<h2 id="c13"><span class="sc">Chapter XIII</span> <br/><span class="small">PIG ISLAND AGAIN</span></h2>
<p>Bill sent the amphibian roaring into the
night wind, pulled her off the rippling waters
of the harbor and skimming the twin bluffs at
the entrance, sent his bus speeding seaward.
A bank to starboard brought Pig Island dead
ahead and Bill saw that the moon glare, playing
on the islet, threw every detail into bold
relief. On the instant he changed his plan.</p>
<p>Counting on the heavy cloud formation
which was slowly spreading upward from the
east, his first idea had been to land near the
shore, and after securing the plane on one of
the beaches, to rush the besiegers under cover
of darkness. Now that the moonlight doomed
such procedure to certain failure, he proceeded
to climb.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_180">180</div>
<p>At six hundred feet, he leveled off and sent
the <i>Loening</i> speeding in a circle around the
island. The house, a one-story bungalow, built
of native stone with hollow tile roof, stood on
a craggy knoll near the center of the island.
Bill saw that this slight eminence held unusual
factors of defense. Not only was it
impossible to look down on the house from
any other point on the island, but the rocky
ground sloped steeply on all sides from the
top of the knoll. The one bad feature of the
place was the number of large boulders nature
had splattered up and down the incline. Behind
twelve or fifteen of these big stones and
completely ringing the little fortress above
them, crouched the party of armed men.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_181">181</div>
<p>As he circled, Bill saw the flashes from the
gangster’s rifles and the answering flashes
from the house. He noticed that there was
method in the attack, and one that was likely
to succeed in the capture of the bungalow.
There would come a spurt of firing from one
section of the attacking group on the hill,
which naturally drew the two in the house
to that side in order to repel a possible assault.
Immediately the men on the farther side, out
of range from the house, would dash ahead
to take refuge behind boulders further up the
knoll. Once under new cover, they would
start a fusillade which gave the men on the
opposite side a chance to advance. Three of
the gang kept together and every time they
moved, they picked up a heavy log and carted
it up to the next boulder. It was evident that
once Sanders got his crew well up to the house,
these men, covered by the fire of their companions,
would dash forward and batter in the
door with their ram.</p>
<p>Three bodies lying stark on the hillside
bespoke the courage and straight shooting of
the besieged, but the rush must come soon,
and the ultimate capture of the place was inevitable.
“Unless we get busy—and get busy
pronto!” muttered Bill.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_182">182</div>
<p>He gave a lightning glance behind him.
Ezra Parker and Osceola were firing from the
rear cockpit, but so far without apparent result.
To hit an object on the ground with a
rifle bullet from a speeding airplane is a difficult
feat, but Bill knew that the odds were
against the gangsters. For it is even more
difficult to hit an airplane in flight, that is, if
she is being driven by an experienced pilot.</p>
<p>Much to the disgust of Osceola, who did
not understand the manœuver, Bill levelled
off and headed out to sea. A quarter of a
mile from the island, he turned in his seat,
and having attracted Parker’s attention,
mouthed the words—“<i>Hold fast!</i>”</p>
<p>The two who were squeezed in the small
cockpit aft nodded their understanding. For
an instant or two longer Bill waited, then assured
that they were secure, he sent the plane
into a wingover. This manœuver is essentially
a climbing turn followed by a diving
turn, the two aggregating 180 degrees. The
engine is kept running and control is maintained
throughout.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_183">183</div>
<p>A wingover is entered from level flight.
At first it is merely a normal turn in which
the nose is gradually raised, and slipping and
skidding are to be avoided as usual. Elevation
of the nose may be commenced simultaneously
with the application of the bank.
