CHAPTER XXI

SEARCHING FOR EVIDENCE

As the boys, with Mr. Glassford and Professor Snodgrass, were leaving the tent, two figures entered. At the sight of one of them the inventor exclaimed:

“So, Giles Hoswell, this is your work, is it? This is how you repay my kindness to you.”

“I don’t know anything about your kindness,” replied Hoswell stiffly, “but I know it was from my plans that this airship was built, that you stole them from me, and I intend to have my rights.”

“You are saying what is not so!” burst out Mr. Glassford. “The only thing you ever planned was a steering lever, and I purchased all your interest in that, paying you well for it.”

“We’ll let the courts decide who is in the right,” was Hoswell’s reply. “In the meantime the injunction stands, and I warn you not to interfere with my property.”

“Your property?”

“Yes, my property. I consider this airship mine, as it was built from my plans.”

“This is in keeping with your conduct while you were with me,” spoke Mr. Glassford bitterly. “I never could trust you, and I had to discharge you. Now you are taking an unfair advantage which the law gives you. But I will soon have my rights. This injunction will be vacated, and I would sue you for damages, only I know you have nothing. You know that these plans were mine.”

“Then you’d better prove it.”

“I intend to, and that very soon.”

“All right; and, in the meanwhile, the ship stays here, Glassford,” said Hoswell with a sneer.

“Yes, and I guess they won’t take part in any race,” added the figure which had followed Hoswell; and the motor boys, peering through the semi-darkness of the tent, saw Noddy Nixon.

“You had a hand in this, Noddy,” remarked Jerry. “It’s on a par with what you’re always doing--something mean.”

“Don’t you talk that way to me!” cried Noddy angrily. “I’ll complain to the court that you’re making contempt.”

“Oh, we are, eh?” asked Ned with a laugh. “Well, if there’s anything more contemptible than you, I’d like to see it.”

“Get out of here!” cried Noddy, his anger rising as he saw how the Cresville boys regarded him. “You haven’t any right in this tent. Mr. Hoswell and I own this now.”

“No, you don’t! Nothing of the sort!” cried Jerry.

“You had better go,” advised the deputy sheriff. “There must be no quarreling before the representative of the law, and I’m him.”

“If any damage is done to this airship I will hold you, Hoswell and that Nixon chap responsible,” said Mr. Glassford to the officer.

“No harm will come to it while I am in charge,” replied the deputy. “Now you must go, and the court will settle this dispute. The case will be argued in two weeks.”

“Two weeks!” cried Ned. “Why, the races will all be over then, and it will be too late----”

“Never mind,” said Mr. Glassford quietly. “Come on, boys. I will see a lawyer at once, and find out what can be done. We are only losing time disputing with these persons.”

“I guess we’re as good as you are,” retorted Noddy, but no one answered him.

The unexpected taking away of their airship was such a blow that the motor boys did not know what to think about it. They had had some experience with the law, and they knew the delay that might ensue, a delay which would prevent them taking part in the contests in the air. But, though Mr. Glassford was much annoyed by what had happened, he had a calm and confident air, and the boys felt better when they saw how he was taking it.

Professor Snodgrass had hurried on ahead to the hotel, as he had some specimens he wanted to preserve, and it is doubtful if he gave a second thought to the trouble his friends were in. This was not because he was not kind and sympathetic, but because his mind was engrossed with scientific matters.

The clerk of the hotel told Mr. Glassford that there was a lawyer in the building, and after a short search the legal gentleman was located. He readily agreed to take the case, and Mr. Glassford informed him of what had taken place.

“The first thing to do,” said the lawyer, whose name was Alfred Morton, “is to find some one who can make an affidavit that the plans from which the ship was constructed are your own, and that this Hoswell had no part in them. Can you produce such evidence?”

