ould you, if you had
heard what I did."

"What? You don't mean that some of the gang is down there?"

"Yes, and what's more I'm on the trail of the thieves who robbed the
Shopton Bank of the seventy-five thousand dollars!"

"No! You don't mean it!"

"I certainly do."

"Then we'd better tell Mr. Damon. He's in the cabin."

"Of course I'll tell him. He's as much concerned as I am. He wants to
be vindicated. Isn't it great luck, though?"

"But you haven't landed the men yet. Do you mean to say that the same
gang--the Happy Harry crowd--robbed the bank?"

"I think so, from what I heard. But come inside and I'll tell you all
about it."

"Suppose we start the ship first? It's ready to run. There wasn't as
much the matter with it as I feared. The storm is over now, and we'll
be safer up in the air than on this roof. Did you get all the
information you could?"

"All I dared to. The men were coming out, so I had to run. They were
quarreling, and when that happens among thieves--"

"Why honest men get their dues, everyone knows that proverb,"
interrupted Mr. Damon, again emerging from the cabin. "But bless my
quotation marks, I should think you'd have something better to do than
stand there talking proverbs."

"We have," replied Mr. Sharp quickly. "We're going to start the ship,
and then we have some news for you. Tom, you take the steering wheel,
and I'll start the gas machine. We'll rise to some distance before
starting the propellers, and then we won't create any excitement."

"But what news are you going to tell me?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless my
very existence, but you get me all excited, and then you won't gratify
my curiosity."

"In a little while we will," responded Mr. Sharp. "Lively now, Tom.
Some one may see this airship on top of the building, as it's getting
so much lighter now, after the storm."

The outburst of the elements was almost over and Tom taking another
look over the edge of the roof, could see persons moving about in the
street below. The storm clouds were passing and a faint haze showed
where a moon would soon make its appearance, thus disclosing the craft
so oddly perched upon the roof. There was need of haste.

Fortunately the Red Cloud could be sent aloft without the use of the
propellers, for the gas would serve to lift her. It had been found that
lightning had struck the big, red aluminum container, but the shock had
been a comparatively slight one, and, as the tank was insulated f