THE STARTLING NEWS
"Well," said Frank, with a frown on his face. "It's puzzled me a whole lot, let me tell you, Andy. Because, of course, my first thought was that it must have been Percy Carberry's work; but now that you tell me he was here, and knew we hadn't fetched our hydroplane home, I hardly know what to think."
"Did you say you worked till about eleven at the shop?" asked Andy, quickly.
"Three minutes after when I quit, locked up, and went home," Frank replied.
"That was just about the time they showed up here," the other went on to say. "Unless one of us is wrong about the time, they couldn't well be in two places at the same minute, now, could they? Seems like it might have been some other crowd that broke into our hangar, Frank!"
"But why? Did they want to play fast and loose with our machine, and force an entrance just for that purpose? Listen to something I'm going to tell you, Andy. I found several things on our work bench where somebody had left them, without meaning to do it, I guess. Here's one."
Frank while saying this held something up which he had taken from the package he carried under his arm.
"Why, that's a splendid electric torch, looks like to me?" exclaimed Andy.
"Just what it is, now," the other agreed.
"And it was forgotten in our shop, was it?" demanded Andy.
"I made out that whoever entered used this first, and then lighted our lamp to look around with, putting out the torch, and laying it down. When they skipped out, why, they just forgot all about it, also these."
Again did Frank make a dive into his pocket, and dangled something before the astonished eyes of his cousin.
"Great Caesar! what d'ye call those things?" gasped Andy, staring as though hardly able to believe his eyes.
"Well, as near as I can make out, they're a couple of half masks made out of black muslin, and just like a domino worn at a masquerade ball." Frank remarked, with positive conviction in his voice and manner.
"Masks?" echoed the other; "and the fellows who broke open our shop wore them, did they? Well, the crowd that came out here seemed to be satisfied to tie handkerchiefs across their faces, and pull their hats down."
"I don't know that they wore them," Frank went on, "but they had the things along and laid them down with the lantern, forgetting the whole lot when they cleared out. Perhaps your dog got to barking and frightened them off before they found a chance to do much damage."
"A regular bullseye electric torch, and black masks like cracksmen use—say, tell me, Frank, what's coming over our quiet country up here lately? There was the affair over in a neighboring town, when yeggmen broke into the bank, and robbed it; and now here you tell me we've had a little smash-up on our own account, with the burglars leaving cards behind them. But what d'ye think now anybody would want to go poking around in our shop for, Frank?"
His cousin was looking very grave.
"Well, you forget that we've been working overtime this winter on several little inventions that, if we ever complete them, will make a stir in the world of aviation."
"Jupiter, I had let that slip away from me, for a fact, Frank!" exclaimed the other, looking rather startled.
"Of course, it sounds pretty big for us to even imagine that any party could take enough interest in what the Bird boys are doing to come up here, intending to break into the shop, and learn our secrets; but what else can we think, tell me that, Andy?"
"But they wouldn't find out much, even if they had six hours to poke around our shop in, would they, Frank?"
"I guess you're right, because we've made it a rule to be cautious enough to hide our work and cover our tracks as we go along. But let's get busy now, and put the plane into shape, so we can slip along home. And as we work we can keep on talking as much as we want to," Frank went on to say.
The farmer and Felix still loitered around, determined to see the wonderful contrivance make a start, and expecting the greatest treat of their lives, when that event occurred.
Such experienced workers as the two Bird boys had now become would find little or no trouble about carrying out the work they had on hand. Every steel wire guy was kept as taut as a fiddle string; and by the time they were done handling the aeroplane it would be in apple-pie shape for work.
"Did they smash much in the shop, Frank?" Andy asked after they had been working some little time, and making fair progress.
"Why, no, it didn't seem to me that they took the time to do great damage; and that's why I fancy they were scared off, somehow or other. They went in a hurry, or else they would never have forgotten those things. And when I looked around I made up my mind that they were just mad because they didn't find our machine at home, and so tried to let us know that fact."
"Perhaps it was a second detachment of the same crowd that came out here?" suggested Andy, speculatively.
"Tell me, what would they be doing with electric torches, and black masks? Now, you can see that these have been pretty well used; they're not new ones just cut out by pattern at home with mother's scissors. These have been made by an experienced operator, and were bought either for a mask ball or some other purpose."
"Well, perhaps we'll never know the truth about it," grumbled Andy, who never liked anything to puzzle him and would lie awake half the night trying to find the answer to a conundrum that had been offered to him by a boy friend.
"Oh! yes, I've got a hunch that we will," chirped his cousin, with a sublime confidence that quite won Andy's heart; if he could not see any good reason for hope himself, the fact that his chum pinned his faith on it was enough to bolster up his own courage.
Meanwhile they were both as busy as bees, and the work was approaching completion.
