CHAPTER XXIIPRISONERS
Thegreat hull collided head-on, as Kindale had predicted; then, swinging sideways, scraped and bumped along the rough, scarred side of the mountain, which sloped precipitously downward.
Willie Sloan, pale and trembling, sought courage from the men at his side. A look in Major Carroll’s eyes reassured him.
“We’re all right, my lad,” exclaimed the aeronaut, almost forgetting, in his solicitude for the lad, his own misgivings.
The car still swayed violently. At intervals, as the guide rope drew taut, there came an alarming lurch, which was immediately followed by another sweep forward. Then the huge, unwieldy hull was borne against an almost perpendicular wall of rock with such force that it seemed almost on the point of bursting.
As the air-ship, caught in a vortex of conflictingcurrents, rebounded, it turned sideways, and presently drifted clear, the guide rope hanging in front of a high precipice. Some distance ahead a pine-covered spur extended out from the mountain.
The eyes and thoughts of all three were centered upon it. The “Border City” was again floating above the rocks. To Willie Sloan, the minutes seemed to drag with intolerable slowness. His heart was beating fast.
“Don’t be afraid, my lad,” again admonished the Major. A grim look settled about the corners of his mouth. “If necessary we can abandon the air-ship as soon as it reaches the spur.”
The “Border City” slowly approached the crags. The tops of the pines, through which the wind soughed with a musical murmur, seemed to bristle upward, as though angry at the intrusion of the monster and bent upon its destruction.
Presently the anxious passengers heard the branches of the taller trees beginning to strike and grind against the bottom and sides of the car. Not a word was spoken as they stood by supporting themselves by the rail, whileshock after shock jarred the car from stem to stern.
“Yards of money gone for the sake of a few feet of gas and a little trouble, Kindale,” murmured Major Carroll, regretfully.
“The anchor has ketched in something, sir.”
The financier instantly realized that Kindale’s observation was true. The tightening rope had gradually stopped the air-ship, which was now tipping more and more downward.
At last, beaten down by the force of the wind, and struggling hard to break away, it brought up against a tree top. A rending and crashing of branches followed the impact of the car.
Next instant, as if giving up the struggle, the “Border City” began to settle on its side amid the trees. The car, held by the solid pine branches, tilted at a dangerous angle.
“Oh—oh!—we’re going to be spilled out!” gasped Willie Sloan, with a thrill of terror.
“No—keep cool!” called out Major Carroll, in a reassuring voice. “This is the end of our trip: we shall easily be able to reach the ground in safety.”
“We’re sure stuck tight enough this time, sir,” said the engineer.
Again Kindale’s observation proved to be correct. The air-ship was firmly held by the drag rope. Its great hull, straining and tugging, was as far in advance of the car as the connecting framework would permit. With every heavy gust of wind it dipped downward at a sharper angle; then rose again.
The car had come to rest upon a bed of waving pine boughs, while numerous branches rested caressingly over its rail. The floor, showered with needles, in places resembled a carpet of green.
“A slight lad like you should have no difficulty in reaching the ground.” The Major’s cool, collected voice broke the spell of fright which had held Willie Sloan in its grip.
“I think I can manage it, sir,” he said, in a low tone, as he kept himself in an upright position by holding on to the steel tubing.
“Of course you can.”
“I should call this one o’ the awkwardest positions a man were ever placed in,” grunted the engineer. “But still it could be a dozen times worse. The propellers ain’t even broke,Major, though they’re certainly caught tight enough in those branches.”
Immediately following this remark, Kindale proceeded to attach a heavy sand-bag to a rope ladder, and, with Major Carroll’s assistance, it was thrown over the side. Shifting it about, in order to find favorable openings, the men lowered away.
Boughs and masses of foliage were pushed aside by the weight of the sand-bag; twigs or small branches occasionally snapped. At length some obstruction caught the bag and held it fast.
“Can’t move it either up or down,” remarked Kindale, after several long and vigorous efforts. “Anyway, we’ll be able to climb a few yards nearer the earth. I’ll go first, Major.”
The engineer assured himself that the ladder was secure, then clambered over the side of the car.
It was an anxious moment to Willie Sloan. He watched Kindale swaying back and forth on his apparently frail support and descending cautiously toward the denser foliage below. Almost immediately his form was hidden, andonly the sound of rustling leaves told of his steady progress toward the ground.
“Kindale is surely not finding it a difficult undertaking,” said the Major. “Your turn next, lad.”
“Yes, sir; I’m ready,” answered Willie, with a little gulp.
A stentorian hail from the engineer reached his ears:
“It’s all right, Major. I’m not all the way down, but I’ll wait here for the boy.”
