Latest / The Non-Stop Stowaway / Mid-Atlantic

Transcript

Mid-Atlantic · The Non-Stop Stowaway

• 0:00
  Chapter seven of The Non Stop Stowaway. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 0:06
  LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 0:12
  please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by voice over Leon The Non Stop Stowaway
• 0:18
  by Clayton Knight, mid Atlantic. Without a word, the skipper touched Jack
• 0:24
  on the arm. He looked up, and the skipper pointed to their trouble.
• 0:29
  As Jack took off his earphones, he mechanically sent out stand by.
• 0:34
  Both Jack and the skipper turned over in their minds plans for remedying this trouble.
• 0:41
  The skipper immediately turned off the flow of fuel that was being pumped into
• 0:46
  the right wing tank from the main tank. The fuel remaining in the wing
• 0:51
  tank continued to leak out, for it came through the pipeline into the carburetor
• 0:57
  by gravity. By adjusting his valves, the skipper drew on his supply in
• 1:03
  the left wing tank. They were in a desperate plight. Something must be
• 1:07
  done at once to stop this leak. Although they had tried to provide for
• 1:12
  every emergency, here was one which would tax their ingenuity to the utmost.
• 1:18
  They had a large roll of tape and a bottle of liquid similar to shellac
• 1:23
  in the equipment, but whether Jack could reach back far enough to tape the
• 1:27
  brake was doubtful. However, he opened the sliding window beside him and tried
• 1:33
  it for the first time in his life. He regretted his broad shoulders,
• 1:38
  for the small window gave him no room in which to work. Once the
• 1:42
  rush of the wind nearly tore the tape from his hands, he slipped back
• 1:47
  into his seat to rest for a moment after the twisting strain he had been
• 1:52
  under. Kiwi had been watching with absorbed interest while this maneuver was going on.
• 1:59
  He asked if he might try. The skipper said it was impossible,
• 2:04
  but Jack was on Kiwi's side and thought it might be accomplished with a little
• 2:08
  jockeying. They got Kiwi down to the window, and, with Jack holding
• 2:14
  firmly to his legs, he leaned far out and attempted to wrap the tape
• 2:19
  around the break. The rushing of the wind was more than he had counted
• 2:23
  on, and he felt it pull and claw at his clothes as he hung
• 2:27
  half out of the window. In this awkward position. It was almost impossible
• 2:31
  for him to do anything, and he motioned to Jack to haul him back
• 2:36
  into the cockpit. Then Kiwi put forth the suggestion which made both the skipper
• 2:42
  and Jack catch their breath. Would Jack help him through the window and lower
• 2:46
  him until his feet touched the struts which supported the wing, where he felt
• 2:53
  that he could brace himself and do the job. Kiwi saw a look of
• 2:57
  horror pass over Dad's face, but he was sure it could be done.
• 3:01
  Using all the arguments he could think of, he at last convinced Jack,
• 3:07
  and Dad grudgingly gave his consent for the try. Slipping out of his jacket
• 3:12
  so that Jack could get a firm hold on the leather belt at his waist,
• 3:16
  Kiwi started feet first through the window. Inch by inch, he wormed
• 3:22
  his way out, reaching with his feet for the strut where it joined the
• 3:27
  fuselage. The skipper banked the plane over to help Kiwi as much as he
• 3:31
  could. He saw the perspiration stand out on Jack's face and noticed its set
• 3:38
  expression as Kiwi's feet groped about for support. Another inch and he might reach
• 3:46
  it. The force of the wind was terrific. Kiwi, under this strain,
• 3:52
  was not conscious of the cold. Now he had to look down to
• 3:57
  find the strut. Just at this time they were passing over mountains of clouds.
