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diff --git a/45546-0.txt b/45546-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b720443 --- /dev/null +++ b/45546-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4448 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45546 *** + +[Illustration: Lawrence went through the secret manoeuvers but there was +no response and he found his anxiety growing.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + AVIATOR SERIES VOLUME 3 + + DANGEROUS DEEDS + + OR + + THE FLIGHT IN THE DIRIGIBLE + + BY + + CAPTAIN FRANK COBB + + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + + CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Copyright, MCMXXVII, by + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + + AVIATOR SERIES + + 1 BATTLING THE CLOUDS, + Or, For a Comrade's Honor + + 2 AN AVIATOR'S LUCK, + Or, The Camp Knox Plot + + 3 DANGEROUS DEEDS, + Or, The Flight in the Dirigible + + Made in U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + DANGEROUS DEEDS + + + CHAPTER I + + +A heavy fog pressed down upon the city of Washington. To the boy +watching it from the vantage point of the window in the top floor of the +apartment in which he stood, it spread as mysterious and as sodden as a +flood, enveloping streets, parks, houses, indeed all but the tops of the +highest structures, the domes and roofs of public buildings and spires +of churches, and here and there a dark, drowned mass of foliage. + +The apartment stood on a height and as the boy looked he saw a glow in +the east, followed quickly by thin banners of red and orange. Then the +Sun rose and turned the domes and spires swimming on the sea of mist +into fairy flotillas wrought of pearl and gold. + +Just as a churned and angry tide swirls into some still cove and seems +to melt and dissolve into transparency, the opaque-fog slowly vanished. +Buildings and statues seemed to lift themselves out of it and finally, +broad and placid in the desertion of dawn, the streets themselves +appeared, winding here and there in the wonderful curves designed by the +master-mind which make Washington one of the beauty spots of the world. + +Because he had looked down on most of the cities of the world, because, +young as he was, he had seen thrilling shy views of towers and spires +and mosques and temples lifting under many skies, the boy stood looking +at the beautiful Capitol of his native land with a swelling heart. + +Suddenly from somewhere, everywhere, nowhere came a faint, peculiar +humming. Louder and louder it grew. The boy flung open the window and, +leaning far out, scanned the cloudless sky with practiced gaze. Far away +in the west appeared a thing of wings and sound flying far above those +other birds, the troubled buzzards, that dipped and swayed and hung so +easily in the invisible tides of the air. + +As the boy watched, another and still another airplane appeared, close +in the wake of the first, until eleven of them, all light biplanes, +dashed headlong across the sky. Then, their pace slackening somewhat, +they formed in twos and again strung out to compose the wide V of +migrating geese. + +The eleventh plane detached itself from the others which now swung wide +and swept around in a graceful circle, while the single one, an +instruction plane, commanded the manoeuvers by means of wireless +telegraphy. Twice the ten planes circled. Then the leader, turning +sharply, led the others in the direction of Mount Vernon until they +vanished. The single plane, lazy as the buzzards below, hung almost +motionless, waiting, effortless and serene, until once more with a faint +hum the planes returned, lined up and hung at attention for a moment, +when the instruction plane turned and in a wild rush of speed led its +charges away in the direction whence they had come. + +Not until distance had stilled the final hum of the last motor did the +boy realize that he was clinging precariously to the hard granite facing +outside the window, while leaning far out, too far out for safety even +for a young aviator who felt no dread of falling. + +"A great bunch of students," he reflected, withdrawing and turning to +look at the room in which he stood. It was the usual "beautifully +furnished bachelor apartment" of commerce. Wall paper dark, in order not +to show soil, odds and ends of well-worn, not to say shabby mission +furniture, a table, chairs, a desk with a soiled blotter firmly skewered +down on its flat top, a crex rug. Beyond was a small bedroom, and out of +that any sleuth of a de-tec-a-tive would have guessed there was a +bathroom if he had taken time to listen to the mournful drip, drip of a +leaky faucet. + +Lawrence Petit looked the bare, unpretentious, unhomelike room over with +a smile. He had never been so "well fixed," as he said, but he did not +approve. Like everything else, the apartment was an incident, a +stepping-stone to something better. + +He went to his suitcase and took out a pocket portfolio and with a look +of distaste at the soiled blotter, sat down at the table, tried his +fountain pen and commenced to write. And while he is busy, we will +glance at the past of the young aviator. + +His own beginning he did not know. His first remembrance was of a +sordid, poverty-stricken cabin where, with a group of other children, he +played and quarrelled and starved, and where a slatternly woman gloomed +or passed from one screaming rage into another until quieted by a black +bottle brought her by an evil looking, leering man at whose approach all +the children scattered and hid themselves. The children, when they spoke +to the woman at all, called her Moll. Lawrence could not remember a time +when the question of his parentage had occurred to him. At this period +of his life he was little more than a healthy little animal, content to +sleep and play and fight for the scanty food he was given, and, that +failing, to steal from the more fortunate neighbors. + +In the woodshed, back of the shanty, a lean-to scarcely worse than the +house itself, stood a broken-down bureau crammed with odds and ends of +rags and clothing too unspeakable for use. In this one day, while Moll +was digging through its confusion, she chanced on a worn, black shopping +bag. She tossed it to Lawrence, known wholly at that time as Snooks. + +"That's yourn," she said. "You keep a-hold of that and don't let those +kids git it." Then on second thought she snatched it away from the child +and hung it on a rafter far out of his reach. For a little it tantalized +him, then it was forgotten until a memorable morning when the welfare +worker appeared with a couple of officers, a patrol wagon and an +ambulance. Into the ambulance Moll was hurried, to the children's +amazement. They had failed to distinguish the ravings of fever from the +outcries attending the frequent visitation of the black bottle. The dark +man had disappeared. + +As the welfare worker rounded the reluctant children into the patrol +wagon, Snooks ran back and with a long stick knocked down the handbag. + +"What's that?" asked the welfare lady. + +"It's mine," said Snooks in his hoarse, unchildish voice. "Moll she give +it to me and said to keep it because it's mine." + +The welfare worker scented one of the strange clues that often lie +hidden for so long before they appear to clear up a mystery, but the +bag, a very shabby, cheap affair, held nothing but a small photograph +wrapped up in a piece of newspaper, and on another piece that had +evidently been about some small change as the shape of the money still +marked the scrap, was the name Lawrence, written over and over as though +to try a pen point. + +Snooks was put in a home and once more the bag passed out of his +possession into the keeping of the authorities who had him in charge. A +name was needed, and Snooks was asked to find one for himself, a feat he +was incapable of doing. So one of the teachers, remembering the scrap of +paper, called him Lawrence and added Petit as the child was so very +small. + +So Snooks, dirty, unkempt and blankly ignorant, became Lawrence Petit, a +ward of the city of Louisville. + +Bathed, clipped, and neatly clad, the boy changed almost at once. He +seemed possessed by an overpowering ambition. He learned rapidly,--so +rapidly that he forged ahead of all his classmates. Lectures on health +and strength that bored the other children held him spellbound. He +became quick and wiry as a cat, with lean limbs and perfectly trained +muscles. As time passed, he heard stories of homes and of mothers and +fathers that filled him with sick longing, but finally he accepted his +fate and as he grew older made up his mind that he must remain Lawrence +Petit, with no people, no home, no age, no past; just a nameless waif in +an orphanage. + +Two great passions consumed the boy. He was bound to fly; he was bound +to succeed in life. + +If any of us want a thing badly enough and long enough, we always find +that we are given a chance to get it. There was a young teacher in the +Home who spent much time with Lawrence and made it possible for him to +read everything that was written about airplanes and balloons and all +sorts of aircraft. When an aircraft factory was started in Louisville to +supply the growing demands for private machines, this teacher secured +employment for Lawrence, and soon he was dismissed from the Home as +perfectly able to care for himself. With him went the shabby bag; and +now for the first time the boy took time to look at its contents. He had +had no desire to do so before. He looked long at the scrap with the name +Lawrence scrawled over it, and the other scrap around the photograph he +read carefully, but evidently it had been torn from the advertising page +of a newspaper and had to do with "Help Wanted, Female." + +The picture was that of a most beautiful young woman. Perfect features +and masses of glorious hair made the face seem almost unreal, but its +chief charm was the look of happiness that filled it. + +"Who can she be?" the boy Lawrence asked himself. She did not seem over +fifteen or sixteen years of age. Lawrence put the bag and its contents +back in his trunk but could not forget the lovely, laughing face. He +buckled down to work with a new ambition. Past he had none. He +determined to make for himself a future that he could be proud of. And +because he had no one, actually no one in the whole world to call his +own, he adopted the picture for his "folks." He never named her sister +or mother; he just worked for her and looked at her when the way seemed +hard. + +As time passed he developed a perfectly amazing sense of balance and +direction, coupled with more common sense than falls to the lot of most, +and one day he left the factory and went out to the nearest aviation +field as assistant mechanician. From this he rose by bounds until he was +accounted the best airman on the field. After he found that most of his +time was to be spent far above the earth, he commenced to worry about +the picture. What if his things should be burned up? What if the picture +should be stolen? So, cutting a piece of cardboard the exact size, he +went down and bought a leather pocket case in which he placed the +picture, and always after that he wore it buttoned securely in his +pocket. He felt better then; his "folks" were with him. Back of the +picture he placed the two scraps of paper, and with this frail safeguard +spread his wings and took flight courageously toward the goal he had set +for himself. + +Five years had passed since the signing of the Armistice and many of the +wounds of that unforgettable war had healed. Many things had happened, +both in America and abroad. + +Aircraft had changed both in nature and construction. Mufflers were in +widespread use, indeed were required by law, and now the wing-filled sky +did not rattle and reverberate with the roar of engines unless on +special class or instruction work. Traffic machines went with silent, +steady directness along their uncharted courses, while dainty troops of +pleasure craft flitted everywhere, their brightly painted wings and +hulls glistening in the sun. + +To Lawrence Petit the upper air seemed his home. He remained on the +earth only so long as it was positively necessary; and now, writing +busily on his tablet, he felt that he was on the eve of an adventure +which promised to carry him higher and farther than any which he had yet +attempted. He referred to the letter before him. It was long and +typewritten on handsome paper. Hamilton Ridgeway, the writer, was one of +the greatest powers in the United States. It was in obedience to his +summons that Lawrence had come to Washington and was now waiting +impatiently for the hour of his interview with the great man. + +Young as he was, Lawrence had learned to respect that powerful +personality who numbered the kings and princes of the earth as his +friends, who handled millions as other men handle pennies, who always +stood ready to finance any great national undertaking, yet who was so +simple and kindly that he never failed to send back a cheery hello to +the newsie who happened to know and speak his name. Hamilton Ridgeway +had been told of the remarkable feats of the young aviator, and with his +shrewd ability to pick men he was about to interview the boy to see of +what material he was really made. + +It was an ordeal that would have made most boys so nervous that they +would have appeared ill at ease, but Lawrence, as he noted that it was +almost time to start for his appointment, calmly put up his writing, +brushed his hair, glanced at his wrist watch, and seeing that he still +had five minutes to spare, sat down by the window and opened the pocket +case. Long and tenderly he gazed at the pictured face. + +"I will do the very best I know, just for you," he said, smiling back at +it. "I don't suppose I will ever know who you are, but we belong to each +other somehow, don't we? And I am going to make good just so I can +always like to look at you. Gee, you are sweet! You must be old enough +to be my mother because you have looked just like you do now ever since +I first saw you back there at Moll's. Too bad she died! I always thought +she could have told me something about you, you Pretty, but I reckon I +will never get to know any more of you than I do now." + +He shook his head sadly. "You are so pretty," he murmured. "A fellow +would do anything for a mother like you; live clean and keep straight, +and work his head off besides, to make you proud of him. Tell you what I +will do, Pretty. I am going to make believe that you are waiting for me +somewhere, and I have got to make good before we meet. How's that? A +bargain?" he smiled back at the smiling pictured eyes and, placing the +case carefully in his pocket, put on his hat and overcoat and started +off to meet Mr. Ridgeway. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + +A little later, sitting in the plain but convenient office opposite the +great man he had come to see, Lawrence was impressed by the power and +force in the steady eyes that looked so straight into his own, and in +the kind mouth and forceful broad brow saw a promise of clean dealing +and deep wisdom. + +"I cannot get over my surprise at your youth," said Mr. Ridgeway. "It +seems a foolish procedure to give such a great enterprise into the hands +of a boy like you. Are you sure," he added, laughing, "that you have not +a father or brother to whom I should be talking?" + +"No, sir; I am the one you sent for," replied Lawrence. "I have been +fooling with airplanes and balloons ever since I graduated from kites." + +"How old are you?" asked Mr. Ridgeway. + +"I don't know, sir," said Lawrence, a flush mounting to his brow. "I am +a waif. I do not know my own name, or my age. I was taken from one of +the worst parts of the city to the Home where I was partly brought up. I +have no hope of ever finding anyone belonging to me." + +"Have you no clues?" asked Mr. Ridgeway. + +"I fear not, sir," he replied. "At least they are too slight to be +considered. I speak of this because I think you ought to know that +whatever becomes of me, there is no one to rejoice and no one to +grieve." + +"I am sorry," said Mr. Ridgeway simply. "Yet for my purpose, that +simplifies everything. You will embark on a desperate enterprise if you +attempt what I have in mind for you to do. And I cannot tell you, indeed +I cannot guess the outcome. It depends largely on your own daring, +caution and ability. Your youth is your best safeguard because no one +would ever believe you to be embarked on anything like this." + +"I am willing to take the risks," said Lawrence simply. + +"Then you may try it," decided the great man. "I believe there were two +other men coming to see me this morning on this same errand. Step into +my private office until I see them. Perhaps one or both will do to work +in as mechanicians." + +Still in the dark as to what Mr. Ridgeway wanted him to undertake, +Lawrence was about to go into the other room when a clerk rapped on the +outer door and entered without waiting for a summons. His face was pale, +and his eyes rolled wildly. "M-m-m-ister Ridgeway, sir," he stuttered, +"those two gentlemen who were waiting outside for you, they are both +asleep." + +"Both _what_?" asked Mr. Ridgeway sharply. + +"Both asleep, and we can't wake either of them." + +"Drugged!" exclaimed Mr. Ridgeway, glancing at Lawrence. "Come on, you +may as well see this thing out before you decide to cast your fortune in +such dangerous places." He rushed to the door, followed by Lawrence and +the agitated clerk. + +On a broad settee in the waiting-room two men were sprawled. Mr. +Ridgeway took one keen glance at their pallid faces and half closed +lids, between which their pupils, contracted to pin points, glared +strangely. + +"Drugged!" he said again. Then stepping to the telephone, he called the +office of the great building and asked sharply, "Office, is the house +doctor there? Ask him to come to Mr. Ridgeway's office, nineteenth +floor, immediately." + +He returned to the settee, where the men still sprawled. "Lay them flat +on the floor," he ordered. + +Scarcely had this been done when the doctor, a small, keen young man, +entered with a little bag in his hand. His sharp eyes swept the group +and he nodded to Mr. Ridgeway as he hastened to the two men on the floor +and dropped on one knee beside them. + +"Drugged," he said, glancing up. + +"I thought so," said Mr. Ridgeway. "They couldn't get enough whiskey in +as dry a land as this is now to affect them like this. Besides, their +pupils; do you see them?" + +"Contracted to nothing," said Doctor Lansing. He prepared a hypodermic +needle and made an injection in each left forearm. + +"If there is no response of the heart action after fifteen minutes," he +said, "I will know that they are suffering from one of the three newly +discovered anesthetics which are so deadly in the hands of a criminal." + +"Don't you think we had better get them to the hospital at once?" asked +Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Not until the fifteen minutes pass," said the doctor. "If the needle +takes effect, they will be all right in an hour or two; at least they +could be taken home, but if it is the other, we will have a long tussle +with them." + +"Well, this settles one thing," said Mr. Ridgeway decidedly. "We have +had every office building in this and every other large city supplied +with house physicians for the last three years, but another law must be +made requiring every building over a certain size to equip a hospital +room for first-aid." + +"It would be a great thing," said Doctor Lansing, his keen eyes on his +two patients, "both for the patients and the doctors. I have had to send +many a sufferer home or to the hospital when some slight surgical or +electrical care would have finished the matter within a short time, and +with a great deal less suffering." He took out his stethoscope, listened +to each heart, and rose. "Well, Mr. Ridgeway, these men are suffering +from administration, by themselves or others, of one of the new poisons. +Do you know who they are?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Ridgeway. "I can tell you about them, but first get them +to the hospital." He called for an ambulance, and as soon as he had seen +the unconscious victims of an unknown villain's dastard hand carried +away, he turned and beckoned Lawrence to follow him into his private +office. Sinking down in his chair, he passed a hand through the thick +masses of grey hair and sighed. + +"There you have it, Lawrence," he said. + +"I don't believe I understand," replied Lawrence. + +"Sit down then," said Mr. Ridgeway, "and I will explain." + +"In the first place," he commenced, "young as you are, you must have +felt the dangerous mood the whole world is in. Of course the adjustment +after a world war necessarily takes several generations. But to us who +happen to be on hand during that adjustment comes the task of hurrying +the thing along as much as we possibly can. For this comes the need for +absolutely safe transportation of papers, messages and money. Often, +too, there is the need for the transportation of millions of dollars' +worth of jewels--jewels enough to ransom whole principalities, let alone +a king or two. + +"We have worked this thing out with the greatest difficulty, trying one +method after another, sending our papers in disguised packages, with +trusted messengers, and using the most intricate codes. But all the time +there are leaks. For instance, a short time ago a message to the King of +Morania, sent under a triplicate code, that is, a code that must be +translated three times, was intercepted and only the fact that it was a +false message sent to try out a new system kept us from the brink of a +fresh war. + +"These things are only known to the inner circles, you understand. It +would not do to frighten and agitate the public with intimate affairs of +state. But we absolutely _must_ find a means of transportation that is +as free from danger, free from spies and thieves, as it is possible to +invent. + +"As a last resort, we are going to make use of the dirigible. This of +course is where you come in. + +"In my private business I have used planes, hydroplanes and one or two +dirigibles and as they are well known to be used exclusively for +passenger and freight service, they have never been interfered with in +any way. I am not known to be working with the government, and my one +hope was that we could take the new dirigible that has just been +completed for me and make use of it for the transportation of these +priceless documents that mean so much to the peace of the world. + +"What has happened this morning troubles me more than I can tell you. +Someone suspects us, or else those two men are the victims of a private +enemy." + +The telephone bell jingled. Mr. Ridgeway lifted the receiver and +adjusted the delicate needle point on the desk pad by means of which all +telephone conversations were recorded, a new invention which Lawrence +had heard of but had not seen. Mr. Ridgeway listened with a frown +darkening his brow. + +"I will be right out," he said finally, and replaced the receiver. + +"Well, the new dirigible was wrecked in the night," he said. "That looks +like business! Come on; we will go out and look the ground over. That +is, if you care to cast your lot with such a dangerous game." + +"Of course," said Lawrence simply. "I shall enjoy it." + +"Good!" said Mr. Ridgeway. "We will draw up the necessary papers this +afternoon. I want you on your past record as an airman, and your youth +is a good safeguard to you. Also you are not afraid. Your duties will be +whatever the moment calls for. You may have to drive the car, you may be +simply a passenger, a messenger, or a boy idling around the hangars. I +want you to be ears and eyes and hands and brain for me. Rather a large +order? Well, you will be paid well for it." He paused and then named a +sum that made Lawrence catch his breath, so large was it. + +"All our transactions are confidential," he said. + +Entering a small but perfect roadster, Mr. Ridgeway drove rapidly out of +the city to the aviation field, where he found a group of excited men +around the new dirigible. + +Well guarded as the place evidently was, someone had entered in the +night and completely destroyed the delicate machinery. The propellers +too were unscrewed, and the blades hacked. + +Lawrence was shocked, and the men around were furious. It rather +reflected on their care when such an outrage could occur inside of an +area where watchmen were supposed to patrol incessantly. Mr. Ridgeway, +however, showed no signs of anger. He ordered an investigation and told +the head mechanician to see what could be done with the wreck. Then, +pleasant as ever, he drove back to the city. "I am certainly glad that +happened," he said as they left the field behind. + +"Glad?" said Lawrence in astonishment. "Glad? Why, it seems _terrible_ +to me!" + +"Not at all," said Mr. Ridgeway. "The point is this. Now we know that we +are suspected. We know that this spying is a serious matter. The +knowledge arms us. As for the dirigible--" he paused, and to Lawrence's +amazement laughed a merry, whole-souled laugh as though the loss of a +machine worth many thousands of dollars was a matter of no consequence +at all. + +"Being my right hand man, Lawrence, I will tell you a secret," he said +after a moment. "That dirigible was not as new as it looked. It was an +assembled machine, made up of about a dozen old ones that had been +picked up here and there. I took good care, however, that all the papers +held long accounts of the wonderful new machine that was being built for +Hamilton Ridgeway, and as I own a lot of the papers, I assure you the +accounts were glowing. Well, whoever tackled that bunch of junk in the +night was unable to use more than a small glow from a pocket flash, so, +as all the brass work was carefully polished and every part looked spick +and span, there was no way for even a tried machinist to tell that the +dirigible was not just what had been so widely advertised and +photographed: Hamilton Ridgeway's new dirigible for passenger service +and light commercial enterprises." He laughed again. + +Then as though from force of habit he looked over his shoulder. + +"I declare, the only place I like to talk confidences is in a ten acre +lot," he said, "but there is no place for anyone to hang on behind +here." He leaned toward Lawrence. "The new machine, safe and sound last +night at least, is back on the sand hills in New Jersey, south of +Barnegat. Two fishing launches are there in the inlet, but under the +tarpaulins are small but effective machine guns. The fishermen fooling +around in them are _not_ as peaceful as they look. They are secret +service men. In a hut back on the rise of ground to the west three other +fishermen are smoking and lounging. They too have badges under their +smocks. So we fooled 'em this time anyway," laughed the great man. + +Lawrence was silent. He felt the thrill of the old knight when he went +galloping forth in quest of a dragon. This monster, threatening his +country, was as dangerous and mysterious a dragon as any of the two- or +ten-headed monsters that sent the fighting men of a long past age +scouring over the downs and moors of merry old England. + +Being younger, he was not so much inclined to laugh as Mr. Ridgeway. He +wondered where the