the gang is hiding! That's where the money is! Hurrah, Tom, we're on
the trail!"

Chapter 22

The Sheriff On Board

The announcement of Mr. Damon came as a great surprise to Tom and Mr.
Sharp. They had supposed that the reference to Shagmon was to a person,
and never dreamed that it was to a locality. But Mr. Damon's knowledge
of geography stood them in good stead.

"Well, what's the first thing to do?" asked Tom, after a pause.

"The first thing would be to go to Shagmon, or close to it, I should
say," remarked Mr. Sharp. "In what direction is it, Mr. Damon?"

"Northwest from where we were. It's a county seat, and that will suit
our plans admirably, for we can call on the sheriff for help."

"That is if we locate the gang," put in Tom. "I fancy it will be no
easy job, though. How are we going about it?"

"Let's first get to Shagmon," suggested the balloonist. "We'll select
some quiet spot for a landing, and then talk matters over. We may
stumble on the gang, just as you did, Tom, on the men in the office."

"No such good luck, I'm afraid."

"Well, I think we'll all be better for a little sleep," declared the
eccentric man. "Bless my eyelids but I'm tired out."

As there was no necessity for standing watch, when the airship was so
high up as to be almost invisible, they all turned in, and were soon
sleeping soundly, though Tom had hard work at first to compose himself,
for he was excited at the prospect of capturing the scoundrels,
recovering the money for the bank, and clearing his good name, as well
as those of his friends.

In the morning careful calculations were made to enable the travelers
to tell when they had reached a point directly over the small city of
Shagmon, and, with the skill of the veteran balloonist to aid them,
this was accomplished. The airship was headed in the proper direction,
and, about ten o'clock, having made out by using telescopes, that there
was plenty of uninhabited land about the city, the craft was sent aloft
again, out of a large crowd that had caught sight of it. For it was
the intention of the travelers not to land until after dark, as they
wanted to keep their arrival quiet. There were two reasons for this.
One was that the whole country was eager to arrest them, to claim the
reward offered by the bank, and they did not want this to happen. The
other reason was that they wanted to go quietly into town, tell the
sheriff their story, and enlist his aid.

All