Jack Ranger's Gun Club: or, From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail

“That’s all right,” answered Jack. “We had no right to come around, but we were very curious.”

“I don’t blame you. Well, I’ll go and get the machine ready for a trial spin.”

“Excuse me for mentioning it,” said Jack, as Mr. Swaim prepared to leave the cabin, “but you have a chap here named Jerry Chowden? My friends and I used to know him.”

“Is that so?” asked Mr. Swaim in some surprise. “I know little about him. He came to me one day, and asked for work, saying he needed money. As I was short of help I took him on, but I am sorry I did so, for my foreman tells me he is not worth his salt, and is lazy in the bargain. He never said anything to me about meeting you. I shall get rid of him, I think. Is he a friend of yours?”

“Well, I guess not!” exclaimed Jack heartily.

“I’m glad of it, for I don’t like his manners. Now I’ll go and see about taking the ship out. Will may remain with you.”

The boys had plenty to talk about now. Their exchange of experiences of the incidents of the last few hours was interrupted by the appearance of the great aeroplane, as the men wheeled it out of the shed.

“Wow! Petrified pancakes!” exclaimed Nat. “That’s a dandy, though!”

Indeed the Eagle, in spite of the fact that Mr. Swaim had said it was not completed, was a fine example of an aeroplane. The boys crowded up close to it, examining the different parts, while Will’s uncle and some of his men got it ready for a flight. As they started the motor, which worked the great wings, Nat said:

“That accounts for the gasolene smell. I guess the mystery is all explained now.”

“It seems so,” spoke Jack.

The aeroplane was taken to the ice-covered pond, over which the sled had slid on the finish of its perilous trip.

“Is that what this is for?” asked Jack.

“Yes,” replied Mr. Swaim. “We cleared the snow off it on purpose to use for our trials. An aeroplane, you know, as at present constructed, has to get a start on the ground, in order to acquire enough momentum to rise. I find it much easier to skim along on the slippery ice, than over the ground. Well, are we all ready, Stephen?”

The red-haired man, who was the chief mechanic, nodded an assent. He and Mr. Swaim got into a seat, adjusted some levers and wheels, and then another man cranked up the motor.

The great propellers, built like the wings of a bird, began to work, with a sound that was exactly like that heard over the camp. The aeroplane slid forward, and after going for some distance over the frozen pond, rose into the air, as Mr. Swaim shifted the elevation rudders.

Up, up, up it went, until it was higher than the mountain down which the boys had slid. Then it began to circle about.

“My! But that’s fine!” exclaimed Jack.

“Jupiter’s Johnnie cake! But it certainly is!” exclaimed Nat fervently.

For half an hour or more Mr. Swaim circled about in the air overhead; then he and Stephen came down, landing on the pond with scarcely a jolt.

“What do you think of it?” asked the inventor proudly.

“It’s great!” exclaimed Jack enthusiastically, and his chums echoed this sentiment.

“Would you like to try a ride in it?” asked Will’s uncle.

“Well – er – not just now,” stammered Jack, and Mr. Swaim laughed.

“No, I wouldn’t want you to risk it, until I have perfected it a little more, though Stephen and I have gone twenty miles in it.”

One of the workmen ran up, and whispered something to Mr. Swaim.

“Is that so?” he asked, in some surprise. “Well, that simplifies matters. I have just been told,” he went on, turning to the boys, “that Jerry Chowden has disappeared. I guess he did not want to meet you lads.”

“I guess not,” said Jack significantly.

The boys spent some time further, examining the aeroplane, and visiting the machine shop, whence came the throbbing of a gasolene engine – the same sound they had heard when on their second visit to the camp.

Jack asked Will’s uncle if on any occasion he and Stephen had not landed near the camp, for Jack had in mind the occasion when the meat was stolen from the tree by the bear.

“Oh, was that your meat?” asked Mr. Swaim with a laugh, when Jack had explained. “We always wondered whom we had robbed. Stephen and I were out for a flight that night, and we had to descend because of an accident to the motor. We came down near the tree where the meat was, and surprised a bear at work getting it. Bruin scrambled down and ran away, and we concluded to take some of the meat, as we were short. Then we started the machine off again, and came here. I hope we didn’t put you to any inconvenience.”

“Oh, no,” replied Jack. “It only puzzled us some, that was all. But have you an arrow in hobnails, on the soles of your boots?”

Mr. Swaim lifted his foot and showed the arrow.

“That explains everything,” remarked Nat.

“Yes, the mystery is ended,” added Jack.

CHAPTER XXXV

JACK MEETS MABEL – CONCLUSION

“Well,” remarked Mr. Swaim, when the aeroplane had been put back in the shed, “I’d like to have you boys come to dinner with me. We don’t have anything very elaborate in camp – ”

“We don’t care for elaborate things,” interrupted Jack. “We’re camping on our own hook, and I was just thinking we had better begin to think of going back, or Budge and Long Gun may get worried, and start out after us.”

“I’d take you back in the aeroplane, only I can’t carry you all,” said Mr. Swaim. “However, let’s have dinner, and then you can decide what to do.”

The meal was much enjoyed, and at its conclusion, Will remarked:

“Have you decided what to do with me, Uncle Andy?”

“Well – no – not exactly,” replied Mr. Swaim. “Do you want to stay with me, or go back with your friends for a while? One thing is certain, you’ll not go back to that rascal of a Lewis Gabel. I’ll take you from his charge.”

“I’d like to go with Jack and his chums,” said Will, “only they’ll be going back East soon, I expect, and they haven’t got an extra horse for me to ride.”

“We can easily manage that,” said Jack. “I’ve got to send word to Tanker Ike to come and get our camp stuff, and he can just as well bring along an extra horse with him. So don’t let that worry you.”

“I’m afraid I’m giving you a lot of trouble,” said Will.

“Not a bit of it. Come, and welcome.”

“If you can manage it, I think it will be the best plan,” said Mr. Swaim. “My camp isn’t much of a place for a boy, but I will soon be coming East, Will, and then I’ll look after you. In the meanwhile take this to use for the spending money that Mr. Gabel wrongfully kept from you,” and he handed his nephew a substantial sum.

The boys took a last look at the aeroplane, and bidding Mr. Swaim good-by, set off on a long tramp over the mountain for their camp. Fortunately the weather was fine, and they were not hampered by any storm, so they reached their tent late that afternoon.

“Jugitback?” asked Budge, as calmly as if they had been gone only an hour or so, and he pulled out a long string of gum, and began to work it back into his mouth again.