leak was that made it so easy for the dragon to +approach. + +Parking the car, they went to luncheon and then returned to Mr. +Ridgeway's office, where they found a thick-set man pacing the floor of +the waiting-room and showing a good many signs of impatience. As they +entered he walked quickly over to Mr. Ridgeway and said in a quick tone, +"I tried to beat you in from the field, Mr. Ridgeway, but of course we +busted a tire and had to stop, and then your man told me he thought you +had gone to lunch, so I just stuck around." + +He looked curiously at Lawrence, and Mr. Ridgeway said, + +"Come into my office, O'Brien. You may tell me anything you have to say +before this young man. He is in my employ now." + +"Sort of a young kid for our work, isn't he, Mr. Ridgeway?" asked +O'Brien, smiling a wide, mirthful Irish smile at Lawrence. + +"Pretty young," admitted Mr. Ridgeway, "but I don't think it will hurt +him." + +"It is something he is sure to get over, give him time," said the +Irishman whimsically. Then as the heavy door closed, "Well, Mr. +Ridgeway, I am the bearer of news. The watchman that has the beat from +two until four was sick last night and I took his place, swearing him to +silence about the change. He went to bed in my room, and I went out on +the beat. At about three I sneaked close to the hangar and thought I +could hear something making a sort of scratchin' noise inside. I had a +auger hole all fixed a good while ago, and I peeked." + + + + + CHAPTER III + + +"Well, what did you see?" demanded Mr. Ridgeway as the man paused. + +But he did not answer. He had been leaning on the edge of the massive +table that Mr. Ridgeway used as a desk, and his fingers were feeling +under the edge of the mahogany top. Suddenly he sank to his knees, and +peered under the edge. Then he beckoned Mr. Ridgeway and Lawrence. +Totally at a loss to imagine what O'Brien was doing, they too sank to +their knees and looked under the table. + +After a glance Mr. Ridgeway sprang to his feet and stared at O'Brien, +who delivered a huge wink in the direction of the table. Then he started +in as though he had only stopped talking long enough to clear his +throat. + +"Well, I peeked," he said, "and there was a feller mauling that +dirigible around and hacking at the propellers. I knew him at a glance; +he was a dude I had discharged last week; wasn't no good so I let him +go, an' he wanted to get even, so he done it by destroyin' that machine. +Of course I didn't see his face, but I know the looks of his back," +added O'Brien, again winking at the table. + +Mr. Ridgeway played up gallantly. + +"I am glad you, found out who it was, O'Brien. Will you swear out a +warrant? I am sorry about the dirigible, but I can get along without it +for awhile. I am going out to the Golf Club now. Can I give either of +you a lift?" + +It seemed to Lawrence as though the two men were acting a part. He +wondered if by any chance O'Brien had discovered one of the wonderful +listening machines under the edge of the table. If that was so, their +enemy must be close to them. He kept still, and let the others talk. + +"No, sir; I am going right over to the police station and tell 'em what +I know," said O'Brien. + +"I will have to go down to the Union Station and see about having my +trunk sent up," said Lawrence. + +O'Brien nodded, as though pleased with the boy's quickness of +perception. + +The three walked out, Mr. Ridgeway slamming the door sharply after him. +Then instead of turning to the elevator, he started toward the back of +the corridor, and reaching a small door inserted a key and opened it on +a narrow, winding stairway walled into the building. It was nothing more +than a perpendicular tunnel, with a narrow staircase winding through it. +Leading O'Brien and Lawrence into this dimly lighted burrow, Mr. +Ridgeway, with a sharp glance down the corridor, closed the door, locked +it, and motioned O'Brien, who was ahead, to ascend the stairs. He went +swiftly, the others close at his heels. Up and up he went, in obedience +to a whispered word from Mr. Ridgeway, until a ground glass skylight +marked the end of the stairway. + +"Open!" whispered Mr. Ridgeway, and with a heave of his broad shoulder +O'Brien pushed the skylight up and the three emerged on the pebbled roof +of the building. Replacing the skylight, O'Brien looked at his superior +for further orders. + +"Well," said Mr. Ridgeway, "I told you this morning, Lawrence, that I +never liked to talk unless I was in the middle of a ten-acre lot. So +they are listening, are they, O'Brien? Well, we are safe here, I should +think. For this time, anyway. Let us get away from these chimneys." + +They walked out into the center of the great space that indicated the +size of the building, and O'Brien, picking up a pebble and tossing it as +he spoke, said: + +"Well, sir, it looks as though there was more in the wind than we have +been bargaining for. At all events, they have shown us their hand. It is +not a coincidence that so many things have happened to hamper us, and +the destruction in the shops and around the hangars that has appeared +merely slovenly, sinful waste, has been the work of these same dirty +miscreants. You are spotted, sir, sure as sure! Known to be working with +the government, and instrumental in passing messages and what not along +to wherever they ought to go. What are you going to do about it? If you +will excuse me for saying it, sir, I think you ought to duck." + +"Duck? Duck where?" asked Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Anywhere you like, say South America, or Alaska, or there's good +shooting up at Hudson Bay or was when I was in the Mounted Police of +Canada." + +"Why should I duck?" demanded Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Why, sir, they have you spotted, and you are too valuable a man to this +country to take any chances. Suppose they send you West?" + +"Kill me, you mean?" asked Mr. Ridgeway. "Well, O'Brien, thank you, but +of course you know that I will stay and take my chance. If they have me +spotted as you say, why, they will spend a good deal of time watching +me, and that will leave the field clear for you and Lawrence. I will +have to depend on you for a good deal. For one thing, I think we had +better stage a small scrap, when we go downstairs, and I will discharge +Lawrence, and will order you somewhere out of range. Then we will not +meet without the greatest precautions. Where are you living, O'Brien?" + +"I have a room and bath over in the southeast part of the city," +answered O'Brien. + +"And you, Lawrence?" + +"Up on the heights, sir. I like to be high." + +"I wish you were closer together," mused Mr. Ridgeway. + +"There are twin beds in my bedroom," said Lawrence. "I wish you would +come over there if you feel like it, Mr. O'Brien." + +"I accept without further parley," said O'Brien. "Have you a telephone?" + +"Yes," said Lawrence. + +"A regular swell, this lad," said O'Brien, smiling. "Well, give Mr. +Ridgeway our address, and let's go down and get fired." + +They descended, reconnoitered the corridor carefully, and retraced their +steps. Mr. Ridgeway entered his office alone and pressed the button on +his desk. A boy appeared. + +"I am expecting the young fellow who was with me this morning," he said. +"When he comes send him in." + +When Lawrence entered, he said severely, + +"I have looked your credentials over, young man, and I find that in one +or two regards they are not exactly what I desire. If there is anything +I can do for you, I will be glad to do it, but I think our talk this +morning will have to go for nothing!" He scuffled a few papers on his +desk, and Lawrence, in as disappointed a tone as he could muster, said, +"I am very sorry, sir. If you do not care for my services, I think I had +better go back to Louisville. I have a standing offer of a job in the +Aircraft Company's shops there." + +As he spoke he noiselessly stepped forward and handed Mr. Ridgeway a +paper with his telephone number on it. + +"I insist on giving you a check for your railroad fare," said Mr. +Ridgeway, and took up a pen. What he wrote however was not the few magic +words on a blank check, but the words, "Do not come here. Go to your +apartment and stay there until ten tonight. Then both of you come to my +address; skirt the wall until you find a gate. It will be unlocked. +Follow the path at the right until you come to a porch with a French +window. This will be open. Go into the room and wait there in the dark +until I come." + +Lawrence nodded and handed the note back. Mr. Ridgeway touched a match +to it, at the same time lighting a cigar so that the smell of burned +paper would not be evident. + +"Thank you, sir," said Lawrence as though he had received a check. "And +good-bye." + +The door closed, and he was alone. He sat staring at the edge of the +table that hid the wicked little device which had handed him over into +the hands of his enemies. No wonder plans had gone wrong! And now when +so much hinged on the attitude of the country to the new Republic in +Europe, and when the question of a mammoth loan was a matter of the most +importance. As he mused, O'Brien jerked the door open and came in. +Although O'Brien knew that the listener at the end of the tiny wire +could not see him, he was by nature too much of an actor not to play the +whole part. So he came in swaggering and approaching the table said +truculently, "I come back to see you, sir, on something important." + +"Speak up, my man," said Mr. Ridgeway. "I am rather busy, and hereafter +you will send in your name." + +"I won't send nothing," said O'Brien, "unless I get a raise. I work +twice as hard and long as any man at the field, and there are twenty +planes to look over and keep in order, to say nothing of that dirigible +that I will have to nurse back to health. I want more money." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Mr. Ridgeway. + +"No such thing!" growled O'Brien. "I know you! Take me or leave me!" + +"It's the latter then, O'Brien. I won't be bullied by you or any other +man," said Mr. Ridgeway with a wink. + +"Then that settles it," said O'Brien. "Belave me when I say I am glad to +be through with the likes of you, and if you will pay me what you owe I +will get me a job where I am appreciated." + +He pointed toward the door with his stubby thumb, and Mr. Ridgeway, +taking the hint, said, "Wait here and I will get your money," and left +the room. + +As soon as the door closed O'Brien proceeded to abuse Mr. Ridgeway with +all the fluency and fervor of his Irish tongue. Clearly and distinctly +he addressed the air with a shower of choice phrases. He abused, he +threatened, he raved, never once forgetting to hold his voice clear and +steady as though addressing a stupid central on a buzzing line. +According to his remarks, Mr. Ridgeway had insulted him. And he would +get even. Over and over, he promised himself that he would get even. And +then in the very middle of O'Brien's finest flight of fancy, the door +opened. Like turning off a top, O'Brien shut up, took what Mr. Ridgeway +offered him and with a growl went out, slamming the door. + +"Good riddance!" growled Mr. Ridgeway in his turn, then shaking his fist +at the table, he too went out, springing the lock. + +The rest of the afternoon he spent at the Chevy Chase golf course but it +is likely that a worse game was never played over that course. The +Honorable Theodore Miller, who had asked him to play, went through one +fit of amazement and remorse into another. Amazement that such tops and +foozles could come from a sane man, and remorse that he was obliged to +waste the afternoon with such a being. Mr. Ridgeway did not notice that +he was playing badly, but thumped and whacked away at the ball with a +frowning look that Senator Miller took for an earnest desire to mend his +stroke, but which in fact indicated utter absent-mindedness. Mr. +Ridgeway knew that if he was being watched, he must put up an appearance +of unconcern, and so the Golf Club. + +But that night soon after dinner he spoke a few words over a private +wire that led to the private room of a Certain Great Person, and soon +Mr. Ridgeway was with him in close consultation. He came away looking +more anxious than ever. He had learned that an answer had been drawn up +for the young republic which needed help, and that another country close +on its borders was ready to declare war if there seemed to be anything +in the way of affiliation with the United States. Besides this, there +reposed in the strongest of the strong boxes at the Treasury the crown +jewels of a monarch who had sent them across for safe keeping six years +ago, and who now wanted them returned at once to figure at the +introduction of the Crown Prince on his twenty-first birthday. + +The jewels and the state papers all must be delivered safely within two +months. Otherwise.... Mr. Ridgeway did not like to think of the +otherwise. + +The jewels had no business in the country at all. They had been allowed +to come over piecemeal, by the ill-advised judgment of one who should +have known enough to keep clear of everything to do with little +principalities with their many entanglements and jealousies. However, +the deed was done. + +Walking along Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Ridgeway called at The Willard to +see a man who was then in Bolivia, and took a taxi to the Army and Navy +Club. Then he went home, and to his own room, where he lighted all the +lights and for a moment stood looking out the window before pulling down +the blinds. + +Then hastily he slipped off his shoes and felt his way down to the +library, where he seated himself in his favorite chair beside the big +table and, leaning back, gave himself up to his thoughts. He knew that +it would be fifteen minutes or so before he could expect his visitors. + +Suddenly a draft of air struck the back of his head. He knew that he had +closed the door leading into the hall. He turned and half rose in his +chair, but too late. Something descended with a sickening thud and +without a groan he rolled over on the floor, a dead weight. + +When later O'Brien and Lawrence entered by the window, as they had been +told, they sat down on a couple of chairs that they were able to find in +the darkness and proceeded to wait. But O'Brien was like a hound. He +_sensed_ disaster. Leaning close to Lawrence, he whispered, "There is +something wrong here. I can smell it. I am going to light up." With the +words, he pressed on his electric searchlight, and slowly turned the +brilliant ray about the room. What he saw caused him to leap to the +window, lower the blind, and then switch on the big ceiling light. + +Half under the table lay a tumbled figure. All the drawers were dragged +out and ransacked and scattered papers which had been hastily unfolded +and read were scattered everywhere. + +"Is he dead?" gasped Lawrence. + +O'Brien listened to Mr. Ridgeway's heart. "Niver a bit! Sure he's coming +round pretty quick belike. What's in that vase of posies? Wather? +Gimme!" + +He turned the big vase over on the unconscious man, and while nearly +drowning him, it brought him to consciousness with a gasp. He looked up. + +"Don't rise, sir!" begged O'Brien. "Lay still now and collect your +thoughts. Golly, that was a crack! I told you what would happen, didn't +I then? You are needing a nurse, and a steel jacket and a tin lid like +the good old times of the late war if so be you are going to get tapped +like this." + +In a few minutes Mr. Ridgeway was able to sit up, and with a rueful look +gazed around at the disordered room. With a little help he got into his +chair, and sighed. O'Brien, as though he had always been an inmate of +the house, went through the dining-room, and beyond in a little +breakfast room found a percolator all ready for breakfast. In a jiffy he +had the coffee ready, and returned to Mr. Ridgeway with a steaming cup +which he insisted on him drinking. The hot liquid seemed to revive Mr. +Ridgeway, and presently he sat up, asking: + +"Well, O'Brien and Lawrence, what part did you play in the late +unpleasantness?" + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + +O'Brien burst out with an exclamation of anger, "By gosh, sir, this +thing is going too far! I don't intend to stand by and see you murdered. +You have had a close shave here tonight, and something has _got_ to be +done. Where is Mrs. Ridgeway?" + +"She is in England visiting some relatives," said Mr. Ridgeway with a +triumphant laugh. "So you won't get any backing from her. I sent her +over there three months ago." + +"Well, _something_ has got to be done all right, all right," said the +secret service man sullenly. + +Mr. Ridgeway pressed his aching head. "I think this will end it," he +said. "They have found no papers, and they will let well enough alone. +You know as well as I do, O'Brien, that they will know that I will be on +guard after this. And I _will_ be. I will set a lot of detectives around +here, each with a badge as big as a dinner plate. And I will sit and do +nothing, and you can do the work." + +"All right; that is more like what I want to hear," said O'Brien, +smiling at last. "You are doing enough, Mr. Ridgeway, when you finance +the affair. You have had all those airplanes built, and those +dirigibles, and if you sit tight and boss, that is all we will ask for. +Just you let me and Lawrence push the rest of the work." + +"I will have to keep quiet for a day or two anyway," said Mr. Ridgeway. +"I feel sort of old tonight. I wish I had a son or two to look out for +me. But you are all right, O'Brien. Do whatever you like." + +"Then to bed you go, first of all," said the practical Irishman, "and +whilst I get some plainclothes men here for a guard, you can sit with +him, Lawrence, and don't you let a soul in the room." + +"The servants are all in bed and there is no one else to come," said Mr. +Ridgeway drowsily. + +With a good deal of help he managed to get to the little automatic +elevator, and they put him to bed. While Lawrence put cold compresses on +the bruised head, O'Brien telephoned for the police and placed a guard +around the house. Then he summoned Mr. Ridgeway's doctor, who examined +the wound and assured them that there was no concussion. By the time all +this was done, it was nearly three o'clock in the morning. + +"Let's to bed," yawned O'Brien. "It's coming home with you I am, Larry. +I expect you'll loan me the matter of some pajammies?" + +"Sure!" said Lawrence. "But I don't know how they will fit." + +"Fit, fit!" said O'Brien, hailing a passing taxi. "Fit? Sure, I could +sleep this night in lead pajammies, any size whatever." + +True enough, O'Brien rolled into bed and was asleep in a moment, but +Lawrence tossed restlessly a long time before he could quiet himself. He +was worried about Mr. Ridgeway, and he wished O'Brien would wake up and +tell him just what he feared from the spies or conspirators, or whatever +they were. And he wondered about Mr. Ridgeway, and was sorry that he had +no sons, and wished, poor Lawrence, that _he_ was Mr. Ridgeway's son. +How proud he would be! But he knew that he would always be Lawrence +Petit, the waif, with only a pictured face for a family. + +O'Brien snored on gently and endlessly, and at last, lulled by the +sound, Lawrence went to sleep. When he awoke, O'Brien was in the +bathroom running a bath, and singing _Sweet Rosy O'More_ in a mellow +baritone. He sounded like a man who has not a care in the world. + +Lawrence jumped up. It was eight o'clock. They had overslept an hour. +But when he asked O'Brien how he had happened to sleep so late, that +songful gentleman declared that there was nothing to do but enjoy +themselves and he intended to go to a movie and sit through it twice, so +he could think. + +"Will you go along with me?" he asked. + +"I would rather fly," said Lawrence. "I wish I could get hold of a +plane. I would feel better if I could get off the earth for a while. I +can never think so well as when I am up a few hundred feet." + +"Go as high as you like," said O'Brien. "Here, I will give you a bit of +a paper, and just you go out to the field and give it to the man in +charge there, and all that you will have to do after that is to pick +which plane you want. You can't use the dirigible because it is smashed +up." + +"I would rather have a plane to-day," said Lawrence. "I want to get used +to the country around here. I shall drive the dirigible when it is in +order, but I like to take my bearings first. It is funny, I have flown +all over the United States and Europe, but this is the first time I was +ever in Washington." + +"Well, take one of the little sky-flivvers and have a good time, but be +careful about landin'. A nose-dive or a tail-spin makes good readin' in +the Sunday papers, and you get a grand write-up all about the darin' +young aviator So-and-So, but it's little interest _you_ feel in the +article yourself." + +Lawrence took a street car out as far as he could, and after a brisk +walk reached the field. Everything was going smoothly. He offered his +paper to the man in charge, and that individual, after grumbling a +little at letting a kid go up with a perfectly good machine, let +Lawrence look the twenty planes over and choose the one he fancied. + +Lawrence refused a passenger, and with a good start soared off the field +and rose until the city of Washington lay far below him. He had not made +a flight for a couple of weeks, and his heart thrilled. After a few wide +circles that took in the shipping at the Navy Yard and all the outlying +parts of the city, he flew over Baltimore. The return he made low, and +studied the woods and landing places, to make himself sure of his +ground. + +As he neared Washington again, he saw a plane approaching from the +south. It came straight for him, and he had an idea that it was trying +to communicate with him by means of the wireless. He glanced down and +found that, contrary to usage, his own machine was not equipped. So he +paid no attention to the stranger other than to swerve out of the way. +But the plane turned and followed. Lawrence, curious to know what it was +up to, slowed down and allowed it to overtake him. His trained ear told +him by the sound of the engine that his own plane was the faster and +more powerful but he had no intention of racing as he thought the other +pilot wanted to do. + +So he slowed down, and as the other machine came alongside he saw that +they were flashing messages with a mirror, using the Morse code, which +had become one of the requirements in the public schools. + +"Who are you?" demanded the stranger. "Who are you?" over and over. +Lawrence had no mirror and for a moment was at a loss how to reply. +There was something threatening about the manner of the other plane, and +Lawrence had no desire to get into a combat in the clouds over nothing. +He had an idea, and as the other plane imperiously repeated the words he +managed to take off the muffler, and in the roar of the engine he +spelled out: + +"A tourist seeing the sights. Who are you?" + +"Where from?" demanded the mirror. + +"Louisville. Who are you?" repeated Lawrence. + +The plane evidently had the answer they wanted and, sheering off, shot +away without a reply. Lawrence set his teeth. If they could be so +discourteous he could follow at all events, and see where the curious +plane hailed from. He wheeled his machine and, taking a higher level, +sailed off in pursuit, keeping a good distance behind. An hour's flight +brought them above a small open field and here the plane suddenly +dipped, and going at a breakneck angle dropped to the ground. Then as +though by magic it disappeared. There was no hangar, yet the machine +went under cover as though the earth had swallowed it. + +Again and again Lawrence circled the field, and it worried him to +imagine the chuckles the other pilot was indulging in at his expense. + +Try as he might, he could not locate any sign of life. It struck him as +a rather queer thing. He turned his nose upward again, and located the +field by some trees and other landmarks, then turned toward the home +field. + +Dropping easily down, he found O'Brien surrounded by a group of men, all +of whom seemed to be watching him with a good deal of interest. + +"Hey, young felly," called O'Brien, "do you always make so neat a +landing as that last?" + +"I suppose so," answered Lawrence. "What was there about that one?" + +"It was all right; that was it," said O'Brien. "If that's the way you +fly, you can have all me pretty toys at once, on a string." + +"One is enough," laughed Lawrence. "Don't you want to go up?" + +"I wouldn't mind a short flight, just to see how you manage it," said +O'Brien, gently relieving the man next him of his helmet and goggles. + +Rising once more, Lawrence waited until they had gained a good height, +then as they sailed along in a steady current, he told O'Brien of his +encounter and the curious thing about the landing place of the strange +car and its sudden disappearance. + +"Let's go over there," said O'Brien. "It's just the sort of thing I have +to look after. What with the country full of Reds, and all other colors +of the rainbow, we want to keep as many of the wild lunatics under +observation as possible." + +They soon reached the spot where Lawrence had seen the plane land and, +sure enough, there was not a sign of anything that could be taken for a +hangar. + +"You sure this is the place?" asked O'Brien. + +"Sure!" replied Lawrence. "What do you say to landing? I can make it +easier than he did." + +"Land away if ye like, and let's have a look," said O'Brien, "but don't +you smear me all over that nice green grass, I warn you." + +"I won't," promised Lawrence, and dropped to earth as lightly as a bird. + +As the plane slid along the grass and came to a standstill, O'Brien gave +a smothered exclamation. + +"That's funny!" he said. "Look!" + +Stepping out of the machine, Lawrence turned in the direction O'Brien +was looking. The hangar they were looking for was there, but covered +with a thick-set camouflage of brush. The doors were open, as though no +one would possibly find the place, and inside the hangar were three +cars: one a dirigible, one the car Lawrence had encountered, while the +third was a long, rakish model mounting an aircraft gun. + +One quick look, and O'Brien backed out, drawing Lawrence with him. He +motioned him into their own plane, gave it a push and hopped into his +place as the speedy little flyer danced along for a moment, then rose +into the air. + +As they fled, O'Brien mopped his brow. + +"I didn't feel that place to be so healthy for us," he said. "And a gun +looking so fit! Who said the war was over these five years? Now what in +the world of wonders does all that mean? I dunno. Do _you_?" + +Lawrence shook his head. + +"Don't go there again," warned O'Brien. "Whether I'm with you or no. Do +you mind? We have got to find out about it. Did you notice anything +funny about that dirigible? No? Well, you don't know as well as I do, +but that old tube is exactly like the one that got cut up last night. +Down to the last seam, and even a dent in the steerin' gear that I made +meself trippin' against it with a hammer in me hand." + +"How do you suppose that happens?" asked Lawrence, his eyes fixed in the +distance. + +"That's what I dunno," said O'Brien. "But the joke is that I don't think +it happens at all. There is something funny about that. Dang