“I’ll say so!” agreed Phil. “But now that we’ve done so much work, let’s take a trial flight. If we find everything O. K., we can start for Texas early tomorrow morning. How does that sound?”
“All right, then; hop in,” said Phil. “You spin her over, Dick, will you?”
“Sure thing,” acquiesced Dick. “Just say the word when you’re ready.”
Phil climbed into the pilot’s seat, and Tom clambered in beside him. Dick gave the big propeller a whirl, and the motor started with a roar. Phil quickly throttled it down, and Dick cast off the holding ropes and clambered to his seat.
“The old motor sounds pretty sweet,” he yelled.
Phil nodded his head, and after opening and closing the throttle a few times to warm up the engine and test its response, he “gave it the gas” and the plane glided forward over the green turf.
Phil was just about to move the elevating controls when his action was suddenly arrested by Dick’s voice in his ear.
“Don’t go up, Phil,” he yelled, excitedly. “Something is wrong with the guy wires. I saw one break just a second ago.”
Phil closed the throttle, and the plane slowed down and came to rest.
“You must be seeing things, Dick,” said Phil, twisting around in his seat. “I tested out every wire in the machine a couple of days ago, and they were all in fine condition.”
“Well, I saw one break, just the same,” said Dick, positively. “We’d better go over them all once more. It does seem queer, though.”
“Well, accidents will happen,” said Phil, removing his goggles and leather helmet. “Let’s have a look at the one that you saw snap, Dick. Which was it?”
“Just a second and I’ll show you,” replied Dick, leaping to the ground. “It was this one over here,” and he picked up a long wire that was trailing on the ground.
Phil took the wire from him, and rapidly followed up its length until he came to the loose end.
What he found there made him emit a long whistle.
“Say!” he exclaimed. “It’s no wonder this wire broke. It’s been filed half through!”
“Filed!” exclaimed Dick, seizing the wire from Phil, while Tom leaped to the ground and came running around to where they stood. “It can’t be, Phil. Who would have done such a thing as that?”
“I don’t know, but just take a look at it,” said Phil. “You can see the smooth part left by the file, and the rough surface where the wire actually parted.”