Dave Dashaway and His Giant Airship: or, A Marvellous Trip Across the Atlantic

Once more the aviator consulted the lookout. Then, back again at his post, he ordered a slow-up and a gentle, gradual drop.

“Landed,” breathed Dave at last, intensely interested in all the gentle and natural movements of the descent.

“Yes, and that was certainly easy,” replied his patron, with a sigh of relief and satisfaction “The professor understands his business.”

The Frenchman soon appeared, followed by two of his assistants. The aviator and Dave accompanied him to the cabin.

“You people had better go to bed,” he directed all hands. “My men will attend to securing the machine safe and sound. We can do nothing now until morning.”

This order was obeyed. Dave and Hiram had what might be called a stateroom to themselves. It was narrow, but cozy. It had a window opening, and there the young aviator posted himself for some time.

By the aid of the headlights Dave could make out Leblance and his men securing the Albatross. The craft seemed to have landed on flat land rather bare of verdure and with no trees.

“An ideal spot for landing,” Dave reported to his comrade.

“Yes, but where are we?” questioned Hiram.

“In some wild mountain district, I should say,” responded Dave – “maybe Virginia, maybe North Carolina.”

“Well, it has been a dandy cruise,” declared Hiram. “Say, I’ve gone through so much excitement I don’t believe I can sleep a wink.”

“Try it, anyhow,” recommended Dave. “There may be a lot to do in the morning, and we want to be rested and strong to take our share in it.”

How long he rested Dave Dashaway did not know, but he was suddenly awakened by feeling the Albatross moving. At first he imagined that he must be dreaming, for certainly he did not think they would start off again after making a landing with such trouble.

“But she sure is moving,” decided the lad, “though not in the air, if my senses are good for anything. That is unless we’re bumping along a cloud bank.”

He sat up in his berth, and could make out a dim light in the room beyond. He listened and heard Hiram breathing heavily.

“He’s fast asleep, anyhow,” decided the young aviator. “It takes a good deal to disturb him. But we sure are moving. I wonder – ?”

Such a strange thought came to him that he hesitated to put it into form. But he decided to reason it out.

“Can it be?” he mused, “that I have slept through a whole night and day without knowing it, and that we are on the move again. Can anything have happened – to me – or the others? Have – I been unconscious – hurt – and not have known what has happened? It doesn’t seem possible, and yet – ”

His self-communing was interrupted by a more violent motion of the airship. It seemed to careen to one side, and then right itself. Dave found himself clutching the sides of his bunk. Then came a period of calm.

“I’m going to wake Hiram up,” decided Dave. “He may not like it, but I want to talk to some one about this, and if he gets mad, in case it isn’t anything, he can easily get to sleep again. And that’s what I won’t do unless I find out what’s going on.”

Dave cautiously got out of bed. As he did so he again felt the lurch of the big craft. At the same time he heard a voice speaking softly outside.

“By hickory!” came the tones. “I don’t seem to be movin’ th’ ole shebang much. Guess I’ll hev t’ go git another mule critter or two t’ snake it away. Whoa there!”

“What in the name of sweet spirits of nitre is going on?” murmured Dave. “Is some one trying to steal the Albatross?”

He crossed softly to look out of one of the windows, but could see nothing. The big headlights had been extinguished, and, save for some few incandescents here and there, which were only dimly glowing there was no illumination inside the ship. It had been decided to make it dark so all hands would sleep better.

“This is sure mysterious,” went on Dave. “I can’t see anything, but I can hear, and I can – feel!” he added a moment later, for again the craft moved slightly.

Once more the young aviator peered out, but he could discern nothing. The night was very black.

“If I thought – ” he began, when a sleepy voice from the adjoining berth inquired:

“Whatsmatter, Dave? Time f’r brkfust?”

“Hiram! Hiram!” whispered Dave shrilly. “Wake up! Something has happened – it’s happening now!”

Instantly Hiram sat upright in his bed. He was rather a slow chap, but on occasions could move lively.

“What is it?” he inquired in a low voice. “Burglars in here, Dave?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. Anyhow, I don’t think they’re in yet.”

“All right, then; wait until they do get in an’ we’ll nab ’em. Lay low!”

“That’s just what I don’t want to do,” replied Dave. “Something may happen unless we get busy. They may even get away with the Albatross.”

“Get away with the Albatross?” cried Hiram. “What are you talking about, Dave? How can they – ?”

