CHAPTER XV
AT THE AERODROME
"That is the machine I want, Mr. Randolph," said Dave Dashaway.
It was two days after the young aviator had told his friends at Columbus the name of the person he suspected of stealing the aero-hydroplane, the Drifter from the Interstate Aeroplane Company.
Now, he and Hiram and the manager of the Interstate plant stood amid the half hundred or more aero machines that comprised the stock of one of the largest factories in that line in the country.
They had left the aero meet at Columbus the evening previous, not, however, until Dave had explained how he came to suspect Jerry Dawson.
"It's simple and plain, Mr. King," the young aviator had said. "The badge I bought from the tramp at Bolton was the property of young Dawson."
"Sure of that, Dashaway?" Mr. King had inquired.
"Oh, yes. The initials are crude, but they certainly stand for 'J.
D.' and not 'T. O.' as the tramp thought."
An inspection of the duplicate badge by both Mr. King and Hiram satisfied them that Dave's theory was correct.