Dick Hamiliton\'s Airship
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Howard R. Garis >> Dick Hamiliton\'s Airship
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14 DICK HAMILTON'S AIRSHIP; OR, A YOUNG MILLIONAIRE IN THE CLOUDS
BY Howard R. Garis
CONTENTS
I THE FALLING BIPLANE
II THE COLONEL'S OFFER
III DICK'S RESOLVE
IV THE ARMY AVIATORS
V SUSPICIONS
VI DICK'S FIRST FLIGHT
VII A QUEER LANDING
VIII AT HAMILTON CORNERS
IX UNCLE EZRA'S VISIT
X BUILDING THE AIRSHIP
XI A SURPRISE
XII LARSON SEES UNCLE EZRA
XIII UNCLE EZRA ACTS QUEERLY
XIV THE TRIAL FLIGHT
XV IN DANGER
XVI DICK IS WARNED
XVII OFF FOR THE START
XVIII UNCLE EZRA FLIES
XIX UNCLE EZRA'S ACCIDENT
XX IN NEW YORK
XXI OFF FOR THE PACIFIC
XXII UNCLE EZRA STARTS OFF
XXIII AN IMPROMPTU RACE
XXIV GRIT'S GRIP
XXV A FORCED LANDING
XXVI ON LACK MICHIGAN
XXVII A HOWLING GALE
XXVIII ABLAZE IN THE CLOUDS
XXIX THE RIVAL AIRSHIP
XXX AN ATTACK
XXXI THE WRECK
XXXII SAVING UNCLE EZRA
XXXIII WITH UNCLE EZRA'S HELP
CHAPTER I
THE FALLING BIPLANE
"She sure is a fine boat, Dick."
"And she can go some, too!"
"Glad you like her, fellows," replied Dick Hamilton, to the remarks
of his chums, Paul Drew and Innis Beeby, as he turned the wheel of
a new motor-boat and sent the craft about in a graceful sweep toward
a small dock which connected with a little excursion resort on the
Kentfield river.
"Like her! Who could help it?" asked Paul, looking about admiringly
at the fittings of the craft. "Why, you could go on a regular
cruise in her!"
"You might if you kept near your base of supplies," remarked Dick.
"Base of supplies!" laughed Innis. "Can't you forget, for a while,
that you're at a military school, old man, and not give us the sort
of stuff we get in class all the while?"
"Well, what I meant," explained the young millionaire owner of the
motor-boat, "was that you couldn't carry enough food aboard, and
have room to move about, if you went on a very long trip."
"That's right, you couldn't," agreed Paul. "And of late I seem to
have acquired the eating habit in its worst form."
"I never knew the time when you didn't have it," responded Dick.
"I'm going to give you a chance to indulge in it right now, and I'm
going to profit by your example."
"What's doing?" asked Innis, as he straightened the collar of his
military blouse, for the three were in the fatigue uniforms of the
Kentfield Military Academy, where Dick and his chums attended.
Lessons and practice were over for the day, and the young
millionaire had invited his friends out for a little trip in his
new motor-boat.
"I thought we'd just stop at Bruce's place, and get a sandwich and
a cup of coffee," suggested Dick. "Then we can go on down the river
and we won't have to be back until time for guard-mount. We'll be
better able to stand it, if we get a bite to eat."
"Right you are, old chap!" exclaimed Paul, and then he, too, began
to smooth the wrinkles out of his blouse and to ease his rather
tight trousers at the knees.
"Say, what's the matter with you dudes, anyhow?" asked Dick, who,
after glancing ahead to see that he was on the right course to the
dock, looked back to give some attention to the motor.
"Matter! I don't see anything the matter," remarked Innis in casual
tones, while he flicked some dust from his shoes with a spare pocket
handkerchief.
