He went back to the engine room, and while the others in the party watched those below them, who sought to get on the trail of the sixty nuggets of gold, Jerry sent the Comet down until they could hear the excited shouts of one of the horsemen with Noddy.
“That’s the grub-staker!” exclaimed Ned. “He doesn’t know much about airships, and I guess he thinks we’re going to smash into him.”
“Noddy and Bill are taking it calmly enough,” observed the tall lad, as indeed the two plotters were, for they could be seen gazing up at the motorship as if they knew its power and what it would do. But the other man was yelling excitedly, and urging his steed to one side.
The motor boys were too far away to permit them to hear what was being said, but it was evident that Noddy and Bill were trying to reassure their companion.
“Now show ’em our heels!” cried Ned and, as Jerry set the motor to full speed ahead, the Comet leaped forward on an upward slant and soon was but a speck in the sky, while the disappointed horsemen tried in vain to follow its flight.
“They’ve given us the slip!” exclaimed Bill Berry.
“Never mind, we’ve seen in what direction they started,” declared Noddy. “And you know the best place to head for; don’t you?” he asked of the other man.
“I reckon so,” replied the grub-staker. “But I never thought they could handle an airship so. Why, they might ram us!”
“Oh, it’s easy enough to handle one of those things,” spoke Noddy, half contemptuously. “I have done it.” But in his own heart he knew he had never managed a craft with the skill of the motor boys.