The Air Patrol Part 6

He replaced the paper in his pocket, took the rope in both hands, and lifting his feet, to the boys' horror came down ponderously on the planks. The result was alarming. One of the planks was jerked off the beams on which it rested, and fell with a splash into the swirling river below. The other turned up on its edge; Ditta Lal sought to keep his footing, but his feet slid off, the plank fell, and he was left hanging on the rope alone, which sagged deeply under the tremendous strain.

The boys s.h.i.+vered as they saw the portly man dangling over the river.

They expected every moment that the rope would break and plunge him into the depths, carrying with him the workmen on their platform below. It seemed impossible to give him any aid, for a gap of sixteen feet, now unbridged, separated them from him. But luckily there was lying near them a plank intended for use farther on. They caught it up, and pushed it within reach of the workmen, who hastily threw it across the gap in such a way that the Babu could just reach it with his knees.

The description of his appearance which the boys afterwards gave made their uncle laugh heartily.

"His face was positively green," said Lawrence, "and his eyes were rolling like the eyes of a giant in one of those moving magic lantern slides. He was yelling at the top of his voice--invoking strange G.o.ds by the sound of it. When he felt the plank beneath his knees he began to shuffle along sideways, but away from us instead of towards us; he was in such an awful state of funk that he didn't know which way he was going. When he got to the beam he threw his legs across it and sat there shaking, with the rope under his arms. We couldn't get him to budge even when we had laid another plank across, so that the way back was perfectly safe. He looked just like a 'varsity stroke pumped out at the end of a race--bar the complexion, of course. We tried to persuade him to get up and walk back, but he did nothing but shake his head and moan.

He wouldn't speak for a bit; at last he said that he must wait till morning light. 'Buck up!' I said: 'make an effort!' but he only rolled his eyes and groaned and sighed. You can't do anything with a chump like that."

Ditta Lal indeed refused all entreaties, and kept his perch through the cold night. Lawrence sent him a bowl of soup, but he declined to unwreathe his arms from the rope. Only when, early next day, the planks had been firmly nailed to their supports did he allow himself to be wheeled in a trolley--for his limbs were numbed and useless--back to the mine. For the rest of the day he was not seen. For a week he avoided the boys, and made no more calculations except the elementary addition and subtraction of his store book-keeping.

CHAPTER THE FIFTH

THE LIGHT IN THE GALLERY

The cliff pathway being at last completed, the boys cleared the farther ledge of accidental obstructions, and so formed a fairly smooth surface about sixty yards in length by half as many in breadth. While the workmen were erecting a shed at one end of the s.p.a.ce, the boys themselves carried over the parts of the aeroplane, and set about putting them together, with the a.s.sistance of Fazl the Gurkha. It was a monoplane of a recent type, with a length of thirty feet and a span of forty-three, the area of the main planes being about three hundred and fifty feet. The fabric-covered fuselage was of approximately stream-line form, deep enough forward to accommodate the pilot so that only his head protruded above the c.o.c.kpit. This was arranged to seat two, the pilot in front, the pa.s.senger in his rear. The elevator was of fixed monoplane design, with rotating ailerons. The engine, a four-cylinder machine of 100 h.p., being of the water-cooled variety, a radiator was necessary: this was incorporated with the lower sloping front of the body. Bob had provided himself with a second carburetter, so that paraffin could be used if petrol ran short. The landing cha.s.sis was composed of oval section steel tubes, which ran together at two apexes. At each of these, on a universal bearing, was a laminated spring split into two arms at the rear, with a rubber-tyred wheel between them.

The forepart of the spring was attached by an elastic rubber shackle to the top of the cha.s.sis, and a similar attachment connected the single wheel with the rear-part of the machine. The material employed in the construction of the machine was mainly wood, which was more easily repairable than steel. Its total weight was about 1000 lbs. and its maximum speed seventy miles an hour in still air.

It was a great day at the mine when the young airmen essayed their first flight. Mr. Appleton had looked forward to it with a nervousness he did his best to conceal. He had ceased to joke about the matter, and wore a grave and thoughtful look during the week in which the boys made their final preparations. Their enthusiastic discussion of details at meal-times and in the evening set his nerves on edge; but he was too wise to let his nephews see how they were distressing him, and they did not know until long afterwards how nearly he had come to an absolute prohibition from using their machine. Only as they left him, to try their wings, did he venture on a word of caution.

"I say, you fellows, you'll be careful, you know," he said.

"Of course, Uncle," said Bob. "I've got my certificate, remember."

"And Ditta Lal had his calculations!" he muttered.

"Well, they gave him a night out," said Lawrence, quite unconscious how his light answer jarred upon his uncle.

They walked along the path and disappeared from sight. It was an hour before they were seen again. Then from round the shoulder of the cliff there suddenly came into view a thing resembling a monstrous gra.s.shopper in flight, and through the air sounded a low grinding hum. The servants rushed into the compound; the miners at work in the open uttered a shrill cry, which brought their comrades in a flock from the galleries; and they stood at gaze as the strange machine wheeled into the gorge, and flew, skimming the river, until it was lost to sight.

