The Air Patrol: A Story of the North-west Frontier

by Herbert Strang

"If you don't skip, Babu," said Bob, "you'll be caught by our wings, and either be carried up to the heavens or dashed over the edge into the river."

Ditta Lal instantly picked up his skirts and fled, not halting until he reached a safe distance. There he watched the ascent of the aeroplane until it disappeared round a bend in the gorge. Then he returned to the compound, following Chunda Beg, to whose back he discoursed on the velocity of the wind, the native iniquity of the Kalmuck race, and the various tortures to which Nurla Bai might conscientiously be put when he was captured.

Bob steered the machine along the middle of the valley, keeping low in order to avoid the wind. On either side rose the lofty mountain barrier, here overhanging the river, there receding; at some spots an almost perpendicular wall, at others broken into peaks and parapets, with deep hollows in which a scanty vegetation struggled for existence on a thin soil. Now the valley narrowed so that there seemed barely space for the aeroplane to pass: now it widened into a series of rocky terraces, seamed by fissures in every direction. The track on the right bank followed the winding course of the river for many miles, then dipped to a ford and reappeared on the left. Some miles farther on it recrossed the river by a crazy bridge of rope, and continued along the right bank past the foothills and out into an extensive plateau.

Bob as usual acted as pilot. By flying pretty close upon the river he not only avoided danger from gusts, but enabled his companions to keep a sharp observation upon the ground. Here and there, where this wound behind the rocks between the bank and the hillside, he left the river, planed a little higher, and steered a course exactly over the track. The recent invention of planes which could be lengthened or shortened at will rendered it possible to travel at more varied speed than had formerly been the case, and when he was several miles from the mine he reduced speed to the minimum. Even then, however, the aeroplane moved so swiftly that there was some danger of the watchers passing their quarry without perceiving them. This was not likely where the track was closely hemmed in between river and hillside. The risk was greatest where the latter receded from the course of the stream, leaving large areas of rough country, sometimes covered with bush, in which the fugitives could without much difficulty hide out of sight of any one not passing immediately above them.

The ford at which the track crossed the river was about twenty miles from the mine. Coming to that point without having seen the fugitives, Bob followed the track along the left bank. Here the open spaces became more frequent, and it would have been impossible to examine the ground thoroughly without circling. For the present Bob hesitated to do this, feeling that it was more important to keep to the track for so long a distance as the fugitives might have covered had they started at the earliest likely moment, twelve hours before. Another twelve miles brought him to the rope bridge, where he again crossed the river, and so continued until, ten miles farther, the foothills were reached, and the country began to open out.

It was obvious to all three occupants of the aeroplane that the only means of thoroughly searching the comparatively open country at which they had now arrived was to rise to a greater height and sail about in widening circles. Bob therefore adjusted his elevator; and as the machine swept round, the other two peered over on opposite sides, using their glasses to scan the ground beneath. The fugitives being presumably mounted on the stolen ponies could hardly be otherwise than conspicuous; and when, after more than half an hour's careful observation, nothing had been seen of them, the pursuers came to the conclusion that the men could not yet have quitted the valley. This was a very reasonable inference, considering that they had covered in less than an hour a distance of nearly fifty miles, which the fugitives, even on horseback, must take many hours to traverse. The natural conclusion was that the horsemen, warned by the whirring of the propeller, if not by the actual sight of the aeroplane, had taken shelter in one of the more rugged or more thickly wooded places until the pursuers had passed. There was nothing for it but to turn back and hunt up the valley again.

The aeroplane was crossing the plateau obliquely towards the opening of the gorge when Lawrence suddenly caught sight of a number of round objects resembling bee-hives, clustered in a secluded dell. He pointed them out to Mr. Appleton, who examined them through his glass.

"They are akois," he said: "the portable huts used by the nomad tribes in these parts, made of a circular wooden framework covered with felt. But I've never before seen so many in a group."

As they looked, the intervals between the akois became filled with a dense crowd of men, who stood gazing up in astonishment at the strange machine flying high above their heads. The airmen had no particular interest in wheeling about to make a careful inspection of the camp, for it was inconceivable that Nurla and his man had come so far and joined their compatriots, if such these people were. They had soon left it far behind, and descending gradually as they neared the gorge, they re-entered this at an altitude of not more than a hundred feet above the river to renew their search.

Bob found it by no means easy to follow a course that would enable his passengers to obtain a clear view of the more rugged portions of the valley. Here and there, at the wider parts, he was able to wheel round and cover wide areas; but in the narrow stretches he was forced to fly straight ahead without the possibility of turning, unless he should rise to a great height. This would involve a loss of time which could be ill afforded. Once or twice, in attempting to circle, he almost shaved the rocky sides; and deciding that such attempts were too dangerous, he concluded that he had better leave certain parts imperfectly explored rather than risk injury to the aeroplane. He compromised matters by steering a serpentine course, thus covering as much as possible of the ground on both sides of the river.