CHAPTER I
THE DESERTED AIRPLANE
“See that! Look! There’s our mystery!”
Bob Wright pointed from the cabin window of the monoplane. Al, his younger brother, peered toward the ground.
“What? Where? Show me any mystery!”
To make himself understood above the roar of the engine, Bob put his lips close to Al’s ear while Curt, Bob’s closest friend, also a passenger, bent close to catch his words.
“It’s a mystery all right—but you can’t see from here. It was in that cornfield we passed over.”
“What’s the mystery?” Curtis Brown’s eyes snapped with eagerness.
“Why did you say ‘our’ mystery?” Al asked at the same instant. Bob answered both at once.
“The mystery is: Why is an airplane hidden in the grove at the edge of a cornfield? Our mystery because we discovered it and because, ever since we helped father solve his detective cases and took an interest in aviation we have wanted to solve something that connects up puzzles and ’planes!”
“A ‘crate’?” Al stared out. “I don’t see it.” Bob was not there to reply. He moved up to the pilot, Langley Wright, his cousin, who was test pilot for the Tredway Aircraft Corporation and who was giving this beautiful “job” its final test and check flight.