“They may be the MacGuffins,” whispered Hiram, intensely wrought up with excitement.
“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Dave. “Mr. King, let us try to get nearer to them.”
“Yes, we may learn what is going on and give our friends some help, if they need it,” replied the airman.
They had to cover half a mile in a cautious detour. This finally brought them to a thicket not thirty feet distant from their friends and enemies. Mr. King lay flat on the ground behind some high bushes, and his companions followed his example. Dave bent his ear keenly, to catch what the leader of the invading party was saying.
“That don’t go with me,” the man said. “How do we know that you ain’t here to spy on us? We fine trespassers here and we charge rent for the use of our property.”
“You must own the whole state, you fellows must,” snapped out Grimshaw.
“We run this district, if you want to know it,” retorted the outlaw. “Usually we just string up spies.”
“But we are no spies,” declared the professor, earnestly.
“We don’t take your word for that. Come, you’ve got to pay your reckoning. You scrape us up as much as two hundred dollars among you, or——”
The speaker waved his hand significantly in the direction of the Albatross.