"Peter Deveaux!" exclaimed John and Paul at once. And John added: "Mr. Wrenn, that fellow did not refuse to fly in the Air Mail service; he _did_ fly, and was dishonorably discharged for drunkenness. Furthermore, he stole those plans from our hangar!" The publisher of the _Clarion_ opened his eyes wide. "Can you prove those assertions?" he inquired. "That last one is a serious charge, sir." "Nevertheless we can prove it when we get back to New York," declared John warmly. "Well," said Mr. Wrenn, "I'll finish my story, and then we can talk over this new development more understandingly. As I said, Deveaux claimed to have a half-right in the plans, and having no reason to doubt it, I told him to proceed, when he proposed to make an airplane for us from the designs and to head a crew for the _Clarion_ in this race around the world. Now you will understand my position in the matter." "Wrenn," spoke up Mr. Giddings with quick frankness, "I beg your pardon. The young men here and myself fancied you must have had a guilty part in the production of this fac-simile of our airplane. We now see who is really to blame." "I do not blame you for your suspicions," was the candid reply of the fat man, "if things are as you state; and I will do you the honor, Giddings, to say that, although we are business rivals, your word is as good as gold with me. This is a lamentable situation. What shall we do about it?" Mr. Giddings studied deeply before making answer. Then he observed: "Wrenn, this contest, as you know, has been too widely advertised to wreck it just as it is about to begin by the arrest of this man, Peter Deveaux. Say nothing to him about it; in fact, we will none of us mention a word of this to anybody; but when the race is over you can quietly dismiss him from your service, if you wish. As I now look at it, no great harm has been done, if any, by his duplicity; with two planes practically alike, the race will really be a fairer one, and a more exciting one for the public who read our newspapers, and supremacy will probably go to the better crew." "I don't know about my crew, as Deveaux picked them up; but they did good work when they brought me down here the other day in the plane," said Mr. Wrenn. "Giddings, I think your plan is all right, and we'll let the race go on as if nothing had happened; but you bet your last dollar I'll fire Pete when it's all over, if he has done what you say!" With that the publisher of the _Clarion_ accompanied our friends back to the hangar, where he had a good look at the Sky-Bird II, and showed his own airplane, which was in all essentials an exact copy of the other. Following this they left the airdrome and went to their hotels.