human
I bet I said only what you fellows were all thinking about when I spoke,
gpt
I felt it in my bones, Hal declared.
human
Bud didn't have any more reason to think something is going to happen to-night than all of us have. If something surprising doesn't happen, I shall be--
gpt
Whatever happens, or doesn't happen, Hal is going to be surprised,
human
I think we all will be surprised,
gpt
Surprise party,
human
Bum surprise party without any girls,
gpt
Well, anyway, I think we ought to keep watch here to guard against the kind of surprise party we wouldn't like,
human
I agree with you there, old boy, Cub put in quickly.
gpt
Whether or not anything happens, it would be jolly to have watches and relieve one another the way they used to do out west among the Indians and outlaws and road agents.
human
I bet they do it yet in some places out there,
gpt
Course they do, Cub concurred.
human
You can't tell me that the day of outlaws is gone. Think of the automobile bandits we have now-a-days. They'll be raiding with airplanes next.
gpt
No, I don't believe that, Hal objected.
human
They couldn't use an airplane to any advantage. We won't have any more stage coach robbers or pirates on the high seas, and I don't think there's any chance of much of that sort of thing in the air, but there's a good chance for some bad doings in the air in another way.
gpt
How's that?
human
We've all had some experience with it, and you ought to know what I mean.
gpt
Oh, I know, declared Bud.
human
You mean radio.
gpt
Sure, replied Hal.
human
There are going to be a lot of con men at work in the air or some way in connection with radio; you see if there are not.
gpt
They've been at work already, said Cub.
human
There's been a good deal in the papers about the games they work. But I'd like to know the truth about the fellow who tried to keep us from coming on this trip to find Mr. Baker's son.
gpt
I bet he's somethin' more than a college sophomore, said Bud.
human
I wouldn't be surprised if he's connected in some way with the fellows who kidnapped our Thousand Island Crusoe.
gpt
A big radio plot, eh?
human
Maybe,
gpt
What for? What could they be up to? Pretty far fetched isn't it?
human
Yes, maybe; but, you know, it's our business to think up every possible solution and then find out which one fits the facts.
gpt
All right, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, but where's the sense in figuring this as a big radio plot unless we can see a sensible answer to it?
human
Yes, Bud, it's pretty far fetched, ruled the dominating Cub.
gpt
You'll have to think up an answer to your conundrum before we can consider it. Why should a college freshman be hazed in the manner that Mr. Baker's son was hazed just so that some men, confederates of the hazers, could kidnap him? And then why should one of the hazers work the kind of game that that mysterious fellow worked to checkmate us in this rescue trip of ours if the purpose was just to kidnap Mr. Baker's son, after all? The sophomores had to kidnap him in the first place. Why go through all that Robinson Crusoe nonsense if the end was to be just a plain kidnapping?
human
Then you think there's no connection between the hazing and the kidnapping,
gpt
I don't see how there can be. There's nothing showed up yet that makes it look reasonable.