p, and then met
the housewife, as well as little Billie, the small chap whose life good
Doctor Bird had saved. Mrs. Quackenboss proved to be a very warm-hearted
woman, and any one who answered to the name of Bird could have the very
best that the place afforded. There was never a night that she did not
call down the blessings of heaven upon the physician who had been
instrumental in preventing her darling Billie from being taken away.

The table was fairly groaning under the weight of good things to eat,
for when company comes the average farmer's wife never knows when to
stop bringing out the most appetizing things to eat ever seen.

"Perhaps I'm the luckiest fellow going to be able to stay over-night
with you, Mrs. Quackenboss," laughed Andy, as he sat down to the
generous spread.

"Well, you know, we never like anybody to get up from our table hungry,"
she explained.

"The chances are that I won't be able to get up at all, for if I try to
taste half I see here, I'll be foundered, as sure as anything," Andy
went on to say.

The farmer was not going to allow much time to pass talking about common
every-day topics. Those might do all very well when he had ordinary
guests; but when fortune sent him one of the now famous Bird boys for
company, he wanted to listen to some thrilling accounts of adventures
that had come the way of the young and daring aviators, from the time
they built their first aeroplane, after purchasing most of the parts,
and found that they had an immediate rival in Percy Carberry.

Andy was willing to oblige, and kept those at the table, including the
farm hand, Felix Boggs, thrilled with his stories. But the farmer could
not help but notice how modest the boy was, giving most of the credit to
his cousin Frank, when everybody about Bloomsbury knew that Andy
deserved just as much credit, if not more, than the other Bird Boy.

After supper Andy and Felix prepared to go out to where the hydroplane
lay. They meant to take blankets along, and make themselves as
comfortable as possible for a night's vigil.

Andy would not have dreamed of doing this only for the fact that he knew
Percy and his shadow, Sandy, were aware of the plight of the precious
flier. And while Frank was inclined to partly believe that the Carberry
boy might let up in his mischief-making ways for awhile at least, after
all they had done for him up on Old Thundertop, Andy could not bring
himself to trust the other further than he