IN SEARCH OF A NEW PLUG.
It was while they were still discussing the situation that the
automobile with Jake at the wheel and Miss Prescott and The Wren in
the tonneau, drove into the grounds. What a difference there was in
the child since her benefactors had fitted her out! She looked like
a dainty, ethereal little princess instead of the ragged little waif
that had been rescued from the gipsy camp.
But the minds of our young friends were now intent on different matters.
Time pressed. The altitude flight, in which Jimsy had planned to take
part, was to be the first thing on the program. If anything was to be
done about reequipping the _Dragon_ it must be done quickly.
"Tell you what," said Roy suddenly, "we'll get into the car and drive
back to town. It won't take long and maybe we can dig up an extra one
some place."
"If we don't I'm out of it for keeps," groaned Jimsy; "oh, that Kelly.
I'd like to punch his head."
He doubled up his fists aggressively; but, after all, what chance had he
to prove that Kelly had actually damaged the plug. If confronted the man
would have probably denied all knowledge of it. Nobody had actually seen
him do it, so that positive proof was out of the question. No, they must
repair the damage as best they could.
But Roy determined to have the machines closely guarded. The situation
was explained to Miss Prescott, and while she and her small protégé took
seats in the grand stand Jake was detailed to guard the aëroplanes. This
done, the boys got into the machine and prepared to start for town. But
the girls interfered.
"Aren't you going to take us along, you impolite youths!" cried Bess.
"Oh, certainly, your company is always charming," returned Jimsy, with
a low bow.
"Of course it is, but you wouldn't have asked us to come if we had not
invited ourselves," declared Peggy vehemently.
"How can you say so? Our lives would be a dry desert without the girl
aviators to liven things up," declared Jimsy.
"Jimsy Bancroft, if you are going to get poetical you'll leave this
car," cried Jess.
"That's just it," declared Jimsy, "girls can cry their eyes out over
romantic heroes, but when a regular fellow starts to get 'mushy' they
go up in the air."
Amidst the chorus of protestations aroused by this ungallant speech Roy
started the car. Swiftly it sped out of the grounds; but not so swiftly
that the keen eyes of Lish Kelly did not see it.
He called Herman Le Roy, the Cuban aviator, to him.
"Le Roy, you are not in the altitude contest," he said, "hop in my car
with me and we'll follow those kids. They're up to something."
The Cuban looked at him and smiled, showing two rows of white teeth
under his small, dapperly curled mustache.
"I think, Señor Kelly, you have been up to something yourself."
"Well, you know what I told you. We want that five-hundred-dollar prize,
Carlos, and by the looks of things if we don't do something those kids
are likely to get it."
"They have fine machines," agreed the other.
"Yes; and they are equipped with a balancing device that makes them much
more reliable than ours."
"A balancing device!" exclaimed the Cuban, as the two men got into the
car, a small yellow runabout of racy appearance.
"That's what I said, and it's a good one, too. I read an account of it
in an aviation paper; but the description was too sketchy for me to see
how the thing was worked."
"Those boys must be wonders."
"I'm afraid they are. That's why we've got to be careful of them. But
I've got a plan to fix them, the whole lot of them."
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you as we go along."
As the car rolled past the group of aëroplanes with Jake faithfully
standing guard over them, Kelly hailed him in a suave voice.
"Any idea where the young folks have gone?"
Jake, who had no idea that Kelly had a sinister motive in asking the
question, replied readily enough.
"Yes, they've gone into Millbrook to get another spark plug. Something
happened to one of the plugs of that red machine yonder."
"All right. Thanks."
Kelly drove on.
"Do you know what happened to that plug, Carlos?" he asked, as they
reached the open road and bowled forward at a good speed.
"I've got a pretty good guess. It was not altogether an accident, eh?"
"An accident, well, it was, in a sense. I happened to be near that
machine with a monkey wrench and in some way was careless enough to
let it put that plug out of business."
Both men laughed heartily, as if Kelly's rascally act had been the most
amusing thing in the world.
"You are a genius," declared Le Roy.
"Well, I reckon I know a thing or two," was the modest response;
"besides, I need that money."
"But what is your plan?"
"I'll tell you as we go along. Drive fast, but don't keep so close to
that other car that they can get sight of us."
"Not much fear of that. They had a long start of us and are out of
sight now."
"So much the better. It doesn't interfere with my plans a bit, provided
they take the same road back."
"What do you mean to do?"
"Are you good with a shovel?" was the cryptic reply.
"I don't understand you, I must say."
"You will later on. We'll drive up to that farmhouse yonder."
"Yes, and what then?"
"We'll borrow two shovels."
"Two shovels!"
"That's what I said."
"But what on earth have two shovels to do with stopping a bunch of kids
from entering in an aëroplane race?"
"Carlos, your brain is dull to-day."
"It would take a wizard to understand what you intend to do."
"Well, you will see later on. Drive in this gate. That's it, and now
for the shovels."