“What do you reckon they were talking about?” asked Ned.
“Are you sure it was Noddy and Bill?” inquired Bob.
The two were questioning their chum Jerry the day following the accident to the Comet, when the tall lad had reported to them the result of his visit to Noddy’s house.
“I’m as sure it was Noddy and Bill, as that I’m talking to you and Ned this minute, Bob. But as to what they were talking about I give up. I’ve been thinking of it all night, but I can’t hit it,” answered Jerry.
“Some mischief I’ll wager,” came from Ned.
“Oh, you can be sure of that,” added Bob.
“One thing seems to be certain,” went on the tall lad, “and that is they’re going to the Colton meet. I wish they weren’t, since we’ve entered our machine there. But there’s no help for it.”
“This is a free country,” declared the stout lad. “They can do as they please, I suppose.”
“Well, if we’re going to the meet it’s time we did something to the Comet,” suggested the merchant’s son. “What about the rips in the gas bag, Jerry?”
“We’ll get right at them. I’ve got out the stuff to mend the tears. I’ll start you and Bob on that, and I’ll make another try to see Noddy. I’m going to make him pay up if it’s possible.”
A little later, having seen that his two chums were putting the patches on the gas bag the right way, Jerry again went to the Nixon house. A sleepy-eyed maid answered the bell, yawning, though it was after ten o’clock. Evidently the company had stayed late the night before.
“Master Noddy is not in,” she replied in response to Jerry’s inquiry. “He’s out of town, and I don’t know when he will be back.”
“Out of town?”
“Yes, to some balloon show I heard him tell his father. Mr. Nixon is in, if you’d like to see him.”
“Never mind,” said the tall lad. “Did Noddy take his airship with him?”
“No, it’s being packed up now. Some men are out in the shed boxing it up. It’s going out to the balloon show I believe. Is there any word you’d like to leave,” she asked, as she saw Jerry turn to go.
Jerry thought there was none, and hurrying to the shed where Bob and Ned were working away over the Comet, he told his chums the news.
“Noddy means business all right,” declared Ned, pausing with a cement pot in one hand, while with the other he tried to rub off a daub of tar on his nose.
“Maybe he’s after our scalp,” suggested Bob. “But I guess we can do stunts with the Comet that he wouldn’t dare dream of.”
“Sure,” assented Jerry. “Well, as long as he’s gone I’ll have to defer collecting damages. Now we’ll get busy.”
For more than a week our heroes spent most of their time in the aeroplane shed. The gas bag was repaired, and made stronger than ever, the motor was overhauled, a general cleaning of the machinery took place, a new railing was put around the after platform, and the air craft was put in condition to take part in a distance race, a high flight, or to do startling evolutions about the aviation field.
They had formally entered the Comet in the hundreds miles’ race which was to take place in a ten-mile circuit about the aviation grounds, and they had also entered in the high-flying event.
One afternoon, when Jerry went to the post-office, he received a letter from the secretary of the meet, enclosing an entrant’s certificate, and also a list showing those who would take part in the various events.
“Well, we’ll have to compete against Noddy in both big races—distance and height,” said Jerry dubiously to his two chums.
“Really?” asked Ned.
“Sure, here’s his name, and he’s entered Bill Berry as a passenger.”
“He’s got nerve,” declared Bob. “Well, we’ll beat him all right. But I would like to know what game he and Bill are after in Harmolet.”
“So would I,” agreed Jerry. “But say, fellows, we haven’t any too much time. We ought to give the Comet one good try-out, and then take her apart and ship her to the meet.”
“What’s the matter with going to the meet in her?” asked Ned. “We can easily do it, and it will save time and work.”
“The only thing is we might have an accident on the way, and then we’d be out of it, if we couldn’t get the repairs done in time,” objected Jerry.
“Oh, take a chance,” urged the merchant’s son; and so it was decided.
The Comet was given a final trial flight the next day, and the boys, in company with Professor Snodgrass, went through some intricate evolutions, as well as testing the speed of the motorship on a straight-away course.
They sailed up to a dizzy height, came down in spirals, volplaned to earth as an aeroplane with the gas entirely out of the bag, floated lazily in the air as a balloon, and went after a height record. The last they did not accomplish, for they had only gotten up about three miles when they ran into a violent snowstorm, and Jerry, not wanting to take any chances with the time of the meet so near at hand, made a quick descent.
“We’ve gone higher on other occasions,” he said to his chums, “and we know we can do it, so there’s no use taking too many risks. Otherwise the Comet never did better.”
“And if we don’t win at least two prizes I’ll eat my hat,” observed Bob.
“And about everything else on board too, I suspect, Chunky,” remarked Ned, with a grin.
While the professor was interested in the working of the motorship, and proud of the ability of his young friends, he spent more time looking for insects in the upper air, than in watching the intricate evolutions.
“And how soon after the meet will you start for the West?” he inquired anxiously, when they had wheeled the Comet into the shed.
“Oh, in a few days,” promised Jerry. “I believe he cares more about that flying frog than he does about us winning a prize,” confided the tall lad to his chums.
“I’m sure of it,” agreed Ned.
The final preparations were made. Plenty of provisions were put aboard, there was enough gasolene for a long flight, and materials for making the lifting gas had been stored away. The Comet was ready for the flight to Colton.
“Well, we might as well get aboard,” remarked Jerry the day of the start, after he and his chums had looked over every bolt, nut, lever, cam, valve, gear and guy-wire. “We can take our time getting there.”
“Let her go!” cried Bob. “I’ve got everything ready for a meal above the clouds.”
“Oh, of course,” murmured Ned. “No danger of you forgetting anything in that line.”
Professor Snodgrass was busy mending a hole in his butterfly net. Jerry was in the pilot house, while Ned and Bob were in the engine room.
“All ready?” inquired the tall lad.
“All ready,” replied Ned, with a final look at the machinery.
“Then here we go!”
Jerry pulled the starting lever, just as Andy Rush ran into the enclosure.
“Good-bye!” called the little lad. “Good luck! Off you go! Up in the air! Whizz around! Turn over—right side up with care—off again—high as Gilroy’s kite—win the prize—whoop-ee!”
“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” murmured Jerry with a smile.
Across the level space went the Comet with a whizz and a roar. The next minute it had mounted upward, and the motor boys were on the wing.