Inquiries, however, showed that Noddy had not come back. Nor had Jack Pender, and as Mr. Nixon was a man who never considered that his son did wrong, there was little use in appealing to him.
“We’ll work this out ourselves,” decided Jerry, and his chums agreed with him. The airship was housed in the shed, and, when the broken bolts on the big front doors had been repaired, Sud Snuffles was again placed in charge, with strict orders to admit no one except the motor boys, or some one accompanied by them.
“And you can make up your minds that I’ll be careful,” declared Sud, feeling of the lump on his head, which swelling was still in evidence. “They’ll have to get rid of me first, before they get in this shed now.”
That night there was a consultation among the motor boys and their parents. Jerry showed the letter Noddy had dropped, which seemed to indicate that an attempt would be made on the part of Noddy and his cronies to get control of the gold mine in Arizona.
“I think we ought to go out there,” declared Jerry, “to protect our mine, and also to see if we can’t locate Mr. Bell and his mysterious friends, whom he is so anxious to aid.”
“Oh, Jerry, are you going on another one of those dangerous trips?” exclaimed Mrs. Hopkins, in much anxiety.
“It’s not so dangerous, mother. We always come safely back from them.”
“You have, so far,” remarked Mr. Slade. “But there is no telling. I don’t much fancy airships.”
“They are safer than automobiles,” declared Bob. “You can’t hit anything in the air.”