“Stop that row, will you? Every one in the hotel is alarmed.”
“Masther Frank,” muttered Barney, dropping the slat.
“Pull me out!” shouted Pomp. “I’se stuck!”
“Faix, I’ll lave yer till yer cocoanut dhrops off!”
He gave his head a jerk and extricated himself.
The moment he got free and saw Frank he wilted, and making a dive for the door, vanished in the hall.
Frank and the other guests burst into a roar of laughter and followed him.
When the coon and the Irishman met at the breakfast table, they had so far forgotten their anger that the subject was not referred to.
Frank afterward took them aside, told them all about Mrs. Grey and her son, and after introducing them to the lady they went to police headquarters and laid the matter before the authorities.
A detective took a warrant for the arrest of Alfred Milburn, and accompanying Mrs. Grey to her residence with Frank and his friends, they went in and arrested the lawyer.
His dismay was intense when he saw Mrs. Grey free and Frank in her company, for he recognized the young inventor at once.
We may as well add here that he had to disgorge the money he held in trust for the widow and her son, and without much delay was sentenced to a long term in prison for his rascality.
Having procured the parts of the flying machine they were after, Frank and his two friends assured the lady again that they would strain every effort to rescue her son, and then boarded a train for home.
Readestown, to where they went, was a beautiful little western city near a river that flowed to the Atlantic.
Here dwelt Frank in a magnificent mansion, near which stood the great machine shops in which his wonderful inventions were constructed.
The young inventor upon his arrival found an old friend there named Dr. Vaneyke, who had often gone with him on his trips.
The white-bearded old scientist had heard that Frank had built a new flying machine, and being desirous of accompanying him in it on his proposed journey, had come from the Smithsonian Institute, with which he was connected, to join the inventor.
Frank was delighted at the prospect of having his old friend go, and readily assented to the plan.
On the following day, as the air ship was nearly finished, the inventor brought the professor out to the shop to see it.