Bill handed over his pad and she was gone, to return as quickly in a few
minutes.

"Here is an order on the bank; you can draw the cash as you need it. You
can start working in the stable loft; then bring your stuff over. There
will be a watchman on the grounds from to-night, so don't worry about
any more fires. I must go help get Dad off."

Once more she retreated; again she stopped to say something, as an
afterthought, over her shoulder:

"And, boys, won't you let Skeets and me help you some? Skeets will be
here again next week and I love to tinker and contrive and make all
sorts of things; it'll be fun to see the radio receiver grow."

"Sure, you can," said Gus; and Bill nodded, adding: "We have only a
limited time now, and any help will count a lot."

Going down to the bank, Bill again outlined the work in detail,
suggesting the purchases of even better machinery and tools, of only the
best grades of materials. There must be another trip to the city, the
most strenuous part of the work.

"We'll get it through on time, I guess," said Bill.

"I'm not thinking so much of that as about how that fire started," said
Gus.

"It couldn't have been any of our chemicals, could it?"

"Chem--? My eye! Don't you know, old chap? I'll bet Mr. Hooper and Grace
have the correct suspicion."

"More crooked business? You don't mean--"

"Sure, I do! Thad, of course. And, Bill, we're going to get him, sooner
or later. Mr. Hooper won't want to stand this sort of thing forever.
I've got a hunch that we're not through with that game yet."

CHAPTER XX

"TO LABOR AND TO WAIT"

It was truly astonishing what well organized labor could do under
intelligent direction; the boys had a fine example of this before them
and a fine lesson in the accomplishment. The new garage grew into a new
and somewhat larger building, on the site of the old, almost over night.
There were three eight-hour shifts of men and two foremen, with the
supervising architect and Mr. Grier apparently always on the job. As
soon as the second floor was laid, the roof on and the sheathing in
place, Bill and Gus moved in. The men gave them every aid and Mr. Grier
gave special attention to building their benches, trusses, a
drawing-board stand, shelving and tool chests. Then, how those new radio
receivers did come on!

Grace and Skeets were given little odd jobs during the very few hours of
their insistent helping. They varnished, polished, oiled, clea