"Come to Washington immediately by plane," the wireless read. "Land Potomac below city. Secrecy important."
And they didn't know that as he wrote this message General Bronson had had his own little chuckle at the expense of the Secretary of War, who seemingly knew so little about hydro-aeroplanes as to suggest that they land at Fort Meyer.
"Shoemaker should stick to his last," the head of the air service had muttered into his mustache as he penned the summons.
Among the four men in Halifax, however, there was almost uncontrollable excitement and anticipation. They had put two and two together, and true to the law of mathematics it had made four. In other words, they were convinced that their summons to the national capital was directly connected with the international situation.
Everything pertaining to their plane had been ready even for an over-sea attempt since the careful inspection which had followed the capture of Henryson in the hangar. They hurried there after reading the summons, to add the final details before their flight to the capital. This done, they ran the big bird-like machine out on its skids and down to the surface of the water. In less than an hour they were ready for the start.
"Trial on a day like this?" asked one pilot who sauntered up curiously.
"Not exactly a try-out," Big Jack replied, instantly realizing that here was a chance to lull suspicion and still idle gossip which otherwise would be awakened by their strange trip and stranger disappearance. "We're going to put her to some real preliminary tests in a long flight over land. Of course, with the pontoons on, instead of wheels, we'll hug the coast line, so as to be able to land quickly if necessary; but we don't anticipate any trouble, although we may make it a two-days' trip."
"H'm," the other man responded, looking at them queerly, as though he thought they were joking and expected them to laugh.
"See you in a day or two," Andy sang out as he opened the throttle. The engine began to bang out its challenging explosions and the propellers started to whirl.