By that neglect, both drew back on the stick at the identical instant, and the nose came up much too sharply.
Larry, not aware that Jeff meant to handle the job, almost pulled the stick away from Jeff in his anxiety to get the nose down again, and Dick, in the last seat, thought he felt a sort of thud.
“Hands off! I’ll take over!” Jeff said tardily.
He drew back on the stick for, with the throttle rather wide—because Larry had feared a stall as the nose went up and had thrust the throttle control sharply forward—the craft began to go down in a very steep glide, not quite a dive, but with engine on full gun, sending it in a sharp angle toward earth.
Naturally, when he pulled back on the stick and it did not yield, Jeff shouted through the speaking tube, “Let go!” for he thought Larry had lost his head and was fighting his control.
Larry was not doing anything. He had removed his hand from the stick, his feet merely touched the rudder bar.
Jeff called out something.
They did not realize his words, but Sandy saw his expression.
Almost as though he had been able to hear, Sandy knew Jeff’s idea.
“The jinx has got us.”