"Those are the orders," replied Dave. "I have hurried back to Columbus purposely, to consult on your helping in a search for the Drifter." "Of course that is not possible, now that this Dale affair has come up," said Mr. King. "As to a search for the stolen aircraft, that is going to be no easy task, I'm thinking. Have the Interstate people no theory as to the way the Drifter was stolen, and the motive for the theft?" "I had better tell you all I know about it, Mr. King." "Do so, Dashaway." Dave proceeded to relate his interview with Mr. Randolph, the manager of the Interstate factory. He did not refer just then to his experience with the tramp. "It's a good deal of a puzzle," commented the aviator. "What is your plan?" "Why, I expected that I could induce you to take charge of the search. As you cannot, I am thinking of Hiram going back with me to Bolton." "What's your idea?" "The Interstate people have offered me their best monoplane to start the chase for the missing Drifter." "It will be a blind start, Dashaway, without a clew." "But I have a clew," announced Dave. "You didn't say so." "I hadn't come to that yet, Mr. King. I haven't even told the Interstate people. I am pretty certain that the Drifter left Bolton on a due northwest course," and Dave drew from his pocket the card he had got from the tramp. "Capital!" cried the aviator, becoming very much interested. "If you know that, you have half solved the problem." "Besides that," went on Dave, producing the duplicate N. A. L. badge, and glancing at the scratched initials on its back, "I know who stole the Drifter." "What's that?" almost shouted the aviator, springing to his feet, in a great state of excitement. "Say, Dave, are you sure?" pressed the eager Hiram Dobbs, worked up to fever heat with curiosity and suspense. "Who was it?" asked Mr. King. "Jerry Dawson," was Dave Dashaway's reply. CHAPTER XV AT THE AERODROME "That is the machine I want, Mr. Randolph," said Dave Dashaway. It was two days after the young aviator had told his friends at Columbus the name of the person he suspected of stealing the aero-hydroplane, the Drifter from the Interstate Aeroplane Company. Now, he and Hiram and the manager of the Interstate plant stood amid the half hundred or more aero machines that comprised the stock of one of the largest factories in that line in the country. They had left the aero meet at Columbus the evening previous, not, however, until Dave had explained how he came to suspect Jerry Dawson. "It's simple and plain, Mr. King," the young aviator had said. "The badge I bought from the tramp at Bolton was the property of young Dawson." "Sure of that, Dashaway?" Mr. King had inquired. "Oh, yes. The initials are crude, but they certainly stand for 'J. D.' and not 'T. O.' as the tramp thought." An inspection of the duplicate badge by both Mr. King and Hiram satisfied them that Dave's theory was correct.