WINNING A RACE
"Where did this diamond come from?" demanded Mr.Sharp of the quartette of criminals.
"That's for us to know and you to find out," sneered Happy Harry."I don't care as long as that trimmer Boreck didn't get it.He tried to do us out of our share.""Well, I guess the police will make you tell," went on the balloonist."Go for the constable, Tom."Leaving his friend to guard the ugly men, who for a time at least were beyond the possibility of doing harm, Tom hurried off through the woods to the nearest village.There he found an officer and the gang was soon lodged in jail.The diamond was turned over to the authorities, who said they would soon locate the owner.
Nor were they long in doing it, for it appeared the gem was part of a large jewel robbery that had taken place some time before in a distant city.The Happy Harry gang, as the men came to be called, were implicated in it, though they got only a small share of the plunder.Search was made for Tod Boreck and he was captured about a week after his companions.Seeing that their game was up, the men made a partial confession, telling where Mr.Swift's goods had been secreted, and the inventor's valuable tools, papers and machinery were recovered, no damage having been done to them.
It developed that after the diamond theft, and when the gang still had possession of Mr.Hastings' boat, Boreck, sometimes called Murdock by his cronies, unknown to them, had secreted the jewel in one of the braces under the gasoline tank.He expected to get it out secretly, but the capture of the gang and the sale of the boat prevented this.Then he tried to buy the craft to take out the diamond, but Tom overbid him.It was Boreck who found Andy's bunch of keys and used one to open the compartment lock when Tom surprised him.The man did manage to remove some of the blocks, thinking he had the one with the diamond in it, but the fact of Tom changing them, and painting the compartmentdeceived him.The gang hoped to get some valuables from Mr.Swift's shops, and, to a certain extent, succeeded after hanging around for several nights and following him to Sandport, but Tom eventually proved too much for them.Even stealing the Arrow, which was taken to aid the gang in robbing Mr.Swift, did not succeed, and Boreck's plan then to get possession of the diamond fell through.
It was thought that the gang would get long terms in prison, but one night, during a violent storm, they escaped from the local jail and that was the last seen of them for some time.
A few days after the capture as Tom was in the boathouse making some minor repairs to the motor he heard a voice calling:
"Mistah Swift, am yo' about?"
"Hello, Rad, is that you?" he inquired, recognizing the voice of the colored owner of the mule Boomerang.
"Yais, sa, dat's me.I got a lettah fo' yo'.I were passin' de post- office an' de clerk asted me to brung it to yo' 'case as how it's marked 'hurry,' an' he said he hadn't seen yo' to-day.""That's right.I've been so busy I haven't had time to go for the mail," and Tom took the letter, giving Eradicate ten cents for his trouble.
"Ha, that's good!" exclaimed Tom as he read it.
"Hab some one done gone an' left yo' a fortune, Mistah Swift?" asked the negro.
"No, but it's almost as good.It's an invitation to take part in the motor-boat races next week.I'd forgotten all about them.I must get ready.""Good land! Dat's all de risin' generation t'inks about now," observed Eradicate, "racin' an' goin' fast.Mah ole mule Boomerang am good enough fo' me," and, shaking his head in a woeful manner, Eradicate went on his way.
Tom told Mr.Sharp and his father of the proposed races of the Lanton Motor-boat Club, and, as it was required that two persons be in a craft the size of the ARROW, the young inventor arranged for the balloonist to accompany him.Our hero spent the next few days in tuning up his motor and in getting the ARROW ready for the contest.
