The young aviators were free once more.  But it remained to be seen if the men who wished them harm had wrought their vengeance on the Golden Butterfly.

CHAPTER XIV.

WHAT’S TO BE DONE WITH THE WREN?

The Golden Butterfly, as an examination proved, had not been damaged during their imprisonment in the hut.  Evidently, the men who had slammed the door and padlocked it had made off at top speed as soon as they had completed what they hoped would be a source of sore trouble to the young aviators.

“And now we’ll fly back as agreed,” declared Peggy merrily.

Her spirits, almost down to zero in the hut, had recovered themselves marvellously in the fresh open air.  She was radiant.

“I declare that the stay in the hut has done you good,” declared Jimsy, looking at her admiringly.

“Maybe it has—­by contrast,” returned Peggy.

“Like a sea trip,” put in Roy.  “I’ve heard that people who suffer from sea sickness are so much relieved when they get ashore that they imagine their good spirits are due to a change in their condition.”

“Well, that applies to me,” returned Peggy; “I didn’t think we’d get out of that hut so easily.  How do you suppose that gun came to be there?”

“The hunters who use the hut must have left it there,” rejoined Roy; “I wonder if they’ll ever know how useful it was to us.”

“More likely they’ll be mad when they find that the lock is blown off the door,” laughed Jimsy.

“Well, so-long, folks, I’m going to start back in the auto,” declared Roy.

“We’ll beat you into town,” challenged Jimsy.

“More than likely, if the Golden Butterfly is doing her best,” was the rejoinder.

Ten minutes later the two machines were racing back to Meadville at almost top speed.  Of course the speedy Golden Butterfly won, but then a vehicle of the air does not have to contend with the obstacles that a land conveyance does.

They found Miss Prescott almost on the verge of hysterics.  A garbled version of the events of the night had been brought to her and this, coupled with the long absence of the three young folks, had made her extremely nervous.

“I declare, it seems as if you just can’t keep out of trouble,” she said.

“Well, it actually does seem so, I admit,” confessed Peggy; “but we promise to be very good for the rest of the trip.”

“And never trouble trouble till trouble troubles us,” chanted Jimsy airily.

“That’s all very well, but you keep me continually in suspense as to what you’ll do next,” almost wailed Miss Prescott.  “We set out for a quiet trip and encounter nothing but troubles—­”

“Adventures, Aunt Sally,” laughingly corrected Roy; “what is life without adventures?”

“Well, I’m sure I don’t know what young people are coming to,” sighed Miss Prescott with resignation.  “There’s another thing, what are we to do with this little Wren?”