“Where, Tom?”
“A circus.”
“How so?”
“Those fragments of sentences on the card lead me to believe that the message should read about this way: ‘I am a prisoner in the hands of two bad men about thirty miles from Rockley Cove, in the circus at Wadhams, shut up in the lion’s cage.’”
Ben was on his feet in a bound, his face flushed with excitement.
“I’ll bet you’ve solved it, Tom. And there is a circus at Wadhams just now. Why, it’s just the place where these toy balloons would be likely to be on sale. And the mention of a lion’s cage! That fits to a circus, too! I don’t understand, though, how Harry has managed to send the balloons aloft, if he was shut up somewhere prisoner.”
“We won’t try to guess that out now,” said Tom. “Here is certainly a big clue. Harry is an ingenious fellow, and somehow has managed to float these messages. I want you to stay here alone for a spell.”
“Where are you going?” inquired Ben.
“To report to my father instanter,” replied Tom; and he was off speedily.
It was the middle of the afternoon before Tom returned. Ben was anxiously awaiting him.