SUSPICIOUS CONVERSATION
There was intense excitement aboard the _Comet_. So, for that matter,
was there also on the _Winner_, for at first Noddy and Bill did not
know but that their own craft had been damaged. But, as they kept on
rising, in response to the uptilted rudder, Noddy was sure they were
all right. He quickly brought his craft up on a level keel, and then
swept around in a big circle to see what was happening to the _Comet_.
“Lively, boys!” cried Jerry. “Turn on the machine at full speed, Ned,
and that will check us until we can get under way,” for they were
motionless when the accident occurred.
Ned had acted the instant he heard Jerry’s call, and now a double
quantity of the lifting gas was pouring into the ripped bag.
Though the rent was a large one, the bag was made in a number of
compartments, so that only the two that were ripped open by the
_Winner_ lost their vapor. The others were more fully distended and
served to check the downward rush of the airship.
After a sickening plunge the _Comet_ gradually slowed up in her
descent, and when within a few hundred feet of the earth she glided
ahead as an aeroplane, her propellers forcing her onward.
But there was not chance enough to get up much momentum, and, as they
ran into an adverse current of air, which continued to force them
earthward, and, as for some reason the main motor was not working well,
Jerry concluded to make a full descent, so he could see what damage had
been done, and then rise again.
“Stand by to make a landing!” he called to his chums; and a moment
later the _Comet_ came to rest on the level green meadow while above
her the _Winner_ winged her flight through the air.
“Well, wouldn’t that jar you!” exclaimed Ned in great disgust.
“I should say so,” remarked Bob. “It’s just like Noddy Nixon’s
freshness. He ought to learn how to run an aeroplane in the
kindergarten class before he comes out with the high school boys.”
“I’ll make him pay for our damaged bag!” declared Jerry firmly. “He
ought to have known better than to try that stunt. I’ll make him soak
up for it all right.”
The boys were standing beside their craft, and Jerry was peering upward
trying to discover the extent of the tear in the gas bag.
“I’m afraid it was all my fault,” said Andy Rush, more quietly than he
usually spoke. “If I hadn’t challenged Noddy the way I did it might not
have happened.”
“Oh, well, you didn’t mean anything,” consoled Ned. “Besides, Noddy
might have done it anyhow. Even if you did call to him he ought to have
known better than to try to cross over us so close. I guess Bill Berry
put him up to it. Don’t worry Andy. Is it very bad, Jerry?”
The tall lad had climbed up in the rigging that held the bag, and was
critically examining it.
“Two of the compartments are all ripped to pieces, and there’s a
small tear in a third one,” Jerry reported. “We’ll have to put on big
patches. I’ll make Noddy pay for this.”
“Can we get home?” asked Bob.
“Of course. You forget that as an aeroplane we’re as good as ever,”
responded Ned. “Say, look at Noddy though, he’s flying high.”
Indeed, the bully and his crony were making a successful flight, and
were now but a mere speck in the sky.
“He’s doing better than I ever expected he would,” remarked Jerry. “I
hope he steers clear of us after this. He needs half the upper region
to navigate in. If he goes to the Colton meet we won’t enter any of the
events he’s in.”
“I should say not!” exclaimed Ned earnestly.
There was nothing that could be done toward repairing the _Comet_ now,
so, after letting all the gas out of the bag, and seeing to the defect
in the main motor, which was in the ignition system, the boys made
ready to fly home as an aeroplane.
The propellers were started, and the motorship skimmed over the meadow.
It was rather an uneven course, and the boys were pretty well jolted
up, but they managed to acquire enough speed to lift their craft, and
once in the air the machine soared high. In ten minutes they were in
front of the hangar, and the _Comet_ had been wheeled inside.
“Are you really going to tackle Noddy about paying for the damage?”
asked Ned, as he walked beside Jerry toward the latter’s house.
“I sure am! I’m going over there to-night, and if he won’t pay I’ll
see his father. It’s time that bully found out that he can’t have
everything his own way.”
“Want Bob or me to come along?”
“No, I think I can do better alone, thanks. If we all go we might get
into a quarrel. I’ll tackle him alone.”
In accordance with his plan, Jerry set off that evening, leaving
Professor Snodgrass at home classifying some of the specimens he had
caught that day. There were many lights in the Nixon mansion, which was
set in the midst of extensive grounds, for Mr. Nixon was quite wealthy.
“Looks as if they had company,” mused Jerry. “I guess I’ll find Noddy
home. He always is if there’s any eating going on--like Bob,” and he
smiled in the darkness.
But Noddy was not at home--at least, that is what the maid said who
answered Jerry’s ring. The tall lad was right in his surmise that
something was going on at the Nixon home, for he could see many guests
in the parlors, and he caught the strains of music.
“Is Mr. Nixon in?” he asked, determined to make an appeal to Noddy’s
father.
“He is, but he’s very busy. I doubt if he’ll see you,” was the reply,
and, after thinking it over Jerry concluded that it was an inopportune
time to make his demand.
“I’ll see him to-morrow,” he said as he turned away.
The shed where Noddy kept his aeroplane was some distance from the
house, but on the same street, for Mr. Nixon owned a large piece of
property adjoining his residence. It was in front of this shed that
Jerry found himself a few minutes later.
He gazed up at the big, dark building, and his thoughts were not very
pleasant as he recalled the damage the bully had done to the _Comet_
that afternoon.
“I wonder where Noddy is?” mused the tall lad. “He and Bill are
probably off somewhere together. I wonder if he could be in here?”
Jerry paused. There was no light visible in the shed, and our hero
was about to pass on, when something--some impulse he could not
define,--caused him to turn and advance a little way inside the fence
that surrounded the building. The gate was open.
“Oh, pshaw! They can’t be in there,” thought Jerry. “I might as well go
home.”
But at that instant there came to his ears the sound of voices in
cautious conversation. He listened intently.
“I tell you it’s too risky,” he heard some one say, and in a moment he
knew it was the tones of Bill Berry.
“Oh get out! You’re afraid!” retorted Noddy Nixon. “We can easily do
it, and get safely away.”
“But the police?” objected Bill.
“Bah! They’ll never suspect that we’re going to do anything like that.
And, even if they do we’ll have the job done and get away before they
know anything about it. I tell you it’s perfectly safe. Isn’t it worth
trying for?”
“Yes, I s’pose it is--but if we’re nabbed?”
“We won’t be I tell you,” and Noddy seemed half angry. “Most of the
police will be at the Colton meet, anyhow.”
“Do you think you can handle the machine well enough?” asked Bill.
“I know I can. Look what I did to-day.”
“Yes, you did cut it pretty fine,” admitted Bill.
“And I guess I gave those fellows a scare they won’t soon forget!”
chuckled Noddy.
Jerry clenched his hands in anger. But he was not yet ready to make his
presence known.
“Then you’ll go in with me on it?” asked Noddy, after a pause.
“Oh, I suppose so. If we’re caught it can’t be----”
“We’ll not get caught!” declared Noddy again. “The Harmolet police are
too sleepy for anything like that to happen. There’ll be a big surprise
when they wake up in the morning and find it gone,” and he chuckled
again.
Then the voices died away, and it seemed as if the two cronies had gone
inside the shed, outside of which they had evidently been standing in
the darkness when Jerry overheard their conversation.
The tall lad hesitated a moment, uncertain what to do. Then he murmured:
“I guess I won’t say anything to Noddy to-night. I’ll wait and see what
sort of a game he’s up to. It sounds suspicious to me.”