“Good-bye and good luck!” hailed the captain as Jack’s hand sought the starting switch.
At that moment, and just as the first impulses of the motor throbbed through the frame of the Electric Monarch, there was a sudden motion in the crowd.
“Lemme through!” bawled a voice, which Ned Nevins recognized with a start. It was Hank Nevins, his ne’er-do-well cousin. Close at Hank’s heels came Miles Sharkey. The two elbowed their way through the crowd, followed by a thickset man who bore the unmistakable stamp of an officer of the law. Miles Sharkey was waving a paper above his head.
“Hold on!” he bawled at the top of his voice, “don’t let that craft go up!”
“Why not?” yelled Captain Sprowl, his face purple.
“This officer will explain,” cried Hank, “we got a conjunction.”
“Injunction,” he means, explained Miles, the law sharp, with a grin. “We’ve got an injunction prohibiting those boys from handling the Electric Monarch.”
The captain stood aghast. The boys on the Electric Monarch could not catch just what was going on but they knew that the controversy concerned them.
“On what grounds did you obtain this injunction?” demanded the captain, controlling himself with difficulty.
“On the grounds that this craft belongs to Hank Nevins here. It was built from plans left to him by his father,” cried Miles.
“We have found a will. It was only discovered a few days ago after that young thief on board the Monarch there had appropriated the plans himself.”
“Is this right, officer?” demanded the confused captain in a bewildered way. “I ain’t much of a hand at the law myself.”
“It’s right, all right,” said the officer stolidly. “They’ve got an injunction restraining this craft from flying,--that’s the law.”
“He! he! he!” chuckled Hank. “This is the time I’ve fixed my smart young cousin. There was a will, after all.”
Jack was becoming impatient. From the pilot house he shouted down to the captain:
The captain was about to reply in the negative, explaining that the law must be complied with, when Hank shoved rudely against the old seaman, almost pushing him over.
“Lemme by,” he snarled. “I’ll attend to this!”
It was then that the vials of the captain’s wrath boiled over.
“You young limb!” he bellowed. “D’ye think I’ll sacrifice human life for a thousand injunctions? Go ahead, boys!”
