CHAPTER VII.

ANDY RECEIVES A SHOCK.

"Then it was Jules who set fire to our shed!" exclaimed the boy, astounded.

"None other, you may be sure," replied Chief Waller, nodding his head.

"And made off on my wheel?" continued Frank, beginning to grasp the truth.

"That's just what he did," went on the official. "Found he couldn't steal your aeroplane and was bound to lay his hands on something belonging to the Birds that would carry him out of danger. Glad you came, Frank. I'll just call up all the surrounding towns and ask if a bicyclist has been seen there. I hope you can describe the wheel so they might know it."

"Yes, I even know the number. Besides, I've got my address scratched on the under-part of the frame. But whatever do you suppose Jules wanted to set our hangar on fire for?" Frank asked.

"Huh!" replied the chief; "don't know, unless it was a spirit of revenge. Some of these French rascals have the same nature as the Corsican or the Sicilian and hug the idea of revenge to their hearts."

"Revenge!" Frank cried. "But when did we ever injure them? Oh, yes, I forgot! We chased them off at the time they tried to steal our aeroplane, and they even neglected to take those two suit cases of jewelry with them, so the stolen property was recovered."

"Yes," the chief went on, "and that wasn't all, either. Remember that it was you Bird boys who discovered that they were hiding in the old shack deep in the forest. You saw them near there when you were sailing over that region in your airship and reported to me. And so we surrounded the cabin and nabbed our game. It may be they learned who gave them away, and Jules, on finding himself at large, made up his mind to get even before running off."

Turning to the phone on his desk the chief now started to call up several of the neighboring towns. Some were only six or eight miles away, while others might be double that and more.

Frank knew where the road ran that pa.s.sed the Whympers place and when finally the police head got Shelby he p.r.i.c.ked up his ears. Immediately he saw Chief Waller show signs of sudden interest. A smile crept over his face as though he were hearing news that pleased him. Then he engaged in a hurried conversation with the police official at the other end of the wire, after which he turned to Frank.

"I think I've located your wheel, Frank," he observed.

"Over at Shelby, you mean?" queried the other.

The chief nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes, over at Shelby," he said. "It seems that early this morning a wagon belonging to a countryman coming in to market was stopped by something lying on the road. Getting down, the farmer found that it was a man, badly injured, as if he had taken a header from a wheel. And, indeed, a bicycle was found close by, with some parts of it damaged, as if it had been run at full speed against a rock, sending the rider ten feet away, where he landed on his head and was knocked out."

"Was it my wheel?" asked Frank.

"He described it, for the farmer brought both man and wheel to police headquarters, and there can be no doubt but that it's yours. And the unfortunate rider answers to Jules. Now, I'm going to get an automobile at the garage and go over. If you want to go along I'd be glad to have you, Frank."

"I certainly would," replied the boy, quickly. "I hope the poor fellow didn't go so far as to break his neck. But let me go after a machine for you, chief. I've got an errand at the garage anyhow, as my dad wants a mechanic sent up to potter at his little runabout, out of commission as usual. He's ordered a better car, you know, and is only waiting for it to be delivered. Shall I go?"

"Yes. Tuttle will know which machine I generally use when on official business, for you see the town pays the bill. Be back as soon as you can, Frank."

"Yes, sir," replied the other, hastening away.

The mystery was now solved, and, after all, Puss had been proven innocent on this last count. Frank laughed to think how amazed Andy would likely be when he heard the news.

"I only hope he doesn't happen to run across Puss before I get a chance to open his eyes," he was saying to himself, as he headed for the nearby garage. "Because I really believe Andy is mad enough to challenge our old enemy and throw the accusation in his teeth. Then there would be a high old mix-up, with Puss in the right for once."

It did not take him long to deliver both messages. He saw a mechanic start off to tackle the disabled runabout for the doctor, so he could carry out his round of morning visits by ten o'clock. And then a chauffeur ran a car out of the garage into which he invited Frank to jump.

When they arrived at police headquarters the chief was awaiting them. Evidently he was not at all averse to this delightful spin across country on a fine July morning and with nothing to pay. Official business might sometimes prove worth cultivating.