"What are you looking up every little while that way for?" Frank asked, after noticing that Andy cocked his eye upward several times, and appeared to be scanning the heavens in an expectant manner; "the day is all right, so far as wind goes, and we ought to get along home without a bit of trouble."
"Oh! I wasn't bothering my head about that part of it," the other replied, with a scornful smile. "We've been out in all sorts of weather; and now that we have a chance to try this new invention of the Wrights', that makes it next to impossible to tilt an aeroplane over no matter how you move around when up in the air, we can feel safer than ever. Even a fool would be kept from meeting with an accident when protected by that wonderful balancing bar that responds to the slightest movement of the human body."
"Then it was something else you had on your mind, was it, Andy?"
"Well, I was wondering just what took Percy and Sandy out at daybreak this morning, that's all," replied the other.
"What's that? Did you see them pass over in their biplane this morning?" demanded the other.
"Felix woke me up at dawn to tell me there was a queer chugging overhead, that sort of scared him. I jumped up, because of course I knew what that must mean. And sure enough I was just in time to see a biplane pass over at a good height, and head up the lake. I lost it back of the barn, because a flock of crows came flying along, stretching out for a mile or two; and among the lot I couldn't make out just what was biplane and which was crow. It was pretty high up, too, I thought."
"But you made sure it was Percy's biplane?" asked Frank, interested somewhat, for somehow the other rival flier was always doing such bold stunts that he could not help feeling as though it might pay to keep track of what he was doing, lest their interests clash unexpectedly, in midair perhaps.
"I ought to know the way it glides, and the whole general look; and I'd be willing to take my affidavy that was the Canvas-back, as he calls his biplane."
"And he was in it, of course, with Sandy too?" Frank went on.
"I could just make out that there were two aboard," said Andy, "but somehow it seemed to me that Percy had altered his whole way of piloting his airship, or else he was drunk, and hardly knew what he was doing."
Frank whistled to indicate his surprise and consternation:
"When it gets as rough as that you can take it from me that Percy's mother will hear something simply awful about him before long. He's bound to go from bad to worse; and everybody knows what the end of such an aviator is going to be."
"But what under the sun could he be off at daylight this morning for?" Andy went on to remark, as though that thing had been bothering him ever since the moment he lost track of the biplane among the teetering, cawing crows.
Frank shrugged his shoulders as he replied:
"Did you ever know any reason for half the things Percy does? He just acts from a sudden impulse. Remember all that happened when he followed us down there to Columbia in South America, and tried to give us all the trouble he could make up. And there have been lots of other times too, we can look back at, all of which prove what I am saying that he is often like a ship without a rudder. Now, perhaps, he's got the crazy notion in his head that we might prosecute him either for what he tried to do up here to our hydroplane, or on account of breaking into our hangar, and doing a certain amount of damage, if the vandal was Percy Carberry."
"That sounds a little reasonable, anyhow, Frank. Queer that I never seem to get hold of these things, and they just float along as easy as anything to you. But it looks as if we had her all primed up now as steady as a church. How about it, Frank?"
For answer the other touched several taut wire guys with a peculiar little movement of finger and thumb, and each one responded with a musical note that was the sweetest possible sound in the responsive ear of the young aviators.
"All done, and let's be off," he said, presently, after the last test had been applied.
Accordingly they shook hands with Farmer Quackenboss, his good wife, and Felix, in the palm of which latter Andy made sure to leave a greenback that made the boy grin broadly.
Three minutes later Frank sang out the word, and both the farmer and Felix ran along with the machine for a dozen paces or so, when it left them behind, taking on speed, and finally rushing over the ground at a tremendous pace.
Uptilting the planes caused it to leave the ground and start to curve gracefully upward, as the whizzing propeller did its noisy duty.
They could hear the farmer and his hired hand shouting themselves hoarse with delight at having actually witnessed the start of a modern aeroplane; but naturally the sound grew fainter and fainter in their ears as they left the field and the squatty farmhouse far behind.
Having arisen to the height of several hundred feet, Frank headed toward Bloomsbury. Like a true and alert pilot he was watching and listening to ascertain how their recent work held; and presently a satisfied expression crossing his face announced that he found his faith well justified.
They had skimmed along for perhaps a mile or more when Andy made a certain discovery that caused him to call out.
"Look along the road below and ahead, Frank," he said, "and you'll see something that makes you think of old times, when we hunted, in company with Chief Waller, for those men who looted Leffingwell's jewelry establishment."
"Why, as sure as you're born, Andy, it does look like the Chief; and he's sitting in a vehicle, waving his hat. He seems to be looking up at us, and now that I've turned off the motor to glide a little I can hear him shouting."
"Frank, do you think he's just saluting us, or does he want us to come down?" demanded Andy, in some apprehension.
