"A sailor's wife, a sail-or's star should be! Star-r-r-r-r-r should be! Star-r-r-r-r-r should be!"
"Ahoy, there!" came the hearty response, as Herc, who had been sauntering along the road, on his way to meet Ned, broke into a run. Something in the accent of Ned's cry had warned him that his comrade's need for help was urgent.
"Scatter!" came a sharp voice from one of the hitherto silent waylayers of the Dreadnought Boy.
Like so many leaves before a sharp puff of autumn wind, they instantly dissolved into the night. Ned, dusty, battered and furious, picked himself up. As he did so Herc plunged into the dark patch in which the desperate fight had taken place. He hailed Ned and received an instant response.
"What on earth has happened?" he exclaimed.
Ned soon told his story. His voice throbbed with anger as he talked. Ned was slow to wrath, but once aroused he was whole-souled in his anger, and surely he had justification for his rage.
"The scoundrels!" burst out Herc, "couldn't you recognize any of them?"
"No. They chose the place well. I could hardly tell you if it wasn't for your voice."
"I'll bet the hole out of a doughnut that Merritt and Chance had something to do with this."
"I don't know. I hardly know anything I'm so mad. At any rate I must have marked one or two of them. My knuckles are skinned where I hit them."
"Let's hope that Merritt and Chance were the two you walloped. If so, we shan't have much difficulty in identifying two of your assailants."
"You talk as if you were certain they had something to do with it."
"Tell you what we'll do," said Ned, suddenly, "let's light a match and look the ground over. Maybe we can find some trace of the fellows' identity. There's one thing sure, they were not common robbers."
"That's evident enough. It was the plans they were after. But who that knows about them could use them to advantage?"
"That remains to be seen. In the meantime, on second thoughts, I can do better than matches. I've got that small electric torch I use about the aeroplane."
"Good. Switch it on and we'll see what we can see."
Ned drew out a small object from his pocket. There was a sharp click and a bright ray of light shot out. Here and there about the ground the Dreadnought Boy flashed the tiny searchlight.