The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition

Rob?" Andy remarked, as he and his companion fo

d not wish the other to catch what he said. "Everybody just knows that he's gone daffy over this craz

k as well as the next one when he felt disposed that way, but it had always been a sort of fad with Hiram Nelson to pretend that he was a real coun

uts. There was an eager expression on his face, as though he were bursting with the desire to comm

e. Then just by accident I ran across Walter Lonsdale, who told me he believed from what Sim Jeffords said, that Joe Digby had seen you and Andy

Bowles chuckled at the roundabout way the ot

ng you that sooner or later I might have somethin' of vast importance to

t," asserted the othe

the scout leader, and in

has come

aid Rob. "Fire a

dubious glance in th

e the word, and even being burned at the stake couldn't force me to squeal a syllable. Say on, Hiram; you've got

body'll be knowing it sooner or later. You just can't hide a light un

pride; whereat Hiram laughed softly, as though possibly he had no reason to doubt that

tell you what wonderful things happened. The greatest chance I've ever struck

a patent lawyer to put some wildcat scheme through; and that you've got

ned and looked reproachfully at him, and

ventors, people who have the big brains, and get up all the wonderful labor-saving devices you read

hook h

ong and tell us what you've been and gone and done now. Never

notice that a patent is pending on a clever invention of mine, which is as good as saying it's secured. But that's

ndy, "but I hope it isn't all going to turn out a big s

ation, boys. The invention for which I have applied for patent right

onder; so not to disappoint him, and in hopes of hurrying matters along a

ee

a happy chance that in the end I stumbled on the key that unlocked the secret. You may know that one of the obstacles to making a?roplanes popular among the masses has bee

le above the earth," admitted the patrol leader; "and that a sudden gust

y to prevent all these accidents, and made an a?roplane as safe for a

ggest inventors have been lying awake nights trying to fix things that way, so as to take away

elf on the chest in rather a vainglorious fashion, which, however, the other two boys hardly no

d him to hear so much about the "preliminaries," when

ow you know what the scheme is I can

stifle a yawn back of his hand, but that was on

he legal documents showing that a patent had been applied for, quite some time now, though for reasons of my own I kept it all a dead secret from everybody. Mebbe yeou fellers may have noticed that I've be

et go your bowstring then and s

, "and my first thought was to get in communication with some enterprising big corporation that manufactured a?roplanes for the market. All inventors have to sell t

ob, knowing that he could tempt the other to hurry his story in this wa

a minor matter, after all, "but in the end I found that a certain con

d Rob, taking considerable more interest in the matter, now that Hiram's undoubt

ent so far as to enclose a check big enough to cover all expenses of myself and a companion-for I was smart enough to say I'd insist on having com

ring incredulity that had been a marked f

dn't we always say that some fine day you'd be famous, and make the Eagles pr

e hard cash any time I wanted it. Why, he even called it a certified bank draft, which meant the money had been set aside

Must be my mind's so filled with that Golden Gate business I just tho

ous a?roplanes on the market. If they adopt my stabilizer it's going to be heard of all over the world. And to think what a magnificent chance we'

ded the patrol leader, with a smile on his face,

They never put up a single kick against the expense of the double bill, Rob; but the check covered railroad fare, sleeper, meals, and hotel bills while there a week, as well as the return trip to boot. That means they fancy my invention is goi