• 4:02
  He caught a glimpse hundreds of feet below of a yawning cloud valley with
• 4:09
  the churning masses of gray fog in a whirling turmoil. Its awful immensity scared
• 4:15
  him for a second. Then he located the strut with his foot and tested
• 4:19
  its strength. As soon as Jack felt that Kiwi had some support, he
• 4:25
  lowered him until both his feet were pressed against the strut. Then Kiwi slowly
• 4:30
  faced around and found that he could just reach the pipeline. The orange side
• 4:35
  of the plain stretched out behind him, and he was vaguely conscious of the
• 4:41
  word dauntless in huge block letters. Keeping a grip on Kiwi's belt with one
• 4:46
  hand, Jack with his other hand passed out the roll of tape, and
• 4:50
  the slow work of winding it commenced inch by inch, Kiwi wound the fuel,
• 4:58
  freezing his fingers in the tree terrific cold. He had one layer completed,
• 5:02
  and Jack passed out the shellac. Somehow or other he got a coat
• 5:08
  of it over the tape. It dried almost instantly, and the difficult work
• 5:12
  of another layer was begun. Kiwi signaled to Jack that he must rest,
• 5:16
  and Jack eased him over to the side where he hung, shaking with weariness
• 5:23
  from his efforts. This skipper was undergoing untold tortures, for he could only
• 5:28
  guess at what was going on. Jack's body at the window shut off his
• 5:32
  view of Kiwi. He was doing everything in his power to hold the plane's
• 5:38
  steady, using every particle of his skill to keep the bumps from causing Kiwi
• 5:45
  to lose his footing. But in spite of all the skipper's efforts, one
• 5:48
  particularly vicious bump caused Kiwi to slip, and for just a second he wondered
• 5:55
  wildly if Jack could hold him from dropping off into that awesome space. His
• 6:01
  feet found the struts again and he rested slowly. Another layer was put on
• 6:08
  and the flow stopped to make sure. Another coat of shellac was put on,
• 6:13
  and another layer of tape. Just then a few drops of rain warned
• 6:17
  of another shower. At last, the job was finished, and only time
• 6:21
  could tell if it would hold. Then came the struggle to get the boy
• 6:27
  back into the plane. Slowly and painfully, he was drawn up to the
• 6:30
  level of the window with a final tug he was pulled inside, and Jack,
• 6:35
  with his last remaining strength, lifted Keyweed to the top of the tank.
• 6:41
  They were an exhausted crew for the next few minutes. There in the
• 6:45
  middle of the broad Atlantic. A great deal of altitude had been lost,
• 6:49
  and they were now in the midst of churning clouds. It was quite probable
• 6:54
  that the skipper, in trying to make things as easy as possible for Jack
• 6:59
  and Keyweed during their terrific ordeal, had gone considerably off the course. In
• 7:04
  tipping the plane over sideways. He had flown in big circles, and it
• 7:10
  was necessary that they lose no time in resuming their straight flight. The skipper
• 7:15
  at once began to climb above the clouds. The plane was still soaked from
• 7:20
  the rain squalls they had passed through. Not long after, they came out
• 7:27
  into the bright sunshine, and there, directly ahead of them, like a
• 7:31
  promise for their success, was a tremendous rainbow. It reassured their worn spirits,
• 7:40
  and the skipper pointed it out to Kiwi with the comforting words, there's
• 7:45
  your pay for a good job done. It was unlike rainbows seen on the
• 7:49
  ground, for the delicate colors made a complete circle. Kiwi looked down and
• 7:56
  there on the uneven surface of a cloud was the distinct shadow of their plane
• 8:01
  moving toward the rainbow. Then the plane seemed to pass completely through it.
