But at that moment he changed his mind. A slight sound off to his left caught his ear and he quickly sprang to his feet every sense alert. For a moment he stood perfectly still and listened. Then he heard it again. It was only a faint sound as though someone were stepping on a loose stone but it told him that some kind of an animal was near. There was no moon and, in spite of the stars, he could see but a short distance. Then he heard a whisper and knew that the animals were men. How many there might be he could not tell but that there was more than one was certain. He hesitated no longer but dropped to his knees and crept quickly toward the tents about thirty feet away. There he shook Rogers and Bill at the same time whispering to them to keep quiet. “There are some men close by,” he told them. “You sure?” Bill, now fully awake, asked. “Yes, I heard them talking.” “Did you see them?” Rogers whispered. “No, it’s too dark.” “We’d better get over close to the plane,” Bill told them. “Never mind the tents: we can leave them if we have to.” A moment later they were crouching close to the plane and straining their ears to catch the slightest sound. But none came and Bill was on the point of telling Gordon that he must have been mistaken, when, the latter whispered: “I saw one of them then. Look over there by that rock. See him?” “Yes,” Bill replied. “And there’s another just to his right.” “And another one about ten feet to his left,” Bill whispered. “Like as not there’s a dozen of them,” Rogers added. “Get in the plane, quick, and don’t make any noise,” Bill ordered. “Going to take off?” Gordon asked. “If we can,” Bill told him. “Make it snappy then. They’re coming nearer.” “All set?” Bill asked a minute later. “All set,” both Rogers and Gordon told him. Bill started the elevator and at the same instant, as though it had been a signal, there came a shout and a rush of dark forms. “They’re coming,” Gordon cried, at the same time firing his automatic into the air. He hoped that the shot would scare them but it only seemed to increase their speed and now they could see that there were at least a half dozen men rushing the plane. Bill had the switch on the last notch by this time and the propeller was spinning but the plane did not rise. “They’ll get us if you don’t hurry,” Gordon cried again firing a shot over the heads of the men. “She’s got it all,” Bill replied and just then the plane gave a slight lurch and the wheels left the ground. But two of the men were close at hand and, before the plane had risen far enough to escape them, they had grabbed hold of the side of the cockpit one on either side, and for a second it seemed they would pull the plane back to the ground. But Gordon on the one side and Rogers on the other brought the handles of their guns down on two separate heads and both men dropped without a sound as the plane seemed to leap into the air. “Good work,” Bill cried.