rim of the sun was just above the
trees on the horizon.

"Two items from the morning's work," Scotty summed up. "We know how the
mansion can be watched, and we have an odd kind of antenna. Anything
else?"

"We have an ally," Rick reminded. "Orvil Harris."

"We bought him on pure faith," Steve pointed out. "It isn't often I
stake the game on a man's face, but if Orvil Harris isn't a sound
individual, I'll lose my faith in human nature."

Back at the farmhouse, Steve made fresh coffee and toast. While the boys
relaxed sleepily, he went to a closet and brought out a case and a
leather gadget bag.

The boys sat up and watched while he opened the case. Rick gasped. It
was a telescope, a marvelously compact reflector type, precision made
and very expensive. Rick had often studied the ads of this particular
model, and he looked at it with some envy. He could hardly keep from
picking it up.

Steve opened the gadget bag and brought out a Polaroid camera and set of
rings. Then he returned to the closet and brought back a sturdy tripod
with a geared head.

"Here's the equipment," he said. He took the telescope from its padded
case, and screwed its base to the tripod, then he adjusted the tripod
until it was standing securely.

"Watch this," he commanded. "You'll have to do it, because you can't
carry the whole thing assembled."

Using the rings, which were adapters, he fitted the camera to the
eyepiece of the telescope. "That's all there is to it. You focus the
'scope eyepiece by turning this knurled knob. Then you set the camera to
infinity, adjust the iris for the proper light, and put the camera in
place. Any questions?"

"What aperture?" Rick asked. "Normal exposure?"

"Make it one f-stop less than you'd use if you were taking the picture
through a regular camera with a long lens. Anything else?"

Scotty grinned. "It's pointless to ask what you want us to do with this.
We're to get pictures of that antenna--from the duck blind."

"Plus anything else that looks interesting, including the occupants,"
Rick added.

Steve spread his hands in an expressive gesture. "What more could an
instructor want than students who know the answers before the questions
are asked? I won't even tell you to be careful, because I know you
will."

"We will," Rick assured him.

"All right. Listen, boys, we have no idea what we're up against, but we
do have some facts." Steve ticked them off on his fingers. "One, flying
objects or