The Motor Boys on the Wing: or, Seeking the Airship Treasure

Fortunately this was during a lull in the gale, or even then she might have been dashed against the trees and wrecked. But before the blast could resume its howling the boys and the professor had rolled their airship up into a little opening amid the trees, and soon it was well lashed to the sturdy trunks, some of the wing planes being folded over to offer less surface to the gale.

“Now I guess we’re pretty snug,” remarked Bob, as they sat in the closed cabin, and listened to the howl of the wind and the dash of the rain without. “I’ll get supper, and then we can sit and talk. It was a lucky thing I saw the lake.”

“Indeed it was,” agreed Jerry. “For doing that we’ll forgive you for mentioning something to eat.”

“Sure, go ahead and get two suppers,” urged Ned. “I’m hungry.”

The professor was observed to be putting on a rain coat and a pair of rubber boots.

“Where are you going?” asked Jerry.

“Out to look for my flying frog,” he explained.

The boys persuaded him to wait until morning, and soon Bob served supper. Then, being tired with their day in the storm, they turned in, being almost as comfortable as if they were at home, save only that the Comet trembled now and then, as the blast shook her.

It stormed so all of the following day that they did not venture up in the air, but remained anchored. It began to clear during the afternoon, and the professor went searching for the flying frog, but came back at dusk without it.

“We’ll start in the morning,” decided Jerry that night, “and I hope we’ll soon find what we’re looking for.”

It was about noon of the next day, when they had covered many miles over the trackless forest, that Ned, who was in the bow, looking eagerly through the binoculars, uttered a joyful cry.

“What is it?” demanded Jerry.

“I’m not sure – but I see a big patch of white down there. It may be the wrecked airship we’re looking for. See, right by that clump of pines?”

He pointed and handed the glasses to Jerry.

“It’s either her or a big white stone,” murmured the tall lad.

“It can’t be a stone, for it flutters in the wind,” declared Ned.

“Don’t be too sure,” advised Bob. “We’ve been fooled before.”

“We’ll soon see what it is,” said Jerry. “We’ll go down there.”

Eagerly they watched as the white patch became bigger, for they were nearing it rapidly. Now they could make out that it was some kind of cloth, caught on the limbs of a tree, for it flapped back and forth like a signal of distress.

“I – I guess we’ve found it at last,” murmured Jerry hopefully.

“If only the treasure is there,” added Ned in a low voice.

In a few seconds more they were over the object. Just ahead of them was a little clearing where Jerry was going to land. As the Comet passed over the white object the boys looked down. Then came a joyful cry.

“That’s her!” yelled Ned. “It’s their airship!”

For what he and the others saw, on the ground under the white cloth, was the bent and twisted remains of a big biplane, the engine, wings and frame being tossed together in an almost inextricable mass. It was the wreck of the Silver Star.

But was the airship treasure there?

CHAPTER XXX

THE AIRSHIP TREASURE – CONCLUSION

“That’s the same one!”

“The craft Brown and Black had.”

“The one they ordered us away from; I can tell by the peculiar wing tips – at least from what’s left of ’em.”

Thus spoke Bob, Ned and Jerry in turn as they stood in the little clearing where they had landed, and viewed the airship wreck that was just on the edge of it.

“Jove, but she’s certainly smashed up!” went on the stout lad.

“The engine is nothing but junk,” said Ned.

“And look where the radiator is,” called Jerry. “Up in that beech tree.” The cooling apparatus, torn loose from the rest of the machinery had caught on a great limb and hung there.

“She must have crashed full-tilt into the trees,” was Ned’s opinion. “That tore things loose, and then, if the engine was going, the propellers threshed around and broke to pieces.”

“That last is true, anyhow,” observed Bob. “Here is a piece of one of the blades,” and he held it up.

Professor Snodgrass was observed to be carefully scanning the ground about the wreck.

“Are you looking for the treasure?” asked Jerry.

“Eh? What’s that? Treasure? No, my dear boy, I’m looking for the flying frog. This seems a likely place to find one.”

“And we’ll have a look for the treasure,” said Ned, smiling at the odd indifference of the professor. “It ought to be somewhere around here – if Brown and Black, or whatever their names are – told the truth.”

After a glance at the wrecked craft the three boys began eagerly looking for the loot from the bank.

“First we’d better make sure it isn’t still aboard,” suggested Jerry. “They had two or three compartments on their craft where they could carry the money.”

It needed but the most casual glance, however, to show that none of the treasure was now aboard the Silver Star. In fact the several compartments or boxes of which Jerry had spoken were smashed beyond holding anything. In the corner of one, however, where it had become jammed, was part of the same curious implement that had first aroused their suspicions.

“That’s the drill they used to make a hole in the safe door, so they could put in the explosive,” declared Bob.

“Yes, and we’d better take it along for evidence,” remarked Jerry, as he carried the tool to their own machine.

“And there’s not so much as a gold-piece here,” gloomily went on Ned, after a careful survey of the ground about the wreck. “I guess they’ve got it hidden somewhere.”

“I don’t agree with you,” declared Jerry. “I think it was in the ship after they were spilled out. How long it remained after that we can’t say. But I’m going to have a look back over the air path which this machine took in coming here.”

They were hopeful at first, but when, after a walk of several hours, they had not even found a scrap of paper they began to get discouraged. All about them was the vast, silent forest, in which it seemed that the foot of man had not been set since the Indians had disappeared.

“It’s no use,” declared Bob, sitting down on a stone. “I wish I’d brought along something to eat. I’m going back. You fellows can hunt, if you want to.”

