"We came up to look over the machine," Collins said.
"Well, you keep away from it," the other replied, fixing his eyes keenly on the face of the boy.
"This lad," Collins said, then, motioning toward Ned, "knows something about an aeroplane, and wants to inspect this one."
A sly wink followed the remark. It was getting rather cheap to Ned. The collusion between the two was so evident that their attempts to conceal it appeared very slazy.
"Yes," Ned put in, "I'd like to look the machine over."
"You came in that other aeroplane?" was asked.
Ned nodded, and Collins broke in:
"He's an expert, but he has no machine just at present. A member of his party took his machine away this morning," he added, with a chuckle.
"So Rowan said," the alleged farmer replied.
"Rowan?" repeated Ned. "Is that the name of the aviator who runs this machine?"