Sparky Ames of the Ferry Command Page 5

  CHAPTER IV

  THE BIG HOP

  Shaking herself free from these disturbing thoughts, Mary checked theNo. 1 card Sparky handed her and said, “It’s okay,” then watched himcheck his gas.

  Working together like the well-trained team that they were, they threwon a switch here to release it, then snapped on another there, only toreach for one more switch. Mary nodded to the mechanic waiting outside.He nodded back, then held up a fire bottle. One engine coughed, thenthe other. Mary reached for two small levers, Sparky eased the throttleback to one thousand, then nodded to the mechanic. The mechanic removedthe chocks from before their wheels. Sparky eased his plane slowly downthe runway. They picked up speed. Faster—faster—faster they sped andthen that magic word, “up,” and they were away.

  They were not off for Africa, not yet. Their way led along the coasttoward Natal, the jumping off place.

  Sometimes they were far out over the sea and then again the beauty oftropical forests lay beneath them. It was a glorious trip.

  Just at sunset a white spot appeared before them and Mary knew thatthis lap of their journey was nearing its end.

  “There are good American mechanics at Natal,” Sparky said. “They’llgive the old ship a real going over. We’ll get a few hours of good,sound sleep. And then—”

  “We’ll be off.” Mary thrilled to the tips of her toes. “Off for the OldWorld. We’re going abroad, Sparky! Just think! Really going abroad!”

  “It’s just another trip for me,” Sparky laughed low. “But if you get akick out of it, that’s just fine.”

  “Get a kick out of it!” she exclaimed. “Of course I will. If the timeever comes when I no longer get a kick out of things, I’ll be ready todie.”

  “Guess you’re right at that,” Sparky agreed. “But then, what’s a thrillto you may be just another headache for someone else. I, too, have mybig moments.”

  “Let me know when you have one?” she asked.

  “I might, at that,” he agreed.

  “There’s a good little hotel run just for American women at Natal,” hesaid. “Run by an old lady called Aunt Polly.”

  “Aunt Polly—sounds like a parrot,” Mary laughed.

  “She’s got one, too,” said Sparky. “She keeps a nice place. I’ll runover there soon’s we land.

  “Set your alarm, for I’ll be after you at two A.M. We’ll not sleepgoing over so don’t lie awake thinking. Hit the pillow fast and hard.That’s my motto.”

  “Fast and hard it shall be,” Mary agreed.

  At that they began circling for a landing.

  * * * * *

  At 2:15 that night they had breakfast sitting on stools in a littleall-night stand.

  “Lots of coffee and plenty of oatmeal with cream,” was Mary’s order.

  “And good, brown toast with well-done bacon,” Sparky added.

  “Nervous?” he asked as her fingers shook a bit.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s fine. I wouldn’t give a plugged nickel for a partner thatdidn’t have nerves. It’s part of our equipment. Keeps us on our toes.But you’re not scared?”

  “Just a little.”

  “Don’t be!” He grinned. “It’s only a step.”

  “Pretty long step.” She smiled back at him.

  “Eighteen hundred miles, plus, and water under us all the way. Whatcould be sweeter? And we’ll be flying out to meet the dawn.”

  “Oh, Sparky!” she exclaimed. “That does sound swell! I never did likenight. Just to think that we’re hurrying away to meet the sun that isjust popping along to meet us! That sure is something.”

  The food was excellent so she ordered a lunch “to go” and, producing agallon thermos bottle, ordered it filled with coffee.

  “That,” said Sparky, “will be frozen solid. We’re going to be flying upthere among the stars.”

  “Oh, no, it won’t,” she gave him a sly smile. “There are someadvantages in having a gal for a co-pilot. One of the advantages is ahot lunch half way across.”

  “Tasting is believing.” He was a skeptic.

  “Wait and see.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Ten minutes later they were at the airport and with their arrival aburden seemed to fall upon Mary’s slender shoulders. She had startedout light-heartedly enough to do, with her companion, Janet, what nowoman of the Ferry Command had ever done before, to ferry a big shiphalf way round the world. What was more, their ship was to carry alight cargo of vital war equipment. Now her companion was gone. Sparkyhad taken her place. They had started out forty planes strong. Now oneplane was out of action and thirty-eight were a full day ahead of them.

  “We’ll have to go it alone,” she said, speaking half to herself andhalf to Sparky.

  “That’s it,” Sparky agreed. “The Fates have arranged that.”

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  _“We’ll Have to Go It Alone,” Said Mary_]

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  “And our cargo is priceless. That’s what the Major said.”

  “Priceless,” he agreed. “It’s quite as important that it should arrivesafely as, well perhaps, as it is for all those big bombers ahead of usto go through.

