“We can do that all right, without telling anything that isn’t so,” replied the other aviator.  “The farmer doesn’t know us, though Sallie will, and on that account we must be careful what we say.  But the dinner’s the main thing just now.  And at the same time we’ll try and pick up a little information, if Farmer Hoskins happens to know anything that would interest two fellows of our stamp.”

He passed over the opening once, to make sure that it contained all the necessary requisites for a successful landing, and also a launching of the airship.  Then, making a graceful sweep back again, Frank allowed the aeroplane to drop lightly to the ground.  It landed in almost the center of the field, and both boys saw that they might get away again without a great amount of trouble.

“Fine!” was the comment of the pilot, as he jumped to the ground, and bent over to detach some part of the machinery without which the motor, as Andy always said, “would not move worth a cent.”  This he often took with him, just as a chauffeur might the spark plug of an automobile, rendering it helpless unless the would-be thief were prepared to supply the deficiency off-hand, which was a remote possibility that never worried Frank.

“Now for grub!” announced the hungry Andy, leading off in the direction where he had reason to believe the farmhouse lay; Frank always declared that Andy had a most wonderful nose for a meal that was preparing, and could spot a camp a mile away just by the smell of frying onions, or coffee cooking.

At any rate he proved to be a successful pilot on the present occasion, for in a short time they were passing through an abandoned grain field where the bees and butterflies were swarming about the many lavender colored flowers of the great clumps of thistles; and the smoke from the farmhouse kitchen arose just over a little knoll.

“Told you so,” said Andy, as they drew near the house, and caught fragrant odors of cooking in the air.

Upon their knocking a girl came to the open door, and recognized Frank immediately as a boy she had met at the country dance the preceding winter.  But nothing she said would indicate that the Hoskins, living here away from the world as they did, with the head of the house spending all his time hunting for that treasure-trove he still believed in, had heard anything to speak of about the wonderful things the Bird boys had been doing lately.

Frank was glad of this, and he just casually mentioned that they chanced to find themselves near the farm, and wondered if they could get dinner there.

So the good housewife was brought out, and with true country hospitality she immediately invited both boys to sit down with them, although saying that they were not as well supplied with the good things that used to be seen on their table before father took to boring those horrid holes all over the place, thinking to strike a coal vein, or perhaps a silver mine.