Dick, for the craft had been allowed
to drift while the lifesaving work was going on. "We want to make time
back."

"This certainly is a surprise," remarked Larry Dexter, as he tried to
wring some of the water out of his clothes.

"More to me than it is to you, I guess," suggested Dick. "I suppose
you birdmen are used to accidents like this?"

"More or less," answered the cousin of Innis Beeby. "But I never
expected to come to grief, and be rescued by Innis."

"Nor did I expect to see you," said the cadet.

"We were just speaking of you, or, rather I was, as we saw your craft
in the air. I was wondering if you had perfected your patent."

"It doesn't look so--does it?" asked the airship inventor, with a
rueful smile in the direction of the sunken aircraft. "I guess I'm at
the end of my rope," he added, sadly. "But I'm glad none of us was
killed."

"So am I!" exclaimed Dick. "But how in the world did you come to take
up aviation, Larry?" he asked, of the young newspaper man. "Have you
given up reporting?"

"No indeed," replied Larry Dexter. "But this air game is getting to be
so important, especially the army and navy end of it, that my paper
decided we ought to have an expert of our own to keep up with the
times. So they assigned me to the job, and I'm learning how to manage
an aircraft. I guess the paper figures on sending me out to scout in
the clouds for news. Though if I don't make out better than this,
they'll get someone else in my place."

"Something went wrong--I can't understand it," said the aircraft
inventor, shaking his head. "The machine ought not to have plunged
down like that. I can't understand it."

"I'd like to send the story back to my paper," went on Larry.

"Always on the lookout for news!" remarked Dick. "We'll see that you
send off your yarn all right. There's a telegraph office in the
Academy now. I'll fix it for you."

The run to the school dock was soon made, and the arrival of Dick's
motor-boat, with the rescued ones from the airship, which had been seen
flying over the parade grounds a little while before, made some
commotion.

"We've missed guard-mount!" remarked Innis, as he saw the other cadets
at the drill.

"Can't be helped. We had a good excuse," said Dick. "Now we've got to
attend to him," and he nodded at Jack Butt, who seemed to have
collapsed again.

With military promptness, the mechanic was carried to the hospital, and
the school doctor was