Andy was holding himself in readiness. He knew that there would perhaps
be an opportunity for him to drop to the ground and by pulling back,
help to bring the little airship to a full stop before they banged up
against a tree at the further side of the little glade.
Never before had Andy found himself compelled to do such a queer
"stunt," as he afterwards termed it; but he was braced to exert himself
now to the best of his ability.
"Jump!" shouted Frank, as they came roughly in contact with the ground.
And Andy went. He never knew whether he jumped purposely or lost his
grip of that upright after the shock of the collision; but the next
thing he realized he was straining himself with might and main to hold
back the monoplane, already gliding along with sundry violent bumps, on
the three bicycle wheels.
"Hurrah! What did I say?" cried Frank, as the aeroplane came to a
complete standstill close to the other border of trees.
There was a frightened series of grunts close by and some big unwieldy
animal went rushing away through the dense undergrowth, crashing along
as though badly frightened at this queer thing that had dropped down
from the sky.
"Wow! whatever was that, do you know, Frank?" cried the one on the
ground.
"I don't know for sure, because I only had the least peep of something
that looked like a small elephant making off," replied the other, also
alighting.
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