"Now he's making all sorts of gestures, and honestly I think he means that he wants to see us. Had we better drop in that open field just alongside the road? Looks good to me for a rise when we want to start again."
"Whatever you think best, Frank; I'm always willing to be guided by you. Mighty seldom you make a bad mess of it, while I often do. Yes, let's drop down, and if the field turns out to be pretty smooth, we'll land."
Accordingly, the hydroplane which was of course now in a condition for making a landing with the wheels below the aluminum pontoons, circled around, dropping lower and lower, until presently it came to a stop in the field close to the fence.
When it landed it was done so beautifully that, as Andy enthusiastically said, an egg would hardly have broken had it come between. And there, not more than twenty feet away, the man, dressed in a blue uniform and wearing a silver shield with the words "Chief of Police" engraved upon it, was soothing his horse, which had apparently been badly frightened by the swooping down of what seemed to be a great roc, or some other species of now extinct gigantic kings of the air.
"What's up, Chief?" asked Frank, as soon as they had reached the road together.
"Then you haven't heard the terrible news; they told me you left home to come up here about daybreak; and we didn't find it out until an hour ago. The bank in Bloomsbury was broken open last night, the safe rifled, and the thieves have disappeared in the queerest way ever heard of, for they left no trace behind. And when I saw you boys aloft, I was in hopes you might have seen something of the bank looters."
THE EXCITEMENT GROWS
"Well, what d'ye think of that for news, eh, Frank?" burst out Andy, in his usual impetuous way, after the Bloomsbury Chief of Police had made this startling announcement.
Frank was as a rule much cooler than his cousin. He had undoubtedly been equally astounded to hear of the terrible calamity that had befallen the banking institution, in which most of the leading citizens of the town were financially interested; but he certainly did not show it the same way.
His eyebrows went up to indicate astonishment; and a slight frown settled on his grave face, as he replied to Andy's question.
"It's a stunner, just as you say, Andy; but I wish the Chief would tell us a few more details. I think it's a little queer nobody seemed to have any suspicion of this awful business at the time I left home on horseback, to ride up to the Quackenboss farm, where you had been watching our injured aeroplane all night."
"Well," continued the head of the Bloomsbury police force; "that's because the yeggs worked so neatly they never left a bit of mess around to arouse suspicion; and the first thing that was known of the looting of the bank was when Seth Jarvie, the day watchman, went into the place at seven this morning to relieve Cadger, the night man, and found him lying there, tied up like a bundle of goods, and nearly dead with fright and humiliation."
"Whew!" was the way Andy relieved his pent-up feelings at this point; while his cousin went on asking questions.
"Then Cadger must have seen the robbers, if they captured him; how about that, Chief?" he demanded, eagerly; for the excitement was beginning to take hold of him.
"That's right, he did, and was able to give us more or less information," the police officer continued. "Of course as soon as Jarvie saw what had happened he knew it was a case for me to handle, and so he ran across to Headquarters; and in a jiffy we had thrown a cordon of police around the building to keep out the curious citizens who would have no business inside, and spoil any trace of the rascals."
"And would you mind telling us what Cadger had to tell, Chief?" asked Frank.
"Not at all, because I'm depending on you boys to help run the thieves down, if you feel like giving the authorities any assistance," the other replied, craftily.
Frank's answer was immediate and to the point.
"Of course we'll do anything that's in our power, Chief. Both our fathers are interested in that bank; and besides, the good name of the town must suffer if it is wrecked by a wandering band of yeggmen. And we can understand why you should want to capture the thieves, Chief; because that's a part of your business. Please tell us what the bank watchman had to say."
"Then I will, and without any frills, if I can make it that way," returned the other earnestly. "Cadger says he was caught napping, not that he was asleep; but never dreaming of any danger, he stepped over to the door when he heard a knock and a voice said: 'It's me, Cadger, Mr. Hedden, the cashier; I forgot some important papers, and have gotten out of bed to come back for them. Let me in without attracting any attention, if you can.'"
"What do you think of the smartness of that?" exclaimed Andy. "And so of course poor old Cadger, who is as honest as the day is long, never suspected any trick, but went and opened the door a crack?"
"Just what he did," returned the Chief, "and as that side of the bank was in the shadow he could only see the figure of a man, who slipped in alongside him. Before he knew what was happening he was being chocked by a pair of strong hands. Cadger started to struggle but another man must have joined the first, for he was knocked unconscious by a cruel blow, that's left his face all bloody and after that he didn't know a thing for an hour or two."
"Whee! you've got me all worked up with your story, Chief," said Andy again. "I can just seem to see the whole thing happening. And chances are, that when Cadger did come to, he found himself tied up, and unable to even whisper?"
"He had hard work to get enough breath, they had fastened the bandage across his mouth so tight; but he could see out of one eye. And lying there, Cadger watched the two yeggs go through the whole operation of getting nitroglycerine planted, and using all sorts of clothes and even the rugs off the floor of the president's room to deaden the sound of the explosion."