But he did not finish his sentence. At that moment there came another lurch to the craft, and it moved several feet.

“There!” hoarsely whispered Dave. “What did I tell you?”

“Are we going up – a night flight?” asked Hiram.

“I don’t know. I was awakened by the movement, and it’s been going on ever since. Someone is outside, that’s sure. Listen now!”

There was silence for a moment, and then a cautious voice could be heard saying:

“I suah will have t’ done go an’ git another mule critter t’ move this contraption. An’ I ain’t got no mo’ of my own. I’ll have to borrow one off Nate Jackson, an’ then he’ll want me t’ whack up with him. Wa’al, there ain’t no help, fer as I kin see!”

“There!” exclaimed Dave in triumph.

“It sure is strange,” said Hiram. “I guess we’d better wake up the others. Mr. King and Mr. Dale ought to know about this.”

But there was no need for the boys to awaken their companions. The next moment there came such a violent motion to the ship that not a sleeper continued to slumber. With one accord they tumbled out of their berths.

Then from without came a chorus of excited shouts.

“Whoa, there! Consarn ye all, what d’ ye mean by backin’ and fillin’ that a-way? Stand still, pesky mule critters that ye be! Ye wouldn’t pull this shebang when I wanted ye to, an’ now ye’re tryin’ t’ run away with it. Whoa!”

“Who’s there?” cried Mr. King.

“What is going on?” demanded Mr. Dale.

“Something has happened!” shouted Professor Leblance.

“That’s right!” agreed Dave, “and it’s going on now.”

“Someone is trying to make off with the airship,” added Hiram.

“Make off with the airship!” repeated the professor. “Can it be – ”

He did not finish, but in a moment he had switched on a number of lights, including the two big ones outside the craft. Then, as they looked from the windows, they saw a strange sight.

An unkempt man, with a team of sorry-looking mules, had fastened a rope to the Albatross and was evidently trying to drag it away. He started back in alarm at the sudden illumination, and hastily began taking off the rope.

“Here! What are you trying to do?” cried Mr. King, through an open window.

“Good land! Is there folks in this shebang!” asked the mountaineer. “Land a’massy! I thought it was a balloon that had come down.”

“And you were going to haul it away and claim a reward, I suppose,” put in the professor, beginning to understand the situation.

“That’s what I was, stranger” came the answer. “But my mules wa’n’t strong enough. I was goin’ arter another pair when yo’-all turned up your kerosene lamps. She wouldn’t hardly budge.”

“I should say not, with the way she is fastened,” said the Frenchman. “But explain yourself, monsieur.”

“That ain’t my name, but it don’t much matter,” came the answer. “I was on my way home from th’ settlement, with a load of stuff t’ keep my wife an’ kids in bacon an’ flour, when I seen ye come down last evenin’. I once went t’ a county fair, an’ they had a balloon assent. Th’ perfesser offered five dollars t’ whoever’d git his balloon arter he jumped out of it, an’ she drifted away.”

“Nate Jackson was th’ lucky man, an’ he found th’ balloon in Black Cedar swamp. He hauled it t’ town an’ got his five. When I seen this contraption come down, I just laid low, aimin’ t’ git th’ reward. I s’posed you folks would all go home until mornin’ anyhow. But ye didn’t. I onhitched my mules arter dark, an’ got a rope from my wagon, an’ tried t’ haul th’ balloon away. But she wouldn’t haul. I’m mighty sorry if I disturbed ye’ an’ I’ll travel on now. This is th’ most forsaken country I ever knowed, an’ it’s hard t’ git money. I thought I saw an easy way t’ make a five dollar bill.”

“It’s worth more than that to have our airship let alone, my man,” said the professor. “This is the kind of a balloon you never saw before. Here are ten dollars for the wife and little ones,” and he passed over a bill.

The man was overwhelmingly grateful and apologized again for the trouble he had caused. A hasty examination showed that he had not damaged the craft any by his pulling and hauling, and a little later he had disappeared in the darkness with his “mule critters,” and soon the rumble of his wagon over the road, that was hardly more than a trail, came fainter and fainter to the ears of the aviators.

“Well, that sure was a scare!” exclaimed Dave, when quiet was once more restored.

“I should say yes!” agreed Hiram. “The idea of trying to cart off the Albatross!”