• 8:07
  Surely a good omen for the success of their flight, The skipper felt that
• 8:13
  there could be no better time than this for a little food. They finally
• 8:18
  located a package of sandwiches, and he and Jack refreshed themselves from the thermos
• 8:22
  bottle. The coffee was still piping hot. Kiwi, after eating a sandwich,
• 8:28
  finished the other orange that Old Bill had given him. Their spirits rose
• 8:35
  tremendously. Jack put on his headphones and put out a call to find someone
• 8:41
  who would verify their position. The mail In Head station in Ireland got signals
• 8:48
  through to Jack much plainer than they had in earlier attempts. After some trying,
• 8:54
  Jack got the latitude and longitude of mail In had and their directional bearing,
• 9:01
  locating on the map the mail and Head station and drawing a line on
• 9:07
  the map on the bearing the station had given him meant that a similar bearing
• 9:13
  from a different angle would locate the plane's position over the Atlantic. He now
• 9:18
  needed to check up from another station, the Aquitania twelve hours out of Cherbourg
• 9:24
  sent its position and from its directional radio the bearing. It was then the
• 9:31
  work of but a moment to make the necessary calculations, and Jack placed his
• 9:37
  pencil point down upon the chart and said, well, that's where we are
• 9:41
  now. About half of their water crossing had been accomplished. Still, Kiwi
• 9:46
  had no view of the ocean under them. In the hours since they had
• 9:50
  left the coast of Newfoundland, they had always been in the clouds or had
• 9:54
  had a heavy layer beneath them. They were flying at a eight thousand feet
• 10:01
  and ahead of them now was a huge wall of clouds that seemed to extend
• 10:05
  upward fully eighteen thousand feet. The light shone on them, lighting up the
• 10:11
  peaks and valleys of the cloud mountains. They approached the clouds rapidly, and
• 10:18
  once in them, the plane was plunged into a heavy twilight. The air
• 10:22
  bumps here were terrific, tossing them about, and the skip was obliged to
• 10:28
  keep his eye constantly on the bank and climb indicator in order to keep the
• 10:33
  plane on anything resembling an even keel. As they had entered the clouds,
• 10:39
  the wind had been nearly dead astern and here, in the murky darkness,
• 10:43
  they were compelled to trust solely to their instruments for navigation. The wind caught
• 10:48
  them up in fierce eddies, and swirls of gray clouds sucked up past them.
• 10:54
  Flashes of lightning darted here and there. The planes seemed to have no
• 11:01
  more stability than a kite. Kiwi's heart leaped as one tremendous bolt of lightning
• 11:07
  flashed before his eyes. Just ahead, he felt the entire plane quiver under
• 11:13
  the impact of the blows struck by the wind. They had become accustomed to
• 11:16
  the roar of the motor, and now it seemed as though they could hear
• 11:20
  the noise of the storm. As the wind howled by, they could feel
• 11:26
  the air growing colder and colder. Kiwi watched the magnetic compass set up high
• 11:31
  above the instrument panel, swing first one way and then the other with the
• 11:35
  twisting and turning of the plane as it was buffeted by the winds. Jack
• 11:41
  had stopped all attempts to use his wireless and had his spare control stick in
• 11:46
  place, ready to help the skipper should he tire from his tremendous exertions.
• 11:52
  Both their faces showed the strain of flying through the storm. As the cold
• 11:58
  increased, sleep began to beat against the windows, and Jack glanced out uneasily
• 12:05
  to catch the first indication of ice forming on their wings. He realized the
• 12:09
  seriousness of such a happening. The upper and lower surface of the wing was
• 12:15
  campered or curve in a scientific way to help lift the load of the plane,
• 12:20
  and anything that changed this curve would destroy its lifting power. Therefore,
• 12:26
  at the first sign of ice forming on the wings, they must begin a
• 12:30
  hunt for warmer air currents. Ice often formed with great rapidity, and knowing
• 12:35
  this, both the skipper and Jack watched closely for the first telltale sign.
• 12:41
  The engine was throttled back about a quarter to the best cruising speed. There
• 12:46
  seemed to be no end to the storm. It had been nearly half an
• 12:50
  hour since they had left the clear sunshine and entered into this ominous twilight.
• 12:56
  They had held their altitude, knowing that it was no use to try to
• 13:01
  climb above the clouds, and having no assurance that it would be better lower
• 13:05
  down. Every little while, rain would suddenly fall and as suddenly stop All
• 13:13
  at once. They were conscious of a thin film of the dreaded ice forming
• 13:18
  over the cockpit windows. Jack slipped back the glass panel and looked out.
