A STUNNING SURPRISE.
“He certainly looks all worked up, doesn’t he, Rob?” Andy remarked, as he
and his companion found themselves drawing closer to the other scout.
“Hiram is a queer stick, you remember,” the patrol leader told him,
speaking in a soft tone, as he did not wish the other to catch what he
said. “Everybody just knows that he’s gone daffy over this craze to
invent something worth while. But unless I miss my guess we’re going to
hear some news shortly.”
There was no chance to exchange further remarks, because they had reached
a point close to Hiram. The latter was a rangy sort of chap. He could
talk as well as the next one when he felt disposed that way, but it had
always been a sort of fad with Hiram Nelson to pretend that he was a
_real_ countryman, and many a time had he amused his chums with his broad
accent and his wondering stare, as of a “yahoo” seeing city sights for
the first time.
Now, however, Hiram apparently was not bothering his head about having
any fun with his fellow scouts. There was an eager expression on his
face, as though he were bursting with the desire to communicate his great
secret to a chosen few of his chums, especially to the patrol leader, Rob
Blake.
“Been alookin’ for you all over town, Rob,” he started in to say, as they
joined him. “Took me an awful long time to get track of where you’d gone.
Then just by accident I ran across Walter Lonsdale, who told me he
believed from what Sim Jeffords said, that Joe Digby had seen you and
Andy here hitting it up for the dock, and so he reckoned you must have
gone off on your little _Tramp_. And say, Walter was right that time,
wasn’t he?”
“He certainly was,” replied Rob, while Andy Bowles chuckled at the
roundabout way the other admitted he had received his information.
“Well, Rob,” continued Hiram mysteriously, “’course you remember my
telling you that sooner or later I might have somethin’ of _vast_
importance to tell you, something that would give you one of the greatest
thrills ever?”
“Sure, I remember that,” asserted the other, “what about it, Hi?”
The other leaned closer to the scout leader, and in a hoarse whisper
exclaimed:
“The time has come now, Rob!”
“Good enough,” said Rob. “Fire away then, Hiram!”
Hiram cast a rather dubious glance in the direction of Andy.
“Oh, don’t mind me one little bit, Hi!” sang out that worthy cheerfully.
“I’ll promise to seal my lips if you give the word, and even being burned
at the stake couldn’t force me to squeal a syllable. Say on, Hiram;
you’ve got Rob and me worked up to top-notch with curiosity, and I know
I’ll burst pretty soon if you don’t take pity on me.”
“Oh! well, I guess it’s all right,” the other observed slowly.
“Everybody’ll be knowing it sooner or later. You just can’t hide a light
under a bushel, anyhow. So I might as well take you at your word, Andy.”
“My word’s as good as my bond, Hiram,” said the bugler of the troop, with
some show of pride; whereat Hiram laughed softly, as though possibly he
had no reason to doubt that same fact, since Andy would find it difficult
work to get anybody to accept the latter.
“Let’s sit down here on this pile of lumber,” Hiram went on to say,
“while I tell you what wonderful things happened. The greatest chance
I’ve ever struck so far, and you can understand that I’m nigh about
tickled to death over it.”
“Huh! bet you’ve gone and spent every red cent you could scrape up paying
a patent lawyer to put some wildcat scheme through; and that you’ve got
the papers in your pocket showing that you’ve parted from your hard
cash?”
When Andy recklessly said this Hiram turned and looked reproachfully at
him, and then with his accustomed drawl remarked:
“Everything we tackle in this world is a chance and a hazard, don’t you
know, Andy Bowles? And if inventors, people who have the big brains, and
get up all the wonderful labor-saving devices you read about, didn’t
choose to accept risks, why whatever would become of all you ordinary
folks, tell me?”
Andy shook his head.
“Give it up, Hiram,” he said blankly. “But please go right along and tell
us what you’ve been and gone and done now. Never mind me. My bark is a
whole lot worse than my bite, anyhow.”
“That’s so,” Hiram assured him cheerfully. “Well, you guessed right in
one way, Andy, for I have secured the advance notice that a patent is
pending on a clever invention of mine, which is as good as saying it’s
secured. But that’s only the beginning, the foundation, or, as you might
say, the advance agent of prosperity. The best is yet to come.”
“You’re exciting us a heap, Hiram, I admit,” muttered Andy, “but I hope
it isn’t all going to turn out a big smoke. There’s some fire back of
this talk, isn’t there?”
“Wait!” the other told him grimly. “Get ready to soak in this
information, boys. The invention for which I have applied for patent
rights is, as p’raps you’ve already guessed, in connection with
airships!”
He waited at that point, as if expecting some expression of surprise and
wonder; so not to disappoint him, and in hopes of hurrying matters along
a little faster, the accommodating Andy gave vent to the one expressive
word:
“Gee!”
“Yes, I’ve been tackling one of the hardest propositions we inventors
have ever run up against,” continued Hiram pompously, “and to tell you
the truth it was only through a happy chance that in the end I stumbled
on the key that unlocked the secret. You may know that one of the
obstacles to making aëroplanes popular among the masses has been the
danger attending these air flights. Even the most experienced pilots are
subject to risks that they pretend to make light of. You understand all
that, Rob, of course?”