“Well, his explanation was natural,” said the professor. “These mountaineers, in this lonely region, scarcely ever see money, I guess. But now, boys, get to bed. We’ve got lots to do to-morrow.”

Everyone again retired after the lights had again been turned low, and Dave and Hiram were soon asleep again. It was two hours after daylight when Grimshaw routed them out of their berths.

“Come, get up here,” he ordered; “if you don’t want to miss breakfast.”

“I certainly don’t,” announced the active Hiram. “I’m hungry as a bear.”

“Well, there’s a capital meal waiting for you,” observed the old aeronaut.

The boys found this true as they came in at second table in the cabin. They hurried through with the meal, for outside on the ground Mr. King and the others were assembled. From their actions the young aviator concluded that some active discussion was in progress.

Exit from the cabin was made through a trap door and a balancing ladder.

“Hurrah!” piped Hiram, as he reached the ground. “Here’s a chance to stretch our legs and breathe some fresh air.”

“Let’s see what is going on with the others,” suggested Dave, and they approached the group made up of Professor Leblance, Mr. King, Grimshaw and Mr. Dale.

“We are evidently in some remote spot,” the Frenchman was saying. “All the better that, for we shall have no troublesome visitors. My men can attend to the balloonet and some other needful repairs while we send for that quicksilver.”

“Which means the location of the nearest town?” submitted the airman. “There was so much excitement last night I forgot to ask that old mountaineer. But we must locate a store.”

“Exactly.”

“And that may be somewhat difficult.”

“Perhaps,” agreed the Frenchman, “but once down in the valley yonder it is to be supposed there are some tokens of civilization.”

“Who is to go?” inquired Mr. Dale.

“I think you had better entrust the matter to me, Professor,” said the aviator. “Here, let one of the boys – you, Dashaway – go with me.”

“I shall be glad,” said Dave, eagerly.

“Hold on,” broke in Hiram; “give me a show too; won’t you, Mr. King?”

The aviator took a brief look at the earnest, beseeching face of the willing and accommodating young aeronaut, and smiled indulgently.

“Well, you two make a hardy, useful team, so make it so, if you like.”

Arrangements were made for the departure at once. It was understood that the Albatross would remain at its present landing place until the exploring party returned with the quicksilver, even if they had to consume considerable time in locating a town.

“I think we can make it and return by nightfall,” said the airman. “Don’t worry, though, if we are longer away.”

“No,” spoke the professor. “We can’t leave till we get that quicksilver, no matter how long it takes.”

A plentiful lunch, a compass, and a gun were gotten ready by the cabin man. Then, waving a cheery adieu to their friends, the airman and the boys started down the mountain side.

CHAPTER XIV

LOST

“It’s no use, Dave.”

“Why not?”

“We’ve shouted ourselves hoarse, and in this still air and the way we have kept up the hollering, anyone could hear us five miles away, it seems to me.”

“Then there is only one conclusion to arrive at,” observed the young aviator quite seriously.

“What’s that, Dave?”

“We are lost.”

“I reckon you’re right,” assented Hiram ruefully, dropping to the ground and reclining on the grass.

His companion followed his example. It was six o’clock in the afternoon, the sun was descending, and at the end of ten hours spent in persistent search of a town or settlement, this had been the result of their hard travel and laborious investigations.

The trio who had left the Albatross had kept together until about noon. Not a wagon track or even a footpath had they come across, much less a human habitation. The landscape seemed as wild and untenanted as if it were a primeval wilderness.

“I hardly know what to do,” said the old aviator, about the middle of the afternoon, as they concluded a rest and a lunch.

“Yes, we may go on for miles and miles and not run across a human being,” returned Hiram, who was tired out.

“I have half a mind to return to the Albatross while we are pretty sure to find our way,” remarked Mr. King; “and advise that we make an air flight for civilized territory.”

“We might try as far as the other side of that big hill,” suggested Dave, pointing to a lofty eminence in the distance.

“That may not be a bad idea,” replied Mr. King. “See here, we’ll make a circuit. It can’t be over a few miles. I’ll trail the valley this way; you boys take the other direction, and we’ll meet on the other side of the hill.”

“That’s a good arrangement,” declared Hiram; and the divided journey was begun.

It proved a very unwise experiment, the way things turned out. The circuit was not so easy to follow as it had seemed. Pursuing a ravine and its branches, at the end of three hours the boys found themselves inextricably mixed up as to location or direction, with so many hills in view that they could not tell which was the one they had had in view when they separated from the aviator.

