Of course, as soon as the flight was fully on, Andy and his chums ceased bombarding the panic-stricken enemy, thinking that they had enough troubles of their own in trying to make the partly open door of the shed.
When he went home to supper Andy had secured a little hand torch of his own, and one that possessed considerable more power than that Percy had fetched along. This he now brought into play; and by shooting the shaft of light ahead he was able to discover the three fleeing figures nearing the exit, and sprawling every-which-way, as they met up with obstacles of all sorts.
“Come on, let’s capture ’em!” shouted Andy, and with his companions he started as if in hot pursuit, though of course this was meant only as a little additional spur, to add to the alarm of the runners.
When Andy and the other two boys broke out of the end of the freight shed they could still hear the frightened fellows banging up against things, for the yard was not kept as neatly as it might have been. One flying figure that they gave chase to fell into an open culvert, and though they looked for him, he had evidently crawled far underneath, in his great alarm, for they could not find a trace of the poor wretch, who must have remained there, wet and shivering, for hours, before he mustered up enough courage to crawl out and sneak home.
Another made a headlong plunge over a pile of scrap iron; and though he managed to scramble excitedly to his feet, when he went off it was hopping on one leg a good deal of the way, and with a series of grunts that told how it hurt.
“I guess that’s enough, fellows,” wheezed Andy, for he was himself so out of breath that he could hardly talk.
The first thing they all did was to bend over, and laugh until their sides really ached. It doubtless looked mighty humorous to the three who had done all the chasing; but those other fellows would have a different story to tell, if asked. But then the old fable is always true, and what is “fun for the boys is death to the frogs;” no fellow ever plays a practical joke that amuses him highly, but what some one has to pay the bill and do the crying.
So Andy led his army back once more to the interior of the freight shed.
“Let’s look to see if they managed to do the first bit of damage,” suggested the leader, and quickly adding, “why, looky here what they’ve gone and left behind ’em—a hatchet, an augur, a chisel, a screw driver—enough tools to stock a carpenter shop. Now, if we knew who owned these, we’d have it on him pretty strong.”
But when, in the morning, Andy started an investigation, thinking that the tools might serve to identify the three boys who had entered the railroad freight shed bent on damaging the crated aeroplane, he found that Percy Carberry with his customary shrewdness had looked out for this and covered his tracks deftly.