A NAVAL VISITOR
Roy had departed, on an errand, for town. Peggy, indolently enjoying the
perfect drowsiness of noonday, was reclining in a gayly colored hammock
suspended between two regal maple trees on the lawn. In her hand was a
book. On a taboret by her side was a big pink box full of chocolates.
The girl was not reading, however. Her blue eyes were staring straight up
through the delicate green tracery of the big maples, at the sky above.
She watched, with lazy fascination, tiny white clouds drifting slowly
across the blue, like tiny argosies of the heavens. Her mind was far away
from Sandy Beach and its peaceful surroundings. The young girl's thoughts
were of the desert, the bleak, arid wastes of alkali, which lay so far
behind them now. Almost like events that had happened in another life.
Suddenly she was aroused from her reverie by a voice--a remarkably
pleasant voice:
"I beg your pardon. Is this the Prescott house?"
"Good gracious, a man!" exclaimed Peggy to herself, getting out of the
hammock as gracefully as she could, and with a rather flushed face.
At the gate stood a rickety station hack, which had approached on the
soft, dusty road almost noiselessly. Just stepping out of it was a
sunburned young man, very upright in carriage, and dressed in a light-gray
suit, with a jaunty straw hat. He carried a bamboo cane, which he switched
somewhat nervously as the pretty girl advanced toward him across the
velvet-like lawn.
"I am Lieut. Bradbury of the navy," said the newcomer, and Peggy noted
that his whole appearance was as pleasant and wholesome as his voice. "I
came--er in response to your letter to the department, in regard to the
forthcoming trials of aeroplanes for the service."
"Oh, yes," exclaimed Peggy, smothering an inclination to giggle,
"we--I--that is----"
"I presume that I have called at the right place," said the young officer,
with a smile. "They told me----"
"Oh, come in, won't you?" suddenly requested the embarrassed Peggy. "The
sun is fearfully hot. Won't you have a straw hat--I mean a seat?"
"Thank you," replied Lieut. Bradbury, gravely sitting in a garden bench at
the foot of one of the big maples. His eyes fell on the book Peggy had
been reading. It was a treatise on aeronautics.
"It isn't possible that you are R. Prescott?" he asked, glancing up
quickly.
"Oh, no. I am only a humble helper. R. Prescott is in town. He--he will be
back shortly."
"Indeed. I had hoped to see him personally. I was anxious to inspect the
Prescott type of monoplane before visiting another aeroplane plant in this
neighborhood, the--the----" The officer drew out a small morocco covered
notebook and referred to it.
"The Mortlake Aeroplane Company," he concluded.
"Oh, yes. They are just down the road, within a stone's throw of here. You
can see the place from here; that big barn-like structure," volunteered
Peggy, heartily wishing that the Mortlake plant had been a hundred miles
away.
"Indeed. That's very convenient. I shall be able to make an early train
back to New York. Do you suppose that Mr. Prescott will be long?"
"I don't really know. He shouldn't be unless he is delayed. But in the
meantime I can show you the aeroplane, if you wish."
"Ah!" the officer glanced at this girl curiously, "but you know what I
particularly desired was a practical demonstration."
"A flight?"
"Yes, if it were possible."
"I think it can be arranged."
"You have an aviator attached to your place, then?"
Peggy laughed musically. She had quite recovered from her embarrassment
now.
"No. I guess it's an aviatress--if there is such a word. You see I----"
"You!"
"Oh, yes. I have flown quite a good deal recently. I think it is the most
delightful sport there is."
A sudden light seemed to break over the young officer.
"Are you Miss Margaret Prescott, the girl aviator I have read so much
about in the technical publications?"
"I believe I am," smiled Peggy; "but here comes my aunt, Miss Sallie
Prescott."
As she spoke, Miss Prescott, in a soft gown of cool white material,
emerged from the house. Peggy went through the ceremony of introduction,
after which they all directed their steps to the large shed in which the
Prescott machines were kept. In the meantime, old Sam Hickey, the
gardener, and his stalwart son Jerusah, had been summoned to aid in
dragging out one of the aeroplanes.
"We only have two on hand," explained Peggy; "my brother has forwarded the
others that we built to Mr. James Bell, the mining man. They are being
used in aerial gold transportation across the Nevada desert."
"Indeed! That is most interesting."
