Any one who has risked his life up among the clouds must always respect such a valiant spirit, even though aware that the object of his admiration has in other ways forfeited the esteem of all honorable men.

There was the biplane moving along on a level keel, and not more than two hundred feet above the water. And still the course held due north, showing that the desperate men who were thus fleeing from arrest had not the slightest intention of changing their plans.

"What do you think of her now, Andy?" asked the pilot, with a quiver of pride in his voice.

"You must mean our new craft, I take it, Frank; and I want to say that she's a real peach, if ever there was one. We never volplaned as easy as that in our lives, and that's a fact. Why, it was like sliding downhill on a sled, with never a single b.u.mp on the way. I could do that all day, and never get enough."

"Dangerous business, all the same," remarked Frank; "and doubly so when you don't happen to be well acquainted with your machine. A single hitch, and we would have struck the water at a terrible rate."

"But all the same we didn't, Frank," the other went on, jubilantly; for now that this peril was of the past Andy could be his old self again.

"And they did just as well," remarked Frank, always ready to give credit, even though it might be to a rival, for his nature was generous to a fault.

"Well, that biplane was easier to manage than our hydroplane, with the pontoons underneath," Andy went on to say, grudgingly; for no one could ever convince him that Frank had his superior as an air pilot; and he would sooner go up to a record height of fifteen thousand feet in company with his cousin, than accompany the most famous man living.

"It looks like we might be booked for Canada, Frank," he went on to say, a minute later, after they had fallen into the new "stride" comfortably, and were rushing forward on a level stretch, with the surface of the lake close at hand.

"I shouldn't wonder," came the noncommital reply.

Now, Andy knew his cousin like a book. Perhaps it was something in the words; or on the other hand there may have been an undercurrent of doubt in the way Frank spoke, that aroused the other's suspicion.

"What is it, Frank?" he demanded, "for I reckon you see something that is all a blank to me? Take me in, won't you?"

"Oh! I was wondering what would happen if they had an accident away out on the lake, that's all," admitted the other.

"Well, in that event I guess it'd be up to the Bird boys to play the rescuer act for all it was worth. But Frank, do you think this new machine of ours could climb up off the water with four aboard? Wouldn't that be the limit?"

"To tell you the truth, Andy, I don't know, because we've never had the chance to try it out. With only two of us aboard you know how easy she climbed; three pa.s.sengers she could hoist, but four might faze her. We can only wait and see, if ever the chance comes to make the test."

"But you wouldn't hesitate about trying the same, I know, Frank?"

"Of course not," the other remarked, confidently, "and especially when it might mean life or death to a poor fellow away out here on the lake miles from land. If we couldn't rise, we might still be able to float like a duck, and hope that some boat would come to the rescue. In the end that would be just the same."

"Do you know," said Andy, "I saw a tug pulling out at full speed from the little city on the sh.o.r.e of the lake, close to where we left land; and somehow I seem to have an idea they know all about us, and mean to keep in touch with us as long as they can, to be handy in case of accident. Perhaps, now, my message was phoned to Bloomsbury; and seeing about where we must be heading if we kept on a northerly course, they have wired up here to watch out for us. How about that, Frank; am I silly to figure that way?"

"I don't see why you should be, Andy. In fact, just as soon as you mentioned about the tug I began wondering if somehow these good people didn't know who we were, and what we were chasing after the biplane for."

They had to speak unusually loud in order to hear, even though their heads were close together at the time; for the propellers were whirling with a hiss, and the hum of the motor added to the noise. But then, it was all a merry racket that chimed in well with the spirit of the young aviators; and which gave them much the same pleasure that the splash through the foaming water of a ninety-foot racing yacht must awaken in the heart of an enthusiastic skipper, when he knows that every sail is drawing to the limit, and all things are working well.

"Have you figured out what we ought to do if by good luck we all get over to the other side, safe and sound?" went on Andy.

"We'll have to leave that," was the reply Frank made. "No use crossing a bridge till you come to it, you know, Andy."

"But they'll be safe then, Frank?" "I'm afraid so, even if I don't pretend to be up in all the international law connected with the pa.s.sing of a thief from United States territory to Canada."

"But ain't that a measly shame?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the indignant Andy, "to think of a robber being able to turn, and put his fingers to his nose and wiggle 'em at us, just because he happens to cross the boundary line. It oughtn't to be that way, Frank!"