"Why, you two are fussing as though you were a couple of girls at
your first dance," declared Dick, as he adjusted the valves of the
oil cups to supply a little more lubricant to the new motor, which
had not yet warmed up to its work. "Innis acts as though he were
sorry he hadn't come out in his dress uniform, and as for you, Paul,
I'm beginning to think you are afraid you hadn't shaved. What's it
all about, anyhow? Old man Bruce won't care whether you have on one
tan shoe and one black one; or whether your hair is parted, or not."
Then Dick, having gotten the motor running to his satisfaction,
looked toward the dock which he was rapidly nearing in his boat.
The next moment he gave a whistle of surprise.
"Ah, ha! No wonder!" he cried. "The girls? So that's why you
fellows were fixing up, and getting yourselves to look pretty. And
you let me monkey with the motor, and get all grease and dirt while
you-- Say, I guess we'll call off this eating stunt," and he swung
over the steering wheel.
"Oh, I say?" protested Innis.
"Don't be mean?" added Paul. "We haven't seen the girls in some
time, and there's three of 'em--"
Dick laughed. On the dock, under the shade of an awning, he had
caught sight of three pretty girls from town--girls he and his chums
knew quite well. They were Mabel Hanford, in whom Dick was more
than ordinarily interested, Grace Knox, and Irene Martin.
"I thought I'd get a rise out of you fellows," the young millionaire
went on. "Trying to get me in bad, were you!"
The boat swerved away from the dock. The girls, who had arisen,
evidently to come down to the float, and welcome the approaching
cadets, seemed disappointed. One of them had waved her handkerchief
in response to a salute from Paul.
"Here, take some of this and clean your face," suggested Paul,
handing Dick some cotton waste from a seat locker.
"And here's a bit for your shoes," added Innis, performing a like
service. "You'll look as good as we do."
"What about my hands?" asked Dick. "Think I want to go up and sit
alongside of a girl with paws like these?" and he held out one that
was black and oily.
"Haven't you any soap aboard?" asked Innis, for he, like Paul,
seemed anxious that Dick should land them at the dock where the
girls were.
"Oh, well, if you fellows are as anxious as all that I s'pose I'll
have to humor you," agreed Dick, with a grin. "I dare say Bruce
can let me wash up in his place," and he turned the craft back on
the course he had previously been holding. A little later the
motor-boat was made fast to the float, and the three cadets were
greeting the three girls.
"Look out for my hands!" warned Dick, as Miss Hanford's light summer
dress brushed near him. "I'm all oil and grease. I'll go scrub up,
if you'll excuse me."
"Certainly," said Mabel Hanford, with a rippling laugh.
When Dick returned, he ordered a little lunch served out on the end
of the dock, where they could sit and enjoy the cool breezes, and
look at the river on which were many pleasure craft.
"Where were you boys going?" asked Grace Knox, as she toyed with
her ice-cream spoon.
"Coming to see you," answered Paul promptly.
"As if we'd believe that!" mocked Irene. "Why, you were going right
past here, and only turned in when you saw us!"
"Dick didn't want to come at all," said Innis.
"He didn't! Why not?" demanded Mabel.
"Bashful, I guess," murmured Paul.
"No, it was because I didn't want to inflict the company of these
two bores on you ladies!" exclaimed Dick, thus "getting back."
There was much gay talk and laughter, and, as the afternoon was
still young, Dick proposed taking the girls out for a little jaunt
in his new craft He had only recently purchased it, and, after using
it at Kentfield, he intended taking it with him to a large lake,
where he and his father expected to spend the Summer.
"Oh, that was just fine!" cried Mabel, when the ride was over, and
the party was back at the pier. "Thank you, so much, Dick!"
"Humph! You have US to thank--not him!" declared Paul. "He
wouldn't have turned in here if we hadn't made him. And just
because his hands had a little oil on!"
"Say, don't believe him!" protested the young millionaire. "I had
proposed coming here before I knew you girls were on the dock."
"Well, we thank all THREE of you!" cried Irene, with a bow that
included the trio of cadets.
