The Banner Boy Scouts in the Air

CHAPTER IX

Clues

At a nod from Paul, Jack and Wallace soon slipped away into the woods. When they were a safe distance away, Jack called a halt to consider carefully their first move. They had taken the direction in which the stranger had gone. Wallace proposed, “I think that the first thing we can do is follow the stranger’s trail.”

Jack mused for some seconds. Finally he replied, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to do that, but I don’t think it will be possible.”

“Why?”

“Because if the stranger had a good reason to want us to move, and knowing that we’re Boy Scouts and capable of following a trail, he wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave a trail for us to follow.”

“Yes,” agreed Wallace, “that’s very logical. But what else can we do?”

“Nothing yet. For the present let’s see if we can follow the trail.”

For about a quarter of a mile they had no difficulty in following the trail. Soon they came to a rocky ledge and the trail disappeared. The boys therefore decided to separate and examine the ground within a radius of a hundred yards. Jack was busily engaged looking for signs of a trail when he heard a sharp whistle and he knew that Wallace was calling him. Again the whistle broke the silence of the mountain and he determined the approximate spot where it was coming from. He found Wallace sitting on a rock and waiting for him. A short distance away were some footprints that Wallace had come upon. They followed the trail for about a hundred yards when Jack called a halt. He got on his knees and examined the footprint very carefully. Nodding his head satisfactorily, he said, “I’m pretty sure it’s the same footprint all right. Notice, however, the direction the trail seems to follow.”

Both boys took out their compasses. “The trail seems to be leading to our old camp site,” averred Wallace.

“Correct,” pronounced Jack. “Therefore we’re going to disregard it.”

“What should be our next move then?” inquired Wallace.

“The cave,” replied Jack. “We ought to try and locate the cave.”

They returned to the ledge and sat down to determine their position. For that purpose they drew a map. A small circle indicated their camp site; a wavering line, running northwest, and another circle indicated their old camp site. Then they put in the path they had followed and approximately their position. “Now,” said Jack, “according to your best knowledge, about where do you think the cave should be situated?”

Wallace bent over the map and drew a double line. “This,” he said, “is the stream, west of our camp site. The cave, therefore, should be directly south. In that case we have to return to camp and—”

Jack interrupted. “No,” he said, “we won’t do that. We’ll cut across.”

Wallace approved the plan. Rising, the boys determined by compass the exact direction they had to follow. The first thing they had to do was to drop from the ledge about eight feet below. After that, they were obliged to take a descending route and at the same time cut across in the general direction of the camp. Pretty soon they reached a level plateau heavily wooded. Indian file, one behind the other, they walked along slowly and carefully. Suddenly they came upon a large clearance, circular and with possibly a little less than half a mile radius. Jack lay down on his stomach and Wallace did likewise. Jack said, “Quick, seeing this field, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?” Wallace shook his head. Jack added, “Remember the airplane circling overhead this morning? Now put two and two together.”

Wallace whistled. “An airport!” he exclaimed.

“Correct!”

For a while they continued lying on their stomachs and carefully examined the field and the outlying woods. Absolute silence reigned. Not a sound, not a moving shadow, as far as they could see or hear. Finally Wallace whispered, “What now?”

The two boys rose and, single file, Jack leading, they walked through the woods, keeping within sight of the clearing but trying hard to keep themselves hidden. Jack stepped on a twig and it snapped, the sound echoing loud through the dead silence of the woods. He stopped and the two boys remained rooted to the spot for at least five minutes. They continued. Every once in a while they strained their ears to listen. Not a sound. Wallace suggested they again approach the edge of the clearing. Getting down on their hands and knees they crept up to the very edge of the woods. Lying on their stomachs, they let their eyes roam all around the field. Suddenly Jack grasped Wallace by the wrist. “Ouch!” he cried.

Jack cautioned him to be silent. “Sh!” he hissed and put a finger over his lips. Then he pointed. Wallace shook his head; he saw nothing. Again Jack pointed, but his friend still saw nothing. “You remain here and keep your eyes wide open. I’m going to creep out and get it.” He crept forward on his stomach for about ten feet, then crept back, dragging something along. Crouching alongside his friend, he showed him the object and whispered, “Rifle!”

Wallace nodded. “What’s your opinion?” he asked.

