CHAPTER XXV.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
On the following day, at the appointed hour, Hiram and his three chums turned up at the offices of the Golden Gate Aviation Supply Company, where the final exchanges were made. Hiram handed over his papers to the new owners of his invention, and received their check for the balance of the purchase price.
At Rob’s solicitation he proceeded to the city and opened an account at a bank, against which he could check from time to time as he needed cash in pursuing his work.
Then, having now relieved themselves of all source of worry and anxiety, the four Eagle Patrol members gave themselves up to the full enjoyment of their holiday.
What wonders they continued to see as they daily visited the great Fair, would take volumes to describe. New and amazing things were constantly cropping up as they prowled hither and thither through devious ways that up to then they possibly did not know existed. There was a constant succession of surprises awaiting them with each new day.
“Why, I honestly believe,” Tubby declared many times as they discovered some display that up to then had eluded them, “everything that was thought of in the whole world must be included in the exhibits inside this enclosure. I’ll never get over being thankful to Uncle Mark for fetching me here. And to think that I was given a chance to be with the dearest chums any scout ever had—that’s a whole lot the best thing of it all. Oh, it was certainly my lucky day when I decided to go up on that Aëroscope, because only for that we never might have met at all; and just think what I would have missed.”
“The sight of Hiram here winning his prize for one thing; that was a spectacle for sore eyes, let me tell you!” remarked Andy. “We’re all proud of him, and we want him to know it too.”
“Then there was that fire scare,” said Hiram, “when Rob got the blaze smothered with that little extinguisher before the regular department arrived on the spot—don’t forget to count that as something, Tubby.”
“And the mad dog chase, with our leader again demonstrating what a scout should be able to do when an emergency arises,” Andy added. “The poor dog got shot, but there was no human being injured in the panic, which there might have been only for the handsome way Rob coaxed the cur to slip inside that inclosure.”
“Yes,” added Tubby, anxious to display his view, “and we don’t want to forget about Jared Applegate, either. He gave us something of a racket, you remember, by sneaking into that room at the hotel, and hiding under your bed when he heard us coming along the hall.”