Major Carroll assisted Willie over the side, and kept a firm grip on him until he had secured a footing on the ladder.
Away from the solid support of the car, and for the first time entirely dependent upon his own efforts, Mr. Beaumont’s ward found that the surroundings had assumed an even more wild and forbidding aspect. One glance at the snow-covered heights above, and another through an opening in the trees, which showed a hazy patch far below, made his knees almost tremble. Had he suddenly found himself on the weather-vane of a cathedral spire his sensations might have been much the same as he experienced now.
Then thoughts of Tom Clifton, and what Tom Clifton might say, if he could see him perched so ridiculously high in the air, flashed into his mind. They did him more good than almost anything else could have done.
“I’ll just make old Dr. Thomas Cliffy open his eyes,” he decided. “He’ll think I’m a bird, all right. I’d like to be a bird for about five minutes.”
As he started to lower himself from rung to rung, the ladder began to sway, while gusts of wind blew against him with a force that made his heart flutter.
Down—down he went, pushing obstructing branches out of his way. They became thicker and thicker, forming an arching screen overhead through which the big gas-bag appeared as a mere, formless patch of dark.
The lad gave a violent start when a bird unexpectedly darted out from amidst the shadowed depths of the fragrant pines, and, with a shrill cry, flew swiftly past.
“Take it easy, lad,” cautioned Kindale, from below. “’Tain’t very far to the ground.”
Pine-needles were sweeping against Willie at every step, scratching his hands and face;but he struggled on, even smiling grimly as he discovered the engineer sitting astride a limb just below.
“The sand-bag stuck right here,” explained Kindale, “but there’s plenty o’ stout branches—nothing to be skeered at, lad.”
“Who’s skeered?” grunted Willie.
“Not you, that’s sure,” laughed the other. “You’re a brick. Easy, now! I’ll give you a hand.”
With the assistance of the engineer, Willie managed to climb upon a sturdy limb, uttering a sigh of satisfaction as he eased himself into a safe position.
“Take a rest, now, while I keep on,” advised Kindale. “Yes; we’re still all right, Major!” he yelled, in answer to a call which came through the trees. “’Most down, now.”
Five minutes later, after struggling from branch to branch and crotch to crotch, Willie Sloan dropped, safe and sound, to the earth.
“Bully for you!” cried Kindale. “You’re a dandy!”
Mr. Beaumont’s ward grinned cheerfully.
“Guess this beats all of old Doc Cliffy’s adventures pounded into one,” he said.“Hello—hello, Major Carroll; we’re down-stairs at last.”
It didn’t take the slight, active financier very long to join them.
“We have been most fortunate,” he remarked. His eyes lighted up with satisfaction, as he glanced from one to the other. A vigorous shake sent a shower of pine-needles flying from his shoulders. “But a hard task still confronts us. We must——”
“Get out of the woods,” chirped Willie, whose mind was now relieved from all anxiety.
“Quite right,” laughed the Major. “I suppose Doctor Clifton may have something to say about this. But come on; we must find a way to descend.”
Feelings somewhat like those of an explorer who has landed upon some strange, untrodden soil, coursed through Willie Sloan, as they made their way around the trees. A delightful fragrance of the pines filled the air.
Finally the forest thinned out, and the explorers, following the edge of the spur, at length emerged upon a stretch of barren rocks.
“I wonder where in the world Bob Somersand Cran have gone in that old air-skimmer,” remarked Willie, after a long stare in all directions.
“I’d give a lot to know whether the boys are safe.”
A troubled expression came over Major Carroll’s face.
“Of course they are, sir,” said Kindale, confidently. “Thunder! I do wish we could find a way down this slope,” he added.
An hour’s thorough search convinced the party that they were in a decidedly unpleasant situation. On every side almost vertical cliffs made descent impossible, while over-hanging crags and slopes too steep to climb prevented them from ascending.
The three finally came to a halt before a smooth slab of rock which rose about twenty-five feet above their heads.
“If we could get over that, Major, there’d be a chance,” said Kindale, glancing critically at the slope higher up. “It’s the only promising place we’ve seen.”
“I don’t think there is any possible way for us to manage it,” returned the aeronaut. His forehead knitted into a tremendousfrown. “There is nothing to catch a rope or ladder.”
“Then it looks as though we’re up against it hard,” murmured the engineer, in a low tone. “Not a bite to eat; not a drop o’ water to drink, an’ not a firearm among the three.”
“Prisoners—apparently!” said the Major, with a gesture of impatience. “Yes, prisoners!” he repeated grimly, casting a glance toward Willie, who had wandered off.