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diff --git a/old/62792-0.txt b/old/62792-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a6a3e14..0000000 --- a/old/62792-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7033 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship, by Howard Payson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship - -Author: Howard Payson - -Release Date: July 31, 2020 [EBook #62792] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: ... the flier ... now came roaring ... directly above the - boys’ heads. (_Page 138_)] - - - - - THE BOY SCOUTS - AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP - - - By LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON - - - Author of - “The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol,” “The Boy Scouts on the Range,” - “The Boy Scouts’ Mountain Camp,” “The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam,” “The - Boy Scouts at the Panama Canal,” etc. - - [Illustration: Series logo] - - - A. L. BURT COMPANY - Publishers New York - Printed in U. S. A. - - Copyright, 1911, - BY - HURST & COMPANY - - MADE IN U. S. A. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. Sea Scouts at Play 5 - II. The Spearing of the Sturgeon 18 - III. Jack Curtiss Reappears 32 - IV. Paul Perkins’ Motor Scooter 43 - V. The Boy Who Made the Wheels Go Round 54 - VI. Two Mysterious Men 65 - VII. How a Secret Passage Was Used 74 - VIII. An Unexpected Encounter 84 - IX. Wherein Captain Hudgins’ Bees Swarm 95 - X. Mr. Stonington Hunt—Schemer 106 - XI. The Army Airship 120 - XII. Tubby Escapes an Orange Bomb 133 - XIII. What Happened in the Woods 145 - XIV. Mr. Hunt Delivers a Telegram 156 - XV. A Boy Who Flew 170 - XVI. “There’s Many a Slip——” 182 - XVII. Fire! 193 - XVIII. Jack Uses a File 208 - XIX. The Great Race 221 - XX. A Schooner in Trouble 232 - XXI. Motor-Scooters to the Rescue 246 - XXII. Jim Dugan Again 257 - XXIII. A Chase in the Night 272 - XXIV. A Bolt from the Blue 289 - - - - - The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship - - - - - CHAPTER I. - SEA SCOUTS AT PLAY. - - -“Go!” - -Commodore Wingate of the Hampton Yacht Club gave the word in a sharp, -tense voice. The pistol he held extended above his head cracked sharply. -The crowds massed upon the clubhouse verandas and in the vicinity broke -into hoarse cheers as the tension of waiting was relieved. - -“There they go!” came the cry. - -Before the puff of blue smoke from the discharged pistol had been wafted -away by a light breeze, two eighteen-foot, double-ended whaleboats shot -out from either side of the float. For ten minutes or more they had been -teetering there, like leashed greyhounds. This was while the final words -of instruction were being given. Now the suspense of the preliminaries -was over, and the “Spearing the Sturgeon” contest, between the Hawk and -Eagle Patrols of Hampton, was on. - -Bow and bow the two white craft hissed over the sparkling, blue waters -of the inlet. From the clubhouse porch, from the beach, from the sand -dunes of the farther side of the Inlet, and from the row of automobiles -parked along the beach—which had come from all parts of Long Island—the -strivers were cheered. - -The afternoon’s program of exciting water sports, arranged by the -Scoutmasters of the rival patrols, was now reaching its climax. The -packed yacht club and automobile crowds ashore had never seen anything -like it before. Among them was our old friend of the first volume of -this series—“The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol”—namely, Captain Job -Hudgins. - -“It’s the beatingest I ever seed afloat or ashore, douse my toplights if -it ain’t,” the captain was loudly declaring to a group of cronies. - -“Them Bye Scuts did wonders in the west, they tell me,” commented Si -Stebbins, the postmaster and village store-keeper. “In my day, though, a -bye had ter work an’ not go foolin’ aroun’ in er uniform like them -Scuts.” - -“What air yer talkin’ about?” put in another voice. “Them Boy Scouts is -a good thing fer this town. Didn’t ther newspapers hev all erbout how -they beat out a band of cattle rustlers and Injuns in ther west, an’ -most got killed doin’ it?” - -“They’d hev bin a sight better ter hum minding their own bizness,” -opined Jeb Trotter, a village character, but there were few who had -watched the exciting afternoon of healthy, wholesome water sports who -agreed with him. - -As the readers of the “Boy Scouts on the Range” may recollect, it was -mentioned in that book that, during Leader Rob’s absence on a friend’s -ranch in the west, another patrol—namely, the Hawk—had been formed. On -his return, as was natural, the lads of the Eagle had besieged him with -proposals to try conclusions with the Hawks. Finally, under Scoutmaster -Blake with Wingate’s supervision, a program had been arranged. It -included a game of water polo, tub races, a greased pole competition, a -race between small cat-boats, and, as a grand wind-up feature, the -exciting “Spearing the Sturgeon” game. - -Honors were even up to the moment that the two boats dashed away from -the float. The laurels of the afternoon would go to the victorious crew. -No wonder a cheer went up as the double-enders skimmed over the -sparkling water toward a dark object, about six feet in length, near -which a canoe, containing the referee, Bartley Holmes, hovered. - -The dark object was “the sturgeon.” It was formed of soft wood, and had -two realistic eyes painted on the thicker part of its body. It really -did look something like a sturgeon, as it lay bobbing about on the -water. At the bow of each boat stood a lithe young figure in bathing -togs. Each held poised above his head a keen, pointed harpoon. The eyes -of both of the spearsmen were riveted, as their crews urged their boats -forward, upon the sturgeon’s dark outline. - -In the stern of each boat, from which fluttered flags bearing their -patrol figures in proper colorings, was poised a steersman, holding a -single oar. In the Eagles’ boat the helmsman was Merritt Crawford. In -the Hawks’ craft the position was held by a lad named Dale Harding. -Skillfully each coxswain directed his flying craft to a point of vantage -from which their spearsman could hurl his harpoon to the most effective -purpose. - -The young harpooners stood tense and rigid as pieces of statuary, every -sinew and muscle in their bodies ready for the first “strike.” The -Eagles’ harpooner, Rob Blake, the leader of that patrol, was perhaps a -little smaller in girth and height than Freeman Hunt, the harpooner and -leader of the Hawks, but what Rob lacked in “beef,” he made up in -sinuous activity. The fall sun glinted on his tough, brown flesh, as if -it had been bronze. “Hard as nails” you would have said if you could -have looked him over. - -As the green and black “Eagle” standard, and the pink “Hawk” flag began -to close in from their different points of the compass, a sharp cry went -up from the onlookers. - -“K-r-ee-ee-ee-ee!” shrilled the patrol cry of the Eagles from veranda, -dune and beach. - -Then a breathless hush fell as they waited for the first strike. The -referee, in his dark-green canoe, dodged about as actively as a water -bug, watching every move closely. - -The crews were made up as follows: - - EAGLES. HAWKS. - Spearsman, Rob Blake. Spearsman, Freeman Hunt. - Helmsman, Merritt Crawford. Helmsman, Dale Harding. - Oars: Oars: - Stroke, Tubby Hopkins. Stroke, Lem Lonsdale. - No. 1, Ernest Thompson. No. 1, Fred Ingalls. - No. 2, Hiram Nelson. No. 2, Grover Bell. - No. 3, Paul Perkins. No. 3, Phil Speed. - -A deep-throated roar went up from the shore as Rob Blake’s harpoon -glinted in the sunlight and sank quivering into the soft wood of the -sturgeon. Instantly Merritt Crawford swung on his oar, bringing the bow -of the boat round. But as he did so, there came another flash, and -Freeman Hunt’s harpoon sank deep into the quarry, not six inches from -Rob’s spear. - -“Pull, you Eagles!” came a wild shout from shoreward. - -“Now then, Hawks!” roared back the rival contingent. - -Both crews were backing water for all they were worth, each seeking to -draw the other’s harpoon out of the “sturgeon.” The harpoons were not -barbed, which might have made them dangerous, and a determined pull -would be likely to dislodge one. - -“Give them rope!” shouted Merritt from the stern of the Eagles’ boat, -and Rob, as the Hawks started to pull away, paid out his harpoon line -rapidly. This maneuver rested his men while it saved his spear from -being damaged. The Hawks, on the other hand, were straining their backs -with feverish energy. They fairly dripped as they bent to their oars. - -“Now then, come ahead easy!” ordered Rob, and the Eagles’ boat began to -creep up. - -But still the two harpoons stood upright in the “flesh” of the wooden -game. Bartley Holmes came scudding up in his canoe. - -“Carefully now, boys! Carefully!” he urged, watching things narrowly. - -“They’re trying to work up into their base!” shouted Merritt suddenly, -as the boats neared the shore. - -“Working into their base” meant that the opposing crew would try to land -the “fish” at their starting point. In such case, the first heat would -go to them, even if the Eagles’ spear was sticking in the sturgeon at -the time. - -“Back water!” cried Rob suddenly. - -The lad, crouching over the water, had been watching every move of his -opponents anxiously. He detected signs of weakening in the crew of the -Hawks, and gave the signal to reverse the motion of his boat as the -Hawks slacked up ever so little. - -The line zanged up out of the water, dripping and taut, as Rob’s crew -obeyed the sharp order. - -As it did so, there was a cry of dismay from the Hawk supporters, when -they beheld Freeman Hunt’s spear, which had not sunk as deep as Rob’s, -jerked out of the “fish.” Hunt gritted his teeth angrily. He was not a -boy who relished defeat at any game, and the yells of the Eagle -adherents enraged him. - -“Get after them, you dubs!” he bellowed, as the Eagle boat darted off, -towing the captured sturgeon behind them. - -It was Hunt’s object to overtake them and spear the “fish” again. In -this case a fresh struggle, in which he might prove victorious, would -ensue. - -Everybody was now on the tiptoe of excitement. It was a race for the -Eagles’ base. With Rob’s muscular young crew bending to their oars with -the regularity of machine-driven mechanism, the boat bearing the green -and black standard fairly hissed through the water. Behind her there -towed clumsily the black form of the captured sturgeon. - -“More steam! More steam!” shouted Hunt, dancing up and down in the bow -of the craft, as the Hawk Patrol boys gave way with all their power. But -pull as they would, they were no match for the Eagles, who had rested -while they were needlessly exerting their strength. - -“Eagles!” - -“K-r-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!” - -“Go on, Hawks!” - -“Don’t give up!” - -“Pull, boys! PULL!” - -The yells came now in one continuous roar, but they did not affect the -result of the first heat at all. - -Bang! - -The starter’s pistol cracked once more as the Eagles’ whaler, with the -sturgeon in tow, shot across the line. But as she did so, Freeman Hunt -made a desperate effort, and by some fluke—for the distance between the -boats must have been twenty feet,—succeeded in landing his spear in the -sturgeon’s tail. - -“Back water! Back water!” Dale Harding began yelling, working his -steering oar about. - -“Too late,” laughed back Rob good-naturedly. “Try again next heat.” - -“What do you mean?” shouted Hunt angrily. “My harpoon is in.” - -“Yes, but we had crossed the line as you cast it,” yelled back Merritt. - -An immediate appeal to Commodore Wingate followed, the referee being -hopelessly outdistanced in that wild dash for the float. - -“Silence!” he shouted above the confusion of excited boyish voices. -Instantly there was a hush, only broken by some excited supporter of the -Hawks having it out with an equally heated adherent of the Eagles. - -“My decision is that the Eagles win the first heat,” announced Mr. -Wingate. “The sturgeon was across the base line before the Hawks -harpooned it.” - -Instantly Bedlam broke loose. - -“He’s right.” - -“He isn’t.” - -“I saw it myself.” - -“Well, you ought to have your eyes seen to.” - -These, and a hundred other argumentative remarks, filled the air, but, -of course, like most such outbursts, they had no effect on the referee’s -decision. There was a glowering, angry look on Freeman Hunt’s face, -though, as the two boats changed bases for the next heat. - -“We’ll get you this trip,” he grated, as the Eagle’s boat scraped past -his craft. - -“Say, Hunt, you’re an awful bad loser,” piped up the corpulent Tubby, -winking at the others. - -“Oh, I am, am I, you tub of lard. Just you wait. We’ll show you. You may -have got that heat by a technical decision, but we’ll beat you fair and -square this time.” - -“Well, we’re both here to try just that,” Rob reminded the angry boy, as -the boats bumped and passed. - -“The second of the three heats is now on!” bellowed the announcer -through his megaphone. - -“Are you ready?” demanded Mr. Wingate, as the occupants of both boats -anxiously awaited the signal. - -“All right here,” announced Freeman Hunt, on whose face an angry light -still showed. - -“Go ahead, sir,” cried Rob. - -The pistol cracked, and the two boats darted forth once more, now on the -second lap of their intense struggle for supremacy. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - THE SPEARING OF THE STURGEON. - - -There were to be three heats in the contest. One having already gone to -the Eagles, it behooved the Hawks to exert themselves to the uttermost -to even matters up. The short rest at the float had done them good. -During the breathing spell, the sturgeon had once more been towed out by -Bartley Holmes, and now lay bobbing temptingly, awaiting the young -harpooners. Freeman Hunt’s crew, rowing with unwise desperation, were -the first at the mark this time. The “sturgeon” gave an awkward wallow -and vanished from view for a breath, as Hunt’s harpoon flashed through -the air and sank deep into it. An encouraging cheer went up from the -shore. Hunt grinned confidently, as Dale Harding ordered his rowers to -speed off with their prey. - -But Rob’s boat was almost upon the sturgeon as Hunt’s harpoon sank into -it. Tautening every muscle the boy hurtled his weapon, less then a -second later. But the steel point, instead of sinking in, merely grazed -the bobbing, yielding object, and shot into the water with a splash. - -“W-e-l-l!” - -An ironical groan came from the Hawks’ supporters ashore. The success of -the Pink Bird’s patrol encouraged them. - -“What did I tell you!” shouted Hunt triumphantly, as Rob, without any -expression of anger or chagrin crossing his features, proceeded to haul -in his harpoon. - -Rob made no reply. Instead he turned to Merritt. - -“All the ginger you can, old man,” he said quietly, as the Hawks’ boat -dashed off at top speed, towing the captured sturgeon behind them. -Already they were two or three boat lengths ahead of the Eagles. - -“Fathom! Fathom!” shouted Rob suddenly. - -His keen eyes had noticed that the Hawks’ boat had not paid out line to -the fathom mark, which was indicated by a bit of red rag tied in the -harpoon rope. Instead, they were towing their quarry quite close to -their stern. - -“It’s out!” shouted back Dale Harding, a flash of defiance in his eye, -but the referee’s voice cut in. - -“Fathom there! Pay out your line!” he ordered sharply. - -Rather sulkily Dale obeyed. This gave Rob another chance. Poising -himself carefully, he threw once more. This time his cast landed in the -wooden back, but the distance was so great that much of the force of the -cast was lost. The steel point of the harpoon hung quiveringly in not -more than an inch of wood. - -“Yah-h-h-h-h!” yelled the Hawkites disgustedly. - -“Good for you, Blake!” came a roar from the Eagle supporters. - -“A spurt. Pull, you beggars!” yelled Dale suddenly. - -The Hawks’ craft shot forward. Dale’s sharp eyes had seen that Rob’s -spear had only lodged lightly in the “fish,” whereas Hunt’s harpoon was -firmly embedded. The move was successful. As the lines tautened, Rob’s -harpoon point was jerked out of the “sturgeon.” With a shout, the Hawks -shot forward for their float. - -“W-e-l-l!” yelled the Hawks’ crowd ashore, in further ironical -astonishment. - -“Hard luck!” encouraged Merritt from the stern, as Rob hauled in. “Try -again.” - -“All right, if you fellows will put me alongside. I guess all my fingers -have turned to thumbs,” rejoined Rob. Not a trace of anger over his -failure to spear the fish revealed itself. He seemed as sunny and -good-natured as ever. - -The Eagles gave way with a will. They would need every ounce of their -muscle and reserve force if they were to overtake the seemingly -victorious Hawks. But with leaps and bounds, the Eagle boat came upon -the other a few hundred feet from the base line. Again Rob cast, and -again he missed—but this time there was a reason. As his harpoon had -launched through the air, Harding had given the line attached to the -“sturgeon” a slight tug. Light as it was, however, it was sufficient to -pull the floating target out of the harpoon reach. - -“Foul!” shouted Merritt angrily, from the stern of the Eagles’ boat. He, -too, apparently, had seen the action of Dale, and instantly called the -attention of the referee to it. Bartley Holmes was paddling near by, and -immediately came alongside. - -“What’s the trouble?” he demanded. - -“Why, Dale Harding jerked the rope just as Rob cast,” explained Merritt. -“Mustn’t they be penalized for a foul?” - -“It was an accident!” cried Harding, turning rather white under his tan. -“I was stooping down to fix a toggle pin and maybe I accidentally -touched the line. I don’t believe, though, it made any difference.” - -“If you touched the line at all, you infringed on a rule,” declared the -referee. Then to Rob: - -“Do you wish to claim this heat on a foul?” - -“No, sir,” rejoined Rob instantly. “If it was an accident, that’s good -enough for me. We don’t wish to take advantage of anything like that.” - -“All right. Go ahead, then.” - -The Hawks’ boat shot forward, and before Rob could gather up his line -and coil it for another throw, they had towed the “sturgeon” across -their base line. - -Instantly from human throats, auto horns, and launch whistles a great -uproar arose. While it was at its height, Bartley Holmes once more towed -out the sturgeon, and placed it in position for the third and decisive -struggle. - -“We’ve got to win this final,” Hunt found time to whisper to Harding, -while the boats changed bases. “If we capture it, we put the Hawks on -top for the winter. If we lose it, we’ll have to take second place.” - -“We’ll win it,” Dale assured him positively. - -“It won’t be my fault if we don’t,” rejoined Hunt. Victory affected him -as much as defeat. His cheeks were now flushed with a color that was not -all caused by exertion. He openly triumphed over the Eagles as they -rowed past. - -The final did not open with the dash that had marked the two other -heats. Both crews were evidently conserving their efforts for what they -felt was to be a severe struggle. In fact, neither boat appeared in any -hurry to reach the mark. Both coxswains contented themselves with -keeping bow and bow, eyeing each other warily, however, on the alert for -any unexpected move on the part of their rivals. - -As before, it was Hunt’s harpoon that first found a resting place. But -as it settled in the wood, Rob’s weapon flashed silverly, and skillfully -fell so that his line was drawn across the shaft of the Hawk -harpoonist’s weapon. Then with a quick jerk of his forearm, and, before -the Hawks could slacken up, Rob drew his line taut. - -Splash! - -Out came the Hawks’ spear and fell into the water in a shower of spray, -cunningly dislodged by Rob’s cleverness. - -Hunt scowled blackly as the two boats drew alongside to disentangle the -weapons. He said nothing, however, but glanced back at Harding. The -lines were speedily cast apart, and the two boats drew off for a fresh -attack. But as they did so, Dale Harding inclined his steering oar and -the Hawks’ boat came crashing down upon the Eagles’ craft. Tubby -Hopkins’ oar was caught between them and almost snapped. - -“Hold up! Hold up!” he shouted angrily. “What are you trying to do?” - -“Keep off there, Dale. How can you be so careless?” admonished Hunt, -but, nevertheless, a gleam of satisfaction lit up his eyes as he noted -that Tubby’s wrist had been twisted, and from the way in which the fat -boy held the member it must have been giving him some pain. - -“Don’t let accidents like that happen again, Harding,” warned Bartley -Holmes sharply, “or I’ll disqualify you.” - -“Row right up on it this time; I want to get a good hold,” hailed Rob to -Merritt. The coxswain nodded and as the oarsmen gave way he directed the -prow of the boat almost directly at the floating “sturgeon.” - -“We’ll wait and see what they do,” declared Hunt, addressing his crew. -“If they hook fast, I’ll try Rob’s trick and yank his harpoon out. If -they don’t, we’ll drive the spear deep and tug theirs out.” - -With a sharp “z-i-i-g!” Rob’s harpoon flew from his hand and sank -shivering into the soft wood of the “sturgeon.” - -“Good strike!” shouted Bartley Holmes from his canoe. - -“Back water, Eagles!” yelled Merritt, as the Hawks came driving down -upon the quarry. Hunt’s sinewy form stood erect and tensile for a -second, then down drove his arm with every ounce of muscular effort of -which he was capable. - -“Good boy!” shouted the impartial referee. - -The leader of the Hawks had sunk his weapon fully as far into the -floating target as had Rob. - -“Now for the tug of war,” muttered Holmes, as the two boats drew apart, -both harpoon-ropes stretching taut as violin strings. Suddenly Rob -almost toppled backward as the strain on the Eagles’ boat was quickly -released and she shot forward. His harpoon had pulled out. It had not -been lodged deeply enough to resist the strain. On the other hand, -Hunt’s weapon seemed to be somewhat wobbly poised. Evidently, the -tugging had weakened its grip. - -But the Hawks paid no attention to this. Nor indeed could they do -anything to repair it without breaking the rules. Instead, they darted -off at top speed for the shore. A mighty, ear-splitting roar went up as -it was seen that the Hawk standard was for the second time, apparently, -victorious. - -“It’s two out of three, fellows! We win!” Hunt exclaimed, as his boat -shot through the water. - -But in the meantime, the Eagles had not been idle. Rob had hauled in his -dripping line and now stood once more ready for action. Behind him Tubby -was hitting up a terrific stroke. The Eagles’ boat fairly flew in -pursuit of the captors of the trophy. - -“It’s now or never,” thought Rob, as at twenty feet or more he decided -to cast. Another second and it would be too late. With every effort he -could muster, the lad launched his harpoon, aiming, not at the body of -the fish, but at the Hawks’ weapon. - -“He’s done it!” went up a shout of exultation from the Eagles’ rooters, -as for the second time that day Rob’s harpoon dislodged his opponent’s -spear. - -“Confound the luck!” grated out Hunt, as he saw the victory torn from -his grasp, as it were. His groan of dismay was echoed by every one in -the Hawks’ boat. - -“Close in! Close in!” yelled Dale, urging his crew around, while Hunt -rapidly manipulated his line, cast it loose of Rob’s, and made ready for -a fresh cast. - -A current had caught the sturgeon and carried it quite a distance from -the two boats, and seaward, while this was going on. A sharp dash -followed. It was a culminating tussle. Straining every nerve and muscle, -the Eagles and the Hawks flew forward, as swiftly almost as their -namesakes. - -“Now!” shouted Merritt. - -Rob’s harpoon whistled through the air and sank, with a “squdge,” into -the side of the bobbing, evasive target. - -A second later Hunt’s weapon, too, sought a resting place in the elusive -thing. But, alas for Hunt’s endeavor! The very energy he threw into his -cast unbalanced him, and he toppled with a splash and a great commotion -clean over the bow of his craft and into the water. - -He could swim like a fish, and came up a second later, puffing and -sputtering. With the stream of water he emitted from his lips as he rose -to the surface was mingled some savage language. Hastily he grabbed the -gunwale of the Hawks’ boat, and started to clamber into it. - -To his intense joy, he saw, as he emerged from his ducking, that his -spear seemed to be firmly fixed in the wooden fish. - -“Hurry up!” urged Dale. “We’ll get them yet.” - -The Eagles rapidly passed the line under the keel of their boat till it -trailed out astern. - -“Give way!” shouted Merritt, and “give way” with a will did the four -pairs of healthy young arms. The Eagle boat fairly cut through the -water. The maneuver caught the Hawks napping. Before they could do -anything their line was drawn taut, and the harpoon Freeman Hunt had -planted was jerked out. - -“Hooray!” came a deep, swelling roar, surging toward the contestants, -from the shore. - -“Now then, Eagles, you’ve got them!” - -“After them, Hawks!” - -“Don’t give up!” - -“K-r-ee-ee-ee!” - -These cries and a thousand others, mingled in a perfect babel of sound. -To the uproar, however, neither of the crews paid any attention. Their -efforts and energies were all bent in one direction—to get across the -base line first with the fish. The Hawks’ boat made a creditable spurt, -while Hunt gathered up his line ready for a fresh cast. He would make an -attempt to snatch victory out of defeat. How much his mind was bent upon -success, it was easy to see by his lined brow and narrowed eyes. Closer -and closer to the flying Eagles crept the Hawks’ boat. - -Unencumbered by a wooden fish to tow, they could make much faster time. -Now they were almost upon the prey, and Freeman Hunt drew himself up for -a supreme effort. His brown arm drew back, showing the muscles bulging -and working under the flesh. - -The next instant the harpoonist of the Hawks made his last cast -and—lost! His weapon flashed into the water, missing the target by the -fraction of an inch. An instant later the Eagles’ boat shot across the -base line, amid a pandemonium of cheers, yells, tooting of auto horns -and sympathetic groans for the losers. The Eagles had won out in the big -event of the day. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - JACK CURTISS REAPPEARS. - - -It was one Saturday night following the aquatic field day. The winter -term of hard work had commenced at the Hampton Academy, giving the Boy -Scouts less time to devote to their organization work than they had -found during the summer. Rob Blake, Merritt Crawford, and Tubby Hopkins -were on their way home through the gathering dusk from a game of Hare -and Hounds, which had wound up by the catching of the hare at a village -called Aquebogue, some distance from Hampton. - -At a steady jog trot the three lads were making their way toward their -home village. A slight chill predictive of the coming winter was in the -air, but for the time of year, mid-October, the evening was unusually -calm and warm. It was this late Indian summer that had made the water -games possible. - -The boys’ conversation, as they jogged along, dealt mainly with the -astonishing things that had happened to them on the Harkness ranch in -the wildest part of Arizona. All of these were related in detail in “The -Boy Scouts on The Range.” Readers of that book will recall how Rob -Blake, the son of the president of the National Bank of Hampton; Merritt -Crawford, one of the numerous family of the village blacksmith, and -Tubby Hopkins, the offspring of a widow in comfortable circumstances, -had accepted the invitation of Harry Harkness to get a taste of life on -the range. - -Their strange encounter with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, their former -enemies, was related in that volume, together with the surprising and -clever manner in which they turned the tables on those worthies. In that -book, too, we saw the raw Easterners—Tenderfeet, as they were—become -transformed from “greenies” into good shots, capable riders, and -excellent woodsmen. During their western stay they had broadened and -developed considerably from the lads who some months before had formed -the Eagle Patrol, as related in the first volume of this series, “The -Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol.” They had returned to Hampton better, -mentally and physically, for their trip. - -But like most lads who have left their native place for even a short -time, they found changes when they returned. Freeman Hunt, the son of a -well-to-do resident, had formed the Hawk Patrol, and enrolled in it as -many boys as he could. In the meantime, the Eagle Patrol had developed, -and now numbered twenty stalwart lads, in addition to the original ten -whom we know. In some way, however, instead of the spirit of -friendliness and good fellowship that should have prevailed, the Hawk -and Eagle Patrols found themselves involved in considerable rivalry. - -Now rivalry is good. Nothing could be better in athletics or daily life -than a healthy spirit of emulation. It is when rivalry degenerates into -bitterness that it is time to call a halt. Under Freeman Hunt’s -leadership, the Hawks had developed such a spirit. Dale Harding, Hunt’s -boon companion, had followed his leader’s example in abetting it, -instead of trying to allay hard and angry feelings. In fact, despite all -that the scoutmasters could do, the Hawks sought every opportunity to -lure the Eagles into open hostilities. - -Rob Blake and his crowd had managed hitherto to keep their men in check. -But the task was daily getting harder. Freeman Hunt had many good -qualities, but he could not bear to be beaten at anything. He was a bad -loser. Until the return of Rob and his chums from the West, he had had -things pretty much his own way. But since that time, every contest in -which the Hawks and Eagles had engaged had resulted in victory for the -latter. This galled Hunt and Harding exceedingly. They would have liked -to see and to hasten the return of Rob and his companions to the West, -or anywhere else, so long as they were left a free field for their -endeavors. - -The Sturgeon Spearing Contest had proved the climax of affairs between -the two patrols. In the dressing-room, after the awarding of the pennant -to the Eagles, Hunt had bitterly assailed Rob. The latter had stood -taunt after taunt without a word. He good-naturedly ascribed it to -Hunt’s natural chagrin at being beaten. Finally, an especially bitter -remark had moved him to reply. After all, Rob was only human. - -“Say, Hunt,” he said quietly, “don’t you think it would be a heap more -manly not to make so much noise about it?” - -“No, I don’t,” grated out Hunt, almost beside himself with rage. He came -close up to Rob and shook his fist threateningly. - -“Who are you, anyhow, to tell me what I’m to do, eh? What have you got -to say about it?” - -“Just this,” had been Rob’s reply, “that I think you are a pretty bad -loser.” - -“Oh, you do, eh? Well, I’m a better man than you—so take that!” - -_Smack!