"Of course not; and I guess lots of abler chaps than you and me have thought the same; but there it stands, and the two countries won't get together to change the law even a little bit. Every year dozens of embezzlers light out across the border for Canada, where they can spend their money, and start for Europe if they feel like it."

"Then perhaps it's the money they take with 'em that the Canadians like; though I wouldn't like to believe such a thing," ventured Andy.

"Hardly that; but both countries are jealous about bringing back political offenders, I've heard Judge Lawson say more than once. But don't let's talk any more'n we can help, Andy. We've got our hands full as it is watching those fellows, and keeping ready to match any trick they try."

This served to give Andy a new cause for concentrating his attention on the fleeing biplane once more. As yet the pilot of the leading airship had not diverted from his set course; but if he was as tricky as they had reason to believe, there was always a chance that he might engineer some scheme, sooner or later, looking to shaking off his pursuers here in the middle of the great lake, where possibly no mortal eye could witness the deed, so as to appear against him later on.

With the wind aft, of course the further they advanced the larger grew the waves; and Andy noticed that they were now of quite respectable size; though being directly above, he could not tell much about it, only that in many spots he saw the white caps breaking, and this served as a pointer.

Would the hydroplane be able to ride such a sea in safety, in case necessity compelled them to alight upon its swelling bosom?

Frank did not seem to doubt it, for he had the utmost confidence in the ability of those aluminum pontoons to sustain a great weight without sinking. What they would possibly have to fear more than anything else, was the chance of a capsize; and of course this would spell disaster as much as anything else.

Once they overtook a sailing schooner that was speeding along with a fair breeze. Possibly those aboard thought they were making most excellent time, with everything in their favor, but the aeroplanes sped past the vessel almost as though it were a toy craft.

A faint cheer was heard from those aboard who could be seen wildly waving head-gear, or red handkerchiefs; just as though what they considered a novel air race had been engineered especially for their amus.e.m.e.nt.

When Andy took occasion to look backward again in a short time he was amazed to discover how far distant the sails of the schooner seemed. And it was this incident more than anything else that gave him to understand just what amazing speed the aeroplanes were putting in their mad race across the inland sea.

But while up to now the voyage had been without incident worthy of mention, or accident of any kind, it could hardly be expected that this immunity would continue to the very end. The splendid good fortune that had hovered over both airships was apt to be brought to a sudden termination at any moment, as Frank well knew.

CHAPTER XXII

A HYDROPLANE RESCUE

All this while Andy's nerves had been strained to a high pitch. And it was not at all singular, therefore, that when the antic.i.p.ated event came to pa.s.s he gave vent to a loud cry.

"Looky! Frank; they're going to drop! Something must have happened to the motor or else a plane guy broke to cripple them!" was what he almost shrieked.

Frank was watching, though he had not uttered a single sound. He knew that the half expected crisis was now upon them. At least his heart found cause for rejoicing that if an accident had to happen, it affected the other aeroplane rather than their own. It is much easier to bear watching another's troubles than to bear your own.

What Andy had said was the truth, for the craft they were chasing after had taken a sudden dip, and was fluttering downward.

If you have ever seen a crippled bird trying hard to keep afloat, you can have a pretty good conception of how that biplane dropped lower and lower toward the water.

That it did not fall like a lump of lead spoke volumes for the magnificent management of the pilot who controlled the levers, and whose long experience had taught him just what to do in such a dreadful emergency as this.

Frank had instantly cut off much of their power, though they still continued to sweep onward toward the place of the catastrophe, and were rapidly drawing near the falling aeroplane.

Both boys stared at the terrible picture of the descending biplane nearing the heaving surface of the lake. It seemed very serious indeed, for any one to drop in this way; and yet how much more dangerous to fall upon land, where the wrecked aviators would stand a good chance of broken limbs, even though they saved their necks.

Then a cry from the impulsive Andy told that the biplane was in the water. If the engine had broken loose there was a pretty fair chance that the craft with its long extended planes would float, and even bear up the two aviators. Perhaps the quick-witted Casper Blue had looked out for just such a contingency, and found a way to free the framework from the dead weight of the motor.

Frank had all he could do to manipulate his own craft, for in order to alight successfully, even as a wild duck does, he must make a turn, and head up into the wind.

That meant the pa.s.sage of a certain length of time; and meanwhile who could say what might not be happening to the imperiled men?