  “But, Mary,” his voice changed, “don’t think of it that way. You’lltighten up if you do. That might prove fatal. You have to be relaxed,flexible, ready for anything. That’s how you have to be.”

  “I—I’ll try to forget that cargo,” she agreed.

  “Well,” he breathed, “here’s our ship all primed up and rarin’ to go.Come on. Let’s climb up.”

  Once again he handed her the “Form One” card. This time she studied itwith supreme care. It told her that the engines were in perfect order,that the tubes of carbon dioxide snow for fire prevention were full aswere their oxygen tubes, and that fuel and oil supply were at theirmaximum.

  When she had studied the card, she nodded to Sparky, and at once, hebegan thumbing the oil gage.

  “Do you always check your oil supply?” she asked.

  “Always,” was the emphatic reply, “regardless of the report on thecard, test your fuel. If you want to keep on living, you’ll always dothat. Men are human. An attendant may read your report, note that yourNo. 1 tank is short a hundred gallons, record that he is putting thatamount in, then discover that he has but fifty gallons to spare. Heforgets to record the change and—”

  “Right out over an endless forest your engine coughs and dies. Nogas—I see,” she replied soberly.

  “Gas and oil okay,” Sparky murmured. Then in silence he flipped on theignition and gas, set the electric primer going, counted five, allowedit to snap off, then nodded to his mechanic. The mechanic grinned as heheld up a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher.

  “That’s one more thing,” Sparky warned. “Don’t ever start twin motorsunless someone is near with the fire bottle. And don’t you let me doit!”

  “Is that so bad?” Mary asked.

  “Worst in the world,” Sparky exploded. “If one motor fails to startpopping, you’ll have a fire in your exhaust pipe.... A fire bottle willput it out in a hurry. But if there’s no fire bottle your ship will goup in smoke. A fire of high octane gas is something to think about!”

  He started the energizing wheel going, waited a space of seconds, thenthrew on the fuel-booster switch. First the right engine begancoughing. Mary worked her two levers that enriched the fuel mixture.Sparky eased his throttle back to one thousand, then nodded to themechanic. The mechanic removed the chocks from before the wheels, andthe big ship started to move.

  “We’re off!” Mary thought with a little choking sensation at her throat.

  Sparky cursed some small, foreign plane that, taxiing across the field,caused him to swing sharply to the right.

  “Looks like he did that on purpose,
” said Mary.

  “May have, at that,” was the reply. “There are some Hitler sympathizersdown this way.

  “Well,” he sighed ten seconds later. “I fooled him. Now the runway’sclear, so here we go.” The powerful motors roared in unison. They rosesharply toward the stars. Ten minutes later they were out over theblue-black sea and still slowly climbing.

  “The sea is so black,” Mary thought. “The sky is all filled with night.Hours of this! How can I bear it?”

  Then, as a sense of real joy, the feeling that must come to anight-flying bird, passed over her, she whispered, “But we’re rushingeast to meet the dawn.”

  “Get on your oxygen mask,” Sparky commanded, crashing into her dream.“We’re going up where there isn’t any weather and mighty little air.”

  Their masks were attached by rubber tubes to pipes running from theoxygen storage tanks. When Mary had pulled on her mask she sighed, “Ah!That’s great! Isn’t it wonderful that they should mould our masks tofit our faces!”

  “It’s a grand idea,” Sparky agreed, “but you’ll get tired enough of itbefore we greet that dawn of yours. We’re going up to twenty thousandfeet and stay there for hours. We’ll make better time that way andthere’ll be no bumps. You can even sleep if you want to.”

  “Sleep!” Mary’s voice rose. “I’d never do that. Suppose you fellasleep, or—or something happened to you!”

  “I never get sleepy and nothing ever happens.” Sparky settled back inhis place. “Talk when you feel like it,” he drawled. “I like the soundof your voice.”

  “Oh, you do,” Mary laughed.

  They climbed to twenty thousand feet. It seemed to Mary that she couldfeel the intense cold creeping through their cabin’s walls and herfour-inch-thick suit of wool, leather and fur. But this, she knew, waspure imagination.

  As they zoomed along through the blue with the black ocean far belowand the stars apparently scattered all about them, she felt very littledesire to talk. She just wanted to think.

  Her mind went back to childhood days. Happy days they had been, thosedays with her father. School shut out much of this. And then had comecollege. College vacations found her flying, first with her father,then alone. She had learned about airplane engines from the ground upand had even become an expert with a machine gun.

  “That,” she told herself, “was Providence, a dress rehearsal for war.”

  As if he had been reading her thoughts, Sparky said, “Mary, there werea dozen or more who volunteered for this job you’re doing now. Iwouldn’t want you to think I don’t like your work. I do. You’re swell,but how come they picked on you? You’re about the youngest of the lot.”