"They were old hands at the business, that's sure," remarked Frank, when the officer paused to catch his breath; for he was talking unusually fast in his desire to give them all the particulars in as brief a space of time as possible.
"Yes, there can be no doubt of that," the Chief went on to say, wagging his head wisely; "and they had been able in some way to get on to a lot of things that make us wonder like the name of the cashier and the night-watchman. Looks mighty much like they must have had a friend around Bloomsbury, who put them wise to those facts. Then they seemed to have the running of the trains down pat also; for long after they had their arrangements made they just sat down and waited until the freight going north and passing Bloomsbury at two-eighteen was pounding up-grade from Deering's Crossing, and making all manner of noise."
"Oh! to think of the smartness of that, would you?" burst out Andy. "I was wondering how they could blow open the safe, and the sound of the explosion never even be heard over at Headquarters, only half a block away; but now I see how it could be done. Just like a fellow says he can pull a hair out of your head, and you not feel it; and he makes out to give you a thump on the head with his other hand at the same time, so of course you never notice him pulling the hair."
"Just about on the same principle," said the officer, nodding; "for when that heavy freight goes pounding past the station, it makes enough noise to drown almost any sort of sound. The windows rattle, and we always have to stop talking until the caboose gets past. And that was the time they chose to explode their juice, with an absolute certainty that no policeman's ear would hear a single thing."
"And Cadger saw it all, did he?" asked practical Frank.
"A good lot of it, by twisting his head from time to time," replied Chief Waller. "And after the thing had been successfully done, he could watch the two thieves gathering the swag together, and putting it in a satchel they found in the cashier's room. Then, just at a quarter to three they doused the glim, which was only an electric torch one of them carried, and skipped out, locking the door on poor Cadger. It was hours afterwards when the day watchman came on duty and the discovery followed."
Frank and Andy had somehow turned, and exchanged a significant look about this time; and the expression of astonishment on the face of the latter deepened.
"Did you say an electric torch, Chief?" demanded Frank, immediately.
"Yes, one of the handy kind that are used so commonly now," the other replied.
"Tell us, did Cadger say anything about the thieves wearing masks over their faces; or did they use handkerchiefs to hide them from him?"
"I didn't mention that matter, but it was just as you say, Frank; both men had on masks all the time," answered the police officer.
"Black ones too, I expect?" ventured Andy.
"That's what they were; but see here, are you two just guessing this, or do you happen to know something about those men?" asked the other, quickly; for he could not help seeing from the manner of the Bird boys that they were on some sort of a scent; and he knew from past experiences that their sagacity could always be trusted to do the right thing.
"Well," Frank went on to say, drily, "while Andy was watching our new hydroplane out in the Quackenboss pasture, I worked until eleven o'clock in our shop, and then went home. This morning, early, after a bite to eat, I hurried over there to do some finishing touches and carry the thing out to apply to our broken plane, when to my astonishment I found that the shop had been broken into later in the night, as well as our hangar, where the aeroplane is usually kept. And here's what I discovered lying on the work-bench, where the men had forgotten them."
With these words he held up the flashlight torch, and the twin black masks; and they produced an immediate shock upon the Chief of Police.
"And you found those things in your workshop this morning, you say?" he cried, reaching out to take hold of the torch, and the bits of black muslin.
"Yes, and whoever was there, they must have been mad because they didn't find the aeroplane, for they smashed a few things, just for spite, it looked like," was what Frank added.
"Then, if it was the same men who robbed the bank they must have known about you boys having a brand new machine. And say, that must mean one of the robbers was something of a birdman himself; because no greenhorn would ever think of making his getaway in an aeroplane. Don't you see that's a pretty good clue, Frank? I'll remember that when I'm getting in touch with other points, and find out if there's any aviator who's gone crooked of late. Yes, that's worth knowing, now; and I'm glad you mentioned it to me."
"What description did Cadger give of the men, Chief?" queried Frank.
"Oh! he said one was tall and thin; and the other short and wiry like, pretty much like a cat. I rather reckon he'd be the fellow who's been in the flying business. Seemed to have a stiff left arm too, like he'd met up with some sort of an accident. That might turn out to be a pointer; I'll just remember it. It surely was a lucky thing for me I saw you boys come sailing along and managed to attract your attention. I begin to feel better already. You gave me so much help on that other occasion, it just seems as if I had to fall back on you again."
"Better move your horse out of the way, Chief, because there comes a car at a licketty-split racing speed. Wonder what the fellows in it are thinking about, to take such chances. Why, hello! look there, Frank, perhaps you know the one who's at the wheel? Seems to me I've seen him before, and that his name is Percy Carberry."
