s. Harper. "It's a lot of help you youngsters would be
in catching real spies. You just happened to stumble on these
dynamiters and now you think you can do thing. But that's the way with
boys. They're all alike."

"But, mother," protested Henry, "boys can be useful in lots of ways.
And just because they are boys nobody thinks of suspecting them."

"There's one place where a certain boy I know could be of a lot of use
and never be suspected," agreed Mrs. Harper. "And that's at that
woodpile back of the shed."

"Please don't interrupt me, mother," said Henry. "You asked me to tell
you about our trip to New York."

"About your dream of a trip to New York," corrected Mrs. Harper. "You
don't for one minute think you are really going to New York, do you?"

"Indeed we are," replied Henry. "And this is how it came about. When
I read of the leak in the navy's secrets and the attempts of the
Germans to torpedo our transports, I wrote to Captain Hardy about it.
I told him we could be just as useful catching German spies in New York
as we were in Pennsylvania. He answered and said he didn't think we
could be of any use, but----"

"Showed his sense," interrupted Mrs. Harper.

"But he said," continued Henry, paying no attention to the
interruption, "that he would mention the matter to the Chief of the
Radio Service and let me know if anything came of it. And something
has come of it, mother. Just think! We're to go. Here's the telegram
itself."

Mrs. Harper took the yellow paper that Henry held out to her and read
it slowly and carefully. "Well, I never!" she said at last. "I never
did! But I don't know whether to let you go or not. Why, you'd be
lost inside of ten minutes in New York, and instead of being a help to
the police, you'd keep them busy hunting for you. I don't know about
this. Wait till your father gets home and we'll talk it over."

"But, mother," protested Henry, "I can't wait. And we've _got_ to go.
The Chief of the Radio Service has asked for our help. That means the
government wants us. If it wants us, it must need us. And we've just
got to go."

"Humph!" said Mrs. Harper.

"And besides," added Henry, reading the signs in his mother's face,
"Dr. Hardy is to be in New York with us, so we can't get into trouble."

"Well, that alters the case," said Mrs. Harper. "With Dr. Hardy to
look after you, I reckon you _can't_ go very far astray."

"Then we can go, mother?"

"I suppose