• 13:22
  There on the leading edge of the wing was the unmistakable sign that ice was
• 13:28
  starting to form in uneven lumps. It was building slowly backwards. Jack told
• 13:35
  the skipper the disc quieting news and shouted to Kiwi to slide back to his
• 13:39
  window in the rear compartment to see if the trailing edge of the wing was
• 13:45
  also gathering ice. Kiwi's window was not as badly obscured as were those in
• 13:50
  front. He could see a thin layer of ice on the trailing edge working
• 13:56
  forward with great rapidity, and he crept over the to report this to Dad.
• 14:01
  We'll try it lower. Dad said, we may strike some warm air
• 14:05
  down there, shutting off the engine as much as he dared, They coasted
• 14:11
  on, down and down. They tried it at the five thousand foot level
• 14:16
  for a few minutes. If anything, they accumulated ice faster. They went
• 14:20
  down another thousand feet. The plane seemed to be much heavier on the controls.
• 14:26
  Still no halt in the gathering of the ice. This situation was becoming
• 14:31
  desperate, and the skipper told Jack to try and get into communication with some
• 14:37
  ship. If the ice kept on forming, it would mean that they would
• 14:41
  have to land on the water in another fifteen or twenty minutes. In order
• 14:46
  to fly level, it was necessary to run their engine almost at its maximum.
• 14:52
  They brought the plane lower down, and still they could see nothing but
• 14:56
  swirling clouds. Jack was sending out the call letter with the SOS to show
• 15:03
  that they were in trouble. He got a feeble answer, and worked with
• 15:07
  his instruments, trying to bring it nearer and clearer. Still, the hateful
• 15:13
  ice piled onto them, extending back from the leading edge of the wing.
• 15:18
  It was now fully an inch thick. It was freezing in the narrow slots
• 15:24
  of their ailerons. The skipper was finding it increasingly difficult to balance the plane's
• 15:31
  sideways. He came down to one thousand feet, straining his eyes for a
• 15:35
  glimpse of the ocean underneath. All was gray and murky. Jack was working
• 15:41
  feverishly with his sending key and listening for an answer to his calls. Two
• 15:46
  ships, in their eagerness to help, were interfering with the reception of either
• 15:50
  message. The engine was now wide open, and they were staggering along under
• 15:56
  the load of ice. They could not see the tail of the plane,
• 16:00
  but knew from the way the elevator operated that it too was covered with ice.
• 16:06
  Slowly they were losing altitude. Jack was getting one of the calls a
• 16:10
  little better. The ship was sending her position and asking for theirs. The
• 16:15
  skipper, now thoroughly alarmed and feeling that they were to be forced into the
• 16:22
  water, called to Kiwi to get their collapsible boat and put it where it
• 16:26
  could be reached. In an instant, it was stored in the rear.
• 16:30
  Kiwi made his way back, unlashed it from where it hung, and started
• 16:34
  forward. As he crept to the front, he saw Jack every nerve tense,
• 16:40
  trying to make out the code, and Dads straining his eyes to catch
• 16:45
  the first glimpse of the heaving water. Nothing but the deep grayish blue everywhere.
• 16:51
  Suddenly, out of the gloom ahead they made out a white shape rising
• 16:56
  straight up one hundred feet above them. It looked pale and ghostly. There
• 17:03
  was no time to figure out what it might be. The skipper instinctively yanked
• 17:07
  the stick back. The plane staggered up, making a valiant effort to obey
• 17:12
  the demands of its pilot. Jack glanced up from his instruments just in time
• 17:18
  to see this white specter approaching with terrific speed. He turned a look of
• 17:23
  amazement and horror upon the skipper. The plane climbed ever so sluggishly, but
• 17:29
  as the shape came rushing at them, they saw that it would be cleared,
• 17:33
  if only by a matter of inches. It's an iceberg, exclaimed Jack.
• 17:38
  The skipper pushed the stick forward and leveled out, just as their flying
• 17:42
  speed was dropping to an alarming extent. He was hardly quick enough for one
• 17:48
  wing dropped, and they started into a flat spin at once. The skipper
• 17:55
  put the nose down until they had flying speed. They rushed along, realizing
• 18:00
  that there might be more bergs in the neighborhood. Both watched ahead with a
• 18:04
  fascinated gaze. They saw two more, one to their right, so close
• 18:10
  that their throats tightened with the fear of it. Strangely enough, the air
• 18:14
  here seemed a little warmer. The plane was handling better, and they began
• 18:18
  to hope that the ice was not gaining on them. Twenty minutes went by,
• 18:23
  and they began to feel a little easier. Now there was no doubt
• 18:29
  but that they had hit a warm air current, and the ice was melting.
