Dangerous Deeds; Or, The Flight in the Dirigible

ng too far! I don't intend to stand by and see you murdered. You have had a clos

dgeway with a triumphant laugh. "So you won't get any ba

one all right, all right," said

gh alone. You know as well as I do, O'Brien, that they will know that I will be on guard after this. And I will be. I will set a l

Ridgeway, when you finance the affair. You have had all those airplanes built, and those dirigibles, and if

way. "I feel sort of old tonight. I wish I had a son or two to look

"and whilst I get some plainclothes men here for a guard, you c

nd there is no one else to com

on the bruised head, O'Brien telephoned for the police and placed a guard around the house. Then he summoned Mr. Ridgeway's doctor, who e

ng home with you I am, Larry. I expect you

e. "But I don't know

ng taxi. "Fit? Sure, I could sleep this n

hed O'Brien would wake up and tell him just what he feared from the spies or conspirators, or whatever they were. And he wondered about Mr. Ridgeway, and was sorry that he had no sons,

to sleep. When he awoke, O'Brien was in the bathroom running a bath, and singing Sweet

ow he had happened to sleep so late, that songful gentleman declared that there was nothing to do

along with

plane. I would feel better if I could get off the earth for a whi

o out to the field and give it to the man in charge there, and all that you will have to do aft

shall drive the dirigible when it is in order, but I like to take my bearings first. It is funny, I h

se-dive or a tail-spin makes good readin' in the Sunday papers, and you get a grand write-up all ab

g smoothly. He offered his paper to the man in charge, and that individual, after grumbling a little at letting

a flight for a couple of weeks, and his heart thrilled. After a few wide circles that took in the shipping at the Navy Yard and all the outlying

, contrary to usage, his own machine was not equipped. So he paid no attention to the stranger other than to swerve out of the way. But the plane turned and followed. Lawrence, curious to know what it was up to, slowed

that they were flashing messages with a mirror, using the Morse co

s something threatening about the manner of the other plane, and Lawrence had no desire to get into a combat in the clouds over nothing. He had

ing the sights

?" demanded

o are you?" rep

ious plane hailed from. He wheeled his machine and, taking a higher level, sailed off in pursuit, keeping a good distance behind. An hour's flight brought them above a small open field and here the plan

nd it worried him to imagine the chuckles the

a rather queer thing. He turned his nose upward again, and located the f

nded by a group of men, all of whom seemed to

Brien, "do you always make so

ed Lawrence. "What was

en. "If that's the way you fly, you can hav

ghed Lawrence. "Don'

ow you manage it," said O'Brien, gently reliev

ey sailed along in a steady current, he told O'Brien of his encounter and the cur

k after. What with the country full of Reds, and all other colors of the rainbo

the plane land and, sure enough, there was not a

is the place?

at do you say to landing? I c

k," said O'Brien, "but don't you smear me a

ence, and dropped to ear

s and came to a standstill, O'Br

nny!" he s

red with a thick-set camouflage of brush. The doors were open, as though no one would possibly find the place, and inside the hangar we

oned him into their own plane, gave it a push and hopped into his place as

, O'Brien mo

gun looking so fit! Who said the war was over these five years? No

shook h

hing funny about that dirigible? No? Well, you don't know as well as I do, but that old tube is exactly like the one that got cut up la

ppens?" asked Lawrence, his

oke is that I don't think it happens at all. Th

ose the people wer

ered O'Brien. "They have such a good hidin' place that

he went quietly away. He first went to his rooms, took some money from the trunk, and put on a dark suit. Then he hurried down town, and reaching the Union station, boarded a train and was soon out of the city. He

e country in what he hoped was the direction of the mysterious aviation field. It had not occurred to him to ask a

was full. It cast the densest shadows and Lawrence slipped from one patch of blackness to another. He felt silly. He was not sure that this was not a wild goose chase. The cars might be th

t was the hangar. Once more plunging into the underbrush, he skirted the field and circled it until he found

efully along the side of the building, crept close to the little plane, and finally lay down and wriggled beneath it toward the dirigible. On the other side of the long body four men were sitti