"I know that what I have done is against me," went on Brady, with an odd, pleading note in his voice, "but just now I have hazarded everything on a single throw, and if you refuse to trust me you'll regret it—on Helen's account. I tell you she's in danger. Of course you can load me into the Hawk and take me back to South Chicago, but when the worst happens to the girl you're going to be sorry."
Matt pondered the subject for a few moments. There was nothing he wouldn't have done for Helen Brady, but her reprobate father was not the one to show him his duty in that direction.
"Where are Pete and Whipple?" he asked.
"They're hiding in La Grange, but they don't know anything about where I am. It's those black-hearted scoundrels who are making all the trouble for Helen." The old fierceness crept into Brady's voice. "I'll get even with the whelps if I hang for it!" he cried. "They can't turn against me without footing the bill! They ought to be in the 'pen' and I'll land them there before I go back myself. We can do this, King, and we can save the girl—if you will only help me. Don't take me back to South Chicago until we have captured Pete and Whipple and saved Helen! I know I have been tricky with you, and that you have just cause to suspect my motives now, but I declare to you solemnly that all I ask is a chance to get even with Pete and Whipple and to take Helen out of their hands."
"Miss Brady was spirited away by Pete and Whipple?" asked Matt, his nerves quivering at the very thought.
"Yes, and they're keeping her a prisoner now. If you——"
Just here Carl came running out from the shadow of the trees.
"Dere vas two fellers coming dis vay from der canal," he cried excitedly, "und dey vas coming on der run. Ve haf got to do somet'ing un do it kevick!"
"It's a trap, after all!" exclaimed Matt. "Ferral, you and Carl pick up Brady and hustle him over to the car. Get ready to cast off and make a swift start from here. Look alive, now, or we'll be head over heels in the trouble Harris was afraid would come our way."
As Matt spoke, he ran toward the trees and the air ship, intending to cast off the mooring ropes himself. His foot struck against something, which he found to be a piece of a dead branch from one of the trees. He possessed himself of the club, with the intention of using it if he was interfered with in his work.