"Marvellous achievement, sir," said Ditta Lal at Mr. Appleton's elbow.

Mr. Appleton did not answer: there was a look of anxiety upon his face.

"I perceive, sir," said the Babu, "that your countenance is sicklied o'er with pale cast of apprehension. Nothing is here for tears; in short, there is nothing to be afraid of; I have worked it out. Engine makes 1500 revolutions per minute: propeller geared down to 750: ascensional velocity, by my calculations----"

"Your calculations be hanged!" cried Mr. Appleton, whose wonted urbanity gave way under the strain of Ditta Lal's loquacity. "Get out!"

Ditta Lal looked hurt, but tried to smile. It was an hour before the aeroplane reappeared, and another hour before the boys rejoined their uncle.

"We made a splendid flight," said Bob, who was in the highest spirits.

"Everything worked perfectly. You must come for a trip yourself, Uncle."

"No, thank you. I am vastly relieved to see you back safe and sound.

The Babu has begun calculating again, and got on my nerves."

"Calculating, is he?" said Lawrence. "I should have thought he had had enough of that. I wonder if we can cure him."

He called to Ditta Lal, who was standing at the door of his store-shed.

"What weight do you suppose the aeroplane will carry?" he asked.

"I do not suppose, sir," replied the Babu. "I have worked it out.

Permit me to express jubilation at successful trip, sir. You ask about weight." He drew a paper from his pocket. "Here are correct figures.

You can carry fifteen hundred and eighty-six pounds six ounces, with four decimals of no account."

"What do you scale, Bob?" asked Lawrence.

"Twelve stone two."

"I'm eleven stone eight: together we make about three hundred and thirty pounds. Ditta Lal, _there's just room for you_!"

For a moment the Babu looked puzzled. Then he said:

"It is human to err, sir. I must have made trifling error in my additions. I revise my calculations."

And he went away, evidently determined to discover either that the aeroplane would not support so great a load as he had calculated, or that his own weight considerably exceeded twelve hundred pounds.

A daily flight became part of the boys' programme. They did not tell their uncle of the difficulties they had to contend with, but these were real enough. To start from and alight on so narrow a platform as the ledge furnished was in itself a severe test of airmans.h.i.+p; but the problems of actual flight were still more serious. The gorge was so narrow that it gave them little room for evolutions. There were only one or two spots, either up or down stream, at which they could turn with safety; and when the wind came in sudden gusts down the mountain side the act of turning, even in these comparatively open s.p.a.ces, was attended with much danger. They could only avoid the peril by ascending to alt.i.tudes which as yet Bob was unwilling to attempt. But a few weeks' practice developed in them a kind of instinct for dodging the risks to which the circ.u.mscribed s.p.a.ce rendered them liable; and though they had one or two lucky escapes they met with no real mishap.

All this time they got a good deal of quiet amus.e.m.e.nt out of their uncle's att.i.tude. At first he affected to regard the aeroplane as a plaything, and a somewhat dangerous plaything, much as an elderly person watching a child playing with fireworks expects him sooner or later to burn his fingers. In the early days of their flying he was indeed genuinely nervous, and tried by means of hints and warnings to wean them from their sport. But as time pa.s.sed, and none of his fears were realised, they perceived that he was becoming less uneasy and more and more interested. One day he actually accompanied them to the shed, which he had never yet visited, and watched them as they drew the aeroplane out on to the ledge, made a methodical inspection of the engine, and prepared for their flight.

"A neat piece of mechanism," he said. "Much stronger than it looks from a distance."

Lawrence surrept.i.tiously winked at Bob.

"Yes, it's strong enough," said Bob, smiling as he continued his task of cleaning one of the cylinders.

"What load can you carry?" asked Mr. Appleton presently. "I don't trust the Babu's calculations."

"A thousand pounds or more," replied Lawrence, who was examining the gearing of the propeller.

"You've only two seats," Mr. Appleton went on, after an interval of silence. "Some machines will carry three, I suppose."

"Oh yes," answered Bob. "We could easily rig up a third seat. Pity you dislike the thing so much, Uncle."

Mr. Appleton did not reply. When the boys got into their places, he did not warn them to be careful, as his habit was, but bade them good-bye as unconcernedly as if they had been going for a short train journey.

"He's fis.h.i.+ng for an invitation," said Lawrence to his brother as they rose into the air. "Bet you what you like we have him with us within a week."

But the period proved to be even shorter. Before leaving the aeroplane that evening, they spent an hour or two in making a third seat. Two days later, when Mr. Appleton again crossed to their ledge to see them fly off, he noticed the addition.

"Who's your second pa.s.senger?" he asked.

"Gur Buksh said that he'd like to try a flight," replied Bob: "but knowing how much you disapprove of the machine, he hasn't ventured to ask your permission yet."