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Airplane Boys among the Clouds

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<h2 id="id00622" style="margin-top: 4em">CHAPTER XII</h2> <h5 id="id00623">SANDY DROPS SOMETHING</h5> "Whoop! now, what d'ye think of that?" shouted Elephant, as soon as he turned the corner of the shed. "Percy shies his hat in the ring! Another man-bird come to keep the pot boiling! Now, will you be good, Frank? Look at it eat up distance, will you? Say, that's going some, I tell you!" Larry exclaimed. "Percy deserves credit for staying up about all night to assemble the parts of his new biplane, and that's a fact!" Frank candidly admitted; as with kindling eyes he watched the progress of the new wonder that marked the latest achievement in the line of aviation, as advanced by a well-known brand of builders. His whole heart and soul were wrapped up in the strange calling that seemed to be his birthright; so that he could even admire the clever work of a bitter rival, and applaud his successful evolutions. Over the treetops the biplane had arisen. Frank instantly remembered how they had seen Percy starting aloft on his initial flight with his old machine, the one later on seized by the natives of Colombia, and which might still be doing duty down in that South American republic, for aught they knew. Apparently the young pilot of the new aircraft was filled with exultation over his successful start. He sent the biplane swiftly around in eccentric circles, as though testing its ability in various lines. Now he shot upward as if intending to mount like an eagle in gigantic circles until among the fleecy clouds that floated overhead. Then he would volplane downward at dazzling speed, to resume a horizontal flight when close to the earth. The boys watched as though fascinated. When a particularly daring act turned out to be a success Frank was the first to clap his hands vigorously. Possibly those in the aeroplane might not hear the applause; but whether or no, it proved what the boys of Bloomsbury had always known, and this was that Frank Bird did not have a mean or jealous fibre in his whole body. He could thoroughly enjoy seeing a rival perform brilliant "stunts;" and the only effect was to spur him on to excelling. "Percy is just as daring as ever! That is his one weakness, I'm afraid!" he remarked, as they saw the other make a sudden swoop that must have been particularly trying in the planes of his machine. "I bet you he's going to break his neck some day," grumbled Andy, who could not bring himself to feel just the same way toward Percy as his cousin did; according to the way boys look at these things, Andy was the more "human" of the two; having faults that were lacking in Frank. "That's certain a better biplane than the one they had last year," Larry remarked, after he had been thrilled with the daring exhibition Percy was putting up in his exultation at being once more afloat in the air, after a long absence. "A great deal better," Frank admitted. "I knew what the faults were with that old plane, and so far I fail to discover the same failings with this one. If Percy would only use a little more sense, and not be so willing to take unnecessary risks, he could have a grand time this summer." "Gee! look at him going it now, would you?" gasped Elephant. "He must have a bully good motor aboard to eat up space like that. Talk to me about your mile a minute, he's beating that all hollow!" "No doubt of it," laughed Frank; "for everything happens to be favorable just now;" but Andy frowned and remarked: "Oh! I just guess that ain't anything so remarkable. Percy hasn't got the push on our biplane. I'd take my affidavy that we went faster than that at one time when Frank let her out. You wait and see; some fine day we'll show you a sight that'll make your eyes stick out." Andy was not a boaster as a rule; but whenever Percy Carberry started to show what a mighty conqueror of the air he had become, something seemed to rise up within the second Bird boy that made him give vent to such expressions. "He knows we're watching him, that's why he does it!" said wise Elephant. "Sure," Larry admitted; "but that don't take away anything from his circus stunts, does it? Now he's going to swing around and circle your field, Frank. Wish he'd take a notion to drop down here, and let's look his new article over." Andy laughed scornfully. "I see him doing that same, Larry, when water runs up hill!" he observed sarcastically. "Did you ever know Percy to be open and frank? Ain't he always hiding what he knows, and trying to spring surprises on people? You don't catch him letting Frank look over his biplane, not if he knows it. Why, he's afraid Frank might get on to some little device that he expects will play a big part in the game, if ever he races us again. Huh! come off your perch, Larry, and take another guess." "Well, there he goes around the field," the other went on. "Listen to the hum of the