_ - -The infuriated lad had actually allowed his temper to carry his judgment -away so utterly as to strike his conqueror in the face. - -The other boys in the place had stood about, fairly gasping. What would -Rob do? To their astonishment, he did nothing. While an angry, crimson -mark grew upon his cheek where the blow had fallen, his countenance was -calm and composed. But he caught Hunt’s hand in a grip of iron. - -“Look here, Hunt,” he said quietly enough, but every word rang home with -sledge-hammer force, “you were beaten to-day. Worse, still, you can’t -take it like a man. To cap the climax, you have struck me. -Don’t—do—it—again.” - -The last words came slowly, but they made Hunt flinch. Even Harding, who -had been inclined to urge his crony on, held his breath. Would Rob -strike Freeman? That question was soon answered. Rob released the angry -boy’s wrists, and let him go. Muttering angrily, Hunt had slunk off to a -locker. - -“Why didn’t you have it out with him?” Dale asked him later, after Rob -and the others had dressed and gone. - -“Too many of his crowd around,” Hunt muttered in reply, “but I’ll fix -him. You watch me. He’s not going to get away with anything like that.” - -“I’m with you in anything you want to do,” Dale assured him. - -“I may give you an opportunity before long to show if you mean that or -not,” rejoined Hunt, but when Dale pressed him for some explanation, he -refused to enlarge on the thinly-veiled threat. - -Of this conversation, the lads, however, knew nothing, and were, -therefore, considerably astonished when, as they descended a bank -leading into the road to Hampton Inlet, a stoutly built lad, accompanied -by three others of about his own age and build, stepped from behind a -hedge, where they had evidently been lying in wait for the returning -lads. - -As the three figures stepped forward into the road, and blocked the path -of the homing lads, Rob recognized them: - -“Oh, it’s you, is it, Freeman Hunt?” he exclaimed. - -“Yes, it’s me,” retorted the other belligerently, blocking the way, “I -want to settle with you.” - -“Settle with me—what for?” exclaimed the astonished Rob. - -“For what you did in the locker room at the club the other day. You have -made me the laughing-stock of the place. Take off your coat, for I’m -going to give you the worst licking you ever had in your life.” - -“Mercy me!” exclaimed Tubby, pretending to quake. - -“Yes, and you’ll be laughing on the wrong side of your face before I get -through with him,” grated Freeman Hunt. “I can lick Rob Blake the best -day he ever walked.” - -“Do you think so?” asked Rob calmly. - -“I do; yes,” pugnaciously rejoined Hunt, thrusting forward his chin in a -manner he had seen depicted in pictures of pugilists. - -“Well, then,” was the astonishing reply, “let it go at that. We want to -get home.” - -“Well, what do you think of that?” exclaimed Lem Lonsdale, who was one -of the lads accompanying Hunt. - -“He wants to get home to his mammy,” sneered Dale Harding, Hunt’s other -companion. - -“Yes, but he’s got to take his medicine first,” snarled Hunt, who had, -unfortunately for himself, as it later appeared, mistaken Rob’s -unwillingness to enter into a bruising match for timidity. - -“So, you’re afraid to fight, eh?” he jeered. “Well, you’ve got to. Will -you put up your fists, and take it like a man, or will I have to trounce -you like a regular coward?” - -“Yes, how will you take your licking?” sneered Dale Harding, as Hunt -sprang at Rob, thinking to take him by surprise. - -“This way!” - -Like a pistol-shot, the words were snapped out. - -The next instant Hunt was seen to halt in his spring forward, and go -toppling backward. Rob, unwilling to hurt him, had “heeled” him. The -recumbent lad was furious. He scrambled to his feet, using a torrent of -strong language. - -“No necessity for that,” remarked Rob. The only answer was another -volley of profanity. - -“Here, take this coat,” said Rob, turning to Tubby, and, slipping out of -the garment, “I’ve got to give this fellow a lesson. Next to smoking -cigarettes, the worst habit a boy can get into is using bad language.” - -“Oh, it is, is it? You puling, Sunday-school scholar, take that!” - -Hunt crouched, and, suddenly becoming erect, aimed a terrific blow at -Rob’s head. But, to his surprise, his fist encountered thin air. The -next instant, however, something struck him under the chin that felt -like a battering-ram. Hunt shook his head and staggered a little. - -“Had enough?” inquired Rob. “I’m ready to quit if you are.” - -Hunt’s answer was a perfect bellow of anger. In the city he had been the -bully of his neighborhood. He had expected to occupy the same desirable -position at Hampton, but, alas for him, he had been speedily -disillusioned. - -He charged at Rob, and this time managed to get in a powerful blow on -the ribs of the Eagle Patrol leader. It made Rob gasp for an instant, -but before Hunt could launch another, Rob countered, ducked, and, rising -suddenly under Hunt’s guard, like a steel-springed Jack-in-the-box, he -gave the fellow a swift lesson in boxing. Hunt was staggering about, but -still vicious and unconquered, when two figures suddenly crept through -the hedge and landed in the road. They were both rough-looking youths, -and as well as could be seen in the gloom, were about the same age, or -possibly a little older, than any of the lads in the road. - -But the sight of them brought a shout to Rob’s lips. His exclamation of -astonishment was speedily echoed by Merritt and Tubby Hopkins. - -In the gathering gloom he had recognized the newcomers as Jack Curtiss -and Bill Bender. They, on their part, were equally quick in recalling -the boys of the Eagle Patrol. Jack Curtiss had a thick stick, a sort of -club, in his hand. He raised it threateningly, and made at Rob with it. - -“I’ll fix you,” he exclaimed, pretending virtuous indignation, “you’re -at your old tricks of bullying and plug-uglying again, are you?” - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - PAUL PERKINS, MOTOR SCOOTER. - - -“You’d better keep out of this, Jack Curtiss,” warned Rob, not at all -perturbed. “I don’t want anything to do with you.” - -“Oh, you don’t! I suppose you didn’t have me sent to pris—I mean to a -friend’s for a visit, and you didn’t try to fix Bill Bender? I’ve got -some scores against you, Rob Blake, and I’m going to pay them out, right -now.” - -This tirade proved as astonishing to Hunt and his companions as it did -to our boys. Rob and his friends had supposed that Curtiss and Bender -were still in prison in the West for the part they had played in the -cattle rustling raids. They did not know that influence had been brought -to bear in their favor, and on account of their youth the lads had been -released. Both had arrived in the village the day before, getting off -the train at a distant station and driving to their homes unnoticed. -That afternoon they had been taking a stroll in the woods, killing small -animals and stoning birds. They were on their way home, when the noise -of the encounter in the road attracted their attention. - -But somehow, although Jack Curtiss’s arm was raised, it did not fall. -Instead, he suddenly thought better of the matter, and retreated, -mumbling angrily. Perhaps it had occurred to him that he was not in good -odor in the village anyway, and to become mixed up in a fight or attack -on the boys might result in his once again being compelled to leave the -place. - -“Come on, Jack,” put in Bill Bender; “no use mixing up in this thing. I -hope that Rob Blake gets the thrashing he deserves, though, and——” - -“I guess he won’t get it this time,” laughed Tubby, pointing to Hunt, -who, the first shock of astonishment at the interruption over, sat -nursing his face on the bank. - -“Here, don’t you interfere,” said Lem Lonsdale, stepping forward -threateningly. - -“Huh! You want to fight, too?” demanded the fat boy, rolling up his -sleeves pugnaciously. - -“No; I’ll settle with you some other time,” responded Lonsdale, with all -the dignity he could command. - -“Come on, fellows. Let’s be getting on home,” exclaimed Rob, who had no -wish to prolong the affair. - -“All right, I’m ready,” chimed in Merritt. “I don’t like the company -around here very well.” - -Hunt still sat on the bank, nursing his jaw, and Rob began to be afraid -that he had hit harder than he had intended. He approached the other -with his hand outstretched. - -“I’m sorry, Hunt,” he said, “but you brought it on yourself, old scout. -See here, let’s you and I get together and try to cement friendship -between the Hawks and the Eagles. It isn’t the scout game to sulk and -have ructions. Shake hands, won’t you, and we’ll call it off and run the -two patrols in harmony.” - -Hunt heard him to the end with sullen apathy. No change of expression -crossed his face. As Rob concluded, however, he looked up and said: - -“Are you through?” - -“Yes, I guess that’s about all. Except that——” - -“Except nothing!” almost screamed Hunt, springing to his feet, “I hate -you, Rob Blake. Ever since you got back from that fool western trip of -yours, you’ve tried to run the village. You won’t do it, see? Don’t talk -friendship to me. I’ll fight you to the last ditch, you see if I won’t.” - -“Well, if that’s the way you feel about it,” said Rob, with a slight -sigh, “there’s nothing I can do. But it isn’t right that two patrols of -Boy Scouts should be at loggerheads, just because of your envious -temper—for that’s all it amounts to.” - -Hunt, white-faced and trembling, was about to make another spring at -Rob, when Dale caught him and held him back. - -“Don’t be a chump, Freeman,” he said in a low voice, “Rob Blake is more -than your match. Let him go. There are other ways to get at him.” - -Rob and his chums did not hear this last remark, and bidding the others -“Good-night,” a politeness which was not responded to, they continued on -their way, leaving behind them three astonished and angry lads, and the -two youths who already had shown in numerous ways that they wished all -the harm possible to the Boy Scouts. - -“Wonder how Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender got out of their trouble in -Arizona?” mused Merritt, as they hastened along through the -fast-gathering gloom. - -“Don’t know,” responded Tubby, and neither could Rob furnish any -explanation. It was not until they entered the village that they learned -the true reason of the unscrupulous youths’ presence in Hampton. The -little place was a-buzz with it, and various plans of protest were -talked over. But, as is the case in most small towns in a matter of that -kind, no one was willing to “bell the cat,” namely, notify Jack’s and -Bill’s parents that the boys were not wanted. So they remained in town, -and their presence soon became unremarked. In the meantime, however, an -alliance had been formed between Freeman Hunt and his particular friends -and Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, which boded ill for our lads. To the -warnings of their boy friends, however, Rob, Merritt and Tubby only -rejoined with laughter. They felt that they had nothing to fear from -such a company, in which, as the sequel will show, they were very much -mistaken. - -On Rob’s arrival at home that night, he hastened to his room to remove -all traces of his encounter. Washed and dressed, he was about to descend -to the library, when, to his astonishment, he heard a strange voice -conversing with his father in that room. Yet there was something -familiar in the tones, too. Where had he heard it before? At last Rob -heard “Good-nights” exchanged between his father and the stranger, and -soon after came the swift “chug-chug” of an auto, which, apparently, had -been driven around the house, for the boy had not noticed it when he -returned home. - -“Who was your visitor, father?” inquired Rob, as he sat down to dinner -that evening. - -“Why, a Lieutenant Duvall, of the regular army,” was the rejoinder. “Do -you know him?” - -Mr. Blake broke off abruptly, for Rob had given a cry of astonishment as -he heard the name. - -“Know him? I should say so. Why, he’s the fellow who led those troops -into the Moqui Valley. Don’t you remember, when they were giving the -snake dance, and——” - -“Oh, Rob, I cannot bear to hear about such things!” exclaimed his -mother. “You might have been killed by those Indians.” - -“I guess they would have liked to do something like that,” responded -Rob, with a laugh, “but it all ended happily, mother. - -“Why, as I said, he was the officer who led the cavalry to our rescue. -What can he be doing here?” - -“Well, what about Lieutenant Duvall?” demanded his father. - -“I do not know. He was very reticent about his business. He came to me -with a letter of introduction. You know, he has rented the old De Regny -place.” - -“What, the old haunted villa north of here?” - -“That’s the place,” rejoined Mr. Blake. “I can’t imagine why he wants -it, but, beyond saying that he was here on official business, connected -with aeronautical experiments, he would not give me any inkling of the -object of his occupancy of the place. His errand to me was to open an -account in the bank.” - -“It is odd,” mused Rob. “The De Regny place hasn’t been occupied for -many years, has it, father?” - -“Not since Napoleon was sent to St. Helena by the British, my boy. -General de Regny, who built the place, was one of the great French -leader’s most devoted marshals. After Waterloo, he came over here, -apparently at Napoleon’s own behest, and built this house on the -seashore. They say that secret passages run into the grounds from the -beach. If this is so, the entrances to them have never been found.” - -“What did he want secret passages for?” asked Mrs. Blake, to whom the -story was comparatively new. Rob had already heard it in various forms -from a dozen sources about the village. - -“Why, you see, it is always supposed that there was a plan on foot to -rescue Napoleon from St. Helena,” explained Mr. Blake. “In that case, -the supposition is, he would have made direct for the Long Island coast, -and have been landed in the De Regny home by means of the secret passage -from the beach. Of course, you recall the square, glass-sided -watch-tower on the summit of the house. That, I imagine, was placed -there so that the sea could be constantly scanned for a trace of the -approaching vessel bearing the rescued emperor. But, of course, he never -came, and in time De Regny died, and the property went to some heirs of -his in Virginia. What the government or Lieutenant Duvall can want with -it, is beyond my comprehension.” - -After dinner Rob lost no time in slipping off to find Merritt and Tubby -Hopkins. By telephoning, he found out that they had both gone to the -home of Paul Perkins, who will be recalled as the winner of the model -aeroplane contest described in the first volume of this series, and the -aeronautical enthusiast of the Eagle Patrol. - -Thither, accordingly, Rob hastened to find his friends and communicate -the surprising news concerning the old De Regny place. Paul’s mother -informed him that he would find the boys in the old wagon house. - -“In the wagon house?” exclaimed Rob in some astonishment. - -“Yes,” rejoined Mrs. Perkins. “Paul has some sort of contrivance out -there. Whether it’s to fly, crawl or walk, I don’t know. I only hope he -won’t break his neck or spile his pants with it, like he did the last -time he flitted on wings, and tried to flop from ther wagon house roof.” - -“Did he break his neck, ma’am?” inquired Rob, with a perfectly serious -countenance. - -“No, he did not,” innocently rejoined Mrs. Perkins, “but he tore his -pants suthin’ awful.” - -Sure enough, as Rob approached the wagon house, he could see light -streaming from the wide chinks of the tumble-down place, and could catch -the sound of boyish voices within. - -“And what is that, Paul?” he heard Merritt’s voice inquiring. - -“That’s the propeller,” rejoined Paul, with a quiver of pride in his -voice. - -“Say, where do you keep the grub?” - -“That must be Tubby,” thought Rob, with a smile. Hastening forward, he -rapped at the door. - -“Come in!” exclaimed Paul, as Rob, at the same instant, uttered the -patrol cry in a peculiar, low tone. - -Rob pushed open the door, and saw before him, illuminated by the light -of a stable lantern, the most peculiar looking piece of machinery he had -ever set eyes on. - -“What is it?” he gasped in astonishment. - -“It’s a motor-scooter,” declared Paul, with the inventor’s pride -vibrating in his voice. He held the lamp aloft so that its radiance -streamed on a glittering, bewildering mass of bars, levers, connecting -rods and brace wires. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - THE BOY WHO MADE THE WHEELS GO ROUND. - - -“A motor-scooter!” echoed Rob. - -“That’s right, Rob, and she’s a Jim Dandy, too!” exclaimed Merritt -enthusiastically. - -“She’ll eat up space,” volunteered Tubby. - -“Always on the eating tack,” laughed Paul. - -“Better than being full of them,” remarked the fat boy, dreamily gazing -up into the black shadows of the wagon shed roof. - -“Say, Paul,” asked Rob interestedly, “would you mind telling me what is -a motor-scooter. It looks fine,” he added encouragingly. - -“A motor-scooter,” exclaimed Paul, “is a sled driven by an auto engine -and propelled by an aeroplane propeller over the frozen surface.” - -“That sounds fine,” chuckled Merritt; “bet you cribbed it out of a -book.” - -Paul Perkins, paying no attention, went on to explain to Rob the points -of the strange craft. He had constructed it ingeniously from parts of an -old, broken-down auto left behind by a summer resident. The engine part -of the affair rested on a framework of two-by-four timbers, and to the -flywheel of the motor had been fitted a pulley connected with a shaft -mounted above it, on one end of which was affixed a six-foot aeroplane -propeller. - -Behind the engine came a seat for the driver, and another beside it for -a passenger. Gasoline was carried in a ten-gallon tank placed forward -of, and above the motor, while the cooling was effected by means of a -fan geared to the forward part of the machinery. Below the framework -came the runners on which the odd craft was expected to glide over the -ice. These were formed of old wagon timbers, along which strips of iron, -constructed from barrel binders, had been nailed. - -Such was Paul Perkins’ wonderful motor-scooter. Rob, after an inspection -of the clever way in which it was put together, could not help admiring -the ingenuity of the young constructor. He knew that Paul was not a rich -boy, and that it must have cost him a lot of time and labor to carry out -his idea without funds to buy expensive tools or appliances. - -“Merritt’s father let me use the forge at night,” explained Paul, “and -in that way Merritt came to be the first to know about it. I told him -during last summer.” - -“And he kept your secret, too,” laughed Rob. “But why didn’t you tell -any one else?” - -“I was afraid that it mightn’t work.” - -“Well, will it?” - -“Watch.” - -Paul clambered into the driver’s seat and threw in a small switch. Then -he turned on the gasoline and adjusted the carburetor. - -“Look out!” he shouted. - -As he spoke, he turned a crank which he had geared to a toothed wheel on -the shaft. The engine turned over once or twice, and only a sort of low -sigh resulted. Suddenly there came a sharp sound, like twin explosions. - -_Chug-chug!_ - -“Hooray, she’s off!” shouted Tubby. - -Faster and faster the engine began to revolve, the smoke from its -exhausts filling the place with smothering vapor. Through the blue haze, -they could see the aeroplane propeller threshing round at terrific -speed. The frame of the novel craft quivered, as if anxious to move off. -But, of course, it could not. The motor-scooter was built for traveling -only upon the ice. - -“How did you ever come to think of it?” asked Rob, as Paul shut off the -engine and climbed out of his seat. - -“Why, it was last winter,” explained Paul, “you remember the inlet was -frozen, and we had iceboat races on it? Well, I was watching them, and -thinking why it wouldn’t be possible to make an ice motor-boat. First -off, I couldn’t see how to do it. I figured around, however, and at last -I thought out a way. But I didn’t have money enough to buy a motor, so I -gave up the idea. Then Higgins’ auto blew up and took fire. He was -disgusted, and when I offered him a small price for the engine he was -delighted. He wouldn’t take anything for it, in fact. He figured that -the fire had spoiled it. So it had, pretty well, but I fixed it -up—and—well, there she is, and what do you think of her?” - -“Think?” exclaimed Rob. “I think she is a Jim Dandy, just as Merritt -said. But, Paul, will she run on the ice?” - -“Don’t see why not. The propeller has tremendous driving power. I wish -it would hurry up and freeze, I’m dying to try her out.” - -“I’ll bet you are. It will be a long time yet to frost, though. In the -meantime, what do you say to taking a little trip out to-morrow -afternoon to the old De Regny place? It will make a good walk.” - -“What on earth do you want to go out there for?” asked Tubby in a -surprised tone. - -“I have a reason,” rejoined Rob. “I’ll tell you about it to-morrow. Do -you fellows want to go?” - -“Of course, but you’re mighty mysterious about it,” grumbled Merritt. - -“Hush! Maybe he’s found a corned beef mine!” exclaimed Tubby in a low, -cautious voice. - -“A corned beef mine? Why, I never heard of such a thing,” exclaimed Paul -seriously. - -“Didst not, little one?” chirped Tubby. “My uncle found one in northern -Montana.” - -“In northern Montana!” - -“Yes, sir,” went on Tubby, winking at the others, “it’s an interesting -thing to a fellow like you, Paul, who is fond of scientific research -and—and all that sort of thing. Shall I tell you how it occurred?” - -“Please do,” begged Paul, sitting down on the edge of his invention and -composing himself comfortably. - -“Well,” began Tubby, with the air of one who has deliberated long and -seriously over a matter, “it was this way. One fall my uncle, who had -been mining all summer, figured it was about time to get out of those -northern Montana mountains. He decided, though, before he left, to put -in the biggest blast ever heard of, so that when he came back in the -spring he could have plenty of rock to work. In due course, he set the -blast off, and discovered, to his astonishment, that the explosion had -uncovered a regular cliff of reddish-brown substance, interveined with -what looked like the finest jelly.” - -“You don’t tell me.” - -“But I do tell you. Well, uncle was considerably puzzled. He had never -struck anything like that before. All at once, glancing down, he saw his -dog was advancing to the cliff. Presently, the creature seized a -fragment that had been blasted to some distance, and began devouring it. -Imagine my uncle’s astonishment to find that the cliff seemingly was -edible. He investigated, and found that his blast had miraculously -uncovered a deposit of unknown extent of the very finest kind of corned -beef.” - -“Didn’t he find a ketchup well or a mustard spring close by?” asked -Merritt seriously. - -Tubby shook his head. - -“No; uncle was a very truthful man. If he had found anything like that, -he’d have mentioned it. But he didn’t.” - -“But the explanation,” urged the scientific-minded Paul, “how did he -ever account for it?” - -“Why, an inquiry showed that years before there had been an earthquake -there, and a band of cattle had been swallowed up, and it so happened -that they were immersed in a salt mine. Thus, a very fine stratum of -corned beef was formed, which only awaited my uncle’s coming to be given -to a grateful public.” - -“You say that this all happened to your uncle?” asked Paul somewhat -suspiciously. - -“Yes, sure, to my uncle in Montana.” - -“Really happened to him?” insisted Paul, who had detected a suspicious -quiver on Tubby’s lips. - -“Yes, indeed. It happened to him just before he fell out of bed.” - -A shout of laughter went up then, echoing and ringing among the rafters. -Paul good-naturedly joined in it, though the merriment was at his own -expense, but his laughter was suddenly checked. There was a small window -in one side of the place, and, peering through this aperture, Paul had -just detected a face. It was a countenance that was familiar to him, and -seemed to be taking the utmost interest in the details of his invention. - -“What’s the matter, Paul?” asked Rob, checking his mirth, as he saw the -younger lad’s eyes fixed upon the window-pane. - -“I—I saw a face there, an instant ago,” stuttered Paul. “It was looking -in on us, but it instantly vanished.” - -“A face! Gee, whiz! who could it have been?” exclaimed Tubby. - -“I don’t know,” rejoined Paul, “but I kind of thought I recognized it -for the minute that I saw it.” - -“Who do you think it was?” - -“Freeman Hunt, that fellow who used to——” - -But the others had shot out of the barn at top speed. - -“I’ll give that fellow a lesson if I catch him prowling around here,” -growled Merritt. - -But, although they searched about the place thoroughly, they could find -no trace of the intruder. When they got back to the shed, they found -Paul putting up an old sack over the window through which the face had -peered. - -“I’m not going to take any chances with this machine,” the lad said -earnestly, “and I want you fellows to promise not to tell any one about -it.” - -“All right,” they readily agreed. - -“Isn’t it patented yet?” inquired Rob. - -“No,” rejoined Paul. “I’ve put the matter in the hands of a lawyer in -Washington, a friend of my dead father. I guess he’ll put it through. I -want to sell it and pay off the mortgage on the house; but, in the -meantime, I don’t want any one to know its details whom I can’t trust.” - -“Well, the secret’s safe with us, Paul,” Rob assured him, as they parted -for the night, “but don’t tell too many people about it. That’s a -valuable invention, to my mind, and you want to guard it closely.” - -“I will,” Paul promised, but he did not tell Rob that earlier in the -week he had confided his great secret to Freeman Hunt. That worthy had -heard something of a mysterious machine the lad was constructing, and -took occasion to find out what it was. By flattering the unsuspecting -boy, and telling him what marvelous things he had heard of him, Freeman -soon put himself in possession of the details of the machine’s -construction, and of the things Paul expected to accomplish. - -“Sounds good,” Hunt had commented to himself that evening; “maybe we can -make some thing out of that kid’s information. I’ll tell my dad about -it. He’s slick as paint, dad is.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - TWO MYSTERIOUS MEN. - - -The next afternoon the four lads left the village shortly after lunch, -and struck out along the sandy road leading in the direction of the De -Regny place. It was warm, and, walking on the heavy, sandy road proved -oppressive. In fact, before they had traversed two miles of the -distance, Tubby was begging for a drink of water. - -“What do you want with water?” scoffed Merritt. “Doctors say that it -makes fat.” - -“I don’t care,” retorted Tubby. “I want a drink, and I’m going to have -it, too.” - -“Dig in the road for it, I suppose, or get it out of the sea yonder,” -laughed Rob. - -“Neither, Mister Smart Alec; I’m going to get it at that house back -there.” - -The stout lad indicated a rather tumble-down dwelling, situated in the -midst of a ragged orchard, which was set back some distance from the -road. It had once been the home of a fisherman, but had been long -deserted. Tubby knew, however, there was a well on the place, which -yielded clear, cold water. Without another word to his companions, he -struck off across the uneven ground toward the hut. - -“Guess I could stand a drink,” said Merritt suddenly. - -“Same here,” agreed Rob, and the two struck off after their rotund -comrade. - -“I’m thirsty, too,” said Paul. - -Close to the house, dense clumps of lilacs had grown up, straggling in -every direction, and forming a deep, impenetrable screen. As the boys -came up to the place, they were startled to hear, from within the hut, -the sound of voices. - -“I thought the place was deserted,” gasped Merritt, using a low tone, -however. - -“So did I,” chimed in Tubby. “Let’s get out of here. Maybe they’re -tramps, or something.” - -“Hardly likely,” whispered Rob, parting the bushes ever so little and -peering through. The other two each made a similar observation place for -himself. Through this leafy screen they could see the interior of the -front room of the hut plainly. To their astonishment, a few rough pieces -of furniture stood within, and, at a battered table, two men were -seated, talking earnestly. One of them was a big, broad-shouldered -fellow, with a ruddy face and shifty blue eyes. The other was a small, -dapper man, dressed nattily, almost fastidiously. The back of this -latter fellow had been partly turned when the lads came in, but as he -faced restlessly about in his chair, the boys could not suppress a start -of astonishment. - -The man was a Japanese! - -More surprising still, the fellow with him could now be seen to be -garbed in the uniform of a United States regular. - -Fascinated, with round eyes and attentive ears, the boys bent forward on -tip-toe to hear the conversation that was going on. - -“So Duvall suspects nothing,” the Japanese said in perfect English, -evidently continuing a conversation, the first part of which they had -missed. - -The soldier laughed. - -“Not he. I’ve managed to get several drawings besides the ones I have -already brought you. In about a week’s time my work will be finished, -and then I’ll skip. You are sure your government will have that -appointment for me?” - -“Absolutely certain, Honorable Dugan. Nippon is not ungrateful for any -services that may have been done her, and you will reap your reward. But -when is the trial flight to be made?” - -“As soon as the equalizer is finished.” - -“And that will be?” - -“Some time this coming week.” - -“You have not been able to get plans of the equalizer yet?” - -“No; as I told you, I have failed so far. Lieutenant Duvall will not let -them out of his hands. But I’ll get them, if I have to knock him down -and take them from him.” - -“That is right,” smiled the Jap. “I could wish you were acquainted with -jiu-jitsu, to make your task more easy. Above all things, I must have -the working plans of the equalizer. The rest does not matter so much, -but to equip our aerial fleet we must have that device.” - -“You see, it’s the invention of Duvall himself, and for that reason he -guards it pretty close.” - -“Naturally. However, we shall be too clever for him. You don’t think any -one suspects my presence here?” - -“Not a bit of it,” Dugan assured his yellow skinned companion. “Didn’t -you come in by night and make straight for this place? You couldn’t have -a better hiding-place. No one ever comes here, and—— - -_Cra-c-k!_ - -A board, upon which Tubby had unthinkingly stood, so as to obtain a -better view, gave way under the heavy youth’s weight at this interesting -point. With a gasp of dismay, Tubby clutched at the lilacs to save -himself from falling, thereby creating even more noise. - -“Who’s there?” roared Dugan, springing to his feet. The boys caught the -glint of a revolver, as he shot erect. Like a small and venomous snake, -the Jap, too, was up like a flash. But they were neither of them quick -enough to catch a glimpse of the scouts, as they dashed off into a patch -of woods lying to the left, into the shadows of which they had dived, -wriggling along on their stomachs, before either Dugan or the Jap had -recovered from their start. - -From their cover, the boys could see the pair emerge from the house and -search about it thoroughly, without, of course, finding a trace of -anything unusual. - -“Guess it must have been a rabbit or something,” they could hear Dugan -say, after a prolonged search that showed no indication of human -surveillance. - -“Huh! Honorable rabbit gave me a big jump,” they heard the Jap rejoin. - -The two went back into the house, no doubt to continue their -deliberations, while the boys, making a detour through the woods, once -more emerged on the main road, with Tubby’s thirst still unsatisfied. - -“Now, what do you suppose was the meaning of that confab?” asked -Merritt, as they trudged along. - -“Looks to me like treachery of some sort,” rejoined Rob. “Those Japs -have been busy in Mexico during the insurrection. You know, they wanted -to get a coaling base there. They certainly are not friends of Uncle -Sam’s, however much they pretend to be, and when you see one of our -soldiers in such a consultation with one of them, it looks bad.” - -“That’s right,” agreed Merritt. “But what could they have been talking -about? Of course, you told us about Lieutenant Duvall having leased the -De Regny place for some mysterious government work. Evidently that man -Dugan is there with him, and perhaps several more soldiers. But what do -you suppose they are doing?” - -“That was one reason why I proposed this walk this afternoon,” said Rob. -“Maybe we can find out something. But I think from what Dugan said it’s -pretty plain what the government is doing at the De Regny place.” - -“What do you think it is, Rob?” asked Tubby interestedly. - -“Testing out some sort of an airship.” - -“What!” - -“That’s right. Didn’t you hear the Jap speak of a Japanese aerial -fleet?” - -“So he did!” exclaimed Merritt. “And now I come to think of it, I -remember I read some time ago that Lieutenant Duvall had invented a -stability device for aeroplanes. At the time, though, I didn’t connect -it with _our lieutenant_.” - -“What we’ve got to do is to find the lieutenant and tell him about what -we overheard,” said Rob decidedly. “Those fellows may succeed in their -schemes, otherwise.” - -“Ugh!” exclaimed Tubby, with a shudder, “I’d hate to have had that -fellow Dugan grab hold of me. He’s an ugly-looking customer.” - -“He is,” agreed Rob, “but we can’t help that. Our duty is clear. Why, if -the Japs ever got hold of a practicable invention like that, they could -send an aerial fleet across the border and demoralize the country.” - -“Always supposing it is a practicable invention,” put in the practical -Paul Perkins quietly. - -“Of course,” the impetuous Rob hastened to agree. - -Talking thus, they neared the De Regny place, which deserves some -description, as being, both by tradition and appearance, one of the most -remarkable places along the Long Island shores. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - HOW A SECRET PASSAGE WAS USED. - - -The house was a mouldering mansion of wood, three stories in height, and -once a truly imposing specimen of the architecture of the period in -which it was erected. Time and neglect, however, had done their work, -and it was now dark, unpainted, and forbidding looking, set back, as it -was, in a fenced park of several acres in extent. A clump of dark -hemlocks surrounded the house, adding to the gloomy note of its -unpainted walls, broken shutters and shattered windows, while in the -neglected grounds weeds and trailing, unkempt vines ran riot everywhere. - -Only to seaward was the place unencumbered by this wild, disordered -tangle. In that direction there lay a broad, brick-floored terrace, of -immense dimensions, upon which, tradition had it, Marshal De Regny used -to strut with a telescope, ever and anon looking seaward for a sight of -the expected vessel bearing the rescued captive from St. Helena. - -This terrace, the boys were astonished to see, had been recently swept -and repaired, offering a broad, smooth floor of considerable extent. At -one end, too, stood a brand-new shed, painted green, and quite large. In -front, and opening on the terrace, this shed had large double doors. -What it housed could hardly be guessed from the exterior. The few -fishermen who visited this isolated part of the beach concluded that the -green shed must be a sort of boathouse. - -The boys, however, basing their conclusions on the conversation they had -overheard a short time before, decided that the airship, or aeroplane, -or whatever kind of aerial craft it was, with which experiments were -being conducted, must be housed within this shed. - -Suddenly they saw a slender, erect figure, clad in the uniform of an -officer of the United States Army, crossing the rough lawn lying between -the house and the bricked terrace. - -“It’s Lieutenant Duvall!” exclaimed Rob, hastening forward, followed by -the others. The officer presently spied the intruders, and stopped -short, with an angry expression on his countenance as he did so. - -“You boys must keep off here!” he ordered, coming toward them. “This is -now government property.” - -“We’ll get off it in just five minutes,” answered Rob, somewhat abashed -at this reception, “but in the meantime I’ve something to tell you of -great importance. It hasn’t to do with the Moquis, either,” he added -mischievously. - -At these words, a great light seemed to break over the officer. In the -nattily-uniformed boys before him, it was no wonder he had not sooner -recognized the lads he had last seen in tattered, worn, cowboy rig-outs, -stained with powder, and worn by a hard chase across the mountains to -the Moqui valley. - -“Why!” he exclaimed, his manner changing, and both hands extended in a -cordial way, “it’s the young broncho busters! Hull-lo, boys! I’m glad to -see you again. But what are you doing in this part of the country?” - -“We happen to live here,” rejoined Rob demurely, after the first -greetings had been exchanged. - -“That’s so. You did tell me, I remember now, that you lived here. That -must have been your father I saw last night. Very forgetful of me, but -I’ve had so much on my mind lately that I’ve slipped up on a lot of -things I should have carried a recollection of. We’re carrying out some -big experiments here.” - -“Which brings us to what we accidentally overheard on our way out here,” -exclaimed Rob. “Is there a man named Dugan detailed to duty here?” - -“Dugan? Yes—a most capable man—invaluable to me. Why?” - -The officer was frankly astonished, and showed his bewilderment. - -As may be imagined, his astonishment not only increased, but became -mingled with anger, as Rob launched out into a full and detailed account -of all they had overheard. - -“The scoundrel,” muttered the officer, gritting his teeth, “and to think -that I have regarded him as my most trusted assistant.” - -“But he doesn’t know the secret of your equalizer,” ventured Merritt. - -“No. Thank goodness, he does not, but,” the officer’s face grew -troubled, “I wish I had the plans in a safe place. Somehow, since you -have told me all this, I can only regard everybody about me as a -traitor. If only I had left the plans with your father to be placed in -the safe deposit vault in his bank, my mind would be easy.” - -“Then you can work out your ideas without the plans?” asked Rob, in some -astonishment. - -“My boy, when an inventor has dreamed, and thought and pondered over an -idea for many long days and sleepless nights, it is photographed on his -brain, and he can never forget it.” - -“Then I have an idea!” exclaimed Rob. “Let me take the plans back with -me to town. I can hand them over to my father, and he can place them in -a vault in the bank.” - -“The very thing!” exclaimed the young officer. “I know I can trust you, -Blake, and you won’t mind if I give them to you in a sealed envelope.” - -“Not a bit,” rejoined Rob. He flushed a bit, though, as he spoke, -although the words came readily enough. - -“You see,” explained the officer, who had noticed the flush, “I almost -dread to let even you have the plans. I cannot bear to let them out of -my sight. This Jap—I have a suspicion who he is—is not the only one who -is after them for his government. Aerial equipment has now become an -important adjunct of every navy and army. In Washington, two attempts -were made to get them from me, but in this lonely place I thought I was -safe.” - -“At least in my father’s bank they will be secure——” began Rob, when he -broke off short, and turned swiftly. His keen ear had detected a slight -rustling in a clump of bushes behind him. As he communicated his -suspicion that some one might have been concealed there, they all sprang -forward, surrounding the clump, but there was no sign of a concealed -listener, and, satisfied that everything was well, they followed the -young officer toward the house. Their conductor narrated, as they went, -such details of the experimental work as he thought might interest the -lads. - -Hardly had they vanished within the gloomy, deserted mansion, however, -before two faces appeared above the surface of the ground, peering up -from the mouth of one of the concealed passages which Mr. Blake had -mentioned as existing on the old place. - -Could the boys have seen those two countenances, they would have been -greatly interested, for one of them was Freeman Hunt’s and the other was -Jack Curtiss’s. To explain how they came to be there, it is necessary to -revert for a moment to an occurrence which took place some weeks before -on a fishing expedition. Driven by bad weather to shelter in the little -cove not far from the De Regny place, the party, consisting of Freeman -Hunt, Dale Harding and Lem Lonsdale, had hastily sought a shelter from -the pelting rain, as their boat was an open one. In a low, rocky cliff, -a half-obscured opening showed. - -“Looks like there might be a cave in behind there,” Hunt said, and, on -his suggestion, they set to work moving away several big rocks that -encumbered the opening. The place proved to be a cave, and an ample one, -running back to a great depth, seemingly. - -An exploration party had been formed at once, and, after traversing a -narrow passage, running back underground for some distance, the lads -emerged, to their astonishment, in the clump of bushes in which Rob had -just heard the rustling sound. - -On this particular day, Hunt and Jack Curtiss had visited the cave alone -to explore it more thoroughly. The branch passages they expected to find -were not there, however, but, threading the original one, they had -emerged into the clump which thickly screened its opening, in time to -overhear most of the conversation of the Boy Scouts and the army -officer. - -As the door of the old house slammed, its echoes reverberating through -the tangled, overgrown grounds, Jack Curtiss turned to his companion -with a grin of satisfaction. - -“Here’s the chance we’ve been looking for,” he exclaimed, wiping the -sweat and dirt from his forehead,—for burrowing in long disused passages -is dirty work. - -“You mean a chance to get even?” asked Hunt in a puzzled tone. - -“Yes. We can fix that Rob Blake up so that he’ll be in disgrace from -this afternoon on.” - -“I don’t understand,” rejoined Freeman, who, while he had chosen Jack -Curtiss for a companion, had not a tenth part of the other’s evil -ingenuity. - -“Well, I do,” was the confident rejoinder. “It’s up to us to find this -Jap and this Dugan, or whatever his name is. If we can do so, we’ve got -Rob Blake where we want him.” - -“I see now!” exclaimed Hunt, a light of comprehension showing in his -eyes, “but do you dare——” - -“Dare!” repeated Jack Curtiss scornfully, “I’d dare do anything to get -even with Rob Blake, and,” he added prudently, “the best of it is, that -there’s not a chance of it ever being traced to us. If we are only lucky -enough to find those fellows they mentioned, they can do the dirty work, -and we have the satisfaction of being even with those cubs.” - -“But how are you going to find them?” asked Hunt, still hesitating. - -“There’s only one road from that hut to this place. We’ll sneak through -the grounds while they are all in the house, and nail this chap Dugan in -time to put our plan into execution.” - -An instant later, two grimy, dust-covered forms emerged from the bowels -of the earth, as it seemed, and shoving their way through the dense -clump of bushes, glanced cautiously about them. - -“Coast’s clear,” announced Jack presently. - -Together, Rob’s old enemy and Freeman Hunt, now his equally bitter foe, -sped across the De Regny grounds and toward the road. