A SURPRISE
"Toss over that monkey wrench; will you?"
"Say, who had the saw last?"
"I know I laid a hammer down here, but it's gone now!"
"Look out there! Low bridge! Gangway! One side!"
These, and many other cries and calls, came from the big barn-like
shed, where Dick Hamilton's airship was being constructed. Dick
himself, and his two chums, Innis Beeby and Paul Drew, had joined
forces with Mr. Vardon in helping on the completion of the Abaris.
"We've got to get a move on!" Dick had said, after he had sent in his
application to compete for the twenty thousand dollar government prize.
"We don't want to be held back at the last minute. Boys, we've got to
work on this airship ourselves."
"We're with you!" cried Innis and Paul, eagerly.
And so, after some preliminary instructions from Mr. Vardon, the cadets
had taken the tools and started to work.
It did not come so unhandily to them as might have been imagined. At
the Kentfield Military Academy they had been called upon to do much
manual labor, in preparation for a military life.
There had been pontoon bridges to build across streams, by means of
floats and boats. There had been other bridges to throw across defiles
and chasms. There were artillery and baggage wagons to transport along
poor roads. And all this, done for practice, now stood Dick and his
chums in good stead.
They knew how to employ their hands, which is the best training in the
world for a young man, and they could also use tools to advantage.
So now we find Dick, Paul and Innis laboring over the new airship, in
which the young millionaire hoped to make a flight across the United
States, from ocean to ocean.
"That's what I like to see!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra, as he came out to
the shed just before he started back for Dankville. "It does young men
good to work. Pity more of 'em don't do it. Hard work and plain food
is what the rising generation wants. I don't approve of airships--that
is as a rule," the crabbed old miser hastily added, "but, of course,
twenty thousand dollars is a nice prize to win. I only hope you get
it. Nephew Richard. I like to see you work. I'm going back now.
I'll tell your Aunt Samantha that you've at last learned how to do
something, even if it is only building an airship."
"Don't you call my studies at Kentfield something, Uncle Ezra?" asked
Dick.
"No sir! No, sir-ee!" cried the elderly man. "That's time and money
thrown away. But I see that you can do manual labor, Nephew Richard,
and if you really want to do useful work, and earn money, I'd be glad
to have you in my woolen mill. I could start you on three dollars and
a half a week, and you could soon earn more. Will you come?"
"No, thank you," said Dick. "Thank you just the same."
He had a vivid idea of what it might mean to work for his Uncle Ezra.
Besides, Dick's fortune was such that he did not have to work. But he
fully intended to, and he was getting a training that would enable him
to work to the best advantage. Just because he was a millionaire he
did not despise work. In fact he liked it, and he had made up his mind
that he would not be an idler.
Just now aviation attracted him, and he put in as many hours working
over his airship--hard work, too,--as many a mechanic might have done.
"Well, I'll say good-bye, Nephew Richard," spoke Uncle Ezra, after
walking about the big airship, and looking at it more closely than
would seem natural, after he had characterized it as a "foolish piece
of business."
"I'm sorry you won't stay until my father gets back," spoke Dick. "I
expect him tomorrow, or next day."
"Well, if I stayed I know my hired man would waste a lot of feed on the
horses," said Uncle Ezra. "And every time I go away he sits up and
burns his kerosene lamp until almost ten o'clock at night. And oil has
gone up something terrible of late."
"Well, I hope you'll come and see us again," invited Dick, as his uncle
started to go. "But won't you let me send you to the station in the
auto? It isn't being used."
"No, Nephew Richard. Not for me!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra. "You might
bust a tire, and then you'd expect me to pay for it."
"Oh, no, I wouldn't!"
"Well, then, there might be some accident, and I might get my clothes
torn. That would mean I'd have to have a new suit. I've worn this one
five years, and it's good for three more, if I'm careful of it!" he
boasted, as he looked down at his shiny, black garments.
"Then you're going to walk?" asked Dick.
