“Where is Ollie, then?”
“Down the road. You know where Greenfield village is, eh?”
Frank nodded. “About two miles farther down the road.”
“Well, that’s where you’ll find Ollie. He’s at the hotel. The clerk will find him for you.”
“Thanks. We’ll go on to Greenfield, then.”
“If you’d like to wait here,” suggested the fat man, “Ollie should be back in an hour or so.”
The Hardy boys had no desire to wait. They were on the trail of the elusive Ollie Jacobs and it did not suit their purpose to meet him face to face at the Raven Roadhouse. They thanked the fat man, got back into the car and drove away.
Within a few minutes they reached Greenfield. It was a meagre little village with a few unprosperous-looking stores and a ramshackle hotel.
“We’ll have to go easy here,” said Frank. “It won’t do to have Ollie Jacobs see us.”
“What should we do? Wait out in front of the hotel?”
“He would probably see us first. No, I think it would be better to go inside and take a look around. Once we locate him we can keep out of sight and then follow him later.”
They parked the roadster in front of the hotel and went inside. The Clerk, a seedy little man with shifty eyes, regarded them with suspicion. By way of explaining their presence, the Hardy boys bought some newspapers and a few chocolate bars, then sat down in the lounging chairs in the main office.
“We’ll just sit tight for a while,” whispered Frank. “If Ollie Jacobs is in the hotel, he’ll probably pass through here on his way out.”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Joe gave his brother a sharp nudge and hastily began to unfold one of the newspapers. Frank glanced up. Coming down the stairs was Ollie Jacobs.
The man did not see the boys, or at least did not recognize them, for Frank quickly lowered his head, then he, too, spread out a newspaper so that it concealed him from view. Thus, to the man descending the stairway, the two lads appeared intent on the papers, and their faces were completely hidden.
Another man was coming down the stairs a few steps behind Ollie Jacobs. When the pair reached the office, instead of going toward the door, they sauntered over and sat down a few feet from the Hardy boys.
Frank and Joe were trembling with excitement. Behind the newspapers they were safe from observation.
“I won’t go a cent over eight thousand, and that’s final,” they heard Ollie Jacobs saying.
“We’ll split the difference,” returned the other man, in a wheedling tone. “Make it nine thousand dollars cash.”
“Nothing doing! I’ll give you eight thousand dollars. Take it or leave it.”
“An airplane for eight thousand dollars!” exclaimed the other. “I can’t do it. I’d be losing money.”
Ollie Jacobs laughed. “Even at eight thousand, you’ll be making a good profit.”
“Eighty-five hundred,” pleaded the bargainer.
“I’ve made my offer and I won’t raise it a nickel. I’ll give you eight thousand dollars in cash the moment the airplane is turned over to us. You have the machine within five miles of here, you say. Well, I can have the money within half an hour and we’ll close the deal. So make up your mind, for I can’t be wasting time. If I can’t buy your airplane I can easily find another one.”
Ollie Jacobs got up from his chair. The other man rose quickly and seized him by the arm.
“All right. All right,” he said hastily. “It’s just downright robbery, but I’ll sell you the plane for eight thousand. I won’t be making a cent.”
“That’s your lookout,” returned Jacobs coolly. “You don’t have to sell it.”
“I’ll have the plane ready for you at my farm. As soon as you turn over the money, the machine is yours.”
“The money will be in your hands within half an hour. Are you going to the farm now?” said Jacobs.
“I’ll go there right away and get the plane in shape.”
“Be sure you have the tanks full of gas. I want everything to be in perfect running order. That’s the only condition of sale. I want the plane to be in readiness.”
“You can step right in it and start flying the minute you buy it,” insisted the other man. “And you’re getting a bargain, let me tell you. There isn’t a better machine on the market. If you bought that plane from the factory it would cost you fifteen or twenty thousand dollars.”
“A new plane would cost that much. Yours isn’t worth five. It’s an old crate, almost falling to pieces. You’ve been flying it for more than four years now. Well, the deal is made. You go to the farm and get the machine ready. I’ll be over to take possession in half an hour.”
The two men went out the door and descended the steps. Apparently Ollie Jacobs did not notice the roadster belonging to the Hardy boys, for, after halting for a moment on the sidewalk, he strode briskly down the street in a direction opposite to that taken by his companion.
Frank lowered his newspaper and looked at Joe.
“What do you make of that?” he demanded.
“Ollie Jacobs buying an airplane! That fellow never had eight thousand dollars of his own in all his life.”
“He seems to have it now,” said Frank. “There’s something in the wind.”
“I think we’d better follow him.”
They sprang to their feet.
“There’s no time to lose,” Frank agreed. “I’d like to know what Ollie Jacobs is planning to do with that plane!”
XVI
Mysterious Plans
When the Hardy boys left the hotel they saw Ollie Jacobs about a block away, walking quickly down the street toward the outskirts of the village. As unobtrusively as possible, they followed him. They soon found that there was little need for caution, as Ollie Jacobs evidently had no suspicion that he was observed, and not once did he look back.
Leaving the sidewalk, their quarry struck out along a country road in
