"Just what I did, Elmer!" cried the other, hastily. "I spent a whole Saturday morning up at that big rock that overlooks Lake Jupiter, and five different times I tossed the parachute, folded up, over the edge, with a stone weighing more than a hundred and fifty pounds fastened to the same."
"And how did it work?" asked Chatz.
"Like a charm," replied the happy inventor. "The umbrella opened as quick as it began to drop, and after that it floated to the ground all right. Course it hit a little hard, because you couldn't expect it to sail along like a thistle-down, with all that weight attached; but the shock wasn't enough to hurt—much, I guess. And while we sat here eating I saw the very tree I'm meaning to climb. Look over there, and notice that half dead one, with one big dead limb hanging out, and nothing else on that same side. How high would you call that, Elmer?"
"Nearer forty feet than thirty, I should judge; and enough to kill you if you fell straight," replied the scout master.
"Don't worry about me, now; I'm all fixed for it, and I've got on my rubber-soled shoes in the bargain, so I'll be light on my feet. But I would like some of you to give me a lift up that tree."
"It's got plenty of branches on this side, so that you won't have much trouble climbing, once you get a start," Chatz told him, starting forward to lend what assistance lay in his power.
"Better not try that risky game, Toby," objected George, possibly really concerned about the safety of his comrade, but more than likely voicing his natural liking for being on the side of the opposition, for some boys are built that way, and never so happy as when throwing obstacles in the way of success.
Toby, however, paid no attention to this grumbling on the part of George. Ted and Chatz helped him into the tree, and then handed up the wonderful parachute which, if it turned out to be one-half as successful as its proud inventor claimed, was going to be a great boon for all those who took their lives in their hands and went up among the clouds in air machines.
Higher climbed Toby, managing somehow to lug his burden along with him, although it certainly could not have been any light weight.
His objective point was a large decayed limb that stood out all alone on one side of the trunk. As Elmer had calculated this was all the way from thirty-five to forty feet from the ground, and that distance offered him a good chance to experiment with his parachute.