Little boy plane Pedro (5)

Little boy plane Pedro (5)

Now the storm broke loose with a roar of fury and fastened itself upon Pedro.
The lightning lashed out at him, the thunder roared its treats, rain blinded him, and the wind kept shoving and buffeting him toward the mountain.

Suddenly his windshield wipers shuddered, and he spun around in midair.
The mountain's solid wall of rock loomed just aheadof him !

Pedro hurled his weight to one side in a steep bank.
One wing clipped a shower of rocks loose from the mountainside, and Pedro spun dizzily.

Before he could right himself, the mailbag dropped from his wing !

" I really need altitudeーfast !ーto get out of this," Pedro thought grimly, " But I've got to deliver the mail. "

So instead of climbing to safety, the brave little plane dove through the storm after the lost mailbag.
Straining his eyes through the blackness, he caught sight of the mailbag, being tossed by the wind below him.

Down he shot, into the heart of storm, and grabbed the bag on a wing.

" Now I've got to climb ! " he told himself, while the wind tossed and buffeted him.

Up, up into the storm Pedro climbed. Snow coated the plane, and heaped up on the mailbag.
The extra weight dragged Pedro back.

" More altitude ! " he thought.
" I need twenty-five thousand feet ! "

Pedro flashed a glance at his altimeter; it read fifteen thousand.
He tilted his nose up and flew hard.
The altimeter crawled up to twenty thousand.

Up and still up he fought his way, shaking off the snow as the air cleared around him.
Now the altimeter hand pointed to twenty-five thousand !

" Boy, I made it ! " Pedro managed a tired grin.
" Now all I have to do is level off and head for home. "

But just as he got his nose pointed safely toward the home airport, Pedro started coughing and sputtering, and he couldn't stop it.

Suddenly an awful thought flashed through Pedro's mind.
He glanced at his fuel gauge.
He was out of gas !

And still coughing and sputtering, poor Pedro began to fall toward the mountains.

(つづく　5/6)