“I think so,” replied the inventor. “There was a man named Masterly, who was working for me at the time I drew these plans. He saw me draw them, and even made some of the blue-prints for me. That was before I ever knew Hoswell. Afterward I hired him, and both he and Masterly worked for me. Hoswell did make a suggestion for a certain lever, which I adopted, and I paid him well for it. That is all he ever had to do with the ship. I discharged him when I found him one day trying to steal some of my plans. Masterly was there at the time, and he can testify to that.”

“Then the thing to do,” said the lawyer, “is to find this Masterly. Where is he?”

“Well, now, that’s hard to say,” answered Mr. Glassford. “The last I heard of him he was working for a balloon-maker just outside of New York City.”

“Do you think he would come here to testify?”

“I’m sure of it, if I could locate him, for he was very friendly to me.”

“Then we’ll send a telegram,” decided Mr. Morton; and when he had obtained the address of the balloon-maker he despatched a message urging Masterly to come to Park Haven.

The motor boys and their friends did not pass a very pleasant night, for, in spite of the measures that had been taken, there was a possibility that the injunction would not be vacated, or rendered of no effect, until after the races, which were now only a few days off.

Their fears were increased, when, the next forenoon, a reply was received from the balloon manufacturer, stating that Masterly no longer worked for him, but had gone to a shop in Buffalo.

“Telegraph to Buffalo,” said the lawyer briskly. “Your case all depends on Masterly, and he must be found.”

But the message to Buffalo only brought an answer that Masterly was no longer there. It was suggested that the man might be in Chicago, and a telegram was sent there, but with no result. The last heard of Masterly, said the man who telegraphed back from Chicago, was that he was out in Denver.

“Say, I guess we’ll have to give up,” remarked Bob in discouraged tones.

“Never!” cried Jerry. “We’ll wire to Denver.”

“That’s the way to talk,” exclaimed the lawyer. “We have several days yet, and we may locate him in time.”

They had to wait a whole day for a reply from Denver, and when it came it seemed as fruitless as any of the others had been. The message stated:

“Last heard of Masterly he was with an airship inventor named Axtell. Don’t know where Axtell is located.”

“Well, we do seem to be up against it,” remarked Jerry dubiously as he read the message a second time. “I wonder where in the world Axtell can be?”

“Did you ever know an airship man by that name?” the lawyer asked Mr. Glassford.

The inventor shook his head.

“There are so many in the business now,” he said, “that it is impossible to keep track of them. Axtell--Axtell--no, I never heard the name before.”

“Well,” remarked the lawyer, “I don’t see what can be done until you get hold of Masterly. Is there no one else who could give the evidence we need?”

“No one, I’m afraid.”

“Say!” exclaimed Bob quickly, “I have an idea!”

“Can it; the weather’s not good for keeping ideas,” said Ned, half sarcastically.

“No, I mean it,” went on the stout youth. “If you want to find Axtell, why don’t you ask some of the exhibitors out at the grounds? There are a lot of airship men there, and maybe they know of him, or can tell us of some one who does.”

“Bravo, Chunky!” cried Jerry. “That isn’t a bad idea. I’ll do it.”

“I would say that was a very good suggestion,” remarked Mr. Morton. “Some one at the grounds, where there are so many men interested in aeronautics, ought to be able to give us a clue. But wait; I have just thought of something. I will telephone to the secretary of the carnival, and he may be able to put us on the right track without the need of so many inquiries as would otherwise have to be made.”

Mr. Morton lost no time in putting his idea into execution. He telephoned from his office, where the motor boys and their friends were, to the secretary of the carnival, asking for any information concerning Axtell or Masterly. Mr. Glassford and the boys could hear the clicking of the receiver, as the answer was returned.

“Good!” suddenly exclaimed the lawyer. “That’s fine. We’ll be right out there!”

“What is it?” asked Mr. Glassford eagerly.

“Axtell is on the grounds now,” explained the lawyer. “He has a ship entered in the contests, and his assistant is Masterly. We have found our man! Now to get him to make an affidavit, and we will have that injunction formally vacated!”

“Fine!” cried Jerry. “That’s the best news we’ve heard in a year.”