In fact, sweeping into the valley of Korakum, they would be able to turn the tables on the enemy. These thoughts rushed through the minds of all, as Amrath communicated the meaning of the tiny figures which, as he alone carried glasses, were plainest to him.
Then came the pancake, and the final drop. But in the end the plane received little damage nor were its occupants much thrown about. The carriage holding the wheels, torn loose in front when the wheels scraped the upper edge of the Coliseum’s tiers of seats, was still firmly fastened at the rear. Thus, the wheels hung slantwise. Had Frank, ignorant of what had occurred, attempted the usual landing, the results would have been disastrous. But by pancaking and dropping, the wheels were pushed up against the bottom of the plane and held firmly in place, instead of being torn entirely from the fastenings.
The result was that the plane, although racketted about a bit, suffered no more than in a bumpy landing, and came to rest without burying nose or wings in the sand as had been feared would be the case.
All climbed stiffly out, and the next minute Frank and Bob were hugging each other like a couple of kids, and thumping each other on the back with terrific whacks. In the meantime, Roy Stone and Amrath stood aside, and it was not until Frank and he had pummelled each other to their mutual satisfaction that Bob turned to the aviator.
“Haven’t had much chance for personal conversation with you up there in the plane, Stone,” he said, as he wrung the other’s hand. “But I want to tell you—Oh, shucks, what’s the use? I can’t sling language much. Only, I will say I never got more benefit out of a fight in my life than out of that one with you in the cave back in Old Mexico.”
Roy Stone grinned through the sun-wrinkles about his eyes. He knew Bob’s reference was to the affray between the two parties in the lonely mountains of Old Sonora, when the boys were striving to rescue Mr. Hampton from the hands of the Mexican rebels. At that time, as recorded in “The Radio Boys on the Mexican Border,” Stone had been in the rebel forces. But later he changed his allegiance, and warm, indeed, had been the friendship between him and the boys, particularly between him and Bob, who had been his own individual opponent in the fight in the cave.
“You like fighting so much,” said Stone, “that it’s a wonder you consented to let us take you away from the Coliseum back there in Athensi.”
Bob shook his head and threw up his hands.
“A fellow can get too much of any good thing,” he said. “Well, let’s snap into it and go back to this place where our friends are fighting. Maybe we can help a little. But first I’m going to leave this hardware here.”
Whereupon he stripped off the various pieces of heavy armor and tossed them into the pit of the airplane, standing revealed in nothing but a G string—a superb figure who caused Amrath, for one, to draw in a breath of admiration.