“Yes, I know they are delicate affairs at best when used for sailing a
mile above the earth,” admitted the patrol leader; “and that a sudden
gust of wind, if it takes the voyager unawares, is apt to bring about
disaster.”
“That’s just it,” said Hiram triumphantly. “Rob, I’ve discovered a way to
prevent all these accidents, and made an aëroplane as safe for a novice
to run as it would be for an experienced pilot with a license.”
“If you have done that, Hiram, you’ve got a feather in your cap!” Rob
told him. “Some of the biggest inventors have been lying awake nights
trying to fix things that way, so as to take away most of the terrible
risk of flying; but so far it doesn’t seem they’ve met with much
success.”
“Wait till they hear from Hiram Nelson, that’s all,” declared the happy
scout, as he smote himself on the chest in rather a vainglorious fashion,
which, however, the other two boys hardly noticed, for they knew Hiram’s
fondness of boasting, as he had always been afflicted in that way.
“Tell us the rest, Hi,” said Andy, just as if it bored him to hear so
much about the “preliminaries,” when as the inventor proclaimed the best
was yet to come.
“All right,” said Hiram promptly. “Now you know what the scheme is I can
go on and get deeper into my yarn.”
“Wish you would,” muttered Andy, pretending to stifle a yawn back of his
hand, but that was only done in order to hurry the long-winded talker.
“I call my wonderful invention a stabilizer, because that’s the use it’s
really intended for,” continued Hiram, as though wishing to fully impress
that fact upon their minds. “To tell the truth, I’ve had the legal
documents showing that a patent had been applied for, quite some time
now, though for reasons of my own I kept it all a dead secret from
everybody. Mebbe yeou fellers may have noticed that I’ve been looking
kinder mysterious the last month or two? Well, guess with such a
tre_men_jous secret on your mind either of you’d a been equally absent
minded. But that is past now, and I’ve accomplished my aim.”
“Good!” Andy burst out with. “Let go your bowstring then and shoot, for
goodness sake, Hiram.”
“Well, of course I had it all laid out,” continued the other composedly,
as if it was beneath him to pay any attention to these pins that Andy was
sticking into him, “and my first thought was to get in communication with
some enterprising big corporation that manufactured aëroplanes for the
market. All inventors have to sell their first few patents, you know,
so’s to get money enough to push other ideas; and if I could pick up a
few thousand that way, why I’d have to let my stabilizer go.”
“Then you’ve been corresponding with such a company, have you?” asked
Rob, knowing that he could tempt the other to hurry his story in this
way, just as a witness in court is drawn on by a clever lawyer’s
questions.
“Oh! several of them, in fact,” admitted Hiram, as if that were only a
minor matter, after all, “but in the end I found that a certain concern
meant strictly business, and consequently I dropped all the rest.”
“Have they actually made you a definite offer for your valuable
invention?” asked Rob, taking considerable more interest in the matter,
now that Hiram’s undoubted though erratic genius seemed to be steadying
down with some tangible results.
“Pretty much that way, I should call it,” remarked the inventor, trying
hard to appear natural, though trembling all over with excitement. “They
went so far as to enclose a check big enough to cover all expenses of
myself and a companion—for I was smart enough to say I’d insist on having
company for advice along with me—to run out to their main works, and talk
the matter over with a view to disposing of my patent rights to the
device.”
At that Andy’s face lost the look of sneering incredulity that had been a
marked feature of his listening to all this talk.
“Whew! is that a fact, Hiram?” he exclaimed. “Shake hands on it, will
you? Didn’t we always say that some fine day you’d be famous, and make
the Eagles proud to reckon you as a member? A real check, and not on a
sand bank, you mean?”
“Well, I went right away to Rob’s father’s bank and saw the president. He
said the check was O. K. and that I could get the hard cash any time I
wanted it. Why, he even called it a certified bank draft, which meant the
money had been set aside in the San Francisco bank for that purpose,
deducted from the account of the Golden Gate Aëroplane Manufacturing
Company.”
“What?” almost shrieked Andy Bowles, “say that again, will you, Hiram?
Must be my mind’s so filled with that Golden Gate business I just
_thought_ I heard you mention something like that. Repeat it, please,
Hiram!”
“Why, the check came from a San Francisco bank, because you see the
company is a substantial concern in California. They make some of the
most famous aëroplanes on the market. If they adopt my stabilizer it’s
going to be heard of all over the world. And to think what a magnificent
chance we’ve got to run out there and take in the great Panama-Pacific
Exposition at the same time, Rob! It’s enough to make you think you’re
dreaming, eh?”
“Why do you mention _me_ in the game, Hiram?” demanded the patrol leader,
with a smile on his face, and a knowing wink in the direction of Andy
Bowles.
“Because, don’t you see, Rob, I knew I didn’t have a business head on me,
and might get cheated out of my boots if I ran up against a smart lot of
manufacturers; and so I was wise enough to insist that I be allowed to
fetch along a companion. They never put up a single kick against the
expense of the double bill, Rob; but the check covered railroad fare,
sleeper, meals, and hotel bills while there a week, as well as the return
trip to boot. That means they fancy my invention is going to be a big
thing for their house. And, Rob, don’t you see, I had you in mind all the
while when I wrote about fetching a companion. I want you the worst kind
to accept my invitation and go to the Fair at my expense. Tell me you
will, Rob!”