zzle about opposite to where he thought the padlock must
be located.

"Look out for a big noise, sis," he warned.

Peggy gave a little scream and raised her hands to her ears. She
disliked firearms.

"Ready?" sang out Jimsy.

"All ready," came the reply.

"Then fire!"

Simultaneously with Jimsy's order came a deafening report. In that
confined space it sounded as if a huge cannon had been fired. Roy
staggered back under the "kick" of the heavy charge.

"Once more," he announced.

Again a sonorous report sounded, but this time a section of the door was
blown right out of the framework. The daylight streamed in through it.

"Now then for the test," cried Roy. "Come on, Jimsy."

The two boys placed their shoulders to the door. With a suddenness that
was startling, it burst open, and they faced freedom. The lock had been
fairly driven from its hold by the twice repeated charge of shot.

The young aviators were free once more. But it remained to be seen if
the men who wished them harm had wrought their vengeance on the _Golden
Butterfly_.

CHAPTER XIV.

WHAT'S TO BE DONE WITH THE WREN?

The _Golden Butterfly_, as an examination proved, had not been damaged
during their imprisonment in the hut. Evidently, the men who had slammed
the door and padlocked it had made off at top speed as soon as they had
completed what they hoped would be a source of sore trouble to the young
aviators.

"And now we'll fly back as agreed," declared Peggy merrily.

Her spirits, almost down to zero in the hut, had recovered themselves
marvellously in the fresh open air. She was radiant.

"I declare that the stay in the hut has done you good," declared Jimsy,
looking at her admiringly.

"Maybe it has--by contrast," returned Peggy.

"Like a sea trip," put in Roy. "I've heard that people who suffer from
sea sickness are so much relieved when they get ashore that they imagine
their good spirits are due to a change in their condition."

"Well, that applies to me," returned Peggy; "I didn't think we'd get out
of that hut so easily. How do you suppose that gun came to be there?"

"The hunters who use the hut must have left it there," rejoined Roy;
"I wonder if they'll ever know how useful it was to us."

"More likely they'll be mad when they find that the lock is blown off
the door," laughed Jimsy.

"Well, so-long, folks, I'm going to start back in the auto," declared
Roy.

"We'll beat you into town," challenged Jimsy