"Salute!" exclaimed Paul, and the young soldiers drew themselves up
stiffly, and, in the most approved manner taught at Kentfield,
brought their hands to their heads.
"'Bout face! Forward--march! " cried Grace, imitating an officer's
orders, and the boys, with laughs stood "at ease."
"See you at the Junior prom!"
"Yes, don't forget."
"And save me a couple of hesitation waltzes!"
"Can you come for a ride tomorrow?"
"Surely!
This last was the answer of the girls to Dick's invitation, and the
exclamations before that were the good-byes between the girls and
boys, reference being made to a coming dance of the Junior class.
Then Dick and his chums entered the motor-boat and started back for
the military academy.
"You've got to go some to get back in time to let us tog up for
guard-mount," remarked Paul, looking at his watch.
"That's right," added Innis. "I don't want to get a call-down.
I'm about up to my limit now.
"We'll do it all right," announced Dick. "I haven't speeded the
motor yet. I've been warming it up. I'll show you what she can
do!"
He opened wider the gasoline throttle of the engine, and advanced
the timer. Instantly the boat shot ahead, as the motor ran at twice
the number of revolutions.
"That's something like!" cried Paul admiringly.
"She sure has got speed," murmured Innis.
On they sped, talking of the girls, of their plans for the summer,
and the coming examinations.
"Hark! What's that?" suddenly asked Paul, holding up his hand for
silence.
They were made aware of a curious, humming, throbbing sound.
"Some speed boat," ventured Dick.
"None in sight," objected Paul, with a glance up and down the river,
which at this point ran in a straight stretch for two miles or more.
"You could see a boat if you could hear it as plainly as that."
"It's getting louder," announced Innis.
Indeed the sound was now more plainly to be heard.
Paul gave a quick glance upward.
"Look, fellows!" he exclaimed. "An airship!"
The sound was right over their heads now, and as all three looked
up they saw, soaring over them, a large biplane, containing three
figures. It was low enough for the forms to be distinguished
clearly.
"Some airship!" cried Dick, admiringly.
"And making time, too," remarked Innis.
Aircraft were no novelties to the cadets. In fact part of the
instruction at Kentfield included wireless, and the theoretical use
of aeroplanes in war. The cadets had gone in a body to several
aviation meets, and once had been taken by Major Franklin Webster,
the instructor in military tactics, to an army meet where several
new forms of biplanes and monoplanes had been tried out, to see
which should be given official recognition.
"I never saw one like that before," remarked Paul, as they watched
the evolutions of the craft above them.
"Neither did I," admitted Dick.
"I've seen one something like that," spoke Innis.
"Where?" his chums wanted to know, as Dick slowed down his boat,
the better to watch the biplane, which was now circling over the
river.
"Why, a cousin of mine, Whitfield Vardon by name, has the airship
craze pretty bad," resumed Innis. "He has an idea he can make one
that will maintain its equilibrium no matter how the wind blows or
what happens. But, poor fellow, he's spent all his money on
experiments and he hasn't succeeded. The last I heard, he was about
down and out, poor chap. He showed me a model of his machine once,
and it looked a lot like this. But this one seems to work, and his
didn't--at least when I saw it."
"It's mighty interesting to watch, all right," spoke Paul, "but
we'll be in for a wigging if we miss guard-mount. Better speed her
along, Dick."
"Yes, I guess so. But we've got time--"
Dick never finished that sentence. Innis interrupted him with a
cry of:
"Look, something's wrong on that aircraft!"
"I should say so!" yelled Paul. "They've lost control of her!"
The big biplane was in serious difficulties, for it gave a lurch,
turned turtle, and then, suddenly righting, shot downward for the
river.
"They're going to get a ducking, all right!" cried Innis.
"Yes, and they may be killed, or drowned," added Paul.
"I'll do what I can to save 'em!" murmured Dick, as he turned on
more power, and headed his boat for the place where the aircraft
was likely to plunge into the water.
