ROADSIDE MYSTERY.

"Now, what could he be up to?" Roy wondered as they sped on.

"Give it up," laughed Peggy, "unless he was going rabbit shooting."

"Rabbit shooting with a pistol--and in June--oh, Peggy, I thought you
were more of a sport than that."

"Well, can you suggest any solution?"

"Frankly--no. But I've been forgetting something which the sight of
Fanning Harding reminded me of," and Roy at once plunged into an account
of his interview with the banker and his son.

To his great relief Peggy agreed with him that on no account must the
aeroplane be turned over to the Hardings, but her mind was sadly
troubled, nevertheless, by what her brother told her concerning Simon
Harding's attitude.

"It looks as if he was bent on hounding us," she sighed.

"It surely does," agreed Roy, "but look, sis--there's Doctor Mays' house
off there. You'll have to make a landing in that field back of the barn."

Peggy nodded and deftly touched a lever or two. The aeroplane began to
descend.

"Want me to take the helm?" inquired Roy.

If Peggy had dared to turn her head she would have flashed an indignant
glance at her brother. As it was she had to content herself with a very
haughty, "No, indeed."

Roy laughed.

"You surely are the original Girl Aviator," he exclaimed.

"Huh!" cried Peggy, "by no means the original one, my dear. There are
lots of them in Europe and there soon will be in this country, too."

"I hope so," responded Roy, "riding with a pretty girl in an aeroplane
just suits me."

But Peggy did not reply, and for a good reason. They were now just above
the pasture lot in which she meant to descend, and below them, as they
dropped, an amusing scene was transpiring.

The Doctor's horse, old Dobbin, was dashing madly around in circles,
faster than he had gone in twenty years of solid respectability; the two
cows, and an old mother pig with her family, joined him as the strange
whirring thing from the sky dropped lowering above them. As for the
chickens, they flew wildly in every direction, clucking as if they had
gone mad.

In the midst of the turmoil a rear door opened and a kindly-faced old man
with white whiskers and a pair of big spectacles perched on his nose,
emerged, to see what could be causing all the disturbance. He fairly
dropped the big book he was holding, in his astonishment as he beheld a
glistening object, like a huge yellow and spangled bird, dropping in his
very back yard, so to s