His companion shook his head. “Don’t know,” he whispered.

“Arms smugglers!” Wallace seriously suggested.

They examined the weapon. It was an old style army rifle. Jack whispered, “You may be right about ‘them’ being arms smugglers, but I have my doubts. If you consider, you find that smuggled arms can have only one destination—South America. And we’re too far away from the Mexican border.”

Wallace clutched his friend by the sleeve. “That’s just it,” he answered eagerly. “Just because we’re so far away from the Mexican border, they have less chance of being caught or suspected.”

Jack mused. “Hm! you may be right. But what do you think we ought to do now? Return to camp or what?”

Simultaneously, both boys flattened out. Two men emerged from the woods, no more than about seven or eight feet in front of them. The boys nudged each other. One of the men was the stranger. The other man was saying, loud enough so the boys could hear, “Okey, then, we’ll be here tomorrow at the usual time. And make sure those Boy Scouts are gone.”

The stranger answered, “Okey, Chief. But suppose they don’t go, how am I to get rid of them?”

“Frighten them away, scare them, but don’t use any violence,” the Chief answered.

The stranger saluted. “Okey, Chief, I’ll do just as you say.”

They parted and the Chief walked across the clearing while the stranger turned on his heel and entered the woods again. The two boys lay there flattened to the ground, not daring to breathe, lest they give themselves away. They watched the Chief cross the clearing and enter the woods at the other end. Ten minutes elapsed before they dared to utter a whisper. Jack said, “The cave! Let’s try to locate it.”

“What about the rifle?”

“We’ll leave it here. We have no use for it.”

They crept along noiselessly to the approximate spot where the stranger entered the woods. Using that as their starting point, they searched everywhere but didn’t find a sign of the cave. Not even the slightest clue. Finally Wallace suggested that they return to camp and Jack agreed.

At camp, Jack and Wallace had not been missed for a while. Paul kept a sharp eye on the boys to see that they didn’t walk off. Soon Ken suggested that they do something. William cried, “Sure, let’s have a knot-tying contest. Get the fellows together.”

When the boys assembled, it was evident that two of the group were missing. Someone said, “Hey, Jack and Wallace aren’t here.”

They all looked at each other in astonishment. Paul remarked casually, “I saw them only about a minute ago. They must have walked somewhere and will surely come right back.”

Bluff offered a solution. “L-l-let’s have the c-c-contest without t-them,” he proposed.

“That’s right,” seconded Paul. “If they’re not here, it’s their hard luck.”

They proceeded with the contest. As time wore on all the boys became strangely conscious of the absence of the two boys. To dispel their fears, Paul remarked, “They must have gone out reconnoitering. They’ll surely be back soon.”

As Jack and Wallace did not come back, the boys began to harbor all sorts of fears. Each boy made believe that he wasn’t at all worried. Time hung heavy on their hands and the morning seemed to stretch out into an eternity. Soon the boys lost all interest in what they were doing and just sat around doing nothing, keeping intensely silent. When someone did dare to whisper, the sound seemed to shatter the air and grate on their nerves. Finally, as lunch time approached, William jumped to his feet and cried, “Why are we sitting here like dummies? A couple of us ought to go out looking for them.”

Paul spoke calmly and with reserve. He said, “It wouldn’t do to search for them now. To begin with, we don’t know which way they went. Secondly, they haven’t been missing such a terribly long time. In all likelihood they’ll return to camp soon.”

“Yes,” echoed Ken. “Let’s prepare lunch and that will give us something to do and keep us busy for a while.”

The only one who objected was William. Words or arguments he felt were futile, so he just gritted his teeth and helped prepare lunch. When it was done, they waited a while and then silently agreed to eat and leave some over for the boys. Even Paul was becoming worried. He distinctly told them not to be absent long. And it was almost six hours now that they were gone. He didn’t himself know what to do, whether to send a searching party out for them or merely sit tight and wait. Rising, he walked over to the stream for a drink of water. And just then the three met face to face. Paul was angry. “What kept you away so long?” he demanded.

He felt relieved that at last they were back. Jack quickly summarized their experiences. Then he asked, “Did they miss us?”

“And how! There is only one thing to do now and that’s to tell them everything.”

“We might as well,” agreed Wallace, and Jack had no objection either.