funny!" + +"Where do you suppose the people were?" asked Lawrence. + +"Off amusin' themselves, or up to some mischief," answered O'Brien. +"They have such a good hidin' place that they don't bother to guard +their cars at all, at all." + +They landed, O'Brien still sputtering. But Lawrence was silent. He +quizzed O'Brien about the locality and learned that it was not far from +the railroad. Then finding that O'Brien had an engagement for the +evening, he went quietly away. He first went to his rooms, took some +money from the trunk, and put on a dark suit. Then he hurried down town, +and reaching the Union station, boarded a train and was soon out of the +city. He had dinner on the train, and at about nine o'clock reached the +little station of Linden, where he dropped off and not waiting for the +train to pull out, slipped across the track and was swallowed up by the +shadows. + +For all his athletics, Lawrence hated walking, as most aviators do, and +he groaned in spirit as he trudged over the country in what he hoped was +the direction of the mysterious aviation field. It had not occurred to +him to ask anyone how to reach it. Instinctively he knew that the +mysterious cars had not been heralded to the country at large. + +He lost time, and several times had to turn aside and almost retrace his +steps, but at last he knew from the lay of the country that he was in +the right neighborhood. The moon had risen and was full. It cast the +densest shadows and Lawrence slipped from one patch of blackness to +another. He felt silly. He was not sure that this was not a wild goose +chase. The cars might be the property of some eccentric man who wished +to keep them in seclusion, and possibly he was trespassing on private +ground. He plodded on, however, urged by an impulse he could not +understand. + +At last he emerged suddenly on the very aviation field itself; and on +the other side he saw the big bulk that was the hangar. Once more +plunging into the underbrush, he skirted the field and circled it until +he found himself at the back of the hangar. There was a small door here, +half open, and from within he heard voices. + +He could not hear what was being said, however, and he took the chance +an older man would have thought plain suicide. Entering the door, and +fairly holding his breath, he stepped slowly and carefully along the +side of the building, crept close to the little plane, and finally lay +down and wriggled beneath it toward the dirigible. On the other side of +the long body four men were sitting over a game of cards. Not until +Lawrence felt the cool box of the plane above him did he think of +danger. And then it came to him clear as the tolling of a bell ... +discovery meant his death! + + + + + CHAPTER V + + +It was a strange game the men were playing, something far less quiet and +controlled than poker, or any of the other American games that Lawrence +was accustomed to see played by the men working round the planes. There +was much slapping down of cards and a great deal of laughter from three +of the players, while the fourth poured forth a steady stream of abuse +and profanity. Strangely enough, while Lawrence was sure that they were +foreigners, they all spoke English with no more accent than a slight +twist of the syllables. + +The game went on, and Lawrence gathered that one man was losing +steadily. + +Luck fluctuated between the others and they accepted gains or loss with +careless unconcern. Not so the fourth man. He lost money as painfully as +a man loses his very blood. It put him in a sort of wild panic, yet he +could not leave the game. He kept hoping for a turn in the bad luck +which pursued him and played on, cursing his luck, the cards, the +unsteady light, and his partners themselves. Finally his evil temper +commenced to grate on the mood of the other three. They too commenced to +be faultfinding, until the dealer swept the cards together and announced +that the game was over. + +The men did not trouble to rise; they merely kicked the table over, and +leaned back in their chairs. + +"What of the night?" said one of them, peering out the crack of the big +door. + +"Clear as a bell," said another, "and the moon big as the dial of the +clock at Nuremberg. I say we take the two planes and go out." + +Lawrence felt a small chill travel down his spine. He held his breath +for the answer, while all his muscles tautened for a quick retreat. + +"Not tonight," answered the oldest man. "The machines both need tuning +up. I have worked on that dirigible so constantly that I have neglected +all else. But there is no haste. No haste whatever, with their broken +dirigible and what happened last night." He commenced to laugh, and in +response the man who had lost at cards began to swear again. + +"Yes; what happened last night?" he said. "A knock-out staged by a pair +of fools!" + +"It was an accident," said another man sulkily. "Fifteen minutes before +I saw him at the Army and Navy Club. Then I opened the door, after +seeing that every servant in the place was sleeping sweetly, and there +he sat and he _saw_ me. There was nothing else to do. The Chief had +forbidden a fight. I gave him a good knock. Wonder if I killed him!" + +"I don't think so," said the oldest man. "I stepped on his leg as I was +going around the table, after we had looked over his papers, and there +was a live feel to the flesh. You should have struck to kill. Then there +would have been a hue and cry and we could have worked so much better. +He is the master mind." + +"We have nothing to do with him, of course, but it galls me to think any +man can be so close. Not a soul knows what he will do next, that +Ridgeway; no one knows where he will turn. I cannot understand why he +was so careless with that dirigible, leaving it there in that hangar for +all the world to see. And advertising it for traffic! Now as soon as it +is in shape again, I must deface our dirigible with just the same marks +and mends. It must be so similar that not even the driver of the +Ridgeway machine, after we kidnap him, will feel the least hesitation +about taking our dirigible where he has been ordered to go." + +"When will we see the Chief?" asked the loser at cards. + +"I have been expecting him since yesterday," said the oldest man, "but +he won't take the chance of coming out in daylight now." + +They sat smoking, and Lawrence, whose chances seemed to be getting +slimmer every moment, wondered how he could escape before the men made a +move. He was not sure that his feet were not sticking out at the other +side of the plane, and although the hangar was pitch dark except where +the dim light above the group of men made it possible for them to see, +Lawrence did not like to feel that they might at any moment make a move +toward the small door back of him, and trip over him. But there was not +a chance of moving while they sat silently smoking. If they would _only_ +commence to talk! + +As they sat engrossed in their pipes a current of air fanned Lawrence +and he knew that the big door of the hangar had silently swung open. He +heard the four men spring to their feet as a soft voice said, "Good +evening!" + +"Good evening, Excellency," said the four, and the newcomer replied in +an irritated tone: + +"Not that! How many times have I told you not to call me Excellency? +There are no longer any Excellencies. I am plain Mr. Smith. Such a good, +honest name and a good, honest man! You know I travel for a book +concern, and all my anxiety is for the number of copies of their book I +sell. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, your--Mr. Smith," said the men, and Mr. Smith sat down on the +nearest chair. + +"Shut that door," he ordered. "Why do you infernal blockheads leave it +open with all this light streaming out?" + +"It was closed until you came in, Mr. Smith," said the oldest man in an +apologetic, submissive tone. + +"Then all the more reason for shutting it!" said the newcomer. + +He felt in his pocket and drew out a silver cigarette case. One of the +little tubes fell out as he fumbled for it, and selecting another, the +man lighted it and commenced to smoke. His back was squarely toward +Lawrence, and even his figure was not discernible in the poor light. + +Lawrence settled himself for whatever was to come. He knew somehow that +a single move on his part would be detected by a pair of ears far keener +than those others. In fact, there was something so sinister about the +carriage and tone of the man who called himself Mr. Smith that Lawrence +was not at all sure that he would not turn at any moment and say, "Come +out of your hiding place, Lawrence Petit!" He felt himself grow cold all +over. Once a rattlesnake had crawled over his foot and he had stood like +a statue waiting for the deadly thing to creep away without being +stirred to anger, and the same feeling of oppression chilled him now. He +knew instinctively that he was in the presence of the most deadly and +merciless human being he had ever encountered. Yet all he could pin his +feeling to was the dim shadow of a form and the sound of a voice which +was certainly soft and agreeable to the ear. + +The cigarette which had fallen out lay on the ground and added to the +boy's danger. If Smith or one of the others should stoop to pick it up, +they might easily discover him. As the oldest man commenced to talk, +Lawrence made a cautious movement backward. That instant Smith held up a +hand and whispered, "Silence!" + +Lawrence stilled his very heart beats. For an interminable time there +was not a sound, then Smith lowered his hand and said, "Go on! I was +sure I heard something, but I must have been mistaken. If I lose my +sense of hearing I will be out of luck." + +The men laughed in a guarded way. "If you lose nine-tenths of it and +nine-tenths of your eyesight, you will be about like the rest of us," +said the oldest man. + +"Thanks!" said Mr. Smith dryly. "Now for a report. Did you discover +anything at all at the Ridgeways? I presume you went, as I ordered." + +"Yes, we went all right," someone answered out of the gloom. "It came +near being a good deal of a mess. We got in the house all right. I had +been there for two days looking over the electric wiring for the city, +and had seen to it that all the servants went to bed with just enough +dope in their food to insure them a good night's sleep. Then we went +outside to look things over, and I went downtown and ran right into the +gentleman. So I dogged him, and he went into the Army and Navy Club, and +I came back. I walked, and he must have taxied because when we opened +the door from the hall, there he was sitting in the library in the dark. +I can't imagine what he was doing that for. He was wide awake and when I +opened the door he turned round. Of course I had to hit him." + +"Well, what next?" asked Smith as the other paused. + +"It was a good one," said the man. "He fell like a sack of sand, and we +switched on a light and went through everything in two minutes. There is +not a thing there. Not a thing, and no wall safe, and no secret +drawers!" + +"Well, that is odd," mused the newcomer. "You left him unconscious?" + +"Yes, but he was alive," said the man. + +"I don't understand," said Smith. "There was not a thing in the morning +paper about this, and no mention of illness or anything else. I remember +especially noticing that Hamilton Ridgeway would lay the cornerstone for +a new orphanage or something of the sort this morning. I don't believe +you hit him at all!" + +"He did!" said the third man. "It was such a crack that I was sure he +had killed him." + +"Well, it is strange," muttered the man called Smith. "We must find out +more about this. Are you through with your electrical job?" + +"Yes. I was careful to finish that up yesterday. That was why the butler +asked me to supper in the servants' hall. I made a hit with all of them +belowstairs." + +Smith sat for a long while thinking. "All right," he said finally. "I +will have a look at things. You had better go back to your old job at +the Ridgeway field. Say you have been off because you were sick. And put +down a note of every scratch and dent and seam on that dirigible of +theirs so you can reproduce it. Remember one thing. There are powerful +forces back of us, but all they want is the papers that will sooner or +later go across in that dirigible. + +"What _we_ want is money, and I tell you, men, if this thing goes +through, it will bring us millions. Just that: millions!" + +A sort of stifled groan of covetousness went up from the listeners. + +"If we succeed there will never be a time when we will any of us have to +do another stroke of work. If we fail, it will mean death. Fail? Why, +you won't _dare_ to fail! I will kill any man of you with my own hand if +he shows the white feather." + +He laughed, and Lawrence thought he heard the rattles of the coiled +snake ready to spring. The men listened in silence. Lawrence wondered if +his face carried the same chill as his words and voice. + +After a pause, one of the men spoke. "I think we are all taking big +chances," he said. "All I object to is working in the dark. Here we are +working and plotting, killing if necessary, all on the promise of +immense rewards, yet you will not tell us where these rewards are +hidden. It all rests on your word." + +"Did I ever fail you?" asked Smith violently, striking his hand on his +knee. "What about the jewel robbery in Paris? The diamonds in New York? +Did I even send them to Amsterdam for recutting before showing them to +you, and weighing them up? Was there not a fair division when the job +was done? You thankless dogs, you would be picking pockets if I had not +taken charge of you!" + +"That is all right, Chief," said the big man, "but it would give us a +good deal more interest if we could know where all this money is being +kept." + +Smith laughed. "I suppose you want to know so if I should get a tap on +the head myself some night you could go after it. Isn't that about it?" + +"No," said the man, "but part of it is true. What if anything _should_ +really happen to you? Where would _we_ be?" + +"And suppose I should tell you on my word of honor that the riches are +buried here, right here in this hangar, where would _I_ be?" + +Somehow Lawrence sensed a straining forward of the four listeners. + +"Sit still, sit still!" said Smith. "It is not here, so it won't pay you +to dig a nice hole in search of it, and incidentally bury me after you +have finished. No, the treasure--ah, _such_ treasure, glittering, +golden, jewelled treasure such as you have never dreamed of, is not +here. It is quite safe elsewhere. Quite, quite safe!" + +Again he laughed. + +"Where is it?" asked the oldest man again. "We want to know!" + +"Perhaps it is only fair," said Smith, shrugging his shoulders. He took +out another cigarette and lighted it leisurely. "Perhaps it is only +fair," he repeated. "Besides, you might like to go and look at the +beautiful strong old casket that holds the jewels and treasure. Well, +then if you must know," he blew a cloud of smoke tantalizingly toward +them. "Your treasure, and mine, is in the United States Treasury." + +"You, you--" sputtered the oldest man. + +"Don't tell me I _lie_," warned the smooth voice. "I do occasionally, +but no man dares to _tell_ me that I do. And this is the truth. Your +treasure and mine is in the Treasury Building. Until it is taken out, we +must wait. Even I cannot offer to break into that stronghold." + +"I don't understand," said the loser at cards. + +"Of course you don't!" said Smith. "You don't have to! Only one head is +needed on a body. _I_ am the head. Do my bidding, you hands and feet, +and all will be well. Millions, remember; _millions_, and one-fourth to +be divided amongst you. I am going," he said, abruptly dismissing the +topic. "Come!" + +He rose, and before Lawrence could gather himself for the shock of +discovery, the group, led by the rattlesnake, passed out the big door of +the hangar, and Lawrence heard the lock snap loudly. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + +Lawrence could scarcely credit his good fortune. After a little he tried +to change his position, and found that he was so cramped that he could +scarcely move. Carefully he took his pocket flash out of his pocket and, +turning it around, acquainted himself with the position of the doors. He +also saw the cigarette which the Rattlesnake, as Lawrence henceforth +called "Mr. Smith," had dropped, and he crawled over and put it in his +pocket. Then with the utmost caution he made his way back to the small +door which still swung open, and with a smile at the carelessness of the +men, he made his way out. He had gone a hundred yards perhaps when a +thought struck him, and he retraced his steps. Once more entering the +hangar, he approached the machine nearest him, paused beside it for five +or ten minutes, passed on to the next where he stood for the same time, +and then went to the big dirigible. With a chuckle he waved a hand at +the silent aircraft, and for the last time passed through the door. This +time he closed it, and finding a spring lock hooked carelessly through a +strong staple, he adjusted it and clasped the lock. The hangar was +securely fastened. Lawrence judged, and correctly, that when the men +returned in the morning each would think that one of the others had +closed and locked the small door, and not caring to be caught in so +flagrant a piece of carelessness, not one would confess that he had +forgotten it. + +As for the boy, he sped rapidly back across the country he had traversed +earlier in the evening and by great good fortune caught a train to +Washington about two minutes after reaching the little station. As no +one had seen him arrive, his departure was not noteworthy. + +Lawrence was tired out when the train reached Washington, and he thought +with dread of the long trolley ride to the Heights, when he happened to +remember that he was now able to afford any number of taxis. He stepped +into one at the door of the station, and luxuriously giving his street +and number, he leaned back and dozed all the way home. + +O'Brien was there before him, a worried man. + +"Now then," said he, "where have ye been the while?" He shoved a chair +toward Lawrence and offered him a ham sandwich from a paper bag. +Lawrence took it eagerly. "You look dead beat and starved and ginnerally +tired out. What's the word?" + +"You are going to be mad," said Lawrence, "because you told me not to do +something and I did it." + +"Then consider me frothin', and tell me what's what and get it over +with. Sure, these fits of temper are bad for me heart." + +"All right," said Lawrence, and he proceeded to tell O'Brien his +evening's adventure. When he produced the cigarette O'Brien took it with +careful fingers. + +"Whew!" he said as he examined the paper, smelled the tobacco, and tried +to make out the interwoven letters of the intricate monogram. + +"It looks like r'yalty," he said finally. "Those same cost, me boy, they +cost! I only wish you had had a look at the gentleman. Well, I should +say you had a narrow escape. I don't like it all the same, although we +know more than we did. Mr. Ridgeway is a bit close, too. We didn't know +it was jools like that that we were handlin', did we?" + +"We haven't handled them yet," said Lawrence. "But I reckon they are +just where Mr. Smith said they are, and it looks as though we were going +to have to cart them somewhere or other. I don't see why we take the +dirigible," said Lawrence, "when the planes are faster." + +"There is some good reason," said O'Brien. "For instance, that dirigible +will carry a crew large enough to give a pretty good fight if it was +necessary. That's _one_ thing. Another is that Mr. Ridgeway doesn't know +that they know anything about the freight he is to carry. Gee, there is +a leak somewhere! That's one thing. Now to bed with you, me wild +adventurer, and get some sleep what's left of the night. We will have to +see Mr. Ridgeway the morn, so he can talk to us. I called there tonight +and found him much better. Get you to bed, and don't talk. I want to +think. Somewhere or other I have seen a mate to this cigarette." + +He carefully wrapped it in a bit of paper and put it in his cigar case. +"That's a good souvenir," he remarked, nodding his head. + +Lawrence tumbled into bed. He was too tired to realize the narrow escape +he had had, and wanted nothing more than a good sleep. He did not +realize his fatigue either, and when he awoke in the morning he found +that what he had thought was the dimness of early dawn was the darkness +of closely drawn blinds. O'Brien had tricked him. There was a note on +the dresser, and Lawrence read: + + "Dear Lawrence: + + "There's no place so safe for a lad of your tendencies as the + same cot you are snoring on at this second. I leave you to your + dreams and hope they are sweet. As for me, I am pulling down the + blinds and disconnecting the telephone, and then I am makin' + off: for I have a pretty idea all of my own. I will see you + later. By the way, you took my gloves last night, and I can find + but one. If you have lost that glove it costs you a pretty + penny, gloves being in a high altitude since the late war. + Good-bye. Go see what is happening to the dirigible, go see Mr. + Ridgeway, go to a movie, go have a good time however you like + but don't you _dare_ follow any clues today. Against orders, and + meet me here; HERE, mind you, at seven tonight. I may have news. + + "O'BRIEN." + +After he had had a meal which was neither breakfast nor luncheon, but +combined all the most agreeable features of both, commencing with +grapefruit and cereal and ending with pie, Lawrence went out to the +Aviation Field, where he found the men busily working on the dirigible. +A week at most would find it in working order again. O'Brien was not +there. After taking a little flight in his favorite plane, a flight +which took him over the scene of last night's adventure, he came down, +and returned to the apartment where he loafed and read until seven, when +O'Brien came in. + +"I flew over that field again this afternoon," said Lawrence. "I did not +see a soul." + +"That's all right," said his friend. "I have been there all day meself +in a tree-top, with a pair of glasses strong enough to spot the Queen of +England powdering her nose from the base of the Statue of Liberty. There +was not a sign of 'em and I have it all worked out. They know we can't +use the dirigible, and of course by now they know the minute when it +will be in shape again. So why work? Why hang around that bleak spot? +And Mr. Ridgeway being laid up, there's no use for Mr. Smith to sit with +his ear glued to the listening post down there below Ridgeway's office. +No. It's all hands take a vacation, and I'm thinkin' I will do the same. +I am going on a still hunt for our dear little book agent." + +"I forgot to tell you," said Lawrence, "that before I left there last +night, I fixed all three machines so they won't fly very soon. I learned +a few twists back in the aircraft factory, and I can put a plane out of +tune so no one will guess that it has been touched, but there is the +mischief to pay. And I touched up the dirigible too. Just a screw or two +loose, and a couple of pinholes where they will do the most good." + +"You are like a woman's postscript," said O'Brien. "All the meat of the +letter in it." + +"I meant to tell you before," said Lawrence. "Well, if you are going +after the Smith man, what am _I_ to do?" + +"Go see Mr. Ridgeway and tell him all this you have told me. Take the +cigarette; it's evidence." + +"Suppose we go to the theatre tonight," suggested Lawrence. "I have not +seen a show in a month of Sundays." + +"Sunday is no day to go to shows on, anyhow," said O'Brien with mock +severity. "But this bein' a weekday it's not against me conscience to +accompany you." + +They decided on the vaudeville, and securing good seats settled down to +an evening's enjoyment. + +At the beginning of the second act two men came in and took the seats +just behind them. As they fumbled for the hat-clips under the seats and +leaned close to O'Brien's broad shoulders, Lawrence heard one say to the +other, "Did you bring the key to the hangar?" and the other answered +swiftly, "No; Mr. Smith took it." + +Lawrence felt his blood stop in its course. For a moment he could +scarcely breathe. Two of the mysterious men were behind them! He dared +not say much to O'Brien, but he whispered, as the orchestra blared out a +jazz accompaniment to a dancer: "See who is behind you?" + +O'Brien turned. To Lawrence's utter amazement, he nodded gaily and said, +"Good evenin', Brown! A good show, I'm thinkin'." + +"It seems to be, Mr. O'Brien," said the slow, deep voice Lawrence so +well remembered. + +The boy's head whirled. O'Brien knew the man! + +Between the acts, in the intermission, Lawrence led the way out to the +sidewalk. He was shaking. + +"Those men!" he managed to stutter. "Those men behind us! They were in +that card game!" + +"Crazy!" said O'Brien calmly. "The big one works at the Aviation Field. +He's a good worker, but mortal stupid." + +"Oh, _believe_ me, O'Brien!" begged Lawrence. "I know them both. They +were sitting so I could see their shapes, and just now I heard the big +one ask the other if he had the key to the hangar, and he said, no, +Smith had it." + +"Why, I _know_ the man," insisted O'Brien again. "He don't know enough +to be in a plot." + +"That's just what Smith said," said Lawrence. "He said they could be +feet and hands, and he would be the head. That is why everything goes +wrong with the dirigible. He is right there where he can do what he +likes, and _you_ trust him." + +O'Brien laughed and patted the boy on the shoulder. "This thing is +getting on your nerves," he said soothingly. "However, come back and +have another look at your two friends." + +"No," said Lawrence. "You go back, and I will wait outside, and when +they come out I shall follow them. They don't know that we came +together. We didn't talk much and they will just think I met you in the +theatre." + +"Have it your own way," said O'Brien. "I will say the remarks were +suspicious enough, but I tell you, man, I know that fellow." + +"All right," said Lawrence doggedly. "I mean to know him, too, before I +get through with him. I have not seen him at the Field since I came. +Where does he keep himself?" + +"Dunno," said O'Brien. "I will find out." + +He went back into the theatre and sat down. As soon as the curtain went +down on the next act, he turned and spoke to the big man. + +"Are you working at the Field yet, Brown?" + +"No, I quit a week ago," said Brown, leaning forward. "I couldn't stand +the foreman they have out there. A mean, suspicious lunkhead, always +snooping around and giving orders." He laughed uneasily. "So I quit." + +"Out of a job, are you?" said O'Brien. + +"Yes, I am," said Brown. + +"Well, I don't blame you much," said O'Brien. "That foreman is a +disagreeable cuss. If I can help you any way, let me know." + +"Thanks," from Brown. "I am thinking some of going away. If I stay here +I will let you know." + +"Do!" urged O'Brien. "I wouldn't like to miss seein' you." + +The next act came on, and O'Brien turned to the stage. He missed seeing +the glance that passed from one man to the other, and chuckled as he +thought of the fancy Lawrence had had. When the show was over, the two +men walked down toward the cafés, and O'Brien was amused to see the +slight figure of Lawrence sliding along after them. His collar was +turned up, and his soft hat had disappeared. In its place was a plaid +cap. + +"Detective stuff!" laughed O'Brien. "The kid is having the time of his +life. But it does seem queer. However, there's no distress about the +affair so long as I can see. We wait our chance, and off we go with our +precious bundles when they are not looking. It is too simple to be +funny. They have overstepped with their slugging Mr. Ridgeway and +cutting up our dirigible. They can't hurt us now. Forewarned is +forearmed." + +He strolled along until he came to The Willard, where he went in and +approaching the news stand commenced to look for a magazine that was +adventurous enough to suit his fancy. As he stooped, the man beside him +let a cigarette fall from his hand. Someone had jostled him. It dropped +directly under O'Brien's eyes, and gleaming up at him he saw the +intricate gold monogram of Smith's cigarette. Before he could straighten +up and face the man, a foot was planted on the cigarette and he rose to +see no one but an old gentleman beside him smoking a fat black havana. +It was certainly not Smith. Besides, a voice loudly proclaimed the old +gentleman as "Hemmingway, old boy," and O'Brien, furious with his luck, +hung around the lobby for hours, hoping for another chance to see the +expensive monogram and delicate cork tip. + +After awhile he gave up and went back to the apartment that he now +shared with Lawrence. + +The boy was there before him, walking the floor in a great state of +excitement. + +"Well, O'Brien," he burst out, "I ran them down!