“We had several narrow squeaks!” admitted Tom, as he paused to allow the news reel men to make moving pictures of him.
“Oh, Tom, I’m so glad you’re back!” murmured Mary. “And I guess Helen is glad to see Ned, too,” she added, as Tom noticed his chum being greeted by another pretty damsel.
“Has anything been heard of any of the other contestants?” asked Tom when his time had been officially set down. “How about the Red Arrow?”
“Hasn’t been heard from,” some one said. “And most of the others gave up soon after starting.”
Just then a reporter came bursting into the crowd.
“The Red Arrow just crashed in New York harbor!” he cried. “She’s a wreck!”
“Too bad!” murmured Tom. “We didn’t get here any too soon,” he added to Ned. “Whew, but I’m tired!” And well he might be, for the last part of the trip had been a terrible strain.
The Air Monarch was wheeled into a hangar and left in charge of the three mechanics while Tom and his friends, after a reception in New York, made ready to go back to Shopton.
Meanwhile further news came of the wrecking of the Red Arrow. Her motors, worn by excessive strain, had collapsed just when Kilborn might have given Tom a close finish, and the machine, a complete wreck, fell into the water. Some of her crew were seriously hurt, and it was thought her pilot would die.
Under this impression Kilborn made a complete confession, admitting that he had set Hussy and another man on not only to steal Tom’s secret if possible, and, failing in that, to try to cripple Tom and disable the Air Monarch.