The boys walked into the clearing. Nuthin’ was the first to notice them and he screamed, “Hey, fellows, here they are!”

Instantaneously, Jack and Wallace were surrounded and plied with questions. “Where have you two been?” someone demanded.

“What’s the idea of disappearing without telling us?” they were reproached.

William shook a threatening finger under his brother’s nose. “You ever do that again,” he warned, “and I’ll—I’ll spank you.”

The boys laughed. Paul said, “They’re hungry, fellows. Let them eat first and then we’ll make them tell us all about it.”

Jack and Wallace had their lunch. The other boys gathered around the two and Wallace told the first part of the story. When he was through talking, some of the boys shook their heads in amazement. William exclaimed dolefully, “And you never even mentioned it to us.”

Wallace was embarrassed. He replied modestly, “There was nothing to tell. It might have sounded fishy.”

Jack then appropriated the floor and narrated their adventures of that morning. In conclusion, he said, “You fellows now know all the facts. I must impress upon you, however, the necessity of absolute secrecy. To begin with, the wrong ears may hear the story and then it will be too bad. Secondly, there is not enough evidence to call in the police. There is nothing we can prove. They would say that we invented it all just to get a lot of publicity. And that isn’t true, is it fellows?”

Ken contributed the remark, “If this thing is ever solved, we’ll have to do it ourselves.”

They all agreed that that was right.

William inquired, “But isn’t there something we can do now?”

Paul replied, “Yes, there is.” The boys were all attention. “What we can do now,” he said, “is to break camp and move. We’ll postpone further discussion until after we have pitched camp again at the old site.”

The boys enjoyed heartily the dramatic manner in which Paul had aroused their curiosity only to tell them something which was routine. They jumped to their feet and immediately got busy. By sunset they had moved.

CHAPTER X

Flying Instructions

With the first ray of sunrise, Wallace was up. He dressed himself hurriedly, donned a sweater to keep warm, and then sat down on a rock to watch the sky. He had a suspicion that something would happen and that the incident would occur in the air. He didn’t dare walk up and down to keep himself warm because he feared that the noise of his footsteps would awaken some of the boys. So he quietly built a fire to keep himself warm. After he had watched the sky for an hour a plane appeared on the horizon. It flew nearer and nearer, circled about where he thought the mysterious airport was, then nosed down as if to land, which it evidently did. Wallace became terribly excited. His suspicions bore truth. And now he didn’t know what to do. He paced up and down several times, musing, thinking hard. His first impulse was to go down there himself, but he immediately discounted it.

He awakened Paul, who listened eagerly to his story. Wallace reminded him of his suspicion that a plane would land there in the early morning, and that was what had happened. Paul dressed hurriedly. Leaving behind a note, the two set off at a rapid pace. Just as they were about to reach the wooded plateau, the drone of an airplane motor was heard. They looked up, but the sky was hidden by the branches of the trees. When they at last reached the clearing, it was empty and still. They spent about half an hour searching the woods, but it was in vain. They returned to camp and told their comrades. A lot of discussion ensued and it was finally decided that every day a detail of two boys should go down there, to see what they could discover. But it was all in vain. When the time came for them to return to Stanhope, a week later, they had discovered nothing new.

As the boys reached the outskirts of the town, about six in the evening, they lined up and marched down Main Street. On the very same spot from which they departed, Paul sang out, “Patrol, halt!” For several seconds they remained at attention, with the eyes of many people upon them. Then Paul snapped the command, “Dismissed!” The boys broke formation and went home.

The boys did not propose to lose any time in beginning their flying instructions. They set a definite time, therefore, for all of them to meet, to go out to the airfield in a group. Paul was a few minutes late, having been detained by his mother who took a long time impressing upon him the importance of being careful. When he joined the group, they were all very much excited and discussed their future adventures in the air. Ken and Nuthin’ tried hard to appear just as excited as the others, but it was an empty gesture. Paul, addressing Ken, asked, “Anything wrong? You look kind of green around the gills.”

Ken made a gesture of dismissal. He answered, “Nothing. It really doesn’t matter.”

“But what is it?”

The boy confessed sadly, “My parents absolutely refused to allow me to fly.”