"It is Percy," said Frank, "and alongside him who'd you expect to see but his shadow, Sandy Hollingshead? And they look some excited too, as though they'd heard about the robbery, and the Carberry family was threatened with bankruptcy if the missing funds were not recovered right away. There, he sees us, and is pulling up. I reckon he's looking for you, Chief."
The car that had been tearing along the pike came to a stop close to where the head of the Bloomsbury police force sat in his buggy.
Percy Carberry got out, and Andy could not but notice that he was not displaying his accustomed agility on this fine morning; indeed, he made a face as though it gave him a stab of pain every time he took a step.
"Hello! Chief Waller!" remarked Percy in his customary patronizing way, ignoring the presence of the Bird boys completely and purposely, of course; "I've come out after you, to get your assistance in trying to find the rascals who broke into my hangar some time last night, and ran away with my biplane!"
Upon hearing these astonishing words it was little wonder that Andy and Frank once more looked at each other, with the light of understanding dawning on their faces.
FIGURING IT ALL OUT
"That's a strange story you're telling us, Percy," said the Head of the local police force, at which the boy bridled up immediately.
"I don't see what there is so funny about it, Chief!" he exclaimed, frowning. "I tell you my hangar was broken open last night, and I'm out a biplane that cost me a good round sum. It's up to you to get on the track of the same, and recover it. I hereby offer a reward of three hundred dollars for the recovery of my machine uninjured, and make it five hundred if the thief is captured in the bargain."
When he said this Percy assumed all the airs of a millionaire; but then it was well known about Bloomsbury that the Widow Carberry was very wealthy; also that her only hopeful could wheedle her in to settling any sort of a bill he chose to contract, so that the mention of the sum of five hundred dollars was not anything extravagant for Percy.
"Oh! it wasn't that I doubted your word at all, Percy; don't think that," Chief Waller hastened to say; for like most men he was ready to bow down in front of the golden calf; and more than once Mrs. Carberry had been very generous to the force—when her house took fire and came near burning, but was saved, thanks to the energetic work of police and fire departments; and again, when a hired man tried to carry off some of her jewelry, but had been easily caught, and the plunder restored.
"Then what makes you act like that, I'd like to know?" demanded Percy, looking very much put out, as though he did not like to be treated with suspicion, especially when his old-time rivals, the Bird boys, were around.
"Why," the officer went on to say, "when you said that about your aeroplane being taken, it struck me all in a heap; because Frank here was just telling me that two men broke into his shop last night after eleven, and knocked things around, just because they failed to find his hydroplane in its bunk as usual. They wanted that machine, and wanted it so bad, that, as a last resort, they went over to your place, and confiscated your biplane."
It was Percy's turn now to look astonished. He even condescended to notice the presence of the two Bird boys, and surveyed them with interest.
"Is that a fact, Frank? Did somebody break into your place last night? I remember now that I did see you pottering about your craft up there somewhere about the Quackenboss place, but I'd forgotten it till the Chief mentioned that you didn't have it in the hangar. That's the time you were lucky. See what I got for having mine at home all snug and nice. It's been hooked clear as anything, and not a trace to tell who did the business."
"Hold on there, Percy," said the Chief, with a broad smile, "perhaps it isn't such a deep mystery after all."
"Tell me what you mean when you say that," demanded the boy, loftily, as though he resented the fact that anything should be kept from him a single second.
"Why, Frank and Andy found these things in their shop, left by the two men who tried to get their hydroplane; and the chances are ten to one the same parties went right straight over to your place and got yours as a second choice."
"I don't like the way you speak of my biplane, Chief, which cost ever so much more money than the contraption the Bird boys own," Percy remarked, sneeringly; "but never mind, tell me what these things stand for. An electric torch and—why those things look like black masks. Great Caesar! and the Bloomsbury bank was robbed last night, they told me when I was rushing around looking for you. See here, do you think the yeggs who did that neat job got away with my biplane?"
Percy was getting more excited than ever now. When he did, he seemed to just foam a little at the corners of his mouth, his eyes glittered, and his face turned red.
"There seems to be no doubt of it," replied the Chief, calmly, and yet with a stiffening of his figure, as though conscious of having already discovered a most promising clue, that could not but reflect credit on his astuteness as an officer of the law.
"They knew all about Frank's machine and mine too, then?" continued Percy, still grappling with the tremendous problem.
"Looks that way," the official went on to remark, "and makes me think more than ever that they must have a friend right here in Bloomsbury who put them wise to lots of things. Time'll tell that. But I don't suppose you found anything around your place like Frank did, to tell that some strangers had been there while you slept?"
"Not a blessed thing; though, to tell the honest truth, I didn't hang around long when I found my biplane was gone. It was the best machine I ever owned, and as you know I've had several, all told. And inside of three days I expected that the latest model of aluminum pontoons would be along, to turn it into a water as well as an air craft. Now chances are, I'll never see it again, because, like as not, nobody knows which way in creation they went."