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + +In a wild rush of words Lawrence told what he had discovered. O'Brien +listened closely and at the end of the account nodded his head. + +"You have 'em pickled this time, me jool," he said. "It is damnation +enough if they so much as live in that place you're mentionin'. I know +the local cutthroats and pipemen, while every son of Ham that walks +there has a razor ready for use, right in his closed fist. I'm that glad +you came out with a whole skin. Now don't talk; lave me think." + +He filled a pipe and slowly drawing on it, sat with his eyes fixed on a +corner of the room, a look of abstraction on his usually jolly face. + +At last he spoke. + +"Here's how I dope it. It's plain Mr. Ridgeway has picked you on your +recommendations to drive that dirigible. All right. Tomorrow you go to +Mr. Ridgeway as his guest or long-lost nephew or what not. Anyhow, you +_stay right in his house_ as his guest. There's that much less chance of +losin' you if they get on to who you are. And it's a slick crowd we are +buttin' in on. When it comes time for you to start with your silly +little papers and your shiny little jewelry wherever they belong, (and +Mr. Ridgeway will have to tell that,) you can just start on, and O'Brien +will take the job makin' the other crowd miss their train, as you might +say. What's the time o' night?" + +"Twelve thirty," said Lawrence. + +"Pretty late," replied O'Brien, "but let's have a try." + +He picked up the telephone and almost immediately had Mr. Ridgeway on +the wire. After a moment's talk, he took his hat and told Lawrence to +follow him. In a taxi, they arrived at Mr. Ridgeway's house and found +that gentleman reading in his room. + +O'Brien outlined his plan. + +"That is a very good idea," said Mr. Ridgeway. "Of course if this was +merely an affair of those crown jewels, it would be easy to outwit our +friends but those jewels mean little or nothing to the man who calls +himself Smith. What he wants are the papers. Either he, or someone back +of him, is staging a little revolution, I think, and the papers are +their most important weapon. Who is Smith? Can't you make a guess, +O'Brien?" + +O'Brien shook his head. "I can't, sir," he said regretfully. "All I want +is some good-luck fairy to point him out to me." + +"You will find him, never fear," said Mr. Ridgeway. "You have done too +many clever jobs for me to feel worried about this one. Well, Lawrence, +I will be glad to have you here with me. When will you come?" + +"He is here now," laughed O'Brien. "I take no more chances. I'm like +yourself, sir; I'm thinkin' that the matter of these papers is an affair +of nations." + +Mr. Ridgeway looked grave. "I can only say that the safe transfer of +those papers is all that can possibly keep this country out of another +war as destructive and as deadly as the last. They have clever spies, +and the only thing they have not surmised, guessed at, or proved about +this journey is the identity of the pilot. As I said at the first, +Lawrence is protected by his youth." The great man sighed. "Lawrence, I +wish you were my son!" he said. + +"A nice kid," commended O'Brien with a twinkle. "But hard to manage, +sir, and tellin' too little." + +For four days Lawrence was a guest in the big house, spending most of +the time with his host and growing more and more devoted to the kindly, +shrewd man. He often repeated his regret that there was no son to carry +on his name, and one night in a confidential mood told Lawrence that +there had been two little boys. + +"But we lost them both when they were scarcely more than babies," he +said brokenly. "I cannot talk about it." He stopped and Lawrence, +respecting his grief, turned away, not daring to offer the sympathy and +affection he felt. + +The subject was never referred to again, but now Lawrence knew the +pathetic meaning of the two small, beautiful faces which had been +rendered in glass and which formed the central medallion in a great +stained glass window in the library. Near it, on the wall, was a +portrait of Mrs. Ridgeway, painted only the year before. It was a most +gracious figure, with a sweet, beautiful, appealing face, full of sorrow +bravely concealed. It held a strange fascination for Lawrence, who found +himself looking at it by the hour. Mr. Ridgeway never spoke of the +picture, although Lawrence knew that no two people ever loved each other +better than the great man and his beautiful wife. That she had been sent +away to avoid possible harm was clear to Lawrence, and he felt that Mr. +Ridgeway was very lonely. Lawrence tried to show him all the little +attentions that he could think of, and it pleased him to see how eagerly +Mr. Ridgeway accepted them. Only once in awhile a sigh told the boy that +the big heart still mourned for the two little fellows who had met an +untimely death so long ago. But no further word was spoken on the +subject. + +The fifth day of Lawrence's visit fell on Tuesday. He took his bath and +hurriedly dressing, went down the broad stairs three steps at a time. +For the cleverest sky pilot in the world was hungry just as though he +had been an ordinary boy with no thought above the Saturday football +game or a coming exam. He fell upon the delicious breakfast with an +amount of energy that made Mr. Ridgeway smile with pleasure. + +"I want you to eat a good big breakfast, old man," he said. "I want you +to take me for a spin in the air after while." + +"That's good," said Lawrence. "If I don't fly more than I am doing now, +I will have to give up my license and take a job as instructor +somewhere. I am getting all out of practice." + +"You can have some practice today," said Mr. Ridgeway. He went from the +breakfast table to the telephone, and immediately they hurried out to +the Aviation Field in Mr. Ridgeway's runabout. There the first person +who met them was O'Brien, all in leather, with his goggles in his hand. + +"Your things are in the locker room," he said to Lawrence. "Get into +them quickly. Mr. Ridgeway is plannin' quite a little trip for you." + +Ten minutes later, they embarked in one of the larger planes, and went +sailing off, O'Brien at the wheel, cutting a straight course toward the +east. In a wild rush of speed, reeling league after league of sky behind +them, they reached the Atlantic coast and, swerving, made for the +desolate reaches of Barnegat. Lawrence, to whom this was new territory, +watched everything with the greatest interest. + +The tide was out, and just below the Inlet a half-mile stretch of beach, +hard and firm, afforded a wonderful landing. O'Brien dropped +brilliantly, and leaving the plane, they walked back until they came to +the hangar where the new dirigible was housed. Lawrence gave a quick +sigh of delight when he saw the balloon. He had never seen anything so +clean-lined and so sporty looking as the new model. For it was +absolutely the latest thing in construction, and Lawrence longed to get +his hand on the steering gear. + +"What do you think of that?" asked O'Brien as Mr. Ridgeway went outside +with one of the men, who seemed to be in charge. + +"I never saw anything so fine!" declared Lawrence. "I never saw anything +just like it. Even the new models in the pictures in the trade journals +are not as good in outline, and do not look as light in construction." + +"They are not," said O'Brien. "This is the first time I have seen this +but I know it was designed for Mr. Ridgeway." + +"What is its fuel?" asked Lawrence. + +"Hyolax," said O'Brien. "In a year no gasoline will be used except for +old type autos and farm trucks. I tell you hyolax is some bird when it +comes to power!" + +"I wonder if I will have any trouble managing it," said Lawrence +dubiously. "I ought to try it out, seems to me." + +"That is what we came for," said O'Brien. "I have an idea you are going +across very soon. And Mr. Ridgeway wanted to let you have one chance +anyhow to get used to this type of dirigible. As far as hyolax goes, it +works exactly like gasoline except that it is about twenty times more +concentrated and its driving power is much greater. You will be crazy +over it." + +A few minutes later the big dirigible, manoeuvered into the open, rose +lazily from the sand and in obedience to a command from Mr. Ridgeway, +they turned out to sea. For the next two hours, high above the tossing +waves, Lawrence manoeuvered the balloon, learning its tricks as a good +horseman learns the whims of a favorite steed. Lawrence was crazy over +it, as O'Brien had said, and the two older men, Mr. Ridgeway and +O'Brien, as well as the two mechanicians who accompanied them, were +astounded by the delicate perceptions and skillful handling that the boy +pilot gave the balloon. + +When at last they had, as O'Brien expressed it, "put the tube to bed" +and had once more mounted in the invisible roads of the air, Lawrence +was at the wheel of the plane, and bad work he made of it for the first +ten minutes. It was like driving a flivver after a twelve-cylinder +touring car. The plane wobbled and shifted until he hit his stroke +again. Reaching the home field, Lawrence silently hopped out of the +plane and followed Mr. Ridgeway and O'Brien into the auto. He was very +still all the way home. The day was gone, and dinner was served soon +after their return. Then Mr. Ridgeway sat frowning, and presently leaned +forward to say: + +"I will have to have a talk with you both, and on my life I don't know +where we will be safe. I am afraid everywhere." + +"Right you are!" said O'Brien. "But I have just the place. A brother of +mine has a drug store over on H street. There is a basement where he +keeps his surplus stock. The stairs is at the right of the store as you +go in, away back behind the screen where they dodge to make you up tonic +pills out of newspaper and sugar. + +"I will go ahead, and tip me brother off, and then you come along wan at +a time, and when you go in hold on to the left lapel of your coats so +he'll know you and go right back to the stairs and down 'em. I will have +chairs ready." + +The plan worked, and Mr. Ridgeway and Lawrence wandered through the +small drug store and down the concealed stairs, to find O'Brien ready +with three soap boxes for seats. + +Four walls, covered with rows of bottles of all sizes under the sun, +comprised the furnishings. As O'Brien said, there was not room enough +anywhere for a kitten to hide. There was a door at the top of the +stairs, and this O'Brien closed and locked. Another door at the bottom +he also closed, then turned expectantly to Mr. Ridgeway. That gentleman +smiled. + +"Now then," he said, "it is time for me to show you all the cards. You +know, O'Brien, who this Smith is?" + +"The most dangerous scoundrel in Europe, and the slickest knave that +ever planned the downfall of his own country to satisfy his own +miserable ambition. That much and more I know, but try as I may I can't +get my eyes on him, nor yet my hands." + +"He is slick all right," agreed Mr. Ridgeway. "But thanks to this extra +dirigible and the place at Barnegat, we will elude him. That is all I +want now. After we are off, O'Brien, start something that will bring +that gang inside the law, and arrest the whole bunch on suspicion or +what not. Anything to keep them from doing any mischief." + +"But Mr. Ridgeway, sir, it is now, _now_ while you are here that they +are dangerous." + +Mr. Ridgeway shook his head. + +"Unfortunately not." He took a paper out of his pocket and handed it +over to O'Brien. Lawrence looked over his shoulder and slowly spelled +out the words of a curiously printed anonymous letter. It was written on +heavy wrapping paper, and read: + +"This is not a threat. It is simply to tell you what will happen. If the +crown jewels that are lying in the Treasury Building and the papers +intended for a certain republic are taken out of this country, that day, +mind you, the President of the United States will forfeit his life and +so will you. You will remember this, because it is the truth. Make no +mistakes." + +O'Brien whistled. "So _that's_ your little scheme, is it?" He pondered. +"Of course it will be easy to take care of the president," he said. "And +you will be safe up in the air, but no one knows what else they will do. +I think it's up to O'Brien to get after them. Well, thanks to this lad, +I know where to find most of the gang. When do you start?" + +"I want to go tomorrow," said Mr. Ridgeway. "You see we have really two +journeys to make; two errands to accomplish, and the sooner we do +accomplish them, the better it will be. I will go from here to the White +House and have my papers put in order, and have the custodian of the +jewels ready with them tomorrow morning." + +"Do you specially mind when you start?" asked O'Brien. "I wish you could +set the time for evening. I want a whole day to get hold of my little +family party. Even if I start tonight, it may take me that long." + +"Not at all; not at all!" said Mr. Ridgeway. "It makes no difference, +only you can see by this letter that those miscreants must be locked +up." + +"I will attend to that if I have to have a fight with them myself," said +O'Brien. + +"Then let us be going," said Mr. Ridgeway. "Lawrence, do you want to +come down as far as Pennsylvania Avenue and keep the car there for me?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Lawrence. + +When Mr. Ridgeway left the car a safe distance up the broad glittering +avenue, Lawrence settled back and proceeded to enjoy himself. One of the +most beautiful thoroughfares in the world stretched before him, and +along it went representatives of every country and clime. He was intent +on the pageant when a whining voice at his elbow recalled him to the +present. A beggar, ragged, blear eyed, and out of place in the dazzling +cleanness of the avenue, had shuffled up to the curb and was begging. + +As Lawrence looked at the man, some strange picture in his brain, long +forgotten and hideous, suddenly sprang into view. Where had he ever seen +the face before him? Where had he heard that peculiar, deep, grating +voice? + +As he stared, the man looked him straight in the face for a minute and +Lawrence saw a deep, three-cornered scar on the man's chin. On the spur +of the moment he leaned down, and said: + +"Moll certainly soaked you a good one, didn't she?" at the same time +pointing to the scar. + +The man leaped back with an oath. "Who are you?" he demanded, and then, +"Moll's dead," he added. + +"I know," said Lawrence. + +"Who are you?" repeated the man. + +"Snooks," said Lawrence. + +"Dressed like that, sittin' in an auto?" cried the beggar. "You must 'a' +found your folks!" + +"No; I am driving for the man who owns this car," said Lawrence, his +sense of caution keeping back the facts of the case. "I never found my +folks." + +"You want to advertise," said the man. "Tell you all I know about 'em +for a dollar. Thanks! See that there Moll, she read about gettin' +ransoms for folks and she hired out for nursemaid. I never knew who to. +She didn't trust me, an' me married to her lawful! But one day 'bout +sundown she sneaked in with two kids dressed dandy. And I ast her what +was it she had, and she said, 'Oh, about two hundred thousand dollars.' +I didn't like it, an' I said so, so she got mad and walked off with the +two little beggars down toward the river. + +"She told me afterwards. She took off the little fellers' shoes and +stockin's. It was ragin' hot, mid-summer; and she laid them on the bank +with her own hat and their little bunnits, and then she let 'em paddle. +They just could walk. How she told it, she just turned round, and there +was one of 'em out in the current a-sinkin', and the other rollin' down +the bank. She grabbed him, but the other had went; and she was so scared +she comes runnin' home and there we was with another kid, which was you. +Moll didn't go away nor nothin', but we kep' close about it, because it +might 'a' meant the chair. They found the bunnits, and nex' day or so +they got the other kid's body. And the papers said Moll and the two kids +was all drownded. But you wasn't drownded. And Moll used to say that +woman in the pitcher Moll had in her bag would've gave a million dollars +to get a track of you, but we didn't darst do a thing. Besides," said +the man, "there's a plenty of kids!" + +"Can't you remember the name of the people?" asked Lawrence anxiously. + +With a look of sly cunning, the man shook his head. "No, I don't +remember. They don't want you by now, and you are all right. Let +sleepin' dogs lay is my motter. I ain't goin' to put my head in no noose +to oblige anybody. What they ever done for me, I say?" + +"I won't tell on you," begged Lawrence. + +The man looked around, then as he saw a procession of some sort moving +gaily up the avenue, he said, "No, you don't get no chance. You are +doin' well. Let sleepin' dogs lay," and dodged quickly across the line +of the procession and was lost to sight, just a miserable human fragment +on the tide of humanity. + +Lawrence, his brain whirling, pressed a hand over the pocket containing +the photograph. + +"Oh, Pretty, Pretty!" he said in a whisper. "Are you my mother, dear?" + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + +An hour passed, during which a whirling horde of hopes, ambitions and +anticipations, not unmixed with fears, passed through Lawrence's mind. +There was so much to hope for; so little to build on. It had been a long +while since the day when Moll went down to the river with the two little +children, the hapless babies whose tender little feet had been so rudely +torn from the pleasant paths that Fate had set for them. Lawrence +thought sadly of the little brother who had gone down in the sly and +ruthless current of the Ohio River. + +At first he could scarcely wait to share his news with Mr. Ridgeway; +then the habits of a lifetime of self-dependence commenced to assert +themselves. Mr. Ridgeway was involved in an adventure that might turn +out to have a serious, indeed possibly a fatal outcome. Lawrence smiled. +The knowledge that had come to him in such a strange and unexpected way +seemed of more importance than all the crown jewels in the world. +Jewels!... + +Why, he had a chance at last for a name, for a home, for people of his +own! The thought made him dizzier than any flight through the uncharted +upper reaches of endless ether. Yet after all, the affair did not touch +his new employer and friend, and Lawrence doubted the wisdom of +bothering him about it. It would be better, he finally decided, to wait +until the job was over, and then hurry back to Louisville. It would be +easy enough to find out from the records or old files of the papers when +two little children and their nurse had been drowned. That was all that +he needed to know. It made him wild to think that he had lived so many +years, poor, cast-off, lonely, in the same city with his own people. +That they might have left Louisville did not occur to Lawrence. He +imagined them still there, still sadly and tenderly grieving for the +lost babies. + +Yes, he would wait! He would see the thing through himself. Then he +would return to Mr. Ridgeway and tell him the glad news. Perhaps his +mother and father would accompany him. But like a cloud came the +thought, suppose in all the passing years death had overtaken father or +mother, perhaps both? + +Lawrence could scarcely endure the thought, and put it from him with a +determined effort to let nothing mar his happiness. But all the more he +decided he would keep it all locked in his own breast until the present +task was well accomplished. He felt tenderly of the flat square in his +pocket, the outline of the case holding the photograph. A warmth seemed +to spread from it. No, she at least--mother, sister, some one, the owner +of that loving and beautiful face--was waiting for him. On earth, +living, he felt that some day he should greet her. He patted the case. +"Oh, who are you, dear?" he whispered. + +Mr. Ridgeway came rushing up and jumped into the machine. + +"It is all set now!" he exclaimed. "Everything ready! Everything +arranged! I have just sent one of the White House messengers with +instructions to O'Brien. The man will return to my private secretary +with O'Brien's personal receipt. I have also sent a telegram to the man +in charge at Barnegat. I want you to drop me at the house and take the +car up to your apartment. Have you a suitcase? Pack in it just what you +will need while we are in the dirigible. When we get across, we will buy +everything we need in the way of clothes. As soon as you get your things +packed, come back and join me. We will spend the night quietly at home, +and about four o'clock tomorrow morning we will go to the field, stuff +the suitcases in one of the airplanes, and sail down to Barnegat. At +dawn, O'Brien is to make a fuss around the field, and will start off +with the dirigible that is there. If any chasing is to be done, those +scoundrels will chase _him_. He is to have a good crew with him and is +to follow our general direction but keep out of sight of us. We can pick +him up by wireless any time. I don't believe there is a flaw in the +whole thing!" + +Lawrence agreed to this, and dropping Mr. Ridgeway went on to his +apartment, where it took him about five minutes to pack. He was back at +the house in no time, and soon in bed. + +Little did either of them dream of the adventures befalling O'Brien. +O'Brien, having read the letter of instructions from Mr. Ridgeway, +buttoned the letter in an inside pocket. He then changed his coat and +putting on a cap, took a car and went within walking distance of the +disreputable flat building which housed the gang. O'Brien was going to +pin all his hopes on what he would find in their rooms. He had changed +his coat and had slung a small packet over his shoulder. + +O'Brien was now a plumber! He entered the flat whistling, walked up an +interminable number of stairs to the top floor, where Lawrence had +tracked the two men. Here the whistling which had grown very low ceased +entirely as O'Brien, putting an ear to the door, listened for sounds +from within. Hearing nothing, he resumed the whistle and rapped gaily on +the panel. There was no response and O'Brien repeated the knock. It was +not late, but he feared that one or more of the gang might have taken +that night of all nights to get some sleep. The silence continuing, +O'Brien cast a keen glance around the small and sordid hallway. + +Once more O'Brien turned his attention to the door. He slipped a +skeleton key from his pocket and noiselessly tried it. The door opened +under his touch. O'Brien's manner changed. He was no longer the +merry-eyed plumber, whistling as he came in a hurry call to tighten a +leaky gas jet that threatened to snuff out some worthy without whom the +country could doubtless stagger along. He became keen eyed and cat like. +Slipping in, he closed and locked the door. + +The room in which he stood had a ceiling cut into many angles and +irregularities, and the front part of it was the inside of a tower or +turret which formed the top ornamentation of the building. This part of +the room alone had a flat ceiling, and in the center of it was something +that looked like a small trap door. That too looked unused. In the back +part of the room was a door leading into a back room. Out of this still +another door opened into a dark passageway, and there was a steep flight +of stairs. At the sight of the stairs O'Brien nodded. He meant to use +those himself if he happened to be surprised while on his tour of +inspection. He commenced to be sorry that he had not brought another +detective with him. But hurrying back to the front room he commenced a +careful search for the papers he was hoping to discover. There were but +few places to put anything, and O'Brien's hopes went steadily down as he +looked. All over the wall loose plaster hung or crumbled off as he +brushed against it. He finished with the front room and went carefully +over the back room, where two cots and a deal table comprised the +furnishings. + +On the floor beside one of the cots stood a bottle almost full, and an +empty glass. O'Brien picked up the bottle and smelled of it. + +"The proper stuff for a nightcap," he said to himself and taking a small +bottle out of his pocket, shook the contents into the larger bottle. "A +druggist for a brother is a handy thing," he chuckled as he returned to +the front room. + +He stood irresolute for a moment, then looked up at the small square +trap above him. A rickety table stood near one of the windows, and +setting it under the trap he leaped lightly to its soiled top. The +ceiling was very high, but he managed to reach up and shove the trap +aside, and catching the ledge swung himself up. + +O'Brien was no fairy, and it was a tight squeeze, but he wriggled +through with no greater damage than a torn coat and a barked knuckle. +Using his flashlight, he saw that he was in a small circular space about +twelve feet across. The top was cone shape, and there was no floor. Dust +lay inches deep on the rafters where he sat uncomfortably. Then he saw +something that caused his heart to leap delightedly. Directly beside +him, tied with a cord and covered with broken seals, lay a packet of +papers. O'Brien knew that his hunt had not been in vain. Buttoning the +papers carefully inside his coat, he put a leg down through the trap +when a sound below caused him to drag it quickly back and clap the trap +over in its place. + +A key grated in the lock. Someone was coming. + +"An all night job for me!" sighed O'Brien, then remembered with a gleam +of hope the powder he had added to the contents of the bottle. Changing +his position, he stretched himself along a rafter, nearly losing his +balance as he did so. But he managed to