“Yes,” observed Hiram now, looking rather hopelessly about them; “we’re lost, that’s sure.”

“Then the thing is to find ourselves,” said Dave, cheerily.

“Worst of all, Mr. King has got all the lunch,” mourned Hiram. “See here, Dave, when are you going to make a start from here?”

“Why, when we get rested we’ll press right forward and get to a town or back to the Albatross.”

“That’s easily said; but not done.”

“Well, we can try; can’t we?”

“I suppose so.”

Hiram was out of sorts. His gloom somewhat abated, however, and finally walking on, they came across a big patch of wild raspberries. When, a little later, Dave discovered a pecan tree, Hiram quite recovered his spirits.

“I hardly hope to rejoin Mr. King,” said Dave. “I think I can keep the general direction of the Albatross in view. What I say is to brace up and keep steadily ahead for a few hours, and see if we don’t come across something encouraging. There’s a full moon, you know. Besides, at night we could make out lights at a distance. You see, even if we fail, we can surely get back to the airship.”

“Not if we lose our reckoning.”

“Yes, even then,” persisted Dave.

“How can we?”

“Why, I heard Professor Leblance tell Mr. King that if we did not return by midnight, he would have the big searchlight on the Albatross at work.”

“That’s grand!” cried Hiram, bracing up magically. “We can see the searchlight for a good many miles, you know.”

The wayfarers threaded several tortuous valleys. They reasoned that if they could get out of the mountains they were sure to come upon some little farm. It was near dusk when Hiram, who was a little in advance of Dave, shouted suddenly:

“Here’s something!”

“What is it?” questioned our hero, hurrying up to where he stood.

His companion held up what looked like a broken tree branch, only the bark had been peeled off from it, and one end had evidently been fashioned into a handle with a pocket knife.

“Someone driving live stock has been here – lately, too,” declared Hiram, inspecting the whip. “It broke, and he threw it away. Hold on. I was long enough on a farm to trail a cattle track, if there’s one around here. Yes, there is,” and the speaker’s tone rose in volume as he bent over and, running along, inspected the ground keenly.

“Found it?” asked the young aviator, pressing close after his comrade.

“Yes. It’s plain enough, now. Come on, Dave; we’re in luck, sure.”

They could now make out a beaten track, and tell the irregularities in the ground made by the trampling of many feet. The track finally ended at the edge of a small stream.

“Here’s where they forded the brook,” explained Hiram. “We’ll take off our shoes and stockings and wade over.”

This they did. The opposite bank gained, they saw through a fringe of bushes what looked like a level field. They could hear occasional bleatings.

“Oh, say, we’re all right now,” declared the sanguine Hiram.

They hurried on their shoes, eager to pursue their investigations.

“The sheep are over yonder,” said Hiram, pointing to a corner of the field. “We’re surely near some farm now. I shouldn’t wonder if we found some one guarding the sheep, too, for – hear that!”

It was the echo of distant yelping and barking to which Hiram called attention.

“Wolves?” asked Dave, guessing quickly.

“That’s what; I know them. Saw lots of them when I was out West. Come ahead. We’re going to find somebody right away, I’m sure.”

The boys now noticed a little knoll. The bleating sounds seemed to echo from behind it. As they started up the incline, Hiram grabbed his companion in some affright and dismay, and both fell back startled.

A sudden flash split the air. It started a sweep in a perfect circle, like a revolving searchlight. Its bright rays sent out a glare a hundred yards from its base. Then, the circle complete, as suddenly it died out.

“Now what do you think of that?” gasped the bewildered Hiram. “Worse, and more of it!”

Bang!

From the same spot, just as abruptly, some gun or cannon belched out a sheet of flame, followed by a report that awoke the echoes for miles in every direction.

Facing a mystery they could not explain, the two young aviators stood staring mutely towards the spot from which flash and report had so unaccountably come.

CHAPTER XV

“THE TERRIBLE MACGUFFINS”

“Now what do you think of that?” challenged Hiram, after a long spell of wondering silence.

“I don’t think it was intended for us,” responded the young aviator.

“Why not?”

“Because that revolving light, or whatever it is, flashed in every direction, and that firearm wasn’t aimed towards us.”

