“All right, you admit that then,” and Ned seemed to be getting ready for an argument, as he often did in some of the college debates. “Now for point number one. Do you remember, Dad, and you, too, Mr. Baker, how we made out that time we took the trip on the Atlantic in our motor boat? You didn’t think, then, that we’d get what we went after; but we did.”
“Yes, you did,” admitted Mr. Baker, slowly.
“And after that,” went on Ned, like an attorney following up an argument in court, “we made an airship. You said, Dad, you didn’t believe it would go up; but it did.”
“Yes, and we got the fortune in it, too!” added Bob, who had remained silent as long as was possible for him.
“That’s right!” exclaimed Mr. Baker. “The boys certainly turned the trick that time.”
“And then,” went on Ned, relentlessly, “do you recall how we patrolled the border for Uncle Sam, and caught the Canadian smugglers, when nobody else could get a line on them?”
Mr. Slade scratched his head reflectively.
“Well, I do give you credit for that,” he said. “I never thought you’d do it. But——”
“Well, if we caught those smugglers in the air where there wasn’t much of a trail to follow, why can’t we get after the cattle rustlers?” demanded Ned. “This ought to be a whole lot easier.”