CHAPTER XXIII

THE STOLEN LEVER

The court proceedings, once Masterly had made his affidavit, in which he affirmed that the plans of the _Comet_ belonged solely to Mr. Glassford, did not take long. The judge, after hearing Mr. Morton present his case, inquired whether there was anything to be said on the other side. But the lawyer whom Hoswell had hired, with money Noddy supplied, though notified to appear for his client, did not do so. Probably Hoswell knew how the case would go, and dropped it.

“I will vacate this injunction,” announced the officer of the court.

“Does that mean we’ll have to vacate the tent where the airship is?” asked Bob.

“No; it means that the order Hoswell got, forbidding us to touch our own motor ship, is null, void and of no effect or virtue,” replied Jerry in a whisper. “Come on now, I want to see how the _Comet_ looks.”

“Well, you’ll soon have that pleasure,” said the lawyer. “You can go and take charge now. I will accompany you and serve this court order on the deputy sheriff. He will then leave you in possession. We may find Hoswell there. In case we shall, do you want to make any charge against him, Mr. Glassford?”

“I think not. Let him go. I want to give my whole attention to the coming race. I can’t be bothered by that scoundrel.”

But when they reached the tent they did not find the conspirator there. The deputy sheriff was asleep in the cabin of the _Comet_, where he had taken his position, very likely, to prevent the ship being removed without disturbing him.

The court order was shown him, and the deputy at once announced that his duties were at an end.

“I’ve kept your ship safe for you,” he said. “It wasn’t my fault that I had to take charge of it. Just look it over. There’s not a thing happened to it.”

“Where is Hoswell?” asked Mr. Glassford. “Has he been here lately?”

“He was here early this morning, but he left in a hurry after that fellow--what’s his name?--Hixon or Dixon----”

“Nixon,” supplied Ned.

“That’s it--Nixon. Well, Hoswell left in a hurry when Nixon came here and told him something.”

“I guess Noddy told him how the game was going,” said Jerry, “and Hoswell skipped out. He probably knew we’d be along soon. But I wonder how Noddy came to locate Masterly?”

“Hoswell put him up to that,” said Mr. Glassford. “I asked Masterly about it, and he said Noddy came to the tent, introduced himself, and made his bribery proposition, which we so fortunately overheard. Very likely Hoswell heard of Masterly’s presence here and decided to try and get ahead of me. But he got a dose of his own medicine.”

“I only hope he didn’t damage the ship for revenge,” remarked Ned. “It would be just like him, or Noddy, to try to break some part of it.”

“That’s so,” agreed Mr. Glassford, an anxious look coming over his face. “We must make an examination.”

With trained eyes and hands Mr. Glassford rapidly went over the ship. It seemed to be all right, and the boys were beginning to congratulate themselves that they could make a trip yet that day, when the inventor uttered an exclamation of dismay.

“What’s the matter?” asked Jerry quickly.

“The steering lever--the one that operates the elevation and depression planes--it’s gone--it’s been taken off!”

“Taken off?”

“Yes. It’s quite complicated, and a very necessary part of the ship. Some one has removed it.”

“Then it was Hoswell or Noddy,” declared Jerry.

“Hoswell, more likely. Young Nixon wouldn’t know how to take it off. It’s the lever Hoswell gave me an idea for, and for which I paid him well.”

“And now he’s taken it for revenge!” exclaimed Ned. “What’s to be done? We must make a new one at once.”

“Easier said than done,” replied Mr. Glassford. “That lever is quite a complicated piece of work, and it will take at least three days to construct a new one and get it in place.”

“That will be too late for us to start in the great race,” said Jerry solemnly. “Isn’t there any other plan?”

“It doesn’t look so,” replied Mr. Glassford. “The ship will not steer well without the use of the elevation rudder, and I can’t work that without the lever which Hoswell has stolen.”

“Maybe we could find him and make him give it up,” suggested Jerry. “If we could we might be able to get the ship ready in time.”

“And if we don’t, we can’t,” was Mr. Glassford’s rather dubious answer.

“Why don’t you try the railroad stations?” suggested the lawyer. “Most likely he’ll try to get out of town as soon as possible. Could he carry this lever with him?”

“He could, but it’s quite large, and I don’t believe they’d let him take it into a passenger coach with him.”

“Then he’d have to send it by express,” went on the lawyer. “Make a tour of the express offices. Very little express goes out before night, and perhaps you can secure the lever. If you can locate it I will arrange the necessary legal papers to enable you to take possession of it.”

“That’s a good idea,” declared Mr. Glassford. “Boys, we must make a tour of the express offices. Start at once. We have very little time left. If we don’t find that lever we can’t race.”

“Then we’ll find it!” exclaimed Jerry confidently.

But that night, after a wearying round of the different offices, the boys had to admit that they were nearly beaten. There was no record of the lever having been shipped, nor could they find any trace of Hoswell. There were a number of express offices in Park Haven, but the answer was the same at each one. Nothing like a lever had been received for shipment.

“And the airship must be ready by to-morrow for the race next day,” said Jerry. “I don’t see how we’re going to do it. Can’t you rig up some sort of an emergency lever, Mr. Glassford?”

“I wouldn’t dare chance it. Never mind, we will have to make a new one. We can’t have it in time for the great race, but we can give an exhibition and show the folks what the _Comet_ can do.”

“That won’t be the race, though,” said Jerry with a sigh. “I counted on winning one of the two prizes.”

“So did I,” replied the inventor, “but we can’t do it.”

They were much dispirited that night, and no one slept well. To-morrow was the last day for getting their ship ready, and they had to sign the final papers the night before the race, giving the official weights of the passengers, the power of their motor, and other details. Without the lever it would be useless to try and enter. Failure stared them in the face.

“Well, I suppose we might as well go to the grounds, and see the others making their final preparations,” said Ned, the morning of the day before the race. “We’re not in it, though, after all our work. I suppose Noddy is laughing at us, if he knows what a mean trick Hoswell played on us.”

“Oh, you can depend upon it he knows about it,” said Jerry. “If I catch him I’ll punch his face good and proper.”

“That won’t find the lever,” spoke Ned with a sigh.

“Say, why didn’t we try some of the freight offices?” asked Bob suddenly. “Maybe Hoswell shipped the lever by freight, so as to fool us.”

“Freight!” exclaimed Mr. Glassford.

“Freight!” cried Jerry. “That’s it! Maybe he has. I wonder we didn’t think of that before. Bob, you’re all to the ice-cream cone!”

“We’ll visit the freight offices at once,” said Mr. Glassford. “There are only three of them, and it won’t take long.”

“We three fellows will attend to the searching part of it,” proposed Jerry. “You stay at the hotel, Mr. Glassford, and whoever locates the lever will telephone to you. Then you can have the lawyer take whatever action is necessary to get it back.”

“That’s a good suggestion. Go ahead. I’ll wait here for you.”

It was Bob’s luck to locate the lever at the very depot of the railroad over which the _Comet_ had been shipped to Park Haven. The agent told Bob that a man answering Hoswell’s description had left the lever for shipment the night of the day on which the injunction was vacated. It had been held at the depot because there was so much other freight to go out ahead of it.

Bob lost no time in telephoning the good news, and that noon Mr. Glassford got possession of the very necessary piece of machinery.

“Can we get the ship ready in time?” asked Jerry anxiously as they were all in the tent where the _Comet_ swayed to and fro at her mooring ropes.

“We’re going to make a big attempt,” replied Mr. Glassford, removing his coat, preparatory to hard work.