,” he said as he turned away.
The shed where Noddy kept his aeroplane was some distance from the house, but on the same street, for Mr. Nixon owned a large piece of property adjoining his residence. It was in front of this shed that Jerry found himself a few minutes later.
He gazed up at the big, dark building, and his thoughts were not very pleasant as he recalled the damage the bully had done to theCometthat afternoon.
“I wonder where Noddy is?” mused the tall lad. “He and Bill are probably off somewhere together. I wonder if he could be in here?”
Jerry paused. There was no light visible in the shed, and our hero was about to pass on, when something—some impulse he could not define,—caused him to turn and advance a little way inside the fence that surrounded the building. The gate was open.
“Oh, pshaw! They can’t be in there,” thought Jerry. “I might as well go home.”
But at that instant there came to his ears the sound of voices in cautious conversation. He listened intently.
“I tell you it’s too risky,” he heard some onesay, and in a moment he knew it was the tones of Bill Berry.
“Oh get out! You’re afraid!” retorted Noddy Nixon. “We can easily do it, and get safely away.”
“But the police?” objected Bill.
“Bah! They’ll never suspect that we’re going to do anything like that. And, even if they do we’ll have the job done and get away before they know anything about it. I tell you it’s perfectly safe. Isn’t it worth trying for?”
“Yes, I s’pose it is—but if we’re nabbed?”
“We won’t be I tell you,” and Noddy seemed half angry. “Most of the police will be at the Colton meet, anyhow.”
“Do you think you can handle the machine well enough?” asked Bill.
“I know I can. Look what I did to-day.”
“Yes, you did cut it pretty fine,” admitted Bill.
“And I guess I gave those fellows a scare they won’t soon forget!” chuckled Noddy.
Jerry clenched his hands in anger. But he was not yet ready to make his presence known.
“Then you’ll go in with me on it?” asked Noddy, after a pause.
“Oh, I suppose so. If we’re caught it can’t be——”
“We’ll not get caught!” declared Noddy again. “The Harmolet police are too sleepy for anything like that to happen. There’ll be a big surprise when they wake up in the morning and find it gone,” and he chuckled again.
Then the voices died away, and it seemed as if the two cronies had gone inside the shed, outside of which they had evidently been standing in the darkness when Jerry overheard their conversation.
The tall lad hesitated a moment, uncertain what to do. Then he murmured:
“I guess I won’t say anything to Noddy to-night. I’ll wait and see what sort of a game he’s up to. It sounds suspicious to me.”