They went into the hotel and entered the dining room. In spite of the disappointment they had suffered, their appetites still held good and they managed to make away with a goodly supply of ham and eggs, flapjacks and syrup, toast and coffee. The meal over, they felt better. After paying the check at the desk, they sat down to consider future plans.
The clerk told them that the village was about one hundred miles from Bayport, and that the nearest railway was four miles distant. If they hired a man from the garage to drive them to the station they could catch a train that would bring them to Bayport late that afternoon.
“I guess it’s the best we can do,” said Frank. “Mighty flat ending to our adventure.”
“Perhaps it isn’t over yet.” Joe was looking out into the street. Suddenly he clutched his brother’s arm. “Look, Frank! Do you see what I see?”
Frank looked out. He gasped with astonishment.
Across the street, lolling in the doorway of a grocery store, was a familiar figure. There was no mistaking the battered hat, the shabby clothes, the mournful and unshaven features.
“Newt Pipps!”
“He’s still here.”
At that moment the Hardy boys were perhaps the most delighted and amazed lads in the United States.
“They left him here,” said Frank. “Why, this means the others will be coming back!”
“Unless they’ve ditched Newt altogether.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” said Frank, meeting Joe’s objection. “He knows too much. He knows all about this crime they have been planning. Ducroy and Ollie Jacobs would be afraid to get rid of him now.”
“That’s right, Frank. We gave up hope too quickly. The other pair will probably be coming back to the farm today.”
“We’d better get back there just as quickly as we know how. We don’t want to be caught napping now.”
Newt Pipps was still standing in front of the grocery store. Apparently he had no intention of moving on. The Hardy boys knew they were risking discovery if they went out the front entrance, so they scouted around until they found a back door to the hotel and departed unobtrusively. They cut across the yard, went down a lane, and soon found themselves on the road leading back to the farm.
They were about halfway back to the farm when they heard a distant droning noise. Frank looked up.
“Here comes the plane!”
A speeding shadow in the sky quickly resolved itself into the shape of an airplane, which gradually approached and began to descend in wide spirals. The boys left the road and took to the shadow of the trees, for although they knew there was little chance of being recognized from the air, they were taking no risks. The plane came lower and lower, then skimmed across the fences, coming to rest in the field near the old farmhouse.
“If this isn’t luck!” exclaimed Frank.
“They probably went away to get gas and oil. Now, if they’ll only give us a chance to get back in our hiding place again everything will be all right.”
They went on cautiously, toward the field. They had just come to the entrance of the lane leading down toward the farm when they heard voices. Frank and Joe scrambled into the hedge and hid themselves.
They were not a moment too soon.
Giles Ducroy and Ollie Jacobs clambered over the fence, only a few yards away.
“Everything is all set now,” Ducroy was saying. “We’re all fueled up, the plane is in first-class shape, and we’re all ready for the big job.”
“We’ll go back and pick up Newt now,” said Ollie Jacobs.
“He gives me a pain,” grumbled Ducroy. “If it wasn’t that he has been with us from the start I’d be tempted to drop him right now. Imagine being too frightened to go on that flight with us this morning.”
“Newt is yellow.”
“He certainly is. Well, as long as he comes with us tonight and does his part, I don’t care how yellow he is about flying.”
“Shall we come back here right away?”
“No. Some of these villagers might get suspicious. We’ll hang around town until it gets dark. Then we’ll set out. I know the exact time and place we can count on meeting this fellow and the whole thing ought to be over in twenty minutes.”
“Good,” said Jacobs.
The two men went on down the lane. They had not seen the Hardy boys hiding in the hedge. When they reached the road they turned in the direction of the village and in a few moments were lost to view.
Frank and Joe crawled out of the hedge.
“On the trail again,” said Frank.
“We shan’t have to stay hidden in the plane, after all. This is luck.”
They hastened down the lane to the farmhouse. Unwittingly, the rascals had played into their hands. They now knew that Ducroy would not start on the mysterious mission until after darkness had fallen, and they resolved to be in readiness.
“Just when we had given up hope,” said Frank, “everything gets clear again!”
“Clear enough so far,” agreed Joe. “We won’t take any chances on slipping up again. We’ll be hiding in that plane at sundown.”
The boys went back to the house and there they remained for the rest of the day. They found that from one of the upper windows of the building they could have an uninterrupted view of the road leading to the village, and they made frequent visits to this window in order to make sure that Ducroy and his companions would not steal a march on them. However, the afternoon dragged past with no sign of the trio, and it was evident that they were following their original program of loafing about the village.
The airplane, which had evidently escaped notice, rested alone in the field.
Toward the latter part of the afternoon the clouds which had been gathering all day gathered overhead and there was a light shower of rain. It passed over, but the weather became cool and blustery.
“A bad night for flying,” remarked Frank.
“If Ducroy
