“We all believe that. What of it?” inquired the young pilot of the craft in question.
“So, I’ve dreamed—only dreamed, mind you—of maybe some time going and looking for them.”
“Ho! ho!” laughed Hiram. “I guess you have no idea of what hunting around the place where the thief landed might mean. If he really had them and lost them, or hid them, or threw them away, there’s half a mile of thicket, gully and creek to go over, with about one chance in a thousand of hitting the right spot. You never ran across such a mixed up place.”
“It’s because I was once right in it all for a week or more that I got interested,” explained Bruce.
“Well, there may be something in your idea, Bruce,” admitted Hiram. “Just now, though, we’ve got more important business on hand. We must add twenty points to our thirty before sundown, you know.”
“Oh, I hope you make it!” said Bruce ardently. “I’ve been worried ever since the Syndicate crowd beat in the altitude work.”
“Beat! who’s—beat! what?” almost shouted Hiram, becoming vociferous, and looking wrathful. “Mr. Brackett and Dave are saying little and thinking a good deal. They may talk out when the governing committee passes on the prizes. I’m doing some guessing myself, and I’d give all I’m worth to see one man for just one minute, and that’s Mr. Borden.”
“Aha!” cried Bruce—“got a secret yourself, have you?”
“Never mind if I have. It isn’t the time to talk about it just yet,” retorted Hiram mysteriously. “I’ve got some common sense, though, and lots of confidence in the word of Dave Dashaway. You heard what he told us about that altitude climate. It nearly finished him, even with that new oxygen device aboard. He was soaked, frozen, exhausted when he landed, wasn’t he? And Valdec wasn’t even damp! Again, Dave says he never caught sight of the Whirlwind over the 7,000 foot level. There’s another county to hear from!” concluded Hiram, “and I’ve got something under my hat.”
“What, Hiram?” asked Bruce, but his comrade only laughed, and walked off to greet Mr. Brackett and Dave, who, at that moment, approached the hangar.