CHAPTER IX
THE FIRST EXHIBITION
Joe made a hasty sketch of his new idea, and hurried with it to Mr. Brader's office. The manufacturer was interested at once.
"I believe you have struck it, Joe," he said. "To eliminate the platforms would be the very thing needed. The only difficulty I see is in riding over the wire rope at the point where the shears come under it to support it and make it tight."
"I can get over that place all right," the youth asserted. "The shears can be made a little differently. If a wire can be supported to allow a grooved trolley wheel to pass along it, I can do the same thing on my grooved motor-cycle wheels, only, of course, I'll ride along the upper side of the wire, whereas a trolley wheel runs along the underside. The supports are there all the while."
"Good!" cried the manufacturer. "That does away with my only objection. Now we'll get busy on the new apparatus."
This was much simpler to construct than had been the one in which the starting and stopping platforms were used.
The two ends of the wire were firmly fastened to two heavy anchors made to be buried in the ground, and to resist a strong pull. When this had been done the shears were put in place and raised, the shears being placed sufficiently far from the spot where the ends of the wire were buried in the ground. Thus there was a gradual slant up which Joe could ride on his machine and reach the level stretch of wire, across which he could then speed, riding down the slant on the other side.
As Joe's motor-cycle had no tires on it, it was necessary to have the ground approach and the end as smooth as possible, for he would ride along it on bare rims. But he counted on this.
"Yes, Joe, I think you have solved your problem," the manufacturer told him. "I'll put the life-nets in place, though, around each of the shears, for you might take a tumble after all."
"Thank you, but I don't think I shall. I believe we've got it now."
The day of the trial of the new idea came. Joe was sure of success. Mr. Brader and his men came out to watch.
The wire rope had been attached and the anchors covered with earth, well tamped down. The specially constructed shears, the supporting points of which did not project above the wire, so that no obstruction was offered the wheels of the motor-cycle, were put in place and slanted so as to exert a powerful upward push on the cable, making it as taut as a drum head.
The ground at either end had been made smooth and level, and a white chalk line extended outward and away from the points where the wire emerged from the ground.
"All I'll have to do," said Joe, "will be to ride along the ground on the chalk line, and when I get to the wire I'll just ride up it. I wonder why I didn't think of this at first, instead of trying to do it from platforms."
But that is one of the mysteries of inventions. Often complicated ways are tried until finally the simplest solution presents itself.
On account of the necessity of riding up the wire slope Joe had a slight change made in the grooved wheels of his machine. He had them roughened to a file-like surface on the inside, so they would grip, or bite, the twisted wire, and thus prevent him from slipping back.
Everything was in readiness. Joe took his machine to the far end of the starting ground. He jumped to the saddle, pressed the starting pedal, and when the engine was pounding away he kicked up the rear support, let the clutch in, and was off.
"This is the time I do it!" he cried.
In another instant he was riding along the white chalk mark on the ground. To within the fraction of an inch Joe held his front wheel true, and as he gathered speed this was easier to do.
Foot after foot he rode along, gaining in momentum with every revolution of the wheels. He did not swerve from the chalk mark.
"I'm going to do it! I'm going to do it!" Joe exulted in his heart. "I'm going to do it this time, sure!"
Now he was ten feet away from the up-slanting wire. Now five—now one. Then, in an instant the grooved front wheel struck the wire with a vibration of metal.
"Will the rear wheel take it?" was Joe's quick thought, for he realized what would happen if one wheel went spinning up the slanting wire, and the other did not follow.
But this accident did not happen. Up the gradual slant rode Joe, now really, and for the first time, on a stretched and suspended wire. He was sure he could mount to the level place—easily.
And he did. Amid the cheers of Mr. Brader and his men the courageous youth shot out on the straight stretch of cable, the motor-cycle wheels passing above, and safely across, the point where the shears below supported it.
"I've done it!" cried Joe.
He was now speeding across the wire. Faster and faster Joe rode. He was doing for the first time that which he had long dreamed of, and though the wire was not as high as the one he intended to use later, he had proved his theory. A motor-cycle could be ridden across a wire.
