o the Galloway farm that eventful afternoon on which
they had taken refuge from the storm.

She whispered to Jess her suspicions. Her chum instantly confirmed them.
Here was news indeed. After the men had been tied and placed in the
tonneau of Mr. Bell's car, Peggy called a council of war. In a few words
she told Mr. Bell of all that had happened since they had returned to the
East, and narrated the part the two prisoners had played in it.

"Good heavens, just to think I've come to the tame and effete east to
plunge into the midst of such an exciting mix-up," laughed Mr. Bell, "I
was in Roanoke seeing about the shipment of some supplies when I saw, in a
newspaper, that the contests for the naval contract were to take place
here. I had had no idea from your letters that they were so near at hand.
As I had some time to spare, I thought I'd run over to Hampton in my
machine and see how you made out."

"And we providentially happened to fly across you!" cried Jimsy. "Truth
is stranger than fiction, after all."

"But what are we to do with those two rascals now that we have caught
them?" wondered Peggy; "if we take them into Hampton and turn them over to
the authorities Mortlake will know of it and may make more trouble. I
wonder if they know much about him and his schemes. I recollect now that
I've seen them hanging about his aeroplane plant. I couldn't call to mind
then where I had seen them before, but I suppose the shock of coming upon
them so unexpectedly to-night jogged my memory."

"You say that they were hanging about Mortlake's place?" asked Mr. Bell,
in an interested tone.

"Yes, I'm sure of it," repeated Peggy; "I'm certain of it now."

"We'll soon find out," said Mr. Bell in his old determined manner. He
approached the car in which the two bound captives were still huddled.

"Now, you fellows," he said in stern voice, "you know better than I do,
most likely, what the penalty for attempted highway robbery is in the
State of Virginia."

"Oh, guv'ner, don't turn us over to the police," wailed one of the men,
none other, in fact, than our old acquaintance, Joey Eccles. His
companion, the angular and lanky Slim, remained silent.

"I want you to answer my questions truthfully," snapped out the Westerner,
"after that I'll see what I'll do with you. Now then--do you know a man
named Mortlake?"

"Y-y-y-yus, guv'ner," stammered the redoubtable Joey.

"Good. You came here with him?"

"Well, what if we did?" g