When that had been completed he took the cable and tied one end securely around a huge boulder directly back of the tail assembly of the Lark. The other end he passed along the fuselage and lashed around the nose of the ship.
“Simple, isn’t it?” asked Tim when he had made sure that the ends of the cable had been properly secured.
“Simple, yes,” agreed Ralph. “But what does it spell?”
“C-a-t-a-p-u-l-t,” said Tim. “C-a-t-a-p-u-l-t.”
“I heard you the first time, but that doesn’t look like a catapult to me.”
“Well, it is,” insisted Tim. “And if you’ll stop asking questions and help me boost Perkins into your cockpit, we’ll get out of here. It’s getting late now and will be dark by the time we get to Atkinson.”
Together they managed to get the inert form of Perkins into the forward cockpit and made him as comfortable as possible. Tim primed the starter and the motor caught on the first turn over.
Ralph was looking skeptically at Tim’s make-shift catapult.
“When I give her full throttle you slash the rope with the axe,” explained Tim. “I’ll admit that isn’t much of a catapult but it will give us a lot of added momentum when you use the axe.” Ralph, only half convinced, hopped into his cockpit and leaned over the side, axe in hand.
Tim tested the sturdy motor thoroughly. If it failed him when he started on his mad takeoff, they would plunge 1,000 feet down the side of the mountain to be impaled on the tall pines far below.