"Yes, Nephew Richard. There's grass almost all the way to the station,
and I can keep on that. It will save my shoes."
"But people don't like you to walk on their grass," objected Dick.
"Huh! Think I'm going to tramp on the hard sidewalks and wear out my
shoe leather?" cried Uncle Ezra. "I guess not!"
He started off, trudging along with his cane, but paused long enough to
call back:
"Oh, Nephew Richard, I got the cook to put me up some sandwiches. I can
eat them on the train, and save buying. The idea of charging ten cents
in the railroad restaurant! It's robbery! I had her use stale bread,
so that won't be wasted."
Dick hopelessly shook his head. He really could say nothing.
His chums knew Uncle Ezra's character, and sympathized with their
friend.
The cadets resumed work on the big airship. The framework of the wings
had been completed, and all that was necessary was to stretch on the
specially made canvas. The cabin was nearing completion, and the place
for the engine had been built. The big propellers had been constructed
of several layers of mahogany, and tested at a speed to which they
would never be subjected in a flight. The bicycle wheels on which the
big airship would run along the ground, until it had acquired momentum
for a rise, were put in place.
"I didn't just like those hydroplanes, though," said Dick, who had
added them as an after thought. "I think they should be made larger."
"And I agree with you," said Mr. Vardon. "The only use you will have
for the hydroplanes, or wheel-pontoons, will be in case you are
compelled to make a landing on the water. But they should be larger,
or you will not float sufficiently high. Make them larger. But it will
cost more money."
"I don't mind that," returned Dick. "Of course I am not anxious to
throw money away, but I want to make a success of this, and win the
prize, not so much because of the cash, as to show how your
equilibrizer works, and to prove that it is possible to make an airship
flight across the continent.
"So, if bigger hydroplanes are going to make it more certain for us to
survive an accident, put them on."
"I will," promised the aviator.
Pontoons, or hydroplanes, in this case, I might state, were hollow,
water-tight, wooden boxes, so fitted near the wheels of the airship,
that they could be lowered by levers in case the craft had to descend
on water. They were designed to support her on the waves.
Several days of hard work passed. The aircraft was nearing completion.
The cabin was finished, and had been fitted up with most of the
apparatus and the conveniences for the trip. There were instruments to
tell how fast the Abaris was traveling, how far she was above the
earth, the speed and direction of the wind and machinery, and others,
to predict, as nearly as possible, future weather conditions.
In the front of the cabin was a small pilothouse, in which the operator
would have his place. From there he could guide the craft, and control
it in every possible way.
There was a sleeping cabin, fitted with bunks, a combined kitchen and
dining-room, a small living-room, and the motor-room. Of course the
latter took up the most space, being the most important.
In addition there was an outside platform, built in the rear of the
enclosed cabin, where one could stand and look above the clouds, or at
the earth below.
Gasolene and storage batteries furnished the power, and there was
plenty in reserve. Dick wanted to take no chances in his prize flight.
The second day after Uncle Ezra's departure the motor for the airship
arrived.
"Now for a test!" cried Dick, when the machine had been uncrated and
set up on the temporary base. The attachments were made, an extra pair
of trial propellers connected, and the power turned on.
With a roar and a throb, the motor started, and as Mr. Vardon glanced
at the test gages with anxious eyes he cried:
"She does better than we expected, Dick! We can cross the continent
with that engine, and not have to make more than two stops."
"Are you sure?" asked the young millionaire.
"Positive," was the answer.
Further tests confirmed this opinion, and preparations were made to
install the motor in the airship.
It was while this was being done that a servant brought Dick a message.
"Someone has called to see you," said the man.
"Who is it?"
"He says his name is Lieutenant Larson, formerly of the United States
Army, and he has important information for you."
"Larson!" exclaimed Dick in surprise. "I wonder what he wants of me?"
"Will you see him?" asked Paul.
"I suppose I had better," said Dick, slowly. "I wonder what he wants?"