The Flying Machine Boys on Duty; Or, The Clue Above the CloudsWalton, Frank
General
The Flying Machine Boys on Duty; Or, The Clue Above the Clouds
Walton, Frank
Aeronautics -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories
“We might get up in the air and drop a few sticks of dynamite down on
him!” suggested Carl. “You know we always carry dynamite in small
quantities. He ought to be blown off the earth, anyway!”
“There’s no doubt about that,” Ben cut in, “but we ought not to be the
ones to do it.”
“Well, we ought to do something!” insisted Jimmie. “If that blond brute
gets to Phillips and Mendosa, we may as well trek back to little old New
York! We never can find them in all this mess of hills if they know
we’re doing the detective stunt.”
The boys discussed the problem for a long time without reaching any
decision. At last Ben and Carl went to the shelter-tent and fell asleep.
There had been very few hours of uninterrupted rest since leaving New
York, and the boys were really “about all in” as Carl expressed it.
Jimmie, thus left alone, climbed into one of the seats of the _Louise_
and sat for a long time in deep thought, his freckled chin resting
heavily in the palm of his right hand.
“I don’t know what the boys would say,” the lad finally mused, “but I’ve
a great notion to try it!”
He leaped to the ground and began a careful inspection of the _Louise_,
looking to every detail of the mechanism.
“I wish I knew whether he would or not,” the boy thought, a slight smile
coming to his face. “I just wish I knew whether he’d be fool enough to
do it.”
Next, Jimmie went to the convenience box under the seat and drew out two
automatic revolvers and a searchlight. He saw that the light was in good
working order and that the revolvers were loaded. After that he drew on
a belt stuffed with cartridges and again took his place on the seat of
the machine.
Looking about cautiously, almost furtively, at the shelter tent and the
_Bertha_, he saw Kit making his way toward him.
“Come on, Kit!” Jimmie called out softly, so as not to waken the others.
“I was just wishing you’d wake up. I want you to be a good little boy,
now, and watch the camp, and not associate with any more grizzly bears
until I come back.”
Kit looked into the boy’s face questioningly.
“And another thing,” Jimmie went on, “when Ben and Carl wake up, advise
them to go out and get a haunch of bear. You can show them where it is.
Bear steak sounds mighty good to me! Only for our excitement over the
discovery you made, I would have been out there long ago.”
“Where are you going?” asked Kit.
“Why,” replied Jimmie, “I’m just going out to exercise my horse. She
seems to be getting a little lame standing in the stable.”
“Why can’t I go?” asked Kit.
“You’ll have to watch the camp,” Jimmie answered.
Kit stood by the machine when Jimmie pressed the starter. Instead of
dropping back and clearing away, the lad bounded nimbly into the seat
and looked up at Jimmie with a twisted smile on his face. By this time
the _Louise_ was well under motion, the wheels humming softly over the
grass of the green bowl in which she lay.
“Jump!” cried Jimmie. “You’ve got to watch the camp, you know!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account