Nothing happened to clear up the mystery.
To the surprise of the yacht crew, Captain Parks kept them all busy preparing, the day after Mrs. Everdail’s dramatic discovery, for a run to Bar Harbor, Maine.
That was unusual. After a trip across the Atlantic, the yacht was ordinarily laid up for awhile, giving its crew some shore liberty.
Captain Parks, however, agreed with Mr. Everdail, who trusted him absolutely—if Sandy did not—that it would be wise not to give any person who had been on the yacht during its crossing any chance to get away.
“On the run,” Mr. Everdail told Sandy and Dick, “and while we lay over at Bar Harbor, you two can watch for anything suspicious. My wife won’t let me say that Mimi, the maid, could be guilty—besides, how could she get into Captain Parks’ safe?”
104
“I think, myself, some man of the crew would be the one to watch,” Dick agreed. “Maybe the steward1, who could have a reason for getting into the captain’s quarters.”
“But it was a woman Larry saw, through the glasses, at the stern,” Sandy objected.
“Well, then—there’s the stewardess2 who attends to the ladies’ cabins,” argued Dick. “We can watch her.”
They did, but no one on board asked for shore leave, either on the day before lifting anchor or during the stay in the Maine waters. Dick and Sandy used ears and eyes alertly; but nothing suspicious looking rewarded their vigilance.
Larry, staying at the old estate home with Jeff, had some compensation, at least, for being separated from his chums. Not only could he keep an eye on things and be ready if Jeff called for an aide; as well, he had his daily instruction in ground school and in the air.
Already “well up” on all that books could tell about engines, types of airplanes, construction methods, rigging and even handling a craft in the air, he got the practical personal experience that is the only real teacher, and the thrill of donning the Gossport helmet, with its ear ’phones and speaking tube through which Jeff, in the second place of the amphibian3 or the airplane, instructed him, correcting faults or gave hints, was a real thrill.
105
He learned, first of all, not to start up an engine while the tail of the ship pointed4 toward a hangar, or other open building, or toward a crowd, in future, on a field.
The propeller5 blast threw a torrent7 of dust and as Jeff told him, he mustn’t become that most unpopular of airport nuisances, a “dusting pilot,” whose carelessness flung damaging clouds on airplanes in hangars and people on the fields.
Learning to warm up the engine, to check up on instruments, to keep the ship level while taxiing down the field to head into the wind, to make the turn, either in stiff wind or gentle breeze, so that the wind did not tip the craft and scrape wingtips—these and a dozen other things he acquired in several early lessons.
The second place of the airplane had been fitted with a set of dual8 controls, rudder bar, throttle9 and “joystick” so that Jeff, for two successive hops11, let Larry put feet on his rudder bar and lightly hold the stick as Jeff manipulated the controls and explained, by use of the Gossport helmet, why he did this or that.
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Jeff believed, as does every good instructor12, that showing, and explaining, is necessary as a first step, but that a flyer is developed only by practice during which he makes mistakes and is told why they are mistakes and how to correct them, thus gaining confidence and assurance by actually flying.
“That-there time,” Jeff might say, “when the caretaker ‘playing mechanic’ and pulling down the prop6 till the engine catches, didn’t you open up the throttle too wide? Better to open it just enough to give the engine gas to carry along on—and even cut the gun a bit more to let it run fairly slow till it warms up. Turning her up to full eighteen hundred revs13 don’t gain while she’s cold, and it throws dust like sin!”
Or, as Larry taxied, learning to manage speed on the ground by use of wider throttle for more speed, cutting down the gas if the craft began going too fast, he would catch an error:
“Did you forget last time to put the stick back and make the blast on the elevators hold the tail down while we taxi? Sure, you did—but you won’t again, because you saw that if you didn’t we might nose over. You ‘over-controlled’, too, and almost nosed over before you caught it—and then, we were going so fast I don’t know what kept this-here crate14 from starting to hop10.
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“That’s right—easy movements always—don’t jerk the controls—take it fairly easy. And you are doing right to move the stick back to neutral this time when the tail came up—kick rudder a bit, isn’t she slanting15 to the right? That’s it, buddy16, left rudder and back, and now the right rudder—there she is, headed right.”
Mostly, Larry caught his own mistakes in time.
Ordinarily cool-headed, he had to be told only once or twice, and reminded almost never that jerky manipulation of the controls was not good practice or helpful to their evolutions. Easy movements, continual alertness and a cool head stood him in good stead.
Seeing those fine qualities, Jeff had Larry thrilling and happy on the fourth day by letting the youthful enthusiast17 for aviation take over for a simple control job, straight, level flying.
“You’ll want to get the feel of the air, and see how stable the average modern crate is,” Jeff spoke18 through the Gossport tube. “How does that-there wing look to you—kind of dropping?—remember what I did—that’s the stuff, stick to the left a bit and back to neutral, so the other wing won’t drop! No use teetering back and forth19. They put neutral position into a control so you can set ailerons or rudder or elevators where you want them and hold them.”
