“We’ll go over to the house,” replied Johnnie.
“Mother will be there, and Dad is at work somewhere about the place.”
They hurried over to the farmhouse, and found both of Johnnie’s parents right at hand. It was a pleasant meeting, for Jimmy had known the Lees all his life. He had little time for visiting, however. Most of the little visit he spent in asking Mr. Lee questions about the burning plane and the effort to save the mail. When he had all the details he could gather, he said goodbye to Johnnie’s parents. Then the two lads walked back to the landing field.
Jimmy started his engine and let it run a few minutes to get warm. When he was ready to depart, he held out his hand to Johnnie. “I am ever so glad I found you,” he said, “and I am more than grateful to you for what you folks did for Warren Long last night. You have helped me a lot, Johnnie. I won’t forget about you when I get back to New York. If there is anything I can do for you, I will certainly do it. Now I must be off. They want these pictures at the office just as soon as they can get them. Good-bye.” And Jimmy was off.
CHAPTER IV
Jimmy Makes Good
His mind white-hot with the fire of interest, his very soul atremble with eagerness to get the gripping story on paper, Jimmy drove his plane through the air like an eagle cleaving the sky. A stiff west wind that had sprung up hurled him onward. And Jimmy climbed high to get every ounce of help possible, for at the higher altitudes the wind was almost a gale. So he reached his hangar in an amazingly short time. He ran his ship under cover and saw that the gasoline supply was replenished immediately, to prevent the condensation of moisture in the fuel tanks as the ship cooled. Eager though he was to write, Jimmy was taking no chances of getting water in his gasoline. His oil supply was also replenished. These things attended to, Jimmy turned immediately to the business of getting his story ready for print.
A taxi took him speedily to the Morning Press office in Manhattan. There he told his city editor what he had learned. And he told it so eagerly and so convincingly that that usually bored individual sat up and listened with interest.
“If you can put that on paper as well as you tell it,” said the city editor, “you may write three-quarters of a column. We’ll run two or three pictures with it, if they are any good, and play the story up for all it’s worth.”
“What did you learn from Hadley?” asked Jimmy. “Have you heard from the man you sent down there?”