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER. - - -“You younkers are certain you are telling me the truth?” - -Dugan, the treacherous private, paused, and, from his immense height, -looked down into the faces of Jack Curtiss and Freeman Hunt. - -“As sure as we stand here,” Jack assured him, “I’ve told you how we came -to overhear what was said. If you want those plans, now is your chance -to get them.” - -“And don’t forget to beat Rob Blake up good and proper,” chimed in Hunt, -who had lost all prudence in his eagerness to have his grudge avenged. - -“You bet I won’t,” Dugan grunted. “I guess if he’s the sort of boy you -describe him to be, he won’t give them up without a struggle.” - -“You could break him in two with one hand tied behind your back,” struck -in Jack, gazing at the immense frame and loosely hung, ape-like arms of -Dugan. - -“Leave that to me, kid,” Dugan assured him, with an ominous grin, -“and—hullo, here comes Hashashi now. That’s lucky. I may need him if -there are three of them.” - -Turning in the direction in which the soldier had spied the newcomer, -the lads saw a small, slightly-built figure approaching them. It was the -Japanese with whom Dugan had been seen conversing in the hut when the -unsuspected listeners had overheard. - -“Guess we’ll be going,” said Jack Curtiss uneasily. - -“Hold on!” exclaimed Dugan, clutching him with a grip of iron, as he -spoke. “You’ve got to promise me that you don’t tell nothing of this.” - -“Of course,” Jack assured him; “we’ve promised you once.” - -“And I guess you’ll keep your word,” said the man, grimly compressing -his lips till they formed a narrow line. “If I ever suspect you of -telling a thing about it, I’ve got you two ways. In the first place, -I’ll reveal your part in the plot, and, in the second, I’m a bad man to -have for an enemy.” - -Dugan drew his low forehead into a dozen horizontal puckers, as he -spoke. With his lowering brow and ape-like face, he looked indeed, as he -had said, “a bad man to have for an enemy.” - -“D’ye understand?” he grated harshly, glaring at Jack grimly. - -Curtiss, who was as big a coward as he was a bully and reprobate, felt -his knees knock together under that ferocious gaze. - -“Y-y-yes, sir,” he said. - -“You, too!” hissed Dugan, switching suddenly on Freeman Hunt, who was -looking nervous and ill at ease. He began to think that perhaps they had -let themselves in for something more serious than they had bargained -for. - -“I won’t breathe a word of it,” Hunt hastened to assure him. - -“You’d better not,” snarled Dugan, more savagely than ever, “now, git!” - -Without further loss of time, Jack Curtiss and Freeman Hunt “got.” To -their surprise, as they turned to hasten off, no sign of the Jap was to -be seen, yet an instant before he had been in the road, not more than -ten yards from them. There were no hedges at this point, and salt -meadows stretched out to the sea on one side, and stubble-fields, flat -and level, on the other. - -“Where on earth did that Jap go to?” asked Jack in a mystified tone, as -they hurried away. - -“Don’t know,” rejoined Freeman, with a trembly feeling. “There was -something uncanny about it. - -“I—I begin to wish we hadn’t met those fellows or had anything to do -with them,” he burst out, in a complaining tone. - -“There you go, sniveling like a baby,” sneered Jack Curtiss. “Why, a -short time ago, you were only too pleased to have found such an easy way -of getting even on Rob Blake and those other young whelps.” - -“I know,” rejoined Hunt timidly, “but—but I don’t like the look of that -fellow Dugan. He scared me. If he ever suspects us of betraying him, -he’ll take a terrible revenge. I wish we hadn’t meddled in the thing at -all, I wish——” - -“Say, you make me tired,” broke in his companion angrily, “we’re not -going to tell about it, are we? We won’t be foolish enough to let on -that we had anything to do with the beating Rob Blake is bound to get.” - -“No, but——” quavered Hunt. - -“Oh, tell it to your grandmother,” scoffed Jack. “Come on. Hurry up; we -want to get away from here before the fun begins.” - -Hastening on, they soon were out of sight and earshot of the spot in -which their momentous colloquy had taken place. - -In the meantime, from behind a large rock, not far from where Dugan was -standing, the lithe form of the Jap suddenly upreared itself. - -“Wow! You gave me a scare that time!” exclaimed Dugan, as his ally came -into view. “How did you vanish like that, a few minutes ago?” - -“Simple, my dear friend. I simply took advantage of a large rock by the -roadside, and dodged behind it. There was nothing of Oriental mystery in -it, I assure you.” - -“Huh!” rejoined Dugan, as if only half convinced. “You’re a queer -fellow, Hashashi. What did you come after me for, anyhow? Not but what -I’m mighty glad to see you right now.” - -“I hastened after you to give you some final instructions I had -forgotten,” was the reply. “But what were you talking to those boys -about?” - -“Something mighty interesting to us both. Listen.” - -Dugan rapidly related all that Jack had told him. - -“Of course,” he concluded, “there is a chance that they may not come -down this road, but, in any event, we know now where the plans are, and -if the worst comes to the worst——” - -“The vaults of country banks are not proof against Shimose,” grinned the -Jap. - -“Hark!” exclaimed Dugan suddenly. “I hear voices—boys, too,” he went on, -after a minute’s listening; “get behind that rock yonder. I’ll stop them -and ask the time of day or something, and you make your appearance when -you think you are needed.” - -“All right, my honorable comrade,” chuckled the Jap, sliding like a -gray-suited shadow toward the rock, and vanishing from view behind it. - -On came the three unsuspecting boys, chatting and laughing, and little -dreaming of what lay in store for them round the turn of the road. -Dugan, an evil expression on his countenance, drew back a little, and -then, as they drew closer, started forward. - -“Got the time, young fellow?” he asked in a natural, easy tone, as the -three lads came up to him. - -“It’s the man we saw in the hut!” exclaimed Tubby, in a rather -affrighted tone, but so low that Dugan did not hear him. - -“Well, he can’t possibly know what we have been doing,” rejoined Rob, in -an equally cautious voice. Thinking it best not to give the man even a -slight excuse for suspicion, he drew out his watch. - -“It’s just three-thirty,” he said. - -“Thanks,” said Dugan, who all this time had been carefully sizing up the -three lads. Rob he recognized by description as being the one who was -likely to carry the plans of the equalizer. - -“Phew!” he remarked to himself. “They’re three husky youngsters for -fair. Glad I’ve got a revolver, or I might get the worst of it.” - -The boys were starting on again when Dugan stepped back a pace or two -and spread his immense bulk across their path. - -“Hold on a minute, boys,” he said. “I’ve got something to say to you. -You’ve been calling on Lieutenant Duvall.” - -“We’ve been for a walk,” rejoined Rob boldly. “I don’t know who this -Lieutenant Duvall is you’re talking about.” - -“You don’t, eh, you young mucker?” Dugan had decided that his best -chance lay in scaring the three lads. “Well, I do. Don’t try to lie to -me.” - -He contorted his face in hideous fashion. This was a trick he had found -very successful in intimidating other persons he wished to bully or -oppress. But in the three boys before him, as we know, Dugan was up -against boys out of the ordinary run. Instead of being impressed, Rob -simply took a step forward, turning to his chums and saying in a -natural, unshaken voice. - -“Come on, fellows.” - -“Yes, come on, fellows,” sneered the other. “Not so fast, my young -buckos. I want a word with you. You’ve got some plans in your pockets. -Are you going to give them up peaceably, or do you want a taste of Bill -Dugan’s fists?” - -Rob could not repress a start, not of fear, but of astonishment, as the -fellow spoke. - -How could he know anything about the plans he was carrying to the safe -deposit vaults? - -Dugan misinterpreted his hesitation. - -“Come on now,” he grated, coming closer, with an ugly leer on his face; -“fork over!” - -As he spoke his hand crept back toward his hip. He might have to use his -revolver. These boys were proving more obstinate than he had imagined. -To his amazement, no trace of fear or alarm appeared on their faces for -all his blustering. - -“See here,” exclaimed Rob boldly, “I don’t know who you are and I don’t -think I want to better the acquaintance. I do know this, however, that -you wear the uniform of a United States soldier. Let us pass at once, -and stop this nonsense, or——” - -With a bellow of rage, Bill Dugan leaped forward. At the same instant he -aimed a powerful blow at Rob’s head. The lad could hear the ponderous -fist whistle as it cut through the air. But somehow, when the blow -landed—or reached the point where it should have landed—Rob wasn’t -there. The boy had nimbly sidestepped. - - [Illustration: With a bellow of rage Bill Dugan leaped forward.] - -“That won’t do you no good,” bellowed Dugan, assuming furious rage, both -to impress the boys and to conceal his astonishment. “I’ve got you where -I want you. Are you going to give up them plans?” - -“I am not!” - -The reply came swift as a bullet. Rob realized that in some way the -rascal before him knew that the precious designs were in his possession. -He determined that they would not leave his person without a struggle. -Somehow he felt that the three of them, all clean-lived, healthy, -muscular boys, should prove a match for the hulking, bloated, blustering -brute before him. He was totally unprepared for the fellow’s next move, -however. With a gliding motion of one hand, so swift as to be almost -imperceptible, Dugan suddenly produced a gun. At the same instant he -gave a shrill whistle, and from behind his rock the serpentine form of -the Jap appeared. His almond shaped eyes glittered balefully as he took -in the scene before him. - -Dugan took quick advantage of the temporary distraction of the lad’s -attention. - -With an agility which would hardly have been expected from his huge -proportions, he suddenly sprang forward. Rob, totally unprepared as he -was for such a move, could not defend himself. Down he toppled into the -dust, before the savage onslaught of the giant Dugan’s great form -falling on top of him and pinning the lad securely to the ground. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - WHEREIN CAPTAIN HUDGINS’ BEES SWARM. - - -As Rob and the soldier sprawled in the road “hugger-mugger,” Merritt -darted forward. He succeeded in seizing Dugan’s gnarled fist just as it -was about to come crashing down in the boy’s face, but as his fingers -closed upon Dugan’s arm a convulsive pain shot through the corporal of -the Eagles. Switching round he saw, bending over him, the grinning face -of the Jap. The Oriental had merely pressed upon some nervous center of -Merritt’s being, and had for a second paralyzed all effort. It was the -lad’s first introduction to jiu-jitsu. - -“Ouch!” yelled Merritt, in spite of himself. - -The next instant his exclamation was echoed by the Jap. Tubby’s rotund -form had come hurtling upon the Oriental like a thunderbolt, bearing him -to the ground. Temporarily his jiu-jitsu tricks were at a discount. - -But all this did not materially aid Rob, who felt his strength fast -ebbing under ineffectual attempts to throw off the mighty grip of the -massive Dugan. The giant encircled the lad’s windpipe with his rough -fingers and squeezed till Rob grew purple in the face. In the meantime, -the other lads had their hands full with the Jap, who had again -exercised his cunning, and by a simple pressure upon a spot near Tubby’s -heart had rendered that youth inactive for some moments. - -Dugan’s great paws were sliding under Rob’s jacket to search his inside -pockets, when a voice, suddenly hailing them, caused both attacked and -attackers to look up. So engrossed had they been in defense and -aggression that not one of them had noticed the approach of a stout, -thick-set man, in clothes that somehow suggested a sailor. The -newcomer’s hair was iron gray and a tuft of the same colored growth -adorned his square chin. Under his arm he carried a large box of some -kind, carefully covered with newspapers. - -For a second he stood petrified with astonishment at the scene upon -which he had so unexpectedly come. The next instant his blue eyes -snapped steelily, and with a roar he dashed toward the combatants. - -“Avast there!” he bawled. “Lay aft, you lubbers! Boy Scouts, ahoy!” - -“Captain Hudgins!” shouted Merritt. - -“Aye, it’s the captain!” bawled the valiant ex-tar, leaping forward and -dealing Dugan a terrific blow with his free arm. With the other he kept -tight hold of his big box. - -“You interfering old lummox!” bawled Dugan, springing erect, with a roar -of fury. “Keep out of this!” - -“Not much I won’t,” bellowed the captain, just as loudly. “Lay aft, you -military pirate, or the navy’s goin’ to wipe up the ground with the -army.” - -As the captain spoke, brandishing aloft his free arm, Dugan sprang for -him, aiming one of his terrific swings. The captain, who was nimble for -his years, sidestepped swiftly, but not quick enough to altogether avoid -the blow. Dugan’s fist fell upon the box he was carrying with a -crunching, crackling sound. - -“Now you’ve done it!” bawled the captain, dancing about as if executing -a hornpipe. “’Vast afore they board yer!” - -“Don’t try to bluff us,” roared Dugan; “we——” - -But before he could complete the sentence there was an angry buzzing -sound in the air, like the drone of a sawmill cutting through a tough, -knotty log. Simultaneously, from the broken box, there poured a dark -stream of flying things. - -“Bees!” shouted Merritt. - -“Honey makers!” exclaimed the experienced Tubby, as the dark swarm -surged down upon Dugan. - -“Ho! ho! ho! Here’s where you get stung!” shouted the captain. “Come -close to me, boys, and they won’t hurt yer. Hey there, after ’em, sting -the scoundrels. Get your hooks inter that yaller-faced lime juicer. -Hooroh! That’s the time he got you! I guess them bees is thar with ther -business ends!” - -In these, and a dozen similar exclamations of satisfaction, did the -captain indulge, as the bees angrily settled in swarms upon Dugan and -his Oriental companion. Rob, who had scrambled to his feet, stood with -the others close to Captain Hudgins, and not a bee bothered them. The -intelligent insects knew their owner too well to attack him. With Dugan -and the Jap, however, the case was different. - -In vain did the two rascals wave their arms about and beat the air in a -desperate effort to free themselves of their tormentors. It was of not -the slightest avail. The bees settled upon them in angry masses in every -exposed part. Some even dropped down the Jap’s back, and commenced an -attack there. - -Yelling like Comanches and whirling their arms frenziedly about their -heads, the two ruffians fairly leaped the fence at one bound in their -pain and astonishment, and dashed off across the fields toward the sea. -About them, as they ran, hovered a dark, angrily buzzing cloud. - -“Hey, come back thar! You’ve took my prize Eye-talian queen!” the -captain bawled at the top of his voice, but, somewhat naturally, the -fugitives paid no attention to his words. Straight for the sea they -dashed, and, plunging into the surf, rolled over and over in frantic -attempts to rid themselves of the clinging, stinging pests. - -“Ho! ho! ho!” roared the captain. “That’s as good as a fair breeze arter -a c’am. But avast thar, lads, how come you ter be in such a pickle?” - -Rob, whose throat still showed the red marks where Dugan’s fingers had -clutched, hastily explained, being frequently interrupted by the captain -with exclamations of: - -“Belay thar! The deck-swabbing, land-lubbers! Heave ahead!” and “Douse -my glimmering sidelights!” - -“Wall,” opined the captain, when Rob had concluded, “I reckon them -fellers is off on a long cruise. They shore did heave their anchors -sudden. The worst of it is my bees has gone with ’em, and I’m generally -mighty partic-lar who my bees associates with.” - -But it was now the captain’s turn to explain how he came to be on the -road between Hampton and the isolated De Regny place at such an -opportune moment. It appeared that the lone recluse of Topsail Island -had been to the distant farm of a friend of his to aid him in wintering -some bees. He had taken a hive of his own honey makers with him to -obviate the chance of being stung by the strangers. - -“Bees won’t attack any one they knows, or who they has an introduction -to,” he explained. “Now you see them bees wouldn’t touch any of you -boys. Now then, that’s——” - -“Ouch!” exclaimed Tubby suddenly, clapping one hand to the back of his -neck. - -“Belay thar, lad, what’s in yer rigging?” demanded the captain -anxiously, rising from the broken box which he had set down in the road -and had been using as a seat. - -“I—I think it’s a bee,” rejoined the stout youth. “I—I’m sure it is, in -fact. Wow! there’s another!” - -The lad began dancing about as if he were on springs. - -“Thought you said they wouldn’t sting any one they were introduced to,” -said Rob, with a half smile. - -“Wall, I guess in the hurry I must hev overlooked them two,” responded -the captain, without the quiver of an eyelid. Stepping up to the -capering Tubby, he deftly removed two bees from the back of his neck. - -“Consarn ye!” he said angrily, as if he were addressing human beings. -“What’s the matter with you, you mutinous dogs.” - -The boys burst into a roar of laughter at such talk addressed to bees, -but the captain solemnly assured them that the little winged creatures -understood every word. - -“Will those that flew away come back to you?” inquired Rob, with -interest. - -“No, lad. They’ve deserted ther ship,” was the rejoinder. “But they done -it in a good cause, so I ain’t got a word to say. But now let’s trim our -sails, up anchor, and lay a course for home. My boat’s at the Inlet, and -I’ve got ter make ther island by dark.” - -“How is Skipper?” asked Rob, as they accordingly strode forward at a -brisk pace. - -“Just as good a shipmate as ever,” was the response. “That thar dog gits -more sensible every day. I thought that time when he found them uniforms -thet Jack Curtiss and that rascal Bender stole that he was just about -the limit in dog sense, but he does smarter things than that right -along. Speakin’ uv that, what’s come of Jack Curtiss and his piratical -shipmates?” - -The boys soon told him what they knew of those two worthies. The captain -shook his head as he heard. - -“Bad craft them two,” he observed, shaking his head with renewed energy. -“But, to my thinkin’, they ain’t much worse than that yaller-skinned -feller and his mate wot attacked you on the road.” - -“No,” Rob agreed; “if it hadn’t been for you, we should have been in bad -straits.” - -“If it hadn’t a bin fer them bees, lad, you mean,” amended the captain -earnestly. - -Soon after, they reached the Inlet and the captain set out for the -wharf, having exacted a promise from the boys to visit him at an early -date. - -“Ther island’s seemed kind er lonesome since the Boy Scout camp weighed -anchor,” he said. - -“We’ll be back again this summer,” Rob assured him. - -When Rob reached home he found a telephone message awaiting him. It was -from Lieutenant Duvall. The boy soon obtained connection with his -friend, one of the improvements at the mansion having been the -installation of a ’phone. The lieutenant actually gasped as he listened. -He had trusted Dugan implicitly up to that afternoon, and the revelation -of his brutal attack following the lad’s disclosures of what they had -overheard in the hut had shaken his faith in human nature tremendously. - -“I don’t know who to trust,” he exclaimed over the wire. “No,” in answer -to Rob’s question, “Dugan has not come back. When he does I shall see -that he is sent to Washington under guard.” - -But Dugan did not return to his duty with the aero squad that night, nor -on any succeeding night. He and the Jap disappeared as completely as -though the earth had swallowed them. A visit to the hut revealed a -cot-bed and the rough furniture the lads had noticed, but there were no -other traces of human occupancy. - -“Good-by, Dugan,” chorused the lads, as it became certain that the -ruffianly wearer of the army uniform had vanished from their midst, but -could they have looked into the future they would, perhaps, have changed -their form of farewell to “Au revoir.” - - - - - CHAPTER X. - MR. STONINGTON HUNT—SCHEMER. - - -One afternoon, not long after the events related in the last chapter, -Paul Perkins had a visitor. The caller was Freeman Hunt’s father, a man -of past middle age, but flashily dressed notwithstanding the plentiful -sprinkling of gray in his hair and carefully trimmed mustache. A diamond -ring sparkled on Mr. Hunt’s left hand and a similar stone blazed in his -tie. He regarded the wearing of the jewels as advertisements of -prosperity, and wore them with the same satisfaction with which he -looked upon his new, gaudily furnished house on the hill above the -village, and his automobile—also very new—and his numerous other -possessions, all of which, like himself, seemed somehow to savor of -veneer and to nowhere have the true ring of solid wood. - -There was, perhaps, a reason for this. Stonington Hunt had not always -enjoyed “ease and a competency.” His earlier years, in fact, had been a -hard struggle. He had been a messenger boy for a firm of Wall Street -brokers, but, by natural sharpness and shrewdness, had worked himself up -till he obtained an interest in the business. Then he branched out. His -fortune grew by leaps and bounds, till Stonington Hunt was recognized as -a wealthy man. The newspapers had shown up several of his financial -transactions as being distinctly shady, but somehow he had always been -“smart enough,” as he would have expressed it, to keep to windward of -the law. “Smartness,” in fact, was his gospel. He preached it morning, -noon, and night to his son. Had Freeman had a different sort of father, -he might have been a different sort of boy. But his mother having died -when he was but a small lad, he had fallen exclusively to his father’s -care. Stonington Hunt had brought his son up to believe it was -disgraceful to be poor, and doubly disgraceful to fail in anything one -set out to do. Principle, the elder Hunt had none, and he had taught his -son that a sense of honor was a useless encumbrance. Such was the man -who rang Mrs. Perkins’s front door bell and greeted her with overdone -effusiveness. - -“Is Paul in?” he asked, after he had introduced himself and expressed -his intense gratification at meeting such a charming lady. - -Poor Mrs. Perkins, all in a flutter, invited her glittering guest into -the front parlor, drew up the shades, which were rarely raised, and -rejoined that Paul was still at school, but would be home shortly. - -“Perhaps it is just as well,” smiled Mr. Hunt, displaying a row of -white, gleaming teeth. “He is but a lad, and I have come to talk over -something which, perhaps, a woman of the world, an intelligent woman -like yourself, is more competent to discuss than a mere boy.” - -“Paul is a mighty bright boy,” remarked Mrs. Perkins, bridling somewhat -in defense of Paul, but coloring and simpering with pleasure at the -compliment paid to her. - -“Exactly,” agreed Mr. Hunt amiably; “a very bright boy. A credit to the -town, madam. But Paul has been hiding his light under a bushel, so to -speak. He has not been radiating the effulgence of inventive genius as -he should; he has been—in short,” concluded Mr. Hunt, “Paul needs -bringing out.” - -“Bringing out?” gasped Mrs. Perkins, to whom much of this had been so -much Greek. - -“Just so, my dear Mrs. Perkins, and I—Stonington Hunt—am the man to do -it. Why, I understand that at this very moment he has in your stables a -remarkable—I may say, a wonderful invention.” - -Mrs. Perkins had never heard the wagon house referred to as “stables” -before, and, quite carried away by this glittering gentleman’s kindly -interest and his magnificent manner, she rejoined that Paul had got -“something of some sort” out there. - -“Something, my dear madam,” glowed Mr. Hunt; “it is more than a -something. It is an achievement. My boy Freeman—a dear friend of your -son’s—told me about it—there’s no objection to my seeing it, I hope. I -called on purpose.” - -“Why, I—really, sir, I don’t know if Paul would like it,” palpitated -Mrs. Perkins. “You see, he—he is very particular about letting anybody -see the invention. He’s trying for a patent on it at Washington now.” - -“Ah, then it is not yet patented?” There was an eager catch in Mr. -Hunt’s voice. For an instant his composed manner seemed to lose its icy -calm. But in a moment he was himself again. “He should certainly get it -patented at once, madam,” he went on, in his usual oily tones—“which -brings us at once to the point. I am here to offer him a price for his -invention if it seems at all practicable.” - -“Oh, sir!” gasped Mrs. Perkins, quite overcome. “You would buy it?” - -“Yes, madam, I, Stonington Hunt, will buy it. I am prepared to offer,” -he paused as if in doubt whether to mention the sum in one breath, “one -hundred dollars for the exclusive right to manufacture it.” - -“A hundred dollars!” exclaimed Mrs. Perkins, who had seen few lump sums -of money since her husband had died. “Why, sir, it is only a plaything -of the boy’s.” - -“If you will let me see it, I will judge of that,” put in Mr. Hunt -softly. “Can we not go out to your stable and view it now?” - -“Why, I—Paul has the key,” stammered Mrs. Perkins. - -“Confound the brat!” muttered Mr. Hunt, and then aloud he purred: “But -you have another one, my dear madam, I don’t doubt.” - -“Yes,” confessed Mrs. Perkins; “there is one on my dead husband’s key -ring. But I don’t know if Paul would like it. You see——” - -“My dear madam,” put in Mr. Hunt, in his most impressive manner, “I am a -man of the world, you are a woman of the world. Do we not know better -than children what is best for them? I ask you, madam, as a woman of -experience, do we not?” - -“I—I—yes, I suppose so,” trembled Mrs. Perkins, quite carried away by -all this. “If you’ll wait a second, sir, I’ll get the key.” - -“Oh, dear, I do hope Paul won’t be mad,” she thought, as she hastened -upstairs on her errand. - -“Easier than I thought,” muttered Mr. Hunt, gazing intently at the -pink-eyed china dog with blue spots that stood upon the mantel. “If the -machine is what Freeman described it to be, there should be money in it, -and where there is money, there you’ll find Stonington Hunt.” - -Mrs. Perkins, with a shawl thrown over her head, was soon downstairs -again. - -“Now, sir,” she said, preparing to lead the way, but as they emerged -from the door and started to take the brick path leading to the wagon -house, a sudden sound of approaching boyish voices was heard. - -“Why, here comes Paul now, with three of his friends,” exclaimed Mrs. -Perkins, gazing across the white picket fence and up the street. - -“Confound the luck,” ground out Mr. Hunt, with a very unangelic -expression on his face, “it will need all my tact to carry this through -if the cub proves obstinate.” - -“Well, madam,” he said inquiringly, the next minute, as Mrs. Perkins -still lingered by the fence. - -“Oh, sir, I’ll leave it all to Paul now,” gasped Mrs. Perkins, secretly -glad to be relieved of the responsibility. “Let him show his -what-you-may-call-um off. He can do it better than I could. He -understands it.” - -With a shrug, Mr. Hunt bowed, and Mrs. Perkins turned to re-enter the -house. At that moment Paul, with Rob, Merritt, and Tubby about him, came -through the gate. He seemed excited. His checks were flushed. In his -hand he held a yellow piece of paper. - -“Hooray, mother!” he cried. “News from Washington. They gave me this -telegram as we passed the office. It just came.” - -“Is it good news, my boy?” asked Mrs. Perkins solicitously. - -“The very best!” cried the boy, in a delighted, happy tone. “Mr. Merrill -tells me that he has interested the government in my invention in -connection with its being used on the South Polar expedition.” - -“That is good news, indeed, my boy!” cried his mother joyously. “But, -Paul, all this time we have been forgetting that there is a gentleman -waiting to see you. Mr. Hunt, this is my boy, and these are his friends, -Rob Blake, Merritt Crawford, and Tub—I mean Robert Hopkins.” - -“I have heard of Rob Blake,” said Mr. Hunt, coming forward with a scowl. -“I have heard of his friends, too. My business is with your lad, Mrs. -Perkins.” - -“I’m afraid, sir, that it won’t be much good now,” said Mrs. Perkins, -vanishing. - -As soon as she had gone, Mr. Hunt “opened fire.” He had decided in his -own mind that a quick, decisive manner would succeed best with the -quiet, dreamy Paul, so he called him aside with an imperative gesture. - -“Come here, boy, I wish to speak with you,” he said, smiling with inward -satisfaction as he noted how quickly the inventive lad obeyed the -summons. Rob, Tubby, and Merritt, their books under their arms, stood -near the gate. - -“I don’t like the look of the father any more than I do the son,” -declared Tubby emphatically. - -“Wonder what he wants with Paul?” mused Rob, as he watched the former -Wall Street luminary link his arm familiarly in the boy’s and walk off -with him, talking earnestly. They waited patiently, and presently Paul -came hurrying toward them with a wondering face. His eyes were round. - -“Say, fellows,” he exclaimed, “Mr. Hunt has offered me a thousand -dollars for the exclusive rights to the motor-scooter—what do you think -of it?” - -“What can they think of it but that it is a splendid offer,” put in Mr. -Hunt, coming up. “Why, I have made it without even seeing the machine.” - -“But you overheard about the dispatch from Washington,” put in Rob -quietly. - -“Confound this boy. He’s too sharp,” thought Mr. Hunt, whose desire to -obtain the rights to the machine had increased greatly since Paul had -imprudently announced his news from the capital. - -“I am willing to give this lad a royalty interest in the sales, -supposing the machine is practicable,” he said, in as conciliatory a -tone as he could adopt toward what were, in his lofty opinion, “a bunch -of green kids.” - -“What do you think, Rob?” asked Paul, his eyes glowing. - -“You will excuse us a minute, Mr. Hunt?” said Rob, and then, drawing his -excited young friend to one side, he began to talk to him earnestly. The -gist of Rob’s advice was that Paul would be very silly to close any sort -of a deal in a hurry. His father’s friend in Washington was evidently -doing all that lay in his power to further his interests, and if such a -shrewd citizen as Mr. Hunt was willing to make such an offer on snap -judgment, the machine must, in reality, be worth much more. - -“Well,” said Mr. Hunt, with a ghastly effort at a pleasant smile, “I -trust that David has given good counsel to Jonathan?” - -“Why, sir,” blurted out Paul. “I don’t believe I care to do anything in -the matter to-day.” - -“What!” exclaimed Mr. Hunt. “You refuse my magnificent offer?” - -“You see, Paul is very young, sir,” put in Rob, “and he’s not quite sure -that it _is_ magnificent.” - -“I do not recognize you in this matter, boy!” majestically declared Mr. -Hunt, who was rapidly losing his temper. What he had thought would be a -simple matter was turning out to be far more complex than he had -imagined. - -“At any rate,” he said, conquering his rage with an effort, and turning -to Paul with a smile that was meant to be amiable, but which was -positively wolfish; “at any rate, you will allow a poor, inquisitive -mortal to see this marvelous craft?” - -“Don’t you do it,” prompted Tubby, in a loud whisper. - -Hunt overheard, and turned quick as a flash. - -“I should think that a boy of your brains and ability, Paul, would not -allow himself to be led by the nose by a lot of impudent puppies——” - -“Or scheming promoters,” put in Rob quietly. - -“How dare you, sir! Do you mean to insinuate——” - -“I don’t insinuate anything. The insinuation is your own,” was the quiet -reply. - -“Are you going to show me this machine, boy?” shouted Mr. Hunt, his -temper now fairly gone. Had Stonington Hunt possessed control of his -rage, he might have been many times a millionaire, but his ungovernable -temper had lost him many a good chance, as he termed them. - -“Why—no, I don’t believe I care to,” quavered Paul, rather undecidedly. -“You see, it isn’t patented yet, and——” - -“Shut up!” hissed Tubby anxiously. He did not know that Mr. Hunt was -already in possession of this important piece of knowledge. - -“You brats make me tired,” snarled the former broker viciously. He -turned with angry emphasis and flourished his stick, striding toward the -gate. - -Tubby politely held it open for him. The broad grin on his face was -unmistakable. It infuriated Hunt to a still greater degree. - -“Stonington Hunt was never beaten yet,” he snapped, “and when he is, it -won’t be by a bunch of half-baked school kids. You, sir”—turning angrily -on Tubby—“go to blazes!” - -“After you,” exclaimed the fat boy, with a low bow, and holding the gate -open to its fullest extent. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - THE ARMY AIRSHIP. - - -Lieutenant Duvall proved as good as his word. One afternoon, not long -before cold weather set in in real earnest, Rob received word that if, -on the ensuing Saturday, he and his two chums would call at the old -mansion they would be enabled to see for themselves the aeroplane with -which the army was experimenting, Lieutenant Duvall having been selected -to make the tests. If the weather proved right, the note added, there -was even a possibility that a short flight might be attempted, just to -show the boys something of the newest idea in army equipment. - -“Gee, I envy you fellows,” said Paul Perkins wistfully, when he heard of -the contemplated excursion. “I’d give anything to see an aeroplane in -action.” - -“Maybe you will get a chance,” said Rob kindly, and when the banker’s -son reached home that night he ’phoned to Lieutenant Duvall to know if -he could bring along a member of the Eagle Patrol who was deeply -interested in aeronautics. The reply was in the affirmative, and Paul’s -delight was huge when he received word that he could be one of the -party. - -“I never saw a real aeroplane except in a picture before,” he exclaimed, -“and if I can get a good look at one, I’m going to try to work out an -idea I’ve got in my head.” - -“What’s that, Mister Edison, Junior?” teased Tubby. - -The boys were gathered in the wagon shed in which the wonderful, though -untried, motor-scooter stood, awaiting the days when the Inlet would be -frozen over for its trial trip. - -“Well,” said Paul, rather diffidently, “I’m afraid you fellows will -laugh at me if I tell you what it is.” - -“No, we won’t,” Merritt assured him, tossing the core of a red-checked -apple out of the open door. - -“We’ll be mum as oysters,” chimed in Rob. “Go ahead, Paul, unfold thy -mar-velous plan.” - -“It’s a sort of variation on the ice motor car,” explained Paul. “It -came to me last year when we were sledding down Jones’s hill outside the -village. It’s just this, why couldn’t a fellow fit a sled with a pair of -wings?” - -“Gee whiz!” groaned Tubby, pretending to roll off the empty nail keg on -which he was seated, and tapping his forehead meaningly. “Another bright -young mind gone—clean gone.” - -“Go ahead, Paul. Never mind him. He’s got a rush of fat to the head,” -laughed Merritt reassuringly, for the diffident Paul had stopped and -colored up at the stout youth’s ridicule. - -“You know,” explained Paul, “that a sled gets an awful impetus on a long -glide down a hill. Now, if only one could fix wings or planes to it -firmly enough, and equip it with a balancing tail, I don’t see why you -couldn’t make a skimmer.” - -“Well, you might do it if you didn’t break your neck first,” chuckled -Tubby. “Guess I’ll stick to the earth for a while.” - -“You’re too fat to do anything else,” chortled Rob. “But seriously, -Paul, the idea sounds as if it might be worked out. Maybe the aeroplane -will give you some ideas.” - -“I hope so,” said Paul. “I’d like to try it as soon as we get any -sleighing.” - -“Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!” burst out Tubby, rocking back and forth. “And he’s -so young to die!” - -When the laugh, in which Paul could not help joining, had subsided, Rob -spoke up. - -“Seen any more of Freeman Hunt’s father?” he asked. - -“Not a sign of him,” rejoined Paul. “I guess he’s given up the idea of -getting an interest in my machine. What worries me a whole lot, though, -is that I’ve heard nothing more from Washington.” - -“Cheer up!” comforted Rob. “I’ve heard my dad say that it takes a year -to do in Washington what could be done anywhere else in a month.” - -“That’s why it takes the Washingtons so long to get within peeking view -of the pennant,” chuckled Tubby, who was a close student of baseball -scores. - -With what anxiety the weather was watched on the Saturday upon which the -visit to the old mansion was to be paid may be imagined. To the boys’ -delight, it dawned fair and clear, with just enough of a sharp tang in -the air to make it pleasant. The boys had an early lunch and then set -out for the place. - -“Too bad the inlet isn’t frozen, and then we could skim along in Paul’s -wonderful wind-jammer,” grumbled Tubby, who was somewhat averse to -walking. - -It so happened that their way lay past the farm of Jack Curtiss, and, as -they passed it, they saw that hulking lad strolling about the place, -smoking a cigarette. In the rear of the comfortable, old-fashioned -house, his father could also be seen, hard at work splitting and piling -wood with the hired man to help him. - -Curtiss stared at the lads as they swung by, but made no move to come -toward them. By this time he, of course, knew how the adventure of the -attack of Dugan and the Jap had turned out, and seemingly he had no wish -to test the lads’ knowledge of who had instigated it. - -About half a mile beyond the Curtiss farm lay the estate of one Horatio -Jeffords, among whose possessions was a large and ferocious bull, which -had given trouble on more than one occasion to passers by. For this -reason, Jeffords usually kept him tied up. As the boys swung around a -turn in the road and the stone-walled way lay straight in front of them -for some distance, they perceived, running toward them at top speed, two -girls. - -“Those girls are running as if they were scared of something,” exclaimed -Merritt, as they came rushing toward the boys. - -The words had hardly left his lips before the lads saw what had alarmed -them. Galloping across the field, with head lowered and froth flecking -from his mouth, was Horatio Jeffords’ savage bull. He was emitting angry -roars as he dashed on toward the girls, one of whom, the boys could now -see, was wearing a red sweater. - -“Oh, the bull! The bull! He’ll kill us!” they cried shrilly as they -neared the boys. - -Indeed it looked as if the creature was bent on inflicting serious -injury upon the wearer of the flaming article of wear, which had first -attracted his attention. - -He leaped the low stone wall separating the pasture lot from the road as -nimbly as if he had been a three-year-old colt. Then on he came, his -alarming bellow ringing out shrilly and angrily. In a few seconds he was -not more than a few feet behind the girls. - -With a wild cry one of them stumbled and fell, and the next instant the -infuriated creature would have been upon her, goring her and stamping -out her life. But a sudden interruption occurred. - -A boyish figure, with coat off and waving his hand, made a rapid leap -forward, and before the amazed bull could turn to attack this new foe, -his vision was suddenly blindfolded. - -A coat had been thrown with deadly accuracy through the air and had -settled on the animal’s horns. Its folds hung down over his eyes, -bewildering him and shutting off his sight. The animal shook his head -and emitted angry roars, but the more he endeavored to throw the coat -off, the closer it hung to his horns. - -“Get the girls out of the way!” shouted Rob, as coatless and flushed -with his brave exertion, he stood in the center of the road. But Merritt -and Tubby already had one girl upon her feet, and the other stood a -short distance down the road. Both were pale and trembling at the -imminence of the danger they had escaped. - -“Oh, thank you!” exclaimed the girl whom Rob had saved by his quick -presence of mind. The bull, with a wild bellow, swung round and went -staggering off in the opposite direction, trying in vain to rid himself -of the bewildering coat. - -“At least—that is, I mean to say, I don’t know how to thank you,” she -went on. - -“Oh, glad to have been of service,” said Rob gallantly, as the other -girl came up and began adding her thanks and praise to that of her -companion. - -“If you hadn’t worn that red sweater, you wouldn’t have attracted his -attention,” quoth Tubby sagely. - -“I know, but they are the fashion this fall, and, then, too, we had no -idea that a wild bull would be rushing around loose like that.” - -“I think I know who you boys are,” said the wearer of the red sweater, -who now seemed quite recovered from her fright. “You are Rob Blake and -Tub—Mr. Hopkins and Merritt Crawford.” - -“And Paul Perkins, the well-known inventor,” grinned Tubby. - -“I guess you have the advantage of us,” rejoined Rob. - -The girl laughed merrily at his embarrassment. - -“I am Dale Harding’s sister,” she said. “I only got home from the West -two days ago, and my friend is a sister of Freeman Hunt’s.” - -“Wow!” Tubby exclaimed, in low voice. Then he went on: “I don’t believe -Miss Hunt has been here very long.” - -“No, indeed. I only arrived about a week ago,” said the young lady -herself. “I have been at a finishing school up the Hudson. I think it’s -much nicer here, though,” she added. - -“Not if you have many more experiences like that,” laughed Rob. - -“Oh, I don’t know. If there are always some nice boys about to help us, -I shouldn’t mind, should you, May?” - -“Not a bit,” confessed Dale Harding’s sister. “But come Helen, we must -be walking on or we shall be late for that appointment.” - -At this juncture, Horatio Jeffords himself, red-faced and panting, came -in view. He was carrying Rob’s coat. - -“Cal-kerlated I’d ketch yer here,” he puffed. “I’m glad you kep’ that -pesky Hercules from doin’ any harm. Had him tied up and can’t figure how -in Sam Hill he got erway.” - -He handed the coat to Rob, explaining that the bull had caught it in -some brambles and shaken it off. - -“I hope he is safely tied up now,” said Helen Hunt. “I thought every -minute the dreadful creature would toss me on his horns.” - -“The men hev got him up ter ther barn,” Jeffords assured her. “I’ll -hitch him with er chain this time, you kin bet yer boots.” - -Soon after the two parties separated, the girls hastening toward Hampton -and the boys walking off with Farmer Jeffords, as he was going in their -direction a short distance. - -“What nice boys,” said Helen, as she and May Harding walked along. “Not -a bit like what our brothers told us about them.” - -“I told you when they were pointed out to us at the post office last -night that they couldn’t be as mean as Freeman and Dale tried to make -out,” responded Helen. “They are awfully brave, too.” - -“I hope we’ll get to know them better,” went on Dale Harding’s sister. - -“If it depends on our brothers we won’t,” Helen Hunt assured her. - -In the meantime, the boys had parted from Farmer Jeffords. - -“Say, those girls are all right,” declared Rob enthusiastically, as they -strode on. - -“Ho! ho! ho!” laughed Tubby. “Rob is smitten.” - -“You needn’t talk,” retorted Rob, with a red face. “You were bowing and -scraping around like a dancing master yourself. Yes, and Merritt, too.” - -“I was only trying to be polite,” protested Merritt indignantly. - -“Pity they’re not somebody else’s sisters,” grunted Tubby mischievously, -dodging a clip on the ear which Rob reached out to give him. - -It was not long before the dark hemlocks of the De Regny mansion came -into view. From the summit of the little hill on which they stood the -boys could see the broad, smooth terrace and the sparkle of the sea -beyond. Hardly a breath stirred the air. - -“Guess we’ll have a flight, all right,” exclaimed Paul Perkins -enthusiastically. “Look! They’re busy down yonder.” - -Sure enough they could see several small speck-like figures moving about -below them, opening the big double doors of the green shed. - -“Race you to the bottom of the hill!” shouted Rob, and off dashed the -Boy Scouts, running as if their lives depended on it. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - TUBBY ESCAPES AN ORANGE BOMB. - - -Whir-r-r-r-r-r! - -What a terrific din the aeroplane’s engine created, as the white-winged -cloud skimmer stood outside the green shed! It was all the four -soldiers, hanging on to her stern braces, could do to hold the -struggling machine back. It appeared a thing instinct with life, eager -and striving to get free and try its broad pinions against the blue. - -The boys stood with round eyes and beating hearts, watching while -Lieutenant Duvall tuned up the powerful one-hundred horse-power motor. A -smell of burned lubricants filled the air. Clouds of oily, blue smoke -rolled from the exhausts, which spat lambent flames viciously as the -powerful motor vibrated. - -To the soldiers standing about it was an old story, but to the boys -everything was new and wonderful. As Lieutenant Duvall stopped the motor -to adjust a spark plug connection, they pressed forward to examine the -craft. Paul, as may be imagined, was as interested in the smallest wire -and coupling as he was in the mighty engine or the broad white planes. - -Suddenly the small boy gave an exclamation. - -“Look here, sir!” he cried to the lieutenant. - -The officer hastened to his side. Paul was examining one of the cross -wires. The filament, made of the stoutest drawn steel, formed an -important brace to the upper plane. The lad’s sharp eyes had detected -that the soldering of its connection was almost worn through. - -“Good for you, boy!” exclaimed the officer, as he saw the defect to -which Paul had called attention. “That would have given me a bad tumble -if you _hadn’t_ noticed it. Here, Mulloy”—addressing one of the -soldiers—“get me the soldering outfit. Quick, now!” - -With soldierly alertness, the man was off on his errand. Lieutenant -Duvall employed the time of his absence explaining the various details -of the machine to the boys. - -“How about the equalizer?” asked Rob. - -“It is not attached to-day,” explained the officer. “The main object of -the device is to steady the plane when the operator desires to launch an -explosive from his seat. He naturally has to shift, and the equalizer is -to take up that shifting motion and distribute it.” - -“I see,” nodded Tubby sagaciously, although it is doubtful if the fat -boy did. - -“Then you are going to practice dropping explosives?” asked Rob. - -The officer’s face took on a queer expression. - -“I guess we’ll have to call that an army secret, my boy,” he said. “If -all goes well, Hampton may become a famous place.” - -With this mysterious utterance, the boys had to be content. Mulloy -returned at this moment with the solder, and the lieutenant adjusted the -weak spot as skilfully as a machinist. - -“An aviator has to know how to do everything about his engine,” he -explained; “supposing he should drop in a country without a machine shop -in reaching distance, or in any enemy’s country, if he couldn’t make his -own repairs, he would be in a bad fix.” - -“Are all these men trained in that way?” inquired Rob. - -Lieutenant Duvall nodded. - -“Every one of them,” he said. “They are all from Fort Myer. So was that -deserting rascal, Dugan. He was the most expert mechanic I ever saw. In -fact, I have heard since his desertion that there was good reason for -his skill. Under the name of Beasley, he was one of the best-known safe -crackers in the country before he reformed and entered the army with an -assumed name. He was a splendid workman, though.” - -The officer gave a sigh over the dereliction of Dugan. His professional -side was affected by the man’s rascality. - -“Nothing has been heard of him since he deserted?” asked Rob. - -“Not a thing,” rejoined the officer, buckling on his leggings and -adjusting his queer-shaped, padded cap, with goggles attached to its -front part. - -A few seconds later he was in the driver’s seat, and had his hands on -the two levers which, by quadrants and chains, controlled the warping of -the wings and rudder. The engine controls also led from these levers, -while the motor could be stopped altogether by a motion of the foot on a -small metal pedal. - -Two soldiers ran to the propeller, a six-foot affair, and began swinging -it “against the compression” of the motor. After a few rocks of the -two-bladed driving apparatus, an explosion burst from the motor, and -presently it was roaring away at full blast. A squad of men held it -back, however, awaiting the aviator’s signal to “let go.” - -At last it came—a backward sweep of one gauntleted hand. - -Whir-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! - -Like some scared live thing, the winged man-bird shot forward, scuttling -over the smooth surface of the bricked terrace. Absolutely enthralled, -the boys stood, with eyes as big as saucers and their mouths half open, -in blank astonishment. As the contrivance, after a short scud, began to -lift, they broke into an involuntary cheer. The next instant a distance -of several feet interposed between the flying machine and the ground. -With a graceful turn, the officer brought his flier round, and now came -roaring through the air directly above the boys’ heads. As he did so, he -gave a shout, and before the astonished onlookers could utter a sound, a -round, yellow object came hurtling down at them. - -“A bomb! Look out!” yelled one of the soldiers, with well-assumed -terror, leaping backward. - -In his haste to avoid the explosion of the yellow globe, Tubby fairly -fell over and went rolling along the smooth ground like a ball. Rob and -the others jumped back with blanched cheeks and frightened eyes, in -scarcely less haste. Evidently, by accident, the officer had dropped a -deadly explosive—or so it seemed. - -The next instant, however, a roar of laughter went up at the boys’ -expense. - -What had been dropped was an orange. It struck the ground with a -terrific splash, scattering juice and pulp in all directions. It was a -little joke of the lieutenant’s, who frequently used oranges or eggs at -bomb-dropping practice. - -The relieved boys could hear his merry laugh as he sailed by, far above -them, and rapidly soared higher in the air. - -“Huh! Won’t get me that way again,” grunted Tubby, as, amid a roar of -laughter, he picked up his rotund form and joined the others. - -For half an hour or more the officer swooped and circled above them, -appearing to delight in the exercise as much as a wheeling hawk on a -summer’s day. Then he descended, and made a landing on the terrace as -neatly as if he had just driven up in an automobile. Springs, geared to -the pneumatic-tired wheels, broke the force of the landing, and, after -one or two light bounces, the machine came to a standstill. - -“Your turn,” cried the officer, laughing and turning to Rob as the -machine, for the time being, terminated its flight. - -He indicated a seat beside him, with an upright back and covered with -dark-green padding. Rob did not hesitate, but stepped boldly forward. -One of the soldiers offered him a pair of goggles, which he drew on. -Then he climbed into the seat and gripped the side handles tightly. - -“I’ll break the news to your folks,” howled Tubby, but the rest of his -jocose remarks were drowned in the roar of the motor. The next instant -they were off. Rob’s breath seemed to be forced backward down his throat -by the rapidity of the motion. He gasped and choked, and hung onto his -hand rails till the paint flaked off against his palms. The aeroplane, -before it arose, seemed to act just like a bucking broncho. Its motions -reminded Rob very much of the cayuse he had ridden at Harry Harkness’ -ranch on that memorable morning when the cowpunchers gathered to see his -battle with the broncho. - -Suddenly, however, the see-saw motion changed to a delightful, gliding -sensation. It felt like riding along upon the softest feather mattress -in the world. They had left the ground and were actually flying. Rob’s -heart gave a bound at the idea. He was certainly the first boy in the -vicinity of Hampton to have such an experience. His first flash of fear -had left him now, and he glanced at the officer seated beside him. -Lieutenant Duvall’s face was calm and unperturbed, and Rob felt ashamed -of the feeling of fright he had experienced before the machine took the -air. - -Up and up they rose. Once Rob looked down, but he didn’t do it any more. -Somehow it made him feel pale and empty to realize that between his shoe -soles and the ground lay a quarter of a mile of empty space. - -“Keep your eyes ahead,” the officer advised, and Rob thereafter did so. - -But his ride was not destined to become monotonous with such an aviator -as the army officer at the levers. Suddenly the machine gave a downward, -forward dip, and began rushing to the ground, or rather the ground -appeared to be rushing up toward it. - -It was all Rob could do to keep from crying out. He firmly believed that -an accident had happened and that they would be dashed to bits when the -aeroplane struck the ground. His mouth grew dry with terror, and he -could have no longer checked a terrified shout, when all at once the -motion ceased; or, rather, it altered. The descent was checked when -within twenty feet of the ground, and up and round they swung, landing a -few minutes after as lightly as a wafted feather upon the broad, smooth -terrace of the De Regny mansion. How the old marshal would have gasped -if he could have witnessed the antics of this new weapon of warfare -cavorting above his ancient domain, from which he had watched so many -weary days for his emperor. - -“Well?” said the officer, with a twinkle in his eye as Rob, a bit shaky -still from his terrible fright, clambered to the ground. - -“Well,” rejoined Rob, taking off his goggles, “It was pretty strenuous -work, but I enjoyed every minute of it.” - -“Now for your friends,” said the officer, but Tubby had strangely -vanished, and only Merritt and Paul could avail themselves of the -invitation. They both enjoyed rides, and Paul proved so apt a young -aviator that on a second trip aloft he was even allowed to handle the -levers, at a safe distance above the ground, however. - -“You boys certainly have plenty of pluck,” said the officer, after the -sport of the afternoon was over. “Some day I may take you for a -cross-country ride, or when we start real bomb-dropping work——” - -He stopped abruptly and smiled. - -“I forgot—that’s a service secret,” he said mystifyingly. - -Not until the aeroplane was safely housed did Tubby emerge, and then he -had to undergo a fine cross fire of joshing, you may be sure. - -“I don’t care,” philosophically remarked the stout youth to himself; -“I’m not built for flying, and walking is good enough for me, unless I -can own an automobile.” - -When Rob reached home that evening his mother told him that there was a -visitor to see him. - -“He is in the library,” she said. - -Rob hastily removed the grime and dirt of his aerial trip, and, -wondering who the caller could be, hastened into the room in which the -guest was waiting. He gave a cry of surprise, as, in the twilight, he -recognized Dale Harding. - -“I’ve come to talk things over,” said Freeman Hunt’s particular chum, -extending a hand. Rob took it and shook it heartily. - -“All right, Dale,” he said, “fire away.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - WHAT HAPPENED IN THE WOODS. - - -“My sister told me all about it,” burst out Dale, plunging into the -object of his mission without any preliminary skirmishing. “It was a -mighty brave thing to do, Rob.” - -“Rot!” rejoined Rob. “It was just a Boy Scout good turn. Say no more -about it, old fellow.” - -“But I must,” hurriedly went on Dale, bringing out his words rapidly, as -if he had nerved himself to the performance of an unpleasant, but -necessary task. “I—I want to tell you, Rob, that I feel pretty small and -cheap and mean over the way I’ve let those fellows jolly me into -annoying you.” - -“That’s all right, Dale. Never mind about what’s past,” Rob said; “but -in the future let’s make this talk have some good effect. Let the Hawks -and the Eagles get together. I know that the rank and file of the Hawks -are friendly toward us, and——” - -“You bet they are,” blurted out Dale. “It’s only Hunt’s influence that -drew them apart, and it’s this same influence that’s keeping them there. -We could get together to-morrow if it wasn’t for Hunt and one or two of -his cronies. I’m ashamed to think that I was one of them, but it’s over -now. I’m disgusted with Hunt—through with him for good.” - -Rob saw that the boy was agitated by something more than the mere -mention of Hunt’s name. He appeared to be anxious to say something more, -but apparently it stuck in his throat. - -“Why, what has Hunt done recently to make you so disgusted with him?” -asked Rob, by way of giving the other a lead. - -“Why, don’t you know?” exclaimed Dale; “haven’t you guessed who put up -that job on you when that soldier and the Jap attacked you?” - -“I’ve often wondered how they came to know we would be traveling by that -road,” said Rob. “It puzzled me a good deal, but I attributed it to -accident, for lack of a better explanation.” - -“It was no accident,” Dale assured him. “Hunt and Jack Curtiss found -that a secret passage ran from the beach to the grounds of the old De -Regny house. They sneaked through it the day that you were out there, -and lay in a clump of bushes close behind you while you talked. They -thought they saw a chance to get even and hastened off to set those two -fellows on you.” - -“The dickens they did!” exclaimed the other. “That explains a whole lot -that wasn’t clear before. Hunt is a worse young rascal than I thought -him.” - -“He certainly is,” agreed Dale. “I was disgusted clear through when they -told me about it, and said so. But Hunt and the others threatened to do -me up if I said anything to you, so I kept quiet for a while. But when -my sister told me that it was you who had rescued them from that bull of -Jeffords’, I just had to come and see you, and tell you how sorry I was. -I hope you’ll be friends.” - -“Of course, I will,” said Rob heartily, “and I hope we can make this a -means of getting the two patrols together.” - -“The only stumbling block now is Freeman Hunt. He’ll do all he can to -work against us,” went on Dale. - -“Don’t see that he can do much,” rejoined Rob, after a few minutes of -thought. “If the patrol doesn’t want him and can show good cause why he -should not be at the head of the Hawks, they can appeal to the -scoutmasters and elect a successor.” - -After some more talk the two boys separated, but that conversation -proved the beginning of the end for Freeman Hunt. A proposal was made to -him some days later to adjust the differences between the Hawks and the -Eagles, but he stubbornly refused to retreat from his position. In the -meantime, the scoutmasters, Mr. Blake and Commodore Wingate, had heard -something of the difficulties of the two patrols, and the result was a -peremptory order to Hunt to adjust all differences at once. - -“I’ll quit first,” grunted Hunt, when this news was conveyed to him. -“That kid Blake wants to own the earth.” - -The leader of the Hawks finally was as good as his word, and, after a -stormy scene in their armory, he strode out of the organization. Soon -after Dale Harding was elected to the leadership in his place. Lem -Lonsdale and Hunt’s other cronies, refusing to follow their leader out, -still remained, however, as sources of trouble. Thus, for the time -being, ended Freeman Hunt’s association with the Boy Scouts. But he was -not the sort of lad to accept defeat any more easily than his father. It -was noticed that soon after his resignation from the ranks of the Hawks, -Hunt, Jack Curtiss, and Bill Bender formed an inseparable triumvirate, -but for a time they gave no sign of making mischief. - -With the first sprinkle of snow, the boys of Hampton began to get out -their guns—those of them who possessed any—and little was talked of but -rabbit hunting and the merits and demerits of various hounds. The -aeroplane experiment grounds were closed till spring, only a small -detachment of soldiers being left behind to look after things, and see -that no one molested the place. Old Captain Hudgins, as was his winter -habit, had deserted his island, except for occasional visits, and would -not go back to it till the early spring. In the meantime, he meant to -pass the chilly months in a small-cottage lying a little outside Hampton -to the east. Of course, it was right on the coast, for the captain could -not bear to be out of sight or sound of the sea. - -One Saturday Rob and his inseparable companions set out for the woods -with their guns, determined to bring home enough rabbits for three -separate stews. Their way led them up over Jones’s Hill, where Paul -meant to try out his winged sled when opportunity offered, past a few -scattered dwellings on the outskirts of the town, and then into a tangle -of woods and brush interspersed with sandy clearings covered with dried, -brown grass. - -Separating, they started through the woods, and every now and then the -report of a shotgun rang out sharply on the frosty air. It was evident -that they were having good sport, or at least getting plenty of shots. - -Hardly had they disappeared into the brush before another group of -hunters, leading a big liver-and-white pointer on leash, emerged into -the roadway from a clump of bushes, behind which they had ducked as the -three boys came into view. - -The trio that had so suddenly appeared from what was, apparently, a -hiding place consisted of Freeman Hunt, Jack Curtiss, and Bill Bender. -All carried guns, and four rabbits carried by Jack showed that they had -had some success. - -“I suppose those brats are going to scare everything within five miles -now,” muttered Jack, as they watched the Boy Scouts vanish into the -woods. “They’re a fine bunch of hunters. I’ll bet there isn’t one of -them could hit a barn door if he were locked in.” - -“That’s right,” muttered Freeman Hunt, in a surly tone. “Young muckers, -I owe them a long score, and they’ll have to settle it before long.” - -“Yes, they did kind of knock you down and then rub it in, didn’t they?” -grinned Bill Bender, fumbling with the breech of his gun. - -Freeman did not relish this reference to his recent troubles, and an -angry flush rose to his cheeks as he burst out: - -“That’s the worst thing they ever did. I’ll get even with them if it’s -the last thing I do. I haven’t thought up anything yet, but I will, and -don’t you forget it. I hate them all.” - -“Well, no use letting them have all the sport,” rejoined Jack Curtiss. -“Let’s cut into the wood here, and then the old dog can nose up all the -game they drive this way.” - -By mid-afternoon Rob found himself alone, in a small clearing, -surrounded with scrub oak and sea-stunted pines—a vegetation peculiar to -that region. - -He paused to listen for some sound of his companions, and, as he did so, -he heard, quite near at hand, as it seemed, a crashing sound in the -brush. - -“That you, fellows?” he called out; but there was no answer, and in -place of the crackling of the brush there was dead silence. Somewhere, -far off, he could hear the steady blows of a woodsman’s axe, but that -was the only interruption to the silence of the winter’s afternoon. - -“Maybe it was a deer,” reflected Rob, as no answer came to his call. -“They get off that millionaire Grogan’s place once in a while. Guess -that must have been one.” - -He looked down at the two rabbits he held. - -“Not much for an afternoon’s work,” he smiled. “But they’ll have to do.” - -The sun was beginning to sink quite low, and Rob thought to himself that -he would have to be getting back. He was turning with this object in -view when a sudden sound behind him attracted his attention, and a big -liver-and-white pointer ran through the clearing. Its nose was on the -ground and it paid no attention to him. - -“Somebody else hunting round here,” thought Rob. “Queer, though, I’ve -heard no other shots.” - -A moment later he plunged into the brush, striking out toward the -southwest. As he entered the tangle, and, bending low, began pushing his -way through it with his broad, young shoulders, something happened. - -A flash of fire, so close that it almost singed his hair, followed by a -deafening report, and the whistle and spatter of shot among the leaves, -brought him to halt with a gasp at his narrow escape. - -Some one had fired a shotgun almost in his ear. A fraction of an inch -and he would have been badly wounded, if not killed. As he stood there, -angry at the unknown hunter’s carelessness and palpitating with the -sudden shock, there came a great crashing in the brush. Somebody was -evidently making off at top speed. Perhaps it was the man who had caused -the accident. - -“Hi!” shouted Rob, finding his voice at last. “Hi! come back there, you! -You pretty nearly shot me.” - -But the crashing kept on. Evidently whoever had fired the shot was in -hot haste to escape. - -“That’s a fine way to sneak out of a careless accident,” exclaimed Rob -indignantly, hurling his voice after the unknown. - -A sudden hot wave of suspicion and anger swept over him as he spoke. Was -it an accident? Would any one who had come so close to jeopardizing a -human life dash off like a detected criminal? Would he not stand his -ground and explain matters? - -Sorely perplexed, Rob stood a while listening to the further sounds of -the retreating individual who had imperiled him. As he paused, rooted to -the spot, something flashed across his path and vanished the same way as -had the mysterious shooter. It was the same liver-and-white pointer he -had noticed before. - -“You belong to him,” exclaimed Rob, as the dog vanished. “I never saw -you before, but I’ll know you if we meet again.