"They hear us!" exclaimed Andy, whose position, somehow, allowed him to see better than any of the others, "yes, they've changed their course, and are heading this way now. It's all right, Frank; we've won out, I guess!"
But Frank was keeping an eye on the two men. He did not mean to give them even the slightest chance to play a trick in the eleventh hour. Frank Bird was a pretty hard fellow to catch napping, he usually had his eyes open, and especially when he knew there was danger around.
The tug came booming on, and they could see that there were quite a number of people aboard.
"What if some of them are from Bloomsbury?" suggested Andy. At which his cousin laughed.
"You didn't stop to think twice before you made that break, Andy," he remarked. "Tell me, by what conveyance could they have got to the lake ahead of us, when we came through by lightning express at the rate of nearly a hundred miles an hour at times? But I can see they are expecting to take charge of our friends here, because there's an officer aboard. Just keep where you are, Casper; your goose is cooked, and there's no need of making matters worse."
The man settled back again with a growl, and then burst out into a reckless laugh.
"Small difference it makes, I guess, boys, how the thing's done, so long as we've got to go to the lock-up. You might just as well have the credit for the job as anybody; and man to man, now I want to say that I'm full of admiration for the fine way you handled that hydroplane of yours. If so be you're the Bird boys I've been hearing so much about, you've got the making of crack-a-jack aviators in you. That's about all from me now."
The tug came alongside, and the two men were assisted aboard, where the police officer saw that they were promptly ironed.
"We got the word from Bloomsbury, and your father hired this tug right away, Andy Bird, to follow you out on the lake, if so be you kept after the rascals," said a tall gentleman with a white mustache, who, they afterwards learned, was the mayor of the city on the lake shore. "Now what can we do for you?"
"Please stand by, and let's see if we can get away," answered Frank, "if not we'll have to go on board, and tow the hydroplane behind, but since relieved of so much extra weight the pontoons have risen again; and I expect she'll go."