save himself from bursting +through the plaster, although he heard it crack beneath the foot that +had pressed on it for a moment. + +"Who left the gas on?" said someone with an oath. + +O'Brien recognized the gruff voice of Brown. + +"Search me!" someone else answered, and another hastened to clear +himself of the charge. + +"It must have been John," said Brown. "Where is he? I thought he was +right on our heels. He is no good at all. Wish someone would croak him!" +He slammed the door, and came over to the table under the trap. A moment +later one of the other men came into O'Brien's narrow range of vision, +carrying the bottle and glass. He set it on the table, and looked at +Brown. + +"Leave it there for awhile. There is none too much in it. If Smith comes +he will want most of it." + +O'Brien's heart leaped. So they were expecting Smith! This was almost +too good to be true. He grinned. He prayed that Smith _would_ want most +of it. The fourth man came, but no one thought to ask him about the gas. +Chairs creaked and the cheap cots groaned and squeaked as the men flung +themselves down to rest. At the table, Brown, who was the only one +within O'Brien's line of vision, took out a pencil and commenced to jot +down something on a piece of paper. No one said anything. O'Brien sensed +discord in the air, and a tense nervousness. It was clear from the very +atmosphere that the four cutthroats hated each other cordially. + +Almost an hour passed. Someone snored. Then a gentle tap sounded on the +door, the sleeper awoke with a snort, someone opened the door, and there +was a low murmur of greetings. + +The mysterious Mr. Smith came over to the table and took Brown's chair. +As he looked down O'Brien nearly groaned. A broad brimmed fedora was +drawn down over the man's face, and O'Brien was unable to see a feature +of the arch-plotter. But at least he could hear him talk. + +It was evident that Smith was in a bad humor. + +"Well, what have you to tell me?" he demanded in the silky, smooth tones +that had irritated Lawrence. + +"Nothing," said Brown. "Won't you have a drink?" + +"Not yet, thank you," answered Smith politely. "Afterwards, perhaps. +Where do you get this?" + +"Downstairs," said Brown, who seemed to be the spokesman. + +"Well, _I_ have news and plenty of it," said Smith. "Not much longer +will we have to eat our hearts out here. In an hour, two hours, I shall +give you the best of news. Yes, indeed!" He nodded. "But first there is +something for you to do, you over there, and you, Brown. I will sit +here, perhaps comforting myself with this friendly bottle, while you +take a taxi and bring O'Brien here." + +"Bring O'Brien?" cried Brown. + +The fedora nodded. + +"Just that!" + +"Why, he won't come! Where is he?" asked Brown. + +"Either at the Ridgeway place or his own apartment. Oh, I have it all +clear now, and O'Brien is in the thick of it. He is what you call the +solution. He knows all. He is going to be made to tell. Won't come? Of +_course_ he will come! That is what you are for, Brown. A messenger from +the White House gave him a letter tonight. Go and bring him here." + +"He won't come easy," growled Brown. + +Smith was angry. He brought his fist down on the table with a bang. + +"Bring him if you have to carry him!" he said in a low, hissing tone. +And O'Brien, listening, knew why Lawrence had called him the +Rattlesnake. Then with a muttered curse Smith swept off his broad hat, +and flinging it across the room, leaned back in his chair. Looking down +full in the upturned face, O'Brien involuntarily gave a violent start. +Instantly there was a crackle and a piece of plaster half the size of +the turret came down with a crash. It missed hitting Smith by a hair and +surrounded him with a cloud of dust, but he did not start. Instead, with +the quickness of light, he flashed an automatic from his pocket, and +covered the leg he saw lying along the beam above him. Then getting the +direction of a man's body as the dust cleared, he aimed full at +O'Brien's body and drawled, "Come down!" + +"Sure!" said O'Brien obligingly. "The jig bein' up, I will that!" + +He pushed the useless trap aside and swung down to the table, someone +snatching off the bottle and glass as he did so. + +They did not even make a move to seize him. The odds were too great in +their favor. He jumped off the table and stood looking at the group of +astonished villains, then his eyes turned back to Smith and sneered. + +"I will say I never suspected _you_!" he said. "Of all the double-faced, +low, lyin', sneakin' scoundrels, you are the worst!" + +"Don't make your end harder than it needs to be," warned the man Smith. +"Keep a civil tongue in your head and hand over your revolver. Search +him, but don't kill him," he added, as O'Brien struck out fiercely at +the first man who moved toward him. + +Someone in the rear flung a rope over his head and instantly his ankles +were bound and a gag inserted between his lips. O'Brien realized that a +struggle was worse than useless. He saw them take away the papers he had +found up in the ceiling, and a moment later from the inner pocket came +the precious letter from Mr. Ridgeway. O'Brien bitterly reflected that +he should have destroyed it. Smith read his thought and laughed. + +"Never, never carry important documents around with you," he said as he +opened it and read the clear, concise instructions. Nodding, he placed +it in his pocket. "Well, Brown, it wasn't so hard to get him here, was +it? Is he securely tied?" He glanced at his watch. + +"It is all clear now," he said. "Their dirigible is at Barnegat Inlet. +It is not the one you have been looking after at all, Brown. They start +tomorrow night with the papers and jewels, and O'Brien here is supposed +to follow in the other dirigible. This he will use as a decoy, if we +follow him. (It is too bad, O'Brien; too bad to spoil your fun!) Then if +he succeeds in shaking us, he will follow them and pick them up soon as +possible. So he will be able to see the finish; be in at the death, as +they say. You will be _that_ all right, O'Brien!" + +He laughed a chill laugh: the rattles again, and pulled out a cigarette +which he lighted. O'Brien, watching, all at once recognized the brand +and the monogram. But it was _not_ an S. + +"I am going now, to see that everything is ready for our flight. We will +follow the dirigible straight out to sea, and----" + +"He hears, Excellency," said Brown. The word Excellency went unrebuked. + +"Yes, he hears now, but it does not matter," said Smith. He went on +talking. "We will follow the dirigible straight out to sea, and when we +get close enough to the other side, just there where the white cliffs +show up, we will begin shooting. There will be a fishing boat below +filled with our men. We will get the telling shots before they doubt +that O'Brien follows. That will be about all, except the division of the +treasure." + +"What are we going to do with O'Brien?" asked Brown. + +"Oh, _him_," said Smith as though he had forgotten. "Oh, yes, to be +sure." He opened the cigarette case, and from a slot in one side took +out a hypodermic needle which he filled from a tiny vial. + +"Shooting is too noisy," he said as he bent over his infernal little +contraption. "And knifing is very untidy. Even here in this hole it +won't do. Brown, you will come with me. Go at once to the hangar and see +that the dirigible is in order, then keep out of sight. We have plenty +of time. You three others, listen to me. All your safety and the jewels +themselves hinge on your obedience." He laid the hypodermic needle on +the table, padding it round with his own handkerchief. + +"Now listen. You will be interested too, O'Brien. I want plenty of time +for an alibi, but not too much time. I want to start at dawn instead of +tomorrow night, as dear Mr. O'Brien planned. It is now twelve o'clock. +How the hours do fly when we are in pleasant company! At exactly three +one of you will administer this little dose in the left forearm. Very +soon the patient will show every sign of extreme intoxication, and you +will then take off his bonds, hurry him downstairs and out into the +street. Go around the block and into the alley. By that time you can +ease him gently to the ground and leave him. Empty that bottle and put +it in his pocket." + +"He will yell," said one of the men. + +"Not a sound!" the fiend said smoothly. "The first action of this +admirable dose is complete paralysis of the vocal chords and the tongue. +Really, O'Brien, it might be worse. It would be if I did not feel that +caution is most necessary. There is no pain until the last. Only about +half an hour, O'Brien. Sorry to cut you off, man, but you should not +have chosen such a profession." He turned to Brown. "Come on!" he said, +then as an afterthought to the three assassins, "Don't drink any of that +stuff. You want all the wits you have. Good-bye, O'Brien!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + +As Smith and Brown closed the door gently behind them, the four men +listened to the receding footsteps, then the three turned with one +impulse and stared at the man lying bound and gagged on the cot. +Although they studied him curiously, they found not a sign of flinching +or of fear in the bright, steady eyes that looked at them over the +bandage. Instead, he wriggled his shoulders in a derisive way. + +"I must say," said the man who had lost at cards, "this job is not at +all to my taste. I have killed before, but to bump a man off in cold +blood and sit around waiting for it to come three o'clock to do it, I +don't relish!" + +"No other way out," said the short man. "Smith fixed that when he told +him everything he knew. Now we can't let him go and save our own skins. +He is too wise. I don't care, anyhow. Let him pass along! What's it to +us?" He stared insolently at O'Brien, and the eyes smiled at him. + +The third man, who had not spoken, shivered a little. "Let's have a +drink," he suggested, going over to the table. + +The fallen plaster puffed up under his feet as he went. + +"You know Mr. Smith forbade it," said one of the others. + +"I don't care!" said the first speaker. "How is he to know whether we +have a drink or not? He was afraid of us getting full." He held up the +bottle. "There is only enough for three good drinks in there, and I am +cold." Again he looked at O'Brien and shivered. It was evident that the +job of killing did not appeal to his taste. O'Brien held his eyes with a +wild, revengeful look. Then again he moved his shoulders. + +"What's the matter with him?" demanded the man. "Do you want to talk?" + +"Don't ungag him," said the one they called John hastily. "One yip, and +somebody would be up here." + +"That's not what he wants," said the other, watching O'Brien. "The rope +hurts him." + +"What if it does?" demanded John. "It won't hurt him any after three +o'clock. Leave him alone!" + +"I am going to loosen that rope," said the other. "If _I_ was going to +die at three I would just as soon take a little comfort while I waited." + +"Well, don't take the gag out," counseled John. "Here, I will fix him." +He loosened the cord that held O'Brien's hands tightly bound behind his +back, bent them in front of him and fastened them in such a way that +they were free unless he tried to reach his face. He could not quite +touch the gag. + +"Come on, let's have a drink," said the man who had advised it before. + +"You heard!" warned John. + +"I don't care _what_ I heard!" said the man, almost whining. "I want a +drink and I am going to _have_ a drink! Didn't Smith tell us to put the +empty bottle in his pocket?" He uncorked the bottle and gave it a little +shake. The fumes were strong. + +O'Brien, hoping, praying, watching, could see that the men, used to +stiffening their grit with liquor, smelled the fiery stuff and weakened. +Hoping, praying, watching, yet seemingly with nothing in his eyes but +apprehension, O'Brien watched the three draw up to the table and +commence to smoke. In the center between them the bottle sat, its cork +out and the empty glass beside it. + +"Well, if you are going to disobey orders," said John suddenly, "it is +as well that we should be on the same boat. Are there any more glasses?" + +"On the shelf there," replied another man, pointing. He grinned happily. +"Smith is a fool. A glass apiece couldn't hurt a flea. Not a flea! +And I am cold. I say we give him a little too." He nodded toward +O'Brien. + +O'Brien turned chilly himself. With his life hanging on the merest +thread, he did not want to get a dose of drugged whiskey! But he nodded +his head violently, and looked as wistful as he could. + +"There is not enough for four," said John coldly. "Perhaps where he is +going there will be a drink ready for him." + +He set the grimy glasses in a row and with great care poured out a +portion for each. The division filled the glasses pretty well, and +O'Brien wondered if there would be _four_ dead men before the night +ended. + +One of the men looked at his watch. + +"Two o'clock," he said. "What's the use of waiting? Let's give him the +shot and take him down. I want to go to bed." + +"_Bed?_ What are you talking about?" demanded the other. "You have got +to catch that four o'clock train for the dirigible." + +"We have an alarm clock. We can get a little snooze. That is why I want +to get this job done." + +"That is why Smith told you to wait 'til three," said John. "Come, take +your drink and have a smoke, and then it will soon be time to put our +guest on his homeward way." He laughed evilly and lifted his glass. +O'Brien noted with delight that his was the largest share. Drops of +perspiration stood like beads on O'Brien's forehead as he lay there +bound and gagged, waiting to see if the powder in the whiskey was going +to work. What if it should taste and rouse suspicion in the breasts of +the three villains? But the three drank down their several potions +without a blink. They did not follow it with water, but let the fiery +liquid run down their leathern throats as though it was milk. + +Then filling their pipes, they settled back in their chairs to await the +hour set for O'Brien's death. For fifteen minutes they talked and +laughed and quarrelled about the exact time of administering the poison. +But John stood firm. Smith had said three o'clock, and not one moment +earlier would he hear to. He yawned as he spoke, and yawns from the +others answered him. Suddenly he looked up with a queer look of surprise +on his face. + +"I feel funny," he said. "Funny!" + +The others sat staring at him. + +John tipped forward in his chair. The others, still staring, slid +backward and at once, it seemed, three heavy bodies swayed in their +seats and slid to the floor. For a few moments the air seemed full of +the sound of breathing rough and irregular; then slowly the breathing +grew slower, deeper and more regular. It sounded like three great +animals breathing together. They lay almost as they had fallen. + +Painfully O'Brien raised himself to his elbow. He sat up. He could do no +more as his feet were bound together. After a moment's thought, he lay +back across the cot and commenced to slide toward the front edge. When +his body was well off the edge he stiffened his neck and, carefully +sliding along, went to the floor without a thump. Sitting there, he +wondered what he would do next. If there was one thing he wanted, it was +to avoid making a noise that might alarm the people who were cheerfully +quarreling in the flat below. Not yet was his own head out of the noose, +and he wanted to get help so that he could have the three unconscious +men arrested. But there he was, still bound and, worse still, gagged! At +any moment Smith might return to see that his orders were being carried +out. O'Brien knew Smith too well to hope that he would leave anything as +important as his, O'Brien's, execution to an underling. Haste was of the +greatest importance. O'Brien knew that his life would not be worth a +penny if Smith should drop in on the group now assembled on the floor. + +But O'Brien's arms were bound at the elbows and the gag covered all of +his face except the twinkling eyes. Suddenly he had a thought. Beside +John on the floor lay a box of safety matches where they had dropped +when the owner fell from his chair. Reaching them with a series of +wriggles, he succeeded in getting a match in his hand and striking it on +the box. As the match flared up, he bent far back and held the flame +close to the rope that bound his ankles and legs. Twisting his head +painfully around, he saw that the scheme was working. The little flame +for a moment bit into the strands of the rope. Another and another +O'Brien lighted and carefully guided to the rope. Once in awhile the +match went out, and as O'Brien saw the supply giving out, his anxiety +became more intense. Time was flying. It was almost three o'clock. There +were still three matches. In the silence the breathing of the three men +sounded loud and ominous. + +Two matches burned out. For the twentieth time O'Brien strained at his +bonds. He lighted the last match, held it close to the rope until it +burned his fingers. Then he strained on the rope. Alas, it did not give! +He jerked and twisted, and it seemed as though he could feel the fibres +giving, yet they held. As he paused to rest, he saw a single match still +clasped in John's fingers. Rolling over and over, with the empty box in +his hand, he secured the match, lighted it, and held it carefully to the +rope. It singed his ankle and burned his finger. Then once more he +strained mightily. Once, and twice; at the third struggle the rope +parted so suddenly that it unwrapped and spun out straight before him. +His feet were free! + +The loosening of the ropes around his ankles loosened one end of the +rope that bound his elbows. A series of twists and wriggles and he +slipped out of the coils and stood a free man once more. Tearing the gag +from his mouth, he swallowed, and rubbed his bruised lips. + +He was free! Free! And ten minutes before he had been as good as a dead +man, his sentence pronounced, his doom lying on the table. Hastily +pocketing the hypodermic needle he picked up his hat and hurried out of +the back door, locking it as he went. Carefully and noiselessly he +slipped down the black, narrow stairs, feeling his way and not daring to +use his flashlight. Every few steps he would stop and listen. He was +shaken by the narrow escape he had just had, in spite of his coolness +and courage. It was not pleasant to lie bound and gagged with what +seemed to be certain death staring him brutally in the face. O'Brien was +braver than most, but it had shaken him. As he collected himself, he was +filled with a cold, still rage: rage against the men lying senseless +above him, rage against the arch-plotter who called himself Smith. And +O'Brien, thinking of the man and of the position he had seen him +occupying for the past months, grew colder and more furious still. + +Reaching the street, he hurried over to the nearest call box and sent in +a demand for a patrol wagon and a half dozen officers. There was a +station near, and almost immediately the wagon came tearing up. O'Brien +was ready for them. Three senseless forms were hurriedly bundled into +the wagon, a couple of officers were left to watch the entrance of the +building, and O'Brien, taking a last look at the room to see that it was +in the order that it would naturally be left in if the men had +accomplished their purpose with him, hurried off. + +It was four o'clock. O'Brien commenced to realize that he was very +tired. But his papers had been stolen, and the two most dangerous +members of the gang were still at large. A hasty telephone to the house +of Mr. Ridgeway was answered by one of the servants, who said that Mr. +Ridgeway and his guest were not at home. The man could not or would not +say more. O'Brien called the Aviation Field and learned from the night +watchman that one of the planes was gone. + +That was all he wanted to know. Hurriedly he secured a taxi and broke +the speed laws in a mad dash for the Field. Arousing a couple of the +best men, he opened the hangar where the dirigible, once more fit for +any flight, swung lazily. + +The men manoeuvered it into the open, O'Brien selected the two whom he +wanted, and almost before they realized what they were doing, the big +car rose into the inky blackness of the morning sky. O'Brien, at the +wheel, steered a straight course for the hiding place of the dirigible +Smith intended to use. + +There was a glow in the sky as they approached, and as they paused over +the field, they looked down on a burning mass of tumbled timbers that +had been the hangar. O'Brien would have liked to know whether the +dirigible had sailed up in the sky or gone up in smoke. He sped on, +however, reaching Barnegat as the first streaks of day showed in the +east. + +There the hangar doors swung open; the dirigible had gone. O'Brien +straightened up and gave a quick glance over his big car. He knew that +it was in the pink of condition, and his heart was glad, for he knew +that the chase was on; a chase possibly to the death. + +Somewhere ahead of him, out over the waste of waters that tossed and +tumbled far below, the dirigible carrying Mr. Ridgeway, Lawrence, the +state papers and the crown jewels, sailed swiftly. And behind it, +instead of the guardian dirigible from their own Field and driven by +O'Brien, another machine followed--a machine its very twin in looks and +speed, but bearing a cutthroat crew. + +O'Brien pressed a lever, shoving it far to the front, and the big +machine answered with a burst of speed. His men, moving carefully about, +were looking over every nut and screw and brake, and finding all in +perfect condition. + +O'Brien wondered how much of a start the other cars had. He did not +think that he was far behind, so he settled to a good rate, and kept it, +as mile after mile was left behind. + +As the sun came up O'Brien was more and more conscious of an intense +fatigue. Finally deciding that he would be needed most at the close of +the race, he called one of his men, and directing him to keep up the +speed and the direction indicated, he went back, and lying down on the +floor of the tiny cabin went instantly to sleep. His jaw was sore, and +every muscle ached. In his sleep he twitched and tossed and muttered so +that one of the men covered him with his own sheepskin coat, and at last +he quieted down until the lines in his face smoothed out and he relaxed. + +"It would be worth listening to, to hear what O'Brien has been doing +these last few hours," said one of the airmen as they watched their +chief. + +"Some scrap, I'll bet!" said the other. "See his face? No bruises like a +blow, but those two red welts stretching out from each corner of his +mouth. I never saw that but once before, and that was on a man who had +been gagged all night." + +"They don't look pretty, do they? I'll bet he has been in some close +corner. I'll bet he has been gagged." + +"Well, Billy, I bet so too, so there are no takers," said the other +airman. + +"Well," said Billy, "if I had your pull with O'Brien, Hank, I would sort +of bring the conversation around to scraps and gags and things of that +sort when he wakes up, and see what he says." + +"You don't know O'Brien very well, do you, Billy?" asked Hank. "Well, +_I_ do, and I can tell you that the first question some gazaboo puts +about O'Brien's own private affairs, there will be another gagging +episode and O'Brien won't be the one to worry about who is going to come +and untie him. Not much!" + +"Oh, I wasn't goin' to _ast_ him anything," said Billy hastily. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + +While O'Brien slept and the two airmen speculated about him, far, far +ahead two dirigibles flew straight into the rising sun. The first one +might have outdistanced the second with the utmost ease. Indeed +sometimes it was hard for her young pilot to temper his speed to the +pace he knew the second balloon could make. The dirigible from Barnegat +Inlet proved to be a wonder. It was a swallow, an arrow, a flash of +light, a dream. All these terms and many more passed in turn through the +mind of Lawrence as he held the wheel and felt the big cylinder respond +to the slightest turn. + +The lighter-than-air machines, while seemingly bulky, have a strange +feeling of buoyancy that the planes do not possess. Lawrence seemed to +partake of this lightness. He was happy beyond words. All was well. In +his breast lay his new and wonderful secret. All the anxieties +concerning the errand that had sent them overseas were past, with the +treasure and the papers safely hidden. + +Just in sight was another dirigible coming on at top speed. Lawrence +kept it in sight, but was too anxious to proceed to allow the convoy to +approach nearer. There was nothing that they wanted to say to O'Brien, +nothing that he could want of them. In case of accident--well, there +were the waterproof suits that were guaranteed to uphold the wearer +safely, warm and dry, for forty-eight hours. Suits capable of offering a +cup of hot chocolate and a biscuit to the fortunate possessor! Lawrence +almost wished that he could try his out! As for O'Brien, he had a +wireless which he could use if necessary. + +In the meantime everything moved smoothly and pleasantly. Lawrence, his +hand on the pulse of the machine he was guiding, marvelled at the +propelling power of the new fuel, hyolax, and rejoiced to think that he +had been honored by the position he was occupying. His thoughts turned +to Mr. Ridgeway with gratitude. He hoped his own father would be as +pleasant and as good to him. + +As for Mr. Ridgeway, for the first time in a good many days he was at +ease. It is true that he had been worried at the failure of O'Brien to +turn up at Barnegat but he had appeared so soon after their own start, +hustling along dim and mysterious in the early dawn, that Mr. Ridgeway's +last fears were silenced and he felt that the journey could assume the +aspect of a pleasure trip, a vacation from care. He settled himself in +an easy corner and sat looking out through the clouds that were rising +about them from the sea. They were shot with rainbow tints as the rising +sun pierced them. Mr. Ridgeway wished that his wife might see them. He +would have much to tell her when he saw her in the old English house +where she was staying, utterly unconscious of the fact that her staid +husband was literally flying to meet her! + +Not a foreboding crossed his mind. The papers, carefully protected by +wrappings of oiled silk, as well as the crown jewels, lay in a cleverly +constructed cylinder under his feet. + +This cylinder was an invention of his own. The size, weight, and shape +were exactly identical with the cylinders that held the hyolax. There +were ten of these cylinders lying side by side under a close grating +that served as floor in that end of the cabin. Their polished steel +sides gleamed prettily through the slats. They were made especially to +fit the under curve of the boat-shaped cabin, and were ample to carry +enough hyolax for three oversea trips, but Mr. Ridgeway wanted no +question of insufficient gas to worry him. But the end can held the +treasure. With his own hands, under the eye of the Keeper at the +Treasury, he had wrapped the priceless crown jewels in cotton, and had +stored them in the big steel shell. Their individual boxes, cases, and +caskets made of finest leather and carved oak and gold, were returned to +the Treasury. Some other time they could be returned to their anxious +royal owner. Now the only thing that mattered was the jewels themselves. +Mr. Ridgeway smiled as he thought of the splendid glittering things. +Never before in the world's history had they been handled by any hands +other than those of noblemen and women. + +And here they were, their only guardian a man of the people, yet safe on +their way home to their royal resting place. + +So Mr. Ridgeway rested, his eyes on the east and his thoughts far ahead. +Occasionally talking to Lawrence, reading or planning, he spent the +daylight hours. + +Behind came what seemed O'Brien's car, never gaining, but following +steadily. + +Staring steadily at the dirigible ahead, like a snake that fixes its +baleful eyes on its prey to hypnotize and devour, Smith bent forward, +tense and untiring. He had not slept for forty-eight hours, yet his pale +eyes were clear and keen, his face, a little pale, was unlined by +anxiety. Why should he be anxious? All was going well. He knew the very +spot off the coast where the white cliffs rose so bleakly, the very +place where even now the schooner would be waiting. All he needed was a +little patience, just a little. Then he would send out the signal for +help ... and he knew Mr. Ridgeway. He would stop to help O'Brien, no +matter how anxious to make speed on the last lap of the journey across +the ocean. + +There was but one thing, such a _little_ thing, seemingly so +unimportant. And this one thing, passing in a whispered conversation +between O'Brien and Lawrence, he did not know. But Lawrence remembered +and put his knowledge to the test, and the result worried him. Again and +again he made the manoeuver, so far to the right, back as far to the +left, and a spurt ahead, but there was no sign of acknowledgment from +the plane following. + +O'Brien could not have forgotten. O'Brien never forgot _any_thing. +Lawrence tried the manoeuver until he was afraid to repeat it, and like +a star shell exploding in his brain came the thought, "_That is not +O'Brien's car!