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - MR. HUNT DELIVERS A TELEGRAM. - - -The morning after Rob’s narrow escape, Stonington Hunt entered the -Western Union office in Hampton in some excitement and filed a telegram. -It was addressed to a former business friend of his, and related to what -progress he had made in acquiring the right to manufacture Paul -Perkins’s queer machine. Had it told the truth, it would have said, -“Little hope.” But that was not the elder Hunt’s way. His dispatch read: - -“Progress favorable. Think I can land it.” - -As Hunt handed the message over to Blinky Dibbs, the operator, messenger -boy and manager of the office, he smile grimly. - -“Afraid there’s more poetry than truth in that message,” he said to -himself, “but I’m not going to give up hope. The more I think of it, the -more I’m convinced there is money in that motor ice sleigh. Why, one -could sell them like hot cakes at winter resorts, and there’s that -government contract for the Polar expedition. Stonington, my boy, you’ve -got to get your hands on that machine.” - -At this point of his meditations, his eyes fell on an undelivered -message lying on the key table before the operator. The former -financier’s sharp eyes scanned it greedily. As he comprehended what the -dispatch was, his brow clouded angrily. The message was for Paul -Perkins, and read as follows: - - “Things here satisfactory, but Washington moves slowly. On no account - consider other offer. Confident I can put deal with government - through. - Merrill.” - -“Phew!” whistled Hunt, in a low key. “So that’s the way the wind blows.” -He wrinkled his brow for a minute in deep thought, and, as Mr. Hunt’s -thoughts usually materialized speedily into action, he did not remain -long in meditation. He pulled a “receiving blank” toward him and rapidly -wrote on it. Then he slipped it in an envelope and, having written an -address on it, pocketed it. - -“Get my message off yet, Dibbs?” he inquired, although his sharp eyes -had seen that the operator had not yet succeeded in raising the New York -office. - -“Nope,” responded Blinky, pounding away at “N. Y.” - -“Well, I guess I’m off,” volunteered Mr. Hunt, with his most amiable -smile. “Got any messages you wish delivered in the direction in which -I’m going?” - -“Which way is that?” asked Blinky, keeping up his clickety-click. - -“Down Beach Street. I have some business at Paul Perkins’s house.” - -“Say, that’s so!” exclaimed Blinky, galvanizing into remembrance. “I’ve -got a message here for young Perkins. Would you mind taking it?” - -“With pleasure,” declared Mr. Hunt, emphasizing his willingness with a -smile of triumph. Dibbs had fallen into the trap almost too easily. A -few minutes later Mr. Hunt strode out of the office and set off at a -brisk pace for Paul Perkins’s home. In his pocket he carried the message -from Washington, and he intended it should not leave that receptacle -till he was ready to destroy it. Mr. Hunt whistled cheerily as he walked -down the street. His chest swelled with exultation till the buttons of -his overcoat were seriously strained. He felt that he had accomplished a -stroke of real business. - -A sound of hammering from the wagon house as he reached the inventive -scout’s home apprised the astute plotter that the boy he was in search -of was at work on the machine he desired so ardently to acquire. Without -making his visit known to Mrs. Perkins, the father of Freeman Hunt -softly walked over the withered turf to the wagon shed door, and the -first thing Paul knew of his presence was when his dark shadow fell -across the sheet of metal on which the lad was working. - -Paul gave a little start as he looked up and saw who it was that had -dropped in upon him so unexpectedly. The look of his face must have told -Hunt that he was not a welcome visitor, but this did not worry such a -veteran of diplomacy as now faced the lad. Paul, however, had presence -of mind enough to drop his hammer and come toward the door before the -observant Mr. Hunt had done more than take in the outlines of the -machine he was constructing. - -“Ah, good morning, Paul,” Hunt had said, as the boy looked up. “Have you -time for a little chat.” - -“I guess so, Mr. Hunt,” was the rejoinder. “Let us go in the house.” - -“I’d rather have it here. It is too early in the day to make a call, and -your mother is probably busy.” - -Paul quite saw through this, and acted more decisively than he would -have believed it possible for him to do. Coming forward, he laid his -hand on the door, stepped through the opening, and an instant later he -had closed the portal on the outside and slipped a big padlock into its -hasp. If Hunt was annoyed, he did not show it. - -“I don’t blame you for not wishing me to see the machine,” he purred. -“It is quite understandable; quite natural, after what occurred the -other day. I deeply regret I lost my temper. It was the interest I felt -in your welfare, though, that angered me when you refused my proposal.” - -“Hum,” said Paul bluntly. “I thought you were mad with Rob Blake for -butting in.” - -“I may have seemed so; I may have seemed so,” said Mr. Hunt, with such -regret in his tones that the soft-hearted Paul began to feel sorry for -him. “I have a terrible temper, and when I saw that my good offer was -likely to be rejected by you because of your willingness to listen to -bad advice, I confess that my fury arose and mastered me. But, Paul, I -am of a forgiving nature. I don’t cherish any more anger against you. I -came here this morning to repeat my offer, and——” - -Mr. Hunt broke off and dived into his overcoat pocket. Apparently, he -had just recollected the yellow envelope he now drew out. - -“Why, Paul, my boy, I almost forgot! I’ve a message here for you. Dibbs -asked me to deliver it.” - -“Thank you,” exclaimed the boy, taking the message. “Will you excuse me -if I open it? It may be news from Washington.” - -“News you little expect,” snarled Mr. Hunt to himself, his wolfish smile -growing more pronounced. The envelope he had slipped to the lad -contained the message he himself had scribbled after he had seen the -real dispatch. Paul’s face blanched as he read the brief, short message, -which appeared to be genuine enough. At least, he, of course, had no -grounds for doubting its authenticity. - -“Can do nothing more in regard to ice motor,” he read, with a sense of -bitter shock. “Government declines to use it. Sorry, but negotiations -are definitely closed. Merrill.” - -“Not bad news I hope?” inquired Mr. Hunt solicitously. Paul raised a -troubled face. He was a lad utterly unused to guile or deception, and he -therefore blurted out his trouble. He even read off the contents of the -message, which was hardly necessary, as Hunt himself had written it. - -“Too bad; too bad,” said Mr. Hunt, wagging his head slowly and assuming -a sympathetic leer. “But, Paul, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any -good. If the government doesn’t know a good thing when it sees it, I do. -My offer is still open. I’ll go five hundred dollars higher, in fact. -What do you say to fifteen hundred dollars for the rights to the -machine?” - -“I—I hardly know what to say,” stuttered the confused lad. The sudden -dashing of his hopes at Washington led him to be willing to accept -almost anything. To people in the circumstances of the widow Perkins and -her son, fifteen hundred dollars looked an immense sum. - -Hunt noted the boy’s hesitation, and he hastened to strike while the -iron was hot. He produced a fountain pen and a check book, with a -wizard-like flourish. - -“Come,” he said, persuasively, “say the word and I’ll write you a check -now. You give me a receipt saying that you accept the money in -consideration of all rights in the machine, and the thing is done.” - -“I suppose I’d better,” hesitated Paul, miserably, “come inside, Mr. -Hunt, and I’ll fix up the paper you want.” - -“Good for you, Stonington, my boy!” chuckled the rascal to himself, as -he turned to follow the boy into the house, “I guess this is where I get -even on those brats who interfered the other day, and make a nice little -sum besides.” - -But as they had their feet on the lower step leading to the side door -there came a hail from the street. - -“Paul—oh, Paul!” - -It was Rob Blake’s voice. - -Hunt paled as he heard it, but recovered himself the next instant. - -“Pshaw, he could never find it out,” he muttered. “I wish he had kept -away till I put the business through, though.” - -“Hul-lo, Rob, I’m glad to see you,” cried Paul, “come on in. I want to -ask your advice in something.” - -“Oh, I must protest against that,” sputtered Mr. Hunt, “this is a -confidential matter, my boy. You have pledged yourself to sell——” - -“I beg your pardon, I don’t think I have,” rejoined Paul, “and what’s -more, I’m not going to sell till I ask Rob’s advice. He knows a lot more -about business than I do.” - -“Confound him, I think he does,” grunted Hunt, but he added aloud as Rob -came through the gate, “Quite right, Paul, quite right. But independence -in business is the keynote of success. Ahem, Mr. Blake, you are looking -well.” - -“I’m all right,” rejoined Rob, bluntly, taking no pains to hide his -dislike of Mr. Hunt; then, without paying further attention to the -leering plotter, he turned to Paul. - -“Get your telegram, Paul? I dropped in at the telegraph office on my way -down and Blinky told me he had sent a message to you by Mr. Hunt.” - -“Yes, I got it,” said Paul, bitterly, “and—and——” - -“Not bad news, is it?” - -“The worst. Washington won’t touch the ice motor with a pair of tongs.” - -“Let’s look,” said Rob, extending his hand for the message which Paul -had drawn from his pocket as he spoke. But before the inventive lad -could pass the paper to his chum, Freeman Hunt’s hand darted out and -intercepted it. - -“Let me look at it one moment,” he said. “There’s something that wasn’t -quite clear when I saw it before.” - -“But you didn’t see it before,” protested Paul. “You gave it to me and I -told you what was in it. Then you made me your offer.” - -“I guess you had better give me that dispatch, Mr. Hunt,” said Rob, -quietly, but with an ominous glitter in his eyes. - -“When I get ready, my young whipper-snapper,” was the rejoinder, “and -now if you will clear out for a minute, Paul and I have some business -together.” - -“He wants to buy the rights to the machine for $1,500,” volunteered -Paul. - -“Oh, he does, does he?” snorted Rob. “Why, I’d give you more than that -myself. This fellow is after you to make money out of you, Paul, and——” - -“How dare you, you cub,” roared Stonington Hunt, once more losing his -temper and springing forward, but something in Rob’s steady gaze made -him lower his uplifted arm. - -“Are you going to let me see that message?” demanded Rob, in whose mind -a suspicion had now grown into a definite certainty. “Are you?” - -Hunt’s answer was to tear the sheet of paper in two, but before he could -reduce it to smaller bits and scatter them broadcast, Rob was upon him, -and with one powerful wrench of the man’s wrists had gained possession -of it. - -“I’ll have you arrested for assault!” stormed Hunt. “I’ll see the -constable, I’ll have you put in jail! I’ll appear against you as a -dangerous character, I’ll——” - -“Hold on a minute, there,” warned Rob, who had fitted the two torn bits -of crumpled paper together. “If you go to doing anything like that I may -have to turn the tables by appearing against you on a more serious -charge.” - -Hunt paled, and his eyes glittered strangely, but he tried to bluff it -out. - -“What charge, boy?” he demanded, his words seeming to choke him. - -“That of forgery,” shot out Rob. “This message is a bit of rank deceit. -It hasn’t even got a time stamp or an office number on it. You’d better -get out of here, Mr. Hunt, and—quick, too!” - -Hunt made a step forward, and then appeared to change his mind. He -turned so white with rage that his face seemed like a bit of carved -marble. - -“You young cur,” he hissed. “This is the second time. You came near -getting your deserts in the wood yesterday. Look out for the third -time!” - -Rob laughed as the fellow slunk off, but as Hunt strode up the street -with as much bravado as he could assume the boy’s face grew grave. - -“Like father, like son, dad says sometimes,” he murmured. “I heard in -the village that Freeman Hunt had been after rabbits yesterday. Now I -know who owns the pointer. What a pair of rascals!” - -Paul looked blank. He had scarcely understood the scene that had just -transpired. Unacquainted with the routine of a telegraph office he had -failed to detect that the required marks were lacking on Hunt’s forged -dispatch. He looked at Rob in a mystified way. - -“What’s it mean, Rob?” he asked, wonderingly. “Was Hunt trying to -_bunco_ me?” - -“I guess that’s the word, old fellow,” said Rob, throwing his arm -affectionately around the younger boy’s neck, “but we checkmated him -just in time.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - A BOY WHO FLEW. - - -One of the features of winter life at Hampton was the annual bob-sled -races down the steep, long hill outside the town, known as Jones’s Hill. -Other villages on Long Island, notably Huntington, had the same sort of -carnivals, and they were always attended by people from a wide radius -around. Neighboring villages sent teams and sleds to compete for prizes, -and much merry sport resulted. For weeks beforehand the events were -talked about, and sometimes—in the case of a spill—the contestants had -reason to remember the day for weeks afterward. Although the “Bob Sled -Carnival,” as it was called, would not come off till three days after -Christmas, the boys of Hampton were busy over their preparations for -some time before. - -“Going to enter a sled this year, Rob?” asked Tubby, one afternoon in -early December, as they were on their way home from the Academy. - -“Of course,” rejoined Rob, “there’s that big ten-seater. We might enter -her with an Eagle Patrol team, and race her against a Hawk sled.” - -“Bully,” cried Merritt Crawford, “that would be a great scheme.” - -“The very thing,” chimed in about a dozen lads, who were walking with -our three boys. - -“Why not send a challenge to the Aquebogue fellows?” piped up little Joe -Digby; “they have a patrol over there now—The Wolves, they call -themselves. Maybe they would enter a team against us.” - -“I guess they would,” agreed Rob. “I’ll write a challenge to-night. -Let’s see, Howard Major is their leader, isn’t he?” - -“That’s right. He’ll be sure to accept, too. Howard steered the -Aquebogue bob-sled last year.” - -“Yes, when we let Aquebogue win the cup,” laughed Rob, referring to a -silver cup, the gift of the village boards of six villages, which was -annually contested for. “This year us fellows want to wake up and win it -back.” - -“That’s right.” - -“That’s the stuff.” - -“We’ll do it, too,” several of the lads assured him, as the group came -to a point where they separated and went their several ways. Paul -Perkins had been an interested, if silent, participator in the plans, -but when he found himself alone with his three friends he launched -enthusiastically into a description of the kind of sled with which he -was going to startle the community and their guests at the carnival. The -lad had been spending odd hours over the construction of his winged -glider, and he was pretty certain, he told them, that he had it -perfected. - -A visit to the Perkins’s wagon shed resulted in the exhibition of a -business-like looking sled, with a wheel connected to the flexible steel -runners with which to steer. From each side of the contrivance, a pair -of canvas wings, spread over stout frames, extended for a distance of -about ten feet. The frame was made as light as possible, and Paul was -confident the glider would work. - -“Tell you what we’ll do,” said Tubby, as they stood regarding the odd -looking contrivance, “there’s a good full moon to-night. We’ll slip out -of the village after supper and try it out on Jones’s Hill.” - -It was agreed that this would furnish some amusement and excitement. -Soon the boys were enthusiastically making their arrangements. Paul said -that he could detach the wings and so carry the sled without exciting -undue attention. - -“You see, I don’t know if it will work yet,” the young inventor -confessed, “and I don’t want to be the laughing stock of the place in -case a crowd is on hand to see me take a tumble.” - -“No danger of that,” Merritt assured him. “We’ll sneak round by the back -way up through Cryders Lane and then take that path through the scrub -oak to the top of the hill.” - -Like so many conspirators the lads met at Paul Perkins’s after the -evening meal, and each bearing a portion of the load, they set out for -the long, steep grade down which the test was to be made. - -“I heard in the village to-night that Freeman Hunt and his crowd have a -big bob they are going to enter for the cup race,” said Tubby, as they -walked along. - -“Too bad there is no way of keeping them out. They’ll be sure to be up -to something crooked,” commented Merritt. “However, as it’s free for -all, I suppose we can’t do anything.” - -“Not a thing,” rejoined Rob. “By the way, Paul, did you hear anything -further from the lawyer in Washington, since you received his dispatch -telling you that Hunt’s message was, just as I supposed, a forgery?” - -“Only that the outlook is very favorable,” was Paul’s response. “He -says—it sounds like a fairy tale,” he interjected with a note of -apology—“he said that if the government took it they would give five -thousand dollars for the exclusive right to use the machine.” - -“Bully!” cried Rob. “I guess that would set our friend Hunt back a peg -or two if he heard of it.” - -They met no one on their way to the hill, as the night was chilly and -they stuck to their little-frequented route. The moonlight lit up the -steep descent and made it as bright as day almost, throwing here and -there sharp, black shadows on the white snow. It was an ideal night for -sledding and the boys felt their pulses beat with excitement as they -adjusted the wings and prepared the glider, of which so much was -expected, for its initial flight. - -At last the wings were firmly bolted on, and fixed in position with set -screws. In addition, piano wires leading to eyelets in the frame of the -sled, and which acted as wing-braces, were utilized. When this was -complete, each wing was as rigid as steel, presenting a slightly curved -surface toward the front. They were, in fact, closely modeled on the -wings Paul’s observant eyes had noted on the army airship. - -“Now, then, who is to have the honor of the first flight on the greatest -invention of the age?” - -Rob laughed as he gazed about him. - -“Don’t all speak at once,” said Merritt. - -“Any one can have my turn,” ejaculated Tubby, with deep conviction. - -“Why, I’m to be the first to try it, of course,” spoke up Paul, boldly. -“I’m lightest, and anyhow, an inventor ought not to risk anybody’s bones -but his own on his freak ideas.” - -“Suppose we take it half way down the hill for a starter,” suggested -Rob, “then we can see if it’s going to work or tip over, without running -such a risk of a smash-up.” - -Accordingly, the contrivance, looking like a queer bird in the -moonlight, was shoved down the hill to a post about a quarter of a mile -from the bottom. - -Paul seated his slight frame upon the craft, bracing his feet against -two projecting iron rests and taking a firm grip of the steering wheel. - -“All right?” asked Rob, as the others stood behind, holding detaining -hands upon the vehicle. - -“Let her go,” ordered Paul, boldly. - -Like a stone from a sling, the sled shot off into the cold, breathless -night. On and on under the stars it flew, its runners grating with a -sharp, musical note on the close-packed snow, for that afternoon there -had been a lot of sleighing on the grade. - -“She won’t rise!” exclaimed Tubby. “She’s like me. Built for a career -close to the ground.” - -“Hold on. I’m not so sure about that,” exclaimed Rob the next instant. -“Look!” - -As he spoke a strange thing happened. The sled seemed to rise from the -earth as if drawn upward by some invisible force. Even at that distance -they could see Paul’s body shift as he strove to maintain his balance on -the contrivance. - -Up and up the strange bird-like craft climbed, till it was about ten -feet above the ground. It skimmed along for a hundred feet or so and -then came down to earth again with a bump that unseated the -inexperienced rider and sent him tumbling head first into a snow bank. -But, as the others came running down the hill, Paul extricated himself -and gave a shrill cheer. - - [Illustration: Up and up the strange bird-like craft climbed, till it - was about ten feet above the ground.] - -“Hooray, fellows! She works!” he cried. “It’s a success.” - -“It’s a success as a dumping machine, I’ll admit,” sniffed Tubby. - -“Just wait till I put some springs on to take up the jolt when she lands -and she’ll settle like a bit of thistledown,” Paul assured him. - -“If she doesn’t settle you first,” put in Merritt, rather doubtfully. - -“Anybody want a ride?” asked Paul, as he prepared to tow the craft back -to the top of the hill again. - -“No, I haven’t made my will yet and I can’t afford to risk the legal -complications which might ensue in case of my death,” responded Tubby, -grandiloquently. - -“I haven’t decided what sort of stuff I’ll have them write on my -tombstone,” chimed in Merritt, “so you can count me out.” - -“You’re in a blue funk. That’s what’s the matter,” laughed Rob. “If you -want to take a chance on having your machine smashed up I’ll take her -down, Paul,” he went on. - -“Hooray for the hero,” scoffed Tubby. - -“Adios,” said Merritt, placing his hand over his heart in an affected -attitude, and using some of the Spanish he had picked up in the West, -“we’ll gather up the remains to-morrow—mañana.” - -“Banana, you mean,” chuckled Paul, “and it’ll just be as easy as eating -one for Rob to ride the Pegasus.” - -“Oh, you’ve christened it already, have you?” inquired Rob. - -“That’s the only name I could think of,” answered Paul. “Pegasus was a -winged horse, you know.” - -“And poets have been riding the poor critter to death ever since,” -chimed in Tubby, with a snicker. - -Rob decided that he would try his experimental ride from the summit of -the hill. From what he had seen, it would be no very difficult task to -control the winged sled. He was, in fact, so anxious to be off on his -initial voyage that he could hardly wait till they reached the summit of -the moonlit hill. - -At last, however, everything was ready for the start. - -“Whoa, Peggy!” cautioned Tubby, as with Merritt he hung on to the rear -of the sled, while Paul gave Rob some final instructions. - -“Balance her just like you would a bicycle,” he said, “and when you feel -her rising don’t resist, but just take it easy. Look out for the -landing, though. It’ll jolt the wishbone out of you.” - -“I expect to get a tumble,” Rob assured him. - -“Guess I’m all right,” he added the next minute, straining his eyes to -make sure the hill ahead was clear. - -Suddenly he was off, rushing through the frosty air at an exhilarating -clip. All at once he felt a queer, rising movement, and knew that the -winged sled was starting to spread its pinions. Far behind him he heard -a faint cheer. Like a bicycle rider, Rob balanced a tipping tendency in -either direction by swaying his body. - -“Whee-e-e-e-e-e-e!” he yelled in sheer delight at the wonderful -sensation as he clove the atmosphere. Above him the frosty stars -twinkled. Beneath was the long, white hill, chequered vividly here and -there with inky splashings of shadow. - -Suddenly, just ahead as it seemed, and slightly below him, there came a -loud shout. Rob was startled, and for an instant he allowed his -attention to waver. Like a flash the machine tilted, and with the boy -still clinging desperately to its careening form, the Pegasus shot -staggeringly downward through the air, driving straight at four dark -forms that had just come into view at the foot of the hill. - -“Look out!” was all Rob had time to yell before the marvelous flying -sled was ploughing at top speed into their midst. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - “THERE’S MANY A SLIP——” - - -“Wow! Look out where you’re coming!” - -“What is it?” - -“It’s a giant owl!” - -These and a dozen other exclamations of dismay and alarm mingled with a -great splintering, and crashing, and snapping, as Rob came ploughing -down to earth. Luckily, he fetched up in a snow bank, into which the -velocity with which the winged-sled had been traveling, drove it, for -three feet or more. - -The wings were reduced to a mass of torn canvas and shattered frames, -while the steel-runners were buckled and bent under the strain. A more -complete wreck was never seen. - -But havoc had been done, likewise, to the group into which Rob had -inadvertently plunged. As it so happened, they were the last persons in -the world he would have wished to encounter just then, for in the voices -that rang out about him, as the four figures were thrown right and left, -he had recognized the familiar tones of Freeman Hunt, Bill Bender, Jack -Curtiss and Lem Lonsdale. They had, by a strange coincidence, selected -the same night upon which Paul’s friends had come to try out their big -sleigh with which they intended to capture the silver cup. - -“Anybody hurt?” hailed Rob, as he extricated himself from the snow-pile, -feeling a little dizzy by the rapidity with which his smash-up had -occurred. At one moment he was flying, and the next he was ignominiously -toppled into a snow bank, with the splintered wreck of his winged -vehicle about him. - -“Anybody hurt?” he repeated, coming toward the group, the members of -which were brushing off the snow that had clung to them when they were -shot here and there by the lad’s sudden descent. - -“It’s that cub Blake,” whispered Hunt to Jack Curtiss. - -“Well, what of it?” growled Jack in a low voice. “We aren’t scared of -him or a dozen like him. Hurt?” he went on at the top of his voice. “No, -we ain’t, but I suppose you’d like to have seen us all injured for life -by that fool thing you were flopping about on. You’re a great -inventor—not.” - -“It isn’t my invention,” said Rob, with meaning emphasis. “It was the -idea of a friend of mine—a young fellow who made something else that -interested a certain man in this town so much that he tried to forge a -telegram to get a chance to buy it.” - -“Are you aiming at me?” demanded Freeman Hunt, coming forward, “or at my -father?” - -“If the cap fits, you can wear it,” retorted Rob, thoroughly angry with -Hunt and his companions. He was turning contemptuously away when Jack -Curtiss stepped forward. - -“Hold on there a minute, young fellow,” he snarled, “you’ve got a lesson -coming to you, and right here is as good a place as any to give it to -you.” - -“The same sort of lesson you tried to give me in the road one night, -eh?” flung back Rob, scornfully; “the same sort of lesson that the -fellow who fired that gun at me in the wood wanted to give me, I guess.” - -“It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” blurted out Freeman -Hunt, before his wiser cronies could stop him. - -“Then my guess was right. It was you that fired it,” said Rob. “Thanks -for giving me the proof of it.” - -“Bother it all, he’s got a hold over us now,” muttered Jack Curtiss, -turning away as Rob’s chums came up. - -“Well, the smash-up happened,” said Rob to Paul. “I’m awfully sorry, -Paul. I couldn’t help it, though. Something seemed to divert my -attention for a second, and the next thing I knew I was head-over-heels -in the snow-pile.” - -“Good thing it was there,” said Merritt, who, with the others, had been -examining the wreck. - -“See what a big hole his head made,” cried Tubby, pointing to the hole -in the soft snow where Rob had driven into it. - -“I’ll make it all right with you, Paul,” Rob promised. “I’ll see that -you are able to build a bigger, better flyer than this one. I believe -that if we don’t break our necks trying it out, that you have a good -idea there.” - -“Do you really think so?” asked Paul. - -“I do,” rejoined Rob. - -“He really does,” sneered Jack Curtiss from the patch of shadow in which -he and his cronies were standing. - -“I wish you’d broken your skull instead of hitting that snow bank,” he -went on. - -“I don’t doubt it,” said Rob, serenely; “unfortunately for you, I -didn’t.” - -“I guess you think you are going to get that cup at the sled carnival, -don’t you,” chuckled Bill Bender; “well, you haven’t got a chance.” - -“No, you won’t know you’re on earth,” chimed in Lem Lonsdale, viciously. - -“Oh, come on, fellows,” urged Freeman Hunt, who had his own reasons for -not wishing to linger, “leave the babies alone. They’ve smashed their -pretty toy, now let them run home to bed.” - -So saying, he turned, and began lugging the long, racy-looking toboggan -they had brought with them up the steep, white hill. With a muttered -threat about punching heads and “fresh young cubs,” Jack Curtiss and the -others followed him. - -“Well, I guess we’d better pick up the remains and go home,” said Tubby, -dragging out a splintered wing-tip from the snow. - -“Hold on a minute,” said Rob, “let’s wait here and see what those -fellows can do. I guess they’ve come out here to try that big, new -sled.” - -Sure enough, a few seconds later there came a loud screech from the top -of the hill. - -“Here they come,” volunteered Tubby, bending forward. - -High up the hill, outlined sharply against the snow, there came rushing -toward them a flying object. It seemed to fairly whiz over the frozen -surface. Hardly had they sighted it before it flashed past with yells of -defiance from its occupants, and vanished into the darkness cast by a -clump of big fir trees. - -“Well!” exclaimed Rob, “they’ve got a flyer; no mistake about that.” - -“It’ll be faster yet when they get those runners rubbed down,” -vouchsafed Merritt; “it only came in this afternoon from New York. They -got it from a big sporting-goods house.” - -“Maybe the same one Jack got his flying machine from,” chuckled Paul, -smiling over the remembrance of the bully’s discomfiture on the occasion -of the aeroplane model contest, as told in the first volume of this -series. - -“Shouldn’t wonder,” responded Tubby, in reply to Paul’s observation. - -“Where did they get the money from?” wondered Merritt. “That sled must -have cost a lot.” - -“Oh, Hunt’s father gives him plenty of money,” was Rob’s response, “and -the others are not exactly poor. They could easily afford such a sled -for the gratification of winning the cup away from us.” - -“I guess that’s about all they’ve gone into the competition for,” -suggested Paul. - -The others agreed with him. It would be a big feather in the caps of the -arch enemies of the Boy Scouts if they could capture any of the events -which were to take place on the hill after Christmas, especially the big -cup event. - -“It’s up to us to look out for any crooked work, then,” said Tubby, as, -with arms full of such parts of the shattered Pegasus as seemed worth -keeping, they started for home. “Those fellows won’t stick at anything -as we know.” - -“Oh, don’t be too hard on them,” was Rob’s comment; “there’s good in -most chaps if you look for it.” - -“Hum,” sniffed Merritt, “you’d have to go prospecting with a pickaxe and -dynamite to find it in Jack Curtiss’ crowd.” - -“And then use a microscope,” commented Tubby, in spite of Rob’s protests -that they ought to use “fair play.” - -As Rob had prophesied, Paul managed to build a new winged-sled, and -despite an occasional flop, it proved to be a handy sort of contrivance, -making short glides and alighting on its spring runners without more -than almost dislocating the rider’s vertebrae. However, boy-like, the -lads of Hampton regarded it as a wonderful invention, and lauded it to -the skies, so much so, that a paragraph concerning “our ingenious young -fellow townsman, Paul Perkins,” was inserted in an issue of the _Hampton -Local_. - -“Wouldn’t that make you sick,” sneered Jack Curtiss, when he saw the -item. “Ingenious indeed—anybody could do things like that if they had a -mind to.” - -In this saying, Jack came as near to the truth as in anything he had -uttered for a long time. - -Jones’s Hill became alive now in the gloaming, and on moonlight nights, -with sleds of all descriptions, from small, old-fashioned -“foot-steerers” to the big, polished, nickel-trimmed, flexible-guiding -store varieties. One thing the trials had shown, on comparison with -previous records, and this was that the capture of the silver cup -probably lay between the big toboggan of the Curtiss faction, and the -six-seater manipulated by Rob and his chums. - -“If there is no dark horse entered, Hampton gets the cup this year -sure,” Rob declared one evening as the happy, tired boys began to -retrace their steps to the village, after an evening of exciting -practice. - -“I don’t see much satisfaction in that if Curtiss and his crowd win it,” -mumbled Tubby, which brought down upon his head another lecture from -Rob, who, as should all good scouts, did not believe in harboring a -grudge. - -“Let the best team win,” he said; “that’s all we ask for—that, and fair -play.” - -On the evening of which we have spoken, Paul and his chums met at his -house to discuss final plans for the race and talk over the advisability -of showing off the paces of the winged-sled. In the midst of their talk, -Rob got up from the table and started for the door with a plate -containing sundry apple cores, the remains of the fruit which the -deliberators had consumed as an aid to their counsels. - -He had opened the portal and was about to chuck them out into the night -when he suddenly paused and stood listening sharply. He thought—was -sure, in fact—that he had heard a furtive footstep creep away from the -house as he flung the door open. - -“Shut that door for goodness sake,” howled Tubby, as Rob stood there -peering out; “you’re freezing us to death in here.” - -The others added their voices of protest. Thus admonished, Rob closed -the door, and returned to the table. Although he said nothing about it, -he could not get out of his head the idea that he had seen a form, -darker than the surrounding blackness, slip away from the house as he -gazed forth. - -It was not far from midnight when the boyish conference broke up, and -Rob, Tubby and Merritt started for their homes, which lay in the same -direction. They had reached Tubby’s house and were just saying -good-night when there came a sudden alarming shout. On the frosty air it -rang out, as clearly and as startlingly as a midnight bell. - -“Fire! Fire! Fire!” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - FIRE! - - -“There it is, down there!” exclaimed Tubby, pointing back toward the -part of the village they had just left. - -A red, flickering glare was already illuminating the sky in that part of -the place. Clearly it was the fire. As they gazed, other shouts were -added to the first outcry. - -“Come on!” shouted Rob, starting off at top speed in that direction. But -as he set off another idea occurred to him. The firehouse was not far -from Tubby’s house—on the next block, in fact. - -“You fellows go ahead!” shouted Rob, turning. He dashed off toward the -firehouse in which the old-fashioned hand pump engine was kept. On top -of the place was a big bell, the rope of which hung down in front of the -building. Rob seized it as he arrived at the place, and started a wild -clamor ringing out. - -“That will rouse out the Boy Scouts,” he muttered; “they all know what -to do when they hear the fire bell.” - -The boy was right. Hardly had the echoes of the tocsin died out before -from dozens of houses boyish figures came pouring. Boy Scouts every one -of them, and ready for active duty. Little Andy, the Eagles’ bugler, -went tearing past as Rob dropped the bell rope, satisfied that the alarm -had been well-sounded. He was racing on when Rob seized him by the -shoulder. - -“Sound the assembly!” he ordered. - -Andy, considerably startled at first, quickly recovered himself, and -placed the bugle to his lips. The sibilant call was soon sounding. In -less than five minutes the Boy Scouts had obediently gathered at the -firehouse, and, under Rob’s directions, were falling in to await orders. -Dale Harding was there, too, with the Hawks, and the two patrols eagerly -hung on the next word of command. - -Down the street came Boffy Groggs, the janitor of the firehouse. He was -half asleep and was regarding the key he carried in his hand as if he -hardly knew what to do with it. The volunteer firemen of the village had -not yet put in an appearance. - -“Putting on their fancy uniforms,” guessed Rob, as Boffy came mooning -along. - -“Hey, Boffy, give me that!” shouted Rob, as he saw the key in the sleepy -old man’s hand. - -“Fire in your hat?” inquired old Boffy, who was somewhat deaf. - -“No, give me that!” snapped Rob. “Quick, there’s no time to lose!” - -“I haven’t got on my shoes, and that’s a fact,” grunted Boffy, -comprehendingly. “I’ll go back and put them on.” - -He was actually starting back when Rob seized the key from his hand. - -“Hey! Hey!” shouted Boffy, indignant at being robbed of his authority, -as he deemed it, “give that back, Rob Blake, you’ve got no right——” - -“To be wasting time here,” exclaimed Rob, impatiently, and hastily -opening the firehouse door; “that’s true enough, Boffy—Hullo, Tubby, -where is the fire?” - -“It’s—it’s at Paul Perkins’s,” exclaimed the fat boy, who had just come -racing up; “the wagon house—poof—it——” - -He stopped, all out of breath, and gasped like a newly-landed fish. - -“Out with the engine, boys, and race her down to Paul Perkins’s place!” -ordered Rob, not waiting to hear the rest. - -With a shout the Boy Scouts swept into the engine house, and soon were -tailing onto the long ropes by which the engine was dragged. - -“Forward! Double quick!” came the next order. - -“Here! Here!” shouted Boffy. - -“We’re going to the fire. Out of the way, Boffy!” yelled the boys. - -“It’s not for hire! Bring it back!” shouted the hard-of-hearing janitor. - -“Forward!” roared Rob and Dale Harding in a breath. - -Instantly the wheels began to revolve, and the ponderous machine came -trundling out of the shed, and an instant later was being raced down the -street, drawn by strong, young arms. Cheering like soldiers, the Boy -Scouts dashed along. Old Boffy sprang back as the big machine crashed -past him. - -“Come back! Come back!” he yelled, as it vanished in the distance. - -As Tubby had reported, it was the wagon house which was on fire. As the -Boy Scouts came racing up with the engine, yellow flames were licking -hungrily at its eastern end. A red glow spread all about, and the air -was filled with the sharp, acrid smell of blazing wood. - -“Here you, and you, and you,” ordered Rob, singling out three lads, -“take that hose down to the brook. The rest of you tail on to the -hand-brakes.” - -In an instant the lads ordered to carry the hose to the creek were off, -and it was not more than five minutes before the pumps began to suck. -Presently, from the clanking apparatus, there began to pour a feeble -stream. It strengthened as the engine got limbered up and soon quite a -force of water was spurting upon the flames. They hissed and set up -clouds of steam as the cold water struck them. - -“Hooray!” shouted the boys at the brakes, but their leaders quickly -silenced them. - -“Save your wind to work the pumps,” ordered Dale Harding. - -“The machine! The machine!” cried a voice, and Paul Perkins, pale and -blackened with soot and flying embers, came dashing in among them. The -lad’s hands were cut and bleeding. - -“I tried to drag it out by myself, but I couldn’t,” he explained to Rob. - -“Great Scott, I forgot all about that,” exclaimed Rob. “Come on, -fellows, let’s get Paul’s machine out of there. I guess we can save it -yet.” - -It looked doubtful, however, if this could be accomplished. The flames -now were leaping savagely up, but as yet they were confined to one end -of the building. The wind, though, was driving them angrily forward, -devouring the old dried timbers with the greed of a ferocious monster. - -“Open those doors!” shouted Rob, and the next instant the big wooden bar -had fallen from the portals as Paul unlocked the stout padlock holding -them. As they swung open, the boys could see the machine standing in the -centre of the place, illumined with a red glare. The heat that drove out -was as intense as if they had opened the doors of a bake oven, but they -didn’t flinch. Led by Rob and Dale Harding, they plunged into the fiery -place. The heat seemed as if it would split their skins and singe their -hair, but they paid little attention to it in the excitement of the -moment. - -“Lay hold of those runners, boys,” cried Dale, “we’ll drag her out that -way.” - -“Good scheme,” panted Rob, bending over and seizing hold. But the -machine was heavy and refused to budge. - -“We need a rope,” suggested Merritt. - -“No time to get it,” panted Rob; “come on, try again.” - -They strained till their muscles cracked, and this time the bulky -contrivance slipped forward a little. Working with might and main, they -had almost succeeded in getting it to a place of safety when there was a -sudden shout from Paul. - -“The gasolene. That tank’s full of it.” - -“Great Scott, it will blow up!” cried Dale Harding. - -As he spoke a cloud of sparks and hissing embers flew about them, driven -from the burning end of the barn by a puff of wind. - -“Don’t quit!” urged Rob, as they hesitated; “no Boy Scout ever quits. -We’ve tackled this job; let’s see it through.” - -His words put heart into the somewhat scared boys, and once more they -bent their efforts to dragging out the machine. This time they managed -to run it fairly beyond the danger line, and it was as well that they -did so at that moment, for the feeble stream thrown by the hand-engine -had had little effect on the flames, and by now one entire end of the -wagon house had been burned away. - -By this time, also, a big crowd had gathered, and as Rob and his -companions, scorched and singed, stood triumphantly by the side of the -machine they had rescued, they could hear angry shouts and the sounds of -an argument coming from the direction of the engine. Elbowing their way -through the throng, many members of which sought to detain and -congratulate them, the lads found that the regular firemen had arrived -and were attempting to wrest the hand-brakes from the Boy Scouts. - -The boys were, somewhat naturally, protesting. Just as Rob and his -friends came up, one big, hulking fellow laid hands on little Joe Digby -and was about to hurl him backward out of the crowd. - -“You young monkey!” he exclaimed; “you kids had no business to steal our -engine!” - -“Good thing they did,” howled the crowd. “If they hadn’t the whole -village might have been burned by the time you fellows got on your -uniforms.” - -“You’re all right at a firemen’s picnic, but no good at a fire,” shouted -someone. - -“’Ray for the Boy Scouts,” came another cry. - -“Shut up!” roared the exasperated firemen, reddening under their shiny -helmets, all glistening with paint and decorations. - -“Here, this has got to stop,” said Rob, stepping forward. “Scouts, let -go of the engine. We’ve done our part of the work; now let them get -busy.” - -“That’s right, Rob,” came his father’s voice out of the crowd; “while -they were arguing the fire was burning. Work those pumps, boys.” - -“’Ray!” yelled the crowd again, as the firemen began to pump -strenuously. - -The machine clanked and rattled like a thresher, and a great stream of -water poured forth, but, unfortunately it had no effect upon the blaze. - -“The house! The house!” came a sudden cry in a woman’s voice. “Sparks -are falling on the roof. It’ll be on fire in a minute.” - -It was Mrs. Perkins. With her hair in curl papers and a wonderful -flannel nightgown on, she stood in the back door of her home and yelled -this warning. At any other time the boys might have felt inclined to -laugh. The situation now was too serious for that, however. As she -spoke, a perfect hail of sparks were being driven upon the shingled -roof. It was dry and old, and was already beginning to smolder. - -“Get that ladder,” shouted Merritt, whose sharp eyes had spied one -leaning against an old tree some distance from the house. In an instant -a dozen pairs of Boy Scout hands had carried it to the scene. - -“Run her up, boys, and get all the buckets you can,” ordered Rob, as the -ladder was placed in position. - -Calling Dale Harding, Merritt and Tubby, the boy sprang up toward the -roof. Behind him, upon the ladder, stood the others. They had guessed -his purpose—to form a bucket line from the pump to the roof. With Hiram -at the pump handle, and plenty of willing volunteers to relieve him when -he tired, buckets and tin pails of water were soon passing rapidly along -the line and being splashed over the roof. As fast as Rob got one -section wetted, he passed on to another, till the whole covering of the -house was drenched, and there was no danger of the place catching. - -By this time, the wonderful motor-scooter had, too, been dragged beyond -the reach of the flames, and although the wagon house was speedily -reduced to a heap of glowing embers, the invention, for which Freeman -Hunt and his father had striven so desperately, was safe. As the crowd -saw that the excitement was over, it began to break up and melt away, -till only a few persons were left about the ruins. - -Among these lingerers were Stonington Hunt and his worthy son. The elder -of the two seemed to be in a great rage. He gritted his teeth as he -gazed at the Boy Scouts clustering about Paul’s machine, and spoke to -his offspring in a low voice. - -“Luck seems to have turned against me of late,” he muttered, savagely; -“another failure. But either I’ll have that machine or no one else -shall, or my name’s not Stonington Hunt.” - -“We started the fire at the wrong end of the wagon house, pop,” rejoined -his son, in a low voice, but low as his tones were, his father seemed -seized with alarm. - -“Not a word, Freeman,” he muttered hoarsely, looking about him in a -scared sort of way. “Remember we know nothing about the fire. We were in -bed when it started, and raced down here to find out what terrible -calamity threatened our fair village.” - -Freeman Hunt nodded comprehendingly. - -“All right, pop; mum’s the word,” he breathed, “but we’ll try again.” - -“Those brats are not through with me yet by a good sight,” rejoined his -father, vindictively, by way of reply. - -“Nor with me,” chimed in Freeman. - -Soon after this worthy pair left the place, having been unnoticed by Rob -or any of his chums or scouts. It was Tubby who, poking about the ruins -after his usual inquisitive fashion, made a sudden discovery, a short -time later. He had come across a piece of wood which was unburned, -having been thrown aside by Paul Perkins in his first efforts to quell -the fire. - -The boy sniffed this bit of wood curiously and then summoned his -friends. - -“Smell that,” he demanded of them in turn. - -Each lad took a sniff of the proffered bit of wood and passed it on to -the next in silence. - -“Well?” interrogated Tubby, after it passed a dozen hands, “what is it?” - -“Kerosene,” was the unanimous answer. - -“That’s right,” rejoined Rob; “fellows, it’s up to the Boy Scouts to -find out who set fire to Paul Perkins’s wagon house, and tried to -destroy his machine.” - -“Maybe this will help us do it,” suggested Tubby, meditatively. As he -spoke he extended the oil-soaked fragment into the glare of a lantern -hanging from the fire engine. On it they could then see distinctly was -the impress of a man’s thumb. - -“I’ve heard of robbers and bad men being detected through just such -imprints,” declared Rob; “may be it will work in this case. They say no -two men’s thumb prints are alike.” - -“If that’s so, we’d better start out making a collection,” suggested -Tubby, “and I’ve got an idea that there is one man in this town whose -imprint would be of interest in that connection.” - -“Who?” queried a dozen eager Boy Scout voices. - -“The man in the moon,” laughed the fat youth, pocketing the fragment of -wood. But it was to be a long time before he had an opportunity to use -it to confirm his suspicions. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - JACK USES A FILE. - - - “Oh, the sea wot flows; - _And_ the ship wot goes, - _And_ the lad wot fears no dan-ger; - _And_ the pleasant gale, - _And_ the swelling sail, - _And_ the lass wot loves a sail-or-r-r-!” - -“Ahoy there, lad!” exclaimed the singer, bluff old Captain Hudgins, -“bringing up all standing,” as he would have expressed it, in front of -Rob Blake’s home on the morning of the Bob-sled Carnival. - -“What time are them sliding craft due to slip their moorings on Jones’s -Hill?” - -“Why, hullo, cap,” exclaimed Rob, hastening down the snowy path to meet -his old friend from Topsail Island. “I thought I knew that song. The -races start this afternoon, but owing to the number of entries the -committee has decided to continue them to-night.” - -“Ter-night!” exclaimed the ancient mariner, “you’re a-goin’ ter come -sky-hootin’ down that hill in the black night, boy? Stand by.” - -“Not in the black night, exactly,” laughed Rob, amused at the old man’s -bewilderment; “you see, this was decided on some days ago, and they’ve -got incandescents rigged up on both sides of the course. It’s going to -be a pretty sight, and there’ll be a big crowd out to see it.” - -“Reckon I’ll have to stay over then,” snorted the captain. “When I was a -boy we thought bob-sledding was good enough, without havin’ races atween -port and starboard craft, with patent steerers, and more opportunities -to break your neck than you can shake a stick at.” - -“Oh, it’s not as bad as that,” Rob assured him. “It’s safe enough if the -fellows are careful, and they all are, and besides that, they all know -how to handle a big sled, and that’s a whole lot.” - -“Reckon so,” agreed the captain. “Wal, I’ve got to trim my sails and get -afore the wind. I’m setting my course for the post office.” - -“I’m going that way, too,” said Rob; “I’ll walk with you.” - -Together they set off up the street, which was filled with men and boys, -all discussing the forthcoming bob-sled races. The regular population of -Hampton was already augmented by rooters from other towns, and the -afternoon trains would bring in more. In front of the post office Rob -met Tubby Hopkins, Merritt Crawford, Paul Perkins and Hiram Nelson. They -were to form the team of the “Eagle,” as the Boy Scout’s sled had been -named. - -Several other boys had their tobogganing sleds in front of the post -office, which appeared to be quite a gathering place for the prospective -contestants. Among them were Jack Curtiss and his team. The former bully -of the Hampton Academy sneered as the boys came up, but made no other -sign of hostility. - -The “Eagle” was painted a bright red with gilt trimmings, and looked -very handsome. Several in the crowd were making admiring comments on her -as Rob approached. Jack Curtiss’ sled, too, came in for a lot of -attention. It fairly glistened with paint and varnish, and being a -store-made affair was naturally better finished off than the Boy Scouts’ -craft. - -“Curtiss and his bunch will win the cup, hands down,” a man was saying, -as the Boy Scouts moved off on their way to the hill, where already -several boys were practicing. - -“Not much doubt of it,” was the response; “they’ve sure got a fine sled -there.” - -“Say, young feller, want to bet on yer team?” cried the first speaker -after Rob. - -“I don’t bet, thank you,” was the response; “but we’ve got as good a -chance of winning as the next fellow.” - -“Well, wouldn’t that jar you?” muttered the man, as the crowd broke into -a laugh at Rob’s retort. - -“You want to bet all your money on us,” said Freeman Hunt, and he and -his cronies prepared to follow Rob and his chums. - -“How’s that?” asked the man. - -“Because we’re going to win. There’s no doubt of it,” was the rejoinder. - -“Well, you seem mighty positive about it,” commented the man. - -Workmen were busy on either side of the hill stringing up electric -lights, as the boys arrived. Between the rows of tall poles crowds of -lads were scooting down the hill on their sleds, or laboriously hauling -them up again. It was an animated scene, and there were plenty of -lookers-on as the racing sleds glided swiftly over the smooth surface. -It had been watered and packed till it was as hard and smooth as a sheet -of glass. It glistened in the winter sun like polished steel. - -“Wow! Won’t we whiz over that!” exclaimed Merritt, as they hastened to -ascend the hill by a path left at one side of the course. Arrived at the -top, an examination of the runners of the sled followed. They were found -to be as smooth as a mirror, which is an important thing, for the -slightest roughness will check a sled’s speed more than would be thought -possible. - -“That’s one reason I think we may have a chance over Curtiss and his -bunch,” explained Rob, as they took their seats for a trial trip. - -“How’s that?” inquired Tubby, who, on account of his weight, sat in the -middle. - -“Why, their runners have hardly had time to wear smooth yet,” went on -Rob. “You know it takes a long time to get them into good shape. We wore -ours down last year, before we lightened the sled and widened it.” - -“Ready!” shouted Merritt, from his seat in front. - -“Right!” came the reply. - -The next instant they were off. How that sled flew down the smooth hill! -The frosty air whipped tinglingly back against their happy faces. The -runners screamed as they rushed over the hard snow. Small boys cheered -as they shot by. Everybody knew that the “Eagle” was one of the -favorites in the big event—the race for the silver cup. - -“She’s fast,” grudgingly admitted Jack Curtiss, as the red sled flew by -him on its way down the hill. - -“But we can clip a nailparing of a second off her,” rejoined Freeman -Hunt, boastfully. - -“Think so?” inquired Lem Lonsdale. - -“Oh, sure,” chimed in Bill Bender, confidently. - -Both Bill and Jack had been betting pretty freely on their success, and -both felt certain that they would win. But a momentary look of anxiety -had crossed their faces as Rob and his chums flew by. There was no -denying that their pace was tremendous. The Aquebogue team, which had -arrived on an early train, followed the “Eagle” down the hill, but did -not seem to make such good time. Still, it was possible that, as -defenders of the cup, they were not showing all they could do. - -“We can beat them with a ton of hay tied on behind,” sneered Jack -Curtiss, as he watched the Aquebogue Wolves make their practice trips. -His words seemed justified by the speed their own sled made. Like a -varnished streak, she shot down the hill again and again, each time -wearing her runners smoother and making better time. - -And so the morning wore away. The afternoon was devoted to the small -races, Ernest Thompson and Joe Digby, of the Eagles, winning two prizes -to their great delight. Some of the Hawk boys, too, captured events. But -the feature of the afternoon was Paul Perkins’s winged sled, which -cavorted and flopped about to the huge delight of the crowd, and to the -terror of the lad’s mother, who was among the onlookers. At four o’clock -the minor events were all over and there only remained the silver cup to -be contested for. - -The Aquebogue Wolves, all strapping youths, considerably older than the -Hampton boys, strode about the town confidently during the evening, -although the talk of the Hamptonites must have disturbed them a little. -The teams from the other contesting towns also talked big, but that -seemed to be more to keep up appearances than anything else. - -“Gee, the time seems as if it would never pass,” said Tubby, as after -supper the lads hastened back to the hill. The electric lights were -glowing now, casting a yellow radiance over the snow. Few people were on -hand as yet, however, as the race was not to start till eight o’clock. - -The few that were on hand were warmly muffled up in furs and heavy -overcoats. Of course, there were plenty of small boys about, playing all -manner of tricks on one another to keep warm, and hurling snowballs at -persons they deemed good-natured enough not to resent it—and at others, -too. What boy doesn’t enjoy “a chase”? - -The sleds which were to take part in the race were lined up in readiness -near the starting point. While the crews had been at supper various -persons had been left in charge of the sleds. Rob and his chums had -found a youth, who was quite a character in the village, to take care of -theirs. This lad’s name was Sim Bimm. - -Whether it was caused by his name—which rhymed, or by natural gift that -way, nobody knew, but Sim Bimm had difficulty in saying anything in -prose. On the contrary, rhyming marked his conversation. He was reputed -to be half-witted, but in some things he was shrewd enough. For lack of -a better guardian the boys had singled Sim Bimm out. - -“Now, Sim,” Rob had said impressively, “there’s a dollar coming to you -if you watch our sled carefully. Don’t let anyone come near it or touch -it in any way. Do you understand?” - -“Right and true, I’ll watch for you,” responded Sim, giving vent to his -peculiar mode of expression. - -“No matter what excuse they give don’t let them lay hands on the sled, -Sim,” added Merritt. - -“Not a foot nor a hand, be they ever so grand,” Sim assured the boys, -proudly. - -“All right, Sim,” said Tubby, as they moved off; “we trust you, -remember.” - -“You’re right Sim to trust; I’ll watch till I bust,” rejoined the -rhyming youth. - -Hardly had the lads vanished down the hill, however, before Sim, who in -order to watch more closely, was seated right upon the sleigh, saw two -figures approaching him. - -“Here comes William Bender, and Jack Curtiss so slender,” improvised Sim -as they drew closer. - -“Hello, Sim,” exclaimed Jack, with great appearance of cordiality, “what -are you doing?” - -“Watching this sled, with heart and head,” was the response. - -“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Jack, “at your rhyming again, eh, Sam? Want to -earn a little money?” - -“Don’t care for money; now isn’t that funny?” firmly replied Sim, taking -a grip on the sled with both hands. - -“But you like candy, don’t you?” asked Jack. - -“Gee! Mo-lasses candy; wish I had some handy,” wavered Sim, his mouth -beginning to water. - -“Well, if you’ll go a little errand for me I’ll give you fifty cents to -buy some with,” Jack promised, taking out a fifty-cent piece and -extending it temptingly. “We’ll watch the sled while you’re gone.” - -“I oughtn’t to go; that’s one thing I know,” said Sim; but there was a -sort of undecided quaver in his voice. - -“You’ve got him,” whispered Bill. Jack nodded. - -“It isn’t very far,” the enemy of the Boy Scouts went on. “It’s just to -get my gloves. I dropped them at the foot of the hill. You can be there -and back in ten minutes.” - -“I’ll go like the wind, be back quickly, you’ll find,” promised Sim, -rising to his feet. The thought of molasses candy had proven too much -for him. - -“Very well, then; be off. We’ll wait for you here to take care of the -sled.” - -“With a dollar and a half, I’ll sing and I’ll laugh,” chuckled Sim to -himself as he dashed off, going as fast as his long legs would carry -him. - -“Now, then,” exclaimed Jack as he vanished. Reaching into his pocket he -drew out a file, and while Bill Bender raised the Boy Scouts’ sled he -rapidly filed the runners till they were as rough as newly-molded metal. - -“Guess that will fix them,” he said, as Sim came panting back to -announce that he could find no gloves. But as both Jack and Bill Bender -had known all along that there were no gloves there, this information -didn’t seem to interest them as much as Sim had expected when he -exclaimed: - -“I looked low and high, but no gloves could I spy.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - THE GREAT RACE. - - -Ten minutes before the race was to start, the hill, so bare and -unpeopled when the boys climbed it after supper, was alive with a gay -throng. Some carried horns which they blew loudly, the harsh notes -ringing out and adding to the clamor of tongues. At the starting place a -big crowd was gathered, but the densest throng was assembled about the -finishing point. Excitement was at a high pitch. The silver cup, for -which the race was to be run, had been on exhibition all day in the -window of the town jeweler, and had excited great admiration. - -“Oh, I do hope our Wolf boys keep it,” said a pretty girl from -Aquebogue, as she passed, on the arm of her escort. - -Men and women from other towns were as eager for their champions to win. -Every face shone with anticipation of the coming struggle. At the finish -line several photographers, sent to the place by New York papers and -periodicals, had their flashlight apparatuses ready to take pictures of -the finish. Others stood at the starting point, holding aloft their -powder-filled metal troughs and clicking the triggers which would ignite -the flashes, impatiently. - -About a hundred yards back from the starting line an anxious group was -gathered. Rob, Merritt and the others had just made a final inspection -and discovered the mischief that had been done to their sleigh. It -seemed hopeless to remedy the damage, for it was manifestly impossible -to fit new runners, and only in that way could they hope to be in a -condition to compete. - -“I wonder who was mean enough to do such a thing,” wondered Rob. - -“The marks of a file are as plain as day,” exclaimed Merritt, angrily. - -“I’ll bet Jack Curtiss or some of his crowd put up this job,” grated out -Tubby, angrily, gazing toward the bully and his companions, who were -dragging their shining, glittering sled to the starting mark through an -admiring crowd. - -“Here you, Sim,” exclaimed Rob, in what was for him a sharp, angry tone, -“did anyone come around the sled while we were gone?” - -“No one I could see, not even a flea,” rejoined Sim. - -“Oh, bother your rhymes. Answer my question. Did you see anyone here, or -did you leave the sled while we were gone?” - -“I can’t tell a fib; leave it I did,” was the rejoinder. - -“Oh, you did, eh, and after promising to watch it, too,” said Merritt -angrily. “What do you mean by it?” - -He shook his fist menacingly under Sim’s pug nose. - -“Don’t scare him or you won’t get a word out of him,” warned Rob, coming -forward from the sled. - -“Who was with it while you left it, Sim?” he asked. - -“Until I came back I left it with Jack,” responded the shamefaced Sim. - -“Hum, just as I thought, fellows,” said Rob, turning to his companions; -“this was a put-up job. Anyone with Jack?” he demanded sharply. - -“His chum Bill Bender, with him did defend her,” was the rejoinder. - -“Defend her. Did her all the damage they could, I guess you mean,” -sputtered Tubby. “Hark, fellows! There goes the starting bugle. It’s all -off,” he concluded with a groan. - -“Not, yet, we’ve got three minutes,” replied Rob, bravely, although he -felt his spirits sink to the lowest ebb. - -“Hullo, you fellows, what’s the matter? Looks as if you’d dropped a -dollar and picked up a dime,” came a cheery voice behind them. They -turned and saw a tall, sun-burned young fellow regarding them -quizzically. - -“Some rascals have roughened our runners with a file and we can’t -compete,” was Rob’s reply. - -“Tough luck,” sympathized the other; “we can’t either. I’m captain of -the East Willetson team, you know. Two of our men missed their train and -can’t get here, so we are out of the race.” - -“Then you’re not going to use your sled?” questioned Rob, eagerly. - -“No. Hard luck, ain’t it? It’s a new one, too—a dandy. I think it would -beat any of these I see here. However, it can’t be helped.” - -He was moving off, when Rob seized him. The lad began to speak -hurriedly, his words tumbling out one after another. - -“Say, old man, I don’t know your name, but mine is Rob Blake. We had a -good chance to win this race if it hadn’t been for that bit of foul -play. I wonder if we couldn’t——” - -“Borrow our sled?” shot out the other, guessing the boy’s request before -he had uttered it. “Sure you can, if the judges won’t object.” - -“I’ll ask them,” panted Rob, slipping off in the crowd. In a minute he -was back. - -“They say they don’t care,” he panted; “where is it?” - -“Right back here. Hurry up; there goes the line-up call.” - -The clear, sharp notes of a bugle rang out, and men and boys began to -hurry from all directions. Suddenly there came a disturbance in the -crowd. Voices shouted: - -“Make way there! Give them room!” - -Through the crowd came shoving the Eagle boys, carrying the borrowed -sled. In their green and black sweaters, green knitted sleighing caps -and khaki trousers they were recognized as contestants. - -“Hooray!” shouted the crowd, quick to scent a sensational happening. - -“What’s all the trouble back there?” asked Jack, in a low voice, of Bill -Bender, as they prepared to board their sled. - -“Don’t know. Seems to be a lot of excitement. Great Hookey, it’s those -kids!” - -“What?” - -“Yes. Look for yourself. They’ve got another sled.” - -“The dickens they have! I’ll protest.” - -“Better not talk too much. Somebody might know something and squeal, -like they did at the aeroplane model race.” - -“Looks as if they’d overreached us,” grumbled Freeman Hunt, who, like -Lem Lonsdale, was in the secret of Jack Curtiss’ mean trick. - -The race was to be run off in heats, on account of the number of -contestants. As Jack and his chums were in the first heat, there was no -time for more to be said. - -“Ready!” cried the starter. Then, as the boys nodded, his pistol -cracked, and off darted the gliders, flashing down the hill like so many -streaks of brilliant color. Under the bright rays of the suspended -electric lights they made a pretty sight, and so the crowd thought, for -it cheered them to the echo. - -Three heats were run off, and for the finals there lined up the three -winners of the preliminary contests. These were the yellow and black -Aquebogue Wolves, the holders of the cup, Jack Curtiss’ crew, and the -Eagle men on their borrowed sled. Jack had started to make a feeble -protest against the loaned sled being entered, but the judges had -frowned him down. Afraid that they might have some inkling of who had -filed the runners of the “Eagle,” he dared not say more. - -The East Willetsons’ sled proved to be all that its owners had claimed -for it. It had captured its heat with ease, shooting across the line a -good two feet in front of the nearest competitor. The boys’ hearts beat -high with hope and excitement. It seemed that there was a chance of -their capturing the coveted cup, after all. - -“Now then, boys, clap on all sail and come windjamming inter port ahead -of the rest of them snow cruisers, or I won’t never speak to you again,” -came the voice of Captain Jeb Hudgins from the crowd behind the starting -line. - -“He’s bet his gray Tomcat’s next litter of kittens on you,” came the -voice of a joker. - -“I’ll litter you if I get my hooks on yer, yer deck-swabbing lubber,” -bellowed the captain angrily. - -“Ready all!” warned the starter. - -The boys gripped the sides of their sled. Rob, who was to steer, -tautened a turn of the ropes about his hands. - -“Bang!” - -Amid a roar from the crowd packed on both sides of the illuminated hill, -the three sleds were off. Down the narrow lane, edged with human faces, -they flew, Aquebogue, Eagles, and Jack Curtiss’ unnamed crew, neck and -neck, so to speak. A great uproar greeted them, but of this the boys -were oblivious. Each steersman bent his every effort to getting the most -out of his speeding sled. - -“Jack Curtiss leads!” came a shout, as that worthy’s sled slightly -gained on the other two at a spot where the grade was not quite so steep -as the remainder of the way. - -“How-oooo!” came deep-throatedly from the Wolves’ supporters. - -“Come on you!” hissed the Aquebogue steersman, swaying his body back and -forth. But try as he would, he could not shake off the Eagles. On they -flew; the finish line, with its close-packed rows of white faces, stared -straight in front of them now. - -Jack Curtiss was in the lead by a very slight margin; then came the -Eagles, with the Wolves right on their rear runners. But, in an unlucky -moment, Bill Bender glanced back and saw how close Rob and his chums -were upon them. With a sly move, he thrust out his foot, intending to -sway the Eagles’ sled off its course. Instead, however, the unexpected -drag caused his own sled to swerve. Amid a cry from the crowd, it swung -round before Jack Curtiss could stop it, and went plunging up a bank -through the crowd, narrowly avoiding injuring several people. - -In the meantime, the Eagles’ borrowed sled, with Aquebogue a close -second, flashed across the roaring, yelling, horn-blowing finish line, -amid a perfect bombardment of “Boom! Boom! Boom!” from the flashlight -artists. - -“They threw us over. They did it!” - -“It’s their fault!” - -Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, followed by their two cronies, came -rushing up as a congratulatory crowd pressed about the cup winners. - -Jack shook his fist angrily in Rob’s face. - -“You stole the race!” he bellowed furiously. “We had it won.” - -“Won by a mile!” declared Freeman Hunt. - -“By a file, you mean,” shot out Rob, looking straight into the other’s -eyes. Jack Curtiss’ gaze wavered and fell. - -“Come on, fellows. Let’s leave the babies to have their candy,” he -sneered, as, amid the hoots and laughter of the crowd, he and his -cronies slouched off. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - A SCHOONER IN TROUBLE - - -“Any of you fellows going down to the water front?” asked Paul Perkins, -one bitter Saturday morning. The air was bound in iron fetters. Hard, -black ice froze up the creek behind his house—the same creek which had -supplied the water to quench the wagon house fire—and a chill wind was -sweeping in from the sea. - -“The water front?” echoed Tubby, who, with Rob and Merritt Crawford, had -dropped into Paul’s on their way to the Red Mill pond, where they meant -to enjoy some skating. - -“You must need a bath awfully badly if you’re going to plunge in -to-day,” added the stout youth. - -“I’m going down to overhaul the iceaeromobile,” declared Paul, who had a -big monkey wrench in his hand. “I’ve got it down in Redding’s boathouse -now. It was the only place I could find to store it. Sam Redding let me -put it there.” - -“That was white of Sam,” declared Rob. “What a change there is in that -fellow since he emerged from the influence of Bill Bender and his -crowd.” - -“I should say so,” agreed Merritt. “Say, fellows, let’s go down and see -how the machine looks. Maybe Paul will give her a try-out, eh, Paul?” - -“Don’t know,” rejoined the inventive youth. “If the ice is over the -Inlet good and firm, we might try it. I’d like to, all right.” - -“I heard it was thick enough to bear a wagon,” chimed in Merritt. “Wow! -feel that wind blow. If there’s any ship off shore, she’ll have a hard -time beating up into it.” - -“That’s right,” agreed Rob; “but come on; let’s be getting down to -Redding’s. I’d like to have another good look at Paul’s gasolene -bobsled.” - -The boys were soon at the boatyard. Under a canvas cover, as they -entered, they could see the outlines of Sam’s hydroplane—the one which -had caused them so much trouble when the Eagle Patrol was first -organized. Other yachts stood about, shrouded mysteriously in their -winter coverings. Their bare spars looked odd and melancholy, sticking -up like leafless trees in the bitter wind. - -As they had noticed, it was unusually cold, and the wind from off the -sea came sweeping in with force enough to drive their breaths back when -they faced it. The Inlet was covered for half its breadth with a sheet -of dull, iron gray ice, hummocky as a plowed field in places. Beyond, -they could see the cold, steel-blue sea, breaking in showers of spray on -the narrow strip of sand and brush which separated the Inlet from the -open ocean and formed a breakwater. It was a depressing scene, and the -chilliness and cheerlessness of it was added to by the shrieking voice -of the wind whipping round the sharp angles of the boatyard buildings. - -“Look!” cried Merritt suddenly, pointing seaward. “Isn’t that a schooner -off there?” - -He pointed to the southeast, where a small sailing vessel of some kind -could be seen beating up into the wind, evidently making desperate -efforts to keep off the coast. - -“She’s pretty close in,” commented Rob. “They’ll have their hands full -to claw her off.” - -“What is she?” inquired Paul. “I can’t make out her rig.” - -“Looks like a two-masted schooner from here,” said Rob. “My! but she’s -eating up into that wind like a good one.” - -“She’ll need to,” commented Merritt, as they entered the boathouse in -which the motor-scooter stood installed, like a mechanical horse. For -two hours or more they worked with Paul over the strange craft, rigging -an inclined support for the gasolene tank. At last it was completed, to -the young inventor’s satisfaction. He declared that the fuel would feed -more rapidly, now that the improvement had been made. - -The job completed, they emerged from the boathouse, having persuaded -Paul to join the skating party. But what they saw as they came into full -view of the sea drove all thoughts of skating out of their minds. The -schooner they had noticed earlier in the day was now about off the -Hampton Inlet beach. But she was so close in that they could almost see -the figures moving about on her decks. - -“Gee-hos-o-phat!” shouted Tubby. “She’ll be in the surf in another -fifteen minutes.” - -The others agreed with him. Desperately as the crew of the small, -two-masted schooner were working to keep her out of the turmoil of the -wind-driven breakers, she was being slowly but surely driven into the -vortex. - -“She won’t live in them an hour,” exclaimed Rob. “Remember what happened -to the Sea Horse when she went ashore off there two years ago?” - -“A few of her ribs are there yet, and that’s about all,” agreed Merritt, -“and she was a large vessel.” - -“Wonder if the life savers at Lone Hill know about her,” exclaimed Paul. -“Maybe we’d better telephone.” - -“Good idea,” agreed Rob. “Is there one around here anywhere?” - -“There’s one in the yacht club. I’ve got a key—we’ll use that,” said -Tubby, heading a hasty dash for the clubhouse. They were soon in the -gloomy, closed-up place, and Rob made for the telephone. - -“Hullo, Central! Give me Quogue 212,” he said. “There’s a schooner -driving ashore. * * * What? Good gracious, you don’t say so! That’s hard -luck!” - -“Say, fellows,” he exclaimed, turning with a downcast face from the -instrument, “she says that the wires are out of order, and there’s no -chance of getting the life savers.” - -“Well, one of the beach patrols is bound to sight her before long,” said -Merritt. - -“But before long she’ll be ashore. Let’s see! Are the club field-glasses -on that table? Let’s borrow them and take a look at her.” - -The glasses were