Presently they were off. Frank, of course, knew every rod of the way. He had more than a few times made the trip over to Shelby on his wheel in company with Andy. And since they had taken to the air they had looked down upon that road for miles, as they whirled along hundreds of feet up, discovering features about the landscape that they had never dreamed of before they had this "bird's-eye view," as Andy delighted to call it, playing upon their own name.

In due time they reached Shelby and drew up in front of the building where the police held forth. The first one to meet their eyes as they entered was a familiar figure seated in a chair and attended by a doctor and a couple of officers.

"It's Jules, sure enough!" said Frank, as, despite the many bandages about the head of the man, he recognized the dapper little French aviator with whom he had had more or less trouble in the past.

And Jules grinned as he saw them. His spirit was not crushed, even though it began to look as though he might be the football of fate.

"It ees ze fortunes of war, messiers," he said, wincing at the pain speech caused him. "And after all, it was ze machine of ze young inventor zat downed me. I am von lucky man not to haf been five thousand feet up in ze air when it occur. Had eet been ze monoplane zat kicked me, pouf! poor Jules he would haf been as flat as ze pancake. As eet is, after I haf serve my time I am yet alive."

Frank found his bicycle badly damaged. In fact, the front wheel was smashed beyond recovery, for it had been driven against some stone at a tremendous pace. Strange to say, the lamp had gone through it all without any apparent damage.

"A few dollars will fix it up, all right," he said, cheerfully. "And I guess I ought to be thankful ever to see it again."

So he placed the wheel in the back of the big touring car. The doctor announced that Jules might be moved without danger if they were careful, and this Chief Waller promised he would be.

"You're giving us a heap of bother, Jules," he said, after the captured rascal had been safety stowed away in the tonneau of the car, with the chief beside him and Frank mounting to the front with the chauffeur. "But this winds you up. I understand your trial comes off tomorrow and you'll soon be snug in the pen."

"Zat was ze knowledge zat urge me to break out," remarked the prisoner, blandly.

"Well," remarked the other, with a tightening of his lips, "we'll make sure you don't get another opportunity, that's all."

Frank watched as they drew near the place of Colonel Josiah. He antic.i.p.ated that the prisoner would be eager to look across the field to where the shed stood. Nor was Frank surprised to hear him give a low cry.

"Eet is wonderful, ze luck zey haf!" Jules remarked, as he discovered that the hangar had not burned to the ground as he expected, and after that he relapsed into gloomy silence.

Frank had caught sight of Andy pa.s.sing along the street ahead and entering the Bloomsbury postoffice. So as soon as he could get his broken wheel into the bicycle store, where he left orders for its being fixed at once, he hurried off, in hopes of intercepting his cousin and breaking the great news.

He was just in time to see Andy coming out of the building and staring hard at something he held in his hand. Frank could see that it was a letter and he also noticed that his chum was unusually pale.

"Now I wonder what he's got?" asked Frank, talking to himself, as many boys often do at times. "Looks like a letter, too. Once in a while the colonel asks him to go down when the mail comes in and see if there is an important one for him, which he can't wait for the carrier to bring out. And Andy has got one this time, sure."

A moment later and he came upon Andy, who at sight of his chum showed signs of relief.

"I'm awful glad you came along, Frank," he said, seizing the other by the sleeve; "I was at your house and they told me you had gone downtown somewhere. Then, as the mail was in, I remembered Colonel Josiah was expecting one of his letters from London, and so I dropped over. But there was nothing for him. Mr. Guthrie handed me out this and said he guessed it was for me. Oh, look where it is from, Frank! Do you think--can it be possible that it means some news, after all this time, from my father?"

Frank saw it was rather a bulky letter and that the postmark showed a station in South America. Remembering all that had pa.s.sed between them in connection with this country he understood the cause of Andy's great emotion.

"I was almost afraid to open it, Frank," said the other, brokenly.

"Well, do it now," remarked Frank, and Andy tore the end off hurriedly.

He appeared to read hungrily for a minute, and then gave a cry of amazement.

"Oh!" he said, taking in a big breath, "how strange! how wonderful!"