_" + +He took the glasses and studied the car. He could see by its quick +tremor that the engines were being pressed to their utmost in order to +keep up with their speedy leader, but otherwise there was nothing to +make him think that O'Brien was not at the wheel. Yet he could not cast +out the strange thought, "O'Brien is not there!" If not, who was in the +car? Who was rushing it directly in their aerial wake? He hated to +answer that question. + +Surely if it was not O'Brien, there was reason for caution. And the only +caution that now occurred to Lawrence was to keep ahead. Also he decided +not to say anything about his suspicions to Mr. Ridgeway until something +really serious occurred. And Lawrence hoped with all his might and main +that his suspicions were all wrong. That seemed more than likely. +Lawrence knew that his nerves were tuned up to the snapping point. He +was suspicious of everything. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see +Mr. Ridgeway taking it easy. With an effort of will, Lawrence laughed +his fears away. Yet every little while he looked back at the tiny object +following them, and twice Lawrence slowed down his powerful engine until +the car was in plain sight. + +The second time he fancied that the other dirigible also slackened speed +as though the pilot preferred not to lessen the distance between them. + +Patiently Lawrence went through the secret manoeuvers but there was no +response. Either the car was not O'Brien's, or else O'Brien was never at +the wheel. In either case, Lawrence found his anxiety growing. + +There was no anxiety in the second dirigible. Smith was only conscious +of a sense of annoyance to think that he was obliged to use the +counterpart of O'Brien's dirigible instead of his own racing airplane. + +He felt almost unable to brook the delay of the few hours that must pass +before they saw the white cliffs of England. Yet he knew that even if he +had had the plane it would have been most unwise to attack in mid-ocean, +where Mr. Ridgeway would be forced to sink the papers and gems if the +battle reached that end. He had not known Mr. Ridgeway so long without +having to learn that in a question of honor he would sacrifice his life +rather than fail in his trust. + +Over and over again he mentally tested out every small detail of his +plot. Over and over he tried out his plans. There was but one flaw. Not +one of the three men whom they had expected had appeared to take passage +in the dirigible. Smith and Brown were alone. Where had John and the +others been sidetracked? Not for a second did he doubt that they had +obeyed him to the letter concerning O'Brien. + +He chuckled as he thought of O'Brien. He was certainly a good man to +have out of the way. There was something indeed snaky in the way Smith, +holding the wheel with sure and practiced hands, allowed himself to +dwell on O'Brien. How nearly the Irishman had come to tricking them all! +If the plaster had held ... but it had fallen, and so had O'Brien! All +was well. Somewhere back in Washington, in a dark alley, a crumpled, +dishevelled figure had already met the eyes of the first passerby. Smith +chuckled again as he saw it with his mind's eye, and seemed to hear the +stranger muttering "Drunk!" as he approached the tumbled figure that had +been O'Brien. Then he lazily imagined the change in the man's expression +as he stooped curiously over the fallen man and saw in the bruised and +soiled face not the sodden look of liquor, but that ominous, austere +mask that death and death alone draws over the human countenance. +Running, stumbling, the passerby would dash for the nearest street, +colliding perhaps with a policeman, yawning away the last of his night +beat. Then the quick return, the tap-tap-tap on the ringing pavement, +and soon the rattle and clang of the city ambulance. But not before a +crowd had gathered, one of the crowds that gather at any hour from +everywhere and nowhere; curious, cold, morbid. And then the hasty +shuffle through the fallen man's pockets, and the awestruck whisper +between the policemen, "It's--it's O'Brien! O'Brien, the detective!" + +Then how their manner would change! No common drunk this, lying crumpled +in the filthy gutter. O'Brien was one of themselves. If it could happen +to O'Brien, it might happen to one of them. Hastily, yet with utmost +care, they would hunt for clues, for cuts, for bruises on the dead man, +to find nothing, to come up against a blank wall. Doctor, lawyer, +merchant, or thief, no one could find a mark on O'Brien that meant +murder. And Smith knew they would look for murder. A blank wall! To save +their own skins, Smith knew that John and the others would leave the +hypodermic in an unrecognizable state far away from the scene of the +crime. Yes, he could trust the three cutthroats he had left behind. +Smith did not depreciate himself. He knew that he ruled his underlings +by fear, a cold loathing that they could not understand or overcome. + +Smith never made the mistake of underpaying his servants, so common to +many criminals. No; if possible he always gave them rather more than the +shares they expected. So there was in everything he plotted the thrill +of big rewards, of big profits. And they always knew that slip one word +of rebellion, and for them, no matter where in the whole round world +they might hide, sooner or later a shot out of the dark, a drop of +poison in their cup would be the finish of the tale! Smith kept a clean +slate. + +These thoughts were pleasant ones for Smith as he steered his ship +through the gentle currents of the upper air. He was glad that O'Brien +was dead; he was glad that his eye was on the treasure boat ahead; he +was not even sorry that the three men had missed their appointment with +him. He knew that in an encounter such as lay ahead he and Brown would +be perfectly capable of sending the dirigible ahead plunging down into +the sea. And they would go down easily and quickly because of the +fishing schooners that they would take for friends, and so let +themselves down to the surface of the sea as soon as they could. + +Smith really was enjoying a very cheerful journey. He kept the wheel +until he was tired, then put Brown in the pilot's seat, and throwing +himself down on a pile of rugs, lay looking up at the sky. Evening +gathered around them like a cloak, and the stars, large and intimate, +commenced to sparkle. He took the wheel long enough for Brown to set the +lights properly. There were rules of the road even for these wayfarers +in the sky--really traffic rules that must be observed. Then he once +more resigned the wheel to his henchman and went to look at the guns. + +There were four of them, the latest model, rapid fire, small bore, any +one of them throwing a bullet that would pierce a dirigible at the +maximum distance of any shooting machine made. They cost a small fortune +and had been secured by the syndicate of scoundrels who at that very +moment were waiting so anxiously for the papers under Mr. Ridgeway's +feet. Smith had personally seen to the mounting of them. Solid as the +very wood and steel they were screwed to and blocked by, they pushed +their wicked thin little noses up as though trying to look through the +tarpaulins that covered them. When the dirigible had been anchored in +the hangar outside of Washington, these guns had been concealed by seats +that ran around the swinging cabin. These Smith had tossed aside, and +they had afterwards been destroyed in the fire that had burned down the +hangar. That this fire had occurred and that his own cigarette had +started it, Smith did not know. + +Once in a while something happened that Smith did _not_ know, although +he would not have admitted it. + +Having looked the guns over, Smith went back to his rugs and, lying +down, stared at the sky until sleep overcame him. He could afford to +sleep. All was going well. At the wheel, like a big gray wolf, Brown sat +staring toward his prey through the deepening dusk. He could feel the +soft cool shape of countless jewels dripping through his fingers. What +did _he_ care if they were stained with blood? + +Brown also wondered a little about John and his friends. He could have +told Smith that he was not altogether sure of the three precious +scoundrels. He did not feel that they were quite as afraid of Smith at +long range as they were when his pale, baleful eye was fixed on them. +Brown could have told Smith that and more, but one was not invited to +exchange confidences with Smith. That was his mistake. Brown did not +doubt the death of O'Brien unless something had come up to put the three +in danger. He knew that they were first, last and always intent on +saving their own necks. Brown mistrusted them as much as they mistrusted +Brown. And that was wholly. Yet it was funny they had not showed up when +they knew that the jewels were to be secured on that very trip. They +would have enjoyed the fight, would have enjoyed the first glance of all +the flashing, glowing things in the cabin of the schooner. What indeed +would _they_ have cared that the gems were stained with blood? + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + +In the third dirigible, as the night dropped down the dead awoke! +O'Brien stirred, rubbing his bruised face and working his stiff jaws. +Other than the small discomfort of feeling that his countenance had been +stepped on, he felt once more like himself, ready for anything. + +"The top av the night to ye," said O'Brien briskly, sitting up. "Also +Mizpah, Selah, Judah and the rest of them intertainin' east-side +sayin's. I never did know was they a t'reat or a promise. Back when I +was ridin' in the Mounted Police of Upper Canada, there was a felly +always said ... but that's neither here nor there." He checked himself. +O'Brien never told stories of the North and its frozen trails although +his friends spent hours trying to trick him into some of the +hair-raising yarns that they knew he could tell if he only would. But no +use. O'Brien was silent as the grave. _More_ silent, some of the fellows +grumbled. You could dig into a grave. Nothing could pry into or dynamite +O'Brien. + +"Have a good sleep?" asked Hank, looking wistfully at O'Brien's welted +face. + +"So-so," said O'Brien. "I dreamed. And it's no time at all for dreamin'. +What's gone on since I slept?" + +"Nothing," Bill assured him. "She is sailing as smoothly as a swallow, +and the lights ahead are steady." + +"Oh, ye have 'em sighted, have ye? Did ye try creepin' up since night +fell?" + +"Yes," said Bill. "But we are making our best speed, and the balloon +ahead is doing its best too. We can tell that through the glass by the +way she shivers." + +"Any sign of any other balloon?" asked O'Brien, rising and stretching +himself. + +"Not a sign!" said Hank. + +"Well, what shootin' irons have ye?" demanded O'Brien next. He glanced +at the two revolvers held out to him. "Two dear little pill-boxes, +those! Carry wan foot. See these?" + +He opened a case and disclosed four of the new model revolvers that had +just been perfected. The design was unique. Instead of the steel +cartridge clip holding six cartridges as in the old style revolver, the +new invention consisted of a light case at the base of the hand grip. +This held a coil of cartridges fastened by aluminum clips to a light +webbing. This had necessitated the rehanging and rebalancing of the +whole revolver, but the perfected weapon proved to be a great +improvement on the old gun, and almost "fired itself," O'Brien +explained. The small, round clip holder at the end of the grip was not +at all in the way and was so light that it was not cumbersome. Counting +the six cartridges that were strung in the grip and the ones lying in +the coil, the revolvers held eighteen shots. Also a new explosive called +"Marsden," after its inventor, added a terrific force to the projectile. +The barrels, longer than the squat model that had been so long in use, +were octagonal. + +O'Brien viewed them with pride. + +"See me babies?" he purred. "The pretty pets! So neat and dainty and +willin'! Willin' is no name! I'm not sure you couldn't nick that big +sassy star over yonder, so be ye aimed straight. And I'm goin' to trust +you with one each. Don't be afraid you can't shoot straight after usin' +the old model, because ye can. These are hung exactly like the ould guns +on that account. The man who invented 'em had a grain of sense. He saw +no reason why everybody in the world should have to learn his shootin' +all over again, so he balanced this new barrel and modelled the clutch +so they would hang the same. All the difference is it's simply a new gun +from stem to stern, and Marsden is a great felly himself. They do tell +of him that when he was tryin' out his new explosive that he planted +enough to go on a tin cent piece down a well, and sat a fuse, and now +'tis a bottomless pool with thousands payin' a nickel to just peek over +the edge. It is sure wonderful. And no noise! It is going to make scraps +like the one I think is ahead both noiseless and orderly." + +"Well, I should say these are beauties," exclaimed Hank, bending over +the case with respectful tenderness. "Beauties; no less!" + +"You have said the word, me boy," rejoined the detective. "Help +yerselves to anny you like, they bein' as like as four peas, and pass +one on to Ollie at the wheel, and tell the lad be careful of it. Here's +the fourth and lasht for me; and I trust it means the same as a slice of +bread." + +"Slice of bread! How's that?" asked Hank. + +"Did ye never hear now the great impartance of takin' the lasht slice uf +bread on the plate? No? Dear, dear, how neglected ye've been! Ye've only +to take the lasht slice of bread and ye are sure of a handsome wife. +It's a thrue sayin' at that, because I could have had a handsome +wife--yes, and a dozen of 'em--if only they would have consinted to +marry me. It niver, _niver_ fails! I'm a strong belaver in signs. I have +missed havin' many and many a million dollars just by neglectin' to say, +'Money-money-money-wisht-I-had-a-million-dollars' when I saw a fallin' +star. Else I'd be rich now!" O'Brien sighed and regarded the young men +with eyes that twinkled. "Just where are we?" he asked after a slight +pause. + +The men told him. + +"Good!" exclaimed O'Brien. "Dawn or thereabout will see us off the white +cliffs of England; and I've not seen Ireland for a dozen years. 'Twill +be a small hop across the continent of Europe after we see the cliffs, +and then we are due a vacation, I'm thinkin'." + +All at once O'Brien's face changed. + +"Boys, ye see the welts here and here?" he pointed to his face. + +Bill and Hank felt a pleasurable shiver travel up and down their spines. + +"Yes," they said together. + +"Good!" said O'Brien. "They belong in another story quite. What I am +tellin' you is this. I picked you back there because I think you are two +bould lads wit' no fear in ye, havin' seen you do stunts of all sorts +aloft and below; so if you think I have let you in for danger, take it +that it was meant as a true tribute to your manhood." + +Hank and Bill did not venture a reply. He was likely to stop right +there. But he did not. He pointed out into the darkness of the east. + +"Ahead," he said crisply, "sails the lowest, meanest, cruelest, sneakin' +scoundrel that goes unhung! And he is stalkin' the finest, grandest, +truest gentleman that ever served his country and his God wit' a whole +heart. And here are we. And Mr. Hamilton Ridgeway,--for the first +gentleman is him--thinks that it's meself trudgin' along behind. And the +saints alone know what the demon in the middle machine thinks of us. +Does the wireless work?" + +"Perfectly!" answered Hank. + +O'Brien frowned. "See that it is tuned up ready for instant use," he +ordered. "I don't like to use it unless I am invited, but I've a hunch +the man just ahead may want to ask me a question or two. If he calls, +don't say a wurrud 'til I can get to the receiver. And keep your guns +limber and your hearts willin', because it's the man ahead put me in a +most embarrassin' position wit' a gag in me teeth and me arms and legs +bound and a dose of poison yearnin' at me on the table. And that no +later than lasht night. And bein' where he is, I know he means death and +destruction to the finest man and the most promisin' boy in this +wurruld. And he's after some written words meant for a dinky little +locality across Europe which is sittin' up nights waitin' for 'em; +likewise there's a quane next door like, who can't go to her son's +comin'-out party without her crown jewels, the same which Mr. Ridgeway +is takin' her, her husband havin' placed 'em in our Treasury durin' the +war and it takin' him five years to get things cleaned up enough to get +'em home again. + +"And that man ahead has his plans all laid. Bein' he thought I was well +out of the way, he was careless with his instructions. He has laid the +plan for his attack off the cliffs ahead, and I am afraid to have a fuss +so far out as this because we are too far out of the track of steamers, +should wan of us go down. Likewise, Mr. Ridgeway undoubtedly thinks I am +ahead there. I wonder if we could reach him by wireless?" + +"Wouldn't that give the alarm to the man ahead?" asked Hank anxiously. + +"It might," said O'Brien. "I don't see what to do but keep watchin' and +wait for day. I know Mr. Ridgeway has a balloon that can make double the +speed of either of these boats, and sure he don't want to speak to me. +So why should he bother to get in range with that felly? Of course he +has guns, but how big I dunno. All we can do is watch." + +Hank and Bill sat silent, thinking rapidly. They were having thrills +enough now. As O'Brien went forward to speak to Ollie, Hank dug a sharp +elbow into his mate. + +"Gosh, doesn't some people have all the luck?" he wailed. "Gagged and +bound and 'most poisoned! All in one night! Just like a movie!" + +Bill stared at him disgustedly. "Yes, you nut," he retorted, "and +suppose he hadn't uv escaped? How would you like _that_?" + +"But he did," said Hank. "Some people have _all_ the luck! Cousin of +mine was in the war, and he got gassed and shell shocked and had five +shrapnel wounds, and one of 'em took the top of his head off, so he +wears a silver plate and the gassin' took off all his hair so he wears a +wig and his face is all smooth and shiny, and he has gold wire on his +jaw where a piece of shrapnel broke it." + +"Hully gee!" cried Bill. "You don't call that _luck_, do you?" + +"Of course!" maintained Hank stoutly. "When anybody asts him, _he_ +always has something to talk about." + +"Well, I'll say I will talk about the weather," said Bill. "I don't want +any conversation whatsoever that has to be made out of pieces of me. I +don't mind doing any job like the one we are on, and I was sore because +I was too young to get into the war. I wouldn't have been afraid of +anything, and you know it, but there's no use inviting trouble by +wanting to make conversation out of it. I guess not!" + +After a little O'Brien returned. "It looks like a fog was coming," he +remarked. "I wish this English coast would clean up its fogs." + +"We can get above it, can't we?" asked Bill. + +"Not an English fog," said O'Brien. "The only place above an English fog +is Heaven and the only place below it is deeper than I think of +travelin'. I do hope we won't have anything like that to bother us." + +The night dragged along, and the men anxiously watched the banks of +vapor rolling around them. O'Brien insisted on Ollie and Hank and Bill +taking a good nap while he, O'Brien, sat motionless at the wheel. He was +leaving his next move to fate. Just how he should act his part he did +not know. As he had told Hank and Bill, he was sure that the speed of +the car leading was the greatest protection that they could have or +would need. And he remembered happily that he and Lawrence had settled +on a signal which he was sure Lawrence had since tried out. If Lawrence +only suspected that he was not in the car following, there would be no +danger at all for Mr. Ridgeway. + +O'Brien was glad the night was passing. + +But the passing of the night brought only a shivery gray light as they +rolled through billows of heavy fog. O'Brien, at the wheel, set the +delicate tentaclever, the wonderful little instrument by which they were +able to find the whereabouts of any other aircraft within a hundred +miles. It at once caught the direction of the balloon ahead, and +reported on its dial that there was no balloon following. So they had +not passed one of the other balloons in the fog. They were within two +hours' flight of the coast of England. A half hour passed and there +occurred one of the strange freaks of a dense fog. It suddenly lifted, +and ahead they saw the dirigible they were following and ahead of that, +far, far away, the airship containing the treasure. A moment later the +wireless commenced to hum and click. Hank and Bill and O'Brien reached +it together. + +O'Brien adjusted the receiver. The message ticked faintly. + +"Something wrong with their machine or ours," said O'Brien anxiously. + +Finally he got the words. "Who are you?" O'Brien sat staring. Then +"John" he answered. + +For a second it occurred to him to send out a call for help but he knew +that Smith would only too gladly see his co-partners drop into the ocean +and drown. So O'Brien sent the single name, and waited. There was no +response. + +"Why?" called O'Brien. + +Still there was no reply. Then, "Something wrong with your wireless, +John," came to him. "Can't make out anything you send. Take this if you +can. Cliffs about two hours ahead. I am going to--" there was a buzzing +and a flutter and dead silence. + +O'Brien listened and called in vain. Something had gone wrong with the +wireless. Once more baffled, O'Brien sent out call after call. There was +no response. Once more Smith had escaped for O'Brien could not help +thinking that the words he had been about to send would have made +everything clear. + +As O'Brien threw down the receiver with an exclamation of bitter +disappointment the fog again drifted about them like a pall, and +O'Brien, silent and bitter, took the wheel, and with his eyes on the +indicator kept the balloon headed toward its invisible foe ahead. They +were nearing the cliffs. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + +"There are the cliffs!" said Mr. Ridgeway, pointing through the fog as +it broke for a moment. "Sail high, Lawrence, as you approach the coast. +As soon as you are over the cliffs, set your course to the southeast and +keep straight on. We will reach our destination this afternoon, and +tomorrow we will go on to our second stop, to return the papers." He +gave a sigh. + +"Well, we have escaped the thieves this time, Lawrence, and I _do_ feel +relieved! I am growing a little too old for this sort of thing. If I had +been engaged in escaping bandits all my life, I suppose I would have an +appetite for it. It must be the way some people like big doses of pepper +in their food. But I am a peaceful man, and I would rather do 'most +anything than go scooting around the world with a pack of hyenas on my +trail. Perhaps if I had sons, a son like you, Lawrence, things would be +different. Both Mrs. Ridgeway and myself would feel that there was more +to live for. But the death of our sons sort of took the zest of living +away from us. I have had to live for my wife and she for me. We never +mention our loss. You must be careful of that, Lawrence. She cannot bear +it even now. You noticed her picture in the library, did you not? It is +a good one, but I carry a better one with me." He undid his heavy +leather coat and fumbled in an inside pocket just as the indicator +announced that the wireless was working. Mr. Ridgeway buttoned his coat +again, and turned to the wireless table. + +"O'Brien is calling," he said. + +Lawrence put a hand on his arm. + +"Mr. Ridgeway, be sure that it _is_ O'Brien, and not someone else," he +begged. "I don't feel good about that ship behind there. I suppose it +is, O'Brien, but there is something that keeps telling me to be +careful." + +Mr. Ridgeway smiled. "I wish I had known before that you were anxious, +my dear boy," he said. "The simplest way to settle that is to ask a +question or two. We might have called yesterday and saved you the +anxiety." + +He took up the instrument and adjusted it. In a moment the message from +the other ship commenced to flow smoothly in. O'Brien greeted his chief +and asked for a little help. Before they passed over the cliffs, would +Mr. Ridgeway please slow down and allow him to come up? He could not +make the speed that the Barnegat airship could make. Indeed he was +straining his engine to keep in sight. + +Mr. Ridgeway agreed to do as O'Brien asked. He hoped there was nothing +wrong with O'Brien's engine. Nothing serious, came the reply. + +"Is anyone following?" asked Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Yes," answered the wireless. "We are followed by another dirigible. I +suppose Smith is driving it, but they are far behind and cannot catch up +before you cross England. They think they are following you. I will lead +them toward the north as soon as we are well over the land." + +"That is satisfactory," answered Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Ask him why he didn't answer my signal," prompted Lawrence. + +"Why didn't you answer the signal Lawrence sent out yesterday?" asked +Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Too busy," came the answer. "This engine was off all day, and we were +working on it all the time." + +"See?" said Mr. Ridgeway. "That is all right. The signal was nothing +important, was it?" + +"I suppose not," said Lawrence. "But can't you ask him something or +other that only O'Brien would know?" + +Mr. Ridgeway laughed. "You _are_ a suspicious kid all right, aren't you? +Well, here is something no one but O'Brien and myself and one other +person, a very distinguished person indeed, could possibly know. I will +ask him about the letter from the White House." + +He turned to the instrument. + +"O'Brien," he asked, "Lawrence wants something as evidence that you are +really there. He seems to doubt his senses. Just tell me if there was +anything peculiar about the paper I wrote my instructions on." + +"Lawrence won't have any doubts about _anything_ when I see him," +flashed back. "Yes, I remember the paper. It was the private stationery +of the President and instead of signing your name, it was signed with +your private seal, the carved seal you always carry on a chain under +your waist-coat." + +"O.K." answered Mr. Ridgeway. "I think that is clear enough. We will +slow down immediately. Keep to the right. We cannot see you in this fog. +It is getting thicker as we go in. I can't afford any accident now." + +"All right!" came the answer. + +Mr. Ridgeway turned to Lawrence. "I think that ought to satisfy you, my +boy. O'Brien received my message written in the President's private +study on his private paper and sealed with this seal. It never leaves me +and cannot be duplicated. There are secret lines in the carving, as +delicate as the lines on a bank note. Oh, it is O'Brien all right! And +he says that Smith is behind, but evidently following him. Just as we +planned every bit of it." + +Lawrence gave a sigh of relief. + +"I am certainly glad," he said. "I don't know what made me so +suspicious." + +"Well, I hope you are satisfied now," replied Mr. Ridgeway, laughing. + +"I am," said Lawrence slowly; "but I know I am _not_." + +Mr. Ridgeway slapped him on the back. "What a boy!" he exclaimed. +"Within an hour at most O'Brien will be laughing at you, and I will, +too. I wish this fog would lift. It is dangerous for two balloons the +size of these to approach when they cannot see to manoeuver. However, we +are all right. Unless it is absolutely necessary to borrow something for +his engine, O'Brien will not try to board us. We can swing him almost +anything he wants." + +"I can hear him coming now. There _is_ something wrong! The engine on +that ship never made a noise like that." + +Lawrence listened, and wondered dully if it was O'Brien's car, but he +did not care to be laughed at, so kept silence, only asking, "Shall I +take the wheel?" + +"Perhaps you had better," said Mr. Ridgeway, "and when the cars come +together allow for the wind. It is blowing from the north, and I told +O'Brien to keep to the right as he came up. Coming on the left, we might +be blown together and entangled. So allow for that and keep pretty well +away until we know what he wants." + +Lawrence went to the wheel and settled himself for a pretty piece of +airmanship. He too could hear the pulsation of the engine behind them. +It sounded choked and muffled in the fog, which was now so thick that +objects five feet away looked hazy. + +More and more distinct came the sound behind, and suddenly like a +phantom the dirigible appeared. Mr. Ridgeway gave a shout of surprise +and anger as the balloon, instead of following his directions, slid +close to them on the left. The cars bumped violently, and two muffled +figures rapidly lashed them together fore and aft They had had the ropes +ready and it took but a moment to secure them. + +Then, almost before Mr. Ridgeway realized his predicament, he and the +two men who comprised the crew found themselves looking into the muzzles +of the revolvers held by their strange visitors. + +"Hands up!" said a smooth voice which Lawrence recognized as that of +their arch enemy. "No fooling! We intended to shoot you all, but if you +give up the jewels and papers, Mr. Ridgeway, you may save your life and +that of the boy over there. Keep that wheel steady," he ordered, "or I +shoot!" + +He turned to Mr. Ridgeway. "If the papers and jewels are in my hands in +two minutes, you are safe. Otherwise down into the sea you will go. +However, perhaps it will be as well to wait until I hear my men coming +up. There is a dirigible behind, with the rest of my men. The dirigible +is the one O'Brien was going to take. O'Brien is dead, by the way." + +Under the air mask Smith grinned. + +"Who are you anyway?" demanded Mr. Ridgeway. + +The man laid one of his revolvers down and tore off his mask. Mr. +Ridgeway looked at the smooth, smiling face and staggered backward. + +"My private secretary!" he gasped. + +"Nicely done, wasn't it, Mr. Ridgeway? I don't at all blame you for +trusting me. I brought such wonderful recommendations!" The fiend +chuckled. "Indeed, kings themselves have trusted me before this. However +much as I might desire to talk over old times with you, I will ask you +to tell me where the jewels are." + +Then before Mr. Ridgeway could answer, his face lighted. + +"Ah, an inspiration" he said. "No need at all for unwilling disclosures. +We will just change ships. Why did I not think of that before? Brown, +just escort those mechanics over the side into our car, then tie them +for the present and fix the guns. We won't want to trouble our friends +with the care of the little beauties. You know what to do, Brown." He +listened. "No sound yet," he said, and as the men went over the side, he +turned to look at them. + +Silently in that moment when Smith's eyes were following the movements +of Brown and his two prisoners, Lawrence stole a hand along the side of +the ship and grasped a fine cord that hung within his reach. He gave a +quick pull and heard aloft in the fog a little sound which he instantly +disguised by a flood of hyolax in the carbureter. The engine sputtered +furiously but Smith only glanced at him idly, thinking that fright had +deprived him of his common sense. + +Mr. Ridgeway had followed Lawrence's quick action, however, and he hung +back as Mr. Smith with a wave of his revolver indicated that he too was +to follow over the side into the other ship. + +"Look here, Van Arsdale," he said quietly, "I don't see why we can't +talk this thing over. You have the upper hand certainly. Name your +price, and let us keep the jewels. Name your price, and although it is a +crime to do it, I will give you a certified check for your money. You +know I always have certified checks with me." + +Van Arsdale pondered. "I don't know but there is a good deal to that, +Mr. Ridgeway. I know just how you feel. You want it said that you were a +trustworthy custodian. And as far as I go, I would rather handle cash +than bother trying to have a bushel of old diamonds and rubies recut and +marketed. As for the papers, they must have a price of their own because +in giving them up, I relinquish my hopes of greatness for awhile and +will have to think up some other scheme to attain my ends. So, Mr. +Ridgeway, what do you offer?" + +"A million," said Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Pounds or dollars?" asked Van Arsdale. + +"Dollars," replied Mr. Ridgeway. + +"Not enough!" said Van Arsdale. "Dear Mr. Ridgeway, we have discussed +the value of the jewels so often, you and I, when I was your trusted +secretary. A million won't do at all. Come, bid up! What am I offered?" + +"Two millions for the jewels and papers," said Mr. Ridgeway. "I can't go +higher." + +"Three or nothing," said Van Arsdale sullenly. "I will take three, and I +want it before those fellows come up. They expect the jewels, and they +would murder anybody for cash." + +"All right," said Mr. Ridgeway. + +Lawrence saw that he was deadly pale and his hand shook. "This cleans me +out, Van Arsdale." He took a check book and fountain pen from his pocket +and commenced to write. Van Arsdale stepped up to him and looked over +his shoulder. Instantly Lawrence jerked the cord again, and silently in +the wet fog a sort of claw with a razor edge on it fell in his lap. He +shoved it hastily out of sight just as Van Arsdale looked up and asked: +"What makes this boat list so?" + +"Because you are tied up to us," answered Mr. Ridgeway quickly. "There +is your check, Van Arsdale, and I hope I can get even with you some +day!" + +"I wish you all the success in the world!" laughed the plotter. "I do +advise you as a friend to keep out of my path." + +He called sharply and Brown, who had secured the two men, stepped over +the side and approached his master. + +"Tie the wheel, and toss that boy over!" he ordered. + +"Into the sea, Excellency?" asked Brown. + +"No, idiot; into the other ship! No, take this man first!" + +"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Ridgeway. "You have your money. Put up +those guns and get out! A bargain is a bargain, and I suppose there is +honor even among thieves." + +"Among _some_ thieves, no doubt," said Van Arsdale, smiling his snaky +smile. "Also there is another motto. _Business is business._ It was a +good touch to get the three million as well as the jewels and papers, +was it not? Yes, it has been quite an education to be with you, Mr. +Ridgeway. In my place, you would at once retire and allow me to proceed +on my way. But you see there are some brave fellows following who look +to me for their daily bread, their all. They will not like it when they +find you have not gone down to feed the fishes, but never mind. You know +how tender-hearted I am." + +"Even about O'Brien. I don't mind telling you that I had three ways of +detaining him, and I chose the least painful one. Come, Mr. Ridgeway, +over the side at once. That boy over there can follow you. He is no +good. This ship is listing more all the time. Come, come! I want to true +up the engine." + +He took a step toward Mr. Ridgeway, his two revolvers still levelled. +Like a flash, Mr. Ridgeway hurled the wireless table full at his captor. +Instantly both revolvers went off wild, and Brown, seizing a heavy +hyolax case, brought it down on Mr. Ridgeway's head. If it had struck +him squarely, it would have killed him, but Lawrence, springing forward, +had been just in time to seize Brown's arm and the blow glanced. Even +then Mr. Ridgeway dropped without a sound and lay as though dead. + +Brown had seized Lawrence, and as he held him in a rough grip the sound +of an approaching dirigible was heard through the fog. + +"Lemme drop them overboard, Excellency, and cut loose and go!" + +"No! I do owe something for the three millions, Brown," said Van +Arsdale. "Think what a nice division that is going to make! By rights it +is all mine, but I am not small; I will divide. Here come our men. Hoist +Ridgeway over the side into the other boat. Don't try any funny work! If +he goes into the sea, so do you. He shall have his life in exchange for +the money. You cub, you get over there! If my men come up, I will have +hard work saving your precious young neck!" He lifted Lawrence and +tossed him over with little ceremony, as Brown tumbled the unconscious +figure of Mr. Ridgeway into the other ship. + +"Now get out!" said Van Arsdale to Lawrence. "If you can steer get out +as fast as you can! The dirigible behind is armored and armed like a +battleship. And they won't waste sympathy on _you_!" He cut the ropes +between the two ships and turned toward the wheel, shoving his revolvers +into his pockets. + +Lawrence watched him as the two ships sheered off, then as he heard the +exhaust of the approaching ship bearing its load of cutthroats Lawrence +realized that their chances of life were dwindling. Nothing mattered +except to let Van Arsdale know that they were not afraid even at the +moment of death. + +He leaned over the edge, and as the car sheered off a little, he yelled +derisively like a street urchin, "Say, mister, your bag is leaking and +pointed upward!" + +Van Arsdale looked. Slowly, very slowly, the big bag was collapsing. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + +With an execration Van Arsdale fired. But in the second that it took to +aim at the grinning lad, Lawrence had disappeared. Lying flat on the +floor, he wriggled over toward the wheel which he found lashed in +position. The ship, drifting about, commenced to wobble. Second by +second Lawrence waited for the shots that would put the bag above him in +a worse condition than the one he had just fixed. He could not doubt +that they were doomed. He knew very well that even when offering them a +chance for life Van Arsdale had fully intended to let them get away and +then shoot up the ship and drown them all. But now he could see through +the open slat left for sweeping off the deck that Van Arsdale was trying +to keep the dirigible up until reinforcements should come. And in a +minute or two Lawrence knew by the sound of the engine they would hail +them. + +Many thoughts passed through his mind as he lay there waiting to hear +the first shot clip through the billowing silk above him. + +His first thought was a heart-breaking one. He would never know his own +people, never feel the touch of his mother's soft and loving cheek +against his own! Bitterly he regretted that he had not told Mr. Ridgeway +the whole thing. + +He could not make himself believe that Mr. Ridgeway too was doomed. He +wanted Mr. Ridgeway or someone to take a message to the dear ones he so +longed for. He wanted them to know that the son so long lost loved them +and had built his young life out of the best he had, for their sakes. +Mr. Ridgeway lay motionless, and the roar of the approaching engine +sounded loud in Lawrence's ears. In a moment he heard it close in on the +other side of their dirigible and shouts sounded. Unable to withstand +his curiosity, Lawrence popped his head above the bulwark and witnessed +a most amazing thing. + +As the newcomer broke through the fog and swung to the left, a burly +figure hanging over the bulwark swept the tableau through his goggles. +It was astonishing enough. On the right was the big dirigible with the +punctured gas bag struggling with all the might of its powerful engine +to keep in the air. + +Brown had already mounted the network and was trying to stop the leak. + +At the wheel stood Smith, a smile frozen on his face as he swept his +eyes over the newcomers. Even with all their coats and wrappings, he +knew that John and the others were not there. + +The newcomer saw the figure of Mr. Ridgeway lying in the bottom of the +ship nearest; he saw the boy wigwag frantically from the bottom; he saw +the two bound and gagged mechanicians. + +He uttered an imprecation, and leaping lightly into the middle ship +called to his men as he did so. Then hauling out his revolver, he made +another leap which landed him in front of Van Arsdale. As he landed, he +tore off his mask and goggles and stripped off the heavy leather coat. + +"Ye lyin', stealin', murderin' villain!" he shouted. "I won't defile me +new pistol on ye! Fight! Fight, can ye? Fer I'm goin' to slay ye wit' me +own hands!" + +As he made a lunge for Van Arsdale, the man attempted to shoot, but the +weapon was dashed from his hand. + +This much Lawrence saw, then he found there was something else for him +to do besides watch the maddened O'Brien rushing his snaky adversary, as +the balloon almost imperceptibly settled into the fog. The machine he +was in was reeling around as the wheel turned and the rudder swung to +and fro. Lawrence trued it and lashed the wheel. Then he shouted an +order to Hank and Bill who were on the point of following their leader +with their new guns in hand. Hank sprang for the wheel with an order to +Ollie. Quickly the dirigible rounded the bow of the middle ship, and +dipping a little, lashed fast to the sinking balloon and held it steady. +Hank drew a bead on Brown, still clinging to the ropes on the side of +the gas bag, and ordered him down. In the meantime, Lawrence was ripping +the gags out of the mouths of the two men but he could not free them as +the anklets and handcuffs were locked on, and he did not know where to +look for the key. He tried only for a moment, for Mr. Ridgeway claimed +his attention. Dashing some water over his set and pallid face, he was +relieved to see the eyelids quiver, and a broken sigh well up from the +sunken chest. + +His friend and benefactor would live! + +Panting cries and gurgles sounded from the collapsed dirigible, and +Lawrence looked over upon a terrific encounter. Both Van Arsdale and +O'Brien were large men, O'Brien stocky and full muscled, Van Arsdale +built pantherlike and slim. + +Van Arsdale fought with the surprise that one so low as a mere detective +should raise a hand against him and with a furious resolve to punish, +mangle and kill his opponent. + +But something deadlier, colder and deeper stirred in O'Brien's blood. He +remembered his own death sentence on the lips of this man now delivered +into his hands. He could hear the smooth voice say, "It will not be +painful, only for half an hour, O'Brien!" O'Brien wondered as he lunged +out at his enemy, delivering slashing blows, he wondered how many men +and boys and indeed women had gone down to death by his hand or by his +orders. + +Hank, clinging to the ropes and trying to watch Brown as he came slowly +down, saw the conflict out of the corner of his eye, and muttered, "Some +folks has all the luck! I bet one of 'em get killed!" + +As O'Brien delivered a terrific blow and Van Arsdale reeled back against +the rail, O'Brien looked him in the eye. + +"Come on, you snake!" he gritted. "No quarter! I'll make you pay for +what you did to me. You lily-fingered murderer, you! See if you can +fight a white man's way!" + +Van Arsdale sprang forward, murder in his eye. O'Brien read it there and +laughed a laugh that was like the flick of a whip across the face of the +man before him. + +It was not O'Brien's first fist-fight. Many and many the time he had +encountered men his equal in size and strength on the mat, but in the +long nights in the frozen north O'Brien had met men of many kinds and +races, and his joyful laugh and ready wit and square open nature had +made him many friends. From one and another he had learned tricks worth +remembering: the feint, the unexpected stoop, the rush and instant +withdrawal. + +And as the struggle went on up there far above the sea, jewels worth a +king's ransom under their scuffling feet, the fog close about them, the +punctured bag doubling and flopping overhead, and here and there the +small steel muzzles that yearned to speak their short, sudden summons of +death, as they fought on and on it became apparent that at last O'Brien +had met his match. + +He could despise Van Arsdale, could hate him, but O'Brien had to +acknowledge that the man could fight. O'Brien was rushing. All his +fighting was offensive. Van Arsdale, on the defensive, parried and +sidestepped O'Brien's bull-like rushes. + +O'Brien couldn't rid himself of the idea that Van Arsdale was fighting +for time. It puzzled the detective, but with the one idea of +administering a drubbing that would forever mark his cold and handsome +adversary O'Brien fought on while the fog slowly cleared and the +dirigible hung low between the supporting ships. + +The little wind that had been blowing from the north grew suddenly +stronger, and as a curtain rolls up and is forgotten, so the thick fog +disappeared and left the strange group swinging over the sea that washed +the white cliffs of England. They shone in the morning sunlight, and on +the gray sea beneath a schooner rocked lazily. + +Van Arsdale, buffeted against the rail by one of O'Brien's sledge-hammer +blows, saw the schooner and his heart leaped. He knew that the two ships +supporting the dirigible in which they were fighting were slowly seeking +a lower level. It was not a killing height from the sea if he could +manage to hit the water right. O'Brien, hammering one blow after +another, was punishing him badly, but he was also returning enough blows +to keep O'Brien from landing a knockout. Once in awhile O'Brien would +land a slashing blow on his face. He felt the bridge of his nose crack +under a terrific slam, and a moment later it crashed in. One eye was +closing. Again, in a moment when both rested for breath, Van Arsdale +measured the distance to the sea. He knew the schooner would pick him +up, and safe in his pocket rested the check for three million dollars. + +He was growing tired. O'Brien rushed him again and with the quickness of +light Van Arsdale slipped his left hand in his breast. There was a +narrow silvery flash as the hand lifted and came down straight for +O'Brien's heart. Van Arsdale knew where to strike and knew he could not +miss as he leaned lightly forward. He had meant this ending but somehow +could not bring it about sooner. The knife descended in a true path, but +something happened. Eyes as quick as Van Arsdale's own watched under +O'Brien's set brows, and with a leap he writhed aside. The razor-edged +blade slid through the slack of his coat, and instantly O'Brien had +clasped his man in the Indian wrestler's grip. + +There was a moment of mighty effort, when the trained muscles gathered +and tightened to their task. Then all at once the watcher there heard a +strange crackling snap, as Van Arsdale was lifted high over O'Brien's +head and went whirling down, and down, and down, a limp and grotesque +figure that met the tumbled sea and disappeared beneath the waves +forever. + +There was a long silence while O'Brien leaned panting against the rail +and the others strained their fascinated eyes to see if Van Arsdale's +body would appear. But there was no break on the surface of the sea. +Only Hank found his voice. For want of a better listener he addressed +Brown. Prodding him recklessly with the muzzle of his new automatic, he +demanded, "Didn't I say so? Sure I did!" + +But Brown made no reply. A man who can feel the exact shape of a gun +muzzle against his third rib never feels in the mood for bandying words. +He stood quite still. Brown knew that for him the end had come. He +lowered his wolfish head and cringed. Even when they put him in irons he +did not speak. + +O'Brien was the first to collect himself. He opened his coat, and +parting the slashed cloth traced the course of a clean-cut scratch that +commenced at the left breast and curved downward for twelve inches. He +turned and showed it to Hank and Bill. A trickle of blood marked its +course. + +"Gee!" said Bill. + +"That's going to leave a scar," said Hank hopefully. + +"Naw, it won't!" Bill retorted. + +"It will if he rubs salt in it," said Hank. + +"Well, what in time would he do that for?" the much-tried Bill wanted to +know. + +"Why, salt is an epidemic," said Hank. "Best thing in the world!" + +"Whadder you mean: _epidemic_?" demanded Bill. + +"He means antiseptic, I suppose," smiled O'Brien, almost too tired and +blown to talk. + +"Yes, antiseptic, or epidemic, all the same thing," Bill replied. "Stuff +to rub, on a sore spot, and she gets well. If you don't, piff! you get +blood poison and swell up, and swell up till you die." He grew silent, +seeming to gloat over the picture of swelling up and swelling up. Then +"Turrible!" he said. + +"Well, I won't swell up unless we have let Mr. Ridgeway die while we +were settling things with Smith. Get over there, you two, and lay him +down on the rugs." + +The two young men leaped back and, followed rather stiffly by O'Brien, +found Mr. Ridgeway lying with open eyes, while Lawrence laid cloths +soaked in cold water on his head. He looked very ill, and O'Brien was +frightened when he saw his condition. Lifting him gently, he examined +the bruise made by the blow, then went to attend a little to his own +hurt. + +"About a millionth of a inch more and he would uv croaked him," Hank +assured Bill in an undertone as they brought cushions and tucked them +around the injured man. + +Bill merely glared. + +"I never saw anybody like you in this world!" he said finally. + +"All right," said Hank. "Say it all you please, but I don't see as +anybody has thought of what _I_ am a-goin' to do _next_, and it's what +he needs worst of all." + +He vaulted over into the ship they had come in, and disappeared into the +tiny cabin. In a few minutes he appeared with a covered basket. This in +hand, he went back to Mr. Ridgeway and knelt beside him. Uncovering the +basket, he took out a pot of tea, boiling hot, and a couple of slices of +toast. Mr. Ridgeway tasted it languidly, then drank with relish as the +hot liquid warmed his chilled frame. + +"I never tasted anything quite so good," he said as he finished his +second cup. "You had better pass some of that to O'Brien, young man. I +never did know before how good tea could be." + +Hank returned to the cabin with his basket and a jeer for Bill. + +O'Brien, scorning the "epidemic," had bound up the scratch and now +commenced to manoeuver the three planes in toward the cliffs. The +punctured bag hung heavy between the others, but he thought he could +manage to clear the rocks and drop the useless dirigible on the plain +beyond. Mr. Ridgeway insisted on going on with the papers and jewels, +and suggested to O'Brien that he should give him Hank and Bill, while he +could stay to see to the dirigible and have Brown placed in prison. Also +the two men who were still wearing their iron bracelets and anklets were +clamoring loudly for release. + +Brown, the prisoner, kept an unbroken silence. + +After trying in vain to make Mr. Ridgeway wait over or let O'Brien go in +his place, everything was settled in the way stated and the slow aerial +procession made its way to the top of the cliffs or over them, and +carefully led the broken dirigible, with O'Brien, Brown, the two +manacled mechanicians and Ollie in the other balloon. + +As Bill skillfully propelled their machine up into the higher currents, +Lawrence looked at the cylinder which had been lifted into their +machine, and marveled that it could make so much trouble. However, once +more they were safe, he was lying beside Mr. Ridgeway, and a wave of +love seemed to flood him. Lawrence wondered if he could ever care so +much for his own father back there in the States. + +It was a clear and sunny day; not a cloud in the sky; not a cross +current to bother them. Almost mid-day indeed, yet Lawrence, dead tired, +dropped asleep. