"We"ll have to wear goggles and mouth protectors when we really go fast!" yelled Tom above the noise of the motor, as he slowed down and turned about for home.
"Go fast! Wasn"t that fast?" asked Mr. Damon.
Tom shook his head.
"You wait, and you"ll see," he announced.
They made a good landing, and Mr. Swift hastened up to congratulate his son.
"I knew you could do it, Tom!" he cried.
"I couldn"t, though, if it hadn"t been for that wonderful engine of yours, dad! How do you feel?"
"Pretty good. Oh! but that"s a fine machine, Tom!"
"It certainly is," agreed Mr. Jackson.
"It will be when I have it in better trim," admitted the young inventor modestly.
"By golly!" cried Eradicate, who was grinning almost from ear to ear, "I"s proud oh yo", Ma.s.sa Tom, an" so will mah mule Boomerang be, when I tells him. Yes, sah, dat"s what he will be--proud ob yo", Ma.s.sa Tom!"
"Thanks, Rad."
"Well, some folks is satisfied with mighty little under "em, when they go up in the air, that"s my opinion," said Mrs. Baggert.
"Why, wouldn"t you ride in this?" asked Tom of the buxom housekeeper.
"Not if you was to give me ten thousand dollars!" she cried firmly.
"Oh, dear! I think the potatoes are burning!" And she rushed back into the house.
The next day Tom started to work overhauling the Humming-Bird, and making some changes. He altered the wing tips slightly, and adjusted the motor, until in a thrust test it developed nearly half again as much power as formerly.
"And I"ll need it all," declared Tom as he thought of the number of contestants that had entered the great race.
For the Eagle Park meet was to be a large and important one, and the princ.i.p.al "bird-men" of the world were to have a part in it. Tom knew that he must do his very best, and he spared no efforts to make his monoplane come up to his ideal, which was a very exacting one.
"We"ll have a real speed test to-morrow," Tom announced to Mr. Damon one night. "I"ll see what the Humming-Bird can really do. You"ll come, won"t you?"
"Oh, I suppose so. Bless my insurance policy! I might as well take the same chance you do. But if you"re going to have such a nerve-racking thing as that on the program, you"d better get to bed early and have plenty of sleep."
"Oh, I"m not tired. I think I"ll go out this evening."
"Where?"
"Oh, just around town, to see some of the fellows." But if Tom was only going around town merely to see his male friends, why did he dress so carefully, put on a new necktie, and take several looks in the gla.s.s before he went out? We think you can guess, and also the girl"s name.
The young inventor got in rather late, and after a visit to the aeroplane shed, to see that all was right there, he went to bed, first connecting up the burglar-alarm wires that guarded the doors and windows of the aerodrome.
How long he had been asleep Tom did not know, but he was suddenly awakened by hearing the buzzing of the alarm at the head of his bed. At first he took it for the droning and humming of the aeroplane motor, as he had a hazy notion, and a sort of dream, that he was in his craft.
Then, with a start, he realized what it was--the burglar alarm.
"Some one"s in the shed!" he gasped.
Out of bed he leaped, drawing on his trousers and coat, and putting on a pair of slippers, with speed worthy of a fireman. He grabbed up a revolver and rushed from his room, pounding on the door of Mr.
Jackson"s apartment in pa.s.sing.
"Some one in the shed, after the Humming-Bird!" shouted Tom. "Get a gun, and come down!"
Chapter Eleven
Tom Is Hurt
As Tom pa.s.sed down the hall on his way to the side door, from which he could more quickly reach the aeroplane shed, he saw his father coming from his room.
"What"s the matter? What is it?" asked Mr. Swift, and alarm showed on his pale face.
"It"s nothing much, dad," said the youth, as quietly as he could, for he realized that to excite his father might have a bad effect on the invalid.
"Then why are you in such a hurry? Why have you that revolver? I know there is something wrong, Tom. I am going to help you!"
In his father"s present weakened state Tom desired this least of all, so he said:
"Now, never mind, dad. I thought I heard a noise out in the yard, and I"m not going to take any chances. So I roused Mr. Jackson, and I"m going down to see what it is. Perhaps it may only be Eradicate"s mule, Boomerang, kicking around, or it may be Rad himself, or some one after his chickens. Don"t worry. Mr. Jackson and I can attend to it. You go back to bed, father."
Tom spoke with such a.s.surance that Mr. Swift believed him, and retired to his room, just as the engineer, partly dressed, came hurrying out in response to Tom"s summons. He had his rifle, and, had the invalid inventor seen that, he surely would have worried more.
"Come on!" whispered Tom. "Don"t make any noise. I don"t want to excite my father."
"What was it?" asked the engineer.
"I don"t know. Burglar alarm went off, that"s all I can say until we get to the shed."
Together the two left the house softly, and soon were hurrying toward the aeroplane shed.
"Look!" exclaimed Mr. Jackson. "Didn"t you see a light just then, Tom?"
"Where?"
"By the side window of the shed?"
"No, I didn"t notice it! Oh, yes! There it is! Some one is in there! If it"s Andy Foger, I"ll have him arrested, sure!"
"Maybe we can"t catch him."