  “That’s right,” Mary agreed, “but I’ve had more hours of solo flightthan any of them. Fifteen hundred, to be exact.”

  “Fifteen hundred?” Sparky whistled. “Practically flew from your cradle!”

  “Nope—started when I was sixteen. You see, Dad is as much at home inthe air as on the ground.”

  “And you take after him?”

  “Sure. Why not? What’s more, I know a lot about airplane engines andmachine guns.”

  “Handy man with tools, eh?” Sparky drawled.

  “Try me.” Mary did not laugh. “Who knows? This job of ours may call forall the tricks we know before it’s done.”

  “Guess that’s right,” Sparky agreed. “And I sure am glad you’re on thejob.”

  After that they once more lapsed into silence. The miles and the starsflew by. There were times when Mary was plagued by the illusion thatsomehow their ship had stopped traveling, that they were there,suspended in space, their motors roaring, but taking them nowhere. Atsuch times she felt an all but over-powering desire to scream, for heroverwrought imagination was telling her that the motors would roar onuntil the fuel was gone, then they would crash into the sea.

  At times she felt drowsy, at others she was so wide awake that shewanted to leave her seat for a walk. This she knew was not entirelyimpossible since a bottle of oxygen attached to her tube and slung overher shoulder would give her freedom of movement. But this would callfor more exertion than she felt like, and she lapsed back intosleepiness.

  Then, little by little, she found herself drifting into a light andhilarious mood. She wanted to sing. She did hum little snatches offunny songs she knew. “The Bear Went Over The Mountain,” “The Old GrayMare, She Ain’t What She Used To Be,” and “Clementine.”

  From time to time Sparky looked at her and growled into his mask.

  “Oh, Sparky,” she cried at last, “I’m tired of this mask. Can’t I takeit off?”

  She meant this only as a joke but Sparky roared, “For heaven’s sake!No! You wouldn’t last half a moment.”

  Nothing daunted, she told him a rather long, funny story.

  “Is that supposed to be a joke?” he growled. “If so, where’s the point?”

  She began to realize that something was wrong.

  “Either Sparky has turned into a terrible crab or I’m plain crazy,” shetold herself half in despair.

  From hilarity she went into gloomy foreboding. Then, of a sudden, shesprang out of both. She knew what had happened. Both she and Sparkywere drunk on oxygen. They had been up high too long. They should dropto lower levels at once. But how was she ever to make Sparky see this?In the morose mood of a partially intoxicated man, he would perhapsresist all her suggestions.

  After a moment’s thought she believed she had the very idea. “Sparky,”she said, “I’m hungry.”

  “Suck your thumb, like a bear,” he growled.

  “The coffee’s hot, a whole gallon of it.”

  “It’s frozen solid. I told you it would be. Know what the temperatureoutside is? Thirty-five below.”

  “Yes, I know, but that coffee’s still hot.”

  “How come?”

  “That’s my secret.”

  “Then keep it.”

  “I’ll bet you five dollars it’s hot, yes, and the bottle of soup, too.”

  “You got five dollars?”

  “Sure I have.”

  “All—all right, it’s a bet.”

  “Sure it is. Do come on down to five thousand feet and I’ll show you.”

  “Okay, here we go. But I get the five.”

  They started down. Anxiously Mary watched the recording gage. Twentythousand, fifteen thousand, ten, eight—she opened a ventilator, thenanother. At five thousand they leveled off. When at last the air waschanged, they dragged off their masks.

  “Whew!” Sparky breathed deeply. “That’s great!”

  “You don’t know half of it,” said Mary.

  “Where’s your hot coffee?”

  “I’ll get it.” She did. When the cork was removed steam rose from thebottle.

  “Well, I’ll be!” Sparky exclaimed. “You win! How do you do it?”

  “Little electric heat, that’s all.” She pointed at the connections atthe base of the thermos bottle.

  “Say!” Sparky beamed. “From now on, you and I travel together.”

  “At least for some little time,” she agreed with a wise smile.

  It was a grand little lunch they enjoyed there above the black watersof the Atlantic. Mary flew the ship while Sparky drank hot coffee andsoup, and munched hot cheese sandwiches. Then he took the controlswhile she carried on with the lunch box.

  But when it was all over and they began once more to climb, weightyproblems once more bore down upon Mary’s tired brain. Would they againclimb high and fly too far, then become oxygen-drunk again? She hatedto ask Sparky and yet—

  Thousands of weary miles lay ahead, miles where danger lurked all theway. Then, too, there was their precious cargo. Would it reach itsdestination safely?

  “It must,” she whispered. She reached for her mask and then Sparkyspoke.

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