"Listen to reason, you fellows," he pleaded. "I"ve got a proposal."
"Shall we listen to the proposal, Frank?" asked Bob, now fully awake, and grinning broadly. "Or shall we muss him up a bit?"
""Ark to his Royal "Ighness," shouted Frank, his equilibrium restored.
""Ear. "Ear."
"Very well," said Bob, addressing Jack with mock solemnity. "My friend says you are to be spared. But, mind you, it must be a good proposal.
Now, out with it."
Jack, ensconced in a deep easy chair, uncrossed his knees and leaned forward.
"You remember what was said last night about the operations of the liquor smugglers in and around New York?" he inquired.
The others nodded.
After the conversation the previous night had been directed by the revelations of the boys regarding their mysterious neighbors, and by Mr. Hampton"s comments on the operations of liquor smugglers, the boys had learned from the older men surprising facts regarding the situation.
Since the adoption of prohibition, they had been told, liquor-smuggling had grown to such an extent that a state of war between the smugglers and the government forces practically existed.
Single vessels and even fleets were engaged by the smugglers to bring liquor up from the West Indies and land it on the Long Island and New Jersey coasts, and to combat these operations the government had formed a so-called "Dry-Navy" comprising an unknown number of speedy submarine chasers. A number of authentic incidents known to Colonel Graham and to Mr. Hampton and Mr. Temple had been related in which the daring of the smugglers had discomfited the government men, in one case a cargo of liquor having been landed at a big Manhattan dock by night and removed in trucks while a sub chaser patrolling the waterfront pa.s.sed the scene of operations several times, unsuspecting. There were other stories, too, of how the tables were turned, an occasion being cited when a sub chaser put a shot across the bow of what appeared to be a Gloucester fishing schooner which thereupon showed a clean pair of heels and tried to escape but was run down and captured inside the three-mile limit and proved to contain a $30,000 cargo of West Indian rum.
Some of these facts, of course, had appeared in the newspapers. Others had not been made public. But, far from New York City as they were and not interested in reading about news events, for they had their own interest to engage their attention, the boys were not familiar with the situation. What they had been told came as a tremendously interesting revelation.
"Very well," continued Jack, as Bob and Frank prepared to listen; "remembering what we heard last night about the liquor smugglers, it certainly seems likely, doesn"t it, that the man who has bought the haunted Brownell house, built a secret radio plant and introduced a radio-controlled airplane into our exclusive neighborhood, may be involved with the smugglers?"
"Righto, Jack," Frank declared. "But what"s your proposal?"
"Simply that we do a little investigating on our own account."
"If you intend to propose that we go nosing around the Brownell place, trying to spy and snoop, I vote against it," declared Bob. "I ran away yesterday, after discovering that radio plant, because I felt danger in the air. With a wire fence built to keep out intruders and with New York gunmen posted in the woods, I have a feeling it wouldn"t be healthy to do any investigating. If I were tiny as Frank here"--reaching over to rumple his chum"s hair--"it might do. They couldn"t hit me. But, as it is, I"d make a fine target."
Jack smiled and nodded agreement.
"Agreed on that," he said. "Dad always tells me it is only a foolhardy idiot who puts his head into danger unnecessarily. But that isn"t the kind of investigating I had in mind."
"Then what?" asked Frank.
"Well, first of all, this is a fine day for flying," answered Jack, pointing out the open window, to where warm sunshine lay over the country and the sparkling sea in the distance. "You fellows lie abed so long. You haven"t had a chance yet to see what an ideal day it is; warm, cloudless, and with hardly a trace of wind."
"What"s flying got to do with it?" asked Bob. "We saw yesterday about all we can see from the air. Any more flying over there will make somebody suspicious."
"I was thinking of a little trip to Mineola," said Jack. "Then we can leave the old bus on the flying field there and motor into the city in an hour. Once in the city we might ask Mr. McKay, your father"s real estate friend, who the fellow is who has bought the old Brownell house."
"Then what, Hawkshaw?"
"Oh, Bob, don"t be such a grouch," protested Jack. "What if nothing comes of it? We"ll have had a good trip, anyhow."
Bob grinned.
"I"m not grouching, Jack," he said. "Only I wanted to see what you had in mind. If it"s just a flying trip you"re after, well and good. I"m with you. The plane is limbered up since I worked it over, and yesterday"s little spin gave me a taste for more, too. But if you are really intent on getting at the bottom of this mystery, I have a proposal, too. What"s the matter with our hunting up the Secret Service men? Maybe they would be glad of our tip."