Nuthin’ heard the statement and he felt glad. Not that he was glad that Ken was unable to learn to fly, but misery loves company. He said, “You’re not alone, Ken. The same tragedy here.” And he made a comical gesture of weeping.

Paul was disappointed. “Gee, that’s a shame. I wonder if there is anything we can do about it?”

Both boys shook their heads listlessly. Ken remarked, “You know my dad. When he puts his foot down it’s like the Rock of Gibraltar.”

“With me,” informed Nuthin’, “it’s my mother. She actually wept, so my father wouldn’t give me permission.”

“It’s a shame,” repeated Paul. “At any rate, you two can come along and watch us. You can at least get all the ground work.”

The boys mounted their bicycles and were off. At the airport, they were greeted by Major McCarthy. “Hello, fellows,” he called.

“Hello, Major,” answered several.

“Did you have a good time while I was away?”

“Very good,” said Paul.

“And interesting,” informed William.

Jack spoke. “We went camping.”

“That should have been enjoyable and interesting,” commented the major. Then he asked the most pertinent question. “Are you ready for flying instructions?”

The boys shouted lustily and eagerly, “Yes, yes.”

“All of you have the permission of your parents?”

Paul answered for the group. “All except two—Ken Armstrong and Albert Cypher.”

“Hmm,” mused the major. “That’s too bad.” He looked at the two unfortunate boys and they appeared very ill at ease. To cheer them the major said, “Well, not everyone can be a pilot. Some of us have to do other work, quite naturally. So we’ll make mechanics out of you. How about it?”

The boys smiled gratefully. “Thank you, sir,” answered Ken. “I’d love nothing better.”

“That’s settled, then,” said McCarthy. “Now, fellows, I have some good news for you. I’ve made inquiries about obtaining a plane for you boys and I have one definitely in mind. It’s a good machine, in perfect order and perhaps in a week or so it may be yours.”

“Yea!” shouted William and all the boys joined in. The major held up his hand and motioned for silence. “Cheering is all to the good, fellows, but if you want flying instructions, we have no time to lose.”

“Those are just our sentiments,” commented Jack joyously.

“Now,” began the major, “I’m to spend about an hour or so explaining in detail the major parts of an airplane. I want to teach you to be not only pilots but your own mechanics. If something should happen to a plane you’re flying, I want you to know how to go about repairing the motor or anything else that may be wrong. For that reason I want you to spend a lot of your spare time fussing with an old plane, which is used just for that purpose. It is situated in the corner hangar.” He paused for several seconds, then continued. “Now about flying instructions. I can’t instruct more than one of you at a time and no more than two each day. So you’ll have to pair off and you’ll all get a lesson every other three days—that is, two lessons a week. Is that understood?”

“Yes!” shouted the boys in unison.

“Very well, then, I’m going into the office for a couple of minutes. In the meanwhile you can pair off and also decide which pair will get their instructions today, which tomorrow and the day after.”

To pair off, the boys drew lots. Three sets of small pieces of paper were prepared, the two pieces of each set numbered one, two and three. The two boys who drew number one were partners, numbers two and three likewise. The number one pair was to receive its flying instructions that day, number two on the following day, and number three the day after. As it turned out, Paul and William were the number one pair, Jack and Bobolink number two and Wallace and Bluff number three. The drawing of lots was fair enough and there were no murmurs of disapproval or dissatisfaction.

When the major came out again, he showed that he approved of what was done. In a group he marched them over to the hangar which housed the old plane and for about an hour he lectured to them on the mechanics of an engine. When he was through, he sent them home for lunch. Then he told the first pair, Paul and William, to be back at the airport at three o’clock for flying instructions.

As the boys were mounting their bikes, Jack whispered to his chum, “Fall behind with me, Paul, I have something to tell you.”

Paul nodded. Wheeling along about ten feet behind the others, he asked, “What is it, Jack?”

“It’s this, Paul. This morning I happened to glance through the Dispatch and I came across a small article stating that last Wednesday it was discovered that several hundred army rifles were stolen from an armory in New York and that the crime had most likely been committed within the past twenty-four hours.”

“What about it?”

Jack pursed his lips, mused for a moment, then said, “Remember, Paul, last Wednesday morning was when Wallace saw that airplane land at that mysterious airport.”

