He turned the valve, and the mystery of the stoppage of the engine was instantly explained.
Sand had been placed in the carburetor by persons whom Frank had little difficulty in mentally identifying.
"So that was what those rascals did!" he cried aloud. "No wonder we couldn"t find anything the trouble with the ship. They were too foxy for that, and could hardly have found a better way of injuring the _Sea Eagle_ than to do that."
"Is there any way of fixing the damage?" asked Dr. Perkins, who, with Harry, had hastened to Frank"s side as he cried out over his discovery.
"Yes. Thank goodness, we"ve got a spare carburetor on board, for it would take a week to clean out this. If no sand has got into the cylinders I think I can promise to get things going again before very long."
Out of the locker in which the spare parts were kept Frank produced another carburetor. But uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the feed pipe and taking off the old mixing chamber and adjusting the new one were tedious tasks, especially under the circ.u.mstances in which Frank was compelled to work. But at last it was done, and with a beating heart Frank adjusted the self-starter. A few seconds now would decide their fate.
Harry shivered in antic.i.p.ation of failure as his brother, having got the engine going by the just mentioned appliance, turned on the gasolene and spark.
For a breathless instant their fate hung in the balance, and then there came the welcome sound of the exhaust. Bit by bit Frank allowed the speed to increase, till the engine was running at its full capacity of revolutions. But the propellers were not turning, as before testing the motor he had thrown the clutch out of gear.
"I think that we can try to rise now," he said calmly, after the motor had run without a miss or a skip for ten minutes or so.
"I think so, too," said Dr. Perkins, "and I want to tell you, Frank, that you have done what I would not have believed possible under the conditions."
Another anxious moment followed when the clutch was thrown in and the full load of the propellers came upon the engine. But not a hitch occurred. The large-bladed driving fans of the _Sea Eagle_ beat the air rapidly and surely, and the hydroplane-formed underbody began to glide over the tops of the waves, instead of rolling and pitching helplessly among them. To the westward, too, there showed a patch of lighter sky, heralding the pa.s.sing of the storm.
But, as if unwilling to allow them to escape without again bringing their hearts into their mouths, the storm had one more buffeting to give them. As full power was applied, and the _Sea Eagle_ rose above the tossing wave crests and headed slantingly skyward, there came a sudden puff of wind.
Skillful as Dr. Perkins was, it caught him momentarily unprepared. In the wink of an eye the _Sea Eagle_ careened over, almost on her "beam ends." It seemed as if the right hand wing tips actually touched the water. One inch more and there might have been an abrupt conclusion to this story, but Dr. Perkins" hands seemed to be everywhere at once. They flashed among levers and wheels.
For the s.p.a.ce of a breath the _Sea Eagle_ hung almost vertically, and then the big craft suddenly righted and shot upward on an even keel once more. But the moment had been an awful one, and as they winged their way upward not one aboard was there but felt that they had been delivered from a dreadful fate by what might well be described as a miracle.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE INCH MORE AND THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN ABRUPT CONCLUSION TO THIS STORY.]
CHAPTER XXV.-A RACE TO CLOUDLAND.
Scudding before the wind, for the half gale that was blowing had shifted during their battle with the waves, the aerial voyagers made fast time beneath the storm wrack racing by overhead. In fact, it appeared to the boys that they actually outflew the wind. At any rate, it was not long before the thunder of the great breakers on a low, sandy beach told them that they were close to the sh.o.r.e.
An instant later houses and streets came into view, and Dr. Perkins began looking anxiously about beneath for a place to land. He soon spied a spot,-a large ball-ground, or at least it appeared to be one, not far from the center of the city. Calling to Frank to "stand by" the engines, he began to descend in a series of circles.
Coming to earth in a high wind is a risky bit of business for the air man, about as dangerous a maneuver, in fact, as can be imagined. But in this case there was no choice for Dr. Perkins and his young friends, unless they wanted to be carried clear across the cape and into Delaware Bay.
Below them they could now see excited crowds racing toward the ball-ground, as soon as it became evident that that was the spot where the air men intended to alight. This did not please Dr. Perkins at all.
A crowd was the last thing that he wished to have about when he made his drop earthward. But there was no help for it, and he kept on descending, trusting to the good sense of the throngs below to get out of the way when the time came.
But crowds have never been remarkable for their common sense, and this one was no exception. The last "bank" had been made with safety, and the _Sea Eagle_ was making a clean-cut swoop to earth, when the crowd rushed in right below her. To have kept the craft on its course would have meant much injury, and possible loss of life. On the other hand, Dr.