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + +Lawrence slept for hours. When at last he awoke he saw that they were +circling above a large city bright with flags and bunting. + +"Getting dolled up for the Prince's coming-out party," Hank said as he +leaned far over and levelled the glasses on the brilliant broad streets +below. Throngs of people passed to and fro, and one and all stared +upward at the dirigible as it came slowly downward. Not until they had +located a beautiful villa nestling among the trees of a vast park on the +outskirts of the city did Mr. Ridgeway give the order to descend. A mile +from the villa there was a large aviation field and there they landed. A +delegation approached composed entirely of admirals, or so it seemed to +Hank and Bill and Lawrence, so loaded with gold braid were they and so +overtopped with plumes. + +Mr. Ridgeway showed no nervousness at all and entered a big automobile, +while Hank and Bill lifted in the big hyolax case and sat themselves +down on either side of it as a sort of guard. They were still in their +aviation clothes, which Mr. Ridgeway said would be considered a uniform. +As they started off, another company of admirals deployed around a +corner, overtook them on the run, and trotted along on all sides of the +car, which was forced to proceed at a crawl. Sitting on the back seat +with Lawrence, Mr. Ridgeway looked stern enough to quell any number of +admirals. The bandage under his hat was commented on frequently in a +tongue the boys had never before heard. It was a short ride to the gates +of the great park, and there another automobile was waiting, with +another guard. These seemed to be the "pick of the whole b'ilin'," as +Hank said, for the admirals were in pale blue uniforms and were a head +taller than the others. + +Here Mr. Ridgeway, after seeing that the cylinder was placed on the seat +in front of him, took out his automatic and rested it across his knees. + +The boys were to wait for him at the gates. A number of the pale-blue +soldiers mounted the running boards and hung on behind; the others +closed in on either side and the car moved slowly out of sight, while +the guardian closed the center leaves of the gates, leaving only a +smaller gate open at either side. + +Hank leaned back and sighed. + +"Well, _don't_ that beat you?" he said. "Wish we could go up and see +what the queen looks like. I bet she is nifty lookin'. Nuthin' to do but +load on the jewelry, and try on crowns. + +"We have had some awful democratic, commonplace kings and queens back in +Washington last few years, but I bet that's all put on. They want to put +it over on us; make a hit with the unions and all that when they come +visitin'; but I bet when they are home it's different. Now that prince +the party is for: it's his coming-of-age party, Mr. Ridgeway said." + +"Yes, but even that is different," said Bill. "Mr. Ridgeway told me the +heir to the throne here in this country is of age when he is fifteen. +That's so if anything should happen to the king, the boy could go right +to kinging it without any lawyers having to be hired to make out +papers." + +"Fifteen, eh?" mused Hank. "I'd like to see him now. I seen a picture in +the Corcoran Art Gallery. It was named _The Young Prince_. He was all of +that, I will say; with a long blanket like around him, and ribbons on +his golf pants and a hat all feathers." + +"Oh, you make me tired!" said Bill. "I seen that pitcher myself. That +guy was born way back--back before the Cuban war." + +A violent discussion seemed started, but a diversion was made by the +sudden appearance of a bareheaded lad on a shabby bicycle. He came +tearing through the small gate, saw the automobile drawn up at the side +of the road in the shade, checked his pace, and with a shake of the head +as though asking for silence, he dismounted, threw his wheel into the +tall grass, and running around the car, lay down along the running +board. So rapidly had he acted that no one had had time to speak, and +immediately another bicyclist trundled through the gate. This time it +was a ruddy-faced, middle-aged man with a couple of books strapped over +his shoulder, a butterfly net across his chest, and a tin box rattling +on his hip. He rode like a man in a hurry, gave one uninterested glance +at the occupants of the auto, and rattled on, gazing earnestly down the +dusty road. + +The boy at once sat up. + +"Thanks!" he said in a pleasant voice, and with very little accent. +"That was a close shave. If I had had to catch another butterfly today I +should have exploded. He will ride ten miles or so looking for me!" He +chuckled wickedly. + +"What do _you_ have to learn about butterflies for? You are no girl!" +said Hank scornfully. + +"That's what _I_ say," said the boy, smiling cheerfully at Lawrence. +"They don't stick you with that sort of stuff in England. My people sent +me over there to school for awhile, and it was great. Are you English?" +he asked Lawrence. + +"American," answered Lawrence. + +"Better yet!" said the boy. "Not that England isn't all right, but they +say America is so big and so roomy and a fellow can do as he pleases." + +"Not much he can't," said Hank bitterly. "I never seen anything like it. +It's 'don't step on the grass,' and 'don't pick the flowers,' and 'don't +tease the animals,' and 'don't chip a piece of this here house for a +sooveneer.' Don't, don't, don't every way a feller turns!" + +The boy looked surprised. + +"Why should anyone _want_ to tease the animals or chip pieces off the +houses?" he asked. + +"They don't," replied Hank. "At least they don't 'til some smart Aleck +sticks up a sign and puts it into their heads. And then of course they +gotter." + +"Oh, well," said the boy, "there are lots of other things you can do +that you can't do here." + +"Not much, I bet," said Hank, but Bill interrupted. + +"Don't be forever kickin' on your home town," he said. "It does rub me +the wrong way. You are a regular Bullsheevikky." + +"They ain't any more of them," said Hank triumphantly. + +"What is your name?" asked the boy of Lawrence. + +"Lawrence Petit," said Lawrence. "What is yours?" + +"Modo," said the boy. + +"Sounds like a girl," said Hank, "but I will say you don't look the +part. I should say you look like a real honest-to-goodness feller." + +"I am glad of that," said the boy simply. "Names don't mean much." + +"Not sometimes," replied Hank. "I bet the young Prince in there don't +answer to anything simple as that Modo. I bet he has a name long as your +arm, even just with his own folks." + +"He means the one that's going to have the party," explained Bill. + +"Oh, the crown prince!" said the boy, rumpling up his black hair. "He +has a lot of names. Seven, I think." + +"Whee!" said Hank. "Think of that! Every time his mother calls him, +calling like John-Henry-George-Washington-Christopher-Columbus-James." + +The boy laughed until he cried. "I don't believe they use them all at +once," he said. Then he turned to Lawrence. "If you are an American, you +know all about football, don't you?" he said. "The boys here don't know +how to play it, and I am crazy to start a team. The English game is not +like the American at all, they say." + +Lawrence hopped out of the car, eager to talk on his favorite subject, +for next to flying he loved football. Together the boys wandered down +the slope, and sitting at the foot of a tree with their knees drawn up, +they chewed grass roots while they discussed the great American game. +After awhile they returned to the car and sat on the running-board while +Lawrence wrote his address for Modo, who was going to write to him for +some books on the subject. Hank and Bill, smoking lazily in the car, +leaned over with words of advice. + +They had been sitting there only a few minutes when another bicyclist +rolled through the small gate. This time the rider was in the uniform of +a house servant, impressive with silk stockings and much gold lace. He +spied Modo, and with an abrupt motion stopped his wheel and dismounted +with a low bow. + +"Your Highness, Her Majesty desires your attendance," he remarked to the +boy impressively, bowed again and, backing off a pace, mounted his wheel +and went back through the gate. + +"Mother is all fussed up about this party," said Modo smiling. "And I +suppose she wants to drill me in something. It is an awful nuisance." He +looked at Hank and laughed. "I hope you don't mind," he said. "And they +_don't_ call me all seven names every time!" He waved a merry good-bye +to the petrified airmen, shook hands with Lawrence, and promising to +write soon, ran off, trundling his wheel. + +"Somebody pinch me!" begged Hank, after a long pause. "_Your Highness_ +and me joshing him about his name, and all that!" + +"A real boy!" ejaculated Bill. + +"Yes, sir! Nuthin' but a _real boy_! Kind you see anywhere. And the +crown prince! 'Mother is all fussed up' says he. Well, I am in mother's +class on that! Say, he's dropped his pencil! I'm goin' to keep it. Gosh, +this will make talk back home. 'One morning in Morania,' says I, 'me and +Modo was talkin'.' 'Modo who?' says somebody, and I says, 'Why, you nut, +don't you study hist'ry? I mean His Highness the Crown Prince Modo of +Morania!' And then I'll flash this pencil with a crown printed on the +side of it. Wow!" + +"Well, thank goodness we come!" said Bill. "Now you have something to +gas about besides accidents and murders." + +"You bet!" said Hank, and fell silent. + +A moment later Modo came hurrying through the gate on his wheel. He +dismounted, and flashing his bright and friendly smile mounted the +running-board of the car. + +"They are going to make a big fuss over my birthday," he said, "and some +medals have been struck off to commemorate it. I thought you might each +like one since you won't be here to the party. I am to give them out and +pin them on myself." He fastened glittering medals on Lawrence, Bill and +Hank as he spoke. + +"There!" he said. "Don't forget me! Good-bye! It was great fun to be +just a boy. Good-bye, Lawrence! Don't you forget to write and send me +all the football news!" + +He mounted his wheel and disappeared for the last time. + +"And they says," murmured Hank, "they says 'Whatcher got on?' and I +says, 'Where?' and they says, 'Why, that breas'pin!' and I says, 'Oh, a +little decoration the Crown Prince of Morania gimme.' Big stuff, eh?" he +prodded Bill gaily. + +"These are beauties all the same," said Lawrence, "and here comes Mr. +Ridgeway." + +Talking in "close formation," as you might say, they displayed their +medals and recounted their incident. Mr. Ridgeway also had a medal, and +another decoration as well: a broad purple ribbon with a gold Greek +Cross blazing with jewels. It was to signify that he had been made a +member of the Order of the Crown. "For bringing back the jewels," he +explained, laughing. + +"When do we start home, Mr. Ridgeway?" asked Hank. + +"Do you men want to look around the city for an hour or so?" + +"I don't," said Hank. "I seen it from above, and there's no use wasting +time." + +"All right then; we will go back to the dirigible and start for our +little baby republic. I should have made that my first errand, but this +saves a few hundred miles, and I want to get to England as soon as I +can." + +As they rolled along toward the aviation field, Mr. Ridgeway outlined +their plans. + +He was anxious for a rest. After visiting the President of the new +republic, he wanted Hank and Bill to drop Lawrence and himself down at +the country house where Mrs. Ridgeway was staying. There they would stop +until the dirigible was in order. Then one of them could report and Mr. +Ridgeway would motor over to the plane and look it over. They could then +divide, and take the ships back to the United States. + +"You may like to stay and return with Mrs. Ridgeway and myself," he +said, turning to Lawrence. + +The boy shook his head. + +"I must go back, sir. I have something very important to do." + +"You won't think so after you get acquainted with Mrs. Ridgeway," said +Mr. Ridgeway. "Everyone is crazy over her, and she likes boys." + +"I would like to stay," said Lawrence, "but it seems as if the business +just couldn't wait a day." + +"Well, we will talk it over later," said Mr. Ridgeway. "Perhaps I can +help you. At all events, I will take you with me until the dirigible is +mended. It will not be a long job. I hope O'Brien is feeling well. He +must have been stiff and sore after that bout. We will have a lot to +tell Mrs. Ridgeway." + +They got the dirigible up safely and sailed off in the direction of the +young republic, Bill declaring that hobnobbing with royalty had utterly +ruined Hank as a machinist. + +Four hours later they had reached their destination and were once more +waiting for Mr. Ridgeway to get through the complicated ceremonies of +meeting the heads of the new nation. Messengers raced here and there, +telephones buzzed, lights flashed up in the state hall, and finally +while Lawrence and the others dozed in the lobby of the nearest hotel, +the President and Cabinet indicated their readiness to receive the +messenger from the big republic across the sea. + +An hour later, when Mr. Ridgeway saw that the meeting was to be a long +one, apparently to impress him, he telephoned to the patient waiters to +have supper. They obeyed with great cheer and then settled themselves +for another long wait. + +When Mr. Ridgeway finally appeared it was so late and his bruised head +was throbbing so that Lawrence suggested spending the night there. + +Hank and Bill went back to the dirigible, and Mr. Ridgeway secured a +large room with twin beds for himself and Lawrence. It was a comfortable +novelty to find themselves between clean sheets again, and they were +almost too comfortable to go to sleep immediately. + +So they talked awhile, of the fight, and Van Arsdale, and the jewels, +and the journey, and its pleasant ending, and a hundred times Lawrence +started to tell Mr. Ridgeway about himself and stopped. More and more +the feeling had come that perhaps there was nothing in it after all, and +in that case he decided that no one should ever guess what high hopes +had filled him, or what black disappointment had followed. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + +Noon the next day found them over England, searching out one of the +aviation fields that had been arranged at frequent intervals since the +end of the Great War. + +Airships of all sorts were so commonly used that this was a necessity. +All Country Clubs had them, as well as extra hangars for visitors. At +most fields there were instructors, most of them American, just as golf +instructors are almost always Scotch. And the finest fields had wide +exercise fields where beginners and children could potter around in +safety. + +At one side of the aviation fields ran a low line of sheds for motors +where men driving out from the city could lock and leave the cars they +had come in while they were aloft in the airplanes or dirigibles, though +dirigibles were but little used, on account of their size and expense. +Even the small racing dirigibles like Mr. Ridgeway's pair, and the one +Van Arsdale had owned, were not common. It was like approaching in a +state chariot, Lawrence found, and he commenced to understand that the +use of the big balloon had been partly to impress the Moranians and the +republic. + +At least twenty slim, graceful planes were flying here and there as they +commenced to descend to the field, and quite a flock of them, bright and +saucy, flitted round them as they went down. In the distance, they could +see brightly clad little figures trotting around the golf course, and +nearer, on the tennis courts, groups of what looked like dancing dolls +hopped and pranced over the smooth surfaces. + +"Makes me homesick to see all those planes," said Bill. + +"Awful poor pilots, most of 'em!" Hank replied, watching a monoplane go +jerking around just above the ground. "Look at that! Oh, lordy! Well, he +did miss the Club House, didn't he? But I bet the mortar is peeling out +from them stones from fright. Must be a kid at the wheel. No, by gummy, +see the old duck steerin'?" + +And as the plane careened near them, Hank leaned out and flung hot words +of scorn and advice after the uncertain holder of the wheel. + +"Poor old dear!" said Hank. "Don't you suppose he ain't got no folks? He +ought to have some grandchildren or somebody that loves him, that ought +to keep him with his feet on the ground where he belongs. There he goes +again! See the leaves he clipped out of that oak tree. Well, I can't +look! I just can't watch and see him destroyed." + +"He's going down," said Bill, looking after the careening plane. "He +does lay a queer course." + +"Queer course!" exclaimed Bill. "If it was so you could run a trail +behind him, it would look like a ball of rickrack braid after a kitten +had played with it." + +After the dirigible had been secured, the party started over to the Club +House where Mr. Ridgeway hoped to get a motor. Bill and Hank sauntered +along in the rear. + +"There's that precious old Methuselah that was reelin' around in the +plane," said Hank suddenly. "I got a mind to go tell him what I think." + +"Don't butt in!" advised Bill. "Remember what you just went through back +there in Morania. That old bird may be the Emperor of Switzerland for +all _you_ know!" + +Hank seized a passing caddie. "Hey, kid!" he ordered, "who is that old +chunk of trouble amblin' along there in the giddy plaids?" + +The caddie looked. + +"Over there?" he asked. "With the eyeglass?" + +"The same!" said Hank. "Now whose grandpappy is he?" + +"That's his grace the Duke of Mountjoy and Pewanit," said the boy +glibly, "and he is waving to the Prime Minister." + +"Thanks!" said Hank. He passed on, and after a moment lifted up his +voice in a sort of chant. + +"And the folks will say, 'What did you do with yourself when you wasn't +flyin'?' and I will say, 'Oh, we found a pretty decent Club. Old Dook +Mountjoy-and-Thinggummy belongs. Used to meet him there with the Prime +Minister.'" + +Bill glared. "Honest; I tell you one thing right now. You can commence +to talk straight United States _NOW_ or we go back in separate +dirigibles." + +"Aw, I'm just practicin'," Hank replied. + +"Not on _me_," said Bill. "Hurry up now, can't you see Mr. Ridgeway +beckonin' or can't you see anybody any more but dooks?" + +"I can see enough to guess it's dinner time," Hank returned cheerfully, +and they hurried up to find that that was the very item Mr. Ridgeway +wanted to discuss with them. + +Mr. Ridgeway seemed to be at home wherever his airship happened to +light, and signing the visitors' book, he took his party into the +dining-room, where, in a secluded corner, they disposed of a fine +luncheon and watched the people come and go. + +Mr. Ridgeway found a friend who was going right down into the country +where Mrs. Ridgeway was staying and he offered to take him and Lawrence +down with him. + +So here they parted, and for a long, long time Lawrence was to see no +more of the two clever, honest fellows who had gone through such +dangerous deeds with them. Lawrence watched them go off together toward +the aviation field where the dirigible was waiting. + +"A good pair," said Mr. Ridgeway. "Honest, faithful, and the best airmen +that one could ask. Almost as good as you, Lawrence boy. And now we will +wait for our friend to take us to Gray Towers where we will find Mrs. +Ridgeway. We will surprise her. She does not expect us so soon." + +The road to Gray Towers took them through the loveliest part of lovely +England. To Lawrence, it seemed a wonderful experience to bowl along +between trim hedges and high walls, then through wonderful forest +preserves and clean toy villages. + +Their host, Mr. Alden, lived on the estate next to Gray Towers, and +gladly took them to the door of the old castle, although Mr. Ridgeway +assured him that they could easily walk the short cut of two miles from +the great gates to the door. Lawrence would have been glad of the walk +when he got glimpses of the deer between the trees, and when dozens of +rabbits flashed across the road before them. Lawrence looked so pleased +and happy that Mr. Ridgeway put his arm about his shoulders, and asked, +"Now aren't you glad you came?" + +"Are we going to stay here in these woods?" asked Lawrence. + +"Right here!" Mr. Ridgeway assured him. "The place belongs to my +sister's husband. She married an Englishman, Lord Gray of Gray Towers +and there," he added, "are the Towers themselves." + +A sort of awkwardness filled Lawrence. "I don't belong among such +people," he muttered, but Mr. Ridgeway either did not hear or did not +wish to reply. + +They drew up at the broad steps, where carved lions stood on great +square blocks of stone. + +The friend, eager to get home, drove on as a lady came out of the door +and ran down the steps to meet them. + +She wore a kilted walking skirt and sweater, and the sun glinted on her +fair hair in which the white showed plainly. + +"Hello, Sis!" called Mr. Ridgeway, hurrying to greet her. "How are you +all, and where is that wife of mine?" + +"It is a wonder you wouldn't give us more warning of your arrival," said +the lady. "That wife of yours has been in London for several days, and +she can't possibly return before tomorrow morning. Your wire did not +come in time. I have telephoned her, however, and she will call you +later." + +She turned inquiringly to Lawrence, and Mr. Ridgeway introduced him. + +"I am glad you came," said Lady Gray cordially. "I have two boys about +your age. You will be great friends, especially as they are both anxious +to fly." + +She studied him thoughtfully. + +"Whom does he remind you of, Hamilton?" + +"No one that I can think of," said Mr. Ridgeway. + +The lady sighed. "Come in!" she said. + +The two boys were nice chaps and asked a million questions which +Lawrence was well able to answer. When he told them that he was going +back to the United States probably the next day, they refused to +consider it at all. + +But now that all the danger was over, and the thrills of the journey, +Lawrence felt himself once more drowned in loneliness. All the cheery +affection and the atmosphere of home oppressed him to the very soul. +Even if his own people were poor, no matter how humble they were, +Lawrence wanted them with a longing that was almost agony. He _had_ to +go back! He _had_ to know! + +So he stood firm, although Mr. Ridgeway assured the boys that he was +going to have a good talk with Lawrence when they went to bed, and he +was willing to bet that he could coax him to stay. + +"Go to bed early then!" cried the boys. + +It was early when they said good-night, and went up the wide stairs. Mr. +Ridgeway was still suffering with his head and needed rest. As they +prepared for the night, he said: + +"Well, Lawrence, how do you like them all?" + +"They are fine!" said Lawrence heartily. "I think Lady Gray is +beautiful." + +"Not as beautiful as Mrs. Ridgeway," replied that lady's husband. "You +don't get her look in a picture. Her beauty is her changing expression +and her color. The painting at home is magnificent, but it does not give +you the right idea of her. When she is happy she looks like a girl. I +have an awful crush on her, Lawrence." He laughed, and fumbled in his +pocket. "This is the picture I like best," he said, taking out a pocket +case. "It was taken years ago for my birthday, and she has never had +another that pleased me so well. It is just like her." He pulled the +reading lamp over and laid the open case down on the table under the +strong light. + +Lawrence looked. + +For a moment he saw the picture clearly, and then as he stared, it swam +off in a sort of mist. He kept his eyes on it and it came back, and +gazed gently, radiantly up at him. But he could not speak. He felt his +knees giving, his heart hammering. It couldn't be true! Something was +wrong! With fingers that fumbled and shook, he felt for his own case, +found it, dropped it, recovered it, and at last managed to open it and +place it beside the other. + +Then he groaned. + +"Eh?" said Mr. Ridgeway, coming back from the dresser. "Lovely, isn't +it?" He looked past Lawrence's bowed head at the two pictures, and with +a great cry, seized them. + +"Lawrence...boy...merciful heavens...where did you get this...explain!" +came bursting from his lips. + +Lawrence gently took his picture, felt under the photograph, and offered +the two pieces of paper--the scrap written over with his name and the +torn bit of newspaper. + +"I was stolen," he said, his lips almost too dry and trembling for +speech. "My brother was drowned. I did not know until just before we set +out. I have always had these. A woman said to keep them. She said they +would lead me to my people." + +So far Mr. Ridgeway had listened. Then with a great and terrible cry, +the cry of a strong man who has been too brave to voice his agony and +has borne it for years, he took Lawrence to his heart. + +The tears of men and the embraces of men should be sacred, and it was +with a feeling that his soul had been washed clean of everything but +thankfulness and love that Lawrence found himself sitting beside his +father later when they were composed enough to talk. Mr. Ridgeway's arm +about his son's shoulder still trembled, and their hands were still +clasped as though they were afraid of losing each other. Again and again +they told each other of the past, again and again Mr. Ridgeway wondered +if his wife would ever be able to stand the shock of joy. + +It was late when they heard the light footfall of Lady Gray as she +passed down the corridor to her room. + +"Let us tell her," said Mr. Ridgeway. "She will know what to do." + +He went to the door, and asked her to call her husband and come in. + +Their joy was as great as it could be when they really accepted the +wonderful fact. It seemed as though no one _could_ go to sleep. Finally +toward morning they settled down, but Mr. Ridgeway could not close his +eyes, and Lawrence, although he obediently shut his, lay awake listening +to his father's uneasy breathing as he stared through the dawn at the +beloved son that had been given back to him. + +Lady Gray had warned them all not to tell the boys, as they might let +the news slip before her sister was prepared for it. So breakfast was +made possible by their appeals to Lawrence to stay on and help them +build a plane. + +As the time for Mrs. Ridgeway's return approached, Lawrence grew almost +unbearably nervous. What if she should not like him? He brushed and +rebrushed his hair. He had asked Mr. Ridgeway to tell her all before +they met. Lawrence wanted his first sight of that pictured face to be +the face of his mother, not a stranger who would give him a friendly +hand to shake. + +So he ran, actually _ran_ for refuge to his room when he heard the motor +come up the winding drive. Gay voices and greetings floated up to his +open window, but he could not look out. + +Downstairs his father would now be taking his wife into the dim library. +He would draw her over to the divan and seat her in the circle of his +arm. Just as they had planned, he would tell her carefully and tenderly +that her son, her own son was found at last, that not both little +fellows had been doomed to the flood. + +"But what if she doesn't like me? What if she doesn't _want_ me?" +Lawrence asked himself over and over. + +Time dragged on; it seemed the day had gone past, yet his watch had +counted off but half an hour. He could not stand it! He took out the +case and, laying the picture on the table, gazed down into its tender +eyes. Then, unable to bear it, he sank to his knees and put his face +against the picture. + +"Mother, what if you do not love me?" he asked, his heart starving. + +As if in answer, the door opened. Springing to his feet, Lawrence +wheeled. + +She stood in the doorway, the picture itself, his Pretty; his mother! + +Their eyes met and held. She did not speak. She gave a little crooning +cry. Her arms were wide and waiting. + +And Lawrence went home. + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dangerous Deeds, by Frank Cobb + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45546 *** |