“That’s it—Nixon. Well, Hoswell left in a hurry when Nixon came here and told him something.”
“I guess Noddy told him how the game was going,” said Jerry, “and Hoswell skipped out. He probably knew we’d be along soon. But I wonder how Noddy came to locate Masterly?”
“Hoswell put him up to that,” said Mr. Glassford. “I asked Masterly about it, and he said Noddy came to the tent, introduced himself, and made his bribery proposition, which we so fortunately overheard. Very likely Hoswell heard of Masterly’s presence here and decided to try and get ahead of me. But he got a dose of his own medicine.”
“I only hope he didn’t damage the ship for revenge,” remarked Ned. “It would be just like him, or Noddy, to try to break some part of it.”
“That’s so,” agreed Mr. Glassford, an anxious look coming over his face. “We must make an examination.”
With trained eyes and hands Mr. Glassford rapidly went over the ship. It seemed to be all right, and the boys were beginning to congratulate themselves that they could make a trip yet that day, when the inventor uttered an exclamation of dismay.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry quickly.
“The steering lever—the one that operates the elevation and depression planes—it’s gone—it’s been taken off!”
“Taken off?”