108
There was more than Larry had ever dreamed there would be to keep in mind: there was the maintaining of level flight; even in his simplest personal contact with the controls; then there was the job of keeping the horizon line at the right location by watching past a chosen spot on the engine cowling, else they would start to climb or go into a glide20. There was the real horizon to distinguish from the false horizon, which an airman knows is, through some trick of the air, the visible horizon that is just a little bit above the true horizon, so that to hold level flight in a forward direction, that false horizon is not held on a line with the top of the engine cowling, but, to hold a line with the true horizon the marking point is held just a trifle below that false, visible horizon line.
109
Had that been all he had to comprehend Larry’s first control job would have been simple. There was much more to watch—the tachometer, to keep track of engine speed; the air speed was learned by watching the indicator21 on the wing of that particular type of airplane; the position of the nose with relation to the horizon had to be constantly noted22 and a tendency to rise or lower had to be corrected: little uprushes or warm air made the airplane tilt23 a trifle to one side or the other and ailerons had to be used to bring it back, the stick had to be returned to neutral gently at exactly the point of level flight after such correction and not sent to the other side or the craft tipped the other way and opposite aileron had to be applied24; then there was the chosen point such as a church steeple, tall tree or other landmark25 selected as a point on the course to hold the nose on—that must be watched and a touch of rudder given if the craft deviated26 from its straight line.
Nevertheless, complicated as flying appeared to be on that first handling of joystick, rudder and throttle, Larry knew that the happiest time of his life would be his first successful solo hop, and that the complicated look of the maneuvers27 and the number of things to watch—level flight, direction, maintaining flying speed, seeing that altitude was maintained, that his own craft was not menacing or menaced by any other in the air, all these would become simple, second nature as soon as the flying hours piled up and gave him more skill and experience.
Morning and afternoon Jeff took him up.
Quick to learn, retentive28 of memory, not repeating the same mistakes—even working out some points for himself—Larry, at the end of the fifth day, was gratified to have Jeff, as he slipped off the Gossport, tell him:
110
“The only trouble about this-here instruction is that I’m scared you’re going to make a better pilot than your teacher.”
“Oh, thanks—but I never could be any better than you, Jeff.”
“Yes, you can,” the older man’s face became doleful. “You ain’t the kind to let that-there superstition29 bug30 bite you.”
“No,” admitted his pupil. “I think superstition is just believing something somebody else tells you until you are so busy watching out for something to go wrong that you aren’t ‘right on the job’ with your own work—or you are so busy waiting for some good thing to ‘happen’ that you don’t see Opportunity when it comes up because you’re not watching Opportunity—you’re watching Luck, or Omens31.”
“Don’t I know it!” Jeff was rueful. “I want to kick myself sometimes—but when you know other folks has had their crates32 ‘jinxed’ by being in the same hangar with one that has got the name for being hoodooed—what would you do?”
“Just what I’m doing now,” Larry grinned. “I know Mr. Everdail paid the company for the ruined seaplane and moved it into the hangar, here. I know your airplane almost touches it, every night. But I don’t let that worry me, because——”
111
“Well, it worries me. I try not to let it, but the worry is there, no matter what I do. You see, I never thought, out in the marsh33, about anything going wrong because I took that big wrench34 and put it in my tool kit35 after we salvaged36 it out of the water. But I dreamt about emeralds, last night, and so I went to a fortune teller37 gypsy woman and she told me a dream like that meant bad luck in business, and so I said I was a pilot and told her all about the seaplane——”
“You ought to be careful,” Larry interrupted. “If she puts two-and-two together, emeralds and a chase and a wrecked38 seaplane——”
“Oh, she was too busy talking to listen that close.”
“They’re awfully39 quick—the way they guess what’s in your mind proves that.”
“Oh, she won’t think anything about it. Anyhow, she told me not on any chance to touch that cracked up seaplane or anything that ever was on it—and so—I put the jinx on my own crate without meaning to.”
“I’m still willing to learn in it.”
“Well—I don’t know—it worries me.”
“It doesn’t bother me, Jeff.”
And it didn’t, for several more busy days.
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收听单词发音
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1
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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stewardess
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| n.空中小姐，女乘务员 | |
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3
amphibian
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| n.两栖动物；水陆两用飞机和车辆 | |
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4
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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propeller
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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7
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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8
dual
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| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
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throttle
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| n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压 | |
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10
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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11
hops
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| 跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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13
revs
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| abbr.revolutions （复数）旋转，回转，转数n.发动机的旋转( rev的名词复数 )v.（使）加速( rev的第三人称单数 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来 | |
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14
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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15
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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16
buddy
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| n.（美口）密友，伙伴 | |
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enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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26
deviated
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| v.偏离，越轨( deviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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maneuvers
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| n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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retentive
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| v.保留的，有记忆的；adv.有记性地，记性强地；n.保持力 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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30
bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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31
omens
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| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
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32
crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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35
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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36
salvaged
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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37
teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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38
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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