ce, leaving them to manage his finances.
Perhaps it was the fact that he did sell these inventions to
Transcontinental that made these lines so successful; but at any rate,
President Arthur Morey was duly grateful, and when his son was able to
enter the laboratories he was as delighted as Arcot.

The two had become boon companions. They worked, played, lived, and
thought together.

Just now they were talking about the Pirate. This was the seventh day of
his discovery, and he had been growing steadily more menacing. It was
the great Transcontinental Airways that had suffered most repeatedly.
Sometimes it was the San Francisco Flyer that went on without a pilot,
sometimes the New York-St. Louis expresses that would come over the
field broadcasting the emergency signal. But always the people were
revived with little difficulty, and each time more of the stock of
"Piracy, Inc." was accumulated. The Air Guard seemed helpless. Time and
time again the Pirate slipped in undetected. Each time he convinced
them that it was an outside job, for the door was always sealed from the
outside.

"Dick, how do you suppose he gets away with the things he does right
under the eyes of those Air Guardsmen? He must have some system; he does
it every time."

"I have a vague idea," Arcot answered. "I was going to ask you today, if
your father would let us take passage on the next liner carrying any
money. I understand the insurance rates have been boosted so high that
they don't dare to send any cash by air any more. They've resorted to
the slow land routes. Is there any money shipment in sight?"

Morey shook his head. "No, but I have something that's just as good, if
not better, for our purpose. The other day several men came into Dad's
office, to charter a plane to San Francisco, and Dad naturally wondered
why they had been referred to the president of the company. It seems the
difficulty was that they wanted to hire the ship so they could be
robbed! A large group of medical men and cancer victims were going for
the 'treatment'. Each one of the twenty-five hundred going was to bring
along one hundred dollars. That meant a total of a quarter of a million
dollars, which is to be left on the table. They hoped the Pirate would
gas them and thus cure them! Dad couldn't officially do this, but told
them that if there were too many people for the San Francisco express,
two sections would be necessary. I believe they are going on that second
sec