“Oh, come on, just a little farther,” urged Jerry. “Go one more mile, and then, if we don’t find something we’ll go back, and try it again to-morrow.”

“Well, just one mile more,” stipulated the fat lad wearily.

They trudged on, poking about in the dead leaves for a sight of gold or paper. They had about covered the additional mile, and Bob was urging his companions to return, when, as he impatiently kicked at a stone, he uttered a cry.

“Hurt yourself?” asked Jerry, turning around.

Bob did not answer. He dug his fist down into the leaves and dirt, and when he raised his hand his fingers clutched something that glittered in the sun.

“Gold! Gold!” he cried. “A twenty dollar gold piece!”

“The airship treasure at last!” shouted Jerry.

Almost immediately after that Ned found three of the double eagles scattered about, and Jerry picked up five more close together. Then they hurried along the track, as indicated by the gold, and in a few minutes they came upon a bundle of papers. The wrappings were torn off, and then to the delighted gaze of the boys there were disclosed big bundles of bills, and the other securities that had been stolen from the bank vault. Jerry hastily counted them over.

“There’s two hundred and six thousand dollars here,” he announced.

“That’s right,” confirmed Ned. “There was four thousand in gold taken. Let’s see if we can’t pick up some more.”

They hurried back to the place where they had first found the glittering coins, and by dint of searching in the leaves managed to pick up one hundred and ten of the coins – twenty-two hundred dollars. Then, as it was getting late, and they wanted to make secure the great treasure they had found, they went back to their craft.

As they came in view of it they saw Professor Snodgrass capering about like a boy.

“Hurrah! Hurrah!” he shouted at the sight of them. “I’ve found it!”

“Maybe he found the rest of the gold,” suggested Ned.

“We’ve got most of the treasure!” yelled Bob.

“And I’ve got my treasure – my prize – the flying frog!” exclaimed the scientist. “I just caught it! Oh, but I am the lucky man! Congratulate me, boys!”

“Look here!” called Jerry, showing the big bundle of notes.

“Ah, yes, very good, very good,” spoke the professor calmly, “but look at this,” and, trembling with eagerness, he opened a specimen box and showed the boys a tiny, trembling green frog. “I had rather have this than the airship treasure,” said the professor. “You ought to see it change color.”

He agreed with the boys that it was useless to spend any more time hunting for the rest of the gold. It had evidently been scattered when the airship turned over, spilling out the other valuables, just before crashing into the trees.

“The bank will be glad enough to get that back, and with the capture of the robbers, to pay you the reward,” said the professor.

The airship treasure was carefully put aboard the Comet and then, rising high in the air, the nose of the craft was pointed toward the east, and she began her swift flight again over the pathless forest.

“Well, something was doing on this trip, almost all the while,” remarked Ned, a day or so later when they were nearing Harmolet.

“Yes, it was one of the most exciting ones we’ve had,” agreed Jerry.

But it was not the last voyage of our heroes, for they were destined for other adventures, which will be related in the next volume, to be entitled, “The Motor Boys After a Fortune; Or The Hut on Snake Island.”

“I’d like to know the secret of the cloth on the statue and how Noddy’s and Bill’s names came in the torch,” said Bob.

They did learn a little later, at the trial of the robbers. It became necessary to have evidence about the queer bicycle tires, and Noddy, being a witness, explained how he had purchased a set exactly like those on the Silver Star from a supply left by Brown and Black.

It developed at the trial that Noddy had proposed to Bill the daring scheme of sailing around the head of the statue in the park, and lifting off a loose portion of the torch as a trophy. Noddy thought it would show his skill as an aviator, and that the people of Harmolet would be much surprised when they found the piece of bronze gone. It was this scheme he was proposing to his crony, when Jerry overheard him. Noddy had been in Harmolet before, and knew about the statue.

But Noddy had a slight accident in his machine after leaving the Colton grounds, and so could not start to circle the statue until after dark. Then the park was deserted and no one saw him. He had his trouble for his pains, and found it impossible to take away a piece of the bronze. He and Bill went too close, and tore one of their wing tips. Noddy did manage to toss his name and Bill’s into the hollow torch, a foolish and risky trick.

They escaped police detection, which Bill was afraid of, but gained none of the notoriety for which Noddy thirsted. Then the two went off on an auto trip that lasted until they were summoned to court.

“It’s no wonder though, after what happened, and remembering Noddy’s talk, that we suspected them for a time,” said Jerry; and his chums agreed with him.

The trial of the two robbers, who went under various names, was short and summary. They had recovered from their accident when taken to court. The evidence against them, given by the boys, was so conclusive, that they did not offer a defense, and were quickly convicted.

It developed that the day they were in the little country town, where the boys first saw them, they were planning the robbery, and the mention of Harmolet so startled them that they betrayed a nervousness that drew the attention of our friends to them.

The boys had found nearly all the gold, for what was missing had been spent by the thieves. The evil doers were sent to prison for long terms.

Of course our heroes received the ten thousand dollars reward, and the thanks of the bank officials. The prize money was divided among them, Professor Snodgrass getting his share. Nor did the boys forget the friendly policeman, Mr. Thompson, but for whose aid they might not have gotten on the trail of the thieves.

Professor Snodgrass returned to the museum, the proud possessor of the flying frog, as well as many other specimens gathered on the trip. As for the boys, they had several more trips in the Comet and then prepared to return to school in the fall. Anxiously then, they awaited the next summer, when they planned to do great things.

And now, for the time being we will say good-bye to the motor boys, trusting to meet them soon again.

The End