The window was open. Through the aperture a form had quickly scrambled. Dave felt sure that some underhand work was in progress.
“Hey, there; who are you? What are you up to?” he shouted.
As he challenged, Dave ran towards the ladder. The person descending it hurried his progress, leaped from it, cast a hurried look at the approaching youth, and darted across the street.
Our hero noticed that he held in one hand a small black case about ten inches square.
As the fugitive turned the street corner he looked again to see how closely he was being pursued. The lamp light fell full upon his face.
“The mischief!” fairly shouted the amazed young aviator. “It’s Jerry Dawson!”
CHAPTER VII
AT THE AERODROME
Dave Dashaway was greatly startled. All along the line of his airship experience Jerry Dawson had crossed his path, always in a threatening and troublesome way. A quick thinker, the young aviator traced a new menace in this unexpected appearance of the scampish plotter.
“It certainly means no good for either my friends or myself,” reflected our hero. “What mischief has he been up to inside the aerodrome? That flash meant something. What?”
Dave ran on for a bit, but soon discovered that he was wasting time in striving to overtake the fugitive. Jerry had made good his escape among the scattered buildings beyond the street corner where he had disappeared from view.