“The good Lord who sent you here bless you!” exclaimed the rugged old fisherman, affected almost to tears. “I never thought when I seen you away up thar in ther sky that you’d bother to notice the poor Star of Gloucester; but you did. You come down from the clouds like so many angels.”
“Funny-looking angels,” remarked Frank to Harry, in an undertone. But Captain Zebedee’s gratitude was so heartfelt and earnest that neither of the boys could find it in them to smile at his odd phrases.
Captain Zebedee summoned some of his crew from the deck and as tenderly as possible the injured man was conveyed from the cabin. This done, he was lowered into the Sea Eagle and laid on a pile of blankets already prepared for his reception.
“Better make for Bayhaven,” counseled Captain Zebedee; “there’s a good hospital there, and it lies right on the coast about in a straight line from here.”
Dr. Perkins nodded, and then, having seen that the injured man was in a position to endure the ride comfortably, the flight to the shore was begun; but not till a substantial amount of provisions and some fresh water had been supplied to the fishing smack. As the Sea Eagle took to the air the Star of Gloucester was set before the wind, and staggered off on her slow course once more. The last the boys saw of the clumsy fisherman, the stout figure of Captain Zebedee was leaning on the stern bulwarks waving to them as they winged shoreward.
The coast was a rocky one, with gaunt cliffs and few habitations. But as they reached it and flew low above a small house on the summit of the cliffs, they spied a man at work in a small garden. Of him Frank inquired the way to Bayhaven. The man was too much astonished to answer at first, and stood looking stupidly up at the winged monster above him.
But finally he collected his wits and pointed to the south. The Sea Eagle was thereupon headed round, and, not long after, her passengers came in sight of a tiny town huddled in a cove almost at the water’s edge. Heading out seaward once more, Dr. Perkins dropped to the water in the harbor, and then at reduced speed ran the Sea Eagle up to the long wharf which jutted out at the foot of the little city’s main street.
By the time they arrived alongside of the jetty half the population of the town was on hand to greet them. Their approach through the air had been seen when they were still some distance off, and as the Sea Eagle was the first air ship ever seen in Bayhaven it may be imagined what a sensation Dr. Perkins’ craft created.
But all eager questioners were waved aside while Dr. Perkins and his young friends called for volunteers to help lift the injured man out of the Sea Eagle. A dozen willing hands responded, and before long the mate of the Star of Gloucester was on his way to the hospital in a wagon which had been hastily converted into an ambulance. It may be said here that, thanks to the prompt manner in which aid had been secured for him, the man recovered after a long illness, and was able to resume his work on Captain Zebedee’s ship, where he never tires of telling of how he was saved by an aërial ambulance.
Dr. Perkins accompanied his patient to the hospital, where he saw him comfortably settled. In the meantime Frank and Harry had been left on guard with the Sea Eagle, for the crowd had grown so large, and so curious, that it would not have been wise to have left the ship to the mercies of the inquisitive. The boys answered a perfect hailstorm of questions as good-naturedly as possible, but once or twice they had to use physical means to keep the younger element of the population of Bayhaven off the decks.