“Take it easy,” he warned Hunter as he unfolded his long legs and eased them over the side of the cockpit. The air was cold and clinging to a swaying rope one thousand feet above the ground while traveling ninety miles an hour was no picnic. Little by little Tim slid down the swaying rope.
Ralph watched the controls of his plane like a hawk, creeping nearer and nearer to Tim.
The gap between Tim and the upper wing of the mail plane lessened—almost vanished. Then the flying reporter let go and sprawled on the wing, his hands clutching the forward wing.
The drop had knocked the breath from his body and he gasped painfully. After a short rest he felt his strength returning and started edging toward the center of the ship. Ralph held the plane steady and Tim made good progress. In less than five minutes he was in the mail cockpit with Mitchell.
In a few words the injured pilot told Tim what had happened, of his own crash and attempt to get out of the timber with the registered mail, how Ralph had found him and later fought off the wolves and how they had smashed a wheel in getting clear of the trees surrounding the valley.
Tim told Mitchell that he had found Lewis, the other missing pilot, and brought him safely to Atkinson. That done, Tim took the wheel and slide out of the cockpit and down on to the landing gear.
The axle was only slightly bent and was still strong enough to stand the strain of landing in the snow. Tim worked hard to get the lock nut off the smashed wheel for it had jammed. He finally worked it loose and then dropped the damaged wheel on to the flying field far below.
The new wheel slid into place and he managed to get the lock nut on. The wheel wobbled a little but it would permit Ralph to land in safety.
Tim clambered back into the mail cockpit and motioned for Ralph to land. The pilot brought the mail ship down to an easy landing and taxied up to the row of hangars where they were met by the impatient managing editor.
A photographer was waiting and he snapped half a dozen pictures as Ralph and Tim helped Mitchell from the plane.