“Perfectly corkin’!” exclaimed Cranny.
“I reckon as how we might give a couple o’ good old cowboy yells, fellers,” said Jed. “Sounds carry an awful long way in the mountains.”
The crowd halloed again and again, but there was not even an echo to answer their calls. They looked eagerly about in every direction.
But in all that vast landscape of valley and mountain, timbered slopes and areas of barren rock, there was nothing to reward their search.
“Now what’s to be done?” asked Tom, in anxious tones.
“Keep a-goin’, youngster,” answered Pete, gruffly. “I ain’t s’prised. Many a time I told ye it weren’t nateral ter fly; an’ now I s’picion ye’re beginnin’ to think so yerselves.”
CHAPTER XIX
THE EAGLE
With a strong wind at its back, the “Ogden II” rose gracefully in the air. Bob Somers realized that the utmost skill and care would be required, and was satisfied to keep at a comparatively low altitude. Gradually, however, he increased the power, until they were racing along at dizzy speed.
Far ahead the “Border City” appeared as a mere speck, but the aviator felt that if they were not obliged to descend the biplane would overtake the dirigible long before the mountains were reached.
“And by that time Major Carroll may have regained control,” he reflected.