They soon soothed him, however, and long practice had made Andy particularly apt at this sort of thing.

“Here come Elephant and Larry, on the run,” remarked Frank, a little while later; “I wonder if they saw us come home, and whether they can have picked up any additional news connected with the bank robbery, that we ought know.”

“Well, it might pay us to hold up a little, and see,” added Andy.

“Yes, since we’re in no great hurry, and the day is long,” Frank remarked.

The two boys came up panting for breath.  Larry had evidently set the pace, and it was a matter of the smaller lad keeping with him, or else being left behind, something Elephant never liked to have happen; so that he was unable to say even a single word for a full minute after arriving alongside the hangar.

“Tell us, have they learned anything new since the Chief started off?” asked Frank, as usual right to the point; and in this way cutting off the myriad of questions which he knew both the newcomers were primed to ask.

“Why, yes,” gasped Larry, while Elephant nodded his head as if to say he agreed to all that was said, “after Percy came bustling around, asking for the Chief, and telling how somebody had busted into his place, and run off with his biplane in the night, they got to talking it over, and wondering if it could have been the robbers, and if one of ’em knew how to handle such things.  So they called up the city, and asked questions.  In that way they learned that there was a yegg who had been suspected of having been connected with several other jobs, though they never could just put the kibosh on him, and his name is Casper Blue, and one time he used to be an actor, and then became a pretty well-known flier, but in an accident he broke his arm, and had to give up his business.  He was always a crooked sort of feller, and after that just boozed around, joined in with hobo gangs, and they believe touched up a few jobs himself.  There, that’s all we know; and now, what you been doing?”

“Too long a story to tell just now,” declared Frank.  “The colonel knows, and perhaps he’ll amuse you after we’ve gone.”

“Oh! say, are you meanin’ to take after them fellers that busted the bank safe, and then got away with Percy’s biplane?” asked Elephant eagerly; “don’t I wish though I could just hang on behind, and be in the swim for once.  You two seem to have about all the fun there is going, hang the luck, say I?”

“Well, you’d better not try it, that’s what!” said Andy, shaking his head threateningly at the bare suggestion of having Elephant aboard when they made a start.

“I think we’ve got everything now, Andy,” remarked Frank, anxious to be off.

“Hope you’re taking guns along, because if you do run across them hobo fellers you’ll be apt to need them right bad,” Larry went on to say, also looking downcast at having to miss all the sport simply because Nature had never intended him for an aviator, as he was inclined to get dizzy when looking down from any height.