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Page 9
Ned and Tom had been chums a long while, but Ned inclined more
to financial and office matters than to machinery. At times he
had managed affairs for Tom, and helped him finance projects. Ned
was now an important bank official, and since the United States
had entered the war had had charge of some Red Cross work, as
well as Liberty Bond campaigns.
Somehow, as she sat there in the craft which seemed disabled,
Mary Nestor could not help thinking of Tom's many activities, in
some of which she had shared.
"Oh, if he falls now, and is killed!" she thought. "Oh, what
will happen to us?"
"It's all right, Mary! Don't worry! It's all right!" cried Tom,
through the speaking tube.
"What's that? I can't hear you very well !" she called back.
"No wonder, with the racket this motor is making," he answered.
"Why can't something be done so you can talk in an aeroplane as
well as in a balloon? That's an idea! If I could tell you what
was the matter now you wouldn't be a bit frightened, for it isn't
anything. But, as it is--"
"What are you saying, Tom? I can't hear you!" cried Mary, still
much frightened.
"I say it's all right--don't get scared. And don't jump!" Tom
shouted until his ears buzzed. "It's all nonsense--having a motor
making so much noise one can't talk!" he went on, irritatedly.
A strange idea had come to the young inventor, but there was no
time to think of it now. Mentally he registered a vow to take up
this idea and work on it as soon as possible. But, just now, the
aeroplane needed all his attention.
As he had told Mary, there was really nothing approaching any
great danger. But it was rather an anxious moment. If Tom had
been alone he would have thought little of it, but with Mary
along he felt a double responsibility.
What had happened was that the craft had suddenly gone into an
"air pocket" or partial vacuum, and there had been a sudden fall
and a slide slip. In trying to stop this too quickly Tom had
broken one of his controls, and he was busily engaged in putting
an auxiliary one in place and trying to reassure Mary at the same
time.
"But it's mighty hard trying to do that through a speaking tube
with a motor making a noise like a boiler factory," mused the
young inventor. Tom worked quickly and to good purpose. In a few
moments, though to Mary they seemed like hours, the machine was
again gliding along on a level keel, and Tom breathed more
easily.
"And now for my great idea!" he told himself.
But it was some time before he could give his attention to
that.
CHAPTER III
THE BIG OFFER
Working with all the skill he possessed, Tom had got the
aeroplane in proper working order again. As has been said, the
accident was a trivial one, and had he been alone, or with an
experienced aviator, he would have thought little of it. Then,
very likely, he would have volplaned to earth and made the
repairs there. But he did not want to frighten Mary Nestor, so he
fixed the control while gliding along, and made light of it. Thus
his passenger was reassured.
"Are we all right?" asked Mary through the tube, as they sailed
along.
"Right as a fiddle," answered Tom, shouting through the same
means of communication.
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