The boys had small notion then that they were butting into a real business proposition, but one that did not advertise!
They were just curious to find out from where came the busy birds that would not take time to visit with their brothers and sisters.
The most that the tower observers could discover, even with the field glasses, borrowed without leave from Roque's traveling outfit, was that the next bird comer took its bearings over a red-roofed building, rising out of a circle of tall trees, a full mile to the east.
Had it so happened that Roque was in a social mood, and the boys making him a confidant of their bird study diversion, there would, without doubt, have been no delay in striking at the heart of the problem—and everything else under that red roof.
Carrier pigeons were not beneath the notice of the big man with the delicate touch!
But Roque was not inclined at the time to indulge in fireside fancies. He was hooked up to a procession of events that needed constant attention, and as it was all ground work for the present, he had no use for aviators.
So he missed the first bang at the very musser-up of his plans whom he was, day and night, seeking to locate.
"We'll amble out that way to-morrow and learn how to break pigeons of the loafing habit."
Billy had once had a loft full of pouters in Bangor, that, he claimed, ate their breakfast in bed!
"We'll shake Schneider and start early."