The engine had stopped, for, half the propeller being broken, the other half had embedded itself deeply into the ground. Collins came running up, half frantic with fear, but was soon reassured by the pair of intrepid aviators, who unstrapped themselves and quickly climbed out of the wreckage. Ere long a flare was lit and the broken wing carefully examined; it was soon discovered that “The Hornet” had been tampered with, one of the steel bolts having been replaced by a painted one of wood!
“This is the work of the enemy!” remarked Ronnie thoughtfully. “They cannot obtain sight of the silencer, therefore there has been a dastardly plot to kill both of us. We must be a little more wary in future, dear.”
Ronald’s shrewdness did not show itself openly, but having made a good many inquiries, both in Harbury village and elsewhere, he, at last, was able to identify the man who had made that secret attempt upon their lives. Of this, however, he said nothing to Beryl. “The Hornet” was repaired, and they made night flights again.
Ronald anticipated that a second attempt would be made to obtain the silencer. Taking Collins into his confidence, he made it his habit each dawn, when they came home from their patrol of the coast, to leave in the little office beside the hangar the box which contained the silencer, the secret of which he knew the Germans were so very anxious to obtain.
For a fortnight nothing untoward occurred, until one morning soon after all three had returned from a flight to London and back, they were startled by a terrific explosion from the direction of the hangar.
“Hullo!” exclaimed Ronald. “What’s that?”
“The trap has gone off, sir,” was Collins’s grim reply.
All three ran back to the shed, whereupon they saw that the little office had been entirely swept away, and that part of the roof of the hangar was off. Amid the wreckage lay the body of a man with his face shattered, stone-dead. “He thought the box contained the silencer, and when he lifted the lid he received a nasty shock, sir—eh?” Collins remarked.
“But who is it, Ronald?” gasped Beryl, horrified.
“The man who made the attempt on our lives a month ago, dearest,” was her lover’s reply. “Come away. He has paid the penalty which all spies should pay.”