“The Professor is shrewd enough to know the risk he will run. He took him away from that place because he was afraid Bunk would give him the slip. It would require too much of the Professor’s time to watch Bunk and hold him under his thumb. Besides, what is to prevent our hurrying to Dawson or some other nearby town and securing a writ of habeas corpus from a judge which would require the Professor to produce the body of Bunk in court and explain why he is held in durance,—I believe that’s the way they put it. Such a proceeding would not only be highly unpleasant to the Professor but would be followed by more unpleasant ones,—such as a lunacy commission to look into his own affairs. The aerial trip across the Atlantic would be knocked higher than Gilderoy’s kite.”
“If he is afraid to keep Bunk in his workshop, he can take him to any one of a score of places where he would be as well hidden as now.”
“That is what I’m afraid of. It seems to me we played our parts so well that very little suspicion is left in the Professor’s mind. Were it otherwise he would shift Bunk’s temporary home, though it isn’t likely he can hit at once upon one that is as satisfactory.”
“Then for the present we must continue to be fishermen.”
“So it strikes me, and if he is observing us closely he will admit that we are giving a very good imitation of fishermen,” added Dick as he drew in a bass almost as large as his brother’s. “You are facing the spot where you last saw him; give that as much attention as you do your line.”
Thus the situation remained for more than half an hour, during which two more fish were landed. It irked the brothers thus to sit idle, with the soft summer afternoon slipping past and the minutes going by unimproved. When they left camp it was with high hopes of bringing Bunk back before nightfall, but the prospect looked doubtful.
Suddenly Harvey saw a peculiar flickering agitation behind the rocks where the monoplane had disappeared.
“Something’s up!” he whispered, letting his line fall and bringing his glass again into play. “The Professor is bestirring himself.”
First the widespread wings of the monoplane rose slowly into sight; the powerful engine, slender body and rudders at the rear following. The uplifter was doing duty and the Dragon of the Skies climbed the aerial stairway smoothly and silently.
“See whether he has Bunk with him,” cautioned Dick, looking keenly in the same direction; “that’s the important point.”