• 18:33
  The skipper was able to throttle back the engine and still keep an altitude
• 18:37
  of about one hundred feet above the ocean. They were close enough now to
• 18:41
  see the mighty heave of its waters, the blue black of its surface broken
• 18:47
  here and there by white foam as the waves broke. Another hour, they
• 18:52
  hurtled along the air, getting clear, when suddenly Keywi noticed away to their
• 18:59
  right a big ship plunging along. The red of her funnels and the white
• 19:03
  of her decks contrasted sharply with the dullness of the background. He pointed it
• 19:11
  out to the two men in front, and the skipper bore over them.
• 19:15
  Send them a message, Jack, that will keep going, he said.
• 19:21
  Jack started with his key, sent out his call letter, and waited for
• 19:26
  its acknowledgment. The answer came very faint. Your signals weak. Can hardly
• 19:32
  hear you. He tried again. The answer was just audible. Can't hear
• 19:37
  you? Are you sending? By this time they were very close to the
• 19:42
  ship, and Jack shouted to the skipper something wrong with the wireless. They
• 19:48
  can't hear it. During the next few seconds it took to come abreast the
• 19:52
  ship, it flashed through the skipper's mind that at the time of their narrow
• 19:56
  escape from the iceberg, it was quite possible that their wireless aerial trailing underneath
• 20:03
  had been torn off. He barked out to Jack, try sending the message
• 20:07
  with your flashlight. Among the numberless things that had been stowed away aboard the
• 20:11
  plane, Jack had provided himself with a powerful flashlight to use in such an
• 20:17
  emergency. As they swooped low over the ship, they could see the rails
• 20:22
  lined with passengers staring up at them. Jack opened his window and, thrusting
• 20:26
  the flashlight over the side, started blinking the message. As the skipper tilted
• 20:33
  the plane over and began a wide circle around the liner. Kiwi was craning
• 20:38
  his neck over Jack's shoulder and saw a light sending out flashes from the bridge.
• 20:45
  Profiting by Jack's training, he was able to read the ship's message.
• 20:48
  It said, your flashes too weak, can't read them. Informed of this,
• 20:55
  the skipper decided that they would have to write a note and try to
• 20:59
  draw it on the decks. Jack hastily wrote out the message trouble over.
• 21:04
  We're going on your position. Please looking for something with which to wait it
• 21:11
  His eye lighted on one of the bottles of water, and with a rubber
• 21:15
  band that he had been using to keep his writing pad in position, he
• 21:18
  fastened the note to the bottle and signaled the skipper to fly into position to
• 21:23
  drop it. The skipper swung in a wide circle, and approaching the ship
• 21:29
  from the stern as slowly as he could, he yelled to Jack, heave
• 21:33
  it out when you're ready. As they flew directly over the ship, they
• 21:37
  felt a great air bump as they crossed the smokestacks and were struck by the
• 21:41
  heated column of air. As they passed the bow of the boat, Jack
• 21:45
  leaned far out and threw the bottle downward. Kiwi felt the plane lurch as
• 21:51
  Dad turned it quickly to watch the bottles descent. It went hurtling down and
• 21:56
  for a second it seemed as though it would strike the bridge. Then the
• 22:00
  wind caught it. It struck one of the lifeboats and bounded off into the
• 22:04
  water. It was disheartening, but they must try again. Jack wrote a
• 22:10
  repetition of the message and then was at a loss to know what he could
• 22:14
  use to wait it with. There was just one more bottle of water,
• 22:18
  and it was too precious to use for this purpose. Both Jack and the
• 22:22
  skipper thought fast. Then the skipper said here, and reaching into his inside
• 22:29
  pocket beneath his flying suit, he pulled out a cigarette case. It was
• 22:33
  a silver case heavily engraved, that the men of his squadron had presented to
• 22:40
  him at Christmas nineteen eighteen, after the war had ended. Jack made a
• 22:44
  sign that it was a shame to risk it, but the skipper shrugged his
• 22:48
  shoulders, and Jack hastily added to the message. Returned this case to Captain
• 22:53
  McBride later. He slipped the message inside the case and clicked it shut.
