n the
interrupter and it will take me all day to adjust the engine again."

"Gee, that's a shame!" said Frank, shaking his head.

Bill looked at him with amazement. After what he had seen in the hangar,
the boy's sly cunning filled him with amazement. He had an overwhelming
desire to confide in someone, and Ernest flashed into his mind.

The sky was growing very dark, and a queer yellow light spread the
northwest like a blanket.

Tom turned the plane and headed it back toward the hangar. "No flyin'
today," he said. "Look at that sky!"

The boys helped him put the plane away, then they sauntered up to the
school. A flash of lightning split the sky.

"Funny time of year for lightning," said Bill.

"It is, at that!" answered Ernest. "But it looks to me as though we were
going to have a real electrical storm. Let's get under cover."

They raced up the hill and into the building just as the storm descended
in good earnest. As Bill hurried to his room to shut the window, the boy
in the telephone booth called him.

"Telegram for you," he said, shoving the message through the wicket.
Bill signed the slip with a hand that shook a little. His mother! She
was his first thought. But her name was at the foot of the message which
proved to be a night letter.

"Lee will be taken to Leavenworth on Tuesday," it ran. "Circumstantial
evidence too strong. He is in a dreadful state but promises me to take
it like a soldier. Wish that you were here, but am told the quarantine
is absolutely strict. Will see you Thanksgiving if possible. Love.
Mother."

Bill turned abruptly and went after Ernest. No one had seen him.
Presently he gave up the search and went to his room where he found
everything in the greatest disorder and a gale sweeping clothing, papers
and bedding from their places. He closed the window and straightened up
the place, moving the two army lockers to a new and better position and
rearranging his desk. He was too worried and restless to work, so he
went to the window, and leaning against the sash, watched a spectacular
storm sweep across the valley. In the distance he could see the trolley
cars struggling against the blast, but presently they were seen no more.
Great branches broke from the trees and whirled through the air. The
steel flag-pole before the main building bent perilously and, as Bill
watched, a row of telephone poles went toppling over. Blacker and
blacker grew the air, and at last with a crash the ra