Bushes and small trees in back of the machine were bent almost to the ground by the force of the wind driven rearward by the propeller, and the machine leaped ahead, bumping and swaying drunkenly over the uneven ground. Bushes caught at the wide-spread wings, retarding their speed, and the rough ground also hindered. As they approached the sheer edge of the chasm, and the awful expanse of empty air was almost under their wheels, Phil moved the elevating controls, but the aeroplane had not gathered sufficient speed to rise. It shot out over the brink of the abyss, the nose pointed downward, and with a tightening sensation around their hearts the boys realized that they were falling into the dizzy depths at sickening speed.
For a few seconds the aeroplane dropped like a stone, with Phil fighting to get control. The rocky floor of the canyon rushed up at them, but just at the moment when it seemed as though they must strike, the aeroplane flattened out, quivered and vibrated, and then swooped upward into the rays of the setting sun.
The genial rays of the luminary had never seemed so welcome to the three Radio Boys, for they had steeled their hearts to meet death, and they felt as a condemned prisoner must when a last minute reprieve arrives.
For a time they flew in silence, each one thinking of this last narrow escape, and breathing a prayer of thankfulness that they were still alive and uninjured.
“Phil, that’s twice you’ve pulled us out of the hole when it didn’t look as though we had a chance,” said Dick, at last. “What I want to say is, that you’re competent to handle an aeroplane, and no mistake.”
“Aw, shucks,” said Phil; “either you or Tom would have done the same thing. I came pretty near to shaving the tops off a few of those boulders in that last dive, though. Another hundred feet, and our troubles would all have been over.”
“I’d just as soon keep my troubles for a while,” said Tom, with a feeble effort at a joke. “They don’t bother me half as much as the thought of smashing down on those rocks does.”
“That goes for me, too,” said Dick. “But let’s let bygones be bygones. We’re right here, scooting along at a fast clip, and not a scratch on us. The question then arises, ‘where do we stop for the night’? It will be pretty dark in another hour.”