“LAY THAT GUN DOWN OR I’LL THROW YOU OFF THIS MACHINE”
Page [78]
With all this confusion of “dynamite-exploder” (which was really only a harmless timer) and “stopping engines” and “falling through the air,” the mountaineer, seeing the earth rapidly swooping up at them, as Poodle made her glide over a hill, lost his steely nerve, and begged for mercy. Never had he met a boy of sixteen who played thus with life and death.
Smiling quietly, Hike slouched to the engine and switched her on, from the auxiliary connection.
As the machine resumed her regular course again, the man made several attempts to regain his nerve, but each time he moved Hike made as though to kick the timer, and the frightened leader subsided.
They had been sailing for half an hour, when Hike yelled forward to Poodle, “Take her down.”
The Hustle landed in a hill-pasture, and, with a very courtly gesture, Hike motioned the mountaineer to step out. With his revolver covering him all the time, Hike bade him good-by.
The man crawled out and ran, never looking back.
Watching him, Hike said, “Well, I’m ashamed of myself, now it’s over—taking that poor duffer fifty miles away from home just to get even. And making you take the levers, Poodle. Regular kid way, ain’t it—”