"We happen to have a pointer about that same thing," Andy could not help saying, though he hardly liked the superior air of the other, not being able to overlook such things as easily as his cousin did.
"I hope, then, you'll give it to the Chief, Andy," the Carberry boy remarked, for the first time directly speaking to one of the cousins.
"Sure thing. We want to see the rascals copped just as much as anybody does. You see, Felix, he's the farm hand up at Mr. Quackenboss' place, and me, we thought it good policy to stay around, and keep an eye on our machine while it was lying overnight in that meadow. I had had a long watch of it, and was taking my turn at sleeping when just at daybreak Felix shook me, and said there was a queer noise up aloft that kind of scared him, and which he rather believed must come from some sort of air craft.
"Oh!" exclaimed Percy, looking intensely interested, of course; "go on, please."
"I jumped up, and sure enough I glimpsed a biplane passing over, and headed up the lake at a pretty good height, I thought it looked like your machine, but as I remarked to Frank later on, whoever steered it had a different way about him from your method. While I was wondering what took you out so early, and I could see there were two in the machine, a big flock of crows passed over, and I lost track of it.
"So, you see, Percy," broke in the eager Chief just at that point, "we've got a pretty good clue already about the direction the rascals took, who broke into the safe of the bank, and carried off a bagful of money, and valuable papers; and then followed that up by cribbing your biplane. It was north they went, up the lake, in fact; and that's the quarter we'll have to look for them. But let me tell you it's putting it pretty hard over on a police officer to make him try to track a stolen flying machine."
"But you can get in touch with every town to the north, and pick up pointers here and there!" Percy declared, excitedly. "Get back to town as fast as you can, Chief, and with a couple of your men I'll carry you wherever you want to go. In the meanwhile, you can leave orders for your men to do the wiring business; and whenever we strike a town we can ring up Headquarters over the 'phone, and learn what news they've managed to pick up."
Percy seemed to think that all he had to do was to tell the Chief what he wanted; but then his plan of campaign was really a good one, and the police officer was wise enough not to quarrel with his bread and butter; for the Widow Carberry was a large property owner in Bloomsbury.
"You just take the words out of my mouth seems like it," he remarked; "and that is the best plan we could carry out. I was just going to suggest to Frank and Andy here, that if they felt like taking a little spin off to the northward this fine morning, and discovered anything suspicious, they could get word to us, perhaps through the Bloomsbury Central, for we'll be apt to keep in touch with home."
Percy did not know whether to look pleased at this suggestion or not. It would be just like the everlasting luck of the Bird boys to make another remarkable success out of this thing, for they seemed to have a failing that way, while all the hard fortune came in his direction. That would give him a pain to be sure, for he was horribly envious of their local fame as successful aviators; but at the same time he hated to lose that beautiful biplane, which he had not owned very long, and which had taken his heart by storm.
So Percy finally compromised, as he frequently did. He even forced a grim smile to appear upon his face, though it did not deceive Frank in the least; and as for Andy, he never took the least stock in Percy Carberry's honesty. In his mind there was always a deep meaning underneath every action of the other.
"Why, sure I hope Frank will discover the thieves, and recover the stuff they've grabbed from the bank; also that he'll have the good luck to get back my biplane without its being badly wrecked. That reward is worth trying for, and I don't go back on my word."
All the same he knew very well that neither of the Bird boys could be forced to ever accept one penny from his hand, no matter what good Dame Fortune allowed them to do for him.
Andy was watching keenly when the Carberry boy walked back to his machine, and climbed into the steering seat. Frank, happening to look that way, saw his cousin's face lighted up as if in glee: and he even heard him chuckle. Perhaps Percy may have caught the same sound, for he turned his head after dropping down into his seat, and scowled darkly at Andy. There is nothing like a guilty conscience to bring about a self-betrayal; and somehow Percy seemed to know what the Bird boy was thinking about just then.
At any rate, he was an adept at the pilot wheel of a car, though inclined to be a reckless driver; just as he was also a daring air voyager, taking desperate chances that promised to bring him to grief one of these days.
Backing the car swiftly around, he sped away. Sandy Hollingshead, who had not once moved from his seat, or uttered a single word all the time, turned his head to look back; and Andy thought he too scowled darkly, as though stirred by unpleasant thoughts; but in another minute they had vanished around the bend far along the pike, and the Chief alone was seen, whipping up his nag, in the endeavor to get back as speedily as possible to Headquarters.
"Well, of all things, don't this just take the cake?" remarked Andy, when he and his cousin once more found themselves alone beside the motionless aeroplane, that nestled like a great bird on the grass close to the road.
