The lads had no snowshoes to impede their progress this time, and the race to the hangar was a real contest, given zest by the anticipation of the ludicrous spectacle that was to greet them there. Slim-limbed Don won out, but he had hardly poked his head in the partially opened door when the other three were on the scene.
For a moment all four of the young men went into veritable convulsions of laughter. They roared out in gales of merriment which they could not suppress. For the time they forgot either to pity poor Captain Allerson, "town constabule," or to resent the evident malicious interference of Henryson, which evidently had brought both men into their present predicament.
Here was the despised Henryson, apparently clutching for dear life at one of the heavier braces of the plane, although in reality the trap had worked and he was caught there, unable to separate himself from the stiff current which the lads had connected up; while Captain Allerson seemed to be in an even worse plight, his present attachment being to the engine, through which an even heavier current of electricity was flowing.
"What in Heck ye laffin' at, anyway?" the captain finally managed to bawl out, at the same time tossing his head quickly to throw off the streams of perspiration which were coursing down his wrinkled brow.
"Oh, ho! Oh, my golly," gurgled Andy, half doubled up with laughter.
"Grab it! Capshure it! Step on it! Do somethin'. Kill it!" the old whaler yelled in strident panic.
Henryson, however, who knew exactly how he had been caught—knew not only that, but that his previous schemes must have come to light, else the trap would not have been set for him—kept a pained silence, his face aflame with anger and shame.
At length Big Jack managed to put on a stem judicial appearance, although only with the greatest difficulty. He viewed the pair severely for a moment, and then, grave of visage and in the most biting tones he could control, he pretended not to understand the situation at all, and demanded an explanation.
"What does this mean, anyway?" he stormed. "I find you two in our hangar, apparently about to carry off our plane, according to your positions, and all the time yelling 'Leggo!' and 'kill it!' and a lot of other nonsense like that. 'Leggo' what? And who do you want killed?"