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As they struck Tom and Dick were thrown out -- the former into the bushes and the latter on the tracks. Sam kept at the wheel, the force of the intact smashing the landing wheels beneath him.
For the instant all three boys were too stunned to do anything. Then, as the gleam from the express train came closer, Tom let out a wild cry.
"Jump! Jump for your lives! We haven't a moment to lose!"
"Dick!" screamed Sam. "Save Dick! He is on the tracks!"
"Where?"
"There!" and Sam pointed with one hand, while he clambered down from his seat. The seat was broken and his coat got caught in the splinters, and it was several seconds before he could release himself.
Tom looked to where his brother pointed and saw Dick lying in a heap, face downward. The fall had been sufficient to stun him and he was thus unable to help himself.
Tom did not hesitate over what to do. Dick was very dear to him and never for an instant did he consider the risk he was running in going to the rescue. He made a flying leap from the bushes to the tracks and took another leap to his brother's side.
"Get up, Dick," he yelled. "Here, let me get you off the tracks! The train is coming!"
Only a faint groan answered him. Dick was still too dazed to think or to act.
Tom caught hold of his brother and raised him up, and commenced to drag him to the other side of the tracks, away from the wrecked biplane. As he did this there came a shrill warning shriek from the locomotive whistle. The engineer had seen the obstruction on the tracks and had put on brakes, in a vain endeavor to stop the express.
As Tom commenced to haul Dick across the tracks, Sam came bounding to his assistance, the shreds of his torn coat flapping behind him. He caught his big brother by one arm.
"Hurry!" he yelled, hoarsely. "The express is almost here!"
Both boys made a wild leap to the edge of the railroad, dragging Dick between them. Tom got his foot caught in the rails and almost pitched headlong. They fairly fell into the bushes, and Dick went down with them.
Then the express thundered up, the whistle shrieking loudly and the sparks flying from the wheels where the brakes gripped them. The locomotive struck the Dartaway, and the next instant the biplane was smashed to pieces, the broken parts flying in all directions!
Chapter V
Two Visitors
"That's the last of the Dartaway!"
"Are you hurt, Dick?"
"My, wasn't that a narrow escape!"
"A minute later and it would have been all up with us!"
"I -- I guess I'm all right," stammered Dick, putting one hand to his forehead, where a lump was rapidly rising. "I got some fall though!" he added, grimly.
"Look what hit me!" cried Sam, picking up a section of a bamboo stick -- one which had supported one of the planes of the flying machine.
"I'm glad we weren't closer to that smash-up!"
Having plowed through the biplane, the express train had come to a halt with the last car standing not a great distance beyond the scene of the collision. Already the trainmen were hurrying out, some with lanterns, to learn if anybody had been killed or hurt.
"Why, it's an airship!" cried the conductor. "How in the name of Adam did that get here?"
"Here are three fellows!" cried the engineer, as the rays of a lantern revealed the Rover boys. "Were you in that flying machine?" he called.
"We were," answered Tom, grimly.
"Anybody hurt?"
"My brother got a bad tumble and is partly stunned."
"We didn't hit anybody, did we?" questioned the engineer, anxiously.
"Nothing but the biplane," answered Sam. "You made mince-meat of that."
"How did you happen to land on the track?" asked the fireman.
"The wind put the machine out of control and we came down quicker than we wanted to," explained Sam. "Then you came along -- before we had a chance to drag the biplane off the tracks."
"Well, I'm glad I didn't hit anybody," said the engineer, in tones of relief.
"We had a close shave," returned Tom, and then he and Sam told of how they had struck, and of how Dick had been dragged out of the way. By this time the oldest Rover boy was feeling more like himself and he managed to stand up, even though somewhat dizzy.
"Well, we're losing time," said the conductor, consulting his watch by the light of his lantern. "We'll have to get into Ashton and report this."
"And somebody has got to pay for the biplane," said Tom.
"I don't see as it is our fault," answered the trainman, and then he gave the order to go ahead -- after it had been ascertained that the track was clear.
"We'll ride to Ashton with you," said Dick. "No use of staying with this wreckage," he added, to his brothers. "We can drive down to-morrow and look it over. I don't think it is worth much."
"Never mind -- I am glad nobody was seriously hurt," returned Sam.
"I guess we all feel that way," added Tom.
It was a run of only a few minutes to Ashton. On the way the conductor of the train took the Rover boys' names and address.
"I don't see how you can blame us for smashing the flying machine," he said. "You had no business to come down on the track."
"We might have gotten our biplane off the track, if you had halted the train," returned Dick. "We could have dragged it into the bushes."
"I don't know about that."
As soon as the train rolled into Ashton the bays alighted. The only other passenger to get off was one of the local storekeepers.
"You were lucky boys," said the man, pleasantly. He knew them by sight, for they had traded at his shop.
"That's true, Mr. Striker," said Dick. "But we don't seem to be lucky just now."