"How smart some people can be, eh, Elephant? Hits it the very first guess," and Larry winked at his chum as he said this, purposely keeping Andy on the anxious seat.
"Perhaps you've been butting up against some sort of bulldog, too?" suggested the other, quickly.
"No such good luck, because the girls have kept away from here," replied Larry.
"Then it was Percy?" Andy persisted.
Larry only shook his head in the negative; while Elephant took occasion to remark:
"We saw him cutting all sorts of figures in the air with his new biplane. And say, don't you forget it, Percy is some pilot. He sure did skim around to beat the band. You ain't going to have any walkover, Frank."
"I understand that, Elephant," replied the other, soberly. "And I'm the last one underrate a rival. Percy is just as good as I am in this business. His weakness lies in his spirit of recklessness; and giving way to temper when things seem to be going against him. He may beat me; but he'll have to do his level best."
"But looky here," Andy broke in. "That ain't telling us who was here,
Larry."
"Guess again," answered the other, who liked to tease.
"I just can't think of anybody; unless it might happen to be that meddling, mysterious Mr. Marsh again," and then, seeing the raised eyebrows of Larry admit that he had hit the nail on the head, Andy went on: "What d'ye think of that, Frank; the bump of curiosity is pretty big with that gentleman. Now, what excuse did he have this time for invading our camp; and did he try to push into the shop like the last time he dropped around?"