“All right,” said Deland, “here she goes. But this is a different kind from that I throwed in the street. This kind you touch off like a rocket, by lighting this end, when it shoots up into the air. You’ll be surprised when you see it go. It’s my own invention; all of ’em aire. And I think I’ve hit on a thing that’s goin’ to make my fortune.”
The spy in the tree had grown so interested in all this that he had nearly forgotten what he was there for.
He saw Deland set the small white object on its large end, on the ground; and then he saw him light a match and touch the lighted match to the sharp, or upper, end. Almost instantly there was a flash and a roar.
Something that was blazing bright shot by him with a whistling screech, so alarming and astonishing him that he emitted a yell, and fell headlong out of the tree.
The bomb sailed on into the sky, sputtering like a rocket, as the “pigeon” struck the ground.
Though Deland and Denton were both astonished by this tumble of the man out of the tree, they were not too surprised to act promptly. Deland sprang on the man, and bore him backward to the ground, as the fellow tried to rise. He yelled for Denton to come to his aid, and this Denton did with such alacrity that he seemed not to be very weak, after all.
As for the spy, the fall had knocked the breath out of him. This, with his astonishing tumble from the tree, and the thing that had preceded it, made him an easy victim. Almost before he knew it, Deland had him by the throat and was choking him, and the younger man was also throwing himself on him, helping to hold him down.
The rockety thing that had flashed into the sky exploded there, emitting a big puff of white smoke that sprayed out and began to form what was in shape a small cloud.
“Let up!” the spy gurgled, as he felt Deland’s fingers dig into his throat.
However, Deland did not let up until young Denton had secured one of the horsehair lariats, and from it had made cords and bound the prisoner.