The first thing he knew about it was when a terrific report came from directly under the aeroplane, and close to the face of the sandy stretch. Immediately on top of it came a shriek from Andy.
“Oh! it nearly fell on top of that Indian before it exploded, Frank! If only you could have seen him go head over heels; and now he’s running to beat the band! Talk to me about a scared rabbit, these noble red men are sure the limit. I really believe they think the Day of Judgment has come along ahead of time. If you keep it up much longer, Frank, I’m going to fall right out of my seat; I’m laughing so hard I just can’t sit still.”
“Then perhaps it’s about time we called a stop on the excitement, and let the poor fellows get away,” said Frank.
“No danger of them coming back again,” ventured Andy, as he threw his last big cannon cracker in the quarter where he had caught sight of another brave trying to dig a hole in the sand, as though wild to cover himself up, and thus avoid attracting the attention of the monster bird.
His aim was pretty fair, since Andy had been practicing this thing for quite some time now. The explosion took place on schedule time, too; and with about as tremendous a result as before; since it sent the terrorized warrior flying off as if he believed the Evil Spirit were in full pursuit.
Frank turned back.
The coast seemed clear of Indians now, even the wounded braves having found some way of hiding from sight. Perhaps they had in despair scooped hollows out of the burning sand, and were even now lying under a scanty covering of the same, trembling in mortal terror of discovery.
Neither of the Bird boys cared whether this were so or not. They had succeeded in accomplishing their main object; which of course had been to give the assailants of Jose a severe scare, so as to scatter them to the four winds. And now the next thing they wanted to do was to drop to the earth, and capture the man himself.
Accordingly Frank guided the biplane to where he thought best to make his landing. Then he proceeded to accomplish this ordinary feat with his accustomed ability.
As the sand was loose and liable to clog the wheels, he had to be additionally careful about landing. And Frank had already experimented in getting up again after dropping upon such a shifting bed, so that he knew just how it should be done.