At this moment all were startled by a most remarkable noise. It was a heavy whirring sound and came from overhead. Instinctively they all looked up and beheld in the moonlight a very strange object. But, strange though it was, every one of the boys recognized its nature almost immediately.
“It’s an airship,” cried one.
“An aeroplane,” shouted another.
“He’s volplaning,” exclaimed Dr. Byrd in startled tones. “I wonder what he means. He can’t be going to land here.”
“He seems to be in trouble,” said Mr. Frankland. “Yes, he’s coming down.”
“Look out, everybody!” shouted Dr. Byrd. “No telling where he’ll land.”
There was no need of a second warning. Evidently the aviator was losing control of his machine. It acted as if one wing had been clipped. Suddenly, within fifty feet of the ground, the aeroplane plunged and fell with a crash and a thud less than a hundred feet from the camp fire.
CHAPTER IV
THE WRECK AND THE AVIATOR
For some moments all was commotion. The appearance of the aeroplane in that out-of-the-way place and at such a time had been so unexpected as to create no little confusion, but when it plunged to earth almost in the very midst of the camping Scouts, there was general panic, accompanied by a few screams of fright.
Every boy, as well as the doctor and the two instructors, ran for cover as the warning was sounded, but few of them found a satisfactory place before the aeroplane struck. Luckily nobody was hit, and soon they gathered around the wreck in true Boy Scout readiness to help the injured.