The aeronaut and Miss Perkman were approaching together, and the old maid did not seem half so angry as she had been.
"You see," Mr. Sharp was saying, "it will be a good advertis.e.m.e.nt for your school. Think of having the distinction of having harbored the powerful airship, Red Cloud, on your roof."
"I never thought of it in that light," admitted the princ.i.p.al.
"Perhaps you are right. I shall put it in my next catalog."
"And, as for damages to the tower, we will pay you fifty dollars,"
continued the balloonist. "Do you agree to that, Mr. Swift?" he asked Tom. "I think your father, the professor, would call that fair."
"Oh, as long as this airship is partly the property of a professor, perhaps I should only take thirty-five dollars," put in Miss Perkman.
"I am a great admirer of professors--I mean in a strictly educational sense," she went on, as she detected a tendency on the part of some of the young ladies to giggle.
"No, fifty dollars will be about right," went on Mr. Sharp, pulling out a well-filled wallet. "I will pay you now."
"And if you will wait I will give you a receipt," continued the princ.i.p.al, evidently as much appeased at the mention of a professor"s t.i.tle, as she was by the money.
"We"re getting off cheap," the balloonist whispered to Tom, as the head of the seminary started down the scuttle to the cla.s.s-rooms below.
"Maybe it"s easier getting out of that difficulty than it will be to get off the roof," replied the lad.
"Don"t worry. Leave that to me," the aeronaut said. It took considerable to ruffle Mr. Sharp.
With a receipt in full for the damage to the tower, and expressing the hope that, some day, in the near future, Professor Swift would do the seminary the honor of lecturing to the young lady pupils, Miss Perkman bade Mr. Sharp and Tom good-by.
"Young ladies, to your rooms!" she commanded. "You have learned enough of airships, and there may be some danger getting this one off the roof."
"Wouldn"t you like to stay and take a ride in it?" Tom asked Miss Nestor.
"Indeed I would," she answered daringly. "It"s better than a motor-boat. May I?"
"Some day, when we get more expert in managing it," he replied, as he shook hands with her.
"Now for some hard work," went on the young inventor to Mr. Sharp, when the roof was cleared of the last of the teachers and pupils. But the windows that gave a view of the airship in its odd position on the roof were soon filled with eager faces, while in the streets below was a great crowd, offering all manner of suggestions.
"Oh, it"s not going to be such a task," said Mr. Sharp. "First we will repair the rudder and the machinery, and then we"ll generate some more gas, rise and fly home."
"But the broken propeller?" objected Tom.
"We can fly with one, as well as we can with two, but not so swiftly.
Don"t worry. We"ll come out all right," and the balloonist a.s.sumed a confident air.
It was not so difficult a problem as Tom had imagined to put the machinery in order, a simple break having impaired the working of the rudder. Then the smashed propeller was unshipped and the gas machine started. With all the pupils watching from windows, and a crowd observing from the streets and surrounding country, for word of the happening had spread, Tom and his friend prepared to ascend.
They arose as well as they had done at the shed at home, and in a little while, were floating over the school. Tom fancied he could observe a certain hand waving to him, as he peered from the window of the car--a hand in one of the school cas.e.m.e.nts, but where there were so many pretty girls doing the same thing, I hardly see how Tom could pick out any certain one, though he had extraordinarily good eyesight.
However, the airship was now afloat and, starting the motor, Mr. Sharp found that even with one propeller the Red Cloud did fairly well, making good speed.
"Now for home, to repair everything, and we"ll be ready for a longer trip," the aeronaut said to the young inventor, as they turned around, and headed off before the wind, while hundreds below them cheered.
"We ought to carry spare propellers if we"re going to smash into school towers," remarked Tom. "I seem to be a sort of hoodoo."
"Nonsense! It wasn"t your fault at all," commented Mr. Sharp warmly.
"It would have happened to me had I been steering. But we will take an extra propeller along after this."
An hour later they arrived in front of the big shed and the Red Cloud was safely housed. Mr. Swift was just beginning to get anxious about his son and his friend, and was glad to welcome them back.
"Now for a big trip, in about a week!" exclaimed Mr. Sharp enthusiastically. "You"ll come with us, won"t you, Mr. Swift?"
The inventor slowly shook his head.
"Not on a trip," he said. "I may go for a trial spin with you, but I"ve got too important a matter under way to venture on a long trip," and he turned away without explaining what it was. But Tom and Mr. Sharp were soon to learn.
Chapter 7
Andy Tries a Trick
Without loss of time the young inventor and the aeronaut began to repair the damage done to the Red Cloud by colliding with the tower.
The most important part to reconstruct was the propeller, and Mr. Sharp decided to make two, instead of one, in order to have an extra one in case of future accidents.
Tom"s task was to arrange the mechanism so that, hereafter, the rudder could not become jammed, and so prevent the airship from steering properly. This the lad accomplished by a simple but effective device which, when the balloonist saw it, caused him to compliment Tom.
"That"s worth patenting," he declared. "I advise you to take out papers on that."
"It seems such a simple thing," answered the youth. "And I don"t see much use of spending the money for a patent. Airships aren"t likely to be so numerous that I could make anything off that patent."
"You take my advice," insisted Mr. Sharp. "Airships are going to be used more in the future than you have any idea of. You get that device patented."
Tom did so, and, not many years afterward he was glad that he had, as it brought him quite an income.
It required several days" work on the Red Cloud before it was in shape for another trial. During the hours when he was engaged in the big shed, helping Mr. Sharp, the young inventor spent many minutes calling to mind the memory of a certain fair face, and I think I need not mention any names to indicate whose face it was.
"She promised to go for a ride with me," mused the lad. "I hope she doesn"t back out. But I"ll want to learn more about managing the ship before I venture with her in it. It won"t do to have any accidents then. There"s Ned Newton, too. I must take him for a skim in the clouds. Guess I"ll invite him over some afternoon, and give him a private view of the machine, when we get it in shape again."
About a week after the accident at the school Mr. Sharp remarked to Tom one afternoon:
"If the weather is good to-morrow, we"ll try another flight. Do you suppose your father will come along?"
"I don"t know," answered the lad. "He seems much engrossed in something. It"s unusual, too, for he most generally tells me what he is engaged upon. However, I guess he will say something about it when he gets ready."
"Well, if he doesn"t feel just like coming, don"t argue him. He might be nervous, and, while the ship is new, I don"t want any nervous pa.s.sengers aboard. I can"t give them my attention and look after the running of the machinery."
"I was going to propose bringing a friend of mine over to see us make the trip to-morrow," went on the young inventor. "Ned Newton, you know him. He"d like a ride."
"Oh, I guess Ned"s all right. Let him come along. We won"t go very high to-morrow. After a trial rise by means of the gas, I"m going to lower the ship to the ground, and try for an elevation by means of the planes. Oh, yes, bring your friend along."