If so, the stick must be pulled back very
slowly at first, as otherwise a stall will result
and the wingover will be unsatisfactory. In
flight training, unless the student’s judgment
is particularly accurate, it is advisable for
him to delay elevation of the nose until a bank
of 15 to 20 degrees has been reached.</p>
<p>Bill steadily increased the bank until the
amphibian was in a fairly steep reverse control
turn with the nose well above the horizon,
and headed approximately 90 degrees from
his original course. He then gave the plane
down rudder.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_184">184</div>
<p>Inasmuch as a fairly good speed had been
obtained, very little rudder was needed. Had
the plane’s speed been close to the stalling
point, he would have used more. At the same
time Bill was careful to use the ailerons firmly
to prevent the bank from increasing.</p>
<p>As the nose dropped below the horizon in
response to the rudder, the plane assumed the
position of a steep reverse control spiral, except
that the engine was running. He kept
it momentarily in this position; then as it approached
a heading of 180 degrees from the
entering course, he recovered as if from a
spiral, at the same time raising the plane’s
nose to level.</p>
<p>The entire manœuver of the wingover was
executed, of course, in a fraction of the time
it takes to describe it. Bill used it solely because
he wished to bring the amphibian back
on a course headed for the house on the island
in the least time possible. He now waved a
hand to his companions to make ready. Then
he picked up the rifle he’d been sitting on,
rested its barrel on the cowl of the cockpit
and pushed forward the stick.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_185">185</div>
<p>Over went the nose and down shot the plane
in a breath-catching dive to be leveled off with
a jerk, just beyond the breakers. Then with
all three rifles pouring streams of spitting fire,
Bill sent the airplane hurtling across the knoll
at an altitude of less than ten feet above the
heads of the cowering gangsters.</p>
<p>Up zoomed the amphibian on the farther
side of the hill, gained altitude over the water,
did another wingover and swept back across
the knoll, but this time behind the house.</p>
<p>Again and again Bill repeated these telling
evolutions. First one side, then the other was
raked with fire from the plane. Then he
would zoom the house itself in order to
further confuse the besiegers.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_186">186</div>
<p>On the plane’s eighth trip, Sanders’ forces
broke. Flesh and blood could no longer stand
this death-dealing hail of lead from a plane
impossible to hit. Dragging their wounded
with them, the routed gangsters dashed pell
mell down to the shore. They piled into two
motorboats beached in a cove and in less than
no time, these two crafts were racing toward
the mainland with everything wide open.</p>
<p>Bill let them go. Defense of the old man
and the girl in the house on the hill was one
thing: the shooting down of cowed men
huddled in a couple of boats quite another.
When he was convinced that the rout was
a permanent fact, he landed the plane on the
water, taxied into the same sandy cove from
which the gunmen had departed, and beached
her.</p>
<p>Deborah was waiting on the sand for them.
Osceola was the first overboard and a moment
later the two were clasped in each other’s
arms.</p>
<p>Bill grinned at Ezra. “So far,” he said,
“as you and I are concerned, well, we might
be a couple of other rocks for all they mind!”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_187">187</div>
<p>“That’s all right,” returned the older man
as they went about making the plane secure.
“They’re in love. We don’t exist for them
just now. Don’t be so superior—you’ll be
that way yourself some day!”</p>
<p>“Not me,” scoffed Bill.</p>
<p>“Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking
about. I was like you before the right girl
came along. I don’t suppose you’ve thought
any more about the orders Sanders gave you?”</p>
<p>“You mean, not to interfere any more with
his plans and to report to that guy in Stamford?”</p>
<p>“Yes. And this little adventure has torn
the first part of that to pieces!”</p>
<p>“You mean the consequences to Charlie of
course—”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_188">188</div>
<p>“Just that. Sanders will now take it for
granted you’ve decided to stick to the ship
in spite of his threats. There’s no use crying
over the milk we’ve spilt tonight, lad. We
had a job to do, and I’m throwin’ no bouquets
when I tell you it was done noble! Too bad
we couldn’t have wiped out the entire crew
while we were about it. By the way, I didn’t
spot His Nibs in that gang, did you?”</p>
<p>“No, Sanders wasn’t with his men. Guess
distance lends enchantment with Mr. Sanders
when there’s a good chance of stopping lead!
That guy hires men to do his fighting. Take
it from me, he is sound asleep in his little
white bed, wherever that may be—and I only
wish I knew where!”</p>
<p>“That,” said Ezra with a chuckle, “is a
worthy thought—but it doesn’t get us any
forrider with the matter in hand, does it?”</p>
<p>Bill was silent for a moment. Vaguely
conscious that the rising cloud formation had
at last obscured the moon, and the darkness
after the brilliant moonlight seemed inky
black, he wracked his brain for a means to
outwit their enemy.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_189">189</div>
<p>Suddenly he laughed. “What a pack of
blithering idiots we are!” he almost shouted.
“Look here, Ezra! Sanders doesn’t know I
was in the bus. It’s dollars to a penny postage
stamp, he thinks I’m asleep in my own bed at
Turner’s!”</p>
<p>“Maybe. That is, if he doesn’t send someone
in there again to-night to find out.”</p>
<p>“Not Sanders. That guy has a Jehovah
complex. He knows he’s a world beater and
doesn’t hide his knowledge under any bushel,
either. Why, he’s so sure he put cold, naked
fear into me he’d bet on it!”</p>
<p>“You’re probably right,” agreed Ezra.
“He’s been over to my dump a couple of times.
He’s got one of those Buhl-Verville Airsters,
with a man to chauffeur him ’round. Nice
little job, too. A three-place biplane—he
can fold the wings back. When they’re
folded, the hangar space required is only 9
feet by 13½ feet by 25!”</p>
<p>“That,” commented Bill, “is very likely
the reason he picked on it—handy bus to hide.
But what has a Buhl-Verville CW3 got to do
with the price of spinach?”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_190">190</div>
<p>“Nothin’, except your high-hat friend had
me up to fix one of his shock absorbers.
They’re of the Oleo rubber disc type on those
crates. You see, under loading conditions,
these rubber discs are in compression and an
internal perforated plunger piston simultaneously
travels into a loaded oil chamber at the
lower end of the strut—”</p>
<p>“And,” interrupted Bill, “this absorbs the
impact energy and neutralizes the effect of
the rebound, which is so prevalent with the
ordinary rubber spring shock absorbers. It
cushions the landing shocks to the extent of
saving the whole airplane structure from
strains which are occasioned by shocks in bad
landings over rough ground!”</p>
<p>“You win,” laughed Parker. “Up here in
this out-of-the-way neck of the woods one
forgets that there are other idiots crazy
enough to waste time messing ’round with airbusses.”</p>
<p>“Thanks! But—”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_191">191</div>
<p>“Oh, nothing. I got off the track, as usual.
Just wanted to say that I got so gol-darned
mad at that uppish little groundhog, Sanders,
the last time he came ’round bellyachin’
’bout the job I done on his shock absorbers—and
all because his chauffeur got his training
from a correspondence course—I told him to
get out and stay out. No, he wasn’t on deck
tonight—I’d know him a mile away!”</p>
<p>“Well, you said that before. So we’ll take
it for granted that if I hop down to Stamford
tomorrow and give that bozo Johnson an earful,
he won’t start in making it nasty for
Charlie in the meantime.”</p>
<p>“I think,” said Ezra, “we can be reasonably
sure that he won’t. And now you and I
had better get up the hill and help Jim with
the—er—dear departed.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_192">192</div>
<p>“And while we’re about that, I’m going
to wake up the lovers. You may not be
hungry, but I can eat a horse. If Deborah
is as good at cooking now that she has her
little Indian Chief, as she was before he came
to divert her mind from worthwhile things,
maybe we can get her to scare up a meal.”</p>
<p>“What about Charlie? We’ve got to get
that kid away from the gang just as soon as
we can.”</p>
<p>“Of course we must. But I can think
better when my stomach isn’t so doggone
empty. Charlie is safe until the deadline
that Sanders gave me. Now for the Seminoles.
Lucky they’re not on their natural
habitat—you and I would get a tomahawk
between the eyes—eh, Osceola?” he cried.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_193">193</div>
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