Paul cried, “By golly, that’s correct. Do you really think that they are arms smugglers and that this theft of army rifles has any connection with that airplane landing at the mysterious airport?”

“I don’t know,” answered Jack. “I’m wondering. But if you stop to consider, the parts seem to fit the puzzle mighty well.”

“You’re right Jack. What do you think we ought to do? Do you think we ought to take Major McCarthy into our confidence?”

Shaking his head, he replied, “No, I don’t think so. He might either tell it to the police and we don’t have enough evidence for that; or he might fly over there, land, and possibly complicate everything.”

Again Paul agreed with his chum, adding, “Yes, we have to follow it up slowly. Another thing, we must learn how to fly darn quick because if we want to get anything on them we have to do it in their way—by air.”

“Correct,” said Paul. “For the present, we’ll just let matters take their own course.”

All the boys saw fit that afternoon to be at the airport. Only Paul and William were to go up for flying instructions but the others wanted to be there to see what it was like. At a little past three, the major came out of the office and approached the group of boys. The two boys stepped forward and William informed him, “We’re ready, major, if you are.”

Smiling, he said, “That’s fine. But now that you’re all here, I’m going to tell you something about flying.” All the boys gathered in front of him, forming a semi-circle. Very quietly and seriously they listened to every word he said. “The first thing I want to impress upon you, fellows,” he began, “is that flying is not in the least dangerous, providing, of course, you adhere strictly to the rules and regulations of flying. Everything has its rules which you must observe, flying is not an exception. The most important rule in flying is that you must never risk stalling your machine near the ground. At no time must you lose flying speed until you are at a safe altitude—approximately five hundred feet above ground.

“Now suppose your engine cuts out as you are taking off, then what you must do is to push the nose down and go straight ahead, regardless of what is in front of you. If you cannot avoid running into a shed, or a tree, or any other obstacle, while landing, it just can’t be helped. You will smash the machine but you yourself will not be hurt. Another rule to remember is, never turn back in order to return to the airport or some other good landing ground. When you do that you risk stalling your machine. And when you stall near the ground, you usually lose control of your machine, go into a spin and crash nose first into the ground. And that may be the last time you will ever fly.”

“Those are a few elementary rules of flying. You’ll learn more as you go along. What you must understand is that you must always obey these rules, or take the consequences. I don’t want to frighten you, but there are rules in every game and you have to observe them.”

He stopped and scanned the faces of the boys. From every indication, they had taken his words seriously and were convinced by his authoritative tone of voice. Nothing more to say, the major now called upon his first two pupils and inquired, “Are you ready?”

“Ready!” the two boys answered in unison and precision.

“Which one is going up first?”

“We’ll have to choose,” answered Paul.

Major McCarthy took a coin out of his pocket and tossed it into the air. “Heads,” cried William.

“Tails,” cried Paul.

Heads it was and William was the first to go up for instructions. “Very well,” announced the major, “let’s go.”

The whole group followed the major and William to one of the hangars. Two mechanics pushed the training plane into the open. Again the major turned to the group and said, “This is an Avro, one of the finest training machines in the world. She is light on the controls, very easy to handle and has an 80 h.p. Le Rhone engine. What kind of an engine is it, anybody know?”

William answered at once, with confidence, “A rotary engine.”

“Fine,” said the major. “And what kind of engine is a rotary engine?”

All the boys seemed to know that and the major was pleased by their knowledge. However, he called upon William to answer the question. “A rotary engine is one which has the cylinders rotate round the crankshaft which remains stationary,” answered William correctly.

“And what is another type of engine?”

“A stationary engine.”

“The crankshaft rotates round the cylinders.”

“Correct,” announced the major with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. “I can see,” he added, “that I’m going to enjoy teaching you boys. All right William, put this hat on and get the ear pieces in the right position; I’ll be talking to you all the time. And before we start, remember this, if I hit you on the back take your hands and feet off the controls immediately and put your hands above your head which will show me that you have obeyed my signal. Okey?”

Wallace remarked, humorously, “Don’t hit him too hard, major. I’d hate to take home a corpse.”