Hardly had he done so when, with a great splash, and a sound as of
an explosion, while a cloud of steam arose as the water sprayed on
the hot motor, the aircraft shot beneath the waves raised by the
rapidly-whirling propellers.
"Stand ready now!"
"Get out a preserver!"
"Toss 'em that life ring!"
"Ready with the boat hook! Slow down your engine, Dick."
The motor-boat was at the scene of the accident, and when one of
the occupants of the wrecked airship came up to the surface Dick
made a grab for him, catching the boat hook in the neck of his coat.
The next instant Dick gave a cry of surprise.
"Larry Dexter--the reporter!" he fairly shouted. "How in the world--
"
"Let me get aboard--I'll talk when--when I get rid of--of--some of
this water!" panted Larry Dexter. "Can you save the others?"
"I've got one!" shouted Paul. "Give me a hand, Innis!"
Together the two cadets lifted into the motorboat a limp and
bedraggled figure. And, no sooner had he gotten a glimpse of the
man's face, than Innis Beeby cried:
"By Jove! If it isn't my cousin, Whitfield Vardon!"
CHAPTER II
THE COLONEL'S OFFER
Two more surprised youths than Dick Hamilton and Innis Beeby would
have been hard to find. That the young millionaire should meet
Larry Dexter, a newspaper reporter with whom he had been acquainted
some time, in this startling fashion was one thing to wonder at, but
that Innis should help in the rescue of his cousin, of whom he had
just been speaking, was rather too much to crowd into a few
strenuous moments.
"Whitfield!" gasped Innis, when his cousin had been safely gotten
aboard. "How in the world did you get here? And was that your
craft?"
"Yes. But don't stop to talk now!" gasped the rescued aviator.
"My machinist, Jack Butt, went down with us! Can you see anything
of him?"
Eagerly the eyes of the cadets searched the waters that had now
subsided from the commotion caused by the plunging down of the
wrecked aircraft. Then Dick cried:
"I see something moving! Right over there!"
He pointed to where the water was swirling, and the next moment he
threw in the clutch of his motor. The propeller churned the water
to foam, and the craft shot ahead.
The next instant a body came to the surface. A man began to strike
out feebly, but it was evident he was nearly drowned.
"That's Jack! That's my helper!" cried Mr. Vardon. "Can you save
him?"
"Take the wheel!" shouted Dick to Paul. And then, as the motor-boat
shot ahead, the rich youth leaned over the gunwale, and, holding on
to a forward deck cleat with one hand, he reached over, and with the
other, caught the coat collar of the swimmer, who had thrown up his
arms, and was about to sink again.
"I'll give you a hand!" cried Innis, and between them the cadets
lifted into the boat the now inert form of Jack Butt.
"Stop the motor!"
"First aid!"
"We've got to try artificial respiration!"
In turn Innis, Paul and Dick shot out these words. And, seeing that
the other two rescued ones were in no need of attention, the cadets
proceeded to put to practical use the lessons in first aid to the
drowning they had learned at Kentfield.
And, while this is going on I am going to take just a few moments,
in which to tell my new readers something about the previous books
in this series.
The only son of Mortimer Hamilton, of Hamilton Corners, in New York
state, Dick was a millionaire in his own right. His mother had left
him a large estate, and in the first volume of this series,
entitled, "Dick Hamilton's Fortune; Or, The Stirring Doings of a
Millionaire's Son," I related what Dick had to do in order to become
fully possessed of a large sum of money. He had to prove that he
was really capable of handling it, and he nearly came to grief in
doing this, as many a better youth might have done.
Dick's uncle, Ezra Larabee, of Dankville, was a rich man, but a
miser. He was not in sympathy with Dick, nor with the plans his
sister, Dick's mother, had made for her son. Consequently, Uncle
Ezra did all he could to make it unpleasant for Dick while the
latter was paying him a visit of importance.
But Dick triumphed over his uncle, and also over certain sharpers
who tried to get the best of him.