Perkins knew that in the wind that was blowing it would be dangerous in the extreme to the air craft to change her course.
"Get out of the way!" he shouted.
"Out of the way unless you want to get hurt!" yelled Frank and Harry.
But the crowd, like foolish sheep, only stared and gaped, and made not the slightest effort to avoid the on-driving _Sea Eagle_.
There was only one thing to do, and Dr. Perkins did it. There was a quick twist of his steering wheel, and the _Sea Eagle_, instantly obeying her helm, darted off in an opposite direction to the one in which she had been advancing. Like a flash Dr. Perkins pulled the rising lever, at the same time shouting to Frank to stop the engines momentarily. He thought that the _Sea Eagle_ would rise of her own volition, and knew that if the engines kept driving at top speed that his craft would be plunged prow first into the earth.
So he chose the lesser of the two evils, and the maneuver might have been successful but for one thing. There was not room in which to execute it.
The _Sea Eagle_ hesitated, half rose, and then crashed down to the ground, landing heavily on one wing tip and smashing it to bits. Frank and Harry were pitched clean out of the hydroplane substructure when the impact came, and a cry of alarm went up from the crowd. But Dr. Perkins clung to his seat and brought the big craft to a stop.
Fortunately neither Frank nor Harry had been much injured, beyond being badly shaken up and bruised, and they were both on their feet again in a jiffy after the accident. The crowd, as if realizing that its actions had had a good deal to do with the accident, forebore to press in, and they made their way to Dr. Perkins" side without difficulty.
"Is she much injured?" was Frank"s first question.
"By good luck I think we have escaped serious damage," rejoined Dr.
Perkins, "but only an examination can tell."
At this moment a well-dressed, prosperous-looking man came elbowing through the crowd. He came straight up to Dr. Perkins with hand extended.
"Well, Perkins!" he exclaimed. "I always told you you"d have a tumble some time, and now you"ve had it; right in my back yard, too. But I"m sincerely glad to see that neither you nor your machine appears to be much injured."
The newcomer was Mr. James Studley, an old acquaintance of the inventor"s, who was summering at Cape May. The doctor was very glad to see him and accepted his cordial invitation to spend the night at his house, the boys, of course, being included in the invitation.
In the meantime, a squadron of police had arrived, who drove back the crowds, and arrangements were made to keep a guard on duty all night till an examination of the wrecked machine could be made.
"The accident, if it had to happen, could not have occurred more conveniently, so to speak," Dr. Perkins confided to his companions as they followed Mr. Studley to a handsome house not far away. "Mr. Studley is a manufacturer of aeroplanes, and has started a factory here, so that very probably we can get material to repair our damages without much trouble."
This was good news indeed to the boys, who had begun to fear that the trip might be abandoned.
They enjoyed a good dinner and a change into dry clothes as the guests of Mr. Studley and his wife, and bright and early the next morning repairs were made to the splintered wing tip, which was not so badly damaged as had at first appeared. Mr. Studley, who had provided workmen and materials for the task from his aeroplane factory, refused to hear of any compensation.
"Such services should be rendered freely and gladly by one birdman to another," he declared laughingly. "Who knows that some day I may not drop in on you at your island, in more senses than one."
As every trace of the storm had vanished, and the morning was bright and clear, no obstacle opposed itself to the continuance of their journey as soon as the repairs had been completed. So fine was the weather, in fact, that Mr. Studley declared his intention of accompanying them in a light "runabout" aeroplane of the monoplane cla.s.s, for a short distance.
The machine, a pretty little affair of the Bleriot type, was soon wheeled out, and Mr. Studley declared all was ready for the start. As on the evening before, a large crowd had gathered, but the police kept them back, and gave the two vastly different aeroplanes a clear field in which to rise. A greater contrast could not well be imagined than that presented by the heavy, rather c.u.mbersome-looking _Sea Eagle_ with her substantial underbody and huge wing spread, and the trim, dainty little monoplane, which was named the _Green Firefly_.
"We"re all ready when you are," exclaimed Dr. Perkins, turning to his friend, who was already seated in his long-bodied, gauzy-winged air craft.
"All right! Clear the way!" cried Mr. Studley with a wave of his hands.
His mechanics gave the propeller of the monoplane a twirl, as it was not provided with self-starting mechanism, and a moment later the roaring fusillade of the _Sea Eagle"s_ motor was drowning the sharp, angry, hornet-like buzzing of the _Green Firefly_.
"Go!" yelled Mr. Studley, and simultaneously, as it seemed, the two sky ships dashed forward over the smooth sward.
"Hooray!" shouted the crowd.
"They"re off!" shouted others.
And then, a minute later: