ANDY RECEIVES A SHOCK.
"Then it was Jules who set fire to our shed!" exclaimed the boy,
astounded.
"None other, you may be sure," replied Chief Waller, nodding his head.
"And made off on my wheel?" continued Frank, beginning to grasp the
truth.
"That's just what he did," went on the official. "Found he couldn't
steal your aeroplane and was bound to lay his hands on something
belonging to the Birds that would carry him out of danger. Glad you
came, Frank. I'll just call up all the surrounding towns and ask if a
bicyclist has been seen there. I hope you can describe the wheel so they
might know it."
"Yes, I even know the number. Besides, I've got my address scratched on
the under-part of the frame. But whatever do you suppose Jules wanted to
set our hangar on fire for?" Frank asked.
"Huh!" replied the chief; "don't know, unless it was a spirit of
revenge. Some of these French rascals have the same nature as the
Corsican or the Sicilian and hug the idea of revenge to their hearts."
"Revenge!" Frank cried. "But when did we ever injure them? Oh, yes, I
forgot! We chased them off at the time they tried to steal our
aeroplane, and they even neglected to take those two suit cases of
jewelry with them, so the stolen property was recovered."
"Yes," the chief went on, "and that wasn't all, either. Remember that it
was you Bird boys who discovered that they were hiding in the old shack
deep in the forest. You saw them near there when you were sailing over
that region in your airship and reported to me. And so we surrounded the
cabin and nabbed our game. It may be they learned who gave them away,
and Jules, on finding himself at large, made up his mind to get even
before running off."
Turning to the phone on his desk the chief now started to call up
several of the neighboring towns. Some were only six or eight miles
away, while others might be double that and more.
Frank knew where the road ran that passed the Whympers place and when
finally the police head got Shelby he pricked up his ears. Immediately
he saw Chief Waller show signs of sudden interest. A smile crept over
his face as though he were hearing news that pleased him. Then he
engaged in a hurried conversation with the police official at the other
end of the wire, after which he turned to Frank.
"I think I've located your wheel, Frank," he observed.
"Over at Shelby, you mean?" queried the other.
The chief nodded in the affirmative.
"Yes, over at Shelby," he said. "It seems that early this morning a
wagon belonging to a countryman coming in to market was stopped by
something lying on the road. Getting down, the farmer found that it was
a man, badly injured, as if he had taken a header from a wheel. And,
indeed, a bicycle was found close by, with some parts of it damaged, as
if it had been run at full speed against a rock, sending the rider ten
feet away, where he landed on his head and was knocked out."
"Was it my wheel?" asked Frank.
"He described it, for the farmer brought both man and wheel to police
headquarters, and there can be no doubt but that it's yours. And the
unfortunate rider answers to Jules. Now, I'm going to get an automobile
at the garage and go over. If you want to go along I'd be glad to have
you, Frank."
"I certainly would," replied the boy, quickly. "I hope the poor fellow
didn't go so far as to break his neck. But let me go after a machine for
you, chief. I've got an errand at the garage anyhow, as my dad wants a
mechanic sent up to potter at his little runabout, out of commission as
usual. He's ordered a better car, you know, and is only waiting for it
to be delivered. Shall I go?"
"Yes. Tuttle will know which machine I generally use when on official
business, for you see the town pays the bill. Be back as soon as you
can, Frank."
"Yes, sir," replied the other, hastening away.
The mystery was now solved, and, after all, Puss had been proven
innocent on this last count. Frank laughed to think how amazed Andy
would likely be when he heard the news.
"I only hope he doesn't happen to run across Puss before I get a chance
to open his eyes," he was saying to himself, as he headed for the nearby
garage. "Because I really believe Andy is mad enough to challenge our
old enemy and throw the accusation in his teeth. Then there would be a
high old mix-up, with Puss in the right for once."
It did not take him long to deliver both messages. He saw a mechanic
start off to tackle the disabled runabout for the doctor, so he could
carry out his round of morning visits by ten o'clock. And then a
chauffeur ran a car out of the garage into which he invited Frank to
jump.
When they arrived at police headquarters the chief was awaiting
them. Evidently he was not at all averse to this delightful spin across
country on a fine July morning and with nothing to pay. Official
business might sometimes prove worth cultivating.
Presently they were off. Frank, of course, knew every rod of the way. He
had more than a few times made the trip over to Shelby on his wheel in
company with Andy. And since they had taken to the air they had looked
down upon that road for miles, as they whirled along hundreds of feet
up, discovering features about the landscape that they had never dreamed
of before they had this "bird's-eye view," as Andy delighted to call it,
playing upon their own name.
In due time they reached Shelby and drew up in front of the building
where the police held forth. The first one to meet their eyes as they
entered was a familiar figure seated in a chair and attended by a doctor
and a couple of officers.
"It's Jules, sure enough!" said Frank, as, despite the many bandages
about the head of the man, he recognized the dapper little French
aviator with whom he had had more or less trouble in the past.
And Jules grinned as he saw them. His spirit was not crushed, even
though it began to look as though he might be the football of fate.
"It ees ze fortunes of war, messiers," he said, wincing at the pain
speech caused him. "And after all, it was ze machine of ze young
inventor zat downed me. I am von lucky man not to haf been five thousand
feet up in ze air when it occur. Had eet been ze monoplane zat kicked
me, pouf! poor Jules he would haf been as flat as ze pancake. As eet is,
after I haf serve my time I am yet alive."
Frank found his bicycle badly damaged. In fact, the front wheel was
smashed beyond recovery, for it had been driven against some stone at a
tremendous pace. Strange to say, the lamp had gone through it all
without any apparent damage.
"A few dollars will fix it up, all right," he said, cheerfully. "And I
guess I ought to be thankful ever to see it again."
So he placed the wheel in the back of the big touring car. The doctor
announced that Jules might be moved without danger if they were careful,
and this Chief Waller promised he would be.
"You're giving us a heap of bother, Jules," he said, after the captured
rascal had been safety stowed away in the tonneau of the car, with the
chief beside him and Frank mounting to the front with the
chauffeur. "But this winds you up. I understand your trial comes off
tomorrow and you'll soon be snug in the pen."
"Zat was ze knowledge zat urge me to break out," remarked the prisoner,
blandly.
"Well," remarked the other, with a tightening of his lips, "we'll make
sure you don't get another opportunity, that's all."
Frank watched as they drew near the place of Colonel Josiah. He
anticipated that the prisoner would be eager to look across the field to
where the shed stood. Nor was Frank surprised to hear him give a low
cry.
"Eet is wonderful, ze luck zey haf!" Jules remarked, as he discovered
that the hangar had not burned to the ground as he expected, and after
that he relapsed into gloomy silence.
Frank had caught sight of Andy passing along the street ahead and
entering the Bloomsbury postoffice. So as soon as he could get his
broken wheel into the bicycle store, where he left orders for its being
fixed at once, he hurried off, in hopes of intercepting his cousin and
breaking the great news.
He was just in time to see Andy coming out of the building and staring
hard at something he held in his hand. Frank could see that it was a
letter and he also noticed that his chum was unusually pale.
"Now I wonder what he's got?" asked Frank, talking to himself, as many
boys often do at times. "Looks like a letter, too. Once in a while the
colonel asks him to go down when the mail comes in and see if there is
an important one for him, which he can't wait for the carrier to bring
out. And Andy has got one this time, sure."
A moment later and he came upon Andy, who at sight of his chum showed
signs of relief.
"I'm awful glad you came along, Frank," he said, seizing the other by
the sleeve; "I was at your house and they told me you had gone downtown
somewhere. Then, as the mail was in, I remembered Colonel Josiah was
expecting one of his letters from London, and so I dropped over. But
there was nothing for him. Mr. Guthrie handed me out this and said he
guessed it was for me. Oh, look where it is from, Frank! Do you
think--can it be possible that it means some news, after all this time,
from my father?"
Frank saw it was rather a bulky letter and that the postmark showed a
station in South America. Remembering all that had passed between them
in connection with this country he understood the cause of Andy's great
emotion.
"I was almost afraid to open it, Frank," said the other, brokenly.
"Well, do it now," remarked Frank, and Andy tore the end off hurriedly.
He appeared to read hungrily for a minute, and then gave a cry of
amazement.
"Oh!" he said, taking in a big breath, "how strange! how wonderful!"