My second volume, entitled, "Dick Hamilton's Cadet Days, Or, The
Handicap of a Millionaire's Son," deals with our hero's activities
at the Kentfield Military Academy. This was a well-known school,
at the head of which was Colonel Masterly. Major Henry Rockford
was the commandant, and the institution turned out many first-class
young men, with a groundwork of military training. The school was
under the supervision of officers from the regular army, the
resident one being Major Webster.
Dick had rather a hard time at Kentfield--at first--for he had to
get over the handicap of being a millionaire. But how he did it
you may read, and, I trust, enjoy.
In "Dick Hamilton's Steam Yacht; Or, A Young Millionaire and the
Kidnappers," Dick got into a "peck of trouble," to quote his chum,
Innis Beeby. But the rich youth finally triumphed over the designs
of Uncle Ezra, and was able to foil some plotters.
"Dick Hamilton's Football Team; Or, A Young Millionaire On the
Gridiron," tells of the efforts of Dick to make a first-class eleven
from the rather poor material he found at Kentfield. How he did it,
though not without hard work, and how the team finally triumphed
over the Blue Hill players, you will find set down at length in the
book.
"Dick Hamilton's Touring Car; Or, A Young Millionaire's Race for a
Fortune," took our hero on a long trip, and in one of the largest,
finest and most completely equipped automobiles that a certain firm
had ever turned out.
I have mentioned Larry Dexter, and I might say that in a line
entitled, "The Young Reporter Series," I have give an account of
the doings of this youth who rose from the position of office boy
on a New York newspaper to be a "star" man, that is, one entrusted
with writing only the biggest kind of stories. Dick had met Larry
while in New York, and Larry had profited by the acquaintanceship
by getting a "beat," or exclusive story, about the young
millionaire.
On the return of Dick and his cadet chums from a trip to California,
the rich youth had again taken up his studies at Kentfield.
And now we behold him, out in his motor-boat, having just succeeded
in helping rescue the master and "crew" of the aircraft that had
plunged into the river.
"There; he breathed."
"I think he's coming around now."
"Better get him to shore though. He'll need a doctor!"
Thus remarked Dick, Paul and Innis as they labored over the
unfortunate mechanician of the biplane. They had used artificial
respiration on him until he breathed naturally.
"I'll start the boat," announced Dick, for the craft had been
allowed to drift while the lifesaving work was going on. "We want
to make time back."
"This certainly is a surprise," remarked Larry Dexter, as he tried
to wring some of the water out of his clothes.
"More to me than it is to you, I guess," suggested Dick. "I suppose
you birdmen are used to accidents like this?"
"More or less," answered the cousin of Innis Beeby. "But I never
expected to come to grief, and be rescued by Innis."
"Nor did I expect to see you," said the cadet.
"We were just speaking of you, or, rather I was, as we saw your
craft in the air. I was wondering if you had perfected your
patent."
"It doesn't look so--does it?" asked the airship inventor, with a
rueful smile in the direction of the sunken aircraft. "I guess I'm
at the end of my rope," he added, sadly. "But I'm glad none of us
was killed."
"So am I!" exclaimed Dick. "But how in the world did you come to
take up aviation, Larry?" he asked, of the young newspaper man.
"Have you given up reporting?"
"No indeed," replied Larry Dexter. "But this air game is getting
to be so important, especially the army and navy end of it, that my
paper decided we ought to have an expert of our own to keep up with
the times. So they assigned me to the job, and I'm learning how to
manage an aircraft. I guess the paper figures on sending me out to
scout in the clouds for news. Though if I don't make out better
than this, they'll get someone else in my place."
"Something went wrong--I can't understand it," said the aircraft
inventor, shaking his head. "The machine ought not to have plunged
down like that. I can't understand it."
"I'd like to send the story back to my paper," went on Larry.
"Always on the lookout for news!" remarked Dick. "We'll see that
you send off your yarn all right. There's a telegraph office in
the Academy now. I'll fix it for you."
