Part 6 (1/2)

”Indeed we will!” came from Dora and Grace.

”If you catch sight of him, have him arrested!” yelled Sam, and then the biplane sailed out of hearing.

Sam knew how to handle the Dartaway almost as well as did d.i.c.k and Tom, and as there was but little wind, and the flying machine appeared to be in good condition, the others did not doubt but what Sam would make a fine flight of the trip.

”Keep a little to the south,” called out d.i.c.k, after Hope had been left behind and when they were sailing over some broad fields. ”If you do that you can follow the old turnpike for quite a distance.”

”I thought I'd run for the railroad tracks,” answered the lad at the steering wheel.

”You can do that later--after we pa.s.s that big farmhouse with the four barns.”

Running along in the air is a different proposition from running on the ground, and the air-man has to be careful about the lay of the land below him or he will soon go astray from his course. The earth looks altogether different when viewed from the sky from what it does when looked at from a level, and when an air-man is five or six hundred feet up he has all he can do to make out what is below him.

It had begun to cloud up a little and this made it darker than ever.

After following the turn-pike for nearly two miles, Sam veered slightly to catch the railroad tracks and the gleam of the signal lights.

”I can follow the lights best of all!” he shouted, into d.i.c.k's ear.

”It's too dark to see the road.”

”All right, follow the railroad right to Ashton,” answered the oldest Rover boy, naming the town that was the railroad station for Brill College.

The cloudiness increased rapidly, and long before Ashton was gained it commenced to blow, gently at first, and then stronger and stronger.

Evidently a storm was in the air.

”We are going to catch it!” was Tom's comment.

”Oh, I don't think it will storm just yet,” returned Sam.

”Watch yourself, Sam!” cried d.i.c.k, warningly. ”If the wind gets too strong bring her down in the first field we come to.”

”I will,” was the answer.

They were now flying close to the railroad tracks. Presently they saw a glare of light illuminate the rails and a long line of freight cars, drawn by a big locomotive, pa.s.sed beneath them.

”Wish that was going our way--we could follow it with ease,” said Sam, as the train disappeared from view, leaving the landscape below darker than ever.

The youngest Rover boy now had to give the Dartaway all of his attention. The breeze was coming in fitful gusts, sending the biplane first to one side and then to the other. They struck a ”bank,” and he had to use all his wit and courage to bring the flying machine to a level keel once more.

”Better go down!” cried Tom. ”This is getting dangerous.”

”Don't go down here!” sang out d.i.c.k. ”There are woods on both sides of the track!”

Sam had been working the horizontal rudder, to bring the biplane down, but at d.i.c.k's words he s.h.i.+fted again and they went up.

”I'll tell you when we reach an open field,” went on the oldest Rover.

”Say, this sure is some blow!” he added.

Another fitful gust struck the Dartaway and for one brief moment it looked as if the biplane would be turned over. Had this occurred the machine would have dropped like a shot and most likely all of the boys would have been killed.