“I should say so,” vociferated Elmer. “You see, Dave in his hurry forgot that package under his pillow. There’s a photograph——”
“Of the girl who came in the automobile! What is it Dave calls her? Oh, yes—Edna Deane.”
“And that pile of bank bills, Hiram!” cried the astounded Elmer, as he gingerly flicked over the edge of a heap of bills surrounded by an elastic band. “Big bills! See, look! Why, there must be hundreds there!”
“Hundreds?” repeated Hiram, equally dumbfounded, like his comrade. “See the printed figures on that paper band—‘$5,000.’ Don’t touch them, cover them up. It’s Dave’s business, and we have no right to spy into his affairs. All the same—thunder!”
Elmer replaced the pillow. Then both boys sat down on stools and stared at the cot and then at each other.
“It’s a mystery,” broke out Elmer, after a tantalizing spell of silence. “What’s Dave doing with all that money? It puzzles me.”
“No, it’s what is he going to do with it,” corrected Hiram. “You can make up your mind, it’s business. The girl’s picture I can’t exactly figure out. Dave will explain it all when the right minute comes. Here he is now.”
Somewhat flushed, the young aviator came hurrying into the tent. Hiram pretended to be arranging his necktie and Elmer was lacing a shoe. Dave proceeded to the bed and threw aside the pillow. He stored the package he found there in an inside pocket.
“You want to hurry, fellows,” he said. “There’s a lot to do this morning, you know.”
There was so much to do, that after a hurried breakfast the crew of the Comet found every minute occupied for the ensuing two hours. The Comet was in perfect trim for the start. There were a hundred little things to think of in the way of supplies and duplicate parts of machinery. Mr. Brackett appeared on the scene early, and went over the biplane he understood so well with the care and anxiety of an automobile owner entering his pet car for a race.