The run to the school dock was soon made, and the arrival of Dick's
motor-boat, with the rescued ones from the airship, which had been
seen flying over the parade grounds a little while before, made some
commotion.
"We've missed guard-mount!" remarked Innis, as he saw the other
cadets at the drill.
"Can't be helped. We had a good excuse," said Dick. "Now we've
got to attend to him," and he nodded at Jack Butt, who seemed to
have collapsed again.
With military promptness, the mechanic was carried to the hospital,
and the school doctor was soon working over him. Meanwhile, dry
garments had been supplied to Larry and Mr. Vardon. A messenger
came from Colonel Masterly to learn what was going on, and, when he
heard of the rescue, Dick and his chums were excused from taking
part in the day's closing drill.
"He's coming around all right," the physician remarked to the young
millionaire, on the way from the hospital, where he had been
attending Jack Butt. "It seems that he was entangled in some part
of the aircraft, and couldn't get to the surface until he was nearly
drowned. But he's all right now, though he needs rest and care."
"I wonder if he can stay here?" asked Dick. "Oh, yes, I'll attend
to that for you," the doctor promised. "I'll arrange with Colonel
Masterly about that. And your other friends--I think they should
remain, too. They probably are in rather an unpleasant plight."
"I'll look after them," said Dick. "I can put them up. One is a
newspaper man, and the other a cousin of Beeby's. He's an airship
inventor."
"Is that so? Colonel Masterly might be interested to know that."
"Why?" asked Dick.
"Because I understand that he is about to add a course in aviation
to the studies here. It has been discussed in faculty meetings, so
it is no secret."
"An aviation course at Kentfield!" cried Dick, with shining eyes.
"Yes. Are you interested?" the doctor asked.
"Well, I hadn't thought about it, but I believe I should like to
have an airship," the young millionaire went on. "Down, Grit,
down!" he commanded, as a beautiful bulldog came racing from the
stables to fawn upon his master. I used the word "beautiful" with
certain restrictions, for Grit was about the homeliest bulldog in
existence.
But his very hideousness made him "beautiful" to a lover of dogs.
He jumped about in delight at seeing Dick again, for he had been
shut up, so he would not insist on going out in the motor-boat.
Quarters were provided for Larry Dexter, who sent off a brief
account of the accident to the airship, and Mr. Vardon was looked
after by Innis. Butt, of course, remained in the hospital.
Dr. Morrison was right when he said that Colonel Masterly would be
interested in meeting the luckless aviator. Innis took his cousin
to the head of the school, and Mr. Vardon told of his invention,
briefly, and also of the mishap to his biplane.
"Perhaps this is providential," said the colonel musingly. "For
some time I have been considering the starting of an aviation course
here, and it may be you would like to assist me in it. I want the
cadets to learn something about the fundamentals of heavier-than-air
machines. Will you accept a position as instructor?"
"I will, gladly," said Mr. Vardon. "I might as well admit that I
have no further funds to pursue my experiments, though I am
satisfied that I am on the right track. But my machine is wrecked."
"Perhaps it can be raised," said the colonel, cheerfully. "We will
talk about that later. And we may find a way to have you conduct
your experiments here."
"I can not thank you enough, sir," returned the aviator. "And I am
also deeply indebted to my cousin's chum--Dick Hamilton. But for
him, and the other cadets in the boat, we might all have been
drowned."
"I'm glad we were on hand," said Dick, with a smile.
CHAPTER III
DICK'S RESOLVE
"What do you know about that?"
"A regular course in aviation!"
"And birdmen from the United States Army to came here and show us
how to do stunts!"
"Well, you fellows can go in for it if you like, but automobiling
is dangerous enough sport for me."
"Ah, what's the matter with you? Flying is pretty nearly as safe
now as walking! Not half as many birdmen have been killed as there
have railroad travelers."
"No, because there are more railroad travelers to be killed. No
cloud flights for mine!"
A group of cadets, Dick, Innis and Paul among them, were discussing
the latest news at Kentfield.
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