And Jules grinned as he saw them.  His spirit was not crushed, even though it began to look as though he might be the football of fate.

“It ees ze fortunes of war, messiers,” he said, wincing at the pain speech caused him.  “And after all, it was ze machine of ze young inventor zat downed me.  I am von lucky man not to haf been five thousand feet up in ze air when it occur.  Had eet been ze monoplane zat kicked me, pouf! poor Jules he would haf been as flat as ze pancake.  As eet is, after I haf serve my time I am yet alive.”

Frank found his bicycle badly damaged.  In fact, the front wheel was smashed beyond recovery, for it had been driven against some stone at a tremendous pace.  Strange to say, the lamp had gone through it all without any apparent damage.

“A few dollars will fix it up, all right,” he said, cheerfully.  “And I guess I ought to be thankful ever to see it again.”

So he placed the wheel in the back of the big touring car.  The doctor announced that Jules might be moved without danger if they were careful, and this Chief Waller promised he would be.

“You’re giving us a heap of bother, Jules,” he said, after the captured rascal had been safety stowed away in the tonneau of the car, with the chief beside him and Frank mounting to the front with the chauffeur.  “But this winds you up.  I understand your trial comes off tomorrow and you’ll soon be snug in the pen.”

“Zat was ze knowledge zat urge me to break out,” remarked the prisoner, blandly.

“Well,” remarked the other, with a tightening of his lips, “we’ll make sure you don’t get another opportunity, that’s all.”

Frank watched as they drew near the place of Colonel Josiah.  He anticipated that the prisoner would be eager to look across the field to where the shed stood.  Nor was Frank surprised to hear him give a low cry.

“Eet is wonderful, ze luck zey haf!” Jules remarked, as he discovered that the hangar had not burned to the ground as he expected, and after that he relapsed into gloomy silence.

Frank had caught sight of Andy passing along the street ahead and entering the Bloomsbury postoffice.  So as soon as he could get his broken wheel into the bicycle store, where he left orders for its being fixed at once, he hurried off, in hopes of intercepting his cousin and breaking the great news.

He was just in time to see Andy coming out of the building and staring hard at something he held in his hand.  Frank could see that it was a letter and he also noticed that his chum was unusually pale.

“Now I wonder what he’s got?” asked Frank, talking to himself, as many boys often do at times.  “Looks like a letter, too.  Once in a while the colonel asks him to go down when the mail comes in and see if there is an important one for him, which he can’t wait for the carrier to bring out.  And Andy has got one this time, sure.”

A moment later and he came upon Andy, who at sight of his chum showed signs of relief.