"Eh? Oh, it's you again, is it?"

They had come inside the tent. The light burning there revealed Andy fully. Without letting go of him Duske scowlingly surveyed his captive.

"Say, Duske," spoke the other man quickly, "it's Parks' boy, and he's the one who won the pony prize."

"Was that you?" demanded Duske; "are you Andy Nelson?"

"Suppose so?" queried Andy.

"Then you're the fellow who is going to take Parks' place in the race to-morrow?"

"I guess that is right," affirmed Andy.

"No," cried Duske, showing his teeth, and looking fierce and malicious, "it's wrong, dead wrong, as you're going to find out. Fetch me some rope."

"Hold on," objected Andy, "you aren't going to tie me up?"

He put up a manful struggle and very nearly got away. The two powerful men were more than his equal, however, and in a very few minutes Andy found himself tied hand and foot.

Duske and his companion carried him bodily along through the tent, past the flying machine, and threw him onto a mattress lying on the ground in a small compartment part.i.tioned off with canvas. Duske tested the ropes that bound Andy, gave them another twist, and went out into the main tent.

"This looks like luck," observed the companion of Duske.

"Yes, if we've got the bearings right," replied the other, "Are you sure he was scheduled to take Parks' place in the race?"

"Of course I am. Hasn't Tyrrell told us already about his getting into trouble somewhere, and couldn't be here to make the race? Hasn't Parks hired Tyrrell in his place?"

"Then how comes the boy to be here? I don't like the looks of things at all."

"Tyrrell will be here before long. He can post us if there is any break in our arrangements."

The two men pa.s.sed out of hearing. Andy made one or two efforts to loosen his bonds, found them unusually secure, and gave up the experiment. What his captors had said startled and disturbed him considerably.

"Mr. Parks doesn't expect me to show up in time to make the race, and this man they talked about, Tyrrell, is going to take my place,"

reflected Andy. "He is a friend of the people here, and that certainly means harm for Mr. Parks."

Andy worried himself a good deal during the next hour, imagining all kinds of plots on the part of Duske and his friends to prevent the _Racing Star_ from winning the prize.

Finally Andy heard voices in the large tent. His name was spoken, and he listened intently to catch what was said.

"If that's so, and it's really Andy Nelson," sounded a new voice, "it's funny, for up to this morning he was in jail at Princeville."

"Then he's escaped, or got free somehow," answered Duske. "He's that boy of Parks' who was the winner in the dash for the pony prize."

"If he is," came the reply, "you want to hold him a close prisoner till the big race is over."

CHAPTER XXI-A FRIEND IN NEED

The voices that Andy heard died away in the distance. In about ten minutes, however, they came back again within his range of hearing. The man he believed to be Tyrrell, who in some way had induced Mr. Parks to accept him as a subst.i.tute for himself in the aviation race, was speaking to his companion, who was Duske.

"That's the programme, is it?" he was asking.

"To a T."

"You will look out for the Nelson boy."

"Don't fret on that score. We'll cage him safe and sound until the race is over."

"You think I had better use the bottle?"

"Yes, here it is. Stow it anywhere in your clothes."

"Isn't there some easier way? What's the use of fire? It may strike investigators as suspicious."

"Not at all. They tanked you too full, a spark did the mischief, see?

You know enough to descend in among some trees?"

"Of course."

"Let the flame singe your clothing, tell some sensational story of a hairbreadth escape, and you'll be quite a hero."

"You think with the _Racing Star_ out of the way that your machine is bound to win, do you?"

"I know it," affirmed Duske confidently. "Those other aeroplanes are mere botches. They will do as playthings, but as to distance, they're not in it with the _Moon Bird_."

"All right, I'll follow instructions. Keep that boy safe. I'd better go.

It would be all up with our scheme if Parks should suspect I was your friend."

Andy fairly writhed where he lay. The plot of the villains was now perfectly clear to him. The man Tyrrell had wormed himself into the confidence of Mr. Parks, who little suspected that he was a confederate of Duske. Tyrrell was to make the start with the _Racing Star_, pretend that an accident had happened, and burn up the airship.

"What shall I do-what can I do?" breathed Andy. "They don't intend to let me go until after the race is over to-morrow."

In about an hour Duske and an old man who seemed to be the cook of the camp came to where Andy lay. Duske released one hand of the captive. The anxious prisoner did not feel much like eating, but he realized that he must keep up his strength. He ate some bread and meat which the cook brought, and drank some water.

Duske tied him up again, tighter than ever. Then he spoke to the cook:

"You get your armchair right outside the canvas flap here, Dobbins."

"All right, Mr. Duske," replied the man.

"Every fifteen minutes, right through till morning, you are to look in on that boy. See that he is comfortable, but particularly that he is safe."

"I'll attend to it."