A cry of astonishment and rage burst from the bandits, who had not expected this. It was rapidly getting light. Tom was in charge of the controls and, waiting only until the craft had acquired sufficient momentum, he pulled on the elevating rudder handle.
“There’s Kilborn!” shouted Ned, as he caught sight of the rascal who had come out to see how his plot worked. He was yelling something, though what it was could not be heard, and he seemed to be urging the bandits to rush up and grab the airship before it could get fully off the earth.
But now the motors were warming up. The nose of the craft lifted. In desperation Kilborn yelled and waved his hands wildly. One of the bandits, directly in the path of the plane, made a jump and grabbed a rope that had, inadvertently, been left dangling. He caught it and was lifted up in the air.
“We’re taking him with us!” cried Ned, leaning out of the window to observe.
“That’s his lookout!” said Tom coolly.
But the Chinese bandit had no relish for being taken from his home in this strange fashion. With a yell, he let go the rope when he was ten feet up, and down he fell.
“Wow!” yelled Ned, with a laugh of delight. “He got his all right!”
“Who?” asked Tom, who was guiding the plane up higher and higher, out of danger.
“Kilborn,” was the answer. “That bandit fell squarely on top of him, and they both went down in a mud puddle! Oh, baby!” and Ned chuckled in delight while grins of satisfaction spread over the faces of the others.
Tom looked down in time to see the discomfited pilot of the Red Arrow picking himself up from beneath the bandit, his clothes dripping mud and water, and then the Air Monarch shot on her way.