soon being brought to bear on the storm-stressed -schooner. She was making a brave fight for it, driving eastward rapidly, -and looking, from where they were observing her, to be almost in the -midst of the tossing, crashing breakers. - -“Sa-ay!” exclaimed Rob, drawing a long breath, as he handed the glasses -to Merritt, “there’s a woman on that schooner.” - -“Wh-at!” - -The exclamation came from all the lads simultaneously. - -“That’s right,” confirmed Merritt the next minute. “I can see her -standing at the stern. Seems to be right by the wheel.” - -Their faces grew grave, as in turn they gazed at the little vessel -clawing valiantly for sea room, but being beaten back on every tack. - -“From the way she acts I guess her rudder’s broken,” reasoned Rob. “It -seems as if she won’t head into that wind, and from her rig she ought to -do a whole lot better than she is doing.” - -Suddenly Paul, who was holding the glasses, uttered a sharp cry. His -face was pale as the others turned to him to find out the reason for his -exclamation. - -“Say, fellows, there’s a kid—a little fellow on board there, too.” - -“The dickens!” - -“That’s right. Gee Willikens, can’t we do anything but stand here like a -lot of clams? We are a fine bunch of Boy Scouts,” burst out Rob. - -“We might walk across the ice,” suggested Tubby. - -“Two miles over that ice? We couldn’t do it in two hours,” vetoed Rob. -“I wish we had an ice-scooter. There are some at Aquebogue, but that -doesn’t do us any good.” - -“That’s so,” the others were forced to admit. - -“Anyhow,” put in the practical Merritt, “a scooter wouldn’t be any good. -We could never beat up into that wind with her.” - -“I’ve got it!” cried Rob suddenly, in a sharp, excited voice. “Say, -Paul, now’s the time to try out your iceaero-what-you-may-call-um.” - -“Jumping bob cats, Rob Blake, do you think we can do it with that?” -gasped Tubby. - -“I think so, if the ice will bear. It’s thick enough to carry a scooter, -all right, and that thing-um-me-bob isn’t much heavier. Can you run her, -Paul?” he added, with sudden anxiety. - -“Can a duck swim?” came back the indignant reply. “All I’ve got to do is -to turn on the gasolene and the switch, tickle the carburetor, and off -we go.” - -“Then we’ll try it. I’m not going to see a woman and a kid go to Davy -Jones without stirring a finger to help them,” declared Rob. “Come on, -fellows. Tubby you get a coil of rope; there’s some in that locker, -plenty of it—come on, boys, we haven’t got any time to be talking, -either.” - -Off they darted, and by the time Tubby joined them with two or three -coils of half-inch manila rope, the others had the iceaeromobile out by -way of the big front doors that opened seaward, and led on to a runway -sloping downward into what had been water, but now was ice. At the top -of the runway they made a rope fast to the stern of the odd craft, and -then, taking a turn round a big iron “crab,” paid out the rope gradually -till Paul’s invention stood on, what he intended to be, her native -element. - -The rope was then cast off, and the Boy Scouts crowded aboard, Tubby and -Merritt clinging on behind the seat, while Paul seated himself in the -driver’s place. Rob, after being carefully instructed, ran to the stern -to work the aeroplane propeller, which was expected to drive the queer -craft forward. While he did this, Paul shoved forward a lever which dug -a spiked brake down into the ice, holding the craft firm till the engine -was working in good shape. - -In the intense cold it was necessary to prime the engine—that is, inject -gasolene into it from a cup on top of the cylinders for that purpose, -before it would start. Finally, after a lot of swinging of the -propeller, there came a sharp explosion. - -“Chug!” - -“Hooray!” shouted Merritt and Tubby, as a whiff of blue smoke was -whipped shoreward by the wind. - -“Pup-pup! Pur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! Pup!” - -“She’s off!” yelled Paul. - -“All aboard!” shouted Merritt, as Rob darted forward, being careful to -avoid the rapidly whirring propeller, which would have beheaded him at -one sweep if it had struck him. He swung himself into the seat beside -Paul, digging in with his “toenails,” as he expressed it afterward. The -next instant Paul released the lever which manipulated the brake. - -Like an arrow from a bow, off shot the iceaeromobile, scooting across -the ice at such a pace that it fairly took their breaths away. - - [Illustration: Like an arrow from a bow, off shot the iceaeromobile, -scooting across the ice at such a pace that it fairly took their breaths - away.] - -“She works!” yelled Paul, throttling the engine down a bit as they -dashed along. - -“Of course, she does,” shouted Rob back in his ear above the roaring of -the engine, “and she’s getting a great trial trip.” - -To the eastward, where she was now being driven, they could see the -schooner. Paul gave his steering wheel a slight twist, swinging over the -front bob. Obediently the iceaeromobile swung around, too, answering her -helm as a perfectly-trained horse obeys his bridle. - -“Paul, you’re a blessed genius!” shouted one of the passengers, clinging -on for dear life behind. But the wind whipped his words shoreward -without their being heard by the lads on the seat. - -Over the ice, for two miles or more up the Inlet, which branched out and -ran eastward at this point, the motor ice-scooter drove. It was rough -riding, but none of them minded that. The fact—the glorious fact that -they were riding in such a craft as no man or boy had ever ridden in -before—was a tonic in their veins. They could have sung aloud for joy if -the cold had not cracked their lips and dried their faces. - -“There’s the De Regny mansion,” shouted Rob, pointing shoreward at the -gloomy old place among its dark trees. “Say, we’ve covered the distance -in ten minutes. I wouldn’t have believed it possible.” - -“The ice doesn’t offer much resistance,” shouted back Paul modestly. - -At last the head of the Inlet was reached, and Paul shut off his engine. -A lever thrown into place acted on an ingenious arrangement of cogs and -reversed the propeller. With the aid of his spiked brake, the young -inventor brought his mile-a-minute craft to a dead stop within two -hundred feet of the place where he first shut off the power. The -iceaeromobile had been tried and not found wanting. - -But other things than the success of Paul’s invention engaged their -attention now. Not more than half a mile from them the schooner was -laboring bravely still, when something happened that proved the -beginning of the end. The boys saw her foresails torn bodily from their -ropes by the wind, and sent scurrying like birds, inland, toward the De -Regny house. The next instant, deprived of all means of keeping her head -up to the seas, the schooner broached to. Almost before they could -realize what had occurred, the doomed vessel was in the midst of the -rolling breakers. - -As they gazed, a cry of horror went up from the boys. It was fairly -forced from their throats by the apparent hopelessness of the schooner’s -position. Like a helpless log, she was driven shoreward, while over her -and about her the green seas lifted and broke as if in triumph at their -victory. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - MOTOR-SCOOTERS TO THE RESCUE. - - -“Great guns, we’re too late!” groaned Merritt. - -“No. See! she’s not awash yet,” cried Rob. “Look! they are climbing into -her rigging. Come on, fellows, run as you never ran before.” - -It was hard work plowing along that soft beach with the bitter wind -fighting them every inch of the way, but the Boy Scouts stuck to it -doggedly. Before long they were opposite the turmoil of waters in which -the unfortunate schooner lay. - -To their astonishment, however, she was not in such a desperate plight -as had at first seemed the case. Her decks were still unswept by the -waves, although, occasionally, a big sea would break against her side -and fling a smother of spray almost as big as her topmasts. - -“She’s stuck on that sandy shoal the captain told us about,” said Rob -comprehendingly. “It runs along the beach here at just about the -distance she lies off shore.” - -“I wish those life savers were here with their gun,” exclaimed Tubby. -“We’ve got lots of rope here, but how are we going to reach them?” - -This problem, however, was solved more easily than they imagined. A -bearded man clambered into the lee rigging as he spied the party on the -shore, and, after a dozen attempts, succeeded in flinging a light line -with a leaden weight attached to it to the beach. The wind helped him, -or otherwise he could not have succeeded, but as it happened, Providence -was good to the stranded schooner in this respect, at least. - -Seizing up the light line, the boys ran back on the beach with it, and -guided by the man’s gesticulations, they began to haul on it for all -they were worth. Presently it was seen that a heavier line was attached -to the first one, and was evidently intended to serve as a life rope -between the vessel and the shore. - -The lads cast about them for some place to which to make the line fast. -Soon they spied the gaunt framework of an old range light, long disused. -The timbers seemed stout, however, and in a jiffy they had the line -fastened with two double half hitches on the uprights. In the meantime, -the men on the schooner had made their end fast. - -Before taking this latter action, they had slid the rope through the -handles of a stout basket, intending, it seemed, to use it in getting -ashore. As the rope was inclined at quite a steep angle, this looked as -if it would be an easy matter. As the boys waited for the first person -to take the perilous trip over and through the waves, some members of -the crew began handing the woman and child up the shrouds. But before -they could get anywhere near the basket, a man’s form was seen to dash -past them, pushing them so roughly aside that they were almost projected -into the sea. The next instant the intruder was in the basket and -several feet out from the ship’s side. On he came toward the beach, -clawing at the line and pulling himself along, hand over hand. The -bearded man had leaped into the rigging and was shaking his fist -furiously after him, but he was far too engrossed with securing a safe -passage for himself to pay any attention to this. - -“He’s a fine coward, whoever he is,” commented Rob, as the man in the -basket neared the shore. But at this point the weight on the rope caused -it to sag till the basket was immersed completely in the immense waves. -Gasping and fighting for breath, they could see the crawling figure on -the rope emerge again and again from the vortex of one of the big waves. -At last, with a howl of anguish, he vanished altogether. As the wave -that had engulfed him rolled on shoreward, it could be seen that there -was nothing on the line. The force of the big sea had torn the basket -off, and hurled its living freight into the turmoil of water. - -The Boy Scouts dashed down the beach to watch for the man’s -reappearance. As the big wave broke, they saw him. Rolled helplessly up -the beach in the tumble of waters, he would have been drawn back when -the wave receded, but for the fact that Rob had already acted. Rapidly -instructing the others to form a chain, of which Tubby acted as the -anchor, the leader of the Eagle Patrol waded waist deep into the water. -Just as the wave was about to drag back its prey, the boy’s strong arms -closed around the man, who was by this time unconscious, and dragged him -up upon the beach. - -As the boys gazed down into the features of the man they had rescued, -they broke into involuntary exclamations of amazement. The man was no -stranger to any of them. - -It was Hank Handcraft, the former beach-comber. A thick beard now -covered the lower part of his face, but about his identity there could -be no question. - -“Drag him further up the beach,” ordered Rob, their first surprise over. -“I’ve no idea how he comes to be out of prison, but we’ve no time to -worry over that now.” - -A shout from Merritt, who had been gazing down the beach, caused them -all to turn their heads from the unconscious man. - -“Hooray! Here comes the life savers!” he cried, and sure enough, from -the direction in which he pointed, came the brave beach patrolmen from -the Lone Hill Life Saving Station. Two stout horses dragged their -“rope-gun” and a large dory boat. Hasty explanations were soon exchanged -between Captain Ed Baker of the life savers and the boys, all of whom -knew him well. While these were being made, the men of the Life Saving -Station rigged a line, and presently a sharp report was heard as their -rope flew seaward and fell over the deck of the schooner. It was soon -made fast, and then a breeches buoy was sent across. The first person to -come ashore in it was the woman they had seen on their wild trip across -the ice. She clasped in her arms a little lad about four years old. - -Rob and the boys were set to work by Captain Baker with the medicine -chest, administering restoratives to the woman. She explained to them -that she was the wife of Captain Tom Pratt, the skipper and owner of the -schooner, the Vesper of New York. They had set sail the day before, -bound for the West Indies, and without a cargo. The gale which they -encountered at midnight had proven too much for them, and for ten -terrible hours they waited for death. - -Tubby, who had been looking after Hank Handcraft, announced presently -that the man showed signs of life, and was coming to. This induced Rob -to ask Mrs. Pratt if she knew anything about the fellow. She replied -that she did not. He had shipped at the vessel’s Brooklyn Wharf only the -day before, and her husband being short a man had signed him on. - -Before long all the crew were ashore. The last man to make the voyage in -the breeches buoy was Captain Tom Pratt. He thanked the boys warmly, and -he and his wife could not say too much in praise of their bravery and -that of the life saving crew. - -Hank Handcraft had, by this time, recovered, and had recognized the boys -with a wild cry of surprise in which alarm mingled. He begged them -piteously not to be hard on him. He had escaped from the western -penitentiary in which he had been confined and had made his way east, he -said, and then shipped on the Vesper in hopes of beginning a new life in -the West Indies. - -“We won’t cause you any trouble as long as you behave yourself,” Rob -promised him. “But I can’t answer for the captain of the Vesper,” he -said, as Tom Pratt approached with thunder in his eye. - -“You miserable varmint! You yaller dog!” he exclaimed. “I’ve a notion to -throw you back inter the sea, if it wasn’t that even the waves would -throw you back again. This feller, boys,” he exclaimed, turning to the -life savers, “threw my wife aside and tried to save himself on the life -line them brave boys helped us rig up.” - -A low, angry growl came from the life savers, and Pratt’s crew advanced -threateningly upon Hank. The wretched creature threw himself on his -knees and whimpered like a baby as he saw these danger signals. - -“Bah! Leave him alone,” said Captain Pratt disgustedly, turning to his -wife. “I wouldn’t soil my hands on the critter.” - -The boys’ motor-scooter—which caused great wonderment to the life savers -and the rescued crew, as may be imagined—did good work in taking the -shipwrecked men ashore. A big crowd met them on their first trip, and -the cheers that went up for the Boy Scouts were deafening. They reached -the ears of Jack Curtiss and his crowd, and of Stonington Hunt. The -former broker was as vindictively malicious as the others when he heard -that his enemies, as he designated them, had again distinguished -themselves. - -“I’ll be even with them yet,” he grated out. - -“Sneaking into the limelight again,” sniffed Jack, as he and his chums -joined the crowd on the water front. - -Hank Handcraft was the last to be brought over, but none in the crowd -recognized him with his heavy beard and pale, woe-begone face. With a -growled-out, grudging word of thanks, he parted from the Boy Scouts and -made his way up the village street. But he was not to go altogether -unrecognized. Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, after an incredulous glance, -were convinced they had made no mistake in their man, and followed him -up. - -“Hank!” exclaimed Jack, coming up behind the fellow and laying his hand -on his shoulder. - -“Jumping periwinkles! It’s Jack Curtiss!” exclaimed Hank. “The very -fellow I want to see, too. Have you got a quiet place we can go and -where you can give me a good drink?—and I’ll tell you something that’s -worth your while.” - -“Worth while. What are you getting at?” exclaimed Jack incredulously, -for he knew Hank of old. “I heard about your escape. Why, you are just -an escaped convict. What can you know that’s worth while?” - -“I know there is two thousand dollars in good money right on that -schooner,” was the astonishing response, “and if you keep me hid and the -boat don’t break up I’ll pay you well for your trouble.” - -“Sure you’re not at your old tricks, Hank?” questioned Jack and Bill, in -one breath. - -“No; it’s true as gospel. You believe me, don’t you?” - -The outcast, wet, dripping, and miserable as he was, had a convincing -ring in his voice as he hinted at his improbable tale. - -But Jack was so dishonest and unreliable himself that he applied the -same standards to everybody else—and with some justice in Hank’s case. -He, therefore, made a non-committal reply. - -“I know a place where I can hide you, Hank,” he said, “till we find out -if your yarn is true or not. In the meantime, come on and get on some -dry clothes, and throw a feed into yourself. Then you can tell us your -story. If you’re lying to us, it will go hard with you.” - -“I wish I were as sure of going to heaven as I am that there is two -thousand dollars on that schooner,” grunted Hank, in reply. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - JIM DUGAN AGAIN. - - -As you can readily imagine, it was some time before the fame of the -lads’ exploit in going to the rescue of the crew of the stranded Vesper -died out. All the praise that came their way, however, the lads accepted -without undue self-satisfaction. In fact, everybody else seemed to -consider what they had done as being much more remarkable than they -themselves did. - -“If it hadn’t been for Captain Baker’s Lone Hill fellows, we wouldn’t -have got anybody off,” was the way Rob put it. - -One person there was in town who heard the news with an added interest, -apart from the thrilling details of the actual work of getting the men -through the surf. This man was Stonington Hunt. After hearing of the -performance of the motor-scooter, he was more convinced than ever that -the machine was a practicable invention, in which it would pay him -handsomely to secure a controlling interest. As he himself often said, -he was not a man to be easily beaten, and presently, after much casting -about and quiet investigation, he lighted on a plan which he considered -would place Paul’s interests in his hands and compel the boy to sell him -the rights to the manufacture of other Motor-Scooters. What this plan -was we shall see ere long. - -In the meantime, nothing more had been heard of the former beach-comber -who had so mysteriously reappeared and then vanished again. Although -they made inquiries, none of the boys could find out what had become of -him, and all their investigations along this line came to nothing. The -Vesper still lay on the sand bar on which she had grounded. She had been -fully insured, so Captain Pratt did not suffer great loss, and the -insurance company, after a survey of the spot in which she lay, decided -that it would be impracticable to remove her. She was a stout Nova -Scotian built vessel, of good oak and pine, and, despite the buffeting -she had been through, held together almost as intact as when she first -grounded. The boys often planned to take an excursion to her some fine -day in the spring, when the sea was more moderate than it was in the -winter. - -Toward the middle of April, the Boy Scouts decided that their -organization was flourishing to such a degree that they needed more -spacious quarters than those above the bank of which Rob’s father was -president, and a large barn-like building on the main street—formerly a -seine-net factory—being vacant, was fitted up as an armory, not all at -once, of course, but by degrees. A minstrel show and other -entertainments helped pay the expenses of fitting up the new quarters, -and when they were completed no patrol in the state could boast more -commodious or comfortable headquarters. - -With the coming of spring, Lieutenant Duvall returned and took up his -residence in the old De Regny mansion, and several other officers of the -signal corps came with him. The arrival of half a dozen or more -mysterious boxes and crates at the house gave rise to rumors that the -government was going to carry out some extensive aeronautical -experiments as soon as the weather grew favorable, and, naturally, among -the most curious persons concerning these doings were our lads. - -They got little satisfaction from the young officer, however. Although -they were always welcome guests at the De Regny place, they understood -that the experiments about to be carried out were in the nature of -secret tests, and, after their first questions had been politely but -firmly unanswered, they asked no more. This did not detract a bit, -though, from the enjoyment they found in visiting the place on Saturday -afternoons, and watching the private soldiers of the Signal Corps -equipping the aeroplanes for the spring and summer work. “Spring styles -in aeroplanes,” Tubby called it. - -From time to time, however, the officer in charge of the station let -drop a hint here and there which convinced the boys that the experiments -were to be in the main devoted to testing the deadliness of dropped -explosives and bombs. - -One of the officer’s expansive moments came one afternoon when they were -on the brick terrace watching the trying out of a new engine on a large -biplane. - -“I’d like to see how near I could come to putting that old hulk out of -the way,” he remarked, waving his hand seaward to where the black hull -of the wrecked Vesper lay, her two masts stretched up like appealing -hands. - -“Drop a bomb on her, you mean?” asked Tubby, with round eyes. - -“Yes. She’d make a fine mark. A good thing to have her out of the way, -too. I think I’ll try to see if the department can’t have it arranged.” - -“It would be a great sight!” agreed Rob. “I’d like to see it. I suppose -one of your projectiles would blow her to bits, if you hit her fair and -square.” - -“Well, there wouldn’t be much left to bother over,” admitted the -lieutenant. - -While this conversation was going on between the boys and the friendly -young officer, a vastly different scene was transpiring in a room at the -Southport Hospital, which was situated some miles from Hampton. In a -private room there, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were seated by the -bedside of a gaunt, pallid man, who had evidently just recovered from a -severe illness. The man was Hank Handcraft, but so emaciated was he that -any one would have had some difficulty in recognizing him. He had -collapsed from the strain of his life since escaping from the prison in -the west, and had become so ill that Jack and his cronies had found it -necessary to have him removed from the small cottage belonging to Jack’s -father, in which they had hoped to hide him till the time was ripe for -investigating the wreck. - -A problem had then faced the lads which was not solved till Stonington -Hunt was taken into the secret. He possessed some influence at the -hospital and on his word that Hank Handcraft was a reputable man named -James Smiley, the former beach-comber had been admitted there. -Stonington Hunt was not influenced by philanthropy in this matter. His -main desire was to see Hank get well speedily so that he could guide -them to the location of the money on the wrecked Vesper. - -On this spring afternoon Jack and Bill had visited the hospital and were -readily admitted to the sickroom. - -“But I must warn you, gentlemen, that James Smiley is a very sick man, -and you must not bother him or excite him,” the house surgeon had said, -as they left the office in charge of a nurse. - -“Has he been delirious lately, Miss Jones?” - -“No, sir, not since daybreak,” was the reply; “but last night, so the -night nurse told me, he raved and talked for hour after hour about some -money hidden on a ship.” - -“Strange, isn’t it, what delusions a sick man will get?” mused the -surgeon. - -The boys were shocked, in spite of their hard, callous natures, at the -change for the worse in Hank’s appearance since they had seen him a week -before. - -“Come, Hank, you must brace up,” said Jack, as the nurse left the room -and they were alone. “It will soon be time to take a trip to the Vesper -for that coin.” - -“I shall never go,” rejoined Hank gloomily; “but I have drawn a rough -map here to show you where I hid the money in a crack behind some beams -in the forecastle. You must get it, and I must trust to you to divide it -fairly with me.” - -“We’ll do that, Hank,” Bill assured him. - -“Where’s the map?” asked Jack, a greedy light coming into his hard eyes. - -Hank stretched an emaciated arm forth and drew from under his mattress a -crumpled bit of paper. - -“It’s the third beam from the foot of the companionway steps,” he said. -“You can’t miss it with this map to guide you. See, it is all set down -here.” - -He indicated some lines and marks on the paper, which Jack promptly took -and pocketed. After some more conversation, they left the sick man and -set out for their trip back to Hampton. - -“Poor Hank, I think he was right. He has not long to live, I’m afraid,” -said Bill Bender, as they were strolling down the road leading to the -station. - -“If he should die before we get the money,” said Jack, in a low voice, -“then we would not have to divide it. It would be all ours.” - -“Yes, if he isn’t giving us a fairy tale,” said Bill Bender. “That story -of his about how he and another fellow—a tramp he met—broke into a post -office and robbed it of that money sounds rather fishy to me. What would -all that money be doing in a country post office?” - -“He explained that,” said Jack; “it was in Montana and the money was -deposited in the post office safe to pay off the miners at a copper mine -not far off. It was the only safe place they could put it in that -lawless country.” - -“They got wind of it from overhearing the postmaster telling a friend -about it, didn’t they?” asked Bill. - -“That was the way Hank tells it. His tramp friend made a mixture of some -stuff Hank called ‘soup’ and squirted it into the cracks of the safe -door with an oil can. Then they blew off the door and escaped.” - -“I’ll bet Hank is mad with himself for getting too scared to take it -with him when he left the wreck,” said Bill. - -“I’ll bet he is,” agreed Jack carelessly; “but that is not our funeral.” - -That evening there was a consultation at Stonington Hunt’s home. Jack -and Bill related what they had heard from Hank and exhibited the map. -Stonington Hunt seemed overjoyed. Rising from the table, he went to the -door and looked out into the night. It was still and calm, one of those -breathless, starry nights that come in early spring. - -“Well, when will we take a trip out there?” he asked, coming back to his -seat. “It looks to-night as if we’d have a perfect day to-morrow. What -do you say if we make a try for it, then?” - -“Suits me,” said Jack. “How about you fellows?” - -“Same here,” said Freeman, falling in with the rest. - -“But won’t any one be suspicious if they see us leaving the harbor in a -boat?” asked Bill Bender cautiously. - -“Why should they be?” demanded Stonington Hunt, his crafty eyes -glittering with greedy anticipation. “There are several launches in the -water already. We’ll hire one and say we are going outside on a fishing -trip. We’ll take squids and bait and lines as a blind. No one will -suspect, and the wreck lies away up the beach off that old house in the -hemlocks where those army idiots are experimenting.” - -“I heard they are going to take up bomb-dropping practice,” said Jack, -in a careless voice. - -“Hope they don’t drop one on us,” laughed Bill Bender. - - * * * * * * * * - -“Rob,” said his father that evening after supper, “I had a letter this -afternoon from Job Trevor, that garage man at Willitson. He incloses a -bill for one hundred and fifty dollars. I thought I had paid it, but -evidently I had not. Wonder if you’d go over there, provided you have -nothing better to do.” - -“Of course, I’ll go, dad,” said Rob willingly. “We had a drill on for -to-night, but Merritt can take it for me. Anyway, I guess I can get over -there and back in time to be present at it.” - -“Thank you, my boy,” said his father. “I don’t care to let bills run up, -and, as you say, you ought to get there and back in time for your drill -if you hurry.” - -“Oh, I’ll hurry,” Rob assured him. - -The leader of the Eagles ’phoned to Merritt that he might be delayed a -little on his errand and asked the corporal to take charge in his -absence. Merritt readily agreed to do this, and Rob, whistling a merry -tune, hastened off to the shed at the rear of the house in which Mr. -Blake’s auto was kept, to prepare for his trip. Soon afterward he -chugged out of the yard and was off. It was about ten miles to -Willitson, and Rob was not particularly observant of the speed laws as -he cut across the island. It was exhilarating sport, speeding along on -the deserted roads. Once he met another auto. It was going almost as -fast as he was, and the two vehicles whizzed by each other at tremendous -speed. They did not go so fast, however, that the occupants of the other -car did not turn and look back into the darkness. - -“Look here, Dugan,” said one of them, a small, yellow-faced man—a Jap, -in fact, “wasn’t that face familiar to you in the flash we had of it?” - -“Only got a glance at it,” rejoined the driver of the car, a heavy-set, -big-jowled man, with an immense pair of shoulders; “but it did seem to -me I’d seen it some place before.” - -“That was one of the boys that attacked us on the road that day, Dugan,” -rejoined Hashashi, with a vindictive snarl. - -“It was,” snorted Dugan angrily. “I wish I’d known that, I’d have run -him down.” - -“You forget that to-night we want to make ourselves as inconspicuous as -possible,” was the rejoinder. “You had better keep a sharp lookout—we -are nearing the town now, I think.” - -“That’s right. We’ll run the car off on this side lane and wait till -it’s late enough for us to start working.” - -“Ha! ha!” chuckled the Jap. “We remind me of those funny pills. Work -while they sleep, eh, my friend?” - -“Well, I hope they sleep,” grunted Dugan, turning off the main road into -a rough cart-track. “If they don’t, they are likely to get some pills -they don’t like—lead ones.” - -“I hope you are too much of an expert not to be able to extract a paper -from a country bank without rousing the whole town,” said the Jap -uneasily. - -“Don’t worry about me, Hashi, old boy. I’ll do the trick with neatness -and dispatch, and when I’m at the head of the Japanese Aero Squad we’ll -have many a good laugh over this night.” - -As he spoke, the car came to a stop, and the two occupants got out and -stretched their legs. It appeared that they had ridden a long way and -were stiff and cramped. - -“Better put out the lights,” said Dugan. As he spoke, he bent over the -headlights, and before he extinguished them drew out his watch. - -“Eight o’clock,” he muttered. “It’s a long time we’ve got to wait.” - -“In the contemplation of great achievements, the hours pass pleasantly,” -rejoined the Jap philosophically, clambering back into the car and -making himself a snug nest with the blankets and robes. Presently he -slept, but Dugan, leaning against the car, gazed with speculative eyes -from the hilltop down toward the spot where a faint glow marked the site -of the village of Hampton. - -“It’s a risky game, Jim Dugan,” he growled to himself, “but you’re -playing for the biggest stake that you ever saw.