“Well, whether it’s Jones or not—Jones has something to hide, this proves. Otherwise he’d have scribbled a word or two for Al, and thought no more about it.”
“That’s so.”
“It simplifies things, doesn’t it?” Al, speaking after Curt’s agreement, was not so sure as his words indicated.
“It makes them more complicated,” Bob retorted. “Let’s see what we know and where we stand.”
As they rode slowly, he tabulated their clues and theories and discoveries, with many interruptions from his companions.
“First of all,” he began, “we saw a mysterious brown airplane hidden in the woods. Then, when we went there, it was gone—and this note was flung aside. The crate took off in a hurry because we saw heavy tracks, and made in a hurry, by the way they looked. Then there was a crack-up at Rocky Lake and we found out Mr. Tredway was in the Silver Flash that crashed.”
“And we saw a man come to try to help, swimming across the lake,” Curt broke in.
“And then we met Barney and he and Father called us in to help solve the Mystery Crash,” added Al.
“We learned there was more mystery than just the fall of the crate,” Bob went on. “That was bad enough; but there was more! Parts were being stolen from the aircraft plant, and ‘planes had been tampered with—after tests showed them to be perfect!—and——”
“When we went there to work in the plant,” Curt was eager to add his contribution to the sum of their recollections. “We saw Mr. Parsons acting suspiciously, and Griff, too.”