“It reads: ‘Permission is hereby given Noddy Nixon and his friends to take out the Comet,’ and it’s signed with my name,” replied Jerry. “But go on, Sud. What happened next?”
“Well, when I saw the note I thought everything was all right, though it looked queer. Still it wasn’t up to me to say anything. Then Noddy went around as if he owned the place, and he began explaining to the old man with the white beard how the airship worked. He said that in it he could rescue the friends of the old man without any trouble.”
“I wonder what that rescue means?” mused Jerry. “Can some of Mr. Bell’s friends be held prisoners; and has he come to us for help, only to be roped in by Noddy Nixon?”
“It looks that way,” declared Bob.
“There’s some mystery here,” asserted Ned, “and it’s up to us to solve it.”
“And we’ll do it!” exclaimed Jerry. “Go on, Sud, tell us all you can. This is getting deeper and deeper.”
“There was some talk between Jerry and the old hermit, as you call him,” resumed the watchman. “The hermit said he would pay well for the use of the airship, and Noddy seemed to know all about running it.”
“Yes, though he hasn’t had much experience, he can run an airship all right,” admitted Ned. “He’s watched us.”
“Well,” went on Sud Snuffles, “they talked of going out West, and as I knew you boys had planned to go on your vacation in the Comet I wondered at your giving permission for that. It was this talk that made me suspicious, and I hung around where Noddy was talking to Mr. Bell, as you say his name was. That seemed to make Noddy mad, and he told me to go to bed. I wouldn’t do it, and, when the elderly man was away up in the front part of the airship cabin—for he inspected every part of it—Noddy and Jack Pender came close to me. Before I knew what was happening they both sprang at me, and knocked me down. I tried to yell and I fought as well as I could, but they were too much for me. The last I remember is feeling them tie something over my mouth, then I smelled something queer, and I seemed to go to sleep. The next thing I knew after hearing confused sounds, as if something was being smashed, was when you awakened me.”
“The smashing you heard was them battering away at the big bolts on the front door,” was Bob’s opinion, and his chums nodded. The portal fastened with bars and bolts instead of a lock and key.