“Where are we going?” asked Newt Pipps quickly.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
“I wish we could have stayed here,” insisted Newt. “I could have stood another two hours’ sleep easily.”
“If we stick around here we’ll be liable to find ourselves sleeping in jail,” said Ollie Jacobs. “I got the scare of my life when that cop came up and spoke to us.”
“I thought we were sunk,” admitted Ducroy. “He had been eying us for quite a while and I was getting nervous. I was sure he had spotted us.”
“You stood him off all right. That was pretty good, telling him we were stunt pilots on our way to Hollywood. He swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker.”
“Just the same,” observed Ducroy, “you see how easy it is to run into trouble. If that cop had been a little wiser we might have been in the jug right now. And if he starts talking to some other cop and describes us, we may find ourselves in trouble yet. So the sooner we get out of here the better.”
This sentiment seemed to find favor with the others, for there was considerable bustling around as they prepared to take off again. In due time the propeller began to whirl, the engine burst into a roar, the plane quivered. The boys heard a shout from Ducroy, and then the airplane moved slowly off across the field.
It bumped and rocked along, its progress becoming smoother as it gathered speed; then it left the ground, the body of the plane tilted a little as it began to climb. After a while it banked, circled about, then straightened in swift flight.
It was hot and stuffy back in the compartment where the Hardy boys had hidden themselves, but they comforted themselves by remembering that Ducroy had said this was to be only a short jump. After that, the rascals evidently planned to lie in hiding until the night of the twenty-eighth.
The plane drummed along at a good speed for some time. Then the nose dipped so suddenly that the lads were flung forward. Their weight being thrown ahead, the tail was suddenly lighter and the plane went into a sudden dive. They heard a yell of alarm from one of the men in the forward part of the machine, but the plane straightened out as swiftly as it had lost balance. Frank and Joe had been frightened for the moment but they soon regained their accustomed positions again and clung tightly to the racks while the plane descended in sweeping circles.
It went into a long glide finally, then the wheels bumped against the ground. It rose into the air, bumped again, then taxied across a field until it gradually came to a stop. The motor was suddenly shut off.
“What happened?” they heard Newt Pipps shout in alarm.
“Lost control there for a minute,” Ducroy answered. “She went into a dive a lot faster than I had figured on.”
“I thought we were going to crash,” declared Newt shakily.
“Not with me at the controls,” boasted Ducroy. “I don’t know what went wrong, but it didn’t take me long to straighten her out.”
“It was just as if we had some baggage in the back and it shifted forward,” said Ollie Jacobs.
The Hardy boys were breathless with apprehension. Perhaps Ducroy would be tempted to investigate!
“Well, there’s no baggage,” insisted Ducroy. “It’s just the plane. I’m not quite used to it yet.”
“I’ll be glad when this business is over,” said Newt. “I don’t like this flying business, anyway. Solid earth is good enough for me any day. When this job is over and I get my share of the money it’ll be a long time before anyone tempts me into an airplane again.”
“Where are we now?” asked Ollie. “This isn’t a flying field.”
“It’s better,” returned Ducroy. “This is an abandoned farm. We’re quite safe here. If anyone comes to investigate, we’ll just say we ran out of gas and have to wait here for a while until we get a fresh supply.”
“We’ll stay here until tomorrow night, then?” asked Newt.
“There’s a little village about a mile away. We can go there and stay overnight and loaf around tomorrow. It’s a lot better than hanging around a flying field where people are apt to ask questions.”
“This suits me all right,” said Ollie Jacobs. “I didn’t like the idea of hopping around from place to place the way we were doing. The plane is safe enough here, I guess.”
“A few farmers may drop around to have a look at it, but I don’t think there’s any danger of anyone stealing it,” said Ducroy. “We might as well go on into the village.”
“I’m hungry,” declared Newt. “This flying gives me an appetite. Let’s go and get something to eat.”
The Hardy boys listened as the voices diminished in the distance. When they could no longer hear the trio, Frank opened the side door and peeped out. He could see Ducroy and the others climbing over a fence at the other side of a wide field. The men went out to the road and then trudged on toward a little village lying in a hollow about a mile away.
The boys breathed sighs of relief as they scrambled out.
“This is luck!” said Frank. “No more flying until tomorrow night.”
“I hope we don’t have to stay inside the plane until then. Those fellows are apt to come back at any minute.”
“I don’t think so. You heard what they said. They intend to stay here until tomorrow night. As long as we show up here in good time to hide ourselves before they leave, we’re all right.” Frank strode up and down the field, taking the kinks out of his legs. “Let’s take our sandwiches and go over to that abandoned farmhouse. We can stay there quite comfortably until it’s time to leave.”
Joe agreed. “We’ll have to keep an eye on the road. We
