CHAPTER IX.
THE BOYS FACE TROUBLE.
"Phew! looks as if we are in for trouble," exclaimed Tom, as he saw the warlike expression on the farmer's face.
"It does that," agreed Jack. "Hop out, will you, Tom, and get that grapple clear? Confound it, I don't see how it came loose."
"Wore through the lashing," said Tom, who had been examining the place where the big hooked steel anchor was usually tied.
"We ought to have seen to it before we started out," said Jack. "We haven't had it loose since that time we anchored above the Brazilian forest."
The farmer's angry voice hailed them from below.
"Hey there! Don't yew move a foot till we've had a reck'nin'."
"I am awfully sorry," said Jack. "It was an accident you see. We——"
"Don't care what it was. Thet thar was a new roof. Don't you move a step till Si here gits ther constabule."
"We'll pay you for the roof," said Jack apologetically. "After all it isn't much damaged."
Indeed it appeared as if the damage was not so great as they had at first imagined. After tearing off some shingles the grapple had caught in a beam and was prevented from doing further harm.
"Yes, yew'll pay, and yew'll go ter jail tew," declared the farmer. "Consarn it all, what's the country comin' tew? Las' week tew pesky dod-ratted balloonists hit Hi Holler on ther head with a bag of sand, and now yew come along in thet thar contraption and try to bust up my dryin' roof. I'll have ther law on yer."
Matters began to look serious. Jack had no doubt but what the farmer would accept a money payment for the damaged roof. But it appeared that the old fellow was bent on more stringent vengeance.
In the meantime Tom had been busy in the stern of the craft and had succeeded in getting the grapnel loose from the beam into which its sharp points had dug. It was not till that moment that the farmer observed him.
He leveled his shotgun at the balloon of the Wondership.
"Don't yew dare ter move er I'll bust a hole right plumb through that ther airbag of yourn," he said.
"Can't you be reasonable?" asked Jack. "Here's my name." He wrote his name and address on a slip of paper and threw it down.
But the irate farmer paid no attention to the missive. He kept his gun steadily trained on the Wondership.
"Move an' I'll bust yer!" he said grimly.
A buggy drove out of the yard. It raced through the gate and then struck the highroad leading to Rayburn.
"Thar' goes Si arter ther constabule," said the farmer, licking his thin lips as if with relish. "Hi Ketchum is a rare one arter automobubblists. I reckon he'll be right smart tickled to death when he hears I got a whole airship fer him ter 'rest."
"Bother the old grouch," muttered Tom, as he climbed back into the Wondership, the bag of which was deflated just enough to keep her at rest on the roof.
"He's evidently mighty serious in his intentions," said Jack, with a troubled face. "What are we going to do?"
There was a sudden puff of wind and the big yellow balloon bag swayed slightly.
Instantly the farmer's finger crooked on his trigger. He thought the boys were going to give him the slip.
"No you don't," he shouted, "you don't fool Ezry Perkins that 'er way!"
"We're not trying to fool you," said Jack disgustedly. "Why can't you be sensible. You've our names and addresses on that paper I threw down to you. If you like I'll make a cash settlement right here for any damage we've done."
"I'm goin' ter git yer in ther court," insisted the farmer sullenly. "Las' week some autermobubblists killed three uv my chickens, week afore thet I had a hog knocked off ther road. I'm er goin' ter git even on yer fer ther lot uv them."
It was plain that the man was not to be moved by promises or persuasion. He had conceived in his mind a hatred against automobiles, with which, in a vague way, he classed airships and all such modern inventions. Jack thought, too, that Ezra Perkins was the kind of man who liked to shine out among his neighbors, and what better opportunity could he have to satisfy this ambition than by blossoming forth as a man who, single handed, had captured a great aircraft?
The boys looked down. The farmer was pacing grimly up and down like a sentry, his eyes never leaving the Wondership.
"I'd like to drop a bag of ballast on his head, the same as those balloonists did on Si's," muttered Tom.
"Wouldn't do any good," said Jack. "It would only bounce off again."
"I guess it would at that," agreed Tom with a grin.
"I've half a mind to take a chance," said Jack suddenly.
"And get a hole blown in the balloon bag," protested Tom. "We wouldn't be better off than before in that case."
"I wonder if he'd really shoot or if he's only bluffing," mused Jack.
"Take a look at him," advised Tom.
Jack did. One glance was enough. There was no bluffing about the grim, overalled farmer. The very way in which he held his gun expressed positive determination not to let the boys escape.
But as it so happened, by no action of the boys', matters were suddenly brought to a sharp crisis. Over the patch of woods beyond the farm there came a vagrant puff of wind. It was followed by a sharper gust.
The Wondership swayed and then, before Jack could check the motion, drifted off the roof like a piece of thistledown blown by the wind. Instinctively, to check the downward motion, Jack's hand sought the gas valve. With a hiss the volatile vapor rushed into the bag.
The big aircraft shot up like an arrow. For a second the farmer stood paralyzed at the suddenness of it all. His farm hands lounged about, gaping and looking upward like country folks at a fireworks display.
Then, without any warning:
"Bang!"
The farmer let loose with both barrels at once. But the Wondership still rose.
All at once, from below, came a yell of surprise and terror. The boys looked over the side. As they did so they uttered simultaneous gasps of consternation.
The trailing grapnel, for Tom had forgotten to tie it back in place in the excitement, had caught the farmer by the waistband of his overalls and he was being carried skyward by the Wondership, dangling at the end of the anchor rope like some sprawling spider.
His wife, screaming at the top of her voice, rushed from the kitchen door.
"Hey, you come back with my husband!" she shouted.
"Lemme go! Lemme go!" bawled the farmer as loudly as he could, for, held securely by his stout overalls, he was carried high above his own buildings. He kicked and struggled furiously.
"Keep still," shouted Jack, in serious alarm, from the side of the Wondership. "Keep still or you'll kick yourself off."
The farmer had sense enough to obey. He hung upside down like a limp scarecrow, while his farm hands gaped up at him and the hired girl was busy pouring buckets of water over his wife who was in hysterics.
"Gracious, now we've done it!" gasped Tom in dismay.