The shouts of the men continued. They were thus congratulating Joe.
The aerial motor-cyclist was now close to the end of his course. He would then ride down the slanting hill of wire and his ambition, in part, would have been realized.
It was comparatively easy, after all, Joe thought, once he got the grooved wheels of his machine on the wire. After that it really would take an effort to make them leave it.
Of course Joe discounted the danger involved. He felt sure of himself. And while it was comparatively easy, that does not mean that any one could have done what Joe did. It took nerve and daring, a sure eye and muscles under perfect control. But Joe had these qualities in plenty.
The young acrobat reached the other end of the wire, and shot down the slope and along the cleared ground. Then he brought his machine to a stop, and stood it up, walking back to see what Mr. Brader and the others had to say.
"Well, Joe, you did it!" cried the manufacturer, shaking hands with him. "You did it! I congratulate you!"
"Thanks," was the youth's reply.
"Do you think you'll have the nerve to ride across the wire when it's strung fifty feet in the air?" asked one of the men.
"Why, I think so," Joe replied. "I'm going to try it in a day or so. I want to raise the wire gradually, in order to find out just the proper slant to make at each end."
"A good idea," said Mr. Brader. "Well, Joe, you did it, but at first I didn't think you would. It's a rather risky proceeding, though, at best."
"Yes, it is," admitted the young performer. "But I like risky acts."
Which was true enough; Joe had proved that in his circus work. But then he seemed born with a gift for that sort of thing. His mother was a daring horsewoman, and even before she had taken up circus work she was known to take so many chances in riding to hounds in England, and in jumping ditches and hedges that she had quite a local fame.
Joe rode over the low wire several times more that first day of his success. He wanted to get used to steering from the white guide line up on to the cable, and not once did he fail.
"Though it will be different when he goes up on the real high wire," predicted one man.
"I don't believe so," disagreed a companion. "That lad has nerve enough to ride across Niagara Falls on a wire, if one could be stretched and the authorities would let him do it. He's all nerve, is Joe Strong. And he's plucky, too!"
"Yes, he is that," the other was forced to admit.
It was about a week later that Joe finally raised the wire to the limit of the shears—fifty feet. Meanwhile he had ridden across it at gradually increasing heights from the ground, and he had met with success each time. He was not at all troubled with dizziness, but he did not look down, which makes some persons dizzy, though, of course, not Joe. He had another reason for not wanting to gaze earthward. He must keep his eyes fixed on the wire, to so control his motor-cycle as to be able to have it well in hand when he reached the downward slant.
The day when Joe was to ride across the three hundred feet of wire, raised fifty feet from the ground, saw every man in Mr. Brader's factory out in the adjoining lot. Of course Joe was now visible to a big crowd that stood outside the fence.
"It's your first exhibition, Joe," said Mr. Brader, as the youth got ready to ride.
"Yes, they're having a free show," Joe remarked with a smile, as he had a glimpse of the crowd outside the fence. "I won't make any money at this rate, but I'll get a reputation and some advertising, and that's what I want. Then I can book myself with some fair."
Joe looked over every foot of the wire rope, to make sure it was all right Then he took his place at the end of the buried cable, with its two slanting sections and the long, straight stretch.
Joe started his machine, and quickly had it going at almost full speed. Straight and true to the chalk mark on the ground he held it, and then, with a hum, the front and rear wheels slid up the wire.
As Joe came in sight above the fence, the big crowd gathered outside set up a cheer, for word of what Joe was going to attempt had somehow gotten around.
Up and up he rode, until he was fifty feet from the ground. The motor-cycle was humming and throbbing. Out on the straight stretch of wire he spun, and then across the intervening space. Fifty feet up in the air was Joe Strong, riding along the tight wire, giving his first impromptu exhibition.
Cheer after cheer came to the intrepid rider from the throng outside, and Mr. Brader and his men mingled their shouts with those of the others. It was a daring act.