“I have a suggestion to make,” Green said, then. “Why not go on to Frisco in the aeroplane and ask for instructions? You can make the trip in the airship in no time, but it is a long ride by rail.”
“I think,” Ned replied, with a laugh, “that the game will be ripe just about the time I get to Frisco by rail. Besides, I don’t want the outlaws to know that I’m going to the city. They would know it if they saw the aeroplane making for the coast. Well, if I leave Frank navigating it in this district they will think I am still here. Don’t you see?”
“Go it!” laughed Green. “I reckon you know what you’re about.”
“Anyway,” Ned said, “I’ve got to play the game in my own way if I play it at all.”
“I see,” observed Green, and the two parted.
The aeroplane had not been damaged at all by the fire, but Ned went over it carefully before attempting a start. Sawyer, trembling with fright, was brought out to show where he had meddled with the machinery.
“I didn’t harm it any,” the prisoner said.
“There are some burrs missing,” Ned said.
Sawyer brought half a dozen out of a pocket and passed them to Ned with a reluctant hand.
“I neglected to tell you that I had them in my pocket,” he said.