• 23:00
  The skipper jockeyed into position for another try. This time he came down even
• 23:06
  lower and kept to the leeward side of the ship, rushing along nearly on
• 23:11
  a level with the top decks. They had passed the ship before Jack had
• 23:15
  time to hurl his message again. The skipper swung the plane around, and
• 23:19
  this time as he drew alongside, Jack leaned out and threw the case with
• 23:25
  all his might. It went spinning toward the ship, sailed over the rail,
• 23:30
  struck a hatchway, and was pounced upon by one of the stokers on
• 23:34
  the forward deck. The crowd on board waved frantically to the plane above.
• 23:40
  The Dauntless swung in a wide circle, and came back over the ship for
• 23:45
  the last time. A puff of steam from the whistle and a flashing light
• 23:49
  on the bridge showed that those on board had read the plane's message were sending
• 23:56
  them the ship's position and a goodbye, straightening out on their course. After
• 24:00
  Jack had read the ship's answer, they flew on at top speed and soon
• 24:06
  left the ship far behind. Kiwi scrambled back to his little window and,
• 24:11
  with his face pressed against the pane, saw the liner melt into the haze.
• 24:17
  A great feeling of loneliness came over him as he saw it disappear from
• 24:22
  view. The fleeting glimpse he had had of other human beings had served to
• 24:27
  bring home to him their utter detachment from the world. He commenced to realize
• 24:33
  how long they had been on their way, and thinking back over their trials
• 24:37
  and adventures, he suddenly felt very weary. He longed for sleep, but
• 24:44
  Dad called out how about some lunch. Kiwi Kiwi unwrapped his own sandwiches,
• 24:49
  and, climbing up on the tank, offered them to Dad and Jack,
• 24:52
  but found that they were already busy with some of their own. The food
• 24:57
  and coffee seemed to check fear up the two men, and the engine hummed
• 25:03
  merrily along, carrying them on their way. Sitting crouched on the top of
• 25:07
  the tank, Kiwi's head nodded several times. Feeling himself slipping off into slumber.
• 25:14
  He stretched out above the noise of the engine. He could hear Dad
• 25:18
  singing with great gusto, an old Negro spiritual that he was very fond of.
• 25:23
  I'm going to tell God all my troubles when I get home. I'm
• 25:29
  going to tell God all of my troubles. When I get home. I'm
• 25:33
  going to tell him the road was rocky. When I get home. I'm
• 25:37
  going to tell him the road was rocky. When I get home. I'm
• 25:42
  going to tell him I had hard trials. When I get home. I'm
• 25:48
  going to tell him I had hard trials when I get home. Kei.
• 25:53
  We must have slept for a couple of hours. He awoke with the feeling
• 25:59
  that something was almost Instantly he discovered that the steady beat of the engine had
• 26:04
  changed. It was missing and spluttering, and the plane was vibrating in a
• 26:11
  terrifying way. Jack was working with his wireless instrument ke We saw him shake
• 26:17
  his head and complain, nothing I can do will bring those signals loud enough
• 26:22
  to be of any use. He gave it up, and the skipper asked
• 26:26
  him to check up the amount of fuel they had left in their tanks.
• 26:30
  Yes, there was plenty of fuel for the skipper noded his head. They
• 26:34
  were above the clouds as far as the eye could see. They were stretched
• 26:40
  out in a rolling plane, looking for all the world like drifted snow.
• 26:45
  They looked solid enough to land upon. If their engine failed to pick up
• 26:49
  within the next few minutes, they would lose altitude until there was nothing left
• 26:55
  to do but crash, and their flight would end in disaster. End of
• 27:00
  Chapter seven.