“He had that!” Sandy agreed.
And Dick, as they entered the hangar, rolled down the doors, set the switch at neutral and he was alone with Sandy in the pitchy blackness, echoed the sentiment.
A new idea flashed into Sandy’s mind.
“Do you know,” he spoke through the darkness. “Dick, we’re not watching that amphibian at all! If Jeff did come here and managed to get away, he’d go straight there and fly off.”
Dick agreed, declared that with Larry and Mr. Whiteside within call he dared to wait in the hangar alone, and Sandy, going out through the secret way, encountered Larry and the detective, consulted them, had their sanction for his idea and hurried off toward the next estate.
Thus divided up, the Sky Patrol spent dull hours waiting.
But patience is always rewarded!
CHAPTER XXIX
SANDY’S TRAIL
Wearisome though his vigil was, Sandy made the best he could of it by going over all the events that had happened.
With his chums he had become friendly with Jeff at the newly opened municipal airport. Jeff had flown them to the old estate, pretended that his motor died, simulated a forced landing, then explained it all in a way that looked sincere enough at the time—but now!——