"No cog ever slips," replied Harris, "with King in charge of the engine. He knows what he's doing, every time and all the time."
"Vell, you bed my life!" cried Carl. "He iss my bard, too, und I mighdt schust as vell haf peen mit him und der Hawk, Harris, as running aroundt mit you in La Grange. Vat ve dit vasn't nodding. Ve hat to come pack py Modor Matt to findt oudt vat vas going on."
"No dream about that, either," said Harris grimly. "We did a lot of telegraphing, in La Grange, but even that was lost time if Brady has given us a proper steer."
Matt had thrown more power into the propeller. In spite of her heavy load the Hawk was making about twenty miles an hour. The wind was behind her, what little there was, and that helped.
"Now that we're going in good shape, Matt," said Harris, "tell me what Brady said."
"Dick will do that, Harris," answered Matt. "I want to give my whole attention to the engine."
Ferral gave the three officers and Carl the gist of Brady's information.
"First time on record, I guess," commented Burton, "that a crook like Brady ever walked right back into the 'pen.'"
"It's a cinch that he wouldn't have walked back, either," observed Harris, "if he hadn't been so hungry to land Pete and Whipple in the same place. We're coming close to River Forest now, Matt," the officer added, taking their bearings with a critical eye, "and we've got to be careful not to arouse the curiosity of the townspeople. That line of timber, over there, marks the course of the river. Caspar's house is about a mile to the right. You'd better turn from the railroad and strike across country. And you'd better keep as low as you can, so the woods will screen our approach to the house. If Whipple, or Pete, should see us, they might try to clear out in that automobile."
The turn at right angles to their course carried the Hawk across farming land and toward a point of the woods near which, Harris stated, the Caspar mansion was located. In order to keep the timber between the air ship and the house, Matt dropped so low that the bottom of the car only safely cleared the fences.