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - A CHASE IN THE NIGHT. - - -But Rob was disappointed in his hopes of getting back early to Hampton. -In fact, he encountered a regular chapter of accidents to delay him. In -the first place, the man he had come to see was not in, and he had to -wait for an hour till he put in an appearance. - -In the meantime, he had telephoned to Hampton that he might not be back -till late, so that he knew the drill would go on without him, and this -helped to make the wait less aggravating. - -He set out for home at a good speed, but hardly had he gone two hundred -yards beyond the garage he had visited, than “pop!” went a rear tire. By -the light of a detached headlight, Rob examined it and found, to his -dismay, that he had run over a broken bottle in the darkness and cut -through both inner and outer tubes. That meant a long delay, for he knew -what country garages were. However, there was no help for it, and, amid -jeering cries of “Get a horse” from East Willitson small boys, he -summoned help and wheeled the car back to the repair place. - -This was not the sum of his troubles, however. The repair man’s helper -was an awkward youth, who apparently knew more about plows and harrows -than he did about automobiles. At any rate, he succeeded in smashing -part of the steering gear as they were jacking the car up, which -required still further time to set it to rights. - -As he left the garage, Rob saw, to his amazement (for long as the delay -had been, he had not dreamed it was so late) that it was almost -midnight. - -“Got to hustle if I’m going to get any sleep,” thought the lad to -himself as he bade the garage man “good-night,” the latter having -magnanimously refused to take any pay for the repairing of the break -caused by his helper’s carelessness. - -Once out of the place, however, he made good time, till within a mile of -home, when something went wrong with the radiator, which necessitated a -further delay. - -“Good thing we’re an orderly, law-abiding community down here,” thought -Rob, smiling to himself, “or I would offer a good opportunity to an -enterprising hold-up man. By George! Old Jenkins, the constable, is laid -up with a smashed ankle, too. Well, Jenkins wasn’t capable of much -anyhow, except to carry that big star around against a suitable -background. Now, then, Mr. Radiator, if you’re ready we’ll go on.” - -So saying—or rather thinking—the lad got back into the car and set off -once more, the cheerful song of the motor delighting him after its -temporary fit of backsliding. - -In a few minutes he was at the head of the village street, dark, and -deserted, of course, at that hour. Presently the white outline of the -bank, the only stone building in the village, came into view, and as it -did so Rob gave an amazed exclamation: - -“Why, there’s a light in there. Wonder who can be working late. I -thought Jennings and the rest had——. Hullo!” - -The light had gone out as suddenly as if a hand had been placed over it. -Plucky as he was, Rob could not repress an involuntary shiver. - -“There’s something wrong,” he said to himself. He muffled down the motor -and stopped half a block or more from the bank building. Then, with a -heart that beat so hard that it shook his frame, he began cautiously -tiptoeing down the darkened street. He kept on till he reached the bank, -and then catching hold of the window coping, he raised himself silently -till he could peer through the big plate glass window into the interior. -At first it seemed as black as a pit in there and Rob began to think -that his eyes might have played him a trick. - -But the next instant he knew they hadn’t. At the rear of the main floor -of the bank a sudden tiny glow of light flashed. No bigger than the -midget lantern of a fire-fly it seemed, but as Rob’s eyes encountered it -he knew that some human agency was at work within. - -And now the light began to come closer and Rob guessed that it was a -pocket electric torch. Whoever was carrying it came to the door—which -was opened, it seemed, and peered out. - -“All clear,” this figure muttered to itself, while Rob, who had dropped -from the window at its approach, cowered back against the wall as flat -as he could make himself. - -And now Rob could hear, from the back of the bank, a queer, rasping -noise. It sounded not unlike the harsh drone of big bumble bees. What -could it be? His ignorance was soon to be enlightened. - -“Keep that drill quiet, Dugan,” came from the man at the door; “you will -wake the whole town up.” - -Instantly the noise stopped, and as it did so the man at the door was -joined by another. Hardly had the second dark figure glided into view -before there was a muffled roar from within the bank and the ground -vibrated under Rob’s feet. - -Like a flash, the words of Lieutenant Duvall flashed into his mind: - -“Dugan, I have found out, was once an expert safe-blower.” - -The second figure had been addressed as Dugan. From what Rob could make -out of the hazy outline of his big frame, it was the deserter. Evidently -what had just happened was the blowing open of the big safe which served -the Hampton bank in place of a strong room. With a swift flash of -intuition the lad realized what was taking place. The two rascals, of -whom the first was undoubtedly the Jap, were after the plans of -Lieutenant Duvall’s equalizer. - -“I’ll fix them,” thought Rob, feeling in his pocket for his Boy Scout -alarm whistle. Three blasts on it would bring the Eagles and the Hawks -about him in a jiffy, all those within hearing, that is. - -But before he blew the alarm Rob was prudent enough to softly tiptoe to -a safe distance. So silently did he proceed that he did not believe it -was possible for the men in the bank to have heard him. But the next -instant he was undeceived. Rob had been seen, and the Jap had crept -after him as silently as he himself had progressed. - -“Drop that whistle or I shall be compelled to shoot you,” said a soft -voice in the startled boy’s ear. As the purring accents reached him, Rob -could feel the chilly impress of a revolver muzzle against the back of -his neck. With a quick, snake-like turn, Rob ducked and fairly slid up -under the astonished Jap’s arm before the other could realize what had -happened. With a quick wrench the Oriental was dispossessed of the -pistol, and Rob, master of the situation, placed the whistle to his -lips, while with the other hand he leveled the revolver at the quaking -Jap. - -Three shrill calls rang out clear and loud on the early morning air. - -“Now you stand there till they come and put you in the lock-up,” warned -Rob, standing motionless as a statue before the yellow man, and keeping -the pistol pointed straight at him. - -“Truly you have me in a trap, honorable youth,” said the Jap. “I weep -for my native Nippon, which I fear I may never see again.” - -He seemed to be overcome with an excess of grief, and moved one hand -downward. - -“Don’t move,” snapped out Rob, devoutly hoping his companions would be -quick. - -“My handkerchief, honorable sir,” sobbed the Jap; “may I not dry my -tears?” - -“I’ll get it for you,” said Rob, sternly, and leaning forward, still -keeping the pistol leveled, he drew a square of linen from the other’s -breast pocket. As he did so, he became conscious of a strange odor in -the air. The next instant a dark figure came leaping out of the bank, -clutching something in its grip, and approaching them with leaps and -bounds. It was Dugan. But as Rob gazed at the approaching fellow a -sudden feeling of terrible lassitude overcame him. Dugan, the Jap, the -bank, everything, grew hazy. He felt himself falling backward and tried -desperately to catch himself. But his effort was a failure. Dropping the -pistol from his nerveless fingers, Rob Blake collapsed in a heap on the -sidewalk as Dugan came rushing up. - -“Ha! An excellent idea to keep Orhsimi, the Japanese sleeping powder, in -my handkerchief; see, honorable Dugan, our young enemy is disposed of.” - -Stooping by Rob’s recumbent form, the Jap picked up the pistol and -placed it in his pocket. - -“Hark!” exclaimed Dugan, suddenly. - -A strange sound was in the air. It was the patter-patter of dozens of -young feet. The Boy Scouts, roused by the startling summons of their -leader, were coming to the rescue. - -“We’ve got to get out of this, and get out of it quick,” exclaimed -Dugan, excitedly; “we’ll have a whole hornet’s nest about our ears if we -don’t.” - -“You’ve got the box with the plans in it?” - -“Yes, but the smoke was so confounded thick that I could hardly see to -get it.” - -The last two speeches we have recorded were exchanged while the two -rascals were diving down a side street where their automobile was -concealed. As the Boy Scouts came pouring round the corner, to be met by -a cloud of acrid smoke rolling from the open bank door, there was a -sharp “chug-chug!” as the former soldier and the treacherous Jap made -off with their spoil. - -“What’s the matter? What is it? Who blew the alarm?” - -These and a thousand other questions came from the anxious boys as they -ran about trying to discover what had happened, and what was the matter. -A cry from Merritt summoned them down the street past the bank. The -corporal had stumbled over Rob’s unconscious form. - -“Rob! Rob! What is it?” he was saying as the others came up. - -“Somebody must have struck him and left him here,” said Tubby. “Fan his -face, Merritt.” - -The corporal produced a handkerchief and vigorously fanned the recumbent -lad’s countenance. It so happened that in doing this he removed the -subtle powder which the crafty Jap had had concealed in his -handkerchief, and as its fumes lost their effect Rob awoke. At first he -gazed dazedly about him, but presently all that had happened came -rushing back to his mind. - -“Did they get away?” he asked in a feeble voice. - -“Who, old fellow?” asked Tubby, “whom do you mean?” - -“Those chaps who robbed the bank.” - -“Robbed the bank?” - -“Yes. I’ll explain it all afterward. Did they get away?” - -“An auto just chugged off down H street, if that’s what you mean,” -volunteered Hiram. - -“Down H street,” echoed Rob, “that leads into the New York road, doesn’t -it?” - -“Why, yes,” rejoined Merritt, “but what has that to do——” - -“Everything,” exclaimed Rob, cutting him short; “come on, boys. My dad’s -car is just up the street. We’ve got to take after those fellows and -have them arrested. They’ve got valuable papers.” - -“Rob! They’ve stolen the airship plans?” gasped Tubby, guessing what had -happened. - -“That’s right. But come on,” exclaimed Rob, frantically tugging at his -chum’s coat-sleeves. Leaving the others behind with orders to telephone -to the various villages about, to apprehend the robbers if they appeared -there, the boy, followed by his chums, made for his automobile which, it -will be recalled, he had left a short distance up the street. A few -turns of the crank and a quick snap as spark and gasolene were turned -on, and then a quick dash round the corner into H street and a flying -leap down the country road leading into the turnpike to New York! - -“Do you think we’ll catch them, Rob?” asked. Tubby, bending forward -eagerly. - -“Don’t know,” was the rejoinder; “we don’t even know that they have gone -this way. We can only guess at it and hope we are right.” - -On and on flew the auto through the night, past sleeping villages, -through lonely patches of road where dark woods grew right up to the -sides of the road, up hills and down steep grades, but still no sight of -the auto they were pursuing. - -Suddenly, as they topped a small rise, Tubby gave a shout. Below them, -and not more than a quarter of a mile off, they could see the gleam of a -tail lamp. - -“It’s an auto!” exclaimed Merritt, “but is it the right one?” - -The boys, except Rob, who was at the wheel, arose to their feet in their -excitement as they drew nearer the car ahead, which appeared to be -stationary. - -All at once, however, the sharp staccato rattle of its exhaust sounded, -and the dim lights were whisked off at what seemed considerable speed. -Evidently the car had been halted for something—perhaps to examine the -stolen box—and the sight of the approaching lights had warned its -occupants that these might be signs of a pursuer. - -Such was the guess the boys made anyhow, and it was not long before all -doubts as to who was in the front car were dissipated. - -“Stop that car or I’ll fire at you,” roared back a voice which the boys -recognized as Dugan’s. - -The only answer they vouchsafed was to keep on going. - -Bang! - -A bullet screamed past from the car in front and whistled by the boys’ -ears. They could see the red flash of the discharged pistol against the -blackness ahead of them. - -“That’s to show you we mean business. The next will come closer,” came -the same voice. - -“He’s only bluffing. He can’t see anything in this light,” whispered -Tubby. - -Suddenly from somewhere to the eastward there came a hoarse, harsh -whistle. - -“A train!” cried Rob, as he heard; “must be a night freight.” - -“Reckon that’s what it is. This must be the central division of the Long -Island Railroad,” said Tubby. “Wow, we’ve come way out of our way.” - -“They must be off, too,” said Rob; “we simply followed our leaders.” - -“Say, hold on, Rob!” cried Merritt, suddenly; “look! that train’s almost -at the crossing now!” - -“That’s right, I just saw the headlight among the trees,” echoed Tubby; -“better slow down.” - -“Guess so,” assented Rob, as the thunder of the approaching train was -borne plainly to their ears. It was evidently, as they had guessed, a -night freight, and from the noise the locomotive was making it must have -been a big one. - -“Woo-oo-oo-ough!” - -“There goes the whistle. I guess there are no gates ahead,” said -Merritt. “Now’s our chance to sneak upon those other fellows, they—Gee -whiz, look at that!” - -As he spoke the other auto, which had hesitated for an instant as the -whistle of the approaching train sounded, dashed on ahead. - -“They’re going to try to beat the train to the crossing,” exclaimed Rob. - -“They’ll never do it,” was Merritt’s rejoinder. “Look! Oh, good -gracious!” - -A sound of splintering wood and ripped mechanism drowned his cry of -horror, and those of the other lads. Before their very eyes the -locomotive had struck the robbers’ car as it was half way across the -tracks and had tossed it to one side—a mass of kindling wood and twisted -metal. - -“They must both be injured or killed,” cried Rob; “hurry, fellows, maybe -we can help.” - -The boys jumped out of the auto and ran to the crossing. In the meantime -the engine had been brought to a standstill and the train crew were -examining the wreck. But although both the railroad men and the boys -made a thorough search, they could find no trace of the men who had -occupied the machine. Rob and Merritt, as a final recourse, walked some -distance back up the track, but without finding any evidence that there -had been loss of life or injury. - -“They must have been thrown clear of the auto when the crash came, and -when they picked themselves up I guess they realized that the best thing -to do was to take themselves off,” was the way Rob explained it. Hardly -had he completed this theory of what had occurred when his foot struck -something. It gave out a metallic ring. Stooping down swiftly, he picked -it up and found that it was the tin box from the bank, battered and -dented, indeed, but intact and still locked. - -Naturally the boys were delighted over their find, which must have been -thrown from the auto when it was demolished. As after half an hour more -of searching nothing was to be found of Dugan or the Jap, the train crew -went back to their train and the boys prepared to turn back, with what -pleasant anticipations may be imagined. - -“Well, so long, kids,” shouted the conductor of the train after the long -line of cars rolled off, “too lucky to happen a second time, I’m -thinking.” - -Of course, he referred to the fact that no loss of life or injury had -occurred in the smash-up, but to the boys his words had an added -meaning. - -“It is too lucky to happen a second time,” said Rob, hugging the -precious tin box. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. - - -Rob woke late the next day. For a few minutes it seemed to him that he -must have dreamed all that had occurred the night before, but Lieutenant -Duvall’s voice from the room below speedily undeceived him. He recalled -it all now—how his father and an astonished crowd of townsfolk had met -them on their return from that wild auto ride; how, on the box being -opened, it had been found to contain the plans of the highly valued -invention, of the exclusive possession of which Japan had been so -anxious to deprive the United States. - -“Rob, are you awake,” came his father’s voice up the stairway. - -“Yes, and I’m ashamed of myself for sleeping so late,” was the lad’s -rejoinder. “Gee whiz, half-past nine! I’ll be down in ten minutes.” - -The lad was bathed and dressed in record time, and in a few minutes over -the promised time made his appearance in the living-room. Lieutenant -Duvall rose and greeted him warmly, as he came in. He overwhelmed the -boy with his thanks and congratulations. - -“It was a fine act—a splendid thing to do,” he said, enthusiastically. -“Mr. Blake, you certainly ought to be proud of such a boy. Rob, I have -sent a telegram to Washington to-day. Won’t you come out to the -experiment station with me and watch some flights while we wait for an -answer?” Then seeing the puzzled look on Rob’s face, he broke into a -smile. - -“You see,” he said, “the telegram concerns you and your plucky young -chums. The Department will not pass such bravery by without taking -official notice of it.” - -Rob colored with pleasure as he accepted the invitation. After a hasty -breakfast they set out in the officer’s auto. On the way Merritt and -Tubby were called for, and it was a happy party that went spinning over -the road toward the old mansion. The air was clear and still, the sea -smooth and sparkling under a cloudless sky, and in the atmosphere was -the promise of summer. - -“A perfect day for flights,” said the lieutenant, “and a perfect day to -try a few bomb-dropping experiments.” - -“Then you haven’t blown up the old Vesper yet?” said Rob. - -“No. She holds together as if she were built of steel instead of wood. I -tell you what, we ought to make this day a memorable one; I’ve got an -idea in that direction.” - -“What is it?” inquired Rob, watching the officer’s twinkling eyes. - -“Well, you know, the French claim that the Englishman is wont to remark, -‘By Jove, a fine day; let’s go out and kill something.’ Now, I am going -to parody that and say, ‘It’s a fine day, let’s blow up something!’” - -“Blow up the Vesper,” cried Tubby. - -“That’s it. If we can hit her. I’ve a notion to try it myself. By Jove, -I will,” went on the officer, warming to his subject. “I want badly to -try out a new cordite bomb we’ve been making this winter, and here’s my -chance.” - -“Good-bye, old Vesper,” breathed Rob, tragically, extending his arm in -the direction in which the two melancholy-looking bare masts of the -schooner could be seen looming up. - -“Don’t say good-bye yet,” chuckled the officer; “I might miss her.” - -The War Department had lost no time in replying to Lieutenant Duvall’s -message describing the boys’ courage and enterprise in securing the -papers stolen from the shattered safe. It was brought to the officer by -an orderly almost as soon as they reached the De Regny place. - -“Shall I read it out?” asked the officer, with a smile. “It’ll make your -ears burn.” - -The boys began to protest, much to the amusement of several officers -gathered in what had once been the dining room of the old mansion, but -Lieutenant Duvall nevertheless read in a loud, clear voice the -following: - -“You are instructed to thank lads mentioned in dispatch on behalf of the -Secretary of War. Splendid work. More substantial reward (the Special -Honor Medal) will follow. Hills, secretary to the Secretary of War.” - -“Wow!” breathed Tubby, and then turned very red as a perfect gale of -laughter followed his sincere expression of amazement, gratitude and -delight—all rolled into one. - -“It’s wonderful,” breathed Rob. - -“I can hardly believe it,” echoed Merritt, giving himself a -surreptitious pinch. - -“Now, then, to lunch,” laughed the lieutenant, “and after that, good—bye -to the Vesper.” - -“Good-bye to the Vesper,” echoed his brother officers, who knew of the -program for the afternoon. - - * * * * * * * * - -It was about two-thirty o’clock, and the sea was unrippled except for -the lazy Atlantic heave, when a small launch left Hampton Harbor and -sped eastward through the Inlet and then out into the open sea. She -rapidly skirted the coast and it was not long before the little craft -was past Topsail Island, and on the left hand of her four occupants, the -dark trees surrounding the De Regny mansion were visible. - -Seaward from the desolate looking place, above which, however, the stars -and stripes floated with a bright dash of color, could be seen the two -bare masts of the wreck, and this was apparently the objective point of -the small launch, for as they neared her one of the men in her -stern-seat half rose and, pointing, said: - -“There she is now. In half an hour we’ll know if Hank was telling the -truth.” - -“How was he this morning when you called up the hospital?” asked Bill -Bender of the first speaker, who was Stonington Hunt. - -The other shook his head. - -“Bad,” he said; “I’ll tell you what it is,” he added with a crafty look -in his eyes; “if we find this money we don’t need to tell Hank anything -about it. We’ll just split it among ourselves. He’ll never leave that -bed in the hospital, and it’s just as well for us he won’t.” - -“Hold on there a minute, Mr. Hunt,” said Bill Bender; “I won’t consent -to that. Hank was pretty square with us and we’ll be square with him. -He’ll get his share of the money if it’s there.” - -“Don’t be foolish,” remonstrated Stonington Hunt, in his smooth, crafty -voice; “he cannot use it and we can. I tell you——” - -“Look! Look!” interrupted Freeman Hunt, the youngest member of the -party, who had been sitting forward; “what’s that over there by the -mansion? See, it’s rising into the air!” - -“It’s an aeroplane!” burst out his father; “bother it all, I hope they -don’t come flying out this way.” - -“They’re a nuisance,” agreed Jack Curtiss, watching like the others the -graceful evolutions of the white-winged flying machine as it rose from -amid the dark trees and began to circle about like a gliding hawk. - -All at once it made a lofty sweep and then started off in a straight -line toward the Vesper. - -“Look, she’s coming out to sea!” cried Freeman, delightedly, lost in -admiration. “Say, she’s a dandy.” - -“Why, the thing can fly,” admitted his father, grudgingly, “and—and—why, -what’s that fellow in her doing? He’s unfastening something. A black -object that is hanging down under the seat. It’s a round thing. It looks -like—like—_a bomb_! Great Scott! He’s going to blow the Vesper up.” - -“Rot!” sneered Jack Curtiss, but his face was very pale. As for Bill -Bender and Freeman Hunt, they said nothing, but watched the aeroplane -soaring far above them with open mouths and staring eyes. - -“Shout to him! Call to him!” raved Stonington Hunt. “Tell him there is -money on board her. Don’t let him blow that schooner up. Hey-y-y-y-y!” - -The distracted man, crazed by the thought of being cheated out of his -golden prey at the last minute, stood erect in the boat and waved his -arms frantically, but if the figure guiding the flying machine even saw -him it gave no sign. - -Now the aeroplane was right above the Vesper. The fascinated watchers in -the boat could see the flying man’s arm move. Then, like a tiny shoe -button—a little black shoe button—something dropped from the big, white -airship. - -“Gone! Gone!” almost shrieked Stonington Hunt, as he saw. - -“Shut up, can’t you?” growled Jack Curtiss, his eyes, like those of the -others, fixed upon the falling black sphere. - -“Maybe it’s not a real bomb, just a practice one, and——” began Bill -Bender, hopefully, when there came a shock through the air that -threatened to drive their ear drums in. Sea and sky seemed to rock. -Before their startled sight the old wreck rose above the surface of the -water as if a giant hand had impelled her, and then settled back as -slowly as a harpooned whale. The next instant an immense cloud of vapor -arose and swelled to a waving, yellowish pillar in the still air. At the -same moment, a mighty reverberating “boom” reached their ears. Above the -destruction it had wrought the aeroplane wheeled like a phoenix. - -As they gazed, its occupant waved his hand. To Stonington Hunt it seemed -that it was a mocking gesture. He fairly snarled, drawing back his lips -till his teeth were exposed like a wolf’s. - -“Beaten again, and by blind fate, too!” he raved, tearing his hair in -his extravagant fury and doing all manner of frenzied things. Even Jack -Curtiss and Bill Bender were disgusted at his exhibition of childish -rage, and sternly told him to control himself. - -As a sort of forlorn hope the launch was run up close to where the -Vesper had been last seen, but nothing remained of her but a few timbers -floating around on the surface. Some of them were blackened and -splintered where the cordite had riven them. The well-aimed bomb had -done its work well. The hunters for Hank’s secreted loot were cheated of -their treasure trove by the strangest combination of circumstances that -ever frustrated a knavish plot. - -But Stonington Hunt had, as he had remarked, still a trump card to play. -And when the next day it came to his ears that the Boy Scouts had been -present at the destruction of the Vesper he was more determined than -ever to use it. Going to a small safe in his room, he drew from it -certain papers, armed with which, he started for Paul Perkins’s place. -He found Mrs. Perkins sweeping the front steps and greeted her with a -low bow and a flourish of his hat. Mrs. Perkins feared and disliked -Stonington Hunt, and would have avoided him if she could, but before she -could say anything the man had pushed through the gate and was beside -her. - -“Good morning, Mrs. Perkins,” he said, with great effusiveness; “I have -called to give Paul one last chance to sell me the rights in that -machine of his.” - -“He won’t do it, I’m sure, sir. There is no use your bothering,” said -Mrs. Perkins. “He—oh, here he comes now,” as Paul came round the corner -of the house; “Paul, here’s Mr. Hunt.” - -“Oh,” said Paul, with no very noticeable cordiality in his tones. - -“Yes, I’ve come to see if you are prepared to sell the machine to me -now,” said Hunt, with an odd ring in his voice. - -“I cannot, as I told you before,” said Paul, firmly. “I have my reasons, -and——” - -“I have mine,” snapped Hunt, a savage light appearing in his eyes. He -whipped a hand into his breast pocket and produced a handful of papers. - -“Mrs. Perkins,” he demanded, “are you prepared to pay me the interest on -this mortgage? It amounts to $1,500.” - -“Why—why,” stammered Mrs. Perkins, “you have no mortgage on this house. -It’s Landis, the real estate man. He——” - -“I bought the mortgage from him, madam,” was the rejoinder, “and I am -now here to claim my property unless the interest is paid up at once. Of -course, I am willing to take the sole rights to that machine in lieu of -the interest. I think I’m giving you a good chance; are you willing to -take it?” - -“I suppose I must,” hesitated Mrs. Perkins; “oh, dear, this is dreadful. -Paul, my boy, will you——” - -But Paul had vanished mysteriously some minutes before. - -“I don’t know what to do, sir,” she stammered, almost weeping, “I cannot -pay the mortgage now. Will you not wait?” - -“Not another day, madam——” - -“You don’t need to,” came a quiet voice from behind them. It was Paul. -With him were the three Boy Scouts. - -“I’ll pay off that mortgage now, Mr. Hunt,” he went on as Rob, Tubby and -Merritt broke into broad smiles at the expression of baffled fury on -Hunt’s face. - -“Why—what—I don’t——” he began. - -“You don’t need to,” said Paul. “Mother, we are rich. Mr. Merrill has -disposed of the Motor-Scooter idea to the government. He sent me a check -for five thousand dollars yesterday.” - -“Oh, Paul, you never told me!” cried his mother. - -“I didn’t want to till I could be sure I wasn’t dreaming,” laughed Paul, -happily. “Now, then, Mr. Hunt, how much is that mortgage for, and we’ll -go before a notary and I’ll pay it up—every penny.” - -Hunt’s hands quivered so that he could hardly control them. In his -agitation and rage he let fall to the ground one of his papers. It was -Tubby who picked it up. On it Mr. Hunt’s not overclean thumb had left a -large imprint. The fat boy’s eyes lit up as he gazed at it. - -“Give that paper back, you young whipper-snapper!” demanded Stonington -Hunt. - -“Not till I’ve compared it with something else,” was the quiet -rejoinder. - -And very leisurely Tubby drew from his pocket something wrapped in -paper. This, on being uncovered, proved to be a bit of wood smelling -strongly of kerosene. - -The rotund youth compared the thumb-print on the papers and the one upon -the bit of wood with quiet deliberation, while the others looked -breathlessly on. They could not imagine what was coming. Stonington Hunt -could, though, for his face was pale and the sweat stood on his brow in -shiny beads. - -“Are you going to give that paper back?” he demanded in a hoarse voice. - -“Yes, when I’ve got a warrant for your arrest for setting fire to Paul -Perkins’s wagon house,” was the quiet rejoinder. - -“Why—I—you—what do you mean?” exclaimed Hunt, but his eyes were wild and -staring and he seemed about to fall to the ground. - -“I mean that the thumb-print on this bit of oil-soaked wood and your -thumb-print on this paper are the same,” declared Tubby. “If you don’t -think so, we’ll go to the magistrate and let him decide.” - -“Oh, no! Oh, no! Mercy!” howled Stonington Hunt, suddenly losing all his -bravado and sinking on his knees. “Be merciful. Don’t prosecute me.” - -“Be quiet and listen,” said Tubby, in the same judicial voice, while his -companions gazed on, amazed at the stern expression of the ordinarily -careless, good-natured lad’s tones. - -“Will you tear up that mortgage?” - -“Yes, oh, yes! Give it to me and you will see.” - -“Not so fast,” said Tubby, tearing off the bit of paper with the thumb -print on it; “I need this. Now, then, tear the rest up.” - -“You won’t prosecute if I do?” wailed the groveling wretch. - -“No,” promised Paul; “we’ve no wish to be hard on you, badly as you have -treated us.” - -Hunt, with trembling hands, tore the paper into tiny shreds. - -“You’d better burn those,” said Tubby, turning to Paul. “Now, then, Mr. -Hunt, you had better get out of here,” he went on to the unmasked -rascal. “Do you understand?” - -“Yes, and thank you,” rejoined the humbled, quaking man in a trembling -tone. He started for the gate. As he reached it a boyish figure came -swinging along the street; it was Freeman Hunt. - -“Why, hullo, dad,” he said, as he stopped, disdaining to notice the -boys; “how ill you look. What’s the matter?” - -“Nothing, my boy. Perhaps the sun is a little warm,” was the reply. “I -have a headache.” - -“Well, you’d better come up to the house. Sister is starting for Maine -to visit those friends this afternoon. She wants to say good-bye to -you.” - -“I will, my boy, and, Freeman, while I think of it, we may as well pack -up and go, too. The climate of Hampton does not agree with me.” - - * * * * * * * * - -Well, the tale is told. That little trip of Stonington Hunt’s extended -into weeks, and the weeks into months, and he never came back. Finally -his house was sold and the place knew him no more. In the meantime, -affairs at Hampton had been progressing much in the usual way. Paul, in -due course, received his other five thousand dollars, which was -deposited in the bank, the institution having been completely remodeled -in the course of repairing the damage wrought by the blowing up of the -big safe. And of the part the Motor-Scooter played in the conquest of -the Pole, the papers have told. - -Nothing more was ever heard of Dugan or the Japanese, although it was -said some time ago in a Tokio dispatch that an American named Dugan had -been shot in a quarrel with one of the Mikado’s officers. As for Hank -Handcraft, he recovered from his lingering illness and was discharged -from the hospital, a wreck of the man he had been. On leaving the place -he declared his intention of going to see some relatives in England and -of spending the remainder of his days there, but whether he did so, or -from whom he procured the funds for the trip, the present writer is not -informed. - -Perhaps some of my readers would like to know what became of Sim. Well, -Sim has a job doing odd tasks for Cap. Hudgins out on Topsail Island. -Previous to undertaking these duties for the good-hearted captain Sim -had another job, but he did not hold it long. - -His employer, a well-to-do man in the town, met Sim the first morning he -came to work and thereafter did not see him for two whole days. Finally -Sim was discovered asleep in the barn on a soft truss of hay. - -“Say, have you been sleeping ever since I hired you?” asked Sim’s new -employer indignantly. - -“I do not come, sir, of a hard-working race,” rejoined Sim, still with -his old habit strong upon him; “your ‘ad’ said, ‘Boy wanted to sleep on -the place.’” - -One afternoon in early June there were unwonted doings in Hampton. The -annual Firemen’s Carnival was on, with a parade of Boy Scouts as a -special feature. Big crowds lined the streets on foot, in buggies and in -autos to see the big parade pass under the flaunting banners and -decorations. - -The cheers were loud and long for the firemen of the different villages -as they swung by with their equipment, but presently a shout went down -the line of spectators: - -“Here come the Boy Scouts!” - -What a shout arose then! The others sounded no louder than a pop-gun -beside a cannon, compared to it. Headed by a band playing a lively -quick-step the serried ranks of bright young faces and well set-up -figures went swinging by, keeping perfect step. At the head of the Eagle -division, with its green and black standard, came our young friends. On -the breast of each, besides their Red Honors, glittered three brand new -gold medals, the gift of the War Department. - -“The Boy Scouts’ organization surely is a fine thing for those -youngsters,” remarked Lieutenant Duvall to Mr. Blake, as the two stood -outside the bank and watched the spectacle. - -“It is, indeed,” agreed Mr. Blake. “It is going to make good men of -them, too,” he added. - -And here, with the blare of martial music in our ears and before our -eyes the sight of row upon row of orderly, nattily-uniformed boys -swinging by to the lively air of “The Boy Scouts’ March,” we will for -the present take leave of our friends of the Eagle Patrol, to resume -their acquaintance in another volume of this series, in which their -further adventures and exciting doings will be related in full. This -volume I shall call, “THE BOY SCOUTS’ MOUNTAIN CAMP.” - - - THE END. - - - - - Boy Scout Series - - - [Illustration: THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL] - - By LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON - -A series of stories in which self-reliance and self-defense through -organized athletics are emphasized, also depicting an accurate -description of Boy Scouts activities. - - ATTRACTIVELY BOUND IN CLOTH - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - - THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL - THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE RANGE - THE BOY SCOUTS AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP - THE BOY SCOUTS’ MOUNTAIN CAMP - THE BOY SCOUTS FOR UNCLE SAM - THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE PANAMA CANAL - THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO - THE BOY SCOUTS ON BELGIAN BATTLEFIELDS - THE BOY SCOUTS WITH THE ALLIES IN FRANCE - THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION - - - - - FRANK ARMSTRONG SERIES - - - [Illustration: FRANK ARMSTRONG’S SECOND TERM] - - By MATTHEW M. COLTON - -Six Exceptional Stories of College Life, Describing Athletics from Start -to Finish. For Boys 10 to 15 Years. - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - - Cloth Bound - _With Attractive Jackets in Colors._ - - FRANK ARMSTRONG’S VACATION - FRANK ARMSTRONG AT QUEENS - FRANK ARMSTRONG’S SECOND TERM - FRANK ARMSTRONG, DROP KICKER - FRANK ARMSTRONG, CAPTAIN OF THE NINE - FRANK ARMSTRONG AT COLLEGE - - - - - BOYS OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED POLICE SERIES - - - [Illustration: DICK KENT WITH THE MOUNTED POLICE] - - By MILTON RICHARDS - -A new series of stories of Adventure in the North Woods for boys 12 to -16 years. - - Handsome Cloth Binding - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - - DICK KENT WITH THE MOUNTED POLICE - DICK KENT IN THE FAR NORTH - DICK KENT WITH THE ESKIMOS - DICK KENT, FUR TRADER - DICK KENT AND THE MALEMUTE MAIL - - - - - The Lakewood Boys Series - - - [Illustration: THE LAKEWOOD BOYS ON THE LAZY S] - - By L. P. WYMAN, Ph. D. - -A new series of copyright stories for boys of High School Age by the -Author of “The Golden Boys Series.” - - Cloth Bound with Attractive Cover Designs. - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS ON THE LAZY S - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS AND THE LOST MINE - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS IN THE FROZEN NORTH - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS AND THE POLO PONIES - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS IN MONTANA - THE LAKEWOOD BOYS IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE - - - - - The Oakdale Academy Series - - - [Illustration: OAKDALE BOYS IN CAMP] - - BY MORGAN SCOTT - -A series of real boys’ stories at the Oakdale Academy. Ben Stone, the -hero, wins his way under peculiar circumstances and against great odds. - -Clean-cut stories of real experiences in athletics and sports of academy -life, with adventures, mysteries and clever descriptions. - - Just the kind of books a boy 12 to 16 years would like to read. - - HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. - JACKETS IN COLORS - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - - Copyright Titles - BEN STONE AT OAKDALE - BOYS OF OAKDALE ACADEMY - RIVAL PITCHERS OF OAKDALE - OAKDALE BOYS IN CAMP - THE GREAT OAKDALE MYSTERY - THE NEW BOYS AT OAKDALE - - - - - Border Boys Series - - - [Illustration: BORDER BOYS ON THE TRAIL] - - By Fremont B. Deering - -Mexican and Canadian Frontier Stories for Boys 12 to 16 Years. - - PRICE, 50 CENTS EACH - POSTAGE 10c EXTRA - _With Individual Jackets in Colors._ - Cloth Bound - - BORDER BOYS ON THE TRAIL - BORDER BOYS ACROSS THE FRONTIER - BORDER BOYS WITH THE MEXICAN RANGERS - BORDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS - BORDER BOYS IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES - BORDER BOYS ALONG THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER - - - For sale by all booksellers, or sent on receipt of price by the - Publishers - A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 E. 23d St., NEW YORK - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - ---Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public - domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard (or amusing) - spellings and dialect unchanged. - ---In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the - HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.) - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship, by -Howard Payson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY SCOUTS AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP *** - -***** This file should be named 62792-0.txt or 62792-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/7/9/62792/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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