Major McCarthy withdrew to the shed telling William to get into the front seat. When he had climbed into the rear seat, he said, “Now William, don’t touch the controls until I tell you to. In the meanwhile you can watch them working because both sets of controls are connected and work simultaneously. Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

The boys at the shed cheered lustily and William waved his hand as Major McCarthy took off. The machine rose lightly into the air and was mounting fast into a clear sky, smoothly and easily as a bird. William, was at first nervous and tense, but soon he relaxed, his whole body seeming to vibrate to the rhythm of the machine. Suddenly he felt a light bump on the back and he quickly threw his hands up into the air. The major was rather surprised. Usually pupils during their first lesson are too excited to remember the instructions they have received. The major felt a glow of satisfaction, and hoped that William would respond to all instructions so quickly.

They were about two thousand feet in the air. William felt a thrill when he heard his instructor’s voice through the telephone. The major was saying to him, “Okey, William, in a couple of minutes I’m going to let you fly the machine and you must obey precisely all my instructions. Put your hand on the joystick and your feet on the rudder bar.”

He complied. The next instant he felt a bump on his back and quickly he put his hands above his he had. McCarthy was delighted with the boy’s quick response. “This boy,” he said to himself, “is a natural born flyer.”

The major’s voice was coming over the telephone. “Okey, William,” it said, “you’re going to fly the machine now. Only obey instructions precisely.”

McCarthy spoke gently and authoritatively. William obeyed. The machine responded to his slightest touch. William felt a certain power in handling the machine and it thrilled him. The major said, “Now when I give the command, ‘Right turn,’ you kick on the right rudder and push the joystick over to the right. Ready? Now, ‘Right turn.’ Keep the same altitude.”

The major kept talking most of the time, explaining every movement and demonstrating his instructions. They practiced banking, climbing, diving. This was no ordinary pupil, the major thought. He was aware that the other boys would not respond as well as William, with whom he progressed much more than with the average pupil. To satisfy himself for the last time, he permitted William to fly alone for several minutes, then tapped the boy on the back. Instantly the latter’s hands flew above his head. The major, deeply satisfied, said, “That was very good, William. I think you’ve had more than enough for the first lesson, so we’ll go back now.” Thus saying, he took control of the machine.

The boys cheered as the plane taxied to a landing. As the instructor and his pupil climbed out of the machine, the boys came running up. “How did he do, major?” asked Wallace.

McCarthy smiled, very much pleased with his first pupil. “He did very well,” he announced.

“Yea!” shouted Bobolink.

“Hooray for William!” shouted Ken and Nuthin’.

When the boys quieted down again, the major put his arm affectionately on William’s shoulder, and said, “I don’t like to praise a pupil, because he is apt to become cock-sure of himself. But this time I can’t help praising him. William is a natural born flyer. I don’t want any one of you to feel badly if you’re not as good as he is because there are very few who take to flying spontaneously. I don’t want you to blame yourselves or feel badly about it. It’s something that none of us can help. We’re either born that way or not.”

Jack asked, “Did he fly by himself already?”

“He certainly did,” replied the major. “For about fifteen minutes he flew the machine all by himself.”

The boys cheered, proud of their friend. William was thrilled, but tried not to show it.

It was Paul’s turn now. Instructor and pupil took their respective places in the machine. Paul was excited, tense. McCarthy was curious to know how this boy would compare with William. He repeated the directions for a second time. The machine was climbing and they were gaining altitude. Paul was thrilled as he examined the various gadgets on the dashboard. Suddenly he felt a bump on his back. He was bewildered. What had happened. He turned around to see McCarthy chuckling and enjoying the baffled look on his face. The instructor said, “I told you to raise your hands above your head as soon as I tap you on the back. Keep alive.” Paul settled back in his seat, feeling ashamed of himself. Suddenly he again felt a tap on the back. Immediately he raised his hands above his head. “Very good,” said McCarthy encouragingly. Paul, too, would be a flyer, but not like William.

Soon Paul was at the controls and flying the machine in response to the instructor’s guidance. After the necessary instructions, McCarthy called out, “Ready? Left turn.”

Paul pushed out his left foot. The machine whipped to the left at a terrific speed. Suddenly he felt the stick being pushed over to the left. Then the right rudder bar moved forward, the stick came back to the right, now they were flying level once again. McCarthy had to intervene to help him out. He explained the mistake and Paul nodded, intimating that he understood. He was eager to do it over again, to show that he could do it. But this time the command was, “Right turn.” Paul got it all right.