CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE UPPER REGIONS.

The boys were up with the sun the next day.  It was the morning which was to witness the start of the flight for Rattlesnake Island.  Everything about the Wondership was in readiness for the enterprise, and there only remained the tin breakfast utensils and the tents to be packed when they had concluded the morning meal.

Naturally excitement ran high.  The hunt for the island, too, might be a long one.  But they felt that ultimately they would find it, that it would not be like the three buttes of Peg-leg Smith.

When everything was declared ready, Jack opened the charging-tube of the gas reservoir and poured in some of the volatile powder that made the lifting vapor.  In fifteen minutes the gauge showed a good pressure in the tank and the valve was turned.

In the hot sun the balloon bag expanded quickly.  At length the bag was almost full.

“Everything ready?” cried Jack, at length, when all were on board.

“Ready,” said Tom at the engines.

“Then off we go!”

Tom pulled the clutch lever and the propellers whirled.  Jack gave the steering and controlling wheel an impulse and like a huge bird the Wondership shot up.  But she rose slowly, for besides the unusual number of passengers, she was also carrying a great weight in supplies.

As the craft rose three figures watched it from under the concealment of a clump of mesquite.

“There they go, boys,” said Masterson, for it was he and his two cronies.

“Yes, they’re off for Rattlesnake Island,” sneered Eph.  “I hope they get bitten.”

“I’ll bet they don’t dream that we know everything about their plans,” chuckled Sam.  “I’d like to get even with that red-headed kid.”

“Well, you’ll get a chance before long,” declared Bill Masterson.  “I don’t see that there’s any use in hanging around here any longer,” he went on.  “The thing to do now is to get our boats and go down the river.”

“Won’t they be astonished when they see us,” said Eph.

“Maybe they’ll try to chase us away.  They outnumber us,” said the timid Sam.

“They’d better not,” vaunted Bill Masterson.  “I guess we’ve got as good a right to that old island as they have.”

“That’s right,” echoed Eph, following his leader’s sentiments.  “I guess they haven’t got any mortgage on it.”

Viewed from the Wondership, the desert spread out below was a wonderful panorama.  Through it, like a deep wound, the Colorado cut its way and far beyond were the pale, misty outlines of mountains.  As they flew onward, the character of the scenery began to change.

The river appeared to sink, while mighty walls, of most gorgeous colors, cliffed it in.  The rocks glowed with red and yellow and blue like a painter’s palate.  But this was only in the deep canyon.  On either side the desert, vast and unlimited, stretched away grayly to the horizon.