CHAPTER XVII
TROUBLE
It was hard for the young pilot of the Scout to set his mind upon anything outside of his missing chum. As Hiram approached Bruce, however, it was quite natural that he should be attracted by two dazzling sparks of flashing light.
“Diamonds!” cried Bruce, moving the two pins about so as to display their brilliancy to advantage.
“Sure as you live!” agreed Hiram. “Where did you get them?”
“I found them behind, and under the cushion of the cockpit seat. Don’t you understand, Hiram?”
“How they got there? I don’t.”
“Why, it’s clear, to my way of thinking. The man the police chased, who made you take him in the Scout——”
“Why, say, that may be so,” agreed Hiram with a start. “He must have been loaded with them, to drop them around promiscuously that way.”
“They slipped from his pocket probably,” explained Bruce. “I don’t believe he had got rid of his plunder, as the police think, when he made for the Scout. I believe he had them with him, else what are these pins doing here? Hiram, you said it was Wayville, didn’t you? That was the town nearest to the place where the robber fell into the gully.”