“Have you any clue as to what has become of the Comet?” asked Hiram.
“I have a very strong theory,” replied the young aviator. “Whoever made away with the Comet did not venture to fly north—too many machines were on their way to the meet, and they would be seen. The manager wired in every direction. An unknown airship was sighted twice, early this morning, both times about fifty miles from Washington, going southwest and making for the mountain districts.”
“What do you guess from that, Dave?” inquired Hiram, eagerly.
“I think they are trying to hide or lose the Comet until it is too late to start in the race. Of course, hopeless as it may seem, we must try and recover the machine.”
“Yes, the Zephyr cannot begin to compare with our special machine,” said Hiram.
“Besides that,” added Dave, “I hope to find out who ran away with the biplane. If Vernon is indeed back of it, that discovery would throw a good deal of light on a certain subject in which I am greatly interested at the present time.”
Hiram was prudently silent. He wondered to himself, however, if the subject at which his companion hinted had anything to do with the young lady in the automobile and Dave’s visit to the Hampton Flats.
It was about eleven o’clock when the young airman stopped at a town named Wayne. He made a second stop at a little settlement ten miles beyond. The automobile had now gotten well in among the hills, and the scenery had grown wilder and wilder.
“Some airship passed over here just before daylight this morning,” Dave finally reported to Hiram.
“Do you know the direction it went in?” asked the latter.