"My goodness, Bob," said Jack, as he straightened up, after making the last connection, "I'll bet these machines don't weigh more than half as much as they did before."
"No, I guess they don't. These motors are very light compared with the gasoline engines, and they're what made the most of the weight. Now, let's take them out on the road and see how they'll go."
Wheeling the machines out by the basement door, they were soon on the road in front of the house.
"Well, here goes," cried Jack, jumping into the saddle and giving the grip a slight turn.
Off he went up the road, followed a moment later by Bob. The wheels ran perfectly and with no noise except the low humming of the motors, which could be heard, but a few feet away. They were going at about twenty-five miles an hour and were using but a small part of their power.
"Say, old man," shouted Bob, as he rode up beside his brother, "this is going some, eh?"
"It sure is," was the reply. "It beats the old gasoline engines all to pieces. I wonder how fast they will go?"
"Shouldn't wonder if they would hit a hundred, but there's a good stretch, let's let 'em out a little and see what they'll do."
Slowly twisting the grips, they increased their speed till Bob declared that they were going fully a mile a minute, which he declared was plenty fast enough for him. But, even then they had not used nearly all their power. They were delighted with the result of their work, and as they slowed down, Jack said:
"This must be about the next thing to flying."
"I guess it is," agreed Bob, "but next summer if father'll let us, we'll do some real flying. I say, son, do you realize what these cells will mean to an airplane? Just think of the great decrease in weight and the increase in power."
"Sure thing," replied Jack, no less enthusiastically, "but we better be getting back now."
They had ridden some five or six miles out into the country and were passing through a piece of woods, but now brought their wheels to a stop just after rounding a curve in the road.
"Yes, I guess we had better be getting back," agreed Bob, "It's nearly four now," he added, looking at his watch. "Let's see how long it takes us; we ought to make it in about eight minutes."