no more glorious panorama ever enthralled a human spectator than that upon which the eyes of harvey hamilton feasted while gliding northward on his way to the adirondack region. there were towns, cities, forests, streams, and expanses of woodland in his own state of new jersey and the white-capped atlantic rolling to the eastward, with steamers and sailing craft dotting its surface all the way to the horizon, where the atlantic’s convexity dipped and the eye could penetrate no farther. the second greatest city in the world spread out below him, with smaller ones continually rising and sinking from view as he coursed up the hudson valley, sometimes to the right, then to the left and again straight over the picturesque stream whose crafts of all kinds were hieing away from or to the metropolis. absorbed as was the young aviator in the mission on which he had started he could not help gazing below and drinking in the indescribable beauty of the ever-changing picture.
“how much those who went before us lost!”[56] he sighed; “and what delight awaits those that are coming upon the stage of life! aviation will bring the greatest revolution mankind has ever known. it is my happy fate to be one of the pioneers. i wonder what remains before me and others. at any rate none can feel more thankful than i for the goodness of heaven in permitting me to see this day.”
as he progressed up the romantic valley after leaving troy, his thoughts came back to the serious work before him. he had set out to save his colored friend from a dreadful fate, and to that he must bend all his energies until success or hopeless failure came.
basing his action upon the theory that professor morgan had not yet started on his aerial voyage across the atlantic, his pursuer aimed to return to the vicinity of his headquarters. it was important that he should go as near to them as he could without exposing himself to discovery. it would never do for the crazy inventor to learn that the youth’s withdrawal from the field was a trick. the moment such discovery was made, that moment the last vestige of hope would be snatched from the would-be rescuer.
harvey therefore made a circuit around troy and albany, and when he turned in the direction[57] of the little country town of dawson, became more alert than before. the local geography of the section was so impressed upon his memory that he recognized the leading points as he swept over them. besides directing his machine, he made frequent use of his field glass. he scanned the heavens in search of the dragon of the skies, that he might flee from it in time. if the professor was abroad he would not be looking for the pursuer, who counted upon detecting him first and dodging out of his sight.
when he identified dawson in the distance he knew his supply of liquid fuel was pretty low. he could renew it at that town, but it would have been imprudent to do so, for his whole scheme would be disclosed. in an effort to avoid attracting the attention of the inhabitants, he veered to the right, sailing as near the ground as was safe. if professor morgan should learn that an aeroplane had been observed in the sky, his suspicions would be excited and he would see through the trick that had been played upon him.
eight or ten miles to the northeast, in the direction of schroon river, which empties into the lake of the same name, harvey saw the village of purvis, containing less than one-half the population of dawson. gasoline is so common an article that[58] he was sure he could buy all he wished in that place and he shifted his course accordingly. he was still flying so low that he was not noticed until he descended in a large field a little way to the eastward. he had hardly come to rest, however, when he heard wild shouts and saw not only men and boys, but women and girls running toward him in a high state of excitement. harvey was uneasy until he found that their curiosity did not decrease their friendliness.
“say, mister, can’t you give a feller a ride in that gimcrack?”
the questioner was a barefooted gawky youth with big projecting front teeth. he wore a ragged straw hat, and his nankeen trousers were held up by a single leathern suspender, skewered with a nail in front. harvey thought he might win the good-will of the crowd by gratifying the applicant and perhaps several others.
“i don’t mind if you’re not afraid to trust yourself with me,” he replied, surveying the grinning, freckle-faced countryman.
“gosh! what am i afeard of? if the blamed thing can carry you round the kentry, why can’t it tote me, eh?”
and he laughed so hard that his shoulders[59] bobbed up and down and the wrinkles obscured his eyes.
“all right; take your seat and hold on tight; you must sit very quiet, for if you move the least bit you may upset the machine and kill us both.”
the lad, nothing abashed, climbed to his place with the help of harvey and still grinning broadly announced that he would not so much as bat an eye while aloft.
“let her whiz! i’m ready and i don’t keer—.”
at that moment a tall, muscular woman strode from the crowd, caught hold of one of the ankles of the boy above the bare foot, and jerked so hard that seemingly elongated by the energetic pull, he came bumping from his seat and struck the ground so hard that it made him grunt.
“i’ll teach you how to play the fool, josiah bilkins! the idee! you sailing up into the sky! what are you thinkin’ of yourself? do you hear me? take that!”
by this time josiah had struggled to his feet, and with his hands over his ears to ward off the cuffs that were rained upon them, and amid the jeers of his acquaintances, he started on a run across the open space. but his mother was fleeter than he and kept up her castigation as they passed out of sight around the corner of a house.
[60]none laughed harder than harvey at the scene, and when the turmoil had subsided he said to those remaining:
“if any one would like to take a ride, i shall be glad to give it to him.”
to his surprise, a middle-aged man, likewise without coat or waistcoat, wearing a dilapidated straw hat with his trousers tucked into the tops of his cowhide boots came forward. when harvey looked into his tanned, grinning face, and noted the yellow tuft of chin whiskers, and the fast-working jaws, he recalled uncle tommy waters, the weather prophet of chesterton. encouraging shouts were uttered by the man’s friends, but they quickly ceased to allow him to talk with the visitor to their town.
“sure the blamed thing won’t kick up its heels?” asked the stoop-shouldered man, whom his neighbors called “gin’ral.”
