“Tamales and terrapins, that would be a nice proposition, I should think!” ejaculated Pudge.
“Let’s step out and look around a little,” suggested Frank. “Perhaps we may find some trace of these unwelcome visitors who have managed to get up here to our door in spite of the soldier standing guard by the gate of our stockade.”
“They must have come from the water side, Frank,” Pudge was heard to say as he followed the others down the stairway that led to the ground.
“Be careful how you step around,” cautioned Frank. “Here, both of you plant a foot alongside mine, and in that way we’ll have a set of prints to go by. Now notice just what they look like, and see if you can find any fresh marks that are different in some way from ours.”
It was an easy task he had set them, for almost immediately Billy sang out to the effect that he had made a discovery, and hardly had he ceased speaking when Pudge announced that he, too, wanted Frank’s opinion on a footprint that was much too large to have been made by any of them.
A further hunt revealed the fact that apparently three parties must have been at the foot of the steps leading up to their locked hangar. This important discovery was anything but pleasant to Frank Chester; it told him that a crisis was undoubtedly approaching their enterprise, which would seriously affect its success or failure.
What if, after all their earnest work, just when the wonderful seaplane had been made ready for a flight, those secret emissaries of the Germans managed to steal it away! Doubtless they had prepared for just such a stroke, and had an experienced air pilot hovering around so as to take charge of the hydro-aëroplane after it was successfully launched.
That would be the last the aëroplane boys would ever see of their valuable property. In time of war all devices are recognized as proper, and this theft of the American seaplane would be hailed as one of the most glorious feats of the German arms, as well as a serious blow at the air power of the Allies.
“There’s only one thing to be done,” said Frank, turning to the stout chum, “if you are game to tackle it, Pudge.”
The fat boy winced but set his teeth hard together.