"Good for you, old ice wagon," cried Frank, slapping his chum"s broad shoulder.
Jack likewise nodded approval. The previous summer the boys had been instrumental in thwarting the plots of an international gang on the California coast to smuggle Chinese coolies into the country in violation of the Chinese Exclusion Act. As a consequence, they had made the acquaintance of Inspector Burton of the Secret Service and had even been called to Washington to receive the personal thanks of the Chief for their service and to be introduced to the President.
Their adventures during that exciting period are related in "The Radio Boys on Secret Service Duty."
"Very good," said Jack, bounding to his feet. "Come on, let"s go. It"s ten o"clock now. If we hurry, we can cover the sixty miles to Mineola, put up the plane, and be in the city by noon. That will give us two or three hours there, and we can be home easily in time for dinner."
"All right," said Bob. "I"ll tell Della where we are going, in case Mother isn"t up yet. She had a bad headache, and may be staying in bed. You fellows go down to the hangar, and start getting out the plane. I"ll join you right away."
Jack and Frank hurried away, while Bob went to execute his mission.
When he rejoined them at the hangar, the plane already was on the skidways.
"You take the wheel going up, Bob," said Frank. "I"ll pilot her home."
The trip to Mineola flying field, where Bob and Frank and Mr. Temple as well had taken their flying lessons, was made without incident.
Planning not to arouse the suspicions of anybody who might be on watch, Bob was careful to steer a course over the water a good mile out from Starfish Cove. Watching through the gla.s.s, Frank reported the little plane missing and no sign of life on the tiny beach or in the woods beyond where the radio plant was hidden.
Mechanics at the flying field, who knew them, took the plane in charge when they alighted. Although they had planned to hire an automobile to take them into the city, they learned they were in time to catch an express train, and boarded it. After a fast run, they emerged from the train which had borne them through the tunnel under the East River and under Manhattan and ascended to the main waiting room of the Pennsylvania Terminal. The hour still lacked several minutes of noon.
"I"m not particularly hungry," said Jack. "If you fellows feel the same way about it, suppose we defer luncheon until we have seen Mr.
McKay. Probably we can catch him at his office now. But if we lunch first, there is no telling when we can get to see him. These business men take three or four hours for lunch lots of times."
"Lead on," said Frank. "Do you know where his office is located?"
"At Times Square," said Bob. "I"ve been there once with Dad. Come on.
We"ll take the Subway. It"s only one station up the line."
The three boys were familiar with the great city, having lived on Long Island all their lives. Although many miles distant from New York, they were frequent visitors. Crossing the big waiting room, they entered the West Side subway, and a few minutes later disembarked from an express train at the Times Square station. Mounting to the surface, Bob led the way to a towering office building. An express elevator shot them to the twentieth story, and there they entered the anteroom of a handsome suite of offices occupied by the J. B. McKay Realty Corporation, and inquired of the information clerk--a young woman--for the head of the firm. Here, however, they met disappointment. Mr.
McKay was not in the city.
"Mr. McKay"s secretary is here, however," said the clerk, taking pity on their evident dismay. "Wait a moment and I"ll call him."
She spoke into the telephone receiver, and then nodded brightly.
"Mr. Higginbotham will see you," she said. "He is in that corner office."
Jack was undecided. He looked to his companions.
"Shall we try him?"
"May as well," said Frank. "Probably he can give us the information we want, just as well as Mr. McKay."
Following directions, they entered a roomy office, furnished in walnut and with walnut panelling on the walls. Two big windows gave a commanding view up Broadway below and west to the Hudson river and the Jersey sh.o.r.e. A small, sharp-eyed man, with graying hair, immaculately dressed in gray, rose from the desk as they entered and regarded them inquiringly.
Jack wasted no time on preliminaries, but after introducing himself and his companions, stated their mission. They wanted to know who was the man who had bought the old Brownell place, and what was known about him.
His name? Mr. Higginbotham could not recall it. He doubted whether there was a record of it at hand. The old Brownell place? Yes, he remembered the property. Why were the young men interested.
Sharp-eyed Frank detected a slight start at Jack"s query. Moreover, he thought there was an air of guarded watchfulness about Higginbotham, for no apparent reason. That mysterious sixth sense which so often had been of value in the past now came to the fore. Before Jack could reply, he took over the conversation.