"It certainly looks as though we might be in for a little more excitement," replied Frank; "but what seemed to make you chuckle so much, Andy? You must have noticed something that escaped my attention, because I was busy thinking of other things. Suppose you open up, and tell me?"
"I was tickled half to death to see how Percy tried to walk, as if nothing was the matter with him, when all the time he couldn't keep from limping; because, don't you see, one or several of those bird-shot Felix scattered around last night, must have stung him about the legs. That's why he scowled so at me, Frank!"
THE AIR SCOUTS
Frank laughed a little, himself, when he heard his cousin say this.
"I give you credit for getting one on me there, Andy," he declared.
"Then you believe I hit the right nail on the head, do you, Frank?"
"Well," remarked the other, "come to think of it, Percy did have a little limp; and I guess he tried to hide it the best he could, for I remember seeing him wince several times. But how about Sandy, who never tried to get out of the car once, and didn't even open his lips to say a single word?"
"I bet you he got a double dose, and is pretty sore this morning." Andy went on. "You seemed to think it was kind of hard lines for Felix to give 'em a load when they were pretty far off, and just climbing over that fence; but it tickles me every time I think of it. Seemed like the whole bunch just fell over after he shot; and like as not each fellow got his share of the Number Eights somewhere in his legs. But how about this job the Chief asked us to engineer, Frank? Are we going to start off on that little spin up the lake; and d'ye guess we could get a pointer about where the two thieves have gone?"
"We might try, anyhow; no harm in that," was his cousin's reply, as he turned once more toward the hydroplane that lay near by.
"I remember we had great luck that other time, when we discovered that the men who broke into Leffingwell's place were hiding in that old cabin up in the woods. Perhaps the same story might be repeated, who knows? They call it the Bird boys' luck, Frank; but then, we work for all we get, and ought to have a little credit when we win out. If we made a bad job of things, the same people would be quick to say we didn't know our business. Shall we go back to the shop first?"
"That would be the only way," replied Frank. "If we're going to take on this dangerous job of looking up yeggmen who have broken into a bank, and looted it, why, it seems to me we ought to make a little preparation. Of course, about all we expect to do is to scout around, and see if we can pick up any information with the aid of our marine glasses. It's hardly to be expected that two boys would take the chance of trying to nab a couple of reckless thieves, who must be armed and desperate."
"But if the opening came, Frank, we wouldn't let it slip by, would we?" asked Andy, always willing to go to the limit, when temptation beckoned.
"Perhaps not," answered the other, smilingly; "but there's no use crossing a bridge till we come to it, so we won't bother any more about that. Get aboard, Andy, and we'll head for home again."
"Just think of all that's happened since we had that little accident yesterday afternoon, up near the Quackenboss place?" Andy went on to say, as he complied with his cousin's request, and settled himself in his seat, leaving the piloting of the machine to Frank.
"There has been quite a little run of excitement, that's a fact," mused the other; "first the accident, and our great good luck in making a landing without breaking a thing, including our precious necks."
"Then the discovery of Percy and Sandy looking at the hydroplane lying there, and hurrying away as if they had already laid a plan to come back and pay a night visit, if they failed to see us get home by daylight," Andy went on to add.
"Events followed thick and fast after that, Andy—the coming of the four fellows, with their faces hidden; their repulse at the hands of yourself and the friendly Felix; then the robbery of the bank; the breaking into our shop by men who left their cards behind in the shape of these burglar tools; the meeting of the Chief on the road, and the news he gave us; and last of all the coming of Percy with the startling news that his biplane had been stolen!"
"Yes, but don't forget my seeing it sailing over just at early dawn," remarked the other, as Frank stooped forward for a last look around, before starting up the powerful little Kinkaid engine. "Because that promises to play quite a figure in the pursuit of the smart thieves; though they may be fifty miles away from here by now, if they know how to handle that fine biplane right."
"Hold tight; we're off!" warned Frank, as he applied the power; for the new engine was of course a self-starter, and could be operated from his seat with almost as much ease as might be shown in using electricity, and pressing the button.
The hydroplane ran easily along the ground, for the bicycle wheels were always kept in first class condition; and as the speed kept on increasing Frank soon uptilted the plane, and like a great bird rising from the ground, with a graceful sweep the flying machine took to the air.
Long practice had made the Bird boys familiar with every movement connected with the actions of an aeroplane, but at the same time they tried to be always on their guard against being incautious. That is the trouble with most aviators; they grow so familiar with danger that they forget the terrible risk that always hangs over the head of every one who soars aloft in his frail airship; and then, when finally something happens after they have become too reckless, they never get another chance.
Sweeping along not more than three hundred feet above the ground, the boys were home in almost no time. They could see the car containing Percy Carberry, and his crony, Sandy, just vanishing among the houses of Bloomsbury; and the Chief, about half-way there, waved his hat at them as they sped past him.
