OFF TO THE FAIR.
Two days after the mysterious disappearance of the plans of the
Electric Monarch the promised entry blanks for the Aëro Carnival at
Portstown arrived. Inclosed with them the worthy captain had sent a
copy of a Portstown newspaper in which there was announced in flaring
capitals the following:
“Captain Abe Sprowl, in charge of the Aëro Carnival, announces that
he has engaged, at unprecedented expense, the newest marvel of the
air, the motor-driven hydroaeroplane, The Electric Monarch, owned and
invented by Ned Nevins, the youthful inventor. The machine will make a
flight from Nestorville to the show grounds, and will be on view daily
during the carnival.”
“Well, what do you think of that?” gasped out Jack, as he read this
flamboyant announcement out aloud to his companions. “As a press agent
Captain Sprowl is certainly a wonder. It looks as if we’d have to go
now, boys, doesn’t it?”
“It sure does,” agreed Tom, “but I wish he hadn’t run that fool notice.
We don’t want all that notoriety just now.”
“No, indeed. Not till the plans are all safely filed in the patent
office,” agreed Ned, with a serious look. “Queer, that whoever took the
other set hasn’t tried to place them on record yet, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I can’t understand it,” agreed Jack; “it looks as if they had
something up their sleeves that we know nothing about. However, there
is no use worrying over it. I guess we ought to be thankful that things
are as they are.”
Heiny Dill arrived a few moments later. In honor of his new job he had
purchased a more flaring tie than ever, and his socks were of a lurid
purple.
“Any news of Sam, Heiny?” inquired Jack, as the young German sauntered
up, whistling blithely, to where the lads stood grouped about the
Electric Monarch, on which some minor adjustments were being made.
“Nodt a vord,” responded young Dill, “he hass made idt a vanishment as
if he hadt dropped der eardt off.”
“Well, I don’t hear any complaints about his absence,” declared Tom.
“So far as we are concerned we don’t care if he never comes back. I’m
sorry for his father, though.”
“Veil, der oldt man is bearing oop midt remargable composure alretty,”
declared Heiny, cocking his head on one side and giving a “yodle” more
remarkable for vigor than harmony.
“When do we start, fellows?” asked Jack that afternoon when he had
filled out the entry blanks and they had been mailed by Heiny Dill.
“The Electric Monarch is ready to go this minute,” said Tom. “I was
just talking to Joyce.”
“Then what do you say about to-morrow?” asked Jack.
“Suits me,” said Ned, who wanted nothing better than to be riding in
the Electric Monarch again.
“Me, too,” said Tom. “I’m tired of being on _terra firma_.”
So it was arranged that the start for the Portstown Fair should be made
the next morning. Professor Chadwick was still too weak to attempt to
accompany the boys, but he wished them all sorts of luck and a good
time.
“We’re sure to have a good time, anyhow,” Tom assured him.
Till late that night the boys worked on stocking up the larder of the
Electric Monarch with all manner of canned foods. Heiny Dill, who was
as fond of good things as most boys, watched these preparations with
glittering eyes. He smacked his lips visibly as he stowed away the
provisions on shelves in his domain.
The boys slept little that night, awaking early to find it a slightly
overcast morning with a promise of fair weather later on. There was but
little wind, however, and everything appeared to be propitious for a
speedy, uneventful voyage to Portstown.
Before leaving, Jack affixed to the “navigation-desk,” in the pilot
house, an “aërial map” of the route. This was a map on which various
landmarks, easily discernible from a height, were noted down, and it
was issued by the Aëronautical Society of America. Maps such as these
are of the utmost use to airmen who naturally would find little to
guide them in an ordinary map or chart. Marked in red ink on the aërial
map were various arrows showing the probable direction of the wind in
crossing various bits of high ground or in passing over cities.
The air is by no means, as might be imagined, a smooth road to travel.
It is full of “billows,” aërial “cliffs” caused by up-drafts, and vast,
empty pockets wherein nothing but a vacuum exists, and which many
airmen claim are the greatest source of danger to aviators that the
atmosphere contains.
As there was nothing to cause delay, the Electric Monarch’s motors were
started spinning almost as soon as it was broad daylight. Everything
proved to be in perfect order, and after the tuning-up process the
boys took their stations on the craft. As before, Joyce had the bow
lookout and Ned Nevins alternated between the pilot house and the
motor-platform.
Professor Chadwick and Jupe waved them farewell as they shot upward,
and before very long the village of Nestorville and High Towers lay far
behind them. Jack sent the Electric Monarch straight up on an inclined
aërial staircase till she had gained the height of five thousand
feet. At this altitude they proceeded steadily along, the height being
sufficient to avoid any danger from upward thrusting air currents.
The morning passed uneventfully, and shortly before noon Heiny Dill
announced that lunch was ready. They took this in relays, Ned relieving
Jack at the wheel while the young skipper ate. They passed over several
towns and small villages, and through the glasses they could plainly
see the flurry they were causing down below. It amused them to watch
the scurrying atoms which they knew were human beings rushing about and
pointing upward as the Electric Monarch passed high above their heads.
Not long after lunch, as they were passing over what seemed to be a
large farm, they saw several men running along below them. Suddenly
one elevated and aimed a gun at the fast flying craft. Of course the
Electric Monarch was far too high for the charge to reach her, but the
boys could see the puff of smoke that accompanied the discharge, and
knew that if they had been lower they would have felt shot pattering
about them.
“That’s a specimen of what Atwood, the trans-continental flier, had to
contend against,” said Jack. “The more ignorant people are, the more
they dislike to see modern inventions. I’ll bet if that fellow with the
gun could have hit us he would.”
“His intentions seemed serious, anyhow,” laughed Ned, “but the Electric
Monarch is a hard bird to bring down.”
About an hour later Jack decided to drop down closer to the earth. He
wished to test the effect of the currents near to the heated surface on
the Electric Monarch. Accordingly the craft was brought down till at
times she was rushing along at not more than two or three hundred feet
from the earth.
They were flying over a large, prosperous-looking farm at a fair rate
of speed when there came a sudden check in the air craft’s movement.
She plunged violently and pitched forward as if about to capsize.
“It’s the grapnel line!” shouted Ned, “it’s gotten loose and hooked on
to the roof of that barn!”
At the same instant there came a sound of rending and tearing wood as
the steel points of the grapnel dug into the roof of a rickety old barn
and tore it loose from the rafters. Jack acted like a flash. He set his
descending planes and came to earth in a beautifully executed dive in a
stubble field just beyond the farm buildings.
“The grapnel must have torn loose from its fastenings,” he said; “lucky
it was no worse. As it is----”
He broke off short. Running toward them from the farmhouse came the
farmer and two of his hired men. The farmer carried in his hand a
formidable looking gun. As he drew close to the boys he leveled it at
them. At the same time he cried out angrily:
“Stay right where ye be. Don’cher move, doggone yer, er I’ll shoot.”
The look in his eye, as well as the menace in his voice, convinced
the boys that the threat was no idle one. The man was thoroughly
angry over the accidental damage to his barn. On he came with leveled
gun, shouting threats, while the two hired men kept up a steady
accompaniment.
“Well, this is a fine fix,” commented Jack. “I guess we’ll have to
settle for that roof before we leave here.”
“You kin jes’ bet ye’ll hev ter,” roared the farmer, who had overheard
him.