“it never has done so.”
“how fur have you kim?”
“from beyond the city of new york.”
“ye ain’t lying, sonny?”
“no; do as you please about trusting or believing me.”
“i’m consarned if i don’t try it,” remarked the general, stirred by the taunts of his neighbors.[61] he climbed gingerly to his seat, aided by harvey, who was much entertained by his experience thus far in purvis. the passenger rigidly grasped a support on each side, and chewing more vigorously than before, nodded his head:
“i’m ready; let the blamed thing go!”
cautioning him again not to shift his position while aloft, but to keep perfectly motionless, harvey also seated himself, and asked one of the men to give the propeller a whirl. the roar and racket of the machine were deafening, but it began creeping over the grass, rapidly increasing its pace, until the moment came for the aviator to tilt the front rudder upward. at the instant the bound took place, the crowd, who were watching it all, saw the general make a dive from his seat, sprawl through the air like a frog and, lighting on his face, roll over several times before coming to a stop. the frightened harvey made as quick a circle as he could and returned to his starting point to find the general standing among his friends, who were chaffing him for his sudden loss of courage.
“what was the matter?” asked harvey, though he knew well enough that his passenger had yielded to a sudden panic.
“why, i happened to think jes’ as we started that i’d promised to meet bill smithers at his[62] home and it wouldn’t do fur me to make him wait, so i jumped.”
“i was here all the time a-lookin’ at you,” replied the sarcastic smithers.
“that’s so,” said the unabashed general, “but i didn’t know it till i observed you.”
“what did you want to see me fur, gin’ral?”
“to git you to pay me that two dollars you borrered t’other day.”
smithers joined in the laugh at his expense and harvey inquired whether any one else wished to take a ride with him. but the panic of the only passenger at liberty to accept the invitation seemed to have its effect upon the others, and no one went forward.
harvey now engaged one of the bystanders to bring him a supply of oil and gasoline and filled his tank. then he bade his new friends good-bye and sailed away.
his plan was to go as near as was safe to the shop of professor morgan, then descend, leave his aeroplane and make his further investigations on foot. he could do this so guardedly that there was little danger of detection. to attempt it with his machine would bring certain discovery.
as before, he rose only high enough to clear the large trees, many of which were taller than any[63] of the buildings. the surrounding country was wooded and mountainous. to the northward he made out two peaks with a hazy ridge in the horizon and knew that many miles of craggy wilderness stretched beyond. he was all nerves while drawing near the workshop, a half mile to the north of dawson, for necessity drove him forward fast and the danger of detection increased with every hundred yards he advanced.
convinced that he had gone as far as was prudent he sought out a suitable landing place, fixing upon what had once been a cultivated field of several acres, but was now lush grass, inclosed on all sides by woods and matted undergrowth. as nearly as he could tell he was within less than a mile of the building from which all trespassers had been warned under peril of death. he had no time now to give to anything except the work of landing and he did that with a skill that would have won the praise of professor sperbeck, his old instructor in the difficult science of aeronautics, could he have seen it.
as soon as the wheels stopped running over the ground, harvey stepped out and pushed the aeroplane to the side of the meadow and as near the forest as possible. he even shoved it a little way into the brush and under the limbs of the trees,[64] taking care to injure none of its parts. the reason for this precaution he explained to himself:
“professor morgan has the eye of a hawk, and if i leave the machine in the open, he will catch sight of it if he passes within a mile. he will hardly see it, now that it is so well screened.”
there was risk of another nature in all this, but he could think of no way to avoid it. if the weather should turn bad, the apparatus was not well protected. he would have given a good deal for the verdict of uncle tommy waters, but made himself believe that no change of the character feared was likely to occur.
if any persons had observed the descent, they might make their way to the spot and wreck the machine or disable it through their curiosity, but he had to take the chances in that respect also, and since there was no choice he did not hesitate. he had located the shop of the professor so clearly while in the air that he was in no doubt as to the course to take. he saw no signs of a path or trail, and travel was as rough as that encountered on his former visit.
standing on the edge of the rocky forest, the young aviator raised his field glasses and began a study of the visible heavens, and within five minutes of doing so he made a startling discovery.
[65]far in the northern sky he descried an object that looked like a stupendous eagle, soaring through the air on its way southward. it was traveling fast and steadily increased in size. careful scrutiny left no doubt that it was an aerocar, and a second look revealed that it was a monoplane!
“it is the professor!” exclaimed harvey, keeping the binoculars in place. “how fortunate that i hid my machine when i did! he doesn’t dream that i’m within hundreds of miles of him.”
the course of the car was toward the spot where the mysterious cabin stood in the woods. all doubt that the air man was going thither was removed. harvey’s theory was verified. the crazy inventor was not yet ready to start on his momentous voyage and was experimenting before doing so. now that he had driven his pursuer off the scent as he believed, he could complete his investigations in his own shop where no one dared disturb him.
as the monoplane coursed swiftly through the air, a faint fear that it might not be the dragon of the skies caused harvey to listen intently. had the machine been of the ordinary kind he would have heard its racket some minutes before, but his straining senses caught no sound.
“it’s the professor and no mistake; i can see[66] his erect body in his seat and almost recognize those long, grizzled whiskers.”
but now when the monoplane had come still nearer, harvey hamilton made the alarming discovery that the crank inventor was alone in his flying ship.
where was bohunkus johnson?
