decided to get out early and take a chance on finding you fellows up
and about."

After the first hearty greetings between the boys and the young
reporter--with whom the readers of the other volumes in this series
have already formed an acquaintanceship--the boys started asking
questions.

"What are you doing here anyhow?" demanded Frank.

"Yes, you mysterious scribe, tell us what you are after--a scoop or a
story of how it feels to ride in an aeroplane?"

"Well," laughed Billy in response, "I've had so many flights in the
Golden Eagles--both one and two--that I really believe I've had too
much experience to write a story about it from the novice's
standpoint. No, the fact is that I am down here on a story--a good one
too."

"You can't keep away from the newspaper field, can you?" laughed
Frank.

"No, that's a fact," agreed Billy ruefully; "I've tried to, but it's
no good."

"Well, you ought to be 'a man of independent fortune' now, as the
papers say," cried Harry.

"You mean with the percentage I got of the recovered ivory?"