propellers, would you? Don't they make sweet music, though? I'm afraid I'll be like poor little Elephant here, and get the aeroplane fever myself, if this thing keeps on. Then there'll be a whole flock of us bobbing around." He laughed heartily at the idea, as though he could imagine himself whizzing through the air "like a comet," as he remarked. "Look at Sandy swinging his hat!" called out Elephant. "He's yelling something too, but I can't make it out, because of the racket the machine makes." "Well, it wouldn't be hard to guess," declared Andy; "because you know how Sandy Hollingshead likes to boast. The joke of it is, he never does anything but hang on to his crony, and keep up the shouting. He's such a coward naturally that I don't understand how he finds the nerve to go up in that cranky craft with Percy." "There! he's making faces at us; or doing something with his hands," Elephant continued, as he watched the biplane swinging past, some hundreds of feet in the air. "I suppose that's meant for a defi," laughed Frank. "You know Sandy's ways, fellows? He always was something of a monkey on the team when he played ball. Don't answer back, any of you. A cat may look at a king; and we have a perfect right to stand here in our own dooryard, and gape at the show. But, Andy, pay attention to the way his machine works. I've caught on to a little idea already that I believe we could use with benefit ourselves." That was practical Frank every time, always keeping an eye out for the usefulness of things, and ready to improve his opportunities as occasion arose. Three times did Percy circle the big practice field, as though determined to impress upon the lookers-on the marvelous advantages his new biplane had over the old. Doubtless time had not effaced the bitterness of his former defeats at the hands of his rival; and he was now fairly burning for a chance to wipe the memory out. "Now, what d'ye suppose he's hanging around here all this while for?" grumbled Andy, who was nervous just so long as the other aeroplane kept winging its flight over the encircling fence that marked the confines of the aviation field. "Oh! Percy wants you to know he ain't stingy," sang out Larry. "Look your fill, from a distance, but you can't come any nearer." "Don't bother your head about him, Andy," remarked Frank. "It's giving him heaps of pleasure, and doesn't hurt us a whit. In fact, I don't care how long he keeps it up; for by degrees I'll be able to understand some things I'd like to know about that make of biplane. You can see it differs from ours in lots of ways. Some things may be a bit better, and others not so good." "But, Frank, you don't think it could beat us out, do you?" Andy quickly demanded. Frank shook his head. "I hope not," he said, quietly; "but you can't always tell. That's a great machine Percy has there now, and it would be silly to deny it. A good deal depends on how it's going to be run." "That's the ticket, Frank!" exclaimed Larry. "And I'm dead sure that no matter which biplane you handled in a race you'd come out ahead." "Sure he would," added Elephant, emphatically. "Because he keeps his head about him, and knows just what to do in a tight pinch; while Perc gets rattled, and loses his judgment." "That's good of you to say such things, boys; but I don't think I deserve them," Frank laughed. "You sure do!" declared Andy, who ought to know better than any one else the good qualities of his chum, since he had seen him under fire many a time. "L-l-look at 'em!" burst out Nat just then, surprising himself by his ability to actually speak clearly. The biplane had again headed across the field at a height of about three hundred feet; only this time, instead of cutting corners it was coming on directly, and gave promise of passing over the shed. "Hey! what's that Sandy's got in his fist?" cried Larry. "He's going to drop something, as sure as you live!" echoed Elephant. "Mem-mebbe it's a b-b-bomb!" burst out Nat, his mind filled with accounts he had been reading of what was being done over in Africa by the Italians in their war against the Turks and Arabs. At that Elephant seemed seized with a panic. He was not a valiant boy, generally speaking, and something about the ridiculous suggestion concerning a bomb seemed to fill him with sudden terror. Uttering a howl he started to run one way, and then changing his mind darted in another direction; only to come back and finally crawl under a pile of boards that chanced to be lying near. "Hey! what you thinkin' of doing, Sandy?" shouted Larry, shaking his fist up at the approaching aeroplane. "Don't you dare drop that on us, or I'll take it out of your measly hide, I sure will! Look out, Frank, he's let and here it comes a-sailin' down at us. Whoop!" From under the woodpile issued an echoing squawk, as Elephant hugged the ground, and waited for the expected explosion. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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