Sam Hickey flung open the big doors and revealed the interior of the shed
with the two scarab-like monoplanes standing within. A strong smell of
gasoline and machine-oil filled the air. The officer glanced at Peggy's
dainty figure in astonishment. It seemed hard to associate this refined,
exquisite young girl with the rough actualities of machinery and
aeroplanes.
[Illustration: When she emerged a very business-like Peggy had taken the
place of the lounger in the hammock.]
But Peggy, with a word of excuse, dived suddenly into a small room. While
she was gone, Miss Prescott entertained the young officer with many
tales of her harrowing experiences on the Nevada desert. To all of which
he listened with keen attention. At least he did so to all outward
appearance, but his eyes were riveted on the door through which Peggy had
vanished.
When she emerged a very business-like Peggy had taken the place of the
lounger in the hammock. A linen duster, fitting tightly, covered her from
top to toe. A motoring bonnet of maroon silk imprisoned her hair, and upon
its rim, above her forehead, was perched a pair of goggles. Gauntlets
encased her hands.
"Looks rather too warm to be comfortable, doesn't it?" she laughed. "But
we shall find it cool enough up above."
"Perhaps the lieutenant----" ventured Miss Prescott.
"Oh, yes. How stupid of me not to have thought of it!" exclaimed Peggy.
"Mr. Bradbury, you will find aviation togs inside there."
"By Jove; she knows enough not to call a naval officer 'lieutenant,'"
thought the young officer, as, with a bow and a word of thanks, he
vanished to equip himself for his aerial excursion.
By the time he was invested in a similar long duster, with weighted seams,
and had donned a cap and goggles, the larger of the two aeroplanes, named
the _Golden Butterfly_, was ready for its passengers. Old Sam and his son,
who had dragged it out--it moved easily on its landing wheels--stood by,
their awe of the big craft showing plainly on their faces.
A section of the fence had been made removable, so as to give the Prescott
aeroplanes a free run from their stable to the smooth slope of the meadows
beyond. This was now removed, and Peggy, followed by the young officer,
took her place in the chassis. Peggy made a pretty figure at the steering
wheel.
"The first improvement I should like to call your attention to," she
began, in the most business-like tones she could muster up, "is the
self-starter. It works by pneumatic power, and does away with the
old-fashioned method of starting an aeroplane by twisting the propeller."
The girl opened a valve connected with a galvanized tank, with a pressure
gauge on top, and pulled back a lever. Instantly, a hissing sound filled
the air. Then, with a dexterous movement, Peggy threw in the spark and
turned on the gasoline which the spark would ignite, thereby causing an
explosion in the cylinders. But first the compressed air had started the
motor turning over. At the right moment Peggy switched on the power and
cut off the air. Instantly there was a roar from the exhausts and blue
flames and smoke spouted from the motor. The aeroplane shook violently. It
would have made an inexperienced person's teeth chatter. But both the
officer and Peggy were sufficiently familiar with aeroplanes for it not to
bother them in the least.
"Magnificent!" cried the young officer enthusiastically, as he saw the
ease with which the compressed air attachment set the motor to working.
"It will do away with assistants to start the machine," he declared the
next instant. "The importance of that in warfare can hardly be
overestimated."
Peggy was too busy to reply. So far all had gone splendidly. If only she
could carry out the whole test as well!
"Ready?" she asked, flinging back the word over her shoulder to Lieutenant
Bradbury.
"All ready!" came in a hearty voice from behind her.
Peggy, with a quick movement, threw in the clutch that started the
propeller to whirring.
With a drone like that of a huge night-beetle, or prehistoric
thunder-lizard, the machine leaped forward as a race-horse jumps under the
raised barrier.
In a blur of blue smoke it skimmed through the gap in the palings. Out
upon the smooth meadowland it shot, roaring and smoking terrifically. And
then, all at once, the jolting motion of the start ceased. It seemed as if
the occupants of the chassis were riding luxuriously over a road paved
with the softest of eiderdown. The sensation was delightful, exhilarating.
Peggy shut off the exhaust, turning the explosions of the cylinder into a
muffler. In almost complete silence they winged upward. Up, up, toward the
fleecy clouds she had been lazily watching, but a short time before, from
the hammock.
The _Golden Butterfly_ had never done better.
"You're a darling!" breathed Peggy confidentially to the motor that with
steady pulse drove them upward and onward.