Then the aeroplane dropped lightly down close to the hangar back of the Bird home, where Andy and his father, the professor, lived, together with old Colonel Whympers, the veteran who used crutches or a cane on account of his rheumatism, brought on, he always declared, not by age, oh! no, but the wounds he received many years ago, when he was fighting for his country in the great civil war.
He was sitting there on a pile of lumber waiting for them, a quaint old fellow, who was greatly beloved by both cousins; and who believed firmly that some fine day Andy Bird was bound to even eclipse the fame which his father had gained in the field of science and aviation.
It happened that the professor was away at the time delivering a series of lectures before some body of scientists in a distant city. And whenever the boys were in their shop the old veteran was in the habit of coming around, to see what new and wonderful things engaged their attention, as well as chatting with them. And he was as welcome as the sun in May.
Of course, just then he was bristling with questions as a hedgehog would be with sharp-pointed quills. And knowing the Colonel of old, Frank and Andy lost no time in telling him all that had happened to them, from the time of their little accident, down to when they heard the latest news from Percy Carberry.
"And I warrant now," remarked Colonel Whimpers, as soon as the tale was finished, "that you two boys get the first clew to where the robbers are hiding. Didn't you beat the wonderful Chief out before, and doesn't history have a habit of repeating itself? Oh; if only I was ten years younger, how I'd love to be along, when all these glorious things are happening. I hate to think I'm put by on the shelf and never can be any good again."
That was the old man's only fault; he was forever complaining because his day for indulging in exciting scenes had passed; but any one who knew the half that he had passed through, would think the colonel had no reason to say anything; and that it was only right that someone else had a show.
They soon soothed him, however, and long practice had made Andy particularly apt at this sort of thing.
"Here come Elephant and Larry, on the run," remarked Frank, a little while later; "I wonder if they saw us come home, and whether they can have picked up any additional news connected with the bank robbery, that we ought know."
"Well, it might pay us to hold up a little, and see," added Andy.
"Yes, since we're in no great hurry, and the day is long," Frank remarked.
The two boys came up panting for breath. Larry had evidently set the pace, and it was a matter of the smaller lad keeping with him, or else being left behind, something Elephant never liked to have happen; so that he was unable to say even a single word for a full minute after arriving alongside the hangar.
"Tell us, have they learned anything new since the Chief started off?" asked Frank, as usual right to the point; and in this way cutting off the myriad of questions which he knew both the newcomers were primed to ask.
"Why, yes," gasped Larry, while Elephant nodded his head as if to say he agreed to all that was said, "after Percy came bustling around, asking for the Chief, and telling how somebody had busted into his place, and run off with his biplane in the night, they got to talking it over, and wondering if it could have been the robbers, and if one of 'em knew how to handle such things. So they called up the city, and asked questions. In that way they learned that there was a yegg who had been suspected of having been connected with several other jobs, though they never could just put the kibosh on him, and his name is Casper Blue, and one time he used to be an actor, and then became a pretty well-known flier, but in an accident he broke his arm, and had to give up his business. He was always a crooked sort of feller, and after that just boozed around, joined in with hobo gangs, and they believe touched up a few jobs himself. There, that's all we know; and now, what you been doing?"
"Too long a story to tell just now," declared Frank. "The colonel knows, and perhaps he'll amuse you after we've gone."
"Oh! say, are you meanin' to take after them fellers that busted the bank safe, and then got away with Percy's biplane?" asked Elephant eagerly; "don't I wish though I could just hang on behind, and be in the swim for once. You two seem to have about all the fun there is going, hang the luck, say I?"
"Well, you'd better not try it, that's what!" said Andy, shaking his head threateningly at the bare suggestion of having Elephant aboard when they made a start.
"I think we've got everything now, Andy," remarked Frank, anxious to be off.
"Hope you're taking guns along, because if you do run across them hobo fellers you'll be apt to need them right bad," Larry went on to say, also looking downcast at having to miss all the sport simply because Nature had never intended him for an aviator, as he was inclined to get dizzy when looking down from any height.
"Oh! Frank's provided for that, and besides, we don't really expect to round the thieves up, just find out if they've dropped down anywhere inside of thirty miles to the north of Bloomsbury. Shall I get aboard, Frank?"
"Yes; and after we're off, Larry, will you and Elephant do me the favor to step around to my house, and tell my folks that the Bird boys have hired out as scouts to Chief Waller? Tell dad that we'll be mighty careful, and for mother not to worry about us. You know I always call Aunt Laura mother, because she's been that ever since my own died years ago. Will you do that, boys?" and Frank sitting there ready to start, turned a smiling face upon his two friends. Even as they promised, the aeroplane started off, and a minute later soared up in the air, like a bird rejoicing at its freedom for leaving the earth behind.