Sickeningly the airplane tilted. Al, Bob and Curt, not strapped fast, tumbled sidewise, and the unstable craft tipped down.
Abruptly, realizing the slip and the danger, although they were quite high, Lang “kicked rudder” sharply.
To his dismay, there came a dull, snapping thump and one end of the rudder bar worked free.
The cable had either come loose or had snapped!
And, with its unstrapped occupants in a huddle, on the side which was lowermost, the lower wingtip turned straight downward, the other pointed toward the sky, the windowed sides were in the position of floor and ceiling—and the airplane began to fall!
“Three thousand feet,” Lang’s eyes consulted the altimeter. “Three——”
Momentarily he lost his “nerve” and faltered.
Bob, on the instant, acted!
CHAPTER VII
IN THE FALLING ’PLANE
In an emergency, thoughts leap through some minds quicker than lightning crosses the sky.