"You are right, Tom; Deveaux is a brute," said John. "His deviltry came near being the end of us. When we get home, we must see to it that he is punished as he deserves. But we must keep it out of the papers now, as it will look, in case we get beat, as if we wanted an excuse."
John and Tom now resumed their hammocks and broken sleep, for they saw that, although the shattered tail elevator caused the Sky-Bird to ride roughly and at reduced speed. Bob and Paul could probably handle her all right from now on. The cross winds of the monsoon also hindered their progress a good deal, blowing erratically from different directions, but they plugged along at a pace slow enough to keep themselves within the zone of safety.
A little later they came in sight of Sumatra, but as they were going fairly well, thought it best not to attempt a landing for repairs. So they crossed the northern tip of the island, and proceeded on over the Strait of Malacca. Sometime since, Paul had taken Bob's place at the throttle, and the latter had communicated with their destination by wireless, learning that the other airplane had arrived.
It was twilight when they at last reached Singapore, and made a landing in the race-course in the outskirts of the town. By long odds this was the smallest island upon which they had so far stopped, but they found the city one of the busiest. Their rivals had left fully two hours before.
Now came the task of repairing the broken tail elevator. As the frame was undamaged, it was only necessary to straighten out a few bent supports and put new covering on. The British official at the field showed them where to purchase the necessary silk and glue, also a good waterproof varnish for coating the covering. From his own home he secured a pair of scissors with which to do the cutting, and John and Bob worked at the task, while Paul and Tom took on fuel and water and looked after other preparations for resuming their journey as soon as possible.
During this process, Grandpa the monkey was permitted to come out of the cabin and entertain the crowd of onlookers with his antics, which he did to perfection, as he had done at other stops. To the ivory ring about his slender little waist, Paul always fastened a long thin rope, which he had bought in Para, when he let Grandpa out. This leash prevented him from wandering off, something nearly all unfettered monkeys will do if not watched very closely by their masters. Almost any place seems to be home to a monkey, and almost any man seems to suit him for a temporary master.
Grandpa himself delighted in running out upon the wings of the Sky-Bird at the stops. He pulled the control wires and made the ailerons swing up and down, which always raised a laugh among the crowds. Another favorite pastime with him was to post himself in front of the reflector of the big searchlight up on the cabin, and make the most comical grimaces at his image on the polished reflector inside, sometimes uttering queer noises as if he were crying, and at other times chattering with the utmost anger at the phantom monkey, mixing these demonstrations up with wild dashes around behind the lamp to see if the mimicking animal were there. No matter what language the natives of each port might speak, they never failed to understand and appreciate these little sideshow comedies of Grandpa's. And when it would become noised about among them that this particular monkey had traveled all the way from South America through the air with the "bird-men," their awe for him was amusing to behold.
CHAPTER XXV
ENGULFED IN A VOLCANO'S DUST
With three hundred gallons of gasoline in her tanks, and her broken tail-elevator well repaired, the Sky-Bird was ready at eleven o'clock that evening to take off. Her crew were all tired out, but they knew they would soon be able to occupy the comfortable seats or hammocks in the cabin for another long stretch of over-sea travel, for it would be morning before they would reach Port Darwin, Australia, their next stop.