It was arranged that Mr. Damon should take the automobile back, with Tom's mechanician in it, and Tom and Ned would scout around in the aircraft, which carried only two.
"You ought to have a machine gun with you, Tom, if you plan to attack those fellows to get back the tank," Ned said.
"Oh, I don't imagine I'll need it," he said. "Anyhow, a machine gun wouldn't be of much effect against the tank. And they can't fire on us, for there wasn't any ammunition for the guns in Tank A, unless they got some of their own, and I hardly believe they'd do that. I'll take a chance, anyhow."
And so the search from the air began. It was disappointing at first. Around and around circled Tom and Ned, their eyes peering eagerly down from the heights for a sight of the tank, possibly hidden in some little-known ravine or gully.
Back and forth, like a speck in the sky, Tom guided the Hawk, while Ned took observation after observation with the binoculars.
At last, when the low-sinking sun gave warning that night would soon be upon them, Ned's glasses picked up something on the ground far below that made him sit suddenly straighter in his seat.
"What is it?" asked Tom through the speaking apparatus, feeling the movement on the part of his chum.
"I see something down there, Tom," was the answer. "It doesn't look like the tank, and yet it doesn't look as a clump of trees and bushes ought to look. Have a peep yourself. It's just beyond that river, against the side of the hill—a lonesome place, too."
Tom took the glasses while Ned assumed control of the Hawk, there being a dual system for operating and steering her.
No sooner had the young inventor got the focus on what Ned had indicated than he gave a cry.