“Go on, Frank. Please don’t wait any longer than you have to,” pleaded Billy.
So Frank, a minute or two later, called to them to come and see what a splendid little change he had made in the gear of the deflecting rudder of the big seaplane.
It was a thrilling moment for the three boys when they began to move in the direction of the locker where Frank believed a spy had taken refuge many hours previously. As he had suggested, they walked on their tiptoes, each fastening his eager gaze upon the door which they expected to presently pull suddenly open.
When they had taken up their positions according to Frank’s plan, he gave the expected signal.
“Now, everybody!”
The locker door was dragged open in spite of the fact that something seemed to be clinging desperately to it from the inside. No sooner had this been accomplished than the boys, stooping, seized hold of the doubled-up figure they could see in the cavity under the bench, and started to drag with might and main.
“Don’t try to draw a gun or you are a dead man!”—Page [125].
Although the man in hiding made a powerful effort to resist the pressure brought to bear upon him, he was hardly in a position to do much.
They dragged him out, squirming like a rat taken by the tail, and trying to hold on to every object, however small, as a drowning man will catch at a straw. No sooner was he in full view than Pudge dropped down on his back with all his force.