Dick was about to rejoin his brothers, and suggest that they go up and fly along over the woods road, when another girl, named Bess Haven, came running up.
"Oh, Mr. Rover, isn't this queer!" she cried. "I thought you were hurt!"
"Hurt?" repeated Dick, puzzled. "How so?"
"Why Dora Stanhope said you were—that you had had a fall out of the flying machine."
"That I fell out of the machine?" cried Dick. "There is some mistake here. I have had no fall. When did she tell you that?"
"About half an hour ago. She got some sort of a message, and she was terribly upset. She went off to visit you."
"Where to?"
"I don't know. But wait—yes, she did say you had had a fall in the woods."
"Did she go alone?" And now Dick's heart began to thump strangely. He was thinking of their many enemies. Was this some new trick?
"No, Nellie and Grace Laning, her cousins, went with her."
Dick turned to Ida Strong.
"You saw them go?"
"Yes, just as I told you. Oh, Mr. Rover, is anything wrong?"
"I don't know—I hope not. But I think we
