The bands played, the crowds waved hands and handkerchiefs and cheered, the clowns carried out all their funny stunts, and the procession moved on through the city of Lafayette. Students from Purdue University followed the paraders and blew long blasts through tin horns. Rajah showed signs of becoming restless, and Ben Ali's attention had to be given entirely to the big brute.
Matt, with one hand on the steering lever, kept the unwieldy machine moving in a straight track.
"What do you suppose Ben Ali was listening to Carl's talk for, there on the inside of the menagerie tent?" inquired the cowboy, his voice so low it could not possibly reach Haidee. "I had a notion that——"
"Sh-h-h!" Matt interrupted. "I had the same notion, Joe, but it was only a wild guess, at the most. He's a prying chap, that Ben Ali, and he might have had only a casual interest in what Carl was saying."
"I'll bet a ten-dollar bill against a chink wash ticket that there was something more to it than that."
"Well, if there was, it's bound to come out, sooner or later. Say nothing, but keep your eyes open."
"I've always felt that there was a mystery about the girl and Ben Ali, and that——"
McGlory broke off suddenly. Haidee, with the quickness of lightning, had leaned over behind him and jerked one of the levers at Matt's side.
The next instant the big aëroplane took a wild jump forward. The king of the motor boys was alive to the danger in an instant.
"Hold the girl!" he cried, and instantly flung the lever back.