"Suppose the Drifter comes Dave?" asked Hiram.

The Drifter was the name of the new model aero-hydroplane concerning
which Dave had received a letter from the Interstate people that
day, but written the day previous.

"I'll see that it is handled all right," promised Grimshaw.

"Tell Mr. King I will wire him just as soon as I learn what's up,"
said Dave. "You'll look after the Racer and the hydroplane, won't
you, Hiram?"

"Surely I will," pledged Hiram.

Dave returned to his own quarters and packed a small hand bag. Hiram
went to the railroad depot with him. They had to wait two hours for a
south-bound train.

The factory of the Interstate Aero Company was located at a city in
Ohio. It was over three hundred miles from Columbus. The train
Dave was on arrived at a junction about daylight the next morning.
There he had to wait for a train on another road.

He had slept a few hours and got his breakfast at the depot
restaurant. According to schedule he would reach the Interstate
plant about ten O'clock in the morning.

Dave had been looking out of the car window enjoying the scenery and
thinking over affairs in general, when he chanced to direct his gaze
at a newspaper the man in the forward seat was reading. A glaring