“Are you sure the box was open?” persisted Mr. Black.
“It was,” declared Jerry, his face flushing at this implied doubt of his word.
“I—I guess I unlocked it, and forgot to close it,” put in Mr. Brown.
“Huh! Mighty careless of you—Jake—I mean James,” said Mr. Black, hastily correcting himself. “Now you fellows clear out,” he went on. “We’s going to make a flight, and we don’t want to be bothered.”
Silently Jerry and his chums left the enclosure. Mr. Black followed, and locked the gate after them. Our heroes returned to the hotel lobby.
“Say, they’re regular fire-eaters,” declared Ned.
“Yes, they get on their ears mighty quick,” said Jerry.
They found the hotel clerk quite disturbed.
“Say, did they make much of a fuss?” he asked anxiously. “They came for the key of the gate directly after you boys left, and I tried to put them off. But they wouldn’t have it, and then I told them some aeroplanists were out looking at their machine. Whew! They ran out as though the sheriff was after them. Did they raise much of a row?”