“There’s the aeroplane over there!” cried Ned, as they went to the parking place with their automobile.
“Two of ’em!” added Bob. “They’re just the ordinary type, though. Nothing like what we had.”
“Did you fellows really have an aeroplane?” asked Tom.
“These have self-starters,” remarked Ned, as he and the others inspected the aeroplanes.
There was a big crowd around the air craft, for it had been announced that a race was about to take place. Jerry and his chums saw Frank Watson and his crowd near the biplanes, and Frank, looking at our heroes, said sneeringly, and loudly enough to be heard by them:
“This is the kind of machine the motor boys said they had. Humph! I don’t believe they’d dare go up in a balloon!”
“The cad!” muttered Ned. “I’ll show him!”
“Now quiet down,” ordered Jerry. “If you don’t----”
At that moment one of the aviators stepped forward and addressed the throng.
“Is there any one here who has been up in an aeroplane, and who is willing to go up again?” the man asked. “My partner has failed to arrive, and we can’t have the race unless I take some one up with me. Will any one volunteer?”
The aviator looked over the crowd, at first not appearing to have seen Ned. Then the lad spoke.
“I’ll go up with you,” he said, “if you think I’m the right weight to balance properly. If not my two friends here----” and he motioned to Jerry and Bob.
“Do you know anything about aeroplanes?” asked the man.
“It’s all a bluff!” sneered Frank from where he stood. “He daren’t go up in that machine.”
“You--you----” began Ned angrily, and then his better sense made him keep silent.
“I’ll take you up in a minute if you’ve had any experience at all, and aren’t afraid,” said the aviator.
“Afraid!” laughed Ned. Then he mentioned some of the meets he and his chums had attended and taken part in, winning some races. Bob and Jerry confirmed this.
“Oh, if you were at _those_ meets you sure are an old hand at the game!” said Mr. Perdy, the aviator. “I was at one myself, but I don’t recall you. Yes indeed, Slade, I’ll take you up and glad to do it. Without a partner I can’t pull off this race, as one of the conditions is that each machine shall carry two persons. In fact, they won’t balance well without a double load, though I have gone up with a bag of sand.”