“That’s so,” agreed Hiram. “But what was it done for at all?”

“We had better try and find out,” suggested the young aviator.

The boys waited for some little time, expecting a renewal of the strange manifestations, but it did not come. Then Dave led the way, creeping up the incline. As they reached the top of the knoll, they paused and looked about them. Sheltered in a kind of a dip of the ground, they could make out half a hundred sheep huddled together. No human being was visible.

“There’s the contrivance that flashed and fired,” announced Hiram, pointing to a small raised platform at the edge of the knoll.

“I guess it is,” assented the young aviator; “go slow, Hiram. No need to run any risks.”

Neither could refrain from satisfying his curiosity as to the purpose of the device near to them. As they neared it, proceeding cautiously, the bright rays of the moon, just rising, showed clear outlines of the platform and the object upon it.

“Hark – listen!” ordered Dave, suddenly.

As they waited a sharp tick – tick, regular and prolonged, struck their hearing.

“It’s a clock,” declared Hiram. “Look there – seven or eight gun barrels. And wires running to that box. There’s clock works in it. See, the light is still burning, but shut in with a cover.”

“That’s so,” nodded Dave, surprised and still puzzled.

“Oh, say!” cried Hiram, suddenly, “I’ve guessed out the whole scheme.”

“Have you?”

“I think so.”

“What is it?” asked the young aviator.

“Why, this is a contrivance for scaring away wolves. It’s mighty cute, and it must be a smart fellow who got it up. Don’t you see, probably every hour the light flashes and one of those firearms goes off. That would scare wolves good and right.”

“I believe you have solved the problem,” said Dave.

He was certain of it as they made a closer inspection of the queer contrivance. Some backwood genius had spent time and some money in rigging up a wolf-scarer that kept up an alarm and illumination through the night, serving as a protection for the sheepfold.

“Of course there’s a house somewhere near,” said Hiram, as they started from the spot.

“Yes, look there – a light!” cried Dave.

What looked like a candle or lamp in a window showed at a little distance. The young adventurers hurried along with a good deal of satisfaction.

They finally reached a roomy log cabin with a barn behind it. As they passed around the house they were unable to discover anybody about the premises. They knocked and then hammered at the front door. There was no response, and Hiram shouted, but no one appeared. Walking around the house, they could see through the uncurtained windows into every room.

“There’s no one in the house, it seems,” said the young aviator.

“Probably gone to some neighbor’s,” suggested Hiram.

“What is that?” suddenly exclaimed Dave.

Towards the southeast a growing glare showed in the sky. It increased in brightness each moment.

“It’s a fire!” declared Dave.

“I think so, too. Let’s run for it,” spoke Hiram.

They had gone perhaps a quarter of a mile when shots and then shouts rang out on the still night air.

“Someone is running this way,” said Dave.

Against the radiance of the mingled fire glow and the moonlight the boys saw a woman hurriedly crossing a clear space beyond the trees. She held a baby in her arms. A little girl she clasped by the hand. The baby was crying, and the woman, with many a fearful glance back of her, was sobbing audibly.

She came directly towards the boys. Dave stepped forward in her path. The woman drew back with a shriek of alarm.

“Don’t be frightened,” said Dave.

“You do not belong to the raiders?” the woman faltered, all in a tremble.

“What raiders?” asked Hiram.

“The MacGuffins – the terrible MacGuffins!” almost wailed the woman.

“Who are they?”

“Don’t you know?” asked the woman, incredulously.

“We are strangers here, madam,” explained the young airman. “What is the fire and what is the trouble?”

“All our men are away – hiding from the officers down at Brambly Fork,” said the woman. “The MacGuffins have made a raid and are burning us all out! They may kill us if they catch us. Oh, sirs, help me get our little ones in hiding,” she pleaded.

“To your home, do you mean?” inquired Dave.

“Oh, no, no,” dissented the woman instantly. “That is the worst place in the world to go to just now. They will burn our house next.”

“They may not harm you,” suggested Dave.

“Yes, they will. My husband is the man they hate the most. It’s an old quarrel between the MacGuffins and our people. They will harm you, too, if they catch you.”

“Why should they?” asked Hiram.

“Because no stranger is ever allowed in these Carolina mountains. They are all moonshiners, and will take you for detectives. They shot two suspicious characters only a few days ago.”

“H’m,” remarked Hiram under his breath. “We’re in a nice country!”