Their heads were misshapen and flat and their protruding lips were
daubed with white and red clay which gave them a ghastly unearthly
look. From their ears hung huge ivory pendants. They carried
elephant skin shields and were armed with spears and bow and arrows.
As if they did not consider themselves sufficiently hideous, several
of the tribe had cut their faces in long stripes and the hardly
healed scars of these wounds rendered their already sinister faces
terrifying indeed.

Desperately Harry threw over the wheel and the engines started
faithfully to respond but not before half a dozen of the savages had
thrown themselves on to the aeroplane.

Their weight held her down although she scudded over the ground; and
in the meantime the other natives started pouring a shower of arrows
and spears into her. Fortunately none of these struck the boys
although Frank felt an arrow whiz through the loose sleeve of his
shirt.

"Get those fellows off or I can't get the ship up," he yelled.

Harry and Ben Stubbs fired their automatics into the clinging mass
of savages.

Two dropped and the aeroplane began to rise but the others
desperately clung on.

"Get 'em off," shouted Frank, as he desperately strove to raise the
air-craft.