In 1907 the United States Government asked for bids for a flying machine
that would carry two men, remain in the air an hour and make a
cross-country flight of forty miles an hour. The Wright brothers entered
into a contract to build such a machine. This fact and rumors of their
success that reached the large cities from time to time led a party of
newspaper reporters to organize themselves into a spying party to trace
the Wrights to their secret retreat and verify the claims made in their
behalf or publish the deception to the public. After a long and tedious
journey from Norfolk they finally sighted the rude hut of these birdmen.
They then secreted themselves until they were rewarded with evidence
that the reports were true and promptly announced to the world that
these quiet men had actually solved the problem of aerial flight.