At this moment a sound was heard that brought them all to their feet. It was a shout from the crowd which grew nearer every minute. As the boys ran to the door to see what could be the matter, and if the uproar had been induced by an accident to one of their competitors, they saw a sight that made their eyes dance.
A small boy was laboriously dragging toward the shed the missing lever while the crowd pressed about him enthusiastically.
"Hurray!" shouted the boys. "We'll be in the race after all."
The small boy soon told of his discovery of the lever in a clump of bushes into which he had crawled in search of a missing ball he had been playing with. He did not know what it was he had found, till one of the crowd who had read the "Lost" notice, recollected it and told the lad to take his find to the Golden Eagle shed. There certainly was one happy soul in Mineola that day as the little fellow pranced off with the easiest money he had ever earned.
But happier still were our young heroes, as they rapidly adjusted the lever and fitted their craft for the race, the starting moment for which was now only a brief time away.
"You have never told us who that man was, Mr. Joyce," reminded Frank.
"No, I have not," replied the old inventor, his excitement rising, "but I will tell you now. It was Luther Barr, the—"
He got no further.
"Luther Barr," amazedly echoed the boys, "has he gone into the aeroplane business?"
"He has, with the fruits of my industry," exclaimed Mr. Joyce. "Do you know him? I imagine from your expressions that you do?"