“All right!” came the answer.
Mr. Ridgeway turned to Lawrence. “I think that ought to satisfy you, my boy. O’Brien received my message written in the President’s private study on his private paper and sealed with this seal. It never leaves me and cannot be duplicated. There are secret lines in the carving, as delicate as the lines on a bank note. Oh, it is O’Brien all right! And he says that Smith is behind, but evidently following him. Just as we planned every bit of it.”
Lawrence gave a sigh of relief.
“I am certainly glad,” he said. “I don’t know what made me so suspicious.”
“Well, I hope you are satisfied now,” replied Mr. Ridgeway, laughing.
“I am,” said Lawrence slowly; “but I know I am not.”
Mr. Ridgeway slapped him on the back. “What a boy!” he exclaimed. “Within an hour at most O’Brien will be laughing at you, and I will, too. I wish this fog would lift. It is dangerous for two balloons the size of these to approach when they cannot see to manoeuver. However, we are all right. Unless it is absolutely necessary to borrow something for his engine, O’Brien will not try to board us. We can swing him almost anything he wants.”
“I can hear him coming now. There is something wrong! The engine on that ship never made a noise like that.”
Lawrence listened, and wondered dully if it was O’Brien’s car, but he did not care to be laughed at, so kept silence, only asking, “Shall I take the wheel?”
“Perhaps you had better,” said Mr. Ridgeway, “and when the cars come together allow for the wind. It is blowing from the north, and I told O’Brien to keep to the right as he came up. Coming on the left, we might be blown together and entangled. So allow for that and keep pretty well away until we know what he wants.”