The Aeroplane Boys Flight eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 182 pages of information about The Aeroplane Boys Flight.

The Aeroplane Boys Flight eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 182 pages of information about The Aeroplane Boys Flight.

When, however, a situation suddenly arose that absolutely required a display of daring, these young air pilots were “there with the punch,” as Andy termed it.  They had learned how to volplane earthward from a dizzy height with absolute safety, when conditions were just right, and necessity required a quick descent.  On a few occasions Frank had even been known to hazard what is known as the “death dip;” but it was only when there happened to be a good reason for taking such chances, and not merely in a spirit of dare-deviltry, such as many show aviators employ, just to send a shiver of dread through the spectators, and then laugh recklessly at the fears their boldness had aroused.

Of course they might have decided to immediately return to Bloomsbury, and give information concerning the extent of their discoveries since coming to the Hoskins’ farm.

Perhaps that would have been the wisest move they could make but both boys were rather opposed to carrying it out just then.

The afternoon was wholly before them, and who could tell what change of plans the two yeggmen might make before the coming of the night?  Should they get wind of the presence of the Bird boys in the vicinity possibly they would take alarm, and hurrying to their concealed biplane make for the far North with all haste; and in this way, if no one knew of their departure the intended ambuscade that night in the vicinity of the railroad pay-car would be laid in vain.

That was really what the boys feared the most—­that their quarry slip off in secret, when they were far away.

Frank was indeed trying to figure out whether it would not be best after all for him to stay by the hydroplane, on guard as it were, while Andy, by using a horse, if the Hoskins happened to still possess such an animal, managed to get to another farm, where they were up-to-date enough to have a telephone in the house, by means of which he could get in touch with Dr. Bird or Judge Lawson in Bloomsbury.

Then again, there was always a slight chance that this pretended professor might have seen them descend, while he was wandering around.  Once an airman, and just by instinct as it were, the eyes are almost constantly searching the heavens, perhaps for a glimpse of other adventurous craft, or it may be, signs that give warning of treacherous winds, gathering storms, or similar things that must always be of intense interest to an aviator.

And so while Casper Blue had long since given up taking hazards in a flying machine to indulge in even more dangerous business as a bank robber, still habits would cling tightly, and thus he might have seen more than the ordinary man could have done.

Of course, even though he sought the hydroplane, and found it lying there in the field, he could not very well make any use of it so long as Frank held the missing part in his possession.

But he could in a spirit of maliciousness so utterly destroy the planes, and even injure the powerful little Kinkaid engine that it would be practically fit only for the scrap-heap afterwards.  And that was giving Frank more or less concern, even while he continued to linger at the farmhouse because Andy wished to prowl around a little while longer in hopes of getting some clue to the location of the cache where the thieves had hidden their plunder.

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Project Gutenberg
The Aeroplane Boys Flight from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.