The Aeroplane Boys Flight | Page 8

the
method spoken of by the farmer in connection with the bank thieves,
keeping their identity secret--they all seemed to have handkerchiefs tied
across their faces, and kept their hats pulled well down, so that they
could easily have passed close to an acquaintance without much risk of
discovery.
Of course Andy could tell that they were boys, and not men; and it was
an easy task for him to guess who two of the party at least must be.
The preparations he and Felix had made were about as simple as
anything could be. The farm hand possessed an old musket that had
been used in the Civil war, and which, muzzleloader that it was, had
probably brought down many a plump rabbit when held in the hands of
the owner, as well as black ducks in the marshes along the shore of
Lake Sunrise.
Besides this, the farmer had loaned Andy his double-barrel Marlin
shotgun, an old model when compared with the up-to-date hammerless
and the repeaters, but no doubt a good, serviceable weapon.
Of course they had no idea of trying to pepper the marauders, though it
would seem as though they richly deserved to be punctured with a few
small bird shot, because of the meanness of their contemplated action.
To give them a good fright would satisfy Andy, and he had made the
eager farm hand promise to fire up in the air also because he was afraid
lest Felix allow his indignation to have full swing, when he saw what
the four boys meant to do.
They were skulking very close to where the aeroplane lay now, and the
critical moment had undoubtedly arrived when the surprise must be
launched.
"Ready, Felix!" he whispered, in the softest of tones.

"Yep!" grunted the farm hand, at his elbow.
"One, two, three! Blaze away!"
With the last word Felix let go with his old musket, into which he must
have rammed a tremendous charge, for it made a report like unto the
crash of thunder, and came very near sending the owner flat on his
back.
Immediately on the heels of this boom Andy pulled one of the triggers
of his double-barrel, so that the report seemed almost merged in with
that of the other weapon.
The four boys had jumped to their feet at the flash and report which
startled them when Felix fired. And as they turned to dash wildly away
and that second shot came, they became madly excited, evidently under
the full belief that they were being made targets for a whole battalion of
sharpshooters.
Two of them collided, and rolled over on the grass, kicking wildly and
scrambling to their feet again, to resume their flight toward the fence,
which doubtless seemed three times as distant as when they were
creeping toward the stranded aeroplane.
The whole thing was so ridiculous that Andy burst out laughing, and
could hardly hold his gun; seeing which the farm hand made bold to
snatch it out of his hands, and aiming directly at the place where the
fugitives were just then in the act of mounting the fence in their
panicky flight, he pulled the trigger.
There was a series of loud yells, which would seem to indicate that a
few of the small shot contained in the shells with which the Marlin had
been loaded must have reached their mark, and pricked the boys like so
many needles would have done.
That was the last seen of them, though for a short time they could be
heard running along the hard road, and exchanging excited comments,
possibly comparing their injuries.

Then a car was heard to start off with a great deal of bluster, and came
dashing along past the farmhouse, though those in it bent low enough
to keep any one from discovering who they might be.
Andy did not know whether to be a little angry or not because of what
the impetuous Felix had done, but apparently nobody had been
seriously hurt; and on the whole, the four "sneaks," as Felix called them,
deserved some punishment; so he let it go at that.
There was no further alarm that night. Neither of the guardians of the
hydroplane expected any, after the prompt measures that had been
taken to inform meddlers of the warm reception they might expect.
All the same, Andy kept up his vigil until sleep almost overpowered
him, when he aroused Felix to finish out the night.
With the coming of early dawn he knew that the safety of the imperiled
aeroplane was assured, and that when the horn blew, he and Felix could
both go in to breakfast. Indeed, he released the farm hand long before
that time, so that he might go about his usual early morning chores;